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Live from NPR News in Washington. I'm Jack Spear. The Pentagon says ongoing U.S.

airstrikes are hampering the ability of hooty fighters in Yemen to fire on commercial ships.

However, as NPR's Greg Myry explains, the Pentagon's declined to say how long it thinks the

militant group can or will continue such attacks.

The Pentagon's Deputy Press Secretary, Sabrina Singh, says the Huthies are now firing fewer

missiles, but she acknowledges they can

still target cargo ships in the Red Sea off the Western coast of Yemen.

It's up to the Huthies to decide when they want to stop. That's really a

calculation that they have to make. We can't

make that for them. A Huthi leader says the group will not give into US pressure

and will continue to fight in what he calls a show of solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

The U.S. has carried out five rounds of airstrikes in the past week

targeting places where the Houthi store and launch weapons.

Greg Myri, in PR News, Washington.

Congress raced against the clock and a pending winter storm to pass a stopgap spending

bill to avoid a partial government shutdown.

And PIRS Claudia Grisales reports the bipartisan plan

buys Congress several more weeks to hammer out a permanent spending package.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer

lauded the effort to avert a partial government shutdown.

...