Tuesday,  November 23rd, 2021 

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, a former soldier, announces that he will lead his country’s army from the battlefront beginning tomorrow. (The Washington Post) 

Ridley Scott blames his last movie bombing on ‘audiences who were brought up on these f—ing cell phones’ Why did Ridley Scott’s latest movie, The Last Duel, tank at the box office despite earning great reviews? He’s got a theory. The legendary director appeared on the WTF podcast and discussed the fact that his most recent film, starring Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, was a huge box office disappointment, arguing it wasn’t because Disney dropped the ball on the marketing. Instead, Scott said, “I think what it boils down to — what we’ve got today [are] the audiences who were brought up on these f—ing cell phones.” He went on to bemoan millennials who “do not ever want to be taught anything unless you told it on the cell phone.” Scott is currently promoting his second movie to debut this fall, House of Gucci starring Lady Gaga. Will the Little Monsters turn out for it and prove Scott wrong, or will he go off even harder on moviegoers in a few weeks? Stay tuned.  THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 

Retailers start Black Friday sales early to counter supply, staffing problems Major retailers are spreading out “Black Friday,” offering discounts through November to soften the blow from supply-chain disruptions and a shortage of workers. Walmart said Monday it had already started offering price cuts that typically hit on the day after Thanksgiving. The world’s largest retailer, which said it would close stores on Thanksgiving for the second straight year, said its discounts included $30off AirPods and KidKraft dollhouses. Rival big-box retailer Target on Sunday started offering 30 percent off Samsung and TCL flat-screen TVs, and 50 percent off headphones. Target said Monday it would close its stores on Thanksgiving from now on. In-store shopping on Black Friday has been dropping in recent years, with the day’s online sales surpassing brick-and-mortar sales in 2019. REUTERS 

Federal contractors’ minimum wage rises to $15 an hour The Labor Department on Monday released a new rule that will require federal contractors to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour for more than 300,000 maintenance, security, and child care workers. President Biden directed the department to raise the workers’ pay level in an April executive order. The wage hike will be tied to inflation, so it will rise in the following years along with consumer prices. The new pay floor applies to all federal contracts starting Jan. 30 or later. “Federal contract workers are essential workers,” Labor Secretary Marty Walsh said in a call with reporters. “The people who we’re going to be covering clean and maintain federal buildings. They provide child care for kids, they repair roads and bridges all across this country.” CBS NEWS 

Jury hears closing arguments in Ahmaud Arbery murder trial Prosecutors and defense lawyers made their closing arguments in the trial of the three white men charged in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery, a Black jogger they chased down in their coastal Georgia neighborhood. The prosecution said Arbery was “under attack.” The defendants — father and son Gregory and Travis McMichael and their neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan — chased him in pickup trucks “because he was a Black man running down their street,” prosecutor Linda Dunikoski told the jury. The defense said the men and their neighbors were tense after a series of crimes in their neighborhood. They said the men only wanted to detain Arbery until police arrived, but Travis McMichael fired his shotgun in a scuffle. The nearly all-white jury will hear the prosecution’s rebuttal early Tuesday before starting deliberations. NPR 

Ukraine warns of “combat preparedness” of separatist forces in eastern Ukraine as the Russian military presence on the border builds up, warning of a potential new conflict. The separatists began mobilization of reservists yesterday. (Reuters) 

Artifacts from the Battle of Magdala are returned to Ethiopia by the United Kingdom. (WION) 

The Turkish lira crashes to an all-time low of 13.44 to the U.S. dollar. The crash was sparked by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s defence of the Central Bank’s continued interest rate cuts amid soaring inflation. (CNBC) 

Swissmedic approves the extension of booster dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to people aged above 16 years as well as high-risk people aged above 12. (The Times of India) 

Elizabeth Holmes testifies that studies indicated Theranos devices had promise Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes testified for a second day in her fraud trial on Monday, pushing back against allegations that she lied about the company’s work with drug companies on its blood-testing technology. Holmes said she based her enthusiasm and predictions of her Silicon Valley startup’s success on positive studies conducted with several major pharmaceutical companies from 2008 to 2010 showing encouraging results from the third generation of a Theranos device known as the Edison. “We thought this was a really big idea,” Holmes said. Theranos sought to revolutionize medical tests by offering machines that scanned for multiple maladies using a few drops of a patient’s blood.  THE ASSOCIATED PRESS 

