Japan’s Plane Crash, Claudine Gay Resigns, & Realistic Fake Meat
January 3, 2024
Hello readers! Today we’re talking about a plane tragedy in Japan, the death of a Hamas leader, a new Russian airstrike, Turkey arresting spies, why Lauren Boebert has to switch districts, Harvard President Claudine Gay’s resignation, and how we might make fake meat taste real.
Here’s some good news. Breton, the 1,400-pound, 13-foot great white shark, pinged off the Florida coast near Daytona Beach. Breton has been tracked for years by OCEARCH, and went viral in 2022 after his tag pings formed a portrait of a shark outline in coastal waters. Also, the U.S. Energy Information Agency released data that found all carbon-emissions-free sources combined accounted for roughly 40% of U.S. electricity production.
Hunting Down Hamas’ Heads
- Hamas says Saleh Al Arouri, deputy head of the group’s political bureau, was killed by “a treacherous Zionist airstrike in Beirut” on Tuesday. The blast from the strike reportedly killed at least four others in the suburb of al-Mushrifiyyeh, located just outside the Lebanese capital. Protests broke out in Ramallah in response to the airstrike.
- “We call on the concerned countries to put pressure on Israel to stop its targeting. We also warn against the Israeli political level resorting to exporting its failures in Gaza to the southern [Lebanese] border,” wrote Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati on X (fka Twitter). “It has become clear to everyone near and far that the decision to go to war is in the hands of Israel, and what is required is to deter it and stop its aggression.”
- Al Arouri was born in the Ramallah district of the West Bank, and was a founding member of the Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ armed military wing in the West Bank. He was considered a key part in arming the brigades, and was reportedly the leader of Hamas in the West Bank up until his death. He was deported by Israel in 2010, and moved around the Middle East before eventually settling in Lebanon.
A Tragedy In Tokyo
- Japan experienced its second tragedy in two days on Tuesday as a passenger plane collided with a Japanese Coast Guard aircraft at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport. Both planes burst into flames shortly after the collision, killing five people on the Coast Guard plane, but all 379 people aboard Japan Airlines flight JAL-516 survived. The Coast Guard plane was about to take off to deliver aid to Japan’s west coast, which experienced a magnitude 7.6 earthquake just one day ago.
- JAL crew members received praise for evacuating the entire flight within minutes, saving hundreds of lives. Officials are still looking into communication between aviation control officials and the two planes to determine the cause of the crash.
- Besides being a terrible accident for a country already on edge following Monday’s earthquake, the incident marks the first time an Airbus A350 plane has sustained this level of damage. This is important because the A350’s fuselages are made of carbon-composite fibers instead of the usual aluminum skins, meaning the accident was a key test for the safety of the new technology, but luckily, the fuselage lasted long enough to evacuate everybody on board before parts of the plane eventually collapsed.
Relentless Russia
- On Tuesday, Russia sent a new wave of artillery fire at Ukraine’s two largest cities in response to Ukrainian airstrikes on the Russian city of Belgorod on Monday. Ukraine says Tuesday’s attacks killed five people in Kyiv and Kharkiv and injured 135.
- The air exchange between the two countries began on December 29, when Russia launched its biggest air attack in the war, killing at least 39 Ukrainians across multiple cities. “The trajectories have been specially calculated by the enemy to cause as much damage as possible,” said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Rescue operations are continuing, and crews are working to repair power supplies. The spike in air attacks has caused Ukraine to ask the West for more military aid.
Turkey Pecks Out The Moles
- Turkey’s government says it’s detained 34 people who it claims were Israeli spies. Turkish officials said that a total of 57 residences were raided as part of “Operation Mole,” and 12 suspects are still at large. Istanbul claims that the individuals were all working with Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency and that they were involved in spying and planning abductions.
- Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya claimed that Mossad was seeking to execute “tactical tasks such as reconnaissance, pursuit, assault, and kidnapping against foreign nationals residing in our country,” but Israel has yet to comment on the arrests. Relations between the two countries have severely degraded since last October, especially because Turkey doesn’t classify Hamas as a terrorist organization and maintains relations with the militant organization to this day. As part of Israel’s war with Hamas, the country has stated that it will target Hamas leaders wherever they are located.
