Ukraine’s ambassador-designate to Canada says Russia must be held accountable for its troops committing sex crimes, including against children.

Yulia Kovaliv told a Canadian House of Commons committee on Monday that Russia is using sexual violence as a weapon of war and said rape and sexual assault must be investigated as war crimes.

She said Russia also has kidnapped Ukrainian children and taken them to Russian-occupied territories and now Russia itself. Ukraine is working with partners to find the children and bring them back.

“Russians, a few days ago, killed a young mother and taped her living child to her body and attached a mine between them,″ the ambassador said. She said the mine detonated.

All of Russian society, and not just President Vladimir Putin “and his proxies," should bear responsibility for the war on Ukraine because more than 70% of Russians support the invasion, Kovaliv said.

Sen. Susan Collins is being criticized for the Supreme Court ruling allowing states to ban abortion because the moderate Republican voted to confirm two of the justices who were in the majority opinion.

Critics attacked the Maine senator on social media, and some called for her resignation. The Maine Democratic Party and others cast some of the blame on Collins because her vote was crucial in confirming Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Collins also voted to confirm Justice Neil Gorsuch, who also sided with the majority opinion.

Collins says in a statement that the overturning of Roe is a "sudden and radical jolt to the country" that will sow division.

Collins is a Republican and has been a supporter of a woman’s right to an abortion. She has also crossed the aisle on key issues like splitting with Republicans on former President Donald Trump’s ban on travel from several Muslim countries, the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, and on whether to convict Trump after his impeachment following the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.

The senator said in a statement Friday that she had received assurances from Kavanaugh and Gorsuch that Roe v. Wade was an established legal precedent, the Associated Press reported.

“Throwing out a precedent overnight that the country has relied upon for half a century is not conservative,” she said. “It is a sudden and radical jolt to the country that will lead to political chaos, anger, and a further loss of confidence in our government.”

CNN —

For the first time in nearly 70 years, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is proposing a change in how dogs are imported into the United States.

Revisiting guidelines last revised in 1956, the proposed updates introduce a new set of requirements for people looking to bring in pets from countries with a high risk for rabies. The CDC says that dog rabies was eliminated in the United States in 2007, but the virus is still endemic in over 100 countries.

"The proposed updates aim to protect the public's health by preventing the reintroduction of dog rabies into the United States," CDC spokesperson David Daigle said. "These updates would establish an importation system designed to reduce fraud and improve the U.S. government's ability to verify that imported dogs have met U.S. entry requirements."

In the video player above: In 2021, the CDC issued a temporary suspension of dog imports from over 100 countries

Although rabies among humans is rare in the United States, the virus kills about 59,000 people around the world each year, most of them children bitten by dogs, according to the CDC. Exposure to infected dogs causes 99% of human rabies deaths worldwide.

After entering the body – usually via the bite of an infected animal – the virus travels through the nerves to the brain, where it multiplies and causes inflammation. By the time it reaches the brain and symptoms appear, the disease is usually fatal.

The CDC's proposed regulation creates additional safeguards to prevent rabies from arriving from overseas. For instance, dogs from rabies-free or "low-risk" countries would be allowed to enter with written documentation that the dog has lived in the low-risk setting for the past six months.

For dogs who were vaccinated in the U.S. and are returning from countries with high rabies incidence, their owners would be required to bring them to an airport with a CDC quarantine station. They would also need to have a rabies vaccination form completed and signed by a veterinarian approved by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The proposed updates place the most restrictions on people seeking to import dogs from high-risk countries who have also been vaccinated abroad.

In those situations, owners would need to have a valid rabies vaccination form completed by a licensed veterinarian and signed by an official government veterinarian of the exporting country. Once in the U.S., the dogs would have to be examined and revaccinated at a CDC-registered animal care facility.

The CDC has opened the guidelines to public comment online until Sept. 8.

Although the policy that the CDC hopes to update includes rules for dog and cat importation, cats are not required to have proof of rabies vaccination, and the CDC's changes don't affect cat imports.

Rabies can be a particularly expensive virus to treat. According to the guidelines, the importation of an infected dog in 2019 cost state governments over $400,000 to investigate and administer post-exposure prophylaxis treatment.

The updates come on the heels of the CDC's decision to extend its temporary suspension of dog imports from over 100 countries with a high rabies risk until July 31, 2024. The suspension began in 2021 after cases of imported dog rabies and a 52% uptick in falsified rabies vaccination certificates.

Stretched thin due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the agency opted to suspend the arrival of dogs who had traveled to one of 113 countries considered at high risk for dog rabies, including Brazil, China and India.

In addition to the more stringent vaccination verification and screening efforts, the proposed updates require that all dogs entering the U.S. be microchipped, at least 6 months old and healthy upon arrival.

However, the proposed restrictions face challenges.

In a statement Monday, the animal rights advocacy group Animal Wellness Action decried the agency's proposal as "draconian," saying the guidelines "will put Americans overseas at risk of losing their animals" and could "terribly complicate" US charities working with dogs abroad.

In 2021, a letter signed by 57 U.S. representatives also called on the CDC to lift its suspension of canine imports from high-risk countries, describing the policy as a "one-size-fits-all approach" that "prevents thousands of dogs from … being rescued and adopted."

But the CDC insists that its proposal is critical to preventing the re-emergence of rabies.

"We understand the important role pets play in our lives and that there are many health benefits to owning a pet," Daigle said. "However, the close relationships between dogs and people means there is a direct public health risk to people who interact with inadequately vaccinated dogs imported from countries with high risk for dog rabies."

WASHINGTON —

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Sunday said the U.S. economy is slowing but pointed to healthy hiring as proof that it is not yet in recession.

Yellen spoke on NBC's "Meet the Press" just before a slew of economic reports will be released this week that will shed light on an economy currently besieged by rampant inflation and threatened by higher interest rates. The data will cover sales of new homes, consumer confidence, incomes, spending, inflation and overall output.

The highest-profile report will likely be Thursday, when the Commerce Department will release its first estimate of the economy's output in the April-June quarter. Some economists forecast it may show a contraction for the second quarter in a row. The economy shrank 1.6% in the January-March quarter. Two straight negative readings is considered an informal definition of a recession, though in this case economists think that's misleading.

