Wednesday morning news: December 18, 2024

Russian general killed » A senior Russian general is dead after a bomb hidden inside a scooter detonated outside his apartment in Moscow.

A Ukrainian official reportedly confirmed that its intelligence service carried out Tuesday’s attack killing Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov.

And Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev confirmed Gen. Kirllov death.

MEDVEDEV: [Speaking Russian]

He said investigators are working to find the operatives who carried out the attack.

In Washington, Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder told reporters …

RYDER: We were not aware of this operation in advance. We do not support or enable those kinds of activities.

Kirllov was the chief of the Russian military’s nuclear, biological and chemical protection forces.

He was under sanctions from several Western countries for his actions in Moscow’s war in Ukraine.

SOUND: [Lighting of the Menorah]

Israel-Gaza latest » On Capitol Hill, members of Congress gathered Tuesday for the lighting of the menorah. The ceremony marks the opening of the Jewish celebration of Hanukkah.

House Speaker Mike Johnson noted that this Hannukah—like the one before—has not been easy for the Jewish people.

JOHNSON: We all know that 2024 was a very difficult year for Jewish Americans on college campuses, and of course in the land of Israel itself. Yet in the face of vitriol and war, the Jewish people have shown unshakable strength and optimism and resilience.

Meanwhile, negotiators are in Cairo trying to secure a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.

U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby says a deal is close.

KIRBY: We are working at this very, very hard. Our special coordinator for the Middle East is still in the region. We're trying to get it over the finish line, but we're gonna have to see. But Hamas is gonna have to come to the table and negotiate in good faith and they've really been the obstacle.

Officials are hopeful that any deal to halt the 14-month war would secure the release of all remaining hostages held by Hamas.

UHC shooter charged with terrorism » The man accused of killing UnitedHealthcare’s CEO is being charged with murder as an act of terrorism.

New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg said that’s because it seems clear to him that the suspect intended to cause shock and terror.

BRAGG:  The statutory elements we can go into, but it's most basic term. That's what this is. This was not, uh, an ordinary, uh, killing.

Prosecutors disclosed the indictment Tuesday as they worked to bring Luigi Mangione to New York from a Pennsylvania jail.

The 26-year-old already had been charged with murder in the Dec. 4 killing of Brian Thompson. But the terror allegation is new.

Meantime, New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch responded to the reaction by some on the left to Thompson’s murder.

TISCH:  In the nearly two weeks since Mr Thompson's killing, we have seen a shocking and appalling celebration of cold blooded murder. Social media has erupted with praise for this cowardly attack.

Tisch said “there is no heroism in what Mangione did.”

AI House task force » After a yearlong investigation, a House task force is sharing its findings as to how Congress should handle artificial intelligence.

Among the recommendations: Pass legislation to protect the digital identity of Americans.

Democratic Congressman Bill Foster:

FOSTER:  This is, um, the ability for a person to prove they are who they say they are in an online environment and ultimately it's the only, um, method of really defending people against deepfake impersonation. We have to, um, deal with the privacy issues that AI will, um, also unleash on the public.

The report also recommends stricter policies to protect personal and sensitive data from misuse or breaches by AI systems.

But Republican task force member Congressman Jay Obernolte says it's important to strike a balance …

OBERNOLTE: Providing Americans with the protections that they deserve … against some of the malicious use of AI … with the need to make, uh, ensure that America remains the place where cutting edge artificial intelligence is developed and deployed.

The next step is for relevant House committees to review the report before moving forward on crafting legislation.

Trump TikTok meeting » President-elect Donald Trump has changed his mind about a possible ban of the social media app TikTok. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin has more.

KRISTEN FLAVIN: Earlier this year, Congress passed a bill that President Biden signed into law that would force TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to sell the app or face a nationwide ban. That was due to security concerns related to the app.

Donald Trump, during his first term, was in favor of a potential ban.

But the president-elect now sees it differently.

He hosted TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew this week at his Mar-a-Lago estate. And Trump said banning the platform might hand too much power to Facebook and Instagram.

He also said he has a soft spot for the app because he believes it helped him win support among young voters.

Enforcement of any ban would be up to the discretion of the Justice Department, and Trump’s remarks could signal that TikTok would be safe under the new Trump administration.

For WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

Pig kidney transplant » An Alabama woman received a pig kidney transplant last month and is free from dialysis for the first time in eight years. Towana Looney is the fifth American given a gene-edited pig organ in a quest to make animal-to-human transplants a reality.

Surgeon Dr. Jayme Locke:

LOCKE: It was remarkable. The kidney pinked up and looked just like a human kidney. It made urine within just a few minutes.

Importantly, Looney wasn’t as sick as prior patients who received pig kidneys or hearts. The others died within two months.

Doctors said Looney was recovering well after the Nov. 25th transplant. That’s a step toward formal studies of pig organs that could begin next year.

I'm Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: a conversation with an outgoing member of Congress on Washington Wednesday. Plus, building edible structures out of gingerbread, frosting, and gumdrops.

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