Daily Briefing: An Ivy League president resigns

Harvard’s first Black president has resigned just six months into her tenure. Also in the news: The killing of a senior Hamas leader could provoke major retaliation by Lebanon’s powerful Hezbollah militia. Japan is bracing for more aftershocks from a major earthquake as rescue efforts continue.

🙋🏼‍♀️ I'm Nicole Fallert, Daily Briefing author. Do we actually need 10,000 steps a day?

Now, here we go with Wednesday's news.

Claudine Gay resigns 'in the best interests of Harvard'

Harvard President Claudine Gay announced her resignation Tuesday following accusations of plagiarism in her academic work and a grilling by congressional lawmakers in early December over her response to antisemitism on her campus since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.

Questions about whether Gay copied others' work first became public after the congressional hearing, when she and other elite university presidents were excoriated for their responses to questions about whether calling for the genocide of Jews would violate campus policies on bullying and harassment.

• New York Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik, who questioned Gay and other university leaders in Congress, called Gay's resignation "long overdue."

• Harvard's board initially stood by Gay after her Congressional testimony. But more recent concerns of academic plagiarism lead to an investigation that found several "instances of inadequate citation."

• Various civil rights groups and academics have lamented Gay's resignation, highlighting the racial implications of her departure that go beyond a single person or incident.

Who's on the Jeffrey Epstein list?

A number of boldfaced names have been linked to Jeffrey Epstein since federal agents arrested the hedge fund manager on sex trafficking charges in July 2019. Now, hundreds of sealed court filings about Epstein are expected to be released in the coming days or weeks — and are likely to include the names of prominent people. The sealed documents were part of a defamation lawsuit brought by one of Epstein's accusers, Virginia Giuffre. Epstein took his own life inside a jail cell in 2019. Read more

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• Biden is taking a challenge against Texas over a razor wire on the border to the Supreme Court.

• South Korean politician stabbed in neck: Lee Jae-myung recovering after violent attack.

• Is a big snow storm in Northeast here to start 2024?

• For subscribers: Why UAW's push to organize workers at nonunion carmakers faces a steep climb.

• On today's The Excerpt podcast, what polling tells us about who Trump supporters want as a running mate. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your smart speaker.

What's the weather today? Check your local forecast here.

Death of top Hamas leader raises questions about targeted killings outside Israel

Saleh al-Arouri, a top Hamas leader and a linchpin between the group and terrorist affiliates in Iran and Hezbollah − a Lebanon-based Hamas ally − was killed in an Israeli strike in the Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh, according to Lebanon's state-run news agency and the Hezbollah-linked al-Mayadeen media outlet. The killing marks a potentially significant escalation of Israel’s war against Hamas and heightening the risk of a wider Middle East conflict. Arouri’s death raises questions about whether – and where – Israel can target and kill suspected leaders of Hamas in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 attacks. Netanyahu and other Israel leaders say it is their right to do so, while others disagree, citing international laws regarding sovereignty and the rule of law. Read more.

• Shipping giant Maersk said its vessels will stop sailing on the Red Sea after one of its cargo ships was attacked by Houthi militants from Yemen over the weekend.

Donald Trump sues after he was disqualified from Maine ballot

Former President Donald Trump sued Maine's secretary of state Tuesday for disqualifying him from the state's primary ballot because of his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, opening another legal front in the saga over whether voters in some states will be barred from selecting the Republican frontrunner. Election officials and courts in several states are considering whether Trump's actions on Jan. 6 disqualified him under a Reconstruction-era provision of the 14th Amendment known as the insurrection clause. Only two states − Maine and Colorado − have so far decided that Trump should be removed from this year's primary ballots. Read more

• Here are the states trying to block Trump from the ballot.

Keep scrolling

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• ''The Bachelorette'' star Rachel Lindsay and husband Bryan Abasolo will divorce after four years.

• Netflix, not football, is on the menu for Alabama coach Nick Saban after his Rose Bowl loss to Michigan.

Japan racing to find survivors after 'catastrophic' earthquake

Rescue efforts continued Wednesday to get out those trapped beneath collapsed buildings after a series of powerful earthquakes hit western Japan, leaving at least 62 people dead. Officials are warning people in some areas to stay away from their homes because of a risk of more strong quakes. Aftershocks continued to shake Ishikawa prefecture and nearby areas two days after a magnitude 7.6 temblor slammed the area on Monday. Meanwhile, investigators continue to look into why a Japan Airlines flight collided Tuesday with a Japanese Coast Guard plane that was going to deliver relief aid. Read more

Photo of the day: Caitlin Clark's game-winning 3-pointer saves Iowa

The sweet swish and ensuing roar let everyone know the outcome Tuesday night when Caitlin Clark broke away to hand the Iowa Hawkeyes a 76-73 win against Michigan State women's basketball team. Read more

Nicole Fallert is a newsletter writer at USA TODAY, sign up for the email here. Want to send Nicole a note? Shoot her an email at NFallert@usatoday.com or follow along with her musings on Twitter. Support journalism like this – subscribe to USA TODAY here.

Associated Press contributed reporting.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Harvard president resigns, Jeffrey Epstein list, Israel-Hamas war, Trump sues Maine, Japan earthquake, Caitlin Clark: Daily Briefing