Israel, Hamas trade heavy fire after deadly incursion
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Palestinian militants bombarded Israel with dozens of rockets and mortar shells Monday, while Israeli warplanes struck targets throughout the Gaza Strip in what appeared to be the most intense exchange of fire since a 2014 war.
Palestinian officials said at least three people, including two militants, were killed by Israeli fire and nine were wounded, and an Israeli airstrike destroyed the ruling Hamas group’s TV station. In Israel, the national rescue service said at least 10 people were wounded, including a 19-year-old soldier who was in critical condition.
The fighting cast doubt over recent understandings brokered by Egypt and U.N. officials to reduce tensions. Just a day earlier, Israel’s prime minister had defended those understandings, saying he was doing everything possible to avoid another war.
The U.N. said it was working with Egypt to broker a halt in the violence. “Rockets must STOP, restraint must be shown by all!” the U.N. Mideast envoy’s office tweeted.
The rocket fire was triggered by a botched Israeli military raid in Gaza on Sunday. Undercover troops, apparently on a reconnaissance mission, were discovered inside Gaza on Sunday, setting off a battle that left seven militants, including a Hamas commander, and an Israeli military officer dead.
Judge: Sides in Florida recount should ‘ramp down’ rhetoric
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — After Republicans, including President Donald Trump, made unsubstantiated accusations of illegal activity, a judge on Monday urged the warring sides in the Florida recount to “ramp down the rhetoric,” saying it erodes public confidence in the election for Senate and governor.
The state’s law enforcement arm and elections monitors have found no evidence of wrongdoing, but lawyers for the Republican party and the GOP candidates joined with Trump in alleging that irregularities, unethical behavior and fraud have taken place since the polls closed last week.
“An honest vote count is no longer possible” in Florida, Trump declared Monday, without elaborating. He demanded that the election night results — which showed the Republicans leading based upon incomplete ballot counts — be used to determine the winner.
Trump went on to allege that “new ballots showed up out of nowhere, and many ballots are missing or forged” and that “ballots (are) massively infected.” It was unclear what he was referring to.
The recount that is underway is mandated by state law.
Congress returns to new dynamic, GOP shutdown threat
WASHINGTON — Congress returns to a changed political landscape Tuesday as newly-elected lawmakers arrive in Washington, the parties elect new leadership and incumbents square off for one final legislative sprint before House Democrats take power.
Voters swept away eight years of House Republican control in last week’s election, creating a new political dynamic that’s challenging President Donald Trump even before the new 116th Congress begins in January.
For their last act, Republicans will try to deliver on Trump’s promise to fund the border wall, which could spark a partial federal government shutdown in weeks. Newly emboldened Democrats are in no mood to cooperate over wall money. Instead, they’ll be pushing to protect special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe from acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker, who has criticized the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. All sides must agree to a federal funding bill to prevent a partial government shutdown from beginning on Dec. 7.
“House Democrats are anything but lame ducks,” Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi wrote Monday to colleagues, saying Democrats are “flying high and taking pride” in the greatest Democratic sweep of the House since the Watergate election of 1974. They picked up at least 32 seats, with several races still undecided.
“We have great opportunity, and therefore great responsibility to get results for the American people,” Pelosi wrote. Democrats “need to be unified, find common ground with Republicans in our legislative engagements, but stand our ground when we must.”
Mississippi US senator won’t discuss ‘public hanging’ remark
JACKSON, Miss. — A white Republican U.S. senator in Mississippi, a state with a notorious history for lynchings, says she will not answer questions about a video that shows her at a campaign event praising a cattle rancher by saying she would attend a “public hanging” if he invited her to one.
Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith appeared with Gov. Phil Bryant on Monday at a news conference at the Mississippi Republican Party headquarters, where she accepted an endorsement from the National Right to Life Committee.
Reporters asked Hyde-Smith repeatedly about the hanging comment, which grabbed attention Sunday when the publisher of a liberal-leaning news site published it on social media.
“I put out a statement yesterday, and that’s all I’m going to say about it,” Hyde-Smith said.
In the brief video, shot Nov. 2 in Tupelo, Hyde-Smith says after a man introduces her to a small crowd: “If he invited me to a public hanging, I’d be on the front row.”
Bishops delay votes on combatting church sex abuse crisis
BALTIMORE — At the Vatican’s insistence, U.S. Catholic bishops abruptly postponed plans Monday to vote on proposed new steps to address the clergy sex abuse crisis roiling the church.
Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said he was told on the eve of the bishop’s national meeting to delay action until after a Vatican-convened global meeting on sex abuse in February.
“We are not ourselves happy about this,” DiNardo told reporters in an unusual public display of frustration at a Vatican pronouncement.
“We are working very hard to move to action — and we’ll do it,” he said. “I think people in the church have a right to be skeptical. I think they also have a right to be hopeful.”
The bishops are meeting through Wednesday in Baltimore and had been expected to consider several steps to combat abuse, including a new code of conduct for themselves and the creation of a special commission, including lay experts, to review complaints against the bishops.