NYC jail guard faces trial over death of inmate who ate ‘soap ball’
NEW YORK (Reuters) – A former guard at New York City’s Rikers Island faces trial Monday on a federal charge that he deliberately ignored the medical needs of a mentally ill inmate who died after swallowing a corrosive disinfectant.
New Jersey house fire kills five, including infant: report
(Reuters) – An infant was among five people killed when a fire tore through three houses in New Jersey on Sunday, a newspaper reported, citing the county prosecutor’s office.
Carolers in New York tweak classics to protest police violence
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Amid a sea of holiday shoppers, about 30 protesters, among them professional opera singers, gathered on Sunday in midtown New York to sing Christmas carols modified with lyrics lamenting recent cases of police violence against African American males. 
‘Charlie Brown’ Christmas tree in Pennsylvania gets lone red bulb
READING, Pa. (Reuters) – A scraggly Christmas tree in downtown Reading, Pennsylvania, was adorned on Sunday with a single red bulb, in a ceremony reminiscent of events in the animated holiday classic “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” 
Carolers in New York tweak classics to protest police violence
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Amid a sea of holiday shoppers, about 30 protesters, among them professional opera singers, gathered on Sunday in midtown New York to sing Christmas carols modified with lyrics lamenting recent cases of police violence against African American males. 
People in animal costumes forced to evacuate Chicago hotel
(Reuters) – People dressed in assorted animal costumes were sent into the cold Chicago night early Sunday when a chlorine leak forced them and others to evacuate a large hotel that was hosting an annual convention called Midwest FurFest.
U.S. couple released by Qatar in child death celebrate their return
PASADENA, Calif. (Reuters) – An American couple convicted and later cleared in Qatar of wrongdoing in the death of their adopted African-born daughter celebrated their return to Los Angeles with a jubilant church service on Sunday morning.
Survivors commemorate 73rd anniversary of Pearl Harbor attack
HONOLULU (Reuters) – For the fifth year in a row, Lou Conter made the trip to Honolulu from his Alta Sierra, California, home to remember his USS Arizona shipmates who died in the surprise air attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.
NYC braced for more protests over police violence after West Coast clashes
NEW YORK/BERKELEY, Calif. (Reuters) – A fifth day of nationwide protests against police violence was set to begin on Sunday after overnight clashes in two West Coast cities as New York’s police commissioner said an internal investigation into a chokeho…
Woman who stabbed U.S. teacher in UAE was ‘lone terrorist’: agency
DUBAI (Reuters) – A United Arab Emirates woman who killed an American teacher last week has been inspired by “terrorist ideology” acquired through the Internet but investigators have found no links to militant groups, the state news agency WAM reported…
