Big Brother Is Watching You

Chinese Authorities Clamp Down on Protests

After five days of unprecedented anti-government protests, Chinese police are cracking down. “We are all desperately deleting our chat history,” said one Beijing resident who asked to remain anonymous. “There are just too many police. Police came to check the ID of one of my friends and then took her away. We don’t know why. A few hours later they released her.” Unverified video footage showed a strong police presence in areas of Hangzhou, Shanghai and Beijing where protests had taken place earlier in the week. Police were also randomly stopping people and searching their phones for software that’s banned in China. (Source: Reuters)

US to Announce ‘Substantial’ Aid to Ukraine as NATO Leaders Meet

NATO foreign ministers are in Bucharest to discuss their response to the Russian invasion — and specifically how to help Ukraine through the long, cold winter ahead. In his opening remarks, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said “the main focus is supporting Ukraine and ensuring President Putin doesn't win … There can be no lasting peace if the oppressor wins.” Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who is attending the Bucharest meetings, is expected to announce further financial aid to help Ukraine deal with the damage to its energy infrastructure. Sources say the package “is substantial and it is not the end.” (Sources: The Guardian, BBC, Economic Times)

Despite Wafer-Thin Majority, GOP Plots Flurry of House Investigations

Republicans plan to use the House’s many committees to heap pressure on the Biden administration ahead of the 2024 elections. Rep. Jim Jordan, the likely leader of the House Judiciary Committee, made it clear he’ll investigate the search of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago mansion and the origins of COVID-19. Rep. James Comer — tipped to lead the House Oversight and Reform Committee — says he’ll “investigate between 40 and 50 different things,” including: Hunter Biden’s business dealings; “the Biden Administration’s failed border policies;” and the federal government’s response to COVID-19. The House Foreign Affairs Committee, meanwhile, will scrutinize the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. (Source: AP)

Australia Objects to UNESCO Calls to List Reef as ‘Endangered’

Australian Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek said she’ll try to prevent the U.N. cultural agency from adding the Great Barrier Reef to a list of endangered World Heritage sites. A new report warned the reef’s survival was dependent on “ambitious, rapid and sustained” climate action. But Plibersek argued that her new center-left government has already addressed many of the report’s main concerns. Marine biologist Jodie Rummer wasn’t so sure: “We are taking action, but that action needs to be much more rapid and much more urgent … We cannot claim to be doing all we can for the reef at this point. We aren’t.” (Source: AP)

Here are some things you should know about today:

Mauna Loa. The world’s largest active volcano began erupting for the first time since 1984. There’s no immediate threat to residents of Hawaii’s main island. (Source: Reuters) Somalia siege. All six attackers were eventually killed during a 22-hour al-Shabab siege that saw nine civilians lose their lives. At least 60 people were rescued from the Mogadishu hotel. (Source: NYT) Covering all bases. A protester wearing a shirt that said “Save Ukraine” on the front and “Respect for Iranian woman” on the back and carrying a rainbow flag invaded the pitch during the World Cup soccer match between Portugal and Uruguay. (Source: BBC)

Eleanor Jackson Piel, Pioneering Human Rights Lawyer, Dies at 102

The New York Times called her “the courts’ most elegant pain in the neck.” After graduating from Berkeley law school in 1943 as the only woman in her class, Piel went into criminal law. Over a seven-decade career she took the case of a teacher who was denied service at a lunch counter because she was with Black students, eventually winning it in the Supreme Court; she got the New York City Board of Education to allow girls into prestigious Stuyvesant High; and she was able to spare two men who’d been wrongly sentenced to death. (Source: NYT)

South Africa Grapples With Spate of Fatal Dog Attacks

Three-year-old Keketso Saule often played in the neighbors’ yard. But on this day their two American pit bull terriers were unchained. “Had someone not pulled him away the dogs would have finished [eating] him,” said his distraught aunt, Nthabeleng Saule. “One side of his face was gone and you could see his brain.” Five children have been killed by pit bulls in South Africa this year. The spate of deaths has shone a light on illegal dogfighting rings, with widespread calls to ban the breed. Many owners are taking matters into their own hands by voluntarily giving up their pets. (Source: BBC)

Texas Woman Reunited With Family 51 Years After Being Kidnapped

When she was 21 months old, Melissa Highsmith was abducted by a babysitter from her home in Forth Worth. Renamed Melanie, she lived in the area for most of her life — oblivious that she’d been kidnapped. All the while, her biological family was frantically searching for her. This year, after an anonymous tipoff that she was in South Carolina, her parents used the results of a 23andMe DNA test, a characteristic birthmark and Melissa’s birthdate to track down their long-lost daughter. “Never give up,” said her family in a statement. “Chase every lead.” (Sources: WaPo, The Guardian)

Thai City Celebrates Monkeys With Annual Feast

Lopburi benefits greatly from tourists who come to see how locals live in harmony with almost 4,000 macaque monkeys … So it’s only natural that residents should want to say thank you. One day every November they put on a feast of fruit and veg for their simian neighbors.“There was a monkey on my back as I was trying to take a selfie.” said Ayisha Bhatt, an English teacher from California who’s working in Thailand. “He grabbed the sunglasses right off my face and ran off on to the top of a lamppost and was trying to eat them for a while.” (Source: AP)

Brittney Griner Release: US Awaits ‘Serious Response’ From Russia

Elizabeth Rood, the U.S. chargée d’affaires in Moscow says the U.S. “has put a significant proposal on the table,” regarding the release of basketball star Griner who’s serving a nine-year sentence in a Russian penal colony for drug possession. It’s believed the U.S. proposed freeing Viktor Bout — a Russian arms dealer who’s in prison in America — in exchange for the release of Griner and Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine who’s imprisoned in Russia on espionage charges that he denies. “Unfortunately, so far the Russian Federation has not provided a serious response to those proposals,” said Rood. (Source: The Guardian)

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