Important Takeaways:
- “We [have been] dealing with Iran since the 7th of October, and [on] every single front possible – Houthis in Yemen, militias in Iraq, militias in Syria, Hezbollah, Hamas… so, Israel is in full readiness for any scenario”
- Israel has also suffered widespread GPS disruptions on applications, which Israeli outlet Haaretz reported as deliberate attempts to confuse Israeli drone threats.
- “We are in a multi-front war. We are looking not only at Hamas but all our enemies. We look at all fronts and all threats in order to be ready for any scenario.”
- McInnis argued that any success Iran finds in drawing support and condemnation over the attack is “not likely to translate into much international support for Iranian action against Israel, the United States or anyone else they hold accountable for the strike.”
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Important Takeaways:
- The Erez crossing, a pedestrian passageway, was one of the border points breached by Hamas fighters on October 7 when they launched their bloody attack on Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 250 others hostage.
- An Israeli official told CNN the crossing would be opened to allow more humanitarian aid to enter blockaded Gaza.
- The United Nations welcomed news of the reopening cautiously. “This is positive news but, of course, we will have to see how this is implemented. We need a humanitarian ceasefire and a massive influx of aid”
- Before the war started, Israel restricted all access to and from Gaza by sea and air, and kept land crossings under tight control. It had two functional crossings with the enclave: Erez, which was for the movement of people, and Kerem Shalom, for goods.
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Important Takeaways:
- The earthquake was centered near Whitehouse Station, New Jersey
- A 4.8 magnitude earthquake rocked the Northeast Friday morning, shaking buildings from Philadelphia to New Jersey to New York City to Connecticut to Westchester, New York.
- John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey and Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport are all on a ground stop while runways are inspected for damage.
- The New York City mayor’s office said there’s no immediate reports of damage in the city but crews are still assessing the impacts.
- Cars at the Holland Tunnel between New Jersey and Manhattan are being temporarily held so the tunnel can be inspected, according to the Port Authority.
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Important Takeaways:
- Winter has some tricks left up its sleeve as millions of people across the region brace for a nor’easter that’s impacting cities like Boston and New York City with wind gusts up to 60 mph and heavy rain, while areas farther north are preparing for the possibility of feet of snow
- More than 116,000 customers lost power in Maine as of Thursday morning while 48,000 New Yorkers were left in the dark
- This comes after the Midwest and Great Lakes region saw their fair share of winter weather, with portions of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula under a Blizzard Warning while other areas of the state, as well as parts of Wisconsin, remain under Winter Storm Warnings and Winter Weather Advisories.
- Flooding a concern due to heavy rain, melting snow
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Important Takeaways:
- A mass layoff “has a terrible impact on the employees and their families,” he said. “It also causes some anxiety to the community at large as well.”
- In a statement, Quaker Oats said that after a granola bar recall in December, they decided it was best to consolidate manufacturing of the product in a newer facility.
- “We do not make this decision lightly and recognize the impact it will have on our employees, their families, and the Danville community,” the company statement continued. “We have notified our workforce and are working closely with our employees and local community officials to provide a supportive transition.”
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Important Takeaways:
- Israel beefs up air defenses, calls up troops as Iran payback for Syria strike looms
- Speculation suggests Iran could attack Israel from its own territory rather than through proxies, sparking wider hostilities
- Both Iran and its proxy Hezbollah have vowed that Israel will not go unpunished for the Monday attack on a consular building next to Iran’s embassy in Damascus, which killed Mohammad Reza Zahedi, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ most senior official in Syria, along with his deputy, five other IRGC officers, and at least one member of the Hezbollah terror group.
- Zahedi was reportedly responsible for the IRGC’s operations in Syria and Lebanon, for Iranian militias there, and for ties with Hezbollah, and was thus the most senior commander of Iranian forces in the two countries.
- The IRGC is a US-designated terrorist organization.
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Important Takeaways:
- Aderbiss Pirela, of Venezuela, was captured in New Braunfels, Texas on Tuesday
- Pirela is the second leader of Los Satanás, a gang that operates in Bogotá, Colombia, and in January was able to apply for asylum in Texas
- The gang is linked drug trafficking, murder and extortion in Bogotá
- Gualdrón said that Pirela was caught crossing the United States-Mexico border on January 2 and requested political asylum from the United States on January 7.
- Investigators would learn on January 27 that he and his associates were operating Los Satanás gang activities from a shelter in Texas and instructing gang members in Bogotá.
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Important Takeaways:
- From Taiwan to South Korea to Silicon Valley, some of the most important nodes in the global tech economy are in disaster-prone places
- Considering that Wednesday’s quake was the strongest in Taiwan in 25 years — and that earthquakes of similar strength have killed tens of thousands of people or more in other countries — this could have been much worse.
- There was one other way in which Taiwan — and the world — avoided a worse outcome from the earthquake: the island’s all-important semiconductor manufacturing industry seemed to emerge largely intact.
- To say that Taiwan is important to the global tech industry is like saying oxygen is important to breathing. Taiwan as a whole is responsible for making 80 to 90 percent of the world’s most advanced computer chips — ones for which there is no current substitute.
- While earthquakes and volcanoes are just one threat to Taiwan’s semiconductor foundries, the better-known one is the People’s Republic of China.
- Should Taiwan’s chip foundries be destroyed in such a conflict, the damage to the global economy could be on par with the Great Depression.
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Important Takeaways:
- UCLA Med School forced first year students to attend ‘structural racism’ course where screaming pro-Hamas speaker told them to kneel for bizarre woke ‘prayer’, while pediatrician DEI boss looked on
- The lecture was a mandatory part of the Structural Racism and Health Equity class that all future doctors must take
- Lisa Gray-Garcia, who gave the two-hour presentation, calls herself a ‘poverty skola’, keeps her face covered with a keffiyeh except in a few interviews, and called Hamas’ October 7 attack ‘justified’.
- She claimed private property was a ‘crapitalist lie’ that killed ‘black, brown, and houseless’ people who were forced to live on the streets.
- At one point, she led students in chanting ‘Free, Free Palestine’, as UCLA faculty including Dr Wells watched in silence.
- Gray-Garcia has also previously called Israel ‘amerikkklan’, in reference to the KKK.
- ‘The net effect was that UCLA staff intimidated first-year medical students into participating in a religious service in derogation of their own personal beliefs.’
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Important Takeaways:
- Largest fresh egg producer in U.S. finds bird flu in chickens at Texas and Michigan plants
- The largest producer of fresh eggs in the U.S. said Tuesday it had temporarily halted production at a Texas plant after bird flu was found in chickens, and officials said the virus had also been detected at a poultry facility in Michigan.
- In Texas, Ridgeland, Mississippi-based Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. said in a statement that approximately 1.6 million laying hens and 337,000 pullets, about 3.6% of its total flock, were destroyed after the infection, avian influenza, was found at the facility in Parmer County, Texas.
- The plant is on the Texas-New Mexico border in the Texas Panhandle about 85 miles southwest of Amarillo and about 370 miles northwest of Dallas.
- “The Company continues to work closely with federal, state and local government officials and focused industry groups to mitigate the risk of future outbreaks and effectively manage the response,” according to the statement. “Cal-Maine Foods is working to secure production from other facilities to minimize disruption to its customers.”
- The company said there is no known bird flu risk associated with eggs that are currently on the market and no eggs have been recalled. Eggs that are properly handled and cooked are safe to eat, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
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