Comment on First Draft: Today in Politics

(WASHINGTON) — The U. S. will provide Ukraine additional Patriot missiles for its air defense systems as part of a massive $6 billion additional aid package, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced Friday. The missiles will be used to replenish previously supplied Patriot systems. The package also includes more munitions for the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems, or NASAMS, and additional gear to integrate Western air defense launchers, missiles and radars into Ukraine’s existing weaponry, much of which still dates back to the Soviet era. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy discussed the need for Patriots early Friday with the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, a coalition of about 50 countries gathering virtually in a Pentagon-led meeting.

On Wednesday, President Joe Biden signed a bill that would force TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, to sell the app to a buyer in the United States within nine months or face a nationwide ban. The ban, passed by the House of Representatives on March 13 and the Senate on Wednesday, was folded into a bill that would provide billions of dollars in aid to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan.

Mass graves with hundreds of bodies were discovered last weekend at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis and Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, prompting serious concerns about war crimes, according to the OHCHR, the U. N.’s human rights office. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Much remains unknown about the victims, but the discovery of the bodies comes after Israeli troops ended their two-week operation at Al-Shifa Hospital in early April.

For years, researchers have been working on vaccines that aim to prevent viral infections by strengthening immune defenses at viruses’ doorway to the body: the nose. A small study recently published in PNAS presents a similar, if lower-tech, idea. Coating the inside of the nose with the over-the-counter antibiotic ointment Neosporin seems to trigger an immune response that may help the body repel respiratory viruses like those that cause COVID-19 and the flu, the study suggests. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] The research raises the idea that Neosporin could serve as an “extra layer” of protection against respiratory illnesses, on top of existing tools like vaccines and masks, says study co-author Akiko Iwasaki, an immunobiologist at the Yale School of Medicine and one of the U.

)MINNEAPOLIS) — The Minneapolis City Council has agreed to pay a $150,000 settlement to an eyewitness who tried to intervene to prevent George Floyd’s murder and who says he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result. Donald Williams, a mixed martial arts fighter who testified against former Officer Derek Chauvin in his 2021 murder trial, sued the city last spring, alleging he was assaulted by police while trying to prevent Floyd’s death on May 25, 2020. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] The council unanimously approved the settlement without discussion Thursday, the Star Tribune reported. The lawsuit alleged that Chauvin looked directly at Williams, grabbed a canister of chemical spray and began shaking it toward him and other bystanders expressing concern for Floyd’s welfare.

There’s no denying that 2024 has already been booked and busy for Zendaya. Since the year started, the Euphoria star has dominated the box office with her blockbuster sequel Dune: Part Two, nabbed not one, but two Vogue covers (the American and British editions), and been tapped to co-chair the annual (and very exclusive) Met Gala.