By Sterling Alic, Senior Trump Cabinet Picks: What You Need to Know
Donald Trump, real-estate mogul and reality TV star turned Republican presidential nominee, is now President-elect Trump. This comes after a shocking upset victory that defied political norms and nearly all polls that had him trailing behind former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Now in the midst of transition, Trump has met with President Obama, contacted foreign leaders, and created a team to achieve his presidential agenda to “Make America Great Again.” Here are his picks so far: Attorney General: Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions Director of the CIA: Kansas Rep. Mike Pompeo National Security Advisor: Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn In his closer circle, Trump has also made two picks for White House Staff––Reince Priebus, the chairman of the RNC, as the Chief of Staff and Stephen Bannon, head of Breitbart News, as Chief Strategist and Senior Counselor (Trump’s pick of Bannon has also caused some outrage on social media, with some criticizing him for racist and sexist posts). In the meantime, while we wait for further cabinet picks to be announced, Trump has released a video on Youtube outlining his policy plan for the first 100 days. Click here to watch. WHO: Zika Virus No Longer An Emergency The WHO has lifted its declaration of a state of emergency, released nine months prior, for the Zika virus outbreak. This update to the earlier statement indicates that Zika is here to stay. The mosquito-borne virus, which has been linked to birth defects, is now in over 30 countries. Head of the WHO emergency committee on the virus, Dr. David Heymann, emphasizes that Zika still poses a “significant and enduring threat,” and the WHO will now focus its efforts on a long-term approach to combatting the virus in Latin America and the Caribbean. Japan Shook: 7.4-magnitude strikes near site of Fukushima disaster site A 7.4-magnitude earthquake hit northern Japan early Tuesday morning. The government has issued a tsunami warning on parts of the coastline, urging residents to seek higher ground. However, Japanese Minister for Disaster Management Jun Matsumoto has said that there have been no reports of deaths or significant injuries (one woman although sustained a head injury from falling dishes). This earthquake brings traumatic memories to one of Japan’s worst earthquakes, which was 1000 times more powerful than this most recent one. In 2011, a 9.0-magnitude earthquake struck near the same nuclear reactor, killing more than 20,000 people. It also triggered tsunamis of up to 40 feet that flooded the power plant and caused a nuclear meltdown. Fukushima, to this day, still has lingering effects on some of Japan’s residents and goes down as one of the costliest natural disasters recorded in history, even managing to shift Japan’s entire coastline 8 feet. Paris Attack Anniversary Nov. 13, 2015 Sirens blazing. 24-hour broadcasts reporting a higher death toll by the hour. Screams from crowds and sounds of explosions. That was the day that left a cacophonous scar in France’s history as one of pain, terror, and confusion. That was the day of the largest terrorist attacks in France’s post-war history, the day that ISIL terrorists systematically carried out an attack on Parisian street cafes and the Bataclan Music Hall. One year later, after all of this noise and confusion, only one sound permeated the large European city: a deafening silence. Thousands of people gathered to memorialize the victims of the attack, the 130 people massacred and over 300 injured. President Francois Hollande of France, too, remained silent. He quietly lifted the Tricolour to reveal the name the memorials, which an announcer read off one by one. There were other events throughout the day, including a Sting concert for the reopening of one of the halls where the attack occurred. During the concert, he told the audience that he had “two jobs: to remember those who lost their lives in the attack a year ago and to celebrate the life, music, which this historic concert hall represents.” And he ended the speech by saying, “We will never forget them.”
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