U.S. and world news for Nov. 22

Attorney general: With former Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz withdrawing his nomination to be Donald Trump’s attorney general, Trump has nominated Pam Biondi for the post. She is a former attorney general of Florida. Biondi was on Trump’s legal team that defended him in his first impeachment. When Trump was on trial in New York in the Stormy Daniels hush money case, Biondi was one of the people who showed up in the courtroom to express support for him.

Putin: Russian President Vladimir Putin says that Russia is entitled to strike targets belonging to the U.S. since the U.S. has allowed Ukraine to shoot missiles supplied by it into Russia. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said today that Putin’s main message is that what he called reckless decisions and actions of Western countries that produce missiles, supply them to Ukraine and subsequently participate in strikes on Russian territory cannot remain without a reaction from the Russian side.

South Korea: South Korea said today that Russia supplied missiles to North Korea in exchange for North Korea supplying troops to fight alongside Russian soldiers in Ukraine. The missiles likely are long-range, since North Korea has the capability of building its own short-range missiles. Russia also may have supplied oil to North Korea as well as systems for shooting down drones. A South Korean official said that some of the Russian missiles are being used to set up defenses around North Korea’s capital city Pyongyang.  

Rape charge: In Oslo, Norway, the son of Norway’s crown princess has been accused of rape, twice. Manus Borg Holby was ordered held in custody for one alleged rape and yesterday a prosecutor said that a second rape allegation against him had come to light. Holby is 27 years old. He could be facing 20 years in prison if the allegations are proven.

Warrant: The U.S. appears ready to ignore the arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and others. In a statement issued by the White House, President Biden said, “ICC issuance of arrest warrants against Israeli leaders is outrageous. Whatever the ICC might imply, there is no equivalence — none — between Israel and Hamas. We will always stand with Israel against threats to its security.”

Tariffs: TJX, which owns discount chain T.J. Maxx says that while Donald Trump’s plans to slap tariffs on U.S. imports will cause havoc in supply chains and raise prices for customers, it will benefit. TJX believes that Trump’s planned tariffs will create more opportunities to bring in products early to avoid the tariffs. In 2019, when Trump boosted tariffs 25% on $200 billion worth of products from China, it created buying opportunities for TJX. Walmart and Lowe’s said this week that they may have to raise prices if Trump imposes new tariffs.