politicnewsbusterinsiderpostreview: Russians shell Europe's largest nuclear plant, seize control

Black-and-white video footage shows power plant on fire.

By Liza Hearon

Friday, March 4

RUSSIANS SEIZE EUROPE'S BIGGEST NUCLEAR PLANT Russia shelled the Zaporizhzhia plant in the city of Enerhodar, Ukraine, igniting a fire that was extinguished, and then taking control of the site. Ukraine's nuclear regulator said no changes in radiation levels have been recorded so far. Nuclear authorities were worried but not panicked about the damage. The assault, however, led to phone calls between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U.S. President Joe Biden and other world leaders. [AP]

CAN ANYONE PERSUADE PUTIN TO CHOOSE PEACE? Peace in Ukraine depends on the international community achieving something it has been unable to do for years: changing Russian President Vladimir Putin's mind. One week into the war, Western officials are extremely pessimistic about the chances of the Russian leader choosing to stop fighting and pursue diplomacy, Akbar Shahid Ahmed writes. [HuffPost]

FLORIDA SET TO BAN ABORTION AT 15 WEEKS Abortions after 15 weeks would be banned in Florida under a bill Republican senators sent to Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is expected to sign it into law. The measure comes as Republicans across the country move to tighten access to the procedure after the U.S. Supreme Court signaled it would uphold a similar 15-week abortion ban in Mississippi and potentially overturn Roe v. Wade. [AP]

JAN. 6 PANEL SUBPOENAS KIMBERLY GUILFOYLE The House Jan. 6 committee subpoenaed Kimberly Guilfoyle, the girlfriend of former President Donald Trump's eldest son who was in the Oval Office at the time Trump held his final conversation pressuring Mike Pence overturn the election for him. The subpoena references her behavior at a rally before the attack. [HuffPost]

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SON OF CAPITOL RIOT DEFENDANT TAKES STAND AGAINST FATHER Guy Reffitt, who is defending himself against five felony counts for his part in the U.S. Capitol riot, listened as his soft-spoken teenage son took the stand to testify against him in federal court. Reffitt, an alleged member of the far-right Three Percenters militia group, threatened to shoot his son and daughter if they talked about his part in the riot after he returned from Washington, court documents say. [HuffPost]

IOWA GOV SIGNS ANTI-TRANS LAW Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) signed a bill into law that prohibits transgender girls and women from participating in team sporting events in school districts and colleges. Republicans across the country have increased their efforts to bar transgender athletes from participating in the teams that match the gender they identify with. States including South Dakota, Alabama, Florida, Tennessee and Texas have enacted similar laws. [HuffPost]

ORLANDO SHOWED THE UGLY FUTURE OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY A white nationalist conference held an eight-mile drive from the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando over the weekend shared attendees and speakers, who were animated by the same grievances. HuffPost reporter Christopher Mathias tried to untangle the two to learn more about the future of the Republican Party. [HuffPost]

SUV SMASHES INTO CALIFORNIA PRESCHOOL An SUV smashed into a Northern California preschool, sending 19 children and an employee to the hospital injuries that were not life-threatening, police said. The driver, a woman from Anderson, cooperated with authorities, didn't show any sign of being under the influence of drugs or alcohol, and was released after providing a statement. [AP]

RUSSIAN TV STATION PROCLAIMS 'NO TO WAR,' GOES DARK TV Rain, one of Russia's last independent news outlets, made a stand with its final show on YouTube after the country's regulator blocked it. "No to war," Natalia Sindeyeva, one of TV Rain's founders, said as the station's employees walked out of the studio. The station then began playing Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake" ― a reference that many well-versed in Russian history recognized. [HuffPost]