Author: PolitCens

London — Adidas has reached an out-of-court settlement with rapper Ye to end all legal proceedings between them, the sportswear brand said on Tuesday, adding that no money changed hands in the agreement.

Adidas and Ye had been embroiled in multiple lawsuits for the past two years, since the German company ended a partnership with the rapper previously known as Kanye West over antisemitic comments he made.

“There isn’t any more open issues, and there is no… money going either way, and we both move on,” CEO Bjorn Gulden told reporters on a conference call, declining to give further details of the deal.

“There were tensions on many issues, and… when you put the claims on the right side and you put the claims on the left side, both parties said we don’t need to fight anymore and withdrew all the claims,” Gulden added.

 
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DANBURY, Conn. — Longtime Donald Trump ally Steve Bannon was released from prison early Tuesday, after serving a four-month sentence for defying a subpoena in the congressional investigation into the U.S. Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021.

Bannon left the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury, Connecticut, according to Kristie Breshears, a spokesperson for the federal Bureau of Prisons. He planned to hold a news conference later in the day in Manhattan, his representatives said. He’s also expected to resume his podcast Tuesday.

Bannon, 70, reported to the prison July 1 after the Supreme Court rejected his bid to delay the prison sentence while he appeals his conviction.

A jury found Bannon guilty in 2022 of two counts of contempt of Congress: one for refusing to sit for a deposition with the Jan. 6 House Committee and a second for refusing to provide documents related to his involvement Trump’s efforts to overturn his loss to Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential race.

When he began serving his sentence in July, Bannon called himself a “political prisoner.”

“I am proud of going to prison,” he said at the time, adding that he was standing up Attorney General Merrick Garland and a “corrupt” Justice Department.

Trump, a Republican, is seeking to regain the presidency in next week’s election against Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris.

A federal appeals court panel upheld Bannon’s convictions in May. Bannon is now asking the full appeals court to hear his case. His legal team had argued that the congressional subpoena was invalid because Trump had asserted executive privilege. Prosecutors, though, say Bannon had left the White House years before and Trump had never invoked executive privilege in front of the committee.

Bannon faces additional criminal charges in New York state court, alleging he duped donors who gave money to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Bannon has pleaded not guilty to money laundering, conspiracy, fraud and other charges. A trial in that case is scheduled to begin in December.
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Former U.S. President Donald Trump has proposed sweeping tariffs if elected for a second term: a 20% universal tax and 60% tax on goods from China. He argues that the policy will help create jobs, shrink the national debt and boost government revenue for public services, such as child care. Most economists, however, agree that it is ultimately U.S. consumers who will pay more. Economists also warn of unintended ripple effects that could do more harm than good to the U.S. economy. This explainer video explores how increased tariffs might affect U.S. buyers, domestic and foreign producers, and the budget.
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WASHINGTON/BEIJING/TAIPEI — Chinese President Xi Jinping asked U.S. President Joe Biden last year to change the language the United States uses when discussing its position on Taiwanese independence, according to two U.S. officials familiar with the private conversation.

During last November’s Biden-Xi meeting near San Francisco, Xi and his aides asked Biden and his team to tweak the language in U.S. official statements.

China wanted the U.S. to say “we oppose Taiwan independence,” rather than the current version, which is that the United States “does not support” independence for Taiwan, said the people, who requested anonymity to speak about private diplomatic exchanges they participated in or were briefed on.

Xi’s aides have repeatedly followed up and made the requests in the months since, according to two U.S. officials and another person familiar with the exchanges.

The U.S. has declined to make the change.

The White House responded to a request for comment with a statement that repeated the line that Washington does not support Taiwan independence. “The Biden-Harris administration has been consistent on our long-standing One China policy,” the statement read.

China’s foreign ministry said: “You should ask this question to the U.S. government. China’s position on the Taiwan issue is clear and consistent.”

Taiwan’s foreign ministry declined comment.

The defeated Republic of China government fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war with Mao Zedong’s communists.

The Republic of China remains Taiwan’s formal name and the government says it has no plans to change that given they are already a sovereign, independent state and Beijing has no right to claim Taiwan as its own.

Sensitive issue

For several years, Chinese diplomats have pushed the United States to make changes to how it refers to Taiwan’s status, which remains the most sensitive area in U.S.-China relations. The unusually direct and renewed push at the leader level has not been reported previously.

The United States severed official relations with the government in Taipei in 1979 but is bound by law to provide democratically governed Taiwan with the means to defend itself. China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has never renounced the use of force to bring the island under its control.

