11.22.2024

 

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Good morning. It's Friday, Nov. 22, and we're covering a new attorney general nomination, ICC warrants against Israeli and Hamas leaders, and much more. First time reading? Join over 4 million intellectually curious readers. Sign up here.

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Need To Know
 

New Attorney General Pick

Former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R, FL-1) removed himself from consideration for attorney general yesterday. The announcement came amid renewed scrutiny over allegations of sex trafficking, drug use, and sex with a minor. Trump announced he will nominate former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi in Gaetz's place; see a running list of appointments here.

 

President-elect Donald Trump announced Gaetz's nomination over a week ago amid a House Ethics Committee investigation into the allegations against him. Those included claims Gaetz paid a then-17-year-old girl for sex in 2017, with one sex act involving another woman. The House this week deferred releasing its report. Gaetz denies the allegations against him; the Justice Department declined to bring charges.

 

Separately, the announcement came as a police report this week detailed graphic sexual assault allegations a woman made against Pete Hegseth, Trump's pick for defense secretary. Hegseth maintains the encounter—at a Republican women's conference in California in 2017—was consensual.

 

ICC Issues Warrants

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants yesterday for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and Hamas leader Mohammed Deif. The three are charged with alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity amid the Israel-Hamas war.

 

Hamas leader Deif—who Israel said was killed in a July airstrike—is accused of having a key role in the murder, rape, and torture during the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which resulted in 1,200 deaths and over 250 hostages. Netanyahu and Gallant are accused of instigating widespread starvation by restricting food and humanitarian aid and intentionally targeting civilians in Gaza, where the death toll has passed 44,000, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry.

 

The ICC, an independent court that collaborates with the United Nations, relies on countries recognizing its jurisdiction to enforce its warrants—an authority not recognized by the US and China. Other leaders who face warrants include ex-Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

 

50 Years of Lucy

Sunday will mark 50 years since the discovery of the "Lucy" fossil in Ethiopia, a 3.2-million-year-old specimen whose rare completeness has made it the reference point for subsequent hominin fossil discoveries. The 3.5-foot-tall, 40% complete Australopithecus afarensis fossil is currently housed in the National Museum of Ethiopia (see facts and photos).

 

Paleoanthropologists first discovered her elbow Nov. 24, 1974, at an excavation site in Hadar, Ethiopia, eventually identifying and arranging over 40 skeletal parts. Named after a Beatles song, she was the first hominin fossil to surpass 3 million years in age and proved our human ancestors evolved to walk on two legs prior to our increase in brain size. For decades, she was believed to be the earliest known ancestor of our genus and held up as the matriarch of humanity.

 

Older, less complete hominin specimens have since been identified, prompting debate over which species is most closely linked to modern humans. Read about more recent discoveries here.

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In The Know
 

Sports, Entertainment, & Culture

Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani and New York Yankees' Aaron Judge both unanimously win MLB's 2024 NL and AL MVP award (More) | UConn women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma becomes NCAA's all-time leader in coaching victories with 1,217 wins (More)

> "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett's December 2021 conviction for an alleged hate crime hoax is overturned by Illinois Supreme Court (More

> Percival Everett's novel "James" among five winners of the National Book Awards (More) | Morgan Wallen wins top prize of entertainer of the year at Country Music Association Awards (More)

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Science & Technology

> NASA begins stacking the first stage of the Artemis II Space Launch System; mission is the second step in returning humans to the moon, target launch window is late 2025 (More) | Astronomers capture highest-detailed image of a star outside the Milky Way (More)

> Researchers demonstrate genetically altered version of malaria-causing bacteria, potentially paving the way for mosquitoes to spread vaccination against malaria via bites (More

> Scientists create the world's thinnest spaghetti, roughly 400 nanometers in diameter; demonstration validates a technique to create tiny fibers with use in medical and electronic applications (More

 

Business & Markets

> US stock markets close higher (S&P 500 +0.5%, Dow +1.0%, Nasdaq +0.0%) (More) | Bitcoin notches another record intraday, reaches $99K (More) | Gary Gensler, chair of Securities and Exchange Commission, to step down Jan. 20 (More

> Alphabet shares close down over 4% after Justice Department asks judge overseeing Google antitrust case to force the tech giant to divest its Chrome browser (More)

> Elon Musk's artificial intelligence startup xAI raises $5B in funding round, valuing the company at $50B (More)

 

Politics & World Affairs

> Brazilian police indict former President Jair Bolsonaro and 36 others for an alleged coup attempt on Jan. 8, 2023, following Bolsonaro's election loss in 2022 (More) | Russia strikes Ukraine with new intermediate-range missile in response to Ukraine sending US-supplied short-range ballistic missiles into Russia (More

> Parts of eastern US and Great Lakes region see this winter's first snowfall, with more than 23 million people under winter weather advisories; up to a foot of snow expected in some areas (More)

> Father of 14-year-old suspect in September mass shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, pleads not guilty to charges including second-degree murder (More) | See previous write-up (More

 

In-Depth

> Too Many Toys

Vox | Anna North. Toys have gotten cheaper in recent decades, and sophisticated logistics systems enable long-distance toy-gifting—just two reasons why kids seem to have so many toys. (Read)

 

> Motorsport's Deadliest Day

Esses | Darrell Hartman. In 1955, Pierre Levegh's car drove into the crowd at the 24-hour Le Mans race, killing over 80 people and injuring 100 more. It was an incident that would change the sport forever. (Read)

> Is Your Phone Listening?

Terms of Service | Clare Duffy. Perhaps you've noticed ads pop up on your smartphone screen soon after a recent conversation. It begs the question: Can your phone hear you now? (Listen)

 

> Our Internal Plumbing

PBS Eons | Staff. Earth's earliest organisms ate and disposed of waste from the same orifice. One major step toward animal complexity came with the development of the through-gut, an in and an out. (Watch)

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Etcetera
 

Melting snow reveals animal footprints predating dinosaurs.

 

Pokémon GO building ChatGPT for maps.

 

Why Aztec “death whistles” sound like human screams.

 

World's tallest and shortest women meet for tea. (w/photo) 

 

Catholic Church to canonize patron saint of the internet.

 

People associate the letter "R" with a jagged line.

 

A list of 25 important recipes from the past 100 years.

 

Tiny AI-powered robot "kidnaps" 12 others.

 

Clickbait: Singapore debuts sewage beer.

 

Historybook: Author Jack London dies (1916); Tennis star and social activist Billie Jean King born (1943); President John F. Kennedy assassinated (1963); Author C.S. Lewis dies (1963); British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher announces resignation after 11 years (1990).

"A champion is afraid of losing. Everyone else is afraid of winning."

- Billie Jean King

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