BEIJING, Dec 31 (Reuters) - China's graft enforcement agency has warned Walmart Inc (WMT.N) and its membership chain Sam's Club over its alleged removal of Xinjiang products on Friday.

"Walmart must respect China's standpoint and the Chinese people's feelings if they want to 'stand firm' in the Chinese market," the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection said in a commentary published on its website.

https://www.reuters.com/world/china/chinas-graft-agency-warns-walmart-sams-club-over-alleged-removal-xinjiang-2021-12-31/?

Carnival Corp's Cunard cruise line said on Wednesday its Queen Mary 2 ship would skip a scheduled stop at New York and instead extend its stay in Barbados until Jan. 2 to bring in more staffers.

Cunard said its decision to add more crew members was a precautionary measure, but it did not detail why it needed more workers.

The ship, Cunard's flagship liner named by Queen Elizabeth, is among the more than 85 vessels the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is investigating for COVID-19 cases.

The CDC starts an investigation if 0.10% or more of passengers on guest voyages test positive for COVID-19.

https://www.marinelink.com/news/queen-mary-skips-voyage-new-york-amid-493199

COLUMBIA — After a cyberattack against a human resources company, some MU Health Care employees are not being paid in full, a source familiar with the matter told KRCG 13.

MU Health Care uses Ultimate Kronos Group, known simply as Kronos, for employee-centric services. Hourly employees at MU Health typically used the service to clock in and out but have not been able to do so for weeks, according to an MU Health employee.

In mid-December, Kronos disclosed a ransomware attack that affected many of its customers using Kronos Private Cloud, noting that the service was "currently unavailable. Given that it may take up to several weeks to restore system availability, we strongly recommend that you evaluate and implement alternative business continuity protocols related to the affected UKG solutions."

After the cybersecurity breach was announced, speculation arose as to how employee payments would work for affected companies.

https://krcgtv.com/news/local/mu-health-employees-not-paid-in-full-following-cyberattack

A team of archeologists has discovered a decapitated horse next to its rider and a trove of jewelry and weapons in a cemetery where elite Merovingian nobles and warriors were buried.

The Merovingians were a Frankish dynasty that ruled from the middle of the 5th century until 751. Their kingdom included all Franks, which were Germanic tribes, and the northern Gaulish Romans. It grew, as the Roman Empire crumbled, to encompass much of modern-day France, stretching eastward into what are now parts of Germany and Switzerland.

The archeologists had been working in the town of Knittlingen, in the southern German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, examining more than 110 graves in a cemetery reserved for members of the local Merovingian elite.

“The comparatively rich burials in the second half of the sixth century are noteworthy in Knittlingen,” the Regional Council of Stuttgart, which has been overseeing excavations at the dig site since August, said in a statement.


https://krcgtv.com/news/offbeat/ancient-decapitated-horse-discovered-next-to-rider-in-cemetery-for-elite-warriors

By ROME (AP) — The Catholic Church and the northern Italian city of Ferrara are making their peace with Antonio Vivaldi nearly 300 years after the city's archbishop effectively canceled the staging of one of his operas, sending the famed Baroque composer into debt for his final years in exile.

Ferrara Archbishop Giancarlo Perego is attending the opening Thursday of Vivaldi's "Il Farnace" at the city's public theater, a decision hailed by the theater's artistic director as a "marvelous gesture" that helps heal the past and highlight one of Vivaldi's lesser-known works.

"We want to restore to Vivaldi what was taken from him here in Ferrara," Marcello Corvino told The Associated Press ahead of the premiere of "Il Farnace," which tells the story of the tragic dynasty of King Pharnaces II.

According to historians, when Cardinal Tommaso Ruffo banned Vivaldi from Ferrara, it effectively meant the cancellation of the scheduled 1739 Carnival production of his "Il Farnace," which had already enjoyed success in Italy and beyond. Ruffo's reason? Vivaldi, an ordained Catholic priest, had stopped celebrating Mass and was said to be in a relationship with one of his singers, Anna Giro.

https://krcgtv.com/news/entertainment/vivaldi-opera-gets-premiere-nearly-300-years-late

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Lauren Hansen made a driving layup with 0.1 seconds left and Missouri stunned No. 1 South Carolina 70-69 in overtime Thursday night in the Southeastern Conference opener for both teams.