It was not clear why Xi chose to raise the issue with Biden, but he has made opposition to Taiwan independence a focus of his time in office and China’s military has significantly ramped up its activities around the island in recent years.

The Biden administration regards the proposed language change as a non-starter.

Taiwan was briefed on the recent overtures at a high level by Washington, said one of the sources.

Leaders in Beijing “would love it if Joe Biden said very different things about Taiwan than he says, no doubt,” said one senior Biden administration official, adding that Biden would stick with the standard U.S. formulation for talking about Taiwan independence.

During his time in office, Biden has upset the Chinese government with comments that appeared to suggest the United States would defend the island if it were attacked, a deviation from a long-held U.S. position of “strategic ambiguity.”

Change would reverberate

A change by the U.S. to say that it opposes Taiwanese independence would reverberate through the trade-rich Asia Pacific and with U.S. partners, competitors and adversaries alike.

Officials from two governments in the region told Reuters they would interpret any such change in wording as a change in U.S. policy toward less support for Taipei’s defense and diplomatic aspirations at a time when Beijing has ramped up military pressure.

China has over the past five years staged almost daily military activities around Taiwan. Earlier this month, Beijing held a day of war games using what Taiwan said was a record 153 military aircraft as part of drills simulating blockading ports and assaulting maritime and ground targets.

Any switch in language could also be seen signaling a shift in U.S. policy from supporting the resolution of Taiwan’s future through peaceful talks to one suggesting the United States stands against Taiwanese aspirations regardless of the circumstances at play.

Opinion polls in Taiwan show most people support maintaining the status quo, neither seeking to join with China nor establishing a new state.

In 2022, the State Department changed its website on Taiwan, removing wording both on not supporting Taiwan independence and on acknowledging Beijing’s position that Taiwan is part of China, which angered the Chinese. It later restored the language on not supporting independence for the island.

The two leaders are expected to speak again before Biden’s term in office ends in January, talks that may come by phone or on the sidelines of next month’s G20 summit in Brazil or APEC summit in Peru. APEC is one of few international forums where both Taiwan and China take part.

The Democratic president will hand over the tense Taiwan issue to his successor, Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris or Republican former President Donald Trump, following the Nov. 5 election.
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state department — Top diplomatic and military officials from the United States and South Korea are set to convene in Washington this Thursday as the two allies closely monitor and express concerns about North Korea’s deployment of about 10,000 troops to Russia.

Meanwhile, U.S. officials and analysts say that China could be displeased by Russia’s growing influence over North Korea, and that if Beijing chose, it could restrict exports of materials that Pyongyang might use for munitions production.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin will co-host South Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs Cho Tae-yul and Minister of Defense Kim Yong-hyun to coordinate on pressing security threats facing the alliance.

State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told VOA during Monday’s briefing that high on the agenda would be discussion of “North Korea’s expanding relationship with Russia,” which includes the deployment of North Korean troops to Russia;  various other provocative actions by North Korea in recent months; and the U.S. commitment to security in the Indo-Pacific region.

The consultation between Washington and Seoul will come two weeks after establishment of the Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team, a group formed by the United States, South Korea, Japan and other allies to better coordinate enforcement of sanctions against North Korea.

The group said that while “the path to dialogue” with North Korea remained open, it was committed to “safeguard the global nonproliferation regime and address the threat arising from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s [DPRK, North Korea’s official name] weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs, which are in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions.”

Some analysts suggest that by sending troops to support Russia’s war on Ukraine, North Korea may gain an opportunity to test the effectiveness of its ballistic missiles and munitions.

“We have communicated with the PRC about this matter to make clear that we are concerned about it, and that they ought to be concerned about this destabilizing action by two of its neighbors, Russia and North Korea,” Miller added. He was referring to People’s Republic of China.

Victor Cha, Korea chair at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, noted that while China has been supportive of Russia’s war in Ukraine, North Korea’s involvement introduces an unsettling dynamic.

“For one,” Cha said, “China does not like Russia to have so much influence over North Korea.”

Cha added that Beijing could take specific actions, such as curbing exports of petroleum coke to North Korea, which can be used in munitions production.

“According to recent public reports, imports of this good [used for steel production] have dramatically increased while overall trade has only slowly started to return to normal,” he said.

Defense Department spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said Austin would also meet with his South Korean counterpart Wednesday, when he will host Kim at the Pentagon for the 56th U.S.-ROK Security Consultative Meeting. ROK refers to South Korea’s official name, the Republic of Korea.