Instead, the National Bureau of Economic Research — a nonprofit group of economists — defines a recession as "a significant decline in economic activity that is spread across the economy and lasts more than a few months."

Yellen argued that much of the economy remains healthy: Consumer spending is growing, Americans' finances, on average, are solid, and the economy has added more than 400,000 jobs a month this year, a robust figure. The unemployment rate is 3.6%, near a half-century low.

"We've got a very strong labor market," Yellen said. "This is not an economy that's in recession."

Still, Yellen acknowledged the economy is "in a period of transition in which growth is slowing," from a historically rapid pace in 2021.

She said that slowdown is "necessary and appropriate," because "we need to be growing at a steady and sustainable pace."

Slower growth could help bring down inflation, which at 9.1% is the highest in two generations.

Still, many economists think a recession is on the horizon, with inflation eating away at Americans' ability to spend and the Federal Reserve rapidly pushing up borrowing costs. Last week, Bank of America's economists became the latest to forecast a "mild recession" later this year.

And Larry Summers, the treasury secretary under President Bill Clinton, said on CNN's "GPS" Sunday that "there's a very high likelihood of recession," as the Fed lifts interest rates to combat inflation. Those higher borrowing costs are intended to reduce consumer spending on homes and cars and slow business borrowing, which can lead to a downturn.

On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve is likely to announce its second 0.75% point increase in its short-term rate in a row, a hefty increase that it hasn't otherwise implemented since 1994. That will put the Fed's benchmark rate in a range of 2.25% to 2.5%, the highest level since 2018. Fed policymakers are expected to keep hiking until its rate reaches about 3.5%, which would be the highest since 2008.

The Fed's hikes have torpedoed the housing market, as mortgage rates have doubled in the past year to 5.5%. Sales of existing homes have fallen for five straight months. On Tuesday, the government is expected to report that sales of new homes dropped in June.

Fewer home sales also means less spending on items that typically come with purchasing a new house, such as furniture, appliances, curtains, and kitchenware.

Many other countries are also grappling with higher inflation, and slower growth overseas could weaken the U.S. economy. Europe is facing the threat of recession, with soaring inflation and a central bank that just last week raised interest rates for the first time in 11 years.

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde also sought to minimize recession concerns in an news conference last Thursday.

"Under the baseline scenario, there is no recession, neither this year nor next year," Lagarde said. "Is the horizon clouded? Of course it is."

WASHINGTON (AP) — With inflation raging near its highest level in four decades, Congress is poised to approve President Joe Biden's signature Inflation Reduction Act. Its title raises a tantalizing question: Will the measure actually tame the price spikes that have inflicted hardships on American households?

Economic analyses of the proposal suggest that the answer is likely no — not anytime soon, anyway.

The legislation, which is headed for final approval Friday in the House and will then be signed into law, won't directly address some of the main drivers of surging prices — from gas and food to rents and restaurant meals.

Still, the bill could save money for some Americans by lessening the cost of prescription drugs for the elderly, extending health insurance subsidies and reducing energy prices. It would also modestly cut the government's budget deficit, which might slightly lower inflation by the end of this decade.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office concluded last week that the changes would have a "negligible" impact on inflation this year and next. And the University of Pennsylvania's Penn Wharton Budget Model concluded that, over the next decade, "the impact on inflation is statistically indistinguishable from zero."

Such forecasts also undercut the arguments that some Republicans, such as House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy have made, that the bill would "cause inflation," as McCarthy said in a speech on the House floor last month.

Biden himself, in speaking of the legislation's effect on inflation, has cautiously referred to potentially lower prices in individual categories rather than to lower inflation as a whole. This week, the president said the bill would "bring down the cost of prescription drugs, health insurance premiums and energy costs."

At the same time, the White House has trumpeted a letter signed by more than 120 economists, including several Novel Prize winners and former Treasury secretaries, that asserts that the bill's reduction in the government's budget deficit — by an estimated $300 billion over the next decade, according to the CBO — would put "downward pressure on inflation."

In theory, lower deficits can reduce inflation. That's because lower government spending or higher taxes, which help shrink the deficit, reduce demand in the economy, thereby easing pressure on companies to raise prices.

Jason Furman, a Harvard economist who served as a top economic adviser in the Obama administration, wrote in an opinion column for The Wall Street Journal: "Deficit reduction is almost always inflation-reducing."

Yet Douglas Holtz-Eakin, who was a top economic adviser to President George W. Bush and later a director of the CBO, noted that the lower deficits won't kick in until five years from now and won't be very large over the next decade considering the size of the economy.

"$30 billion a year in a $21 trillion economy isn't going to move the needle," Holtz-Eakin said, referring to the estimated amount of deficit reduction spread over 10 years.

He also noted that Congress has recently passed other legislation to subsidize semiconductor production in the U.S. and expand veterans' health care, and suggested that those laws will spend more than the Inflation Reduction Act will save.

In addition, Kent Smetters, director of the Penn Wharton Budget Model, said the bill's health care subsidies could send inflation up. The legislation would spend $70 billion over a decade to extend tax credits to help 13 million Americans pay for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act.

Those subsidies would free up money for recipients to spend elsewhere, potentially increasing inflation, although Smetters said he thought the effect would likely be very small.

While the bill could have the benefit of increasing the savings of millions of households on pharmaceutical and energy costs, it's unlikely to have much effect on overall inflation. Prescription drugs account for only 1% of the spending in the U.S. consumer price index; spending on electricity and natural gas makes up just 3.6%.

Starting in 2025, the act will cap the amount Medicare recipients would pay for their prescription drugs at $2,000 a year. It will authorize Medicare to negotiate the cost of some high-priced pharmaceuticals — a long-sought goal that President Donald Trump had also floated. It would also limit Medicare recipients' out-of-pocket costs for insulin at $35 a month. Insulin prescriptions averaged $54 in 2020, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

"This is a historic change," said Leigh Purvis, director of health care costs at the AARP Public Policy Institute. "This is allowing Medicare to protect beneficiaries from high drug prices in a way that was not there before."

