
Anniversary of PACT Act signing coming up, thousands of U.S. military families stationed overseas living on edge of poverty.
1. President Biden will mark the PACT Act’s anniversary at a Veterans Affairs hospital in Salt Lake City on Thursday. According to administration statistics, the Department of Veterans Affairs has received nearly 786,000 disability claims under the PACT Act, processed almost 435,000 and approved more than 348,000. About 111,000 veterans who are believed to have toxic exposure have enrolled in VA health care since the law was enacted. In addition, more than 4.1 million veterans have completed toxic screenings, which are questionnaires to analyze their potential exposure and determine whether additional tests are required.
2. For thousands of U.S. military families, an overseas assignment means living on the edge of poverty. In Europe, nearly 7,000 U.S. service members or their spouses or children were in danger in the past year of not having enough to eat, Defense Department data show. Those military families qualified for a low-income program designed to ensure that pregnant women, babies and toddlers don’t go hungry. The reason for that hardship after being sent to Europe is rooted in a loss of income resulting from U.S. and NATO country prohibitions that keep military spouses from working overseas, program administrators say.
3. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un toured the country’s key weapons factories, including those producing artillery systems and launch vehicles for nuclear-capable ballistic missiles, and pledged to speed up efforts to advance his military’s arms and war readiness, state media said Sunday. Kim’s three-day inspections through Saturday came as the United States and South Korea prepared for their next round of combined military exercises planned for later this month to counter the growing North Korean threat.
4. Russia unleashed a missile and drone barrage Sunday across parts of Ukraine that killed six people, Kyiv officials said, as Moscow followed through on its promise to retaliate for an attack on a Russian tanker. Separately, Moscow’s second-largest airport briefly suspended flights early Sunday following a foiled drone attack near the Russian capital. Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 70 drones and missiles from aircraft over the Caspian Sea, including Iranian-made, Shahed-136/131 strike UAVs.
5. The Philippine government summoned China’s ambassador on Monday and presented a strongly worded diplomatic protest over the Chinese coast guard’s use of water cannons in a weekend confrontation with Philippine vessels in the disputed South China Sea, officials said. The tense hours-long standoff occurred Saturday near Second Thomas Shoal, which has been occupied for decades by Philippine forces stationed onboard a rusting, grounded navy ship but is also claimed by China. It was the latest flareup in long-seething territorial conflicts in the South China Sea involving China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei.
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