Society
It’s Time for Every Brand to Pick a Side time w!
Five weeks into Donald Trump's Administration, and at a time when expressing cultural values can end decades-long relationships in the time it takes to post 140 characters, consumers and employees are looking for new ways to be heard, represented and served. They’re increasingly voting with their voices, their choices and their wallets. Brands need to take heed, or pay the consequences.
Genetics
Chinese researchers announce designer baby breakthrough foxnews
Chinese researchers used a genome editing technique called CRISPR to rid normal embryos of hereditary diseases that cause blood disorders and other ailments, according to New Scientist. Experts who reviewed the project told the publication that, even though it involved just six embryos, it carries promise.
Paris Meeting
Paris meeting marks end to Obama’s failed Mideast diplomacy timesofisrael
At a time when President-elect Donald Trump’s administration is promising a fundamental shift toward Israel, the State Department said Kerry was only participating in the French-hosted event to ensure America’s interest in a two-state solution to the conflict is preserved. The blunt statement reinforced the dwindling hopes for a diplomatic breakthrough.
Anti-Semitism
Activists Manipulate Third-Graders into Hating Israel truthrevolt.org v
"Far under the radar, the attempt to demonize Israel is moving down the educational chain even into elementary schools, pushed by activists who accept no boundaries even for young children," begins Professor William A. Jacobson, who runs LI. "Yet because such activities take place in schools to which access is limited, and the young students are not developmentally able to report on what happens, it’s rare to obtain hard visual proof. We have such proof."
North Korea
North Korea Close to Having Nuclear-Armed ICBM: Official defensetech.org
North Korea now has an intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM, armed with a nuclear warhead capable of reaching the U.S. mainland, but they have yet to solve the “re-entry problem” that would burn up the warhead as it hits the atmosphere, a senior military official said Thursday.
Government
Pentagon buries evidence of $125 billion in bureaucratic waste washingtonpost
Pentagon leaders had requested the study to help make their enormous back-office bureaucracy more efficient and reinvest any savings in combat power. But after the project documented far more wasteful spending than expected, senior defense officials moved swiftly to kill it by discrediting and suppressing the results.
Syria
Syrian forces make sweeping gains in eastern Aleppo cnn v
Government forces and armed paramilitary groups loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad began a renewed push toward eastern Aleppo on November 15, backed by airstrikes following a three-week lull.
Taking the city would mark a turning point in a civil war that has raged in Syria for more than five years.
Also see Syrian rebel forces in Aleppo suffer 'biggest defeat since 2012' theguardian
False Unity
Amazon Christmas advert 2016: Imam and priest push festive message of friendship independent.co.uk v
A spokesman for Amazon told The Independent: "Our casting reflects this: the gentleman playing the vicar is a practising vicar in London, the gentleman playing the imam is a devout Muslim and the principal of a Muslim school. We used an actual church and mosque for our scenes within the places of worship."
Oh, Amazon...
CRISPR
Chinese scientists use gene-editing techniques in humans for first time cnn
On October 28, genetically modified cells were injected into a patient at the West China Hospital in Chengdu with aggressive lung cancer, according to the scientific journal Nature.
Liao Zhilin, who handles communications for the team, told CNN "everything is going as planned," but would not go into details.
Syria
Aleppo residents get warning by text message: You have 24 hours to leave cnn
Rebels were also given an ultimatum to lay down their arms and renounce their leadership, or be killed. The message was likely sent by the Syrian government as the regime is likely the only party capable of sending a mass text to the entire population.
Also see Battle for Aleppo: Deaths reported as Assad begins 'final onslaught' to recapture city from rebels independent.co.uk
Syria
Russia to launch 'large-scale' airstrikes on Syria as Americans vote theguardian
The strikes, predicted in the 24 hours from Tuesday morning, would be targeted at the outskirts of the city where rebel groups have been seeking to break the Assad regime’s siege of opposition-held eastern districts. They would involve cruise missiles, carrier-based and land-based warplanes, the reports said.
