Santos, a Suburban House and $11,000 in Campaign Payments for ‘Rent’  —  Representative-elect George Santos, under scrutiny after fabricating much of his résumé, also spent campaign funds on $40,000 worth of air travel.  —  The company was called Cleaner 123 …

Misogynist Influencer Andrew Tate's Rough Week Capped by Romanian Rape Arrest  —  Romanian officials said four suspects were arrested Thursday on allegations of organized crime, human trafficking and rape.  —  Just a day after being roasted by teen activist Greta Thunberg …

What's Gone at Twitter?  A Data Center, Janitors, Some Toilet Paper.  —  Elon Musk has reduced the company to a bare-bones operation, and employees are under a “zero-based budgeting” mandate to justify any spending.  —  Kate Conger, Ryan Mac and Mike Isaac have reported on Elon Musk and Twitter since early this year.

Key findings from the latest Jan. 6 panel transcripts, including from Donald Trump Jr. and others  —  The House January 6 committee on Thursday released a new batch transcripts, including interviews with Donald Trump Jr., former Trump White House aides and others.

How Southwest Airlines Melted Down  —  Airline executives and labor leaders point to inadequate technology systems as one reason why a brutal winter storm turned into a debacle  —  When Southwest Airlines Co. LUV 3.70%increase; green up pointing triangle reassigns crews after flight disruptions …

USINDOPACOM Statement on Unsafe Intercept of U.S. aircraft over South China Sea  —  U.S. Indo-Pacific Command Public Affairs  —  On Dec. 21 (China Standard Time), a People's Liberation Army - Navy J-11 fighter pilot performed an unsafe maneuver during an intercept of a U.S. Air Force RC-135 aircraft …

Hard-Line Positions by Russia and Ukraine Dim Hope for Peace Talks  —  Both Moscow and Kyiv say they are ready to talk, but their terms for sitting down at a negotiating table suggest otherwise.  —  As the battle for Ukraine turns into a bloody, mile-by-mile fight in numbing cold …

Putin, unaccustomed to losing, is increasingly isolated as war falters  —  A new gulf is emerging between the president and much of the country's elite  —  When Vladimir Putin visited Minsk last week to discuss deepening cooperation, a sarcastic joke by his host, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, seemed to ring all too true.

Democratic Congress was disappointment for immigration activists  —  The first Congress of the Biden era is ending with a significant list of legislative accomplishments under its belt, but Democrats will once again relinquish a House majority without delivering on immigration reform.

Pelé, the Global Face of Soccer, Dies at 82  —  Pelé, who was declared a national treasure in his native Brazil, achieved worldwide celebrity and helped popularize the sport in the United States.  —  Pelé, one of soccer's greatest players and a transformative figure …

Lawyers exit Hong Kong as they face campaign of intimidation  —  Hong Kong's human rights lawyers are fleeing abroad amid an effort to cleanse the city of dissent.  The pressure is part of a wider crackdown by the ruling Communist Party on lawyers across China, say activists, legal scholars and diplomats.

The MAGA Right Would Have Called Winston Churchill a ‘Welfare Queen’  —  Donald Trump, Jr. and Charlie Kirk used an old slur to paint Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as “ungrateful” and “uppity.” … To understand a person's values, examine their heroes and villains.