News of the World

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US NEWS

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Democrat Election Win Declared Void After Voter Fraud Discovered

A judge has ruled an extremely tight election between Republicans and Democrats for a Louisiana parish sheriff is void because of voter fraud.

The race to become Caddo Parish sheriff was closely fought between Democrat Henry Whitehorn and Republican John Nickelson. In November, a recount was ordered after Whitehorn won by just one vote in an election that saw over 43,000 ballots cast. The recount found three additional votes for each candidate and Whitehorn was declared the winner.

Both Nickelson and Whitehorn have been approached for comment by Newsweek.

Nickelson filed a lawsuit and retired Louisiana Supreme Court Justice E. Joseph Bleich declared the result void on Tuesday. Nickelson's suit said the count was done too quickly and could not be accurate, while ballots cast by people twice through mail-in and in-person ballots were discovered, NBC affiliate KTAL reported. Bleich was assigned to the case after four judges recused themselves due to their friendships with Nickelson.

In all, Bleich said that two people voted twice, five mail-in ballots should not have been counted for failure to comply with the law, and there were a further four invalid votes by interdicted persons who were unqualified voters.

Other News

Kevin McCarthy Resignation Sparks Fears of Republicans Dying

Conservative leaders are fearful that House Republicans could lose their razor-thin majority in 2024 given the chamber's elderly members.

The fears spread on Wednesday after U.S. Representative Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican and former House Speaker, announced his plans to resign from Congress at the end of the year. The announcement culminated a tumultuous year that saw McCarthy struggle to gain the support of his Republican colleagues in January and then promptly lose the speakership nine months later.

A handful of Republicans joined all House Democrats to oust McCarthy from the speakership in early October after claiming that he failed to deliver on a number of conservative policies while in power.

McCarthy's announcement comes only days after the House voted to expel Republican George Santos last Friday, and with Republican U.S. Representative Bill Johnson's upcoming retirement, the party's majority is growing weaker. The narrow majority has already posed a problem for House Republicans who have been plagued with infighting for months, and now Republicans are fretting over losing more members, particularly given the advanced age of some lawmakers in Congress.

Beef and Poultry Recall in Three States Over Listeria Contamination Fears

Pelleh Poultry Corp. is recalling more than 700 pounds of ready-to-eat beef and poultry products that may have been contaminated with listeria, federal officials have announced.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced the recall after it was notified by the company, based in Swan Lake, New York, that laboratory testing indicated the products may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes.

The recall involves products that were packaged on dates between October 25 and November 20, according to the statement from the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS). A full list of products can be seen here and the labels for the products can be viewed here.

The products were shipped to retail locations and institutions in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. The recalled products bear the establishment number "EST. P44121" inside the USDA mark of inspection.

Two American Airlines Planes Hit by Emergencies at the Same Time

Two American Airlines planes suffered emergencies while using the same airport in Arizona within 15 minutes of one another, air traffic control audio reveals.

On Friday, an Airbus operated by the airline was flying from Washington, D.C., into Phoenix around 10 a.m. MT (noon ET) when the flight crew reported a flap failure. Then, at 10:12 a.m., another Airbus taking off from Phoenix, headed for Mexico, reported low oil pressure in one of its engines and requested to return to the airport.

Newsweek approached American Airlines via email for comment on Wednesday.

After around half an hour circling over the airport, the flight from Washington, D.C., was able to land, while the one to Mexico returned around 20 minutes after take-off.
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According to flight control audio, after the flight crew on the first American Airlines plane declared an emergency, the pilot told flight control at Phoenix that there were 197 people onboard and the aircraft had two hours of fuel left, before requesting a longer final approach.

The plane was then put in a holding pattern over Phoenix. Around the same time, the other American Airlines flight was preparing for take-off. Approximately two minutes after departure, it reported low oil pressure in its number two engine.

Asked by flight control if it was "super time-sensitive," the pilot confirmed it was.

EUROPEAN NEWS

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'Half-Asleep' Bears Are Roaming Around Russia

Warm November temperatures disrupted the sleep schedule of male brown bears in Siberia.

Some of the animals are even wandering around the Amur Region in Russia in a "half-asleep" state, as they've adequately prepared for hibernation but have yet to enter their season-long sleep because of unnatural environmental conditions.

The Department for the Protection of Wildlife of the Amur Region said that abnormally high temperatures in October and November caused the interruption. October temperatures exceeded the average by up to 2 degrees Celsius, or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit.

The heightened temperatures are delaying the bears' hibernation, the department said in a translated Telegram post on November 20, as is melting snow, which causes wet dens that are unappealing to the bears.
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Bears suppress their metabolism during hibernation, although they can continue daytime activity in the early winter months by elevating metabolism while on the move and then slowing it as they rest, according to a LiveScience report. The drowsy bears are likely already in their reduced-metabolism state while not yet entering their winter slumber, Oivind Toien, a zoophysiologist and research assistant professor at the Institute of Arctic Biology at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, told the outlet.

Germany 'Not Ukraine's Ally,' Top Official Says

Germany's defense minister Boris Pistorius has said that his country is doing everything it can to help Ukraine fight Russian aggression but noted that Kyiv was not an ally of Berlin.

The comments by Pistorius during a television interview follow accusations that Berlin has been reluctant to provide military support for Ukraine to use in the war started by Vladimir Putin.

Tom O'Donnell, a geopolitical analyst based in Berlin, told Newsweek that Pistorius wants to see Ukraine get more weapons from Germany and the EU but may face opposition from within his government.

"Maybe Pistorius is serious about doing this but my impression is beyond whatever he wants to do, I don't think the government here has the will to really ramp this up," O'Donnell said.

ASIAN NEWS

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US Ally Plans Multinational Patrols to Counter China

The chief of staff of the Philippine military has announced plans for joint maritime and air patrols with like-minded nations, against a background of escalating tensions with Chinese forces in the South China Sea.
"It's in the planning process," General Romeo Brawner Jr. told CNN Philippines' The Source Tuesday. "We are going to conduct our joint maritime and air patrols in the West Philippine Sea with the U.S.; Japan is interested, France, the U.K. and Canada."

The West Philippine Sea is Manila's name for the parts of the South China Sea falling within the Philippines' 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone. The region is the focal point of heated territorial disputes, with China asserting sovereignty over upward of 80 percent of the South China Sea, despite a 2016 international arbitral court ruling that rejected its claims.

Brawner said the proposed multinational patrols could start as early as the first half of the next year.
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South Korea has emerged as another potential patrol partner. The East Asian country's ambassador to the Philippines, Lee Sang-hwa, told local media Tuesday that the two countries' relationship was "reaching new heights" and that Seoul is interested in raising it to the level of a "strategic partnership."