Donald Trump is opposing a bipartisan government funding bill with less than two days until a shutdown deadline. Life expectancy in the US has risen to its highest level since the start of the Covid pandemic. And a new study suggests the moon is millions of years older than previously thought.
Here’s what you need to know today.
Trump opposes the funding bill as the shutdown deadline draws closer
The fate of a bipartisan funding bill is up in the air after President-elect Donald Trump criticized it yesterday and encouraged Congress to find another path forward. There will be a government shutdown at 12:01 a.m. Saturday without congressional action. There is currently no fallback plan.
This is Morning Rundown, a weekday newsletter to start your day. Sign up here to receive it in your inbox.
“Republicans must GET SMART and TOUGH,” Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance said in a joint statement. “If the Democrats threaten to shut down the government unless we give them everything they want, call their bluff. It is [Senate Majority Leader Chuck] Schumer and [President Joe] Biden holding back aid to our farmers and disaster relief.”
Trump also demanded that the legislation include a debt ceiling increase, which neither party had even considered, and made clear he wanted this to happen under Biden’s watch.
Trump later threatened the political future of Republicans who failed to heed his warnings about the bill. “Any Republican who would be foolish enough to do this must and will be given priority,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
Trump and Vance’s opposition came hours after the heads of Trump’s new Department of Efficiency, technology billionaire Elon Musk and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, both criticized the bill. In a flood of messages on X, Musk repeatedly called it ‘criminal’ posted memes and spread untruths. For example, Musk claimed that a proposed salary increase by Congress would be 40%, but the maximum potential salary increase for next year was already set at 3.8%.
The proposed continuation resolution would keep the government open until March 14. It includes disaster relief for communities affected by Hurricanes Helene and Milton and economic assistance for farmers.
Read the full story here.
More political news
-
Lawyers and democracy advocates are in the early stages building a national network of specialists — accountants, labor experts, public relations professionals and even psychologists — aimed at defending and protecting people who may be targets of retaliation once Trump takes office, according to multiple people involved in the effort.
-
Robert F. Kennedy’s biggest hurdle to securing his nomination as secretary of Health and Human Services will be convincing Republicans that he does not hold extreme views on vaccines. His decades of anti-vaccine rhetoric could work against him.
-
An $895 million defense spending package has passed the Senate, which includes a ban on coverage for gender-affirming care for transgender children of service members. now heads to President Biden’s desk.
Gisèle Pelicot’s ex-husband and 46 men have been found guilty of raping her
Dozens of men, including Gisèle Pelicot’s ex-husband, were found guilty of rape and sexual abuse of her in a historic process that shocked France.
Dominique Pelicot, 72, who pleaded guilty to drugging her and inviting dozens of men to rape her while she was unconscious over a period of ten years, was jailed by Roger Arata, the lead judge in the southern court. country, sentenced to twenty years in prison. city of Avignon.
Another 46 men were found guilty of rape, two of attempted rape and two guilty of sexual assault in the high-profile case, according to NBC News’ British broadcast partner Sky News. They ranged in age from 26 to 74 and received sentences of three to eight years.
Pelicot listened in the courtroom as her ex-husband’s verdict was read, while a number of other defendants were also present in the room, surrounded by police officers.
The case has outraged France and led to what some see as the second wave of the #MeToo movement in France. Although the nation has a history of defending men, women said the climate feels different this time.
After a young woman was shot to death in Texas, a medical school harvested her body parts
Aurimar Iturriago Villegas’ mother looks at her photo in her home in Venezuela.
Aurimar Iturriago Villegas left Venezuela in hopes of lifting her family out of poverty. But within two months of her arrival in Texas in 2022, she was dead, shot in a road rage incident near Dallas while sitting in the backseat of a car.
Without her family’s knowledge, provincial authorities donated Aurimar’s body to a local medical school, where officials dismembered it and assigned dollar figures to parts not damaged by the bullet that struck her head – $900 for her torso, $703 for her legs.