Jan. 6 panel subpoenas Roger Stone and Alex Jones The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack has subpoenaed several more allies of former President Donald Trump, including ex-GOP operative Roger Stone and InfoWars founder and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. The committee is seeking testimony and documents on the planning and financing of pro-Trump rallies in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 5 and Jan. 6, and the “subsequent march to the Capitol” and riot. “We need to know who organized, planned, paid for, and received funds related to those events, as well as what communications organizers had with officials in the White House and Congress,” the Democratic-led panel’s chair, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), said in a statement. Other Trump allies have refused to cooperate with the committee. NPR 

At least 46 people are killed when a bus carrying North Macedonian tourists returning from Istanbul crashes and catches fire near Bosnek, Bulgaria. (The New York Times) 

Biden nominates Fed Chair Jerome Powell for second term President Biden said Monday that he is nominating Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to serve a second term. The choice of Powell sent a message of continuity at the central bank that pleased investors. “Put directly: At this moment both of enormous potential and enormous uncertainty for our economy, we need stability and independence at the Federal Reserve. Jay has proven the independence that I value in a Fed chair,” Biden said at the White House on Monday. The decision upset many progressives who wanted someone who would be tougher on bank regulations and climate change, and had lobbied for Biden to pick Fed Governor Lael Brainard. Biden said he would nominate Brainard to be vice-chair of the Fed’s board of governors. CNBC 

Waukesha parade suspect has history of violent charges Police identified the man accused of plowing his SUV through a Waukesha, Wisconsin, Christmas parade on Sunday, killing five and injuring 48, as Darrell E. Brooks Jr., a Milwaukee man with a long history of charges for violent behavior. He was accused of using a vehicle as a weapon weeks before the parade and had just been released Friday on bail. Investigators believe that Brooks, 39, drove through the crowd in a maroon Ford Escape shortly after leaving the scene of an altercation involving a knife. He faces five counts of intentional homicide. Three of those killed were members of the “Dancing Grannies” troupe. Police identified the dead as Tamara Durand, 52; Jane Kulich, 52; LeAnna Owen, 71; Virginia Sorenson, 79; and Wilhelm Hospel, 81.  THE WASHINGTON POST 

DOJ settles with families of Parkland school shooting victims for $130 million The Justice Department has reached a settlement with survivors and families of people killed in the 2018 Parkland, Florida, school shooting over the FBI’s failure to properly investigate two tips about the gunman before the massacre, according to a joint court filing Monday. A person familiar with the settlement said it totaled $130 million. The first tip warned five months before the shooting that a YouTube user called “nikolas cruz” — the name of the gunman — had said he was going to be a “professional school shooter.” Six weeks before the shooting, Cruz posted on Instagram that he was gathering weapons, and a woman said on an FBI tip line she feared he “was going to slip into a school and start shooting the place up.” NPR 

Austria launches lockdown, Merkel says Germany needs tighter restrictions Austria on Monday became the first Western European country to impose a new coronavirus lockdown since vaccines came out. The country ordered non-essential stores, bars, and restaurants to close to curb a surge of infections. Outgoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel said her country, Europe’s largest economy, would need to tighten restrictions to counter a record-setting rise of COVID-19 cases. “We are in a highly dramatic situation. What is in place now is not sufficient,” Merkel told leaders of her conservative CDU party in a meeting, according to two participants cited in news reports. Several European governments are exploring or imposing new restrictions, and anti-lockdown protests have erupted in Austria, the Netherlands, and Belgium. REUTERS 

95 percent of federal workforce have complied with vaccine mandate As a Monday deadline arrived for federal employees to be vaccinated, the White House announced that about 95 percent of the 3.5 million federal employees covered by President Biden’s coronavirus vaccine mandate have already complied. The Biden administration said any federal worker who is getting vaccinated or requesting an exemption is considered “in compliance” in time for the Nov. 22 deadline, although technically they would have needed to get the last dose by Nov. 8 to fully meet the deadline, according to guidance from the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force. More than 90 percent of the workers have received at least one shot of an approved vaccine, with “the vast majority of those employees being fully vaccinated,” a senior administration official said. POLITICO 

