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Tribute to 'kindness of strangers'
LONDON -- One of the traditional fixtures of any Christmas Day is to see Queen Elizabeth II and her family go to church. Not this year. The coronavirus pandemic has made sure of that. However, the queen, 94, did fulfill what is considered her most cherished Christmas Day duty. Addressing the nation -- as well as the Commonwealth -- on television Friday. The queen, who has spent much of the year isolating at Windsor Castle with her 99-year-old husband Prince Philip, delivered a heartfelt message of hope in her Christmas address, praising the "indomitable spirit" of those who have risen "magnificently" to the challenges of the pandemic. Seated behind a desk where the only family photo on show was a private portrait of Philip, the queen expressed sympathy for the ordeal of the past few months while also laying out hope of a return to normality. "We continue to be inspired by the kindness of strangers and draw comfort that -- even on the darkest nights -- there is hope in the new dawn," she said. The queen wrote her address, as she does every year, and her words are likely to have added poignancy given the upheaval many families have experienced during the pandemic, particularly in the U.K., which has an official coronavirus-related death toll of just over 70,000, Europe's second-highest behind Italy. "Of course, for many, this time of year will be tinged with sadness: some mourning the loss of those dear to them, and others missing friends and family members distanced for safety, when all they'd really want for Christmas is a simple hug or a squeeze of the hand," she said. "If you are among them, you are not alone, and let me assure you of my thoughts and prayers." There was a strong religious theme to the address reflecting her Christian faith and the queen said the biblical story of the Good Samaritan had relevance today.
Pope: Vulnerable come first
VATICAN CITY -- Pope Francis made a Christmas Day plea for authorities to make COVID-19 vaccines available to all, insisting that the first in line should be the most vulnerable and needy, regardless of who holds the patents for the shots. "Vaccines for everybody, especially for the most vulnerable and needy," who should be first in line, Francis said in off-the-cuff remarks from his prepared text, calling the development of such vaccines "light of hope" for the world. "We can't let closed nationalisms impede us from living as the true human family that we are," the pope said. He called on the leaders of nations, businesses and international organizations to "promote cooperation and not competition, and to search for a solution for all." Amid a surge of coronavirus infections this fall in Italy, Francis broke with tradition for Christmas. Instead of delivering his "Urbi et Orbi" speech -- Latin for "to the city and to the world" -- outdoors from the central loggia of St. Peter's Basilica, he read it from inside a cavernous hall at the Apostolic Palace, flanked by two Christmas trees with blinking lights.
Ex-philanthropist seeks relief
NEW YORK -- Once worth nearly a billion dollars, opera-loving philanthropist Alberto Vilar is seeking financial relief from what his lawyers describe as a destitute existence following his 2018 release from prison. Vilar's lawyers told a Manhattan federal judge in a letter Thursday that Vilar is "a broken individual, penniless, and destitute." They said he sleeps on a couch in a shared studio apartment and relies on a monthly $2,200 social security check. His attorneys asked that he no longer be required to pay hundreds of dollars monthly toward restitution they claimed was mostly satisfied. The 80-year-old Vilar, born in New Jersey and of Cuban descent, was once described by Forbes magazine as worth about $950 million before the collapse of technology stocks in 2000 ruined the good fortune of his San Francisco-based investment company, Amerindo Investment Advisors Inc. Complaints from investors drew the scrutiny of federal prosecutors who said Vilar and a business partner repeatedly lied to clients from 1986 to 2005 by promising safe and steady returns while they squandered millions of dollars on risky bets on technology stocks. Vilar was sentenced to nine years in prison after his 2008 conviction on charges including conspiracy and investment adviser, mail and wire fraud. At his sentencing, Vilar was ordered to forfeit over $22 million and pay $21.9 million in restitution and a $25,000 fine. The exact amount still owed to victims of the fraud is unclear. It was a steep fall for a man whose charity was legendary. He gave as much as $225 million to opera houses and millions more to cultural and medical organizations around the world.
Execution of woman delayed
WASHINGTON -- A federal judge said the Justice Department unlawfully rescheduled the execution of the only woman on federal death row, potentially setting up the Trump administration to schedule the execution after president-elect Joe Biden takes office. U.S. District Court Judge Randolph Moss also vacated an order from the director of the Bureau of Prisons that had set Lisa Montgomery's execution date for Jan. 12. Montgomery had previously been scheduled to be put to death at the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, Indiana, this month, but Moss delayed the execution after her attorneys contracted coronavirus visiting their client and asked him to extend the amount of time to file a clemency petition. Moss prohibited the Bureau of Prisons from carrying out Lisa Montgomery's execution before the end of the year and officials rescheduled her execution date for Jan. 12. But Moss ruled on Wednesday that the agency was also prohibited from rescheduling the date while a stay was in place. "The Court, accordingly, concludes that the Director's order setting a new execution date while the Court's stay was in effect was 'not in accordance with law,'" Moss wrote.