VOA Pentagon Correspondent Carla Babb contributed to this report.
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Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos on Monday defended the newspaper’s decision not to endorse a U.S. presidential candidate after a report that more than 200,000 people had canceled their digital subscriptions following the move.

The decision blocked an endorsement of Democrat Vice President Kamala Harris, the National Public Radio report said, and many people in messages on the newspaper’s website criticized Bezos, the billionaire founder of Amazon.com and rocket company Blue Origin.

Bezos, in an opinion piece late on Monday, said “most people believe the media is biased” and the Washington Post and other newspapers needed to boost their credibility.

No candidate was informed or consulted about the decision and that there was “no quid pro quo,” Bezos said, adding that there was no connection between the decision and a meeting between Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and Blue Origin’s CEO on the same day.

“Presidential endorsements do nothing to tip the scales of an election,” Bezos wrote. “What presidential endorsements actually do is create a perception of bias. A perception of non-independence. Ending them is a principled decision, and it’s the right one.”

The subscription cancellations as of midday represented about 8% of the paper’s paid circulation of 2.5 million subscribers, which includes print as well, reported NPR, which said a series of columnists had resigned their positions in protest.

The Washington Post declined to comment on the report when contacted by Reuters.

In a post on Friday, William Lewis, The Washington Post’s publisher and CEO, said the newspaper would not be making an endorsement of a presidential candidate in the Nov. 5 election, nor in any future presidential election.

“We are returning to our roots of not endorsing presidential candidates,” Lewis wrote.

“The Washington Post’s decision not to make an endorsement in the presidential campaign is a terrible mistake,” wrote 20 columnists in an opinion piece on the Post’s website, adding that it “represents an abandonment of the fundamental editorial convictions of the newspaper that we love.”
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Ankara is watching the U.S. elections closely. Analysts say Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stands to benefit from either a Donald Trump or Kamala Harris victory, but both scenarios come with risks for the Turkish leader and his aspirations. Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul.
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LOS ANGELES — McDonald’s announced Sunday that Quarter Pounders will again be on its menu at hundreds of its restaurants after testing ruled out beef patties as the source of the outbreak of E. coli poisoning tied to the popular burgers that killed one person and sickened at least 75 others across 13 states.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration continues to believe that slivered onions from a single supplier are the likely source of contamination, McDonald’s said in a statement. It said it will resume selling the Quarter Pounder at affected restaurants — without slivered onions — in the coming week.

As of Friday, the outbreak had expanded to at least 75 people sick in 13 states, federal health officials said. A total of 22 people had been hospitalized, and two developed a dangerous kidney disease complication, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. One person has died in Colorado.

Early information analyzed by the FDA showed that uncooked slivered onions used on the burgers “are a likely source of contamination,” the agency said. McDonald’s has confirmed that Taylor Farms, a California-based produce company, was the supplier of the fresh onions used in the restaurants involved in the outbreak, and that they had come from a facility in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

McDonald’s pulled the Quarter Pounder burger from menus in several states — mostly in the Midwest and Mountain states — when the outbreak was announced Tuesday. McDonald’s said Friday that slivered onions from the Colorado Springs facility were distributed to approximately 900 of its restaurants, including some in transportation hubs like airports.

The company said it removed slivered onions sourced from that facility from its supply chain on Tuesday. McDonald’s said it has decided to stop sourcing onions from Taylor Farms’ Colorado Springs facility “indefinitely.”

The 900 McDonald’s restaurants that normally received slivered onions from Taylor Farms’ Colorado Springs facility will resume sales of Quarter Pounders without slivered onions, McDonald’s said.

Testing by the Colorado Department of Agriculture ruled out beef patties as the source of the outbreak, McDonald’s said.

The Department of Agriculture received multiple lots of fresh and frozen beef patties collected from various Colorado McDonald’s locations associated with the E. coli investigation. All samples were found to be negative for E. coli, the department said.

Taylor Farms said Friday that it had preemptively recalled yellow onions sent to its customers from its Colorado facility and continues to work with the CDC and the FDA as they investigate.

While it remains unclear if the recalled onions were the source of the outbreak, several other fast-food restaurants — including Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, KFC and Burger King — pulled onions from some menus in certain areas this week.

Colorado had the most illnesses reported as of Friday, with 26 cases. At least 13 people were sickened in Montana, 11 in Nebraska, 5 each in New Mexico and Utah, 4 each in Missouri and Wyoming, two in Michigan and one each in Iowa, Kansas, Oregon, Wisconsin and Washington, the CDC reported.

