A 20-year-old campaign staffer for Sen. Kelly Loeffler died in a car crash before Pence held a campaign event in Georgia

A 20-year-old campaign staffer for Sen. Kelly Loeffler was killed in a three-vehicle crash in Georgia on Friday morning. Harrison Deal was also a former intern for GOP Sen. David Perdue and a close family friend of Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp. The accident came ahead of a campaign event that featured Vice President Mike Pence, who described Deal as "a truly wonderful young man."

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  Loeffler campaign staffer dies in Georgia car accident

  The Independent
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  Senator Kelly Loeffler's Campaign Staffer, 20, Killed in Car Crash Ahead of Pence's Savannah Rally

  People

U.S. ends exchange programs with China, calling them 'propaganda'

The U.S. State Department said on Friday it has ended five cultural exchange programs with China, calling them "soft power propaganda tools." The Department said on its website it had "terminated" the Policymakers Educational China Trip Program, the U.S.-China Friendship Program, the U.S.-China Leadership Exchange Program, the U.S.-China Transpacific Exchange Program and the Hong Kong Educational and Cultural Program. It said that the programs had been set up under the auspices of the Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act - a 1961 law signed by President John F. Kennedy and aimed at boosting academic and cultural exchanges with foreign countries.

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  US ends 5 cultural programs with China in further escalation

  Associated Press
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  US ends China-funded exchange programs, calls them 'propaganda tools'

  AFP

Caving to Brussels on fish and level playing field risks leaving UK a 'permanent client state', Boris Johnson warned

Caving to Brussels on fish and the level playing field to secure a post-Brexit trade deal risks turning Britain into a permanent “client state”, senior Conservative MPs have warned Boris Johnson. With the UK on the cusp of reaching an agreement with the European Union, a group of “die-hard” backbenches have urged the Prime Minister not break his promises to Leave voters in last year's election. It comes amid fears that Mr Johnson could be forced to grant a flurry of last-minute concessions after intensive lobbying from French president Emmanual Macron to secure more preferable terms on fishing, state subsidies and non-regression clauses.

Jerusalem church suffers damage in arson near Garden of Gethsemane

Israeli police on Friday arrested a man for trying to set fire to an east Jerusalem church by the Garden of Gethsemane, the site revered by Christians as the place where Jesus prayed before he was crucified. The 49-year-old Israeli suspect poured flammable liquid inside the Church of All Nations, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. The man then set it alight, a separate police statement said, before the church guard detained him.

Pelosi says she supports a smaller coronavirus stimulus now because Biden won the election

After six months spent pushing for a more-than $2 trillion coronavirus stimulus package, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is fine with something smaller. It's smaller than the $1.5 trillion deal the House's bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus drew up in September, and yet this time around, President-elect Joe Biden's win and forthcoming coronavirus vaccines have Pelosi ready to accept it. Pelosi went on to explain that she had held out for a bigger bill with longer-lasting provisions before she knew who would be the next president — essentially, she thought she wouldn't get a second chance at a stimulus package if President Trump was re-elected.

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  Here's why a second round of stimulus checks aren’t in any of the most recent proposals

  Yahoo Money
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  'It was not a mistake': Nancy Pelosi defends her rejection of the Trump administration's $1.8 trillion stimulus offer after throwing support behind a relief package half its size

  Business Insider

Tennessee inmate’s execution put on hold due to COVID-19

The Tennessee Supreme Court on Thursday indefinitely postponed the execution of death row inmate Byron Black. In a brief order issued on Thursday, the court wrote that Black's execution is stayed pending a further order by the court “because of the multiple issues caused by the continuing COVID-19 pandemic. Black was convicted by a Nashville court of murdering his girlfriend Angela Clay and her daughters Latoya, 9, and Lakesha, 6, at their home in 1988.

What has brought India's farmers to the streets?

