For WORLD Radio, I’m Kent Covington.
Ukraine attack » More Russian missiles and suicide drones slammed into Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities on Thursday, killing at least 11 people.
The attack 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 the Western allies are moving as fast as possible to arm Ukraine as Russia prepares for a new offensive.
STOLTENBERG: A lot is being built. They have mobilized hundreds of thousands of new troops. They are increasing production, acquiring ammunition from authoritarian regimes.
Russia’s latest attack followed the Kremlin’s recent pattern of attacking civilian targets and infrastructure.
Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia province said three people were killed and seven wounded in an attack on a power facility.
Authorities say Russia fired 55 missiles on Thursday. Ukrainian air defenses were able to shoot down 47 of them.
Iran Nuclear 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 International Atomic Energy Agency has warned that Iran likely has the material for at least one nuclear weapon.
But the general director, Rafael Grossi, says that it will manufacture several nuclear weapons.
He is urging the West not to give up on a diplomatic pact to limit Iran’s atomic program.
The Biden administration had hoped to revive the 2015 nuclear deal. However, that now seems highly unlikely as Tehran arms Russia and unrest rocks Iran.
The Israeli government and others say that dealing with Iran will not 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 District Attorney Steve Mulroy said that among those charges…
MULROY: Second degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping resulting in bodily harm.
The police report of the incident on January 7 says that an “altercation” occurred after a traffic stop.
Twenty-nine-year-old Tire Nichols died at a hospital three days later.
The Memphis Police Department, after an internal investigation, said officers used excessive force and fired all five.
Attorney Blake Ballin represents one of the accused officers, Desmond Mills.
BALLIN: As someone who’s on the other side of law enforcement, someone who’s been in charge of keeping our community safe, hurts it 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 preparing for a riot.
FBI hacker group » The FBI says it stopped 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, targeting more than 1,500 victims in 80 countries.
National Archives ” The National Archives wants the surviving presidents and vice presidents to double-check their records to make sure they don’t contain classified documents.
Republican Congressman Gary Palmer.
PALMER: And I’m serious everyone, whether it’s Donald Trump or Biden or Vice President Pence, we need to know what documents were left. Safe places are settled on these places that are not safe.
In recent months, classified records have turned up in the private homes of President Biden, Trump and Pence.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries says Congress will consider what can be done to protect classified information…
JEFFRIES: Through the lens, hopefully, not as an issue for one party or another, but as an issue that we as a Congress should address on behalf of the American people.
Under federal law, confidential documents are supposed to be turned over to the National Archives upon leaving office.
The economy slows down » The US economy showed more signs of slowing late last year.
The Commerce Department says the economy grew at an annual rate of 2.9 percent. That’s a little more than 3 percent from the previous quarter.
But President Biden said Thursday that the numbers are still strong.
BIDEN: Economic growth has increased. Stronger than experts expected. 2.9% are jobs in growth. The jobs are the highest in America and the highest in American history.
Most analysts believe that 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 expresses concern over escalating violence in the Middle East.
Israeli forces raided a camp in the West Bank on Thursday, killing seven militants. But Palestinian authorities say a 61-year-old woman was also killed.
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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