Category: US

Now let’s look at what else has been happening as we close out 2022.

It was a wild year (and it’s not over yet)

Airline passengers, international tourists and even airplane pilots got more than a bit lively this year too, with fisticuffs, high jinks and underclad exhibitionism breaking out all over the place. Have a read here. — INSERT LINK —

China’s Covid surge

Destination inspiration

Life on the rails

Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula should be opening its 948-mile Tren Maya route by the end of the year, which will connect Caribbean resorts such as Cancun with cities and cultural sites inland.

And for the very grand traveler, there’s Orient Express La Dolce Vita. Accor Hotels group’s new 11-car train, with interiors inspired by Italian decor of the 1960s and 1970s, will visit Italian cities including Rome, Venice, Siena, Matera and Palermo.

New Year’s Eve hotspots

In case you missed it

Sad the holidays are nearly over?

A puppy was abandoned at San Francisco airport.

One of the world’s most densely populated cities opened its first metro line.

These stunning natural wonders aren’t US national parks.

Underscored

CNN
 — 

The year 2022 is finally coming to a close – but not before some rainy weather arrives on both the West and East coasts.

Here’s what you can expect from the weather on the last day of 2022 and the first day of 2023.

Americans along the East Coast, from Maine to Florida, will likely have a damp New Year’s Eve, with intermittent showers throughout the day. Heavier rain is forecast further south in Georgia and Florida than in New England.

In New york City, the heaviest rainfall is expected between 7 p.m. Saturday and 1 a.m. Sunday. Temperatures will hover around 50 through most of the afternoon into Sunday.

In Buffalo, New York, where a historic blizzard left 39 people dead, rain is also expected. The rain and melting snow have also sparked flood concerns. Additional rain in the area is expected early next week.

Luckily, the rainy weather likely won’t continue onto New Year’s Day. Sunday is forecast to be cloudy but not as rainy as Saturday. New Year’s morning might see record high minimum temperatures from Washington D.C. into Boston and over the southwest, according to a Friday update from the National Weather Service.

Just like New Yorkers, Californians can also anticipate a rainy New Year’s Eve. A strong storm will begin bringing widespread heavy rain to the West Coast Friday through Saturday, creating a flood threat for much of Northern and Central California.

Over the holiday weekend, Californians will also witness an “atmospheric river,” a long, narrow region in the atmosphere that can transport moisture thousands of miles, like a fire hose in the sky. This heavy rainfall will slide southward to Southern California on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, accompanied by gusty winds moving at 30 to 50 mph.

“We now expect shallow landslides to be likely with the heavy rain coming New Year’s Eve,” said the National Weather Service office in San Francisco.

A flood watch for more than 16 million California residents, including the entire Bay Area and Central Valley, is in effect though Saturday night. The flooding is most likely in rivers, creeks, streams and other flood-prone areas, according to the National Weather Service office in Sacramento. Rain could ease Saturday evening before the calendar turns to 2023.

Widespread rainfall accumulations of 2 to 4 inches are expected in Northern and Central California, but locally higher amounts of 5 to 7 inches are also possible for the foothills.

Northern California and the Central California coast have already received 2 to 4 inches of rain in the last week. The cumulative effect of multiple Pacific storm systems laden with moisture from a potent atmospheric river will make impacts such as flash floods and landslides more likely.

Southern California is also expecting strong wind gusts of 30 to 50 mph on New Year’s Day in addition to rain.

Whereas the coasts will see a rainy New Year’s Eve, the western mountains from the Sierra Nevada to the Rockies can count on snow for the new year. The snow follows several days of heavy and dangerous snowfall.

An eastbound stretch of Interstate-70 in Colorado reopened Thursday after a nine-hour closure left drivers stranded amid bouts of heavy mountain snow, widespread rain and gusty winds.

Severe weather that caused trees to fall on passing vehicles left five people dead in Oregon on Tuesday, including a 4-year-old girl, state police said.

Wind gusts in the state exceeded 100 mph in some areas, according to the National Weather Service.

Scientology leader David Miscavige is nowhere to be found as attempts are made to serve the 62-year-old with a child trafficking lawsuit that names him as a defendant, according to public court documents and the Tampa Bay Times.

The court documents show process servers attempted to serve papers to Miscavige 27 different times over the past few months in the Clearwater, Fla. area and in Los Angeles to no avail.

A motion to serve Miscavige by default filed in Florida court on Dec. 13 read, “there is more than enough evidence to demonstrate that [Miscavige] has intentionally concealed his location and erected obstacles to evade personal services of process.”

The Church of Scientology’s Public Affairs Director Karin Pouw told Fox News Digital Miscavige is “not running from the law.” She declined to comment further on the pending lawsuit.

