While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, Jan 7
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Republican Representative Kevin McCarthy speaks to members of the press after the 13th vote to elect a Speaker of the House failed.
PHOTO: NYTIMES
McCarthy again falls short in vote for US House Speaker
Republican Kevin McCarthy on Friday picked up the support of most of the right-wing hardliners who had opposed his bid to lead the US House of Representatives, but fell short of clinching victory in the 13th ballot in four days.
The California lawmaker said he believed victory was close, and the chamber voted to reconvene at 10pm ET (11am on Saturday, Singapore time).
Mr McCarthy claimed that the four-day long standoff within his party would come to an end then.
McCarthy supporters and some Democrats worried the concessions he made in hopes of securing the House speakership, including agreeing to allow any single member to call for a vote to remove him from office at any time, could extend the deepest congressional dysfunction in more than 150 years.
US announces $4b in military assistance for Ukraine
The United States on Friday announced a major military assistance package for Ukraine that is valued at more than US$3 billion (S$4 billion) and includes 50 Bradleys and dozens of other armoured vehicles.
The assistance – US$2.85 billion drawn from US inventories and US$225 million in foreign military financing – does not include advanced Western tanks sought by Kyiv, but will still provide significant additional firepower for its forces.
It is “the largest security assistance package in total value that we have committed so far,” Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence Laura Cooper told journalists.
At least 29 killed during Mexico capture of El Chapo’s son
Nineteen suspected gang members and 10 military personnel were killed in a wave of violence surrounding the arrest of Mexican drug cartel boss Ovidio Guzman in the northern state of Sinaloa, Defence Minister Luis Cresencio Sandoval said on Friday.
Mexican security forces on Thursday captured Guzman, a son of jailed kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman. Members of the Sinaloa Cartel and their associates went on a rampage, fighting security forces, setting vehicles on fire and blocking roads across the Pacific coastal state.
The violence was concentrated in and around Culiacan, the capital of Sinaloa, home of the powerful drug cartel that El Chapo headed before his 2016 capture and extradition to the United States in 2017.
World No. 1 Alcaraz to miss Australian Open with leg injury
US Open champion Carlos Alcaraz said on Friday he will miss the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam of the season, after injuring his right leg in training.
“I picked up an injury through a chance, unnatural movement in training,” the 19-year-old Spaniard wrote on his Twitter account.
“I’d worked so hard to get to my best level for Australia but unfortunately I won’t be able to play,” the world’s top-ranked player added.
Shooting during filming of rapper’s video leaves 10 injured
AFP
At least 10 people were injured in a shooting outside Miami during the filming of a music video by Moroccan-American rapper French Montana, police and US media said on Friday.
The shooting took place on Thursday evening in the city of Miami Gardens, about 30km north of Miami, Florida, the local police department told AFP in a statement.
“We are being advised that multiple victims were struck,” the department said, adding that victims were taken to local hospitals.
