Taiwan sends jets after 27 Chinese planes enter buffer zone

Taiwan said 27 Chinese aircraft entered its air defense buffer zone on Sunday, the latest in a long series of incursions as part of Beijing's pressure on the self-ruled island. The Defense Ministry said Taiwan scrambled combat aircraft to “warn” the Chinese planes to leave. Sunday's incursion included 18 fighter jets and five H-6 bombers, as well as a Y-20 aerial refueling aircraft, according to Taiwan's Defense Ministry.

Meredith Kercher’s Killer Blasts Amanda Knox: ‘She Knows the Truth’

Rudy Guede, who was convicted of raping and killing British student Meredith Kercher and who was released from jail early this past week, insinuated Amanda Knox and her ex-lover Raffaelle Sollecito were the ones who “inflict[ed] the stab wounds” in the gruesome 2007 murder. Guede, who spent 13 years in jail for the crime, maintained his innocence in his first post-jail interview with Britain's The Sun, even as Knox pleaded with him to clear her name. Knox, who was Kercher's roommate at the time of the slaying, has implored Guede to “restore my wrongly damaged reputation.”

White House Doctor Who Raved About Trump's Health Now Says Omicron Is Election Ruse

The former White House doctor who raved about Donald Trump's “excellent” health to a skeptical public is now claiming that the disturbing new COVID-19 variant omicron is nothing but a midterm election ploy by the Democrats. Dr. Ronny Jackson, now a Republican MAGA congressman from Texas, scoffed at the variant the World Health Organization has deemed “highly transmissible” and “concerning.” “Here comes the ... Midterm Election Variant!” Jackson quipped in a tweet Saturday, calling it nothing more than a trick to “push unsolicited nationwide mail-in ballots.”

China study warns of 'colossal' COVID outbreak if it opens up like U.S., France

China could face more than 630,000 COVID-19 infections a day if it dropped its zero-tolerance policies by lifting travel curbs, according to a study by Peking University mathematicians. In the report published in China CDC Weekly by the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, the mathematicians said China could not afford to lift travel restrictions without more efficient vaccinations or specific treatments. Using data for August from the United States, Britain, Spain, France and Israel, the mathematicians assessed the potential results if China adopted the same pandemic control tactics as those countries.

Warp drives: Physicists give chances of faster-than-light space travel a boost

General relativity also describes how mass and energy warp spacetime – hefty objects like stars and black holes curve spacetime around them. This curvature is what you feel as gravity and why many spacefaring heroes worry about “getting stuck in” or “falling into” a gravity well. Early science fiction writers John Campbell and Asimov saw this warping as a way to skirt the speed limit.

Toddler, who went missing after father's pick up truck wound up in a river, found dead

The toddler, Emma Sweet, was found by the Bartholomew County Water Rescue and Recovery Team, 3 miles downstream from where her father, Jeremy Sweet, had been found alive by duck hunters on Friday. The Bartholomew County Sheriff Office said the pair were last seen on Wednesday at noon and reported missing a day later. The Bartholomew County coroner's office is working to identify a cause of the toddler's death and the sheriff's office said it is investigating how she ended up there.

Former Pentagon chief sues to publish material in memoir

Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper claims in a lawsuit against the Defense Department that material is being improperly withheld from his use as he seeks to publish an “unvarnished and candid memoir" of his time in President Donald Trump's Cabinet. The lawsuit, which was filed Sunday in U.S. District Court in Washington, describes the memoir, “A Sacred Oath,” as an account of Esper's tenure as Army secretary from 2017 to 2019 and his 18 months as defense secretary, which ended when Trump fired him in a tweet just days after the president lost his reelection bid. The period in which Esper was Pentagon chief was “an unprecedented time of civil unrest, public health crises, growing threats abroad, Pentagon transformation, and a White House seemingly bent on circumventing the Constitution," the lawsuit says.

