10 things you need to know today: August 31, 2023

1. Hurricane Idalia tears across Florida, Georgia, South Carolina

Hurricane Idalia ripped through Florida and Georgia on Wednesday after making landfall along Florida's Big Bend with 125 mile-per-hour winds. The storm flooded seaside neighborhoods on Florida's northern Gulf Coast, knocked down trees and power lines, and tore roofs off houses as it pushed inland. Two people were killed in weather-related crashes in Florida. Another person died in Georgia. Idalia weakened to a tropical storm as it continued up South Carolina's coast. Early Thursday, Idalia was 45 miles south-southwest of Wilmington, North Carolina, with top sustained winds of 60 mph. The storm, combined with a supermoon, caused record high tides and flooded the South Carolina coast, sending water over the seawall protecting the streets of Charleston's historic downtown.

The Associated Press The Post and Courier

2. Judge finds Giuliani liable for defaming Georgia election workers

U.S. District Court Judge Beryl Howell on Wednesday found former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani legally liable for defaming two Georgia election workers he falsely accused of manipulating ballots during Georgia's vote count in the 2020 election. Howell issued a "default judgment" against Giuliani, writing that he "refused to comply with his discovery obligations," preventing election workers Ruby Freeman and Wandrea "Shaye" Moss from accessing evidence in the discovery process. Now Giuliani will face a trial to determine how much he must pay Freeman and Moss for defamation, inflicting emotional distress, and conspiracy. "Just as taking shortcuts to win an election carries risks — even potential criminal liability — bypassing the discovery process carries serious sanctions," Howell wrote.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Politico NPR

3. Ukraine launches its biggest wave of drone strikes inside Russia

Ukraine appears to have conducted its biggest wave of drone attacks on military targets inside Russia since President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine in February 2022, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post reported Wednesday. The attacks disabled four Il-76 military cargo aircraft at the Pskov airbase, more than 370 miles from Ukraine. Local media reported that a nearby special forces base was hit, too. There were no reports of casualties. Drone strikes were reported in six Russian cities. The attacks temporarily forced Russian authorities to stop operations at some of the country's largest airports. Russian soldiers used small arms to fire at some of the drones. Moscow responded with its heaviest missile barrage on Kyiv in months.

The Wall Street Journal The Washington Post

4. Kremlin says Prigozhin's plane was possibly targeted intentionally

The Kremlin said Wednesday that investigators were considering the possibility someone intentionally downed Wagner mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin's plane last week, killing him and nine others. Western leaders and many Russians have speculated that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered Prigozhin assassinated in retaliation for his brief mutiny two months earlier against Russian military leaders, whom he accused of bungling the invasion of Ukraine. The Kremlin has denied that Putin had anything to do with Prigozhin's death, and Wednesday's statement was its first suggestion that the crash might not have been an accident. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Prigozhin's death might have been the result of "a deliberate atrocity," adding, "Let's wait for the results of our Russian investigation."

Reuters

5. CNN hires ex-Times CEO Mark Thompson

CNN is hiring former New York Times CEO Mark Thompson as the new chair and editor-in-chief of CNN Worldwide, Warner Bros. Discovery announced Wednesday. Thompson, who ran BBC from 2004 to 2012 before joining the Times, steps in to take over after Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav fired Chris Licht as CNN president after just 13 months on the job. CNN is looking to Thompson, who led digital transformations at BBC and the Times, to turn around a cable news giant plagued by falling ratings and sagging morale. Dean Baquet, a former Times executive editor, said Thompson is "the perfect hire" because he "understands what things are going to have to change."

Financial Times The New York Times

6. Judge rules ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick not competent for sex abuse trial

A Massachusetts judge ruled Wednesday that former Roman Catholic Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, 93, was not competent to stand trial for allegedly molesting a 16-year-old boy in 1974. McCarrick, the former Washington, D.C., archbishop, now lives in a Missouri assisted living facility. His lawyers in February moved to dismiss the case, saying McCarrick had been diagnosed with dementia. The alleged victim criticized the judge's decision, writing that it meant "McCarrick walks a free man and I am left with nothing." McCarrick is the only U.S. Catholic cardinal ever charged with sexual abuse. The church expelled McCarrick from the priesthood in 2019 after a Vatican investigation found him guilty of sex crimes.

Reuters

7. 73 die in Johannesburg building fire

A fire killed at least 73 people in a five-story building in downtown Johannesburg, South Africa, early Thursday. Dozens of others were injured, according to city officials. The building, abandoned by its owners, had been occupied by squatters. The structure was one of many dilapidated buildings people without homes have turned into informal settlements because they have nowhere else to go, The New York Times reported. People in these communities often light fires to keep warm, said Mgcini Tshwaku, a Johannesburg city council member who oversees public safety. Tshwaku said he rushed to the scene and saw people jumping out of the building to escape the flames.

The New York Times CNN

8. State Department says Americans should leave Haiti immediately

The State Department on Wednesday urged U.S. citizens to leave Haiti "as soon as possible" due to worsening gang violence and "infrastructure challenges" in the Caribbean nation. The security alert came a month after the U.S. Embassy in the capital, Port-au-Prince, sent home non-emergency personnel and their eligible family members, and encouraged all U.S. citizens to consider leaving, too. The violence has only worsened since then, especially in the majority of neighborhoods in the capital that have been taken over by gangs. Residents in the Tabarre area around the U.S. Embassy told The Miami Herald their neighborhood "sounded like a war zone" on Monday, there was so much gunfire.

The Miami Herald The Hill

9. McConnell freezes during event for 2nd time in weeks

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) froze Wednesday during a public appearance, the second time that has happened in recent weeks. The Senate Republican leader was taking questions from reporters in Covington, Kentucky, when one of them asked him whether he would run for re-election. McConnell, 81, went silent for 19 seconds. An aide came over and asked him whether he heard the question. Later, McConnell said, "I'm fine." He left the event after responding briefly to another question. His office offered little explanation. "Leader McConnell felt momentarily lightheaded and paused during his press conference today," a spokesperson said.

NBC News

10. Dozens arrested in Nigeria for attending same-sex wedding

Police in Nigeria arrested more than 60 people for attending a same-sex wedding this week as part of an anti-gay crackdown. Authorities publicized the identities of some of those detained on social media, urging the public to "uphold the moral standards of the society" by providing information about anyone violating a law against gay relationships. "We are in Africa, and we are in Nigeria. We cannot copy the Western world, because we don't have the same culture," police spokesperson Bright Edafe said. LGBTQ advocates criticized the police's actions, saying they stigmatized people who attended the wedding and could result in violence against them.

The New York Times CBS News