Devastation in Syria, Cybersecurity, The Evolution of Glam

Coming up on today’s show:

• Though civilians are being evacuated, devastation and destruction continues in Aleppo. Basel Marshall was once a college student in Aleppo. Originally from Raqqa, this 24-year-old successfully made it to Germany last year. As he watches his homeland be destroyed from afar, he shares his story with The Takeaway.

• On Thursday, President-elect Donald Trump was supposed to hold a press conference with his family to address his many business conflicts of interest. Instead, he postponed that announcement, and took to Twitter to inform journalists that no new deals would be made. We look at how Trump’s business ties are already jeopardizing U.S. interests with Matthew T. Sanderson, a lawyer and Republican who has worked on the presidential campaigns of Senators John McCain and Rand Paul, and Governor Rick Perry.

• The U.S. Department of Education has sent representatives to Edinburg, Texas to evaluate whether the Texas Education Agency deliberately kept a certain percentage of students out of special education services. Bill Zeeble, a reporter for KERA in North Texas, has the details. 

• The Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate on Wednesday. It’s just the second time in a decade that the fed has raised rates. Charlie Herman, business and culture editor for WNYC, discusses the Fed’s decision and what this means for the economy under a Trump administration.

• Yesterday, Yahoo announced that over 1 billion of its user accounts had been compromised in 2013. For more on this hack we turn to Kim Zetter, a journalist and author covering cyber security for publications like WIRED, The Washington Post, and The Intercept, and other publications.

• Simon Reynolds, music journalist and author of the new book “Shock and Awe: Glam Rock and Its Legacy, from the Seventies to the Twenty-First Century” explores the evolution and cultural impact of glam.