Senator Says He Will Drop His Blockade of Most Military Promotions

Also, a top Democratic donor boosts Nikki Haley. Here’s the latest at the end of Tuesday.

Senator Tommy Tuberville, Republican of Alabama, announced today that he would lift his blockade of nearly all the military promotions he had delayed for months to protest a Pentagon policy ensuring abortion access for service members.

That would mean that more than 400 promotions can now move forward. “Everybody but the 10 or 11 four-stars,” Tuberville said. His hold had disrupted the Pentagon’s ability to fill its top ranks nearly all year.

The move came amid mounting pressure from both Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill, who had vociferously opposed his blockade, put in place in February in opposition to a new policy that offers time off and travel reimbursement to service members seeking abortions or fertility care.

In other abortion news, a woman who is 20 weeks pregnant, and whose fetus has been diagnosed with a deadly condition, has sued Texas for an abortion under a medical exception to the state’s bans.

Intense fighting reported in southern Gaza’s largest city

After days of warning civilians to leave southern Gaza’s largest city, Khan Younis, Israeli forces stepped up their attacks overnight. Intense bombing was heard this morning from inside the city’s major medical facility, where many Palestinians have sought shelter.

An Israeli commander described house-to-house gun battles amid some of the heaviest combat of the two-month war, and Hamas said it had killed at least 10 Israeli soldiers, injured several more and destroyed many Israeli military vehicles. Here’s the latest.

Israel is under increasing international pressure not to repeat the scale of civilian deaths and physical destruction inflicted in the northern part of Gaza, but experts said they had not seen significant changes in the intensity of the military operations or resulting casualties.

Justices seem skeptical of challenge to Trump-era tax

In oral arguments today, the Supreme Court’s liberal wing and more moderate conservatives appeared to be searching for a narrow way to uphold a relatively new tax on foreign income. A majority of the justices seemed skeptical of striking down the tax, a move experts said could cost the federal government hundreds of billions of dollars in lost tax revenue.

The case was prompted by a tax bill on one couple for nearly $15,000, tied to a law that affected relatively few Americans. But it could redefine what is considered income in America, endanger much of the tax code, and preemptively block efforts by Democrats to impose levies on billionaires’ wealth.

A top Democratic donor boosts Nikki Haley

Reid Hoffman, the billionaire co-founder of LinkedIn and a major Democratic donor, recently gave $250,000 to a super PAC supporting the presidential campaign of Nikki Haley, a Republican. However, he has no intention of changing his party affiliation.

Instead, Hoffman — who co-hosted a fund-raiser for President Biden this year — appears to be trying to raise the profile of Haley, who has gained momentum in recent weeks, in an effort to undermine Donald Trump.

More top news

• Ukraine: President Volodymyr Zelensky canceled plans for a last-ditch appeal to U.S. senators for aid, ahead of a critical vote planned for tomorrow.
• Politics: Speaker Mike Johnson promised a vote to authorize a formal impeachment inquiry against President Biden, possibly next week.
• China: The credit ratings agency Moody’s lowered its view of the country’s finances to negative, saying it was concerned about the potential cost of local government bailouts.
• Economy: Job openings in the U.S. fell considerably in October, to the lowest level since March 2021.
• Crypto: Bitcoin’s price has increased roughly 150 percent this year, far outperforming stock indexes. Investors are betting that regulators will soon approve a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund.
• COP28: At the U.N. climate conference in Dubai, the talks have become an intense debate over the future of fossil fuels.
• Wealth gap: A new report found that New York is gaining millionaires, while lower-income families are being forced to leave.
• Education: The math performance of U.S. teenagers has sharply declined since 2018 and ranks well behind that of students in Australia, Singapore and South Korea, a global exam showed.
• Africa: Nigeria’s president called for an inquiry into a drone attack by his country’s military that killed at least 85 civilians.
• Retirement: Immigrants who have worked for decades on U.S. farms are reaching retirement age in a country that offers them neither Medicare nor Social Security.

TIME TO UNWIND

A guide dog becomes an art star

Emilie Gossiaux was a young art student who hoped to one day showcase her work in museums when, in 2010, she was hit by a truck. She suffered a traumatic brain injury and lost her sight. Her art career, which had once benefited from her keen eye, was put on pause.

But after learning to “see” with her hands, Gossiaux’s youthful dream is coming to fruition. “Other-Worlding,” her first solo exhibition, opens tomorrow at the Queens Museum in New York City. The show celebrates her 13-year-old guide dog, London, and their mutual dependency.

There was plenty to laugh at this year

Comedy in 2023 will not be remembered for one major hit or one major flop; rather, it was defined by its sprawl. Netflix led the conversation with specials from John Mulaney and Chris Rock, but many more were self-released, as young performers lit up TikTok and Instagram.

Our critic Jason Zinoman writes that Jim Gaffigan’s “Dark Pale” is the best special of the year; Beth Stelling’s “If You Didn’t Want Me Then” is its biggest breakthrough; and John Early’s “Now More Than Ever” has the year’s best bit. Check out Jason’s take on the best comedy of 2023.

Dinner table topics

• London fashion: Amal Clooney, Gwyneth Paltrow and Rita Ora wore some of the most showstopping looks at the Fashion Awards, Britain’s answer to the Met Gala.
• True crime: Podcasters took up her sister’s murder investigation. Then they turned on her.
• Design: The studio behind the logos for NBC, Mobil and N.Y.U. made the emblem for the U.S.’s “semiquincentennial” — its 250th anniversary.
• Grade inflation: Nearly everyone at Yale gets A’s, a new report found. Does that cheapen the grade?

WHAT TO DO TONIGHT

Cook: This hot and tangy buffalo salmon is easy to make.

Watch: These are three of the best documentaries to stream right now.

Read: Our columnist recommends “The Other Half,” which is part satire, part mystery.

Listen: Yuja Wang’s Rachmaninoff marathon was one of the best classical performances of 2023.

Consider: Experts say it’s still not too late to get a flu shot.

Give: We tested more than a dozen flower delivery services. This is our favorite one.

Compete: Take our quiz to see how well you know these holiday-time screen adaptations.

Play: Here are today’s Spelling Bee, Wordle and Mini Crossword. Find all our games here.

ONE LAST THING

Now Jimmy Stewart can talk you to sleep

With the iconic drawl recognizable to anyone who has seen “It’s a Wonderful Life” or “Vertigo,” the voice of the beloved actor James Stewart narrates a bedtime story that was released today on the meditation app Calm. “You can call me Jimmy,” he says.

But it’s not actually a recording of Stewart, who died in 1997. Instead, it’s a clone made by feeding old recordings of his voice through an artificial intelligence system.

Have a soothing evening.

Thanks for reading. I’ll be back tomorrow. — Matthew

We welcome your feedback. Write to us at evening@nytimes.com.