Americans freed from Iran return to US: The Morning Rundown, Sept. 19, 2023

FIVE AMERICANS DETAINED IN IRAN ARE BACK HOME AS PART OF A PRISONER EXCHANGE

AND —

AND A CYBERATTACK COULD MEAN A TOUGHER TIME FINDING CLOROX PRODUCTS IN YOUR CORNER STORE

THE MORNING RUNDOWN STARTS NOW.

THIS IS STRAIGHT-ARROW NEWS. 

BRINGING YOU UNBIASED, STRAIGHT FACTS.

TODAY IS TUESDAY — SEPTEMBER 19TH

THANKS FOR JOINING US.

I’M KARAH RUCKER.

FIVE AMERICANS — DESIGNATED BY THE U.S. GOVERNMENT AS WRONGFULLY DETAINED — ARE BACK HOME AS PART OF A PRISONER EXCHANGE BETWEEN THE U.S. AND IRAN ON MONDAY.

THE FIVE AMERICANS WERE BEING IMPRISONED ON WHAT U.S. OFFICIALS CALLED “UNSUBSTANTIATED CHARGES OF SPYING.”

OFFICIALS SAY TWO FAMILY MEMBERS WHO WERE NOT JAILED BUT WERE PREVENTED FROM LEAVING IRAN WERE ALSO ON THE PLANE THAT LANDED THIS MORNING IN THE U.S.

SECRETARY OF STATE ANTONY BLINKED DESCRIBED THE SIGNIFICANCE OF REUNITING THE FIVE AMERICANS WITH THEIR FAMILIES — ON U.S. SOIL.

CLOROX IS REPORTING THE IMPACT A CYBER ATTACK LAST MONTH HAS HAD — AND CONTINUES TO HAVE — ON ITS COMPANY.

THE COMPANY KNOWN FOR ITS SANITIZING WIPES AND BRANDS LIKE PINE SOL AND FRESHSTEP CAT LITTER SAYS WIDE-SCALE DISRUPTIONS CONTINUE TO NEGATIVELY IMPACT ITS OPERATIONS.

CERTAIN PRODUCTS ARE IN SHORT SUPPLY.

AND OPERATIONS HAVE CRAWLED SINCE THE CYBER ATTACK — WITH EMPLOYEES FULFILLING AND PROCESSING ORDERS **MANUALLY SINCE AUGUST.

CLOROX BELIEVES THE CYBER ATTACK HAS BEEN CONTAINED AND THE COMPANY WILL EVENTUALLY GET BACK TO FULL PRODUCTION.

THEY’RE JUST UNSURE OF A TIMETABLE ON WHEN THAT WILL HAPPEN.

“their freedom, the freedom of these Americans for so long, unjustly imprisoned and detained in Iran, means some pretty basic things. It means that husbands and wives, fathers and children, grandparents can hug each other again, can see each other again, can be with each other again”

ALL OF THE FREED AMERICANS IDENTIFIED HAD BEEN SERVING 10-YEAR PRISON SENTENCES IN IRAN.

WITH ONE ALREADY SERVING 8 YEARS.

OUT OF THE FIVE IRANIANS RELEASED FROM U.S. CUSTODY AS PART OF THE DEAL —

THREE STAYED IN THE U.S. AND DID NOT WANT TO RETURN TO IRAN.

SIX BILLION DOLLARS IN IRANIAN ASSETS WERE UNFROZEN AS PART OF THE AGREEMENT AND SUCCESSFULLY TRANSFERRED AHEAD OF THE PRISONER EXCHANGE.

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN IS SET TO ADDRESS THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY THIS MORNING – AS LEADERS OF FOUR OTHER MAJOR COUNTRIES SKIP THE GATHERING.

ACCORDING TO THE WHITE HOUSE – BIDEN WILL SPEAK TO THE LEADERS OF 145 COUNTRIES – LAYING OUT HIS VISION OF AMERICAN LEADERSHIP THAT INVOLVES WORKING WITH OTHER COUNTRIES TO “SOLVE THE WORLD’S MOST PRESSING PROBLEMS.”

THE WHITE HOUSE SAYS A SUBSTANTIAL SECTION OF BIDEN’S SPEECH WILL FOCUS ON THE WAR IN UKRAINE – SPEAKING AGAINST RUSSIA’S INVASION AND CALLING FOR SUPPORT OF UKRAINE.

UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY WILL ALSO SPEAK AT THE U.N. SUMMIT — IN-PERSON FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE THE WAR BEGAN LAST YEAR.

FRANCE PRESIDENT EMMANUEL MACRON AND U.K. PRIME MINISTER RISHI SUNAK (RIH SHEE SUE-NACK) ARE MISSING THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY DUE TO KING CHARLES VISITING FRANCE– WHILE CHINA’S PRESIDENT XI JINPING AND RUSSIAN PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN RARELY ATTEND IN PERSON.

WHILE BIDEN AND ZELENSKYY LOOK TO PUT THE FOCUS OF THE U.N. GENERAL ASSEMBLY ON THE WAR WITH RUSSIA – TENSIONS BETWEEN TWO OTHER NATIONS ARE GROWING THIS MORNING — CANADA AND INDIA.  CANADA HAS ACCUSED INDIA OF POSSIBLY BEING INVOLVED IN THE ASSASSINATION OF A SIKH ACTIVIST ON CANADIAN SOIL – WITH BOTH COUNTRIES EXPELLING SENIOR DIPLOMATS. 

