Today’s Big Story

Nations Deadlock on Plastic’s Future

Delegates from more than 170 countries negotiated for a week but came up short on delivering a deal

Global talks to forge a landmark treaty aimed at reducing plastic pollution broke down after negotiators from more than 170 countries remained deadlocked over how to curb the world’s growing mountain of plastic waste. We all know that there’s a lot of plastic produced and thrown away, but according to the UN Environment Programme, the world produces more than 300 million tonnes of plastic waste each year.

About half of that waste is dumped into landfills, according to figures compiled by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Another 19 percent is incinerated, while less than 10 percent gets recycled. A little less than a quarter is mismanaged, with some of it ending up in rivers and oceans.

The treaty, with an aim of tackling worldwide plastic pollution, faced a hurdle due to negotiators not being able to get past the question of whether it should bring down the planet’s overall plastic use while also having mandatory controls for toxic chemicals that are used in the making of plastics, according to the Associated Press.

A study from earlier this year found that five companies are behind a quarter of the world’s plastic waste. Eleven percent of global branded plastic pollution came from Coca-Cola alone, according to researchers. Other major producers included PepsiCo, Nestlé, Danone and Altria.

The breakdown came after multiple late-night negotiations involving hundreds of diplomats as plastic industry officials and environmentalists watched from the sidelines in the hallways of the Busan Exhibition and Convention Center. The outcome underscores the difficulties in dialing back the use of a material that is ubiquitous and underpins a global multibillion-dollar industry. One notable obstacle that nations have faced in trying to pull the plastics treaty together is the requirement for the agreement of all nations on proposals that become a part of it.

Trump Picks Hardline Loyalist to Head FBI

John Bolton compares Kash Patel to Stalin's right-hand man

President-elect Trump announced over the weekend that he plans to replace FBI director Christopher Wray with Kash Patel, former chief of staff to the acting secretary of Defense. Patel is a hard-line critic of the bureau who has called for shutting down the agency’s Washington headquarters, firing its leadership and bringing the nation’s law enforcement agencies “to heel.”

Former national security adviser John Bolton called for the Senate to reject Trump's nomination of Patel, even comparing the move to Josef Stalin’s reign of terror. According to Fox News, Bolton's statement referenced Lavrentiy Beria, who was the head of the Soviet secret police under Stalin. Beria is one of the most infamous figures in Russian history, having organized and implemented widespread surveillance, repression, ethnic purges and terror during Stalin’s rule.

The Atlantic calls it a “constitutional crisis greater than Watergate.” And the New York Times says the announcement has echoes of his failed attempt to place another partisan firebrand, Matt Gaetz, atop the Justice Department as attorney general. And it’s sure to send shock waves through the FBI, which Trump and his allies have come to view as part of a “deep state” conspiracy against him.

The Arctic Blast

Winter weather continues to hammer the U.S., disrupting post-Thanksgiving travel

An “arctic blast” has brought snow, frost and dangerously cold winds to the northern Plains, Midwest and Great Lakes, creating “very difficult to impossible” travel conditions on one of the busiest days of the year, as millions of Americans head home from their Thanksgiving destinations. According to NBC News, more than 7 million people are under winter alerts across Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York, with some alerts expected to continue into Tuesday morning.

Several feet of heavy “lake-effect” snow covered swaths of the midwest, parts of Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York state. The lake-effect warnings in most of western New York are set to expire Sunday night through Monday, but have been extended in northeast Ohio and northwest Pennsylvania until Tuesday morning. The National Weather Service said Sunday that “travel could be difficult to impossible” in places where ongoing snowfall is forecast through the beginning of the week.

CNN says the cold will persist, as nearly 70% of the continental U.S. will feel the chill of temperatures below 32 degrees over the next few days. Some cities, including New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Minneapolis and Cincinnati, will experience below-average temperatures for the entire week.

Biden Pardons Hunter

The “full and unconditional” pardon comes despite previous pledges not to

President Joe Biden pardoned his son, Hunter, on Sunday night, sparing the younger Biden a possible prison sentence for federal felony gun and tax convictions and reversing his past promises not to use the extraordinary powers of the presidency for the benefit of his family.

In a statement issued by the White House, Biden said he had decided to issue the executive grant of clemency for his son “for those offenses against the United States which he has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from Jan. 1, 2014, through Dec. 1, 2024.” He said he made the decision because the charges against Hunter were politically motivated and designed to hurt him politically.

Biden said he came to the decision over the weekend, which coincided with the family being together in Nantucket, Massachusetts, for Thanksgiving. Presidents regularly sign pardons at the end of their terms. They rarely involve cases where their own family members are in the middle of the legal process. Hunter Biden, the first child of a sitting president to face criminal charges, was set to appear at sentencing hearings on Dec. 12 and 16.

The Long Read

Fat cells’ memory might affect your ability to lose weight

This will be a good month.