Axios

Russian authorities on March 30 said they had detained an American reporter for the Wall Street Journal on espionage charges.

Driving the news: Evan Gershkovich is the first U.S. journalist to be detained in an espionage case since the Cold War, the Committee to Protect Journalists told Axios.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) issued a rare bipartisan statement Friday condemning the Russian government's "wrongful detention" of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich.

The big picture: His arrest last week marked the first time Russia has detained an American journalist on spying charges since the Cold War.

Israel focused its overnight strikes in Gaza and Lebanon on Hamas targets in an effort to avoid a wider conflict with Hezbollah, two Israeli defense officials said.

Driving the news: In discussing their response to a barrage of rockets launched from Lebanon on Thursday, Israeli ministers concluded that Israel didn't have any interest in getting dragged into a war in Lebanon that would risk turning into a regional conflict, the Israeli officials said.

The U.S. State Department says it's "monitoring closely" a Chinese maritime operation in the Taiwan Strait this week that includes boarding and inspecting ships.

Why it matters: Officials in Taipei believe the unprecedented action in the Taiwan Strait is in reprisal for their president's D.C. meeting with U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

The Israeli military attacked Gaza and launched rare strikes against Lebanon overnight in response to a barrage of rockets fired from Lebanon toward northern Israel earlier Thursday. Dozens of rockets were also fired from Gaza overnight.

The big picture: It's the most serious escalation between Lebanon and Israel since the 2006 war. Israel blames Hamas militants in Lebanon and says the Lebanese government is responsible for any attacks coming from its territory.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday told Chinese President Xi Jinping he was counting on him to “bring Russia to its senses." For now, Macron's top priority is convincing Xi not to send Russia arms, a French official tells Axios.

Why it matters: Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen met Xi in Beijing in what the BBC dubbed a “good cop, bad cop” act. The more hawkish von der Leyen arrived fresh off a major speech on “de-risking” Europe’s relations with China, while Macron brought 53 deal-seeking business leaders along on his three-day visit.

The U.S. acknowledged its evacuations from Afghanistan in 2021 should have begun sooner — but largely blamed the Trump administration, according to a newly released National Security Council document outlining key moments.

Why it matters: The chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in summer 2021 — a pain point in Biden's presidency that's drawn bipartisan criticism — has also become a growing target of GOP-led congressional investigations.

Seeking asylum in the United States is a codified right — but immigrant advocates say it's been severely restricted.

The big picture: A string of policies aimed at reducing irregular migration, both by President Trump and now President Biden, have made it much harder for people fleeing persecution to seek safety in the U.S. if they come through the southern border.

The effects of climate change, violence, political instability and economic strife across Latin America and the Caribbean are forcing millions of people to migrate.

The big picture: Not only are more people coming to the U.S., they're also migrating more within Latin America and beyond the cities that have long drawn migrants.

Migrants are increasingly making treacherous journeys from faraway nations to seek asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border, including from China, India and Russia.

Why it matters: This has complicated an already chaotic situation at the border, with authorities now contending with new language barriers and countries that do not cooperate with U.S. deportation efforts.

Migration through the Americas has radically changed over the past decade, yet U.S. immigration laws remain stuck in the last century, with a patchwork of policies to address a growing humanitarian crisis at the southern border.

Driving the news: On May 11, the Biden administration is expected to end the Title 42 pandemic policy, which has allowed immigration authorities to rapidly turn back hundreds of thousands of people without giving them a chance for asylum.

Permanently moving to the U.S. was once as easy as getting on a ship or strolling across a border.

Today, most lawful means of entering the country take years because of overwhelmed immigration agencies, rising levels of global migration and a limit on the number of certain visas, all of which have culminated in a massive backlog of people trying to get to the U.S.

China's embassy in Washington, D.C., warned members of Congress in an email to not meet with Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen on Wednesday, calling the prospect "a blatant provocation."

Driving the news: The four-page email, sent Tuesday from Li Xiang, the embassy's liaison to Congress, warned of consequences if the meetings between lawmakers and Tsai took place.