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Keeping up with the news can be a struggle. So much so, we’ve decided to take the load off your shoulders by gathering the most impactful, strange, or downright extraordinary stories every week.
As Christmas drew near, the world seemed eager to deliver some major headlines. A terrorist plot almost created havoc in New York, a celestial asteroid might have been alien tech, and North Korea seemed on the brink of collapse.
All of these stories were on the verge of becoming major news but ultimately didn’t pan out (thankfully, in the case of the NYC attack). Perhaps the world is bracing for big news during the holidays, or maybe the real headlines were unfolding elsewhere.
10. Alabama Voted In Its First Democratic Senator In 25 Years
Up until this week, it was widely believed that even if you dressed a pig in a red rosette, it would still win in Alabama. Well, the Republican Party nearly tested that theory.
Roy Moore was the GOP’s choice to run for the Senate seat left vacant by Jeff Sessions, and oh boy, was Moore controversial. A fierce antigay, anti-Muslim outsider, he scared the Republican National Committee nearly as much as he thrilled the party’s populist base.
When he triumphed over the establishment’s pick, Luther Strange, in the primaries, his Senate victory seemed like a sure thing. Democratic candidate Doug Jones was considered a mere token candidate.
This just goes to show how little we’ve learned from previous election surprises. Jones defeated Moore by a narrow 1.5 percentage points. In doing so, he became Alabama’s first Democratic senator in 25 years.
Moore was a deeply flawed candidate, caught in a series of sexual assault controversies. In contrast, Jones was a highly regarded attorney known for successfully prosecuting Klansmen. However, Moore’s defeat implies that the Republican civil war has not yet been fully claimed by the populists.
9. Scientists Analyzed An Interstellar Asteroid For Possible Alien Technology
Do you remember Oumuamua? Just about three weeks ago, we introduced you to the first interstellar object ever detected in our solar system. A peculiar, cigar-shaped asteroid, roughly ten times longer than it was wide, Oumuamua appeared completely alien to what we’ve seen in nature.
This week, a group of scientists theorized that the reason it looked so unusual might be because it wasn’t a natural object at all. As Oumuamua drifted away from Earth, the billionaire-funded Breakthrough Listen project speculated that, perhaps, just maybe, the asteroid was an alien probe.
On Wednesday afternoon EST, they directed the world’s largest mobile radio telescope towards it. The Green Bank Telescope is capable of detecting someone using a cell phone on Jupiter. If there is any alien technology on Oumuamua, we’ll find out soon enough.
As of late Thursday, the preliminary results from Breakthrough Listen don’t indicate that Oumuamua is an alien spacecraft. It’s most likely just a strangely shaped asteroid. But the final results and analysis are still pending. This could be the moment when humanity finally confirms that we are not alone.
8. China May Be Preparing For North Korea’s Imminent Collapse
China is essentially the last remaining ally of North Korea in the world. When China takes action regarding the Hermit Kingdom, it’s definitely worth paying attention. This week, a leak from a state-owned telecom company surfaced in the media, suggesting that Beijing may be constructing a massive network of refugee camps along the China–North Korea border in anticipation of the Kim regime’s potential collapse.
This move could be interpreted in many ways, or it could mean absolutely nothing. President Trump and Kim Jong Un have been engaged in a verbal battle for weeks, with tensions threatening to escalate into actual conflict. If a war broke out between the DPRK and the USA, the human toll would be devastating on both sides, but there would only be one victor. (Hint: It’s not North Korea.) For China to not prepare for a potential refugee crisis would be recklessly negligent.
On the flip side, China is increasingly asserting its influence on the global stage. Beijing was recently linked to the coup that ousted Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe. Could China be preparing to deal with Kim on its own terms? It seems improbable, but then again, anything is possible.
7. France Was Found Complicit In The Rwandan Genocide
The Rwandan genocide remains one of the most horrific mass killings in history. In the spring of 1994, Hutu extremists massacred over 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus in a mere 100 days. Entire communities were burned to the ground, and churches where thousands sought refuge were bulldozed. Radio stations broadcast songs glorifying the slaughter of Tutsis, while government officials publicly read lists of targeted individuals slated for death.
The sheer scale of the slaughter has long led to suspicions that Hutu extremists received external support, notably from France. French was the language of the Hutu elite, and France had armed the Hutu militias for years. When the genocide erupted, Tutsi personnel at French embassies and centers were left to die, including one assistant who had to witness the embassy’s dog being given the seat he had assumed was meant for him.
Those rumors may soon be substantiated. A report released this week, commissioned by Kigali and carried out by a US law firm, found that the French government played a role in arming the perpetrators and later blocking efforts to bring them to justice. France has denied these allegations.
6. Major Breakthroughs in Curing Two Terrible Diseases
Huntington’s disease and hemophilia A are two conditions no one ever wants to hear about from their doctor. Huntington’s combines the worst of Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and motor neuron disease, while hemophilia A means even a minor injury can cause severe, uncontrollable bleeding. Both are devastating, and both have thwarted attempts to find a cure.
However, this week saw an incredible double breakthrough bonanza in the medical field. On Monday, researchers in London revealed an experimental drug that successfully halted the progression of Huntington’s. Then on Thursday, a different team in London announced the first-ever successful gene therapy trial for hemophilia A. If these trials succeed, they could change the lives of millions of people.