Just like the big fish eat small fish, big businesses will eat us up now, says Rakesh Vyas, a farmer camping outside India's capital, Delhi. Tens of thousands of farmers like Mr Vyas from the neighbouring states of Punjab and Haryana are now in a grinding standoff with Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party-led government, demanding the repeal of three market-friendly laws. Taken together, the contentious reforms will loosen rules around the sale, pricing and storage of farm produce - rules that have protected India's farmers from an unfettered free market for decades.

Top Hong Kong politician announces he is living in exile in Denmark and pledges to move to UK

Former Hong Kong politician Ted Hui has announced he has chosen to go into exile as Beijing intensifies its crackdown on high-profile figures of the former British colony's pro-democracy movement. Mr Hui, 38, initially fled to Denmark this week where he was joined by his family, but he said he would make his way to the UK to continue his pro-democratic activities. He joins Nathan Law, a prominent Hong Kong human rights activist now based in London, and a growing diaspora of dissidents who are continuing to advocate for more international pressure on China to allow greater rights and freedoms in the Asian financial hub.

AOC attacked Trump and Republicans on Twitter over rising college costs, arguing that many lawmakers didn't understand students' financial struggles

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Friday attacked Trump and Republicans lawmakers late Friday over rising college costs and a stagnant minimum wage. The congresswoman told conservatives they "sound like folks who speak of the days when Hershey bars were 5¢ at the general store," on Twitter. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez late Friday shot back at President Donald Trump and Republican lawmakers, accusing them of being so out of touch with young American workers that they remember when Hershey bars were "5¢ at the general store."

California on the brink: Virus rages and closures imminent

Five San Francisco Bay Area counties imposed a new stay-at-home order for their residents that will take effect Sunday. Southern California and a large swath of the central portion of the state could join this weekend. Those two regions have seen their intensive care unit capacity fall below the 15% threshold that under a new state stay-at-home order will trigger new restrictions barring all on-site restaurant dining and close hair and nail salons, movie theaters and many other businesses, as well as museums and playgrounds.

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  San Francisco area counties set virus closure rule

  Associated Press Videos
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  California sets stay home order amid virus surge

  Associated Press Videos

U.S. Appeals Court rejects bid to block Georgia win for Biden

A federal appeals court on Saturday rejected a bid by a conservative lawyer to block President-elect Joe Biden's victory in Georgia and left in place procedures that will make it easier for voters to cast absentee ballots in January when two Senate seats are up for grabs. U.S. District Judge Steven Grimberg, who was nominated by Trump, rejected attorney L. Lin Wood's arguments and found in a Nov. 20 opinion that the lawyer had no standing to sue. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta agreed with the lower court, saying Wood had failed "to allege a particularized injury" and the request was moot anyway since Georgia had already certified the election.

Turkey offers bounty for capture of poisonous toadfish wreaking havoc in Mediterranean

Turkish fishermen have been called upon to rid the country's waters of poisonous toadfish, with a bounty on offer for each tail they bring ashore. The silver-cheeked toadfish, which can be fatal if eaten by humans, are an “invasive species” that poses a major threat to other fish in the Mediterranean and Aegean sea, according to Turkish officials. It marks a reversal in fortunes for Turkey's fishermen, who would usually toss away toadfish in disgust but can now cut off the tail and hand it to the authorities for a five lira (50p) bounty.

Trump orders withdrawal of US troops from Somalia

US President Donald Trump has ordered the withdrawal of nearly all US troops from Somalia by 15 January, the Pentagon has said. The US has about 700 troops in the country helping local forces battle al-Shabab and Islamic State militants. US officials said some of the troops would move to neighbouring countries, allowing for cross-border operations.

