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Elon: Parody me, I’ll ban you!

Twitter:

Elon:

Twitter:

Elon: I’m serious!

Twitter: I’m Elon and I’m serious!

Elon: Stop it!

Twitter: Stop it!

— Anyone Coulda Seen This Coming, A Twitter Story

— Stonekettle (@Stonekettle) November 7, 2022

‘Cooperate or Perish’: Why the UN’s COP27 Climate Change Summit Is Such a Big Deal

C/NET

After Hurricane Ian ravaged the US and Caribbean, a monsoon flood devastated a third of Pakistan and the hottest summer on record baked Europe, Mother Nature has shown that climate change is creating a material impact on our lives in 2022. It’s too late to protect against the damage done, but there’s still time to avert future tragedies.

The science is clear about how to do this: To mitigate the worst effects of the human-made climate crisis, humanity must prevent temperatures from rising 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels (we’re currently at around 1.3 degrees). That benchmark represents a tipping point, after which the Earth will experience irreversible destruction. Our path to achieving this goal will require countries and businesses to halve emissions by 2030 and reach net zero before 2050.

That’s why the United Nations’ COP27 climate conference, which brings big companies, world leaders and environmental experts together in Sharm-el-Sheikh, Egypt, represents the best chance for everyone to get on the same page about how to deal with this crisis.

Stolen 3B Bitcoin Industry ends with popcorn tin discovery

BBC

The US Department of Justice has revealed it seized $3.36bn (£2.9bn) of Bitcoin last year which was stolen from an infamous darknet website.

The stash of 50,676 Bitcoin was found hidden on various devices in a hacker’s home in an underfloor safe and inside a popcorn tin.

James Zhong has pleaded guilty to hacking the funds in 2012 from the illegal Silk Road marketplace.

US authorities say the seizure is the second largest in history.

The police raid at Mr Zhong’s Georgia home was carried out a year ago but only revealed now.

It came at the same time as Bitcoin’s value peaked – the seized funds would now be worth about $1.1bn.

Rishi Sunak ‘optimistic’ on Channel crossings after talks with Macron

BBC

Rishi Sunak has renewed a promise to stop people being smuggled across the Channel, despite coming away from his first face-to-face talks with Emmanuel Macron without any firm commitments.

The prime minister vowed to “get a grip of this situation” and promised details about the progress of cross-Channel talks “in the coming weeks”, with No 10 hoping to make a major announcement before Christmas.

Downing Street sources said the talks were never meant to be a breakthrough and Sunak himself tried to set expectations back home by downplaying the prospect of the problem being solved overnight.

German girl, 8, freed after allegedly being locked away for most of life

The Guardian

An eight-year-old girl has been freed after allegedly being locked away by her mother and grandparents in western Germany since she was less than a year old, leaving her so physically underdeveloped as to be barely able to climb a flight of stairs.

The girl, named only as “Maria” in German media, is understood to have spent most of the last seven and a half years in a locked room at her grandparents’ house in Attendorn, a town of about 25,000 residents east of Cologne.

‘Blood moon’ total lunar eclipse to arrive on Tuesday

The Guardian

The moon is set to pull off a disappearing act on Tuesday, and those who miss it will have to wait three years for another chance to see something like it again.

A total lunar eclipse will be visible throughout North America before dawn on Tuesday, giving those further west the best view. In Asia, Australia and the rest of the Pacific, it will be visible after sunset.

Uranus is set to be visible just a finger’s width above the moon, resembling a bright star, at that time.

The eclipse’s totality will last nearly 90 minutes – from 5.16am to 6.41am ET – as Earth passes directly between the moon and sun.

France: 11 bishops accused of sexual abuse

Deutsche Welle

Cardinal says he abused a 14-year-old girl

Ricard said in his statement that “thirty-five years ago, when I was a priest, I behaved in a reprehensible way towards a girl of 14.”

“There is no doubt that my behavior caused serious and long-lasting consequences for that person,” the cardinal said, adding he had asked for forgiveness from her.

Ricard was bishop of Bordeaux from 2001 until 2019. He said he would withdraw from all functions and be available to church and legal authorities.

Now retired, the cardinal is 78-years-old.

Catholic Church under scrutiny

An independent commission investigating abuse in the French Catholic Church said last year there were thousands of pedophiles in its ranks over many years.

