Fauci says early reports encouraging about omicron variant

U.S. health officials said Sunday that while the omicron variant of the coronavirus is rapidly spreading throughout the country, early indications suggest it may be less dangerous than delta, which continues to drive a surge of hospitalizations. President Joe Biden's chief medical adviser, Dr. Anthony Fauci, told CNN's “State of the Union” that scientists need more information before drawing conclusions about omicron's severity. Reports from South Africa, where it emerged and is becoming the dominant strain, suggest that hospitalization rates have not increased alarmingly.

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  Omicron variant found in nearly one-third of U.S. states

  Reuters
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  Fauci: U.S. reviewing its South African travel ban and hopes to lift it soon

  Politico

A former Kamala Harris staffer says aides have to endure 'a constant amount of soul-destroying criticism': report

Amid turnover in Harris' office, reports have swirled for months concerning her office environment. An ex-Harris staffer told The Washington Post that the vice president is a highly-critical boss. "With Kamala you have to put up with a constant amount of soul-destroying criticism," the staffer said.

New Information Emerges in Report Detailing Deaths of Calif. Family of 3 Who Died on Hiking Trip

The family was first reported missing on Aug. 16 after their babysitter found the home empty, as PEOPLE previously reported. The Chronicle reports that the babysitter was the last person to see the family alive on the afternoon of Aug. 13 after cleaning their house. The unidentified woman's final communication with Chung came later that evening, per the report, when she received a text from the mother featuring a video of Miju starting to walk.

Guess who pays for all those millions of COVID-19 vaccines

Then there's the matter of what the obligations these companies have when it comes to providing vaccines not only to U.S. citizens but to the rest of the world. Note that the fight against COVID-19 also entails tests and medicine, but I'm just going to focus on vaccines, as it's a critical and deep topic that also happens to be rich with drama. First you should know that the U.S. government has been in the business of funding vaccines long before COVID-19.

A mountaineer who found a trove of rubies, emeralds, and sapphires that belonged to a passenger killed in a plane crash gets a share of the gems, say reports

A mountaineer stumbled upon a treasure trove of jewels on a glacier off France's Mont Blanc in 2013. The precious gems are believed to have belonged to a passenger who died in a plane crash. Local authorities in Chamonix have agreed, after eight years, to share the jewels with the man who discovered them.

A man who tested positive for Omicron variant says 15 of his friends who joined him at a New York anime convention also have COVID-19

A man who tested positive for the Omicron coronavirus variant says 15 of his friends are also sick. The man and a group of 30 people attended an anime convention in New York City last month. It's unclear if his friends also have the Omicron variant, but health officials are investigating.

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  Contact tracing revs up in some states as omicron reaches US

  Associated Press
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  Friends of Minnesota man with omicron are testing positive for coronavirus, health official says

  Washington Post

Kennedy Center Honors and its traditions are back once more

The Kennedy Center Honors is returning to tradition this year. The lifetime achievement awards for artistic excellence will be presented Sunday night in a gala at the Kennedy Center's main opera house after the coronavirus pandemic forced delays and major changes to last year's plans. Honorees include Motown Records creator Berry Gordy, “Saturday Night Live” mastermind Lorne Michaels, actress-singer Bette Midler, opera singer Justino Diaz and folk music legend Joni Mitchell.

White Supremacists Stage Bizarro Rally in Downtown D.C., Find Themselves Stranded

WASHINGTON, D.C.—A group of white supremacists stormed through downtown Washington, D.C. on Saturday evening, bearing American flags and mildly menacing plastic shields while marching to the beat of a snare drum down the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. But after chanting aggressively about their plans to “reclaim America,” their intended show of force stalled spectacularly when they lost their ride. While the group had marched through the city with threatening chants about their plan to “reclaim America,” by the end of the night it was not even clear how they intended to reclaim their U-Haul.

MH370: Could missing Malaysian Airlines plane finally be found?

