
Pelosi strips Covid relief from massive spending bill after Democratic revolt
CNN
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced Wednesday that nearly $16 billion in Covid-19 relief will be stripped out of a massive spending bill after Democratic leaders faced problems locking down votes amid a last-minute dispute within their party over the issue.
The massive spending bill, which includes $13.6 billion in aid to Ukraine, is the product of months of negotiations, but the sprawling legislative text, which runs 2,741 pages, was released at around 1:30 a.m. ET Wednesday just hours before House leaders planned to try to jam it through the chamber and leaving little time for lawmakers to review the measure.
Lawmakers are under pressure to pass the bill, known on Capitol Hill as the omnibus, ahead of a Friday deadline when government funding is set to expire, in order to avert a shutdown.

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.









