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by Lowell
Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Friday, November 29.
- Negotiators get closer to agreeing on a plastic pollution treaty
- We need to talk about plastic: five everyday items choking the planet (“It is one of the world’s most dangerous materials, and global leaders are meeting in South Korea to thrash out a treaty to curb its effects”)
- Disappointed by this year’s climate talks, Indigenous advocates look to Brazil in 2025
- ‘Climate-induced poisoning’: 350 elephants probably killed by toxic water (“Satellite data analysis suggests algal blooms could be behind mass die-off in Botswana that sparked flurry of theories in 2020”)
- International court to begin hearings that may shape global climate litigation
- Russia’s War Economy Shows New Cracks After the Ruble Plunges (“Putin said there isn’t any reason for Russians to panic after the currency fell to its lowest level since the days following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.”)
- Putin Offers Bizarre Warning to Trump: You’re ‘Not Safe’
- Trump’s Ukraine envoy has a plan to end the war that Putin may revel in (“Keith Kellogg intends to change the US involvement in the conflict. That may allow the Russian president to edge closer towards his own goals.”)
- Desertion threatens to starve Ukraine’s forces at a crucial time in its war with Russia (“Some soldiers take medical leave and never return, haunted by the traumas of war and demoralized by bleak prospects for victory.”)
- Statement from President Joe Biden on Russia’s Attack on Ukraine
- Putin threatens Kyiv decision-makers after striking energy grid
- White House pressing Ukraine to draft 18-year-olds so it has enough troops to battle Russia
- Russian defense minister visits North Korea for talks with military and political leaders
- Ukrainian energy workers carry out repairs despite Russia’s pounding of the country’s power grid
- Ukraine fights to keep the lights on as Russia hammers power plants
- Russia-Ukraine Standoff Over POWs Leaves Thousands Stuck in ‘Gray Zone’ (“Bringing prisoners of war home has become one of Ukraine’s most intractable problems—and a pressure point Russia has sought to exploit.”)
- Sweden asks China to co-operate over severed cables
- How China Became the World’s Largest Car Exporter
- Israeli airstrikes leave massive trail of destruction across Lebanon
- Israeli military to remain in Gaza for years, food minister says
- After a Cease-Fire in Lebanon, Gaza and Iran’s Nuclear Ambitions Await Trump
- Israel warns against returning to 60 Lebanon villages (“The warning comes as Israel and Hezbollah accuse each other of breaking the fragile ceasefire.”)
- After Lebanon cease-fire, Israeli families hope for hostage deal
- Biden pushes Netanyahu to get a Gaza hostage-ceasefire deal after Lebanon truce
- Women arrested by Taliban for begging report rape and killings in Afghan jails (The Taliban are evil.)
- Australia’s under-16 social media ban sparks anger and relief
- Tech companies put on notice as Australia passes world-first social media ban for under-16s
- Mexican president says she is confident that a tariff war with the US can be averted
- Mexico’s president denies Trump’s claim that she agreed to shut down the US-Mexico border
- Mexico warns Trump tariffs would kill 400,000 US jobs, threatens retaliation
- Biden on Trump’s tariff plan: ‘I hope he rethinks it’
- Mexican president claims ‘no potential tariff war’ with US after call with Trump
- Bolsonaro Is Making a Comeback Bid in Brazil and Betting on Trump’s Help (“Brazil’s former president wants to return to power and said in an interview he believes Trump will help make that happen, possibly via economic sanctions on his leftist rivals.”)
- Conservative US influencer Candace Owens is barred from New Zealand weeks after a ban from Australia (And by “conservative,” AP means “far-right extremist” but won’t say so!)
- Why Kamala Harris lost: Around the world, incumbents are in trouble (“Anti-incumbency fervor, populist rage and elite disconnection — all facets of the same global democratic crisis”)
- Biden Rushes to Trump-Proof His Signature Energy, Chip Policies
- Biden stresses gratitude while Trump targets enemies in Thanksgiving messages
- The Perception Gap That Explains American Politics (“Americans overwhelmingly—but, it turns out, mistakenly—believe that Democrats care more about advancing progressive social issues than widely shared economic ones.” And that, in turn, is HEAVILY the fault of the media.)
- Dem leadership missing in action as Trump tightens his grip
- Elon Musk calls to ‘delete’ US finance consumer watchdog agency (F*** M*sk.)
- Democrats targeted in wave of Thanksgiving bomb threats
- Bill Clinton ‘Couldn’t Sleep for Two Years’ After 2016 Election
- Democrat Derek Tran ousts Michelle Steel in CA House battle
- Laura Loomer: Mark Zuckerberg’s Trump Visit Was ‘Very Disturbing’
- Alexander and Congressman-Elect Eugene Vindman (D-VA07): Elon Musk Is “using his large media platform to fuel lies and peddle conspiracies about us because we blew the whistle on Trump” (Vindmans; “every one of Trump’s extremist cronies will use any weapon in their arsenal to attack us”)
- Pope & Schapiro: Looking ahead to the 2025 General Assembly session
- Commentary: Dominion Energy, data centers are fleecing Virginia ratepayers
- Thousands of kids in Va. foster care need new homes this holiday season
- Underground fire at Williamsburg Premium Outlets extinguished
- Bristol, VA leaders support rail access to reduce tanker trucks on Interstate 81
- D.C.-area forecast: Chillier today as coldest air of the season arrives Saturday (“Enjoy today if you like comparatively mild weather. Weekend wind chills may be in the 30s, at best.”)
