Today’s edition of quick hits.
* In Ukraine: “A new wave of Russian missile strikes left sirens sounding and cities without power across Ukraine on Tuesday, after a sudden escalation that added new urgency to Kyiv’s push for greater air defense support from its Western allies.”
* SCOTUS: “The Biden administration on Tuesday asked the Supreme Court to reject former President Donald Trump’s request that it allow the special master reviewing documents seized by federal agents from Mar-a-Lago to have access to those marked as classified.”
* Getting Riyadh’s attention: “President Biden will re-evaluate the relationship with Saudi Arabia after it teamed up with Russia to cut oil production in a move that bolstered President Vladimir V. Putin’s government and could raise gasoline prices in the United States just before midterm elections, a White House official said on Tuesday.”
* On a related note: “A top Democratic senator is vowing to block all future weapons sales to Saudi Arabia and urging the Biden administration to ‘immediately freeze all aspects’ of U.S. cooperation with the kingdom in response to its decision to cut oil production amid a global energy crisis set off by Russia’s war in Ukraine.”
* Speaking of the Middle East: “President Biden on Tuesday touted a U.S.-brokered deal between Israeli and Lebanese leaders that will let both countries exploit natural gas fields in the eastern Mediterranean, potentially ending a decades-long dispute over their maritime border.”
* Uh oh: “The country’s third-largest freight rail workers union rejected a temporary agreement brokered by the Biden administration to avert a potentially crippling nationwide railroad strike, raising the possibility that one could occur next month.”
* Nice job looking out for life on Earth, NASA: “A NASA spacecraft successfully changed an asteroid’s orbit by intentionally smashing into it last month, agency officials confirmed Tuesday. NASA said data obtained over the past two weeks showed that the DART probe’s impact with a small, harmless space rock known as Dimorphos did manage to alter its trajectory.”
* It’s tough to blame them: “Students and faculty at the University of Florida gave U.S. Sen Ben Sasse a raucous welcome to campus Monday, greeting the Nebraska Republican with biting questions and a loud protest as he sought to introduce himself as the school’s likely next president.”
* Trump’s SPAC: “The special-purpose acquisition company that is trying to take public former President Donald Trump’s social-media platform pushed back the deadline for its shareholders to vote on giving the company more time to close its deal.”
See you tomorrow.
