Important Takeaways:
- Wildfires began breaking out in Southern California Tuesday morning as a life-threatening, widespread windstorm that could be one of the most destructive to hit the region in over a decade roars to life and creates extremely dangerous fire weather conditions.
- At least two fires broke out in the Los Angeles area as winds increased. The largest one, the Palisades Fire, quickly grew to 200 acres near Los Angeles’ Pacific Palisades neighborhood, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department.
- The area is under a rare, “particularly dangerous situation” red flag warning, the most dire such warning issued by the National Weather Service, for a high risk for dangerous fire weather conditions Tuesday afternoon until Wednesday afternoon for most of Los Angeles and Ventura Counties.
- “Widespread damaging winds and low humidities will likely cause fire starts to rapidly grow in size with extreme fire behavior,” the NWS warned, something fire officials echoed on Tuesday once fires broke out.
- “If we don’t catch these (fires) within the first 20 minutes, it can go hundreds of acres very quickly and can lead to significant evacuations,” Capt. Erik Scott, LAFD PIO told CNN affiliate KABC.
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Important Takeaways:
- South Korea’s anti-corruption agency said it received a new court warrant Tuesday to detain impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol after its previous attempt was blocked by the presidential security service last week.
- The Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials, which plans to question the embattled president on rebellion allegations over his short-lived martial law decree Dec. 3, did not immediately confirm how long the warrant would remain valid.
- The agency’s chief prosecutor, Oh Dong-woon, refused to answer when asked by lawmakers when the warrant would expire, saying such information is sensitive as the agency and police contemplate ways to execute it.
- Detention warrants typically last seven days but can be extended to around 10 days.
- The Seoul Western District Court last week had initially issued a warrant to detain Yoon and a separate warrant to search his residence after he repeatedly defied authorities by refusing to appear for questioning.
- About 150 anti-corruption agency investigators and police officers attempted to detain Yoon on Friday but retreated from his residence in Seoul after a tense standoff with the presidential security service that lasted more than five hours. The investigators did not make another attempt to detain Yoon and the previous court warrants expired after a week on Monday.
- The anti-corruption agency is leading a joint investigation with the police and military into Yoon’s brief power grab, which included declaring martial law and dispatching troops to surround the National Assembly. Lawmakers who managed to get past the blockade voted to lift martial law hours later.
- Yoon’s presidential powers were suspended after the opposition-dominated Assembly voted to impeach him on Dec. 14, accusing him of rebellion. The Constitutional Court has started deliberations on whether to formally remove Yoon from office or reinstate him.
- Oh confirmed to lawmakers that the agency was debating with police on whether to arrest members of the presidential security staff if they forcefully obstruct efforts to detain Yoon. Police have said they are considering “all available options” to bring Yoon into custody and haven’t publicly ruled out the possibility of deploying SWAT teams, although it is unclear whether investigators would risk escalating a confrontation with presidential security forces, who are also armed.
- Park Jong-joon, chief of the presidential security service, has hit back against criticism that it has become Yoon’s private army, saying it has legal obligations to protect the incumbent president. He and his deputy have so far defied summonses by police, who planned to question them over the suspected obstruction of official duty following Friday’s events.
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Important Takeaways:
- Costco has urgently recalled cold and flu medicines citing a ‘potential foreign material contamination’ accidentally shipped across the U.S.
- The retailer released a statement warning consumers who had bought Kirkland Signature Severe Cold & Flu Plus Congestion medication from stores in the Midwest and Southeast of the country.
- ‘Out of an abundance of caution, LNK has initiated a recall for the accidental release and shipment of a specific lot code that was rejected due to potential foreign material contamination,’ the statement read.
- Costco urged customers not to use any remaining product marked with lot code P140082.
- The statement assured that customers would be eligible for a full refund if they return the item to their local store.
- People who bought the medication between October 30 and November 30 were urged to check the boxes.
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Important Takeaways:
- Some remarkable celestial signs will be on display in the coming months that may hold prophetic significance for our world. This series of four heavenly phenomena includes two lunar events over the next 14 months that appear to represent a possible message about Israel.
