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National

The U.S. and U.K. carried out a new wave of strikes against the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen on Saturday in an effort to "disrupt and degrade the capabilities" of the rebels to "conduct their reckless and destabilizing attacks" in the Red Sea, the Pentagon said.

The big picture: It is the third round of U.S. and U.K. airstrikes against Houthi targets in Yemen since the first on Jan. 11. 

Saturday's strikes were supported by Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, and New Zealand, according to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

They targeted 13 locations in Yemen that were associated with the Houthis' "missile systems and launchers, air defense systems, and radars," Austin said in a statement.

Unlike the previous strikes, the targets on Saturday also included underground bunkers, which the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said were used by the Houthis to store weapons.

What they're saying: "This collective action sends a clear message to the Houthis that they will continue to bear further consequences if they do not end their illegal attacks on international shipping and naval vessels," Austin said.

"We will not hesitate to defend lives and the free flow of commerce in one of the world's most critical waterways," he added.

Behind the scenes: A U.S. official said the decision to conduct the third round of strikes was made a week ago after a Houthi missile hit a British ship, but it took several days to finish the planning of the new strikes.

State of play: The Houthis have conducted dozens of attacks on commercial and military vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since November.

The Houthis say they launched the attacks in protest of the Israeli military's bombardment and ground offensive in Gaza that started after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel.

Zoom out: Saturday was the second day of major U.S. strikes against Iran-linked groups in the region.

The U.S. on Friday carried out retaliatory strikes against 85 targets linked to Iran or Iranian proxies in Syria and Iraq in response to last weekend's deadly attack on U.S. forces in Jordan.

U.S. officials, including President Biden, have warned those retaliatory strikes would not be limited to one day or location.

Go deeper: U.S. puts Yemen's Houthi rebels back on global terrorist list

U.S. and U.K. launch fresh wave of strikes targeting Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen

It is the third round of U.S. and U.K. airstrikes against Houthi targets in Yemen since the first on Jan. 11.

U.S. Central Command forces alongside U.K. Armed Forces conduct strikes on eight targets in Iranian-backed Houthi areas of Yemen on  Jan. 23. Photo: CENTCOM/Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images

U.S. Central Command forces alongside U.K. Armed Forces conduct strikes on eight targets in Iranian-backed Houthi areas of Yemen on  Jan. 22. Photo: CENTCOM/Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images

Yemen

Israel

Iran

Conflicts, policies and powers are intersecting and shaping the world. Breaking news and analysis of national security, foreign policy and global crises.

World

The House will vote next week on a new $17.6 billion Israel aid package that excludes the IRS cuts in their original bill, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said Saturday.

Why it matters: The announcement comes as Senate negotiators are preparing to roll out a deal on a comprehensive package to fund Israel, Ukraine, the Indo-Pacific and border security that House Republicans have already declared “dead on arrival.”

The new House bill, which includes $3.3 billion to support U.S. military operations in the Middle East amid an expanding regional conflict, could put pressure on senators to abandon the deal.

Driving the news: In a letter to House Republicans obtained by Axios, Johnson wrote that Senate leaders have “eliminated the ability for swift consideration” of an emergency spending deal by not including the House in the talks.

“Given the Senate's failure to move appropriate legislation in a timely fashion, and the perilous circumstances currently facing Israel, the House will … take up and pass a clean, standalone Israel supplemental package,” he continued.

Writing that the IRS offset was the “primary objection” Democrats had to the last Israel bill, Johnson argued the Senate “will no longer have excuses … against swift passage of this critical support for our ally.”

The backdrop: The House passed a $14.3 billion aid package to Israel in November, shortly after Johnson took office, but Democrats and even some Republicans were upset that its spending was paired with cuts to the IRS.

Just a dozen of the most staunchly pro-Israel House Democrats voted for the bill, many vocally criticizing the IRS piece, and it was blocked from consideration in the Senate.

The Senate has spent months trying to craft a comprehensive package that would pair Ukraine funding with border security provisions, but Republicans’ openness to such a deal has waned as the talks dragged on.

Senate negotiators are preparing to roll out

House GOP plans new Israel package in blow to Senate talks

The new “clean” bill excludes the IRS cuts Democrats raged against.

House Speaker Mike Johnson. Photo: Roy Rochlin/Getty Images.

House Republicans

2024 will be an election year like no other, as President Biden seeks re-election amid economic uncertainty, two wars and questions about his age. His likely foe, former President Trump, faces felony charges and vows revenge on his political enemies. Meanwhile, Americans generally are dissatisfied with those choices and are divided over immigration, race, education and more.

Politics & Policy

Latino

Axios Latino

The year 1974 gave the world monumental moments in Black history, from Hank Aaron breaking Babe Ruth's all-time home run record to the Boston busing riots to historic protests in London. 