MILITARY OFFICIALS HAVE BEEN ABLE TO LOCATE THE DEBRIS FIELD FOR THE MISSING F-35 FIGHTER JET THAT DISAPPEARED AFTER A REPORTED “MISHAP” — THAT FORCED THE PILOT TO EJECT MID-FLIGHT AND PARACHUTE TO SAFETY.
WITH NO ONE ON BOARD — THE MILITARY LOST SIGHT OF WHERE THE FIGHTER JET LANDED.
NOW WE KNOW THE AIRCRAFT CRASHED IN A FIELD IN WILLIAMSBURG COUNTY SOUTH CAROLINA —
ABOUT TWO HOURS AWAY FROM A MARINE CORP BASE.
AS THE INVESTIGATION CONTINUES — THE MARINE CORP ANNOUNCED A TWO-DAY PAUSE IN OPERATIONS TO DISCUSS AVIATION SAFETY —
CITING **THREE “MISHAPS” OVER THE PAST SIX WEEKS.

ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU MET WITH BILLIONAIRE BUSINESSMAN ELON MUSK IN CALIFORNIA ON MONDAY.

THE TWO DISCUSSED AN ARRAY OF TOPICS DURING A  LIVESTREAM ON MUSK’S SOCIAL MEDIA SITE X —

FROM ANTISEMITISM’S PLACE ON THE PLATFORM.

TO THE CONTROVERSIAL JUDICIAL OVERHAUL IN ISRAEL.

HOW TO ADVANCE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE FOR THE GOOD OF THE PEOPLE —

AND THE FUTURE PLANS OF X POTENTIALLY BECOMING A MONTHLY SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE.

BUT THE MOMENT MAKING HEADLINES —

WAS THE PRIME MINISTER’S ASK OF MUSK — TO FIND A BALANCE BETWEEN PROTECTING FREE SPEECH AND FIGHTING HATE SPEECH AND ANTISEMITIC POSTS ON X.

IT COMES AS MUSK IS BEING BLAMED OF “TOLERATING ANTISEMITISM” BY THE ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE.

AN ACCUSATION MUSK CALLS FALSE AND DAMNING TO THE PLATFORM’S ADVERTISING REVENUE.

MUSK TOLD THE PRIME MINISTER THAT X WILL NOT PROMOTE POSTS CONTAINING HATE SPEECH.

NETANYAHU WILL BE AT THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY TO ADDRESS THE U.S. AND OTHER WORLD LEADERS AT A TIME OF GROWING UNREST IN THE COUNTRY.

CLOROX IS REPORTING THE IMPACT A CYBER ATTACK LAST MONTH HAS HAD — AND CONTINUES TO HAVE — ON ITS COMPANY.

THE COMPANY KNOWN FOR ITS SANITIZING WIPES AND BRANDS LIKE PINE SOL AND FRESHSTEP CAT LITTER SAYS WIDE-SCALE DISRUPTIONS CONTINUE TO NEGATIVELY IMPACT ITS OPERATIONS.

CERTAIN PRODUCTS ARE IN SHORT SUPPLY.

AND OPERATIONS HAVE CRAWLED SINCE THE CYBER ATTACK — WITH EMPLOYEES FULFILLING AND PROCESSING ORDERS **MANUALLY SINCE AUGUST.

CLOROX BELIEVES THE CYBER ATTACK HAS BEEN CONTAINED AND THE COMPANY WILL EVENTUALLY GET BACK TO FULL PRODUCTION.

THEY’RE JUST UNSURE OF A TIMETABLE ON WHEN THAT WILL HAPPEN.

FINALLY THIS MORNING – VISITORS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD ARE USED TO SEEING WINNIE THE POOH STROLLING AROUND THE THEME PARK — BUT ON MONDAY – A DIFFERENT KIND OF BEAR BECAME THE ATTRACTION.

A WILD BLACK BEAR FOUND ITS WAY INSIDE DISNEY WORLD’S MAGIC KINGDOM NEAR ORLANDO – CLIMBING A TREE AND DELAYING THE OPENING OF MULTIPLE SECTIONS OF THE PARK.

MEMBERS OF THE FLORIDA FISH AND WILD CONSERVATION COMMISSION WERE CALLED IN TO SECURE THE FEMALE BLACK BEAR – WHO WAS EVENTUALLY CAPTURED BY THE AFTERNOON — AND WAS BEING RELOCATED TO A NATIONAL FOREST.

OFFICIALS SAY THE BEAR WAS MOST LIKELY IN SEARCH OF FOOD AHEAD OF WINTER HIBERNATION.

THESE ARE YOUR TOP STORIES FOR THIS TUESDAY.

THANKS FOR JOINING US.

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UNBIASED. STRAIGHT FACTS. THAT’S STRAIGHT ARROW NEWS.

WE’LL SEE YOU BACK HERE TOMORROW.

UNTIL THEN I’M KARAH RUCKER. HAVE A GREAT DAY!