Genetically modified pig OK’d

NEW YORK -- U.S. regulators have approved a genetically modified pig for food and medical products, making it the second such animal to get the green light for human consumption. But the company behind it says there are no imminent plans to sell it for meat. The pig is genetically engineered to eliminate the presence of alpha-gal, a type of sugar found in many mammals. The sugar makes its way into many products -- including medications, cosmetics and food -- and can cause allergic reactions in some people. The main goal of the company behind the pig, United Therapeutics Corp., is to develop medical products, such as blood thinners, that won't set off such reactions, said its spokesman Dewey Steadman. Eventually, the Silver Spring, Maryland-based firm hopes to develop a way for the pig's organs to be transplanted into people. The pig, called GalSafe, also has commercial potential as food, but Steadman said the company doesn't know when it might be able to secure an agreement with a meat producer to process and sell it. He noted the meat allergy the pig addresses, called alpha-gal syndrome, isn't yet considered a major issue. Health researchers don't fully understand how the allergy develops, but it has been tied to bites from certain ticks. In 2009, there were 24 reported cases, but more recent estimates exceed 5,000 cases, according to a report by a working group for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Symptoms can include hives, itching, cramping and vomiting. Unlike other food allergies, alpha-gal reactions typically happen several hours after eating beef, pork or lamb, making it difficult to diagnose.

Melania keeps holiday tradition

WASHINGTON -- Melania Trump didn't let the coronavirus pandemic break a decades-long tradition of first ladies visiting a Washington children's hospital at the holidays. On Tuesday, she made her fourth and final holiday visit as first lady to Children's National Hospital. "Wonderful to be here," she said. "This is one of my favorite events during the holiday season." During each of her visits, Mrs. Trump said she has seen that the spirit of Christmas is alive in each of the children, who are battling medical conditions. The hospital tweaked the holiday program to safely accommodate the visit during the pandemic, which has claimed more than 300,000 lives in the United States. "Mrs. Trump has our deep gratitude for joining every first lady since Bess Truman in bringing holiday cheer to children who are hospitalized and can't be home during this special time of the year," said Dr. Kurt Newman, chief executive officer of the hospital. The first lady sat in a chair in front of a towering Christmas tree adorning the hospital's atrium. Two patients, 6-year-old Riley Whitney and 8-year-old Sofia Martinez, sat with pillows on a red carpet in front to listen to Mrs. Trump read a book about holiday ornaments that come to life. In past years, Mrs. Trump read to a big crowd of patients and their families, hospital staffers and singers and dancers. Her reading of the children's Christmas story "Oliver the Ornament Meets Marley & Joan and Abbey" was broadcast over the hospital's closed-circuit television system so patients could tune in from their rooms.

Fashion mogul arrested

NEW YORK -- Canadian fashion mogul Peter Nygard was arrested on charges alleging he sexually abused women and girls after luring them into his orbit with opportunities in fashion and modeling over the last 25 years. Nygard, 79, was detained after a Winnipeg, Canada, court appearance Tuesday following his Monday arrest by Canadian authorities at the request of the U.S. No date was set for a bail hearing, though he was due to return to court Jan. 13. His lawyer, Elkan Abramowitz, declined comment, as did a spokesperson for Nygard. His arrest on sex trafficking, racketeering and related charges came after the FBI raided Nygard's Manhattan offices earlier this year. The raid came soon after 10 women sued Nygard, saying he enticed young and impoverished women to his Bahamas estate with cash and promises of modeling and fashion opportunities. Several plaintiffs in the suit, filed in New York City, said they were 14 or 15 years old when Nygard gave them alcohol or drugs and then raped them. Nygard has denied all allegations and blames a conspiracy caused by a feud with his billionaire neighbor in the Bahamas. In announcing criminal charges, authorities said Nygard used the prestige of an international clothing design, manufacturing, and supply business he founded and headquartered in Winnipeg, Canada, to persuade victims, sometimes with a history of being abused, to submit to his demands.

