Friday morning news: December 15, 2023

Russia/Putin » Russian leader Vladimir Putin says fighting will continue in Ukraine until Kyiv agrees to demilitarize.

Putin made the comment yesterday during his annual news conference with media and Russian citizens. It was his first such appearance since Russia invaded Ukraine nearly two years ago.

PUTIN [Speaking Russian]: As of yesterday evening, I was informed that 486,000 had been recruited.

Here Putin says nearly 500-thousand soldiers have voluntarily signed up to fight.

Meanwhile, the European Union is meeting this week to discuss whether to admit Ukraine … as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy works to drum up more American military support.

McCarthy Farewell » Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy delivered his farewell address to Congress on Thursday, months after his ouster from the speakership.

Some conservative Republicans turned on McCarthy when he worked with Democrats to pass a government funding resolution.

McCARTHY: So if you come across that question of whether you should do what's right out of fear of losing your job. Do it anyways. Because it's the right thing to do. And this is what the nation requires.

Earlier this month he announced that he would be retiring from Congress at the end of the year.

McCarthy says he will continue working with the Republican party. He wrote in a Wall Street Journal column that he would recruit new candidates to run for office.

Israel / Hamas » The war between Israel and the terror group Hamas isn’t going to end anytime soon.

That was the message Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant had for U-S national security adviser Jake Sullivan who was in Israel yesterday.

Gallant told Sullivan:

GALLANT: It is not easy to destroy them. It will take and require a long period of time. It will last more than seven months. But we will win and we will destroy them.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Sullivan’s mission in Israel was two-fold:

KIRBY: His message was consistent. The United States will continue to support Israel in its fight against Hamas. And we will continue to do everything we can to help broker another pause so that the remaining hostages can be reunited with their families.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to continue fighting Hamas until the terror group has been eliminated and the 135 remaining Israeli hostages are released.

Israel / U.S. » Meanwhile here in the U.S., Israel is facing renewed pressure to narrow its offensive in Gaza, including from President Biden.

Biden was asked by a reporter yesterday:

REPORTER: President Biden, do you want Israel to scale back its assault in Gaza by the end of the year? Do you want them to tone it down, move to a lower-intensity phase?

BIDEN: I want them to be focused on how to save civilian lives, not stop going after Hamas, but be more careful.

Those comments came days after the president accused Israel of “indiscriminate bombing.” During a news conference yesterday, Pentagon spokesman Major General Pat Ryder reiterated U.S. support for Israel, saying its military faces special challenges.

RYDER: In Israel you have a country that is fighting to defend itself against an adversary that has publicly said on multiple occasions that they want to see October 7 over and over again and that Israel should be eliminated as a country.

But a senior U-S official says the Biden administration wants Israel to transition to a lower-intensity phase of the war within weeks.

SOUND: [Handshake, greeting, clapping]

Guyana/Venezuela » The leaders of Guyana and Venezuela meeting with each other in an airport in the Caribbean nation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

They met in person on Thursday in a bid to de-escalate tensions that have arisen since almost all participating Venezuelan voters in the latest election said “yes” to the possibility of annexing a region called Essequibo.

The oil- and mineral-rich territory belongs to Guyana and comprises two-thirds of the country’s land mass… but Venezuela claims the area as its own.

Guyana’s President Irfaan Ali says the International Court of Justice should decide the matter:

ALI: There is absolutely no retreat by Guyana in ensuring that this matter is determined by the ICJ and that the outcome of this matter by ICJ be respected by all.

Other countries in the region pressed the heads of state to meet and find a peaceful solution.

IVF » A woman is suing a doctor whom she alleges used his own sperm against her wishes during her in vitro fertilization procedure decades ago. WORLD’s Josh Schumacher has more.

JOSH SCHUMACHER: Carolyn Bester found out that she was related to some of the doctor’s family members after ordering genetic tests from Ancestry.com and 23andMe.com. Eventually, she pieced it all together.

And now her mother Sarah Depoian is suing doctor Merle Berger on fraud-related claims.

Depoian claims he lied decades ago while helping her and her husband get pregnant when he said the sperm would come from an anonymous donor.

For WORLD, I’m Josh Schumacher.

Mickey Public domain » Walt Disney’s original sketches of Mickey and Minnie Mouse are entering the public domain next year.

The early drawings of both characters were protected by copyright for 95 years after their 1928 debut in Disney’s “Steamboat Willie” cartoon.

SOUND: [Steamboat Willie]

More recent versions of Mickey and Minnie are still under copyright.

The Disney corporation also maintains a trademark on Mickey Mouse as an overall mascot, meaning mouse ears and other brand identifiers are not up for public use.

Winnie the Pooh’s Tigger will also enter the public domain next year, joining the rest of the 100-acre-wood characters whose copyright expired last year.

I'm Kristen Flavin.

Straight ahead: Culture Friday with John Stonestreet. Plus, a Christmas Carol podcast.

This is The World and Everything in It.

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.