Nancy Pelosi, the 82-year-old wife of financial tycoon Paul Pelosi, is finally stepping down as speaker of the House of Representatives. Doing what comes naturally, mainstream journalists fought back tears while discussing the lifelong Democratic politician’s legacy as the “most consequential” House speaker in American history.

“She should be on everybody’s [greatest of all time] list,” said Matthew Dowd, a self-described thought leader, during an appearance on MSNBC. “She’s a true servant leader in all of its manifestations.”

Fun fact: Nancy Pelosi is one of just a handful of American politicians born before the Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941.

READ MORE: Good Riddance, Madame Speaker

The post The Media’s Madame: Journalists Pour Their Hearts Out for Nancy Pelosi (Video) appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

10 million without power after Russian strikes on Ukraine’s energy system, Zelenskiy says, as first winter snow falls on Kyiv

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Russian missiles and shells hit Ukrainian positions in several regions and there was no let up in heavy fighting in Donetsk in the east, the Ukrainian military said on Thursday night as Moscow’s occupying forces appeared more active.

Ukraine’s energy infrastructure was under persistent attack by Russian missiles and drones from the capital Kyiv in the north to Dnipro in central Ukraine and Odesa in the south, the military said in a statement.

Ukrainian forces in the past 24 hours had downed two cruise missiles, five air-launched missiles and five Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones, it said. Reuters was not able to verify battlefield reports.

As the winter’s first snow fell in Kyiv, authorities said they were working to restore power nationwide after Russia earlier this week unleashed what Ukraine said was the heaviest bombardment of civilian infrastructure of the war, which began in late February when Russia invaded its neighbour.

About 10 million people were without power, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a Thursday evening video address. Authorities in some places ordered forced emergency blackouts, he said.

Ukraine typically experiences long, cold winters with mean temperatures several degrees below zero Celsius and lows down to -20 Celsius. A U.N. agency said a serious humanitarian crisis loomed, with millions facing “constant power cuts” this winter.

Meanwhile, a Dutch court convicted two Russian men and a Ukrainian man in absentia of murder for their role in the shooting down of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014. Russian-backed forces and the Ukraine military have been fighting in eastern provinces since 2014, the same year Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine.

“Punishment for all Russian atrocities – both present and past – will be unavoidable,” Zelenskiy wrote on Twitter in response to the court’s decision.

Moscow called the ruling “scandalous”.

The Donetsk region has experienced the heaviest fighting in Russia’s nine-month-long war on Ukraine. Russian forces were reinforced by troops pulled from Kherson city in the south which Ukraine recaptured last week. Russian forces fired artillery on the towns of Bakhmut and nearby Soledar, among others, the Ukrainian military said.

Russian fire also hit Balakliya in northeastern Kharkiv region, which Ukraine recaptured in September, and Nikopol, a city on the opposite bank of the Kakhovka reservoir from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, the statement said.

Reuters was not able to verify the reports.

The board of the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), again called on Russia to end all actions at Ukrainian nuclear power plants and immediately withdraw from Zaporizhzhia, Europe’s largest nuclear power plant.

A deal brokered by the United Nations and Turkey in July aimed at easing global food shortages by helping Ukraine export its agricultural products from Black Sea ports, was extended for four months on Thursday, though Russia said its own demands were yet to be fully addressed.

Ukraine’s Zelenskiy said that since Aug 1, more than 450 ships had carried 11 million tonnes of Ukrainian grain and other foodstuffs around the world.

“Tens of millions of people, primarily in African countries, have been saved from starvation … food prices are significantly lower than they would be without our food exports,” Zelenskiy said in his video address.

The retreat by Russian forces from the strategic southern city of Kherson last week following a Ukrainian counter-offensive was celebrated by its people, but also created uncertainty.

The central square on Thursday was a frenetic melee of humanitarian aid queues and displays of patriotism.

At one end, a man played the Ukrainian anthem on the accordion as bystanders sang along; a man strummed out popular Ukrainian rock songs on the other. Children and teenagers asked a soldier to sign flags draped around their shoulders.

People queued to swap Russian SIM cards in their mobile phones for Ukrainian ones and hundreds waited for humanitarian aid, but said they had no idea what they might receive.

“We’re fine, but we don’t know what to expect. Nothing is over yet. On that bank of the river, the forces are gathering. On this side, they are gathering. We are in the middle,” said Ihor, 48, an unemployed builder.

Ukrainian and Russian gunners on Thursday traded shellfire across the Dnipro River that bisects the Kherson region, the thumps echoing as a freezing rain drenched the city.

Investigators in recaptured territory in the area uncovered 63 bodies bearing signs of torture after Russian forces left, Ukraine’s interior minister was quoted as saying.

