“GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) — Negotiators at this year’s U.N. climate talks in Glasgow appeared to be backing away from a call to end all use of coal and phase out fossil fuel subsidies completely, but gave poor countries hope for more financial support to cope with global warming.
The latest draft proposals from the meeting’s chair released Friday call on countries to accelerate ‘the phaseout of unabated coal power and of inefficient subsidies for fossil fuels.’
A previous proposal Wednesday had been stronger, calling on countries to ‘accelerate the phasing out of coal and subsidies for fossil fuel.’
While the chair’s proposal is likely to undergo further negotiation at the talks, due to end Friday, the change in wording suggested a shift away from unconditional demands that some fossil fuel exporting nations have objected to.” Read more at AP News
“Prosecutors in Kyle Rittenhouse's homicide trial say they plan to pursue lesser charges against him. Rittenhouse is charged in the fatal shootings of two protesters in Kenosha, Wis. The request for lesser charges could mean their case isn't as strong on the original charges.” Read more at USA Today
“A federal appeals court Thursday agreed to quickly consider former President Donald Trump’s request to deny a special House committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol access to records from his presidency, a move that will at least temporarily delay disclosure of the material.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, for now, delayed the effect of a trial court’s ruling from Tuesday that would have allowed the committee access to the records on Friday. The move is designed to give the court time to consider arguments by Mr. Trump, whose lawyers moved to seek emergency intervention from the court.
The D.C. Circuit, in turn, announced a fast-moving briefing schedule for the case, saying it would hear oral arguments on Nov. 30.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Ex-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, one of many Trump-era officials served with subpoenas in the investigation, has said he will refuse to appear before the committee until courts rule on Trump’s claim of executive privilege. The panel, in response, has given him an ultimatum: Appear by today, or risk being found in criminal contempt.” Read more at CNN
“A military court in Myanmar has sentenced American journalist Danny Fenster to 11 years in prison. Fenster, 37, had been detained in the country for more than five months. He is the former managing editor of Frontier Myanmar, an independent news outlet that covered current affairs, business and politics in Myanmar. The publication says the charges Fenster faced, including unlawful association with an illegal group and circulating comments that ‘cause fear’ or are ‘false news,’ were based on the allegation that Fenster was working for a different, banned media outlet in the aftermath of the military coup. However, at the time of his arrest, Fenster had not worked for that outlet for several months. Fenster is one of about 100 journalists detained since the February coup, with about 30 still behind bars.” Read more at CNN
“Anxious about a surge of coronavirus infections enveloping Europe as cases tick up in the United States, senior health officials in the Biden administration are pressing urgently to offer vaccine booster shots to all adults. But support for the renewed push is not unanimous.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky has expressed caution about making extra shots so broadly available now, according to several officials familiar with the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. As a result, tension is rising among officials over how quickly to proceed and who should get the shots.
The debate comes at a critical time for the Biden administration, with top advisers growing increasingly fearful the country could slide backward into a fifth pandemicwave amid colder weather and declining vaccine protection. Eager for the president to push his economic agenda, many aides see expanding booster access as a way to backstop progress against the highly transmissible delta variant. Allies also see defeating the pandemic as critical to Democrats’ success in next year’s midterm elections.” Read more at Washington Post
“Public officials in rich countries are imposing new restrictions on unvaccinated people as many nations struggle to raise their COVID vaccination rates, Axios' Shawna Chen reports.
Singapore will stop covering medical bills for people who are ‘unvaccinated by choice’ after Dec. 8.
Austria's chancellor said a lockdown for unvaccinated people is ‘probably unavoidable,’ AP reports.
In New South Wales, Australia, unvaccinated people over the age of 16 are no longer allowed to visit another person's residence, except in limited circumstances.
Some German states bar people who choose not to get vaccinated from indoor venues like restaurants and clubs, according to France 24.
