Players have voted to accept Major League Baseball’s latest offer for a new labor deal, paving the way to end a 99-day lockout and salvage a 162-game regular season.

The union’s executive board approved the agreement in a 26-12 vote, pending ratification by all players, a person familiar with the balloting said, speaking to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because no announcement was authorized.

MLB sent the players an offer Thursday and gave them until 3 p.m. to accept in order to play a full season. The union announced the player vote around 3:25 p.m. Owners had discussed the deal before MLB sent it to the players association.

The agreement will allow training camps to open this week in Florida and Arizona, more than three weeks after they were scheduled to on February 16. Opening day is being planned for April 7, a little more than a week behind the original date on March 31.

The deal will also set off a rapid-fire round of free agency. Carlos Correa, Freddie Freeman and Kris Bryant are among 139 big leaguers still without teams, including some who might benefit from the adoption of a universal designated hitter.

Talks aimed at ending the lockout had bogged down on the draft issue Wednesday, and baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred canceled 93 more games, raising the total to 184. He said opening day would be no earlier than April 14.

In MLB’s proposal for an international draft, teams would rotate picking in different quadrants of the first round over a four-year period. A slotting system would be installed similar to what the union agreed to starting in 2012 for the amateur draft covering residents of the U.S., Puerto Rico and Canada.

The international draft proposal includes hard slots that could not be negotiated by individuals. MLB estimates $17 million in additional spending for the drafted international players above the $166.3 million spent by the 30 teams in 2021, plus an additional $6 million on non-drafted players. The draft would start in 2024.

International players would lose the right to pick which team they sign with. The age for the draft would be in the year a player turns 16.

“The narrative being pushed also ignores a lot of history, including corruption from clubs,” Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor tweeted. “This issue is bigger than just Latin players or amateur players. It’s about all players and about the future of the game.”
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The trial of four men accused of conspiring to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2020 is under way in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys Thursday presented statements as the trial, which opened earlier in the week, continued.

The U.S. Justice Department charged Michigan residents Adam Fox, Barry Croft, Jr., Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta with conspiring to kidnap the Democratic governor in October of 2020.

Fox, Croft and Harris face additional charges of conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction including explosive devices, according to court documents. Croft and Harris also are accused of possessing destructive devices — counts added in a second indictment in April of 2021. All four have entered not guilty pleas.

Prosecutors maintain the men, upset about COVID-19 lockdowns and other restrictions, recruited right-wing militia members for the plot which included driving to the governor’s vacation home in northern Michigan to abduct her, tie her up, and blow up a bridge to elude police.

Star witnesses for the prosecution are Ty Garbin and Kaleb Franks, who were also charged and pleaded guilty to the conspiracy. They will testify for the government.

The defense maintains the men never had a plan to kidnap the governor but were entrapped by undercover FBI agents and informants who coerced the men into taking part while they were under the influence of marijuana.

During 2020 – the first year of the pandemic – Governor Whitmer carried on a high-profile “feud” with then-President Donald Trump, through public comments and social media – regarding his administration’s response to COVID-19. She became the target of protests by right-wing groups at the Michigan Capitol, who sometimes entered the statehouse legally bearing weapons.

Fox, Croft, and Harris each face up to life in prison if convicted of conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction. A total of 14 men were originally charged in the kidnapping plot.

Some information for this report was provided by the Associated Press and Reuters
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Propelled by surging costs for gas, food and housing, consumer inflation in the U.S. jumped 7.9% over the past year, the sharpest spike since 1982 and likely only a harbinger of even higher prices to come.

The increase reported Thursday by the Labor Department reflected the 12 months ending in February and didn’t include most of the oil and gas price increases that followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24. Since then, average gas prices nationally have jumped about 62 cents a gallon to $4.32, according to AAA.

Even before the war further accelerated price increases, robust consumer spending, solid pay raises and persistent supply shortages had sent U.S. consumer inflation to its highest level in four decades. What’s more, housing costs, which make up about a third of the government’s consumer price index, have risen sharply, a trend that’s unlikely to reverse anytime soon.

The government’s report Thursday also showed that inflation rose 0.8% from January to February, up from the 0.6% increase from December to January.

For most Americans, inflation is running far ahead of the pay raises that many have received in the past year, making it harder for them to afford necessities like food, gas and rent. As a consequence, inflation has become the top political threat to President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats as the midterm elections draw closer. Small business people say in surveys that it’s their primary economic concern, too.

Seeking to stem the inflation surge, the Federal Reserve is set to raise interest rates several times this year beginning with a modest hike next week. The Fed faces a delicate challenge, though: If it tightens credit too aggressively this year, it risks undercutting the economy and possibly triggering a recession.

Energy prices, which soared after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, jumped again this week after Biden said the United States would bar oil imports from Russia. Oil prices did retreat Wednesday on reports that the United Arab Emirates will urge fellow OPEC members to boost production. U.S. oil was down 12% to $108.70 a barrel, though still up sharply from about $90 before Russia’s invasion.

