Good morning. You’re studying the Up First e-newsletter. Subscribe right here to get it delivered to your inbox, and listen to the Up First podcast for all of the information you must begin your day.

Today’s prime information

A senior Hamas chief has been killed in an explosion in Lebanon’s capital, Beirut. Saleh al-Arouri was a founding father of Hamas’s army wing and a deputy chief of its political bureau. Hamas blames Israel for the blast. Israel has not claimed duty.

Smoke rises from a destroyed house following a big explosion in a southern suburb of Beirut on Tuesday. The TV station of Lebanon’s Hezbollah group says prime Hamas official Saleh Arouri was killed Tuesday in an explosion in a southern Beirut suburb.

Hussein Malla/AP

disguise caption

toggle caption

Hussein Malla/AP

Smoke rises from a destroyed house following a big explosion in a southern suburb of Beirut on Tuesday. The TV station of Lebanon’s Hezbollah group says prime Hamas official Saleh Arouri was killed Tuesday in an explosion in a southern Beirut suburb.

Hussein Malla/AP

• “It’s one thing to target Hamas leaders in Gaza,” NPR’s Jane Arraf says on Up First. “But it’s another to launch attacks in the capital of another country.” An adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated in an interview that whoever was chargeable for the assault was not focusing on Lebanon or the Iran-backed militia energetic there, Hezbollah. Arraf points to concern that Hezbollah might reply to the blast and Iran might get entangled within the battle.

Check out npr.org/mideastupdates for extra protection and evaluation of the battle between Israel and Hamas.

Harvard University’s first Black president — Claudine Gay — has resigned, six months after she took the job. Gay has confronted allegations of plagiarism in her previous tutorial work and scrutiny over her congressional testimony about antisemitism on campus. At the Dec. 5 listening to, Gay, together with the University of Pennsylvania and MIT presidents, struggled to answer whether or not “calling for the genocide of Jews” would violate their college’s code of conduct.

• Reactions have been break up, studies NPR’s Tovia Smith. Rep. ​​Elise Stefanik (R-NY), who questioned Gay on the December listening to, stated in an announcement that she would proceed to analyze the “woke agenda” and “political bias” at Harvard. A college member instructed Smith the congressional committee is using the fight against antisemitism as a pretext to struggle range, fairness and inclusion initiatives.

Jury choice has begun for the civil corruption trial towards the National Rifle Association’s longtime chief, Wayne LaPierre. New York’s Attorney General Letitia James says her staff discovered proof LaPierre and different NRA leaders used greater than $64 million from donors for private bills.

• Internal feuds and accusations of corruption started to unravel the NRA in 2019, NPR’s Brian Mann says. Still, the Republican Party and its core voters have adopted many of the group’s beliefs about gun laws. “The NRA is a shadow of itself.  But the NRA’s ideas are still incredibly influential,” Mann says.

Today’s hear

Brooky Parks beloved her job on the teen part of her native public library in Colorado – till the district fired her. She had launched a ebook membership targeted on LGBTQ-themed books, and two neighborhood members had complained concerning the phrase “woke” in its title. Parks decried the motion towards her as censorship. She filed a discrimination grievance and a lawsuit – and gained.

Listen to her story and which is shoring up hope for librarians in different states like Texas and Wyoming.

Life Kit’s decision planner

This month, the Up First e-newsletter is highlighting a few of the hottest New Year’s resolutions. Find a decision and stick with it for all the yr with Life Kit’s planner.

The starting of the yr is a good time to get your funds so as. Here’s how one can reduce prices, pay down debt and save more cash in 2024:

• Cut again on huge, mounted bills like lease, automobile insurance coverage and telephone payments.
• Plan for the way a lot you wish to spend on variable, needed bills like meals and fuel each month.
• Pay off debt, you probably have extra cash. The avalanche technique pays off money owed with the best rate of interest first. The snowball technique pays off the smallest money owed first.

Transform your funds this yr with recommendation on how to choose a bank, stop stress-spending and more.

3 issues to know earlier than you go

Teresa Hernandez with Lucca.

Teresa Hernandez

disguise caption

toggle caption

Teresa Hernandez

Teresa Hernandez with Lucca.

Teresa Hernandez

1. Teresa Hernandez was 33 weeks pregnant when she came upon her child’s coronary heart price was dropping, and he or she wanted a C-section. On her strategy to the working room, her nurse and unsung hero helped ease her anxiety and made her really feel like her mother was by her facet
2. Police in Australia have arrested world champion bike owner Melissa Hoskins’s husband in connection along with her dying. She was hit by a car outdoors her residence over the weekend.
3. Mexican actress Ana Ofelia Murguía, finest identified within the U.S. for her function as Mama Coco in the Disney/Pixar film Coco, has died at 90.

This e-newsletter was edited by Olivia Hampton. Anandita Bhalerao contributed.