The risks of nuclear weapons have reappeared in global headlines. Containing those risks may hinge on transparency and communication as well as a “peace through strength” tradition.

• Abortion ban repealed: Arizona’s Senate votes 16-14 to repeal the state’s 1864 ban on abortion, which could have taken effect within weeks. Two Republican senators crossed party lines to vote in favor of repeal. 
• Biden on protests: Some 200 arrests overnight at UCLA bring the total across the United States to more than 2,000 at dozens of college campuses. President Joe Biden says that “order must prevail” but opposes sending in the National Guard.
• Harvey Weinstein trial: The former Hollywood producer will be retried in New York, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said May 1, a week after the state’s highest court threw out his 2020 rape conviction, hailed as a milestone for the #MeToo movement.
• Gun rule lawsuit: More than two dozen Republican state attorneys general sue the Biden administration to stop a new rule that would require gun dealers to obtain licenses and conduct background checks when selling firearms at gun shows and online. 
• Solomon Islands election: Lawmakers elect former Foreign Minister Jeremiah Manele as prime minister in a development that suggests the South Pacific islands will maintain close ties with China.

Read these news briefs.

As student demonstrators clash with authorities on campuses nationwide, it’s raising questions about the youth vote in the fall. But polling shows most young people are far more focused on the economy than on the Mideast.

Washington has long urged European nations to spend more on their own defense. Russia’s Ukraine invasion, and European doubts about America’s role in tomorrow’s world, have had the desired effect.

Flying has become frustrating for many Americans. Here we explain one systemic issue behind delays and threats to safety – and the steps Congress can take to speed progress.

In our progress roundup, new data shows workers undergirding vital systems: In Latin America, Venezuelans who’ve fled their own country boost the gross domestic product in their adopted homes. And in the United States, bees colonies have grown.

Since it invaded Ukraine more than two years ago, Russia has become more open about its goal to piece back together the states of the fallen Soviet empire. Reactions to this Humpty Dumpty project have brought arms to Ukraine and sanctions on Russia’s economy. It has also brought an offer of protection to several former Soviet states – a chance to join the European Union and enjoy the shield of a community abiding by democratic values.

On Wednesday, one such former Soviet state, Georgia, saw the largest street protests yet against a legislative bill that, if passed by the ruling party, could derail EU membership. The bill has vague provisions that would curtail the work of civil society and news outlets if such groups receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad.

A similar measure in Russia has been used since 2012 to silence political opposition. The former Soviet state Kyrgyzstan has followed Moscow’s example while Kazakhstan is weighing it. A similar measure in Hungary, an EU member, was nullified by the European Court of Justice.

It is unclear if Russia is behind the Georgia bill. But the de facto leader of the ruling Georgian Dream party, Bidzina Ivanishvili, is a billionaire who made his fortune in Russia. What is clear is that his party is worried about losing power in elections this October if journalists and civic activists keep exposing government corruption, interference in the courts, and other erosions of the rule of law.

This week’s harsh crackdown on protesters – whose numbers reached more than 100,000 – hints at the party’s attempt to hold on to power or, at the least, create social polarization. On Tuesday, President Salome Zourabichvili, whose post is largely ceremonial, said the police crackdown was “totally unwarranted, unprovoked and out of proportion.” She is a former member of Georgian Dream who left as the party drifted toward authoritarian ways.

Polls show that some 80% of Georgians support EU membership and the reforms required to achieve it. Aligning the country with European values is widely seen as a safeguard against Russia. The war in Ukraine is not the only front to uphold national sovereignty and personal liberties.