Chinese navy jet flies within 10ft of US air force plane over South China Sea

US aircraft forced to take evasive maneuvers during latest incident over contested shipping, fishing and gas field-rich region

A Chinese military plane came within 10ft (three meters) of a US air force aircraft over the contested South China Sea last week and forced it to take evasive maneuvers to avoid a collision in international airspace, the US military said.

The close encounter followed what the US called a recent trend of increasingly dangerous behavior by Chinese military aircraft.

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Louisiana store worker charged in water dousing attack during US cold snap

Clerk allegedly drenched unhoused woman sitting in parking lot of store where Alton Sterling was killed by police in 2016

A worker at a convenience store in Louisiana’s capital has lost her job and is facing criminal charges after she dumped water on an unhoused woman who was outside the shop during the Christmas weekend’s freezing weather.

The dismissed employee – identified by authorities as 33-year-old Kasey Weber – purportedly posted video of the 26 December encounter on social media herself before police arrested her in a case containing one of the most extreme examples of alleged mistreatment against a neighbor at a time when community leaders called on Americans to band together to survive the dangerous Arctic weather that gripped much of the US recently.

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China Covid: experts estimate 9,000 deaths a day as US says it may sample wastewater from planes

Infectious disease experts believe strategy more effective in slowing virus spread than new travel restrictions, as health data firm says thousands are likely dying daily in China

The United States is considering sampling wastewater taken from international aircraft to track any emerging new Covid-19 variants as infections surge in China, as UK-based health experts estimate about 9,000 people a days are now dying of the disease in China.

The proposed of testing wastewater by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would provide a better solution to tracking the virus and slowing its entry into the US than new travel restrictions announced this week, three infectious disease experts said.

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New York fans pay tribute to Brazilian icon who brought soccer to the US

Admirers of Pelé gather in Times Square and eulogize the three-time world champion and New York Cosmos crowd-pleaser

Fans of Pelé gathered at the store dedicated to him in New York’s Times Square on Thursday, to memorialize and celebrate a soccer player who electrified the city when he signed with the New York Cosmos in 1975 on a three-year, $7m (£5.8m) contract, a deal that made the 34‐year‐old player the highest‐paid team athlete in the world.

“I grew up hearing about Pelé,” said Larisa Belyansky in front of a wall celebrating the king of football. “The style of his play was so different, the way he moved.” “We remember him as the greatest player”, said her husband, Alex, “because he was the only one to win three World Cups.”

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Blair asked Bush during first phone call if he could call him by first name

Archives reveal PM’s early attempts to establish personal relationship with president after 2000 US election

Tony Blair moved swiftly to place his relationship with George W Bush on a personal footing after the Republican won the 2000 US presidential election, asking him “early on” in their first telephone call if he could call him by his first name.

“Bush warmly assented (but stuck himself with addressing the prime minister as ‘Sir’),” according to a note of their call, which is among government files released to the National Archives. Blair was the first foreign leader to call to congratulate the president-elect. Michael Tatham, a British diplomat, noted that the eight-minute conversation had established “as good a rapport as one could hope for” from such a short call.

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Human toll of deadly US storm grows in ‘blizzard of the century’

Heartbreaking stories pour in about people missing a heart transplant or dying inside a car

One man never came home from a grocery run. Another man missed a chance at a new heart. A woman died after getting trapped in her car.

The human toll that the winter blast which gripped much of the US last week has continued to mount. Since the “blizzard of the century” swept through multiple parts of the nation last week, at least 60 people have died countrywide, and details about the heartbreak their families are enduring have been trickling out.

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FDA under fire over approval of Alzheimer’s drug Aduhelm

House of Representatives’ report details ‘corporate greed’ and ‘atypical review process’ preceding agency’s approval of Biogen’s drug

US drug regulators failed to follow their own guidance and practices when they approved the controversial Alzheimer’s drug Aduhelm, a congressional report said on Thursday.

The US food and drug administration’s (FDA) process of approval, it said, had been “rife with irregularities”, and the FDA’s interactions with maker Biogen had been “atypical”.

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Michelle Obama says she ‘couldn’t stand’ husband Barack for 10 years

Former first lady says caring for their young daughters put strain on their marriage in Revolt TV interview promoting latest book

Former first lady Michelle Obama has said she “couldn’t stand” her husband for a decade while the couple’s children were young.

In frank comments to the Black news station Revolt TV last week, Obama – one of the most popular women in America – said that raising children had put strains on her three-decade marriage to Barack Obama, the US president for two four-year terms beginning in 2009.

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Southwest Airlines vows refunds after mass cancelations left travelers stranded

Airline says it will also reimburse related expenses as other carriers are capping fares to assist stranded travelers

Southwest Airlines has promised to refund tickets and reimburse passengers for hotels, car rentals and other expenses after its mass cancelations left thousands of people stranded across the country.

The airline’s chief commercial officer, Ryan Green, told reporters on Thursday that it would take several weeks to repay customers, but that the airline would cover costs people incurred when they were forced to make alternative travel arrangements, including paying for meals and gas. The company said it would also pay to ship people’s baggage to them.

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Bill Cosby plans to tour again in 2023 despite new sexual assault lawsuit

Actor’s radio announcement met with incredulity after his 2018 conviction and new complaint filed by five women in New York

The actor Bill Cosby, the 80s TV comedian who was convicted in Pennsylvania of a criminal sex assault charge in 2018, is looking to return to live performing next year, according to a report on Tuesday.

In a WGH Talk radio interview, 85-year-old Cosby answered “yes” when asked if he planned to tour again in 2023.

