1…………> Interstellar Messenger: Get Ready
As a mysterious cigar-shaped disk, the first known interstellar object that is about to pass through our solar system, scientists will be using the Green Bank telescope, the world’s largest fully steerable radio telescope located in West Virginia to listen to the object for radio transmissions, part of a test to determine if it was made by aliens.
2…………> Lights Of Peace: Brandenburg Gate
Just days after President Trump recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, barricades, riot police, dozens of police vehicles, a water cannon and thorough bag searches were part increased security at the traditional lighting of the Hanukkah menorah at the Brandenburg Gate this year in the wake of anti-Semitic protests over the weekend, during which Palestinians and Arabs burned Israeli flags.
“We stand here at Pariser Platz, a site which was the center of darkness during the era of National Socialism,” said Rabbi Yehuda Teichtal, who heads Berlin’s Chabad Lubavitch Jewish Educational Center and is the rabbi of the Jewish Community of Berlin, “to light the Hanukkah menorah, so that we can symbolically bring light into the darkness. It is exactly at this site that we want to say that we seek a positive and tolerant society.”
http://p.dw.com/p/2pFSY
3…………> Applied Global Warming: Ice Melt
A new study by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and the British Antarctic Survey has determined that melting ice shelves can have a knock-on effect on ice flows, accelerating inland ice melt and pushing up the sea level.
“Ice shelves are highly important. They can buttress the ice flow from the continent into the ocean,” Ronja Reese, lead author of the study and researcher at PIK, told DW. Erosion of ice shelves that regulate the flow means more water ends up in the ocean.
http://p.dw.com/p/2pCis
4…………> Air Patrols: China
A Chinese air force formation conducted a regular patrol exercise that passed the Bashi Channel and Miyako Strait, an air force spokesperson confirmed Tuesday. The formation consisted of H-6K bombers, Su-30 and J-11 fighters, reconnaissance aircraft, early warning aircraft and tanker aircraft, said Shen Jinke, spokesman for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force, at a meeting of senior air force officers.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2017-12/13/c_136821177.htm
5………….> State Memorial Day: Nanjing Massacre
Photo taken on Dec. 13, 2017 shows the scene of state memorial ceremony for China’s National Memorial Day for Nanjing Massacre Victims at the memorial hall for the massacre victims in Nanjing, east China’s Jiangsu Province.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2017-12/13/c_136822348.htm
6…………> Let Me Hold Your Hand: Tillerson
In a sign of increased flexibility by President Trump after China indicated that will intercede should a war breaks in the Korean peninsula due to reciprocal defense agreements, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that Washington is willing to begin talks with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) without preconditions.
“We’re ready to have the first meeting without preconditions,” Tillerson told a policy forum at the Atlantic Council, a Washington think tank. He noted that the dialogue is possible whenever Pyongyang is ready.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2017-12/13/c_136821151.htm