U.S. and world news for Dec. 11

White House meeting: President Biden has invited President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine to the White House for a meeting tomorrow. The White House says the meeting is to underscore the United States’ unshakeable commitment to supporting the people of Ukraine as they defend themselves against Russia’s brutal invasion. As Russia ramps up its missile and drone strikes against Ukraine, the leaders will discuss Ukraine’s urgent needs and the vital importance of the United States’ continued support at this critical moment. Republicans on Capitol Hill have been blocking new aid to Ukraine.

No Trump testimony: In a reversal of what he had said previously, Donald Trump now says he won’t testify today in the New York fraud trial. Trump’s attorneys say they recommended that he not testify because he remains under a gag order prohibiting him from criticizing and making threats against the judge in the case and the judge’s law clerk. Trump previously testified in the case for four hours last month and while he was on the stand lashed out against the judge. If he were to do it again this time while the gag order is in effect he could be held in contempt of court and fined or even jailed.

Storm aftermath: The Nashville Electric Service says it may be several days or longer before power is restored to all areas of Tennessee that were hit by severe storms accompanied by tornadoes over the weekend. At least six people died and dozens were injured in Tennessee and more than 600 buildings were damaged or destroyed in that state. An estimated 24 tornadoes hit five southern states over the weekend.

Hamas’ demands: Hamas is demanding that more Palestinian prisoners held by Israel be released. It says if they’re not, no hostages it holds will be released alive. The Hamas demand comes as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Hamas yesterday that its end is near. Netanyahu also denied new reporting by the New York Times about secret negotiations by Israel with Qatar to keep money flowing to Hamas in the hope that Hamas would return the favor by maintaining the peace in Gaza. Also, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, interviewed on CNN yesterday, said that the sexual violence perpetrated by Hamas in its Oct. 7 attack is unlike anything he has ever seen.

Musk’s flip-flop: Elon Musk has gone back on a promise he made more than a year ago and has restored the X (formerly Twitter) account of right-wing conspiracy theorist and hate speech proponent Alex Jones. Jones had been banned from Twitter by the former management of the company. Musk said a survey showed 70% of X users who voted wanted Jones back. Since taking over Twitter, Musk has welcomed back others who were kicked off by the previous management because of their hate speech and falsehoods, including Donald Trump.

Climate meeting: The climate meeting of nearly 200 countries in Dubai is scheduled to come to a close tomorrow. Doubts are being expressed that agreement can be reached on a plan that would move the world off fossil fuels soon enough to prevent global warming from going over the point at which effects would be irreversible. That point is a global 1.5 degrees Centigrade temperature increase. Members of the OPEC oil cartel have been blocking efforts to adopt a declaration that would phase out the mining of oil, gas and coal.