10 things you need to know today: January 8, 2020

1. Iran targets Iraqi bases housing U.S. troops

Iranian forces on Tuesday fired more than a dozen ballistic missiles at two military bases housing American troops in Iraq, the Pentagon said. The barrage, apparently launched from Iran, followed the U.S. drone strike that killed Iran's top military commander, Qassem Soleimani. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps said in a statement that the missile attacks were "hard revenge" for the killing of Soleimani, who led the Revolutionary Guard's elite Quds Force. The statement warned that Iran would "respond with more painful and crushing" action if the U.S. repeats its "wickedness." No casualties were immediately reported. President Trump tweeted after the missile attack that "All is Well!"

CNN The Washington Post

2. Ukraine-bound jet crashes in Iran, killing 176

A Ukrainian airliner crashed shortly after taking off from Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport on Wednesday, killing all 176 people on board. Iranian civil aviation officials said the cause appeared to be mechanical problems, and Ukraine's embassy in Iran blamed engine failure, not "terrorism." The Ukraine-bound Boeing 737 reportedly burst into flames after taking off and came down six miles from the airport. Rescue workers wearing facemasks immediately began recovering the bodies of the passengers and crew in a field littered with debris and smoldering engine parts. The carrier, Ukraine International Airlines, said it was working on confirming the cause of the crash.

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3. McConnell says he has votes to set impeachment trial rules

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced Tuesday that the Senate would open President Trump's impeachment trial without making a decision on meeting Democrats' demand to plan for testimony from new witnesses. "We have the votes" to get started, McConnell said. He said the Senate would therefore follow the process used in former President Bill Clinton's impeachment trial, in which senators only considered the question of calling witnesses after the prosecution and defense had delivered their opening arguments. "What's good for President Clinton is good for President Trump," McConnell said. Republicans hold a 53-47 majority, and only 51 votes are needed to determine how the trial should proceed. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) reiterated that she wouldn't send the impeachment case to the Senate until the rules were announced.

ABC News

4. Trump backs down from threat to target Iranian cultural sites

President Trump on Tuesday backed away from his threat to target Iranian cultural sites as part of U.S. retaliation for any future attacks by Iran. Trump said Saturday that the U.S. had a list of 52 potential targets in Iran, including some that were "important to Iran & the Iranian culture." He later doubled down on the threat, saying if Iran could target Americans its cultural sites were not out of bounds. But Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Monday that hitting cultural sites with no military value would constitute a war crime, so the U.S. wouldn't do it. Trump then conceded after an uproar that striking such locations would be a war crime. "If that's what the law is," he said, "I like to obey the law."

The New York Times

5. Prosecutors request jail time for ex-Trump adviser Michael Flynn

Federal prosecutors on Tuesday asked a judge to sentence former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn to up to six months in jail for lying to federal agents about his contact with Russia's ambassador shortly before President Trump was inaugurated. The request marked a significant shift, because prosecutors previously recommended no jail time due to Flynn's cooperation in "several ongoing investigations" after his 2017 guilty plea. In the new court filing, prosecutors said the retired Army lieutenant general had tried to "thwart the efforts" of prosecutors to convict other defendants. Flynn and his lawyers also tried to undo his guilty plea, saying prosecutors had withheld evidence.

CNBC

6. Airlines reroute Middle East flights to avoid U.S.-Iran conflict

Commercial airlines on Wednesday rerouted flights from the Middle East due to the danger posed by possible military action by the U.S. and Iran. The move came after Iran launched ballistic missile strikes against an Iraqi base housing U.S. troops on Tuesday, in retaliation for a drone strike that killed Iran's top military commander, Qassem Soleimani, in Baghdad. Australian carrier Qantas altered its routes to avoid Iranian and Iraqi airspace; Malaysia Airlines also said it would avoid the area. In the U.S., the Federal Aviation Administration said it was ordering U.S. pilots and airlines to stay out of Iranian, Iraqi, and some Persian Gulf airspace to avoid the "potential for miscalculation and mis-identification."

The Associated Press

7. GOP Rep. Duncan Hunter resigns after guilty plea for misusing campaign funds

Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) said in a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Tuesday that he would resign from Congress effective Jan. 13. The announcement came more than a month after Hunter pleaded guilty to conspiracy to misuse campaign funds. Hunter, 43, and his wife Margaret were indicted in 2018 for allegedly spending $250,000 in campaign funds on such things as personal vacations and tuition for their children's schooling. The Hunters face recommended sentences of eight to 14 months under deals with the Justice Department. With an election looming in November, his seat now could remain vacant for the rest of the year.

Politico

8. Puerto Rico declares emergency after strongest earthquake in 102 years

Puerto Rico's government on Tuesday declared a state of emergency after a 6.4-magnitued earthquake, the strongest to hit the U.S. Caribbean island in more than a century. "In 102 years, Puerto Rico had not experienced anything like this," Gov. Wanda Vázquez Garced said. The tremor, which followed a series of smaller quakes, knocked out power to nearly a third of the island. The outage also left the same area without running water. Vázquez Garced said seismic activity was expected to continue for the next few days, but nothing more powerful than Tuesday's quake was anticipated. The governor urged people in houses that don't meet building codes to seek shelter.

The New York Times

9. Greenhouse gas emissions fall as coal consumption drops

The U.S. saw a 2.1 percent decline in greenhouse gas emissions in 2019 — largely due to a decrease in coal consumption for power. But the U.S. has made little progress in limiting emissions elsewhere, according to a report by research company Rhodium Group. Coal-fired power generation fell by 18 percent in 2019 — the largest year-on-year decline in U.S. history — reaching its lowest level since 1975. The majority of that decline is from the switch to natural gas and renewables, the report states. Emissions from 2019 fell 12 percent below that of 2005 — 5 percent shy of the goal set by the Copenhagen Accord for the end of 2020. The U.S. pledged a 26 to 28 percent reduction by 2025 in the Paris Agreement, which the Trump administration is working to withdraw from.

The Washington Post Rhodium Group

10. Prozac Nation author Elizabeth Wurtzel dies at 52

Elizabeth Wurtzel, author of the 1994 memoir Prozac Nation: Young and Depressed in America, died Tuesday of complications from breast cancer. She was 52. Wurtzel announced her illness in 2015, and underwent a double mastectomy, but the cancer metastasized to her brain. Wurtzel burst to fame with Prozac Nation, which helped start a confessional writing boom and a dialogue about clinical depression. Her other writing included the essay collection Bitch: In Praise of Difficult Women. Her personal writing, with herself as central character, inspired both praise and criticism. "She was unapologetic, raw, honest. She stood for a very specific form of GenX femininity, confession, rage," journalist Erin Blakemore tweeted. "We learned from her — and from how intensely she was mocked for writing about her own life."

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