He combined different data sets that were previously kept in separate domains, to align to this new location in the Southern Indian Ocean. Mr Godfrey said it was a "complicated exercise", but previously there was simply a lack of lateral thinking, across multiple disciplines, to bring this together. "No one had the idea before to combine Inmarsat satellite data, with Boeing performance data, with Oceanographic floating debris drift data, with WSPR net data," he said.

San Francisco restaurant hit with negative reviews after asking officers to leave

A San Francisco restaurant was hit with a wave of negative reviews after it made headlines for asking uniformed police officers to leave, saying the presence of guns made staff uncomfortable. Hilda and Jesse, a breakfast restaurant in the city's North Beach neighborhood, seated three uniformed officers on Friday but said its staff became uncomfortable with the presence of "multiple weapons" shortly after. "We respect the San Francisco Police Department and are grateful for the work they do," the statement on social media said.

Watch mountain lion stare down pup through glass door of Colorado home. ‘Really scary’

When Sarah Bole got home from work one evening this week, she was greeted by a mountain lion on her patio. Her 13-year-old Shih-Poo was in a stare-down with the cougar from the comfort of its home in Grand Lake, Colorado, Bole told Storyful. The mountain lion stared back, video recorded by Bole shows.

COVID outbreak on cruise ship approaching New Orleans

Ten people aboard a Norwegian Cruise Line ship approaching New Orleans have tested positive for COVID-19, officials said Saturday night. The Norwegian Breakaway had departed New Orleans on Nov. 28 and is due to return this weekend, the Louisiana Department of Health said in a news release. Over the past week, the ship made stops in Belize, Honduras and Mexico.

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  COVID cases found on Norwegian Cruise ship returning to New Orleans

  Reuters
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  Ten COVID-19 cases were detected on a Norwegian Cruise Line ship as it headed to port in New Orleans

  Business Insider

Marjorie Taylor Greene criticized COVID-19 restrictions saying 'not a single school has closed because of cancer'

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene criticized COVID-19 restrictions and said that no schools were closed because of cancer. Many Twitter users mocked the congresswoman for the implication that cancer is contagious. The Georgia congresswoman has long been an outspoken critic of COVID-19 measures.

Locked-Up 'Sullen' Crumbley Family Showing No Remorse After School Shooting, Says Sheriff

Suspected Michigan school shooter Ethan Crumbley along with his parents, who were arrested early Saturday while hiding in a warehouse, have expressed “no remorse,” after an attack that killed four high school students, Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said on MSNBC. “We've not seen any remorse” from James and Jennifer Crumbley and their 15-year-old son, said Bouchard, who described the family as “obviously sullen,” adding: “Not a lot of conversation.” “I don't know whether the sullenness is from being caught or whether it's from other emotions that are going on, but they haven't expressed it to us,” Bouchard told host Alex Witt hours after the parents were arrested.

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  Ethan Crumbley: Charges may be brought against person who helped Oxford school shooting suspect’s parents flee

  The Independent
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  Sheriff: Police looking to charge person who allegedly helped hide parents of suspected school shooter

  The Hill

Man accused of trying to intimidate judge in Potter trial

A Minneapolis man has been charged with trying to intimidate the judge presiding over the manslaughter trial of the former officer charged in Daunte Wright's death. The Star Tribune reports Cortez A. Rice was charged last week with tampering with a judicial officer, a felony. Rice allegedly went into the Loring Park condominium building where he thought Judge Regina Chu lived and made comments meant to intimidate her into allowing broadcast coverage of the trial of former Brooklyn Center police Officer Kimberly Potter, who is charged with manslaughter in the fatal shooting of Wright, 20, in April.