A study by Kaiser found that in 2019, 1.2 million Medicare recipients spent an average of $3,216 on drug prescriptions. Purvis said recipients who use the most expensive drugs can spend as much as $10,000 or $15,000 a year.

The legislation authorizes Medicare to negotiate prices of 10 expensive pharmaceuticals, starting next year, though the results won't take effect until 2026. Up to 60 drugs could be subject to negotiation by 2029.

Holtz-Eakin argued that while the provision may lower the cost of some Medicare drugs, it would discourage the development of new drugs or reduce new venture capital investment in start-up pharmaceutical companies.

The Inflation Reduction Act's energy provisions could also create savings, though the amounts are likely to be much smaller.

The bill will provide a $7,500 tax credit for new purchases of electric vehicles, though most EVs won't qualify because the legislation requires them to include batteries with U.S. materials.

And the legislation also significantly expands a tax credit for homeowners who invest in energy-efficient equipment, from a one-time $500 credit to $1,200 that a homeowner could claim each year. Vincent Barnes, senior vice president for policy at the Alliance to Save Energy, said this would allow homeowners to make new energy-efficient investments over several years.

But for all Americans, including those who aren't homeowners, the impact will likely be limited. The Rhodium Group estimates that by 2030 the bill's provisions will save households an average of up to $112 a year as gas and electricity becomes cheaper as more Americans drive EVs and houses become more energy- efficient.

An alarming trend is emerging in south Florida where officials are seeing a rising number of migrants, primarily Haitians and Cubans, journeying to U.S. shores on makeshift boats.U.S. Coast Guard crews have intercepted more than 6,000 Cubans since last October, according to the agency, the most in a fiscal year since the 1990s."We've seen this before. It's a natural phenomenon. However, seeing the uptick for us is really concerning and the fact that we're seeing more individuals on not-so-seaworthy vessels, putting a significant amount of those individuals at very dangerous risk for loss of life," said Walter Slosar, chief patrol agent of the Miami Sector.For years, Cubans have been fleeing the island, but recent unrest, persecution, and shortages of basic goods have pushed more to leave."Individuals have come to us with stories of persecution from the local government for their inability to participate in certain events, for not agreeing with local and communist policy of the island. It's not just them but also many stories of family members, friends that have been apprehended, detained for minor, non-criminal offenses," said David Claros, director of Immigration Legal Services Southeast Region at Church World Service, adding that he's hiring additional staff to meet the demand.Patrols here are complicated by the varying terrain, requiring coordination among agencies on land, air, and sea. CNN recently embedded with U.S. Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations, the U.S. Border Patrol, and Coast Guard.The agencies will work together to identify and interdict migrants so they may be repatriated. If they make landfall, however, they're brought into Border Patrol custody.While the Coast Guard tries to intercept migrants before they make it to the US coast, thousands have made it to shore. So far this fiscal year, border authorities arrested nearly 3,600 in the Miami Sector, which covers more than 1,200 miles of Florida's coast, up from just over 1,000 last year.Authorities encounter a wide array of vessels out at sea and on shore, ranging from surfboards tied together and boats with limited provisions and no navigation system for what is often a days-long journey. Just an hour into a Coast Guard patrol, crew members spotted a makeshift vessel at sea with roughly eight people.And it's not just Cubans. Officials are also grappling with an increasing number of Haitian migrants journeying by sea. The Coast Guard has responded to incidents of large sail freighters carrying dozens, if not hundreds of, Haitian migrants, putting those on board at great risk."The conditions on board were horrible," said Mark Lamphere, a Coast Guard marine interdiction agent, recalling a vessel that arrived at the Florida coast this year."There were reports of injured people in the hull, so I had to jump down in there and it was just obvious standing room only," he said. Two hundred of them packed in there and they would defecate and urinate right where they're standing."Slosar acknowledged the demand on resources to address the new trends."We're all working with finite resources, and as we encounter these individuals, you don't know who's on that boat. It is our mission to understand who is coming into the country. It takes our agents time to bring them into our custody, make sure that they're healthy and that they're clean and that they're fed and they're safe and then identify exactly who they are," he said.

PORTLAND, Ore. —

President Joe Biden on Saturday called embattled British Prime Minister Liz Truss' abandoned tax cut plan a “mistake,” and said he is worried that other nations' fiscal policies may hurt the U.S. amid “worldwide inflation."

Biden said it was “predictable” that the new prime minister on Friday was forced to walk back plans to aggressively cut taxes without identifying cost savings, after Truss' proposal caused turmoil in global financial markets. It marked an unusual criticism by a U.S. president of the domestic policy decisions of one of its closest allies.

“I wasn’t the only one that thought it was a mistake," Biden said. "I disagree with the policy, but that’s up to Great Britain.”

Biden's comments came after weeks of White House officials declining to criticize Truss' plans, though they emphasized they were monitoring the economic fallout closely. He was speaking to reporters at an Oregon ice cream shop where he made an unannounced stop to promote the candidacy of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tina Kotek, as Democrats across the country face a tough political environment amid GOP criticism of their handling of the economy.

Biden said he was not concerned about the strength of the dollar — it set a new record against the British Pound in recent weeks — which benefits U.S. imports but makes the country's exports more expensive to the rest of the world.

The president said the U.S. economy "is strong as hell.”

“I’m concerned about the rest of the world,” he added. “The problem is the lack of economic growth and sound policy in other countries."

Said Biden: “It's worldwide inflation, that's consequential.”

File video above: U.S. preps for rising migration when Title 42 ends

A federal judge on Tuesday blocked Title 42 — a controversial rule that's allowed U.S. authorities to expel more than 1 million migrants who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border.

Tuesday's court order leaves the Biden administration without one of the key tools it had deployed to address the thousands of migrants arriving at the border on a daily basis and could restore access to asylum for arriving migrants.

While the rule was drafted by the Trump administration during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Biden administration has relied heavily on it to manage the increase of migrants at the border.

District Judge Emmet Sullivan in Washington, D.C., found the Title 42 order to be "arbitrary and capricious in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act."

