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As the U.S. is bracing for a coronavirus surge driven by the new omicron variant, Americans across the country may be reconsidering their holiday plans. World Health Organization (WHO) officials urged people across the globe to consider canceling their holiday gatherings, emphasizing that “an event canceled is better than a life canceled,” while U.S. officials have maintained that vaccinated Americans should feel comfortable getting together with other vaccinated individuals. Now a recent poll is shedding light on how many Americans plan to navigate holiday gatherings while taking precautions against COVID-19. The poll of more than 1,000 Americans conducted by Cinch...

President Joe Biden will announce a plan Tuesday to send out 500 million coronavirus tests to Americans who want them, in his latest attempt to slow the spread of the virus.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said on Tuesday she is open to discussing proposals to overhaul an expanded child tax credit included in President Biden's American Rescue Plan that is set to expire in the next few days. “I am open to proposals that would support working families and reduce childhood poverty and look forward to working with colleagues of both parties on bipartisan solutions,” Collins said in a statement to the Bangor Daily News.

Tucked into the second page of the syllabus was information about a locker number and its combination. Inside was a $50 bill, which went unclaimed. Kenyon Wilson, a professor at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, wanted to test whether any of his students fully read the syllabus for his music seminar. Of the more than 70 students enrolled in the class, none apparently did. Professor Wilson said he knows this because on the second page of the three-page syllabus he included the location and combination to a locker, inside of which was a $50 cash prize. “Free to the...

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Dr. Anthony Fauci said Tuesday on MSNBC’s “The Beat” that considering the highly contagious Omicron variant of coronavirus is rapidly spreading through the United States, unvaccinated family members should be asked not to attend Christmas gatherings this year. Guest host Alicia Menendez said, “Dr. Fauci, you know very well, there are people deciding whether they’re going to get on planes to be with their families for the holidays. What is your advice?”

MOSCOW -- Russian authorities have published new regulations on the expedited mass burial of humans and animals who die as a result of military conflicts or noncombatant emergencies, stoking already heightened tensions that the country may be preparing to invade Ukraine. The document -- published on the Emergencies Ministry's website on December 20 -- appears as the United States, the European Union, and Ukraine have expressed alarm over Russia' buildup of tens of thousands of soldiers near Ukraine’s borders, interpreting it as a possible prelude to military action. Russia has denied it is planning to invade Ukraine and has issued...

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Dr. Anthony Fauci said Tuesday on MSNBC’s “The Beat” that the highly contagious Omicron variant of coronavirus “is going to find you” if you are unvaccinated. Fauci said, “We know now from studies that have already been done, with more to come, if you are vaccinated without a boost, you have a diminution in the protection to Omicron when you talk about the level of antibodies. But that’s very nicely reconstituted with a boost. You can feel reasonably comfortable, but all things being equal, you will not get seriously ill if you...

One doesn’t want to make much out of a triple-vaccinated COVID scold getting the virus. It could happen to the any of us. However, it also happens to Jim Cramer. Cramer, who screams about “best of breed” stocks on his CNBC show, isn’t the “best of” anything — aside from dispensing bad advice. The stock-picker is infamous for his sanguine predictions about Bear Stearns in the run-up to the 2008 financial crisis, although his suggestion that the military get involved in enforcing a vaccine mandate was arguably worse. Mind you, de facto martial law isn’t the only heinous idea being...

Harvard professor Dr. Charles Lieber was found guilty of all federal charges against him related to concealing his ties to a Chinese university and the Chinese government's Thousand Talents Program while receiving U.S. government funding. The verdict, a big win for the Justice Department’s China Initiative, came as a federal jury in Boston quickly determined Tuesday that Lieber was guilty on all six charges, including two counts of making false statements to federal investigators, two counts of filing false tax returns, and two counts of failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts. Lieber, the former chairman of...

Businesses implementing Ontario’s COVID-19 vaccine certificate requirements are seeing decreased sales, according to a survey conducted by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB). Over 60 percent of businesses requiring patrons to show COVID-19 vaccine passports are reporting lower sales “as a direct result” of the provincial government’s vaccination mandates, said Dan Kelly, president and chief executive officer of the CFIB. “Regardless of one’s views on vaccine passports, there is no doubt they’ve led to a further drop in sales for the small businesses required to use them,” Kelly wrote on social media, following the Ontario government’s Dec. 10 announcement...