Pfizer says vaccine 100 percent effective in younger teens Pfizer and BioNTech announced Monday that their vaccine was 100 percent effective in protecting 12- to 15-year-olds from coronavirus infection in a Phase 3 trial involving 2,228 participants. The results will be used to support the drugmakers’ application to the Food and Drug Administration to broaden their emergency use authorization to cover young people between those ages. The data showed no serious long-term safety concerns in follow-ups six months or longer after the second dose. The data “provide further confidence in our vaccine’s safety and effectiveness profile in adolescents. This is especially important as we see rates of COVID-19 climbing in this age group in some regions, while vaccine uptake has slowed,” Pfizer’s chairman and CEO, Albert Bourla, said in the statement. STAT NEWS 

Greece begins to implement measures that ban people who are unvaccinated or who have not recovered from COVID-19 from entering indoor public places and also mandates the wearing of masks in all workplaces in order to reduce the spread of COVID-19. (Ekathimerini) 

The Kenyan government approves a measure requiring people to present proof of vaccination in order to enter businesses, restaurants and government offices. This is also to encourage vaccination in a country where only 5% of the population is vaccinated. (The New York Times) 

Opposition leader Juan Guaidó calls for unity and to rebuild the opposition’s fragmented strategy, after suffering a heavy loss at the regional elections and losing 20 gubernatorial races to the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela. (Reuters) 

Kevin Spacey ordered to fork over $31 million after ‘House of Cards’ firing Disgraced actor Kevin Spacey has been ordered to fork over a whopping $31 million to the production company behind House of Cards after being fired for alleged sexual misconduct in 2017. An arbitrator ruled that Spacey breached his contract with the production company MRC by violating its sexual harassment policy, ordering the actor and his companies to pay $29.5 million in damages, as well as $1.2 million in attorneys’ fees. Spacey was fired from the show in 2017 while production was underway, forcing the sixth season to be rewritten, and MRC alleged it suffered millions in damages as a result. Could Spacey being tied up with this case be enough to spare us from another weird Christmas Eve video this year?  VARIETY 

‘Overwhelming evidence’ Cuomo engaged in sexual harassment The New York State Assembly’s eight-month investigation found “overwhelming evidence” that former Gov. Andrew Cuomo sexually harassed women while in office and abused his power by using his staff to help him write and promote his $5.1 million pandemic memoir. The Assembly Judiciary Committee’s report initially was expected to serve as a foundation for potential impeachment proceedings against Cuomo, but he resigned under pressure in August. The investigation relied on interviews with witnesses and a review of tens of thousands of documents. Cuomo has denied using public resources on his book, and has sought to discredit allegations by Attorney General Letitia James — who is running for governor — and the Assembly as politically motivated. THE NEW YORK TIMES 

Eddie Redmayne says his role as a transgender character in ‘The Danish Girl’ was a ‘mistake’ Eddie Redmayne earned an Oscar nomination for playing a transgender character in The Danish Girl — but he now regrets taking the role in the first place. Redmayne starred as one of the first people to undergo gender reassignment surgery in the 2015 film, which was criticized for not casting a trans actor. Years later, Redmayne told The Sunday Times, “I wouldn’t take it on now. I made that film with the best intentions, but I think it was a mistake.” Redmayne added that the “bigger discussion about the frustrations around casting is because many people don’t have a chair at the table,” calling for “a levelling, otherwise we are going to carry on having these debates.” The star of the Harry Potter prequel series Fantastic Beasts previously blasted J.K. Rowling’s anti-trans tweets, speaking out last year in support of “my dear transgender friends and colleagues.”  VARIETY 