Prior to Title 42, all migrants arrested at the border were processed under immigration law. Thousands of migrants sent back to Mexico have been waiting along the border in shelters. Officials have previously raised concerns about what the end of Title 42 may portend, given limited resources and a high number of people trying to enter the country.

CNN has reached out to the White House, Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security for comment.

Sullivan faulted the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which issued the public health order, for "its decision to ignore the harm that could be caused" by issuing the policy. He said the CDC also failed to consider alternative approaches, such as letting migrants self-quarantine in homes of US-based friends, family, or shelters. The agency, he said, should have reexamined its approach when vaccines and tests became widely available.

"With regard to whether defendants could have 'ramped up vaccinations, outdoor processing, and all other available public health measures,'... the court finds the CDC failed to articulate a satisfactory explanation for why such measures were not feasible," Sullivan wrote.

The judge also concluded that the policy did not rationally serve its purpose, given that COVID-19 was already widespread throughout the United States when the policy was rolled out.

"Title 42 was never about public health, and this ruling finally ends the charade of using Title 42 to bar desperate asylum seekers from even getting a hearing," American Civil Liberties Union attorney Lee Gelernt, who argued the case, said in a statement.

The injunction request came from the ACLU, along with other immigrant advocacy groups, and involves all demographics, including single adults and families. Unaccompanied children were already exempt from the order.

The public health authority was invoked at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic and has been criticized by immigrant advocates, attorneys and health experts who argue it has no health basis and puts migrants in harm's way.

Sullivan had previously blocked the Biden administration from expelling migrant families with children apprehended at the US-Mexico border.

Earlier this year, the CDC announced plans to terminate the order. The CDC said at the time it's no longer necessary given current public health conditions and the increased availability of vaccines and treatments for COVID-19.

But in May, a federal judge in Louisiana blocked the Biden administration from ending Title 42.

Since that court order, the administration has continued to rely on Title 42 and most recently, expanding it to include Venezuelan migrants who have arrived at the US southern border in large numbers.

A hard-fought World Cup game between USA and England ended in a 0-0 draw.

The two teams combined for about 20 shots on goal Friday in Qatar.

One of the best opportunities for the U.S. to take the lead came in the first half when Christian Pulisic's shot hit the crossbar.

England had a chance to win the game in the closing minutes of the game. Harry Kane's header went just wide of the goal in the 93rd minute.

This was the first scoreless draw for the U.S. in World Cup history.

"We're proud, but our work's not done," said Gregg Berhalter, head coach of the U.S. men's national team.

The U.S. will now need to win on Tuesday against Iran to move out of Group B and into the elimination round.

Iran beat Wales earlier in the day, 2-0.

President Joe Biden, after returning this week to a politically reshaped Washington, will join top Republican officials to herald his infrastructure law as he seeks out bipartisan cooperation in a new era of divided government.

Wednesday's event in Kentucky, which will include Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, is meant to underscore the importance of the massive public works package Biden signed into law in 2021. The area, across the Ohio state line from Cincinnati, is home to the Brent Spence Bridge -- long an illustration of the nation's crumbling infrastructure that is due to receive funding from the law for repairs.

For Biden, however, perhaps more important than the law itself will be the show of cooperation between Republicans and Democrats as he looks ahead to a contentious second half of his term and the likely start of a reelection bid.

As he wound down his winter vacation here on Sunday, the president voiced optimism for the coming year.

"Good year next year," he said as he departed Mass at a local Catholic church, giving a thumbs up. "Looking forward to it."

It was a characteristically optimistic outlook for the president, who enters 2023 having defied projections of a midterm wipeout but still facing a new political reality in Congress.

As Republicans prepare to assume control of the U.S. House of Representatives, Biden is hoping to demonstrate his willingness to work across the aisle, even as GOP lawmakers threaten to stymie his legislative ambitions and barrage the White House with oversight investigations.

The president and his team hope the comparison will prove advantageous as Americans look to Washington for steps to ease economic hardships. Over the coming weeks, Biden is expected to reiterate his bipartisan achievements in stops around the country as the Republican majority begins its work, culminating in his yearly State of the Union address.

At his stop along the Ohio-Kentucky border on Wednesday, he'll also be joined by Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine, along with two Democrats: Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio.

A number of Cabinet officials also plan to travel later this week to promote the infrastructure law. Vice President Kamala Harris will stop in Chicago and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg will visit New London, Connecticut. They will "discuss how the President's economic plan is rebuilding our infrastructure, creating good-paying jobs -- jobs that don't require a four-year degree, and revitalizing communities left behind," a White House official said.

Biden has spent much of his tenure so far in pursuit of bipartisan legislation, finding success in the infrastructure package along with measures bolstering the U.S. microchip industry, providing funding for Ukraine and guaranteeing health coverage for veterans exposed to toxic burn pits.

Hope among Democrats at finding areas of agreement with the Republican Congress has been slim, though on certain areas -- including China and, to a certain extent, Ukraine -- they have been guardedly optimistic.

In other areas, including spending bills and the looming debt ceiling deadline, aides in both parties are bracing for high-stakes standoffs.

Yet at Biden's direction, White House officials have quietly engaged in early-stage preparations for the new reality on Capitol Hill, homing in on two key groups as they search for issues that can draw bipartisan support: moderate Republicans with a proven track record of working across the aisle and the incoming class of freshmen Republicans who flipped districts Biden won two years earlier.

Those lawmakers will make up the core of any White House effort to secure the bipartisan wins that officials said Biden is interested in pursuing in the two years ahead. They will also be key to any White House hopes of scuttling Republican bills in the House and attempts to squeeze House GOP leadership on key issues.

White House officials are also closely watching the race among Republicans to elect a new House speaker. Rep. Kevin McCarthy, had long been expected to be elevated to the role, but he remains locked in an intraparty battle to consolidate support. Biden spoke to McCarthy by phone shortly after the midterm election and the California Republican was one of four leaders to meet with Biden at the White House a few weeks later.

McCarthy, after the meeting, told reporters he "can work with anyone," but noted the new Republican majority in the House clinched in the midterms signaled that "America likes a check and balance."

