Monster storm persists, China virus spreads and more Christmas Day updates
Associated Press, CNN
Posted:
Updated:
Millions of people are hunkering down in a deep freeze overnight and early morning to ride out the frigid storm that has killed at least 18 people across the country.
The Arctic blast has trapped some residents inside homes with heaping snow drifts and knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses.
The scope of the storm has been nearly unprecedented, stretching from the Great Lakes near Canada to the Rio Grande along the border with Mexico. The National Weather Service says about 60% of the U.S. population has faced some sort of winter weather advisory or warning, and temperatures plummeted drastically below normal from east of the Rocky Mountains to the Appalachians.
China’s COVID-19 surge raises odds of new coronavirus mutant
Could the COVID-19 surge in China unleash a new coronavirus mutant on the world? Scientists don’t know but worry that might happen. It could be similar to omicron variants circulating there now. It could be a combination of strains. Or something entirely different, they say. Every new infection offers a chance for the coronavirus to mutate, and the virus is spreading rapidly in China. The country of 1.4 billion largely abandoned its zero COVID policy. Domestic vaccines have proven less effective against serious infection than Western-made messenger RNA versions. There’s fertile ground for the virus to change.
Could the COVID-19 surge in China unleash a new coronavirus mutant on the world? Scientists don’t know but worry that might happen. It could be similar to omicron variants circulating there now. It could be a combination of strains. Or something entirely different, they say.
Every new infection offers a chance for the coronavirus to mutate, and the virus is spreading rapidly in China. The country of 1.4 billion largely abandoned its zero COVID policy. Domestic vaccines have proven less effective against serious infection than Western-made messenger RNA versions. There’s fertile ground for the virus to change.
Christmas marked around the world
Pope Francis has used his Christmas message Sunday to lament the “icy winds of war” buffeting humanity. The pontiff made an impassioned plea for an immediate end to the fighting in Ukraine and also cited long-running conflicts in the Middle East, including in the Holy Land.
More from the pope and around the world:
AP
In 1776, Gen. George Washington and his troops crossed the Delaware River for a surprise attack against Hessian forces at Trenton, New Jersey, during the American Revolutionary War.
AP
In 1926, Hirohito became emperor of Japan, succeeding his father, Emperor Yoshihito.
AP
In 1989, former baseball manager Billy Martin, 61, died in a traffic accident near Binghamton, New York.
AP
In 1989, ousted Romanian President Nicolae Ceausescu (chow-SHES’-koo) and his wife, Elena, were executed following a popular uprising.
AP
In 1991, Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev went on television to announce his resignation as the eighth and final leader of a communist superpower that had already gone out of existence.
POOL LOS ANGELES TIMES
In 2003, 16 people were killed by mudslides that swept over campgrounds in California’s San Bernardino Valley.
PTV
In 2003, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf (pur-VEHZ’ moo-SHAH’-ruhv) survived a second assassination bid in 11 days, but 17 other people were killed.
AP
In 2006, James Brown, the “Godfather of Soul,” died in Atlanta at age 73.
AP
In 2009, passengers aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 253 foiled an attempt to blow up the plane as it was landing in Detroit by seizing Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab (OO’-mahr fah-ROOK’ ahb-DOOL’-moo-TAH’-lahb), who tried to set off explosives in his underwear. (Abdulmutallab later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison.)
AP
Ten years ago: A suicide bombing of a Catholic church near Nigeria’s capital left at least 44 people dead.
AP
Ten years ago: Five members of a family — three children and their grandparents — died in a Christmas morning blaze in Stamford, Connecticut, that was blamed on burning embers in a trash can.
AP
Five years ago: George Michael, who rocketed to stardom with WHAM! and went on to enjoy a long and celebrated solo career, died at his home in Goring, England, at age 53.
AP
Five years ago: Decrying the suffering in Syria, Pope Francis wished Christmas peace and hope for all those scarred by war and terrorism, which he said was sowing “fear and death in the heart of many countries and cities.”
AP
Five years ago: A Russian Tu-154 carrying 92 people to Syria crashed into the Black Sea shortly after takeoff from Sochi, killing all 92 people on board.
Alexander Zemlianichenko
Russian election officials formally barred opposition leader Alexei Navalny from running for president, prompting him to call for a boycott of the March, 2018 vote.
AP
One year ago: A recreational vehicle parked in the deserted streets of downtown Nashville exploded early Christmas morning, damaging dozens of buildings, causing widespread communications outages and grounding holiday travel at the city’s airport; investigators later determined that the bomber, a 63-year-old Nashville-area man, was killed in the explosion.
HOGP
One year ago: NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, the world’s largest and most powerful space telescope, rocketed away from French Guiana in South America on a quest to behold light from the first stars and galaxies and scour the universe for hints of life.
Invision
Singer Annie Lennox is 67.
Invision
Country singer Barbara Mandrell is 73.
Invision
Actor CCH Pounder is 69.
AP
Actor Hanna Schygulla is 78.
Invision
Pop singers Jess and Lisa Origliasso (The Veronicas) are 37.
Invision
Singer Jimmy Buffett is 75.
Invision
Blues singer/guitarist Joe Louis Walker is 72.
AP
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is 50.
AP
Pro and College Football Hall-of-Famer Larry Csonka is 75.
Invision
Rock singer-musician Lukas Nelson (Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real) is 33.
