TOM CLARK: Something in the street

The last two weeks have seen the fiercest bombardments yet of Aleppo's rebel-held districts. Those still inside describe chaos and intense crowding in some areas as people scramble for shelter. They said wounded people and bodies were left in the streets with no one to help them. Here, what is believed to be the charred body of a rebel fighter can be seen on a street in retaken Bab al-Hadid.: photo by George Ourfalian/Agence France-Presse, 9 December 2016

We are dying a day and everyone is silent: tweet via baraa al halabi @baraaalhalabi, 8 December 2016

Medics and the ill are suffocating in Kalasah after regime drops chlorine-filled barrel bombs on field clinic in the besieged Aleppo district: tweet via Hadi @HadiAlabdallah, 9 December 2016

The UN confirms what all of us feared - 100s of men and boys are “missing” after crossing/withdrawing into #Assad regime territory of #Aleppo: tweet via Charles Lister @Charles_Lister, 9 December 2016

We'll stay, We will not leave our homes, We don't want to leave for those who come to occupy it #Aleppo Goodnight: image via Ahmad Alkhatib @AhmadAlkhtiib, 9 December 2016

Again from East #Aleppo, With All the Darkness of this war, Still there's Love My beloved city Aleppo: image via Ahmad Alkhatib @AhmadAlkhtiib, 9 December 2016

Residents fleeing the violence in Aleppo, Syria, gather at a government checkpoint in the city on Thursday: photo by Youssef Karwashan/Agence France-Press, 9 December 2016

Residents fleeing the violence in Aleppo, Syria, gather at a government checkpoint in the city on Thursday: photo by Youssef Karwashan/Agence France-Press, 9 December 2016

Hundreds of Syrian men are missing after escaping from rebel-held parts of Aleppo, U.N. says: image via New York Times World @nytimesworld, 9 December 2016

#Syria Residents fleeing the violence gather at a checkpoint, manned by pro-government forces in Maysaloun #Aleppo Photo by @YoussefKarwashan: image via Aurelia BAILLY @AureliaBAILLY, 9 December 2016

#Syria Residents fleeing the violence gather at a checkpoint, manned by pro-government forces in Maysaloun #Aleppo Photo by @YoussefKarwashan: image via Aurelia BAILLY @AureliaBAILLY, 9 December 2016

#Syria Residents fleeing the violence gather at a checkpoint, manned by pro-government forces in Maysaloun #Aleppo #AFP Photo by @YoussefKarwashan: image via Aurelia BAILLY @AureliaBAILLY, 9 December 2016

#Syria Damaged buildings in old #Aleppo Jdeideh neighbourhood today #AFP Photo by George Ourfalian: image via Aurelia BAILLY @AureliaBAILLY, 9 December 2016

#Syria Pro-government forces walks past a makeshift barricade made of wreckages of buses in Bab al-Nasr #Aleppo #AFP Photo George Ourfalian: image via Aurelia BAILLY @AureliaBAILLY, 9 December 2016

U.N. General Assembly demands truce in Syria, end to Aleppo siege: image via Reuters Top News @Reuters, 9 December 2016

UNGA votes overwhelmingly (122 — 13) to pass resolution to stop bombing, protect civilians and let aid into #Syria via @MatthewRycroft1: via Charles Lister @Charles_Lister, 9 December 2016

#Serbia #migrants warm up at a makeshift shelter at an abandoned warehouse in Belgrade #AFP Photo by @iandrej: image via Aurelia BAILLY @AureliaBAILLY, 9 December 2016

#India Kashmiri youths play football on a cold and foggy day in Srinagar #AFP Photo by @TauseefMUSTAFA: image via Aurelia BAILLY @AureliaBAILLY, 9 December 2016

#Pakistan A man walks past a horse and cart during fog in Lahore #AFP Photo by Aref Ali: image via Aurelia BAILLY @AureliaBAILLY, 9 December 2016

#Paris aujourd'hui. La preuve de la nécessité de réduire la place de la voiture en centre-ville #pollution: image via Anne Hidalgo @Anne Hidalgo, 6 December 2016

#France Doctors urge action over pollution levels @AFP @afpfr #Paris The #eiffeltower in the smog #AFP Photo by Thomas Samson: image via Aurelia BAILLY @AureliaBAILLY, 9 December 2016

#smog and #fog. Pic de #pollution sur #lyon @CanonFrance @Manfrotto_fr @TourrIncity @auvergnerhalpes @leprogreslyon @AFPLyon: image via Anthony XAVIER @AnthoXav, 7 December 2016

We're going to set the world on fire

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump removes his coat as he speaks during a ''Thank You USA'' tour rally in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, U.S.: photo by Mike Segar/Reuters, 9 December 2016

Trump team memo on climate change alarms Energy Department staff: Timothy Gardner / Reuters, WASHINGTON, 9 December 2016

President-elect Donald Trump's Energy Department transition team sent the agency a memo this week asking for the names of people who have worked on climate change and the professional society memberships of lab workers, alarming employees and advisors.The memo sent to the Energy Department on Tuesday and seen by Reuters on Friday, contains 74 questions including a request for a list of all department employees and contractors who attended the annual global climate talks hosted by the United Nations within the last five years.

