Top eight today

Top eight stories for today including the EU’s top court held member states can’t enter into mandatory arbitration agreements with each other; FDA advisers voted in favor of allowing the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine to be used in kids ages 5 to 11; The Ninth Circuit will not rehear a long-running constitutional challenge to the NSA's massive surveillance campaign, and more.

National

FDA advisers recommend Pfizer vaccine for kids 5 and up

As the U.S. closes in on the one-year mark since adults first got vaccinated against Covid-19, offering the vaccine to children as young as 5 years old became a real, even imminent, possibility on Tuesday as experts paved the way toward vaccinating the youngest age group yet.

This October 2021 photo provided by Pfizer shows kid-size doses of its Covid-19 vaccine in Puurs, Belgium. (Pfizer via AP)

Capitol rioter who stole officer’s badge will await trial from home

A New Yorker who has taken great lengths to distinguish himself from fellow insurrectionists jailed after storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 persuaded a federal judge Tuesday to grant him pretrial release.

Footage from the body-worn camera on D.C. Police Officer Mike Fanone's uniform at the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol shows rioter Thomas Sibick pulling off the officer's badge and radio. (Image via Courthouse News)

Ninth Circuit bows out of NSA spying case

The Ninth Circuit said it will not rehear a long-running constitutional challenge to the federal government’s warrantless surveillance of U.S. citizens.

The sign outside the National Security Agency (NSA) campus in Fort Meade, Md. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)

Regional

LA sets December deadline for city workers to get Covid vaccine

The Los Angeles City Council unanimously approved a plan Tuesday that will give city employees until Dec. 18 to show proof that they are fully vaccinated for Covid-19. Until then, unvaccinated workers will need to be tested twice a week, with the cost of the tests — $65 each — to be deducted from their paychecks.

A worker readies syringes with the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)

Sixth Circuit urged to save Michigan State swim team

The Sixth Circuit heard arguments Tuesday in a case that will decide the fate of the Michigan State University’s eliminated swimming and diving team.

International

Top EU court finds arbitration deals between member states illegal

Four years after a Swedish court ordered the Polish government to pay a company millions, the European Court of Justice has tossed out the fine on the grounds that an arbitration clause in an international investment agreement is illegal.

The European Court of Justice, based in Luxembourg, is the European Union’s supreme court in matters concerning EU law. (Molly Quell/Courthouse News)

US and Mexico to take a more ‘holistic’ approach to public safety

High-ranking U.S. and Mexican officials met for the first time in years this month to discuss a fresh, “holistic” approach to dealing with the public security issues that affect both countries.

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, right, speaks during a working breakfast with Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the National Palace in Mexico City, Friday, Oct. 8, 2021. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, Pool)

Female member of Islamic State group is first to be sentenced over Yazidi genocide

A German woman who joined the Islamic State group was sentenced to 10 years in prison by a Munich court on Monday for letting a 5-year-old Yazidi girl she and her husband kept as a slave in Iraq die of thirst after she was chained in the scorching desert sun for wetting a mattress.

Yazidi refugees in the Kurdistan region of Iraq celebrate after receiving humanitarian aid in December 2014. (Photo courtesy of Defend International via Courthouse News)