FDA regulators to change packaging labels to make clear pill will not work if person is already pregnant
The US Food and Drug Administration has announced it will change packaging labels for the emergency contraceptive Plan B, to specify that it is not an abortion pill.
According to many anti-abortion activists, any form of disruption to an egg is considered an abortion.
Continue reading...Ten dead and more than 50 injured in Russian strikes on Kherson; ‘We will endure this winter,’ Volodymyr Zelenskiy says in Christmas eve message
At least ten people were killed and an estimated 58 wounded on Saturday in Russian shelling on the recently recaptured Ukrainian city of Kherson. The region was targeted by 74 Russian strikes. 66 cars caught fire in a residential area of the city due to the shelling, the emergency services said.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy called the attacks on Kherson “terror … killing for the sake of intimidation and pleasure”. He said: “it is the real life of Ukraine … The world must see and understand what absolute evil we are fighting against.”
Ukraine’s defence minister, Oleksii Reznikov, said the attack in Kherson is more evidence that Ukraine needs to be supplied with more defence systems and called for more weapons and ammunition.
In a message on Saturday, Zelenskiy said Ukrainians will create their own miracle this Christmas by showing they remain unbowed despite Russian attacks that have plunged millions into darkness. The president made his remarks in a video address to Ukrainians who celebrate Christmas in December. Most Ukrainians are Orthodox Christians and mark the occasion in early January.
Reuters reporters in the Russian-occupied city of Mariupol have confirmed that authorities are demolishing and clearing what is left of the smashed rear portion of the cities theatre, where hundreds of Ukrainians were killed in Russian airstrikes after a protracted siege earlier this year.
Ukraine has announced it has killed another 480 Russian troops, according to its latest casualty figures.
A Ukrainian official has called for Iranian drone and missile factories to be destroyed because of their use by Russia in the war. Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that Iran “blatantly humiliates the institution of international sanctions”.
The Netherlands has pledged €2.5bn ($2.7bn) to help Ukraine in 2023, with most of the money earmarked for military aid.
The rock band Pink Floyd has raised $600,000 for Ukraine with the song Hey Hey Rise Up.
Continue reading...Trump supporter has refused to concede to Democrat Katie Hobbs but Maricopa judge says no evidence of misconduct
A judge on Saturday threw out Republican Kari Lake’s challenge of her defeat in the Arizona governor’s race to the Democrat Katie Hobbs, rejecting her claim that problems with ballot printers at some polling places on election day were the result of intentional misconduct.
The Maricopa county superior court judge, Peter Thompson, who was appointed by then-Republican governor Jan Brewer, said the court did not find clear and convincing evidence of the widespread misconduct Lake alleged affected the result of the 2022 election. Lake will appeal, she said.
Continue reading...Saman Yasin had denied charges of attempting to kill security forces
Iran’s supreme court has accepted an appeal by rapper Saman Yasin against his death sentence even as it confirmed the same sentence against another protester.
Yasin, a well-known and acclaimed Kurdish artist and rapper, has been a vocal critic of the Iranian regime amid the current unrest. He wrote messages of support for protesters on his social media channels and has written several protest songs.
Continue reading...Republicans rail against pandemic-era rule as 226 House members from left to far right take chance not to vote in person
Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, one of two Democrats to oppose the $1.7tn spending bill that averted a US government shutdown on Friday, did so by voting “present”. But Tlaib was not present at the Capitol, voting instead by proxy.
Proxy voting was instituted during the Covid pandemic and is due to come to an end on 3 January, in the new Congress with Republicans controlling the House.
Continue reading...Delays and processing problems mean turmoil for arrivals from South and Central America seeking a better life in the US
After walking around downtown for hours, two young Colombian men stood across from the El Paso Chihuahuas baseball team’s stadium, looking for a shelter that immigration officials had mentioned.
A security guard who didn’t speak Spanish grasped their need and pointed towards the convention center.
Continue reading...Female employees of NGOs told to stop coming to work in latest move to curtail women’s freedoms in Afghanistan
Afghanistan’s Taliban-run administration has ordered all local and foreign non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to stop female employees from coming to work, according to a letter from the economy ministry.
The letter, the contents of which were confirmed by economy ministry spokesperson Abdulrahman Habib, said female employees of NGOs were not allowed to work until further notice.
Continue reading...City of Kherson suffers worst toll as Volodymyr Zelenskiy condemns killing ‘for intimidation and pleasure’
Russia launched artillery barrages in southern and eastern Ukraine on Saturday, killing at least eight people and injuring dozens more.
The worst civilian toll was in the southern city of Kherson, which was liberated last month from Russian occupying forces. The office of Ukraine’s prosecutor general confirmed that eight people had been killed.
Continue reading...Mark Woodley was sent by Iowa TV station to report on the bitterly cold conditions – and he did not like it that much
As a huge winter storm battered the US, a short-staffed TV station in Waterloo, Iowa dispatched a sports reporter to describe the scene outside.
