By: Molly Weisner
With all the news channels, apps and political retweets that bombard us on a daily basis, it’s difficult in this day and age to be isolated from breaking news. Even so, it’s not in everyone’s schedule to sit down and really read current events. So in case you missed them, here are the most influential news stories from this past December.
HOSTAGE HORROR: Government officials in Sydney, Australia were holding their breath as an armed man held 17 citizens hostage in a downtown cafe. From December 15th to the 16th, the hostages remained locked in for 16 hours until 6 were released unharmed. Soon after, gunshots were heard and police rushed into the building to find three killed, including the gunman himself. He was later identified as Haron Monis, an Iranian native with an extensive criminal background.
CHRISTMAS CASH-IN: The recently released movie The Interview earned $1 million on Christmas day, earning itself the title of fastest grossing movie for on-demand viewing. Although Sony was hammered with cyber-threats by the North Korean government upon the movie’s debut, tickets were sold out in numerous theaters nationwide as Americans flocked to see what all the talk was about.
MOURNING FOR THE MURDERED: On December 20th, two NYPD police officers were shot point blank while in their squad car in Brooklyn. The assassin, Ismaiiyl Brinsley, walked right up to the police car window and repeatedly shot Officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos in the head and upper body. Authorities confirmed that Brinsley had intended to travel to New York City with the motive to assassinate local officers after having shot his girlfriend in Baltimore. Supposedly Brinsley’s actions were out of revenge for the Eric Garner and Michael Brown case.
SLEEP TIGHT, DON’T LET DEFLATION BITE: Consumer prices fell to an all-time low in Europe on Wednesday, December 31st. Since the worldwide recession began in 2009, countries of the Eurozone (including Germany, Spain, France, Italy and Greece, among others) had rather stable economies, until suddenly negative values showed up in the December EU Statistic report. These losses put extra strain on the European Central Bank to avoid exponentially-decaying prices that would throw Europe’s economy in turmoil and would force many businesses to lower prices. Employment rates have also been dropping, and the Euro’s value has plummeted to the lowest it has been in nine years. Economists predict the central bank will implement “quantitative easing” tactics and fiscal policies to increase demand.
MESS-UPS MADE RIGHT: On December 31st, a jury in eastern China ruled that six major Chinese companies would have to pay sums of nearly $26 million for allegations of spilling acid waste into major water bodies. Pollution is an up-and-becoming issue among the Chinese population as more people are taking responsibility for the toxins being pumped into Earth’s ecosystems and atmosphere. While nearly 60% of areas in China have been dubbed “very poor” or “relatively poor in terms of environment health,” it’s a breath of fresh air (literally) to see changes being made for cleaner land, water and air.
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