Republicans block Ukraine aid bill over border objections
Republicans on Wednesday blocked an emergency spending bill to fund the war in Ukraine, demanding strict new border restrictions in exchange and severely jeopardizing President Joe Biden’s push to replenish the war chests of U.S. allies before the end of the year. The failed vote highlighted waning support in the United States for continuing to fund Ukraine’s war effort at a perilous time in the conflict, with Kyiv’s counteroffensive failing to meet its objectives and Russia’s forces on the offensive. While the bill faltered over an unrelated immigration policy dispute, the resistance it has met in Congress reflects a dwindling appetite among Republicans for continuing to back Ukraine.
McCarthy says he will leave congress at the end of the year
Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., who made history as the first speaker to be ousted from the post, announced Wednesday he would leave the House at the end of the year. McCarthy’s resignation will bring to a close a 16-year stint in Congress in which he rose from a member of the self-proclaimed “Young Guns” — Republicans driving to build their party’s majority in the House — to the position second in line to the presidency. McCarthy’s early exit creates a headache for his successor, Mike Johnson, who is struggling to run the House with a slim and dwindling majority.
U.S. charges 4 Russian
soldiers with war crimes
against an American
The Justice Department said Wednesday that it had charged four Russian soldiers with torturing an American living in the war-ravaged region of Kherson in Ukraine, using a war crimes statute for the first time since it was enacted nearly three decades ago. The indictment could be followed by other charges against Russians found to have committed “atrocities on the largest scale in any European armed conflict since the Second World War,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in announcing the prosecution. Garland also acknowledged that the department had begun a formal investigation of the “murder of more than 30 Americans” by Hamas fighters during the Oct. 7 attack in Israel.
White House delays a decision on banning menthol cigarettes
The Biden administration delayed a decision Wednesday about whether it would ban menthol cigarettes amid intense lobbying from tobacco companies, convenience stores and industry-backed groups that contend that billions of dollars in sales and jobs will be lost. The proposal has also generated concerns that Black smokers will become the targets of aggressive police tactics, although some Black leaders, top lawmakers and government officials dispute that and say tobacco companies are financing and fueling those fears. The Food and Drug Administration formally proposed an official rule last year, aimed at reducing health disparities, citing statistics that an estimated 85% of Black smokers prefer menthol brands.
AP African American
studies course avoids
some disputed topics
The latest version of the College Board’s AP African American studies framework may not fully please its critics — either the discipline’s scholars or politicians who have tried to legislate against it. The Advanced Placement curriculum, released Wednesday, leaves out critical race theory and structural racism, which academics say are key concepts. LGBTQ issues continue to be mostly absent. And despite the course’s origins around the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020, study of the movement is optional. The curriculum does mention “systemic oppression” and “systemic marginalization,” ideas closely related to critical race theory and structural racism — terms that have been banned from classrooms in many states.
Actors ratify deal with Hollywood studios, with reservations
Actors voted to approve a new three-year contract with studios, although some union members remained dissatisfied with the deal’s artificial intelligence protections, formally ending six months of labor unrest in the entertainment industry. The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists said Tuesday that more than 50,000 members submitted ballots. The contract was ratified with 78% of the vote. However, screenwriters ratified their new contract with studios in October with 99% of the vote. And the writers in one way received less: Studios agreed last month to give actors a 7% first-year raise, while writers received 5%. SAG-AFTRA valued its deal at more than $1 billion over three years.
Israel and Hamas battle for a city in Gaza, sparking another exodus
The Israeli offensive in the southern Gaza Strip has set off another mass displacement, as tens of thousands of distressed people flee to areas west and south of the main southern city, only to find shelters packed beyond capacity and a lack of basic necessities like food, medicine and water, aid agencies and the United Nations said Wednesday. Humanitarian conditions have grown increasingly dire as Israeli troops and Hamas fighters battle for control of Khan Younis, the region’s largest city. Both sides reported intense gunbattles in the city, as well as continued air and artillery strikes — some of the heaviest combat in two months of war.
Venezuela orders arrest
of top opposition figures, claiming treason
Venezuela’s top prosecutor accused several top opposition figures of treason and ordered their arrest Wednesday, the latest blow to prospects for credible elections that the government has agreed to hold next year in exchange for the lifting of crippling U.S. economic sanctions. Attorney General Tarek William Saab said that opponents of the leftist government had accepted money from ExxonMobil to sabotage President Nicolás Maduro’s recent referendum on annexing a large, oil-rich region in Guyana. Saab said they would be charged with treason, conspiracy, money laundering and criminal association. He announced arrest warrants for 15 people, some of them prominent opposition members.
Boris Johnson defends
COVID response but a
pologizes for victims’ pain
Boris Johnson acknowledged Wednesday that as Britain’s prime minister during the pandemic, he had underestimated the emerging threat of the coronavirus in early 2020. But he rejected suggestions that his government’s initially sluggish response had driven up Britain’s death toll. Speaking before an official inquiry into the government’s handling of the crisis, Johnson apologized for “the pain and suffering and the loss” of those who died from COVID and of their families. He said the families deserved answers, as he submitted to two days of grilling about his leadership and judgment during those frantic days.
Former Ukrainian lawmaker who defected is killed near Moscow
A former Ukrainian lawmaker who had settled in Russia and was sentenced in Ukraine for treason was shot and killed in a village outside Moscow, Russian investigators said Wednesday. Illia Kyva, 46, who had called for Ukraine to surrender when Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, was discovered in the park of a gated community, Russian investigators said. Russian investigators made no mention of the potential Ukrainian involvement, but a Ukrainian intelligence official, speaking on the condition of anonymity for security reasons, said that Kyva was killed as part of a special operation orchestrated by the State Security Service of Ukraine.
By wire sources