Footage of Mark Woodley’s increasingly stressed video reports for KWWL, from a bitterly cold and snow-covered highway, duly went viral, registering 27m views by Saturday.
Continue reading...Top official confirms feature was removed but only temporarily, following Reuters report that prompted criticism of Elon Musk
Twitter has restored a feature that promoted suicide prevention hotlines and other safety resources to users looking up certain content, after coming under pressure from users and consumer safety groups.
The feature, known as #ThereIsHelp, placed a banner at the top of search results for certain topics, listing contacts for support organizations in many countries related to mental health, HIV, vaccines, child sexual exploitation, Covid-19, gender-based violence, natural disasters and freedom of expression.
In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is at 800-273-8255 and online chat is also available. You can also text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis text line counselor. In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at www.befrienders.org
Continue reading...Eight people confirmed dead and more than 50 injured as Russian shelling hits city of Kherson
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said the shelling on Kherson that has killed five and injured 20 others is “terrorism”.
Posting photographs of the aftermath of the attacks, including casualties lying on the street, he said: “The terrorist country continues bringing the Russian world in the form of shelling of the civilian population. Kherson. In the morning, on Saturday, on the eve of Christmas, in the central part of the city.
Continue reading...Hundreds rally after three people allegedly shot by man awaiting trial for refugee camp attack
Protesters have clashed with police as they call for justice over the killing of three people in a Kurdish neighbourhood in Paris.
Several hundred representatives of France’s Kurdish community gathered at Republic Square on Saturday to demand answers over the killings, which they say have left the community afraid.
Continue reading...More than 60% of US faces winter weather warnings, with temperatures drastically below normal in many places
A wild winter storm enveloped much of the US on Saturday, bringing blizzards, freezing rain, flooding and intense cold close to record lows. More than a dozen deaths were attributed to the storm. Holiday travel and utilities were disrupted, with around 1.4 million homes and businesses left without power by late afternoon.
Forecasters said the storm, a “bomb cyclone” or “bombogenesis”, was caused by a collision of cold, dry air from the north and warm, moist air from the south.
Continue reading...Mike Lee of Utah made comment in text message to Trump aide on evening after the Capitol attack
A senator who received a voice message meant for another Republican on January 6 described the caller, Rudy Giuliani, as “walking malpractice”.
The piquant characterisation of the former New York mayor, then Donald Trump’s attorney and a leading proponent of his election fraud lie, was made in a text message sent by Mike Lee of Utah.
Continue reading...Government research shows dramatic decline in numbers in western Hudson Bay stronghold
Polar bears are disappearing fast from the western part of Hudson Bay on the southern tip of the Canadian Arctic, according to a government survey.
The report said there had been a dramatic decline in the of number of female bears and cubs in particular.
Continue reading...Furtive transactions a thing of the past as retailers tentatively sell decorations openly
In previous years during the run-up to Christmas, Alia Obaidi would go to the local market in Riyadh, summon an Indian merchant and whisper her order. A short time later, he’d return with a cardboard box from a back room and furtively collect money.
But things have changed. When Alia, a Lebanese resident of the Saudi capital, made her annual trip to source Christmas decorations this year, she no longer needed the merchant, or the subterfuge.
Continue reading...Sobhraj arrives in Paris on commercial flight after release from Nepalese prison on health grounds
Charles Sobhraj, a convicted killer known as “the Serpent” who police believe targeted western backpackers on the hippie trail in the 1970s, has returned to France after nearly two decades behind bars in Nepal, BFM TV reported.
Nepal’s supreme court ordered the release of Sobhraj on Wednesday, citing his advanced age and health.
Continue reading...Blaze in Siberian city guts second floor of building housing illegal home for older people
Twenty-two people have been killed in a fire at an illegal care home in the Siberian city of Kemerovo, Russia’s emergencies ministry said.
The fire broke out early on Saturday morning in the two-storey wooden building in the industrial city more than 2,000 miles east of Moscow. Initial reports say it may have been caused by a faulty boiler.
Continue reading...West Bank city gears up for festive season after two years of pandemic restrictions
There’s once again no room at the inn in Bethlehem as the Palestinian city gears up for its first Christmas season after two years of pandemic restrictions.
During the week of Christmas this year, 120,000 tourists and pilgrims from all over the world are expected to visit the occupied West Bank town, home to the Byzantine Church of the Nativity, which stands on the spot where it is believed Jesus was born. The predicted numbers for 2022 are almost on a par with 2019, when Bethlehem saw an all-time high of 150,000 visitors in the same time period, and 3 million visitors overall.
Continue reading...Putin orders defence chiefs to quickly get military all it needs; Russian forces accused of cover-up in demolishing Mariupol theatre after deadly airstrike
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