The big picture: Unvaccinated people are 5x more likely than vaccinated people to get infected and 10x more likely to die, per the CDC.” Read more at Axios
“More than 2 million at-home Covid-19 tests produced by Ellume have been recalled by the company due to ‘higher-than-acceptable’ false positives. The FDA says there have been 35 reports of false positives, enough for the body to identify it as a Class I recall -- the most serious kind. However, there have been no deaths related to the test failures, and the reliability of negative test results is not affected. Meanwhile, a report this week found the pandemic has caused a 16% rise in expected deaths among the 38 member nations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Life expectancy fell the most in Spain and the United States, with the US losing 1.6 years of life per capita on average over the course of the pandemic.” Read more at CNN
“Scientists are just beginning to understand what causes long COVID, a series of debilitating symptoms that persist after catching the virus.Abnormalities found in the immune systems of patients could explain the syndrome, but there's still much more to learn.” Read more at NPR
“Schools are changing mask policies as children get Covid-19 vaccines. Moves to ease mask and quarantine requirements reflect how eager some officials and parents are to get back to normal. Still, the CDC continues to recommend universal indoor masking at school and, when possible, a physical distance between children of at least 3 feet.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Military alert | The U.S. is telling European allies that Moscow may be weighing a potential invasion of Ukraine as tensions flare between Russia and the bloc over migrants and energy supplies, sources say. Alberto Nardelli, Jennifer Jacobs and Nick Wadhams explain in this story what’s behind the growing alarm in Washington.” Read more at Bloomberg
“The European Union is considering border fences to keep out migrants. The bloc that long held itself up as a magnet for people leaving poorer or war-torn countries is now considering tougher tactics as the military of Belarus—a dictatorship and Russia’s closest ally—escorts migrants toward the border of Poland, an EU member state, fomenting tensions in the region.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Residents of Flint, Michigan affected by the city’s contaminated water will receive a $626.25 million settlement from the state of Michigan, the city of Flint, and other individuals and corporations.” [Vox] Read more at CNN / Laura Ly
“The settlement resolves thousands of suits alleging contamination of the city’s water supply caused lead poisoning and Legionnaire’s disease, affecting the city’s predominantly Black population starting in 2014. Former Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder was charged with two counts of willful neglect in January due to the crisis.”[Vox] Read more at Reuters / Tyler Clifford and Kanishka Singh
“The ruling, by US District Judge Judith Levy, stipulates that 80 percent of the settlement will go to people who were under 18 at the time they were exposed to the contaminated water; of that amount, 50 percent will go to those who were younger than 6 at the time of their exposure. Between 18,000 and 20,000 children under the age of 18 were residents of Flint during the water crisis, according to official estimates.” [Vox] Read more at Washington Post / Adela Suliman
“Astroworld disaster claim another victim: Bharti Shahani, a 22-year-old college student, was pronounced dead at a Houston hospital after being kept alive on a ventilator, bringing the tragic concert's death toll to nine.” Read more at USA Today
“Houston police now say the investigation into the crush could take months, and questions remain over who should be held accountable. A slew of lawsuits have been filed by families of victims and survivors against rapper and organizer Travis Scott and others. A security guard quit the day of the event after he says he didn't get enough training and heard about plans online for fans to storm the gate. The Houston firefighters union has complained about the lack of reliable communication between it and medics at the scene hired by the Astroworld event.” Read more at CNN
“Britney Spears' conservatorship could finally come to an end
The next step in Britney Spears' conservatorship continues in a hearing Friday, with lawyers on both sides urging it be lifted immediately – for different reasons. Lawyers for the pop star and for her father, Jamie Spears, her recently-suspended conservator over the past 13 years, filed documents pressing Judge Brenda Penny that the arrangement should end, and quickly. Will the conservatorship indeed cease when all the parties once again assemble – some virtually – in a Los Angeles probate court before the judge Friday? No one is saying, but legal experts say several outcomes are possible, despite public pressure mounting since June. Britney Spears seems eager for the conservatorship's end, posting on Instagram Monday that this week ‘is gonna be very interesting for me.’” Read more at USA Today
“In 2014, as overdoses and deaths from prescription opioids were catapulting, gutting the budgets of local governments that were struggling to contain the damage, lawyers began working up a novel legal strategy to hold the pharmaceutical industry responsible.
That approach, which in the ensuing years became the foundation for more than 3,000 lawsuits, was soundly rejected this month by a California trial judge and, on Tuesday, the Oklahoma Supreme Court, two states where the first opioid trials have concluded.
Both decisions found no merit to the plaintiffs’ core argument that, under state law, the companies created a “public nuisance” by overplaying the benefits of their opioid products and downplaying risks. Together the rulings bring into sharp relief a question that has dogged these cases for years: Was this strategy, which critics say requires an unprecedented, expansive reading of public nuisance laws, the best way forward?