- It all kicks off with a total lunar eclipse known as a “blood moon” that will appear over the U.S. on March 14, 2025. This particular one will fall directly on the Jewish holiday of Purim. That’s when the Jewish people celebrate the biblical account of Esther when they were delivered from annihilation at the hands of an enemy named Haman in the Persian empire, which is modern-day Iran.
- And that’s not the end. There will actually be two more blood moons, with one coming this fall before Rosh Hashanah, and then the third one also falling directly on Purim on March 3, 2026.
- Bible prophecy experts say lunar eclipses known as “blood moons” are tied to events that affect Israel.
- Historically, blood moon tetrads have occurred during some truly world-changing events directly related to Israel.
- Three tetrads stand out over the last millennium, coinciding with major events for the Jewish people. They occurred from 1493-1494, 1949-1950, and 1967-1968.
- In 1492, the Jews were expelled from Spain after severe persecution, and Christopher Columbus also discovered America, which would eventually become a safe haven for the Jewish people.
- In 1948, the modern state of Israel was reborn as a nation in its original homeland, fulfilling a biblical prophecy from Jeremiah 16:15 – “For I will restore them to their own land which I gave to their fathers.”
- Finally, in 1967, Israel recaptured their capital of Jerusalem during the Six-Day War which many see as an essential precursor to the eventual construction of the Jewish Third Temple. (The Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D.)
- The next tetrad of blood moons will occur in 2032–2033, exactly 2,000 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The last two in that tetrad will fall on Jewish holidays – Passover on April 14, 2033, and Sukkot on Oct 8, 2033. A total solar eclipse will occur in the middle of that rare tetrad on March 30, 2033.
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Important Takeaways:
- Western experts have publicly called on China to be more transparent about a viral outbreak overwhelming its hospitals — as data shows the virus is growing in the US.
- Beijing has downplayed footage of overcrowded waiting rooms and wards posted on social media, saying respiratory infections are ‘less severe’ and ‘smaller in scale’ compared to last year.
- That has led some to fear there are similarities with the current situation and the Covid outbreak in 2019, which was initially played down by China.
- It is thought China’s outbreak is being fueled by the relatively unknown virus human metapneumovirus (HPMV), which normally causes cold-like symptoms such as a blocked nose, headache, shivering and tiredness.
- Sanjaya Senanayake, infectious disease expert associate professor of medicine at The Australian National University, said it was ‘vital for China to share its data on this outbreak in a timely manner’, including ‘data about who is getting infected.’
- He added: ‘Also, we will need genomic data confirming that HMPV is the culprit, and that there aren’t any significant mutations of concern. Such genomic data will also guide vaccine development.’
- Their warning comes as the US experiences its own increase in HMPV cases, with positive test percentages doubling from the beginning to the end of December.
- According to the latest CDC data, just under 300 positive test results reported during the last week of December, the latest figures available.
- The US CDC said it is ‘monitoring’ the cases in China but believe they are ‘not currently a cause for concern in the US.’
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Important Takeaways:
- Beginning Tuesday afternoon, the windstorm will affect Los Angeles and Ventura counties and peak in the early hours of Wednesday, when gusts could reach 80 mph (129 kph), the National Weather Service said Monday. Isolated gusts could top 100 mph (160 kph) in mountains and foothills.
- The weather service warned of downed trees and knocked over big rigs, trailers, and motorhomes. Powerful offshore gusts will also bring dangerous conditions off the coasts of Orange County and LA, including Catalina Island, and potential delays and turbulence could arise at local airports.
- Public safety power shutoffs are being considered for nearly 300,000 customers across the region, according to Southern California Edison’s website.
- Beginning Tuesday afternoon, the windstorm will affect Los Angeles and Ventura counties and peak in the early hours of Wednesday, when gusts could reach 80 mph (129 kph), the National Weather Service said Monday. Isolated gusts could top 100 mph (160 kph) in mountains and foothills.
- The weather service warned of downed trees and knocked over big rigs, trailers, and motorhomes. Powerful offshore gusts will also bring dangerous conditions off the coasts of Orange County and LA, including Catalina Island, and potential delays and turbulence could arise at local airports.