McDonald’s said Friday it didn’t pull the Quarter Pounder from any additional restaurants and noted that some cases in states outside the original region were tied to travel.

The CDC said some people who got sick reported traveling to other states before their symptoms started. At least three people said they ate at McDonald’s during their travel. Illnesses were reported between Sept. 27 and Oct. 11.

The outbreak involves infections with E. coli 0157:H7, a type of bacteria that produces a dangerous toxin. It causes about 74,000 infections in the U.S. annually, leading to more than 2,000 hospitalizations and 61 deaths each year, according to CDC.

Symptoms of E. coli poisoning can occur quickly, within a day or two of eating contaminated food. They typically include fever, vomiting, diarrhea or bloody diarrhea and signs of dehydration — little or no peeing, increased thirst and dizziness. The infection is especially dangerous for children younger than 5, people who are elderly, pregnant or who have weakened immune systems.
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STOCKHOLM — Seven European countries have changed their laws to increase employee ownership in startups to rival the U.S. in attracting talent and investment, while other countries are lagging, a report by venture capital firm Index Ventures found.

While stock options were integral to Silicon Valley’s success, Europe has been hampered by bureaucracy and by taxing employees too early, among other restrictions.

The European Union needs a coordinated industrial policy, rapid decisions and massive investment if it wants to keep pace with the U.S. and China economically, Mario Draghi said in a long awaited report last month.

Over 500 startup CEOs and founders joined a campaign called “Not Optional” in 2019 to change rules that govern employee ownership — the practice of giving staff options to acquire a slice of the company, as European-based companies compete for talent with U.S. firms.

Germany, France, Portugal and the UK lead European countries in making changes that match or exceed those of the U.S., while Finland, Switzerland, Norway and Sweden got lower ratings in the Index report.

When companies such as Revolut and others go public, that ownership translates into real money for employees, said Martin Mignot, a partner at Index and an investor at fintech Revolut, which is valued at $45 billion.
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The good news: You will get a glorious extra hour of sleep. The bad: It’ll be dark as a pocket by late afternoon for the next few months in the U.S. 

Daylight saving time ends at 2 a.m. local time next Sunday, Nov. 3, which means you should set your clock back an hour before you go to bed. Standard time will last until March 9 when we will again “spring forward” with the return of daylight saving time. 

That spring time change can be tougher on your body. Darker mornings and lighter evenings can knock your internal body clock out of whack, making it harder to fall asleep on time for weeks or longer. Studies have even found an uptick in heart attacks and strokes right after the March time change. 

“Fall back” should be easier. But it still may take a while to adjust your sleep habits, not to mention the downsides of leaving work in the dark or trying exercise while there’s still enough light. Some people with seasonal affective disorder, a type of depression usually linked to the shorter days and less sunlight of fall and winter, may struggle, too. 

Some health groups, including the American Medical Association and American Academy of Sleep Medicine, have said it’s time to do away with time switches and that sticking with standard time aligns better with the sun — and human biology. 

Most countries do not observe daylight saving time. For those that do — mostly in Europe and North America — the date that clocks are changed varies. 

Two states — Arizona and Hawaii — don’t change and stay on standard time. 

Here’s what to know about the twice yearly ritual. 

How the body reacts to light 

The brain has a master clock that is set by exposure to sunlight and darkness. This circadian rhythm is a roughly 24-hour cycle that determines when we become sleepy and when we’re more alert. The patterns change with age, one reason that early-to-rise youngsters evolve into hard-to-wake teens. 

Morning light resets the rhythm. By evening, levels of a hormone called melatonin begin to surge, triggering drowsiness. Too much light in the evening — that extra hour from daylight saving time — delays that surge and the cycle gets out of sync. 

And that circadian clock affects more than sleep, also influencing things like heart rate, blood pressure, stress hormones and metabolism. 

How do time changes affect sleep? 

Even an hour change on the clock can throw off sleep schedules — because even though the clocks change, work and school start times stay the same. 

That’s a problem because so many people are already sleep deprived. About 1 in 3 U.S. adults sleep less than the recommended seven-plus hours nightly, and more than half of U.S. teens don’t get the recommended eight-plus hours on weeknights. 

Sleep deprivation is linked to heart disease, cognitive decline, obesity and numerous other problems. 

How to prepare for the time change 

Some people try to prepare for a time change jolt by changing their bed times little by little in the days before the change. There are ways to ease the adjustment, including getting more sunshine to help reset your circadian rhythm for healthful sleep. 

