Biden’s border negotiations mark seismic shift on immigration politics
On his first day in office, President Joe Biden sent a bill to Congress to “restore humanity and American values to our immigration system.” Nearly three years later, he is considering sweeping restrictions on migration in exchange for aid to Ukraine and Israel. It is a sign of how dramatically the politics of immigration have shifted in the United States, where polls suggest there is growing support, even in Biden’s own party, for border measures once denounced by Democrats and championed by former President Donald Trump. But it is also a gamble for Biden, who risks angering key parts of his core constituency, such as progressives and young voters.
Hiker pinned under boulder for 10 hours: ‘I’m going to die up here’
Darkness fell as Kevin DePaolo lay in freezing sand, a boulder weighing as much as 10,000 pounds bearing down on his right leg in the California mountains. Help eventually arrived from Inyo County Search and Rescue, which led a daring operation, freeing DePaolo after he had spent about 10 hours trapped. After his rescue, surgeons at a Fresno hospital were able to save his leg, despite serious injuries. In his first interview since the Dec. 5 accident, DePaolo said he felt as if he had been “given a second chance at life.” He and a friend had hiked that day to a spot near the Santa Rita Flat, in the Inyo Mountains.
Exhumation in unsolved 1969 killing raises hopes for answers
More than 50 years after his sister was killed, Darryl Malecki watched Thursday as her body was lowered into her grave, for a second time, in Baltimore. No one has been charged with the killing of Joyce Malecki, who disappeared in November 1969, when she was 20, and was found dead days later on the Fort Meade military base south of Baltimore. But the exhumation of her remains for DNA samples has raised her family’s hopes that the case will finally be solved. The Netflix series “The Keepers” examined Malecki’s death in connection with the killing of a nun who taught in Baltimore. The women went missing within days of each other, and their bodies were found a few miles apart.
Alex Jones and Sandy Hook families enter final stretch in bankruptcy fight
Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones proposed paying Sandy Hook families who won more than $1 billion in damages against him last year a combined total of at least $5.5 million annually over a decade, while the families aim to liquidate his Infowars media empire, according to competing plans filed late Friday. The proposals, while far apart, signal that efforts to resolve Jones’ and his company’s bankruptcy are entering a final phase, after dragging on for more than a year. Final hearings are slated for late February in a Houston bankruptcy court. Twenty first graders and six educators died in the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.
Northern lights could appear farther south in U.S., forecasters say
A powerful geomagnetic storm could set off a colorful display of the northern lights this weekend, appearing in parts of the United States where they are not usually visible, weather officials said Friday. The National Weather Service issued a geomagnetic storm watch for Saturday and Sunday after the agency said it observed multiple coronal mass ejections from the sun on Thursday and Friday. These storms can produce captivating streaks of green or reddish light known as aurora borealis, or northern lights. Lights produced by this weekend’s storm could come into view in Iowa, Maine, New York and Washington.
Mayim Bialik is out as ‘Jeopardy!’ host
Mayim Bialik, who received an Emmy nomination for her work on “Jeopardy!” after the death of longtime host Alex Trebek, said Friday that she had been removed from the popular game show, as Sony confirmed it would leave Ken Jennings as the sole host. Bialik began hosting “Jeopardy!” on an interim basis in 2021, and on a permanent one last year. She has not appeared on the program or its “Celebrity Jeopardy!” offshoot for the past few months. In May, the entertainment news site Deadline reported that she had stepped away from “Jeopardy!” in solidarity with the Hollywood writers strike.
A Sudanese city took in many fleeing war. Now, fighting has spread there.
Fighting in Sudan has spread to the outskirts of a major city that is a refuge for displaced people and a center for aid groups, threatening to open another deadly front in a war that has devastated Africa’s third-largest nation. The Sudanese army and the rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have been clashing on the edges of Wad Madani, a city about 100 miles from the capital, Khartoum, that tens of thousands of people fled to after the war began in April. Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said Saturday that she was “gravely concerned” by the reports of the attack on the city.
‘People snatchers’ for Ukraine use harsh tactics to fill ranks
With Ukraine’s military facing mounting deaths and a stalemate on the battlefield, army recruiters have become increasingly aggressive in their efforts to replenish the ranks, in some cases pulling men off the streets and whisking them to recruiting centers using intimidation and even physical force. Recruiters have confiscated passports, taken people from their jobs and, in at least one case, tried to send a mentally disabled person to military training, according to lawyers, activists and Ukrainian men who have been subject to coercive tactics. In Oshykhliby, the recruiters became known as the “people snatchers,” local residents said.
Tensions spilling over from Gaza to Red Sea escalate
The tensions spilling over from the war in the Gaza Strip to merchant shipping in the Red Sea escalated Saturday when Britain and the United States said their militaries had shot down more than a dozen attack drones. The Houthis, an armed group that controls much of northern Yemen, have been staging drone and missile assaults on Israeli and American targets since the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attacks on Israel. They have said they intend to prevent Israeli ships from sailing the Red Sea until Israel stops its war on Hamas, which rules Gaza. The Houthis and Hamas, like Hezbollah in Lebanon, are backed by Iran.
Cold snap grips China after snow in Beijing causes havoc
Temperatures across China were forecast to plunge this weekend, as parts of the country reel from widespread disruptions caused by wintry conditions and heavy rains, including a subway collision in Beijing that left hundreds of commuters hospitalized. Across China, meteorologists issued low temperature and strong wind warnings on Saturday, saying that a “strong cold wave” was spreading icy winds nationwide that were expected to continue into the coming week. In some parts of China, temperatures could drop to historical lows, according to the China Meteorological Administration. And colder-than-average conditions are expected until the end of the year in northern China, forecasters said.
By wire sources