Tuesday morning news: December 20, 2022

For WORLD Radio, I'm Kent Covington. 

Jan 6 committee » THOMPSON: (gavel) The select committee to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the United States Capitol will be in order.

The House Jan. 6 in one final public hearing on Monday urged the Justice Department to bring criminal charges against former President Donald Trump.

The panel is recommending four charges. They are: Obstruction, conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to make false statements, and aiding in insurrection.

Chairman Democratic Congressman Bennie Thompson:

THOMPSON: Evidence we’ve gathered points to further action beyond the power of this committee or the Congress.

But Trump’s former Vice President Mike Pence was not convinced.

PENCE: The president’s words and actions on January 6th were reckless. But I don’t know that it’s criminal to take bad advice from lawyers.

Many Republicans charge that the entire committee was a farce. They note that Speaker Nancy Pelosi handpicked its members. And they say the proceedings were essentially a trial with only prosecution and no defense.

Putin / Ukraine » Cameras flashed in Belarus on Monday as Vladimir Putin spoke to reporters after meeting with Belarusian strongman Alexander Lukashenko—a staunch Russian ally.

Putin said they agreed to increase military cooperation.

PUTIN: [Russian]

He also said the countries would continue to—quote—“carry out mutual deliveries of needed weapons.”

Meantime, in Ukraine, dozens of explosive drones attacked the capital before dawn. Ukraine's forces were able to shoot down most, but not all of them. The latest drone attack caused outages in 11 regions.

ZELENKSYY: [Ukrainian]

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy again urged the West to rush more air defenses to Ukraine.

ZELENKSYY: [Ukrainian]

The attack came three days after what Ukrainian officials described as one of Russia's biggest assaults on Kyiv.

Russia-China joint drills » Russian warships are taking part in joint naval drills with China this week, showcasing growing military ties in recent years.

State Department spokesman Ned Price said the drills were scheduled long in advance. But in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the People’s Republic of China should have called off the exercise.

PRICE: We certainly hope the PRC uses its influence to help bring about an end to this brutal war. But steps like this, those are not helpful.

China has pointedly refused to criticize Moscow’s actions, blaming the U.S. and NATO for provoking the Kremlin.

Turbulent flight injuries » Nearly a dozen airline passengers are recovering in a hospital this morning after a trip to a tropical paradise turned into a terrifying flight.

AUDIO: Ladies and gentlemen, attention on board, do we have any trained medical personnel? Do we have any doctors, nurses? …

Hawaiian Airlines Flight 35 was traveling from Phoenix to Honolulu when the plane hit a pocket of unstable air and dipped suddenly, throwing some passengers out of their seats.

Tiffany Reyes said she hit her head on the ceiling.

REYES: I didn’t even know what actually happened to myself. I ended up on the floor. And I looked up and the ceiling was broken, so I asked everyone around me, ‘was that me?’

The airline called it an unusual turbulence event. Eleven people were seriously injured.

The fasten seatbelt sign was turned on at the time, but some of the injured were not buckled in.

Takata airbag death » A faulty Takata airbag inflator has killed another driver. And the parent company of Dodge and Chryser is urging people to stop driving certain models. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin has more.

KRISTEN FLAVIN, REPORTER: Automaker Stellantis and U.S. safety regulators are imploring the owners of nearly 300,000 vehicles to have faulty Takata airbag inflators replaced.

And in the meantime, they say stop driving Dodge Magnum wagons, Dodge Challenger and Charger muscle cars and Chrysler 300 sedans from model years 2005 through 2010.

Stellantis announced two airbag-related deaths in November.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

Gas prices » Good news for holiday travelers, gas prices continue to fall.

Fuel price analyst Trilby Lundberg says the national average has dropped 28 cents per gallon over the past two weeks to $3.27.

And she says things may get better before they get worse.

LUNDBERG: We certainly may see further drops. They may not be as a dramatic as we’ve just seen. A bit longer term, though, we can probably expect higher oil prices.

And that will mean higher gas prices once again. But right now, AAA says the national average down 54 cents over the past month.

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

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