Remains of Aurimar’s body were cremated and buried in a field among strangers in a Dallas cemetery as her mother desperately tried to return her murdered daughter to Venezuela, unaware that her body had become a commodity in the name of science.
Aurimar’s mother, Arelis Coromoto Villegas, did not learn that her daughter had been used for research until two years after her death, when NBC News and Noticias Telemundo – as part of a broader investigation into the US auto body industry – published the names of hundreds of people whose -claimed bodies were sent to the Fort Worth-based University of North Texas Health Science Center.
“It’s a very painful thing,” Arelis said in Spanish in an interview from her home in a small town in western Venezuela. “She’s not a little animal that needs to be slaughtered or cut up.”
Read the full story here.
Read more from NBC News’ Dealing the Dead series:
-
How did unclaimed bodies end up in the hands of a major biotech company? Boston Scientific’s Relievant Medsystems used at least 25 unclaimed bodies for training, including that of a murdered 21-year-old woman whose family fought to bring her home. The company said it didn’t know. Read the full story.
Putin says he will ask Assad about missing American journalist Austin Tice
Vladimir Putin has promised to ask Syria’s former president Bashar al-Assad about missing American journalist Austin Tice in response to a question from Keir Simmons of NBC News at its annual end-of-year press conference.
“I promise I will ask this question,” the Russian leader said when asked about American journalist Austin Tice, who went missing in the country 12 years ago.
Assad fled to Russia earlier this month after being driven out by a rapid rebel advance that ended the country’s 13-year civil war. Despite offering refuge to Assad, Putin said he has not yet spoken to his ally in person.
Follow live updates from his press conference here.
Life expectancy in the US is increasing by almost a full year
According to a new CDC report, American life expectancy has increased to 78.4 years in 2023, the highest level since the start of the Covid pandemic. That is a significant increase – almost a full year – compared to the life expectancy of 77.5 years in 2022.
The biggest change in 2023? Covid deaths have fallen significantly. While the virus was the fourth leading cause of death in 2022, it was the 10th in 2023, the report said. However, that doesn’t mean the threat of Covid has disappeared completely, said Ken Kochanek, co-author of the report, adding that it is not yet known whether deaths will continue to decline before leveling off at a more predictable annual rate .
The top five causes of death in the US last year were heart disease, cancer, unintentional injuries (including drug overdoses), stroke and chronic lower respiratory disease. Read more about the report.
Read all about it
-
The two victims who died in the shooting on Monday at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin have been named as 42-year-old teacher Erin M. West and 14-year-old student Rubi P. Vergara.
-
Cookie the Ty gingerbread plush toy may seem “ugly” to some, but his big blue eyes and serious smile have earned him viral fame and a cult following.
Personnel choice: A ‘remelt’ masked the moon’s true age, research suggests
August super moon shines in Turin’s night sky (Stefano Guidi/Getty Images file)
The moon may be more than 100 million years older than most scientists thought. That’s the conclusion of a new study that found that a dramatic “remelting” event early in the moon’s history could have masked its true age. The study showed that the moon is probably 4.51 billion years old – not 4.35 billion years old, as many scientists previously thought. Although the difference seems relatively small, pinpointing what happened in those chaotic early days of the solar system is crucial to understanding how the planets in our celestial environment formed. — Denise Chow, science reporter
NBC Select: Online shopping, simplified
Your nails can become brittle and grow slower as you age, but a few products can keep them looking strong. This is what you can get. Besides, being here the 18 best treatments for dark circles under the eyes, as recommended by dermatologists.
Register with De Selection newsletter for practical product reviews, expert shopping tips and a weekly overview of the best offers and sales.
Thanks for reading today’s Morning Review. Today’s newsletter has been put together for you by Elizabeth Robinson and Nick. If you are a fan, please send a link to your family and friends. They can register here.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
