5: Meet the Kiwi American Football Pioneer, Now a Washington Missile Lobbyist
Before Trump takes charge, we asked Riki Ellison just how afraid we should all be of devastating global conflict.
Donald Trump’s surprise victory in the US presidential election has created an uncertainty around nuclear or missile conflict largely unseen since the final days of the Cold War.
Vice News
4: EXXON MOBIL IS FIGHTING TO KEEP ITS DANGEROUS CHEMICALS IN CHILDREN’S TOYS
MOST OF US KNOW Exxon Mobil Corp. as an energy giant, which makes sense given that it is the world’s largest publicly held oil and gas company. Rex Tillerson, the company’s CEO, has spent his entire professional life prioritizing Exxon Mobil’s corporate interests over human rights, the environment, and the diplomatic interests of the U.S., all of which has prompted many journalists and commentators to point out that his appointment as secretary of state is not just a terrible idea but a joke seemingly ripped from the pages of a Marxist comic book.
What’s less well known is that Exxon Mobil is also one of the world’s biggest chemical companies, and that its chemical interests also sometimes run counter to those of people in the U.S. and beyond. Petrochemicals accounted for more than a quarter of Exxon Mobil’s $16 billion in net profits last year and wound up in wide range of consumer products such as plastics, tires, batteries, detergents, adhesives, synthetic fibers, and household detergents.
Among Exxon Mobil’s chemical products are phthalates, a family of chemicals widely used to make plastic pliable. Phthalates are in everything from food containers and plastic wrap to rattles, pacifiers, bottle nipples, and teething toys for babies. More than 75 percent of Americans have at least five of the chemicals in their body, according to a 2000 study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Intercept
3: German police step up manhunt after Berlin truck attack
German police intensified a manhunt for the driver of a truck, who killed 12 people when he drove through a crowded Berlin Christmas market at high speed, while concerns about the political and social fallout mounted.
After releasing a Pakistani asylum-seeker arrested near the scene, authorities warned on Wednesday the attacker is on the run and may be armed. They also said it was unclear if the perpetrator was acting alone or with others.
The 25-tonne truck smashed into wooden huts serving mulled wine and sausages, injuring about 45 people, many seriously. Six of those killed were Germans and the Polish driver of the truck was found shot dead in the cabin of the vehicle.
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Aljazeera
Michigan’s attorney general has filed criminal charges against four officials over the Flint water contamination crisis. Among those charged Tuesday are two of the city’s former unelected emergency managers, Darnell Earley and Gerald Ambrose. They were charged with criminal conspiracy to violate safety rules. The Flint water crisis began when unelected emergency manager Darnell Earley, appointed by Governor Rick Snyder, switched the source of the city’s drinking water from the Detroit system to the corrosive Flint River. The water corroded Flint’s aging pipes, causing poisonous levels of lead to leach into the drinking water. We speak to Curt Guyette of the ACLU of Michigan and Nayyirah Shariff, director of Flint Rising.
Democracy Now
1: Ice-melting temperatures forecast for Arctic midwinter
Scientists are forecasting ice-melting temperatures in the middle of winter for some parts of the Arctic for the second year in a row. And analysis shows such recent record temperatures there would have been virtually impossible without human greenhouse emissions.
The five-day forecast maximum temperatures over the Arctic from Tuesday 20 December 2016. Photograph: ClimateReanalyzer.org/Climate change institute, University of Maine
Over the coming days, some parts of the Arctic are expected to get gusts of warm air that are more than 20C hotter than usual for this time of year, some of which will tip over the 0C melting temperature of water.Maximum temperatures in parts of the Arctic will be warmer than the maximum over most of Canada for the next five days, according the global forecasting system run by the US National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa).
The extreme temperatures predicted coincide with record low sea-ice levels in the Arctic, which have already been wreaking havoc with weather North America, Europe and Asia, according to leading climate scientists.
The Guardian
That Ellison is a scary dude
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