Friday morning news: January 27, 2023

For WORLD Radio, I'm Kent Covington. 

Ukraine attack » More Russian missiles and suicide drones crashed into Kyiv and other cities across Ukraine on Thursday killing at least 11 people.

The onslaught came just hours after the United States and Germany upped the ante in Russia’s 11-month war by promising to send high-tech tanks to Ukraine.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg says Western allies are moving as quickly as possible to arm Ukraine as Russia prepares for a new offensive.

STOLTENBERG: They are building heavily up. They have mobilized hundreds of thousands of new troops. They’re ramping up production, acquiring ammunition from authoritarian regimes.

Russia’s latest attack followed the Kremlin’s recent pattern of striking civilian targets and infrastructure.

Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia province said three people were killed and seven injured in a strike on an energy facility.

Officials say Russia fired 55 missiles on Thursday. Ukraine’s air defenses were able to shoot down 47 of them.

Iran nuke assessment » The UN’s top nuclear official says Iran now has enough highly enriched uranium to build multiple nuclear weapons. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin has more.

KRISTEN FLAVIN, REPORTER: For months, the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency has warned that Iran likely has the material for at least one nuclear weapon.

But Director General Rafael Grossi says make that several nuclear weapons.

He’s urging the West not to give up on a diplomatic pact to limit Iran’s atomic program.

The Biden administration has hoped to revive the 2015 nuclear deal. However, that now looks highly unlikely as Tehran arms Russia and as unrest shakes Iran.

Israel’s government and others say bargaining with Iran won’t work anyway and continue to call for a maximum pressure campaign.

Iranian officials have recently begun openly talking about building nuclear weapons.

For WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

Memphis officers charged » Five former Memphis police officers now face felony charges in the death of a young man during a traffic stop earlier this month.

Shelby County prosecutor Steve Mulroy said among those charges …

MULROY: Second degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping resulting in bodily injury.

The police report from the January 7th incident said an “altercation” ensued after a traffic stop.

Twenty-nine-year-old Tyre Nichols died in a hospital three days later.

The Memphis Police Dept., after an internal probe said the officers used excessive force and fired all five of them.

Attorney Blake Ballin represents one of the accused officers, Desmond Mills.

BALLIN: As somebody who is on the other side of law enforcement, somebody who has been in charge of keeping our community safe, hurts him on another level.

Mills and at least one other officer will plead not guilty.

Memphis police plan to release video footage of the incident tonight and are bracing for unrest.

FBI hacker group » The FBI says it has prevented a ransomware group called Hive from stealing more than $130 million from more than 300 victims.

FBI director Christopher Wray:

WRAY: Last July, FBI Tampa gained clandestine, persistent access to Hive’s control panel, and since then, for the past seven months we’ve been able to exploit that access to help victims while keeping Hive in the dark.

Over the years, Hive has stolen more than $100 million and targeted more than 1,500 victims in 80 countries.

National Archives » The National Archives wants surviving presidents and vice presidents to recheck their records to make sure they don’t contain classified documents.

Republican Congressman Gary Palmer.

PALMER: And I mean this for everyone, whether it's Donald Trump or Biden or Vice President Pence, we need to know what documents left. The secure locations are wound up in these places that are not secure.

In recent months, classified records have turned up at the private homes of President Biden, Trump, and Pence.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries says Congress will look at what can be done to protect classified information...

JEFFRIES: Through the lens, hopefully, not as an issue for one party or the other, but as an issue that we should just address as a congress on behalf of the American people.

Under federal law, sensitive documents are supposed to be turned over the National Archives upon leaving office.

Economy slows » The U.S. economy showed more signs of slowing at the end of last year.

The Commerce Department says the economy grew at a 2.9 percent annual rate. That’s down from slightly more than 3 percent the quarter before.

But President Biden said Thursday the numbers are still strong.

BIDEN: Economic growth is up. Stronger than experts expected. 2.9% are growing jobs. Jobs are the highest in America number and highest in American history.

Most analysts think the economy will grow even more slowly in the first quarter of this year.

West Bank » Secretary of State Tony Blinken will travel to Egypt, Israel and the West Bank this weekend as the State Department voices concern over escalating violence in the Middle East.

Israeli forces raided a camp in the West Bank Thursday, killing seven militant. But Palestinian authorities say a 61-year-old woman also died.

Blinken’s visit to Israel has been planned for weeks, but Thursday’s raid will likely dominate his talks in Jerusalem and Ramallah.

I'm Kent Covington. For more news, features, and analysis, visit us at wng.org. 

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