Looming over the president's efforts at working with Republicans will be his decision on mounting a reelection bid for the White House. Biden has stated repeatedly he intends to run again but said before his vacation this week to the U.S. Virgin Islands he would consult with family members over the holidays.

As he finalizes his decision, work has been underway to build a campaign to be ready when the president announces his intentions. Many Democrats close to Biden say they are convinced he will run again, and there appears to be little dissent within his family.

There was little public evidence of intensive family discussions this week on St. Croix. Biden left his rental home on the eastern end of the island to golf, eat dinner, go to church and tape an appearance on Ryan Seacrest's New Year's Eve broadcast, but otherwise remained out of view. After much local speculation, he and his family decided to forgo a sunrise hike on New Year's Day to Point Udall -- billed as the easternmost point in the United States.

Instead, Biden appeared to have spent the week in intensive relaxation with his wife, children and grandchildren, perhaps lightly peppered with a few conversations about the year ahead.

As he was departing dinner just past 9 p.m. one evening, he was asked whether he'd discussed his 2024 plans with his family.

"There's an election coming up?" he asked, smiling. "I didn't know that."

Four U.S. troops were wounded in a raid that left an ISIS leader dead, according to CENTCOM spokesperson Col. Joe Buccino.

Hamza al-Homsi was the target of the raid. Military officials said he oversaw the group's terrorist network in eastern Syria.

Buccino said the four troops and a working dog were wounded when al-Homsi triggered an explosion during the raid.

No other ISIS fighters were killed or captured in Thursday night's raid, Buccino said. However, he noted that a separate raid on the same night resulted in the death of an ISIS assassination cell leader.

No civilians were injured in the operation, according to Buccino.

The U.S. has about 900 troops in northeast Syria. They are operating in areas controlled by Syrian Kurdish forces.

MOSCOW, Russia —

The United States rejected "ludicrous" accusations from Russia that it was behind an alleged drone attack on the Kremlin as Moscow's deputy foreign minister warned the two powers are on the precipice of an "open-armed conflict."

Relations between the U.S. and Russia are at their lowest point since the Cold War, but in the aftermath of Wednesday's purported drone attack on the Kremlin — the official residence of the Russian president — Moscow has dramatically dialed up its rhetoric.

When asked by CNN if Moscow believed the U.S. was behind the attack, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said: "Undoubtedly, such decisions, the definition of goals, the definition of means — all this is dictated to Kyiv from Washington."

"We are well aware that decisions on such actions and such terrorist attacks are not made in Kyiv, but in Washington. And Kyiv is already executing what it is told to do," Peskov said.

Peskov did not provide any evidence to his claims, nor additional details regarding the alleged attack, saying that information would be released later.

Earlier this week, Russia claimed Ukraine launched a drone strike targeting the Kremlin in an attempt to assassinate Russian President Vladimir Putin, calling it a "planned terrorist attack." Ukraine has strongly denied any involvement.

John Kirby, the U.S. National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, denied Russia's "ludicrous" claim the U.S. directed Ukraine to carry out the alleged attack and kill Putin, and accused the president's spokesperson of lying.

"I would just tell you Mr. Peskov's lying. I mean, it's obviously a ludicrous claim. The United States had nothing to do with this. We don't even know what happened here," said Kirby.

"But I can assure you the United States had no role in it whatsoever."

Video below: “The main battles are coming soon," Ukraine's president says

The White House still has no indication who was behind the drone attack and Kirby said the U.S. does not "endorse, we do not encourage, we do not support attacks on individual leaders."

Russia doubled down on its bellicose rhetoric later Thursday when Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told local media that relations between the U.S. and Russia are on the verge of an "open-armed conflict."

"We are working to prevent relations with the U.S. from plunging into the abyss of an open armed conflict. We are already standing on the edge, on the edge of this precipice," Ryabkov told Russia's Channel One Thursday, according to state media agency TASS.

Ryabkov also accused U.S. officials of trying to "promote the idea of Washington's non-involvement" in the purported drone attack, TASS reported.

"Washington has long been a direct party to the Ukrainian conflict and aims to destroy sovereign Russia," he said, according to TASS.

CNN has reached out to the U.S. State Department and the White House for comment on Ryabkov's remarks.

Earlier Thursday, Kirby said since the start of Russia's war in Ukraine, Moscow has been "trying to paint this war as some sort of fight with the West against Russia, NATO against Russia, the United States against Russia."

"And, of course, it's not; Russia is the aggressor here," he said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday that Wednesday's purported drone attack on the Kremlin was a "hostile act" and that his government would respond with "concrete actions."

"It was clearly a hostile act," Lavrov said at a press conference in India. "We will not respond by talking about whether it was an incident or not, but we will respond with concrete actions. We have a lot of patience."

Worst attack in years

The escalating war of words comes as Russia launched its most forceful air bombardment on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv in a year, the Kyiv City Military Administration said Thursday.

All Russian missiles and drones "were destroyed in Kyiv airspace" by Ukrainian air defense forces on Thursday, avoiding civilian casualties and damage to infrastructure, the capital's military chief said.

Meanwhile in the southern port city of Kherson, Russian shelling of the city and its surrounding villages killed at least 23 people, the regional military chief said Thursday. Moscow struck Kherson at least 16 times, firing over 80 shells at Pryvokzalna Square, a railway station and crossing, a gas station, two stores, a factory and a car repair shop, the regional military administration said.

And in southeastern Zaporizhzhia, concerns have once again been raised about the safety of a Ukrainian nuclear power plant that is currently under Russia's control.

On Wednesday, Ukraine's State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate accused Russia of placing weapons, explosives and military equipment in one of the power plant's units. The Inspectorate said it received the information during its weekly meeting with International Atomic Energy Agency representatives a day earlier.

Vladimir Rogov, a member of the Russian-appointed military-civilian administration in occupied Zaporizhzhia, called the claims "a lie," adding that, "we do not use the nuclear power plant as a military facility."

The photos look like a scene out of science fiction: Robot dogs patrolling the U.S.-Mexico border, climbing over harsh terrain to search for threats and contraband.

But these images are real.

The Department of Homeland Security recently released them as it revealed details about how it's testing the technology.

