Migrants dropped near VP Harris home on frigid Christmas Eve
Local organizers in Washington say three buses of recent migrant families arrived from Texas near the home of Vice President Kamala Harris in record-setting cold on Christmas Eve. Texas authorities have not confirmed their involvement, but the bus dropoffs are in line with previous actions by border-state governors calling attention to the Biden administration’s immigration policies. Tatiana Laborde, managing director of SAMU First Response, says the buses that arrived late Saturday were carrying around 110 to 130 people. Some were wearing T-shirts despite temperatures hovering around 15 degrees. It was the coldest Christmas Eve on record for Washington. Organizers had buses ready to take the migrants to a church where they stayed the night.
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.
Prosecutors: Paris shooting suspect wanted to kill migrants
The man suspected of fatally shooting three Kurds in Paris told investigators that he wanted to kill migrants or foreigners and then himself. Prosecutors say he killed three and wounded three others, and then was disarmed and subdued by one of the injured victims. The 69-year-old suspect was detained at the scene of Friday’s shooting and transferred Saturday to psychiatric care. His name has not been released. He faces potential charges of murder and attempted murder with a racist motive. He told investigators that he developed a pathological hatred toward migrants and foreigners after being targeted by a burglary in 2016. The killing rocked the Kurdish community in France.
West Point to remove Confederate monuments from campus
The U.S. Military Academy at West Point will start removing Confederate symbols from its campus in New York state, including taking down a portrait of Gen. Robert E. Lee in his Confederate uniform from the academy’s library, officials said. West Point will also remove, relocate, modify or rename busts, memorials, streets and buildings named after Confederate figures as part of a directive from the Department of Defense. The directive was based on recommendations from the Naming Commission, which was created by Congress last year to assess Defense Department items that commemorate the Confederacy at West Point and the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.
China’s foreign minister signals deeper ties with Russia
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has defended what he says is his country’s position of impartiality on the war in Ukraine and signaled that China would deepen ties with Russia in the coming year. Wang on Sunday also blamed America for the deterioration in relations between the world’s two largest economies, saying that China has “firmly rejected the United States’ erroneous China policy.” China’s refusal to condemn the invasion of Ukraine and join others in imposing sanctions on Russia has further frayed ties and fueled an emerging divide with much of Europe. Wang said that China would “deepen strategic mutual trust and mutually beneficial cooperation” with Russia. Warships from the two countries held joint naval drills in the East China Sea last week.
By wire sources