House passes $1.7 trillion spending bill with Ukraine aid
The Democratic-led House has passed a $1.7 trillion government spending bill. The bill will finance federal agencies through September and provide more aid to a devastated Ukraine. It passed by a vote of 225-201. The bill represents the closing act for Democrat Nancy Pelosi’s second stint as House speaker. The person hoping to replace her, Republican Kevin McCarthy, led opposition to the bill. That’s a sharp contrast to the Senate, where the leaders from both parties supported the measure. The House chamber was half-empty for the vote with many lawmakers casting proxy votes, having left Washington early to ensure they made it home for Christmas.
Facebook parent Meta will pay $725M to settle user data case
Facebook’s corporate parent has agreed to pay $725 million to settle a lawsuit alleging the world’s largest social media platform allowed millions of its users’ personal information to be fed to Cambridge Analytica. That’s a firm that supported Donald Trump’s victorious presidential campaign in 2016. Terms of the settlement reached by Meta Platforms, the holding company for Facebook and Instagram, were disclosed in court documents filed late Thursday. It will still need to be approved by a judge in a San Francisco federal court hearing set for March.
N. Korea fires ballistic missiles after US-S. Korea drills
South Korea’s military says North Korea has fired two ballistic missiles toward its eastern waters, its latest weapons demonstration that came days after U.S. and South Korean warplanes conducted joint drills that North Korea views as an invasion rehearsal. South Korea’s military said it detected the missile launches from the North’s capital region on Friday afternoon. The U.S. flew nuclear-capable bombers and advanced stealth jets near the Korean Peninsula for joint training with South Korean warplanes on Tuesday. South Korea’s military said the drills were part of a bilateral agreement on boosting a U.S. commitment to defend its Asian ally with all available military capabilities, including nuclear.
Wall Street ends higher, still winds up with 3rd weekly loss
Stocks closed higher on Wall Street following a batch of mixed news on the economy. The S&P 500 rose 0.6% Friday. The benchmark index still wound up with its third weekly loss in a row. A key measure of inflation continued to slow, but it’s still far higher than anyone wants to see. Also, growth in consumer spending weakened last month by more than expected, but incomes were a bit stronger than expected. Markets are in a tricky spot where relatively solid economic data reduces the risk of a recession but also raises the threat of higher interest rates from the Federal Reserve.
US: Jan. 6 participant arrested after California standoff
Federal agents have taken a participant in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol into custody for his alleged role in the insurrection after an hours-long standoff. An FBI spokesperson says Eric Christie was arrested Thursday in the Sherman Oaks neighborhood of the San Fernando Valley. The FBI says Christie initially refused to comply with federal agents’ orders but surrendered without incident after three hours of negotiations. He is scheduled to appear in court Friday afternoon. Christie’s attorney did not immediately have a comment. Christie’s arrest came the same day as the House Jan. 6 committee released its final report.
Sex-abuse video victimizes child long after abuser is gone
A video of a man raping his 9-year-old daughter triggered a global search for the little girl in 2016. Months later, her father was arrested and the child was rescued from the abuse. Yet the video lives on, downloaded and uploaded by child pornographers across the globe as police, prosecutors and internet companies chase behind in a futile effort to remove the images. The ongoing victimization of the child could have been avoided. Six years before the video surfaced, the father, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, confessed to his bishop that he abused his daughter.
Cubans search for holiday food amid deepening crisis
Scarcity and economic turmoil are nothing new to Cuba, but soaring inflation and deepening shortages have made holiday shopping even more difficult for Cubans this year. In October, the Cuban government reported that inflation had risen 40% over the past year and had a significant impact on the purchasing power for many on the island. Basic goods such as chicken, beef, eggs, milk, flour and toilet paper are difficult and often impossible to find in state-run stores. In an address to lawmakers last week, President Miguel Díaz-Canel acknowledged the government’s shortcomings in handling the country’s complex mix of compounding crises, particularly food shortages.
California university apologizes for prisoner experiments
A prominent California medical school has apologized for conducting dozens of unethical medical experiments on at least 2,600 incarcerated men in the 1960s and 1970s. A report conducted by the University of California, San Francisco, has found two university dermatologists conducted the experiments on men at a prison hospital until the practice was halted in 1977. The experiments included putting pesticides and herbicides on the men’s skin and injecting it into their veins. The report says the doctors engaged in questionable informed consent practices. One of the doctors is still associated with the university.
US probing automated driving system use in 2 Tesla crashes
The U.S. government’s highway safety agency says it’s sending teams to investigate November crashes in California and Ohio involving Teslas that may have been operating on automated driving systems. The probes bring to 35 the number of crashes investigated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration since 2016 in which either Tesla’s “Full Self-Driving” or “Autopilot” systems likely were in use. The California crash occurred on Thanksgiving Day involving eight vehicles on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. The Ohio crash happened Nov. 18 near Toledo, when a Tesla Model 3 crashed into an Highway Patrol SUV. A message was left Thursday seeking comment from Tesla.
By wire sources