Officials praised the robots' potential as a "force multiplier" that could boost Border Patrol agents' safety by reducing their exposure to life-threatening hazards. An article touting the tests on the DHS Science and Technology Directorate's website notes that someday the dogs, officially known as Automated Ground Surveillance Vehicles, could become "a CBP agent or officer's best friend."

"Don't be surprised," it says, "if in the future we see robot 'Fido' out in the field, walking side-by-side with CBP personnel."

But the details about the testing did seem to catch some people by surprise, sparking a flurry of reactions on social media comparing the images to dystopian scenes from sci-fi shows like "Black Mirror."

"This really felt like a slap in the face," says Vicki Gaubeca, director of the Southern Border Communities Coalition, an umbrella group that slams the initiative as an "alarming and outrageous" waste of taxpayer money that would be better spent developing systems to hold Border Patrol agents accountable.

Gaubeca describes herself as a lover of technology and dogs (she has five). But she says she sees nothing cute in the government's recent descriptions of robot dogs lending a "helping paw." For years her organization has warned that militarization along the border puts communities and migrants at risk. And this, she says, is just the latest troubling example.

"There are other technologies that they're already using that we feel like they should cut back on, and yet they're adding on another type of surveillance technology that's frightening, to be honest," Gaubeca says. "This certainly seems like it's something that's built for something very aggressive, like the theaters of war, rather than in a community."

Ghost Robotics, the Philadelphia-based company that makes the robots DHS teams have been testing, says there's nothing to be afraid of.

"We're focused on doing the right thing. We want to do the right thing for the national security and for the country," CEO Jiren Parikh says.

A Department of Homeland Security spokesman says the project remains in the research and development phase, with no timetable for the dogs' deployment.

In the meantime, there are plenty of serious issues this technology is bringing to the surface.

There's a difference between science fiction and reality

Sometimes cute and sometimes creepy, robot dogs have been captivating Americans' imaginations for decades, long before videos of Boston Dynamics' four-legged robots dancing to Motown and BTS started going viral.

They've been symbols of futuristic innovation -- and ominous harbingers of what could happen if technology falls into the wrong hands.

In 1940, Westinghouse displayed a 60-pound aluminum-skinned dog at the World's Fair named Sparko that could walk, bark and sit. In the 1960s, the Jetsons' futuristic cartoon family briefly adopted a nuclear-powered electronic dog, Lectronimo, before deciding to donate him to the police department.

Menacing mechanical hounds hunted down fugitives in Ray Bradbury's dystopian 1953 novel "Fahrenheit 451." In 2017, an episode of "Black Mirror" featured terrifying robot guard dogs who chase and kill people.

But Parikh, Ghost Robotics' CEO, says there's a big gap between the way robot dogs are portrayed in science fiction -- and sometimes skewered on social media -- and the reality of the technology.

"It's a battery-operated computer that moves around on four legs that literally stops operating in four hours. There's no way they're going to be taking over anything," he says.

And, he notes, "it's a robot that's remotely controlled by a human in the middle."

But still, Parikh says his company's robots do provide a number of advantages in border zones. U.S. Customs and Border Protection is patrolling a huge geographic area, he notes, often under harsh conditions.

"This is a good way of technology adding value," he says, "filling in the holes."

During testing of the 100-pound robots, different types of cameras and sensors were mounted on them, transmitting real-time data to humans operating them via laptop or hand-held remote, DHS said.

Teams first tested them on asphalt, grass and hills in Lorton, Virginia, then tested them in more realistic scenarios in El Paso, Texas, where they walked up hills, down ravines and over rocks. The El Paso testing simulated sentry duty and inspections. And exercises also included maneuvers in tight spaces, high heat and low-oxygen conditions, "situations that are especially dangerous for CBP agents and officers," DHS said.

DHS Science & Technology program manager Brenda Long describes the dogs as a "great fit," given CBP's broad mission and the many risks its personnel face.

"The southern border can be an inhospitable place for man and beast, and that is exactly why a machine may excel there," she said in the department's press release.

Advocates at the border say they already felt under siege

Community advocates at the border have long accused the U.S. government of militarizing the region and using excessive surveillance. And the announcement of the robot dog testing doesn't help matters, Gaubeca says

"Border communities already feel over-surveilled, over-militarized, and yet they trot out this new technology and boast about it at a time when families are worried about how to get food on their tables and inflation," she says. "And it completely disregards the border communities as a community. It's like they fail to acknowledge that we're human beings on both sides."

For Gaubeca, it boils down to how resources are allocated.

"It's a use of technology that creates more problems and doesn't solve what we see as being the issue, which is how do we make this agency accountable, and how do we create a more humanitarian and efficient system at the border?" she says. "They should spend the money on something that is more humanitarian and effective, rather than intimidating."

The Biden administration has said it wants to create a more efficient, humane, orderly system at the border, but "this completely contradicts that sentiment," she says.

Ghost Robotics has partnered with the U.S. Defense Department in the past. And Parikh noted he'd just gotten off the phone with Ukraine's defense ministry before speaking with CNN this week. But he said the robot dogs on the U.S. border aren't part of a military effort -- and any suggestion that they are is silly.

"It's just another sensor carrier. It's really at a distance.... It's really for sensing around the environment. It's not really interacting with people. That's not what it's made for. There's no weapons on it," he says. "It's not being militarized for the border. It's not stopping people, saying 'don't go here.' It can't do that. It's a small robot."

The technology, he says, is designed to keep people safe. But could it ever be used against migrants at the border?

"That's not even come up ever," Parikh says. "It's not even a remote use case that's ever discussed or talked about."

People can't even agree about "a basic physical wall that's made of concrete and metal," he says.

"Do we really think we're going to start weaponizing robots? It's silly to do that. I don't think that's in the DNA of America either," Parikh says. "We live in a country that has so many rules and regulatory requirements in place that things like this are just remote and virtually impossible without the say of the populace."

Parikh says Ghost Robotics regularly works with legislators as well as government agencies.

"This is not done in a vacuum .... It has to go through processes and rules. Everything we do, everything, gets questioned. Everyone has the ability to question what we're doing."

