Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about today:
1. PRESIDENT TOUTS GLOBAL WARMING IN FACE OF COLD SPELL
President Trump says the East Coast “could use a little bit of that good old Global Warming” as bitterly cold temperatures are expected to freeze large swaths of the country this holiday weekend.
Casey Head crosses Main Street in downtown Concord, N.H., Thursday, Dec. 28, 2017. Bitter cold weather has taken hold of much of the northern United States, and wind chill advisories or warnings were in effect for much of New England, northern Pennsylvania and New York. (Elizabeth Frantz/The Concord Monitor via AP)
2. WHO NEEDS HELP AS COLD WEATHER PERSISTS
As a deep freeze sets in across half the country, officials are urging people to help those most vulnerable, especially the homeless and the elderly.
3. WHICH OIL-RICH KINGDOM IS SEEING UNPRECEDENTED DEVELOPMENTS
Saudi Arabia has laid the groundwork for momentous change next year, defying its conservative reputation for slow, cautious reforms.
4. GOLDEN STATE STORES STOCKING SHELVES WITH POT
Marijuana legalization arrives Monday in California with lots of hoopla, but only a handful of cities will initially have retail outlets ready to sell recreational pot.
5. RADICALIZATION THREATENS MUSLIM MINORITY FLEEING CHINA
As Uighurs flee a Chinese security crackdown in droves, they are often recruited with calls of jihad by militant Uighur members of Syria-based Islamic groups.
6. RETURNING MIGRANTS POSE CHALLENGE ACROSS AFRICA
Some of the migrants stranded in Libya are being sent home, where they face familiar conditions: high unemployment, often weak economies and an increasingly harsh climate.
7. PREPARING FOR BIG APPLE’S NEW YEAR’S EVE CELEBRATION
Police promise tighter security than ever at Times Square, after a year with several deadly attacks on innocent crowds, including at the very spot where revelers will ring in 2018.
8. WHERE THE FREE PRESS IS UNDER THREAT
Turkey, Poland and Hungary are among the young democracies where media freedoms are facing increasing attacks from governments.
9. HOW MESSAGING ICONS PASS MUSTER
The Unicode Consortium is tasked with setting the global standard for emojis, a heady responsibility with consequences for modern communication.
10. FAREWELL TO VERSATILE PERFORMER WITH 90-YEAR CAREER
Rose Marie, who played the wisecracking Sally Rogers on “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” has died at 94.
FILE- In this Dec. 29, 2016 file photo, a pedestrian asks directions from two heavily armed counterterrorism officers stationed in Times Square in New York. New York Police Department officials say that while there are no specific or credible threats against the city, they are promising a bigger security detail than ever before at the Sunday, Dec. 31, 2017, New Year’s Eve celebration in Times Square. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens, File)
In this Dec. 27, 2017 photo, Golden State Greens “budtender” Olivia Vugrin, right, waits on a customer in San Diego, Calif. Dozens of California shops have cleared a final hurdle to sell marijuana for recreational use starting Monday, Jan. 1, 2018, and regulators will work through the weekend to grant more licenses. (AP Photo/Elliot Spagat)
In this Aug. 10, 2017 photo, Sabir Damolla, a straight-talking former importer who runs an afterschool center that doubles as an occasional soup kitchen, looks up during an interview in his office in Istanbul. Because of his speeches around the neighborhood to steer Uighur arrivals from Syrian militants, Adil has been pushed around by muscle-bound young Islamic militants outside mosques and intimidated. He received a death threat by phone after he ridiculed an influential young Saudi cleric in Syria who has called on Uighurs to join the jihad. (AP Photo/Gerry Shih)
FILE – In this Dec. 5, 2017, file photo, an unidentified immigration officer, right, speaks to Nigerian returnees from Libya upon arrival at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos, Nigeria. An emergency effort has begun to repatriate thousands of migrants stranded in camps across Libya, but now the returnees are posing a challenge. Back home in countries across Africa, they face the same conditions that led them to leave: high unemployment, often weak economies, an increasingly harsh climate. Governments are under pressure to give their citizens a reason to stay. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba, File)
In this Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2017, photo, author Jennifer 8. Lee poses for photos before eating lunch at Dumpling Time restaurant in San Francisco. Thanks largely to Lee’s efforts, the dumpling emoji was added to the Unicode Standard this year after almost two years of research, meetings, and a written, illustrated proposal that reads a bit like an academic paper, complete with research on dumpling history and popularity. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
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