The rulings could well be ominous indicators for upcoming trials. Jury trials are underway in New York and Ohio. A federal judge’s decision is pending in West Virginia. More trials are on the runway.” Read more at New York Times
“A shortage of substitute teachers led Seattle to cancel school citywide today.” Read more at New York Times
“A group of House Democrats is introducing a resolution to censure Rep. Paul A. Gosar (R-Ariz.) for posting an altered, animated video that depicts him killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and swinging two swords at President Biden.
‘For a Member of Congress to post a manipulated video on his social media accounts depicting himself killing Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and attacking President Biden is a clear cut case for censure,’ the Democrats said in a statement. ‘For that Member to post such a video on his official Instagram account and use his official congressional resources in the House of Representatives to further violence against elected officials goes beyond the pale.’
The resolution will be introduced Friday by Democratic Reps. Jackie Speier (Calif.), Jim Cooper (Tenn.), Brenda Lawrence (Mich.), Sylvia Garcia (Tex.), Veronica Escobar (Tex.), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (Fla.), Rashida Tlaib (Mich.), Eric Swalwell (Calif.), Nikema Williams (Ga.), and Ayanna Pressley (Mass.). Speier and Lawrence are co-chairs of the Democratic Women’s Caucus.” Read more at Washington Post
“Olympic gold medalist Sunisa Lee said unknown assailants yelled anti-Asian slurs and pepper-sprayed her in the latest high-profile case of hate-driven violence against Asian Americans.
Lee said she was waiting for an Uber in Los Angeles with friends, who were also of Asian descent, when a car pulled up to the group and its occupants screamed slurs and go back to where they came from, the gymnast told Pop Sugar in an interview published Thursday. Someone pepper-sprayed on Lee’s arm and the car sped off. Lee, 18, recalled feeling helpless, struggling to comprehend the recent surge of hate aimed at Asian Americans since the coronavirus pandemic.” Read more at Washington Post
“An owner of a California solar company was sentenced this week to 30 years in prison for orchestrating a $1 billion Ponzi scheme and using the money to make extravagant purchases, including luxury estates, more than 100 cars and a minor league baseball team, federal prosecutors said.
Jeff Carpoff, 50, received the maximum sentence on Tuesday after he and his wife, Paulette Carpoff, 47, pleaded guilty in January 2020 to a scheme that involved selling investors mobile solar generators, at least half of which didn’t exist, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California. Ms. Carpoff will be sentenced next week.
From 2011 to 2018, the company claimed, it manufactured 17,000 generators, which are portable power systems, according to prosecutors and a criminal complaint filed in 2020 by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company, DC Solar, in Benicia, Calif., is now defunct.
DC Solar lured investors by falsifying financial statements and lying about the potential revenue from leasing the machines, also known as M.S.G.s, for which they could receive tax credits, the U.S. attorney’s office said in a statement on Tuesday. The money that the investors received did not come from lease revenue, but rather from payments by new investors, prosecutors said.” Read more at New York Times
“People gathered across the nation Thursday to honor veterans, past and present. Veterans Day marks the date when Germany and the Allies signed a 1918 agreement to end World War I hostilities. The fighting ceased on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs. It was first recognized as Armistice Day in 1919.” Read more at USA Today
Photo: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Army veteran Stephen Hedger is hugged by his son, Lincoln, as they visit the gravesite of U.S. Army Major Paul Douglas Carron at Arlington National Cemetery yesterday.
“Johnson & Johnson plans to break up into two companies, splitting off the $15-billion-a-year division that sells Band-Aid bandages, Tylenol medicines and Johnson’s Baby Powder in a shift indicating just how much healthcare has changed since the company helped pioneer the industry.
The world’s largest health-products company by sales will separate its high-margin but risky prescription-drugs and medical-devices business from its storied but slower-growing consumer group, creating two publicly traded companies.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Losing friends | British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s intervention to help a friend and ally found guilty by a parliamentary committee of paid lobbying has cost him serious capital within his party and resulted in days of unsavory headlines. The premier is safe for now but the episode has dented his authority and left him with less credit to fall back on if he slips up again.” Read more at Bloomberg
“WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been given permission to marry his partner inside the British top-security prison where he is being held as he fights an extradition request from the U.S. government.
