Monday morning news: December 12, 2022

For WORLD Radio, I'm Kristen Flavin. 

Concerns about growing link between Russia & Iran » British defense officials are warning that Russia is looking to buy hundreds of ballistic missiles from Iran.

Incoming Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that the growing link between Iran and Russia is “bad news.”

NETANYAHU: And I don’t think it’s a defense partnership. It’s an offense partnership because you see where these killer drones are being used and how they’re being used.

Netanyahu also once again warned against reviving the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran.

NETANYAHU: It only will pave Iran’s path with gold, with hundreds of billions of dollars of sanctions relief so that they can both export their terrorism worldwide, but also build their nuclear arsenal.

Iran’s arms sales to Russia could be providing a much needed infusion of cash. Iran’s currency fell to a record low against the dollar on Sunday, with nationwide anti-government protests now in their third month.

Debate over prisoner swap » On Capitol Hill, debate continues over the recent prisoner swap that brought WNBA basketball star Brittany Griner home from Russia.

Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger said Sunday that sending notorious arms dealer Viktor Bout back to Russia could put other Americans abroad in danger.

KINZINGER: Again, we’re glad she’s home, but we have to recognize wide-eyed right now that as Americans, we are willing to do anything to bring a single American home, and there are people that are watching that.

Democrat Adam Schiff chairs the House Intelligence Committee. He didn’t criticize the trade, but he shares those concerns.

SCHIFF: Whenever you trade an innocent American for a guilty Russian, it’s an incentive for other despots to essentially grab an American and use them as a bargaining chip.

Multiple Americans remain jailed in Russia.

Libyan bombmaker arrest » The man accused of making the bomb that brought down Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988 has been taken into U.S. custody.

Abu Agela Masud Kheir Al-Marimi faces federal charges in Washington more than three decades after the terrorist attack that killed more than 250 people.

Stephanie Bernstein’s husband, Michael Bernstein, was among 190 Americans aboard the plane.

BERNSTEIN: There have been a lot of ups and downs, a lot of times when we were told, you know, it looks promising, only to find out that it wasn’t. So I was really skeptical that we would ever see this day come.

Though he is the third Libyan intel official charged in the U.S. in connection with the attack, he would be the first to face justice in the United States.

NASA Orion capsule » NASA’s Orion capsule made a blisteringly fast return from the moon Sunday, parachuting into the Pacific near Mexico. NASA TV captured the moment just before splashdown.

AUDIO: And there it is, high over the Pacific, America’s new ticket to ride to the moon and beyond now in view … Orion under its chutes descending toward splashdown.

A Navy ship quickly moved in to recover the spacecraft and its occupants — three test dummies rigged with vibration sensors and radiation monitors.

Orion beamed back stunning photos of not only the gray, pitted moon, but also the home planet.

Four astronauts are slated to fly around the moon in 2024. And NASA plans a two-person lunar landing as early as 2025.

Sinema goes independent » Democrats reacted Sunday to Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s announcement that she’s leaving their party.

Democratic Montana Sen. Jon Tester

TESTER: Functionally, I don’t think it changes a thing. And that’s a good thing. So I look forward to working with her as I have in the past.

Indeed, it will do nothing to cut into the Democrats slim majority in the Senate as she will continue to caucus with the Democrats.

But the shift does mean that Sinema can skip a tough Democratic primary fight in the next election. She angered much of the party's base by blocking or watering down some liberal legislation. Her current term ends in 2024.

Box office » At the weekend box office, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is still the top dog.

TRAILER: They came from the water. They have superhuman strength. He’s coming for the surface world.

The latest Marvel blockbuster hauled in another $11 million for a domestic total of $410 million.

But another Disney-owned offering, Strange World, is a box office disaster. It’s on track to lose as much as $150 million.

The Disney animated movie features an openly LGBT lead character with a gay teen romance.

I’m Kristen Flavin. For more news, features, and analysis, visit us at wng.org.

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