At least a dozen people are dead after Russia launched one of its largest missile attacks on Ukraine. And the U.S. military’s space plane takes off on a secret mission with the help of a SpaceX rocket. These stories and more highlight The Morning Rundown for Friday, Dec. 29, 2023.
Russia launches 110 missiles at Ukraine, at least 12 civilians killed
Overnight, a dozen people were killed as Russia hit Ukraine targets with one of its biggest aerial onslaughts of the year, launching about 110 missiles, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Zelenskyy said Russia used a wide variety of weapons, including ballistic and cruise missiles.
Ukrainian officials said most of Russia’s missiles, as well as drones, were shot down, but not all. The strikes killed at least 12 civilians, with dozens reported injured and many others believed to be buried under rubble.
The approximately 18-hour barrage began Thursday, Dec. 28, and continued through the night, hitting six cities, including the capital, Kyiv, with the mayor confirming at least two people were killed there. The Ukrainian Air Force spokesman said Russia “apparently launched everything they have.” The attack comes days after Ukraine struck a Russian landing warship in Crimea.
Israeli army admits fault in two deadly strikes on Gaza
Israel has admitted fault for two deadly airstrikes on a refugee camp in central Gaza earlier in the week that local health officials said claimed the lives of dozens of civilians. In a statement Thursday, Dec. 28, the Israeli military said the strikes on Sunday, Dec. 24, consisted of missiles launched by fighter jets, and despite steps to mitigate harm to civilians, its preliminary investigation found the missiles struck buildings “adjacent” to their intended targets.
The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said the two strikes killed at least 70 people. An Israeli military official told Israel’s public broadcaster that an improper choice of munition was to blame. The military said it “regrets the harm to uninvolved individuals and is working to draw lessons from the incident.”
The Gaza Health Ministry said more than 21,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the war began, though the U.S. has cast doubt on its figures in the past since Hamas controls the agency.
Maine drops Trump from ballot, Trump remains on California ballot
I am also mindful, however, that no presidential candidate has ever before engaged in insurrection.
Shenna Bellow, Maine Secretary of State
Maine has become the second state to bar former President Donald Trump from its 2024 primary ballot. Similarly to Colorado’s Supreme Court ruling, Maine’s Secretary of State, Shenna Bellows, a Democrat, has banned Trump’s name from being on the state’s primary election ballot, ruling that the former President’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his role in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol make him ineligible to hold public office.
“I am mindful that no secretary of state has ever deprived a presidential candidate of ballot access based on Section 3 of the 14th Amendment,” Bellows wrote about her decision. “I am also mindful, however, that no presidential candidate has ever before engaged in insurrection.”
Colorado’s secretary of state said Trump will remain on the state’s ballot until the U.S. Supreme Court weighs in on the case following an appeal by the Colorado Republican Party.
The Trump campaign said it would appeal Maine’s decision to the state court system.
The ruling further heightens tensions around U.S. elections as calls for the U.S. Supreme Court to step in grow louder.
In California, the most populated state in the country, the secretary of state ruled Thursday night that Trump will remain on the state’s ballot in 2024, echoing recent decisions in Michigan and Minnesota.
Google reaches settlement on ‘Incognito’ lawsuit
Google has settled a class-action lawsuit brought by users who claim the search giant tracked their data while they used the privacy setting in the company’s browser. The suit claimed that Google tracked users’ online activity even while in Chrome’s “Incognito” or “private” mode.
The terms of Thursday’s Dec. 28 settlement were not disclosed, but the lawsuit filed in 2020 covered “millions” of Google users and sought at least $5,000 in damages per user. A federal judge in California had scheduled a February 2024 trial date for the case, but that has been put on hold as the settlement is finalized.
US population grew by nearly 2 million in 2023
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the U.S. population grew by 1.75 million people in 2023. When the clock strikes midnight on 2023, the bureau estimates the U.S. population will be 335,893,238. According to the bureau’s data released on Thursday, Dec. 28, the majority of growth happened in the South and the West, with smaller population growth in the Midwest and the Northeast.
The agency added that the U.S. will likely see one birth every 9 seconds and one death every 9.5 seconds in January, and immigration is expected to account for one new person every 28.3 seconds. Overall, it is estimated that the U.S. will grow by one person every 24.2 seconds.
Fast-forward to 2080, and the Census Bureau says the U.S. population could be as high as 370 million. The U.S. is the third most populated country in the world, behind only China and India. Globally, the population grew by 75 million people in 2023, surpassing 8 billion people. According to the census data, the world expects to see 4.3 births and two deaths every second in January.
U.S. military’s mysterious spaceplane launches via SpaceX rocket
The U.S. military’s X-37B robot space plane blasted off on another secretive mission Thursday night, Dec. 28, this time with the help of SpaceX. The plane, resembling a mini space shuttle, has no crew on board and carries classified experiments.
This was the first time the plane was launched atop SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Where the space plane is headed for in its seventh mission is anyone’s guess. The U.S. Space Force disclosed few details, but since the plane was launched by SpaceX’s powerful rocket, experts suggest X-37B could be heading for distant orbits, like the moon or Mars.
We know one test the plane is carrying, a NASA experiment to study how plant seeds are affected by the radiation in space, but other than that, the goals of the military’s space plan remain a mystery.