Stephen Colbert will be sticking around for four more years.
CBS announced Thursday that Colbert has signed a new contract that will keep him as the "Late Show" host through at least August 2023. His current pact was set to expire next August.
Terms were not disclosed. But it's a safe bet Colbert is in line for a healthy raise. He took over for David Letterman in 2015 and currently reigns as the most popular host on late-night television. The "Late Show" averages nearly 4 million viewers each night, with a widening lead over the second-place "Tonight" show with Jimmy Fallon.
Colbert quips that he's been asked to stay "and I have every intention of honoring their subpoena."
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. has determined that an Israeli military unit committed gross human-rights abuses against Palestinians in the West Bank before the war in Gaza began six months ago, but it will hold off on any decision about aid to the battalion while it reviews new information provided by Israel, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson.
The undated letter, obtained by The Associated Press on Friday, defers a decision by the U.S. whether to impose a first-ever block on U.S. aid to an Israeli military unit over its treatment of Palestinians. Israeli leaders, anticipating the U.S. decision this week, have angrily protested any such aid restrictions.
Blinken stressed that U.S. military support for Israel’s defense against Hamas and other threats would not be affected by the State Department's final decision on the one unit. Johnson muscled through legislation providing $26 billion in additional funds for Israel's defense and for relief of the growing humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.
The U.S. declaration concerns a single Israeli unit and its actions against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank before Israel's war with Hamas in Gaza began in October. While the unit is not identified in Blinken's letter, it is believed to be the Netzah Yehuda, which has historically been based in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
The unit and some of its members have been linked to abuses of civilians in the Palestinian territory, including the death of a 78-year-old Palestinian American man after his detention by the battalion's forces in 2022.
Blinken said the Israeli government has so far not adequately addressed the abuses by the military unit. But "the Israeli government has presented new information regarding the status of the unit and we will engage on identifying a path to effective remediation for this unit,” he wrote.
A 1997 act known as the Leahy law obligates the U.S. to cut off military aid to a foreign army unit that it deems has committed grave violations of international law or human rights. But the law allows a waiver if the military has held the offenders responsible and acted to reform the unit.
The Leahy law has never been invoked against close ally Israel.
The U.S. review comes as protests and counterprotests over American military aid for Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza are roiling U.S. college campuses as well as election-year politics at home and relations abroad.
Lee contributed from Beijing.
FILE - Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a press conference, April 26, 2024, in Beijing, China. In a letter from Blinken to House Speaker Mike Johnson obtained by the Associated Press Friday, April 26, Blinken says the U.S. has determined that an Israeli military unit committed gross human-rights abuses against Palestinians in the West Bank before the war in Gaza began six months ago. But he says the U.S. will hold off on any decision about aid to the battalion while it reviews new information provided by Israel. (AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana, File)
Mother of Palestinian Shadi Jalaita, 44, cries upon the arrival of her son's body at the family house for the last look during his funeral in the West Bank city of Jericho Tuesday, April 23, 2024. Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian man early Tuesday in the West Bank city of Jericho, an eyewitness and Palestinian officials said. The Palestinian Health Ministry said he suffered a fatal gunshot wound to the chest. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a press conference at the U.S. Embassy in China, Friday, April 26, 2024, in Beijing, China. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, Pool)