KIRSTIE ALLEY REMEMBERED BY CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY AS ‘BELOVED MEMBER’ AND ‘CHAMPION FOR DRUG REHABILITATION’

David Miscavige (L), Chairman of the Board of the Religious Technology Centre and leader of the Scientology religion, addressing the crowd during the opening of the Church of Scientology’s new church in the City of London, Sunday 22 October 2006.
(Yui Mok/PA)

Former Scientology church members, husband and wife, Gawain and Laura Baxter and Valeska Paris filed the lawsuit after claiming they were forced into labor on Scientology boats as children after signing a one billion-year contract in exchange for little or no money. Paris reportedly left the church in 2009 and Gawain and Laura Baxter left in 2012.  

In addition to the trafficking allegations, Paris alleges she was the victim of repeated sexual assaults in her youth and that when her mother left Scientology, the then-17-year-old was locked in an engine room for 48 hours as punishment.

Gawain Baxter said his parents put him in a Sea Org nursery when he was two months old, according to the lawsuit. When he turned six, he was also forced to sign the one billion-year contract and sent to live in a Cadet Org dormitory with around 100 other children.

Children over six years old are considered to be, and are frequently told that they are, adults and that they should act and expect to be treated as adults. The lawsuit noted in background that the children must be referred to as “cadets” and not kids.

CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY GOT TOM CRUISE A DIVORCE, HELPED HIM MARRY NICOLE KIDMAN, BOOK ALLEGES

The Church of Scientology in Los Angeles, California, U.S. on Tuesday, July 7, 2020.
( Bing Guan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Miscavige’s last known address is the church’s international building in L.A., but similar to other members of Scientology’s extremist wing, the Sea Org, he does not have a publicly recorded address. When lawyers showed up to Scientology properties in search of the leader, security guards denied entry to the properties and reportedly said they were not aware of his location. 

The plaintiffs in the lawsuit have also hired a private investigator to help reach Miscavige, according to 

Court filings related to the recent lawsuit list his home as a Scientology property in a gated community known as the Hacienda Gardens in Clearwater. The 120-unit apartment complex hosts Scientology staff and was purchased by the organization in 2001, the Tampa Bay Times reported.

During the motion filed earlier in December, one of the plaintiff’s attorneys, Neil Glazer, said, “Miscavige cannot be permitted to continue his gamesmanship.” He is due in court on Jan. 20, 2023, but that meeting is pending unless he is served with the papers.

Court documents related to the suit stated lawyers have tried to locate him through two traffic tickets he received in the 1990s, but both of those citations list the Scientology Los Angeles center as his home.

Miscavige’s lawyers told the newspaper he is merely the target of a legal strategy due to his status within Scientology. They added that he does not live in Florida, which is why they can’t serve him there.

In this handout photo provided by the Church of Scientology, David Miscavige, Chairman of the Board Religious Technology Center and ecclesiastical leader of the Scientology religion, at the Church’s global media center on Sunset Boulevard Dec. 14, 2016, in Hollywood, California.
(Church of Scientology via Getty Images)

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US Magistrate Judge Julie Sneed served a summons to Miscavige on behalf of the plaintiffs. Ten copies of the summons were sent to various Scientology properties in Florida and California in efforts to reach Miscavige. 

All were sent back as undelivered since nobody would sign for them, court documents showed.

Miscavige is one of five defendants named in the lawsuit. The remaining four are operating entities of the Church of Scientology.

CNN
 — 

Dignitaries and religious leaders have been paying tribute to Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, who died Saturday in a monastery in the Vatican at the age of 95.

Benedict, who was the first pontiff in almost 600 years to resign his position, rather than hold office for life, passed away on Saturday, according to a statement from the Vatican.

“With sorrow I inform you that the Pope Emeritus, Benedict XVI, passed away today at 9:34 in the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican,” the Director of the Press Office of the Holy See, Matteo Bruni said.

The funeral of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI will be held on Thursday in St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican City at 9:30 a.m. local time, Bruni said. The funeral will be led by Pope Francis.

The former pope’s body will lie in state in St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican from Monday for the faithful to bid farewell, Vatican News reported Saturday. As per the wish of Pope Emeritus, his funeral will be “simple,” Bruni said.

News of his death came days after Pope Francis asked the faithful to pray for Benedict, saying he was “very sick.”

“I want to ask you all for a special prayer for Pope Emeritus Benedict who sustains the Church in his silence. He is very sick. We ask the Lord to console and sustain him in this witness of love for the Church to the very end,” Francis said at his general audience on Wednesday.

His health had been in decline for some time.

Benedict stunned the Catholic faithful and religious experts around the world on February 11, 2013, when he announced plans to step down from his position as Pope, citing his “advanced age.”