Jennifer Lawrence recalls thinking she was going to die in a plane crash Well, this isn’t the most comforting thing to hear before flying home for Thanksgiving. Jennifer Lawrence opened up to Vanity Fair about fearing she was going to die in 2017, when she was on a private plane that had to make an emergency landing. “I started leaving little mental voicemails to my family, you know, ‘I’ve had a great life, I’m sorry,’” Lawrence said. The Hunger Games star recalled that she began to pray, “Not to the specific God I grew up with, because he was terrifying and a very judgmental guy. But I thought, Oh, my God, maybe we’ll survive this? I’ll be a burn victim, this will be painful, but maybe we’ll live.” Luckily, everyone on board was fine — but Lawrence had to immediately get on board another flight right after. “Flying is horrific,” she lamented, “and I have to do it all the time.”  VANITY FAIR 

Keanu Reeves once randomly showed up at Sandra Bullock’s house with champagne and truffles Keanu Reeves is exactly who you hoped he would be, according to a new Esquire profile. Sandra Bullock, Reeves’ Speed co-star, described casually mentioning to him that she’s never had champagne and truffles — only for Reeves to show up at her house on his motorcycle days later unannounced, standing outside her door with champagne, truffles, and flowers. “I just thought you might want to try champagne and truffles, to see what it’s like,” Reeves told her. Bullock proceeded to invite Reeves in, where she and her girlfriend had been painting their nails, and Esquire writes that “Keanu put his hands out, without a word, and Bullock painted his nails black, same as hers.” Bullock said she and Reeves never dated because she didn’t want to ruin a friendship with him, but she added, “Who knows? Keanu’s a guy who, I feel like, is friends with every woman he’s ever dated. I don’t think there’s anyone who has something horrible to say about him. So maybe we could have survived.”  ESQUIRE 

Monday,  November 22nd, 2021 

Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai ‘safe and well,’ IOC says Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai told the president of the International Olympic Committee that she was “safe and well” during a video call on Sunday, the IOC said. The exchange came after photos and videos showed Peng at a children’s tournament in Beijing earlier in the day, marking the first time she had appeared in public since she posted on Chinese social media that she had been coerced into sex by former Vice-Premier Zhang Gaoli. The IOC said in a statement that Peng started the call by thanking the organization’s president, Thomas Bach, and expressing gratitude for the IOC’s concern. France’s foreign minister earlier had demanded more reassurance from Chinese authorities of her wellbeing, repeating the Women’s Tennis Association’s conclusion that the photos of Peng were “insufficient” proof of her condition.REUTERS 

The Taliban issues new guidelines for television broadcasts, mandating that female presenters and journalists wear Islamic coverings, banning entertainment considered blasphemous or insulting to Afghans, and prohibiting films that promote foreign cultural values, among others. (BBC News) 

Smash-and-grab looters target Bay Area stores for 3rd day Dozens of smash-and-grab thieves wielding hammers ransacked stores in San Jose, California, and the Southland Mall in Hayward on Sunday in the third straight day of looting targeting San Francisco Bay Area businesses. The looters singled out a Lululemon store in San Jose and witnesses said about 40 to 50 thieves rampaged through the Hayward mall, breaking glass and stealing merchandise from a jewelry store and a Macy’s department store. Panicked shopkeepers closed nearby stores, and barricaded themselves inside. Hayward police said officers weren’t able to make any arrests. It was not immediately clear if the Sunday spree was connected to robberies at a Louis Vuitton store in San Francisco’s Union Square on Friday and a Nordstrom’s in Walnut Creek on Saturday. CBS SF 

Red SUV plows through Wisconsin Christmas parade, killing at least 5 A person drove a red SUV through barriers and plowed into a Christmas parade in the city of Waukesha, Wisconsin, on Sunday, killing at least five people and injuring more than 40, local authorities said. “There were pom-poms and shoes and spilled hot chocolate everywhere,” said Corey Montiho, a local school district board member whose daughter’s youth dance team was hit. His wife and daughters were unharmed, but many others were injured. Waukesha Mayor Shawn Reilly called it a “horrible and senseless act.” Waukesha Police Chief Dan Thompson said an officer fired at the vehicle trying to stop it, adding that nobody was injured by the gunfire. Thompson said the suspected vehicle was recovered and a “person of interest” was taken into custody. MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL 

