Biden and Putin stake out Ukraine positions in 50-minute call
President Vladimir Putin warned President Joe Biden on Thursday that any economic sanctions imposed on Russia if it were to take new military action against Ukraine would result in a “complete rupture” of relations between the two nuclear superpowers, a Russian official told reporters Thursday evening. A 50-minute phone call that Putin requested, and which both sides described as businesslike, ended without clarity about Putin’s intentions. He has massed 100,000 or so troops on the border with Ukraine, and issued demands for NATO and the United States to pull back their forces in the region, but apparently has not decided whether to order an invasion.
CDC warns against cruises, regardless of vaccination status
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned people on Thursday not to go on cruises, regardless of their vaccination status, because of onboard outbreaks fueled by the omicron variant. The CDC said it has more than 90 cruise ships under investigation or observation as a result of COVID-19 cases. The agency did not disclose the number of infections. The Cruise Lines International Association said it was disappointed with the new recommendations, saying the industry was singled out despite the fact it follows stricter health protocols than other travel sectors.
FDA plans to allow 12- to 15-year-olds to receive Pfizer boosters
The Food and Drug Administration is planning to broaden eligibility for coronavirus vaccine booster doses Monday, allowing 12- to 15-year-olds to receive third doses of Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine, according to people familiar with the agency’s deliberations. Regulators also plan to allow both adolescents and adults to seek an extra shot of Pfizer’s vaccine five months after receiving a second dose, instead of the current period of six months. A booster shot is also expected to be authorized for younger children, ages 5 to 11, with immune deficiencies. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccine advisory committee is planning to meet by the middle of next week to vote on whether to recommend the changes.
California man on deadly mission to White House arrested
A California man driving cross-country to the White House on a mission to “do whatever it takes” to kill top officials on a “hit list” that included President Joe Biden and former President Barack Obama has been arrested in Iowa, authorities said in court papers. The man, Kuachua Brillion Xiong, 25, has been held since Dec. 23 at the Pottawattamie County Jail in Council Bluffs, Iowa, on charges of making threats against a former president, according to sheriff’s records. According to a criminal complaint, Xiong assembled his hit list using the popular app TikTok, downloading videos “to compile a list of evil individuals he intended to kill.”
Colorado trucker’s prison sentence is reduced by 100 years
The 110-year prison sentence given to the driver of a truck involved in a 2019 crash that killed four people was reduced to 10 years by the governor of Colorado on Thursday. Gov. Jared Polis called the original sentence “unjust” and “disproportionate compared with many other inmates.” “Your highly unusual sentence highlights the lack of uniformity between sentences for similarly situated crimes,” Polis wrote in a letter to the driver, Rogel L. Aguilera-Mederos. He added, “This case will hopefully spur an important conversation about sentencing laws” in the future. Aguilera-Mederos will be eligible for parole on Dec. 30, 2026, according to the governor’s letter.
China, holding to its ‘zero COVID’ strategy, keeps city of 13M locked down
China, racing to control one of its worst outbreaks in a single city since the beginning of the pandemic, has put in place a sweeping lockdown and mass testing drives, making clear that the country has no intention of abandoning its “zero COVID” policy. Even as a growing number of countries turn away from hard lockdowns, believing their economic and human costs to be too great, the Chinese government has continued to implement harsh restrictions. The city of Xi’an, in northwestern China, recorded 1,117 infections between Dec. 9-29, according to the government. In response, officials locked down the city of 13 million on Dec. 22.
S. Africa passes fourth wave, and counts few added deaths
The South African government said Thursday that data from its health department suggested that the country had passed its omicron peak without a major spike in deaths, offering cautious hope to other countries grappling with the variant. “The speed with which the omicron-driven fourth wave rose, peaked and then declined has been staggering,” said Fareed Abdullah of the South African Medical Research Council. “Peak in four weeks and precipitous decline in another two. This omicron wave is over in the city of Tshwane. It was a flash flood more than a wave.” The rise in deaths over the period was small, and in the last week, officials said, “marginal.”
By wire sources