Russia denies its troops target civilians or have committed atrocities. Mass burial sites have been found in other parts previously occupied by Russian troops, including some with civilian bodies showing signs of torture.

Related Galleries:

Russian missiles and shells hit Ukrainian positions in several regions and there was no let up in heavy fighting in Donetsk in the east, the Ukrainian military said on Thursday night as Moscow’s occupying forces appeared more active.

* Russia pounded gas production facilities and a major missile factory in new missile strikes on critical infrastructure in Ukraine, Ukrainian officials said.

* Investigators in Ukraine’s recently liberated southern region of Kherson have uncovered 63 bodies with signs of torture after Russian forces left, Ukraine’s interior minister was quoted as saying.
* Under rainy skies, Ukrainian-controlled Kherson’s central square was a frenetic melee of humanitarian aid queues and patriotic celebration tinged with uncertainty. Hundreds of residents switched the Russian SIM cards in their phones for local ones.

* Ukraine may get the access it demanded to the border area of southeastern Poland where a missile killed two people on Tuesday.

* Dutch judges convicted three men of murder for their role in the 2014 shooting down of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 over Ukraine, and sentenced them to life in prison. A fourth man was acquitted.

* Russia rejected what it called a “scandalous” ruling and said the proceedings had not been impartial.

* A deal aimed at easing global food shortages by facilitating Ukraine’s agricultural exports from its southern Black Sea ports was extended for 120 days.

* The Kremlin said it had been given assurances by the United Nations that work will be finalised on removing barriers to Russia’s exports of agricultural products and fertilisers.

* Russia is not considering using nuclear weapons, the Kremlin said. President Vladimir Putin has said Russia will defend its territory with all available means, including its nuclear weapons, if attacked. Russian officials say the West has repeatedly misinterpreted Kremlin statements.

* U.S. Central Intelligence Agency Director William Burns and Putin’s spy chief discussed “sensitive” questions when they met this week in Turkey, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said.
* The U.N. nuclear watchdog’s 35-nation Board of Governors passed its third resolution calling on Russia to end all actions at Ukrainian nuclear facilities, diplomats said.
* The U.S. government plans to issue guidance in coming days on a Russian oil price cap taking effect on Dec. 5.

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The writer accusing Donald Trump of raping her 27 years ago said the former U.S. president defamed her a second time last month by falsely telling his social media followers that he had not known her and the rape never happened.

E. Jean Carroll, a former Elle magazine columnist, made the accusation in a lawsuit she plans to file on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 24, accusing Trump of battery over their alleged encounter at the Bergdorf Goodman department store in Manhattan.

A draft of the lawsuit was included in a Thursday filing by her lawyer Roberta Kaplan in Manhattan federal court, where Carroll is also suing Trump for defamation over an earlier statement about the incident.

The second lawsuit also includes a civil claim under the Adult Survivors Act, a New York law giving adult accusers one year starting on Nov. 24 to sue over alleged sexual misconduct from long ago, even if statutes of limitations expired.

“Typical gamesmanship from Roberta Kaplan,” Trump’s lawyer Alina Habba said in a statement. “This filing is completely inappropriate and we will take up this issue with the court.”

The latest defamation claim stemmed from Trump’s Oct. 12 post on his Truth Social account where the former president lashed out at Carroll, calling her accusations “a Hoax and a lie” and repeating that she was “not my type!”

“E. Jean Carroll is not telling the truth, is a woman who I had nothing to do with, didn’t know, and would have no interest in knowing her if I ever had the chance,” Trump said.

“Now all I have to do is go through years more of legal nonsense in order to clear my name of her and her lawyer’s phony attacks on me,” he added. “This can only happen to ‘Trump’!”

To support her battery claim, Carroll said Trump’s alleged assault caused her lasting psychological harm, a loss of dignity and significant pain and suffering, and left her unable to sustain a romantic relationship.

The proposed lawsuit seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages, and a retraction of Trump’s statement.

Carroll’s earlier lawsuit stemmed from Trump’s June 2019 statement denying that he raped her, and saying she concocted their alleged encounter to sell her forthcoming book.

A Washington, D.C., appeals court will consider in January whether Trump, who was then in the White House, acted as president when he first branded Carroll a liar.

If the court found that Trump acted in his official capacity when he spoke, and the United States could be substituted as a defendant, then Carroll’s lawsuit would fail because the government is shielded from defamation claims.

In a letter to U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan, who oversees that case, Carroll asked to delay the scheduled trial to April 10, and have it cover both lawsuits.

Trump’s lawyers have proposed a May 8 trial that does not address the second lawsuit, court papers show.

