Sorrento Therapeutics CEO: We are not a 'pump and dump' scheme

Associated Press
Nordstrom to be acquired by Nordstrom family and a Mexican retail group for $6.25 billion
Century-old department store Nordstrom has agreed to be acquired and taken private by Nordstrom family members and a Mexican retail group for $6.25 billion, the company said Monday. Following the close of the transaction, the Nordstrom family will have a majority ownership stake in the company.
Associated Press
Bangladesh seeks extradition of ousted leader Sheikh Hasina from India
Bangladesh has sent a formal request to India to extradite ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who fled to New Delhi in August amid the student-led protests that ended her 15 years in power, the country’s foreign affairs adviser said Monday. Md Touhid Hossain told reporters at his office in Dhaka that the country has sent a diplomatic note to India’s Foreign Ministry for Hasina’s extradition. “We have informed India about our request to bring her back for the judicial process,” Hossain said.
Reuters
Zelenskiy calls Slovak's Fico dependence on Russia 'big security issue' for Europe
Zelenskiy made the comments after Fico met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Sunday. Fico said the meeting was in response to talks with Zelenskiy, who he accused of opposing any gas transit through Ukraine to his country.
USA TODAY
Matt Gaetz ethics report finds 'substantial evidence' he participated in statutory rape, prostitution
The House Ethics Committee found "substantial evidence" that Matt Gaetz participated in "prostitution, statutory rape, illicit drug use" in a long-awaited report.
Associated Press
Rescue of hikers in Slovenia resumes as snow brings traffic chaos and power outages across Balkans
SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — A snowstorm across the Balkans brought traffic chaos, closed schools and left thousands of homes without electricity in Croatia and Bosnia on Monday, while the bad weather hampered efforts in Slovenia to reach two hikers stranded in the Alps. The hikers from Hungary - a man and a woman - got lost on Sunday in poor weather conditions in the mountains north of the capital Ljubljana, the STA news agency reported. The report said that a rescue mission, which was suspended overnight due to high winds, low visibility and avalanche risk, resumed on Monday, but a helicopter could not take off in bad weather to reach the pair who remain at the altitude of 1,700 meters (5,600 feet), officials and media said.
Associated Press
This Italian flourless chocolate torta is rich and dense yet remarkably light
Pasticceria Gollini in Vignola, Italy, not far from Modena, is home to the sumptuous flourless chocolate cake known as torta Barozzi. Created in 1886 by pastry chef Eugenio Gollini and named for Jacopo Barozzi da Vignola, a 16th-century architect, the much-loved sweet continues today to be produced according to a closely guarded secret recipe. It’s well known that torta Barozzi is made without wheat flour, and is therefore gluten-free.
Politico
Ethics report alleges Gaetz paid 17-year-old for sex
Investigators also said the Florida Republican solicited prostitutes, used illegal drugs, took improper gifts and tried to obstruct their probe.
Associated Press
An analyst looks ahead to how the US economy might fare under Trump
President-elect Donald Trump won a return to the White House in part by promising big changes in economic policy — more tax cuts, huge tariffs on imports, mass deportations of immigrants working in the United States illegally. In some ways, his victory marked a repudiation of President Joe Biden’s economic stewardship and a protest against inflation. It came despite low unemployment and steady growth under the Biden administration.
USA TODAY
'Depraved behavior': Leaders outraged after woman set ablaze on NYC subway
A suspect is in custody after the incident on an F train in Brooklyn on Sunday morning. Officers found a woman 'fully engulfed in flames.'
Reuters
China's Dahua Technology to exit projects in Xinjiang
China's video surveillance equipment maker Zhejiang Dahua Technology said that it and its subsidiaries have agreed to terminate or exit five projects they signed with local governments in China's Xinjiang region, a stock exchange filing showed on Monday. Some of the projects, awarded between 2016 and 2017, have been terminated in advance, while others were still in operation, Dahua said in a filing to the Shenzhen stock exchange. Dahua did not give a reason for the withdrawal.
Associated Press
Congress is looking to ban Chinese drones that are widely used in US. What to know about the debate
The economic and technological rivalry between the United States and China has come to the drone market, where Chinese-made flying devices are a dominant player. Lawmakers in Washington are seeking to ban new sales of drones from two dominant Chinese manufacturers, arguing they could be used to spy on Americans and that the low-cost models are hurting the U.S. drone industry. A defense bill that passed Congress last week would bar new Chinese drones from DJI Technology and Autel Robotics should a review find them to pose an “unacceptable” risk to U.S. national security.
Reuters
Syria's Christians fearful of new Islamist leaders as Christmas approaches
Syrian church leaders are advising Christians to scale back Christmas celebrations this year, despite assurances from the Islamists who have just taken power that they are free to practise their religion. The self-imposed constraints highlight one of the main challenges for Syria's new Islamist rulers: establishing mutual trust among a myriad of minorities, all scarred by decades of brutal dictatorship and 13 years of pitiless civil war. De facto ruler Ahmed al-Sharaa has told Christians and other groups that they will be safe in a Syria run by his Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a former al Qaeda affiliate.
Reuters
US House report finds Matt Gaetz violated law with sexual misconduct, drug use, CBS reports
The U.S. House Ethics Committee has found that former Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz violated state laws by paying a 17-year-old girl for sex and purchasing drugs illegally, CBS News reported on Monday, citing a final draft of the panel's report. Gaetz, who has denied wrongdoing, resigned from the House of Representatives last month after he was selected by President-elect Donald Trump to be attorney general. Reuters was not immediately able to reach Gaetz for comment.
USA TODAY
Three remain on federal death row after Biden commutations: Who are Roof, Bowers, Tsarnaev?
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, Robert Bowers and Dylann Roof were the only three prisoners on federal death row whose sentences were not commuted Monday.
AFP
Mali singer Traore child custody case postponed
A Belgian court Monday postponed the trial of Malian singer Rokia Traore to January 8 over an outstanding two-year prison sentence handed down in a child-custody dispute.The 50-year-old singer and guitarist was sentenced in absentia by a Brussels court last year on charges of parental abduction, in a long-running fight with the Belgian father of her daughter -- now aged nine.
CBS News
The Container Store says it's filing for bankruptcy protection
The Container Store said it is filing for bankruptcy protection after years of losses and declining sales.
CNN
House Ethics report finds evidence Matt Gaetz paid thousands for sex and drugs including paying a 17-year-old for sex in 2017
The House Ethics Committee found evidence that former Rep. Matt Gaetz paid tens of thousands of dollars to women for sex or drugs on at least 20 occasions, including paying a 17-year-old girl for sex in 2017, according to a final draft of the panel’s report on the Florida Republican, obtained by CNN.
Associated Press
A Maui program kept Lahaina families together by paying households to take in fire survivors
The Lahaina home Tamara Akiona shared with 10 people was never quiet, and she loved it that way. Akiona, her husband, uncle, stepdaughter, and her best friend’s family filled the house once owned by her grandparents, with four bedrooms, two living rooms and a spacious backyard. “That’s the stuff I miss,” said Akiona, 51.
Associated Press
How faith communities can be welcoming of believers with disabilities this holiday season and beyond
The Rev. Shannon Blosser sees how his son loves church — the music, the singing, the communion. At one point, Blosser’s wife and the couple’s two sons stopped attending in-person services at a church where he served. Many people with disabilities, advocates and families want more religious congregations to know that there are ways to be accommodating and inclusive of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities this holiday season — and year round — and to fully embrace them and their families.
CNN
A boy in north Georgia went for a walk down the road. It landed his mother in jail
In rural Georgia, a 10-year-old boy left home and walked a mile down the road to another town, where a concerned citizen called law enforcement. Deputies then arrested the boy’s mother, igniting a debate about parental rights and potential government overreach.