Through the lens: For Black History Month this year, Axios is looking back at 1974 to highlight moments that changed civil rights and the sports world.

U.S. Rep Barbara Jordan (D-Texas) on the House Judiciary Committee during a hearing on the impeachment of President Richard Nixon, July 1974. 

U.S. Rep. Barbara Jordan (D-Texas) on the House Judiciary Committee during a hearing on the impeachment of President Richard Nixon, July 1974. Her primetime remarks on the Constitution riveted the nation and underscored the grave role of serving as a check on the executive branch. Photo: Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Students sit on a bus going from Columbia Point to Roxbury High School on Sept. 13, 1974, the second day of school under the new busing system put in place to desegregate Boston Public Schools. The system was met with strong resistance from many residents of Boston's neighborhoods. 

Students sit on a bus from Columbia Point to Roxbury High School on Sept. 13, 1974, the second day of school under the new busing system to desegregate Boston Public Schools. The system was met with solid resistance and violence from many residents of Boston's neighborhoods. Photo: William C. Curtis/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

 George Foreman tries to get off the canvas as referee Zack Clayton checks on him during the match against Muhammad Ali at 20th of May Stadium. Kinshasa, Zaire 

Muhammad Ali stands over George Foreman during a dramatic 8th-round knockout to regain the heavyweight title in Zaire, known as the "Rumble in the Jungle." It was one of the most-watched televised events at the time. Photo: Tony Triolo /Sports Illustrated via Getty Images

Schoolchildren with placards reading 'No More Police Harassment' during a school strike in London, UK, 3rd April 1974. They are demanding the release of the Brockwell Three, three young Black men who were arrested during a disturbance in Brockwell Park, South London, and sentenced to three years in prison. 

School children with placards reading 'No More Police Harassment' during a school strike in London, in April 1974. They are demanding the release of the Brockwell Three, three young Black men who were arrested during a disturbance in Brockwell Park, South London, and sentenced to three years in prison. Photo: Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

American actor Rodney Grier and his sister, American actress and singer Pam Grier attend the 7th NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) Image Awards, held at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles, California, 19th January 1974. 

American actor Rodney Grier and his sister, American actress and singer Pam Grier, attend the 7th NAACP Image Awards, held at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles in January 1974. Photo: Frank Edwards/Fotos International/Archive Photos/Getty Images

Cesar Chavez, United Farm Workers official, was given the Martin Luther King nonviolent peace award at a rally in Atlanta. Mrs. Coretta Scott King, widow of the late Dr. King made the presentation. The affair opened the two-day celebration of King's birthday.

United Farm Workers leader Cesar Chavez is given the Martin Luther King Nonviolent Peace Award at a rally in Atlanta in January 1974. Coretta Scott King, widow of the late Dr. King, made the presentation. The affair opened the two-day celebration of King's birthday. Photo: Bettmann / Contributor

Black Panther and writer Eldridge Cleaver, an exile from American justice, and wife Kathleen sit in their apartment in Paris France during their exile circa 1974.

Black Panther and writer Eldridge Cleaver and his wife, Kathleen, sit in their apartment in Paris during their exile in 1974. Photo: Nik Wheeler/Corbis via Getty Images

Two men posing on a street in the South Side of Chicago, Illinois, May, 1974. 

Two men posing on a street on the South Side of Chicago, May 1974. Photo: John White/U.S. National Archives via Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images

In photos:  Black history 50 years ago

For Black History Month this year, Axios is looking back at 1974 to highlight moments that changed civil rights and the sports world.

Hank Aaron's mother, Estella, hugs him after he breaks Babe Ruth's all-time home run record on April 8, 1974. 

Hank Aaron's mother, Estella, hugs him after he breaks Babe Ruth's all-time home run record on April 8, 1974. Photo: Bettmann / Contributor

Black History Month

Students enter South Boston High School on Sept. 12, 1974, on the first day of school under the new busing system put in place to desegregate Boston Public Schools.

Race and Equity

AI has made it easy to generate realistic-looking fake porn, and the targets of malicious deepfakes are finding they have little recourse.

Why it matters: When everyone with a computer can create a convincing and harmful image, anyone from high school teens to the world's biggest pop star could fall victim to these potentially damaging deepfakes.

In the absence of federal legal protection — and a smattering of state laws on the issue — those affected can be left to deal with lasting consequences on their mental health and reputations.

For ordinary people, especially without an army of fans, that self-protection "can be really challenging, if not impossible," Bernard Marr, a futurist and generative AI expert, tells Axios.

Targets of this harassment can request social media companies take down posts or report accounts spreading them, "but there's no good way or structured way" to mitigate such situations, Srijan Kumar, an assistant professor at Georgia Tech who has researched AI, tells Axios.