'Twitter killer' sentenced to die

TOKYO -- A Japanese court on Tuesday sentenced a man to death for killing and dismembering nine people, most of whom had posted suicidal thoughts on social media, in a case that shocked the country. The Tachikawa branch of the Tokyo District Court found Takahiro Shiraishi, known as the "Twitter killer," guilty of killing, dismembering and storing the bodies of the victims in his apartment in Zama, near Tokyo. Shiraishi, 30, pleaded guilty and said he would not appeal his death sentence. Police arrested Shiraishi in 2017 after finding the bodies of eight females and one male in cold-storage cases in his apartment. Investigators said Shiraishi approached the victims via Twitter, offering to assist them with their suicidal wishes. He killed the women, including teenagers, after raping them, and also killed a boyfriend of one of the women to silence him, investigators said. On Twitter, Shiraishi used the name "Hangman," promising to help his victims die and inviting them to his apartment. Although his defense lawyers argued that he assisted the victims' suicidal wishes, Shiraishi later said he killed them without their consent.

Israeli court backs extradition

JERUSALEM -- Israel's Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected an appeal challenging the extradition of a former teacher wanted in Australia on charges of child sex abuse, clearing the way for her to stand trial after a six-year legal saga. Malka Leifer, a former educator accused of sexually abusing several former students at a Jewish school in Melbourne, has been fighting extradition from Israel since 2014. Leifer maintains her innocence and the six-year legal battle surrounding her extradition has strained relations between Israel and Australia. The Supreme Court justices said that the ruling finalizes "the decision of the appellant as extraditable" to stand trial in Australia. Earlier this year an Israeli psychiatric panel determined that Leifer lied about suffering a mental condition that allegedly made her unfit to stand trial. As a result of the findings, Israel's Justice Ministry said it would move to expedite her extradition to face 74 charges of child sex abuse. Three sisters -- Dassi Erlich, Nicole Meyer and Elly Sapper -- have accused Leifer of abusing them while they were students at a Melbourne ultra-Orthodox school. There are said to be other victims.

Too many women with top jobs

PARIS -- Paris city hall has been fined 90,000 euros ($109,408) for having appointed too many women to top positions in 2018, in breach of a law aimed at ensuring gender balance. Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo denounced the fine as "unfair" and "absurd" on Tuesday during a meeting of the city council. In 2018, 11 women and 5 men -- who represent just over 30% -- were appointed to top positions in the Paris city hall, leading the Civil Service Ministry to impose the fine. A 2013 law, meant to ensure that women get better access to senior jobs in the civil service, requires a minimum of 40% of appointments for each gender. Since then, the law has been changed to provide for exceptions to nominations when the gender balance is respected overall. In Paris city hall, 47% of all civil servants in senior positions are women.

Hack may have exposed secrets

BOSTON -- Some of America's most deeply held secrets may have been stolen in a disciplined, monthslong operation being blamed on elite Russian government hackers. The possibilities of what might have been purloined are mind-boggling. Could hackers have obtained nuclear secrets? COVID-19 vaccine data? Blueprints for next-generation weapons systems? It will take weeks, maybe years in some cases, for digital sleuths combing through U.S. government and private industry networks to get the answers. These hackers are consummate pros at covering their tracks, experts say. Some theft may never be detected. What's seems clear is that this campaign -- which cybersecurity experts says exhibits the tactics and techniques of Russia's SVR foreign intelligence agency -- will rank among the most prolific in the annals of cyberespionage. U.S. government agencies, including the Treasury and Commerce departments, were among dozens of high-value public- and private-sector targets known to have been infiltrated as far back as March through a commercial software update distributed to thousands of companies and government agencies worldwide. A Pentagon statement Monday indicated it used the software. It said it had "issued guidance and directives to protect" its networks. It would not say -- for "operational security reasons" -- whether any of its systems may have been hacked.

