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Today’s edition of quick hits.
* In Venezuela: “Concerns over the legitimacy of Venezuela’s presidential election persist as its entrenched president and the country’s opposition both claimed victory Monday — prompting foreign nations, including the United States, to hold off on recognizing the results. Election officials declared President Nicolás Maduro the winner over opposition candidate Edmundo González early Monday during a press conference on Venezuelan state television.”
* In the Middle East, on Saturday: “A rocket strike Saturday at a soccer field killed at least 11 children and teens, Israeli authorities said, in the deadliest strike on an Israeli target along the country’s northern border since the fighting between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah began. It raised fears of a broader regional war.”
* In the Middle East, on Sunday: “Western diplomats were scrambling on Sunday to prevent a surge of fighting along the Israel-Lebanon border, officials said, after a rocket from Lebanon on Saturday killed at least 12 children and teenagers in an Israeli-controlled town. The rocket prompted Israel to retaliate early Sunday with strikes across Lebanon.”
* In Ukraine: “The U.S. will send $1.7 billion in military aid to Ukraine, officials announced on Monday, including an array of munitions for air defense systems, artillery, mortars and anti-tank and anti-ship missiles. The package includes $1.5 billion in funding for long-term contracts through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, and $200 million in immediate military aid taken from Pentagon stockpiles.”
* In Iowa: “Iowa’s strict abortion law went into effect Monday, immediately prohibiting most abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy, before many women know they are pregnant. Iowa’s Republican leaders have been seeking the law for years and gained momentum after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. The Iowa Supreme Court also issued a ruling that year saying there was no constitutional right to abortion in the state.”
* A case of interest: “Two former FBI officials settled lawsuits with the Justice Department on Friday, resolving claims that their privacy rights were violated when the department leaked to the news media text messages that they had sent one another that disparaged former President Donald Trump. Peter Strzok, a former top counterintelligence agent who played a crucial role in the investigation into Russian election interference in 2016, settled his case for $1.2 million. Lisa Page, an FBI lawyer who exchanged text messages with Strzok, also reached a separate settlement. Court records reviewed by The Associated Press show she is to be paid $800,000.”
* Weird, weird, weird: “Two Arizona Republican state lawmakers have shared a debunked conspiracy theory that alleges, in part, that President Joe Biden is using body doubles.”
See you tomorrow.