Rodman's short visit was aimed at finalizing plans to bring 11 other former NBA players to Pyongyang for a Jan. 8 exhibition game marking Kim Jong Un's birthday. The two struck up a friendship when Rodman first traveled to the secretive state earlier this year, but Rodman did not answer questions from the media on whether he had met with Kim this time. Rodman is the highest profile American to meet Kim since the leader inherited power from his father in late 2011....

Hamlin took the lead and won the second-closest Daytona 500 in history by edging Ryan Blaney at the finish line. The race was postponed a day after heavy rains battered Daytona Beach, Florida, and after a big crash reduced the field in half and delayed the outcome with just 15 laps remaining. The race had two more cautions and a red flag with under 10 laps remaining, which sent the Great American Race into what NASCAR calls overtime, a way to continue racing without finishing it under the caution flag....

Ahead of Chauvin’s imminent verdict, Minneapolis Public Schools on Friday sent families a letter stating that in-person classes will be replaced by distance learning from Wednesday to Friday, according to local news. Students can stay at home during those days and all events will be canceled, but buildings and meal pickups will still remain open. In the letter, Superintendent Ed Graff said the decision was informed by a conversation with sources from Hennepin County....

In an affidavit filed on Thursday, the former Minneapolis police officer said he currently has no legal representation and that his only income is his nominal prison wages. Minnesota Police Department stopped funding legal representation for Chauvin, who is white, following his conviction and sentencing for the second-degree murder of Floyd, a Black man, whose neck he fatally knelt on for more than nine minutes. He wrote: “I have been informed that their obligation to pay for my representation terminated upon my conviction and sentencing....

The Heisman will be awarded Saturday. MORE: All-time Heisman winners | Top 10 Heisman voting classes Henry is the favorite to claim Alabama’s second Heisman. He would join former Bama running back Mark Ingram, the 2009 winner. Henry leads the nation with 1,986 rushing yards and 23 touchdowns for the second-ranked Crimson Tide, who are in the College Football Playoff for the second straight year. Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson has the vote of 2010 winner Cam Newton....

The 20-year-old has been in explosive form for Midtjylland in the Danish top flight and his efforts were recently recognised as he was nominated for the Golden Boy 2017 award, which was ultimately won by Paris Saint-Germain’s Kylian Mbappe. Denmark 7/4 to beat Ireland Nevertheless, to be recognised among such company is testimony to his potential, while he has proven himself a talent for the present day by scoring five and creating seven in his team’s last six matches....

LaLiga titleholders Barca are believed to have their sights set on Coutinho, who continues to star on Merseyside. The 24-year-old Brazil international has scored nine goals and tallied six assists to help Liverpool up to fourth position in the Premier League this season. Barca’s backline a worry And Klopp is confident Coutinho will remain at Liverpool, insisting the former Inter attacker is happy where he is. “I am not concerned because I think Phil fits really well here and is comfortable here,” Klopp said ahead of Sunday’s trip to West Brom....

Unmarried, with few prospects, he still lived with his mother. At home, for distraction, he would sprawl in front of the family television and watch “Lion of the Desert,” the 1981 epic of Libyan resistance fighters starring Anthony Quinn. Abd al-Salam had seen it over and over. As the war in Iraq dragged on, he also tuned in to Al-Jazeera. Nobody in the family had supported the American invasion, but Abd al-Salam was particularly affected by the bloody images he saw on the Arabic cable news channel....

“We are on track to deliver hundreds of millions of doses by January 2021,” Paul Mango, a senior health department official, told reporters. The government has invested more than $10 billion in six vaccine projects. If a coronavirus vaccine is approved after clinical trials, hundreds of millions of doses will be delivered and paid for by the government, according to Mango. The cost to have these doses administered by doctors and other technicians should be covered by health insurers....