Giant iceberg to be studied

LONDON -- A team of scientists will set off next month on a research mission to find out the impact of a giant floating iceberg on the wildlife and marine life on a sub-Antarctic island, the British Antarctic Survey said Tuesday. The huge iceberg -- the size of the U.S. state of Delaware -- has been floating north since it broke away from Antarctica's Larsen C ice shelf in 2017. It is now about 47 miles from the island of South Georgia. Scientists are concerned about the risks it poses to the wildlife in the area if it grounds near the island. Recent images captured from the air show the iceberg is breaking up, and researchers are also concerned about the impact of freshwater from the melting ice on animals and marine life in the area. South Georgia is home to colonies of tens of thousands of penguins and 6 million fur seals, which could be threatened by the iceberg during their breeding season. The waters near the island are also one of the world's largest marine protected areas and house more marine species than the Galapagos. The research ship RRS James Cook is expected to depart from the Falkland Islands for the iceberg in late January. Two underwater robotic gliders will be deployed from the ship and get as close as possible to the edge of the iceberg to collect data such as seawater temperature, salinity and how much plankton is in the water. The iceberg -- named A-68a -- is travelling at varying speeds depending on local conditions, but at its fastest was travelling about 12 miles a day. Geraint Tarling, an ecologist at the British Antarctic Survey, said the iceberg will "cause devastation to the sea floor by scouring the seabed communities of sponges, brittle stars, worms and sea-urchins, so decreasing biodiversity."

Buttigieg, Granholm are next

WASHINGTON -- President-elect Joe Biden is expected to pick his former rival Pete Buttigieg as secretary of transportation and former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm as energy secretary, according to four people familiar with the plans. Buttigieg would be the first openly gay person confirmed by the Senate to a Cabinet post. At 38, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, would also add a youthful dynamic to an incoming administration that is so far dominated in large part by leaders with decades of Washington experience. Granholm, 61, served as Michigan's attorney general from 1999 to 2003 and two terms as Michigan's first female governor, from 2003 to 2010. She was a supporter of Biden's presidential bid and has spoken out against President Donald Trump's attempts to overturn the election results, accusing him of "poisoning democracy."

Charged in bogus fraud claim

HOUSTON -- A former Houston police captain was charged with assault on Tuesday after running a man off the road and holding him at gunpoint in an effort to prove what authorities have called a bogus voter fraud scheme. Mark Aguirre, 63, claimed that an air conditioner repairman was the mastermind of a giant voter fraud scheme. Aguirre said the man's truck was filled with fraudulent ballots when he ran his SUV into it on Oct. 19, according to authorities. "The defendant stated (the driver) has approximately seven hundred and fifty thousand fraudulent mail ballots and is using Hispanic children to sign the ballots because the children's fingerprints would not appear in any databases," according to an arrest affidavit. Aguirre told police he and some friends set up a "command post" at a Marriott in suburban Houston and conducted 24-hour surveillance on the repairman for four days, according to the affidavit. He said he then ran the man's truck off the road, pointed a gun at him, forced him onto the ground and put a knee on his back, the affidavit said. Police who responded to the incident searched the truck and found only air conditioning parts and tools, authorities said. "A lengthy investigation … determined allegations of election fraud were unfounded and no evidence of illegal ballots was found," Houston police said.

Legoland plans expansion

WINTER HAVEN, Fla. -- The Legoland theme park in Florida is planning an expansion next year including new rides, according to plans filed with the city nearest the attraction. The details have not been revealed, but news outlets report Legoland will add about 4.5 acres to its resort near Winter Haven. The plan comes amid the global coronavirus pandemic that has rocked Florida's tourism industry.

Monarch just a candidate

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. -- Federal officials on Tuesday declared the monarch butterfly "a candidate" for threatened or endangered status, but said no action would be taken for several years because of the many other species awaiting that designation. Environmentalists said delaying that long could spell disaster for the beloved black-and-orange butterfly, once a common sight in backyard gardens, meadows and other landscapes now seeing its population dwindling. The monarch's status will be reviewed annually, said Charlie Wooley, head of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Great Lakes regional office. Emergency action could be taken earlier, but plans now call for proposing to list the monarch under the Endangered Species Act in 2024 unless its situation improves enough to make the step unnecessary. The proposal would be followed by another year for public comment and development of a final rule. Listing would provide a number of legal protections, including a requirement that federal agencies consider effects on the butterfly or its habitat before allowing highway construction and other potentially damaging activities. Scientists estimate the monarch population in the eastern U.S. has fallen about 80% since the mid-1990s, while the drop-off in the western U.S. has been even steeper.