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National

President Biden reiterated prior warnings that the Kremlin could be "exploring options for potential cyberattacks" against the U.S. during a Monday address.

The big picture: The White House previously sounded the alarm regarding the possibility Russia may launch retaliatory cyberattacks in response to U.S. economic sanctions following its ongoing and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

Driving the news: Biden urged the private sector to "harden your cyber defenses immediately," according to a White House statement.

"You have the power, the capacity, and the responsibility to strengthen the cybersecurity and resilience of the critical services and technologies on which Americans rely," Biden said.

"It's not just your interests that are at stake," the president later added in remarks at a meeting with the Business Roundtable, which represents some of the largest U.S. corporations. "It is a national interest at stake. 

"I would respectfully suggest that it’s a patriotic obligation for you to invest as much as you can … to deal with cyberattacks."

Reality check: Last week, federal agencies convened more than 100 companies to brief them on potential cyber threats and provide hands-on support.

Top U.S. intelligence officials, however, suggested there's no current evidence yet of any specific Russian cyberattack. 

"Preparatory activity," such as scanning websites for vulnerabilities, has been observed, according to Anne Neuberger, the deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technology.

"That is what we shared in a classified context with companies we thought might be affected," Neuberger said. "And then we're lifting up a broader awareness here in this warning."

Editor's note: This post was updated with quotes from U.S. official Anne Neuberger. 

Biden warns Russia "exploring options" for cyberattacks

Biden has previously warned that the Russian government may pursue malicious cyber activity in response to U.S. economic sanctions.

Photo: NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP via Getty Images

Russian invasion of Ukraine

Joe Biden

Cybersecurity

2024 will be an election year like no other, as President Biden seeks re-election amid economic uncertainty, two wars and questions about his age. His likely foe, former President Trump, faces felony charges and vows revenge on his political enemies. Meanwhile, Americans generally are dissatisfied with those choices and are divided over immigration, race, education and more.

Politics & Policy

San Francisco

Axios San Francisco

Ketanji Brown Jackson was sworn in Monday for the first of four days of confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee. 

Why it matters: Jackson would become the first Black woman to serve as a Supreme Court justice if she is confirmed.

What she's saying: In her opening statement, Jackson spoke about her background as the daughter of two public school teachers and the many people she encountered on her way to becoming a judge.

Jackson, who clerked for and would replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer on the court, said he "exemplified what it means to be a Supreme Court justice of the highest level of skill and integrity, civility and grace." 

"I know that I could never fill his shoes. But if confirmed, I would hope to carry on his spirit."

"I have been a judge for nearly a decade now, and I take that responsibility and my duty to be independent very seriously," she said. "I decide cases from a neutral posture. I evaluate the facts, and I interpret and apply the law to the facts of the case before me, without fear or favor, consistent with my judicial oath."

She also noted that "I stand on the shoulders of so many who have come before me, including Judge Constance Baker Motley, who was the first African American woman to be appointed to the federal bench and with whom I share a birthday."

"And like Judge Motley, I have dedicated my career to ensuring that the words engraved on the front of the Supreme Court building — 'Equal justice under law' — are a reality and not just an ideal."

"Thank you for this historic chance to join the highest court, to work with brilliant colleagues, to inspire future generations, and to ensure liberty and justice for all," she said.

Worth noting: Jackson's confirmation is likely to come down to a close vote, NPR reports with most Senate Republicans saying they will vote in opposition.

More than half of Americans believe that Jackson should be confirmed, according to a recent Monmouth University national poll.

Go deeper: Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson's historic SCOTUS hearing

Ketanji Brown Jackson recognizes "historic" moment

"I have dedicated my career to ensuring that the words ... 'Equal justice under law' are a reality and not just an ideal."

Photo of Ketanji Brown Jackson in a purple suit speaking into a mic

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson gives an opening statement before the Senate Judiciary Committee during a confirmation hearing on her nomination to become a U.S. Supreme Court justice on March 21. Photo: Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

Ketanji Brown Jackson

Tech Policy

The Justice Department has asked the judge overseeing its antitrust case against Google to sanction the company for allegedly training employees to "camouflage" business documents from being revealed by legal disputes, per a brief filed Monday.

Driving the news: The DOJ writes in its brief that Google teaches employees to request advice from counsel around sensitive business communications, thereby shielding documents from discovery in legal situations.

Once counsel is involved, the company can treat the documents as protected under attorney-client privilege.

What they're saying: "Google has explicitly and repeatedly instructed its employees to shield important business communications from discovery by using false requests for legal advice," DOJ attorneys wrote in the brief, asking U.S. District Court Judge Amit Mehta to sanction Google and compel the disclosure of more documents.

