Tuesday morning news: November 19, 2024

Russia response to Ukraine long-range authorization » The Kremlin is warning that the White House and NATO allies are stoking the war and escalating global tensions. That comes after President Biden gave Ukraine the green light to start using US-provided missiles to strike deeper inside Russia.

PESKOV: [Speaking Russian]

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the outgoing Biden administration is—quote—“adding fuel to the fire and provoking further escalation of tensions.”

But US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller shot back:

MILLER:  It has been Russia that has escalated the conflict time and time again. And that includes just in the recent month when Russia recruited the deployment of more than 11, 000 North Korean soldiers who are now on the front lines in Kursk.

The Russian army has been staging military assets and launching attacks from deeper inside Russia — out of the reach of Ukrainian forces until now.

Germany and Finland are investigating after discovering a severed undersea cable between the countries through the Baltic Sea.

The two countries say it raises suspicions of sabotage. The foreign ministries of the two countries said in a joint statement that the damage comes at a time that “our European security is not only under threat from Russia‘s war of aggression against Ukraine, but also from hybrid warfare by malicious actors.”

Netanyahu: counter-attack hit Iran nuke component » Israel says its retaliatory strike against Iran last month hit a key target. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin has more.

NETANYAHU: [Speaking Hebrew]

KRISTEN FLAVIN: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed to Israel's parliament on Monday that the attack hit a specific component of Iran's nuclear program.

But the prime minister says the strike only served to slow Iran's progress toward a nuclear weapon … not derail it.

The head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog agency warned last week that Iran is moving close to developing a nuclear bomb.

The Israeli air strike last month followed Iran’s massive missile attack against Israel weeks earlier.

For WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

Rocket attack in Israel » Meanwhile…

SOUND:  [Rocket strike]

At least half a dozen people were injured in the town of Ramat Gan in central Israel after a rocket attack from southern Lebanon.

Israeli medical officials initially said their wounds were caused by shrapnel resulting from a rocket interception but:

SARGEROF -[Speaking in Hebrew]

Speaking there, Tel Aviv's district police chief tells reporters that there was no interception and that one of the town's buildings suffered a direct hit by the rocket.

Border, deportation plans » President-elect Donald Trump has confirmed that upon taking office, he will declare a national emergency regarding the border crisis, and that he intends to use military assets to address it.

His soon-to-be border czar, Tom Homan, explained:

HOMAN: If we use DOD, then they'll be used to do non enforcement duties, such as transportation, whether it's on ground or air, infrastructure, building intelligence.

Trump has promised that finding and deporting criminals and national security threats will be the administration's first priority.

Laken Riley suspect trial » Homan also expressed anger as testimony resumed in the trial of the man accused of murdering 26-year-old Georgia nursing student Laken Riley in February.

The suspect, Jose Ibarra, entered the U.S. illegally two years ago.

Homan said if President Biden had not dismantled Donald Trump’s ‘remain in Mexico’ policy …

HOMAN:  He would never have been released in the United States. If President Trump was president, and he did get in the United States, and he got arrested in New York for a crime before he committed this murder, he would never have been released to the street. He would have been turned over to ICE. So this administration has blood on their hands.

After being charged with a crime in New York City and then being released … Ibarra was reportedly granted a taxpayer-funded flight to Atlanta months before Riley’s death.

Biden seeks funds for disaster aid » President-elect Trump says former Wisconsin Congressman Sean Duffy is his choice to be transportation secretary. Duffy served in the House for nearly nine years. He was a member of the Financial Services Committee and was chairman of the subcommittee on insurance and housing. He left Congress in 2019 and is co-host of a show on the Fox Business network.

I’m Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: young men turned out in record numbers to vote in this year’s election. We’ll hear from a few of them what was important to them. Plus, the story of one man’s dramatic conversion that filled a once hateful heart with love.

This is The World and Everything in It.

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