Tuesday, February 20, 2024

2/20 WAKE-UP CALL: Biden Wants U-N To Push Cease Fire

The United States has proposed a rival draft United Nations Security Council resolution calling for a temporary ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war and opposing a major ground offensive by its ally Israel in Rafah. The move comes after the U.S. signaled it would veto on Tuesday an Algerian-drafted resolution — demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire — over concerns it could jeopardize talks between the U.S., Egypt, Israel and Qatar that seek to broker a pause in the war and the release of hostages held by Hamas.

Until now, Washington has been averse to the word ceasefire in any U.N. action on the Israel-Hamas war, but the U.S. text echoes language that President Joe Biden said he used last week in conversations with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It would see the Security Council "underscore its support for a temporary ceasefire in Gaza as soon as practicable, based on the formula of all hostages being released, and calls for lifting all barriers to the provision of humanitarian assistance at scale."

➤UKRAINE SOLDIERS DIG-IN: Ukraine's military said on Monday its troops had taken up new defensive positions in the east after retreating from the captured town of Avdiivka and were repelling Russian attempts to develop the offensive thrust. Russia took full control of devastated Avdiivka after Kyiv's troops withdrew over the weekend, handing the Kremlin its biggest battlefield advance since capturing the city of Bakhmut in May. Avdiivka's fall was the clearest sign the tide of the war has turned in Russia's favour as Kyiv struggles to regenerate manpower and U.S. Republicans scupper attempts to rearm Washington's ally battling a much larger and better armed foe.

➤WAR BOOSTING ECONOMY: Proponents of support for Ukraine usually invoke U.S. strategic interests or moral obligations. Lately, they are making a more calculating case: It is good for the economy, reports The Wall Street Journal. In the two years since Russia invaded Ukraine, the U.S. defense industry has experienced a boom in orders for weapons and munitions. Business is coming from European allies trying to build out their military capabilities as well as from the Pentagon, which is both buying new equipment from defense manufacturers and replenishing military stocks depleted by deliveries to Ukraine.

Industrial production in the U.S. defense and space sector has increased 17.5% since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine two years ago, according to Federal Reserve data.  Biden administration officials say that of the $60.7 billion earmarked for Ukraine in a $95 billion supplemental defense bill, 64% will actually flow back to the U.S. defense industrial base. 

➤POLICE SEEKS MOTIVE FOR FIRST REPSONDER KILLINGS: On Monday, the community of Burnsville, Minnesota, was mourning the deaths of two police officers and a firefighter as investigators continued probing the fatal shooting in which a heavily armed man barricaded in his home opened fire on first responders before he was found dead. 

Officers Paul Elmstrand and Matthew Ruge and firefighter Adam Finseth, who also worked as a paramedic, were killed, the city said. The shooting that broke out early Sunday after hours of negotiations shocked the residents of the suburb 15 miles from downtown Minneapolis, and baffled law enforcement, who have not released the suspect's name or a possible motive for the shooting.

➤DISSIDENT'S WIFE TO TAKE-ON FIGHT AGAINST PUTIN: Yulia Navalnaya issued a defiant statement Monday, saying she would continue the work of her husband, Alexei Navalny, a fierce critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin who died in custody in mysterious circumstances. “I should not have been in this position,” Navalnaya said in a YouTube video in which she accused Putin of orchestrating her husband's death. Navalny’s family and political aides have demanded that Russia's authorities return his body to them after prison authorities said he suffered "sudden death syndrome" where he was being held at a remote Arctic prison. Allies of Navalny, 47, who crusaded against official corruption and staged massive anti-Kremlin protests, believe he was murdered on Putin's orders.


➤ARRESTS MADE IN HAITIAN MURDER OF P-M: A Haitian judge has indicted former first lady Martine Moïse, as well as the country’s former prime minister and police chief, in connection with the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse. The three are the highest-profile political figures indicted in the case, which includes 51 people in total, among them several former Colombian soldiers, several close aides of the assassinated president, and other Haitian government officials and politicians.  The indictment accuses Martine Moïse, who was seriously wounded in the attack, of being complicit in the assassination of her husband. The judge said he found contradictions in Moïse’s statements and some evidence that suggest she knew about a plot against the former president. He cited testimony from two other defendants who claimed she wanted to run for president after the killing.

