⚡️🇷🇺 Russia's proposals on security guarantees are aimed at creating and legalizing “a new system of agreements based on the principle of the indivisibility of security”, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov tells Sputnik. Other agreements, possibly an arms control deal, could be signed in the future on the basis of this legal foundation.

⚡️ Biden talked to Senator Manchin right after latter rejected BBB bill, White House official says

Check out some news you may have missed:

▪️Chauntae Davies, one of Jeffrey Epstein's alleged victims, has celebrated the results of the Ghislaine Maxwell trial, wishing her “well in hell”.

▪️Richmond's Confederate statues will be moved to the Black History Museum in January.

▪️A woman from Michigan had to self-isolate in a toilet on board a plane when her COVID test came back positive mid-flight.

▪️AOC’s aide Hussain Altamimi reportedly called Israel a "racist European ethnostate" in an Instagram story.

▪️NASCAR driver Brandon Brown is now sponsored by LGBcoin, a crypto currency named after the “Let’s Go Brandon” slogan.

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🧑‍⚖️ American pharma company Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc. intends to appeal a New York state court decision that on Thursday found the company had contributed to the growth of opioid drug addiction in the US.

🗣 "Teva Pharmaceuticals… strongly disagrees with today’s outcome and will prepare for a swift appeal as well as continue to pursue a mistrial", the company said in a statement.

📌 The firm, as well as several distributors, was sued by the state for allegedly marketing opioids such as oxycodone and hydrocodone as safe and less addictive alternatives to common opiates such as morphine.

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🇺🇸🇷🇺 NATO is ready for "meaningful dialogue" with Russia, the US State Department says after Secretary Antony Blinken's call with the alliance's chief, Jens Stoltenberg.

⚡️ Colorado governor says Biden approved declaration of emergency in state over wildfires

⚡️ URGENT | American comedian and 'Golden Girls' actress Betty White dead at 99, report says

📝 US federal prosecutors revealed on Thursday that they have dismissed the case against the prison guards who failed to carry out mandatory checks on Jeffrey Epstein on the night he was found hanging in his prison cell.

▪️ Tova Noel, 33, and Michael Thomas, 43, earlier admitted to falsifying their prison records on the night of Epstein's suicide, taking naps and browsing the Internet instead of checking on him every 30 minutes.

▪️ Their nolle prosequi court filing was made public just a day after the guilty verdict of Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's ex-girlfriend and alleged "madam".

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🤬 Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) on Friday shot back at criticism from right-wing figures after a photo of her on vacation with her boyfriend in Florida was shared online, suggesting that her critics stop "projecting their sexual frustrations" on her.

Steve Cortes, a former Trump campaign adviser, tweeted a photo on Friday of Ocasio-Cortez in public with her long time boyfriend, Riley Roberts, vacationing in Florida.

Cortes attacked Ocasio-Cortez for not wearing a mask in public and also took aim at Roberts's "gross pale male feet in public."

Ocasio-Cortez responded by retweeting the photo and writing, "If Republicans are mad they can’t date me they can just say that instead of projecting their sexual frustrations onto my boyfriend’s feet. Ya creepy weirdos."

A Louisiana judge has submitted her resignation to the Louisiana Supreme Court after she was heard using racial slurs on a video, her attorney confirmed.

In a letter to the Louisiana Supreme Court provided by her attorney, Lafayette City Court Judge Michelle Odinet said she takes "full responsibility for the hurtful words" used in the video.

"After much reflection and prayer, and in order to facilitate healing within the community, I hereby resign as judge of the Lafayette City Court effective immediately," the letter said. "I am sending a copy of this letter to the Secretary of State and hope that a special election can be scheduled to fill the vacancy that my resignation creates."

Odinet took unpaid leave on Dec. 16, the same day the Louisiana Supreme Court suspended her. The court appointed an ad hoc judge, Retired Opelousas City Court Judge Vanessa Harris to preside over Odinet's case.

😳 Families dining at a Chuck E. Cheese in Superior, Colorado, had to be evacuated in dramatic scenes as a wildfire took hold nearby - and footage of the event has been compared to something straight out of a disaster movie.

😮 A campaign seeking to unseat Florida GOP Governor Ron DeSantis has joined in the row over his recent absence from public view by flying a plane with a mocking banner over his state.

Launched by Remove Ron, led by an activist who stalks Florida beaches during the pandemic dressed as the grim reaper, the aircraft’s banner reads: “Florida is on fire and Ron is missing” – a reference to the governor’s near-disappearance in recent weeks.

Protesters in Iraq built a model of the US embassy and burned it in effigy: they commemorate Qasem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the Iraqi anti-Daesh commander who was killed with him two years ago, and to express outrage at the American “great devil”

New York City is starting the new year with a new mayor. Eric Adams was sworn in right after the midnight ball drop at Times Square.

The retired police captain served on the state senate and was twice elected the president of one of New York's boroughs, Brooklyn, before tackling mayorship. He is taking over amid a spike in COVID-19 cases.

Photo credit: Adams's Twitter

Devastating consequences of the Marshall Fire in Louisville, Colorado

Retired US general warns that rogue elements within the US military might stage a coup in the US after the 2024 presidential election - a topic of particular relevance as the first anniversary of the Capitol riot approaches.

🇺🇸🇷🇺🇪🇺🇯🇵🇨🇦Meanwhile, NASA announced on Friday that the US administration had committed to supporting the ISS through 2030.

This means the US space agency will continue working on the project with Russia's Roscosmos, the European Space Agency, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and the Canadian Space Agency.