10 things you need to know today: October 27, 2023

1. US strikes Iran-linked sites in Syria

President Biden ordered airstrikes on two Syrian sites linked to Iran in retaliation for a string of attacks against U.S. military personnel in Syria and neighboring Iraq, the Pentagon said Thursday. Two F-16 fighter jets dropped precision munitions on an ammunition depot and a weapons storage facility linked to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and "affiliated groups." The strikes came after nearly 20 attacks on U.S. forces since Oct. 17 that left 21 U.S. service members with minor injuries and fueled concerns the war between Israel and Iran-backed Hamas could expand. "The United States does not seek conflict," Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said, "but these Iranian-backed attacks against U.S. forces are unacceptable and must stop." The Washington Post 

2. Judge orders Georgia to redraw election maps

A federal judge on Thursday threw out Georgia's congressional and General Assembly district maps, ruling they illegally weakened the political power of Black voters. District Court Judge Steve C. Jones ordered the state to stop using the maps and redraw them. The new lines must create another majority Black congressional district in the Atlanta area, which Democrats hope will boost their chances of regaining control of the narrowly divided House. The order also calls for two more state Senate districts and five more state House districts with Black majorities. “Georgia has not reached the point where the political process has equal openness and equal opportunity for everyone," Jones wrote. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

3. EU leaders push for more Gaza aid deliveries

European Union leaders on Thursday called for a temporary halt to fighting between Israel and Hamas to allow more humanitarian aid to be delivered to the more than two million civilians in the Gaza Strip. The European Council said it was working "to protect civilians" and "facilitate access to food, water, medical care, fuel and shelter." The plea came hours after Israel's military briefly sent tanks into Gaza "to prepare the battlefield" for a planned ground offensive to crush Hamas for its Oct. 7 surprise attacks that killed 1,400 people in southern Israel. Israel staged a second ground raid in Gaza on Thursday night. The Gaza Health Ministry says at least 7,028 people have died in Israeli bombings. The New York Times, CBS News

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4. Manhunt continues after Maine shootings

Police continued a massive manhunt Thursday and early Friday for the gunman who killed at least 18 people at a bowling alley and a restaurant in Lewiston, Maine, on Wednesday. Authorities identified the "person of interest" they were seeking as Robert Card, a 40-year-old certified firearms instructor and Army reservist. Police found the suspect's car by a boat launch near the Androscoggin River, and his 15-foot boat was missing, Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer Ryan Smith said. Doctors at a Maine hospital were treating eight people injured in the shooting rampage. Three were in critical condition. Schools in the area were closed Thursday. Authorities urged residents to lock themselves in their homes. CNN, The Associated Press

5. US economic growth accelerated in the 3rd quarter

U.S. economic growth more than doubled in the third quarter compared to the previous three months, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported Thursday. U.S. GDP grew at an annual pace of 4.9% in the quarter that ended in September, faster than economists had predicted after the 2.1% growth of the previous quarter. Consumer spending fueled the economic resilience despite the Federal Reserve's aggressive campaign to slow the economy with interest rate hikes. Fed Chair Jerome Powell said last week that recent data showing the economy's strength and strong labor demand could "put further progress on inflation at risk." ABC News

6. Hurricane Otis killed at least 27 in Acapulco

Hurricane Otis left at least 27 people dead after it slammed into Mexico's Pacific Coast near Acapulco, government officials said Thursday. Four other people remained missing. Otis intensified with unprecedented speed, with its top sustained winds rising from 50 miles per hour to 165 miles per hour in a single day. It crashed ashore as a powerful Category 5 hurricane, the most powerful cyclone on record to have struck Mexico's Pacific Coast. The storm knocked out power to more than 540,000 people, severely damaged many buildings, and blocked roads with debris. "We were prepared, however it was something exceptional and unexpected," President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said. The Washington Post, Bloomberg

7. Reformist former China prime minister dies at 68

Former Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, a once-popular pro-market reformer sidelined by President Xi Jinping, has died of a heart attack. He was 68. Li had retired as China's No. 2 official just months ago. Trained as an economist, he spent a decade as head of government but, as the only top official outside Xi's group of loyalists, his influence gradually declined. "Li's death means the loss of a prominent moderating voice within the senior levels of the Chinese Communist Party, with no one apparently being able to take over the mantle," Ian Chong, non-resident scholar at the Carnegie China think tank, told the BBC. "This probably means even less restraint on Mr. Xi's exercise of power and authority." Bloomberg, BBC News

8. Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips to challenge Biden for nomination

Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) announced Thursday that he was launching a campaign to challenge President Biden for the Democratic presidential nomination. Phillips is expected to make his longshot bid official on Friday with an announcement in Concord, New Hampshire, where he plans to file to run in the state's primary. The three-term congressman recently left a House Democratic leadership position after receiving pushback for his calls for an alternative to Biden, due to the president's age and low approval ratings. Phillips, 54, said Biden "has done a spectacular job" but it's time for a new generation to lead. "I will not be quiet in the face of numbers that are so clearly saying that we're going to be facing an emergency next November," Phillips told CBS News. CNN, CBS News

9. Mississippi police failed to tell family of man's death for months

Bettersten Wade of Jackson, Mississippi, searched for her son, Dexter Wade, for seven months only to learn in October that he had been struck and killed by a vehicle driven by an off-duty police officer the day he went missing, NBC News reported this week. Bettersten Wade was reluctant to call the police, because her brother was killed by a Jackson police officer now appealing his manslaughter conviction. But she reported her son Dexter Wade, a 37-year-old Black father of two, missing on March 14, and was told police had no information. Dexter Wade was buried on July 14 in a state pauper's field. Police had known Wade's names and his mother's, but failed to inform the family for months, according to NBC. NBC News, Essence

10. China launches its youngest crew of astronauts into orbit

China on Thursday launched a Shenzhou 17 spacecraft atop a Long March 2-F rocket on a mission to send a new crew to its orbiting space station. The three-person crew is the youngest in the history of China's space program, with an average age of 38. They will replace a crew that has been orbiting in the space station for six months. The new crew will help install interior and exterior equipment, and conduct experiments in space medicine and other technology. China is pushing to land astronauts on the moon by 2030, part of its escalating space rivalry with the United States. The Associated Press