Reuters reports: Syrian rebels declared President Bashar al-Assad‘s ouster after seizing control of Damascus on Sunday, forcing him to flee and ending his family’s decades of rule after more than 13 years of civil war in a seismic moment for the Middle East. The Islamist rebels also dealt a major blow to the influence of Russia and Iran in Syria in the heart of the region, allies who propped up Assad during critical periods in the conflict. The rebels said…
Reuters reports: Syrian government forces abandoned the key city of Homs on Saturday after less than a day of fighting, leaving President Bashar al-Assad’s 24-year rule dangling by a thread with insurgents also advancing towards the capital Damascus. Since the rebels’ sweep into Aleppo a week ago, government defences have crumbled at dizzying speed as rebels seized a string of major cities and reignited a rebellion in places it had long seemed dead. The fall of Homs and threat to…
The Times of Israel reports: Syrian rebel forces on Saturday made major advances in their offensive against Syrian government forces, with reports saying rebels were closing in on the capital Damascus from the north, east, and south, as regime troops reportedly pulled back from bases around the country to fortify positions around the capital city. CNN reported Saturday that the US was increasingly believing that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime could collapse within days. Reuters similarly cited American and other…
Politico reports: Tusli Gabbard looks likely to be the next of President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet picks to face a bumpy ride in the U.S. Senate. Two current and three former GOP Senate aides familiar with discussions over the national security nominations told POLITICO that the former Democratic congressperson and recent MAGA convert will face intense questioning and stiff resistance when her nomination as the next director of national intelligence comes before the Senate. While many cautioned it was still anyone’s…
NBC News reports: In the spring of 2018, congressional staffers were anxious ahead of a House Foreign Affairs Committee meeting. A Syrian defector who had risked his life to expose atrocities committed by the Assad regime was due to appear behind closed doors at a private briefing for lawmakers. No cameras would be present, but congressional aides worried about one committee member, Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who had repeatedly defended the Syrian regime and even met its leader, Bashar al-Assad,…
Zeynep Tufekci writes: I’ve been studying social media for a long time, and I can’t think of any other incident when a murder [that of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson] in this country has been so openly celebrated. The conditions that gave rise to this outpouring of anger are in some ways specific to this moment. Today’s business culture enshrines the maximization of executive wealth and shareholder fortunes, and has succeeded in leveraging personal riches into untold political influence. New communication…
Politico reports: President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team still has not sent policy advisers to coordinate with the federal agencies he is preparing to take over, delaying preparations that could be key to executing his ambitious agenda. The Trump transition signed an agreement Nov. 26 paving the way for those “landing teams” to begin work in the agencies. But before they can do that, the transition has to submit its lists of people who will serve on the teams to the…
Regenerating neurons may be one way to improve cognition. stanislavgusev/RooM via Getty Images By Aswathy Ammothumkandy, University of Southern California; Charles Liu, University of Southern California, and Michael A. Bonaguidi, University of Southern California Your brain can still make new neurons when you’re an adult. But how does the rare birth of these new neurons contribute to cognitive function? Neurons are the cells that govern brain function, and you are born with most of the neurons you will ever have…
Axios reports: President-elect Trump has assembled an administration of unprecedented, mind-boggling wealth — smashing his own first-term record by billions of dollars. That’s even without counting the ballooning fortunes of his prized outside adviser and the world’s richest man: Elon Musk. Why it matters: It’s not hyperbole to call this a government of billionaires. Whether it acts as a government for billionaires — as Democrats argue is inevitable — could test and potentially tarnish Trump’s populist legacy. The big picture: Besides Trump, Musk and his fellow Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)…
David French writes: [T]here is a statutory basis for military intervention in domestic affairs, and the statute — called the Insurrection Act — is so poorly drafted that I have come to call it America’s most dangerous law. The Insurrection Act is almost as old as the United States itself. The law dates to 1792, and it permits the president to deploy American troops on American streets to impose order and maintain government control. There is nothing inherently wrong with…
Akhil Reed Amar, Josh Chafetz, and Thomas P. Schmidt write: Donald Trump has not even returned to office, and already a constitutional crisis may be in the making. Trump has started announcing the people he intends to nominate for positions in his new administration. That is his prerogative. Several senators have criticized some of Trump’s choices. That is their prerogative (and two Trump nominees have already withdrawn under pressure). But rumors have been circulating of a plan to have Trump…
NBC News reports: The incoming Trump administration is preparing a list of countries to which it may deport migrants when their home countries refuse to accept them, according to three sources familiar with the plans. The countries on the list have included but may not be limited to Turks and Caicos, the Bahamas, Panama and Grenada, the sources said. The plans could mean that thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of migrants would be permanently displaced in countries where they…
Hassan Hassan writes: The stunningly successful offensive by Syrian rebels last week accomplished what years of bloodshed by larger factions could not. Within four days, the rebel group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, captured much of Aleppo, one of Syria’s largest cities, and now controls most of Aleppo Province and all of Idlib Province. Long-entrenched front lines held by government forces and fortified by Russian firepower crumbled. Underlying the success of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham is a crucial development: It has evolved from…
Middle East Eye reports: Iraq’s Shia forces, including major Iranian-affiliated armed factions, have unanimously decided not to send fighters to Syria to defend Bashar al-Assad from the rebel advance, officials and commanders told Middle East Eye. Last week, Syrian rebels led by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham launched an offensive on Assad’s forces, seizing the major cities of Aleppo and Hama in a matter of days. The advance, which is now bearing down on Homs, has greatly concerned Iraqi leaders, who consider…
Nature reports: The quest to understand where the COVID-19 pandemic started has revealed fresh clues. Researchers have re-analysed data collected from a market in Wuhan, China, during the early days of the pandemic and found that animals there were infected with a virus – although they could not confirm what exactly caused the infection. “The conclusion is convincing that there was infection in the animals,” says Spyros Lytras, an evolutionary virologist at the University of Tokyo. The results, which have…