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  Protester charged with harassing judge in trial of police officer who killed Daunte Wright

  The Independent
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  Kim Potter trial: Full jury seated after 4 days of questioning

  KMSP

I Made Fun of the Carolina Squat, but I Didn't Want It to Be Made Illegal

In a recent article, I criticized the lifting-and-lowering technique known as the "Carolina Squat," suggesting it makes a vehicle look "like it was dropped off a five-story building with 10,000 pounds of bricks in the bed." More than 70,000 people showed they have no sense of humor by petitioning to have the practice banned in North Carolina. Obligingly, the state's House of Representatives proposed a ban the Senate agreed and Governor Cooper signed the bill into law.

Omicron means it’s time to switch to N95 masks

At the moment, delta—which is more contagious than previous variants—is still the prevailing variant around the world, and with omicron increasing and winter underway in the northern hemisphere, it's again time to mask up properly. In other words, you might want to put away your cloth masks and turn to N95. What is the best type of mask?

COVID-19 curbs China's power in Indo-Pacific, risks of war 'significant' - report

The coronavirus pandemic has weakened China's power in the Indo-Pacific, and the region's deepening security uncertainties present a "significant" risk of war, the Lowy Institute said in a report on Sunday. U.S. allies in the region and key balancing powers such as India have never been more dependent on American capacity and willingness to sustain a military and strategic counterweight in response to China's rise, said the Sydney-based foreign policy think tank. At the same time, Beijing has sought to dissuade Southeast Asian countries from joining the U.S. coalition, while upgrading its military exchanges with Russia and Pakistan as well as North Korea and creating as such a formidable trio of China-aligned nuclear-armed powers in the region.

Email leak reveals the surprising friendship between Hunter Biden and his 'buddy' Tucker Carlson, says report

The Daily Mail published emails that reveal a close friendship between Hunter Biden and Tucker Carlson. Biden wrote a college recommendation for Carlson's son, and Carlson intervened in an unflattering news story about Biden. The intimate interactions appear to be at odds with Carlson's public attitude towards Biden.

Cawthorn sparks outrage after using phrase 'earthen vessels' in anti-abortion speech

Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.) has come under fire after commenting on abortion during a House floor speech Friday, Daily Kos reports. The 26-year-old pro-Trump congressman — who has a history of inflammatory rhetoric and has been accused of sexually harassing college classmates — began with a thought experiment in which he compared a fetus being aborted to a Polaroid picture being ripped up before it could fully develop. This analogy, borrowed from anti-abortion activist Seth Gruber, prompted HuffPost writer Sara Boboltz to pen a piece headlined "Madison Cawthorn Thinks Your Pregnancy Is A Polaroid Or A Sunset Or Something."

UAE defence ministry says French warplanes not a substitute for U.S. jets

The United Arab Emirates defence ministry said its purchase of French Rafale fighter jets would complement its planned deal to buy American F-35 warplanes, which has slowed due to Washington's concerns over Abu Dhabi's relationship with China. The Gulf Arab state on Friday ordered 80 Rafales made by Dassault Aviation and 12 Caracal military helicopters made by Airbus Helicopters in an arms contract worth 17 billion euros ($19.2 billion). Major General Ibrahim Nasser Al Alawi, commander of the UAE Air Force and Air Defence, said in a statement on state news agency WAM late on Saturday that the Rafale jets would replace the UAE's French-built Mirage 2000 fleet.

What was that mysterious streak in the nighttime sky above the Blue Ridge Mountains?

Residents staring skyward saw a mysterious streak in the nighttime sky over the Blue Ridge Mountains and Upstate South Carolina on Thursday night. This is from the SpaceX Starlink satellite launch. Within an hour, the NWS solved the mystery: “This is from the SpaceX Starlink satellite launch,” an NWS meteorologist posted.

Penobscots don't want ancestors' scalping to be whitewashed

Most Americans know about atrocities endured by Native Americans after the arrival of European settlers: wars, disease, stolen land. Members of the Penobscot Nation in Maine have produced an educational film addressing how European settlers scalped — killed — Indigenous people during the British colonial era, spurred for decades by cash bounties and with the government's blessing. “It was genocide,” said Dawn Neptune Adams, one of the three Penobscot Nation members featured in the film, called “Bounty.”