Today’s edition of quick hits.
* In Gaza: “The Israeli military and Palestinian militant group Hamas have agreed to three separate, zoned three-day pauses in fighting in the Gaza Strip to allow for the vaccination of some 640,000 children against polio, a senior WHO official said on Thursday. The vaccination campaign is due to start on Sunday, said Rik Peeperkorn, the World Health Organization’s senior official for the region.”
* The U.S. economy: “The U.S. economy grew faster in the second quarter of 2024 than first reported, suggesting there was little sign of a slowdown through the first six months of the year. The latest reading of the gross domestic product (GDP) published by the Commerce Department came in at 3%, up from an initial estimate of 2.8%.”
* Immigration policy: “The Biden administration is restarting an immigration program that allows migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to come to the United States, and it is including ‘additional vetting’ of their U.S.-based financial sponsors following fraud concerns. The Department of Homeland Security had suspended the program earlier this month to investigate the concerns but indicated that an internal review found no widespread fraud among sponsors.”
* A lot of the predictions about Afghanistan were wrong: “Warnings that Afghanistan would become a launching pad for terrorist attacks around the world after the withdrawal of U.S. troops turned out to be wrong, CIA Deputy Director David Cohen said Wednesday. ‘The dire predictions have not come to pass,’ he said at a national security conference in Rockville, Maryland.”
* Intelligence sharing with our allies abroad matters: “The CIA warned Austrian authorities about a planned terrorist attack at a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna earlier this month, CIA Deputy Director David Cohen said Wednesday. ‘They planned to kill a huge number of people, tens of thousands at this concert including, I’m sure, many Americans,’ Cohen said during the annual Intelligence and National Security Summit.”
* The latest Jan. 6 sentence: “A Kentucky man involved with the Oath Keepers and other far-right extremist groups who helped devise plans to converge on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was sentenced on Wednesday to five years in prison for his role in the riot, federal prosecutors said.”
* DeSantis’ popularity in his home state is often difficult to understand: “Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) backed off Wednesday of what he referred to as a ‘half-baked’ plan to place golf courses in state parks, according to multiple outlets. At a press conference, DeSantis referred to ‘stuff’ in the plan as being ‘half-baked’ and ‘not ready for prime time,’ according to the Miami Herald.”
See you tomorrow.
