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A strain now circulating in dairy cows appears to carry little risk for humans at present, but we need to develop an effective strategy before it mutatesAs usual, I'm back with cheery topics to get us through the dark, cold winter months. No, I'm not talking about the studies on how dark chocolate reduces your risk of type 2 diabetes or why eating cake for breakfast isn't as bad as we think it is. Instead, in the global health world, the main news is about avian flu, the H5N1 virus, and also the deadly outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo of a mystery illness. It's in these moments that I wonder why I didn't choose a career in baking.But trying to replicate a Mary Berry recipe would require eggs - and the United States is facing a shortage of eggs - like Britain did last year - with the main culprit being avian flu, which has either killed off or triggered the culling of hundreds of thousands of chickens. Avian flu has caused concerns recently given several step-changes in the seriousness of the potential threat: becoming endemic in wild bird populations; then its spread among domestic birds, causing a turkey lockdown in winter 2022; then reports from across the world about infections in mammals such as sea lions that feed on or live near wild birds. In the past year, a big shift has been the confirmation of mammal-to-mammal transmission among dairy cows in the US.Prof Devi Sridhar is chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh Continue reading...

Macron's fourth premier this year faces the same budgetary headache as Michel Barnier - but the parliamentary equation has changedThe latest attempt to resolve France's political and financial crisis might be dubbed back to the future".The new prime minister, Francois Bayrou, was minister of education when Emmanuel Macron was still a schoolboy. The 73-year-old centrist, whom the president reluctantly appointed on Friday after days of closed-door wrangling after the fall of Michel Barnier's short-lived government, was a vital ally and consigliere to the young Macron when he dynamited France's political system in 2017 to win the presidency at the tender age of 39. Continue reading...

A rash of embarrassing incidents at the goalline threatened to cost teams dear on Sunday as players failed to master the basics of the gameWith 3:16 left in the third quarter of the Bengals' 37-27 win over the Titans, Tennessee running back Tony Pollard fumbled, and the ball was recovered by Cincinnati safety Jordan Battle. Battle had a clear lane to the end zone and a 61-yard touchdown, but he instead decided to celebrate his touchdown before it happened, dropping the ball before he crossed the goalline. The ball went out of the end zone, which meant that the touchdown was instead a touchback, and the Titans got the ball back at their own 20-yard line.Not that the Titans were able to do anything with that additional opportunity, given their putrid passing game, but why do so many players - some of the best athletes on the planet - forget how to hold on to a ball when near the goalline? Continue reading...

With the tyrant Assad gone, it's important not to impose a negative script on what comes next. Syrians deserve support and hopeLast week, time collapsed. Bashar al-Assad's fall recalled scenes across the region from the start of the Arab spring almost 14 years ago. Suddenly history felt vivid, its memories sharpened. In fact it no longer felt like history. Scenes that it seemed we would never see again - of crowds thronging the squares; the obscene riches of despots exposed, their fortresses stormed, their iconography desecrated - unlocked a familiar, almost sickening sense of possibility. Of giddiness, of horror at what fleeing dictators had left in their wake, and of hope. Syria's long revolution - the death, torture, imprisonment and exile that Assad's crushing of it unleashed - makes its successful end bittersweet. The price was so high, which makes its spoils even more dear.The moment is also different in another way. In those 14 years, other revolutions across the region either unravelled or resulted in the retrenchment of dictatorial regimes under new management. And so that sense of untrammelled optimism that followed the fall of that first crop of dictators is tempered by some wariness of what comes next. But it can and should be a productive wariness rather than a reason for despair. Because what Syria benefits from now is an understanding of the fragility of this period. To those of us who experienced it before in other countries, it felt like a time when the momentum of revolution was unstoppable and cleansing. It had a kinetic energy that swept away the old systems to be replaced by new administrations, armed with good intentions and popular support, that would simply figure it out.Nesrine Malik is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Police say Christopher McDonnell, his brother and brother's wife had 11-hour run of random shootings that killed a manA judge in Las Vegas sentenced a Texas man to 100 years in prison for his role in a two-state shooting rampage on Thanksgiving 2020 that included the killing of a man in Nevada and a shootout with authorities in Arizona.Christopher McDonnell, 32, pleaded guilty in October to more than 20 felonies including murder, attempted murder, murder conspiracy, weapon charges and being a felon illegally in possession of a firearm. Continue reading...

