CBS News
4 Russian warplanes spotted flying near Alaska, NORAD says
Four Russian warplanes on Tuesday flew just outside of United States airspace near Alaska, the North American Aerospace Defense Command said, marking the latest incident involving Russian aircraft off the coast of the U.S. state.
The military operation was routine, according to the agency, which detected and tracked the planes. Although the Russian aircraft remained in international air space, they entered a region beyond U.S. and Canadian sovereign air space called the Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), where aircraft are expected to identify themselves, according to NORAD.
The ADIZ is a stretch of international air space bordering the sovereign space around the U.S. and Canada, which both countries monitor in order to, ideally, readily detect all aircraft passing through. Surveillance in the defense zone is maintained for national security reasons.
NORAD said it uses a “network of satellites, ground-based and airborne radars and fighter aircraft to detect and track aircraft and inform appropriate actions” and “remains ready to employ a number of response options in defense of North America.”
The U.S. military reported similar actions from four Russian warplanes detected off the coast of Alaska in February and September. The report in September happened shortly after more than 100 U.S. soldiers were deployed temporarily to Alaska’s remote Shemya Island in response to a spike in Russian military activity off the western boundaries of North America, which a U.S. general described as an exercise to test the military’s readiness to deploy troops and equipment.
Their deployment coincided with eight Russian aircraft and four navy vessels, including two submarines, traveling close to Alaska while Russia and China conducted joint military drills. None of those planes entered U.S. air space.
On Sept. 30, NORAD posted a dramatic video of a Russian fighter jet flying close to a NORAD aircraft off the coast of Alaska. At the time, a U.S. geneal said “the conduct of one Russian Su-35 was unsafe, unprofessional, and endangered all.”
Russian warplanes have also been detected in neighboring air spaces in recent months. In November, NATO said Italy and Norway had each scrambled jets after Russian aircraft were seen over the Baltic Sea and along the Norwegian coast. NATO did not share details about the Russian activity but said the planes were “not adhering to international norms” when Italian and Norwegian forces were mobilized. Russia has ramped up military operations in the Arctic Circle, which includes part of Norway.
South Korea’s military also said it scrambled fighter jets in November after five Chinese and six Russian military planes entered its air defense zone but did not cross into the country’s air space.
The Associated Press and AFP contributed reporting.
CBS News
Texas man fights to reunite with wife and kids, including newborn twins, who were unexpectedly deported to Mexico
A Texas man is fighting to get his wife and four children back after he says they were unexpectedly deported to Mexico.
Federico Arellano is a U.S. citizen, and says three of his four kids are too. He says there has been a misunderstanding and that his family was misled.
Now, a video call is the only way he’s been able to see his family.
Agents deport family
ICE agents deported Arellano’s wife, Christina Salazar, and their four kids to Mexico last week after they say they were told to come to the ICE field office in Houston to discuss Salazar’s immigration case.
“They told me that they were going to take her to Mexico because she had a deportation order,” Arellano said.
A judge signed off on the order in early October after Salazar missed an immigration hearing. The family says Salazar was recovering from giving birth to premature twins and doctors recommended she recover at home during that time.
Arellano said he informed the court about the situation and claims they reassured him by phone the date could be rescheduled.
Nearly two months later, Arellano said agents detained his wife and then their four children.
Immigration attorney Isaias Torres, who represents the family, said he has not seen an instance like this one that involves a family.
“I’ve seen criminals, ardent criminals, people with prior deportation. … I don’t understand why this happened,” Torres said.
Hopes to reunite
A video call is now the only way Arellano can see Salazar and their kids for the foreseeable future.
“I’m alone. I have no one to help me with my kids here and they are really sick,” Salazar said in a video call from Reynosa, Mexico.
Attorneys for the family said they are reaching out to members of Congress for help. ICE and the DOJ have not responded to CBS News for a request for comment.
Meanwhile, Arellano said he just wants his family back.
“To get them back and of course they return to me just as they were taken away. I want them to return to me,” he said.
The Charlotte Hornets have issued an apology for a recent skit involving a gift and a young fan.
