MONEYWORLD: Capital One is buying Discover Financial in a $35.3 billion deal that would merge two of the largest credit card companies in the US and create a financial behemoth with more than 1.3 million card holders.

  Capital One issues credit cards on networks run by Visa and Mastercard. Acquiring Discover leaves just American Express standing alone as the fourth major credit card.

  Consumer advocates are likely to push back and try to kill the monopolizing deal. There’s a lot of money to be made here. Americans are carrying $1 trillion in credit card debt at an interest rate of about 21 percent.

  By comparison, current 30-year home mortgage rates, which are considered to be high, are just shy of eight percent.

ORANGE ALERT: Donald Trump finally spoke up about the death of Russian dissident Alexei Navalny, but only to say that he is just as oppressed as the man who was probably murdered.

  The sudden death of Alexei Navalny has made me more and more aware of what is happening in our Country,” Trump said on his Truth Social website. The former President did not denounce Russian dictator Vladimir Putin or even decry the death of the brave Navalny. Trump went on to complain about “CROOKED, Radical Left Politicians, Prosecutors, and Judges leading us down a path to destruction.” Trump declared that, “Open Borders, Rigged Elections, and Grossly Unfair Courtroom Decisions are DESTROYING AMERICA. WE ARE A NATION IN DECLINE, A FAILING NATION! MAGA2024.”

THE WAR ROOM: Houthi rebels in Yemen claim they have shot down an American Reaper drone. The US admits that the drone crashed but has not given the cause.

  The crew of a cargo ship in the Red Sea abandoned their craft over the weekend after it was hit by an anti-ship missile fired by Houthi rebels in Yemen. The Houthi have made many attempts to hit ships, but the damage to the cargo ship Rubymar appears to be the most serious they have inflicted.

  The crew was safely taken to a nearby port and a Houthi announcement declared that the Rubymar was “at risk of sinking.” 

  The Houthi began their attacks in support of the embattled Hamas militants in Gaza. The militant group’s spokesman said the Houthis “will not hesitate to take more military measures” against “all hostile targets in defense of beloved Yemen and in confirmation of the position of support for the Palestinian people.”

ROUGH POLITICS: A judge in Haiti has indicted Martine Moïse in the July 2021 assassination of her husband, President Jovenel Moïse. Also indicted is ex-prime minister Claude Joseph and the former chief of Haiti’s National Police, Léon Charles, among others. 

  Moïse was 53 when gunmen broke into his home near the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince. His wife was wounded in the attack.

  Dozens of suspects were indicted in the 122-page report issued by Judge Walther Wesser Voltaire. US prosecutors say the plot to hire mercenaries to kidnap or kill Moïse was hatched in both Haiti and Florida. 

THE RUSSIA HOUSE: Russian security agents have arrested a dual citizen of Russia and the United States, accusing her of treason for sending just over $50 to an organization raising money for Ukraine.

  The Federal Security Service, known as the FSB, identified the detainee as Ksenia Karelina, 33, who lives in Los Angeles. The FSB said in a statement that she had raised money for a Ukrainian organization that bought weapons and other equipment for Ukraine’s military.

PERSONHOOD: The Alabama Supreme Court ruled last Friday that frozen embryos are people and that the fertilized eggs have the same protection as babies under the Wrongful Death of a Minor Act.Under the ruling, a person could be held liable for destroying frozen embryos.

  Reproductive rights advocates say the decision could endanger the practice of in vitro fertilizationand affect the hundreds of thousands of people a year who depend on it to have children.

WATERWORLD: A winter storm dropping torrential rain and feet of snow on California has abated but is expected to return later today.

  The Santa Barbara area got as much as 10 inches of rain. The body of one woman was found tangled in the trees along a swollen creek.

  Flash flood warnings have been issued for a swath of Los Angeles from Malibu to Griffith Park as well as portions of the San Fernando Valley. Multiple mudslides were reported yesterday, some of them blocking or cutting roads.

THE SPIN RACK: New legislative district maps drawn by Wisconsin’s Democratic Gov. Tony Evers make for a pretty even split between Republican and Democrat leaning districts. The new maps were the result of a state Supreme Court order. Evers said, “When I promised I wanted fair maps — not maps that are better for one party or another — I damn well meant it.” — A 5,000-pound European Space Agency satellite is expected to fall through the atmosphere tomorrow morning but will likely burn up as it makes its reentry. Some fragments might fall into the ocean. — The Daytona 500 car race was held up yesterday with just a few laps to go when 23 cars spun out and piled up in a giant smoking wreck. 

BELOW THE FOLD: Starbucks has added a “braised pork latte” to the menu in China.

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