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Today’s edition of quick hits.
* An extraordinary day in South Korea: “South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol backed down early Wednesday after tossing his country into turmoil for six hours by suddenly declaring martial law and mobilizing the army. Yoon did so in the face of nationwide defiance that erupted some 155 minutes after he announced in a late-night TV address on Tuesday that he was taking over.”
* Crisis conditions in Syria: “Hospitals have been ripped apart by airstrikes. Nearly 50,000 people have fled their homes, and tens of thousands lack running water. Civilians are being laid out in body bags on hospital floors after shells struck their neighborhoods. Scenes from the bloodiest days of Syria’s civil war, which had lain largely dormant for several years, are now repeating themselves in the country’s northwest as pro-government forces try to beat back a surprise rebel offensive, according to aid workers, a war monitor and the United Nations, who warned of a rapidly worsening humanitarian situation.”
* In sub-Saharan Africa: “When American presidents visit another country, they typically like to highlight the positive history they share. But as the first leader of the United States to visit Angola, President Biden opted instead to focus on the most bitter chapter that connects the United States and this giant southern African nation. At the National Museum of Slavery in the capital, Luanda, Mr. Biden recalled in a speech on Tuesday the slave trade that once defined relations between America and Angola.”
* This is such a cheap and unpersuasive gambit: “Lawyers for Donald Trump urged the judge who presided over his conviction for falsifying business records to dismiss the indictment against the president-elect, citing the language President Joe Biden used when he announced he had pardoned his son.”
* Yet another billionaire gets a plum gig: “President-elect Donald Trump offered billionaire investor Stephen Feinberg the job of deputy defense secretary, said people familiar with the matter, a decision that could elevate a longtime political supporter with investments in defense companies that maintain lucrative Pentagon contracts.”
* I wonder whether he intends to follow through on a threat like this one: “President-elect Donald Trump is demanding the immediate release of Israeli hostages still being held in Gaza, saying that if they are not freed before he is sworn into office for a second term there will be ‘HELL TO PAY.’”
* A win for labor: “Wisconsin public worker and teachers unions scored a major legal victory Monday with a ruling that restores collective bargaining rights they lost under a 2011 state law that sparked weeks of protests and made the state the center of the national battle over union rights.”
* A closely watched and overdue promotion: “The Senate voted Monday to approve the promotion of a general who oversaw troops during the U.S. withdrawal from Kabul, Afghanistan, after it had been blocked by a Republican senator aligned with President-elect Donald Trump. The Senate voted by unanimous consent, meaning all 100 senators agreed, to approve Army Lt. Gen. Christopher Donahue’s promotion to four-star general to oversee U.S. Army forces in Europe.”
* All things considered, this seems like sensible advice: “Attorney General Merrick Garland and top Justice Department officials are encouraging career staffers to remain in their jobs through the next administration, stressing that institutional knowledge is important as new leaders take hold, according to people familiar with those conversations.”
See you tomorrow.