President Joe Biden passed a bill on Dec. 2 to block rail strikes after businesses and retailers rushed to prepare for an expected freight rail strike of 100,000 union members. The effects of this strike would have been monumental, from price increases to fuel shortages. Congress was attempting to prevent this strike before it was too late.
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Protests have erupted in major cities across China in opposition to the Chinese government’s strict “zero-COVID” policy. The unrest comes after 10 people were killed in a house fire in the city of Urumqi as a result of lockdown rules interfering with rescue efforts, as reported by the BBC.
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This year’s annual G20 summit aimed to address the war in Ukraine, American-Chinese trade relationship and economic struggles following the recent pandemic. Although discussions took place revolving around these topics, only a few agreements were made.
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Republicans took a narrow majority of the House of Representatives following what many expected to be a “red wave” in the Midterms, which ended up being much more reserved.
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The battle for control of Congress remains up in the air for the House of Representatives as a handful of contests remain uncalled. The fight for House majority appears to be favorable for the Republicans, as the GOP only needs five more seats to overcome the Democrats’ narrow majority, according to CBS News.
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Although not all ballots have been counted, most governor elections have been called with a few exceptions. Democrats flipped Massachusetts, Arizona and Maryland, and Republicans flipped Nevada.
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Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi, was assaulted at his San Francisco home on Oct. 28. David DePape, 42, has been charged with six counts relating to the attack, including attempted murder, burglary, assault, false imprisonment and threatening the family member of a public official. He has pleaded not guilty to all counts.
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Ukrainian forces began advancing through the key city of Kherson on Nov. 11 as Russian forces retreated, signifying a major victory for Kyiv. They encountered little to no resistance as they reclaimed the city that had experienced months of Russian occupation, according to CNN. Kherson was the only regional capital that was captured by Moscow since the initial invasion in February.
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NASA’s Artemis Ⅰ mission has once again been delayed due to hazardous weather conditions. Originally meant to launch Nov. 14, the rocket will now be prepared for Nov. 16. The Artemis mission is the first step of the greater Orion mission, in which NASA will launch a rocket to and from the moon with hopes of eventually sending more people to the moon.
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The conservative-majority Supreme Court heard cases on Oct. 31 regarding college admissions using race as an admissions factor and conveyed skepticism on whether affirmative action is necessary and legal, according to USA Today. The outcome of these cases will have a broader impact on college admissions but could apply to the workplace as well.
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Student loans may be relieved with President Joe Biden’s new plan for forgiving up to $10,000 in student loan debt for people earning less than $125,000 a year, as well as up to $20,000 for people who have received Pell Grants. These reforms are planned to be implemented in July 2023; however, they were blocked by a federal appeals court after six states sued the Biden Administration.
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Prime Minister Liz Truss announced her resignation after a short 44 days in office, the shortest tenure in the last 300 years of British history, according to AP. Her term was marked by economic turmoil after the introduction of her tax cut plan aimed at the highest earners and biggest corporations in the country, rocking financial markets and resulting in rebellion within her own Conservative party. Former finance minister under Boris Johnson’s premiership, Rishi Sunak, is set to take over as the leader of the Conservative Party.
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Xi Jinping secured a third five-year term as President of China at the National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party on Oct. 23, according to NPR. This caused a major sell-off of stocks in China as a “$6 trillion stock-market blowup,” according to Bloomberg.
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In a September study, researchers at Florida State University studied the effects that Covid-19 had on individuals’ personalities from the early-to-late-stage pandemic. They found significant changes in personality, especially in younger people. Other studies have produced similar results, and millions of people may be out of work due to Long Covid.
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Protests have erupted across Iran in opposition to the country’s authoritarian regime led by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, after the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who was arrested by the morality police in Tehran. She allegedly did not wear her headscarf the right way, which violated the dress code mandated for Iranian women, according to Newsweek.
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After months of unknown and harrowing effects, monkeypox cases have finally begun to decline. For more than two months, cases have been declining, as reported by the Ohio Capital Journal. This is possibly due to both an easily accessible vaccine and more information about the disease itself.
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On Oct. 4, the Supreme Court heard arguments in a case that could have major implications for the 1965 Voting Rights Act, a landmark piece of legislation for civil rights. This case is just one in a long series of cases regarding the Voting Rights Act.
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For the first time in five years, North Korea has test-launched an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) over the island of Japan that landed about 3000 kilometers east of Japan in the Pacific Ocean, traveling farther than ever before, according to the Guardian. This action was poorly received by the leaders of prominent powers, including the United States, South Korea and Japan.
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Thousands of Russians are fleeing their country in an attempt to avoid being drafted into the ongoing invasion of Ukraine. This comes after Russian President Vladamir Putin’s orders to mobilize in his failing war caused many people to protest in opposition, with some protests turning violent. Furthermore, according to the New York Times, Putin has announced Russia’s annexation of four Ukrainian provinces, or some 40,000 square miles of eastern and southern Ukraine, including Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.
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The recent spacecraft crash from NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission was met with cheer and excitement rather than the usual disappointment that follows an event like this. Why? The crash was intentional.
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