Thursday, January 18, 2024

1/18 WAKE-UP CALL: Israel Pulls Thousands of Troops


Israel pulled thousands of troops from Gaza following U.S. pressure to be more surgical against Hamas. Some Israeli officials worry that the withdrawal could leave the country vulnerable to another surge in militant activity. It could now deploy forces to other flashpoints, such as West Bank unrest. Israel risks undermining its strategic goal of eradicating Hamas, which attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 200 hostages. Israel is trying to take control of a vast maze of tunnels under the Gazan city of Khan Younis as refugees crowd into the south and international outcry grows over the death toll. Elsewhere in the Middle East, Iraq’s prime minister said the U.S.-led military coalition helping his country fight Islamic State militants is no longer needed, though he still wants strong ties with Washington.


➤HEZBOLLAH REBUFF U-S OVERTURES:  Iran-backed Hezbollah has rebuffed Washington's initial ideas for cooling tit-for-tat fighting with neighboring Israel, such as pulling its fighters further from the border, but remains open to U.S. diplomacy to avoid a ruinous war, Lebanese officials said. U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein has been leading a diplomatic outreach to restore security at the Israel-Lebanon frontier as the wider region teeters dangerously towards a major escalation of the conflict ignited by the Gaza war. Attacks by Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis on shipping in the Red Sea, U.S. strikes in response and fighting elsewhere in the Middle East have added urgency to the efforts.

"Hezbollah is ready to listen," a senior Lebanese official familiar with the group's thinking said, while emphasising that the group saw the ideas presented by veteran negotiator Hochstein on a visit to Beirut last week as unrealistic. Hezbollah's position is that it will fire rockets at Israel until there is a full ceasefire in Gaza. Hezbollah's rejection of the proposals presented by Hochstein has not been previously reported.  Despite the rejection and Hezbollah's volleys of rockets in support of Gaza, the group's openness to diplomatic contacts signals an aversion to a wider war, one of the Lebanese officials and a security source said, even after an Israeli strike reached Beirut on Jan. 2, killing a Hamas leader.

➤WHAT DID CHINA KNOW AND WHEN DID THEY KNOW IT:  Chinese researchers isolated and mapped the virus that causes Covid-19 at least two weeks before Beijing revealed details of the virus to the world, congressional investigators said. Chinese officials in December 2019 were still publicly calling the outbreak in Wuhan a viral pneumonia “of unknown cause” and had yet to close a market that was the site of an initial outbreak. The extra weeks could have proved crucial in helping the international medical community pinpoint how Covid spread, develop medical defenses and start on a vaccine, specialists have said. “China has kept refining our COVID response based on science to make it more targeted,” a Chinese Embassy spokesperson said. “China’s COVID response policies are science-based, effective, and consistent with China’s national realities. They can stand the test of history.” The new information doesn’t shed light on whether Covid came from an infected animal or a lab leak.

➤CANCER TREATMENT 'BETTER', BUT PREVENTION LACKING: The U.S. is getting better at treating cancer but falling behind on preventing it. Rates are rising for many of the most common cancers, including breast cancer, prostate cancer and melanoma, a new report found. Colorectal cancer is increasing for patients under age 55. 

These increases and persistent disparities threaten the progress made over the past three decades in reducing cancer deaths. According to other research, Americans are living longer, but spending less time in good health. That’s due to medical advances catching and treating once-fatal diseases and the rising prevalence, often among younger people, of conditions such as obesity, diabetes and substance-use disorders.

➤BORDER PACKAGE ON LIFE SUPPORT:  A rare window for bipartisan agreement on border security and foreign aid appears to be closing, as House Republicans insisted on a hardline GOP border package and balked at additional help for Ukraine. "I don't think now is the time for comprehensive immigration reform because we know how complicated that is. You can't do that quickly," House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said Wednesday. The comments came shortly before a meeting at the White House with President Biden and other congressional leaders on a border security package Senate Republicans, Democrats and the Biden administration have been crafting for weeks. They hope to attach the package to continued aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.

➤DENVER HOSPITAL 'IN THE RED': The migrant crisis in Denver has plunged the city's main public hospital deep into the red after patients received $136 million in treatment they couldn't pay for. Denver Health lost $2 million in 2022 - but that was substantially-reduced by a $20 million cash injection from the state. In 2022, the hospital system lost $35 million, with bosses warning of 'dire consequences' for the hospital if 2024 is as bad as the previous two.  Denver Health CEO Donna Lynne said that 8,000 migrants who came to the city from Central America made around 20,000 visits to the health system.

➤TRUMP GETTING ENORSEMENTS: Donald Trump is racking up endorsements after his historic Iowa victory, as the Republicans close ranks behind the party’s front-runner. Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) is the latest to back the former president, joining fellow 2016 rival Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.) and former 2024 aspirants Vivek Ramaswamy, a biotech founder, and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum. Few leading Republicans have lately endorsed Trump’s remaining main rivals, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. If he continues winning by Iowa-esque margins, Trump could secure the delegates needed to clinch the nomination in weeks. More immediately: The judge overseeing columnist E. Jean Carroll’s defamation trial against the former president threatened to remove him from the New York courtroom for making comments while she testified.