Just days after catching donkey wearing ‘mask,’ Georgia officer wrangles more runaways

A Georgia officer really has a way with wayward donkeys. Smith with the Dawson County Sheriff's Office responded to a call about a pair of runaway donkeys that were “trying to get out of town,” according to a Facebook post from the sheriff's office. It was the second runaway donkey case Smith has responded to this month, the sheriff's office noted.

Trump Was ‘Fact Free’ During Briefings, Says Former National Intelligence Director

During intelligence briefings, former President Donald Trump was “fact free” and prone to “fly off on tangents,” said James Clapper, former director of national intelligence. Clapper's comments come from a recently released CIA publication, Getting to Know the President, which chronicles the relationship between the intelligence community and U.S. presidents during their transition and administration. Written by retired intelligence officer John L. Helgerson, the latest chapter covers Trump and reveals how unprepared and unconventional Trump was.

Fauci fires back at Cruz over COVID claims about Chinese lab

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government's top infectious diseases expert, blasted Sen. Ted Cruz for suggesting that Fauci be investigated for statements he made about COVID-19 and said the criticism by the Texas Republican was an attack on science. It was a reference to the violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol by supporters of then-President Donald Trump that was stoked as Cruz helped lead GOP objections to Congress' certifying the 2020 election results.

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  Fauci laughs at Sen. Cruz's claim he be prosecuted

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  U.S. readies fight against Omicron but too soon for lockdowns -Fauci

  Reuters

Want To Become a Millionaire? Put $200,000 Into These 2 Stocks and Hold Until 2030

MercadoLibre: The Latin American "everything" company MercadoLibre grew to become $65 billion in size because of its successful e-commerce operations, but the company has massively expanded its optionality and its revenue streams. Now the company makes money in its dominance in logistics and payment markets across 16 countries in Latin America. The company is seeing broad adoption from its newer services, and some of its new services are even growing faster than its primary segment -- its e-commerce business.

How many people in your area are vaccinated against COVID? Here’s a ZIP by ZIP report

How does your southwestern Illinois community compare to others?

Moscow says 27 Russian more diplomats due to leave U.S. in January

Russia's ambassador to the United States said that 27 more Russian diplomats and their families were expelled from the United States and would leave on Jan. 30. "Our diplomats are being expelled...A large group of my comrades, 27 people with families, will leave us on January 30... We are facing a serious staff shortage," Ambassador Anatoly Antonov said in a video interview for the Soloviev Live Youtube channel aired late on Saturday. Russia has previously said that over 100 of its diplomats with families had been forced to leave the United States since 2016 when the relationship between the two countries worsened.

Teen worker at Brooklyn bodega shot in head by shoplifter, critically hurt

A teenager working at his family's Brooklyn bodega was clinging to life after being shot in the head during a struggle with a shoplifter, police and sources said Sunday. The 18-year-old victim, identified by friends as Zayid Muthana, was working at M&M Grocery Corp. on Nostrand Ave. near Avenue D in East Flatbush when two men came into the store about 6:05 p.m. Saturday, police said. In a Facebook post late Saturday, the Yemeni American Merchants Association said Muthana's father is staying by his side in the hospital.

19 People Got Brutally Honest About The Green Flags That Prove Someone Is Actually A Good Person

It never hurts to be nice, and it often goes a long way in life.

Michael Cohen: Trump Pulled Off the ‘Greatest Grift in U.S. History’

Donald Trump's former lawyer, Michael Cohen, said that he believes the former president will not run again, having already pulled off “the greatest grift in U.S. history” raising money from his supporters who believe his lies that the 2020 election was stolen from him. Cohen, during a Meet the Press appearance on Sunday, said that Trump wants to keep the grift going and hopes to continue raising millions of dollars from his supporters to purportedly help overturn the election. According to Cohen, Trump running again in 2024 might put that in jeopardy.

