Wednesday morning news: January 11, 2023

For WORLD Radio, I'm Kent Covington. 

Mexico City Summit » President Biden huddled with top leaders from Mexico and Canada on Tuesday in Mexico City. He said they tackled some of the biggest challenges facing the United States…

BIDEN: How we can try to help stabilize Haiti, how we can deal with migration and at the same time bolster our national security.

The White House says that’s part of a plan to address root causes of irregular migration.

Canadian Prime Minister said the leaders are working together to build the North American economy.

TRUDEAU: North America is the largest free trading bloc in the world, larger even than the European Union. We have a tremendous amount to contribute to the world.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador hosted the talks.

Biden classified docs » It’s President Biden’s turn to face questions over how potentially classified White House documents came to be in his private possession.

The Justice Department is looking into the records, which Biden’s attorneys found when they were cleaning out a D.C. office he used between his stints as vice president and president.

House Majority leader Steve Scalise.

SCALISE: Then-Vice President Biden took classified documents with him and held them for years and criticized former President Trump during that same time that he had those classified documents

Both parties lobbed accusations of hypocrisy over the document discovery. Democratic Congressman Pete Aguilar:

AGUILAR: Republicans aren’t interested in having meaningful oversight. They’re just interested in opposing this president.

Attorneys found the documents in Biden’s office in November; it’s unclear why the Justice Department waited to disclose the finding.

CA weather » More rain is expected to hit northern California today after storms have pounded the state for days.

Derrick Herndon is a weather researcher at the University of Wisconsin. He says these storms are coming from what are called atmospheric rivers striking the upper coast of California.

HERNDON: Typically, these weather systems just pass through and they get some rain and they move on. But the problem is that we have a very stagnant pattern in the Pacific Ocean area that is causing these systems to repeatedly hit the coast one after the other and focus this heavy rainfall right in that area.

California has reported at least 17 weather-related deaths in past weeks. More than a hundred thousand are without power or have been evacuated. Millions more are under flood warnings.

Ukrainian troops training in US / New levels of death and destruction in Bakmut, Ukraine » U.S. officials say 100 Ukrainian troops will come to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, for missile defense training as early as next week.

The soldiers will learn more about Patriot missile systems, which can target rockets and aircraft. It takes months to train a battery of about 100 soldiers.

Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Pat Ryder:

RYDER: Our focus is going to continue to be on supporting Ukraine and providing them with the security assistance they need to defend their country

Those Patriot missile systems will accompany other weapons systems that western countries have pledged to Ukraine.

RYDER: As we’ve seen over the last number of months in particular, Russia has really intensified its aerial bombardment of Ukraine, really across the country.

In Eastern Ukraine, officials say there is almost no life left in the city of Bakhmut. Russian forces have come close to taking Soledar, a nearby town. That would bring them one step closer to cutting Ukrainian supply lines. The U.K. defense ministry believes Russia controls almost all of Soledar, which is home to mining tunnels that are 120 miles long.

NATO chief confident that Finland/Sweden will be NATO members » Meanwhile, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says he is confident Sweden and Finland will join the group. And he says already…

STOLTENBERG: As invitees, Finland and Sweden are now participating in NATOs meetings, ministerial meetings, ambassadorial meetings, meetings of different NATO committees.

Both countries applied for NATO membership after Russia invaded Ukraine.

All 30 of NATO’s current members must agree to let them in.

The Turkish government may not vote to ratify membership for the Nordic nations … until they deliver on concessions they made to win Turkey’s approval.

Brazil » Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is blaming former President Jair Bolsonaro for inciting a riot when his supporters broke into government buildings on Sunday. But WORLD’s Emma Friere says of Bolsonaro:

FRIERE: He has three sons who are adults who all hold elected office. And his three sons are what motivates a lot of what he does. He would never do anything that would jeopardize their electoral futures. So an event like this is really a nightmare for him. Because then suddenly the Bolsonaro brand really becomes toxic and it becomes a hindrance to his son’s futures.

WORLD’s Emma Friere reporting.

For WORLD Radio, I'm Kent Covington. 

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.