hello. i m helena lee. great to have you with us. we begin with some news from the war in ukraine. russia says its troops have fully captured the ukrainian city of bakhmut. kyiv has denied those claims, but if true, it could mark an end to the longest and bloodiest battle of the 15 month war. russia has been trying to take bakhmut since last year in a grinding war of attrition. and in the last few minutes, the russian news agency interfax has said president putin congratulated his troops for capturing the city. earlier, ukraine had said its units were still fighting in the city. this comes on the heels of the us agreement to allow ukrainian pilots to train in american made f16 jets. a move moscow had criticised. meanwhile, ukrainian president volodymyr zelensky has been on a whirlwind tour in an effort to drum up support and weapons for an expected counter offensive against russia. it s been a busy few hours for zelensky, touching down injapan on saturday for diplomatic talks
development in the high stakes legal battle to abortion access, the most high stakes since the supreme court overturned roe v. wade. a federal court of appeals heard arguments on why the widely used abortion drug mifepristone should be available. and attorney for the pharmaceutical company and anti-abortion groups squared off and a circuit court of appeals, which has historically been one of the nation s most conservative appeals court. during the tour to the hearing, the panel of judges, all of whom had previously backed abortion restrictions took repeated shots at the fda and, in the process, expose their fundamental lack of knowledge with the facts behind medication abortion. the hearing turned hostile within seconds with the judge james ho interrupting a lawyer after she described the landmark case as unprecedented in her opening statement. judge how asked that she, quote, just focus on the facts of the case rather than have the sort of fda can do no wrong theme. in anoth
manhattan d.a. alvin bragg turns the screws on trump s former cfo. and later, our conversation with abortion providers here in new york as they prepare for the possible and of mifepristone, and another southern state passes a strict ban on most procedures. plus, the dreamers take on desantis in florida state capital, we will speak with two of them, they went to tallahassee to confront lawmakers face to face and more. this is american voices. we begin this hour with a fight over the nation s debt limit as the deadline to reach a deal is now less than two weeks away. it is a show down the world is closely watching. as house republicans threaten to use our economy as a pawn to force spending cuts. nbc news has learned a, quote, candid discussion on the desk that limit between the white house and house republicans stretched late into the night friday. however, house speaker kevin mccarthy now says that negotiations won t resume until president biden returns to the u.s.. bac
available. and attorney for the pharmaceutical company and antiabortion activists squared off and a circuit court of appeals, which has historically been one of the nation s most conservative supreme courts. during the tour to the hearing, the panel of judges, all of whom had previously backed abortion restrictions took repeated shots at the fda and, in the process, expose their fundamental lack of knowledge with the facts behind medication abortion. the jury turned hostile and seconds with the judge james o interrupting a lawyer after she described the landmark case as unprecedented in her opening statement. judge how asked that she, quote, just focus on the facts of the case rather than have the sort of fda can do no wrong theme. in a another stunning moment, attorney wilson inserted by allowing medical professionals other than doctors to prescribe mifepristone, the fda made it more likely that it would be emergency care including surgery. to be clear, there is no scientifi
the u.s. inching closer to running out of money to pay its debts. a deadline is as close as 12 days away, but the high-stakes negotiations between the white house and republicans have collapsed and it is not clear when face to face talks will resume. meanwhile, president biden will cut short his asia trip to address the debt crisis. before heading home tomorrow from the g-7 summit in japan, biden will meet with ukraine s president. president zelenskyy is making a dramatic appearance at the gathering to ask world leaders for help in the war against russia. russia claims a major victory in ukraine. today the head of the mercenary wagner group says his fighters have captured bakhmut after months of brutal fighting, but ukraine says it still holds a small portion of the city. cnn s phil mattingly is at the summit in japan. let s begin with the debt crisis. a u.s. default would of course hurt economies around the world. so what is the level of concern there and where do things sta