WorldBusiness InsiderFormer CIA Director John Brennan says the assassination of a top Iranian nuclear scientist was 'criminal' and risked inflaming conflict in the Middle East
Former CIA Director John Brennan has condemned the assassination of a top Iranian nuclear scientist on Friday, calling it "criminal" and "highly reckless." Brennan, who served between 2013 and 2017, also said he did not know who was to blame for the killing but that it "would be a flagrant violation of international law." Details on the attack remain slim but Iran's foreign minister, Javad Zarif, pointed the finger at Israel on Friday, saying there are "serious indications" of Israeli involvement.
U.S.INSIDERA man fatally shot a Black teenager in a hotel parking lot after confronting him over his loud music, Oregon police say
An Oregon man was arrested and charged with fatally shooting 19-year-old Aidan Ellison at a hotel on Monday, according to local reports and The Ashland Police Department. KTVL-TV reported that Robert Keegan, 47, confronted Ellison in the parking lot of the Stratford Inn because of the volume of his music. An argument ensued, and police said Keegan shot Ellison in the chest and killed him.
PoliticsThe WeekThe Trump campaign wound up spending $3 million to increase Biden's lead in Wisconsin
President-elect Joe Biden picked up 257 votes in Wisconsin's Milwaukee County on Friday after the Trump campaign demanded a recount there. President Trump did pick up some votes, as well, but the 125 he received gives Biden a net gain of 132. Biden won Wisconsin by around 20,000 votes, which was close enough for the Trump campaign to call for recounts, and a separate one in Dane County is expected to finish Sunday, so the president could still decrease his deficit.
WorldThe TelegraphBritain urged to probe wealth of Russian family whose son had 'world’s most expensive wedding'
It was perhaps the world's most expensive wedding; an extravaganza costing tens of millions of pounds with performances by Jennifer Lopez, Sting and Enrique Iglesias, a fleet of Rolls Royces to ferry the guests and a 20-year-old bride wearing a $1m dress and a $5m crown. The groom, Said Gutseriev, had grown up in London and been educated at Harrow School and at Oxford, and his father - one of Russia's wealthiest oligarchs - could not have been prouder. Critics of the Belarusian regime have questioned Mikail Gutseriev's extensive business dealings there, and his use of London as a legal vehicle to channel investments into the country.
WorldBusiness InsiderKim Jong-Un is reportedly displaying 'excessive anger' over the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic, ordering the execution of two people
The latest information from the Hermit Kingdom comes from South Korean lawmakers, who spoke to reporters on Friday after having a private meeting with the National Intelligence Service NIS , the country's chief intelligence agency. The other person was allegedly a top government official who was caught violating restrictions placed on goods from outside the country amid the pandemic, AP reported. North Korea's economy has borne the brunt of the coronavirus pandemic as the country was forced to seal its border with its biggest trading partner, China, back in January.
WorldINSIDERThe fire that led to the death of former Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh occurred over a week before he succumbed to injuries
Tony Hsieh, the retired CEO of online shoe retailer Zappos, died Friday at the age of 46 following injuries sustained in a fire more than a week ago. Hsieh was injured in a fire on November 18 in New London, Connecticut, a spokesperson for his company confirmed to Insider. The fire was still under investigation as of Saturday, New London Fire Chief Thomas Curcio told Insider.
- WorldAssociated Press
Greece sets price limit on COVID-19 tests at private clinics
Greece's government said Friday it is putting limits on how much private medical facilities can charge for coronavirus tests. Commerce and Consumer Protection Secretary General Panagiotis Stamboulidis said that the price limits would be 40 euros ($48) for PCR tests and 10 euros ($12) for rapid antigen tests. Private medical clinics and hospitals had been charging about 70-120 euros ($84-$143) for PCR tests and around 40 euros for the rapid tests.
PoliticsBusiness InsiderTrump reportedly wants to hold a 2024 campaign event during Biden's inauguration
Donald Trump is considering hosting a campaign event for a 2024 presidential bid in January, the Daily Beast reported. The event might fall on the same day as President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration on January 20. The Daily Beast, citing sources close to the president, reported that Trump is attempting to stay relevant even as the world prepares for a Biden administration.
