Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janine Herbst.

Russian President Vladimir Putin apologized to the leader of Azerbaijan today after the deadly Azerbaijani airline crash in Kazakhstan, but he didn't take responsibility for the crash.

In a statement, the Kremlin says it was responding to a Ukrainian drone strike in Chechnya. And

peers Elena Moore reports. In a Kremlin readout of the call, Putin characterized the crash, which

killed 38 people, as a tragic incident, apologizing that it happened in Russian airspace. It comes a day

after White House National Security spokesman John Kirby addressed Russia's potential involvement.

We do have, have seen some early indications that would certainly point to the possibility that this jet was brought down by Russian air defense systems.

Kirby added that an investigation conducted by Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan is ongoing, and the U.S.

has offered its assistance.

Elena Moore and PR News.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says the government will reach its debt limit by mid-January

and will have to adopt special measures

to continue paying his bills. And Fier's Rafael Nam has more.

Sometime between January 14th and January 23rd, the U.S. will hit its debt limit.

That's according to a letter sent by Yellen to Congress on Friday. But Yellen says the U.S. can adopt so-called

extraordinary measures to continue paying its bills. These are essentially accounting moves to conserve

cash, like suspending some planned investments. Yelan did not say how long the U.S. can do that

for. Some analysts believe the U.S. could stretch its money until summer, but it would

likely be up to the incoming Republican Congress and the next president, Donald Trump,

to raise or suspend the debt ceiling. Otherwise, the U.S. risks a devastating default.

Rafael N.P.R. News. Six months ago today, the Supreme Court made it easier for cities to crack down on homelessness.

Since then, more than 100 places around the country have banned people from sleeping outside,

...