Новости за 23.12.2016

Russian President Vladimir Putin pays his respects to slain Russian Ambassador to Turkey Andrei Karlov, during the funeral ceremony at the Russian Foreign Ministry in Moscow. | (ALEXEI NIKOLSKY/AFP/Getty Images)

The U.N. Security Council on Friday voted in favor of a resolution against Israeli settlements. The U.S. did not use its veto, as President-elect Donald Trump and several senators had pushed it to do, and instead abstained from voting on whether or not Israel should build settlements on Palestinian land.

President-elect Donald Trump is reportedly having a tough time booking performers for his inauguration concert next month, and there's even a protest concert brewing for the same day, just to add insult to injury. Trump's team has apparently been willing to pay performers to play the festivities — something that is almost never required for the honor of playing at a presidential inauguration — but so far, no dice.

On Friday, the Islamic State's Amaq news agency released a video of Anis Amri, the 24-year-old Turkish man suspected of carrying out Monday's deadly truck attack in Berlin, pledging his allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. In the video, Amri, who was killed Friday in a shootout with Italian police in Milan, is standing in northern Berlin, not far from where he allegedly hijacked the truck he then plowed into a Christmas market Monday. He killed 12 and injured nearly 50 in the attack.

President-elect Donald Trump decided Friday to let the world read his Christmas letter from Russian President Vladimir Putin. The note, sent on Dec. 15 and addressed to "his excellency," included some warm holiday wishes from the Kremlin and a glimpse into Putin's hopes for a "new level" of "collaboration" between the U.S. and Russia:

President-elect Donald Trump has not released his tax returns. He has not given a formal press conference since his election. He wants his private security team to supplement the Secret Service. He is skipping many intelligence briefings because he is, "like, a smart person." And none of those things — along with many of the incoming president's other unconventional choices — are against the law.

President-elect Donald Trump is apparently eyeing one of former President George W. Bush's top aides to serve as his homeland security and counterterrorism adviser, Politico reported Friday, citing two senior transition officials. Tom Bossert, a former deputy homeland security adviser under Bush, met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday, along with incoming chief of staff Reince Priebus, national security adviser Michael Flynn, and chief strategist Steve Bannon. Bossert's appointment is now reportedly... Читать дальше...

The Electoral Integrity Project (EIP) is a joint effort between Harvard University and the University of Sydney that grades nations' election processes to understand "why elections fail and what we can do about it." This year, the EIP also graded all 50 states by the same metric, assigning each one a score on a scale of 1 to 100.

After years of trying, scientists may have finally developed an effective Ebola vaccine. Final tests of an experimental Ebola vaccine conducted in Guinea, a West African country hit particularly hard by the deadly virus, indicate scientists may be close to perfecting an effective inoculation against the disease.

Australian police arrested five men overnight, foiling an alleged terror plot planned for Melbourne on Christmas Day, officials announced Friday morning at a press conference. The suspects reportedly planned to attack areas in the center of the city, including Federation Square, Flinders Street Station, and St. Paul's Cathedral. The plot "involved explosives and possibly knives or guns," ABC News reported.

"As 2016 wraps up, we hope everyone will ring in the new year with love in their hearts," Starbucks says in its new "10 Days of Cheer" campaign, and The Associated Press suggests the coffee purveyor "aims to drum up holiday sales," too. The "cheer" is a free tall espresso drink from 1 to 2 p.m. at 100 stores a day from today until Jan. 2 (except Christmas). You might think of it as a sort of caffeinated lottery, or perhaps a treasure hunt. If you want to play, Starbucks is listing each day's "Pop... Читать дальше...

Russian President Vladimir Putin spent a big chunk of his annual year-end news conference Friday talking about U.S. politics. Reuters reported Putin boasted that "no one but the Russians expected [President-elect Donald] Trump to win," and he slammed Democrats for how they handled their surprise defeat in the presidential election. "You need to learn how to lose gracefully," Putin said to Democrats. Reuters said he added the Democratic Party is "losing on all fronts" and "wrongly trying to blame"... Читать дальше...

