Hi everyone,
Hope you had a good weekend and are enjoying the first full day of spring.
Lots of news to look out for this week. To begin with, some developing news out of China, where a passenger plane crashed with 132 people on board. Still no word on casualties.
We're also following confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson, slated to begin at 11amET Monday. It's the first real chance for the American public to get to know her.
There's also the latest out of Ukraine. It appears Ukraine and Russia have reached a stalemate, for now, on the battlefield. The Ukrainians rejected a surrender demand this morning. And there are reports that the US is in the final stages of its negotiations to rejoin the Iran nuclear deal.
It was also a big weekend for college basketball, chock full of upsets. We'll look at what to expect for the Sweet Sixteen.
See you tonight at 9pmET on my regular Mondays with Mosh Instagram Live, where I take all your questions.
~ @Mosheh
via CNN
A China Eastern passenger jet carrying 132 people crashed in southern China. Rescue crews are en route to the scene. No word yet on casualties. Here's what we know as of 730amET:
The flight was headed from Kunming to Guangzhou in the southeast part of the country. Contact was lost over Wuzhou, in the Guangxi region. ~ CNBC
China's state-run media said the crash led to a fire on a mountain. One villager said the plane had "completely fallen apart." ~ CBS News
The plane involved is a Boeing 737-800-- not the 737-Max model, according to Boeing. China regulators approved the Max to resume flying in December, but so far, none have returned to commercial service. ~ CNBC
Boeing's 737 Max planes were grounded for months after manufacturing issues were found to have caused two fatal crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia, killing a combined 346 people.
** We'll have updates on the China plane crash throughout the day on the @Mosheh instagram account.
via NBC News
Today the Senate Judiciary Committee starts nomination hearings for SCOTUS nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson. If confirmed, Jackson will be the first Black woman to sit on the nation's highest court, only the fourth non-white justice and sixth woman in the court's history (115 justices). Here's what to expect:
For the past few weeks, Jackson has been meeting with senators privately. Now, she'll be making her case to the American public as well. [Her meetings have gotten less attention than usual with Ukraine dominating headlines, as well as the fact that she is a liberal replacing another liberal, so the current 6-3 conservative majority will not change.]
Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee will begin the "notoriously difficult job of trying pin down a Supreme Court nominee on specifics about how she would approach the job or confront the national issues in which the high court increasingly plays an outsize role."
The Washington Post looks at what we know about Jackson's positions on some hot button issues like abortion and gun control.
The hearings begin today at 11amET (Live Link) with statements from committee members and Jackson herself. On Tuesday and Wednesday, members will ask questions. And on Thursday members of the American Bar Association and outside witnesses will testify before the committee. ~ Courthouse News
Democrats hope to have Jackson confirmed by early April. She would then join the bench after Justice Breyer retires after this year's term ends in June. Supreme Court nominees are no longer subject to the filibuster, meaning they can be approved with a simple majority. Right now Democrats have the votes, as long as all 50 Democratic senators stick together. VP Kamala Harris could cast the deciding vote.
Back in June 2021, the Senate confirmed Jackson to serve on the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, in a 53-44 vote that included the support of three Republicans: Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine. It's unclear how they'll will vote this time around.
Areas of controversy: Expect Republican lawmakers to ask about Jackson's work as a public defender when she represented four Guantanamo Bay detainees, and also her sentencing of sex offenders.
Some Republicans say Jackson has a record of “defending terrorists." The four detainees included an alleged al-Qaida bomb expert, a Taliban intelligence officer, a man who trained to fight American forces in Afghanistan and a farmer associated with the Taliban.
Jackson was assigned all four cases while working as a federal public defender from 2005 to 2007. Her former boss confirmed that she was assigned the Guantanamo cases and had not specifically asked for them. Jackson has also written that under “the ethics rules that apply to lawyers, an attorney has a duty to represent her clients zealously,” no matter their own views. ~ AP
Meanwhile, Republican Senator Josh Hawley tweeted that he reviewed her record and found that she was lenient in sentencing some sex offenders.
Fact check: Administration and Senate officials say that Jackson's sentences in pornography cases were at or above recommendations from probation officials. One quote Hawley is citing also appears to be taken out of context.
The next two weeks could be critical in determining the outcome of Russia's attempt to conquer Ukraine. The war could be headed toward a stalemate, according to Western officials and military experts. Russian forces were unprepared for heavy resistance from Ukrainians, the front lines have barely moved in days, and about 1,000 Russians are being killed or injured each day. ~ Washington Post
"I don't think Ukraine forces can push Russian forces out of Ukraine, but I also don't think Russian forces can take that much more of Ukraine." -- Rob Lee, former US Marine and senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute
At the same time, observers tell the Washington Post and other publications that the west needs to continue to resupply and rearm the Ukrainians if they are to keep up the effort.
