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In the news today: The U.S. Embassy in Kyiv remains closed Wednesday after a warning of a significant Russian air attack; Trump nominates TV host Dr. Mehmet Oz and wrestling mogul Linda McMahon for top roles; and dark energy may not be what it seems. Also, Berlin’s Christmas lights are inspired by the city's club scene.

A boy rides a scooter past a display of destroyed Russian military vehicles in central Kyiv, Ukraine. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

WORLD NEWS

US Embassy in Kyiv shuts down after warning of ‘significant’ Russian air attack

The U.S. Embassy in Kyiv said it would stay closed Wednesday after receiving a warning of a potentially significant Russian air attack on the Ukrainian capital. The precautionary step came after Russian officials promised a response to President Joe Biden’s decision to let Ukraine strike targets on Russian soil with U.S.-made missiles — a move that angered the Kremlin. Read more.

Recent developments:

• The U.S. Embassy said its closure and attack warning were issued in the context of ongoing Russian missile and drone attacks on Kyiv and anticipated a quick return to regular operations.
  
  

• The war has taken on a growing international dimension with the arrival of North Korean troops to help Russia on the battlefield — a development which U.S. officials said prompted Biden’s policy shift. North Korea recently supplied additional artillery systems to Russia, according to South Korea.
  
  

• Russian President Vladimir Putin lowered the threshold for using his nuclear arsenal, with the new doctrine announced Tuesday permitting a potential nuclear response by Moscow even to a conventional attack on Russia by any nation that is supported by a nuclear power. That could potentially include Ukrainian attacks backed by the United States. Western leaders dismissed the move as an attempt to deter Ukraine’s allies from providing further support to Kyiv. 

RELATED COVERAGE ➤

• The Kremlin has revised its nuclear policy. Does that make the use of atomic weapons more likely? 
  
  
• North Korea sent more conventional weapons to Russia, South Korea says
  
  
• Russia arrests a German national accused of planning to sabotage energy facilities

POLITICS

Trump picks Dr. Mehmet Oz to run Medicare and Medicaid and Linda McMahon for Education

President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday tapped billionaire professional wrestling mogul Linda McMahon to be secretary of the Education Department. He also selected Dr. Mehmet Oz, a former television talk show host and heart surgeon, to head the agency that oversees health insurance programs for millions of Americans. Read more.

Key points:

• McMahon led the Small Business Administration during Trump’s initial term from 2017 to 2019 and twice ran unsuccessfully as a Republican for the U.S. Senate in Connecticut. She’s seen as a relative unknown in education circles, though she has expressed support for charter schools and school choice.
  
  

• Oz, who ran a failed 2022 bid to represent Pennsylvania in the U.S. Senate, has been an outspoken supporter of Trump and in recent days expressed support for Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination for the nation’s top health agency. If confirmed by the Senate, Oz would be responsible for the programs — Medicaid, Medicare and the Affordable Care Act — that more than half the country relies on for health insurance.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤

• Trump sets records with pace of appointments, but that doesn’t mean the transition is going smoothly
  
  
• Trump has called for dismantling the Education Department. Here’s what that would mean
  
  
• Trump’s casting call as he builds out his administration: TV experience preferred
  
  
• House Republicans signal support for proposal to ban bathroom access for 1st transgender member
  
  
• Hakeem Jeffries wins reelection as House Democratic leader despite party’s losses
  
  
• Gabbard’s sympathetic views toward Russia cause alarm as Trump’s pick to lead intelligence services

SCIENCE

The dark energy pushing our universe apart may not be what it seems, scientists say

Distant, ancient galaxies are giving scientists more hints that a mysterious force called dark energy may not be what they thought. Read more.

Why this matters:

• Astronomers know that the universe is being pushed apart at an accelerating rate and they have puzzled for decades over what could possibly be speeding everything up. They theorize that a powerful, constant force is at play, but they can’t see it and they don’t know where it comes from, so they call it dark energy.
  
  

• But findings published earlier this year and a newer analysis on Tuesday by an international research collaboration of more than 900 scientists from around the globe yielded a major surprise. As the scientists analyzed how galaxies move, they found that the force pushing or pulling them around did not seem to be constant.
  
  

• Instead of the theorized constant force, the energy appears to be changing or weakening over time and could mean that dark energy is very different than what scientists thought — or that there may be something else altogether going on.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤

• Trump and Musk solidify their bond with Texas trip for rocket launch
  
  
• PHOTO COLLECTION: Supermoon
  
  
• British writer Samantha Harvey’s space-station novel ‘Orbital’ wins the Booker Prize for fiction

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IN OTHER NEWS

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‘Bomb cyclone’: