Amna Nawaz:
In a statement today, Hamas said reaching a cease-fire agreement is possible and cited the — quote — “serious and positive discussions” being held by mediators in Qatar.
French authorities issued an overnight curfew for Mayotte as the territory struggles to recover from last weekend’s deadly tropical cyclone; 22 people are confirmed dead across the archipelago, which is located between Madagascar and the coast of Africa. The storm was the worst to strike Mayotte in nearly a century.
Authorities fear hundreds, if not thousands, of people have been swept away or buried beneath the rubble. The French military is dispatching planes with up to 50 tons of food, water and medicine each day. And French President Emmanuel Macron plans to visit the territory himself on Thursday.
President-elect Trump is suing The Des Moines Register and Iowa’s top pollster over their final poll before the election. That state poll showed him trailing Vice President Kamala Harris by three points. Trump ended up winning Iowa by more than 13 points. He’s now suing nationally recognized pollster Ann Selzer, her polling firm, the newspaper and its parent company, Gannett, accusing them of consumer fraud.
A Gannett spokesperson said today — quote — “We stand by our reporting on the matter and believe this lawsuit is without merit.” This comes just days after ABC News agreed to pay Trump $15 million to settle a defamation case.
On Wall Street today, stocks slipped ahead of tomorrow’s decision by the Federal Reserve on interest rates. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped more than 260 points. The Nasdaq fell 60 points, but held above that 20000-point level. The S&P 500 also ended lower on the day.
And a bit of unwelcome news for the pair of astronauts who have been stuck aboard the International Space Station for much longer than planned. Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were only supposed to spend a week or so in space when they blasted off an early June on board Boeing’s new Starliner aircraft. Technical problems extended their stay until February.
NASA said today that they now won’t be home until late March, at the earliest.