| |  |  | The Reuters Daily Briefing | Monday, December 13, 2021 by Farouq Suleiman | Hello Here's what you need to know. Biden declares major disaster in Kentucky after deadly tornadoes, rescuers pull more bodies from rubble after Sicily explosion and the EU hesitates over possible Olympic boycott in China. | | | | | Today's biggest stories  Damage and debris after a devastating outbreak of tornadoes ripped through several U.S. states, in Mayfield, Kentucky, U.S., December 12, 2021. REUTERS/Cheney Orr U.S. President Joe Biden declared a major federal disaster in Kentucky after a swarm of deadly tornadoes hit the state on Friday, paving the way for additional federal aid, the White House said.
As part of the declaration, federal aid will be provided to affected individuals in the counties of Caldwell, Fulton, Graves, Hopkins, Marshall, Muhlenberg, Taylor, and Warren.
Amazon cargo driver Austin J. McEwen, 26, was an only child who loved to listen to rapper Mac Miller and hunt with his friends. He died trying to shelter from a tornado in the bathroom at an Amazon warehouse on Friday night, according to a coworker.
The United States reached 800,000 coronavirus-related deaths, according to a Reuters tally, as the nation braces for a potential surge in infections due to more time spent indoors with colder weather and the highly transmissible Omicron variant.
Mark Meadows, who served as Republican former President Donald Trump's chief of staff, said in an email ahead of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot that the U.S. National Guard would "protect pro-Trump people," a congressional committee said in a report.
A publicist accused of pressuring a Georgia election worker to confess to false allegations of committing voting fraud was not “associated” with Kanye West at the time she visited the worker, West's representative said. |  Rescuers work at the site of a gas explosion that caused several houses to collapse in Ravanusa, Italy, December 13, 2021. REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane World Rescuers have pulled four more bodies out of the rubble of houses destroyed by a suspected gas explosion in the Sicilian town of Ravanusa, bringing the total death toll to seven, the fire brigade said.
France and the Netherlands are seeking to find a common European Union approach over a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Olympic Games in China but any decision is unlikely to be reached soon, diplomats and foreign ministers said.
Two cargo ships collided during foggy conditions in the Baltic Sea between the Danish island of Bornholm and the southern Swedish city of Ystad, and a rescue operation was launched for two missing people, authorities said.
Britain said that the Omicron coronavirus variant was spreading at a "phenomenal rate" and now accounted for about 40% of infections in London, so people should get a booster shot because the double-vaccinated are still vulnerable.
France will be hit by a sixth COVID-19 wave next month due to the emergence of the more contagious Omicron variant while the country is still in the midst of the current, Delta-fueled, fifth wave of the pandemic, according to a leading French hospital executive.
President Vladimir Putin has lamented the collapse of the Soviet Union three decades ago as the demise of what he called "historical Russia" and said the economic crisis that followed was so bad he was forced to moonlight as a taxi driver. |  The City of London financial district is seen in London, Britain, October 22, 2021. REUTERS/Hannah McKay Business Bankers and regulators will be at their screens on New Year's Eve to see if what was once dubbed the world's most important number slips quietly into the history books. The London Interbank Offered Rate, or Libor, is finally being switched off.
Investors managing $4.1 trillion in assets are urging the world's biggest chemicals companies to phase out production of hazardous substances which linger in the environment and have been linked to serious health problems.
Chinese artificial intelligence start-up SenseTime Group postponed its $767 million Hong Kong initial public offering after being placed on a U.S. investment blacklist.
Ivory Coast cashew processors are being driven towards bankruptcy by Asian exporters who buy up all the local supply, thwarting a government plan to invigorate the sector, company sources said. | | | | | | | Video of the day  California plans gun law based on Texas abortion ban California Governor Gavin Newsom said he plans to use a controversial U.S. Supreme Court ruling on strict abortion curbs in Texas to design a law that would allow private citizens to sue some gun manufacturers, distributors and sellers. | | | | And finally… Deepfake anyone? AI synthetic media tech enters perilous phase  How increasingly sophisticated technology is applied is one of the complexities facing synthetic media software, where machine learning is used to digitally model faces from images and then swap them into films as seamlessly as possible. | | | Thanks for spending part of your day with us. | | | | | |
