Nick Schifrin:
Turning to the day’s other headlines, we start in Puerto Rico, which is spending New Year’s Eve almost completely without power. A blackout began at dawn, and officials say it could take two days to get power fully restored.
Puerto Ricans who could afford generators powered them up, as others stocked up on supplies. The private company that runs most of the electricity on the island says as many as 1.4 million of its customers have been affected. LUMA Energy says the failure of an underground power line is likely to blame.
Puerto Rico struggles with chronic power outages due to crumbling infrastructure, though widespread blackouts like this one are rare.
A military appeals court ruled against Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s attempts to throw out plea deals for three 9/11 defendants being held at Guantanamo Bay. The ruling would once again allow Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two others to plead guilty for their roles in the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people. In exchange, they’d be spared the possibility of the death penalty.
Secretary Austin had tried to nullify that deal, but the judge hearing the case decided he lacked standing to intervene. Separately, the Pentagon repatriated a Tunisian man held at Guantanamo since 2002 without being formally charged. Ridah Bin Saleh al-Yazidi’s departure leaves 26 men at the facility, down from a peak of about 700.
In Ukraine, Russia struck targets across the country overnight with a barrage of missiles and drones. In the capital, Kyiv, air raid sirens rang out and residents reported multiple explosions. Local officials say missile debris struck Kyiv’s Darnyts’kyi district. There have been no reports of casualties so far.
Elsewhere, authorities in the northeastern Sumy region reported strikes near the city of Shostka. The mayor there says 12 residential buildings had been damaged, as well as two educational facilities.
Turning to the Middle East, the U.S. military announced it had struck Houthi rebel targets in Yemen yesterday and today. U.S. Central Command says it used aircraft and Navy ships to target a Houthi command-and-control center, weapons production and storage facilities. Smoke rose in the capital, Sanaa, following the attacks.
The U.S. says the Houthis have used the facilities to strike warships and merchant vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. The group says it targets shipping in those areas because of the war in Gaza.
Chinese President Xi Jinping used his New Year’s Eve speech to vow, no one can prevent reunification with Taiwan. China considers Taiwan its own territory, but Taiwan has never been governed by the Chinese Communist Party and has its own democratically elected government. Xi’s comments are just the latest warning to what Beijing considers pro-independence forces both inside Taiwan and abroad.