Russia-Ukraine prisoner swap, White House warns Democrats, AI stocks rebound
Russia and Ukraine agree to a large prisoner swap at Abu Dhabi talks, the White House warns the likely Oversight chair about planned probes, AI stocks lift the Nasdaq, Joe Biden on cancer and the 2024 race, and the SS United States becomes a reef.
Russia and Ukraine agreed to a large exchange of prisoners of war during two days of U.S.-mediated talks in Abu Dhabi, their first negotiations in nine months. The talks ended with no major breakthrough toward ending the war. Russian General Staff official Alexander Zorin said it would be one of the biggest such swaps and could happen within two or three weeks. U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner plan to meet Vladimir Putin in Moscow, then Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Dublin.
Ukraine saysPresident Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine's priority is to end the war as soon as possible with a dignified peace.
Russia saysKremlin adviser Yuri Ushakov called the talks substantive and quite useful; delegation head Vladimir Medinsky described the swap deal as agreed in principle.
The U.S. saysEnvoy Jared Kushner called the talks a good first step but said there is no trust between the sides right now.
White House counsel Will Scharf sent a letter dated Monday to Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee and its likely chair in the new Democratic-controlled Congress, warning that threats and subpoenas aimed at administration officials 'may cross the line into blatant criminality.' Garcia replied that Congress's authority does not need the White House's permission.
The White House saysScharf wrote that Congress's power to compel testimony exists only for oversight functions, and that Democrats' statements show investigations 'will be deployed to harass and aggrandize, rather than to advance any legitimate legislative end.'
Rep. Robert Garcia says'It appears Donald Trump has something to hide.' He said Congress's authority comes from Article I of the Constitution, 'not from the permission of the White House,' and that Democrats 'will not be deterred by baseless threats.'
AI stocks rebounded Wednesday. The Nasdaq composite rose 1.6% to 25,466, about 400 points, the S&P 500 rose 1.3% to 7,619 and the Dow rose 0.5% to 52,486. CoreWeave shares jumped about 24% after the company reported better-than-expected third-quarter revenue of $3.66 billion. The bond market was closed for Veterans Day.
Former President Joe Biden told People magazine he did not know he had cancer while president and would not have sought a second term if he had known. 'I don't think an 80-year-old man with cancer should be running' for president, he said. Biden was diagnosed with metastatic prostate cancer months after leaving office in 2025. His White House memoir, Promise Me, America, is due out November 17.
Crews began sinking the SS United States in the Gulf of Mexico about 22 miles southwest of Destin, Florida, on Wednesday to create what Okaloosa County calls the world's largest artificial reef. The nearly 1,000-foot liner set the trans-Atlantic speed record on its 1952 maiden voyage. It is expected to rest in about 180 feet of water in a $13.5 million project.