In his farewell address, the outgoing pope promised to stay “hidden” from the world, but he continued to speak out on religious matters in the years following his retirement, contributing to tensions within the Catholic Church.

Benedict was a powerful force in the Catholic Church for decades. Born Joseph Ratzinger in Germany in 1927, he was the son of a policeman. He was ordained as a priest in 1951, made a cardinal in 1977, and later served as chief theological adviser to Pope John Paul II.

One of his most significant steps up came in 1981 when he took over as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, the Vatican office that oversees “the doctrine on the faith and morals throughout the Catholic world,” according to the Vatican.

Ratzinger became known as “Cardinal No” stemming from his efforts to crack down on the liberation theology movement, religious pluralism, challenges to traditional teachings on issues such as homosexuality, and calls to ordain women as priests.

He was elected pope in April 2005, following John Paul II’s death.

He was known to be more conservative than his successor, Pope Francis, who has made moves to soften the Vatican’s position on abortion and homosexuality, as well as doing more to deal with the sexual abuse crisis that has engulfed the church in recent years and clouded Benedict’s legacy.

In April 2019, Benedict discussed the sex abuse crisis in a public letter, claiming that it was caused in part by the sexual revolution of the 1960s and the liberalization of the church’s moral teachings.

In January 2020, Benedict was forced to distance himself from a book widely seen as undercutting Francis as he considered whether or not to allow married men to become priests in certain cases. The book, “From the Depths of Our Hearts,” argued in favor of the centuries-old tradition of priestly celibacy within the Catholic Church. Benedict was originally listed as co-author, but later clarified that he had only contributed one section of the text.

A year later, Benedict came under fire over his time as archbishop of Munich and Freising, between 1977 and 1982, following the publication of a Church-commissioned report into abuse by Catholic clergy there.

The report found that while in the post he had been informed of four cases of sexual abuse involving minors – including two that had occurred during his time in office – but failed to act. It also revealed Benedict had attended a meeting about an abuser identified as Priest X. Following the report’s publication, Benedict pushed back against accusations that he knew in 1980 that this priest was an abuser.

In a letter released by the Vatican amid the furor, Benedict wrote that he was “of good cheer” as he faced “the final judge of my life,” despite his shortcomings. He also issued a general apology to survivors of abuse.

Global leaders paid homage to the former pope, following his death. Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury and head of the Church of England, said he is “mourning” the former pope.

“Pope Benedict was one of the greatest theologians of his age – committed to the faith of the Church and stalwart in its defence,” Welby said in a statement Saturday.

“In all things, not least in his writing and his preaching, he looked to Jesus Christ, the image of the invisible God. It was abundantly clear that Christ was the root of his thought and the basis of his prayer.

“In 2013 Pope Benedict took the courageous and humble step to resign the papacy, the first Pope to do so since the fifteenth century. In making this choice freely he acknowledged the human frailty that affects us all,” he added.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York, said he will remember the former pope with “love and gratitude.”

“Saddened to learn of the demise of His Holiness Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI,” European Parliament President Roberta Metsola tweeted Saturday.

“Europe mourns him. May he rest in peace.”

The leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, on Saturday told Pope Francis he had received news of Benedict’s passing with “sorrow,” according to the message shared on the official website of the Moscow Patriarchate.

“His Holiness’s many years of life marked a whole epoch in the history of the Roman Catholic Church, which he led in a difficult historical period, associated with many external and internal challenges,” Kirill said of Benedict.

Kirill added relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church had “developed significantly” during Benedict’s tenure, in an effort to “overcome the sometimes-painful legacy of the past.”

“On behalf of the Russian Orthodox Church, I express my condolences to you and the flock of the Roman Catholic Church,” he continued.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak also paid tribute. “I am saddened to learn of the death of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI,” Sunak tweeted Saturday.

“He was a great theologian whose UK visit in 2010 was an historic moment for both Catholics and non-Catholics throughout our country.

“My thoughts are with Catholic people in the UK and around the world today,” Sunak added.

Italy’s new Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni voiced her admiration for the former pope. “Benedict XVI was a giant of faith and reason. He put his life at the service of the universal Church and spoke, and will continue to speak, to the hearts and minds of men with the spiritual, cultural and intellectual depth of his Magisterium,” she tweeted Saturday.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Saturday that the former pope “set a strong signal through his resignation.”

“Pope Benedict’s passing saddens me. My sympathy goes out to all Catholics,” von der Leyen said in a tweet, adding, “He had set a strong signal through his resignation. He saw himself first as a servant for God and his Church.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is leading Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, called the former pope “a staunch defender of traditional Christian values.”