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Today’s edition of quick hits.
* Quite an announcement from the ICC: “The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant Friday for Russian President Vladimir Putin, accusing him of being responsible for war crimes in Ukraine. Putin committed the ‘war crime’ of overseeing the unlawful abduction and deportation of children from Ukraine to Russia, the court said in a news release.”
* An investigation worth watching: “The Department of Justice and FBI are investigating TikTok and its parent company ByteDance, including previously disclosed allegations that the company’s employees spied on journalists, a law enforcement official with knowledge of the matter said Friday.”
* NATO expansion: “President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey gave the go-ahead on Friday for Finland’s application to join NATO, removing a significant hurdle for the Nordic nation’s bid to join the alliance but leaving its neighbor, Sweden, on the sidelines for now.”
* Watch this space: “Local, state and federal law enforcement and security agencies are preparing for the possibility that former President Donald Trump will be indicted as early as next week, according to five senior officials familiar with the preparations.”
* Putin probably won’t force Xi to sit at the opposite end of a cartoonishly long table: “Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit Russia early next week for talks with President Vladimir Putin, a trip that will showcase the countries’ growing closeness as tensions escalate with the United States and the war in Ukraine grinds into a second year.”
* In Florida: “A federal judge on Thursday denied the state of Florida’s attempt to block an injunction on the Individual Freedom Act that was also called the ‘Stop Woke Act.’”
* In North Dakota: “North Dakota’s Supreme Court upheld a lower court’s decision to block a ban on abortions in the state, and said the state Constitution protects abortion rights in some situations. The ruling means abortion in the state remains legal until nearly 22 weeks after a women’s last period, while the case proceeds in a lower court.”
* The latest derailments: “Two BNSF trains derailed in separate incidents in Arizona and Washington state on Thursday, with the latter spilling diesel fuel on tribal land along Puget Sound. No injuries were reported. It wasn’t clear what caused either derailment.”
* How is it possible that we still haven’t passed this point? Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo told Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) Thursday that ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine were effective against COVID-19 ― echoing falsehoods that persisted at the peak of the pandemic.
Have a safe weekend.