While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, Dec 18

The FBI said that it was investigating a school shooting threat on the popular social media platform TikTok as schools across the country sent alerts to parents on Friday.

School districts and law enforcement downplayed the credibility of the "school shooting challenge" video which circulated on TikTok claiming there would be multiple school gun attacks and bombings around the country on Friday.

TikTok said there was no single video making a threat, but instead others that discussed it as a rumour.

But many sent out notices to parents, as the threat came less than three weeks after the latest mass shooting in a US high school left four students dead in Oxford, Michigan.

Southwest chief executive Gary Kelly tested positive for Covid-19 after appearing at a US Senate hearing on Wednesday, the airline confirmed on Friday.

Kelly appeared at the Senate Commerce hearing with the chief executives of United Airlines and American Airlines as well as a senior Delta Air Lines executive and the head of a flight attendants union.

Kelly drew attention at the hearing for questioning the health benefits of masks on planes.

Passengers on Friday rushed to beat a midnight deadline for travel to and from Britain and France, complaining of an overly-draconian reaction and costly last-minute ticket changes before tough new Covid-19 restrictions come into force.

After midnight French time, (7am on Saturday, Singapore time) travellers will need to show a compelling reason for travel between the two countries, under shock new rules announced on Thursday by France to combat the Omicron variant of Covid-19.

The only exemptions for needing a compelling reason are for French and European travellers returning to France and British passengers heading in the other direction.

World No. 22 Loh Kean Yew let out a huge roar as he became the first Singaporean shuttler to secure a Badminton World Federation World Championships medal after beating India's 32nd-ranked Prannoy H. S. 21-14, 21-12 in their quarter-final in Huelva, Spain on Friday.

He will meet Denmark's world No. 3 Anders Antonsen - who advanced after Malaysia's world No. 7 Lee Zii Jia retired in the decider of their last eight meeting - in the semi-final on Saturday, which also means Loh is assured of at least a shared bronze.

Against Prannoy, Loh got off to his trademark explosive start, taking a 3-0 lead after fending off two smashes and winning a 36-shot rally.

Aston Villa manager Steven Gerrard on Friday revealed his "constant paranoia" over the medical status of his players after the spiralling coronavirus crisis forced a glut of Premier League postponements.

Five of the 10 matches due to take place on Saturday and Sunday have been called off, taking the total number of postponed top-flight fixtures over the past week to nine.

Villa's clash with Burnley was still due to go ahead, but Gerrard admitted that could quickly change after two matches this week were postponed just hours before kick-off.