Over the past few days, the Russian navy has assembled a sizable fleet in the eastern Mediterranean, made up of its only aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov, its biggest battle cruiser, the Peter the Great – both from its Northern Fleet, and the Admiral Grigorovich, a nuclear-powered missile frigate. There are also reported to be up to three submarines from the Northern Fleet with the Kuznetsov battle group, which are all positioned between Cyprus and the Syrian coast.
Syria
Aleppo: Russia announces ‘humanitarian pause’ as residents fear devastating ‘final push’ from Putin and Assad independent.co.uk
The break in hostilities is planned for daylight hours on Friday, with two corridors opened for rebels, whom are allowed to take their arms, and six others for civilians and the wounded.
Also see Russia calls for 10-hour ‘humanitarian pause’ in Aleppo timesofisrael
Israel
Obama: Don't Destroy the Peace Process by Turning it Over to the U.N. gatestoneinstitute.org
The Obama Administration is sending strong signals that once the election is over it may make a major push to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at the United Nations. Despite repeated invitations by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Palestinian Authority President Abbas to meet without preconditions, the stalemate persists. Some blame it on Palestinian unwillingness to recognize Israel as the nation state of the Jewish People and to compromise to the so-called "right of return." Others — including the current U.S. Administration — lay the blame largely at the feet of the Netanyahu government for continuing to build in the West Bank, most recently approval of between 98 and 300 new homes in Shiloh. Whatever the reasons – and they are complex and multifaceted — President Obama should resist any temptation, during his final weeks in office, to change longstanding American policy — that only direct negotiations between the parties will achieve a lasting peace.
Archeaology
World's first dinosaur brain fossil discovered bbc.co.uk w!
The piece of stone was discovered more than 10 years ago by a fossil hunter at Bexhill-on-Sea. But it has taken scientists years to find out what was inside.
Israel
Netanyahu tells settlers of worries of possible U.S. action at U.N. in.reuters
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday expressed concern that U.S. President Barack Obama, during the final days of his term in office, might take diplomatic steps that could harm the fate of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Obama's strong opposition to settlement building on land Palestinians seek for a future state has also raised speculation in Israel that he might try to define parameters for a final peace agreement that has eluded Israel and the Palestinians since interim deals were signed in the early 1990s.
Russia
Putin, Syria, and Why Moscow Has Gone War-Crazy newyorker
A viewer of Russian television this week could be forgiven for thinking that the end of the world was imminent, and that it would arrive in the form of grand superpower war with the United States, culminating in a suicidal exchange of nuclear weapons. On one day alone, three separate test firings of intercontinental ballistic missiles were broadcast on state media: two by submarine, one from a launch pad in the Far East. Last weekend, NTV, a channel under effective state control, aired a segment on emergency preparedness that included a tour of a Cold War-era bomb shelter, fortified in case of atomic war, and a mention of the municipal loudspeakers that will sound upon the arrival of “Hour X.” On Sunday, Dmitry Kiselev, the most bombastic and colorful of Kremlin propagandists, warned on his weekly newsmagazine show that “impudent behavior” toward Russia may have “nuclear” consequences.
This is a good read...
Israel
UNESCO votes: No connection between Temple Mount and Judaism jpost
In a 24-6 vote, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization unesco.org on Thursday gave preliminary approval to a resolution that denies Jewish ties to its most holy religious sites: the Temple Mount and the Western Wall.
Also see Israel Decries UNESCO Vote on Jerusalem Site voanews and Israel suspends ties with Unesco over motion that downplays Jerusalem links theguardian
Russia
Putin shuns Paris visit after France offers talks only on Syria in.reuters
"I made it known to Mr Putin that if he came to Paris, I would not accompany him to any ceremonies, but that I was ready to continue the dialogue on Syria. He decided to postpone the visit," Hollande said at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg.
Also see Putin Cancels France Trip After President Hollande Accuses Russia of War Crimes in Syria time
Yemen
Yemen's Houthis respond to air strike with missile attack in.reuters
Yemen's Houthi movement launched a ballistic missile deep into Saudi Arabia and may have also fired on a U.S. warship, two days after an apparent Saudi-led air strike killed 140 mourners at a funeral attended by powerful tribal leaders.
Also see Yemen conflict: US 'could be implicated in war crimes' bbc
