Fourth-quarter defense helps Pewamo-Westphalia boys basketball win district title

NBC News
Finland seizes Russia-linked tanker suspected of cutting vital undersea cables
Finland has seized an oil tanker suspected of having severed undersea power and internet cables, with Finnish authorities saying the vessel may have been part of Russia's "shadow fleet" of ships aimed at skirting Western sanctions.
USA TODAY
Major water main break in Edison, New Jersey leaves thousands without running water
A major water main break in New Jersey is impacting residents in Edison.
USA TODAY
Homelessness rates jumped by double-digits in 2024 as Americans battled to afford housing
This year's increase is a repeat of the spike in homelessness between 2022 and 2023.
AFP
Mass demonstration in Yemen's capital after Israeli strikes
Huge crowds demonstrated in Yemen's capital on Friday, a day after Israeli jets pounded Huthi rebel targets in response to missile and drone attacks by the Iran-backed group.In response, the Iran-backed Huthis fired a missile at Tel Aviv airport and said they launched drones at the city and a ship in the Arabian Sea.
USA TODAY
People on crashed Azerbaijani plane say they heard bangs before it went down
Sources told Reuters the plane had been hit by Russian fire. "It was as if it was drunk - not the same plane anymore," one passenger recalled.
Associated Press
Montenegro approves the extradition of cryptocurrency mogul Do Kwon to the United States
Montenegro has approved the extradition of a South Korean mogul known as “the cryptocurrency king” to the United States, the Balkan country's Justice Ministry said on Friday. Minister Bojan Bozovic has issued a deposition allowing the handover of Do Kwon, the founder of the Singapore crypto firm Terraform Labs who was arrested in Montenegro last year, according to the ministry. It was not immediately clear when exactly Kwon would be sent to the U.S.
Politico
Trudeau’s top ministers at Mar-a-Lago to discuss border security
The ministers are focused on combating fentanyl and illegal migration.
Associated Press
10 tips from experts to help you change your relationship with money in 2025
With the end of 2024 around the corner, you might be reflecting on financial goals for 2025. Whether you're saving to move out of your parents' house or pay off student loan debt, financial resolutions can help you stay motivated, said Courtney Alev, consumer advocate for Credit Karma. “Entering a new year doesn’t erase all our financial challenges from the prior year," Alev said.
Reuters
US closely watching political crisis in South Korea
South Korea's parliament impeached acting President Han Duck-soo on Friday, less than two weeks after suspending President Yoon Suk Yeol over his short-lived martial law declaration, plunging the country further into political chaos. The United States has troops stationed in South Korea as a legacy of the 1950-1953 Korean War. After the martial law declaration this month, the U.S. and South Korea had postponed a tabletop exercise and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin scrapped a trip to South Korea.
Associated Press
NATO will step up Baltic Sea patrols as Finland probes the possible sabotage of undersea cables
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said Friday that the military alliance will step up patrols in the Baltic Sea region as Finnish investigators work to establish whether a ship linked to Russia sabotaged undersea cables there this week. Finnish authorities seized control of the ship, the Eagle S, on Thursday as they tried to establish whether it had damaged a power cable linking Finland and Estonia and several data cables. In a post on X, Rutte said that he had spoken to Finland’s President Alexander Stubb “about the ongoing Finnish-led investigation into possible sabotage of undersea cables.”
Associated Press
Bird flu virus likely mutated within a Louisiana patient, CDC says
A genetic analysis suggests the bird flu virus mutated inside a Louisiana patient who contracted the nation’s first severe case of the illness, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said this week. Michael Osterholm, a University of Minnesota infectious disease researcher, likened this binding interaction to a lock and key. The Louisiana patient was hospitalized in critical condition with severe respiratory symptoms from bird flu after coming in contact with sick and dead birds in a backyard flock.
Reuters
Data-loss prevention company Cyberhaven hit by breach, statement says
Hackers compromised an employee of the data-protection company Cyberhaven and used the worker's access to potentially steal sensitive information from the firm's users, the company said in a statement distributed to customers and reviewed by Reuters. The hackers pushed a compromised version of Cyberhaven's Chrome browser extension to the company's users early on Wednesday, the statement said. The company urged affected customers to reset passwords and review their logs for malicious activity.
Associated Press
Court rules Georgia lawmakers can subpoena Fani Willis for information related to her Trump case
A judge has ruled that the Georgia state Senate can subpoena Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis as part of a inquiry into whether she has engaged in misconduct during her prosecution of President-elect Donald Trump but is giving Willis the chance to contest whether lawmakers' demands are overly broad. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Shukura Ingram filed the order Monday, telling Willis she has until Jan. 13 to submit arguments over whether the subpoenas seek legally shielded or confidential information. Ingram wrote that the would issue a final order later saying what Willis had to respond to.
CNN
WHO chief and UN team caught up in Israeli strikes that killed 6 in Yemen
Israeli forces unleashed a series of strikes on the Yemeni capital Sanaa and the western city of Hodeidah on Thursday, killing at least six people and injuring dozens more, the Houthi militant group said in a statement.
Reuters
Montenegro orders extradition of Terraform lab co-founder Do Kwon to United States
SARAJEVO (Reuters) -Montenegrin Justice Minister Bojan Bozovic has ordered the extradition of Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon, also wanted by South Korea, to the United States, the ministry said on Friday. A South Korean national, Kwon is the former CEO of South Korea-based Terraform Labs, the company behind the TerraUSD, a "stablecoin" designed to maintain a constant $1 price, which collapsed in May 2022, roiling cryptocurrency markets.
Associated Press
Relatives of Bashar Assad arrested as they tried to fly out of Lebanon, officials say
The wife and daughter of one of deposed Syrian president Bashar Assad ’s cousins were arrested Friday at the Beirut airport, where they attempted to fly out with allegedly forged passports, Lebanese judicial and security officials said. Rasha Khazem, the wife of Duraid Assad — the son of former Syrian Vice President Rifaat Assad, the uncle of Bashar Assad — and their daughter, Shams, were smuggled illegally into Lebanon and were trying to fly to Egypt when they were arrested, according to five Lebanese officials familiar with the case.
Associated Press
Mexico tests cellphone app allowing migrants to send alert if they are about to be detained in US
Mexico is developing a cellphone app that will allow migrants to warn relatives and local consulates if they think they are about to be detained by the U.S. immigration department, a senior official said Friday. The move is in response to President-elect Donald Trump’s threats to carry out mass deportations after he takes office on Jan. 20. The app has been rolled out for small-scale testing and “appears to be working very well,” said Juan Ramón de la Fuente, Mexico’s secretary of foreign affairs.
USA TODAY
Suspect in NYC subway killing indicted on murder and arson charges
The man accused of lighting a woman on fire in a New York City subway car has been indicted on murder and arson charges.
Associated Press
One owl rescued by a Minnesota woman is euthanized; efforts to save the other continue
One of the two owls rescued by a Minnesota woman in a story that went viral this week has died, but the other is still getting medical care. Wildwoods Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Duluth said in a Facebook post Thursday that the snowy owl rescued by Annabell Whelan had internal injuries, a broken wing and a broken leg. The great gray owl also rescued by Whelan on Monday suffered broken bones and large soft tissue wounds in a wing, Wildwoods said in the post.
AFP
Watching the sun rise over a new Damascus
After the fall of Bashar al-Assad, Afaf Mohammed did what she could not for more than a decade: she climbed Mount Qasyun to admire a sleeping Damascus "from the sky" and watch the sun rise.Afaf Mohammed told AFP that "during the war we weren't allowed up to Mount Qasyun.

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