Today’s News Briefs: Harvard grad to lead Jordan;

Today’s news briefs include Harvard grad to lead Jordan; Would-be-assassin’s background; Fight over Rupert Murdoch empire; Israel and Hezbollah run out of time.

Jordan’s new leader is a Harvard grad

As Harvard University continues to experience antisemitic protests on its campus, one of its graduates has been named prime minister of Jordan. King Abdullah II on Sunday asked top aid Jafar Hassan to form a new government. Hassan has a master’s degree in public administration from Harvard, the AP reports. He replaces outgoing prime minister Bisher Al-Khasawne whose cabinet resigned on Sunday in the wake of significant parliamentary wins by the terror-linked Muslim Brotherhood. Jordan has a peace treaty with Israel from whom it receives much of its water and electrical supply.

Would-be assassin voted in March Democat Primary

The background of would-be assassin Ryan Wesley Routh is coming to light. Routh was arrested Sunday fleeing the scene of the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump. “This does not appear to be some random guy with an AK-47 walking outside Trump’s club,” an official said after the Sunday afternoon incident. Routh had voted in the March Democrat primary in North Carolina and had donated to ACT Blue, the political fundraising group that had also received money from Trump’s Pennsylvania would-be assassin, Thomas Matthew Crooks. On his social media accounts, Routh repeated talking points from the Harris campaign that Trump was a “threat to democracy” as well as other Democrat talking points, according to CNN.

Fight over Rupert Murdoch’s news empire begins

The future of Fox News is at stake in a trial over control of the Murdoch media empire that began Monday, Sept. 16. The closed-door court case is taking place in Reno, Nevada, and could determine if the empire’s editorial policy remains right-of-center or will join liberal media which controls the vast majority of the news landscape. The dispute is between founder Rupert Murdoch and his children over the family trust. Murdoch wants to amend his trust to give his eldest son, Lachlan, full control of the companies. Lachlan’s siblings oppose the change. Murdoch wants his eldest child and conservative, Lachlan, to retain editorial control, while the younger children retain some financial control. Murdoch gave his eldest children various jobs within his companies, but, the BBC reports, “differences in opinions and political views were said to lead to a family rift.”

Time running out to avoid war with Hezbollah

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Monday told his American counterpart Lloyd Austin that time was running out to avoid full-out war with Hezbollah. “The possibility of a settlement in the north is passing. Hezbollah continues to tie itself to Hamas. The direction is clear,” Gallant told Austin in an overnight phone call, Israel’s Defense Ministry said, according to JNS. The call follows an escalation in the hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, which have exchanged fire since Oct. 8, when Hezbollah began offensive action in solidarity with Hamas’s invasion of Israel. Hezbollah fired dozens of rockets into Israel on Sunday and more rockets on Monday. Israel struck terrorist targets in Southern Lebanon both times.

–Dwight Widaman and wire services