Syria
Russia Vetoes UN Resolution Demanding End to Aleppo Bombing abcnews.go
French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault had warned before the vote that the continued bombing of Aleppo was killing civilians and destroying hospitals and schools — "and has nothing to do with combatting terrorism."
"It is the annihilation of Aleppo," he said.
Russia
Russia 'considering military bases in Cuba and Vietnam' bbc
Nikolai Pankov mil.ru announced a review of the decision to close the two bases more than a decade ago.
Russia moving nuclear-capable missiles into Kaliningrad, says Estonia theguardian
The Iskander-M missiles military-today, which have a range of over 500km, are reportedly being transported by ship from the St Petersburg area. It had previously been reported that the Russians might seek to place the Iskander-M missiles in Kaliningrad but not until 2018-19.
Marko Mihkelson, the chairman of the Estonian parliament’s national defence committee, told Estonian news agency ERR on Friday that since the transportation of the system was now taking place with the help of a civilian vessel, he had reason to think that Russia was trying to take the missiles to Kaliningrad in secret.
US-Russia
The U.S. has just accused Russia of hacking America’s elections. That’s a very big deal. washingtonpost
The U.S. statement is brief, but makes a quite specific charge against Russia. It claims that the Russian government has been behind recent hacking attacks on “US persons and institutions” that have led to material being leaked to outlets like DCLeaks and WikiLeaks. While it does not name the persons and institutions, it is presumably referring to the hacks of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. The DNC hacks were purportedly carried out by an actor calling himself “Guccifer 2.0,” after Guccifer, a notorious hacker who went after celebrities. There has been much speculation that Guccifer 2.0 is Russian, some of it fueled by national intelligence officials speaking off the record. Now the U.S. government has come out and made a formal accusation, claiming that “only Russia’s senior-most officials could have authorized these activities” given their sensitivity.
Also see U.S. formally accuses Russian hackers of political cyber attacks reuters
Myanmar
Obama, using his executive authority, lifts trade sanctions on Burma washingtonpost
The move to give Burma the kind of preferential tariffs that other poorer nations enjoy, which Obama first announced last month, is controversial because some human rights groups continue to warn that the country's transition from authoritarian rule is not complete. While the opposition party led by State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi won in national elections last year, the military retains 25 percent of the seats in parliament and controls several key ministries under a constitution that bars Suu Kyi from becoming president.
Activists have also protested the Burmese government's treatment of its Rohingya. Members of the Muslim minority group are not recognized as Burmese citizens and have fled in large numbers to refugee camps elsewhere in Southeast Asia.
Peace
Vladimir Putin awarded 'Hugo Chavez Prize for Peace and Sovereignty' by Venezuela independent.co.uk
During a televised broadcast, Prime Minister Nicolas Maduro said: “I’ve decided to create the Hugo Chavez prize for peace and the sovereignty… I think President Vladimir Putin deserves this award.”
Can Colombia's Nobel Prize save the peace process? bbc
Mr Santos spent four years in difficult negotiations before signing an agreement in August at a triumphant ceremony in Cartagena. But the public vote rejecting the accord left him with little to show - until he was made a Nobel laureate.
Privacy
NYC Bridges and Tunnels Getting Facial Recognition Technology securitymagazine
According to a release by the MTA, "New York is increasingly a target of threats to security. In recognition of this threat, the New York Crossings Project will integrate emerging technologies into the security design of bridges and tunnels across the state, deploying additional personnel and equipment. At each crossing, and at structurally sensitive points on bridges and tunnels, advanced cameras and sensors will be installed to read license plates and test emerging facial recognition software and equipment. These technologies will be applied across airports and transit hubs – including the Penn-Farley Complex – to ultimately develop one system-wide plan."
Baltimore’s All-Seeing “Eye in the Sky” Will Stay in Service fortune
According to officials, the program involved roughly 100 flights and 314 hours of surveillance between January and August of this year, during which more than 1 million photographs of the city’s streets were taken from above—roughly one every second. Officials also stated that the program will continue, despite significant public resistance.
Religious Liberty
InterVarsity's Move on Gay Marriage theatlantic w!
As America becomes increasingly accepting of same-sex marriage, many conservative Christians have feared that their stand on gay marriage could cost them their reputations or even their jobs. This week, it actually happened: Hundreds of workers were formally notified by their employer that they could be involuntarily terminated for their religious beliefs. But, ironically, those at risk are progressive Christians who support the consecration of gay marriages.
This article makes poor arguments at times, doesn't understand the issue fully, is emotionally driven, and clearly has a liberal worldview. However, it's a pretty good look at how the world sees a decision like this one by InterVarsity. A better article is here: InterVarsity: Staff Will Not Be Fired for Gay Marriage Views cbn
Creationist Wins Lawsuit Against State of California constitution
Mark published an article on the soft tissue in a December issue of the prestigious secular journal Acta Histochenica elsevier. The title of his article was ‘Soft sheets of fibrillar bone from a fossil of the supraorbital horn of the dinosaur Triceratops horridus.’
Mark’s paper was strictly a science paper and made no mention or reference to his religion, the Bible or the possible age of the Triceratops horn. However, it is obvious to any rational person that soft tissues and beautiful cells he found could not be millions of years old.
Business
How Good Manners Made [Chick-fil-A] the Best-Selling Fast-Food Chain in America inc
A separate report published by QSR earlier this year revealed that the brand, which is headquartered in Atlanta and specializes in chicken sandwiches, produced revenue of almost $4 million per store, blowing away its closest competition by over $1.3 million. Chick-fil-A also ranked eighth overall in total sales, despite a relatively low number of locations. (Chic-fil-A has only 1,646 franchised units in the U.S., in contrast with total-revenue leader McDonald's, which reported 12,899 franchised units.)
Yahoo
Lawsuit claims Yahoo ousted male employees usatoday
Scott Ard, who worked for more than three years at Yahoo until early 2015, says he and others were terminated to "accommodate management’s subjective biases and personal opinions, to the detriment of Yahoo’s male employees,” according to a lawsuit filed in federal court in San Jose, Calif., this week.
AI
[Royal Bank of Scotland Group] introduces robo-advisors to ‘augment intelligence’ of employees thestack
The pilot project, which is currently being rolled out to a select group of customers, employs Watson’s Conversation technology to deliver a cloud-based chatbot service. The solution is expected to reach approximately 10% of RBS customers in Scotland by December this year, before rolling out to NatWest customers in England and Wales.
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