UNITED STATES
Cow escapes Nativity scene
A cow in Philadelphia apparently wanted to be away from the manger, as it on Thursday escaped twice from a church’s live Nativity scene. Stormy, a seven-year-old brown and white Hereford, was back munching hay at Old First Reformed Church of Christ by 7:15am after two sets of adventures on snowy downtown streets. Police first got reports of a cow near an Interstate 95 on-ramp at about 2am on Thursday. Officers put a rope on the cow and walked her to a nearby parking lot, before police vehicles helping shepherd Stormy back to church. Some lanes of the highway had to be shut as the cow was wrangled, but for Stormy, all was not calm and bright. She fled again at about 6am. The church has since decided to use her understudy, a cow about half her size named Ginger.
UNITED STATES
No jail for fertility doctor
Some former patients of a retired Indianapolis fertility doctor on Thursday expressed anger that he avoided jail time for lying about using his own sperm to impregnate as many as dozens of women after telling them the donors were anonymous. Donald Cline was given a one-year suspended sentence after pleading guilty to two counts of obstruction of justice. No other charges were filed against the 79-year-old because Indiana law does not specifically prohibit fertility doctors from using their own sperm. Cline was charged after lying to investigators and he faced up to three years in prison on each count. The charges stemmed from two confirmed cases of paternity, but children of women treated by Cline said DNA tests show he is likely the biological father of as many as 20 children. Matt White and his mother, Liz White, said Cline deserved far greater punishment. He said DNA tests showed that Cline was his biological father, even though Cline told his mother decades ago that he used anonymous sperm donations.
UNITED STATES
Hoffman in exposure claim
Another woman is accusing Dustin Hoffman of exposing himself to her when she was 16. Playwright Cori Thomas told Variety that Hoffman exposed himself to her in 1980 in a New York hotel room. In an e-mail to The Associated Press, she confirmed the story that was first reported by Variety. Thomas said she has told the story about her encounter with Hoffman to friends and associates for years, but chose to speak publicly about it to support the handful of others who have accused Hoffman of sexual misconduct. Thomas was a classmate of Hoffman’s daughter and said the incident happened after the three of them had dinner, as she waited for her mother to pick her up.
UNITED STATES
Firefighter killed in blaze
A firefighter on Thursday was killed in one of the largest blazes in California’s history, officials said, as emergency services spent another day struggling to contain infernos across the tinder-dry state. San Diego-based Cory Iverson died fighting the Thomas Fire in Ventura County, according to California Fire Chief Ken Pimlott, who gave no further details on the incident. “I am very saddened to report that a firefighter fatality has occurred on the Thomas incident. Please join me in keeping our fallen firefighter and his loved ones in your prayers,” Pimlott tweeted. The Thomas Fire has blackened almost 100,000 hectares since it broke out 10 days ago, making it the fourth-largest blaze in the state’s history.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese