Covid
- Los Angeles is preparing to bar students who are over 12 and have not taken at least one dose of a covid vaccine. [Link]
- An emergency room in Long Island was closed due to staffing shortages from the covid vaccine mandate. [Link]
- Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker orders some hospitals to cancel nonessential surgeries due to staffing shortages. [Link]
- The Biden administration says 90% of the federal workforce has at least one covid vaccination. About five percent of employees are seeking an exemption. About 175,000 employees are not potentially facing disciplinary action for being unvaccinated. [Link]
- The Department of Justice asks a judge to reinstate its rule requiring private employers, with over 100 employees, to fire their unvaccinated employees or require the employees to undergo a vigorous testing/masking regimen. [Link]
- Six hundred Google employees have signed a letter opposing the company’s vaccine mandate. [Link]
- The Army rolls out rules for unvaccinated soldiers, including restricting travel and weekly covid tests. [Link]
US News
- Kevin Strickland was exonerated after spending 43 years in prison for a triple murder he did not commit. Police pressured the witness to pick Strickland out of a lineup. [Link]
- Joshua Spriestersbach spent 32 months in a Hawaiian psychiatric hospital because authorities incorrectly believed him to be Thomas Castleberry. Spriesterbach was able to provide proof of his real identity, however, it was ignored and doctors gave him increasing doses of psychiatric drugs. He is now suing the state and the people who tortured him. [Link]
- A judge ruled the NYPD illegally withheld body camera footage. [Link]
- The Biden administration is suing to prevent United States Sugar Corporation from acquiring Imperial Sugar Company. [Link]
- Biden will release 50 million barrels of oil from America’s strategic reserve in an effort to lower gas prices. [Link]
- The FBI says it will help agents who experience symptoms of ‘Havana Syndrome’ get healthcare. [Link]
- Biden nominates Shalanda Young to head the Office of Management and Budget. Young is currently serving as the acting head of the agency. [Link]
Pentagon
- Fuel is leaking from the Air Force’s underground reserve tanks at the Red Hills facility in Hawaii. [Link]
- Several Veterans groups ask Congress not to remove a provision from the NDAA that will move felony crimes out of the military’s legal process. [Link]
- The Pentagon opens a new organization for investigating unexplained aerial phenomena. The Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group will operate as a part of the office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence & Security. [Link]
Venezuela
- A record number of Venezuelans are attempting to cross the US southern border. [Link]
- The US condemns the recent election in Venezuela as rigged by the country’s leader Maduro. [Link]
Colombia
- The US will soon remove the Colombian group FARC from the terror list. [Link]
Great Power
- Russia and China sign a military cooperation pact to counter US aggression against both countries. [Link]
- Russia says the US simulated using bombers to drop nukes on Russia earlier this year. Russia says US flights near its border are two and a half times higher than in 2020. [Link]
- Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley held a call with his Russian counterpart on the tensions over Ukraine. [Link]
- Biden is considering sending more troops and weapons to Ukraine. [Link]
- The US, Canada, Australia, Germany, and Japan will begin naval war games in the Philippines Sea next week. [Link]
- Biden invited a Taiwanese delegation to attend the December conference to promote democracy. China was not invited to the conference and condemned the US invitation to Taiwan. [Link]
- Taiwan plans to spend an additional $8.6 billion on its navy and airforce over the next five years. [Link]
Afghanistan
- A Red Cross official says he is livid with the international community for sanctioning Afghanistan. He warns the country is in the midst of a humanitarian crisis and millions of Afghans are expected to go hungry this winter. [Link]
- US Envoy to Afghanistan Tom West will travel to Qatar next week for two weeks of talks with the Taliban. [Link]
- The Taliban have deployed 1,300 troops to eastern Afghanistan to fight ISIS-K. [Link]
Israel
- Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz travels to Morocco and signs a security agreement. The agreement between the two countries was facilitated by the Abraham Accords. [Link]
- Apple sues the Israeli NSO Group over the company’s Pegasus spyware being used against Apple products. [Link]
- Twelve state attorney generals sent a letter to Unilever demanding that the company sell Ben & Jerry’s ice cream in the West Bank settlements. [Link]
- Mohammed Daadas, a 15 year old Palestinian, was killed by Israeli live fire at a protest in early November. [Link]
Middle East
- In the final months of Trump’s presidency, he ordered special forces to develop a 200-page plan to target Iran for sabotage, propaganda, and information warfare. It is unclear if the Biden administration has implemented the plan. [Link]
- Qatar arrested two Norwegian journalists and held them for 32 hours. The journalists were attempting to document the conditions of the migrant laborers who are building facilities for the 2022 World Cup. Some of the videos they gathered was destroyed by the Qatari government. [Link]
- The Pentagon confirms US troops will remain in Iraq past the end of the year. [Link]
- Syria state media reports a US base in northern Syria was attacked with rocket fire. [Link]
- Syria says two civilians were killed by an Israeli attack. [Link]
- The UN estimates 377,000 Yemenis have died from – direct and indirect causes – of the Saudi-US war. 70% of the dead are children under the age of five. [Link]
