10 things you need to know today: November 26, 2018

1. U.S. fires tear gas at migrants protesting near Mexico border

U.S. border officials closed a busy crossing on the Mexican border for several hours on Sunday after hundreds of Central American migrants staged a protest there. Hundreds of migrants hoping to apply for asylum in the U.S. rushed past a blockade of Mexican police toward the crossing, which joins the Mexican border city of Tijuana and San Diego, California, and is one of the world's busiest border entry points. "We are not criminals! We are international workers!" migrants chanted, some holding hand-painted U.S. and Honduran flags. Border Patrol authorities reportedly fired a shot and launched tear gas over the border to deter the crowd, which included mothers and children. None of the migrants crossed the border.

Los Angeles Times

2. Russia seizes Ukrainian naval ships in standoff near Crimea

Ukraine accused Russia of firing on three of its naval ships and seizing them in the Kerch Strait near annexed Crimea on Sunday. Russia closed the vital water route, which links the Azov and Black seas and is used by both nations. Moscow said the Ukrainian navy illegally entered its waters, and it responded by placing a large cargo vessel beneath a Russian-controlled bridge to prevent two Ukrainian artillery ships and a tugboat from passing. "It is clear that their goal is to create a conflict situation in the region," Russia's Border Control Service told the Interfax news agency. Ukraine called for an emergency United Nations Security Council meeting, and the European Union called on Russia to reopen the waterway.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

The Washington Post Reuters

3. Judge orders Papadopoulos to report to prison

A federal judge ordered former Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos to report to a correctional camp in Wisconsin on Monday to begin serving a 14-day prison sentence for lying to federal investigators in Special Counsel Robert Mueller's inquiry into Russian election meddling and possible collusion by associates of President Trump. Papadopoulos twice asked a judge to pause his sentence, but the judge who sentenced him, Randy Moss of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, denied both of his requests on Sunday. Papadopoulos surrendered most of his rights to appeal under his plea deal with Mueller's office last year. Papadopoulos will be the third defendant to serve jail time as a result of the Mueller investigation.

CNN

4. UAE pardons British academic convicted of spying

United Arab Emirates officials said Monday that British academic Matthew Hedges had received a presidential pardon after being sentenced to life in prison on spying charges. Hedges, 31, was convicted on Nov. 21. UAE officials said he confessed to being a "captain" in Britain's MI6 foreign intelligence agency. Hedges, a Durham University doctoral student, said he was in the country to do research for his PhD. "Fantastic news about Matthew Hedges," British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said on Twitter. "Although we didn't agree with charges we are grateful to UAE government for resolving issue speedily." The pardon was to take effect immediately and lead to Hedges' prompt release.

The Washington Post

5. Trial starts for man accused of killing counterprotester in Charlottesville

Jury selection begins Monday in the trial of James Fields, the self-described neo-Nazi accused of driving his Dodge Challenger into a group of counterprotesters and killing Heather Heyer at last year's Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. Heyer, 32, attended the event to speak out against white supremacists who were rallying in Charlottesville. Fields is charged with first-degree murder, as well as numerous accounts of malicious wounding. Fields' defense team has asked to move the trial out of Charlottesville, saying Fields "has come to symbolize the community trauma" suffered during the violent rally so it will be impossible to find objective jurors. Prosecutors say the pretrial publicity doesn't justify a change of venue.

CNN

6. Trump congratulates himself for low oil prices

President Trump on Sunday tweeted congratulations — to himself — for the recent drop in oil and gasoline prices. "Thank you President T," he wrote. In a flurry of tweets as he prepared to end his Thanksgiving weekend stay at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Trump also repeated his criticism of the Federal Reserve for raising interest rates, and called on Mexico to stop caravans of Central American migrants from trying to reach the U.S. border. Trump also blamed Democrats for problems associated with illegal immigration. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) fired back on ABC's This Week, saying Trump should take responsibility and work more closely with Central American governments to prevent large groups of undocumented migrants from heading to the U.S. "He controls the White House. His party controls the House and the Senate and it is on them," she said.

The Associated Press

7. 6.3-magnitude earthquake injures hundreds in Iran

A magnitude 6.3 earthquake hit western Iran on Sunday, leaving at least 361 people injured and sending panicked people running into the streets for safety. The quake was about six miles deep and about 12 miles from Sarpol Zahab, Kermanshah province, the U.S. Geological Survey said. It hit near the border with Iraq, and was felt as far away as Baghdad. Iran's Fars News Agency reported that several rural homes and buildings have been damaged, but no fatalities have been reported. Iran is vulnerable to earthquakes because it sits on a major fault line between the Arabian and Eurasian plates.

CNN

8. Winter storm forces cancellation of hundreds of flights

Airlines canceled more than 1,230 flights and delayed another 4,270 on Sunday, mostly due to a winter storm that brought snow, ice, and rain to parts of the Great Plains and the Midwest. The disruptions came on the final day of the five-day Thanksgiving weekend, one of the busiest travel periods of the year. At least 250 more flights were preemptively canceled for Monday. Chicago's O'Hare was one of the hardest hit airports, with about 780 arrivals and departures accounting for a quarter of its traffic canceled. Other airports that were affected included Kansas City, Missouri; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Omaha, Nebraska; and Des Moines, Iowa.

USA Today

9. Chinese researcher claims to help create first genetically modified babies

Chinese researcher He Jiankui announced late Sunday that he had helped create the world's first genetically edited babies, twin girls born earlier in November. If verified, this would be a big and controversial leap in science. He said he used a new gene-editing tool called CRISPR-cas9 to remove a gene called CCR5 from embryos fertilized in a lab, in an attempt to make the genetically modified children immune to HIV, the AIDS virus. Most bioethicists and experts in the gene-editing field condemned the work as premature and morally indefensible. Several scientists who reviewed the research He released said his tests are insufficient to show the editing worked as intended or to rule out harm to the girls.

The Associated Press Stat

10. Ralph Breaks the Internet leads record Thanksgiving box-office haul

Ralph Breaks the Internet topped the Thanksgiving weekend box office, leading the industry to a record total gross for the long weekend. The sequel to Disney's Wreck-It Ralph brought in an estimated $55.7 million over the three-day weekend, bring its total since its Wednesday opening to $84.5 million. That five-day total was the third biggest ever, behind Frozen and Hunger Games: Catching Fire. Another sequel, the Rocky franchise's Creed II, came in second with a strong debut of $35.3 million from the weekend and $55.8 million since Wednesday, helping push the industry-wide five-day Thanksgiving box-office gross above $300 million for the first time in history.

The Associated Press