People
U.S. parents in weird 'balloon boy' hoax granted pardon
Richard and Mayumi Heene reported their 6-year-old son had floated away in an homemade UFO-shaped silver helium balloon in 2009. According to the AP, he was home in Ft. They added that they only plead guilty to avoid his mother's potential deportation to Japan as she was not yet become a USA citizen, The Washington Post said. [Full Article...]
Covid-19: France confirms its first case of the new virus variant
The country's health ministry didn't reveal the name of the infected man but did note that he was a French citizen living in the centrally located city of Tours who had arrived from London in mid-December. France reopened its borders to eligible travelers and truck drivers from the United Kingdom on Wednesday, after a brief shutdown that left thousands of truckers stuck. [Full Article...]
Sydney citizens told to 'limit mobility' over Christmas to contain virus cluster
New South Wales (NSW), of which Sydney is the capital, reported eight locally acquired cases on Wednesday, unchanged from Tuesday in another sign that social distancing and mass testing have brought a risky new outbreak under control. With restrictions eased, greater Sydney residents may host 10 people in their home, the exception being northern suburbs where residents are allowed up to five on C... [Full Article...]
Democrats dominate fundraising in Georgia Senate runoffs
Mr. Warnock, a pastor at historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, was right behind him, having raised a little more than $103 million and sitting on $22.8 million as of December 16. The result of all the spending in the race, as any Georgian near a television screen can attest, is an avalanche of ads flooding airwaves, sometimes filling entire blocks of commercials during news broadcasts and... [Full Article...]
Frenchman has tested positive for new coronavirus variant
The new variant , dubbed VUI-202012/01, has anxious experts and global leaders as it is thought to be up to 70% more transmissible - meaning it can spread much faster. As NPR's Michaeleen Doucleff has reported, researchers have already detected the new variant in several countries, including Denmark, the Netherlands and Australia. [Full Article...]
Joe Biden WON'T immediately stop Trump's Mexico immigration laws
Immigrant advocates, eager to break with four years of Trump administration policies, are raising concerns about President-elect Biden's plan to move cautiously to avoid making matters worse. But he now says those efforts could take months, not days. "There's no basis for that", said Heisler, who argues the incoming administration could begin to process asylum seekers at the border without jeopa... [Full Article...]
Alexei Navalny ally arrested by Russian police
A joint media investigation last week named agents from Russia's FSB security service it said were behind the plot to kill him. Sobol's young daughter and husband were allowed to leave the flat, said a message posted on Sobol's Twitter feed. [Full Article...]
Johnson: Trade deal brings 'glad tidings of great joy'
Had there been no deal, Finny said there would have been border chaos and a disruption in exports. For Britain, "that a deal has been agreed at all is in many respects a remarkable achievement", the Times newspaper judged. Ms Sturgeon said the agreement was "a bad deal for fishing". "The provisional application of the EU-UK agreement would also allow for proper and full democratic [scrutiny] of ... [Full Article...]