Today’s edition of quick hits.
* In the Middle East: “After weeks of foreboding, an all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah has been averted, at least for now, as both sides returned on Monday to more contained confrontations along the Israel-Lebanon border. But any relief has been tempered by renewed anxiety and uncertainty: Despite the apparent postponement of a bigger regional war, Israel’s grinding conflicts with both Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza still have no end in sight.”
* In Ukraine: “Moscow launched more than 200 missiles and drones across a wide swath of Ukraine on Monday, damaging energy facilities and sending residents of Kyiv into basements and subways to seek shelter. President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the assault as ‘one of the largest strikes’ of the 30-month-old war.”
* In Venezuela: “One of Venezuela’s top election officials, in a declaration sure to jolt the crisis-weary nation, said in an interview that he had no proof that Venezuela’s authoritarian president won last month’s election.”
* The appeal shouldn’t be necessary, but it is: “Special counsel Jack Smith filed his appeal Monday of U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon’s decision to dismiss Donald Trump’s classified documents indictment, a ruling the judge made after finding that Smith’s appointment exceeded his power as a government officer. Cannon’s decision ‘conflicts with an otherwise unbroken course of decisions, including by the Supreme Court … and it is at odds with widespread and longstanding appointment practices in the Department of Justice and across the government,’ Smith wrote in the appeal.”
* A Trump-appointed judge: “A federal judge has weakened the Biden administration’s effort to use a historic civil rights law to fight industrial pollution alleged to have taken a heavier toll on minority communities in Louisiana. U.S. District Judge James David Cain of Lake Charles handed down the ruling Thursday, permanently blocking the Environmental Protection Agency from imposing what are known as ‘disparate impact’ requirements on the state.” * On Wall Street: “The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at a record high on Monday, as investors tried to move on from a steep sell-off earlier this month.” * On the Korean Peninsula: “North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervised a demonstration of new exploding drones designed to crash into targets and pledged to spur development of such weapons to boost his military’s war readiness, state media said Monday.” See you tomorrow.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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