5 things to know for Dec. 16: Drone sightings, Trump’s Cabinet, UnitedHealthcare CEO, Cyclone Chido, Gaza

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Holiday shipping deadlines are quickly approaching if you want gifts to reach your loved ones on time. To avoid potential backlogs and delays, the USPS recommends that ground packages should be sent by this Wednesday for a December 25 delivery. Here’s what else you need to know to Get Up to Speed and On with Your Day. Lawmakers from across the political spectrum have criticized the federal government’s response to mysterious drone sightings in the Northeast US. Federal officials emphasize there is no evidence of a security threat and have so far downplayed many of the reported sightings, saying they are likely small airplanes or other manned aircraft. The drones have been seen across at least six states — with Ohio potentially becoming the seventh following reports of unexplained drone activity over a critical Air Force base. Civilians and some politicians are even calling on authorities to shoot down the unidentified aircraft, but shooting drones is dangerous and illegal — and may bring unintended consequences like “severe property damage and injury,” according to federal officials and experts. Key picks for President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet will continue their efforts to build support on Capitol Hill this week. Two selections facing particular headwinds, defense secretary pick Pete Hegseth and Trump’s choice for intelligence chief, Tulsi Gabbard, appeared with Trump on Saturday at the Army-Navy football game. Hegseth, meanwhile, is trying to assuage concerns among key lawmakers about a series of allegations against him. Gabbard has faced criticism for her positions on Syria and the war in Ukraine that many national security officials see as Russian propaganda. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, is also expected to hold meetings with senators this week as the vaccine skeptic aims to shake up federal health agencies. The man accused of killing UnitedHealthcare’s CEO in Manhattan remains in a Pennsylvania state prison, while a possible indictment looms in New York as a grand jury considers evidence on charges he faces there. Luigi Mangione, who could receive a possible sentence of 15 years to life in prison if convicted on the charge of second-degree murder, is set to appear in a Pennsylvania court for a preliminary hearing next week following his December 9 arrest. Mangione has also retained high-powered attorney Karen Friedman Agnifilo, a former Manhattan prosecutor, to represent him in New York. Amid mounting evidence in the case, she is tasked with defending a suspect who appeared to be driven by anger against the health insurance industry and against “corporate greed” as a whole, according to an NYPD intelligence report. Reports of widespread damage are emerging from the French territory of Mayotte after a 100-year cyclone ripped through the region Saturday. Hundreds and possibly even thousands are feared dead in the wake of Cyclone Chido, a Category 4 storm with winds above 135 miles per hour. “The situation is catastrophic, apocalyptic,” Bruno Garcia, owner of Hotel Caribou in Mamoudzou, Mayotte’s capital, told CNN affiliate BFMTV. Chido flattened neighborhoods, knocked out electrical grids, crushed hospitals and schools and damaged the airport’s control tower. Located about 5,000 miles from Paris in the Indian Ocean off the east coast of Africa, Mayotte is the poorest place in the European Union and has struggled with unemployment, violence and a deepening migration crisis.