A 16-year-old boy in New Mexico faces murder charges after allegedly killing his family, police sayA 16-year-old boy in New Mexico allegedly killed four members of his family and then drunkenly turned himself in Saturday, investigators said.The New Mexico state police said in a Facebook post that the teen was arrested in Belen, a small city in Valencia county, after he called authorities late at night and informed them he killed his family. Continue reading...

United and charitable groups ferry more than 100 children on flight to hangar with bubbles, snowflakes and SantaThe children's faces were pure excitement on Saturday as they stepped off a United Airlines flight after landing at the North Pole.Well, not the real North Pole, but don't tell the children that. Continue reading...

We are on it,' says US homeland security secretary as anxieties surge amid lack of official informationAlejandro Mayorkas, the US homeland security secretary, has said federal authorities know of no foreign involvement" in the apparent mass drone sightings across the nation's north-east region, though social and political anxieties nonetheless continued surging over the weekend amid a lack of official information.I want to assure the American public that we are on it," Mayorkas said. Continue reading...

Initial reports speculated that person found may be journalist, but Tice's mother said she knew it was not himThe mother of journalist Austin Tice - who was detained in Syria in 2012 - told NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday that seeing another missing American, Travis Timmerman, found in Damascus recently felt almost like having a rehearsal ... of what it's going to really feel like when it is Austin walking free".Initial reports on Wednesday speculated that the American found might be Austin Tice - but Debra Tice said she knew immediately it wasn't her son. Continue reading...

Exchange offers example of senators's willingness to publicly disagree with Trump while serving as staunch allyUS senator Lindsey Graham has said officials who investigated Donald Trump supporters' deadly attack on the US Capitol in 2021 should not be imprisoned - despite what his fellow Republican has argued in advance of his second presidency.During an interview Sunday on NBC's Meet the Press, show host Kristen Welker asked Graham whether he agreed with Trump's assertion on the program seven days earlier that those involved in the investigation of the January 6 Capitol attack should go to jail". Continue reading...

As claims about practices in two flagship London schools are investigated, it's time to stop and think about what schools are really forAsk the average Westminster politician about schools policy and the response will focus on issues that never seem to go away: funding, teacher shortages, and the drive to somehow uncouple unequal educational outcomes from children's social and economic backgrounds. At the moment the stereotypical answer is likely to also touch on the crisis in provision for kids with special educational needs. But what tends to go unmentioned is a subject that seems to be suddenly gaining traction in the real world: many schools' devout belief in zero-tolerance discipline, and whether that credo might be on its way out.Across England, the same story has been building for a long time. It originated in the New Labour years with the expansion of academies, the cult of the super head" and a seemingly rational drive to push up results and standards. During Michael Gove's time as the Tory education secretary and beyond, the same ideas fused with drastic changes in the national curriculum and a belief in quietening schools using old-fashioned punishment. And soon enough, the downsides of those approaches began to surface: eye-watering numbers of kids either suspended or excluded by their school, the grim use of isolation booths and claims that the transfer of so many former council-maintained schools to multi-academy trusts (Mats) had led to a deep crisis in accountability.John Harris is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Shooter was arrested and an all clear' was given about two hours after base outside Augusta went into lockdownA US army base in Georgia was locked down on Saturday after a person was shot and killed in what authorities described as an isolated incident.The shooter was arrested and an all clear" was given about two hours after Fort Eisenhower went into lockdown, the installation's operations center said on social media. Continue reading...

It's an enduring dilemma, this becoming-a-parent thing. It's never a good time to embark on parenthood

Reaction to Brian Thompson's killing shocked pundits but a polarized US is united in contempt for health systemJust over a week ago no one knew who Luigi Mangione was. After he was revealed as the alleged assassin of the UnitedHealthcare CEO, Brian Thompson, on 4 December, he quickly became one of the most polarizing figures in American pop culture.To some, he's an anticapitalist arch villain. To others, he is a Marxist folk hero exacting revenge against the unchecked avarice of American medical insurance companies. To yet more, he's a damaged young man struggling with a variety of intense health issues, whose family and friends desperately tried to reach out to him after he disappeared in the weeks and months before the killing. Continue reading...

Largest private employer in US pledged to tackle inequities after George Floyd murder but has now dropped initiativesA year after the murder of George Floyd, Doug McMillon, CEO of Walmart had a warning for corporate America. The death of Floyd triggered a wave of protest over systemic racism and was not an isolated event. We have a long history of racism, and we see unacceptable events continue."Walmart and other large US corporations made pledges to address inequities within their business, ones many feared would be dropped once the focus on Floyd's killing and its aftermath faded. We can't let that be the case," he wrote, outlining how the company was releasing its diversity metrics twice a year" and calling on companies to continue to address systemic racism and the structural inequities that are rooted in this nation's history of slavery and that persist today". Continue reading...

