TGIF! Hezbollah chief calls pager, radio attacks an ‘act of war’ by Israel; Pregnant woman's brain changes mapped for the first time; And NYC Mayor Eric Adams in hot water.

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📌 NEWS CONCERNS ABOUT WAR AS HEZBOLLAH PROMISES RETRIBUTION FOR PAGER, RADIO ATTACKS

There are increasing concerns about a larger regional war in the Middle East in the aftermath of the communication device bombs exploded across the region targeting Hezbollah this week.

Hezbollah leader Hasan Nasrallah on Thursday evening called the two days of deadly blasts an “act of war” by Israel.

ESCALATION
What appears to be a sophisticated and complex operation by Israel (which hasn’t officially) commented) killed at least 37 people and injured nearly 3,000 across Lebanon and even Syria.

• Nasrallah admitted that the attacks dealt an “unprecedented blow” to the Hezbollah terror group. He added that they were “a major assault on Lebanon, its security and sovereignty, a war crime — an act of war.”

• It comes as the Israeli military stepped up strikes on southern Lebanon, and approved plans for the next stage of the conflict along the border between the two countries.

Israeli fighter jets struck about 30 Hezbollah rocket launchers and other infrastructure in southern Lebanon on Thursday. On the Israeli side, two soldiers were killed, and several others were wounded, in Hezbollah missile and drone attacks.

HOW WE GOT HERE
Hezbollah began firing thousands of missiles and drones at Israel following Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks. Over the last year, more than 40 Israelis have been killed in Hezbollah attacks and hundreds more injured.

• About 100,000 Israelis have had to abandon their homes due to the attacks. A similar number have also been displaced from southern Lebanon, a major base of operations for Hezbollah and target of Israeli counterattacks.

  • Israel says the time is now to push Hezbollah back from their northern border and bring normalcy back to Israel.

  • Hezbollah says that Israel can expect no peace while the war in Gaza continues.

🤰 FOR THE FIRST TIME: DETAILED BRAIN MAP SHOWS HOW PREGNANCY CHANGES THE 🧠

You may have heard about— or experienced— “pregnancy brain.” It’s the feeling of being forgetful and having brain fog postpartum. Now a first-of-its-kind study shows that the brain really is changing during pregnancy, especially in areas that control emotions and memory. Some of the changes were still obvious two years after giving birth.

THE FINDINGS
Elizabeth Chrastil is a neuroscientist from the University of California, Irvine. She was planning an IVF pregnancy when the research was being discussed and volunteered for the study. Over the course of three years, Chrastil’s brain was scanned 26 times before, during and after her pregnancy. Through detailed mapping of her brain, neuroscientist Emily Jacobs, the study’s author, says researchers have “never witnessed the brain in a process of metamorphosis like this.”

• Gray matter: In nearly 80% of the 400 brain areas analyzed, the volume of gray matter— tissue that controls movement, emotions and memory— decreased by about 4% in Chrastil’s brain. After pregnancy, there was only a small rebound.

  • Jacobs said that pregnancy brain shrinkage was “not a bad thing” and probably reflected pruning that “enables the brain to become more specialized.”

• White matter: The scans also showed an increase of about 10% in white matter integrity — a measure of the health and quality of connections between brain regions — in the first and second trimesters. After birth, those connections returned to normal levels.

  • Those connections are like roads with improved paving, which “makes things go more smoothly, information can travel more seamlessly,” Chrastil said.

Pregnancy-related hormones might create neurological “windows of learning,” said Dr. Ronald Dahl, director of the Institute of Human Development at UC Berkeley. He was not involved in the new study, but thinks the brain changes could be linked to mothers becoming more able “to learn adaptive things and create bonds and develop greater expertise in responding to an infant.”

What’s next: A larger data pool needs to be collected now, but some scans of other pregnant women’s brains echoed Chrastil’s pattern, Jacobs said. The research could unlock clues to the neurological effects of pre-eclampsia and postpartum depression.

📌 CHAOS IN NYC MAYOR ERIC ADAMS’S INNER CIRCLE AMID FEDERAL PROBES

New York City’s Mayor Eric Adams is resisting calls to step down as his administration appears to be unraveling. There are four separate federal corruption and criminal investigations swirling around the mayor.

