Several Dead After Private Jet Crashes Near Statesville, N.C.

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Several people were killed when a small private jet crashed near Statesville, North Carolina, on Thursday, Dec. 18. Local authorities say the accident occurred shortly after takeoff from Statesville Regional Airport in the late morning and that fatalities have been reported, though an exact count is not yet available. Federal investigators from the FAA and … Read more

3,700-Year-Old Italian Bones Reveal Earliest Known Father–Daughter Incest

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Archaeologists and geneticists report that remains from a Bronze Age burial cave in southern Italy provide the earliest direct evidence of a parent–offspring sexual union in the archaeological record. The bones come from Grotta della Monaca in Calabria, a cemetery used between 1780 and 1380 B.C., where researchers sequenced DNA from 23 interred people. Analysis … Read more

Jimmy Kimmel on Trump’s 9pm address: ‘Surprise primetime episode of The Worst Wing’

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Lead On 18 December 2025, late-night comedian Jimmy Kimmel opened his Wednesday show by lampooning President Donald Trump after the White House announced an unexpected national address at 9pm ET. Kimmel framed the speech as a surprise primetime interruption that displaced season finales on major networks and used the moment to mock the administration’s recent … Read more

S&P 500 Rises After Cooler Inflation Reading and Micron Beat

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Lead: U.S. equity benchmarks climbed on Thursday after a delayed November Consumer Price Index showed softer-than-expected inflation and chipmaker Micron Technology posted stronger-than-forecast results and guidance. The S&P 500 moved to end a four-day losing streak, the Nasdaq outperformed, and the Dow intraday swings narrowed, as investors parsed the implications for 2026 interest-rate policy. The … Read more

Inflation eases to 2.7% in November as affordability worries deepen

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Lead U.S. consumer prices rose at a slower annual pace in November, with the Labor Department reporting a 2.7% year‑over‑year increase on Thursday. Grocery prices climbed 1.9% from a year earlier, while overall inflation eased from 3.0% for the 12 months ending in September. Government price collection was interrupted in October by a shutdown, and … Read more

Woman in Coldplay Kiss-Cam Video Breaks Her Silence

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Lead Kristin Cabot, the woman who appeared on a Kiss Cam embrace with her boss at a Coldplay concert on July 16, 2025, has given her first extended account since the footage went viral. The short TikTok clip drew roughly 100 million views within days and sparked widespread condemnation, doxxing and threats. Cabot says she … Read more

Could international troops be sent to Gaza? Here’s why Trump’s plan hinges on it – NPR

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Lead Diplomats meeting in Doha this week say the U.S.-backed ceasefire in Gaza depends on two linked moves: an international stabilization force on the ground and the disarmament of Hamas. The Trump administration has outlined a role for multinational troops to support demilitarization, but many potential contributors reject using force to seize weapons. Qatar and … Read more

RFK Jr. and Dr. Oz to announce moves to ban gender-affirming care for young people – NPR

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Lead: Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid leader Dr. Mehmet Oz will hold a Department of Health and Human Services press briefing at 11 a.m. Thursday to unveil measures that would sharply restrict gender-affirming care for people under 18. Officials say the actions will use Medicare and Medicaid rules … Read more

Pope Leo Names Ronald Hicks to Lead New York Archdiocese

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On Dec. 18, 2025, Pope Leo XIV appointed Bishop Ronald A. Hicks, 58, to succeed Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan as archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York. The move, announced by the Vatican, replaces a prominent and politically visible prelate with a pastor whose record in Joliet, Illinois, stresses quiet governance and pastoral … Read more

Latest Comet 3I/ATLAS news: One day until the comet is closest to Earth!

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Lead Astronomers monitoring the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS report a faint, wobbling jet of gas and dust tied to the object’s rotation as it approaches Earth. The observation, made with the Two-meter Twin Telescope at Tenerife’s Teide Observatory, pins the comet’s spin at about 14–17 hours and is described in a paper submitted to Astronomy & … Read more

Jim Cramer’s top 10 things to watch in the stock market Thursday – CNBC

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On Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025, CNBC host Jim Cramer published a short checklist of the top 10 items he said traders should monitor as U.S. markets prepare to close the week. The list, issued on CNBC’s platform, flags macroeconomic data, corporate earnings, and market-structure signals that Cramer identified as likely to move sentiment and intraday … Read more

Phone Updates Used to Be Annoying. The Latest iOS Is Awful

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Lead Apple released iOS 26.2 last week, and users across social platforms reported widespread frustration with slower performance, confusing interface changes and unexpected battery alerts. A longtime late-adopter who only moved to smartphones in 2013 describes an accidental upgrade that transformed daily phone use into a source of irritation. Online conversation—from Reddit threads to Bluesky … Read more

Cheese Linked to Lower Dementia Risk in 25-Year Study

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Researchers in Sweden reporting in Neurology found that adults who consumed 50 grams or more of high-fat cheese daily had a statistically lower risk of developing dementia over roughly 25 years of follow-up. The analysis used data from the Malmö Diet and Cancer cohort, tracking 27,670 participants between baseline dietary assessment and dementia diagnoses; 3,208 … Read more