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  Trump orders most American troops to leave Somalia

  Associated Press
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  Trump to withdraw most troops from Somalia as part of global pullback

  Reuters

China, U.S. need to proceed together with 'good will': Chinese envoy

China and the United States need to proceed together with "good will" to improve relations, the Chinese ambassador to Washington said on Saturday, as ties remained fraught between the world's two biggest economic powers. On Friday, a Chinese state media editorial said ties are being shifted to "a dangerous path". "In order to put the relations on the right track, to have real improvement of the relations, both sides have to proceed with good will and good faith," Ambassador Cui Tiankai told the Annual Conference of the Institute for China-America Studies via video link.

Joe Biden officially secures enough electors to become US president

California certified its presidential election on Friday and appointed 55 electors pledged to vote for Democrat Joe Biden, officially handing him the Electoral College majority needed to win the White House. Secretary of State Alex Padilla's formal approval of Mr Biden's win in the state brought his tally of pledged electors so far to 279, according to a tally by The Associated Press. Although it's been apparent for weeks that Mr Biden won the presidential election, his accrual of more than 270 electors is the first step toward the White House, said Edward B. Foley, a law professor at Ohio State University.

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  Biden officially secures enough electors to become president

  Associated Press
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  Biden officially has enough electoral college votes to win the presidency after California became the latest state to certify its election results

  Business Insider

NASA took a photo of China's moon rock-collecting robot on the lunar surface before it rocketed back toward Earth

NASA images have confirmed the landing of China's Chang'e 5 moon robot. China's space agency said the lander collected more than 4 pounds of moon rocks. If successful, it will be the first time a country has brought home moon rocks in more than 40 years.

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  Chang’e 5, Chinese spacecraft carrying lunar rocks, lifts off from moon

  Yahoo News Video
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  Chinese spacecraft leaves the Moon carrying pieces of lunar surface

  The Independent

U.S. economy adds 245,000 jobs in November, a 'red flag that momentum is waning'

The last jobs report to be released this year has arrived, and it's a major disappointment. The Labor Department on Friday said the U.S. economy added 245,000 jobs in November, which was down from the 440,000 jobs economists were expecting, CNBC reports. It was also "by far the lowest monthly total since the economy started its halting recovery," NBC News reports.

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  November jobs report: US economy adds 245,000 jobs, unemployment rate falls to 6.7%

  Yahoo Finance
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  U.S. adds 245K jobs in November, jobless rate ticks down to 6.7%

  Yahoo Finance Video

China now holds the world's last giant, single-dish telescope after the Arecibo Observatory radio telescope collapsed

China's Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope (FAST) is the largest and last remaining giant, single-dish telescope after Arecibo's collapse. As China's moon mission advances, experts say the via its resolution and sensitivity, the FAST telescope will help produce critical research over the next decades. Opened in 2016, in November, Chinese state media reported that FAST could welcome foreign scientists in 2021.

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  One of world's largest telescopes collapses in Puerto Rico

  CBS News Videos
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  Photos show what the Arecibo telescope looked like before and after its disastrous collapse

  Business Insider

U.S. government ordered to reinstate protections for 'Dreamers'

In a rebuke to President Donald Trump's administration, a judge on Friday ordered the U.S. government to reopen to first-time applicants a program that protects from deportation and grants work permits to hundreds of thousands of immigrants who live in the United States unlawfully after arriving as children. The action by U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis in Brooklyn centered on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program created by Trump's Democratic predecessor Barack Obama in 2012. The Supreme Court in June blocked Trump's 2017 bid to end DACA.

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  U.S. government ordered to fully reinstate DACA

  Reuters Videos
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  Judge: Trump administration must take new DACA applications

  Associated Press

Kuwait votes for parliament amid economic, virus challenges

Kuwait voted Saturday for its National Assembly, the first election since the death of its longtime ruling emir and as the oil-rich nation faces serious economic problems under the coronavirus pandemic. This tiny country's hundreds of thousands of voters selected lawmakers for 50 seats in the parliament, the freest and most-rambunctious assembly in the Gulf Arab countries. However, Kuwait's parliament has tamped down on opposition to its ruling Al Sabah family since the 2011 Arab Spring protests that saw demonstrators storm the chamber.