TOP STORIES

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Friday, January 3

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U.S. ASSASSINATES IRAN MILITARY TITAN Gen. Qassem Suleimani, a senior Iranian commander and one of the most powerful figures in the Middle East, was killed in an airstrike on the Baghdad International Airport in Iraq at the direction of President Donald Trump. The assassination marks a monumental U.S. escalation toward Iran. [HuffPost]

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IRAN'S SUPREME LEADER: 'HARSH RETALIATION IS WAITING' Iran vows “harsh retaliation” for a U.S. airstrike near Baghdad’s airport that killed Iran’s top general and the architect of its interventions across the Middle East, as tensions soared in the wake of the targeted killing. Khamenei declared three days of public mourning, then revenge. Iran also summoned the Swiss charges d’affaires, who represents U.S. interests in Tehran, to protest the killing. [AP]

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TOP SENATE DEMOCRAT RECEIVED NO NOTICE OF U.S. STRIKE  The Trump administration did not inform Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) before its strike in Iraq against Iranian military leader Qassem Suleimani, an aide told HuffPost. Schumer is a member of the “Gang of Eight” lawmakers whom presidents traditionally keep updated about sensitive national security issues. [HuffPost]

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TRUMP TWEETS PIC OF U.S. FLAG AFTER ASSASSINATION As the world anxiously awaited U.S. confirmation of reports that the U.S. had killed a top Iranian military official in an airstrike on the Baghdad airport, Trump signed on to Twitter for the first time in 12 hours and posted a low-quality, slightly pixelated picture of an American flag. [HuffPost]

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ORTHODOX JEW BEATEN IN ANTI-SEMITIC ATTACK IN NEW YORK  Two women in Brooklyn punched and yelled anti-Jewish epithets at an Orthodox Jewish man, according to police. The 22-year-old man was on a street corner in Williamsburg when the women reportedly began harassing and then chasing him down a street. [HuffPost]

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CASTRO DROPS OUT OF 2020 PRESIDENTIAL RACE Democratic presidential candidate Julián Castro ended his campaign. Castro, the secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President Barack Obama, would have been the first Latino president, had the voters rallied behind him. He was the first Texas Democrat to run for president since 1976. [HuffPost]

WHAT'S BREWING

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TOURISTS ORDERED TO LEAVE AUSTRALIAN COAST Tourists in Australia’s New South Wales are being ordered to evacuate the state’s South Coast region before this weekend as the country battles more than 200 wildfires that have killed at least 17 people. Heavy winds mixed with dry temperatures are expected to create an “extreme fire danger” for NSW’s South Coast by Saturday. Meanwhile, Exxon Mobil Australia faced international backlash for the tone-deaf tweet: “Stay safe and have fun this new year,” with people pointing out how the oil giant has contributed to the climate crisis exacerbating the deadly wildfires. [HuffPost]

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200 MEMBERS OF CONGRESS GOAD SCOTUS: REVISIT ROE More than 200 members of the U.S. House and Senate signed on to an amicus brief decrying the “unworkability” of current abortion rights and asking the Supreme Court to reconsider key decisions on the issue. [HuffPost]

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22 WOMEN WIN $12.7 MILLION LAWSUIT AGAINST PORN SITE San Diego Superior Court Judge Kevin Enright awarded $12.7 million to 22 Jane Does who provided online sex videos to a porn company that lied to them. The judge said the GirlsDoPorn website engaged in malice, oppression or fraud by falsely claiming the videos would never appear online. [HuffPost]

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WISCONSON CONSERVATIVES SEEK VOTER PURGE A conservative law firm asked a judge to find the Wisconsin Elections Commission in contempt and fine its members $2,000 a day until it immediately purges more than 200,000 voters from the rolls, a move Democrats are fighting in the key battleground state. [AP]

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AMAZON THREATENED WORKERS WHO SPEAK OUT ON CLIMATE CHANGE The group Amazon Employees for Climate Justice said its leaders had been threatened and questioned by the company’s human resources department about comments they made in the press last year. The company’s response is a form of “targeting” meant to keep employees from speaking out further, the group said. [HuffPost]

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GHOSN'S AUDACIOUS ESCAPE FROM JAPAN Japanese authorities have raided the house where fugitive auto executive Carlos Ghosn was staying before he arranged his escape to Lebanon earlier this week, possibly via Turkey. Ghosn — the former chairman of Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors — had been awaiting trial in Japan on charges of financial wrongdoing. [CNN]

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