Tuesday morning news: January 9, 2024

Israel » Secretary of State Tony Blinken is urging leaders in the Middle East to help prevent the Israel-Hamas war from widening.

BLINKEN: It’s clearly not in the interest of anyone, Israel, Lebanon, Hezbollah, for that matter, to see this escalate.

His remarks follow an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon that killed a high-ranking commander … in the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group.

Wissam al-Tawil reportedly took part in the 2006 cross-border kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers that triggered the last war between Israel and Hezbollah.

Blinken has traveled to several Middle Eastern countries in recent days.

BLINKEN: Everywhere I went, I found leaders who were determined to prevent the conflict that we’re facing now from spreading, doing everything possible to deter escalation.

While Israeli forces are at war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip to the west, they’ve been working to keep Hezbollah in check to the north. The group has launched attacks against Israel in recent months, but has not yet fully joined the war.

Mayorkas » As lawmakers continue talks over legislation to tackle the border crisis, the Biden administration is laying blame for that crisis on the steps of the U.S. Capitol.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas visited the southern border in Texas on Monday and told reporters:

MAYORKAS: We need Congress to provide the supplemental funding that President Biden requested months ago. We need more Border Patrol agents and more case processors.

But Republicans say the Homeland Security secretary has been derelict in his duty to secure the homeland by failing to secure the border.

And Mayorkas will be the subject of an impeachment hearing that House Republicans are scheduled to begin tomorrow.

But GOP lawmakers say the root of the crisis is President Biden’s policies.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell:

MCCONNELL: The answer is to fix the broken policies that the cartels are exploiting to devastating effect.

Republicans are demanding policy changes in exchange for approving a major funding package the president is asking for.

Lloyd Austin » The White House says it will review the failure of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to notify Congress and the White House that he was hospitalized.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters:

KIRBY: We’ll do what’s akin to a hot wash and try to see if processes and procedures need to be changed at all or modified so that we can learn from this.

But while some Republicans have called for the secretary’s resignation, the White House says Sec. Austin still has President Biden’s full confidence.

The Pentagon maintained its silence on why Austin was hospitalized and said he has no plans to resign. He reportedly suffered complications after an elective surgery.

Republican Sen. Tom Cotton says Congress wants answers:

COTTON: What kind of procedure this was, why it was chosen to undergo now, and why no one chose to inform the president of the United States or his senior aides, much less Congress or the American people, that the secretary of defense was hospitalized and unable to perform his duties.

The 70-year-old secretary was hospitalized on Jan. 1st. But the White House only found out about it three days later.

Austin was in intensive care for a time, but has been moved to a private room and has resumed his duties

Boeing panel found » The National Transportation Safety Board has located the part of an Alaska Airlines jet that blew out in mid-air over the weekend, leaving a gaping hole in the side of the fuselage.

It looks like a cabin door, but it’s called a door plug as it was not a functioning door.

NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy said a school teacher in the Portland, Oregon area found it.

HOMENDY: He found it in his backyard. Thank you, Bob. I will reach out to you so that I can thank you myself.

She called the panel crucial to her agency’s investigation.

The panel blew off of a Boeing 737 Max 9 jet shortly after takeoff from Portland over the weekend. Boeing reportedly did not manufacture or install the panel in question.

And a note of correction: In our report yesterday, I stated that the Max 9 is the same model that the FAA grounded for nearly two years. But the previously grounded planes were in fact Max 8 jets.

China space » Pentagon officials say China could cripple U-S satellites in the event of a military conflict. WORLD’s Josh Schumacher has more.

JOSH SCHUMACHER: A report released last month out of the Air War College details ways that the Chinese military could disable the U.S. presence in space and the command centers that control it.

Beijing could jam satellite communication or seek to hack U.S satellites. But it could also launch missiles from the ground that could take out many satellites in orbit above its territory.

The report says the Chinese military has been testing such missiles for several years.

For WORLD, I’m Josh Schumacher

Russian missile attacks » Russia launched its latest barrage of hypersonic and cruise missiles against Ukrainian targets on Monday. The missiles struck near the front lines of fighting in the east as well as in central and western parts of the country.

At least four civilians were killed.

Western officials and analysts had previously warned that Russia was stockpiling its cruise missiles in preparation for a strategy of winter bombardment, as bad weather keeps the front line largely static.

I'm Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: Rescuing the ballot before the 2024 election. Plus, a classic composition turns 100.

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