5 things to know for Mar. 14: Middle East, TikTok ban, Alabama cyberattack, Trump, SpaceX

By Alexandra Banner, CNN

(CNN) — The total solar eclipse next month will leave millions in awe — and potentially expose some perplexing animal behaviors. During the Great American Eclipse of 2017, several zoos across the US said their animals were acting strangely in the brief moments when the sky darkened. Here’s what else you need to know to Get Up to Speed and On with Your Day.

1. Middle East

Senior White House officials are planning to meet with Arab, Muslim and Palestinian-American community leaders in Chicago today, sources told CNN, as President Joe Biden grapples with anger across the country about the Israel-Hamas war. Officials are also expected to more broadly discuss concerns about Islamophobia in the US. Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and other top US officials have escalated calls for a temporary ceasefire and to ramp up humanitarian aid going into Gaza, urging Israel to do more to protect civilians. But negotiations remain stalled amid the mounting death toll. The latest violence has caused more than 1,200 deaths in Israel and more than 31,000 in Gaza, according to authorities on both sides.

2. TikTok ban

A bill that could ban TikTok in the US now heads to the Senate after the House voted on Wednesday — with overwhelming bipartisan support — to remove the social media platform from US app stores. The House vote was 352 to 65, with 50 Democrats and 15 Republicans voting in opposition. Lawmakers supportive of the bill have argued TikTok poses a national security threat and should be spun off from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, because the Chinese government could force the company to hand over the data of US app users. Many of the roughly 170 million Americans who use the app have raised concerns about the ban, saying it is where they go to find connection, get entertained, seek information and earn a living. The bill now faces numerous hurdles to being signed into law in the coming months and will almost certainly face legal challenges if it is.

3. Alabama cyberattack

A cyberattack caused intermittent “disruptions” for websites of multiple Alabama government agencies on Wednesday. While there was no data stolen in the incident, some state officials were left scrambling to defend their networks from hackers with little notice. “[W]e understand that the disruptions were initially widespread across state services, and those effects have diminished throughout the day,” a spokesperson for Alabama’s Office of Information Technology told CNN shortly after the attack. Cybersecurity experts said the hackers flooded government sites with phony traffic in an apparent attempt to knock them offline — a common but not sophisticated method to cause disruptions across numerous targets at once.

4. Trump

Former President Donald Trump is now facing 88 charges over four criminal indictments in Georgia, New York, Washington, DC, and Florida. This comes after a Georgia judge dismissed some of the election subversion charges against Trump and several of his co-defendants on Wednesday. Judge Scott McAfee has also said he will issue a ruling on the ethics allegations brought against Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis by the end of the week. Meanwhile, Trump will have the chance to argue in court with special counsel Jack Smith later today about his most-cited legal argument in the classified documents case against him: whether, as president, he was allowed to keep any documents he wanted. Trump’s legal team has argued on multiple occasions that he had unfettered authority to decide what documents from his time in the White House he could keep as his personal records.

5. SpaceX

SpaceX is once again set to launch its massive Starship rocket — the most powerful launch vehicle ever constructed — on a third test flight. The launch could take place today during a 110-minute window that opens at 8 a.m. ET. The massive Starship rocket is the vehicle NASA has selected to land astronauts on the moon for the first time in more than five decades as part of its Artemis program. However, two attempts to get the massive vehicle to orbital speeds in 2023 ended in explosions, with the spacecraft and booster erupting into flames before reaching their intended landing sites. SpaceX and its CEO Elon Musk have embraced fiery mishaps in the early stages of spacecraft development, saying these failures help the company rapidly implement design changes that lead to better results.

BREAKFAST BROWSE

Why you should cook meat to safe temperatures
Doctors believe a Florida man’s migraines originated from his habit of eating undercooked bacon. Read how his painful health ordeal could have been prevented with proper cooking and sanitation techniques.

Car insurance rates haven’t surged this much in nearly 50 years
Many Americans want companies to pump the brakes on pricey car insurance rates. These are the primary factors behind the trend.

Don Lemon says Elon Musk canceled his deal with X
Don Lemon said he no longer has a partnership with Elon Musk, hours after the former CNN anchor said he conducted a sometimes “tense” interview with the billionaire for the debut episode of his new independent web-based show.

Family Dollar and Dollar Tree will close 1,000 stores
Understaffed and hazardous conditions at some Family Dollar discount stores have impacted profits, leading to widespread closures.

How technology can help feed the planet
Dubai is already home to the world’s largest vertical farm. Now, a bigger facility is underway in the city. See how the new “GigaFarm” could transform waste into compost, animal feed, clean water and energy.

IN MEMORIAM

Paul Alexander, who spent most of the past 70 years in an iron lung, died Monday, his brother announced. He was 78. Paul developed polio in the summer of 1952 at the age of 6 and was paralyzed from the neck down. Unable to breathe on his own, he was placed in an iron lung, a large metal cylinder that varies air pressure to stimulate breathing. Alexander was confined to the machine for the next seven decades but defied expectations by becoming a lawyer and author.

TODAY’S NUMBER

$4.4 trillion
That’s approximately how much the US government spent to address the Covid-19 pandemic. Wednesday marked exactly four years since then-President Donald Trump declared a national emergency due to the rapid spread of coronavirus.

TODAY’S QUOTE

There are no winners or losers in situations like this.

— San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon Dicus, issuing a statement after California sheriff’s deputies fatally shot a teenager with autism who was holding a gardening tool. Deputies in Apple Valley responded to a 911 call on Saturday from the family of 15-year-old Ryan Gainer, who said he “was actively assaulting family members and damaging property at the residence,” according to the sheriff’s department. “The reality is that Ryan’s family and the deputy sheriffs that were involved in this case will have to remember this for their entire lives,” Dicus said.

TODAY’S WEATHER

Check your local forecast here>>>

AND FINALLY …

‘Groggy doggy’ wins over the internet
A farm dog’s daily struggle to wake up and go to work has gone viral for being highly relatable.

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