Donald Trump, Aleppo, Russia: Your Monday Evening Briefing
1. Russia’s ambassador to Turkey was assassinated by a lone gunman who shouted “Don’t forget Syria!” at an art opening in Ankara.
A photographer from The Associated Press who was attending the event captured the image above. Russian officials called it a terrorist attack. The gunman was killed by the Turkish police.
Russia’s extensive military intervention in Syria has given President Bashar al-Assad the decisive upper hand against his opponents in the six-year civil war.
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2. Just hours earlier, the United Nations Security Council voted to monitor evacuations from Aleppo, with an adjustment to win Russian backing that means Syrian soldiers and allied Shiite militias may be able to block monitors’ access.
Aid groups say about 50,000 civilians may still be trapped in besieged areas of the city.
Among those evacuated was Bana Alabed, the 7-year-old girl whose Twitter feed about life in wartime has led some to call her a modern-day Anne Frank.
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3. The 538 members of the Electoral College convened in every state and the District of Columbia and made the final determination of president and vice-president.
Amid protests, the votes piled up for Donald J. Trump and Mike Pence.
Mr. Trump’s victory, despite his loss of the popular vote, has refocused attention on the complicated system America uses to select presidents.
Former President Bill Clinton, above, was one of the electors.
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4. Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, was found guilty of criminal charges linked to the misuse of public funds during her time as France’s finance minister.
Ms. Lagarde will not face jail time. But the verdict could destabilize the fund at a crucial time.
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5. Nine people were killed when a truck plowed into a holiday market in Berlin.
The authorities said they believed it was an attack.
Germany has not seen a large-scale terror attack in recent years.
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6. A new study found that pregnancy alters the size and shape of a woman’s brain.
The changes may help the brain specialize in tasks tied to motherhood, like recognizing an infant’s needs, recognizing threats and mother-infant bonding.
The study found no loss of memory, verbal skills or working memory, providing what one doctor called “evidence against the common myth of ‘mommy brain.’”
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7. For the second year in a row, our best-read article (besides our election coverage) was about love.
Specifically, about the messy parts of it. The essay “Why You Will Marry the Wrong Person” argues that everyone does just that. And what should be discarded, instead of the partner, is the notion that a perfect being exists who can satisfy every need and yearning.
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8. A scathing attack on global health advice to eat less sugar as “unscientific” set off a storm of criticism.
The authors of the paper, published in a prominent medical journal, have ties to the food and sugar industries, and the review was paid for by a group funded by companies including Coca-Cola, Hershey, General Mills, Kraft Foods, Kellogg’s and Monsanto.
Critics said the episode recalled how the tobacco industry enlisted scientists for decades as “merchants of doubt” about the hazards of smoking.
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9. Snap away this holiday season. You can transform your pictures into wall-worthy artwork.
New online services offer printing on surfaces like burlap, wood boards, acrylic and stick-and-peel fabric.
And for older prints, we include advice on digitizing services.
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10. Finally, we asked some notably avid readers — who also happen to be poets, musicians, diplomats, filmmakers, novelists, actors and artists — to share the books that accompanied them through 2016.
Let Junot Díaz, Mary Oliver, Ava DuVernay and other inspiring minds help you build your next reading list.
P.C: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/19/briefing/donald-trump-aleppo-russia.html
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