Self-serving meddling by Israel, Turkey and other foreign powers puts the revolution at risk. They should back off nowUnited in duplicity, if nothing else, Russia, Iran, Turkey and the US - key external players in Syria's long-running drama - all agreed. The country's sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity" must be respected and maintained, each separately declared last week after Bashar al-Assad's sudden, welcome downfall.Even Israel, recklessly bombing Syria to blazes in the Jewish state's largest ever military operation, denied it was interfering in the country's internal affairs. Such cynicism is breathtaking. Like ravening wolves, supposed friends and neighbours tug at the still twitching corpse of the deposed regime. Unchecked, they could tear Syria apart, again. Continue reading...

Former House speaker underwent surgery at a US military hospital after injury during visit with bipartisan delegationThe former US House speaker Nancy Pelosi had a hip replacement on Saturday at a US military hospital in Germany after falling while at an event in Luxembourg with other members of Congress.Pelosi, 84, is well on the mend," said Ian Krager, a spokesperson for the California Democrat. Continue reading...

James Wynn takes rare step after two trial court judges do the same, prompting conservative complaintsA US appeals court judge has taken the rare step of revoking his decision to retire from active service on the bench, depriving Donald Trump of the ability to fill a judicial vacancy.US circuit judge James Wynn, an appointee of Barack Obama on the fourth US circuit court of appeals based in Richmond, Virginia, disclosed his decision in a letter to Joe Biden on Friday. Continue reading...

Chuck Hildebrandt, 63, of Chicago says he tried to return Baseball's Zaniest Stars while in Warren for ThanksgivingFifty years later, a man who grew up in suburban Detroit tried to return a very overdue baseball book to his boyhood library.The answer: you can keep it - and no fine. Continue reading...

Chris Smith said he was looking into letting police down the drones, some of which were spotted near military basesA Republican representative from New Jersey called on federal officials on Saturday to address the many recent drone sightings in the state.For weeks, we have asked for the truth and actions to mitigate all threats to people and property," Chris Smith said at a news briefing. Now, we are demanding it." Continue reading...

Former California lawmaker accused the FBI of conspiring against Trump during Russian election interference inquiryDonald Trump on Saturday named ally Devin Nunes, a former US lawmaker who now runs Trump's Truth Social social media platform, to serve as chair of the president's intelligence advisory board.Nunes, a longtime Trump defender who led the US House of Representatives intelligence committee during part of Trump's first White House term, will remain Truth Social CEO while serving on the advisory panel, Trump said in a post on the platform. Continue reading...

In a New York Times essay, Andrew Witty also says slain healthcare CEO Brian Thompson cared about customersThe leader of the parent company of UnitedHealthcare, whose chief executive officer was shot to death outside a New York City hotel on 4 December, conceded that the US's patchwork health system does not work as well as it should".But in a guest essay published by the New York Times, UnitedHealth Group's CEO, Andrew Witty, maintained the slain Brian Thompson cared about customers and was working to make the system better. Continue reading...

Michael Conahan was convicted of accepting $2.8m for jailing more than 2,300 children, some as young as eightVictims of a former Pennsylvania judge convicted in the so-called kids-for-cash scandal are outraged by Joe Biden's decision to grant him clemency.In 2011, Michael Conahan was sentenced to more than 17 years in prison after he and another judge, Mark Ciavarella, were found guilty of accepting $2.8m in illegal payments in exchange for sending more than 2,300 children - including some as young as eight years old - to private juvenile detention centers. Continue reading...

Senate minority leader contracted the disease as a child, before the wildly successful vaccine was licensedUS Senate minority leader and polio survivor Mitch McConnell has condemned attempts to undermine the polio vaccine after reports that a lawyer affiliated with Robert F Kennedy Jr - the health secretary pick for Donald Trump's second presidency - petitioned for the Food and Drug Administration to revoke its approval of the vaccine.In a statement reported by numerous outlets on Friday, McConnell, who contracted the disease as a child in 1944 - 11 years before the licensing of the world's first polio vaccine - said: The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives and held out the promise of eradicating a terrible disease. Efforts to undermine public confidence in proven cures are not just uninformed - they're dangerous." Continue reading...