After DOJ prodding, "Google’s outside counsel eventually deprivileged tens of thousands of documents initially withheld or redacted on the basis of privilege. These efforts, however, do not — and cannot — cure the misconduct inherent in Google’s efforts to hide relevant communications. Indeed, many more challenged documents remain outstanding."

The other side: “Our teams have conscientiously worked for years to respond to inquiries and litigation, and suggestions to the contrary are flatly wrong," Google spokesperson Julie Tarallo McAlister said. "Just like other American companies, we educate our employees about legal privilege and when to seek legal advice. And we have produced over four million documents to the DOJ in this case alone — including many that employees had considered potentially privileged.”  

Details: The government says Google has used this practice to withhold thousands of documents, many which outside attorneys found should not have been attorney-client privileged. 

The government wants access to email chains where attorneys were copied, but never responded to.

The DOJ argues that employees were told to mark emails about revenue-sharing agreements and Android mobile app distribution agreements in this manner.

The intrigue: According to the Justice Department, this practice went all the way to the top of the company.

In one example, DOJ lawyers cite Google parent company Alphabet's CEO Sundar Pichai copying Google chief legal officer Kent Walker on an email to YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki about how to respond to a press inquiry, with "Attorney Client Privileged" at the top.

Justice Department accuses Google of hiding business communications

The government says the tech giant is hiding business documents by misusing attorney-client privilege.

Illustration of the Google "G" logo turning into a stop sign.

Google

From the Valley to D.C., Big Tech players like Facebook, Google and Amazon are under more scrutiny than ever as new technology develops and privacy and antitrust concerns grow in lockstep with companies’ ambitions.

Technology

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) voted 3-1 Monday to propose regulations that, for the first time, require companies to disclose their greenhouse gas emissions as well as their exposure to climate change risks. 

Why it matters: The rule is meant to give companies more certainty about how they need to incorporate climate change into their financial reporting, but it contains gaps that may allow big emitters to obscure their complete carbon footprint. 

The big picture: In proposing climate risk disclosure rules, the SEC is effectively  trying to set a floor for companies to meet or exceed when reporting how prepared they are for the consequences of a warming world.

Details: The proposed rule would require companies to include certain climate change information on their financial reports, such as their Form 10-K. 

The information to be disclosed would include how climate-related risks could affect the company's business, strategy and projections. 

The company's greenhouse gas emissions would need to be audited by an outside party. The rule gives firms wiggle room over emissions embedded within its value chain, such as those caused when customers use its products, which are known as "Scope 3" emissions. 

Yes, but: Companies would have a delayed start for disclosing Scope 3 emissions,  and such disclosures would only apply to firms that consider Scope 3 emissions to be "material" or that have set Scope 3 emissions reduction targets. 

This could allow companies to avoid disclosing Scope 3 emissions, which in many cases are the largest share of their climate footprint.

Also, on a call with reporters Monday morning, SEC staff members declined to discuss how the new rules would be enforced.

Between the lines: In crafting the new rule, the SEC has had to grapple with the near certainty that it will be challenged in court, which could result in a more cautious approach.

What they're saying: "I believe the SEC has a role to play when there's this level of demand for consistent, comparable information that may affect financial performance," SEC Chairman Gary Gensler said.

The other side: Hester Peirce, the SEC's lone sitting GOP member, said the plan is outside the commission's lane and expertise.

"This proposal steps outside our statutory limits by using the disclosure framework to achieve objectives that are not ours to pursue and by pursuing those objectives by means of disclosure mandates that may not comport with First Amendment limitations on compelled speech," she said in her statement.

Editor's note: This story has been updated to show the vote was 3-1 on Monday. 

SEC proposes first climate disclosure rules for public companies

The rules have some loopholes but still mark a milestone.

Illustration of a storm destroying a roof made from a one hundred dollar bill 

Climate change

Top stories & latest news on the Federal Reserve, real-time data, plus the biggest shifts happening in the U.S. and global economy.

Economy

After a record economic expansion, the coronavirus pandemic sent the U.S. economy into a recession as unemployment soared to staggering heights. The country now faces urgent questions about how much stimulus is needed for reeling consumers and businesses, and what a recovery might look like.

Economy & Business

Breaking climate science and policy coverage as extreme weather events reshape communities. Keep tabs on the race to a low carbon economy, which may be bumpy as governments, climate tech startups and major oil and gas companies race to find their niche amid the changing energy landscape.

