U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry, left, and his Chinese counterpart Xie Zhenhua spoke Saturday in Glasgow.Ian Forsyth/Getty Images
“Nearly 200 countries reached an agreement to do more to fight climate change.
With the bang of a gavel at the COP26 summit in Glasgow, diplomats struck an agreement that called on governments to return next year with stronger plans to curb emissions. The agreement states clearly that all nations will need to slash their carbon dioxide emissions nearly in half this decade to hold warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius.
It also urges wealthy nations to ‘at least double’ funding by 2025 to protect the most vulnerable nations from the hazards of a hotter planet. And it explicitly mentions the need to curb fossil fuels, the first time a global climate agreement has done so.
But it still leaves many developing countries far short of the funds they need to build cleaner energy and cope with extreme weather. And it leaves unresolved the crucial question of exactly how the burden of those cuts will be shared and what action is expected of individual nations. Here are the key takeaways from the deal.” Read more at New York Times
An employee at JBS Foods in Greeley, Colo., receives the Covid-19 vaccine.Pool photo by Alex McIntyre
“An appeals court barred President Biden’s vaccine mandate for large employers.
The three-judge panel declared that the rule, which requires that big companies force their workers to get vaccinated or submit to weekly testing, ‘grossly exceeds’ the authority of the occupational safety agency that issued it.
But it is unlikely to be the final word. Some challenges to the mandate are in other circuits, and the cases will be consolidated before one of those jurisdictions. The Supreme Court is expected to eventually decide the matter.
In other virus news, school nurses say they are juggling Covid-19 cases and quarantines — and more furious parents than ever.
In Portugal, lawmakers are bolstering protections for remote workers, including barring employers from contacting them during their off hours.” Read more at New York Times
Fleeing heavy bombardment in Baghuz — the Islamic State’s last holdout — in 2019.Giuseppe Cacace/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
“The U.S. military hid an airstrike that killed dozens of civilians in Syria.
In the last days of the battle against the Islamic State in Syria in 2019, an American jet dropped a 500-pound bomb on a crowd of women and children huddled by a river bank. Then, a jet tracking them dropped two 2,000-pound bombs, killing most of the survivors.
The Baghuz strike was one of the largest civilian casualty incidents of the war against the Islamic State, but it has never been publicly acknowledged by the U.S. military. The details, reported here for the first time, show that a legal officer flagged the strike as a possible war crime. But at nearly every step, the military made moves that concealed the catastrophic strike.” Read more at New York Times
Kyle Rittenhouse, center, stands with his attorneys at the Kenosha County Courthouse.Pool photo by Sean Krajacic
“Jury deliberations are expected to start this week in the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse.
Jurors will be tasked with a complex set of decisions. Here’s a guide to the six criminal counts against Rittenhouse that the jury will be considering. It may also be asked to weigh lesser charges. Closing arguments are expected on Monday morning.
In the Ahmaud Arbery case, a lawyer for one of the men accused of murdering Arbery drew scrutiny after he said that the presence of the Rev. Al Sharpton in the courtroom had been ‘intimidating,’ and added, ‘We don’t want any more Black pastors coming in here.’” Read more at New York Times
Migrants say Belarusians took them to the E.U. border and supplied them with wire cutters to get in.
The sudden surge of Middle Eastern migrants was hardly an accident. Belarus loosened its visa rules and increased flights by the state-owned airline, funneled migrants to its frontiers and gave them directions on how to cross over into the E.U. — even handing out tools to cut through border fences.
Cities like Sulaimaniya, in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, have turned into bustling ports of departure, but thousands are stranded and freezing on the other end of the journey.
In other international news, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the son of the former dictator of the Philippines, hopes to succeed Rodrigo Duterte as the country’s president. On Saturday, he announced that Duterte’s daughter Sara would be his running mate.” Read more at New York Times
“After more than 40 years, the doctrine of executive privilege has finally gotten its day in court, though likely not in a set of circumstances that the architects of the idea had in mind. President Trump was dealt a hardy defeat on Tuesday evening from a D.C. federal judge in his bid to block the National Archives from responding to a House subpoena for White House records relating to the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan for the District of Columbia denied a whopping three requests from Trump to block release of the records in various forms. The first came before she issued her ruling on Trump’s request, denying a preliminary appeal from the former POTUS. The second was her ruling, and the third came when Trump asked that she stay enforcement of the subpoena pending an appeal. She declined to do that — the subpoena’s deadline is Friday.
But the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ended up issuing the stay on Thursday, setting oral arguments in the matter for Nov. 30 — lightning speed for the appellate courts, but a glacial pace for the Jan. 6 Committee’s investigation.” Read more at Talking Points Memo
“House Republicans were on recess this week, and used their free time to attack their counterparts on the Hill. The week kicked off with Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ), who has ties to the far-right, tweeting an anime-themed video depicting violence against Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and President Biden. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and several members of her caucus swiftly demanded that Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) take action against Gosar for his incendiary tweet, but the GOP leader has yet to weigh in on the matter. Gosar appears unfazed by Democrats' demands, however, with a statement he issued a few days later, offering anything but an apology while claiming that he doesn't condone violence.