Will the U.S. ever get rid of the time change? 

Lawmakers occasionally propose getting rid of the time change altogether. The most prominent recent attempt, a now-stalled bipartisan bill named the Sunshine Protection Act, proposes making daylight saving time permanent. Health experts say the lawmakers have it backward — standard time should be made permanent. 
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JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — The ads promoting a November ballot measure to legalize sports betting in Missouri tout the potential for millions of new tax dollars devoted to schools. If voters approve the measure, it’s a good bet they will see even more ads offering special promotions for bettors. 

Many of those promotional costs — in which sportsbooks provide cash-like credits for customers to place bets — will be exempt from state taxes, effectively limiting the new revenue for education. 

The Missouri ballot measure highlights an emerging debate among policymakers over how to tax the rapidly growing industry, which has spread from one state — Nevada — to 38 states and Washington, D.C., since the U.S. Supreme Court opened the door to legalized sports wagering in 2018. 

“It’s a fledging industry,” said Brent Evans, an assistant finance professor at Georgia College & State University who has taught classes on gambling. “So nobody really knows what is a reasonable tax.” 

Since authorizing sports betting, Illinois, Ohio, Tennessee and Washington, D.C., all have already raised or restructured their tax rates. And Colorado and Virginia have pared back the tax deductions they originally allowed. 

Tax rates range from a low of 6.75% in states such Iowa to 51% in states such as New York. That tax gap is even wider, because Iowa allows promotional bets to be deducted from taxable revenue while New York does not. 

About half the states allow tax deductions for promotional costs. It’s a common way of enticing people to start — or continue — making bets. But in the short-term, it also can decrease the tax revenue available for governments and schools. 

Missouri’s proposed 10% tax rate on sports betting revenue is below the national average of 19% that sportsbooks paid to states last year. Because of deductions for “free play,” there could be some months in which sportsbooks owe nothing to the state. Missouri’s proposed constitutional amendment acknowledges that possibility, stating that negative balances can be carried over from one month to the next until revenue rises enough to owe taxes. 

Unlike in some states, Missouri’s amendment caps the amount of promotional credits that can be deducted from taxable revenue, at 25% of all wagers. But it appears unlikely that cap would come into play. An analysis conducted by consultant Eilers & Krejcik Gaming for amendment supporters projects promotional bets will comprise around 8% of total wagers in Missouri’s first year of sports betting, declining after that. 

The Missouri proposal “is very much in line with what has worked and been effective in other states,” said Jack Cardetti, a spokesman for Winning for Missouri Education, the group backing the measure. 

After voters narrowly approved it, Colorado launched sports betting in 2020 with a 10% tax rate and full deductions for promotional bets. It logged $2.7 billion of total bets during its first full fiscal year, yielding $8.1 million in taxes, just slightly below legislative projections. But Colorado changed its law starting in 2023 to cap promotional tax deductions at 2.5% of total bets, gradually declining to 1 .75% by July 2026. 

Colorado’s sports betting tax revenue has since risen to over $30 million in its most recent fiscal year. That growth led lawmakers to place a proposal on the November ballot seeking permission for the state to keep more than the original $29 million limit on sports betting tax revenue. 

Capping tax deductions for promotional bets is a good step, said Richard Auxier, a principal policy associate at the nonprofit Tax Policy Center. But he questions why some states exempt them from taxes in the first place. 

“We don’t give out free samples of cannabis when a state legalizes cannabis,” Auxier said. “Is this something you want to be subsidizing through your state tax policy — to encourage people to gamble?” 

The Missouri amendment was placed on the November ballot by initiative petition after legislation to legalize sports betting repeatedly stalled in the state Senate. The $43 million campaign — a record for a Missouri ballot measure — has been been funded entirely by DraftKings and FanDuel, which dominate the nationwide sports betting marketplace. If the measure passes, the companies could apply for two statewide licenses to conduct online sports betting. The amendment authorizes additional sports betting licenses for Missouri casinos and professional sports teams. 

The $14 million opposition campaign has been funded entirely by Caesars Entertainment, which operates three of Missouri’s 13 casinos. Although Caesars generally supports sports betting, it opposes “the way this measure is written,” said Brooke Foster, a spokesperson for the opposition group Missourians Against the Deceptive Online Gambling Amendment. 

In some other states, sports betting is run through casinos. Though research is limited, a study of seven states released last year found that casino gambling revenue declined as online sports betting increased. 

“There will definitely be a shift from placing bets in a physical space with a Missouri incorporated casino versus hopping on an app in your living room,” Foster said. 