The development regarding Huntington's disease has been hailed as the most significant breakthrough in neuroscience in the last 50 years. Although the hemophilia A trial doesn't carry quite the same weight, it is still an extraordinary scientific achievement. Combined, these two advances spark hope that other previously incurable diseases may one day be treatable as well.
5. British Columbia Uncovered Its 13th Severed Foot on the Shoreline
On Wednesday, residents of British Columbia might have been taken aback if they wandered to a specific spot on the coastline. There, a severed human foot, still inside a sneaker, was discovered lying on the beach. Yet, what would have truly startled the locals wasn’t the eerie scene reminiscent of a new, grim crime thriller but the fact that this foot marked the 13th one to wash ashore in BC over the last decade.
The tale behind these severed feet is as unsettling as they come. Beginning in the summer of 2007, severed feet have regularly appeared on BC's beaches, decaying at various stages. Initially, there were speculations that they were remains from an airplane crash. Eventually, suspicions grew that organized crime might be responsible for a chilling series of murders.
Currently, the most plausible explanation is that all the severed feet are the tragic result of accidental drownings and suicides, with the ocean currents merely bringing them together along a specific stretch of the BC coastline.
Although the official explanation is widely accepted, the discovery of another severed foot washing ashore is bound to stir up more conspiracy theories. At the very least, it’s sure to generate a lot of morbid chatter during the holiday season.
4. Burundi’s Government Took Dangerous Risks
Located just beneath Rwanda, Burundi is a small African country that emerged from the devastation of a brutal civil war just over a decade ago. Between 1993 and 2005, 300,000 Burundians lost their lives in an ethnic conflict between Tutsis and Hutus. The war ended with the rise of President Pierre Nkurunziza and the adoption of a new constitution. A key provision of that constitution was a two-term limit for the presidency.
In 2015, President Nkurunziza abolished the term limits and secured a third term in office. Almost immediately, Burundi was plunged into chaos, with up to 2,000 people killed in election-related violence. This week, Nkurunziza took the next step by announcing a government plan to completely rewrite the constitution, allowing him to remain in power until 2034.
Although the changes are set to be put to a referendum in 2018, Nkurunziza has already made his move. A new national tax will be imposed on everyone, with the funds earmarked for his 2020 reelection bid. There are concerns that this compulsory tax will lead to even more violence.
Burundi has been on the verge of collapse for the past two years. Hundreds of thousands have fled to neighboring Tanzania, and government-backed militias continue to carry out ethnic killings in the countryside. And now, Nkurunziza has just thrown a match into this volatile situation.
3. We Learned That Burma’s Rohingya Crisis Was Even Worse Than We Knew
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), or Doctors Without Borders, is widely regarded as one of the most trusted humanitarian organizations globally. Its remarkable efforts in crisis zones like Bosnia, Rwanda, and Liberia earned it the Nobel Peace Prize. When MSF labels something as a humanitarian crisis, it's an indication that they know firsthand the true severity of the situation.
This is why their recent report on the Rohingya crisis in Burma (also known as Myanmar) is so alarming. In August, the Buddhist military began an ethnic cleansing campaign targeting the Muslim Rohingya minority. While hundreds of thousands have fled to Bangladesh, the lack of reliable access has forced us to rely on Burmese estimates, which only state that 400 people have been killed.
However, MSF's report reveals a much grimmer picture. The organization estimates that at least 6,700 Rohingya lost their lives during the first month of the crisis alone.
Among those killed, approximately 730 were children under the age of five. These innocent victims were subjected to horrifying deaths, including being shot, burned alive, beaten, or killed by landmines. The scale of the violence is staggering. If MSF’s estimates are accurate, more people have perished in Burma in just a few months than have been killed in Somalia’s entire year-long civil war.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) is reportedly considering prosecuting crimes against humanity in Burma. Whether this threat will slow the ongoing violence remains uncertain.
2. New York City Got Lucky
On Halloween this year, an ISIS-inspired killer drove a truck into cyclists near New York City’s Hudson River, killing eight people. This marked the first successful Islamist attack on the city since 9/11. Just a few days later, we almost witnessed a second such attack. Akayed Ullah, 27, strapped a pipe bomb to his chest and walked into a crowded underground passage between the Times Square subway and the Port Authority Bus Terminal. Surrounded by commuters, he detonated the bomb.
The attack had the potential to cause a massive tragedy, with casualties similar to the Manchester Arena bombing. Fortunately, Ullah proved to be an incompetent terrorist. Similar to the Parsons Green tube bomb in London this September, his device failed to explode as intended. Instead, it partially detonated, injuring Ullah and four others. In the midst of such a busy transit hub in one of the world’s busiest cities, this was a remarkable miracle.
The failed bombing underscores that one of our most effective tools against terrorism is the terrorists’ own ineptitude. Just like the Chelsea and New Jersey bombings in 2016, what could have been a massacre ended up claiming no lives.
1. The FCC Voted On Net Neutrality
Net neutrality is a fundamental principle of the modern Internet. It prevents service providers like Comcast, Verizon, and AT&T from acting in a completely unreasonable manner. Currently, these companies are prohibited from blocking specific websites, charging extra fees for faster loading speeds, and are required to serve as neutral gatekeepers of the data that enters your home. This principle has been the foundation of the Internet. Now, this may be about to change.
On Thursday, the FCC voted to dismantle the net neutrality rules established under President Obama’s administration. President Trump endorsed the decision to remove these rules. With the committee divided 3-2 in favor of Republicans, no one was surprised when the outcome was a full repeal.
