“Europe’s Airbus said on Friday it was ordering immediate repairs to 6,000 of its widely used A320 family of jets in a sweeping recall affecting more than half the global fleet, threatening upheaval during the busiest travel weekend of the year in the United States and sparking disruption worldwide. The setback appears to be among the largest recalls affecting Airbus in its 55-year history and comes weeks after the A320 overtook the Boeing 737 as the most-delivered model. At the time Airbus issued its bulletin to the plane’s more than 350 operators, some 3,000 A320-family jets were in the air. The fix mainly involves reverting to earlier software and is relatively simple, but must be carried out before the planes can fly again, other than repositioning to repair centres, according to the bulletin to airlines seen by Reuters.” (11/28/25)
“Pope Leo XIV Sunday arrived in Beirut as he continues first foreign trip to bring a message of peace the region at a time of war and escalating tensions. Leo touched down in Lebanon after a visit to Turkey to mark an important Christian anniversary at a time where the predominantly Sunni Muslim country of over 85 million has positioned itself as a key intermediary in talks to end the conflicts in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip. … Lebanon, a Muslim-majority country where about a third of the population is Christian, has always been a priority for the Vatican, a bulwark for Christians throughout the region. After years of conflict, Christian communities that date from the time of the Apostles have shrunk.” (11/30/25)
“President Donald Trump announced Friday that he was canceling executive orders signed using President Joe Biden’s autopen. Like other presidents, including Trump, Biden used an autopen to sign certain official documents. Republicans have claimed the autopen was used by the people around Biden to circumvent a mentally declining president. … There’s no public record of how many documents were signed by autopen during Biden’s presidency.” (11/28/25)
“Israeli forces on Thursday killed a pair of Palestinian men in the occupied West Bank after they appeared to surrender to troops, drawing Palestinian accusations that the men were executed ‘in cold blood.’ The Israeli military said it was investigating. … In a video shown on Palestine TV, which has no sound, the two men come out of a garage holding their hands up and lifting their shirts to show they are not carrying explosives. They are ordered to the ground and kicked by one of the policemen. They are then ordered back to the garage. In a video shown by Egyptian TV station Al-Ghad, the men are ordered back to the entrance of the garage. As they are on the ground and surrounded by troops, gunshots are heard and the men slump down, apparently lifeless. At least one soldier is seen firing his weapon.” (11/27/25)
“Venezuela has banned six major international airlines from landing in the country after they failed to meet a 48-hour deadline to resume flights there. The airlines had temporarily suspended their routes into the capital, Caracas, after the US warned of ‘heightened military activity’ in the area. Angered by this, the Venezuelan government issued the carriers with an ultimatum that expired on Wednesday. While a number of smaller airlines continue to fly to Venezuela, thousands of passengers have been affected. The US has deployed a large force to waters off Venezuela, which it says is to combat drug trafficking but which Venezuela’s leader has denounced as an attempt to overthrow him. Venezuela’s civil aviation authority, which reports to the country’s ministry of transport, announced on Wednesday that Iberia, TAP Portugal, Gol, Latam, Avianca and Turkish Airlines would lose their landing and take-off rights with immediate effect.” (11/27/25)
We’ve got a short (20-item) Friday edition for you this morning. Hope you’re enjoying the long Thanksgiving holiday weekend — and yes, I’m still asking you for money.
“The suspected shooter of two national guard members in Washington DC on Wednesday worked with CIA-backed military units during the US war in Afghanistan, the agency has confirmed. The alleged gunman, identified as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, came to the US in September 2021 under an Operation Allies Welcome program that gave some Afghans who had worked for the US government entry visas to the US. Lakanwal’s ties to the Central Intelligence Agency, which worked alongside US special forces in Afghanistan, were confirmed by the CIA director, John Ratcliffe, to media outlets on Wednesday evening. … Following the shooting, Donald Trump ordered 500 additional national guard [occupation] troops to Washington.” (11/27/25)
“Guinea-Bissau’s military installed General Horta Nta Na Man as transitional president on Thursday, an army statement said, a day after soldiers toppled President Umaro Sissoco Embalo in a swift power grab that followed a disputed election. The self-styled ‘High Military Command for the Restoration of Order’ announced in a televised statement on Wednesday that they had ousted Embalo, in the latest episode of unrest in the coup-prone country. … Wednesday’s army takeover came one day before provisional results had been expected to be announced in the race between Embalo and Fernando Dias, a 47-year-old political newcomer who had emerged as Embalo’s top challenger to run the West African state, which is a hub for cocaine trafficking.” (11/27/25)
“President Trump’s criminal prosecution in Georgia came to its end Wednesday, as the prosecutor who took over the case announced he will not move forward. Pete Skandalakis, the executive director of Georgia’s Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council (PAC) who took over Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’s (D) 2020 election subversion case against Trump and his allies, filed a motion indicating to the judge that he is declining to prosecute them further. … He contended the case should have been pursued at the federal level instead of by Willis, a Democrat who was later disqualified due to her romance with a man she chose to lead the prosecution. … Willis indicted Trump and more than a dozen of his allies in August 2023 for allegedly entering a months-long, unlawful conspiracy to overturn former President Biden’s 2020 victory in Georgia. Several pleaded guilty, but Trump and most of his co-defendants continue to proclaim their innocence.” (11/26/25)
“Two members of the West Virginia National Guard were shot in an attack in Washington, D.C., Wednesday afternoon, officials said. FBI Director Kash Patel said the two Guardsmen were in critical condition. … The Metropolitan Police Department said the crime scene was secured and a suspect is in custody. Police said the suspect was wounded and was taken to a hospital. … The suspect has been identified by the Trump administration as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan national who entered the U.S. in 2021. Law enforcement said he is believed to have acted alone.” (11/26/25)