The effect of different tax rates can be seen in Illinois and New Jersey, which spearheaded the court challenge leading to widespread legal sports betting. People in each state placed between $11.5 billion and $12 billion of sports bets last year, resulting in $1 billion of revenue for sportsbooks after winnings were paid to customers, according to figures from the American Gaming Association. 

New Jersey took in $129 million in tax revenue, based on a 14.25% tax rate for online sports bets and a 9.75% tax rate with some promotional deductions for sports bets at casinos and racetracks. Illinois took in $162 million of tax revenue — one-quarter more than New Jersey — with a 15% tax rate in most places and no promotional deductions. 

But Illinois officials weren’t satisfied with those results. Beginning in July, Illinois imposed a progressive tax scale, starting with a 20% tax on sports betting revenue of less than $30 million and rising to a 40% rate on revenue exceeding $200 million. 

Some sportsbooks representatives had raised the possibility of leaving Illinois if tax rates rose. But that hasn’t happened. 

There’s also not much evidence that sportsbooks worsen the odds for wagers in states where they pay higher taxes, said Joe Weinert, executive vice president of Spectrum Gaming Group, a consulting firm. 

“The sports betting operators compete vigorously for bettors,” he said, “and how you compete vigorously is to offer attractive odds and good promotions.” 
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New York — “Venom: The Last Dance” showed less bite than expected at the box office, collecting $51 million in its opening weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday, significantly down from the alien symbiote franchise’s previous entries.

Projections for the third “Venom” film from Sony Pictures had been closer to $65 million. More concerning, though, was the drop off from the first two “Venom” films. The 2018 original debuted with $80.2 million, while the 2021 follow-up, “Venom: Let There Be Carnage,” opened with $90 million even as theaters were still in recovery mode during the pandemic.

“The Last Dance,” starring Tom Hardy as a journalist who shares his body with an alien entity also voiced by Hardy, could still turn a profit for Sony. Its production budget, not accounting for promotion and marketing, was about $120 million — significantly less than most comic-book films.

But “The Last Dance” is also performing better overseas. Internationally, “Venom: The Last Dance” collected $124 million over the weekend, including $46 million over five days of release in China. That’s good enough for one of the best international weekends of the year for a Hollywood release.

Still, neither reviews (36% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) nor audience scores (a franchise-low “B-” CinemaScore) have been good for the film scripted by Kelly Marcel and Hardy, and directed by Marcel.

The low weekend for “Venom: The Last Dance” also likely insures that superhero films will see their lowest-grossing year in a dozen years, not counting the pandemic year of 2020, according to David A. Gross, a film consultant who publishes a newsletter for Franchise Entertainment.

Following on the heels of the “Joker: Folie à Deux” flop, Gross estimates that 2024 superhero films will gross about $2.25 billion worldwide. The only upcoming entry is Marvel’s “Kraven the Hunter,” due out Dec. 13. Even with the $1.3 billion of “Deadpool & Wolverine,” the genre hasn’t, overall, been dominating the way it once did. In 2018, for example, superhero films accounted for more than $7 billion in global ticket sales.

Last week’s top film, the Paramount Pictures horror sequel “Smile 2,” dropped to second place with $9.4 million. That brings its two-week total to $83.7 million worldwide.

The weekend’s biggest success story might have been “Conclave,” the papal thriller starring Ralph Fiennes and directed by Edward Berger (“All Quiet on the Western Front”). The Focus Features release, a major Oscar contender, launched with $6.5 million in 1,753 theaters.

That put “Conclave” into third place, making it the rare adult-oriented drama to make a mark theatrically. Some 77% of ticket buyers were over the age of 35, Focus said. With a strong opening and stellar reviews, “Conclave” could continue to gather momentum both with moviegoers and Oscar voters.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.

1. “Venom: The Last Dance,” $51 million.

2. “Smile 2,” $9.4 million.

3. “Conclave,” $6.5 million.

4. “The Wild Robot,” $6.5 million.

5. “We Live in Time,” $4.8 million.

6. “Terrifier 3,” $4.3 million.

7. “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” $3.2 million.

8. “Anora,” $867,142.

9. “Piece by Piece,” $720,000.

10. “Transformers One,” $720,000.
    …

HALCHITA, Utah — After a five-year wait, Lorraine Black and Ricky Gillis heard the rumblings of an electrical crew reach their home on the sprawling Navajo Nation. 