Assange’s fiancee, Stella Moris, said in a tweet Thursday that British authorities granted the couple’s request to wed in Belmarsh Prison, located in southeast London.
The announcement came days after Moris threatened legal action against British Justice Secretary Dominic Raab and Belmarsh prison chief Jenny Louis, accusing them of ignoring repeated requests for a wedding ceremony inside the detention facility.” Read more at Washington Post
“Midterm backlash | Argentina’s ruling coalition may lose power in congress to a reinvigorated opposition in midterm elections on Sunday at a time of growing economic troubles. Patrick Gillespie lays out why the vote will be a crucial test for the government’s fragile unity.” Read more at Bloomberg
“French President Emmanuel Macron hosts world leaders in Paris today for an international conference on Libya’s political transition as the country prepares for elections in December.
The meeting, co-hosted by Germany, France, Italy and the United Nations, is expected to affirm international support for the electoral process in a country that has lacked political stability ever since a NATO-backed force toppled Muammar al-Qaddafi in 2011.
That the election is set to go ahead while Libya is still divided, and with foreign fighters still present, has fed worries that the vote is being held too soon and will be inevitably tainted.
Faced with a situation in which both a contested election or its delay could lead to violence, international powers are expected to opt for momentum over stasis, in the hopes that a democratically-elected government will have more legitimacy to deal with the country’s problems than the current government.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“Xi and Biden on the slopes? Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to invite U.S. President Joe Biden to join him in Beijing in February for the 2022 Winter Olympics, according to a CNBC reporton Thursday. The two leaders are set to meet virtually next week in a bid to smooth over tensions surrounding Taiwan, trade, and human rights. It’s not clear how sincere Xi’s gesture could be, seeing as Western powers have for months mulled a diplomatic boycott of the Games.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“Bulgaria’s election. Bulgarians head to the polls for the third time this year on Sunday in another parliamentary election, in the hopes of finally forming a stable government. The center-right GERB party of former Prime Minister Boyko Borisov currently leads in polls with 24 percent support, while a new centrist party, We Continue the Change, polls in second place. The populist party There Is Such a People (ITN) won the most votes in July’s election but has faded in popularity since then.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“Sudan’s coup. Sudan coup leader Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan announced a new transitional council on Thursday, naming himself as the chair. Representatives of the Forces for Freedom and Change, a coalition of civilian groups instrumental in the overthrow of former dictator Omar al-Bashir, were not named to the 14-member council.” Read more at Foreign Policy
Graphic: ABC News
“Former President Trump — in a taped interview with Jonathan Karl of ABC News that was shared with Axios — defended, quite extensively, supporters who threatened to ‘hang’ former Vice President Mike Pence.
Why it matters: Well, it is unprecedented for a former president to openly say it was OK to threaten the life of his vice president.
Oh, the two men are on track to run against each other for the GOP nomination in 2024.
Zoom out: This is a slice of a 90-minute interview — conducted at Mar-a-Lago on March 18 — for Karl's book, ‘Betrayal,’ out on Tuesday.
Jonathan Karl: ‘Were you worried about him during that siege? Were you worried about his safety?’
Trump: ‘No, I thought he was well-protected, and I had heard that he was in good shape. No. Because I had heard he was in very good shape. But, but, no, I think — ‘
Karl: ‘Because you heard those chants — that was terrible. I mean — ‘
Trump: ‘He could have — well, the people were very angry.’
Karl: ‘They were saying 'hang Mike Pence.’
Trump: ‘Because it's common sense, Jon. It's common sense that you're supposed to protect. How can you — if you know a vote is fraudulent, right? — how can you pass on a fraudulent vote to Congress? How can you do that? And I'm telling you: 50/50, it's right down the middle for the top constitutional scholars when I speak to them. Anybody I spoke to — almost all of them at least pretty much agree, and some very much agree with me — because he's passing on a vote that he knows is fraudulent. How can you pass a vote that you know is fraudulent? Now, when I spoke to him, I really talked about all of the fraudulent things that happened during the election. I didn't talk about the main point, which is the legislatures did not approve — five states. The legislatures did not approve all of those changes that made the difference between a very easy win for me in the states, or a loss that was very close, because the losses were all very close.’”
Hear the audio. Read more at Axios
“Lives Lived: As Barnard College’s first Black full-time faculty member, Quandra Prettyman developed some of the country’s first courses on Black female writers. She died at 88.” Read more at New York Times