Morning Wire - Putin Arrest Warrant & California’s Skittles Ban | Afternoon Update | 3.17.23

Episode Date: March 17, 2023

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I'm Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Friday, March 17th, and this is your Morning Wire afternoon update. An arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin has been issued by the International Criminal Court. The ICC says Putin is allegedly responsible for abducting children from Ukraine and transferring them to Russia. In a video statement, the ICC president said that while a judge has issued the warrant, the group itself has no police force, so an arrest would be up to the international community. On Friday, the Russian Foreign Ministry rejected the warrant and the allegations, adding that Russia does not recognize the International Criminal Court.

Poland has become the first NATO country to supply the Ukrainian army with MIG-29 fighter jets. Polish President André Duda made the announcement on Thursday, saying his country will send four planes to President Vladimir Zelensky after Ukraine's repeated requests for Western air support via fighter jets. It's unclear whether other NATO countries will follow suit. El Salvador's government sent another 2,000 suspects this week to its massive new prison designed to hold gang members. Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce has more. The president of El Salvador has requested an extension of the emergency measures that his administration has been using to crack down on gangs for about a year now.

Over the course of that period, some 65,000 suspects have been arrested. The anti-gang campaign comes in response to a surge of violent crime in recent. years. Human rights activists have criticized the crackdown, accusing the government of human rights abuses and the arrest of innocent people in its mass raids. New York's Attorney General, Leticia James, announced this week that she will be hosting a drag queen's story hour event for children in Manhattan on Sunday. The event is co-sponsored by the New York, Queens, and Brooklyn Public Libraries. The announcement comes as some red states, including Tennessee, are moving to crackdown on sexually charged performances in front of children.

Honda has recalled nearly half a million vehicles due to concerns with seatbelts improperly latching due to a manufacturing defect that causes the seatbelt button and latch to deteriorate over time. The vehicles in question are the popular CRV between 2017 and 2020, the Accord between 2018 and 2019, the Accord hybrid between 2019 and 2020, and the insight from 2019. There's a silver lining to all the rain and snowstorms hitting California. Daily Wire reporter, Moreda Lorty. According to data from the U.S. drought monitor, 44% of the state is no longer under any drought

conditions. 36% of the state is still experiencing moderate drought, and just 8% is considered in severe drought. This is the first time in three years that L.A. and San Francisco are classified as drought-free, and another large rainstorm is predicted for next week. California may soon ban skittles, sour-patch kids, and a variety of non-perishable savory foods due to a new bill that bans five common chemical additives linked to cancer and organ damage. If the bill passes, food makers will either have to adapt their products or stop selling them in America's most populous state. And a giant seaweed bloom believed to be the largest ever recorded is drifting toward Florida's Gulf Coast. The 5,000 mile wide patch of sargassum is about

twice the width of the continental U.S. and can be seen from space. The brown seaweed is generally harmless but will affect beachgoers as it piles up and begins to decompose. Those are your drive home updates this afternoon. To learn more about these stories, go to dailywire.com. And for more in-depth discussion of the biggest stories of the day, listen to the latest full episode of Morning Wire every morning.