North America

HONOLULU (AP) — Severe turbulence rocked a flight from Phoenix to Honolulu Sunday, seriously injuring 11 people in what an Hawaiian Airlines official called an isolated and unusual event.

Jon Snook, the airline’s chief operating officer, said the airline hasn’t experienced “an incident of this nature in recent history.” The flight was full, carrying 278 passengers and 10 crew members, he said during an afternoon news conference.

More than half of 17.5 million users who responded to a Twitter poll created by billionaire Elon Musk over whether he should step down as head of the company had voted yes by the time the poll closed Monday.

There was no immediate announcement from Twitter, or Musk, about whether that would happen, though Musk said that he would abide by the results. Musk attended the World Cup final on Sunday and may be midflight on his way back to the U.S. early Monday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House Jan. 6 committee is wrapping up its investigation of the violent 2021 U.S. Capitol insurrection, with lawmakers expected to cap one of the most exhaustive and aggressive congressional probes in memory with an extraordinary recommendation: The Justice Department should consider criminal charges against former President Donald Trump.

UNITED NATIONS, Dec 18 (APP): The United Nations on Friday launched the International Decade of Indigenous Languages (IDIL 2022-2032) aimed at helping peoples around the world to keep their mother tongues alive.

Preserving their languages is “not only important for them, but for all humanity,” UN General Assembly President Csaba Korosi said while marking the occasion.

NEW YORK, December 18. /TASS/: The US company SpaceX on Saturday launched a Falcon 9 rocket with another cluster of 54 satellites for its orbital Starlink network, according to a broadcast on the company’s website.

The liftoff took place at Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 4:32 ET (00:32 Moscow time).

NEW YORK, December 18. /TASS/: American authorities are still guided by Cold War logic in their policy toward Russia, Russian Ambassador to Washington Anatoly Antonov said in an article published in the American magazine Newsweek.

"Washington seems to need to constantly assert itself through competition with Russia. It looks as if the 'ghost' of the Soviet Union is still haunting the corridors of power in the American capital, and the ‘Сold War' has not ended at all," he wrote.

OTTAWA, Dec 18 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Canadian police have announced a record seizure of nearly 2.5 metric tons of opium hidden in containers transiting through the western port of Vancouver, British Columbia.

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), which announced the seizure late Friday, did not say where the drug came from, nor did it say whether the find had led to any arrests.

Dec 17 (Reuters) - Former FTX Chief Executive Sam Bankman-Fried is expected to appear in court in the Bahamas on Monday to reverse his decision to contest extradition to the United States, where he faces fraud charges, a person familiar with the matter said on Saturday.

The 30-year-old cryptocurrency mogul was indicted in federal court in Manhattan on Tuesday and accused of engaging in a scheme to defraud FTX customers by using billions of dollars in stolen deposits to pay for expenses and debts and to make investments for his crypto hedge fund, Alameda Research LLC.

MONTREAL, Canada, Dec. 18 (Xinhua) -- A UN draft deal on biodiversity protection calls for increasing international financial aid from developed countries to developing countries to at least 20 billion U.S. dollars per year by 2025, and to at least 30 billion dollars per year by 2030, according to documents released on Sunday.

The aid will particularly go to the least developed countries and small island developing states, as well as countries with economies in transition.

WASHINGTON (AP) — For two years, Becky Mourey pushed the Food and Drug Administration to approve an experimental drug for her Lou Gehrig’s disease.

She went to members of Congress and health regulators to make the case for Relyvrio, until patient-advocates finally prevailed.