Election Aftermath, Gwen Ifill, and "Afghan Girl": The Week in Review

We get it, Wednesdays can be tough to get through. In an effort to keep up with the world’s ever-changing news landscape, we’ve put together the top 10 headlines from the week so you can stay on top of things.

1. Historic election aftermath: Trump’s cabinet, meeting with Obama

President-elect Donald J. Trump’s transition team is more than a month behind schedule and on a tight timeline.

Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey was replaced as chief of the transition by Vice President-elect Mike Pence. He was fired along with two officials who had been handling national security for the transition, former Representative Mike Rogers of Michigan and Matthew Freedman. The purge, orchestrated by Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump’s son-in-law and close adviser, a transition official said, was systematically dismissing people like Mr. Rogers who had ties with Mr. Christie. The disarray has left agencies virtually frozen, unable to communicate with the people tasked with replacing them and their staff.

Trump transition team officials were a no-show at the Pentagon, the Department of Energy, the Department of Transportation, and the Justice Department.

Many Republican lawyers and government officials who would have jumped at the opportunity to work in a GOP administration are balking at employment under Trump and his cabinet picks, this is particularly true for potential national security and intelligence officials.

2. Moon closest to Earth in almost 70 years

This month’s full moon came the closest to Earth that it has been since 1948. The full supermoon peaked November 14 at 8:52 a.m. EST, but it will still look “super” for about a day after its maximum.

The difference in size between the supermoon and other full moons can be difficult to see – it only appears about 14 percent larger than usual. December’s full moon will also be “super”, though less super than November’s full moon.

3. “Afghan Girl” Sharbat Gula to travel to India just weeks after arrest

Photographer Steve McCurry photographed her as a young girl living in the largest refugee camp in Pakistan, where almost three million Afghans sought shelter in the wake of the 1979 invasion by the Soviet Union.

Sharbat Gula was arrested by the Federal Investigation Agency of Pakistan on October 26 for forging a Pakistani National ID Card. She pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 15 days in jail and a fine of Rs 110,000. Following the sentence, the provincial government offered to stop her deportation from the country, but she refused to stay in Pakistan.

According to her lawyer, Gula, now in her 40s, suffers from Hepatitis C, and is now scheduled to travel to Bangalore to receive treatment.

4. Your text messages could be going to China

The security firm Kryptowire discovered that the software transmits the full contents of text messages, contact lists, call logs, location information and other data to a Chinese server. The code comes preinstalled on phones and the surveillance is not disclosed to users, said Tom Karygiannis, a vice president of Kryptowire. “Even if you wanted to, you wouldn’t have known about it,” he said.

The Chinese company that wrote the software, Shanghai Adups Technology Company, says its code runs on more than 700 million phones, cars and other smart devices. International customers and users of disposable or prepaid phones being most affected by the software.

It was not a bug. Adups intentionally designed the software to help a Chinese phone manufacturer monitor user behavior, according to a document that Adups provided to explain the problem to BLU executives. That version of the software was not intended for American phones, the company said.

5. Toblerone changes its shape, outrages ensues

The company was able to keep the bar’s original packaging and length, but reduce the amount of chocolate, by adding space between the triangles. The bars used to weigh 170g, now weigh 150 grams while the price remains the same. Customers are now getting roughly 10% less chocolate per bar.

“The new gappy-teeth Toblerone is yet another example of shrinkflation, where shrinking pack contents allows for a backdoor price rise,” said Ratula Chakraborty, a senior lecturer in retailing at the University of East Anglia. The sharp decline in the value of the British Pound after the UK’s vote to leave the EU, otherwise known as Brexit, has affected prices. Goods including cocoa are priced in dollars, and as a result production costs have increased drastically.

6. Legendary journalist Gwen Ifill passes away

The Tempest remembers veteran journalist and PBS news anchor Gwen Ifill, who was widely respected for her work in Political Journalism. Ifill passed away at the age of 61 on Monday after a long battle with endometrial cancer. She was also known for her extensive work with The New York Times and The Washington Post.

Ifill was a trailblazer in journalism who broke racial and gender barriers. Gwen and Judy Woodruff were the first women to serve as a co-anchor duo on the networks nightly news. She was the first African American woman to co-anchor a national broadcast and to moderate a Vice Presidential debate.

Gwen Ifill taught us the importance of taking a stand and being bold in our delivery.

7. Mannequin challenge sweeps internet in latest “craze”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8N-x_RaEwik

The Mannequin challenge is taking over the internet this week.

The challenge requires those involved to stand completely still while someone pans the camera through the group of people- as if walking through a picture. Most are set to Rae Sremmurd’s “Black Beatles.”

8. Post-election protests sweep across America as Hillary is revealed to have won the popular vote

After Donald Trump’s Presidential win left millions of Americans shocked, anti-Trump protests have spread across the country. Some of these protests are what some may call “peaceful;” thousands have taken to the streets to declare “Trump is not my President” and to “Dump the Trump.” In Portland, Oregon, what started as a demonstration turned into a riot, with 71 arrested and taken into custody.

A frighteningly significant spike in racially and ethnically-motivated hate crimes has swept across the nation as well. Over 300 reports of crimes have been reported just this week.

The results of the election has also called the fairness of the Electoral College into question.

9. Twitter finally takes a stand against hate speech

Words hurt, and ugly hate speech won’t be tolerated. Twitter finally decided to take a stand against hate speech this week, which some say is long overdue.

Twitter can be a place that serves as a trigger for many vulnerable people online. Activists and those outspoken about world events or racism have long been harassed by those hiding behind anonymous avi’s sending them racist, misogynistic, and hateful threats. This is a step forward for Twitter and hopefully other social media platforms take notice. Especially since hate speech has been at an all time high for many victims on Twitter.

10. Oklahoma city airport shooting – what we know

Yesterday, police decided to shut down an Oklahoma City airport after a deadly shooting. The victim of the attack was Michael Winchester, 52, an employee at the airport and father of a NFL player. Winchester was shot and killed in the airport employee parking lot. Apparently the shooter knew the victims work schedule and waited until he left work to act.

Southwest Airlines released a news statement about their sorrow for the loss of the companies family member. Twenty-five flights were canceled that day and other flights were scheduled to land at other airports.

“Perched on the fourth floor of a five-story parking garage, Lloyd Dean Buie, 45, used a rifle to shoot Southwest Airlines employee Michael Winchester, 52, from around 50 yards away, Oklahoma City Police Capt. Paco Balderrama said at a news conference.” – USA TODAY . Investigators believe that Lloyd acted out of anger due to his recent resignation.