Energy & Climate

Associated Press videographer Mstyslav Chernov detailed the harrowing steps he and his colleague, AP photographer Evgeniy Maloletka, took to escape from the besieged port city of Mariupol in an essay published by the AP on Monday.

Driving the news: Mariupol has been under siege by Russian forces for weeks and has sustained devastating attacks on civilians, with targets including a children's hospital, a local theater, and an art school.

Conditions in the city have deteriorated, with residents subsisting without electricity, phone service or heating, and casualties being buried in a mass grave.

The big picture: Chernov recounted that he and Maloletka were the last international journalists left in Mariupol. "Now there are none," he wrote.

The pair arrived in Mariupol in the early morning on Feb. 24, just an hour before the start of the war.

"One bomb at a time, the Russians cut electricity, water, food supplies and finally, crucially, the cell phone, radio and television towers," Chernov recalled. "The few other journalists in the city got out before the last connections were gone and a full blockade settled in."

Chernov and Maloletka's ability to document the events of the war, despite Russian forces' attempts to cut off communication with the outside world in an effort to achieve "impunity," made them Russian targets.

Chernov recounts how he and Maloletka sought shelter in a Ukrainian hospital, where staff gave them surgical scrubs to wear as camouflage. Russian forces outside had covered the path to their car and equipment with a sniper. They "had a list of names, including ours, and they were closing in," Chernov wrote.

Eventually a team of Ukrainian soldiers arrived at the hospital to help them escape.

What they're saying: "Time was measured from one shell to the next, our bodies tense and breath held. Shockwave after shockwave jolted my chest, and my hands went cold," Chernov recalled.

“If they catch you, they will get you on camera and they will make you say that everything you filmed is a lie,” a Ukrainian officer told them. “All your efforts and everything you have done in Mariupol will be in vain.”

The soldiers took them to a queue of cars preparing to evacuate the city. The journalists squeezed into a car with a Ukrainian family to attempt the journey out of Mariupol.

Chernov recounts how as they passed through 15 Russian checkpoints — "all manned with soldiers with heavy weapons" — his "hopes that Mariupol was going to survive were fading."

The bottom line: "As we pulled up to the sixteenth checkpoint, we heard voices. Ukrainian voices. I felt an overwhelming relief. The mother in the front of the car burst into tears. We were out."

AP journalists detail harrowing escape from Mariupol

"We were the last journalists in Mariupol. Now there are none."

Civilians trapped in Mariupol are evacuated under the control of pro-Russian separatists on March 20. Photo: Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Russia

Conflicts, policies and powers are intersecting and shaping the world. Breaking news and analysis of national security, foreign policy and global crises.

World

The Russian Foreign Ministry summoned John Sullivan, U.S. ambassador to Russia, and handed him a note over President Biden's "unacceptable" comments about Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying that ties between the countries are "on the verge of breaking."

Driving the news: Russian officials were referring to Biden's comments to reporters last week calling Putin a "war criminal" over Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that he "personally" agreed with Biden's assessment. 

Details: The Russian Foreign Ministry said that Biden's comments were "unworthy of a statesman of such a high rank," adding that any "hostile actions taken against Russia would receive a decisive and firm rebuff." 

What they're saying: "As a general matter, we don't speak to every single diplomatic communication, but I will say this: Ambassador Sullivan took advantage of this encounter to demand that the Russian government follow international law and basic human decency for that matter, and allow consular access to all U.S. citizen detainees in Russia, including those in pre-trial detention," State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Monday during a press briefing.

"It's awfully rich to hear a country speak about 'inappropriate comments' when that same country is engaged in mass slaughter, including strikes and attacks that have resulted in civilian lives," Price added.

Editor's note: This story has been updated to add statements by Ned Price. 

Russia tells U.S. ambassador bilateral ties "on the verge of breaking"

Russia said Biden's comments calling Putin a "war criminal" were "unacceptable."

President Biden. Photo: Ken Cedeno/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Axios

Monday's top stories

Biden warns Russia "exploring options" for cyberattacks

Ketanji Brown Jackson recognizes "historic" moment

Justice Department accuses Google of hiding business communications

SEC proposes first climate disclosure rules for public companies

AP journalists detail harrowing escape from Mariupol

Russia tells U.S. ambassador bilateral ties "on the verge of breaking"

U.S. declares Myanmar's military committed genocide against Rohingya

Ukraine rejects Russian demands to lay down arms in Mariupol

High gas prices may not drive Americans away from gas

Deadly Texas wildfires force new evacuations

UN: 10 million Ukrainians have fled their homes since invasion began