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Germany's Deutsche Bank on Friday agreed to pay $7.2 billion to settle a U.S. Justice Department lawsuit over riskier-than-advertised mortgage-backed securities that played a large role in the 2007-08 global financial meltdown. The settlement, which still needs final approval, includes $3.1 billion in fines and $4.1 billion in relief to consumers. The amount marked a relief for Deutsche Bank, which had earlier said it might have to pay up to $14 billion to settle the civil charges. Also on Friday... Читать дальше...

President-elect Donald Trump sent out shockwaves on Thursday by tweeting that "the United States must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability," but spokesman Jason Miller later tried to temper the statement, explaining that "Trump was referring to the threat of nuclear proliferation and the critical need to prevent it," and maybe "the need to improve and modernize our deterrent capability." On Friday morning, in a phone call with Morning Joe's Mika Brzezinski, Trump reportedly clarified that... Читать дальше...

President-elect Donald Trump thinks it's a "ridiculous shame" that his son Eric Trump should have to stop directly asking for donations to his charitable foundation. Eric Trump announced Wednesday that he understood the "quagmire" surrounding his involvement soliciting donations, referring to potential conflicts of interest and the possibility that donors may try gain access to his father through him, and that he would step away from fundraising efforts.

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A man identified as the Berlin Christmas market attack suspect, Anis Amri of Tunisia, was killed in a shootout with Italian police in Milan early Friday, Italian authorities said. "The person killed, without a shadow of a doubt, is Anis Amri, the suspect of the terrorist attack," Interior Minister Marco Minniti said. The man allegedly started shooting at police after they asked for his ID papers at a railway station. An officer was injured. German investigators found Amri's fingerprints... Читать дальше...

A domestic Libyan flight from Sebha to Tripoli was diverted to Malta on Friday, and Maltese media is reporting that there are two hijackers aboard with grenades, threatening to blow the plane up. Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said there are 111 passengers on board, including one infant, and that security services are "coordinating operations."

On Friday, Germany's Deutsche Bank agreed to pay $7.2 billion to settle a U.S. Justice Department lawsuit over dodgy mortgage-backed securities packaged and sold from 2005 to 2007. The settlement, which still needs final approval, includes $3.1 billion in fines and $4.1 billion in relief to consumers, primarily through modifying loans and providing other assistance to homeowners and borrowers. The settlement is a partial relief for Deutsche Bank, which had earlier said it might have to pay up to $14 billion to settle the civil charges. Читать дальше...

On Wednesday, Wall Street legend Carl Icahn was picked as a "special advisor on regulatory reform" to President-elect Donald Trump.

A few weeks ago, I watched the Rockefeller Center tree lighting on television with my kids. There was much Christmas music and dancing, interspersed with commercials about the holiday and what to buy. At one point, Al Roker cheerily announced, "Christmas is here!"

I am a Hindu, my husband a Jew. So which religious holiday do we celebrate? Why, Christmas, of course!

Read more about the facts mentioned:

• A researcher discovered how cavemen brushed their teeth. It will make you want to brush yours. (The Washington Post)
• The time a Scotsman played bagpipes for a penguin in Antarctica (Mental Floss)
• Your breath does more than repulse — it can also tell doctors whether you have cancer (Smithsonian Magazine)
• Are saunas good for the brains? (The New York Times)

Covering the 2016 election was the most intellectually challenging thing I've ever done as a writer.

Both sides in American politics tend to believe that their opponents are less principled and more ruthless than they themselves are, willing to do anything in furtherance of their nefarious goals. We might disagree about which side is right on that score, but there's no doubt about who's more effective in the strategic deployment of a critical political tool: outrage. Republicans have honed it to a fine art, and there's no better evidence than the fear right-wing outrage inspires in Democrats, the media, and even Republicans themselves. Читать дальше...

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