It asked for a list of all department employees or contractors who have attended any meetings on the social cost of carbon, a measurement that federal agencies use to weigh the costs and benefits of new energy and environment regulations. It also asked for all publications written by employees at the department's 17 national laboratories for the past three years.

"This feels like the first draft of an eventual political enemies list," said a Department of Energy employee, who asked not to be identified because he feared a reprisal by the Trump transition team.

"When Donald Trump said he wanted to drain the swamp it apparently was just to make room for witch hunts and it's starting here at the DOE and our 17 national labs," the employee said.

Trump transition team officials declined to comment on the memo, which was first reported by Bloomberg.

Republican Trump, a New York businessman and former reality TV star who has never previously held public office, said during his election campaign that climate change was a hoax perpetrated by China to damage U.S. manufacturing. He said he would rip up last year's landmark global climate deal struck in Paris that was signed by Democratic President Barack Obama.

Since winning the Nov. 8 election, however, Trump has confused observers by saying he will keep an "open mind" about the Paris deal. He also met with former Vice President Al Gore, a strong advocate for action on climate change.

Contenders to head the Energy Department under Trump include Kevin Cramer, a Republican U.S. representative from oil producing North Dakota, Senator Heidi Heitkamp, a Democrat from the same state, and Joe Manchin, a Democrat from coal-producing West Virginia.

The memo also asked for the names of the 20 top salaried employees at the department's labs, and a list of all websites maintained or contributed to by lab staff during work hours.

A list of projects at the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy which funds research into high risk clean energy projects that could revolutionize energy markets, was also requested.

"They're certainly sending an aggressive signal here with some of these questions and they need to be careful," said Dan Reicher, a professor at Stanford University who also serves as an advisor to U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz.

"I worry about some of the questions being sent that could unnecessarily alienate key career staff, because they need the career staff and lab professionals to get the daily work done," said Reicher.

The Energy Department employs more than 90,000 people working on nuclear weapons maintenance and research labs, nuclear energy, advanced renewable energy, batteries and climate science.

Two sources at the Environmental Protection Agency, where many climate regulations are formed, said no similar memo has been sent to that agency by the Trump administration.

Democratic Senator Edward Markey of Massachusetts warned the Trump transition team about taking actions against any employees named in any response the department might send.

"Any politically motivated inquisition against federal civil servants who, under the direction of a previous administration, carried out policies that you now oppose," would call into question the Trump team's commitment to the rule of law and a peaceful transition, Markey said in a letter to Trump.

Exxon Mobil Corp Chief Executive Officer Rex Tillerson emerged on Friday as President-elect Donald Trump's leading candidate for U.S. secretary of state, a senior transition official said.Trump met Tillerson on Tuesday and may talk to him again over the weekend, the official said. Trump appears to be in the final days of deliberations over his top diplomat with an announcement possible next week.

Tillerson's favored status was revealed as former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani formally withdrew from consideration for secretary of state.

The transition official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Tillerson, 64, had moved ahead in Trump's deliberations over 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, who has met Trump twice, including at a dinner in New York.

But the official said Romney was still under consideration for the job, along with John Bolton, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations; U.S. Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee, and retired Navy Admiral James Stavridis.

Giuliani's withdrawal came after he was fully vetted by the Trump transition team for his overseas business ties in what was described by the Trump official as an "intense" effort by lawyers and accountants.

Giuliani, who runs a global consulting firm, was given a clean bill of health, with Trump's aides concluding his business interests would not pose a risk to his confirmation.

Should Tillerson be nominated, his business ties, too, will come under scrutiny. Exxon Mobil has operations in more than 50 countries and boasts that it explores for oil and natural gas on six continents.

In 2011, Exxon Mobil signed a deal with Rosneft, Russia's largest state-owned oil company, for joint oil exploration and production. Since then, the companies have formed 10 joint ventures for projects in Russia.

In 2013, Russian President Vladimir Putin awarded Tillerson his nation's Order of Friendship.

But U.S. sanctions against Russia for its incursion into Crimea cost Exxon Mobil dearly, forcing it to scrap some projects and costing it at least $1 billion in losses. Tillerson has been a vocal critic of the sanctions.

Trump has spoken of wanting warmer relations with Moscow, which has sparked concerns in Congress that he could lift or loosen some of the sanctions on Russia.

Tillerson has been chairman and CEO of Exxon Mobil since 2006. He is expected to retire from the company next year.

Should Tillerson be nominated, climate change could be another divisive issue. The company is under investigation by the New York Attorney General's Office for allegedly misleading investors, regulators and the public on what it knew about global warming.

#China A woman walks past a property advertisement billboard in #Beijing #AFP Photo by @NAsfouri: image via Aurelia BAILLY @AureliaBAILLY, 9 December 2016

A walkway in the old T.W.A. Flight Center at Kennedy International Airport in Queens, where a $265 million overhaul, including a new 300-room hotel, is planned: photo by Angel Franco/The New York Times, 9 December 2016

An ill orangutan rests at an International Animal Rescue clinic in Indonesia. Destruction of rain forests in neighboring Malaysia, financed in part by American banks, is robbing orangutans of their habitat.: photo by Kemal Jufri for The New York Times, 9 December 2016

Members of French special police forces of Research and Intervention Brigade (BRI) take part in a mock terrorist attack inside the European Council building in Brussels, Belgium: photo by Francois Lenoir/Reuters, 9 December 2016