Top Navalny associate detained
MOSCOW-- A top associate of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was detained Friday after doorstepping an alleged security operative who has inadvertently revealed details of Navalny's supposed poisoning with a Soviet-era nerve agent. Lyubov Sobol, a key figure in Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation, was detained for 48 hours after a day of interrogation on charges of violent trespassing. The move followed Sobol's attempt on Monday to enter the Moscow apartment of the alleged operative, whom Navalny had previously duped into describing details of the alleged poisoning. Sobol has denied the accusations and insisted that she violated no law by ringing the doorbell to the apartment. While Sobol was being questioned, the state Investigative Committee issued a statement accusing her of trespassing -- charges her colleagues have rejected. Earlier this week, Navalny released the recording of a phone call he said he made to a man he identified as Konstantin Kudryavtsev and described as an alleged member of a group of officers of the Federal Security Service, or FSB, who purportedly poisoned him with the Soviet-era Novichok agent in August and then tried to cover it up. Navalny, who is convalescing in Germany, said he phoned the man hours before the investigative group Bellingcat released a report alleging that FSB operatives with specialized training in chemical weapons followed him for years and were in close vicinity when he was poisoned. In the call, Navalny introduced himself as a security official and beguiled his interlocutor into sharing details of the alleged poisoning operation and acknowledging that he was involved in the "processing" of Navalny's underwear so "there wouldn't be any traces" of poison.
Russian prof sent to prison
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia -- A court in St. Petersburg on Friday convicted a prominent history professor on charges of murdering and dismembering a female student and sentenced him to 12 1/2 years in prison. The court found 64-year-old Oleg Sokolov, who taught at St. Petersburg State University, guilty of shooting and killing 24-year-old doctoral student Anastasia Yeshchenko at his apartment in November 2019. Sokolov was detained after being pulled from the Moika River outside his St. Petersburg apartment with a backpack with two severed arms inside. The limbs were identified as Yeshchenko's, and investigators found other body parts in the river and in Sokolov's apartment in the historic part of St. Petersburg, less than a mile from the Hermitage Museum. During the trial, Sokolov testified that he and Yeshchenko had a romantic relationship and that he shot her during a quarrel. Prosecutors have requested a 15-year sentence. Sokolov was known for his books about the Napoleonic era and his enthusiastic participation in reenactments of historic battles, and his case attracted broad attention in Russia. A fluent French speaker, Sokolov was a leading member of military reenactment movements since the early 1990s and represented Napoleon in numerous representations of historic battles and other events. Sokolov's flamboyant style and fiery delivery made him popular among students, and he spoke about his passion for the Napoleonic era in TV interviews. Napoleon was his idol and fellow history buffs would address him 'Sire,' the emperor's title.
Artists lead restoration efforts
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- The grand, 500-year-old brick walls of the al-Kamalaia School slowly emerged from years of accumulated garbage as grassroots preservers began the long process of restoring it to its former glory. Located in the heart of the old quarter of Gaza City, the Mamluk-era building is one of an ever-dwindling number of historic structures at risk of demolition. "It was in a very difficult, pitiful state. It was a dump," said Abdullah al-Ruzzi, an artist and leading volunteer. Al-Ruzzi and other artists launched the Mobaderoon, or Initiators, program, seeking to save abandoned houses and buildings from two periods of Gaza's history: the Mamluk Sultanate and the subsequent Ottoman Empire. In the old section of the Palestinian enclave, fewer than 200 houses from these eras are partially or entirely standing, according to tourist officials. They are threatened by neglect, decay or even demolition by new urban development. "Lack of public awareness and the economic considerations by owners are the greatest threats to these buildings," said Ahmed al-Astal, director of Iwan, the history and heritage institute of Gaza's Islamic University. "These houses are our identity, but ignorance leads to their destruction." Because the Gaza Strip is small, with 2 million people living in just 300 square kilometers, the experts and volunteers fear that structures of past centuries will disappear, like those from far more ancient civilizations.
Sculpture honors college prez
RUTLAND, Vt. -- The first Black president of an American college is being honored with a sculpture installed in the Vermont city where he was born in 1826. The larger-than-life marble bust of Martin Henry Freeman, a scholar, sits on a stack of books in a downtown square as part of the Rutland Sculpture Trail. "It's a very soft, gentle portrayal of Martin Freeman," said Al Wakefield, one of the sponsors of the piece that was installed in November. "I don't know how many people remember either through historical writings what kind of person he was, but he's depicted as a very gentle, kind, literary, artsy kind of a guy." It's the eighth sculpture to be added to the city's sculpture trail aimed at celebrating local history and drawing more people to visit the working-class community. Among the pieces is a marble relief honoring the Vermont volunteers who served in the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, made up of African Americans soldiers, during the Civil War. In 1856, Freeman became president of the all-Black Allegheny Institute and Mission Church in the Pittsburgh area, later named Avery College. He attended Middlebury College in Vermont, graduating at the top of his class in 1849. Freeman's father fought in the American Revolution, one way for enslaved men to win their freedom.
