10 things you need to know today: November 24, 2019

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1. Hong Kong wraps up record-breaking elections
2. Pence makes unannounced trip to Iraq
3. Navy secretary says he'll comply with Trump's orders, won't resign
4. At least 24 killed in Democratic Republic of Congo plane crash
5. U.S. military officials are reportedly worried Iran could target desalination plants in the Gulf
6. Congress reaches agreement on allocations for spending bills
7. Nunes 'likely' to face ethics probe
8. Anti-government protests continue in Colombia
9. Ginsburg briefly hospitalized, expected to be released soon
10. Climate change protesters stage sit-in during Harvard-Yale game

last updated 24 November 2019

1. Hong Kong wraps up record-breaking elections

Hong Kong on Sunday was wrapping up what has turned into the city's largest ever district council elections. Since the early hours of the morning, millions of people flocked to polling stations. The number of voters had reportedly shot past the final total of voters from the 2015 elections by lunchtime. It's an important election for the city, which has been mired in turmoil for months. The result should serve as a barometer for support for the pro-democracy, anti-government protests, as well as for the city's Chief Executive Carrie Lam, whose leadership has been called into question by the demonstrators. The protest groups had called upon voters to refrain from disrupting the elections and so far there has reportedly been no sign of trouble.

Vice President Mike Pence made an unannounced trip to Iraq on Saturday. Pence and his wife, Karen, served Thanksgiving lunch to U.S. troops stationed at Al Asad Air Base in the Al Anbar province, where the vice president reportedly called upon Congress to quicken the pace of military funding, blaming "partisan politics and endless investigations" for the hold up. Pence also traveled to Erbil to meet with Iraqi Kurdistan President Nechivran Barzani. Pence said an "enduring bond exists between the Kurdish people and the people of the United States," despite the Trump administration's decision to re-position troops in northeastern Syria, leaving Kurdish forces vulnerable to Turkish military attacks. Barzani reportedly thanked Pence for his visit and said he hopes the Kurds' relationship with Washington "will continue to develop further."

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Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer said Saturday he has no intentions of resigning and that if President Trump orders the Navy to halt its process of deciding whether four Navy SEALs are fit to continue serving in the force, the Navy will comply. "I work at the pleasure of the president," Spencer said. "I do not interpret what the president does. I do what he says." Spencer did, however, add that he does not consider a tweet to be an order, so the process will only stop in light of an official directive. Earlier reports indicated Spencer and Rear Adm. Collin Green were ready to resign if Trump intervened in the process, but Spencer has denied the rumor and said he doesn't believe Green has any intention of stepping down either.

Rescue workers have recovered at least 24 bodies from the wreckage of a small plane that crashed Sunday in a densely populated area of Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo, though the exact number of casualties is still unknown. Those killed are believed to be both passengers and people on the ground who were struck by the plane. No survivors are expected from the disaster. The plane was operated by a recently established local company called Busy Bee. It reportedly crashed shortly after takeoff en route to Beni, a city 220 miles north of Goma. One of the company's maintenance workers at the site reportedly blamed a "technical problem" for the crash.

Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, the commander of U.S. Central Command, said he is wary of another attack from Iran in the Gulf region. "I think the strike on Saudi Aramco in September is pretty indicative of a nation that is behaving irresponsibly," McKenzie said. "My judgment is that it is very possible they will attack again." The general said he fears that Iran could orchestrate a drone- and missile-heavy attack, in the same vein of the Aramco attacks, which the U.S. and its European allies blame Tehran for, despite the latter's denial. One official told Foreign Policy that the U.S. is particularly focused on potential threats on desalination plants in the Gulf region. An attack on the plants would put the region's primary source of drinking water at risk, which could spur a humanitarian crisis.

Aides for Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) announced Saturday that lawmakers on the House and Senate Appropriations committees had reached a bipartisan agreement on allocations for each of the 12 spending bills. There's still a lot of work to be done, but it should mean that at least a few of the bills should get passed by the Dec. 20 deadline, many of them quickly. Congress is expected to move the bills in packages of four at a time, leaving some of the more contentious elements, like the Department of Homeland Security funding measure to be negotiated over time. Those matters will reportedly be handled at the subcommittee level.

House Armed Services Committee Chair Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) said Saturday that Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, will likely face an ethics probe after the attorney for businessman Lev Parnas, an associate of President Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, said Nunes traveled to Vienna in 2018 to meet with former Ukrainian Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin. The two men allegedly discussed accusations of corruption against former Vice President Joe Biden. Nunes lashed out at CNN, which first reported the Parnas news, calling the impeachment-related claims "demonstrably false" and "scandalous." Records show Nunes did travel to Europe at the time Parnas reportedly alleges, but he was not required to disclose specifics about the trip, including if he went to Vienna.

Protests against Colombian President Iván Duque continued in Bogotá and countrywide on Saturday for the third straight day. The demonstrations began Thursday with more than 200,000 taking to the streets as a result of multiple grievances against Duque's right wing government. The marchers have accused security forces of brutality, while the government claims an outbreak of looting and vandalism alongside the protests is an orchestrated terror campaign. Some small factions of demonstrators have clashed with security forces, though the majority of protests have been peaceful. Still, tear gas was reportedly used on those crowds. One 18-year-old protester was reportedly hit in the head with a tear gas cannister and severely wounded. The protests were inspired by similar movements in Chile, Ecuador, and Bolivia.

The Supreme Court announced Saturday that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was hospitalized after experiencing chills and a fever. Ginsburg was admitted to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, where she was reportedly treated with intravenous antibiotics and fluids before the symptoms abated. She was expected to be released from the hospital as early as Sunday morning. While it was a quick stay, the 86-year-old Ginsburg has dealt with various health issues in the past year, including undergoing surgery for lung cancer and receiving radiation treatment for pancreatic cancer. Ginsburg has remained committed to serving on the court as long as she is physically healthy and mentally sharp.

Demonstrators rushed the field during halftime of the Harvard-Yale football game Saturday in New Haven, Connecticut, to demand the presidents of both universities divest in fossil fuels and call attention to climate change. The protest began with a few dozen people staging a sit-on on the field, but it eventually swelled to about 500 people, most of whom left after about an hour when they were escorted off the field by police. About two dozen people remained and were subsequently placed under arrest. The Ivy League called the protest "regrettable," while Yale said it had issues with the tactics, but stood "firmly for the right to free expression." Yale coach Tony Reno, however, didn't seem too bothered. "It's what makes Yale Yale," he said, adding that events like this are what makes the rivalry with Harvard "special." Yale won "The Game" 50-43.

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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.