The Tigers (12-2) overcame the absence of scoring leader Aijha Blackwell and four other players to beat a No. 1 team for the first time in program history. They were previously 0-8 against No. 1 ranked teams.

“This is a huge win for us and I couldn’t be more proud,” Missouri coach Robin Pingleton said. “The grit they showed and the belief. Their ability to play through tough possessions and different players stepped up at different times.”

It marked only the seventh time an unranked team has beaten the top-ranked team, and the first since Colorado beat Stanford on Jan. 17, 2021. South Carolina had won 43 straight nonconference games.

https://krcgtv.com/sports/college/hansen-missouri-stun-no-1-south-carolina-70-69-in-overtime

LONDON (AP) — The U.K. reported a sharp increase in coronavirus-related deaths Thursday as the National Health Service announced it was building temporary structures at hospitals in England to prepare for a possible surge of patients infected with the highly transmissible omicron variant.

The government reported 332 deaths, the highest figure since March 2. Public health officials cautioned that the number included a backlog of cases that stemmed from incomplete reporting during the Christmas holiday period.

https://krcgtv.com/news/coronavirus/uk-reports-surge-in-covid-deaths-builds-temporary-wards

BANGKOK (AP) — When the young farmhand returned to his village in Myanmar, he found the still smoldering corpses in a circle in a burned-out hut, some with their limbs tied.

The Myanmar military had stormed Done Taw at 11 a.m. on Dec. 7, he told the AP, with about 50 soldiers hunting people on foot, killing 10 people including five teenagers. A photo taken by his friend shows the charred remains of a victim lying face down, holding his head up, suggesting he was burned alive.

The carnage at Done Taw is just one of the most recent signs that the Myanmar military is reverting to a strategy of massacres as a weapon of war, according to an AP investigation based on interviews with 40 witnesses, social media, satellite imagery and data on deaths.

The massacres and scorched-earth tactics — such as the razing of entire villages — represent the latest escalation in the military's violence against both civilians and the growing opposition. Since the military seized power in February, it has cracked down ever more brutally, abducting young men and boys, killing health care workers and torturing prisoners.

https://krcgtv.com/news/nation-world/myanmar-military-reverts-to-strategy-of-massacres-burnings

JEFFERSON CITY — The number of Missourians hospitalized with COVID-19 has nearly doubled in the last month, according to data from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.

As of Monday, 2,265 patients were hospitalized with COVID-19 in Missouri, according to DHSS. The department's most recent official numbers come from December 27, as it takes some time for all hospitals to report their official data. That number is nearly doubled from November and approaching the record number of hospitalizations, as the Delta variant continues to spread and the Omicron strain begins to take hold.

"[Omicron] hasn't hit yet, but we're already struggling to keep our head above water," Dr. Philip Fracica said. Dr. Fracica is the Chief Medical Officer at Bothwell Regional Health System in Sedalia.

For reference, at the worst of the pandemic in the fall and winter of 2020, COVID-19 hospitalizations hovered around 2,800.

https://krcgtv.com/news/local/covid-hospitalizations-on-the-rise-in-missouri

JEFFERSON CITY — Missouri's State of Emergency will expire on December 31, Governor Mike Parson's office announced on Thursday.

Citing "the effectiveness of the vaccine, widespread efforts to mitigate the virus, and our committed health care professionals," the governor said in a statement, "past needs to continue the state of emergency are no longer present."

The state of emergency had been extended five previous times. The governor's press release notes "only three of Missouri's border states and 20 other states in the nation have" similar states of emergency.

The expiration comes on the heels of the Omicron variant and as new COVID cases and hospitalizations are on the rise in Missouri. Hospitalizations across the state have nearly doubled in the last month, to more than 2,250 inpatients with COVID-19.

https://krcgtv.com/news/local/gov-parson-to-allow-covid-19-state-of-emergency-to-expire