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January 6: judge hints Trump wanted supporters to ‘do more’ than protest

Opinion comes in ruling barring man charged with role in Capitol attack from arguing former president authorized his actions

Donald Trump may have been telling his supporters he wanted them “to do something more” than simply protest against his defeat to Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential race when he told a mob of them to “fight like hell” on the day of the Capitol attack, according to findings from a federal judge on Wednesday.

The opinion from Judge John Bates came in the form of a ruling barring one man charged with having a hand in staging the Capitol assault on January 6 2021 – Alexander Sheppard – from arguing that Trump, as president at the time, had authorized his actions.

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US Virgin Islands suing JPMorgan Chase over Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking

Documents accuse bank of ‘turning a blind eye’ to illegal activities committed by their client

The US Virgin Islands is suing the bank JPMorgan Chase, accusing it of helping Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking of women and girls, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court in New York.

The documents submitted by the US Virgin Islands’ (USVI) attorney general accuse JPMorgan of “turning a blind eye” to illegal activities committed by Epstein – a client of the bank – on his private island, Little St James, which is part of the Caribbean US territory.

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First Thing: US to require China arrivals to provide negative Covid test

Other countries including Italy take similar steps after Beijing’s rollback of ‘zero-Covid’ policies. Plus, a marathon a day – for a year

Good morning.

All travelers to the US from China, where Covid infections have surged, will from 5 January be required to provide a negative test from within the past 48 hours to enter the country.

Virus still stubborn in the US. As of yesterday, there were almost 40,000 people hospitalized with Covid across the country, of whom nearly 5,000 were in ICUs, with an average of 345 deaths per day.

Various causes of death. Three Buffalo residents were found dead in their vehicles, four died without heat in their residences, three died from cardiac causes involving snow-shoveling or clearing, and three died due to delayed emergency services.

Fresh impetus for cannabis debate in holdout state. The Hays police chief, Don Scheibler, defended the conduct of his officers but called for consideration of reform. “As a police officer, we don’t determine what the law is. I think the discussion about medical marijuana needs to happen.”

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‘Do you have no shame?’: Tulsi Gabbard grills congressman-elect George Santos

Adding to his woes, prosecutor in part of Santos’ legislative district launching investigation into his ‘nothing short of stunning’ claims

Republican congressman-elect George Santos is under fire on multiple fronts – including in a blistering interview with Tulsi Gabbard and an investigation by Long Island prosecutors – after admitting to lying about his heritage, education and professional pedigree.

Late Wednesday, Santos also faced questions on social media over contradictory tweets on the timing of his mother’s death. One post on his account suggested she died in the September 11 attacks in New York, another said she died in 2016. The tweets appear to have been sent from his official Twitter account.

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Maryland representative Jamie Raskin says he has ‘serious but curable’ lymphoma

Trump adversary and top Democrat in next House oversight committee says prognosis is ‘excellent’ and will continue to legislate

Maryland representative Jamie Raskin said on Wednesday that he has a type of lymphoma that’s a “serious but curable form of cancer” and he is beginning several months of treatment.

Raskin, who will be the top Democrat on the House oversight and reform committee in the next Congress, said he expects to be able to work through his outpatient treatment at a Washington-area hospital.

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Women with restricted abortion access may face higher suicide risk – study

Research shows anti-abortion laws may have affected suicide rates among reproductive-aged women from 1974 to 2016

Women with restricted access to abortion during the last 40 years may have faced a higher risk of suicide, according to new research from the University of Pennsylvania.

Abortion restriction laws may have influenced suicide rates among reproductive-aged women from 1974 to 2016, according to a study released Wednesday in JAMA Psychiatry.

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 freephone 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 befrienders.org

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A dying cancer patient used cannabis to ease pain. His hospital called the police

‘You’d think they would have shown compassion’: patient’s son decries Kansas police who issued citation as father suffered

Hospital staff in Kansas called the police on a man dying of cancer who was using cannabis products to cope with his symptoms, in an incident that has since sparked outrage and renewed calls to rethink the state’s strict cannabis laws.

The encounter took place in mid-December, when police in the city of Hays say two officers showed up at the cancer patient’s hospital room to issue him a citation for a drug violation. Police also took away a vaping device and cannabis product that hospital staff had already confiscated.

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Suspected Stockton serial killer charged with four additional deaths

Wesley Brownlee, arrested in October while allegedly ‘out hunting’ for another victim, now faces seven charges for slayings

A man suspected in northern California serial killings has been charged in four additional slayings this week, bringing the total to seven deaths since April 2021, authorities said.

The shootings terrorized the Central Valley city of Stockton earlier this year as police searched for a man clad in black who appeared to be “on a mission” as he hunted victims for ambush-style shootings. He was also tied to violence in Alameda county.

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US to require arrivals from China to provide negative Covid test

Other countries including Italy have taken similar steps after Beijing’s rollback of ‘zero-Covid’ policies led to surge in cases

The US has announced all travellers from China must provide a negative Covid-19 test to enter the country, joining other nations imposing restrictions because of a surge of infections.

The increase in cases across China follows the rollback of the nation’s strict anti-virus controls. Beijing’s “zero Covid” policies had kept the country’s infection rate low but fuelled public frustration and crushed economic growth.

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National guard check door-to-door in Buffalo after storm that killed 34

Officials fear more fatalities may be found after high winds and record snowfalls ravage western New York

Members of the US national guard went door-to-door in some neighborhoods of Buffalo, New York, on Wednesday to check on residents who lost power during a winter storm earlier this week that killed nearly three dozen residents of the region.

As the national guard made their way from house to house, members were confronted with the bleak possibility of encountering still more victims in frigid homes and piles of melting snow, according to the Associated Press.

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