Everything you need to know about this week's political news

Behind on the latest political news after Thanksgiving break? The DP has you covered.

Local: 

The Philadelphia District Attorney created a task force this week to investigate hate crimes, legally termed as “ethnic intimidation,” in the city. The task force was largely a response to recent incidents, including the racist GroupMe messages sent to Penn students.

National: 

The Wisconsin recount that Jill Stein and her supporters petitioned for may begin on Thursday according to The New York Times. At the same time, the Michigan State Board certified the election results as a Trump victory, according to the Detroit Free Press. The Clinton campaign has recently announced that they will participate in the recount, and the announcement was met in turn by a series of tweets by President-elect Trump suggesting that voter fraud occurred in states won by Clinton. Based on the changes in final vote tallies in historic recounts, it’s highly unlikely the recount will affect the result of the election given a Trump victory by over 22,000 votes. 

President-elect Trump has also received attention this week for a tweet suggesting that burning the American flag should be illegal. CNN reports that such comments support policies that have been considered unconstitutional in the past in two Supreme Court cases.

International: 

The death of Fidel Castro has provoked mourning in Cuba and celebration from the Cuban American community in Miami according to BBC and marks the death of a dictator who survived more than 630 assassination attempts according to NBC. 

In France, center-right leader Francois Fillon won the French Republican Party nomination in a run-off election, and is expected to face Marine Le Pen and the National Front in the final round of the French Presidential election.