- Public safety power shutoffs are being considered for nearly 300,000 customers across the region, according to Southern California Edison’s website.
- Recent dry winds, including the notorious Santa Anas, have contributed to warmer-than-average temperatures in Southern California, where there’s been very little rain so far this season.
- Southern California hasn’t seen more than 0.1 inches (0.25 centimeters) of rain since early May. Much of the region has fallen into moderate drought conditions, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. Meanwhile, up north, there have been multiple drenching storms.
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Important Takeaways:
- A strong earthquake with a magnitude of 7.1 that killed at least 96 people in western China near Nepal on Tuesday was one of the country’s deadliest in recent years.
- Earthquakes in China happen most frequently on the Tibetan Plateau or its fringes. The seismically active area is where the India and Eurasia plates clash and cause uplifts that can be strong enough to change the heights of Himalayan peaks.
- In May 2008, a 7.9 earthquake in Sichuan province in the southwest killed nearly 90,000 people. The collapse of schools and other buildings led to a yearslong effort to rebuild using more quake-resistant materials.
- Here’s a list of major recent earthquakes:
- — May 2008: A magnitude 7.9 earthquake leaves nearly 90,000 people dead or missing and presumed dead in Sichuan province.
- — April 2010: A magnitude 7.1 earthquake kills 2,698 people in Qinghai province.
- — April 2013: A magnitude 7.0 earthquake kills 196 people in Sichuan.
- — July 2013: A magnitude 6.6 earthquake kills 95 people in Gansu province.
- — Aug. 2014: A magnitude 6.1 earthquake kills 617 people in Yunnan province.
- — Sept. 2022: A magnitude 6.8 earthquake kills 93 people in Sichuan.
- — Dec. 2023: A magnitude 6.2 earthquake kills at least 126 people in Gansu and Qinghai provinces.
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Important Takeaways:
- Vice President Kamala Harris gaveled in Monday’s joint session of Congress as she presided over the certification of Donald Trump’s victory…
- The 40 electoral votes announced by Texas officially gave him the White House just before 1 p.m. ET, joined by House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and loud applause.
- When Harris first announced Trump as the next president starting Jan. 20, applause paused her pre-written remarks and forced her to continue after gaveling for attention, certifying her own election loss to Trump.
- “The votes for president of the United States are as follows: Donald J. Trump of the state of Florida has received 312 votes,” Harris said.
- “Kamala D. Harris,”… “has received 226 votes,”
- The official count “shall be deemed a sufficient declaration,” she concluded, for Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance to take their oaths of office Jan. 20
- Harris ended it with the words, “The chair declares this joint session dissolved.”
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Important Takeaways:
- Trudeau, who became Liberal leader in 2013 and prime minister in the fall of 2015, announced his long-awaited decision outside his official residence, Rideau Cottage, on Monday morning.
- Trudeau also said he asked Gov. Gen. Mary Simon to prorogue Parliament until March 24, and she granted the request.
- His decision will set off a competitive leadership race to replace him and find a contender to take on the Liberals’ key rival, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, in the next federal election.
- Trudeau has been under mounting pressure to resign amid sinking public opinion polling, including from his own caucus.
- At least two dozen individual MPs and several regional caucuses — including Atlantic Canada, Quebec and Ontario — have called for him to step down since before the holiday break.
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Important Takeaways:
- A giant earthquake appears to have hit El Salvador, after an emergency alert reported a tremor with the magnitude of 6.2 was detected 30 miles off the South Americas country’s coast.
- The country’s environment ministry took to X to report a strong 6.3 magnitude earthquake that struck the country today. Footage shared on social media revealed the alarming impact of the naturally occurring phenomena, which shook houses in many areas but didn’t cause a tsunami. According to outlet Volcano Discovery, the “very strong magnitude 6.2 earthquake” occurred in the North Pacific Ocean at 11.18am local time (GMT -6).
- The publication said the quake had a shallow depth of 50 km (31 miles), with people over a large region feeling the shake.
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