Meanwhile, House Republicans continued getting mad at their 13 colleagues who broke ranks by voting for the bipartisan infrastructure bill last week. Many members of the caucus smeared House GOP supporters of the bill as endorsers of a ‘pathway to socialism’ — despite claiming that they support roads and bridges under the condition that it doesn't hand Democrats a legislative victory that the Trump administration couldn't get off the ground.
The backlash against GOP supporters of BIF escalated to a point where Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI) revealed that he received death threats following his vote. Upton appeared to point fingers at Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), who tweeted a list of the names and phone numbers of the House Republicans who backed the bill shortly after BIF's passage. (Greene continues to stand by her tweet by urging the public to keep bombarding him and other GOP BIF supporters with calls.) GOP leadership is also reportedly anticipating an effort by rank-and-file lawmakers to strip committee assignments from members who supported bipartisan bill — and the President isn't pleased.” Read more at Talking Points Memo
Weston McKennie, center, celebrated his goal with Tyler Adams and Christian Pulisic during the match.Julio Cortez/Associated Press
“The U.S. men’s national soccer team beat Mexico, then rubbed it in.
After winning 2-0 in an important World Cup qualifier, Michael Jackson’s 1988 song ‘Man in the Mirror’ played over the stadium speakers — a response to Mexico’s goalkeeper, who had suggested that when the U.S. looked in the mirror, it hoped to see a team like Mexico.
The rivalry got a bit ugly, with two on-field kerfuffles, a red card and borderline inscrutable taunting wrapped inside layers of allusion. Now the teams are tied at the top of the standings.
For the U.S., the key may be 18-year-old Ricardo Pepi. He collected three goals and two assists in his first four appearances, a bright spot in the team’s somewhat shaky start.” Read more at New York Times
“Oklahoma’s medical marijuana program has seen such staggering growth since it launched three years ago after voters overwhelmingly backed a ballot referendum that it has earned the wry nickname “Tokelahoma.” More than 380,000 Oklahomans — or nearly 10 percent of the state’s population — have enrolled in the program, making it by far the largest in the country on a per capita basis. Thanks to Oklahoma’s free market approach to legalization — there are no limits on marijuana business licenses and the cost of a license is just $2,500 — there are more than 9,000 grow operations in Oklahoma. To put that figure in perspective, Pennsylvania — which has more than three times the population of Oklahoma — has just 13 licensed grow operations to supply its medical program. Even California, the world’s biggest legal cannabis market, has about 3,000 fewer grow operations than the staunchly conservative Sooner State.
One of the biggest selling points for legalization, and one that proponents made during the referendum three years ago, is that it eliminates the need for an illicit market — and the violence and crime that often comes along with it. Instead, much to the chagrin of state officials, the state’s free-wheeling medical marijuana program has proven to be a magnet for bad actors from across the country. And it has brought into conflict two long-standing and important strains of the state’s conservative makeup: a laissez-faire attitude toward business regulation and a history of harsh treatment of drug offenders.” Read more at POLITICO
“Across the country, Christian leaders are wrestling with how to keep their congregations going with fewer people showing up.
The number of churchgoers has steadily dropped in the U.S. over the past few decades. But Covid-19 and its lockdown restrictions accelerated that fall. In-person church attendance is roughly 30% to 50% lower than it was before the pandemic, estimates Barna Group, a research firm that studies faith in the U.S.
While religious leaders expect some rebound once the pandemic recedes, many don’t expect attendance to return to previous levels. That has left churches looking for different approaches to connect with existing members and attract new ones.
In Catholic, mainline Protestant, evangelical and other congregations, many religious leaders are laying plans for a more hybrid future with permanent online services—a shift from the in-person gatherings that have been at the core of worship for centuries.
Beyond technology, some churches are focused on boosting engagement with small gatherings of congregants for discussion groups or community service and putting more emphasis on a one-on-one relationship with God.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt has issued an executive order to stop the Oklahoma State Department of Health from issuing non-binary birth certificates, KFOR.com reported.” Read more at Windy City Times
“We spoke to lobster-wrangler Bill Coppersmith, who found a rare blue lobster in his net. He named it Haddie, for his granddaughter, and has given her to a science center, where she doesn’t have to wind up next to a lemon wedge. He refused cash offers for the rare crustacean. ‘It’s right up there with the Mona Lisa,’ he told producer Samatha Balaban. ‘Priceless.’ I do see a slight smile.” Read more at NPR
“Do you want fries with that vodka?
Arby's announced it will release limited edition Crinkle Fry Vodka and Curly Fry Vodka. The fries-flavored, 80-proof bottles will be available to purchase Nov. 18.
The fast food chain says both spirits are made from a high-quality potato vodka. The Curly Fry Vodka is distilled with cayenne, paprika, onion and garlic, while the Crinkle Fry Vodka is made with kosher salt and sugar.
The liquors will be available in limited quantities starting Nov. 18 on a website created specifically for the vodkas. Arby's will offer interested customers a second chance to buy the french-fry spirits on Nov. 22.
The vodkas costs $59.99, including shipping and handling.” Read more at USA Today