The U.S. military conducted a series of airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Syria between February 3rd and Thursday, in retaliation for a December ambush that killed two U.S. soldiers and one American civilian interpreter, according to the Associated Press. Meanwhile, five European nations accused the Kremlin of poisoning Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny with a rare and lethal toxin, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio withdrew from a high-level meeting on Ukraine. These events occurred as the U.S. grapples with significant financial concerns, with the national debt nearing an ominous milestone.
U.S. Central Command reported that American aircraft launched 10 strikes against more than 30 IS targets, hitting weapons storage facilities and other infrastructure, as reported by the Associated Press. The strikes followed the December ambush.
Simultaneously, the foreign ministries of the U.K., France, Germany, and two other European nations stated that Navalny was poisoned by the Kremlin using a toxin found in the skin of poison dart frogs, according to the Associated Press. The news came as Secretary of State Marco Rubio pulled out of a high-level meeting on Ukraine, as reported by NPR.
Adding to the complexity of the news cycle, the Congressional Budget Office projected that publicly held debt is currently at $31 trillion, approximately 100% of GDP. By fiscal year 2030, debt is expected to exceed the record set after World War II, surging to 120% by 2036, according to Fortune. Annual debt interest costs are expected to more than double from current levels to $2.1 trillion by 2036, taking up a greater share of federal spending and accelerating budget deficits.
In other news, Jim O'Neill, the U.S. deputy health secretary, who oversaw a department with a budget of over a trillion dollars and signed the decision memorandum on the U.S.'s new vaccine schedule, discussed plans to increase human healthspan through longevity-focused research supported by ARPA-H, according to MIT Technology Review. However, following the publication of the story, Politico reported that O'Neill would be leaving his current roles within the Department of Health and Human Services.
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