News Wrap: Ukrainian forces take back city of Kherson

In our news wrap Friday, Ukrainian forces swept into the southern city of Kherson dealing a major blow to Russia's war effort, the Biden administration has stopped taking applications for student loan forgiveness a day after a federal judge in Texas blocked the debt relief program and the world's third-largest cryptocurrency exchange filed for bankruptcy.

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  • Judy Woodruff:

    In the day's other news: President Biden called on world leaders to take decisive steps against the climate crisis in his opening address at the COP 27 conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. He also pledged that the U.S., one of the world's biggest polluters, would meet its target for reducing emissions by 2030.

    We will have more on this after the new summary.

    Ukrainian forces swept into the southern city of Kherson today, dealing a major blow to Moscow's war effort. The liberation came after Russia completed its retreat from the region. In the city center, crowds cheered and waved flags as they greeted the incoming Ukrainian troops after months of Russian occupation.

  • Yurii Nevolchuk, Kherson Resident (through translator):

    I'm just excited, excited. We knew this day would come that our boys would liberate us. We're very grateful to them. These were nine months of horror.

  • Judy Woodruff:

    Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the day historic and said that his first focus was to de-mine the region.

    Tropical Storm Nicole has now weakened to a depression, dumping heavy rain from Georgia on up to Southern Canada. The storm claimed at least three lives in Florida after making landfall yesterday near Vero Beach. Dozens of hotels and condos northeast of Orlando were forced to evacuate after being deemed unsafe. Some communities in the storm's path were still recovering from Hurricane Ian.

  • Kendra Dowling Goodrich, Property Manager:

    This was not an area that has ever even flooded. It was a trifecta of Ian, and then a king tide, and then Nicole. And we just didn't have a chance to recover. The tide never relaxed. And so it just compromised every seawall, every dune.

  • Judy Woodruff:

    The National Hurricane Center also warned that the Blue Ridge Mountains Could see as much as eight inches of rainfall from the storm. There's also a chance of flash flooding as far north as New England.

    The head of U.S. Customs and Border Protection is being pressured to resign over his handling of the influx of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border. Chris Magnus told The Los Angeles Times that Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas asked him to step down or be fired. He has refused to resign. Sources familiar with the Homeland Security Department's discussions confirmed the demand to the "PBS NewsHour."

    They told us that there has been dissatisfaction with Magnus' leadership in the post that he has held for less than a year, particularly in the role of law enforcement and border protection.

    The Biden administration has stopped taking applications for student loan forgiveness a day after a federal judge in Texas blocked the president's debt relief program. The Justice Department has filed an appeal against the ruling. The program was already on hold while a federal appeals court reviews a separate lawsuit filed by six states.

    The world's third largest cryptocurrency exchange, FTX, filed for bankruptcy today. Its CEO and founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, also resigned. Earlier this week, FTX agreed to sell itself to rival Binance to avoid collapse, but Binance backed out of the deal. All this comes as several federal regulators have reportedly launched probes into FTX over its business practices.

    On Wall Street today, stocks extended their gains to close out a strong week of trading. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 32 points to close at 33748. The Nasdaq climbed 209 points, and the S&P 500 added 36.

    And the nation honored its military veterans today. Parades, celebrations and solemn ceremonies paid tribute to the men and women who have served our country. At Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, Vice President Kamala Harris laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and spoke of the sacrifices that generations of veterans have made.

    Kamala Harris, Vice President of the United States: American service members have sworn an oath not to a person, not to a party, but to the Constitution of the United States to support and defend the principles of liberty, equality, and justice, to preserve and protect our democracy.

  • Judy Woodruff:

    This also marks the first Veterans Day since President Biden signed legislation expanding health care for service members exposed to toxic burn pits. The White House says more than 137,000 claims have already been filed.

    Still to come on the "NewsHour": more LGBTQ candidates win office than ever before in the midterm elections; the departure of Twitter executives exacerbate worries over the company's future; younger generations push to preserve a disappearing indigenous language in rural Alaska; plus much more.

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