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Dec. 17, 2021, 8:48 a.m.

Dec. 17, 2021: News summary lesson — Senate approves sanctions against China for human rights abuses of Uighur Muslims

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Summary

In our news wrap Thursday evening, the death toll from last Friday's tornadoes in western Kentucky rose to 75 with 16 people still reported missing. Also, 12 members of a U.S. missionary group in Haiti have been freed two months after they were abducted, the Senate approved sanctions against China for abuses against Uighur Muslims, and factory output rose to its highest levels since January 2019. The fraud trial of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes is winding down in San Jose, California, with prosecutors telling the jury Thursday that Holmes lied about her blood-testing start-up's potential to attract billions of dollars in financing. Holmes denies the allegations.

Five Facts

Directions: Choose one or more of the stories to record the Five Facts questions as well as the focus and media literacy questions below.
  • Who are some of the individuals or groups of people mentioned in the news summary?
  • What stories are covered?
  • Where do some of the stories take place?
  • When did those stories occur?
  • Why did the event(s) take place?
*Bonus: How do you think the NewsHour's producers decided which stories made it into the news summary?

Focus Questions

The PBS NewsHour includes a number of international news stories in its broadcast. What international news stories were included in the news summary? Do you think knowing what's going on in different parts of the world is important? Why or why not? Does international news appeal to you? Why or why not? Media literacy : There are several stories in the news summary that have been reported on for years, including human rights abuses against the Uigher Muslims in China and the fraud trial of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes who the prosecution says lied about her blood-testing start-up's potential to attract billions of dollars in financing. If you wanted to research either of these topics, which one would you choose and why? How would you start going about your research?

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