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Man sorry he gave cats contaminated raw milk
DIGEST
A California man whose two cats died after drinking raw milk recalled for bird flu risk said he meant to keep his beloved pets healthy, but his efforts tragically backfired.
"It's horrible when you realize that you're the one that actually gave them the milk that killed them," said Joseph Journell, 56, of San Bernardino.
Journell lost his 14-year-old tabby, Alexander, and Tuxsie, a 4-year-old tuxedo cat, in late November. A third cat, 4-year-old Big Boy, was hospitalized for a week before tests showed the animal was infected with the H5N1 bird flu virus.
The cats drank unpasteurized milk from lots recalled by Raw Farm, of Fresno, California. The animals' deaths were confirmed by state and county health officials.
EU officials to consider easing Syria sanctions
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — European Union foreign ministers will meet in late January to discuss easing sanctions imposed on Syria, the bloc's foreign policy chief said Sunday. However, she said the move would depend on Syria's new rulers carrying out an inclusive political transition after last month's overthrow of President Bashar Assad.
Kaja Kallas' comments came at a gathering of top European and Middle Eastern diplomats in the Saudi capital of Riyadh to discuss Syria's future. Saudi Arabia called for the lifting of sanctions, which threaten to undermine Syria's recovery from nearly 14 years of civil war that killed an estimated 500,000 people and displaced half the country's prewar population of 23 million.
European countries and the United States have been wary over the Islamist roots of the former insurgents who drove Assad out of power and who now lead an interim government.
BRIEFLY
YEMEN: An explosion at a gas station triggered a massive fire in central Yemen, killing at least 15 people, health officials said Sunday. At least 67 others were injured.
MEXICO: A magnitude 6.2 earthquake struck a region in southwestern Mexico early Sunday, according to the United States Geological Survey, causing no serious damage or casualties. It said the quake was centered 13 miles southeast of Aquila near the boundary of Colima and Michoacán states at a depth of 21 miles.
VATICAN: Pope Francis baptized 21 babies Sunday in the Sistine Chapel under the ceiling frescoed by Michelangelo, in what has become an annual tradition that marks the end of the Christmas holiday period at the Vatican.
MAYOTTE: The French territory of Mayotte was battered by a new tropical storm Sunday, just weeks after the worst cyclone to hit the islands in nearly a century laid waste to entire neighborhoods and villages and left authorities facing a huge recovery effort.
CROATIA: Croatia's opposition-backed President Zoran Milanović, a critic of the European Union and NATO, overwhelmingly won reelection for another five-year term on Sunday, defeating challenger Dragan Primorac from the ruling conservative party in a runoff, results showed.
IRAN: Italy on Sunday released Iranian citizen Mohammad Abedini, who was wanted by the U.S. over a drone attack in Jordan that killed three Americans a year ago. Abedini returned to Iran, Iranian state TV said.
— Associated Press
Ceasefire talks heat up
Biden speaks by phone with Netanyahu ahead of Trump inauguration
WAFAA SHURAFA AND NATALIE MELZER Associated Press
MIDDLE EAST
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Joe Biden spoke Sunday about efforts to reach a ceasefire and hostage release deal in the Israel-Hamas war, a sign of the intensifying push to reach a deal before Donald Trump's inauguration next week.
Talks mediated over the past year by the United States, Egypt and Qatar have repeatedly stalled at moments when they seemed close to a deal. Still, in recent days, U.S. officials have expressed hope of sealing an agreement.
Sunday's call between Biden and Netanyahu came as the head of Israel's Mossad foreign intelligence agency, David Barnea, and Biden's top Mideast adviser, Brett McGurk, were both in the Qatari capital Doha. Barnea's presence, confirmed by Netanyahu's office, meant high-level Israeli officials who would need to sign off on any agreement are now involved in talks.
McGurk has been working on final details of a text to be presented to both sides, Biden's national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, told CNN's "State of the Union." But he said he would not predict whether a deal can be reached by Jan. 20, the day of the inauguration.
"We are very, very close," he said. "Yet being very close still means we're far because until you actually get across the finish line, we're not there."
The White House and Netanyahu's office both confirmed the phone call between the two leaders without providing details.
Just one brief ceasefire was achieved in 15 months of war, and that was in the earliest weeks of fighting. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said this week a deal is "very close" and he hoped to complete it before handing over diplomacy to the incoming Trump administration.
Under discussion now is a phased ceasefire, with Netanyahu signaling he is committed only to the first phase, a partial hostage release in exchange for a weekslong halt in fighting.
Hamas has insisted on a full Israeli troop withdrawal from the largely devastated territory, but Netanyahu has insisted on destroying Hamas' ability to fight in Gaza.