The third wave has seen cases of the novel virus soar to record rates amid the pandemic, with an influx of hospitalizations and rising death tolls quickly following. In the first week of December, the U.S. reported three days of record deaths but data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) illustrated a fatal trend across nearly half of the U.S. In the first three weeks of November, CDC data showed COVID-19 as the leading cause of death in 20 states as well as Puerto Rico....

At least 21 states are seeing a rise in COVID-19 cases, but Texas and Mississippi aren’t among them, and neither is Florida, where Governor Ron DeSantis has been criticized for the lack of statewide restrictions. With masks commonly believed to be one of the easiest preventative measures against COVID, it’s possible that the lack of a spike in cases is attributable to people still being hesitant to gather and the increase in vaccinations....

Three deaths, five hospitalizations and a cluster of cases among eight residents at Madison Saints Paradise South, a senior living community in Charlotte, have been connected to the church events held from October 4 to 11, Mecklenburg County Public Health confirmed in a statement Thursday. At least 1,000 people were reported to have attended the events, according to county officials. According to guidance issued by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS), places of worship should be limited to 100 people per room or 30 percent of stated fire capacity, whichever is less....

That means the future outcome of coronavirus on the population falls on the choices Americans make over the next few months. “Behavior is really going to determine if, when and how sustainably the current wave subsides,” said Lauren Ancel Meyers, director of the University of Texas COVID-19 Modeling Consortium. “We cannot stop delta in its tracks, but we can change our behavior overnight.” Meyers added that reinforcing mask-wearing, social distancing, isolating when sick and getting vaccinated can make a difference....

It is not clear how many test kits households will be able to request or when they will get them. The Biden administration is under pressure to make good on its pledge announced in December 2021 to provide the tests, which are key to tackling the surging Omicron variant. Adding to the urgency were scenes before Christmas of long lines outside pharmacies and complaints of testing kit shortages. New school guidance letting students who test negative after being exposed to the virus stay in the classroom is also increasing demand....

A healthcare worker in Juneau with no history of allergies had an anaphylactic reaction to the vaccine on Tuesday, according to Alaska’s Department of Health and Social Services. Anaphylaxis is a severe, potentially life-threatening reaction. Ten minutes after having the jab, the woman became flushed and short of breath. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that those who get vaccines are monitored for 15 minutes—and her symptoms emerged during this period....

The 150-page parliamentary report from Tuesday only had scant mentions of the thousands of people who died of COVID-19, outraging the families. They said the joint committee that wrote the study was only interested in “speaking to their colleagues and friends.” “The report it’s produced is laughable and more interested in political arguments about whether you can bring laptops to…meetings than it is in the experiences of those who tragically lost parents, partners or children to COVID-19,’’ said Hannah Brady, spokesperson for COVID-19 Bereaved Families for Justice....

The Cowboys tight end played his first game since Dec. 31, 2017, Saturday as Dallas defeated the Rams in their second preseason meeting, and while Witten may need some more warming up, his transition from the broadcast booth was smooth considering his break. “A year away from the game, all the work to get back here since March, getting in shape, getting your body ready, having an opportunity, I know I’ve got a lot to prove,” Witten said, per ESPN....

Prescott’s early-season hand injury initially had Cowboys fans worried it would be another throwaway year for ‘America’s Team,’ but fast forward to the playoffs and he has this star-studded offense rightfully focused on getting to the Super Bowl. But anything Dallas has done well since the second-half of the season, Purdy and the Niners have done better — including acquiring perhaps the best skill-position player in football in Christian McCaffrey....

IYER: Why Cowboys were Sam’s best (only?) post-Rams NFL option Sam will undergo a physical for the Cowboys on Wednesday. According to the NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, they’ve “done their research and due diligence” and their plan is to assign Sam to their practice squad assuming he passes the physical. STEELE: Cut NFL players who went on to have big careers | NFL reinstates Cowboys’ Brent Sam was a seventh-round pick of the Rams in the 2014 draft down the road from the University of Missouri....