The Times of Israel is liveblogging Sunday’s events as they unfold.
Group claims there have been dozens of Israeli strikes on Syria in a few hours
Israel has launched more than 60 strikes on Syrian territory in few hours, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claims.
Israel fired 61 missiles at Syrian military sites in less than five hours Saturday evening, it reports, maintaining a campaign which started after rebel forces toppled president Bashar al-Assad nearly a week ago.
Jerusalem says the campaign is needed to prevent the Assad regime’s extensive military arsenal from falling to jihadist rulers who could use them against Israel or to arm Hezbollah in Lebanon.
SOHR, run by a single person, has regularly been accused by Syrian war analysts of false reporting and inflating casualty numbers as well as inventing them wholesale.
Trump picks Richard Grenell as envoy for special missions
US President-elect Donald Trump says he is picking Richard Grenell, his former intelligence chief, as his presidential envoy for special missions.
Trump announces the move on his Truth Social media platform, saying Grenell will “work in some of the hottest spots around the World, including Venezuela and North Korea.”
ABC settles defamation lawsuit against Trump, agrees to pay $15 million
ABC News has agreed to pay $15 million toward Donald Trump’s presidential library to settle a defamation lawsuit over anchor George Stephanopoulos’ inaccurate on-air assertion that the US president-elect had been found civilly liable for raping writer E. Jean Carroll.
As part of the settlement, the American news site posts an editor’s note expressing regret over Stephanopoulos’ statements during a March 10 segment on his “This Week” program. ABC will also pay $1 million in legal fees to the law firm of Trump’s attorney, Alejandro Brito.
The settlement agreement describes ABC’s presidential library payment as a “charitable contribution,” with the money earmarked for a nonprofit organization that is being established in connection with the yet-to-be-built library.
“We are pleased that the parties have reached an agreement to dismiss the lawsuit on the terms in the court filing,” ABC News spokesperson Jeannie Kedas says.
A Trump spokesperson declines comment.
Trump, Stephanopoulos and ABC executives signed the settlement agreement on Friday.