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French cyclist Robert Marchand sets new record aged 105 –
He may not be the fastest cyclist round a velodrome, but he is easily one of the oldest. Robert Marchand has clocked up 105 years and now a new record for the furthest distance cycled in one hour. The French cyclist managed 22.547km (14 miles) at the national velodrome, taking the top spot in a new category – for riders over 105. Mr Marchand already holds the record for those aged over 100 – 26.927km – set in 2012. He “could have done better”, he says, but missed a sign showing 10 minutes to go. “My legs didn’t hurt,” he told BFMTV. “My arms hurt but that’s because of rheumatism.” [BBC]
Robert Marchand (centre) in 2012

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Cycling hour record – Wikipedia

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Disasters and accidents

• 2017 Brooklyn train crash
  • A commuter train from the Long Island Rail Road derails during the morning rush hour in Brooklyn, New York, injuring 103 people. (CBS)

Politics and elections

• Presidential transition of Donald Trump
  • President-elect Donald Trump fills in more of his White House staff. (The Hill):
    • Trump nominates Katie Walsh, former Republican National Committee (RNC) chief of staff, as Deputy White House Chief of Staff.
    • Trump nominates Joe Hagin, former Deputy Chief of Staff for President George W. Bush, as Deputy White House chief of staff for operations.
    • Trump nominates Rajiv Shah, former RNC Deputy Research Director, as White House research director.
    • Trump nominates Rick Dearborn, United States Attorney General designee and Senator Jeff Sessions‘ former chief of staff, as head of the White House legislative affairs office.
    • Trump nominates Omarosa Manigault, former contestant on The Apprentice, as an assistant to the president and director of communications for the Office of Public Liaison. (USA Today)
    • Trump nominates Wall Street lawyer Jay Clayton to head the Securities and Exchange Commission. (The Washington Post)

Law and crime

• 2017 Chicago torture incident, Racism in the United States
  • Chicago Police arrest four African-American suspects after they stream a video on Facebook showing themselves torturing and scalping a bound and gagged, kidnapped, white man with a mental disorder. The four suspects will face elevated hate crime charges. (The Guardian), (AP)

Science and technology

• The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announces the selection of two new Discovery Program space exploration missions: Lucy, a mission to several Jupiter trojan asteroids, and Psyche, a mission to the asteroid 16 Psyche, which is believed to be the exposed core of an early protoplanet. Both missions are scheduled for launch in the early 2020s. (NASA) (Spaceflight101)

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