Issues in the talks have included which hostages would be released in the first part of a phased ceasefire deal, which Palestinian prisoners would be released and the extent of any Israeli troop withdrawal from population centers in Gaza.
Israel's campaign in Gaza has killed more than 46,000 Palestinians, the majority women and children, according to the territory's Health Ministry, whose count does not give a breakdown between fighters and civilians. Israel's campaign was triggered by Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attack, in which militants killed some 1,200 people and abducted around 250 others.
Families of the roughly 100 hostages still held in Gaza are pressing Netanyahu to reach a deal to bring their loved ones home. Israelis rallied again Saturday night in the city of Tel Aviv, with photos of hostages on display.
Region bouncing back from storms
Crews work to restore power; weather service warns about icy roads
SARA CLINE AND BEN FINLEY Associated Press
A parking attendant bundles up while waiting to help drivers at
a northwestern university parking lot during a snow day Sunday in
Evanston, Ill.
NAM Y. HUH, ASSOCIATED PRESS
SOUTHERN US | SEVERE WEATHER
After a freezing winter storm shut schools, cut power and canceled or delayed flights, the South was slowly thawing Sunday as weather warmed.
Crews worked furiously and by Sunday morning power had been restored to parts of North Carolina and South Carolina where tens of thousands of customers lost electricity over the past few days, according to Duke Energy.
Power was back for 97% of the retail customers served by Georgia Power, the state largest utility, which serves all but four of the state's 159 counties, it said.
"Crews have not slowed down, in fact, we have brought in additional resources to help us get across the finish line," read a press release on The City of Atlanta Government's Facebook page.
Much of the winter weather has moved out of the area, said Dylan Lusk, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Peachtree, Georgia.
"For the most part, we are slowly warming up and finally thawing a little bit after snow fall and a coating of freezing rain," Lusk said.
Warmer weather was expected but some areas were still dealing with ice and authorities warned people to drive slowly and be careful with slick spots on roads — especially when temperatures drop again at night and melted snow and ice refreezes.
"Black ice will return as temperatures drop below freezing this evening through Monday morning," the National Weather Service said.
More than 600 flights to and from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport were delayed throughout the afternoon, according to . Parking lots were cleared and runways were operational but around noon a ground delay was issued for deicing of planes, airport officials said.
Seven flights were canceled, an improvement from Saturday when around 1,000 flights were canceled or delayed.
Earlier this week the storm brought heavy snow — as much as 7 inches in some spots — and made roads slick across much of Texas and Oklahoma before moving east.
In some cities, the storm piled up more than a year's worth of snowfall. As much as a foot fell in parts of Arkansas. In Memphis, a city that usually sees 2.7 inches a year, the Memphis International Airport recorded more than 7 inches.
Atlanta was hit with more than 2 inches of snow on Friday, according to the National Weather Service. The agency said it was the first time the city had over an inch of snowfall since 2018.
While the National Weather Service says that Gulf Coast residents can expect showers Sunday and Monday, other parts of the country may see snow and should brace for a mass of cold, dry air from the Arctic, including in the Great Lakes region.
Although conditions are expected to improve, some places — including churches — announced closures for Sunday.
School was canceled on Friday for millions of children from Texas to Georgia and as far east as South Carolina, giving them a rare snow day. On Saturday, officials in northern Alabama said schools could remain closed Monday if ice doesn't melt off secondary roads.
Vance: 'Obviously,' not all Jan 6. rioters should be pardoned
ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — Vice President-elect JD Vance says people responsible for the violence during the Capitol riot "obviously" should not be pardoned, as President-elect Donald Trump is promising to use his clemency power on behalf of many of those who tried on Jan. 6, 2021, to overturn the results of the election that Trump lost.
Vance insisted in an interview on "Fox News Sunday" that the pardon question is "very simple," saying those who "protested peacefully" should be pardoned and "if you committed violence on that day, obviously you shouldn't be pardoned." He later said there was a "bit of a gray area" in some cases.
Trump said he would issue pardons to rioters on "Day 1" of his presidency, which begins Jan. 20. "Most likely, I'll do it very quickly," he said recently on NBC's "Meet the Press." He added that "those people have suffered long and hard. And there may be some exceptions to it. I have to look. But, you know, if somebody was radical, crazy."
More than 1,500 people have been charged with federal crimes stemming from the siege that left more than 100 police officers injured and sent lawmakers running into hiding as they met to certify Democrat Joe Biden's 2020 victory.
Hundreds of people who did not engage in destruction or violence were charged only with misdemeanor offenses for illegally entering the Capitol. Others were charged with felony offenses, including assault for beating police officers.
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