U.S.The Daily BeastUtah Police Officer Kidnapped Family Member on Thanksgiving in ‘Paranoid’ Episode: Cops
A Utah police officer allegedly kidnapped a member of his own family on Thanksgiving Day in what police described as a “paranoid” episode involving an involuntary joyride, a gun, and abandoned buildings. An unnamed relative told police that their nephew Scott Elliott Russell, a master officer with the South Jordan Police Department, had taken them for a drive before the family's Thanksgiving dinner in Provo, Utah, but when the relative requested to return home, Russell refused and kept driving along the I-15 highway. Police did not disclose the relative's identity.
U.S.Associated PressNew rule could allow gas, firing squads for US executions
The Justice Department is quietly amending its execution protocols, no longer requiring federal death sentences to be carried out by lethal injection and clearing the way to use other methods like firing squads and poison gas. The amended rule, published Friday in the Federal Register, allows the U.S. government to conduct executions by lethal injection or use “any other manner prescribed by the law of the state in which the sentence was imposed.” A number of states allow other methods of execution, including electrocution, inhaling nitrogen gas or death by firing squad.
U.S.The IndependentFirst major storm of winter to hit eastern US with snow and rain
The eastern United States is bracing itself for the first heavy storm of the season, with torrential downpour and snow expected from Tennessee to Michigan on Monday, and rain then drenching neighbouring regions. The storm is expected to form over the deep south on Sunday, with heavy rain. Strong to severe thunderstorms could also develop in the warm, humid air ahead of the storm from the southeast on Sunday to the eastern Mid-Atlantic on Monday.
PoliticsBusiness InsiderGOP congressman calls party's refusal to acknowledge Biden's win a 'massive grift' and says Trump 'forgot he was serving people and not himself'
GOP Rep. Denver Riggleman slammed President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans in a recent interview with Forbes, saying that the party's refusal to acknowledge President-elect Joe Biden's win is a "massive grift." "They're worried about committee assignments, they're worried about the team," Riggleman said of Republicans who are standing with the president. Riggleman, a first-term lawmaker representing Virginia's 5th Congressional district, was defeated in his June renomination bid and will leave Congress in January 2021.
U.S.The Daily BeastFlorida Fire Captain’s ‘Accidental’ Shooting Death Unearthed His Secret Life
On Nov. 2, police received a call from a local jewelry salesman, Jay Brett Rind, reporting an accidental shooting at his apartment in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. According to an affidavit filed in court on Nov. 5, Rind told dispatchers that he'd met an old friend, 21-year fire department veteran James Gilliard, for dinner to offer him the “deal of a lifetime.” Rind planned to move to Mexico, and suggested he give his old pal, whom he'd met years prior when Gilliard owned a local pawn shop, two guns.
HealthINSIDERPictured: A doctor hugged a distraught elderly coronavirus patient on Thanksgiving, after warning the public America is headed for its 'darkest days' over Christmas
A photo of Dr. Joseph Varon, chief of staff at United Memorial Medical Center in Houston, cradling a COVID-19 patient in his ICU in full PPE is going viral this Thanksgiving. "My concerns for the next six to 12 weeks is that if we don't do things right, America is going to see the darkest days in modern American medical history," Varon told CNN. On the eve of Thanksgiving, Dr. Joseph Varon, chief of staff at United Memorial Medical Center in Houston, Texas, told CNN "America is going to see the darkest days in modern American medical history" over Christmas if we don't change course fast.
BusinessBusiness InsiderI flew on Spirit Airlines' first 'shuttle' flight from Newark to Boston for $25 and still overpaid – here's why it's a great budget option
Spirit Airlines inaugurated service between Newark and Boston on November 18, becoming the fifth carrier on the busy route. The two daily flights join a competitive sector dominated by American, Delta, United, and JetBlue, primarily serving business travelers and offering bonus perks for flyers. We flew on the first flight from Newark to Boston to see if Spirit's dirt-cheap fares held up to the competition on the 200-mile route.
TechnologyArchitectural DigestA Few of Our Favorite Small Businesses Running Sales This Weekend
It's #smallbusinesssaturday, and you know what that means Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
- PoliticsReuters Videos
Fists and pig guts fly in Taiwan's parliament
Since the latest session of parliament began in mid-September the KMT has protested against the pork decision by blocking Su from delivering regular reports and taking questions by occupying the podium where he speaks. As Su began speaking, KMT lawmakers threw buckets of pig guts his way, and some exchanged blows, with a short but vicious encounter between a group of KMT legislators and Chen Po-wei from the small Taiwan Statebuilding Party. President Tsai Ing-wen announced in August that the government would, from January 1 next year, allow imports of U.S. pork containing ractopamine, an additive that enhances leanness but is banned in the European Union and China, as well as U.S. beef more ...