➤TRUMP EXCLUSION FROM MAINE BALLOT PUT ON HOLD: A Superior Court judge in Maine has put on hold a decision by the secretary of state to exclude Donald Trump from the state’s election ballot. The judge said a final decision must await a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court on a similar move in Colorado. The case is expected to be heard next month. 

➤JUDGE TELLS TRUMP TO PIPE DOWN: A judge overseeing a civil defamation case against Donald Trump ordered the former president to keep his voice down or face expulsion from the court. Trump is accused of continuing to defame the writer E. Jean Carroll even after a jury found that he had sexually assaulted her and then defamed her for revealing the assault. 

During yesterday’s hearing, he reportedly kept up a running commentary on the testimony, saying “it is a witch hunt” and “it really is a con job.” Carroll testified that she has been inundated with threatening messages since coming forward.

➤HOUSE REBELS SEEN AS DISRUPTORS: A push to punish a handful of the most conservative lawmakers in the House reignited in a closed-door meeting on Wednesday, with some Republicans lashing out over their colleagues' continued disruption of the lower chamber and GOP leaders’ agenda. In a weekly Republican meeting, Rep. Max Miller, R-Ohio, specifically called out the House Freedom Caucus during the meeting’s open mic session. The Freedom Caucus is a group made up of ultraconservative lawmakers who have often been a roadblock to spending agreements, foreign aid and other urgent legislation. House Republicans as a group need “discipline and structure,” Miller said after the meeting, calling for Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., chair of the group, and other right-wing conservatives to be punished for rebelling. The Ohio lawmaker suggested removing them from their committee assignments or cutting off access to campaign fundraising.


➤APPLE LOSES WATCH APPEAL: Apple will remove the blood oxygen feature from its latest Apple Watches, a move that will allow the company to continue importing and selling the devices in the U.S. as it battles with Masimo in court. Modified versions of the Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 will go on sale Thursday, Apple said in a statement. Both devices were introduced in September. When a user taps on the blood oxygen icon on a modified watch, the display will show an alert directing the user to an explanation on Apple’s website, the company said. For months, Apple has been engaged in an intellectual property dispute with Masimo, a medical device company. In October, the International Trade Commission found that Apple’s watch sensors for blood oxygen had infringed on Masimo’s patents.

🔥CLIMATE CHANGE DENIER CONVICTED OF ARSON: A man who accused the Canadian government of setting wildfires to persuade people to believe in climate change has pleaded guilty to arson. In court in Quebec, Brian Pare admitted to setting at least 14 wildfires last year. He then posted messages on social media accusing the government of setting them to persuade people to believe in climate change.  More than 45 million acres of Canadian forest burned in hundreds of forest fires in 2023, doubling the previous record.

➤TEXAS DEFIES HOMELAND SECURITY ORDER: The state of Texas is refusing to comply with a cease-and-desist order from the federal government ordering the state to back down from its takeover of Shelby Park. The park is a key point for illegal immigration from Mexico. The state is blocking the U.S. Border Patrol from entering it. State Attorney General Ken Paxton argues that the state is “utilizing its constitutional authority to defend her territory” and will not back down.

➤ALDI CUTS OUT THE PLASTIC: The Aldi grocery chain has announced it will eliminate the use of plastic shopping bags from all of its 2,000-plus stores in the U.S. Shoppers can bring their own reusable bags or buy one at the counter. The move will make Aldi the first major retailer in the U.S. to totally eliminate plastic bags. Americans throw away 100 million plastic bags every year, making them a major contributor to environmental damage.

🏈CHIEFS-DOLPHINS MATCH WAS TOUGH ON THE FANS: The Kansas City Fire Department responded to 69 calls from Arrowhead Stadium during last Saturday’s game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Miami Dolphins. The game was played in sub-zero temperatures. About half of the patients were suffering from hypothermia, and three had frostbite. Most were treated at the scene but 10 people were taken to a local hospital. The Chiefs won the AFC Wild Card matchup 26-7.

🏈DALLAS COACH MCCARTHY HAS NOT BEEN FIRED: It doesn’t usually make headlines when an NFL coach is NOT fired. Nevertheless, Dallas Cowboys management issued an announcement yesterday saying that coach Mike McCarthy is still with the team, despite the Cowboys’ 48-32 playoff loss to the Green Bay Packers last Sunday.

➤THE CHILLIEST PLACES IN THE US: Most of the nation has been shivering through a cold spell, but if you’re not in one of these four places, thank your lucky stars. The coldest temperatures in the lower 48 states were recorded in two Wyoming towns yesterday. It was minus 37 degrees Fahrenheit in Saratoga and Thermopolis. In the morning, it was minus 18 in Kremmling, Colorado, high in the Rocky Mountains, and in Forest Center, Minnesota, near the Canadian border. It was minus 22 in Monticello, Kentucky. The National Weather Service said another arctic blast was coming through today.

For today, the National Weather Service predicts heavy snow in the Northern and Central Rockies and the Great Lakes, and hazardous snowfall across the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic. The Gulf Coast and southern Plains can expect a brief warmup today before another Arctic air mass moves in at the end of the week. 

➤THURSDAY'S WEATHER MAP:




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