In five days’ time, their home would be connected to the power grid, replacing their reliance on a few solar panels and propane lanterns. No longer would the CPAP machine Gillis uses for sleep apnea or his home heart monitor transmitting information to doctors 400 miles away face interruptions due to intermittent power. It also means Black and Gillis can now use more than a few appliances — such as a fridge, a TV, and an evaporative cooling unit — at the same time. 

“We’re one of the luckiest people who get to get electric,” Gillis said. 

Many Navajo families still live without running water and electricity, a product of historic neglect and the struggle to get services to far-flung homes on the 70,000-square-kilometer (27,000-square-mile) Native American reservation that lies in parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. Some rely on solar panels or generators, which can be patchy, and others have no electricity whatsoever. 

Gillis and Black filed an application to connect their home back in 2019. But when the coronavirus pandemic started ravaging the tribe and everything besides essential services was shut down on the reservation, it further stalled the process. 

Their wait highlights the persistent challenges in electrifying every Navajo home, even with recent injections of federal money for tribal infrastructure and services and as extreme heat in the Southwest intensified by climate change adds to the urgency. 

“We are a part of America that a lot of the time feels kind of left out,” said Vircynthia Charley, district manager at the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority, a non-for-profit utility that provides electric, water, wastewater, natural gas and solar energy services. 

For years, the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority has worked to get more Navajo homes connected to the grid faster. Under a program called Light Up Navajo, which uses a mix of private and public funding, outside utilities from across the U.S. send electric crews to help connect homes and extend power lines. 

But installing power on the reservation roughly the size of West Virginia is time-consuming and expensive due to its rugged geography and the vast distances between homes. Drilling for power poles there can take several hours because of underground rock deposits while some homes near Monument Valley must have power lines installed underground to meet strict regulations around development in the area. 

About 32% of Navajo homes still have no electricity. Connecting the remaining 10,400 homes on the reservation would cost $416 million, said Deenise Becenti, government and public affairs manager at the utility. 

This year, Light Up Navajo connected 170 more families to the grid. Since the program started in 2019, 882 Navajo families have had their homes electrified. If the program stays funded, Becenti said it could take another 26 years to connect every home on the reservation. 

Those that get connected immediately reap the benefits. 

Until this month, Black and Gillis’ solar panels that the utility installed a few years ago would last about two to three days before their battery drained in cloudy weather. It would take another two days to recharge. 

“You had to really watch the watts and whatever you’re using on a cloudy day,” Gillis said. 

Then a volunteer power crew from Colorado helped install 14 power poles while the tribal utility authority drilled holes six feet deep in which the poles would sit. The crew then ran a wire about a mile down a red sand road from the main power line to the couple’s home. 

“The lights are brighter,” Black remarked after her home was connected. 

In recent years, significantly more federal money has been allocated for tribes to improve infrastructure on reservations, including $32 billion from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 — of which Navajo Nation received $112 million for electric connections. The Navajo tribal utility also received $17 million through the Biden administration’s climate law, known as the Inflation Reduction Act, to connect families to the electric grid. But it can be slow to see the effects of that money on the ground due to bureaucracy and logistics. 

Next spring, the tribal utility authority hopes to connect another 150 homes, including the home of Priscilla and Leo Dan. 

For the couple, having grid electricity at their home near Navajo Mountain in Arizona would end a nearly 12-year wait. They currently live in a recreational vehicle elsewhere closer to their jobs but have worked on their home on the reservation for years. With power there, they could spend more time where Priscilla grew up and where her dad still lives. 

It would make life simpler, Priscilla said. “Because otherwise, everything, it seems like, takes twice as long to do.”
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Since it started as a hashtag in 2012, GivingTuesday, the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, has become one of the biggest fundraising days of the year for nonprofits in the U.S.

In 2022 and 2023, GivingTuesday raised $3.1 billion for charitable organizations, according to estimates from GivingTuesday.

This year, GivingTuesday is on December 3.

How did GivingTuesday start?

The #GivingTuesday hashtag started as a project of the 92nd Street Y in New York in 2012 and became an independent organization in 2020. It’s grown into a worldwide network of local organizations that promote giving in their communities, often on different dates that have local relevance, such as holidays.

Now, GivingTuesday, the nonprofit, also convenes researchers working on topics about everyday giving. It collects data from a wide range of sources such as payment processors, crowdfunding sites, employee giving software and institutions that offer donor-advised funds, a kind of charitable-giving account.

What is the purpose of GivingTuesday?

The hashtag was started to promote generosity, and the nonprofit continues to promote giving in the broadest sense.