Sorrento Therapeutics CEO: We are not a 'pump and dump' scheme

Focusing on ‘the real deal’

Latest Stories

Nordstrom to be acquired by Nordstrom family and a Mexican retail group for $6.25 billion

Bangladesh seeks extradition of ousted leader Sheikh Hasina from India

Zelenskiy calls Slovak's Fico dependence on Russia 'big security issue' for Europe

Matt Gaetz ethics report finds 'substantial evidence' he participated in statutory rape, prostitution

Rescue of hikers in Slovenia resumes as snow brings traffic chaos and power outages across Balkans

This Italian flourless chocolate torta is rich and dense yet remarkably light

Ethics report alleges Gaetz paid 17-year-old for sex

An analyst looks ahead to how the US economy might fare under Trump

'Depraved behavior': Leaders outraged after woman set ablaze on NYC subway

China's Dahua Technology to exit projects in Xinjiang

Congress is looking to ban Chinese drones that are widely used in US. What to know about the debate

Syria's Christians fearful of new Islamist leaders as Christmas approaches

US House report finds Matt Gaetz violated law with sexual misconduct, drug use, CBS reports

Three remain on federal death row after Biden commutations: Who are Roof, Bowers, Tsarnaev?

Mali singer Traore child custody case postponed

The Container Store says it's filing for bankruptcy protection

House Ethics report finds evidence Matt Gaetz paid thousands for sex and drugs including paying a 17-year-old for sex in 2017

A Maui program kept Lahaina families together by paying households to take in fire survivors

How faith communities can be welcoming of believers with disabilities this holiday season and beyond

A boy in north Georgia went for a walk down the road. It landed his mother in jail