On this version of Hot off the Wire:
WASHINGTON (AP) — Police and protesters have clashed outside Democratic National Committee headquarters during a demonstration for a cease-fire in the war between Israel and Hamas. Scores of Democratic representatives and candidates, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, were inside the building for a campaign reception when it was interrupted by chanting outside. Protesters said they wanted to block entrances and exits to force politicians to encounter their candlelight vigil Wednesday night. However, the situation swiftly devolved. U.S. Capitol Police said about 150 people were “illegally and violently protesting,” but protesters blamed police for the violence. Capitol Police said six officers were treated for minor injuries and one protester was arrested for assaulting an officer.
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Residents say Israeli forces dropped leaflets warning Palestinians to flee parts of southern Gaza. That signals a possible expansion of their offensive to areas where hundreds of thousands of people who heeded earlier evacuation orders are crowded into U.N.-run shelters and family homes. Meanwhile, soldiers continued searching Shifa Hospital in the north on Thursday, in a raid that began a day earlier. They displayed guns they say were found hidden in one building, but have yet to release any evidence of the central Hamas command center that Israel has said is concealed beneath the complex. Hamas and staff at the hospital deny the allegations. Israel already carries out air raids in the south. Broadening operations there threatens to worsen an already severe humanitarian crisis.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress has ended the threat of a government shutdown until after the holidays. The Senate gave final approval to a temporary government funding package Wednesday night and sent it to President Joe Biden for his signature. The bill sets up a final confrontation on the government budget in the new year. The Senate worked into the night to pass the bill with days to spare before government funding expires Saturday. The spending package keeps government funding levels at current levels for roughly two more months while a long-term package is negotiated.
WOODSIDE, Calif. (AP) — U.S. President Joe Biden and China’s Xi Jinping have emerged from their first face-to-face meeting in a year vowing to stabilize their fraught relationship and showcasing modest agreements to combat illegal fentanyl and re-establish military communications. There were still deep differences on economic competition and global security threats. But Biden said they agreed to “pick up the phone” and talk if urgent issues arise. Biden said “that's important progress." Xi signaled later Wednesday that China would send the U.S. new pandas after recalling three from the National Zoo in Washington last week.
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York state has sued PepsiCo in an effort to hold the soda-and-snack food giant partly responsible for litter that winds up in bodies of water that supply the city of Buffalo with drinking water. The lawsuit, filed in state Supreme Court by Attorney General Letitia James, accuses the company and its Frito-Lay subsidiaries of creating a public nuisance by making a huge number of plastic bottles and wrappers, some of which inevitably wind up falling or blowing into the Buffalo River after they are discarded by customers. PepsiCo said it was serious about “plastic reduction and effective recycling.” It didn’t directly comment on the lawsuit’s claim that it was legally responsible for keeping garbage out of the Buffalo River.
The Celtics stun the Sixers, Booker pays dividends on return to the line-up, an on-court fracas and neck grab draws punishment from the NBA, Flyers goaltender Carter Hart leads his team to victory, the Browns will be without their starting quarterback, and Major League Baseball announces the Cy Young Award winners.
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Pat Murphy spent the last eight seasons as Craig Counsell’s bench coach in Milwaukee. He now is taking over for his former boss as the Brewers manager. The Brewers announced they were promoting Murphy a little over a week after the Chicago Cubs announced they had hired Counsell away from Milwaukee. Murphy’s only managerial experience in the majors came in 2015 when he led the San Diego Padres on an interim basis for the final 96 games of the season. He had been the Brewers' bench coach ever since.
NEW YORK (AP) — Jimmy Kimmel is returning as host of the Academy Awards for the second straight year and fourth time overall. The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences announced Kimmel's return on Wednesday. ABC is returning to its late-night host a year after bringing Kimmel back for a 2023 ceremony that drew 18.7 million viewers, the most since 2020’s pre-pandemic broadcast. In the wake of Will Smith’s slap of Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars, Kimmel led a cautious ceremony that helped stabilize the Academy Awards after years of turmoil. The 96th Academy Awards will air live on ABC on March 10 from the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
The TSA expects to screen 28 million travelers at the nation's airports over a 12-day period during the Thanksgiving holiday that begins Friday. John Bush, the agency's Federal Security Director at Reagan Airport outside Washington, D.C. has some advice: get to the airport early and pack your patience.