Yet energy markets have been so volatile that it’s impossible to know if the decline will stick. If Europe were to join the U.S. and the United Kingdom and bar Russian oil imports, analysts estimate that prices could soar as high as $160 a barrel.

The economic consequences of Russia’s war against Ukraine have upended a broad assumption among many economists and at the Fed: That inflation would begin to ease this spring because prices rose so much in March and April of 2021 that comparisons to a year ago would show declines.

Should gas prices remain near their current levels, Eric Winograd, senior economist at asset manager AllianceBernstein, estimates that inflation could reach as high as 9% in March or April.

The cost of wheat, corn, cooking oils and such metals as aluminum and nickel have also soared since the invasion. Ukraine and Russia are leading exporters of those commodities.

Even before Russia’s invasion, inflation was not only rising sharply but also broadening into additional sectors of the economy. Many prices have jumped over the past year because heavy demand has run into short supplies of items like autos, building materials and household goods.

But even for some services unaffected by the pandemic, like rents, costs are also surging at their fastest pace in decades. Steady job growth and high home prices are encouraging more people to move into apartments, elevating rental costs by the most in two decades. Apartment vacancy rates have reached their lowest level since 1984.

In the final three months of last year, wages and salaries jumped 4.5%, the sharpest such increase in at least 20 years. Those pay raises have, in turn, led many companies to raise prices to offset their higher labor costs.

Soaring energy costs pose a particularly difficult challenge for the Fed. Higher gas prices tend to both accelerate inflation and weaken economic growth. That’s because as their paychecks are eroded at the gas pump, consumers typically spend less in other ways.

That pattern is akin to the “stagflation” dynamic that made the economy of the 1970s miserable for many Americans. Most economists, though, say they think the U.S. economy is growing strongly enough that another recession is unlikely, even with higher inflation.
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Experts expect the alliance between the United States and South Korea to become tighter under President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol, who made campaign promises to align with Washington to create a united front against North Korean threats and Chinese aggression.

“The alliance relationship will tighten up” under a conservative Yoon government compared with how it was under the progressive Moon Jae-in government, said Ken Gause, director of the Adversary Analytics Program at CNA, a nonprofit research firm dedicated to the safety of the U.S.

Evans Revere, a former State Department official with extensive experience negotiating with North Korea, said, “Under President-elect Yoon’s [administration], the United States and South Korea are likely to find themselves on the same page more often than in the recent past on a range of issues including the best strategy for dealing with North Korea.”

Yoon, the candidate of the conservative People Power Party, won the election early Thursday morning in a tight race, gaining 48.6% of the vote against his opponent, Lee Jae-myung of the progressive Democratic Party, who had 47.8%. Yoon will serve a five-year term in Asia’s fourth-largest economy as the China-U.S. rivalry continues to grow regionally and globally.

The U.S. looks forward to working with South Korea under Yoon​’s leadership and strengthening its “ironclad” alliance with the country, the White House told VOA’s Korean Service Wednesday.

“We congratulate President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol,” said a White House spokesperson. ​”The alliance between the United States and the Republic of Korea, our economies and our people, is ironclad. President (Joe) Biden looks forward to working with the new administration to further expand our close cooperation.”

The 61-year-old Yoon will take over as the U.S. is trying to deal with major global challenges from North Korea, China, Russia and others that pose threats to liberal democratic order.

Alignment on North Korea policy

Under Yoon, ​Seoul’s policies on North Korea will align with Washington’s, making cooperation between the allies easier, experts said.

“The election of President Yoon will likely more closely align the ROK and the U.S., as there will be fewer tactical differences, particularly on North Korea,” said Robert Manning, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based think tank. South Korea’s official name is the Republic of Korea (ROK).

Gause said Washington and Seoul will demonstrate unity when dealing with Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile threats, applying pressure rather than seeking the engagement that the Moon government sought with Pyongyang.

“They’re going to show a very united front against North Korea,” said Gause. “We will see some fairly tough rhetoric coming out of the Blue House [under Yoon] about how [Seoul is] prepared” and “capable of deterring the North.” The Blue House in Seoul functions as the executive office and official residence of South Korea’s president, much as the White House does in the U.S.

Harry Kazianis, senior director of Korean Studies at the Center for the National Interest, a Washington-based public policy think tank, said he expects Yoon to “build out a strategy trying to take on Pyongyang from a position of strength — spending more on nuclear submarines,  aircraft carriers, and ballistic and cruise missiles — to negate advances Pyongyang has made in the last few years.”

While campaigning in February, Yoon called for a second “multilevel missile defense system that includes Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD).” China opposed the first deployment of THAAD from the U.S. to South Korea in 2017 for the purpose of defending against potential North Korean missile attacks. Beijing said it posed a threat to China, and it responded with economic retaliation.

Yoon also called for a U.S. security commitment to deter North Korea and said he wanted to launch preemptive strikes on North Korea if Pyongyang displayed signs of attacking.