BusinessBusiness InsiderPfizer's COVID-19 vaccine is reportedly being flown by United Airlines chartered flights to distribution hubs, in anticipation of FDA approval
Chartered United Airlines flights from Brussels to Chicago are carrying Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine, according to The Wall Street Journal. The flights represent one leg of a chain, which will extend from Chicago to distribution hubs around the US. Pfizer's vaccine must be stored in -103 degrees Fahrenheit, so the flights reportedly have special FAA approval to carry 15,000 pounds of dry ice.
LifestyleINSIDERI married the love of my life while in prison. We had to stand 6 feet apart and couldn't kiss, but I'd do it again in a heartbeat.
In September, Christopher Blackwell married his fiancée Chelsea Moore at the Monroe Correctional Complex. Blackwell is incarcerated in the Washington state prison, and there were a number of constraints placed on the ceremony. The couple wasn't allowed to stand less than six feet apart, Christopher and George, the wedding's witness, were strip-searched, and Chelsea even had her dress and heels measured.
- NewsCBS News Videos
Biden COVID-19 adviser: Many who celebrated Thanksgiving with family or friends will be in ICUs over Christmas
Dr. Celine Gounder, a member of President-elect Joe Biden's COVID-19 advisory board, told CBS News' Omar Villafranca that an increase in coronavirus cases, and eventually deaths, is expected in the weeks following Thanksgiving.
PoliticsThe IndependentTulsi Gabbard urges Trump to ‘please consider’ pardons for Julian Assange and Edward Snowden
Democrat lawmaker, Representative Tulsi Gabbard, has urged Donald Trump to pardon the whistleblower Edward Snowden and Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. Rep. Gabbard, representative for Hawaii's 2nd congressional and former presidential candidate, called on the president to reconsider the cases of the two men, both of whom have been charged under the Espionage Act. Her call comes after Mr Trump pardoned his former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, who twice admitted lying to the FBI.
U.S.The IndependentAfghan pilot who saved Americans hiding from Taliban after US denies plea for refuge
A decorated Afghan Air Force pilot who had saved American lives is now in hiding in Afghanistan from the Taliban after the US military suddenly changed course and denied his emergency request to seek refuge in America late last month. “I cannot go backward,” Maj. Mohammed Naiem Asadi, 32, told military news site Stars and Stripes, which broke the news. Stars and Stripes accessed documents which showed the Pentagon initially approved the request from Mr Asadi, who reportedly killed more Taliban fighters than anyone else in the Afghan Air Force and helped protect an American pilot who crashed their plane in northern Afghanistan this summer.
WorldBusiness InsiderHong Kong's leader is being paid in cash due to US sanctions. Carrie Lam earns $56,000 a month and says money is now piling up at her house.
Hong Kong Chief Executive, Carrie Lam, said she has to keep "piles of cash" at home due to US sanctions. She said: "The government is paying me cash for my salary because I don't have a bank account." Lam earns $672,000 per year and is one of the highest-paid leaders in the world, according to the BBC.
BusinessBBCTech Tent: Is Tesla really worth $500 billion?
It was the week when Elon Musk soared past Bill Gates to become the world's second richest person, as Tesla's value topped $500bn. On Tech Tent, we ask just why investors think the electric car company is worth so much more than it was a year ago. Listen to the latest Tech Tent podcast on BBC Sounds Listen live every Friday at 15.00 GMT on the BBC World Service At the beginning of 2020, Tesla was valued by the stock market at around $80bn - and even then, sceptics thought that was a high price for a business that was barely profitable.
PoliticsINSIDERChief Justice John Roberts has lost control of the Supreme Court
With Justice Amy Coney Barrett anchoring a new, arch-conservative majority of justices, Chief Justice John Roberts is no longer the one in power. In the first major public act of Donald Trump's Supreme Court, the majority ruled against New York attendance restrictions to religious services to limit the spread of COVID-19. Barrett's arrival in the seat held by Ruth Bader Ginsburg means the chief's vote is no longer necessary if conservatives are seeking expansive rulings in the cultural and social issues that matter to them.
“Donald Trump defeated Donald Trump.”
“The victory was a vindication of a style of American politics that many feared was gone forever.”
“Mr. Biden’s victory — and Mr. Trump’s defeat — is a testament to the resilience of American democracy.”
“Trump’s 2020 reelection bid was doomed by his boorish behavior. Time and again, he refused to act like a president.”
“Biden took the opportunity to unite the Democratic Party.”