Explosion. This is what beirut has been enduring, massive israeli strikes that could ignite the whole region because israel killed its target, sheikh hassan nasrallah. For his followers, it s a devastating blow, for his iranian backers, a strategic loss. The long time leader of hezbollah was a long time in hiding. This was the moment, in a new york hotel room on friday, when binyamin netanyahu approved the strike on his old enemy. Translation: the state of israel yesterday eliminated the master murderer hassan nasrallah. We settled accounts with the one responsible for the murder of countless israelis and many citizens of other countries. Nasrallah was not another terrorist, he was the terrorist. Israel claims this is a historic turning point. For many in beirut, it s a time of fear. Plenty were fleeing the city today, clinging to the hope of finding safety somewhere. But there is danger in every direction in lebanon. We travelled through dahieh, the hezbollah stronghold now looking an
of 3.3% in the last three months of 2023 much stronger than expected. that s raised hopes that the us federal reserve might have achieved a soft landing getting inflation under control by raising borrowing costs without crashing the economy. the strong economic numbers helped stoke an ongoing rally on us stock markets. both the dowjones industrial average and s&p 500 closed at new record highs on thursday. and traders weren t the only ones celebrating. the gdp figures have been seized upon by president biden, who is battling for re election. he s been suffering poor approval ratings for his handling of the economy, as american households feel the impact of higher prices on their finances. from new york, here s michelle fleury. for an economy many said was headed for recession, the us continues to defy expectations. in the final three months of last year, the american economy grew faster than expected, expanding at an annual rate of 3.3% while inflation fell. growth for th