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Today’s edition of quick hits.
* News on hostages: “Two more hostages, identified as Nurit Yitzhak and Yocheved Lifshitz, have been released by Hamas, multiple sources confirmed to NBC News. In a statement on Telegram, the military wing of Hamas said it had decided to release the two women for ‘compelling humanitarian’ reasons.”
* On a related note, this was the news from late Friday: “Two U.S. hostages abducted by Hamas, both related to former Israel-based NBC correspondent Martin Fletcher, have been released. Judith Raanan and her daughter, Natalie, fell into the clutches of Hamas after the militants on Oct. 7 launched a surprise terror attack on Israel. They had been staying on a kibbutz called Nahal Oz, in southern Israel.”
* Important NATO developments: “Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has submitted a protocol for Sweden’s admission into NATO to Turkey’s parliament for ratification, his office said Monday, bringing the Nordic country a step closer to membership in the military alliance.”
* UAW: “The United Auto Workers union says it expanded its strike again Monday, as 6,800 people stopped working at a plant that makes Ram 1500 trucks. That means this expansion of the strike targets one of Stellantis’ most important and profitable vehicles.”
* SCOTUS: “The Supreme Court on Friday blocked in full a lower court ruling that would have curbed the Biden administration’s ability to communicate with social media companies about contentious content on such issues as Covid-19.”
* A case I’ve been following for a while: “The Supreme Court refused on Friday to reinstate an expansive Missouri law that restricted state and local law enforcement agencies from enforcing federal gun laws and allowed private lawsuits against law enforcement agencies that violated the state’s understanding of the Second Amendment.”
* The fact that we still don’t know about the nature of his health issues is far from ideal: “Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told CBS News that he’s ‘completely recovered’ and he’s ‘back on the job” after his health came into focus this summer.”
* A difficult and lingering diplomatic challenge: “Canada on Thursday said dozens of its diplomats in India have left the country after the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi threatened to remove their diplomatic immunity.”
* The latest on Alex Jones: “The judge in Alex Jones’s bankruptcy case ruled on Thursday that he will not be allowed to use his Chapter 11 filing to evade paying more than $1 billion in verdicts to families of the Sandy Hook shooting.”
* All is not well at the platform formerly known as Twitter: “The social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, has removed the gold ‘verified’ badge from the New York Times’ account amid ongoing complaints about the news organization from X owner Elon Musk. The badge was the only symbol distinguishing the Times’ 55-million-follower account from impostors amid two major global conflicts in Israel and Ukraine.”
See you tomorrow.