In the news today: Trump’s Defense Secretary pick denies sexual assault allegation, his attorney says; Israel kills Hezbollah’s spokesman in Beirut; and residents of New Delhi have woken up to thick, toxic smog. Also, meet the workout group that gets people exercising outdoors in the dead of winter.
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Live fire testing at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., Dec. 14, 2021, of early versions of the Army Tactical Missile System. (John Hamilton/U.S. Army via AP)
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Biden authorizes Ukraine to strike Russia using US-supplied long range missiles |
The decision allowing Kyiv to use the Army Tactical Missile System, or ATACMs, for attacks farther inside Russia comes as President Vladimir Putin positions North Korean troops along Ukraine’s northern border to try to reclaim hundreds of miles of territory seized by Ukrainian forces. Read more. |
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and many of his Western supporters have been pressing President Joe Biden to allow Ukraine to strike military targets deeper inside Russia with Western-supplied missiles, saying the U.S. ban had made it impossible for Ukraine to try to stop Russian attacks on its cities and electrical grids. Fears are mounting about Moscow’s intentions to devastate Ukraine’s power generation capacity before the winter.
Putin has warned that Moscow could provide long-range weapons to others to strike Western targets if NATO allies allow Ukraine to use their arms to attack Russian territory. News of Biden’s decision followed meetings over the past two days with the leaders of South Korea, Japan and China. The addition of North Korean troops was central to the talks.
- The overall supply of ATACMS missiles is short, so U.S. officials in the past have questioned whether they could give Ukraine enough to make a difference. Some supporters of Ukraine say that even a few strikes deeper inside Russia would force its military to change deployments and expend more of its resources.
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An Israeli strike in Beirut kills Hezbollah’s spokesman, while another strike hits northern Gaza
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A rare Israeli strike in central Beirut killed the Hezbollah militant group’s chief spokesman on Sunday, while an Israeli strike in northern Gaza’s Beit Lahiya killed at least 30 people, a hospital director there told The Associated Press. Read more. |
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Mohammed Afif al-Naboulsi was killed in a strike on the Arab socialist Baath party’s office in Beirut, Hezbollah confirmed in a statement. There was no Israeli evacuation warning before the strike near a busy intersection that killed Afif. Four people were killed and 14 wounded including two children, the Health Ministry said. Israel’s military in a statement said Afif “wielded significant influence over Hezbollah’s military operations” and “glorified and incited” attacks on Israel.
In Gaza, the director of the Kamal Adwan hospital said dozens were wounded in an Israeli strike in Beit Lahiya, and that more people likely were under the rubble. Fleeing residents told the AP that houses were hit. An Israeli military statement earlier said it conducted several strikes on “terrorist targets” in Beit Lahiya, and that efforts to evacuate civilians from the “active war zone” continued. Israeli forces have again been on the offensive in northern Gaza, saying Hamas militants have regrouped.
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Trump’s Pentagon pick paid woman after sex assault allegation but denies wrongdoing, his lawyer says |
Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for defense secretary, was accused of sexual assault in 2017 after a speaking appearance at a Republican women’s event in Monterey, California, according to a statement released by the city. No charges were filed. According to his lawyer, Hegseth paid a woman who accused him of sexual assault to head off the threat of a baseless lawsuit. Read more.
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His lawyer, Timothy Parlatore, told The Associated Press on Sunday that the sexual encounter was consensual and that the woman who made the accusation to police several days later was the “aggressor.” That assertion has not been confirmed in the statement released by the city.
Parlatore said a payment was made to the woman as part of a confidential settlement a few years after the police investigation because Hegseth was concerned that she was prepared to file a lawsuit that he feared could have resulted in him being fired from Fox News. Parlatore would not reveal the amount of the payment.
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After the accusations first surfaced last week, Steven Cheung, a spokesman for the Trump transition who has been named White House communications director, issued a statement saying the president-elect is “nominating high-caliber and extremely qualified candidates to serve in his Administration.”
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Members of the running group "November Project" run up and down the stairs of the Lincoln Memorial, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
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Meet the workout group that gets people exercising outdoors, even in the dead of winter
The November Project, a network of free outdoor group exercise classes that started in Boston, has shown that no matter the month or weather, participants are willing to roll out of bed before dawn at least once a week and shield their faces from the blistering cold. One part intense training and one part abject silliness, the project is a model for how to stay motivated to exercise outside throughout the winter.
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