10 things you need to know today: November 27, 2018

1. Ukraine lawmakers approve martial law in areas near Russia

Ukraine's parliament voted Monday to declare martial law in parts of the country that border Russia after Russian forces fired on and seized three Ukrainian naval vessels in the Kerch Strait near Crimea. President Petro Poroshenko requested the vote. Lawmakers said the "partial mobilization" they ordered, effective Wednesday, would last a month. The two sides are now on a war footing for the first time since just after Russian special forces occupied Crimea in 2014. Criticism of Russia over the Sunday incident, which left several Ukrainian sailors wounded, mounted at the United Nations Security Council, where U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley said "the United States would welcome a normal relationship with Russia, but outlaw actions like this one continue to make that impossible."

The New York Times

2. Trump threatens to close Mexico border to keep out migrants

President Trump threatened Monday to shut down the U.S. southern border "permanently if need be" unless Mexico deports caravans of Central American migrants trying to get into the U.S. "Mexico should move the flag waving Migrants, many of whom are stone cold criminals, back to their countries. Do it by plane, do it by bus, do it anyway you want, but they are NOT coming into the U.S.A.," Trump tweeted. Trump provided no evidence backing his claim that many of the migrants gathering in the Mexican border city of Tijuana are criminals. His remarks came a day after U.S. border security personnel fired tear gas at migrants, many of them women with their children, who tried to reach a border crossing. Mexico said it would deport nearly 100 migrants who tried to rush the border.

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Politico NBC News

3. Mueller's office says Manafort violated plea deal by lying

Paul Manafort, President Trump's former campaign chairman, violated his plea deal by repeatedly lying to FBI agents and prosecutors during recent interviews, Special Counsel Robert Mueller's office said in a court filing Monday. Mueller's office said that due to the breaches in the plea deal, his team doesn't have to honor it. That means Manafort could face a harsher prison sentence. In August, Manafort was convicted of eight counts of financial fraud. Before his second trial on additional charges, he signed a plea agreement in mid-September and pleaded guilty to two conspiracy counts. Manafort's defense attorneys said he "believes he has provided truthful information" and attempted to "live up to his cooperation obligations."

The New York Times

4. Trump repeats effort to discredit Mueller ahead of report

President Trump on Monday unleashed a fresh attack against Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation, a day after prominent Mueller critic Alan Dershowitz warned that Mueller's final report could be politically "devastating" to Trump. Dershowitz, an emeritus professor at Harvard Law School, has said Mueller's investigation into Russian election meddling has focused so aggressively on finding evidence of crimes by Trump associates that it "endangers democracy." Trump, who has repeatedly tried to question Mueller's credibility and called on him to investigate Democrats' contact with Moscow, tweeted: "When Mueller does his final report, will he be covering all of his conflicts of interest in a preamble, will he be recommending action on all of the crimes of many kinds from those 'on the other side'?"

The Washington Post

5. Mississippi investigates nooses found at state Capitol ahead of Senate runoff

Mississippi and federal law enforcement officials are investigating to determine who hung seven nooses from trees outside the Mississippi Capitol on Monday, a day before the U.S. Senate runoff between appointed Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, who is white, and Democrat Mike Espy, who is black. The nooses reportedly were accompanied by hand-written signs referring to the election and to lynchings, both in the past and a recent case in which a black man was found hanging in central Mississippi. One of the signs read: "We need someone who respects the lives of lynch victims." Hyde-Smith faced an angry backlash during the campaign when she praised a supporter, saying she would "be on the front row" if he invited her to a "public hanging." She also faced criticism for a photo in which she wore a Confederate soldier's hat.

The Associated Press

6. Trump poll numbers sink after midterms

President Trump's poll numbers plunged after this month's midterm elections, with more Americans than ever now saying they dislike the job he is doing in the White House, according to a Gallup survey released Monday. Trump's disapproval rating shot up to 60 percent, tying his all-time high thanks to a 7 percentage point increase over the previous week. Before the midterms, Trump's Gallup disapproval rating was 54 percent. Trump's approval rating fell by 5 percentage points to 38 percent in the new poll. His all-time low approval rating is 35 percent, according to Gallup.

Gallup Newsweek

7. Protesters demand explanation for Alabama police killing of black man

Several dozen protesters blocked an Alabama road at rush hour on Monday demanding information about the fatal shooting of a black man by police at one of the state's busiest shopping malls. A police officer shot and killed 21-year-old Emantic "EJ" Bradford Jr. on Thanksgiving night. Police in Hoover, Alabama, outside Birmingham, initially said Bradford was the gunman in a shooting at the Riverchase Galleria that left an 18-year-old and a 12-year-old bystander wounded. They later said that Bradford, who had a concealed-carry permit, wasn't the gunman, but was holding a gun. A third statement made it unclear whether Bradford had his gun out when he was shot. Witnesses said several shoppers pulled guns after the shooting. Bradford's family called for releasing police body camera footage.

The Associated Press The Washington Post

8. GM to slash 14,700 jobs

General Motors will cut its salaried workforce by 15 percent, slashing 14,700 jobs in North America, the company announced Monday. The automaker may also shut down as many as five plants, including assembly plants in Detroit, Baltimore, and Canada. In an effort to focus on developing self-driving and electric vehicles, as well as fuel-efficient trucks and SUVs, the company will lay off 25 percent of its executives to "streamline decision making." GM has already offered buyouts to 18,000 white collar workers in recent months, with more coming as it cancels several models by 2019. GM expects the move to save $6 billion. President Trump, who campaigned on a promise to boost manufacturing employment, said his administration was exerting "a lot of pressure" on GM to bring the jobs back.

The Washington Post The Associated Press

9. Trump says he doesn't 'believe' federal report on climate change

President Trump on Monday rejected the conclusions of a major report released by his administration warning that climate change could cost the U.S. billions of dollars a year unless greenhouse gas emissions are sharply reduced. "Yeah, I don't believe it," Trump said, echoing other Republican critics who said the scientists behind the report were biased. The report was issued Friday as part of the fourth congressionally mandated National Climate Assessment from the multi-agency Global Change Research Program. Hundreds of government and external scientists participated in the research, which concluded that "without substantial and sustained global mitigation" climate change could "cause growing losses to American infrastructure and property and impede the rate of economic growth over this century."

The Hill

10. NASA spacecraft touches down on Mars

NASA spacecraft InSight successfully touched down on the surface of Mars just before 3 p.m. EST on Monday, after a seven-month journey following its launch in May. Shortly after landing, InSight sent back its first picture from Mars' surface, where it will remain for the next two years as it gathers data that will help scientists better understand Mars' core. Vice President Mike Pence called NASA after the landing was confirmed, relaying that he was "absolutely ecstatic" to hear of InSight's success. InSight is the first vessel to land on Mars since the Curiosity rover back in 2012.

The Guardian CNET