This isn't just about the border

When Greg Nojeim heard about the robot dogs, his mind filled with questions. Chief among them: Has anyone studied their impact on privacy?

"The border has become a testing ground for new and intrusive surveillance technology," says Nojeim, co-director of the security and surveillance project at the Center for Democracy and Technology.

And in many cases, he says, the law hasn't caught up with the developing technology.

"Once the platform becomes accepted, believe me, new uses will be developed. It's inevitable. And I don't think we're ready as a society to say, this use is permissible, this is not. I don't think that legislatures are ready to say this is permissible, this use is not. ... I'm concerned that the technology is getting ahead of the law."

He says when that happens, civil liberties suffer. And that, he says, should matter to everyone, whether you live near the border or not.

As a recent Los Angeles Times opinion column noted, surveillance technologies that start out at the border often make their way into other parts of the country.

Facial recognition technology is one recent example, Nojeim says.

"That technology has now spread to some police departments, and people are finding that it doesn't identify people as well as it could, and that people of color are being misidentified at alarming rates," he says.

If robot dogs start patrolling the border, Nojeim says, it's only a matter of time before they could show up in your community, too.

A senior defense official says President Joe Biden has approved the deployment of 3,000 more U.S. troops to Poland.

They will join 1,700 other members of the 82nd Airborne Division who have been heading to Poland in recent days. Combined, the 4,700 soldiers comprise an infantry brigade intended to reassure fellow NATO member Poland of a U.S. defense commitment amid the crisis in neighboring Ukraine.

As CNN reported, a person familiar with the plan said that President Biden will speak with Russia's Vladimir Putin on Saturday. National security adviser Jake Sullivan said the two leaders will speak by phone.

The additional U.S. troop deployment comes as the White House warns that Russian President Vladimir Putin could launch an invasion of Ukraine any day now.

Earlier on Friday President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, warned all American citizens in Ukraine to leave the country as soon as they can. Sullivan issued the public warning saying Russia's President Vladimir Putin could instruct his troops to invade Ukraine at any time.

The announcement that the U.S. would be sending thousands of additional troops came just after that public warning to American citizens.

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next year's winter olympics will be without some of hockey's most talented players in the NHL and its players association have agreed to not participate in the men's hockey tournament at the Beijing olympics next year. And it's because of the league being forced to recently postpone some of its games Because of a rise in COVID-19 cases among players in the league here. Now to discuss more on what this could mean for the Winter Olympics and the sport of hockey as a whole. Sports reporter for the Washington Post, Samantha Pell Samantha, thank you so much for joining us. Can you offer a little bit more detail about why the NHL and its players association decided not to participate in the Olympics next year. Yeah, absolutely. You know, bottom line, it was because of the spike of coronavirus cases. And the basically led to 50 postponed games. Now these 50 postponed games were what the league determined material materially impact of the season so much that they could not finish this season on time if their players did go to the Olympics. So basically the NHL and the players association already agreed when they did their CB a 17 months ago that if the schedule was going to be material impacted, if there was going to have, you know, a high enough number of games to be postponed and these players would not be allowed to go to the olympics and the league announced this week. That's exactly what was going to happen. And even individual players cannot go to the olympics. They cannot go rogue. They have to agree to their contracts and honor that contract and not go to the olympics this year. So you mentioned this kind of the solution to keep the season going on pace because of COVID-19 in this pandemic. How will it impact the season as far as we know? Um, and maybe potentially in future seasons, definitely at least for this season, there's gonna be no more even a three week break for the NHL, they're gonna have to use these games from february 6 to the 22nd. They were supposed to be off days. The NHL is now going to have to reschedule all of these postponed games during that time. And honestly, it's gonna be a bit of a scheduling nightmare for the NHL in the league. Just trying to figure out buildings and teams and how everyone is going to be able to play each other in a certain amount of time while still giving players a bit of a break that they do deserve. So it's gonna be really challenging, at least for this season to get through it. Who knows if the NHL is out of the woods with Covid yet as well. But as of right now, they're on a slight break. They hope to start again on monday. Yeah. And, you know, a really big challenge for the olympics. We know hockey one of the biggest sports when it comes to the winter games. How do you think this will impact the event? I mean, the NHL did not participate in the 2018 winter olympics. So we've already kind of seen the competition in the level of skill that can happen in olympics without NHL players. Clearly the NHL has some of, you know, the world's best hockey players who play at the biggest stage. So you won't have guys like Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby and some of the bright young stars like Conor, McDavid or Austin Matthews, so Obviously these names will be greatly missed, but we did see this in 2018, we still had a great showcase as well as the women's hockey tournament too. Yeah, as you're mentioning that, I think follow up, what do you think it means for lesser known players? Um having a chance maybe to play on the world's biggest stage during one of the most iconic events in a professional's career? I mean, yeah, I mean, that has to be a dream come true for a lot of these guys, right, You know, you think of the Ovechkin's and the Crosby's who have maybe kind of been there before and it's a once in a lifetime opportunity for even the NHL stars and now you're going to get guys who are in college who were playing in the Euro League, who are playing the HL the american hockey league, who we weren't going to get their shot at the olympics and now, here we go, it looks like the stage is set for them to go ahead and you know, kind of achieve those dreams that maybe they never thought they'd get a chance to have. Yeah. And you mentioned that this isn't something new for the NHL but have there been times in the past that you can kind of highlight in olympic history where amateur players or non pros really got their chance to shine and what those olympic games were like. I mean the first thing that comes to mind honestly is miracle on ice and that amazing. You know, US hockey team that came out all college players and the way that they you know, really defined history from that point moving forward and I think when you go to another sport like you know in basketball, the NBA had extreme team in 1992 that was the first time that pros were able to participate for basketball. So You know obviously there have been moments but definitely in hockey of the miracle on ice and just recently in 2018 is probably the main ones that everyone pretty much talks about. Yeah. And Samantha, before we let you go, also want to ask you, do you foresee that we could see this trend moving beyond just hockey and maybe into other sports for the winter olympics. Yeah. I think it's definitely interesting. I think for a lot of other sports it has to be just the concern about the coronavirus. I think with the NHL was so particular because you know, they're playing at this current time and you're trying to ask athletes to go away from their own professional seasons and go and play in the olympics and with these other sports, I feel like it's going to be more about the health and safety and if they want to go and kind of the logistics of everything. So I definitely think it could happen. I definitely think, you know, players could opt out as we've seen in the past. So I think that's definitely something to look forward to or I guess look at moving forward. Alright, Samantha Powell, sports reporter for the Washington Post. So good to have you on. Thank you so much for breaking that down for us.

