Russian PresidentVladimir Putin formally lowered the threshold for his country's use of nuclear weaponsTuesday, days afterthe United States allowed Ukraine to strike inside Russia using American missiles. The Kremlin announced that Putin had approved anupdated nuclear doctrinea document that governs how Russia uses its nuclear arsenal including the declaration that Moscow could unleash a nuclear strike if subject to an attack by a non-nuclear country that has the support of a nuclear state. Moscow's defense ministry claimed later Tuesday that Ukraine had carried out its first strike on Russian territory using the U.S.-supplied long-range weapons known as ATACMS, hitting a military facility in the Bryansk region. Russian air defenses shot down five ATACMS missiles but fragments of another...

A lawyer said his client was allegedly paid to have sex with Matt Gaetz at a 2017 party. A man accused of three fatal stabbings in New York City has an extensive criminal history. And a debate is raging ahead of the release of Wicked : to sing or not to sing? Here s what to know today. Matt Gaetz allegedly paid an adult woman for sex in 2017, attorney says Matt Gaetz, President-elect Donald Trump s pick to lead the Justice Department, paid a woman for sex at a party in Florida where prostitution is illegal while Gaetz was a member of the House, the woman s attorney said. In an interview with NBC News, Joel Leppard said the woman says she also saw Gaetz having sex with her friend, who was 17, at the same invitation-only party in Orlando in 2017. This is Morning Rundown, a weekday ne...

Gisele Pelicoton Tuesday lambasted the cowardice of the dozens of men accused of abusing her during10 years of mass rape organized by her husbandand told the court hearing the trial France s patriarchal society must change. Dominique Pelicot, her husband, has admitted in court to drugging his wife, 71, and inviting strangers to their house to rape her while she was unconscious. Most of the 50 other men on trial have denied rape. She only learnt of her ordeal when police stumbled upon videos and pictures her husband recorded of the abuse he is accused of orchestrating. For me this is the trial of cowardice, there is no other way to describe it, Gisele Pelicot said, with many of the accused in the courtroom. It is the third time she has addressed the court in Avignon, southern France, as th...

Severe weatheris set to hit opposite ends of the country this week, with a powerful low pressure system followed by an atmospheric river set to bring damaging winds, heavy rain and snow to the Pacific Northwest, while storms and possible flooding are headed for the Gulf Coast. The National Weather Service said in a 3 a.m. ET update that a "rapidly strengthening and extremely powerful" weather system could bring winds of 70 mph across northern California and parts of Washington and Oregon from Tuesday. "These winds are likely to produce numerous power outages and tree damage in the most impact regions," the weather service said. Flood watches were issued in the northern and central Sacramento Valley, Shasta County and western Colusa County from Tuesday morning through to Saturday. Parts...

U.S. allies warned of "hybrid warfare" Tuesday aftertwo undersea communication cableswere severed in the Baltic Sea, raising suspicions that they may be the latest acts of sabotage targeting the West as it clashes with Russia. German Defense MinisterBoris Pistoriussaid Tuesday that "no one believes that these cables were cut accidentally" after a rupture in a 730-mile cable linking Germany and Finland was detected Monday. "We have to state, without knowing specifically who it came from, that it is a hybrid action," he said. "And we also have to assume, without knowing it yet, that it is sabotage. Lithuania s navy said Tuesday that it had increased monitoring of its waters after damage to a separate cable connectingthe Baltic nationwith Sweden s Gotland Island was detected on Sunday. Swed...

BEIJING A driver in an SUV plowed into students and pedestrians outside a primary school in southernChinaon Tuesday, leaving several people injured, state media said, as worries spread over aspate of violent attacks in the countryover the past week. CCTV and other state media reported that the vehicle hit people outside a primary school in the city of Changde in Hunan province as students were coming in for the day. Many were injured, CCTV reported. Police said they were sent to the hospital as soon as possible, with none having sustained life-threatening injuries. They did not provide a detailed number of those hurt. The police also said a 39-year-old male was arrested in connection with the incident, although it did not explain in the brief statement how the incident occurred, saying...

Can you join in on the songs from the Wicked show while watching a movie? According to whom you ask. Devoted fans are debating whether it's appropriate to belt out along with the on-screen cast while at the movies in response to the film adaptation of the well-known Broadway musical. According to moviegoers who talked to NBC News, they want enthusiastic theatergoers to understand the proper way to avoid singing over the performers throughout the performance. Many stated that while they intend to lip sync, they will postpone the singing part until later. One of the numerous people who shared his thoughts on the issue on TikTok was Alex Lewis, a lifelong off-Broadway community member who remarked, "You would never sing in a Broadway theater." Last month, he and his band, Lewberger, shared a ...

Washington The almost two-thirds of federal employees who are still permitted to work from home, eighteen months after the pandemic ended, may be the first targets of Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk's new initiative to improve government efficiency. In downtown Washington, vacant government office space is expensive to maintain and a major source of annoyance for Mayor Muriel Bowser. She told reporters last week that encouraging federal employees to return to downtown Washington is at the top of her agenda and that she had asked to meet with President-elect Donald Trump. One major concern is how to ensure that our federal personnel returns to work, Bowser stated, adding that she hopes to collaborate with the federal government to revitalize our community. The Office of Management and Budge...

NEW DELHI Residents inIndias northern states woke up to another day ofpoor air qualityon Tuesday, as a layer of dense fog shrouded most of the region, andpollution in the capital, Delhi,remained severe. India battles air pollution every winter as cold, heavy air traps dust, emissions and smoke from farm fires started illegally in the adjoining, farming states of Punjab and Haryana. Theair quality index(AQI) touched a peak of 491 in Delhi on Monday, forcing the government to introduce restrictions on vehicle movement and construction activities, and schools to conduct classes online. On Tuesday, Delhi s 24-hour AQI reading was at 488 on a scale of 500, India s Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) said, and at least five stations in the capital reported an AQI of 500. Visibility dropped ...

After fainting on the job with a low hemoglobin count in early January 2021, Lenna Ray, then 67, went to HCA Florida Citrus Hospital in Inverness, Florida, for care. Ray was moved to a private room in the emergency department where, over the next four hours, Hiram Bonilla, a male nurse, repeatedly sexually assaulted her, court and police records show. He was putting stickers on my chest for an EKG and he said, You got pretty titties, Ray recalled in an interview with NBC News. By the time he finished that statement, he was on me. Hospital video reviewed by NBC News shows Bonilla entered Ray s room 28 times over those four hours, every nine minutes on average. Heavily medicated, Ray told hospital staff what Bonilla had done, but they pooh-poohed her, she testified, with one staffer tell...