Good morning.
It’s official. Republicans have won back control of the House of Representatives, scraping a victory from a midterm election that many had expected to be a red wave of wins but instead turned into more of a trickle.
Nevertheless, the party finally won its crucial 218th seat in the lower chamber of Congress, wresting away control from the Democrats and setting the stage for a showdown with Joe Biden in the next two years of his presidency.
The result means the end of Democrat Nancy Pelosi’s time as House speaker. She is likely to pass the gavel to the Republican leader, Kevin McCarthy, who has announced his intention to take up the post.
The Republican-run House is likely to be a raucous affair as its predicted slim majority means it will take only a few rebels to stymie any legislation – in effect handing great power to almost every Republican member of the House. With the Republican right full of fringe figures, including Georgia’s Marjorie Taylor Greene, that could be a recipe for chaos and the promotion of extremist beliefs and measures.
What does a split Congress mean for US politics? It will be extremely difficult for Democrats to advance their legislative agenda. Republicans can use their majority power to block any bills passed by the Democratic Senate from even getting a vote on the House floor. Here’s our Q&A on what else it will mean.
What else is happening in Washington? Legislation to protect same-sex and interracial marriages crossed a big Senate hurdle yesterday, putting Congress on track to take the historic step of ensuring that such unions are enshrined in federal law.
Ukraine’s chance of quick victory not high, Pentagon chief says
The top US general has said Ukraine’s chances of any near-term, outright military victory are not high, cautioning that Russia still has significant combat power in Ukraine despite battlefield setbacks.
The US army general Mark Milley, the chair of the joint chiefs of staff, told a news conference at the Pentagon yesterday:
“The probability of a Ukrainian military victory – defined as kicking the Russians out of all of Ukraine to include what they claim as Crimea – the probability of that happening anytime soon is not high, militarily. Politically, there may be a political solution where the Russians withdraw. That’s possible,” he said, noting that Russia “right now is on its back”.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian investigators have uncovered a claimed “torture room” in Kherson city where dozens of men were allegedly detained, electrocuted, beaten and some of them killed.
What else is happening? Here’s what we know on day 267 of the invasion.
What about the village in Poland that was hit? Przewodów is trying as much as possible to keep life normal – but tragedy has underscored the proximity of war for the tiny border village and people are traumatised.
Iran protests: boy among at least a dozen shot dead on night of turmoil
Up to 15 people have been shot dead in Iran, including members of the security forces and a nine-year-old boy, in separate incidents as the country experienced one of its most serious and widespread nights of protests of the past nine weeks.
On the anniversary of the 2019 uprising, state news agencies blamed terrorists on two motorcycles for the killing of seven people in a shopping centre in the southern city of Izeh. However, protesters said members of the Basij militia force had run amok, killing among others the nine-year-old, who was sitting in a car with his father. State news agencies said two volunteer Basij patrol personnel were among the dead, and 10 were injured.
A further five people were killed in the Isfahan area, including security forces, in a separate shooting. Reports of other deaths, in Kurdistan, took the night’s total toll to 15.
Internal Iranian news agencies followed the government line that unknown anti-government forces or Islamic State terrorists were responsible, but witnesses claimed unarmed civilians were shot.
What else has happened? Iranian security forces have opened fire on people at a metro station in Tehran and beaten women who were not wearing mandatory hair coverings. Footage shared on social media showed passengers running towards exits, with many falling and being trampled, after police opened fire on a crowded platform.
How many people have died since the protests began? The total number of deaths during the latest protests has spiralled to 348, according to Harana, a human rights agency, though the figures are impossible to verify. In at least three cities, seminaries were set alight.
In other news …
Xi Jinping has angrily rebuked Justin Trudeau after Canadian officials shared details of a previous meeting, highlighting the frosty relationship between the two leaders. In a video clip recorded at the G20 summit in Indonesia, a visibly frustrated Xi pulls the Canadian prime minister aside to express his displeasure.
North Korea launched a short-range ballistic missile yesterday towards its eastern waters, South Korea’s military said, hours after the North threatened to launch “fiercer” military responses to the US bolstering its security commitment to its allies South Korea and Japan.
Elon Musk has given Twitter’s remaining staff a Thursday deadline to commit to working “long hours at high intensity” and being “extremely hardcore” or else leave with three months’ severance pay. Meanwhile, he told a court yesterday he expected to eventually find someone else to run the company.
A bus carrying 28 migrants from Texas arrived in Philadelphia yesterday, including a 10-year-old girl suffering from dehydration and a high fever who was taken to a hospital. “The kids are frightened, they’re exhausted, they’re tired,” Emilio Buitrago of the nonprofit Casa de Venezuela said.
Stat of the day: Shakespeare portrait said to be only one made in his lifetime on sale for £10m
A portrait said to be the only signed and dated image of William Shakespeare created during his lifetime has gone on sale for more than $11m and is being displayed in London. The owner, who wishes to remain anonymous, is offering the piece for sale by private treaty without an auction. It is the work of Robert Peake, the court painter to King James I, and is signed and dated 1608. The art expert Duncan Phillips, who investigated the work before the sale, said: “There is more evidence for this portrait of Shakespeare than any other known painting of the playwright.”
Don’t miss this: What happened when Marie Kondo tidied my home
How do you tidy up before Marie Kondo arrives at your house? The 38-year-old queen of domestic serenity has been bossing chaos since 2011, when she published The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. Then in 2016 came Spark Joy, an illustrated follow-up, and pretty soon the entire world – I’m not exaggerating – was familiar with her principles. A decade after publishing her first guide to tidying up, the writer and TV presenter has a new book about creating living spaces that “foster conversation”. But can she help me clear up the disaster that is my desk? And will it spark joy?
… or this: Trump’s 2024 run brings renaissance for impersonators
Republicans may be split on Donald Trump’s bid for the presidency, but at least one group of people woke up happy the morning after his announcement. “I’m totally energized,” said John Di Domenico, a Las Vegas-based comic who makes a living impersonating Trump. “We just got new booking requests today, and I keep getting texts from people who see this as another opportunity for me.” After watching the events of January 6, Di Domenico was not sure he would ever be able to put on his $4,000 wig and bronzer spray tan again. “There was a dip,” he said.
Climate check: Draft Cop27 agreement fails to call for ‘phase-down’ of all fossil fuels
The UN climate agency has published a first draft of what could be the overarching agreement from the Cop27 climate summit in Egypt. However, much of the text is likely to be reworked in the coming days. The reaction from some NGOs has been swift and frustrated, with one Greenpeace representative saying it paved the way for “climate hell”. The document, labelled a “non-paper”, indicating it is still far from the final version, repeats the goal from last year’s Glasgow climate pact to “to accelerate measures towards the phase-down of unabated coal power and phase out and rationalize inefficient fossil fuel subsidies”.
Last thing: Meteorite that landed in England may solve mystery of Earth’s water
Water covers three-quarters of the Earth’s surface and was crucial for the emergence of life but its origins have remained a subject of active debate among scientists. Now, a 4.6bn-year-old rock that crashed on to a driveway in the Cotswolds in England last year has provided some of the most compelling evidence that water arrived on Earth from asteroids in the outer solar system. The Winchcombe meteorite, one of the “most pristine” available for analysis, offered scientists “a tantalizing glimpse back through time,” one expert said.
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