First Thing: House Republicans vote to block publication of Matt Gaetz ethics report

Chamber votes 206-198 against release of report into former Florida representative, who resigned from Congress last month. Plus, how climate breakdown can still be avoided

Good morning.

The House has voted against publishing the ethics committee’s report into allegations of sexual misconduct and potential illegal activities by the former Florida Republican representative Matt Gaetz.

The lower chamber of Congress, where Republicans now have a majority of 220 against the Democrats’ 215, voted 206-198 to block its release. The long-awaited report examines allegations that Gaetz was involved in illicit drug use, misuse of campaign funds and sexual misconduct with a 17-year-old girl, as well as allegations of obstructing the investigation.

Gaetz, who was a potential Trump administration nominee, has consistently denied the claims. He withdrew after it became obvious he would not pass a confirmation hearing.

On what grounds was it blocked? Gaetz resigned from the House on 13 November, when Trump picked him for attorney general – and the Mississippi Republican Michael Guest, the committee chair, said the panel’s investigative authority ended then.

Senior Biden aide commits to giving Ukraine avalanche of military assistance

The Biden administration will provide an 11th-hour tranche of support to Ukraine’s beleaguered army before handing over to Donald Trump in January, offering it substantial military assistance and fresh sanctions against Russia, according to a background briefing from a national security council spokesperson.

In a meeting on Thursday, the US national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, met the head of the office of the Ukrainian president, Andriy Yermak,and pledged to provide hundreds of thousands of additional artillery rounds, thousands of rockets and hundreds of armored vehicles by mid-January, according to the briefing shared with the Guardian.

The US is also committing to train new troops outside Ukrainian territory, as well as $20bn in loans.

What will Trump do? His team is reportedly developing a peace proposal for Ukraine, sidelining its ambitions for Nato membership and potentially handing Russia significant territory.

Thousands flee Homs in central Syria as rebel forces push on

Thousands of people fled Homs in central Syria overnight, a war monitor and residents said, as insurgents drove their offensive against government forces farther south, a week after the surprise attack that seized Aleppo within three days.

The rebels, led by the group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), have captured the Syrian city of Hama, 40km (25 miles) north of Homs. The successful seizures of the two cities have dealt devastating blows to President Bashar al-Assad, nearly 14 years after anti-Assad protests spread across Syria.

With Israel’s wars in Gaza and Lebanon and Russia’s war against Ukraine seizing center stage, analysts said the regime – and its backer, Russia – were distracted, creating an opportunity the insurgents seized.

What is the toll in Syria? 826 people, including 111 civilians, have been killed since the re-eruption of fighting in the last week, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

In other news …

Emergency alerts for tsunami risks were triggered after a magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck the northern California coast on Thursday morning.

The UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson’s killing has triggered a bitter discussion about the state of US healthcare, with some online comments expressing little pity for Thompson.

The head of South Korea’s ruling party said that the South Korean president, Yoon Suk Yeol, could pose a “great danger” to citizens unless he is suspended, suggesting that parliament is likely to vote to impeach him.

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has vowed to remain in post until the end of his mandate in May 2027 after Michel Barnier’s government collapsed following a no-confidence vote.

Stat of the day: Malawi hospital using AI foetal safety software sees baby fatalities fall by 82% in three years

In Malawi, about 19 in every 1,000 babies die during birth or within the first month of their lives, with birth asphyxia being a leading cause. But technological advancements offer promising developments in this field, as the only hospital in the country using AI-enhanced foetal safety software has recorded an 82% drop in baby fatalities over a course of three years.

Don’t miss this: Haitian theater persists amid political crisis and violence

Despite the shots ringing out in the streets, Haitian actors at a stage school in Port-au-Prince are committed to continuing their work. Since a coordinated criminal uprising in February toppled Haiti’s government and freed thousands of prisoners, nearly 4,000 have been killed. But to the director Eliezer Guérismé, theater is “an act of rebellion and resistance” in the face of the adversity that surrounds them. To the actor Jenny Cadet, keeping the show going despite the horrors just beyond the theater’s walls is vital: “Our therapy, as actors and people of the stage, is to keep creating.”

Climate check: Despite 2024’s ‘greenlash’, the fight against climate breakdown can still be won. Here’s how

It’s been a tough year for those of us who are worried about the planet’s future, from Donald Trump’s re-election to the defeat of Green parties in European races. So this opinion piece by three co-conveners of the Progressive Politics Research Network, which argues that all is not lost, feels like a breath of fresh air. It underlines that there is public support for tackling the climate emergency – and explains how policymakers must get people onside by building trust and offering compensation.

Last Thing: Soup drips through and you stab yourself – is the spork the worst utensil?

If you believe progress is an inevitable feature of history, you may want to consider the spork, Ken Albala writes. In a polemic against the “worst utensil” Albala argues that it gives us the worst of both worlds: “Liquid spills through the diminutive tines before soup hits the lips, and the tines themselves are too blunt to easily puncture and convey to the mouth anything that might be considered solid food.”

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