💳CAPITAL ONE, DISCOVER TO MERGE: Warren Buffett-backed U.S. consumer bank Capital One plans to acquire U.S. credit card issuer Discover Financial ServICES in an all-stock transaction valued at $35.3 billion to create a global payments giant, the companies said on Monday. The deal, which is expected to receive intense antitrust scrutiny, would form the sixth-largest U.S. bank by assets and a U.S. credit card behemoth that would compete with rivals JPMorgan Chase, opens new tab and Citigroup.

While Discover has a network that spans 200 countries and territories, it is still much smaller than rivals Visa, Mastercard and American Express. "This acquisition adds scale and investment, enabling the Discover network to be more competitive with the largest payments networks," the companies said in a statement. Discover shareholders will receive 1.0192 Capital One share for each Discover share, representing a 26.6% premium over Discover's closing price on Friday.

➤STUDENT ARRESTED FOR SHOOTING DEATHS: A student at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs was arrested Monday in connection with the shooting deaths of two people at a campus dorm room over the weekend. The Colorado Springs Police Department said Nicholas Jordan, 25, of Detroit is suspected of two counts of first-degree murder. University spokesperson Jenna Press said he was enrolled at the school when the shooting happened Friday. Police said officers from the motor vehicle theft unit spotted Jordan in a car less than three miles from campus Monday morning and he was arrested without incident shortly afterward. The department identified the victims as Samuel Knopp, a 24-year-old student at the university, and Celie Rain Montgomery, 26, who was not enrolled in the school.

STUDY: VACCINES LINKED TO HEART-RELATED CONDITIONS: Vaccines that protect against severe illness, death and lingering long Covid symptoms from a coronavirus infection were linked to small increases in neurological, blood, and heart-related conditions in the largest global vaccine safety study to date. Bloomberg reports the rare events — identified early in the pandemic — included a higher risk of heart-related inflammation from mRNA shots made by Pfizer Inc., BioNTech SE, and Moderna Inc., and an increased risk of a type of blood clot in the brain after immunization with viral-vector vaccines such as the one developed by the University of Oxford and made by AstraZeneca Plc. 

The viral-vector jabs were also tied to an increased risk of Guillain-Barre syndrome, a neurological disorder in which the immune system mistakenly attacks the peripheral nervous system. More than 13.5 billion doses of Covid vaccines have been administered globally over the past three years, saving over 1 million lives in Europe alone. Still, a small proportion of people immunized were injured by the shots, stoking debate about their benefits versus harms.

BYRON WINS DAYTONA 500: William Byron, who led all NASCAR Cup Series drivers with six wins last season, scored the biggest triumph of his career Monday evening, winning the 66th annual Daytona 500 to kick off the 2024 season. Byron took the white flag at Daytona International Speedway in his No. 24 Chevrolet seconds before a caution flag flew because of a last-lap crash. 

The 26-year-old edged his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Alex Bowman for the checkered flag, NASCAR officials ruled, after reviewing the sequence of events.

"Just extremely blessed and thankful for all the opportunities, now just want to keep it going," Byron said after exiting his car. "We have a lot to prove this year, and this is a good start obviously. Daytona 500, it’s freaking awesome!"

➤RAIN BATTERS L-A: Heavy rainfall battered Los Angeles on Monday as four counties in Southern California were placed under a flood watch just two weeks after a fierce winter storm devastated the region with severe flooding and mudslides. 

The National Weather Service placed wide swaths of Los Angeles County's inland coast under a flood watch through Wednesday. On Monday, the western side of the city Los Angeles and the Santa Monica Mountains were under a flash flood warning until 6 p.m. Flood warnings were also issued for the San Fernando and San Gabriel Valleys and the Eastern Santa Monica mountains.

➤TUESDAY'S WEATHER MAP:



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