Additional World News
- Denmark’s Crown Princess Mary to become first Australian-born Queen (CNN)
- Iran rejects US and UK calls to end support for Houthi Red Sea attacks (Guardian)
- South Korean opposition leader is stabbed in the neck. Police say attacker approached for autograph (AP)
- Turkey says UK minehunters can’t be sent to Ukraine (Politico)
- Somalia vows to defend sovereignty after Ethiopia-Somaliland deal (Guardian)
“The most glorious moments in your life are not the so-called days of success, but rather those days when out of dejection and despair you feel rise in you a challenge to life, and the promise of future accomplishments.” – Gustave Flaubert
Lauren Boebert vs $1,500: Who Would Win?
- Over the holidays, Colorado’s infamous Republican Representative Lauren Boebert announced that she’d be switching districts ahead of her attempted reelection in 2024. Boebert appeared on Steve Bannon’s podcast over the weekend to explain the decision and place blame where it belongs – on two of Hollywood’s most beloved celebrities!
- Threats to her power are “coming from Hollywood when you have Barbra Streisand coming in and donating to the Democrat, when you have Ryan Reynolds coming in and donating to the Democrat.” Boebert’s opponent, Adam Frisch, received a $1,000 donation from Streisand in April and a $500 contribution from Reynolds in March.
Ms. President’s Scholarly Misconduct
- Harvard University President Claudine Gay announced her resignation on Tuesday after a particularly rough month. The resignation comes amid allegations of plagiarism in Gay’s work and, more notably, after backlash over her response to questions about antisemitism on U.S. college campuses at a congressional hearing last month. Gay was the first person of color and the second woman to serve as president of the school.
- Gay appeared before Congress with the University of Pennsylvania’s then-President Liz Magill (who resigned shortly after her testimony) and MIT President Sally Kornbluth. Last month, Gay also requested an independent investigation into claims of her plagiarizing. The results revealed a few instances of “inadequate citation” but “no violation of Harvard’s standards of research misconduct,” according to the Harvard Corporation.
Additional USA Reads
- Chinese teenager found alive in Utah woods after ‘cyber-kidnapping scam’ (Guardian)
- Hundreds of migrants dropped off in New Jersey, bypassing New York City restrictions (CNN)
- Trump forgoes CNN debate in favor of Fox town hall (Politico)
- Man breaks into Colorado Supreme Court overnight and opens fire, police say (CNN)
- Republicans spend over $100 million on Iowa ads, with more to come (NBC)
- No evidence of terrorism found yet in deadly New Year’s crash near Rochester, New York, concert venue (ABC)
Excuse Me, Is This Tofurky Kosher?
- At this point, we’ve all at least seen some plant-based meat-substitute in action, whether it’s in the form of tempeh, a soy sausage patty, or even a full-on Impossible Burger. And despite your vegan friend’s insistence that plant protein is “just like meat for real,” we can all probably tell the difference between some soy in the shape of a burger and a real, perfectly-cooked T-bone steak.
- Luckily for us, one company is trying to make plant-based proteins a little closer to real meat in an unconventional way – inserting pig genes into soybean plants to make their beans taste meatier. Moolec Science, owned by the heir to one of Argentina’s biggest meat producers, is a molecular farming firm dedicated to genetically modifying plants to grow animal proteins without the hassle of handling livestock.
- The company’s soybeans, an early prototype still in the trial stages, are a step closer to pork than you’d expect – apparently, they have a pink hue, taste meatier than normal soybeans, and a quarter of their proteins resemble those found in pigs. Of course, there are all the normal issues associated with genetically modified crops (plus the idea of blood squirting out of a soybean isn’t very appealing), but one day you might be eating a nice ground pork ragu grown entirely out of plant material – and hopefully you wouldn’t be able to tell.
Additional Reads
- Peter Magubane, a South African photographer who captured 40 years of apartheid, dies at age 91 (AP)
- ESPN apologizes for showing video of woman flashing breast during Sugar Bowl (ABC)
- These twins were born just 3 minutes apart – but in different years (USA Today)
- Hack, rizz, slay and other cringe-worthy words to avoid in 2024 (NPR)
- Green Day changes lyric to hit out at Trump in New Year’s Eve performance (Guardian)
- Second suspect arrested in theft of Banksy stop sign artwork featuring military drones (AP)