Washington is likely to ​support Yoon’s efforts to advance Seoul’s military capabilities as President Joe Biden deals with Russian aggression in Ukraine, Kazianis said.

In an article published by Foreign Affairs in February, Yoon wrote, “A deeper alliance with Washington should be the central axis of Seoul’s foreign policy.”

In his article, Yoon criticized the Moon government’s policy toward North Korea. “A foreign policy tailored mostly to improve relations with North Korea has allowed Seoul’s role in the global community to shrink,” he wrote.

He continued: “Most importantly, the U.S.-South Korean alliance has drifted owing to differences between the two countries on North Korea policy.”

Yoon emphasized that Seoul under Moon had prioritized inter-Korean cooperation, while Washington had sought to deal with Pyongyang’s nuclear threats and human rights violations.

VOA’s Korean Service contacted the North Korean mission at the United Nations for a response to Yoon’s victory but did not receive a reply.

Expanding role

Experts also see Yoon’s government playing an expanded role in U.S.-led security alliances by cooperating with Washington’s efforts to improve Seoul’s frayed bilateral ties with Japan and the Biden administration’s multilateral efforts to counter an aggressive China in the Indo-Pacific.

Scott Snyder, director of the program on U.S.-Korea policy at the Council on Foreign Relations, said, “The Biden administration will welcome Yoon’s foreign policy emphasis and will look forward to strengthening South Korean contributions in the multilateral context of the Indo-Pacific and in the trilateral context of U.S.-Japan-South Korea relations.”

Yoon has been supportive of Seoul’s participation in the so-called QUAD security dialogue of the U.S., India, Japan and Australia. And during his campaign, he pledged to normalize ties with Tokyo.

Although South Korea under Yoon will try to foster constructive relations with China, the conservative’s presidential victory poses challenges to Beijing, Snyder said.

“Yoon’s election poses a challenge for China, in particular in terms of how Beijing positions itself in the face of stronger South Korean alignment with the United States and what tools it might use in response,” Snyder added.

When asked for Beijing’s response to Yoon’s election, Liu Pengyu, spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington, told VOA’s Korean Service that South Korea’s “election is an internal affair of the ROK and I have no comment on it.”

He continued: “China and the ROK are inseparable neighbors and partners for win-win cooperation. China is ready to work with the ROK to maintain high-level exchanges” and deepen cooperation, including in the areas of economy, trade and culture and “for greater development of bilateral relations.”

Journalist Eunjung Cho contributed to this report, which originated with VOA’s Korean Service. 
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A plane carrying former U.S. President Donald Trump made an emergency landing in New Orleans on Saturday evening after experiencing engine failure over the Gulf of Mexico, a source familiar with the matter confirmed on Wednesday.

The plane, a Dassault Falcon 900, had gone about 75 miles from a New Orleans airport before turning back to the city, the person said. Other passengers included Secret Service agents, support staff and some of Trump’s advisers.

A Trump representative did not immediately return a request for comment on the incident.

The plane was returning Trump to his home in Palm Beach, Florida, from a New Orleans hotel where he was speaking to Republican Party donors at a private event, the person said.

The plane belonged to a donor who loaned it to the former president for the evening, the source said, and Trump advisers secured another donor’s plane to take him back to Florida.

The incident was first reported on Wednesday by Politico and the Washington Post. 
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U.S. President Joe Biden says two U.S. citizens who were “wrongfully detained” by the Venezuelan government have been released, days after a delegation of senior U.S. officials visited the South American nation in an apparent effort to smooth relations between the two countries. 

In a statement posted to the White House website, Biden welcomed Gustavo Cardenas and Jorge Fernandez back home Tuesday following their release. 

The president said Cardenas, an executive with the U.S. branch of Venezuela’s state-run oil company, was arrested in 2017. Fernandez was arrested last year “on spurious charges.” Biden expressed his gratitude to Roger Carstens, U.S. special envoy for hostage affairs, and to “our entire diplomatic team for their tireless efforts to secure their release and reunite these families.” 

The release comes after Carstens joined National Security Council Senior Director for the Western Hemisphere Juan Gonzalez, and U.S. Ambassador to Venezuela James Story for talks Saturday with members of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s government. The meetings reportedly were designed to explore the possibility of easing U.S. sanctions against the major oil producer. 

The talks were the highest-level meetings between U.S. officials and the Maduro government since 2019 when former President Donald Trump’s administration broke off diplomatic relations with Venezuela, accusing Maduro of rigging the presidential reelection. The Trump administration also blocked all U.S. revenue to Venezuela’s national oil company. 

Sources with knowledge of the diplomatic talks Saturday said they had been in the works for months, as the Biden administration weighs easing sanctions as a bargaining chip for the release of U.S. citizens being held in Venezuela. But they say the talks took on new urgency with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 

At a news briefing earlier this week, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the trip was meant “to discuss a range of issues — including, certainly, energy security, but also to discuss the health and welfare of detained U.S. citizens.”  

Several other U.S. citizens remain detained in Venezuela. 

 
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