
Congress scrambling to avert shutdown as plan unveiled to fund government into February
CNN
Congressional leaders unveiled a plan Thursday that would keep the federal government funded into mid-February, but it's unclear if the deal would be enough to avoid a rapidly approaching government shutdown on midnight Friday.
House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Rosa DeLauro, a Connecticut Democrat, announced the latest plan, which would go through February 18, and the House is expected to vote as soon as Thursday, though the real issue for quick passage is in the Senate. The only way to avoid a shutdown is for all 100 senators to agree to schedule a vote before the deadline, and some Senate Republicans have threatened to hold up the bill over President Joe Biden's vaccine mandates.
While lawmakers are confident that they can ultimately prevent a prolonged shutdown, a brief shutdown over the weekend, or extending into next week, remains a possibility.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth risked compromising sensitive military information that could have endangered US troops through his use of Signal to discuss attack plans, a Pentagon watchdog said in an unclassified report released Thursday. It also details how Hegseth declined to cooperate with the probe.

Two top House lawmakers emerged divided along party lines after a private briefing with the military official who oversaw September’s attack on an alleged drug vessel that included a so-called double-tap strike that killed surviving crew members, with a top Democrat calling video of the incident that was shared as part of the briefing “one of the most troubling things” he has seen as a lawmaker.

Authorities in Colombia are dealing with increasingly sophisticated criminals, who use advanced tech to produce and conceal the drugs they hope to export around the world. But police and the military are fighting back, using AI to flag suspicious passengers, cargo and mail - alongside more conventional air and sea patrols. CNN’s Isa Soares gets an inside look at Bogotá’s war on drugs.

As lawmakers demand answers over reports that the US military carried out a follow-up strike that killed survivors during an attacked on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean, a career Navy SEAL who has spent most of his 30 years of military experience in special operations will be responsible for providing them.