The USPS was a target during his first administration, and it might now be on the chopping block due to financial lossesDonald Trump in recent weeks has expressed a keen interest in privatizing the US Postal Service (USPS) because of its financial losses, the Washington Post reported on Saturday, citing three people with knowledge of the matter.Trump, who begins his second US presidency on 20 January, has discussed his desire to privatize the USPS with Howard Lutnick, his pick for commerce secretary, at his Mar-a-Lago home, the report said. Continue reading...

Only the disgraced prince would be daft enough to invite an alleged spy for China to his 60th birthday partyHere's a festive quiz for all the family.Is Prince Andrew: Continue reading...

Trump has vowed to usurp authority of the city, which he has openly disparaged - and the feeling is generally mutualBoth a senator and a pastor, Raphael Warnock reflected on being asked to give closing remarks at an annual congressional dinner in Washington. Since we are meeting in what used to be the Trump International Hotel," he mused, perhaps it is an exorcism".That was last year, when the ghost of Donald Trump had seemingly been banished for good from the nation's capital. But like all the best horror movies, there is going to be a sequel. Next month Trump will return to a city that he has openly disparaged - the feeling is generally mutual - when he is inaugurated as the 47th US president. Continue reading...

Anthony Odiong to appear Monday in court over charges he abused his position to pursue sex with congregantsA Roman Catholic priest who served under the command of church officials in Texas's capital and Louisiana's most famous city is tentatively scheduled to plead guilty Monday in connection to charges that he allegedly abused his position of clerical authority to pursue sex with spiritually vulnerable women whom he encountered during his work, according to criminal court records online.However, attorneys on both sides of the case pending against Anthony Odiong - who was understood to be mulling a plea deal in recent weeks - emphasized the tentative nature of the hearing set for Monday morning. Continue reading...

Lt Col Herman West was charged after sexual harassment was classified as a crime under military justice codeA former US army battalion commander was found guilty on Friday of sexual harassment of a subordinate in what prosecutors hailed as a historic military justice case.Lt Col Herman West, who was previously stationed at Washington state's Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM), faced multiple charges over his treatment of a young female officer in his command, KOMO News reported. Continue reading...

Briana Boston had reportedly just had a medical claim denied when she said to the person on the phone: Delay, deny, depose'Sit yourself down and let out a big sigh of relief: thanks to the tireless work of the Florida police force, everyone in the US can now feel a little bit safer. On Tuesday, Florida's Lakeland police department charged Briana Boston, a 42-year-old mother of three, with threats to conduct a mass shooting or act of terrorism. Continue reading...

The contenders for the No 1 seed in each conference face off in Detroit. Could a February rematch be on the cards?Buffalo Bills (10-3) v Detroit Lions (12-1) Continue reading...

Trump's pick, who has gained key support, could open investigations unilaterally or influence background checksFormer FBI officials have warned that Donald Trump's nominee to be the next FBI director, Kash Patel, could have limitless power at the bureau as they confront the likelihood that he will be confirmed next year after locking down support from key Republicans and the current director's intention to resign.The alarm has come as Patel, who has called for shutting down FBI headquarters and drafted a so-called enemies list of people Trump feels wronged by, appears set to have his nomination supported unanimously by Republicans on the Senate judiciary committee. Continue reading...

The fall of Assad in Syria, protests in Georgia, the Franklin Fire in Malibu and the reopening of Notre-Dame de Paris: the past seven days as captured by the world's leading photojournalists Continue reading...

The president-elect's victory was straight out of the pro wrestling playbook. Voters knew it was fake, but they loved itDo you remember World Wrestling Entertainment? For many people, the show, in which muscle-bound wrestlers in tight tights throw one another around in staged fights, is a nostalgic throwback to the early 2000s, when it played briefly on Channel 4. Today, its mix of soap opera, theatre and athletic spectacle still draws millions of viewers each week. To some, it's a guilty pleasure; to others, timeless entertainment. Still, few would associate it with the serious world of politics.For Donald Trump, though, professional wrestling is a lifelong passion. His announcement in November that the former CEO of WWE, Linda McMahon, would take up the role of education secretary in his cabinet of curiosities elicited shock and disbelief. It is impossible to fully understand US politics today without understanding the significance of pro wrestling. Continue reading...

