Reduced

What happens when a presidential impeachment inquiry runs into a presidential election year? The United States in uncharted territory.

Venezuela's former military intelligence chief has gone missing in Spain just days after a court approved a request for his extradition to the United States on drug trafficking charges, police said Wednesday. "They are currently looking for him," said a spokeswoman for Spain's national police, referring to General Hugo Armando Carvajal. Judicial sources said police had gone to his house in Madrid after Friday's court decision but could not find him.

Progressive talk show host Cenk Uygur has filed to enter the race for disgraced former congresswoman Katie Hill’s congressional district, according to a Federal Election Commission database filing submitted on Wednesday.Uygur, host and creator of “The Young Turks,” a leftist online news outlet, tweeted “no comment” after news broke of the filing Wednesday night.> To all reporters: No comment.> > -- Cenk Uygur (@cenkuygur) November 13, 2019During a show on Wednesday in which he endorsed Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) for president, Uygur hinted at “dramatic news on Thursday” and told viewers to “stay tuned.”A former MSNBC commentator, Uygur has drifted further left in recent years, but in college he espoused conservative views, supporting pro-life causes and defending Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. A Turkish immigrant, he has also been the subject of controversy for his past denial of the Armenian genocide, for which he apologized in 2016.Hill left her seat on October 28, resigning after the House Ethics Committee opened an investigation into allegations that Hill engaged in inappropriate sexual relationships with multiple staffers.“I know that even a consensual relationship with a subordinate is inappropriate, but I still allowed it to happen despite my better judgment,” Hill wrote in a letter of resignation at the time.On Wednesday night, Hill appeared to distance herself from Uygur by reinforcing her support for state assemblywoman Christy Smith, saying “A local gal is the only one who can keep it blue and the only one the community deserves.”> A local gal flipped a decades-long Rep seat to win by 9 pts. A local gal is the only one who can keep it blue and the only one the community deserves. I called @ChristyforCA25 before I resigned to make sure she would run. Boys, please be gentlemen and step aside. She's got this. https://t.co/0HGzQY58Zr> > -- Katie Hill (@KatieHill4CA) November 13, 2019On October 29, former Trump campaign aide George Papadopoulos — a central figure in the 2016 Russiagate probe — announced his interest in running for Hill’s seat.In 2017, Papadopoulous pleaded guilty to lying to investigators regarding his contacts with Russia and subsequently spent twelve days in prison.> I care about one endorsement: the American people. The rest is white noise.> > -- George Papadopoulos (@GeorgePapa19) October 30, 2019

The demolition process will take nine weeks, followed by three months of cleanup. The building's owners will cover all costs.

North Korea’s supreme decision-making body lashed out Wednesday at planned U.S.-South Korean military drills and warned that the United States will face a “bigger threat and harsh suffering” if it ignores North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s end-of-year deadline to salvage nuclear talks. In a statement carried by state media, an unidentified spokesperson for the North’s State Affairs Commission said the drills would violate agreements between Kim and President Donald Trump on improving bilateral relations and compel North Korea to raise its war readiness. The statement is North Korea’s latest expression of displeasure over the military drills and slow pace of nuclear negotiations with Washington.

"The rat was located and trapped. Then the aircraft was fumigated," a representative from Air India said, according to Indian local media.

Polish agents arrested two people accused of planning attacks against Muslims inspired by Norwegian mass killer Anders Behring Breivik and suspected white supremacist Brenton Tarrant in New Zealand, the security service said on Wednesday. The arrests follow a spate of attacks involving white supremacists targeting ethnic and religious minorities across the globe. Far-right groups have grown in strength in Poland, the largest of the European Union's post-communist states.

A missile test last November made the point quite clear.

Christopher Anderson, an aide to Kurt Volker, former special envoy to Ukraine, testified that the White House canceled a Navy freedom-of-navigation operation in the Black Sea after President Trump complained to then-national security adviser John Bolton about a CNN report that framed the operation as a counter to Russia, Politico reported.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday delivered a two-part message to her caucus just minutes before the start of the first public impeachment hearing — stressing the weight of the moment, but also a steadfast commitment to their legislative agenda. The California Democrat spoke solemnly to her caucus and deployed her oft-repeated line: “None of us came here to impeach a president,” according to multiple lawmakers and aides in the room. The mood of the caucus was largely sober, and at one point, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.), who is a pastor, led members in an impromptu prayer.