Paper Pulls Cartoon Of Cruz's Kids, Muslim Family Banned From Plane, Trump Leads In CNN Poll

Tornado racing through northern Mississippi

On a day when millions of Americans were traveling to see their families and friends for Christmas, a line of fast-moving storms threatened residents from the Mississippi Valley to the Ohio Valley.

A large and extremely dangerous tornado is moving through northwest Mississippi, the National Weather Service said Wednesday evening. The tornado touched down near Clarksdale, the service said. There were reports of major damage to buildings in Sardis, about 45 miles east of Clarksdale.

Donald Trump seems set to end 2015 as the dominant force in the race for next year's Republican nomination for president, with Texas Sen. Ted Cruz now a clear -- yet distant -- second after a strong debate performance, a new CNN/ORC poll released on Wednesday has found.

Trump tops the field with 39 according to the poll of Republican and Republican-leaning registered voters. That's more than double the share backing Cruz, who, at 18 has inched up 2 points since the last CNN/ORC poll, which was taken in late November.

A Muslim man in London says his family was barred because of their religion from boarding a plane bound for Los Angeles, where they planned to visit Disneyland with their children.

On December 15, the extended family waited at the gate. Their bags were on the plane. The family included Mohammad Tariq Mahmood with two of his children; his brother Zahid and sister-in-law Sadaf, with five of their children; and two nieces who were accompanying them.