Russia-Ukraine talks, Hegseth impeachment blocked, Europe school bomb hoax (Updated)

Hi, I'm Kim Vannell, in Wanganui, New Zealand. And I'm Christopher Walgesper in Chicago. It's Wednesday, November 11th. Today, Russia and Ukraine remain at an impasse after two days of peace talks. Republicans block efforts to impeach Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. And hundreds of schools across Europe are hit by hoax bomb threats. This is Royce's world news, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes, seven days a week. Negotiators from Russia and Ukraine have wrapped up two days of talks in Abu Dhabi, with deep divisions remaining. The reality is, is there's no trust right now between the sides, and that's to be expected after a conflict like this. Jared Kushner, U.S. envoy and President Donald Trump's son-in-law acknowledged that the two sides remain far apart on many issues, including Russia's demand that Ukraine surrender the entire Donbos region, which Kiev rejects. Kushner and fellow envoy Steve Whitkoff are continuing the negotiations over the coming days. Steve and I are going to travel to Moscow tomorrow to meet with President Putin to go over what was discussed today, and try to make sure he says a major prisoner exchange will be finalized at that meeting. "There, after that, we're going to fly to Dublin, and we're going to be with President Zelensky to brief with him and further," Kushner says future negotiations could include European partners. Meanwhile, attacks continue to overnight. The Russia's struck Ukrainian power stations and a market, killing at least three people. House Republicans have, for now, blocked an effort to impeach U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Higgseth. "The motion is adopted." The Chamber voted 211 to 204 in favor of a "motion to refer," sending impeachment articles to the House Judiciary Committee, led by Republicans. The move effectively avoids a vote on the House floor, stalling efforts sponsored by Republican congressmen Thomas Massey. Defense Secretary Higgseth, earlier Tuesday, dismissed the impeachment effort. "What one disgruntled and defeated congressman is attempting, is not oversight, and it's not accountability. It's a political spectacle." Massey was the only Republican to vote against the motion to refer. 11 Democrats missed the vote. The impeachment articles accuse Higgseth of waging war and Iran without congressional approval, failing to minimize civilian casualties, authorizing extrajudicial strikes on boats in the Caribbean, and kidnapping Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro among others. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Besent has been moved to a military base following Iranian threats against his life, that's according to two sources familiar with the matter. He concerns escalated after the Wall Street Journal published an aerial photo of his Washington home, allowing it to be geo-located. House Republicans have picked Ohio congressman Jim Jordan as their next leader. The longtime Trump ally and co-founder of the conservative House Freedom Caucus won a closed-door vote to serve as the minority leader in a Democratic-controlled Congress. And in other Washington news, members of the Kennedy family are trying to block President Trump's proposed 250-foot arch near Arlington National Cemetery. They argue it would cast shadows over JFK's grave and other memorials. A judge has already temporarily halted construction, and Democrats have promised to block it permanently when they take control of Congress. Questions surrounding leadership are also servicing for tech giant Envidia. Over just two days this week, Envidia has lost around $430 billion in market value. Investors are reacting to growing questions about CEO Jensen Huang's relationship with the businesswoman who has been accused of being a Chinese spy. Now the focus is on Envidia's board, and whether it can hold its own CEO accountable. The company has opened an internal investigation, and President Trump says the FBI is also looking into it. Reporter Ross Kerber says the questions raised in this case go beyond executive misconduct. There's 11 total directors Jensen Huang is one of them, and the ten others all ten are considered independent according to Envidia's proxy. But if you look at their tenure, three or four of them go back to the 1990s being on this board, and there's a real concern or suspicion, I think, that this is sort of his clubby group of insiders that he's picked and brought along, and they've really ridden this company. The question that many people have is, can this board really be trusted to oversee a really independent investigation? Meanwhile more details are coming to light about Alice Wang, the Chinese businesswoman at the center of the scrutiny. Reporter Laurie Chen has been looking into her background. Alice Wang is a former Chinese investment management firm's executive, who later became the managing director of the Singaporean data cloud services from mega speed. And before she worked in the investment world in Shanghai, she is also a state media journalist for four years in China. So mega speed is one of Envidia's official cloud partners, and they have been buying lots of advanced semiconductor chips from Envidia. And since last year, the US government has been investigating mega speed on suspicion of the company allegedly diverting banned advanced semiconductors to China, illegally, through smuggling. Beijing denies Wang is a Chinese intelligence asset, calling the accusations "baseless". Roy Tez hasn't been able to verify Wang's whereabouts to seek comment. Inter has arrived in Gaza, and for the hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians, it's brought fresh misery. On Sunday, a woman and three small children were killed when torrential rain caused a sand embankment to collapse on tents in Darabala. In Gaza City over the weekend, heavy rains or some 70,000 tents sheltering displaced people flooded within just a few hours. Patresses, blankets, belongings, all soaked. Alfred Al-Maghdub, barefoot, desperately tries to sweep dirty rainwater away from her tent, so her family can sleep on the floor as she tries to dry out the soaked bedding. More than half a million children in Gaza are facing their fourth-winter tents or makeshift shelters. Parents are expected to fall as low as 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Aid groups say that tents and shelter kits awaiting at Gaza's border blocked from entry. France is accusing Iran's revolutionary guards of a major supermarket hack last month. Refrigerators and freezers had their temperatures raised, spoiling huge amounts of food and in some cases, causing fires. Now France's threatening retaliation, Deputy Bureau Chief Gabriel Stargada says France has summoned Iran's ambassador and is weighing a range of possible responses. "I have the most interesting thing is that the French Foreign Minister said that they would be more repercussions and some of them may not disclose publicly. We may never find out if they even do a go-ahead, but that suggests that this incident is going to spark a broader period of upset opportunity countries." Iran's mission to the United Nations did not return messages seeking comment. Iran routinely denies carrying out malicious cyber operations. While European authorities grapple with these hacks, more than 300 schools in Italy have been evacuated after receiving hoax bomb threats. Several schools in Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland have also received email threats, but quickly realized it was a hoax. The email received in Italy was signed Michele Andropov, leader of the Viliat of Massagenestan. The same sign-off was sent in bomb threats to newsrooms in Ireland and Bulgaria. Russia and Iran have both been suspected of being behind recent campaigns of threats and cyber attacks, but both countries have rejected those accusations. For more on any of the stories from today, as well as more analysis and news shaping our world, check out Reuters.com or the Reuters app. There's a link in the description to download it and start getting pure news straight from the source. Don't forget to follow us on your favourite podcast player. If you're listening on a smart speaker, just ask for the latest news from Reuters seven days a week. We'll be back tomorrow with our daily headline show. [Music]