WOODSIDE, Calif. (AP) — To the domestic audience in China, Beijing continues to blame the U.S. for problems in the two countries' bilateral relations and urges Washington to “establish correct views” of China. The official news service Xinhua said in a series of editorials that Washington should walk out of its “zero-sum” mentality and expand cooperation to further stabilize and improve bilateral relations. Beijing has expressed hope that Washington would respond with “concrete actions.” Ahead of the meeting between U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping, senior White House officials said Biden would walk away from the talks with major announcements expected on curbing the flow of chemicals used in the production of fentanyl and steps to revive military-to-military communications.
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli troops stormed into Gaza’s largest hospital, searching for traces of Hamas inside and beneath the facility filled with hundreds of patients, including newborns, who have gone for days without electricity and with little food as fighting raged around them. Details from the Wednesday raid remained sketchy, but officials from Israel and Gaza presented different narratives about what was happening at the hospital: The Israeli army released video showing soldiers carrying boxes labeled as “baby food” and “medical supplies,” while Gaza health officials talked of terrified staff and patients as troops moved through the buildings. Israel faces pressure to prove its claim that Hamas had transformed Shifa Hospital into a command base.
PARIS (AP) — A police officer being investigated in the killing of a 17-year-old of North African origin that touched off riots around France was freed from jail Wednesday while the probe continues. The prosecutor’s office in the Paris suburb where Nahel Merzouk was shot said magistrates concluded that continued detention of the motorcycle officer “no longer fulfills the legal criteria” for which he was held. The officer was given a preliminary charge of voluntary homicide. The rioting was driven by a mainly teenage backlash against a French state that many with immigrant roots say routinely discriminates against them.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — A hospital director in Haiti says a heavily armed gang burst into the facility and took hostage hundreds of women, children and newborns. Jose Ulysse, founder and director of the Fontaine Hospital Center in the Cite Soleil slum, pleaded for help via social media. He confirmed has confirmed the incident in a brief message exchange with The Associated Press, saying the hospital is in “great difficulty.” No further details were immediately available, and it was not clear why the assailants may have taken patients hostage. Ulysse did not respond to further questions. The hospital has been considered an oasis in a community overrun by gangs that have unleashed increasingly violent attacks against each other and civilians.
LONDON (AP) — The British government says it will still try to send some migrants on a one-way trip to Rwanda, despite the U.K. Supreme Court ruling that the contentious plan is illegal. Five justices on the country’s top court say asylum-seekers would be “at real risk of ill-treatment” because they could be sent back to their home countries once they were in Rwanda. The court cited Rwanda’s poor human rights record, including enforced disappearances and torture. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has pledged to stop migrants reaching Britain in small boats. He says the government will strike a treaty with Rwanda that will address the court's concerns.
LONDON (AP) — Britain’s Supreme Court has ruled that the government's flagship policy to send migrants on a one-way trip to Rwanda is unlawful. The government is vowing to make some changes and press on with the controversial plan. Making the plan work has become a central pillar of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s pledge to “stop the boats" — his slogan for deterring people from crossing the English Channel to reach Britain. He says he's prepared to change U.K. law and even flout international human rights treaties in order to make the plan work. Legal experts say that could be a tall order.
NEW YORK (AP) — Americans cut back on retail spending in October, ending six straight months of gains, though the decline was partly driven by falling prices for both gasoline and cars. Retail sales declined 0.1% last month after jumping a strong 0.9% in September, according to a report released Wednesday by the Commerce Department. September’s figure was revised higher from an initial report of a 0.7% gain. Excluding sales of gas and autos, retail sales ticked up 0.1%.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. wholesale prices fell sharply last month as inflationary pressure continued to ease in the face of a year and a half of higher interest rates. The Labor Department reported Wednesday that its producer price index — which measures inflation before it hits consumers — dropped 0.5% in October from September, biggest drop since April 2020. UOn a year-over-year basis, producer prices were up 1.3% from October 2022.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Comedian Kevin Hart has been chosen to receive the Kennedy Center’s Mark Twain Prize for lifetime achievement in American humor. The honor caps a three-decade career that has seen the comic rise from the open mics of Philadelphia to become one of his generation’s most successful performers. The 44-year-old Hart has honed a style that combined his diminutive stature, expressive face and motormouth delivery. It's made him a wildly successful touring act. He's gone on to become one of the country’s most bankable and ubiquitous performers. Hart says in a statement that “comedy is my outlet for social commentary and observations on life.”
Massive Triceratops skull up for auction in France, and more of today's top videos
A 68-million-year old Triceratops skull is going up for auction in Paris, two mountain lion kittens were rescued in California, and more of today's top videos.