Diplomacy: Russia and Ukraine "have almost reached agreement" on key peace points, according to Turkish officials. Although a number of global leaders are skeptical about how genuine the Russians are being at the talks. Linda Thomas-Greenfield, US ambassador to the UN, warns: “The negotiations seem to be one-sided... The Russians have not leaned into any possibility for a negotiated and diplomatic solution.”~ Financial Times
A possible agreement would require Russia to announce a ceasefire and remove its troops from Ukrainian territory to the positions they were in when Putin launched a full-blown invasion on February 24. Also reportedly part of the deal:
Ukraine would declare neutrality and abandon plans to join NATO.
Ukraine would "demilitarize" in exchange for security guarantees.
"Denazification" (some token gestures, given that Ukraine's president is Jewish and nobody is quite sure what Russia means by this).
Ukraine recognizing Russian claims to its territories of Crimea and the eastern Donbas provinces.
President Biden will travel to Europe later this week for a NATO summit on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The group is expected to consider a Polish proposal to send NATO peacekeepers to Ukraine. ~ ABC News
As part of the trip, Biden will also visit Poland, where two million Ukrainian refugees have fled during the war. He'll meet with the Polish president to talk about how the US can help with the "humanitarian and human rights crisis." ~ Fox News
On the ground, Mariupol: Ukraine has rejected a Russian demand to surrender the southern city of Mariupol that Putin has been laying seige to. Ukraine's Deputy PM said: "There can be no discussion of any surrender or of laying down arms." It followed this warning from Russia on Sunday regarding the city of 500,000:
The humanitarian situation in the city continues to get worse. Officials say they're still trying to figure out how many people survived after Russia bombed an art school that was being used as a shelter. ~ CNN
A Greek diplomat returning from the city said this: "What I saw, I hope no one will ever see... Mariupol will become part of a list of cities that were completely destroyed by war." ~ Reuters
The United States is reportedly nearing a final agreement to rejoin the Iran nuclear deal, basically rejoining the original deal 'in progress.' The 2015 JCPOA restricts Iran's uranium enrichment from levels that would let them produce nuclear weapons in exchange for removing economic sanctions. Under the deal, Iran could step up oil exports to Western countries.
President Trump withdrew the US from the original JCPOA in 2018 calling it the "worst deal ever." President Biden has been looking to rejoin the deal since taking office. (He played a role in the original deal during his time as Obama's VP.)
One of the final sticking points: The Biden Administration is reportedly considering removing the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) from the US terror blacklist, no longer designating it a "foreign terrorist organization."
Reaction: “Unfortunately, there is determination to sign a nuclear agreement with Iran at almost any price, including saying that the world’s largest terrorist organization is not a terrorist organization... That is too high a price.” --Israeli PM Naftali Bennett (Jerusalem Post)
Israel has long opposed the Iran nuclear deal, in part because Iran's nuclear limitations expire in 2025 and Iran woudl be allowed to continue to fund and arm terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah .
In case you missed it: We published a special edition on the Iran nuclear deal last week. Worth a read as negotiations draw to a close.
PETE 16! The Cinderella story of the 2022 NCAA Tournament is No. 15 seed Saint Peter's. They punched their ticket to the Sweet 16, beating No. 7 seed Murray State in the second round and No. 2 seed Kentucky in the first.
Saint Peter's is a small, private Jesuit university in Jersey City, NJ. They are only the third No. 15 seed in tournament history to advance into the Sweet 16. Last year, Oral Roberts--also a 15 seed-- came close to making it into the Elite 8.
Other double-digit underdog seeds in the Sweet 16 include: No. 11 Iowa State (who went 2-22 last season), No. 10 University of Miami as well as No. 11 University of Michigan. No. 8 UNC also knocked out the first No. 1 seed over the weekend: Baylor.
There have been so many upsets, no perfect brackets remain, according to ESPN.
No. 2 Duke came from behind to beat Michigan State and give coach Mike Krzyzewski his 1200th career win, and keep his last run alive.
On the Women's side, the second round wraps up today. Some surprises so far: Iowa and Baylor, both number 2 seeds, were eliminated on their home courts. Creighton got "a storybook ending" in their win over Iowa. ~ USA Today
He is recovering and could be released within a few days, the court said. (NBC News)
Above-average temperatures are expected for most of the U.S. from April to June. (ABC News)
The country's top financial regulator is expected to propose new disclosure rules that would require companies to report their contributions to greenhouse gas emissions as well as how climate change might affect their businesses. (NPR)
The Shanghai Disney Resort has announced that it will close on Monday until further notice, citing China’s recent wave of Covid-19 infections. (WSJ)
Couple who believed they had dug up the world’s largest potato in the garden of their small farm near Hamilton have had their dreams turned to mash. It’s actually a tuber of a gourd, according to Guinness World Records. (Guardian)
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