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What to watch for today
Myanmar goes to court. Leader Aung San Suu Kyi will appear at The Hague to defend her government’s actions towards the Rohingya, an ethnic minority in the country. Gambia filed suit last month at the International Court of Justice, accusing Myanmar of acts of genocide.
Australia braces for fires. Spiking temperatures, dry air, lightning, and high winds will create optimal conditions for rampant wildfires during a season that’s already seen the loss of hundreds of homes and several lives.
Nobel Prizes are handed out, amid controversy. Winners will receive their awards at a Stockholm ceremony, among them Peace Prize recipient and prime minister of Ethiopia Abiy Ahmed, who has skirted the traditional press conferences to avoid answering questions on recent violent clashes at home.
While you were sleeping
Ukraine and Russia talked peace. Russian president Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who’s under pressure at home not to concede too much to Putin, showed few signs of reaching a compromise after their first day of negotiations.
The US military misled the public about the war in Afghanistan. The Washington Post reported on newly released notes from more than 400 interviews that indicate that officials presented an overly optimistic account of the military’s actions and hid many of the war’s worst failings.
Pharma giants spent billions on new cancer drugs. Merck paid $2.7 billion to buy up ArQule Inc. and its suite of cancer treatments, while Sanofi paid $2.5 billion for Synthorx. The $123 billion market for cancer drugs—which command high prices, require smaller clinical trials, and have advanced rapidly thanks to new technologies—is expected to nearly double by 2024.
A US justice department report on the Russia probe satisfied neither party. In the document, inspector general Michael Horowitz pointed out FBI mistakes but determined that accusations of conspiracies against president Donald Trump were unfounded. Meanwhile, lawyers from both parties made arguments for and against impeachment in front of the House Judiciary Committee.
Netflix dominated the Golden Globes nominations. The annual celebration of film and television put on by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association nominated Netflix productions 17 times—including its first-ever best picture nomination—more than any other studio. The HFPA caught immediate flak for including no female directors or screenwriters on its list.
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Matters of debate
Give your son a doll. Boys should be encouraged to subvert gender expectations and care for others.
Native American art should take its rightful place. It doesn’t belong with African and Pacific Islands collections.
Studying philosophy is worth it. After all, we can’t escape the question of what matters and why.
Surprising discoveries
A Colorado businessman’s whisky collection is set to fetch millions. There are more than 3,900 bottles on auction, some very rare.
Mary, Joseph, and Jesus are depicted as refugees in a nativity scene. A California church cast them as a family separated at the southern border.
Dance can treat depression and brain diseases. Our bodies are deeply interconnected with our minds.
A Chinese library held an old-fashioned book burning. The episode, widely criticized on Chinese social media, echoes a dark history of intellectual repression.
TikTok is trying to clean up its image in India. After authorities banned the app for allegedly spreading child porn, TikTok is promoting wholesome hashtags.
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