5 Things To Know For Your New Day — Tuesday, December 13
Terminally Ill boy Dies In Santa’s Arms:
Knoxville News-Sentinel columnist Sam Venable knew he’d found a sad story, but he didn’t know just how many hearts it would break.
Venable’s column about a terminally ill 5-year-old boy dying in Santa’s arms has spread everywhere since its publication Sunday in the Tennessee newspaper. Among other things, it nails the emotional richness of the holiday season.
“I’ve gotten a big response to this,” Venable told CNN. “People have told me that they were crying when they read it, and I tell them that I was crying when I wrote it.”
It all started several weeks ago when Eric Schmitt-Matzen, the Santa in Venable’s column, got a call after work.
“It was a nurse I know at the hospital,” Schmitt-Matzen told the News-Sentinel. “She said there was a very sick 5-year-old boy who wanted to see Santa Claus.”
Aleppo: Reports Of Executions As Syrian Army Closes In:
orces loyal to the Syrian regime have been entering homes in the last pockets of Aleppo held by rebels and shooting people on the spot, the United Nations has said.
A spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said it had been told that 82 civilians, including women and children, were shot in their homes or on the streets on Monday.
The grim reports came as government forces continued their advance on the last of the rebel-held neighborhoods in Aleppo, once Syria’s commercial and cultural heart. Government forces on Tuesday were in control of most of eastern Aleppo, as the four-year battle for the city neared a bloody end.
Six Days, Six Georgia Officers Shot:
The past week has not been a kind one to Georgia’s small-town police officers.
Six days. Six officers shot. Two deaths.
The shootings, which happened in three unrelated incidents, highlight a particularly brutal stretch in a year where at least 64 law enforcement officers have died across the United States.
Those shootings, in Georgia and beyond, have placed 2016 well ahead of last year’s 12-month total for police fatalities, according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund. Georgia has had one of the worst years in terms of police fatalities
Trump Picks ExxonMobil CEO Tillerson As Choice For Secretary of State:
President-elect Donald Trump has chosen ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson to serve as secretary of state, the transition team announced Tuesday, setting up a heated Senate confirmation battle and signaling a desire to ease Washington’s estrangement with Russia.
Like Trump, Tillerson, 64, has no formal foreign policy experience, but has built close relationships with many world leaders by closing massive deals across Eurasia and the Middle East on behalf of the world’s largest energy company.
“His tenacity, broad experience and deep understanding of geopolitics make him an excellent choice for Secretary of State,” Trump said in the statement.
‘Flip or Flop’ Stars Tarek and Christina El Moussa Split:
One of HGTV’s most popular couples are now a house divided.
Tarek and Christina El Moussa have reportedly split after seven years of marriage.
The couple are the stars of HGTV’s “Flip or Flop” and married in 2009.
source: CNN.com
