First Thing: Biden temporarily restricts US-Mexico border for asylum seekers

Under pressure from Republicans and some Democrats to reduce number of people arriving at border, Biden issued executive order. Plus: the search for a fix to modern loneliness

Good morning.

Joe Biden signed an executive order on Tuesday that will temporarily shut down the US-Mexico border to asylum seekers attempting to cross between lawful ports of entry.

Under the executive order, the administration will halt asylum requests at the border once the number of daily arrests has reached 2,500 between legal ports of entry – a regular occurrence – and reopen two weeks after that figure falls below a daily average of 1,500 for seven consecutive days. The directive will exempt migrants who make appointments with border officials using the Customs and Border Protection app, a process that advocates say can take months.

Biden said: “I’m moving past Republican obstruction and using the executive authority that’s available to me as president to do what I can on my own to address the border. “Doing nothing is not an option. We have to act.”

What was the reaction to the order by immigration advocates? The American Civil Liberties Union has already announced its intention to legally challenge the order. “Similar policies enacted by Trump demonstrated that this order will fail to deter asylum seekers. Rather, it will only cause suffering and death, as legitimate refugees will be unable to access protection,” emphasised Erika Pinheiro, the executive director of Al Otro Lado, a non-profit group that helps asylum seekers at the border.

What has the reaction been like globally? The United Nations issued a statement saying it was “profoundly concerned” by the new restrictions and urged the US government to reconsider its actions. “The new measures will deny access to asylum for many individuals who are in need of international protection, and who may now find themselves without a viable option for seeking safety and even at risk of refoulement,” meaning being sent back across the border, the statement read.

Were Democrats in support of Biden’s order? While the centrist New Democrat Coalition said they were “encouraged” by Biden’s order, progressive Democrats have shared their outrage. The US representative Raúl Grijalva, whose Arizona district borders Mexico, said that the order was a “significant departure from President Biden’s promise of a more humane and just approach to immigration.”

US Senate to vote on bill to recognize legal right to contraception

The US Senate will vote on Wednesday on a bill that would recognize a legal right to contraception. While passing the Right to Contraception Act will be a steep, if not impossible, uphill battle for Democrats, it comes after Donald Trump made–and quickly walked back – comments indicatinghe is willing to restrict access to birth control.

Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, said in a Monday letter to his Senate colleagues: “Donald Trump and Maga Republicans will not be able to outrun their anti-abortion records, because the American people know that if given the chance, extremist Republicans will not stop in their campaign to strip away fundamental liberties in this country.”

In other news …

Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata party has lost its parliamentary majority in India, meaning Modi will have to negotiate with coalition partners in order to return to power for a third term.

Gene therapy has given children who were born deaf hearing in both ears in a trial that raises hopes for further treatment.

TikTok hackers have targeted several celebrities and brand accounts such as Paris Hilton and CNN in a cyber-attack that took place through the app’s direct messaging feature.

Stat of the day: The US has a far higher rate of maternal mortality than other peer wealthy nations

In a new report, researchers at the Commonwealth Fund found that in 2022, 22.3 US women per 100,000 died either during pregnancy or within a year of giving birth – a far higher rate than that of other peer wealthy nations such as Norway and the UK. Black mothers in the US died at a rate of 49.5 per 100,000, or roughly 2.5 times the rate of white mothers.

Don’t miss this: the tree-killing beetle wreaking havoc on northern forests

In California, 163m trees have been downed between 2010 and 2019 by a new culprit: the bark beetle. Researchers suspect that the bark beetle outbreaks they’ve been seeing in forests throughout northern US, Canada and Europe have been spurred by the climate crisis – which will only get worse as more forests fall to climate change-driven disasters like drought and wildfire.

“You have these situations where beetles are way outside the norm,” said Prof Diana Six, a forest entomologist at the University of Montana. “Couple that with climate change altering the ability of these trees to regenerate, that’s where I think we’re going to see the biggest problems.”

… or this: Disinformation in Taiwan

Taiwan is the target of more disinformation from abroad than any other democracy, according to the University of Gothenburg’s Varieties of Democracy project, with the biggest threat coming from China. In particular, artificial intelligence has become a rapidly growing challenge for factcheckers.

Eve Chiu, the head of the non-profit Taiwan FactCheck Center, said: “The large amount of false information about election manipulation which spread before and after polling day via TikTok, in an attempt to subvert the results of Taiwan’s democratic elections, indicated a systematic operation at work.”

Climate check: The ‘triple threat’ to the world’s oceans

The world’s oceans – already being pushed into an extreme new state because of the climate crisis – are now facing a “triple threat” of extreme heating, oxygen loss and acidification, according to research. These three threats have been spurred by the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation, the study found, with about a fifth of the world’s ocean surface is particularly vulnerable to the three threats hitting at once.

“The impacts of this have already been seen and felt,” said Joel Wong, a researcher at ETH Zurich, who cited the well-known example of the heat “blob” that has caused the die-off of marine life in the Pacific Ocean. “Intense extreme events like these are likely to happen again in the future and will disrupt marine ecosystems and fisheries around the world.”

Last Thing: A fix to modern loneliness

As technology evolves to keep us more connected than ever, more and more are actually feeling disconnected. The US surgeon general, Vivek Murthy, has issued an official warning about a “loneliness epidemic”. The UK has a “minister for loneliness”. “It’s now possible – and I have many clients who do this – to almost entirely live your life without leaving the house,” said Dr Jessie Borelli, a clinical psychologist at the University of California, Irvine. “And the longer you go without interacting with people, the harder it gets.”

The Guardian’s Matthew Cantor explores the various academic and Silicon Valley solutions for loneliness, going to social clubs, trying out AI-based apps and speaking to thinkers, therapists and entrepreneurs. “It’s clear we’re feeling a shortage of connection,” Cantor writes. “But what can we do about it?”

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