• On Tuesday, the mayor disputed the notion that New Yorkers are concerned about the probes, repeated his calls to allow the investigation to continue, and defended his decision not to put officials on leave. “If I’ve had someone around me that I believe violated their oath of office, they would not be in my office,” Adams said.

Tiffany Cabán, a progressive councilwoman from Queens, was the first City Council member to urge Adams to step down on Monday. “Eric Adams leads with corruption and mismanagement,” she said. A second local leader joined her on Tuesday and, so far, four state lawmakers have called for Adams’s resignation.

THIS LATEST

• Lisa Zornberg, the mayor’s chief legal adviser, resigned abruptly on Saturday. Sources report it was over frustration with the mayor’s refusal to follow her advice on personnel matters.

• Last week, the NYPD commissioner, Edward Caban, resigned at the request of City Hall amid a federal investigation into the department's nightclub enforcement.

• The week before, Caban's phone was seized around the same time that FBI agents raided the homes of top Adams administration officials First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright and Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Philip Banks III as part of a separate probe over a possible bribery scheme involving city contracts.

TURKEY PROBE
The possible legal troubles spilled into public view in November when federal agents searched the home of the mayor’s chief fundraiser. The focus: Adams accepting campaign funds from the Turkish government through a local construction company. Adams’s electronic devices were taken by the FBI around the same time.

• A fourth inquiry is being conducted by the US Attorney’s office for the Eastern District of New York investigating the director of Asian affairs, Winnie Greco. But the motives of that probe are unclear.

Adams has denied any wrongdoing, and has not yet been charged with any crimes stemming from the investigations.

⏳ SPEED READ

🚨NATION

📌 Gun-owner Kamala Harris tells Oprah that intruder is ‘getting shot' if one breaks into her house (USA TODAY)

📌 ‘I’m a black NAZI!’: North Caroline GOP nominee for governor Mark Robinson made dozens of disturbing comments on porn forum (CNN)

 📌 Lawmakers expect Speaker Johnson will green light clean spending bill into December to avert government shutdown (POLITICO)

📌 Alaska man charged with threatening to assassinate 6 Supreme Court justices (CBS NEWS)

📌 NY Magazine political reporter put on leave after disclosing romantic relationship with RFK Jr. (CNN)

🌎 AROUND THE WORLD

📌 Departing NATO chief warns US against 'isolationism' (FRANCE24)

📌 Ammunition from India enters Ukraine, raising Russian ire (REUTERS)

📌 Husband of Russia's richest woman arrested on murder charge after office shootout (CBS NEWS)

📌 Surgeon 'became robotic' to treat sheer volume of wounded Lebanese (BBC)

📱BUSINESS, SCIENCE & TECH

📌 Delta Airlines faces US investigation after flight passengers report bloody ears and noses (GUARDIAN)

📌 New research points to raccoon dogs in Wuhan market as pandemic trigger. It's controversial (NPR)

📌 European Union moves to compel Apple to open up operating system to rival tech (AP)

📌 Social media companies engaged in 'vast surveillance,' FTC finds, calling status quo 'unacceptable' (NBC NEWS)

🎬 SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT

📌 Billie Jean King to become first female athlete with Congressional Gold Medal (AXIOS)

📌 Sabrina Carpenter to bring holiday cheer with 'A Nonsense Christmas' variety special (ABC NEWS)

📌 Jon Lovett, podcaster and former Obama speechwriter, voted off 'Survivor 47' premiere (NBC NEWS)

📌 Actor Michael Madsen files for divorce from wife of 28 years, alleges she drove their son to die by suicide (PEOPLE)

🎉 CHEERS TO THE FREAKIN WEEKEND

• WHAT WE’RE WATCHING: Mosheh: Civil War~ Max; Jill: A Family Affair~ Netflix.

• WHAT WE’RE READING: Mosheh: Character Limit: How Elon Musk Destroyed Twitter~ Kate Conger and Ryan Mac; Jill: These 23 Parenting Hacks Might Just Change Your Life~ Parent’s Libby Ryan.

• WHAT WE’RE EATING: Mosheh: Drinking LMNT electrolyte powder— citrus salt a favorite. Jill: The Farm Italy in Huntington, Long Island