For nonprofits, the point of GivingTuesday is to raise money and engage their supporters. Many will be familiar with the barrage of email and mail appeals that coincide on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving. Essentially all major American nonprofits will organize fundraising campaigns, and many smaller, local groups also participate.

Nonprofits don’t have to be affiliated in any way with GivingTuesday, the organization, to run a fundraising campaign. They can just do it, although GivingTuesday does provide graphics and advice. In that way, it remains a grassroots effort with groups and donors participating however they like.

Has GivingTuesday been successful?

That depends on how success is measured, but it certainly has grown far beyond the initial effort to promote giving on social media. The day has become an enduring and well-known event that seeks to center charitable giving, volunteering and civic participation in the United States and around the world.

For years, GivingTuesday has been a major focus of fundraising for nonprofits, with many seeking to organize matching donations from major donors and leverage their networks of supporters to contribute. It is the beginning of the end-of-year fundraising rush, as nonprofits seek to reach their budget targets for the following year.

Donations on GivingTuesday in 2022 and 2023 reached $3.1 billion, an increase from $2.7 billion in 2021. While that’s a lot to raise in a single day, the trend last year was flat and with fewer donors giving, which the organization said is a worrying sign.
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The divide between urban and rural voters is a key indicator in U.S. electoral politics. Cities favoring Democrats and rural areas favoring Republicans isn’t new. But since 2000, the gap has grown dramatically. What is behind this trend, and why is it so important? The answer is partly economic — but there are also complex cultural factors involved. Produced by Yass Monem and Nicky Woolf.
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An explanation of Temporary Protected Status, also known as TPS
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united nations — More than 600 million women and girls are now affected by war, a 50% increase from a decade ago, and they fear the world has forgotten them amid an escalating backlash against women’s rights and gender equality, top United Nations officials say. 

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a new report that amid record levels of armed conflict and violence, progress over the decades for women is vanishing and “generational gains in women’s rights hang in the balance around the world.” 

The U.N. chief was assessing the state of a Security Council resolution adopted on Oct. 31, 2000, that demanded equal participation for women in peace negotiations, a goal that remains as distant as gender equality. 

Guterres said current data and findings show that “the transformative potential of women’s leadership and inclusion in the pursuit of peace” is being undercut — with power and decision-making on peace and security matters overwhelmingly in the hands of men. 

“As long as oppressive patriarchal social structures and gender biases hold back half our societies, peace will remain elusive,” he warned. 

The report says the proportion of women killed in armed conflicts doubled in 2023 compared with a year earlier; U.N.-verified cases of conflict-related sexual violence were 50% higher; and the number of girls affected by grave violations in conflicts increased by 35%. 

At a two-day U.N. Security Council meeting on the topic that ended Friday, Sima Bahous, head of the U.N. agency promoting gender equality known as UN Women, also pointed to a lack of attention to women’s voices in the search for peace. 

She cited the fears of millions of women and girls in Afghanistan deprived of an education and a future; of displaced women in Gaza “waiting for death”; of women in Sudan who are victims of sexual violence; and of the vanishing hopes of women in Myanmar, Haiti, Congo, the Sahel region of Africa, South Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, Yemen and elsewhere. 

Bahous said the 612 million women and girls affected by war “wonder if the world has already forgotten them, if they have fallen from the agenda of an international community overwhelmed by crises of ever deeper frequency, severity and urgency.” 

The world needs to answer their fears with hope, she said, but the reality is grim: “One in two women and girls in conflict-affected settings are facing moderate to severe food insecurity, 61% of all maternal mortality is concentrated in 35 conflict-affected countries.” 

As for women’s participation in decision-making and politics in countries in conflict, Bahous said it’s stalled. 

“The percentage of women in peace negotiations has not improved over the last decade: under 10% on average in all processes, and under 20% in processes led or supported by the United Nations,” she said. 

U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed announced the launch of a “Common Pledge on Women’s Participation in Peace Processes,” and urged governments, regional organizations and others involved in mediation to join the U.N. in taking concrete steps toward that end. The commitments include appointing women as lead mediators and team members, promoting direct and meaningful participation of women in peace processes, consulting women leaders at all stages and embedding women with expertise “to foster gender-responsive peace processes and agreements,” she said. 

Many U.N. ambassadors who spoke at the council meeting focused on the lack of “political will” to promote women in the peace process. 

“We’ve seen how the lack of political will continues to stand in the way of the full implementation of the commitments entered into by member states,” Panama’s U.N. Ambassador Eloy Alfaro de Alba said Friday. 
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