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  Michael Cohen Calls Trump's 'Big Lie' The 'Biggest Grift In U.S. History'

  HuffPost
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  Michael Cohen says Trump won't pursue a 2024 White House bid, calls his 'Big Lie' fundraising appeals 'the greatest grift in US history'

  Business Insider

China Cash Flowed Through Congo Bank to Former President’s Cronies

“The account has finally been emptied,” Yvon Douhore, head of an in-house audit team in the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, wrote in an email that day, July 5, 2018, after noticing the withdrawal. The previous month, Groupe BGFIBank's compliance department in Congo had frozen accounts held by the businessman's firm, Congo Construction Co., or CCC, because the client file was missing key documents, according to bank records. A history of transactions reviewed by Bloomberg News as part of the biggest leak of financial information from Africa showed an even bigger issue: its political connections.

We're ready, Ukrainian soldiers say on frontier with rebels

Ukraine's military is ready and able to repel any attack, says Ukrainian soldier Oleksander, standing in a trench just a few hundred meters from pro-Russian separatists. Ukraine's military intelligence said last week that Russia had more than 92,000 troops massed around Ukraine's borders and was preparing for an attack by the end of January or beginning of February. Russia's foreign intelligence chief said on Saturday that such suggestions were "malicious U.S. propaganda".

Divers discovered a horrifying 26-foot sea worm that only comes out at night

Divers off the coast of New Zealand came face to face with a giant sea worm that was almost 30-foot long. The creature is called a pyrosome, and while it might look intimidating, it's actually perfectly safe to approach. Pyrosomes are part of a family of sea creatures known as tunicates or “sea squirts”.

It's being banned, killed with fire and there's a bounty. How to stop the Bradford Pear

Another way is to kill a certain white flowering tree, said landscape designer and contractor Durant Ashmore, who has written about the tree for The Greenville News. It will soon be banned in South Carolina and botanists are looking at fire, herbicides and other ways to kill the Bradford pear. The Bradford pear veils an ecological nightmare with beauty and it's better for everyone if it's dead, Ashmore said.

For cop who shot Daunte Wright, will 'wrong gun' plea work?

When a suburban Minneapolis police officer shot and killed Daunte Wright in April, her reaction on body-camera video seemed to instantly establish the key facts of the case: “I grabbed the wrong (expletive) gun,” Kim Potter said. The shooting of Wright, a 20-year-old Black man, by the white officer sparked intense protests in Brooklyn Center just as nearby Minneapolis was already on edge as that city's fired officer Derek Chauvin was on trial in George Floyd's death. The concrete barriers, chain-link fencing and National Guard soldiers that surrounded the courthouse for that trial are gone, but enhanced security will be in place for Potter's trial — with fewer entry points and the closure of a parking garage.

College Student Dead After Frat’s Diabolical ‘Underground Fight Club’

On November 19, Nathan Valencia, a 20-year-old Las Vegas college junior and fraternity member, fought a member of another campus fraternity in the “main event” of an annual boxing match. According to an Instagram flyer leading up to Kappa Sigma Fight Night, proceeds for the annual event were supposed to support Center Ring Boxing, a youth boxing club in Las Vegas. According to KLAS-TV, Valencia, a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, collapsed shortly after his bout.

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  20-Year-Old College Student Dies Following Fraternity Boxing Match Described as 'Underground Fight Club'

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  A 20-year-old college student collapsed and later died after a fraternity boxing match described as an 'underground fight club'

  INSIDER

Walmart heirs to candy conglomerates: These are the 25 richest families in the US

Goldman family Net worth: $13.2 billion One of the richest families in real estate, the Goldman clan owns more than 700 properties across the country as well as stakes in the World Trade Center developments in lower Manhattan, says . Sol Goldman started his real estate business, Solil Management (named for Sol and his wife Lillian), by purchasing foreclosed properties on the cheap in NYC in the 1950s. Upon his death in 1987, Sol was New York's largest private landlord.

500 vigilantes gather in Mexico town, pledge to aid police

They said that drug cartels like the Viagras and the Jalisco cartel have been charging avocado growers 'war taxes' of about $1,000 per acre ($2,500 per hectare). Tired of the extortion demands and kidnappings, growers and farmers formed the group in 2020, and it now claims to have almost 3,000 members. Several of us have been victims of this situation, of kidnappings, extortions,” said one masked vigilante leader who asked his name not be used for fear of reprisals from the gangs.