suspected of spying which was brought down by an american fighter jet yesterday. the former president of pakistan, general pervez musharraf, has died at the age of 79 following a long illness. iran s supreme leader ayatollah ali khamenei is pardoning a large number of prisoners, including some of those arrested during the past months of protests. the pardon by ayatollah khamenei comes on the eve of the anniversary of the islamic revolution in 1979 a date on which he regularly offers an amnesty to some prisoners. but the iranian state media says it excludes those facing charges of spying for foreign agencies, murder and bodily harm, as well as the destruction or arson of state property. taraneh stone, from the bbc s persian service, told us a little more on what s happening in iran the supreme leader has agreed to pardon and commute sentences of tens of people who are imprisoned or who are waiting for sentences. the letter from the judiciary said that a considerable numb
and we can discuss why that is, but because growth is poor, there will be conservatives who will say we should have followed the strategy, and for those who are less convinced by that, it sends an unreassuring signal that there are elements of the conservative party who still believe in a high risk fiscal strategy. if rishi sunak is going to win the next general election, it ll be because he will have reassured the public that the conservatives are the only party to be trusted with the economy. more noises like this make that task much harder, so i m sure he thinks it is an unhelpful intervention. i should just mention as well that those words united states navy and coastguard vessels are working to recover the wreckage of a chinese observation balloon that was shot down off the coast of south carolina on saturday. the debris came down in shallow water and is said to be spread over a wide area. a pentagon official said the recovery would enable us analysts to examine sensitive
whole team. we wish you the best for the holidays and the new year. i m jim sciutto. at this hour with my colleague kate bolduan starts right now. hello, everyone. i m kate bolduan. welcome to a special edition of at this hour today. depending on where you live, your dream of a white christmas may be coming true. for anyone dreaming of a quiet and uneventful holiday week out of washington, keep dreaming. christmas eve 2018 feels a whole lot like almost every other day in 2018. disruption, dysfunction, and disarray. the government still partially shut down. the president so angry over the response to the defense secretary s resignation that trump is now kicking secretary mattis out two months early, and the treasury secretary throwing out the most unreassuring reassurance possible as the markets wrap up the worst
it s fundamentally unreassuring, destabilizing. do the politics of this matter? the fact that senators and members of congress are now going to be asked by reporters, what do you think, what do you think, it s already happening. i haven t heard one person say, yes, of course, 3 to 5 million people voted illegally because it isn t true. is it going to hurt him get his agenda across? they d rather be talking about something else, what they re going to do with the affordable care act than how many people road the metro on inauguration day. what they re going to do about tax reform whether or not illegal ballots were cast. it is a distraction from some of the things congressional republicans would like to drive on their message. but i think the other problem is that it continues to erode this trust. you do have about a third of people who i would assume hear this claim and maybe the 3 to 5 million doesn t matter to them but they think there is probably voter fraud in this country and g
you know rum and coke at sun set. reporter: yeah. no. reporter: they re sailing twice as fast of the mono-hulled racing yachts of not so long ago. are you going to flip over? it depends, the unreassuring answer. if you re not getting close to capsizing, you re probably not pushing it hard enough. reporter: are you pushing yet or just crazy? nick watt, on san francisco bay. get in on the action, paula, bet you look good on the high seas. snoop out on the poop deck? there you go. you look a little constipated in the photo. little constipated in the photo. [ male announcer ] sponges take your mark.