| By Derek Caney
With Syrian rebels all but defeated in their last stronghold of Aleppo, the task now turns to getting 15,000 civilians and remaining rebels out of the city. It's not going smoothly. The evacuations were supposed to begin this morning but have since been delayed until tomorrow. Rebels blamed Iran's shi'ite militias. Turkey blamed the Syrian government. The army blamed the rebels. Meanwhile, 20 empty buses sat outside rebel districts with their engines running. Shelling and air strikes in the last remnants of rebel-held territory resumed, which led to the Russian-backed Syrian army and the rebels exchanging charges of "but they started it." The besieged city has little food or medical supplies. And there are reports of wholesale killings of civilians.
President-elect Donald Trump picked first-term Republican Representative Ryan Zinke of Montana to be secretary of the interior. Surprise! He has a military background, a former Navy SEAL commander. He is a proponent of keeping public lands under federal ownership, putting him at odds with some in his Republican Party who are more favorable to privatization or placing them under the control of states. It remains unclear where Zinke would stand on opening up more federal lands to increased drilling and mining.
China has threatened to slap a penalty on an unnamed U.S. automaker for monopolistic behavior, the country's state-run newspaper reported citing a senior state planning official. Trump angered China by questioning a long-standing U.S. policy of acknowledging China's sovereignty over Taiwan. Zhang Handong, director of the National Development and Reform Commission's price supervision bureau, told the paper that no one should "read anything improper" into the timing or target of the penalty. China is the world's largest auto market and is crucial to strategies of General Motors and Ford.
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A Brasilia man lights up his cigarette with the flames of a bus burned by anti-government demonstrators during a protest against a Brazilian constitutional amendment that limits public spending, Dec. 13, 2016. REUTERS/Adriano Machado
Around Wall Street - It's Fed day.
- The average sale price of a Manhattan apartment is expected to top $2 million this year for the first time, but prices is seen leveling off in 2017 after nearly doubling over the past decade.
- Google is racing to hire more conservatives for its lobbying and policy arm, trying to get a foothold in the forthcoming Trump administration after enjoying a uniquely close relationship with President Barack Obama.
Around the country - Republican Governor John Kasich signed a 20-week abortion ban into law but vetoed stricter legislation that would have forbidden the procedure once a fetal heartbeat can be detected, as early as six weeks after conception.
- Scientists must confront climate change deniers and speak up Trump tries to sideline research on global warming, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell is expected to say in a speech today. Last week, the Trump team asked the U.S. Department of Energy to supply names of officials who took part in international climate talks - a request that the agency has rejected. Trump has called climate change a hoax.
Digits of the day: 66 Wisdom the albatross is no spring chicken at 66 years old. That didn't stop her from laying an egg – her 41st – after returning to a wildlife refuge in the Pacific Ocean.
Around the world - The United States is ready to confront China should it continue its overreaching maritime claims in the South China Sea, the head of the U.S. Pacific fleet said in comments that threaten to escalate tensions between the two global rivals.
"We will not allow a shared domain to be closed down unilaterally, no matter how many bases are built on artificial features in the South China Sea. We will cooperate when we can, but we will be ready to confront when we must." – Admiral Harry Harris, head of the U.S. Pacific Command. - The United States military grounded its tilt-rotor MV-22 Osprey in Japan after Tokyo called for a halt to flights following a crash southwest of Okinawa Island, the first accident involving the aircraft in the Asian nation. The Osprey has become a lightning rod for opposition to the U.S. military presence in Okinawa, with local groups seeking the closure of American bases.
- Trump Fish only serves one dish, a fire-roasted carp for $10 a kilo. But Nedyar Zawity is hoping his small restaurant in the Kurdish city of Duhok, Iraq, will benefit from sharing the name and image of a certain recently elected world leader. Zawity, who registered the name months ago with Kurdish authorities, appreciates the president-elect's promise to ramp up support to the Kurds and their peshmerga fighters. The president-elect's office did not respond to a request for comment.
Today's reason to live Public Image Ltd - Albatross |
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