“This week’s atmospheric river storm smashed some heavy rainfall records in parts of the Bay Area, especially the North Bay, before mostly petering out by Saturday morning. Downtown Santa Rosa received 12.47 inches of rain in a three-day period, the National Weather Service said on social media, breaking a thousand-year record. As of Saturday morning, the Santa Rosa Airport has seen 386% of its normal rainfall amounts since Oct. 1, National Weather Service meteorologist Ryan Walbrun told SFGATE” [editor’s note: Who was keeping track of the weather there 1,000 years ago? – TLK] (11/23/24)
“Iran will hold talks about its disputed nuclear programme with three European powers on November 29, the Iranian foreign ministry said on Sunday, days after the UN atomic watchdog passed a resolution against Tehran. Iran reacted to the resolution – proposed by Britain, France, Germany and the United States – with what government officials called various measures such as activating numerous new and advanced centrifuges, machines that enrich uranium.” (11/24/24)
“The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants on Thursday for Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, his former defense minister and a Hamas military leader, accusing them of war crimes and crimes against humanity. … US President Joe Biden called the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrants for top Israeli leaders ‘outrageous’ in a statement Thursday. … In an earlier statement, the White House said it ‘fundamentally rejects’ the calls for arrests.” (11/22/24)
“President Vladimir Putin confirmed that Russia fired a new hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile into Ukraine on Thursday in response to Kyiv’s use of advanced weapons provided by the U.S. and U.K. earlier this week, marking another escalation in the intensifying war. In a televised statement, the Russian president claimed the new missile, nicknamed ‘Oreshnik,’ struck an industrial complex in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro. Putin said that ‘as of today there are no means of counteracting such a weapon,’ asserting that the new missiles move at 2.5-3 kilometers (1.6-1.9 miles) per second — a speed he claimed air defense systems used by the U.S. and Europe ‘cannot intercept.'” (11/22/24)
“Bitcoin came within a whisker of closing above $100,000 for the first time on Thursday as the election of Republican Donald Trump as U.S. president spurred expectations that his administration will create a friendly regulatory environment for cryptocurrencies. The world’s largest cryptocurrency was trading between $98,000 and $99,000 in late afternoon trading in the U.S. on Thursday, after briefly touching $99,073. Bitcoin has more than doubled in value this year and is up about 40% in the two weeks since Trump was voted in as the next U.S. president and a slew of pro-crypto lawmakers were elected to Congress.” (11/21/24)
“A man convicted in the 1994 killing of a female hitchhiker in Alabama was put to death Thursday evening in the nation’s third [prisoner killing] using nitrogen gas. Carey Dale Grayson, 50, was pronounced dead at 6:33 p.m. at William C. Holman Correctional Facility in southern Alabama following the use of the new death penalty method. He was one of four teens convicted of killing Vickie Deblieux, 37, as she was hitchhiking through Alabama on the way to her mother’s home in Louisiana.” (11/21/24)
After a second consecutive “zero-dollar day,” our year-end fundraiser total remains at $1,927 — only $748.50 short of reaching our goal, ending the fundraiser, and shutting up about money for the rest of the year (and, mostly, until next October).
The beatings will continue until morale improves! Please help us wrap this thing up at:
Brief digression: It’s a FIREHOSE FRIDAY at the freedom movement’s daily newspaper, with nearly 100 news stories, opinion pieces, and audio/video links lined up for you — maybe more by the time you read this! That’s more than we can comfortably fit in an email, so it’s all waiting for you at …
“A journalist was seized by security forces in Turkmenistan as she was due to travel to Switzerland for an international human rights award ceremony, a group of NGOs said on Thursday, calling for her immediate release. … Soltan Achilova, a journalist and photographer, was set to be presented with a Martin Ennals Award, a high-profile human rights award at a ceremony in Geneva this week. Achilova was awarded the prize in 2021 but could not claim it as the ceremony was held virtually during the COVID-19 pandemic. But on Nov. 20 ahead of her scheduled departure, security forces pushed her and two family members into an ambulance and took her to a hospital for infectious diseases where she is being held under guard, the group of 11 NGOs including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said in a statement.” (11/21/24)
“Northvolt is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after Europe’s best-funded start-up and main hope for countering Asian dominance in electric vehicle batteries failed to agree a last-minute rescue package with investors. The Swedish group said on Thursday night that it was filing for Chapter 11 reorganisation in the US — an option for overseas companies that operate there — and would carry on operating as normal in the mean time. … Northvolt was seen as crucial to Europe’s automotive industry and its best chance of fighting back against the likes of China’s CATL and BYD, Japan’s Panasonic, and South Korea’s LG and Samsung in EV battery production. But the Swedish group, which raised more than $15bn from investors such as Volkswagen, Goldman Sachs and BlackRock as well as the German and Canadian governments, has struggled to increase production at its one factory in Skellefteå in northern Sweden.” (11/21/24)
“The Illinois Supreme Court on Thursday overturned actor Jussie Smollett’s conviction on charges that he staged a racist and homophobic attack against himself in downtown Chicago in 2019 and lied to police. The state’s highest court ruled that a special prosecutor should not have been allowed to intervene after Cook County state’s attorney initially dropped charges against Smollett in exchange for forfeiting his $10,000 bond and conducting community service. The ruling and the appeal did not address Smollett’s continued claim of innocence. Smollett, who is [b]lack and gay, claimed two men assaulted him, spouted racial and homophobic slurs and tossed a noose around his neck, leading to a massive search for suspects by Chicago police detectives and kicking up an international uproar.” (11/21/24)