A status conference is scheduled for Nov. 22.

The case is Carroll v. Trump, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 20-07311.

Russian missiles and shells hit Ukrainian positions in several regions and there was no let up in heavy fighting in Donetsk in the east, the Ukrainian military said on Thursday night as Moscow’s occupying forces appeared more active.

Ukraine’s energy infrastructure was under persistent attack by Russian missiles and drones from the capital Kyiv in the north to Dnipro in central Ukraine and Odesa in the south, the military said in a statement.

Ukrainian forces in the past 24 hours had downed two cruise missiles, five air-launched missiles and five Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones, it said. Reuters was not able to verify battlefield reports.

As the winter’s first snow fell in Kyiv, authorities said they were working to restore power nationwide after Russia earlier this week unleashed what Ukraine said was the heaviest bombardment of civilian infrastructure of the war, which began in late February when Russia invaded its neighbour.

About 10 million people were without power, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a Thursday evening video address. Authorities in some places ordered forced emergency blackouts, he said.

Ukraine typically experiences long, cold winters with mean temperatures several degrees below zero Celsius and lows down to -20 Celsius. A U.N. agency said a serious humanitarian crisis loomed, with millions facing “constant power cuts” this winter.

Meanwhile, a Dutch court convicted two Russian men and a Ukrainian man in absentia of murder for their role in the shooting down of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014. Russian-backed forces and the Ukraine military have been fighting in eastern provinces since 2014, the same year Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine.

“Punishment for all Russian atrocities – both present and past – will be unavoidable,” Zelenskiy wrote on Twitter in response to the court’s decision.

Moscow called the ruling “scandalous”.

The Donetsk region has experienced the heaviest fighting in Russia’s nine-month-long war on Ukraine. Russian forces were reinforced by troops pulled from Kherson city in the south which Ukraine recaptured last week. Russian forces fired artillery on the towns of Bakhmut and nearby Soledar, among others, the Ukrainian military said.

Russian fire also hit Balakliya in northeastern Kharkiv region, which Ukraine recaptured in September, and Nikopol, a city on the opposite bank of the Kakhovka reservoir from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, the statement said.

Reuters was not able to verify the reports.

The board of the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), again called on Russia to end all actions at Ukrainian nuclear power plants and immediately withdraw from Zaporizhzhia, Europe’s largest nuclear power plant.

A deal brokered by the United Nations and Turkey in July aimed at easing global food shortages by helping Ukraine export its agricultural products from Black Sea ports, was extended for four months on Thursday, though Russia said its own demands were yet to be fully addressed.

Ukraine’s Zelenskiy said that since Aug 1, more than 450 ships had carried 11 million tonnes of Ukrainian grain and other foodstuffs around the world.

“Tens of millions of people, primarily in African countries, have been saved from starvation … food prices are significantly lower than they would be without our food exports,” Zelenskiy said in his video address.

The retreat by Russian forces from the strategic southern city of Kherson last week following a Ukrainian counter-offensive was celebrated by its people, but also created uncertainty.

The central square on Thursday was a frenetic melee of humanitarian aid queues and displays of patriotism.

At one end, a man played the Ukrainian anthem on the accordion as bystanders sang along; a man strummed out popular Ukrainian rock songs on the other. Children and teenagers asked a soldier to sign flags draped around their shoulders.

People queued to swap Russian SIM cards in their mobile phones for Ukrainian ones and hundreds waited for humanitarian aid, but said they had no idea what they might receive.

“We’re fine, but we don’t know what to expect. Nothing is over yet. On that bank of the river, the forces are gathering. On this side, they are gathering. We are in the middle,” said Ihor, 48, an unemployed builder.

Ukrainian and Russian gunners on Thursday traded shellfire across the Dnipro River that bisects the Kherson region, the thumps echoing as a freezing rain drenched the city.

Investigators in recaptured territory in the area uncovered 63 bodies bearing signs of torture after Russian forces left, Ukraine’s interior minister was quoted as saying.

Russia denies its troops target civilians or have committed atrocities. Mass burial sites have been found in other parts previously occupied by Russian troops, including some with civilian bodies showing signs of torture.

Related Galleries:

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KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Anwar Ibrahim has ramped up campaigning this week to be Malaysia’s leader, buoyed by polls putting the veteran opposition leader ahead in a closely fought contest.

Saturday’s general election looks to be the Southeast Asian nation’s tightest since independence in 1957, with opinion polls predicting no party or coalition will get enough seats to form a government.

But Anwar – who in 25 years has gone from the heir apparent of Malaysia’s longest-serving leader to a prisoner convicted of sodomy to the country’s leading opposition figure – has the best shot of finally taking the reins of power, the polls suggest.

Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s Barisan Nasional alliance had been favoured over the past year, rising on victories in two local polls with its opponents divided.

Now, though, Anwar’s Pakatan Harapan coalition is forecast to secure the largest share of seats at 35%, according to a survey by British research firm YouGov on Wednesday. The Perikatan alliance led by the previous prime minister, Muhyiddin Yassin, is on course for up 20% of the vote, with Barisan at 17%, the survey showed.

Anwar, a former finance minister, has appeared at big rallies vowing to create political stability, heal divisions between the Muslim-majority Malays and other ethnic groups and restore the economy by bringing in jobs and investment.

“This election is not about changing the prime minister,” Anwar said in an address on Thursday. “This election is the best chance to save the country and make sweeping changes to restore our beloved nation.”

‘TOO CLOSE TO CALL’

Anwar heads a multiethnic coalition, while Barisan and Muhyiddin’s Perikatan are led by parties that prioritise the interests of Malays. Race and religion are divisive issues in multi-racial Malaysia, where ethnic Chinese and Indians make up about 30% of the electorate.

Anwar’s alliance could lose if other blocs team up against it, analysts say, with smaller political coalitions based in Borneo island’s Sabah and Sarawak states potentially playing kingmaker.

In the event of a hung parliament, Anwar’s Pakatan could have an advantage in attracting allies, as divisions and infighting made the other two major coalitions “inherently unstable”, said Bridget Welsh of the University of Nottingham Malaysia.

“For Pakatan, what we’ve seen is that they’ve come together, they’re more cohesive ideologically,” Welsh told Reuters.

But she said many seats remained too close to call, as 15% to 30% of the electorate are undecided, according to Welsh and a survey by independent pollster Merdeka Center.

Anwar’s more than two decades as an opposition figure have included nine years in jail for sodomy and corruption, charges he says were politically motivated.

He was released from prison in 2018 after joining hands with former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, both his mentor and long-time rival, to defeat Barisan for the first time in Malaysia’s history amid public anger at the government over the multibillion-dollar 1MDB scandal.

Mahathir became prime minister for a second time in 2018, promising to hand over power to Anwar within two years, but the coalition collapsed in 22 months due to infighting over the transition.

Muhyiddin briefly became premier, but his administration collapsed last year, paving the way for Barisan’s return to power with Ismail Sabri at the helm.

The Uvalde school board in Texas has approved plans to replace Robb Elementary School months after the town decided to demolish the building where a teenaged gunman killed 19 children and two teachers in May.

Under the plan unanimously adopted by the board on Wednesday, construction will begin next summer and the new school, which has yet to be named, is due to open in the fall of 2024.

Uvalde, about 80 miles (130 km) west of San Antonio, will build the $50 million school 2 miles from the current location, funding the project with private donations, according to ABC News. It was unclear whether public funds would be used for the project.

The design, proposed by a committee charged with making recommendations, envisions 39 classrooms and 14 special education rooms, in addition to other rooms dedicated to art, science and technology, the ABC News report said.

The school district did not immediately respond to a request for further details.

Board members also agreed to install an interim leader of the school district’s police department. Josh Gutierrez will replace Pete Arredondo on the recommendation of the district’s interim superintendent, Gary Patterson, according to San Antonio television station KSAT-TV.

Gutierrez was previously head of safety and security at La Vernia Independent School District, about 110 miles east of Uvalde, the local ABC affiliate reported. In the past, he worked with Patterson at another Texas school district.

Arredondo was dismissed in August after taking much of the blame for law enforcement’s delayed response to the shooting rampage. Parents and relatives of the children and staff have expressed deep anger over what they viewed as law enforcement’s inaction after the gunman entered the school and began shooting.

While the gunman was holed up with his victims in adjoining classrooms, dozens of police officers believed to be under Arredondo’s command waited for an hour in a hallway. A U.S. Border Patrol-led tactical team eventually made entry and killed the suspect. Arredondo has said that he did not consider himself to be the incident commander at the scene.

Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steven McCraw said the response was “an abject failure,” adding that officers at the scene lacked sufficient training.

Gutierrez’s first order of business is to restructure the district’s small police force, which the district suspended in October.

Separately, CNN and the Uvalde Leader-News both reported that the Uvalde city police lieutenant who was serving as acting police chief on the day of the shooting, Mariano Pargas, 65, has resigned from the department, effective immediately, rather than face a termination proceeding.

Both news outlets attributed the resignation to the mayor, Don McLaughlin. Neither the police department nor mayor’s office immediately responded to requests from Reuters for comment.

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