The LuLac Edition #3388, December 28th, 2016

TOP TEN INTERNATIONAL STORIES 

in countdown order 

10. ZIKA.....The World Health Organization announces an outbreak of the Zika virus.
9. TERROR...Truck plows into a crowd at Berlin Christmas market, 12 dead and in Turkey a Russian Ambassador is killed.
8. ISIS......The ISIS fight goes on. The fight to drive ISIS from Iraq continues but not at a cost. As heavy fighting continues in ISIS' last Iraqi stronghold in Mosul, the terrorist group's forces retook the ancient city of Palmyra in central Syria.
The recapture of Palmyra comes just a few months after Syrian forces, aided by Russia and Hezbollah, took the city back from ISIS forces that captured the city in May 2015.
The US-led coalition has also continued to target ISIS and its weaponry around the historic city. In 10 airstrikes on December 15, coalition bombers targeted 14 tanks, artillery systems, buildings, and vehicles northeast of the city along a highway.
7. NORTH KOREA AND THE NUKES......North Korea launches a long-range rocket into space, violating multiple UN treaties and prompting condemnation from around the world. The government of North Korea conducts its fifth and reportedly biggest nuclear test. World leaders condemn the act, with the South calling it "maniacal recklessness".
6. MORE TERROR.......On the morning of 22 March 2016, three coordinated suicide bombings occurred in Belgium: two at Brussels Airport in Zaventem, and one at Maalbeek metro station in central Brussels. Thirty-two civilians and three perpetrators were killed, and more than 300 people were injured. Another bomb was found during a search of the airport. Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) claimed responsibility for the attacks.
5. UPSETTING THE PAPAL APPLE CART......The Pope names new Cardinals changing the balance of power in the Vatican for the future.  Francis named 17 new cardinals, including three Americans, adding prelates from developing countries to give them a greater voice in selecting the next pope. Francis’ American appointments elevate moderates in the church hierarchy, bypassing doctrinal conservatives from large archdioceses.
4. CLIMATE AGREEMENT, FOR NOW.....The US and China, together responsible for 40% of the world's carbon emissions, both ratify the Paris global climate agreement.
3. INFLUENCING AN INSTITUTION OF DEMOCRACY.........Russians accused of hacking Political e mails during Presidential election. The Obama administration formally accused the Russian government of stealing and disclosing emails from the Democratic National Committee and a range of other institutions and prominent individuals, immediately raising the issue of whether President Obama would seek sanctions or other retaliation.
In a statement from the director of national intelligence, James R. Clapper Jr., and the Department of Homeland Security, the government said the leaked emails that have appeared on a variety of websites “are intended to interfere with the U.S. election process.”
The emails were posted on the well-known WikiLeaks site and two newer sites, DCLeaks.com and Guccifer 2.0, identified as being associated with Russian intelligence.
“We believe, based on the scope and sensitivity of these efforts, that only Russia’s senior-most officials could have authorized these activities,” the statement said.
2. THE MADNESS OF SYRIA.......The Syrian Crisis and the tragedy of Aleppo. More than 250,000 Syrians have lost their lives in four-and-a-half years of armed conflict, which began with anti-government protests before escalating into a full-scale civil war. More than 11 million others have been forced from their homes as forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and those opposed to his rule battle each other - as well as jihadist militants from so-called Islamic State.
Aleppo  is a city in Syria, serving as the capital of the Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Syrian governorate. For centuries, Aleppo was the Syrian region's largest city and the Ottoman Empire's third-largest, after Constantinople and Cairo. With an official population of 2,132,100 (2004 census), it was Syria's largest city and also one of the largest cities in the Levant before the advent of the Syrian Civil War.
Aleppo is an ancient metropolis, and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world; it On 18 August 2016, a report for a Euro-Med Monitor team confirmed that one of the hospitals, overcrowded by injured civilians, was bombarded by Russian warplanes in the western Aleppo countryside, which, according to Euro-Med Monitor, is a very clear violation of the international laws saying that those civilians must be protected from the continuing conflict.
On Tuesday 13th of December 2016, following the recapture of Aleppo by the Syrian government, Turkey and Russia-brokered a ceasefire deal to bring peace to what a UN representative described as a "meltdown of humanity" had gone into effect hours after the re-capture of the city by the pro-Assad Syrian government'.
1. BREXIT: "YOU SAY HELLO-I SAY GOODBYE".......The United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union is widely known as Brexit, a portmanteau of "British exit". Following a referendum held on June 23 2016 in which 52% of votes were cast in favour of leaving the EU, the UK government intends to invoke Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union, the formal procedure for withdrawing, by the end of March 2017. This, within the treaty terms, would put the UK on a course to leave the EU by March 2019. Prime Minister Theresa May, elected by the ruling Conservative Party in the wake of the referendum, has promised a bill to repeal the European Communities Act 1972 and to incorporate existing EU laws into UK domestic law. The terms of withdrawal have not yet been negotiated; in the meantime, the UK remains a full member of the European Union.
The Brexit voting was an early indication of what would happen in America with the election of Donald Trump.