Red One is the latest Hollywood attempt at a spectacular festive action film. It is on course to lose $100m. Why don't they realise we want slippers, jim-jams and Lindsay Lohan?It's the most wonderful time of the year - a time for carolling and concerts, trees and tinsel, mulled wine, open fires and, of course, The Rock (aka Dwayne Johnson). Or at least, that is, according to Hollywood. The action star's latest film, Red One, has been playing in cinemas across the world since mid-November. But critically, it's been regarded as a bit of a stinker.For those who missed it, the film was conceived as the first instalment of a Christmas-themed action franchise. It casts Dwayne Johnson as Callum Drift, commander of the North Pole's Enforcement Logistics and Fortification (ELF) division - Santa's security team. Continue reading...

It wasn't always clear why our buzz-cut parents felt so threatened by our cascading locks - but guys like me needed to express ourselvesThroughout the mid-to-late 60s, I had to fight every literal inch of the way over the matter of long hair. As I practised being Mick Jagger before the bedroom mirror, it was always on the understanding that, within hours, I might be in front of that same mirror after a parentally-dictated trip to the barber.No amount of backcombing, pulling or applications of a thickening gel called Dippety-Do could disguise the brutal shearing. I'd be left making the best of a bad job, sprucing up for a Saturday night of raging pubescent hormones and perspiration. Continue reading...

Bob Fernandez was a 17-year-old sailor during 17 December 1941 attack that propelled US into second world warBob Fernandez, a 100-year-old survivor of the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, died shortly after deteriorating health prompted him to skip a trip to Hawaii to attend last week's remembrance ceremony marking the 83rd anniversary of the attack.Fernandez died peacefully at the Lodi, California, home of his nephew, Joe Guthrie, on Wednesday. Guthrie's daughter, Halie Torrrell, was holding his hand when he took his last breath. Fernandez had suffered a stroke about a month ago that caused him to slow down, but Guthrie said doctors attributed his condition to age. Continue reading...

In Bend, residents have been getting a chuckle out of seeing the decoration stuck on installations in roundaboutsGoogly eyes have been appearing on sculptures around the central Oregon city of Bend, delighting many residents and sparking a viral sensation covered widely by news outlets and featured on a popular late-night talk show.On social media, the city shared photos of googly eyes on installations in the middle of roundabouts that make up its so-called Roundabout Art Route." One photo shows googly eyes placed on a sculpture of two deer, while another shows them attached to a sphere. It's not yet known who has been putting them on the sculptures. Continue reading...

As part of plea deal, Alexander Smirnov will admit he made up story at center of Republican impeachment inquiryA former FBI informant accused of falsely claiming that Joe Biden and the president's son Hunter had accepted bribes has agreed to plead guilty to federal charges, according to court papers.As part of the plea deal with the justice department special counsel, David Weiss, Alexander Smirnov will admit he fabricated the story that became central to a Republican impeachment inquiry in Congress. Continue reading...

Residents in several counties of the state have reported sighting drones, sometimes over military facilitiesSince about mid-November, hundreds of New Jersey residents have been calling law enforcement and state officials after spotting what appeared to be drones in the skies over about a dozen counties. The reports have become more frequent in recent days. In some sightings, mysterious car-sized flying objects, sometimes in groups, were seen above military installations and critical infrastructure such as energy facilities, railway stations and reservoirs. Republican state senator Jon Bramnick said it amounted to a limited state of emergency". Continue reading...

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New Jersey governor urges Biden and federal agencies to further investigate unidentified aircraft sightings

From Ballet Shoes to Wicked, stories of female empowerment and friendship are triumphing on stage and screenI'd start with Ballet Shoes first. It's my favourite," Meg Ryan's character urges a mother in a bookstore in Nora Ephron's 1998 romantic comedy You've Got Mail. Never out of print since it was first published in 1936, Noel Streatfield's Story of Three Children on the Stage" has been a favourite with generations of readers, including former Children's Laureate Jacqueline Wilson. Although adapted twice for television, Ballet Shoes has never been made into a play before. This Christmas, the National Theatre in London is staging it for the first time.Three foundling girls - Pauline, Petrova and Posy - fetch up at a dilapidated house on the Cromwell Road some time in the 1920s, having been rescued by roving palaeontologist Great Uncle Matthew - Gum". Left in the care of his adult niece Sylvia (another orphan) and her old nanny, the girls become the Fossil sisters. They grow up in a spirited matriarchy of genteel poverty and plucky determination to follow their passions - acting, engineering and ballet. Described by Streatfield as a fairy story with its feet halfway on the ground", Ballet Shoes is the perfect tale for our own age of austerity. Continue reading...