The United States took all the questions about youth and inexperience and had all the answers against Canada.Andy Miele responded to Canada's early goal by tying it 70 seconds later, Brendan Brisson scored his second of the Olympics and the Americans beat their biggest rival 4-2 Saturday to put them in the driver's seat to earn a spot in the quarterfinals of the men's hockey tournament.Sean Farrell also set up Ben Meyers to give him three assists and six points and goaltender Strauss Mann made 35 saves to help the U.S. improve to 2-0 in the preliminary round. Beating Germany on Sunday would put the U.S. first in the group and could made it the top seed in the knockout round.The boom or bust potential of the youngest team in the tournament was on full display against Canada, a bigger, stronger and more experienced opponent. With Claude Julien back behind the bench two weeks after breaking his ribs in a sledding accident, the Canadians figured to use their size and physicality to wear down the smaller Americans over the course of 60 minutes.Instead, the U.S. — with 12 college players on the ice — went hit for hit with Canada and used a combination of offensive skill and bad opposing goaltending to take control of the game.Mann had his own dose of bad goaltending on Mat Robinson's goal for Canada 1:24 in, a shot from the boards 40 feet away that beat him clean. Mann settled in and only allowed Corban Knight's short-handed goal the rest of the way and was at his best during a late penalty kill that included 31 seconds of 5-on-3.Canada had barely been able to think about playing with the lead when Miele scored on a 2-on-1 rush at the 2:34 mark. Mann settled in and kept the score tied while Canada had 11 of the game's first 14 shots.The U.S. took over midway through the first and went ahead with 1:14 left in the period when Farrell set up Meyers for his second goal of the tournament. Farrell, a Montreal Canadiens prospect who plays at Harvard, has six points on three goals and three assists.In the midst of a lengthy shot drought for Canada, Pasquale gave the U.S. a gift early in the second period by flubbing the puck behind the net, and Brisson fired the puck into a wide-open net. Knight cut the U.S. lead to 3-2 before the second intermission, but a turnover by Canada defenseman Maxim Noreau set up Kenny Agostino to score another soft goal on Pasquale with 13:47 left in the third.Pasquale allowed four goals on 27 shots.The U.S. has certainly settled in at the Olympics after opening with an 8-0 rout of host China. That even includes North Dakota defenseman Jake Sanderson, who didn't look like he missed a step in his first game after arriving late Wednesday. Sanderson had been stuck in Los Angeles after testing positive for the coronavirus.The U.S. and Canada faced off at the Olympics for the first time since the semifinals at the 2014 Sochi Games, the last time NHL players participated. Canada won that game 1-0 on the way to a second consecutive gold medal.NOTES: Nick Shore replaced longtime Detroit Red Wings center Justin Abdelkader in the U.S. lineup after being a healthy scratch in the opener against China. ... Julien reassumed coaching duties from Jeremy Colliton.

BEIJING —

The United States took all the questions about youth and inexperience and had all the answers against Canada.

Andy Miele responded to Canada's early goal by tying it 70 seconds later, Brendan Brisson scored his second of the Olympics and the Americans beat their biggest rival 4-2 Saturday to put them in the driver's seat to earn a spot in the quarterfinals of the men's hockey tournament.

Sean Farrell also set up Ben Meyers to give him three assists and six points and goaltender Strauss Mann made 35 saves to help the U.S. improve to 2-0 in the preliminary round. Beating Germany on Sunday would put the U.S. first in the group and could made it the top seed in the knockout round.

The boom or bust potential of the youngest team in the tournament was on full display against Canada, a bigger, stronger and more experienced opponent. With Claude Julien back behind the bench two weeks after breaking his ribs in a sledding accident, the Canadians figured to use their size and physicality to wear down the smaller Americans over the course of 60 minutes.

Instead, the U.S. — with 12 college players on the ice — went hit for hit with Canada and used a combination of offensive skill and bad opposing goaltending to take control of the game.

Mann had his own dose of bad goaltending on Mat Robinson's goal for Canada 1:24 in, a shot from the boards 40 feet away that beat him clean. Mann settled in and only allowed Corban Knight's short-handed goal the rest of the way and was at his best during a late penalty kill that included 31 seconds of 5-on-3.

Canada had barely been able to think about playing with the lead when Miele scored on a 2-on-1 rush at the 2:34 mark. Mann settled in and kept the score tied while Canada had 11 of the game's first 14 shots.

The U.S. took over midway through the first and went ahead with 1:14 left in the period when Farrell set up Meyers for his second goal of the tournament. Farrell, a Montreal Canadiens prospect who plays at Harvard, has six points on three goals and three assists.

In the midst of a lengthy shot drought for Canada, Pasquale gave the U.S. a gift early in the second period by flubbing the puck behind the net, and Brisson fired the puck into a wide-open net. Knight cut the U.S. lead to 3-2 before the second intermission, but a turnover by Canada defenseman Maxim Noreau set up Kenny Agostino to score another soft goal on Pasquale with 13:47 left in the third.

Pasquale allowed four goals on 27 shots.

The U.S. has certainly settled in at the Olympics after opening with an 8-0 rout of host China. That even includes North Dakota defenseman Jake Sanderson, who didn't look like he missed a step in his first game after arriving late Wednesday. Sanderson had been stuck in Los Angeles after testing positive for the coronavirus.

The U.S. and Canada faced off at the Olympics for the first time since the semifinals at the 2014 Sochi Games, the last time NHL players participated. Canada won that game 1-0 on the way to a second consecutive gold medal.

NOTES: Nick Shore replaced longtime Detroit Red Wings center Justin Abdelkader in the U.S. lineup after being a healthy scratch in the opener against China. ... Julien reassumed coaching duties from Jeremy Colliton.