Volume delays Christmas gifts
SAN RAMON, Calif. -- Some who mailed holiday presents weeks early this year found they didn't act early enough as Christmas arrived with their gifts stuck in transit. The U.S. Postal Service said on its website that it was "experiencing unprecedented volume increases and limited employee availability due to the impacts of COVID-19." Austin Race of Grand Rapids, Michigan, placed an online order Nov. 30 for a collector's model die-cast of a NASCAR racing car. It hadn't reached his father after the Postal Service passed through his neighborhood Thursday night, even though he was notified Dec. 8 that it was shipped by two-day priority mail. His gift was in Opa-locka, Florida, the last time he checked the tracking number, about 750 miles (1,200 kilometers) south of where he ordered it in Mooresville, North Carolina. Race, 21, resigned himself to telling his father he will have to wait a little longer for his gift. "I do understand the situation, but it's still kind of frustrating,"
Street fridge keeps giving
HONG KONG -- Most people who head to Woosung Street in Hong Kong's old-school neighborhood of Jordan are visiting its popular restaurants serving everything from curries to seafood. Others may be headed for a lone refrigerator, painted blue, with a sign that reads: "Give what you can give, take what you need to take." The door of the fridge sitting outside a hockey academy opens to reveal it is stuffed with packets of instant noodles, biscuits, tins of food and even socks and towels for anyone who may need them. Ahmen Khan, founder of a sports foundation on the same street, said he was inspired to create a community refrigerator after seeing a film about others doing the same thing. He found the refrigerator at a nearby refuse collection point and painted it blue. "It's like a dignity, that when you go home, you open your fridge to get food," Khan said. "So I want the people to just feel like that. Even if it's a street, it's their community, it's their home, so they can simply just open it and then just put food there, and collect the food." Khan's blue refrigerator project went viral on social media and people have been dropping by to leave food inside. Janet Yeung stopped by recently with a plastic bag filled with biscuits, instant noodles and snacks. She stacked them carefully inside. "I think doing good deeds does not need to be on a large scale. A small act can already show our kindness, and contribute to this world."
Dems take in more than $200M
ATLANTA -- The Democrats running for Georgia's two U.S. Senate seats each raised more than $100 million over two months, a massive haul that eclipsed campaign contributions to their Republican opponents and reflects the high stakes of the twin contests. Jon Ossoff, who is taking on Sen. David Perdue, took in more than $106 million from Oct. 15 through Dec. 16, according to his latest campaign finance report. Raphael Warnock, who is trying to unseat Sen. Kelly Loeffler, was close behind with a little over $103 million. Perdue reported $68 million over the same two-month span, with Loeffler taking in just under $64 million. Three of the campaigns reported their financial data on Thursday. Loeffler submitted hers a day earlier. The two races will determine which party controls the Senate -- and likely how ambitious President-elect Joe Biden can be with his agenda. If Republicans win one race, they will maintain a narrow majority, If Democrats carry both, the balance will be 50-50 --with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris delivering tie-breaking votes.
Requirement for UK travelers
ATLANTA -- The United States will require airline passengers from Britain to get a negative COVID-19 test before their flight, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced late Thursday. The U.S. is the latest country to announce new travel restrictions because of a new variant of the coronavirus that is spreading in Britain and elsewhere. Airline passengers from the United Kingdom will need to get negative COVID-19 tests within three days of their trip and provide the results to the airline, the CDC said in a statement. The agency said the order will be signed Friday and go into effect on Monday. The agency said because of travel restrictions in place since March, air travel to the U.S. from the U.K. is already down by 90%.
Plants hope to keep production
OMAHA, Neb. -- U.S. factories have been cranking out goods during much of the pandemic at rates that are remarkably close to normal. However, manufacturers are concerned they may not be able to keep pace until most of the country is vaccinated because the coronavirus continues to surge in areas where many plants are based. Safeguards that were put in place after the initial wave of the virus appear to have prevented the large outbreaks that sickened hundreds of workers and forced automakers, meat processors and other businesses to halt production last spring. But with the nation's COVID-19 death toll eclipsing 300,000 and the virus spiking in communities that surround the plants, industry and union officials say it may be impossible to keep the virus out of factories. "We are seeing an increase in the number of positive (test) rates like you're seeing in the surrounding communities," said Gary Johnson, chief manufacturing officer at Ford Motor Co., which has about 56,000 hourly factory workers nationwide. Federal Reserve statistics show that U.S. industrial output is about 5% below levels in February, before the pandemic hit. It fell by 16.5% between February and April but has rebounded since, led by auto manufacturing. Beef and pork production have both been running just below last year's levels.
