The U.S. Senate on Thursday defied the White House by rebuking Saudi Arabia over the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Seven Republican senators, including co-sponsor Mike Lee of Utah, joined with Democrats to approve a nonbinding resolution calling for the United States to end its assistance to Saudi Arabia in the war in Yemen.

A Russian woman accused of being a secret agent admitted Thursday she conspired to gather intelligence on conservative political groups. As part of a deal with prosecutors, Maria Butina, 30, pleaded guilty to a single charge of conspiracy to act as an unregistered foreign agent.

The Senate voted 87-13 Tuesday in favor of a sweeping agriculture bill that will fund key farm safety-net programs for the next five years. The House is expected to pass the measure soon and send it to President Donald Trump for his signature. The legislation sets agricultural and food policy and provides $400 billion dollars in farm subsidies, conservation programs, and food aid for the poor. It also legalizes the cultivation of industrial hemp, an initiative championed by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

Congress approved a two-week funding bill on Thursday to avert a partial government shutdown, and President Donald Trump is expected sign the measure on Friday. The bill keeps the federal government funded through Dec. 21. Funding would have expired Friday for a portion of the government, including the Department of Homeland Security. The stopgap funding bill sets up a possible showdown right before Christmas over funding for a border wall.

A fourth U.S. soldier has died from wounds suffered last week in a roadside bomb attack in Afghanistan. Sgt. Jason Mitchell McClary, a 24-year-old Pennsylvania native, died at the U.S. military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany. Three U.S. service members were killed in the explosion last Tuesday near Ghazni, and two others were wounded. It was the deadliest attack against U.S. forces in Afghanistan this year. The Taliban claimed responsibility and said it destroyed a U.S. tank.

French President Emmanuel Macron has asked Prime Minister Édouard Philippe to meet with the heads of major political parties and representatives of a grassroots movement behind violent protests in the country over the weekend. More than 130 people were injured, including 23 police officers, in demonstrations against rising fuel taxes.

The United States and China have reached a 90-day cease-fire in their ongoing trade war. U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to the truce at a dinner meeting at the G-20 economic summit in Buenos Aires over the weekend. Trump said he would hold off on plans to raise tariffs Jan. 1 on $200 billion dollars of Chinese goods. The Chinese agreed to buy a “not yet agreed upon, but very substantial amount of agricultural, energy, industrial” and other products from the United States, Trump said. The move would go a long way toward cutting the U.S.