The Roar keeps you updated with local news, recent events and interesting stories ― everything you need to know for this week.
1. British pop star George Michael, the musician who first shot to fame with the 1980s duo Wham!, died yesterday, his family said in a statement. He was 53 years old.
2. A Russian military plane carrying members of the army’s official choir traveling to perform in Syria has crashed in the Black Sea near Sochi. There are apparently no survivors, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. The plane crashed yesterday.
3. A magnitude 7.7 earthquake occurred off the coast of southern Chile yesterday, 40 km (about 25 miles) southwest of Puerto Quellon, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
4. A girl from the Gajra village in western Nepal’s Achham district died on Thursday while taking part in chhaupadi, a common practice in the far west of the country in which women, considered unclean during menstruation, are banished for the extent of their periods. After starting a fire in an attempt to keep warm, the girl died from smoke inhalation. Nepal’s government has been scrutinized over whether they are doing all they can to eradicate the practice.
5. Blizzard conditions are sweeping through Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and extending up into the Dakotas, bringing potentially dangerous black ice to roadways. But in the central and eastern parts of the United States, there are warmer than usual temperatures for December.
6. Jason Miller, President-elect Donald Trump’s spokesman, has decided he will not take the job of White House communications director he was tapped for on Friday. Citing family reasons, Miller announced he will not continue on to the White House and will hand off his responsibilities as communications director to Sean Spicer, the Republican National Committee communications director who was announced this week as the incoming White House press secretary — a position he will also retain.
7. The Minnesota Vikings’ trip to play the Green Bay Packers got off to a rough start when their plane skid off the runway in Appleton, Wisconsin on Friday. A fire ladder had to be called in to get the players off the plane.
8. Super typhoon Nock-ten made landfall in the Philippines on Christmas Day after authorities worked to evacuate thousands of residents from low-lying areas of the Southeast Asian country’s eastern provinces.
9. Carrie Fisher is in stable condition after suffering a cardiac event aboard a weekend flight from London to Los Angeles, her mother Debbie Reynolds said Sunday. The United Airlines flight was on approach to Los Angeles on Friday when the 60-year-old actress who played Princess Leia in “Star Wars” became ill.
10. Apple has paid Nokia a royalty for the use of its patents for five years. The deal expires on Dec. 31, however, and Apple is refusing to keep paying, resulting in dozens of lawsuits in 11 countries.