Chinese vaccines to fill gap
TAIPEI, Taiwan -- With rich countries snapping up supplies of COVID-19 vaccines, some parts of the world may have to rely on Chinese-developed shots to try to conquer the outbreak. The question: Will they work? There is no outward reason to believe they won't, but China has a history of vaccine scandals, and its drugmakers have revealed little about their final human trials and the more than 1 million emergency-use inoculations they say have been carried out inside the country already. Wealthy nations have reserved about 9 billion of the 12 billion mostly Western-developed shots expected to be produced next year, while COVAX, a global effort to ensure equal access to COVID-19 vaccines, has fallen short of i ts promised capacity of 2 billion doses. For those countries that have not yet secured a vaccine, China may be the only solution. China has six candidates in the last stage of trials and is one of the few nations that can manufacture vaccine on a large scale. Government officials have announced a capacity of 1 billion doses next year, with President Xi Jinping vowing China's vaccines will be a boon to the world.
Japan adopts green growth plan
TOKYO -- Japan aims to eliminate gasoline-powered vehicles in about 15 years, the government said Friday in a plan to achieve Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga's ambitious pledge to go carbon free by 2050 and generate nearly $2 trillion growth in green business and investment. The "green growth strategy" urges utilities to bolster renewables and hydrogen while calling for auto industries to go carbon free by the mid-2030s. Suga, in a policy speech in October, pledged to achieve net zero carbon emissions in 30 years. As the world faces an environmental challenge, green investment is an opportunity for growth not a burden, he said. The strategy, which provides a roadmap to achieving the goals in different sectors, projected 30-50% increase in electricity demand and called for a push to triple renewables in the country's energy mix to about 50-60% from the current level, while also maximizing use of nuclear power as a stable, clean source of energy. But it was unclear if Suga has the political heft to overcome vested interests in weaning resource-poor Japan from its reliance on imported oil and gas. The strategy identified 14 industries, such as offshore wind, hydrogen and fuel ammonia as well as autos and rechargeable batteries and roadmap for each sector. The strategy shows an installation target for offshore wind power of up to 45 gigawatts by 2040. Under the strategy, the government is also to provide tax incentives and other support to encourage investment into green technology, and projected an annual growth of 90 trillion yen ($870 billion) by 2030 and 190 trillion yen ($1.8 trillion) by 2050.
Gender equality goals delayed
TOKYO -- Japan on Friday adopted a plan that delays women's advancement goals by up to a decade after failing to reach even half of the 30% target by 2020 and other measures. Under the new five-year gender equality plan, approved by Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga's Cabinet, the government has postponed the goal for women to account for at least 30% of leadership positions until "as early as possible during the 2020s." The earlier goal was set by Suga's predecessor, Shinzo Abe, under his "womenomics" policy designed to promote more women in the workforce to make up for Japan's fast-aging population.
Israeli jets fly over Beirut
BEIRUT -- Israeli jets flew very low over parts of Lebanon early Friday, terrifying residents on Christmas Eve, some of whom reported seeing missiles in the skies over Beirut. Minutes later, Syria's official news agency reported explosions in the central Syrian town of Masyaf. Other Syrian media said Syrian air defenses responded to an Israeli attack near the town in the Hama province. The Syrian Ministry of Defense issued a statement saying Israel "launched an aggression by directing a barrage of rockets" from the north of the Lebanese city of Tripoli towards the Masyaf area. It said Syrian air defense "confronted the enemy missiles and intercepted most of them." There was no immediate word on what the target was or whether there were any casualties. Israeli jets regularly violate Lebanese airspace and have often struck inside Syria from Lebanese territory. But the Christmas Eve flights were louder than usual, frightening residents of Beirut who have endured multiple crises in the past year, including the catastrophic Aug. 4 explosion at the city's port that killed over 200 people and destroyed parts of the capital. That explosion resulted from the detonation of a stockpile of ammonium nitrates that was improperly stored at the facility.
2 children die, 3 leap to safety
DETROIT -- A Christmas morning fire killed a 4-year-old and a 6-year-old at a home on Detroit's east side and forced others to jump from a second-floor window to escape. The Detroit Fire Department said the two children were found dead in a front living room of the two-story house. Three children and their mother were injured leaping from the upper-level window. The three injured children were aged 3, 8 and 10, and the mother was holding the 3-year-old in her arms when she jumped. An official described it as an "extensive fire throughout the house."