Midday rundown: Ukraine pitches peace summit, Taiwan extends military service

The ringleader behind Michigan governor’s kidnapping plot is sentenced; new developments form on Ukraine-Russia peace talks; and why thousands of Washington state residents were without power on Christmas. These stories and more highlight your midday rundown, aimed straight down the middle for Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2022.

Leader behind kidnapping plot sentenced

On Tuesday, the leader behind the plan to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has been sentenced to 16 years in prison, far below the life-sentence federal prosecutors were seeking.

Adam Fox, along with four other men, targeted the governor back in 2020.

They were all found guilty for their roles this year.

Ukraine speaks on potential peace summit

Officials in Ukraine say they want to hold a peace summit by February of next year, which would be around the one year mark since the war with Russia began.

Ukraine is hoping to have the United Nations involved, but the U.N. has already said they would need Russia at the table too. That is something Ukraine says won’t happen unless Russia is tried for war crimes.

“The idea of the peace formula is twofold. On the one hand, not to allow Russia to manipulate the issue of peace because they regularly say that they are ready for negotiations, which is not true. Because everything they do on the battlefield proves the opposite, proves to the contrary. They are not seeking peace,” Ukraine Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said.

Russia similarly has its own stipulations. Russia has reiterated that they want to hold peace talks with Ukraine, but only if they recognize territory gained throughout the war as Russia’s.

Taiwan extends mandatory military service

Taiwan is changing the length of its mandatory military service from a term of four months to one year.

The president says Taiwan wants peace, but needs to be able to defend itself in the instance democracy is at stake. The move comes as a response to the mounting tension between Taiwan and China over Taiwan’s sovereignty.

It’s been a year of escalation as China’s military ramped up air drills near the island and made threats to the U.S. over its alliance with Taiwan.

Pentagon ramps up Islamic State raids

The U.S. is actively pursuing the Islamic State in Syria, conducting at least 10 military operations this month alone to draw out terrorists. Several risky raids have been conducted, leading to the capturing or killing of Islamic State operatives.

Some officials say there’s roughly 10,000 Islamic State fighters throughout Syria and Iraq.

Washington power substations attack

14,000 customers in Washington state were without power on Christmas day, after vandals targeted four power substations. Setting fire to at least one of the facilities. Power has since been restored to all of Washington.

“This morning at 5:26 a.m., our deputies responded to a call of a burglary, a commercial burglary at one of the tacoma public utilities substations out here in the graham area. The suspects cut one of the locks on the fence area, made their way inside and caused damage to the substation, which ultimately knocked out power for a large amount of residents in the county,” said Sgt. Darrien Moss, speaking on behalf of the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department

This vandalism is becoming a trend, as it is sweeping the nation particularly in the Northwest.

It was earlier this month when two electrical substations were shot up in North Carolina prompting a state of emergency.

No one has been arrested for any of the attacks and the motive is unclear.

“We are aware of other incidents that occurred in Oregon and southern Washington, as well as the incidents from North Carolina earlier in this winter time. So, that’s what we’re looking into. Again, an open investigation, can’t share very many details. But we are aware of those things and we’re going to see if any of this stuff is related to that,” Sgt. Moss said.

IRS delays $600 1099-K tax reporting

People who earned at least $600 from third-party payment platforms like Venmo and PayPal were going to have to declare it on their taxes come tax season.

But the IRS has announced it’s delaying the rollout for another year.

It was a controversial tax measure initially passed in the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan. It requires e-commerce platforms to send a 1099-K form to businesses making just $600.

Right now, businesses making $20,000 or more have to declare it as income. Substantially lowering the threshold to tax more businesses.

But it’s now been postponed for a year.