At least five people are killed and over 40 injured by a hit and run driver who drove through an early Christmas parade in Waukesha, Wisconsin, United States. A person of interest is in custody. (ABC News) 

Protesters retrace Rittenhouse’s steps in Kenosha Demonstrators protesting Kyle Rittenhouse’s acquittal retraced the route the Illinois teen walked in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on the night in August 2020 when he shot and killed two people and wounded a third during protests over the police shooting that paralyzed Jacob Blake, a Black man. The marchers carried signs reading “Reject Racist Vigilante Terror” and “THE WHOLE SYSTEM IS GUILTY!” The Rev. Jesse Jackson had been scheduled to join the demonstration but didn’t come. His Rainbow PUSH Coalition said the 80-year-old civil rights leader instead was preparing to ask congressional leaders to pressure the Justice Department to investigate the case. Derrick Johnson, NAACP president and CEO, said Sunday that Rittenhouse’s Friday acquittal was “a warning shot that vigilante justice is allowed in this country.” Rittenhouse said he fired in self-defense.WLBT 

2 prominent conservatives quit Fox News over Tucker Carlson Jan. 6 special Fox News contributors Stephen Hayes and Jonah Goldberg have resigned in protest over what they described as incendiary and false claims by the conservative cable channel’s opinion hosts in support of former President Donald Trump. Both told NPR that the breaking point was Fox News star Tucker Carlson’s Patriot Purge, a three-part series on the Jan. 6 Capitol attack by a mob of Trump supporters. “It traffics in all manner of innuendo and conspiracy theories that I think legitimately could lead to violence. That for me, and for Steve, was the last straw,” Goldberg said. Hayes and Goldberg in 2019 co-founded The Dispatch, an online publication they called “a place that thoughtful readers can come for conservative, fact-based news and commentary.” NPR 

35,000 protest tighter coronavirus restrictions in Belgium About 35,000 people marched in Brussels on Sunday to protest enhanced COVID-19 restrictions imposed to fight Belgium’s latest coronavirus surge. Demonstrators shouted “Freedom! Freedom!” After some of the crowd dispersed, several hundred lingering protesters clashed with police and set bins of garbage on fire. Police responded with tear gas and water cannons. Numerous European countries have announced renewed measures to curb infections since the World Health Organization identified Europe as a current pandemic hot spot last week. Lockdown protests also have erupted in Holland and Austria, which starts a partial nationwide lockdown Monday. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS 

Austria launches new COVID lockdown as Europe confronts surge Austria launched a nationwide lockdown Monday to curb a new surge in coronavirus infections. Shoppers flocked to Christmas markets in Vienna on Sunday to get in some last-minute shopping. The lockdown requires people to stay home except for essential trips like buying groceries or going to the doctor. Restaurants and most shops must close. Big public events are canceled. The restrictions will last up to 20 days, but authorities will reevaluate in 10 days. The rest of Europe will be watching how things go in Austria as other governments in the region struggle to contain their own outbreaks. Many have already tightened restrictions. Protests have erupted in Austria, Holland, and Belgium over the new measures. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS  

Singapore partially eases its social gatherings restrictions that allow up to five vaccinated people to dine in at food and drink establishments, hawker centres, and coffee shops as the country moves to endemic phase due to decline of new COVID-19 cases. (Singapore Business Report) 

Supply-chain crunch easing but still far from normal Global supply-chain bottlenecks are starting to clear, but deliveries probably won’t return to normal until 2022, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday, citing manufacturing and retail executives. Major U.S. retailers say they have been able to stock most of the inventory they need for the crucial holiday shopping season. In Asia, problems blamed on the pandemic, including factory closures, power cuts, and port clogs, have started to ease. But strong consumer demand for imported goods in Western countries, along with U.S. port congestion, high freight rates, and an overloaded trucking network are delaying the return to a pre-pandemic normal, economists say. THE WALL STREET JOURNAL 

Bulb Energy, which supplies 1.7 million customers in the United Kingdom, collapses into administration, becoming the largest energy supplier to collapse on record. The company will also be the first energy supplier to be placed under “special administration,” meaning it will be run by the government regulator Ofgem. (The Guardian) 

