While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, Jan 9
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
US President Joe Biden gets a security briefing at the Bridge of the Americas on Jan 8, 2023.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Biden visits US-Mexico border for first time as president
President Joe Biden went to the US-Mexico border on Sunday for the first time since taking office, visiting an El Paso, Texas entry point at the centre of debates over illegal immigration and smuggling.
He met with uniformed customs and immigration staff at the Bridge of the Americas checkpoint, a complex of inspection buildings and fencing that separates the two countries.
Officers, including sniffer dog specialists, demonstrated techniques for searching vehicles.
California braces for ‘parade of cyclones’ after week of floods
NYT
Torrential downpours and damaging winds had left hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses without power in California on Sunday after a deadly week of weather, and the state was still bracing for more heavy rain and snow to fall through Tuesday.
Forecasters warned that northern and Central California was still in the path of a “relentless parade of cyclones” on Sunday, promising little relief for the region.
Two overlapping phenomena - an immense airborne stream of dense moisture from the ocean called an atmospheric river and a sprawling, hurricane-force low-pressure system known as a bomb cyclone - have caused devastating flooding and record snowfall over the past week. The latest storms vividly illustrated the consequences of warmer sea and air temperatures caused by climate change.
Russia and Ukraine exchange 50 soldiers each in prison release deal
via REUTERS
Russia and Ukraine swapped 50 captured soldiers each on Sunday in a deal that both sides welcomed even as they fought one another in eastern Ukraine.
Russia’s defence ministry said the 50 returned Russian soldiers would be flown to Moscow for medical and psychological rehabilitation.
“On January 8, as a result of negotiations, 50 Russian servicemen, who were in mortal danger while in captivity, were returned from the territory controlled by the Kyiv regime,” it said in a statement.
US House Republican probed over Jan 6 attack may now investigate FBI
REUTERS
A prominent Republican whose phone was seized as part of the Justice Department’s probe into efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election said on Sunday he may seek to participate on a new House of Representatives panel that will investigate those same federal investigators.
Congressman Scott Perry of Pennsylvania is an ally of former President Donald Trump who helped spread Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him through widespread voting fraud. The FBI seized his phone in August, apparently as part of a probe into efforts to overturn the election.
But Perry told ABC News’ This Week show on Sunday that he does not believe it would be a conflict of interest for him to participate in a congressional investigation of the FBI.
Football: Man City crush Chelsea in FA Cup, Villa upset by Stevenage
EPA-EFE
Manchester City powered to a second victory against troubled Chelsea in the space of four days as Riyad Mahrez inspired a 4-0 rout in the FA Cup third round, while Aston Villa crashed to a 2-1 defeat against fourth tier Stevenage on Sunday.
After Premier League sides Newcastle, Nottingham Forest and Bournemouth were humiliated by lower-league opposition on Saturday, Unai Emery’s Villa were rocked by Stevenage’s two-goal blast in the final minutes.
Premier League champions City rarely suffer such humiliation and they made the strongest possible start by dismissing Chelsea with contemptuous ease at the Etihad Stadium.
