3 Things to Know Today

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Photo: Science Photo Library RF

1 War In Israel: President Biden To Address Nation Today

President Joe Biden is scheduled to deliver a prime-time address to Americans tonight at 8 p.m. Eastern Time. The speech will address the administration’s response to the Hamas terrorist attacks against Israel and Russia’s war in Ukraine. Biden was in Israel yesterday to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a show of support for the country, but also took the opportunity to stress that “The vast majority of Palestinians are not Hamas.” Details of a new funding package request from the White House are starting to make their way to Congress, and the administration is reportedly looking for $60 billion for Ukraine and $40 billion to give aid to Israel, Taiwan, and the U.S.-Mexico border. Protests have broken out around the world after the destruction of a hospital in Gaza that left up to 500 people dead. While Gaza blames Israel, the Israeli and U.S. governments say the missiles that hit the hospital were fired by a terrorist group in Gaza called Islamic Jihad. Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi told “NBC News” anchor Lester Holt yesterday that “Nobody is buying that narrative in this part of the world.”

2 Speaker Of The House Race In Limbo After Rep. Jim Jordan Loses More Support

In the second vote to attempt to elect Rep. Jim Jordan as the Speaker of the House, Jordan got less support than he did in the first vote on Tuesday. Yesterday, Jordan received 199 votes when the House convened at 11 a.m. to vote, but he says he plans to keep trying. When “ABC News” asked him yesterday if he had considered dropping out of the race, he answered “Nope.” The situation is leading to growing frustration on Capitol Hill, and while the House will meet again this afternoon it’s not clear if another vote will be held. Talking to reporters after yesterday’s vote, Rep. Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin said, “We’re like members of a fire department. We’re getting alarms all over the city,” but said that instead of getting into the “firetruck” and putting them out, “we’re fighting over who is going to ride shotgun.” Jordan is getting criticized by Republican representatives for some of the tactics his supporters are using. With reports of threatening texts being sent to the spouses of some of the representatives who voted against Jordan, Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Iowa says she received what she called “credible death threats” and other threatening calls after she voted for Rep. Kay Granger instead of Jordan yesterday. Jordan responded on X with a post condemning “all threats against our colleagues” and saying “Stop. It’s abhorrent.”

3 Joran van der Sloot Admits To Killing Natalee Holloway

Almost 20 years after Natalee Holloway disappeared in Aruba in 2005, longtime suspect Joran van der Sloot finally confessed yesterday to killing her. The confession was revealed yesterday while he was entering a plea deal with federal prosecutors as part of charges that he tried to extort a quarter-million dollars out of Natalee’s mother Beth Holloway in exchange for information about her daughter’s death. Holloway was on a high school graduation trip when van der Sloot says she refused his sexual advances. In his confession, he says he kicked her in the face, struck her in the head with a cinder block, and then walked her body into the ocean. After van der Sloot’s sentencing hearing yesterday, Beth Holloway told reporters “I’m satisfied knowing that he did it, he did it alone, and he disposed of her alone.” Van der Sloot was sentenced to 20 years in prison in the extortion case that will run concurrently with his 28-year sentence in Peru for another killing. He hasn’t been charged in Natalee Holloway’s killing and can’t be tried in the U.S. for it since it happened in Aruba. Aruba's statute of limitations on murder is only 12 years.


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