TOP STORIES
VLADIMIR PUTIN ANNOUNCES CEASE-FIRE IN SYRIA The Russian president announced the cease-fire will be effective at midnight and guaranteed by Turkey and Russia. [Reuters]
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU THROWS HIS SUPPORT BEHIND DONALD TRUMP The Prime Minister of Israel called Secretary of State John Kerry’s speech Wednesday renouncing Israeli settlements “almost as unbalanced as the anti-Israel resolution passed at the U.N. last week.” The top candidates for DNC have dodged the debate on where they stand on President Barack Obama’s vetoing of the U.N. Israel resolution. [Daniel Marans, HuffPost]
POSSIBLE ACCOMPLICE IN BERLIN TRUCK ATTACK DETAINED A forty-year-old Tunisian suspect is being held in Germany under suspicion of involvement in the Christmas market truck attack that killed 12. And new reports suggest the truck’s automatic braking system “may have saved lives.” [NYT]
DEBBIE REYNOLDS DIED THE DAY AFTER HER DAUGHTER The member of Hollywood royalty famous for “Singin’ in the Rain” died after a reported stroke, just one day after her daughter Carrie Fisher died. Herlast words were about Carrie, and they’re heartbreaking. [Leigh Blickley, HuffPost]
AND TRIBUTES ARE STILL POURING IN FOR CARRIE FISHER Fans,family, her ex-husband, Paul Simon, and her beloved dog, Gary, have all spoken out about the legend’s sudden death at 60 from a heart attack. [Leigh Blickley, HuffPost]
OBAMA NAMES TWO NEW NATIONAL MONUMENTS Both of the spaces, one of which is in Utah, the other in Nevada, are considered Native American cultural sites. [Nick Visser, HuffPost]
‘BRIBES BORE A HOLE IN U.S. BORDER’ “A review by The New York Times of thousands of court records and internal agency documents showed that over the last 10 years almost 200 employees and contract workers of the Department of Homeland Security have taken nearly $15 million in bribes while being paid to protect the nation’s borders and enforce immigration laws.” [USA Today]
BATTEN DOWN THE HATCHES IN NEW ENGLAND Two feet of snow is headed your way. [USA Today]
WHAT’S BREWING
WINTER IS ALWAYS COMING For illegal streaming services. “Game of Thrones” was the TV show illegally streamed the most for the fifth year in a row. [HuffPost]
EMMA WATSON’S READING LIST PUTS YOURS TO SHAME Crack open those books folks, we have some catching up to do. [HuffPost]
‘MAYBE WE HAVEN’T SEEN ANY ALIENS BECAUSE THEY’RE ALL DEAD’ “Absent signs of life, astronomers are starting to look for extraterrestrial nuclear wars and pandemics.” [Nautilus]
OMBRE IS THE NEW BLACK A send-up of the year in tech ombre ― because who cares about the Pantone colors of the year now, when all we do is look at our phone screens? [Wired]
OVER 3 TONS OF THIS ENDANGERED ANIMAL WERE SEIZED IN CHINA Meet the pangolin, the most trafficked mammal in the world. [HuffPost]
WELL, AT LEAST 2016 WAS GOOD TO SCARJO She was named the top earning actor worldwideby Forbes, over Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr. [HuffPost]
BEFORE YOU GO
~ A new study argues that taking fish oil during pregnancy may reduce the risk of asthma for the child.
~ Meet the Breathalyzer for diseases.
~ Kim Kardashian ran into frenemy (and her former boss) Paris Hilton on Christmas Eve for the first time in years.
~ And don’t fret ― Kanye silenced those divorce rumors with this photo.
~ Dissecting how Adam Driver (yes, Adam Driver of “Girls”) became a movie star.
~ A Dutch fertility clinic may have used the wrong sperm for 28 couples.
~ J.Lo and Drake are stroking the romance rumors with their latest Insta pics.
~ Looks like humans will be able to marry robots by 2050, in case that was on your list of things you needed to happen in the next 34 years.
~ We can’t get over these timelapses of the fastest-growing cities in the U.S.
~ Looks like the Disney Avatar theme park may have been worth the wait.
~ No, but really, where are this girl’s legs in the latest optical illusion photo sweeping the internet?
~ And check out this list of good news from 2016, because we all need it.