Bulgaria’s president wins re-election after anti-corruption campaign Bulgarian President Rumen Radev appeared to have won a second term in a Sunday runoff election, according to exit polls by Alpha Research and Gallup International. Radev, who ran on an anti-corruption theme, led challenger Anastas Gerdzhikov by about 64 percent to 32 percent in the run-off, the exit polls indicated. Public anger over graft drove former premier Boyko Borissov out of office in April after a decade in power. A new anti-corruption party dominated parliamentary elections last week in the European Union’s poorest country. Radev, whose post is largely ceremonial, gained popularity last year by supporting anti-corruption protesters. Gerdzhikov, backed by Borissov’s GERB party, accused Radev of turning Bulgarians against each other.REUTERS 

The United States expresses its “deep concern” over Bulgarian President Rumen Radev‘s remarks, referring to Crimea as “Russian”. Radev has expressed his views of maintaining “pragmatic ties” with Russia. The statement by the US comes after Ukraine summoned the Bulgarian ambassador to Kyiv three days ago. (RFE/RL) 

Haitian gang releases 2 of 17 kidnapped missionaries A notorious Haitian street gang has released two of the 17 foreign missionaries it kidnapped last month, the hostages’ Ohio-based humanitarian group, Christian Aid Ministries, said on its website Sunday. The organization said the two people who were freed “are safe, in good spirits, and being cared for.” The 16 Americans and a Canadian, ranging in age from 18 months to 48 years, were abducted by the 400 Mawozo gang as they returned from visiting an orphanage their organization supports. Gédéon Jean, who runs a Port-au-Prince think tank that tracks kidnapping, said the release was “a good step that indicates that the rest of the hostages could soon be free.” The gang has demanded a ransom of $1 million per person. THE MIAMI HERALD  

Chileans go to the polls to elect their new president, who will succeed outgoing president Sebastián Piñera. (Reuters) 

Far-right populist José Antonio Kast of the Republican Party and former student protest leader Gabriel Boric of the left-wing coalition Apruebo Dignidad qualify for the second round, after winning 27.94% and 25.75% of the vote respectively. The second round will take place on December 19. (Reuters) 

Venezuelan opposition returns to ballots but socialists win big Venezuelans voted Sunday in elections with candidates from top opposition parties on the ballot for the first time in nearly four years, but early results showed the ruling socialist party winning 20 of 23 gubernatorial offices. Opposition candidates in races for governor and mayor said beforehand they were unlikely to win, accusing the government of President Nicolás Maduro of rigging the contests in favor of his allies. The opposition had hoped to use the elections to inspire new hope for its demoralized supporters and revive the struggling pro-democracy movement. But analysts said the turnout of just 41.8 percent, one of the lowest rates in two decades, reflected voter apathy toward all ballot choices as living conditions deteriorate in the South American nation.THE WASHINGTON POST 

‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’ leads weekend box office Ghostbusters: Afterlife led the weekend box office with a solid $44 million in domestic ticket sales, slightly beating expectations but just below the $46 million debut of the previous 2016 reboot. Afterlife marked a renewed attempt to revive the franchise after 2016’s Ghostbusters, with a team of female Ghostbusters led by Kristen Wiig and Melissa McCarthy, ultimately grossed $229 million, a disappointing haul given it cost $144 million to make. Another of the weekend’s new offerings, the acclaimed biopic King Richard, delivered an underwhelming $5.7 million, short of the $7 million to $10 million Warner Bros. was counting on. That film stars Will Smith as Richard Williams, the father of tennis icons Serena and Venus Williams. Smith is expected to be a contender for the best actor Oscar.THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 

A Hamas gunman opens fire in the alleyways of Jerusalem‘s Old City, killing an Israeli man and wounding three others, before being shot and killed by Israeli forces. (BBC News) 

It is announced that France will deploy dozens of gendarmerie to Guadeloupe following occurrences of rioting and looting in the archipelago over COVID-19 measures. At least 31 people were arrested overnight. Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin says that “the first message is that the state will stand firm”. (Al Jazeera) 

The End