Driving the news: A bipartisan group of senators on Tuesday introduced a bill designed to hold people responsible for sharing "digital forgery."  

"Although the imagery may be fake, the harm to the victims from the distribution of sexually explicit deepfakes is very real," Judiciary Committee Chair Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and ranking member Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said in a statement. 

"Victims have lost their jobs, and may suffer ongoing depression or anxiety." 

If passed, the legislation would provide a civil remedy for identifiable victims.  

The proposed legislation came a day before senators grilled Big Tech CEOs over child social media exploitation on Capitol Hill. 

Between the lines: Victims of harmful AI-generated images are limited in their legal options, Mary Anne Franks, the president of the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative, told Axios.

Even in states with relevant laws, the abuse is defined "in really, really specific terms that are hard for the average victim to meet," she says. Other hurdles include having to know who the original perpetrator was. 

Catch up quick: Taylor Swift was the victim of text-to-image generated explicit photos, created using workarounds to Microsoft's anti-porn protections, 404 Media found.

A different method to create explicit images requires as little as one photo of a person. Teenage girls at a New Jersey high school last year found out that deepfakes using their faces had been circulating among students.

By the numbers: Fake nudes have increased more than 290% since 2018 on the top 10 websites that host them, the Washington Post reported last year.

86% of people polled by the AI Policy Institute in January said they believe "it should be illegal" to use AI to create deepfake porn. 91% said people who use models to do so should be held liable.

The bottom line: History offers several examples of technology manipulation that disproportionately harms women, such as the 4chan celebrity nude leak and AI producing sexually objectified avatars.

"The alarm has been sounded on this for so long," but conversations on regulation weren't taken seriously, Franks says. 

"That, I think, speaks to the long-standing indifference that our law has toward crimes that disproportionately affect women and girls," she added. 

Go deeper: Behind the Curtain: What AI architects fear most (in 2024)

Exclusive poll: AI is already great at faking video and audio, experts say

Behind the Curtain: What AI architects fear most (in 2024)

Taylor Swift fake nudes show this harassment could happen to anyone

Victims can be left to deal with lasting consequences on their mental health and reputations.

Photo illustration of a grid of closely cropped fingers, hair, lips, skin and digital static

Deepfakes

Social Media

Tech Regulation

Artificial Intelligence

From the Valley to D.C., Big Tech players like Facebook, Google and Amazon are under more scrutiny than ever as new technology develops and privacy and antitrust concerns grow in lockstep with companies’ ambitions.

Technology

The strongest atmospheric river event of the season is set to begin Saturday night and early Sunday morning from north to south in California. 

Threat level: The National Weather Service warned early Saturday that confidence is high that "life-threatening flooding" would occur even in heavily populated areas of L.A. County. 

The storm will bring a swath of 3-to-6-inch-plus rainfall totals, with locally heavier amounts, from Monterrey southward to Los Angeles, with slightly lower amounts south into San Diego.

Downtown Los Angeles could see as much as 6 inches of rain in just 3 days based on current forecasts, with the potential for higher amounts. 

Context: The city's average annual rainfall is about 14 inches.

Several feet of snow are likely to fall in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, perhaps enough to block access to some communities.

The National Weather Service forecast offices in Los Angeles and the Bay Area are calling the storm's likely impacts "very dangerous." 

They noted that flash flooding and river flooding will occur quickly on Sunday into Monday, given that the ground is already saturated from recent rains.

What they're saying: "Flooding issues will not be confined to just the foothills, mountains, and burn areas," the NWS LA said in an online forecast discussion Saturday morning. 

"ALL AREAS, INCLUDING HIGHLY POPULATED URBAN AREAS, WILL BE AT RISK FOR LIFE THREATENING FLOODING."

"Streams and small rivers, as well as the Los Angeles River through
the San Fernando Valley and metro LA will rise quickly and turn
into very dangerous raging rivers," the NWS forecasters stated. 

"Many roads will be impassable due to flooding."

Atmospheric river to bring "life-threatening" flooding to Southern California

This will be the strongest such storm of the season.

Axios

Saturday's top stories

U.S. and U.K. launch fresh wave of strikes targeting Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen

House GOP plans new Israel package in blow to Senate talks

In photos: Black history 50 years ago

Taylor Swift fake nudes show this harassment could happen to anyone

Atmospheric river to bring "life-threatening" flooding to Southern California

What employees are owed if their company collapses

Scoop: Biden, Harris and Buttigieg to speak at House Democrats' retreat

The newspaper savior complex

Gambling companies battle ESPN in new talent war

Biotech is the new focus in U.S.-China tech rivalry

How student loan forgiveness factors into your tax bill