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Washington Congress faces a crucial deadline of December 20 to prevent a government shutdown as it reconvenes this week for a final round of action before the session ends. As they run out of time to reach a complete financing agreement this year, Democrats and Republicans seem resigned to supporting a continuing resolution, or CR, that would temporarily finance the government into early 2025, most likely March. Even the overall amount of spending for the upcoming fiscal year, much alone how the funds will be distributed among the many branches of government, is a point of contention between the two parties. "We need to keep divisive and unnecessary provisions out of any government funding extension, or else it will get harder to pass a CR in time," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, ...

Chef Tommy Banks was devastated when his truck full of $30,000 worth of pies was stolen, but the Michelin-starred chef has urged the robbers to give them to those in need. In an Instagram video posted on Monday, just after the pies were taken, Banks stated, "I know you're a criminal, but maybe just do something nice because it's Christmas and maybe we can feed a few thousand people with these pies that you've stolen. Do the right thing." 2,500 pies with a range of ingredients, such as steak and ale, turkey, and butternut squash, were packed inside the refrigerated van, according to Banks. He claimed that when staff members went to get the vehicle in the morning from the business park in Ripon, a northern British cathedral city, it had been stolen. To keep the pies fresh, he explained, it h...

The Netherlands' The HagueIn its ruling on nations' legal obligations to combat climate change and face the repercussions of their contributions to global warming, Vanuatuon urged the top U.N. court on Monday to acknowledge the suffering caused by the phenomenon. During two weeks of proceedings, Vanuatu, one of the small island governments leading the push to have the World Court issue a so-called advisory opinion, was the first of over 100 states and international organizations to voice their opinions. Ralph Regenvanu, Vanuatu's special envoy for climate change and the environment, told the court, "We find ourselves on the front lines of a crisis we did not create, a crisis that threatens our very existence." A solution to climate change that is grounded in international law rather than p...

As part of a Pacific tour of diplomatic allies, Taiwan President Lai Ching-te landed on Tuesday for an official visit to the Marshall Islands, claiming it was his first trip since assuming office in May. China has been increasing military pressure on Taiwan, including two rounds of war simulations this year, because it considers the island to be its own territory and opposes any outside contacts or visits by the island's authorities. When Lai arrived at Majuro, the capital of the Marshall Islands, he said that the indigenous people of Taiwan shared a culture with the earliest settlers from the Pacific Islands. He added in livestreamed remarks during his meeting with President Hilda Heine that Taiwan and the Marshall Islands share a traditional Austronesian culture along with the principles...

Vietnam's Hanoi According to official media, a Vietnamese court on Tuesday affirmed real estate mogul Truong My Lan's death sentence after dismissing her appeal against her conviction for embezzlement and bribery in a well-known $12 billion fraud case. In April, Lan, the head of the real estate developer Van Thinh Phat Holdings Group, received a death sentence for her involvement in the largest financial fraud case in Vietnam's history. According to the online publication VnExpress, the High People's Court in southern Ho Chi Minh City found no justification for lowering Lan's death sentence. According to the report, Lan's sentence can be commuted to life in prison provided he can refund three-quarters of the money that was embezzled while he was on death row. She is among the most well-k...

The Pittsburgh Steelers' decision to replace starting quarterbacks in the middle of the season wasn't particularly well received. Almost everyone questioned why head coach Mike Tomlin would start offseason signee Russell Wilson for the team's Oct. 20 game against the New York Jets after Pittsburgh went 4-2 in its first six games under Justin Fields. Mina Kimes of ESPN stated a few days prior to the Jets game, "I've been trying to figure out what could motivate Tomlin to make this change." "It s one that I don t quite understand." Soon after, former Steelers safety Ryan Clark, Kimes' coworker, said: I'm with her. I have no idea what prompted me to return to Russell Wilson. Following Kimes and Clark, Marcus Spears, a former defensive end for the Dallas Cowboys, asked: I want to move it forwa...

Officials announced Tuesday that three mountain climbers from the United States and Canada are missing after failing to return from their intended summit of Aoraki, the highest mountain in New Zealand. Carlos Romero, 50, of California, and Kurt Blair, 56, of Colorado, are the Americans. Until his family is informed, New Zealand Police will not identify the Canadian national. As trained alpine guides, Blair and Romero are recognized on the website of the American Mountain Guides Association. According to a statement from the New Zealand Police, the three men flew to a cabin halfway up Aoraki, also called Mount Cook, on Saturday afternoon with the intention of climbing the 12,218-foot peak. They didn't show up for their morning flight out, so police started looking for them Monday. Several c...

According to law officials, a suspect has been extradited from Canada to face murder charges, decades after a woman was murdered and her body was left in the New Jersey woods. In Bridgewater, close to Washington Valley Park, Tammy Tignor's body was discovered in the afternoon of November 4, 1997, close to a hiking trail off Gilbride Road. It was determined that the 23-year-old's death constituted a homicide since she had been strangled. According to Somerset County Prosecutor John McDonald, Tignor's body was discovered by an ATV rider on the dirt access road that led to a dead end. For days, investigators from Somerset County and Bridgewater police combed the forest for any hints or evidence that would help them find the murderer. However, the case went unsolved for years. There were no an...

Given the close results in each of the seven presidential battlegrounds, several pollsters and polling aggregators are already stating that their pre-election surveys were accurate as they perform their postmortems of the 2024 presidential election. However, one important aspect that cannot be overlooked is that, despite the numerous adjustments pollsters made following their 2020 and 2016 misses, the polls once again underestimated the level of support for President-elect Donald Trump. According to an NBC News Decision Desk analysis, the results in the swing states were close enough to fall inside the margin of error for a significant number of polls, and overall, this year's polls appear to have fallen short by less than they did four years ago. Although we arguably shouldn't have been s...

The United States began its third crackdown on China's semiconductor industry in three years on Monday, limiting shipments to 140 businesses, including Naura Technology Group, a manufacturer of chip equipment, among other actions. The package, which also targets exports of advanced memory chips and additional chipmaking tools to China, also imposes new export restrictions on Chinese chip toolmakers Piotech, ACM Research, and SiCarrier Technology in an attempt to stifle Beijing's chipmaking aspirations. The action is one of the final significant attempts by the Biden administration to prevent China from obtaining and manufacturing semiconductors that could contribute to the development of artificial intelligence for military use or pose a threat to American national security in any other wa...