Virginia Thomas agrees to interview with Jan. 6 panel

The wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, conservative activist Virginia Thomas, has agreed to participate in a voluntary interview with the House panel investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection. Attorney Mark Paoletta says Thomas is “eager to answer the committee’s questions to clear up any misconceptions about her work relating to the 2020 election.” The committee has sought an interview with Thomas to know more about her role in trying to help former President Donald Trump overturn his election defeat. She contacted lawmakers in Arizona and Wisconsin as part of that effort.

House passes election law overhaul in response to Jan. 6

The House has passed legislation to overhaul the rules for certifying the results of a presidential election as lawmakers accelerate their response to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection and Donald Trump’s failed attempt to remain in power. The bill is similar to bipartisan legislation moving through the Senate. It would overhaul an arcane 1800s-era statute known as the Electoral Count Act that governs how states and Congress certify electors and declare presidential election winners. Trump and his allies unsuccessfully tried to exploit loopholes in the law in an attempt to overturn his defeat to Joe Biden in the 2020 election.

Senate ratifies pact to curb a broad category of potent greenhouse gases

The Senate voted Wednesday to approve an international climate treaty for the first time in 30 years, agreeing in a bipartisan deal to phase out of the use of planet-warming industrial chemicals found in refrigerators and air-conditioners. By a vote of 69-27 the United States joined the 2016 Kigali Amendment, along with 137 other nations that have agreed to sharply reduce the production and use of hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs. The vote changes little in the U.S. because Congress and the Biden administration have already enacted policies to reduce the production and importation of hydrofluorocarbons by 85% over the next 15 years, and industry has turned to alternative chemicals.

Former Minneapolis officer sentenced to three years in George Floyd case

A former Minneapolis police officer, Thomas Lane, was sentenced to three years in prison on Wednesday for his role in the killing of George Floyd. Lane, 39, who pleaded guilty in May to a second-degree manslaughter charge, has been serving a 2 1/2 year federal sentence for violating Floyd’s civil rights and will serve the three-year sentence concurrently. Lane was one of four officers who responded on May 25, 2020, to a call from a convenience store clerk who accused Floyd of using a fake $20 bill to buy cigarettes. Floyd was then handcuffed and restrained face down. One of the officers, Derek Chauvin, pressed his knee on Floyd’s neck as Lane held his legs.

Guns found at airport checkpoints are on track to break record

The Transportation Security Administration is on pace this year to again break the record for the number of guns intercepted at airport security checkpoints. So far this year, TSA officers have already discovered more than 4,600 guns at airport checkpoints, and about 87% of them were loaded, according to the agency. Last year, the TSA found nearly 6,000 guns at airport checkpoints, which itself was a record. When a gun is found at a checkpoint, the TSA does not seize it. Instead, agents are instructed to call law enforcement to handle the situation. The TSA can impose a fine of up to about $14,000 and the loss of PreCheck membership.

Biden condemns Russia as threat to the world in UN speech

President Joe Biden used his first speech at the United Nations since the invasion of Ukraine to accuse President Vladimir Putin of Russia of seeking to “erase” another nation from the map, while attempting to compensate for his huge losses in Ukraine by threatening to drag the world back to an era of nuclear confrontation. Hours after Putin issued new threats to deploy Russia’s nuclear arsenal in defense of Ukrainian territory that Putin is trying to annex, Biden’s speech drew a harsh contrast between Russia and the West, and described a growing “competition” with China as it pursues its own authoritarian vision.

Zelenskyy vows Ukraine will win as Russia redoubles effort

Ukraine’s president has implored the world to punish Russia for its invasion. He vowed his forces would win back every inch of territory despite Moscow’s decision to redouble its war effort. In a much-anticipated video address to the U.N. General Assembly hours after Russia announced it would mobilize some reservists, Volodymyr Zelenskyy portrayed the declaration as evidence the Kremlin wasn’t ready to negotiate an end to the war. But he insisted his country would prevail anyway.

Putin orders partial military call-up, sparking protests

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered a partial mobilization of reservists in Russia. It’s an unpopular step that sparked rare protests across the country and led to almost 1,200 arrests. Putin’s order follows humiliating setbacks for his troops nearly seven months after invading Ukraine. It’s the first mobilization in Russia since World War II. Western backers of Ukraine derided the move as an act of weakness. The Russian leader warned the West he isn’t bluffing about using everything at his disposal to protect Russian territory. This appeared to be a veiled reference to his nuclear arsenal.

Iran says it’s ready for new nuclear deal but asks if US is

Iran’s president insists that his country is serious about reviving a deal meant to prevent it from acquiring a nuclear bomb. But President Ebrahim Raisi questioned whether Tehran could trust America’s commitment to any eventual accord. He told U.N. General Assembly that the U.S. had already “trampled” on a previous deal. He was referring to America’s decision to pull out of the accord in 2018. Ever since Iran’s 1979 revolution that overthrew its Western-backed shah, Tehran has been at odds with the United States and has sought to project itself as a counterweight to American power.

230 pilot whales beached in Tasmania

It was a sobering scene: an estimated 230 pilot whales lining a remote beach in the Australian island state of Tasmania. Already, half have died. Wednesday’s beachings came two years to the day after the worst mass whale stranding in Australia’s recorded history, when hundreds of pilot whales perished along roughly the same stretch of sand in Tasmania. Government experts were heading to the area to plan what they called a complex response. Boats from a local fish farm were attempting to pull whales that remained in the sea farther away from the shore. But the growls and clicks of those on the land were beckoning them with a deadly siren song.

By wire sources