“Nintendo has filed a lawsuit against a streamer called EveryGameGuru, whom it’s accusing of streaming gameplays of pirated games before they were even released and of providing viewers access to illegal ROM copies and piracy tools. In its lawsuit, the company said the defendant livestreams himself playing games on YouTube, Discord, Twitch, TikTok, Trovo, Kick, Vaughn, Dlive, Picarto, Nimo, Facebook and Loco, often with very little commentary. Apparently, EveryGameGuru streamed gameplays of at least 10 different titles before their official release date in at least 50 occasions since 2022.” (11/09/24)
“A suicide bomber blew himself up at a train station in restive southwestern Pakistan on Saturday, killing at least 26 people, including soldiers and railway staff, and wounding about 62 others, some critically, officials said. The attack happened when nearly 100 passengers were waiting for a train bound for the garrison city of Rawalpindi from Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province, according to Hamza Shafqaat, a senior government administrator. A separatist group, the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), claimed responsibility for the attack.” (11/09/24)
“President-elect Trump was on track to win 400 electoral votes in a head-to-head race against President Biden, according to the White House’s own internal polls. The news was revealed by Jon Favreau, a one-time speechwriter for former President Obama who now hosts the liberal Pod Save America podcast. ‘Then we find out when the Biden campaign becomes the Harris campaign, that the Biden campaign’s own internal polling at the time when they were telling us he was the strongest candidate, showed that Donald Trump was going to win 400 electoral votes,’ Favreau said. ‘Joe Biden’s decision to run for president again was a catastrophic mistake,’ Favreau added. ‘They refused to acknowledge until very late, that anyone could be upset about inflation. And they just kept telling us that his presidency was historic and it was the greatest economy ever.'” (11/09/24)
“The United States and Britain launched raids on the Yemeni capital Sanaa, the Amran governorate and other areas, Al Masirah TV, the main television news outlet run by the Houthi [government], reported on Sunday. Houthi media and residents said about nine raids had targeted the Sanaa, its suburbs and Amran governorate. Iran-aligned Houthi militants have launched attacks on international shipping near Yemen since November last year, in solidarity with the Palestinians in Israel’s war with Hamas.” (11/09/24)
“A Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) supervisor has been fired for telling staff helping hurricane survivors to skip houses displaying signs supporting Donald Trump. The agency’s head, Deanne Criswell, described the supervisor’s actions as ‘reprehensible,’ saying FEMA takes its mission ‘to help everyone before, during and after disasters seriously.’ Although Criswell’s statement on X does not indicate when or where the incident took place, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said the Division of Emergency Management would be launching an investigation at his direction. DeSantis called the situation ‘targeted discrimination’ of Trump supporters in Florida.” (11/10/24)
“The head of the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog said Sunday he will travel to Iran in the coming days to hold talks regarding the country’s nuclear program. The visit comes amid wider tensions gripping the Mideast over the Israel-Hamas war and uncertainty over how U.S. President-elect Donald Trump will approach Iran after his inauguration in January. Specifically, the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mariano Grossi, will have high level meetings with the Iranian government and will hold technical discussions on all aspects related to the joint statement agreed with Iran in March 2023.” (11/10/24)
“President Joe Biden’s administration on Friday proposed tighter restrictions on oil, solar and wind energy development across more than 6,500 square miles (17,000 square kilometers) of federal land in the U.S. West to protect a declining bird species. However, it is doubtful the changes would survive under President-elect Donald Trump. Greater sage grouse — chicken-sized birds known for an elaborate mating ritual— were once found across much of the U.S. West. Their numbers plummeted in recent decades because of energy exploration, wildfires, disease and other pressures. A 2015 agreement shepherded by the Obama administration kept the birds off the endangered species list, by imposing limits on where and when development could occur across 226,000 square miles (590,000 square kilometers) of remaining grouse habitat spanning 11 states. Now, in the closing weeks of the Biden administration, officials with the Interior Department want to make the protections even stronger.” (11/08/24)
“Eight bells inside the Notre Dame Cathedral rang out for this first time since a fire damaged the roof and spire of the historic church in Paris five years ago. The bells rang out at about 10:30 a.m. local time Friday, singly at first followed by all ringing out together a month before the cathedral is scheduled to reopen. The cathedral’s eight bells are located in its northern belfry, which was partially destroyed by the fire.” (11/09/24)
“The Iranian government ordered an operative to assassinate Donald Trump before the 2024 election, Manhattan federal prosecutors said Friday, the latest in a string of assassination plots directed at the former and future president in recent months. Prosecutors charged Farhad Shakeri with murder-for-hire and providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization. He is believed to be in Iran and remains at large, prosecutors said. In addition to the plot to kill Trump, Shakeri and two other men — Carlisle Rivera and Jonathan Loadholt — were charged with a separate attempted murder-for-hire scheme targeting a U.S. citizen of Iranian origin who has publicly opposed the Iranian government.” (11/08/24)
“A prominent community church in Northern California is under scrutiny for orchestrating a nonofficial ballot drop box scheme in the month leading up to the Nov. 5 presidential election. After SFGATE presented evidence of the church’s ballot-gathering activities to Tehama County’s registrar of voters, officials said they would refer the matter to the District Attorney’s Office. Calvary Chapel, in the Tehama County seat of Red Bluff, is one of the larger churches in the town of around 14,400. While serving its parishioners, the church has been quietly deploying a multifaceted influence campaign called Real Impact with the explicit mission to ‘educate, equip, and encourage Christians to have a godly influence on our society and culture.’ Real Impact originated at the Chino Hills location of Calvary Chapel in 2019 and pledges to ‘[equip] the Church to stand for righteousness in the public square.’ It has since spread to several locations across Calvary’s network of 1,800 chapels.” (11/09/24)
