going to balance of nature .com and don t forget to use discount code, cnn. hello everyone. i m fredricka whitfield in new york. welcome to the cnn newsroom and we begin in the middle east, where tensions are boiling over into bloodshed on what s considered some of the most sacred holy days of the year for the world s three major religions, recognizing easter, passover and ramadan. israeli defense forces launching major retaliatory strikes in both southern lebanon and gaza this morning targeting sites belonging to the palestinian military group hamas, and just moments ago, an official told cnn that the operations in the two areas are now over as long as there are no new rocket fires. and these attacks happened just hours after dozens of rockets were launched from lebanon in what s considered the largest barrage fired from there in nearly two decades. this all follows the israeli forces led raids earlier this week on one of islam s holiest sites. the al aqsa mosque in jerusale
extraordinary effort to reassure americans that the u.s. banking system is safe plus, poland is set to become the first country to send fighter jets to ukraine. it comes amid new reporting that china s leader will visit russia next week. those new developments are also straight ahead. and donald trump goes off on a frenzied defense amid a series of investigations. we will have the latest on the probes involving the former president. good morning and welcome to way too early on this friday, march 17th happy st. patrick s day. i m jonathan lemire. thanks for starting your day with us. in the words of cnbc, wall street rides to the rescue 11 of the country s largest banks are depositing a total of $30 billion to first republic bank to avoid a third collapse of the u.s. bank in less than a week first republic serves a similar clientele as silicon valley bank and signature bank, both of which failed in recent days. those banks had a high number of uninsured deposits as d
declassified video shows the dangerous mid-air encounter with russian jets. i ll ask state department spokesperson ned price about this potential flashpoint in worsening relations with moscow. also tonight, a cnn exclusive. dozens of mar-a-lago staffers have been subpoenaed in the investigation of former president trump s handling of classified documents. stand by for details on why their testimony could be crucial. a vulnerable u.s. bank just secured a $30 billion rescue from a group of 11 big banks here in the u.s. this comes after treasury secretary janet yellen tried to reassure congress and the nation that america s banking system is sound. welcome to our viewers here in the united states and around the world. i m wolf blitzer. you re in the situation room. this hour, pieces of a downed u.s. drone may now be in the hands of russia. two days after aggressive moves by kremlin warplanes over the black sea, critical moments of that encounter captured on video newly r
rightly so about inflation. but there s nothing to suggest a recession is in the works. i believe there is a path through this that entails a soft landing with the economy essentially stabilizing. laura: well, how is that soft landing feeling to you guys out there tonight? how does that woman still have a job when so many americans are now at a risk of losing their jobs? we know why. she became the first woman in the 232 year history of the u.s. department of treasury to hold that position. laura: come on, being a first was more important to biden. instead of being the best. now we are all suffering for the incompetence. the dow is 746 points lower than it was on inauguration day for biden. that means all the gains that we made under trump were totally wiped out. that s before you account for inflation and by the way, things are about to get uglier. walmart announced it would only hire 40,000 retail staff for the holiday shopping period. 40,000 sounds a lot until he rea