10 things you need to know today: January 4, 2024

1. Dozens die in blasts at gathering for slain Iranian general

Two blasts in the central Iranian city of Kerman killed at least 95 people during a gathering commemorating the fourth anniversary of the assassination of Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani in a U.S. drone strike in Iraq. More than 200 people were injured in the explosions, Iran's health minister, Bahram Eynollahi, said, according to the official Islamic Republic News Agency. The deputy governor of the city, Soleimani's hometown, called the explosions about a half-mile from the general's burial site a "terrorist attack." Thousands of mourners were crowded into the streets in a slow-moving procession before the blasts. The Washington Post

2. Trump asks Supreme Court to get him back on Colorado ballot

Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to invalidate a decision by Colorado's highest court to keep him off the state's presidential primary ballot. Colorado's Supreme Court ruled last month that Trump engaged in insurrection during and before Jan. 6, 2021, and was ineligible under the Constitution's post-Civil War insurrection clause. Maine's secretary of state last week decided that Trump should be barred from that state's ballot, too. Trump also is appealing that ruling. Several other states are considering keeping Trump off their ballots. Trump's lawyers argued that the Colorado decision "would unconstitutionally disenfranchise millions of voters in Colorado and likely be used as a template to disenfranchise tens of millions of voters nationwide." The New York Times

3. Court releases papers naming Epstein associates

A federal court late Wednesday released documents related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who died in jail in 2019, that mention dozens of prominent people, including Bill Clinton, Donald Trump and Stephen Hawking — none of whom are implicated in any wrongdoing. The papers include an allegation of groping against Britain's Prince Andrew, which he has denied. The documents were part of a lawsuit against longtime Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who was sentenced last year to 20 years in prison on sex trafficking and other charges for helping Epstein sexually abuse teenage girls. Virginia Giuffre, who accused Maxwell of facilitating her abuse, settled the suit in 2017. Axios, BBC

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

4. Utah becomes first state to give RFK Jr. ballot access

Independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. formally filed papers to appear on Utah's presidential ballot, making the state the first where the former Democrat secured access to the ballot in his longshot bid for the White House. "Utah has once again shown that it's the pioneer state," Kennedy said. To qualify in Utah, unaffiliated candidates must gather 1,000 signatures from registered voters and get the signatures verified by county election clerks. They also must pay a fee and submit a certificate of nomination required of unaffiliated candidates. Kennedy's campaign aims to get him on the ballot in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. CNN, Deseret News

5. Junior doctors strike in Britain

Thousands of junior doctors started a six-day strike in England on Wednesday to demand better pay. The strike as planned will be the longest in the history of the 75-year-old National Health Service. The agency was forced to cancel thousands of appointments during a period of peak winter demand. Doctors represented by the British Medical Association and workers in other sectors have held a wave of shorter walkouts in the last year to demand better pay to help them keep up with high inflation. "Morale across the health service is at an all-time low," the BMA said, adding that "the government has the chance to show those doctors they still have a future working in this country." Reuters

6. Russia, Ukraine exchange hundreds of prisoners

Russia and Ukraine exchanged hundreds of prisoners of war on Wednesday. Ukraine said 230 Ukrainian prisoners returned home in the swap, the biggest yet since Russia invaded in February 2022. Russia's Defense Ministry said 248 Russian soldiers were freed. The United Arab Emirates brokered the deal, citing its "strong friendly relations" with both countries. The two sides have exchanged prisoners 49 times, according to Ukraine's human rights ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets. The exchange came as Ukraine steps up bombardment of the Russian border city of Belgorod in an apparent effort to discredit President Vladimir Putin's claim that life in Russia remains normal despite the war. The Associated Press

7. Education official resigns over Biden's handling of Gaza

A senior Education Department official resigned Wednesday in protest of President Joe Biden's handling of the Israel-Hamas war. On the same day, 17 Biden reelection campaign staffers released an anonymous letter urging Biden to call for a cease-fire in Gaza, warning the issue could cost him votes. Tariq Habash, a Palestinian American student-debt expert who was special assistant in the Education Department's Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development, said in a letter to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona he could not "stay silent as this administration turns a blind eye to the atrocities committed against innocent Palestinian lives." The U.S. has pushed Israel to reduce civilian deaths in Gaza. The Washington Post, Reuters

8. State Capitol buildings evacuated after emailed threat

Officials in multiple states temporarily closed and evacuated their Capitol buildings Wednesday due to an emailed bomb threat. CNN reported that the email listed 23 states as recipients, warning that explosives had been placed in "your state Capitol," without mentioning further specifics. "It was a mass email sent to several (Secretaries of State) and state offices across the country,” said Michon Lindstrom, a spokesperson for the Kentucky of Secretary of State's office. The closures disrupted Capitol proceedings in Connecticut, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota and Mississippi, although none of the states reported finding anything threatening in their buildings. CNN

9. House Republicans push to impeach Mayorkas over border policies

House Republicans are moving forward with an effort to impeach Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas over his handling of a wave of migrants trying to cross the border from Mexico into the United States, CNN reported Wednesday, citing a GOP source. A spokesperson for the House Committee on Homeland Security said in a statement that the panel had spent nearly a year conducting a "comprehensive investigation into Secretary Mayorkas' handling of, and role in, the unprecedented crisis at the Southwest border." The committee next "will be conducting hearings," according to the statement. The news came as House Speaker Mike Johnson led a group of Republican lawmakers on a visit to a busy stretch of the border. CNN

10. New Jersey imam killed outside mosque

An imam was killed in a shooting outside a Newark, New Jersey, mosque on Wednesday. The victim, identified as Imam Hassan Sharif, was shot twice in the parking lot of the mosque and died after surgery in a nearby hospital, according to Imam Wahy-ud Deen Shareef, a convener of the Council of Imams in New Jersey. Sharif also worked as a Transportation Security Officer at Newark Airport. Sharif was attacked at gunpoint several months ago but wrestled the weapon out of the hands of the gunman, who fled and was never caught. The killing came as Islamophobic and antisemitic incidents escalate in response to the war between Israel and Hamas, the New York Daily News noted. New York Daily News