A look ahead at the key events leading the news agenda next week, from the team at Foresight News. Delivered to your inbox on Fridays.
Leading the week
After delivering his State of the Union address yesterday, President Joe Biden will release his fiscal year 2025 budget proposal on Monday (March 11) at the start of what is shaping up to be a busy week with the president due in New Hampshire that day. On Tuesday (March 12), back in DC, Biden has a key meeting with the influential Teamsters as he seeks a second presidential endorsement from the 1.3 million-member union, having already secured 2024 endorsements the United Auto Workers and the AFL-CIO.
He’s also set to host talks at the White House on Tuesday with Polish President Andrzej Duda and new Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who are in town to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Poland’s accession to NATO, and on Friday (March 15) welcomes Ireland Taoiseach Leo Varadkar for an early St. Patrick’s Day celebration.
On Saturday (March 16), Biden is slated to attend the annual dinner Gridiron Club, where presidents make their best effort at stand-up comedy. Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Utah Governor Spencer Cox are also guests this year.
Back in DC, the Senate Intelligence Committee will hold its annual blockbuster worldwide threats hearing on Monday (March 11), which sees Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines and CIA Director Bill Burns join intelligence chiefs to be questioned in a rare public setting. Expect Russia, Iran and China to be the focus of many questions to the panel, which this year has been expanded to also include Brett Holmgren, who leads the State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research. Burns will also likely be asked about his latest trip to the Middle East amid negotiations to agree a ceasefire in Gaza.
Members of the House Intelligence Committee will get their turn to grill the panel on Tuesday (March 12), but they’ll be competing for attention with what is likely to be a bombshell hearing with Special Counsel Robert Hur, who is due to appear before the House Judiciary Committee to discuss his investigation into Biden’s handling of classified documents. While Hur ultimately cleared Biden, his devastating description of him as ‘well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory’ will no doubt be the focus of Republicans seeking further material to raise doubts over Biden’s fitness to serve following his punchier-than-expected SOTU performance.
Looking abroad
The holy month of Ramadan, which sees Muslims observe daily fasts, is now expected to begin on Monday (March 11), depending on the sighting of the crescent moon. But this year the traditionally joyful atmosphere at daily fast-breaking iftar dinners will be dampened by the plight of the many Gazans at risk of famine amid the ongoing war with Israel. Despite recent airdrops of humanitarian aid, Biden’s announcement last night of plans to build a temporary port on the Gaza coast to deliver more aid, and the new Amalthea Initiative aid corridor, in the short term the outlook remains bleak.
The apparent breakdown of efforts to secure a ceasefire agreement before Ramadan and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s vow to push on with operations in Gaza, including into Rafah, means the specter of further devastation looms large over the holiday. And while Israel has said Ramadan access for Muslims at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound will be as it was in previous years, the sacred site has been a frequent flashpoint in the past, raising the possibility of trouble following prayers on Friday (March 15) when large numbers of worshippers are expected.
While the outcome is not in doubt, the presidential election in Russia on Sunday (March 17) is nevertheless an important moment for Vladimir Putin, who has held the position almost continuously since 2000, notwithstanding the period 2008-12 when he was nominally Dmitry Medvedev’s prime minister. Putin’s position looked somewhat precarious last summer when Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin led a dramatic, albeit short-lived, mutiny in June before dying in a plane crash two months later which western countries believe was caused by a bomb on board. But speculation at the time that the president would struggle to reimpose his authority following the rebellion looks to have been premature, with Putin on the brink of a new six-year term. Nevertheless, the death of opposition figure Alexei Navalny last month in a Siberian penal colony may pose a fresh challenge, as Navalny’s widow Yulia Navalnaya calls on Russians to stage nationwide protests on election day.
The European Parliament is scheduled to vote on Wednesday (March 13) on its Artificial Intelligence Act, landmark legislation hailed as the world’s first effort to set guardrails on the AI while protecting ‘fundamental rights and democracy’. Under the legislation, certain practices – including the use of AI to influence behaviour, for ‘social scoring’, and real-time facial recognition (except by law enforcement) – are banned, and non-compliance can lead to fines of up to €35 million or seven per cent of the company’s global turnover. Assuming it’s passed next week, the legislation will enter into force 20 days after publication in the EU Official Journal but made fully applicable over a subsequent two-year period. The EU hasn’t hesitated to use its legislative might against big tech firms, slapping Apple with a €1.8 billion fine this week after finding its streaming practices breached competition rules. And while the law will only apply in the EU, the size of the market means compliance will be felt globally as AI development continues, with lawmakers hoping to encourage open-source AI and limit potentially negative impacts of giants like OpenAI’s GPT.