Good morning.
A highly anticipated ceasefire aimed at ending the 14-month-old war between Israel and Hezbollah officially came into effect early this morning, hours after Joe Biden hailed the “historic” moment. The ceasefire began at 4am in Lebanon after the heaviest day of raids on Beirut, including a series of strikes in the city’s centre, since Israel stepped up its air campaign in Lebanon in late September before sending in ground troops.
By 7am in Lebanon there were no immediate reports of alleged violations of the truce. Some celebratory gunshots could be heard in parts of Beirut’s southern suburbs. The Israeli army warned soon after the ceasefire began that residents of south Lebanon should not approach Israel Defense Forces positions and villages that its forces had ordered to be evacuated. However, the roads leading from Beirut to south Lebanon were filled with traffic.
What does the ceasefire stipulate? The resolution calls for the withdrawal of Hezbollah fighters north of the Litani River – about 18 miles from the Lebanon-Israel border – and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from south Lebanon.
Trump pick for US health agency proposed ‘herd immunity’ during Covid
Donald Trump announced his selections for a series of positions in his administration last night, including another high-level health official, nominating the Stanford academic and physician Jay Bhattacharya to lead the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Bhattacharya was an outspoken critic of the US government’s Covid policies during the pandemic, and published the Great Barrington Declaration in October 2020 which called for a return to life as normal for those who were less vulnerable to the virus.
The declaration – which came before the availability of Covid-19 vaccines – promoted “herd immunity”, the idea that when enough people in a population are immune to the virus, it can’t find a new host. Many people suggested this would happen if the virus was simply allowed to spread, rather than be contained through lockdowns. The proposal was embraced by some in the first Trump administration, including Trump himself, who mistakenly referred to it as “herd mentality”.
What other views does Bhattacharya hold? He has questioned the safety of vaccines, testified against the effectiveness of face masks, and argued that NIH officials should not be involved with scientific policy.
Has Trump tapped people with direct ties to Project 2025? Many. For example, Trump’s nominee to chair the Federal Communications Commission wrote the chapter on the FCC in Project 2025.
Catholic priest in Florida accused of sexual assault fathered children of victims, court hears
A Roman Catholic priest who is facing criminal charges for allegedly abusing his position of authority within the church to pursue sex with vulnerable women fathered at least two children with them, authorities have alleged.
Odiong requested a reduction of the $5.5m bail on which he is being held. But a judge denied that request after prosecutors established Odiong had communicated plans to flee to his native Nigeria if he were released – while simultaneously airing the most complete account yet about the alleged double life he had built.
What evidence was presented at the hearing? DNA tests concluded there was a more than 99.99% chance that Odiong was the “father of offspring who was created as a direct result of [a] sexual assault … committed against a known survivor” in the US.
In other news …
South Korea’s capital has been blanketed by what the weather agency said was the heaviest November snowfall since records began more than a century ago.
Teenagers are facing wide-ranging new restrictions over the use of beauty filters on TikTok. Amid concern at rising anxiety and falling self-esteem, under-18s will soon be blocked from artificially making their eyes bigger, plumping their lips and smoothing or changing their skin tone.
Brazil came within a whisker of a far-right military coupto keep the rightwing populist Jair Bolsonaro in power in January 2023, a federal police report has claimed.
Plans to slash Berlin’s culture budget have led to outrage, with leading venues saying they have been forced to cut performances and others warning it will bankrupt them.
Don’t miss this: How an Indigenous man was made the public face of an atrocity
In 2004, 29 people who had come to prospect for diamonds were killed by members of the Cinta Larga tribe in Brazil’s Amazon basin. The story shocked the country – but the truth of what happened is still being fought over, as Alex Cuadros reports in his investigation into how an Indigenous man who did not perpetrate the massacre was made the public face of the atrocity.
… or this: The treasure hunt book is back – and it’s bigger than ever
John Collins-Black has kicked off what he believes to be the largest real-world treasure hunt in US history, for a trove worth several million dollars. He has hidden five boxes – one containing “the lion’s share”, and four smaller ones – across five US states, publishing a new book as a 243-page treasure map containing the origin stories of each item and clues about how to find them.
Climate check: The ranchers trying to halt the devastation caused by Bolivia’s cattle farms
Bolivia has the third-highest rate of loss of primary forest in the world, after Brazil and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This year, fires burned more than 10m hectares (24.7m acres) – an area larger than Portugal. A recent report found that ranching was responsible for 57% of all deforestation in Bolivia between 2010 and 2022. Can two sets of pioneers succeed in their aim to make the industry more sustainable?
Last Thing: The short, painful life of your Thanksgiving turkey
The ever-increasing demand for turkey in the US, coupled with modern breeding, have transformed turkeys. They have been bred to put on weight quickly, and at slaughter, the average turkey today weighs almost twice as much as turkeys did in 1960. The philosopher Peter Singer explains how the birds, which are bred for maximum breast meat, suffer.
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