During the second quarter of a game against the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday, the Hornets performed a skit where a child was brought down to the court to meet the team’s mascot, who was dressed as Santa Claus, CBS Sports reported. A letter from the boy to Santa asking for a PlayStation 5, was read aloud. Then a cheerleader gave the boy a bag containing the video game console. While the cameras rolled, the boy seemed elated to have received the console.
Once the cameras stopped rolling, though, the video game station was taken away from the boy and he was given a jersey instead. The boy’s uncle was told that he would not be able to keep the console. A clip of the incident went viral on social media.
The Hornets issued an apology on Tuesday, saying that the skit “missed the mark” and “included bad decision making and poor communication.”
Jared C. Tilton / Getty Images
“Simply put, we turned the ball over and we apologize. We have reached out to the family and are committed to not only making it right but to exceeding expectations. We will be providing the fan with the PS5 that he should have taken home last night along with a VIP experience to a future game,” the team said, according to CBS Sports. “Our goal is and will remain to elevate the guest experience for every person that enters Spectrum Center, and to show our fans how much we appreciate their relentless support.”
The Hornets have won seven games this season and lost 19, according to ESPN.
Basketball star Michael Jordan sold his majority ownership in the team to a group of investors last year for a reported $3 billion.
CBS News
Senate passes $895 billion defense bill with controversial gender-affirming care restriction
Washington — The Senate approved the mammoth $895 billion National Defense Authorization Act on Wednesday, despite concern from some Democrats over a controversial policy restricting gender-affirming care for children of servicemembers.
In a 85 to 14 vote, the Senate approved the legislation, which the House passed last week. Eleven Democrats and three Republicans voted against it in the upper chamber. The bill now heads to President Biden’s desk for his signature.
The 1,800 page national security legislation to authorize funding for the Defense Department for fiscal year 2025. But the bill includes a handful of controversial policies, like the gender-affirming care restriction, and lost support from the majority of Democrats in the House.
The Democratic-controlled Senate pushed forward with the measure nonetheless. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer noted that while the NDAA “isn’t perfect,” it still “includes some very good things that Democrats fought for” — citing provisions aimed at standing up against the Chinese Communist Party, boosting the use of artificial intelligence for national defense and expanding domestic tech innovation.
“Congress has passed the NDAA on a bipartisan basis for over six straight decades, and this year will be no different,” Schumer said ahead of the vote on Wednesday. “We’re passing the NDAA and that’s a very good thing.”
Andrew Harnik / Getty Images
Sen. Ed Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, derided the gender-affirming care restriction earlier this week, calling it “the product of a nationwide campaign against trans rights” and arguing that the legislation’s approval would mark “the first anti-LGBTQ law passed by Congress in decades.”
Still, the outcome of the vote was all but guaranteed after the Senate advanced the measure on Monday in a 83-12 procedural vote.
Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, the ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, celebrated the NDAA’s “immense accomplishments,” including a 14.5% pay raise for junior service members and investments in recruitment capabilities. But he said Congress “missed an opportunity to strengthen the president-elect’s hand as he takes office in a precarious world situation.”
Wicker outlined that the Armed Services Committee proposed $25 billion for modernization programs, including for missile defense, ship building and counter-drone technology, saying “this should have been part of the bill today.”
Sen. Jack Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat who chairs the Armed Services Committee, called the legislation a “strong, forward looking bill that we can all be proud of.” But he said he “strongly” disagrees with the inclusion of the gender-affirming care provision, calling it a “misguided provision.”
“I share many of my colleagues’ frustrations that the bill includes a provision that would prohibit gender-affirming health care for minors under certain circumstances,” Reed noted, adding that he voted against the provision in committee. “We will continue to work to ensure the health care rights of all military personnel and their dependents.”
Texas man fights to reunite with wife and kids, including newborn twins, who were unexpectedly deported to Mexico
Charlotte Hornets apologize after a gift-giving skit with young fan went awry
Senate passes $895 billion defense bill with controversial gender-affirming care restriction
Texas man fights to reunite with wife and kids, including newborn twins, who were unexpectedly deported to Mexico
Charlotte Hornets apologize after a gift-giving skit with young fan went awry