Thursday morning news: February 16, 2023

For WORLD Radio, I'm Kent Covington. 

Senate briefing on balloons/objects / China threats » It’s time to get tough on China. That’s what some lawmakers are saying after attending a classified briefing on Chinese threats on Wednesday. Senator Josh Hawley.

HAWLEY: They've been doing this, they've been flying these balloons for a while now, as the administrations now admitted. We need to get serious about this and say that we're not going to put up with it.

A U.S. fighter jet shot down a Chinese balloon off the South Carolina coast earlier this month.

Pentagon officials briefed lawmakers on how U.S. military capabilities stack up against those of China.

The U.S. on Friday imposed sanctions on six Chinese aerospace companies. Beijing has threatened to retaliate.

EU proposes 10th Russian sanctions round » The European Union is pushing for a new round of sanctions against Russia, its tenth since the invasion of Ukraine almost a year ago.

European Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen says the sanctions would target Russia’s economy and war machine.

VON DER LEYEN: We propose further export bans worth more than 11 billion euros to deprive the Russian economy of critical technology and industrial goods.

The package also aims to close loopholes that Russia has used to get around previous sanctions.

Buffalo shooter sentencing » The 19-year-old who shot and killed 10 people in a Buffalo grocery store will spend the rest of his life in prison. A New York judge handed down a life sentence to Payton Gendron yesterday after hearing from the families of his victims.

AUDIO: [Speaking, then man rushing Gendron]

During the sentencing hearing, one man lunged at the killer before police officers restrained him.

The son of one of the victims addressed Gendron directly.

AUDIO: You’ve shattered a lot of lives here son. I've got a child your age. I know it was a mistake. It was a big one, bro. You'll pay for this. Just find it in your heart to apologize to these people man.

The killer did apologize in court.

GENDRON: I believed what I read online and acted out of hate. And now I can't take it back. But I wish I could.

Gendron confessed that the killings were racially motivated. He has pleaded guilty to state charges of murder and domestic terrorism. He has pleaded not guilty to federal charges that could carry the death penalty.

McConnell blasts Dems over id politics in judiciary » Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell told colleagues Wednesday that identity politics should play no role when it comes to picking judges.

His remarks came after Democrats celebrated appointing the first openly LGBT judge to the federal bench in Puerto Rico.

MCCONNELL: It’s offensive to all Americans to have a president seeming to view our judiciary as some kind of crude sociological math problem. This is just the kind of thing our constitution cuts against.

The Democrat-led Senate confirmed Gina Méndez-Miró as a federal district judge. She is President Biden’s 100th federal court appointment.

Earthquake latest » International aid continues to pour into Turkey and Syria after devastating earthquakes that killed more than 40,000 people.

Speaking in Aleppo , Syria, Kelly T. Clements with the UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees says aid workers are setting up relief centers.

CLEMENTS: To be able to provide people with a dry and warm place to be able to sleep, some hot food, winter clothing. It’s getting cold.

More than 100 countries have joined relief efforts. But the aid can’t get there fast enough with hundreds of thousands displaced.

Scotland » Scotland will soon have a new leader after First Minister Nicola Sturgeon unexpectedly announced her resignation on Wednesday.

Sturgeon has held the office for more than eight years and is the country’s longest-serving first minister.

STURGEON: This decision is not a reaction to short term pressures, of course, there are difficult issues confronting the government just now. But when is that ever not the case?

Last year, Sturgeon signed a law that made it easier for people to change their legal gender, a move that sparked intense criticism.

She also advocated for another vote on Scotland’s independence from the United Kingdom after a previously failed referendum in 2014.

Sturgeon will remain in power until the Scottish Parliament selects her successor.

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

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