Vote To End Shutdown, COP30 Protests, Aurora Dazzle

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🗞️ FRONT PAGE​​

Spanish daily ABC devotes its front page to Wednesday’s meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and King Felipe VI of Spain, who became the first Spanish monarch to make a state visit to China in 18 years. The two leaders witnessed the signing of several agreements aimed at strengthening bilateral ties, as Spain leads the European Union in courting Beijing for fresh investment amid U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to make Madrid “pay twice as much” unless it increases its NATO contributions.

🌎 7 THINGS TO KNOW RIGHT NOW

• U.S. lawmakers return to Washington for vote to end government shutdown. The U.S. House of Representatives is due to vote Wednesday afternoon on a compromise that could bring the longest U.S. government shutdown in history to a close after 42 days. The deal, which was approved by the Republican-controlled Senate on Monday night, would extend funding through January 30, setting the stage for another potential shutdown showdown. While the end of the shutdown will bring relief to federal workers, it could take days for the country’s air travel system to return to normal.

• Russia pushes deeper into key Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk. Russia said its forces had pushed deeper into Pokrovsk and Kupiansk on Tuesday, thanks to particularly dense fog which prompted Moscow to intensify its bid to get increasing numbers into the eastern Ukrainian key cities and encircle Ukrainian forces. A video has gone viral on social media showing Russian soldiers openly rolling into Pokrovsk on motorbikes. Meanwhile, Kyiv’s top military commander said Wednesday the Russian army overran three settlements in the southern Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine.

• Indigenous activists break into COP30 venue in Brazil. Dozens of Indigenous protesters broke through security lines of the COP30 climate talks on Tuesday night in Belém, Brazil, after hundreds of people participated in a march to the venue. This comes as Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva highlighted Indigenous communities as key players in this year’s COP30 negotiations while activists say more needs to be done to protect Indigenous territories in the Amazon, both by Lula’s left-leaning government at home and around the world.

• Trump reiterates threat to sue BBC over speech edit. U.S. President Donald Trump warned in an interview for Fox News he has an “obligation” to sue the BBC over the way a section of his January 6, 2021 speech was edited in a Panorama documentary, saying it was “butchered” and that the media “defrauded the public.” This comes after Trump’s lawyers wrote to the BBC and said he would sue for $1 billion in damages unless the corporation issues a retraction, apologizes and compensates him. Two BBC executives resigned while BBC chair Samir Shah apologized for an “error of judgement” over the edit.

• All 20 Turkish military personnel killed in Georgia plane crash. Turkey’s defense minister announced on Wednesday that all 20 personnel on board a military cargo plane that crashed in Georgia a day earlier were killed, marking the NATO member’s deadliest military incident since 2020. The C-130 plane had taken off from Ganja, Azerbaijan, and crashed in Georgia’s Sighnaghi municipality on its way back to Turkey. The cause of the crash is being investigated.

• Thousands evacuated in Taiwan before tropical storm. More than 8,300 people were evacuated from Taiwan’s coastal and mountainous areas as a tropical storm is expected to brush the southern part of the island later Wednesday. Typhoon Fung-wong battered the Philippines on Sunday, causing flooding, landslides, power outages and killing at least 27 people.

• News Quiz! Hundreds of bagpipers claimed a new world record on Wednesday in Melbourne, Australia, by playing which song?

A. Bluey’s theme song
B. “It’s a Long Way to the Top,” AC/DC
C. “Scotland the Brave”
D. “Beds Are Burning,” Midnight Oil
[Answer below]

📣 VERBATIM

“The fight against drugs must be subordinated to the human rights of the Caribbean people.”

— Colombian President Gustavo Petro wrote in a message on X that he ordered his nation’s security forces Tuesday to immediately end “communications and other agreements with U.S. security agencies” until the Trump administration stops its strikes on suspected drug traffickers in the Caribbean. At least 75 people have been killed by the U.S. military in strikes in international waters since August, further deteriorating the relationship between the U.S. and Colombia, which were once close partners in the fight against drug trafficking. Meanwhile, France’s foreign minister Jean-Noël Barrot criticized the ongoing U.S.-led operations, warning they risk fuelling regional instability, as G7 foreign ministers convened in southern Ontario on Tuesday.

📰 IN OTHER NEWS

🏔️ After the November 3 Yalung Ri avalanche that killed an Italian climber and at least six others, Reinhold Messner argues the Himalaya are inherently hostile, urges preparation over easy blame, and notes the Panbari missing are a separate case.
— LA STAMPA

🇷🇺 By resurrecting the “Anglo-Saxon threat,” Putin’s Russia is using history as a weapon — turning old myths into modern geopolitics.
— THE CONVERSATION

😴 At the Paris Brain Institute, a team of scientists is exploring the mental processes that occur during the transition from wakefulness to sleep, with potential clinical applications.
— LE FIGARO