Gov. Kate Brown on Tuesday extended Oregon’s declaration of a state of emergency until June 2022, citing the emergence of the omicron variant to the coronavirus. “As Oregon prepares for what could be our worst surge in hospitalizations during this pandemic, I know that this is not the beginning of the new year any of us had hoped for,” Brown said. “Time and again over the last two years, Oregonians have proven that we will stand with each other in our most difficult times. Your actions have saved lives, and it is because we have worked together to keep each...

Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., became the latest Democrat to attack Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., in personal terms on Monday, accusing him of not caring about African Americans and other minority groups "as a White man." The far-left Progressive Caucus member ripped Manchin on CNN over his opposition to Build Back Better, the $1.75 trillion social policy and climate package backed by the Biden White House, saying he was "tremendously frustrated" and "infuriated" with the West Virginia Democrat. "It went from 3.5 trillion to 1.75 trillion [dollars] because him, his special interests, his donors, and lobbyists were cutting the bill for...

President Joe Biden on Tuesday defended his administration’s decision to enforce coercive edicts mandating coronavirus vaccines on the American people, despite admitting that vaccination requirements are “not popular.” “Customers are more likely to come and shop because they know it’s a safe environment. I know vaccination requirements are not popular for many,” Biden stated during Tuesday’s address on the Chinese coronavirus.

Explanation: Welcome to December's solstice, first day of winter in the north and summer for the southern hemisphere. Astronomical markers of the seasons, solstice and equinox dates are based on the Sun's place in its annual journey along the ecliptic, through planet Earth's sky. At this solstice, the Sun reaches its maximum southern declination of -23.5 degrees today at 15:59 UTC, while its right ascension coordinate on the celestial sphere is 18 hours. That puts the Sun in the constellation Sagittarius in a direction near the center of our Milky Way galaxy. In fact, if you could see today's Solstice...

* Mindy Lafevers, 46, said she was watching TV March 1 when father David, 71, asked her a question that troubled her and made it seem he was confused * Mindy's mother, Priscilla, took David to the ER where he was put on oxygen * David's wife and daughter immediately lobbied for him to be treated with Ivermectin, with Mindy claiming she had used it herself to treat Covid * Priscilla said that when they asked for it, the infectious disease doctor she spoke to said 'that's not even approved for usage in the United States' * Mindy added...

A confirmed wolf kill was discovered near Walden, Colo., the home of one of Colorado’s wolf packs. An approximately 500 pound purebred replacement heifer was found dead after being attacked and eaten by this pack of wolves. This is the first confirmed wolf kill of livestock in Colorado in over 70 years. In early 2021, Colorado Parks and Wildlife confirmed the existence of this pack in north central Colorado; however, individual wolves have been sited in the area previous to the pack confirmation. Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials are working closely with the livestock producer to learn as much from...

Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honourable, because by him the Lord had given deliverance unto Syria: he was also a mighty man in valour, but he was a leper. And the Syrians had gone out by companies, and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little maid; and she waited on Naaman’s wife. And she said unto her mistress, Would God my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria! for he would recover him of his leprosy.( 2 Kings 5:1-3)Israel...

40 students across Victoria are participating in a program that will deliver yoghurt cultures to the International Space Station (ISS) on Tuesday, via a SpaceX rocket. The rocket, a Falcon 9, is set to launch at 5.06am US eastern time on Tuesday – just after 9pm Australian eastern time – from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. A team of six students at Haileybury, an independent high school in Melbourne, are working with Swinburne researchers to study the effects of microgravity on bacteria. They hope to perfect the conditions under which astronauts could make their own yoghurt. A total of...

Biden offers rare praise of Trump during Covid speech Utah billionaire leaves Mormon church, donates $600K to LGBTQ group Michael Fanone, the District of Columbia police officer who was dragged into a mob and beaten by rioters during the U.S. Capitol attack last January, has resigned from the force and will take a job with CNN. --snip-- Fanone made many public appearances following the attack, repeatedly speaking out against lawmakers who downplayed the seriousness of the day's events and warning that the riot posed a legitimate threat to democracy.