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Friday, March 24, 2023

Wake-Up Call: U-S Responds To Iranian Drone Attack

The US conducted airstrikes in Syria Thursday against facilities affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard after a US contractor was killed and five service members injured in an Iranian drone attack, according to the Pentagon. The Iranian assault targeted a coalition base housing American personnel near Hasakah in northeast Syria, officials said. A second US contractor was also injured.

The US military responded to the deadly assault with airstrikes against targets in Syria used by militants affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said in a statement Thursday.  “The airstrikes were conducted in response to today’s attack as well as a series of recent attacks against Coalition forces in Syria by groups affiliated with the IRGC,” he added. 

Snow Fall Covers Ukraine Tank (NYTimes photo)
➤UKRAINE PREPS COUNTER ATTACK: Ukrainian troops, on the defensive for months, will soon counterattack as Russia's offensive looks to be faltering, a commander said, but President Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned that without a faster supply of arms the war could last years. Zelenskiy said Europe must increase and speed up its supply of weapons, again calling for long-range missiles, ammunition and modern aircraft, and impose additional sanctions on Russia.

"If Europe waits, the evil may have time to regroup and prepare for years of war," a clearly frustrated Zelenskiy said on Thursday in a video address to European Union leaders, delivered from a train. At the EU summit, leaders approved a plan agreed by foreign ministers on Monday to send 1 million artillery shells to Ukraine over the next year. They also discussed global food security and sanctions on Russia. The Pentagon says the airstrikes were “proportionate” and carried out in a manner intended to “limit the risk of escalation and minimize casualties.”

➤HEARING DOESN'T LIKE TIK TOK TALK: House lawmakers grilled TikTok’s CEO about potential Chinese government influence over the platform. Shou Zi Chew fielded questions stemming from Washington’s national-security concerns about the short-video app. The House Energy and Commerce Committee was skeptical about his assurances that U.S. users’ data would be protected and that Beijing couldn’t use TikTok or its Chinese owner, ByteDance, to manipulate the content Americans see. The Biden administration has threatened a possible TikTok ban in the U.S. if ByteDance doesn’t sell its stake in the platform. Hours before the House hearing, China said that it would oppose any forced sale and that a TikTok divestiture would involve exporting technology, which Beijing must OK.

During one of the most emotional outbursts, Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-Fla.) confronted Chew about the suicide of 16-year-old Chase Nasca, who died last year after allegedly being exposed to TikTok videos promoting suicide. Nasca’s parents, who have filed a wrongful death suit against TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, were seen in tears as Bilirakis played similar videos for attendees during the House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing chaired by Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.).“Mr. Chew, your company destroyed their lives,” Bilirakis railed. Chew described Nasca’s death as “devastating” and “tragic.”


➤GRAND JURY PROBE DELAYED UNTIL NEXT WEEK: The grand jury looking into Donald Trump’s role in paying hush money to a porn star is unlikely to return to the probe until next week. The panel skipped yesterday and was busy with an unrelated matter today. The grand jury typically doesn’t meet on Fridays. At issue is whether the former president falsified business records to hide the payment to Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election to keep her quiet about an alleged affair. He denies the dalliance and doing anything wrong.

➤MANHATTAN D-A SNUBS REPUBLICANS: Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office told three House Republican chairmen their request for testimony about the criminal investigation of Trump had no legitimate basis and represented “an unlawful incursion into New York’s sovereignty.” GOP Reps. Jim Jordan, James Comer and Bryan Steil requested Bragg’s testimony after Trump said he expected to be indicted. Bragg’s general counsel said in a letter the Trump inquiry and information about a pending investigation is confidential under state law, adding that the Justice Department has a longstanding policy against providing nonpublic information about its investigations.


➤ANTISEMITIC INCIDENTS INCREASE IN THE U.S.: The number of antisemitic incidents in the U.S. last year reached the highest level seen since the Anti-Defamation League began tracking them in 1979, the organization announced yesterday. It counted 3,697 incidents, most of which were harassment online or off. But 111 assaults and 1,200 acts of vandalism were attributed to hostility towards Jewish people.

➤BIDEN VETO STANDS: The House has, as expected, failed to override the first veto issued by President Joe Biden. The president vetoed a Congressional measure that would have disallowed environmental, social, and governance concerns as a factor in stock picks for employee retirement plans like 401(k) plans. Republicans denounced it as a “woke policy” that could hurt retirees financially.

➤KARI LAKE THREATENS TO TORCH MARICOPA COUNTY: The Arizona Supreme Court has tossed out most of a lawsuit filed by defeated Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, so Lake is threatening to burn Maricopa County to the ground. She alleges that voter fraud in the county caused her loss to Democrat Katie Hobbs, who was sworn into office in January. In a speech that she later posted on social media, Lake said: “They have built a house of cards in Maricopa County. I’m not just going to knock it over. I’m going to burn it to the ground.”

➤WOMAN SENTENCED TO 3 YEARS IN PRISON FOR 1/6:  A Pennsylvania woman linked to a far-right extremist movement was sentenced on Thursday to three years in prison for storming the U.S. Capitol, where she invaded then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office with other rioters. Riley June Williams, 23, of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, was charged but not convicted of helping steal a laptop from Pelosi’s office suite during the riot on Jan. 6, 2021. A federal jury convicted Williams in November of six charges, including a felony count of civil disorder, after a two-week trial. But it deadlocked on two other counts, including “aiding and abetting” the laptop’s theft.

➤6 HIGHWAY CONSTRUCTION WORKER DEAD: Six construction workers were killed along a highway in Maryland after a driver lost control of her car, state police said Wednesday. The crash occurred on Interstate 695 in Baltimore County, Maryland State Police said. Authorities believe an Acura driver, identified as 54-year-old Lisa Adrienna Lea, was trying to change lanes around 12:40 p.m. Wednesday when her vehicle struck the front passenger side of a Volkswagen. The crash caused Lea to lose control of the Acura, which veered into the highway work zone, police said, between the temporary jersey walls.

🏀TOM BRADY BUYS WNBA CHAMPION ACES: Tom Brady has acquired an ownership interest in the Las Vegas Aces, the women’s basketball championship team. “It was a matter of time before I was back in a building with some of the greatest athletes in the world,” the retired Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback said in a video confirming the news. Brady has often said that his athletically talented older sisters Maureen and Nancy were his inspirations.

⚾PHILLIES’ HOSKINS INJURED AT SPRING TRAINING: Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Rhys Hoskins was stretchered off the field in the second inning of a spring training game yesterday, and the news is bad: He’s got a torn ACL. That means surgery and it is often a season-ender. Hoskins is entering the final year of his contract with the Phillies.

🏀NO FIRM DATE FOR LEBRON’S RETURN: LeBron James got on social media yesterday to deny a report that he has been cleared to return to the Los Angeles Lakers to play in its last week of the season. He said he is working hard every day to overcome a foot injury but no firm date has been set for him to rejoin the team.

➤WORLD ATHLETICS BARS TRANSGENDER WOMEN FROM FEMALE COMPETITION: The World Athletics organization has voted to bar transgender women from competing in elite female competitions. The group said its ruling was meant to “protect the future of the female category.” The latest research indicates that transgender women retain physical advantages even after their levels of testosterone have been suppressed.

🏀CHECK IT OUT: Click here for this weekend’s NCAA Sweet Sixteen schedule, scores and viewing information.



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