Iran’s universities under spotlight as protests persist

Deutsche Welle

In videos circulating on social media, male and female students students on Iranian university campuses are seen eating together, often outside the gender-segregated dining halls that were closed after students tore down the walls dividing men and women.

Eating together in front of the closed cafeterias is considered act of resistance. The videos are an act of protest and solidarity with anti-government demonstrations that have been going on for months in Iran.

In many videos, protesters holding placards also draw attention to fellow students who have been arrested. According to media reports, about 300 students have been detained by authorities .

The protesters appear not to be intimidated by the government’s clampdown on the demonstrations.

Ukraine says Russian forces looting, occupying homes in Kherson

Al Jazeera

Ukraine has accused Russia of looting empty homes in the southern city of Kherson and occupying them with troops in civilian clothes to prepare for street fighting ahead against Kyiv’s army.

In recent days, Russia has ordered civilians out of Kherson in anticipation of a Ukrainian assault to recapture the city, the only regional capital Moscow has seized since its invasion in February.

Kherson, with a prewar population of nearly 300,000, has been left cold and dark after power and water were cut to the surrounding area over the past 48 hours, both sides said.

Russian-installed officials blamed Ukrainian “sabotage” and said they were working to restore electricity. Ukrainian officials said the Russians had dismantled 1.5km (0.9 miles) of power lines, and electricity probably would not return until Ukrainian forces recapture the area.

Russia’s Wagner Group founder admits to US election interference

Al Jazeera

A day before the United States votes in midterm elections, the founder of Russia’s Wagner Group, a private mercenary force, has admitted to interfering in US elections and promised to continue.

“We have interfered, we are interfering and we will continue to interfere – carefully, accurately, surgically and in our own way, as we know how to do,” Yevgeny Prigozhin said on Monday in comments posted by the press service of his Concord catering firm on Russian social media.

“During our pinpoint operations, we will remove both kidneys and the liver at once,” the Russian businessman wrote on VK, the Russian equivalent of Facebook.

He did not elaborate.

A hurricane watch is issued for Florida as Subtropical Storm Nicole gathers strength

NPR

A hurricane watch has been issued for much of Florida’s eastern coast, as officials warned of heavy rainfall and a storm surge from Subtropical Storm Nicole, an unusual, late-season system that could reach hurricane intensity later this week.

On Monday, as the storm collected strength east of the Bahamas, officials warned of a “dangerous storm surge” of up to 5 feet and heavy rainfall that could affect parts of Florida still recovering from Hurricane Ian, the Category 4 storm that battered much of the state in September.

In Florida, the hurricane watch extends from the Volusia-Brevard county line east of Orlando south to Hallandale Beach, between Fort Lauderdale and Miami. The watch also covers Lake Okeechobee and the northern Bahamas.

As Netanyahu forms Israeli government, U.S. may boycott one of his far-right allies

NPR

TEL AVIV — Some of Israel’s allies abroad are concerned about the possibility that Benjamin Netanyahu will appoint far-right politicians to key positions as he forms a new government.

Netanyahu, who was prime minister for more than a decade until being ousted last year, is making his way back to power after elections last week.

Jewish nationalist Itamar Ben-Gvir, who met with Netanyahu on Monday, is expected to become a senior Cabinet minister. He could face a boycott by the Biden administration, according to a former Obama administration official.

“I think the U.S. is likely to boycott him,” said David Makovsky of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, who worked on Israeli-Palestinian peace talks under former President Barack Obama. “I have reason to think that they are strongly considering this.”

Divers uncover a surprising discovery near the wreck of the Titanic

CNN

The wreck of the Titanic sits in two parts at the bottom of the North Atlantic Ocean, slowly decaying nearly 4,000 meters (13,000 feet) below the surface, but it’s not alone. A sonar blip detected around 26 years ago has now revealed there’s much more to this underwater area than previously thought.

P.H. Nargeolet, a veteran Nautile submersible pilot and Titanic diver, originally picked up the blip on echo sounding equipment in 1996, but its origins have remained unknown.

In an expedition to the Titanic shipwreck earlier this year, Nargeolet and four other researchers went to the blip’s previously recorded location to search for the mysterious object it represented. Due to the blip’s magnitude, Nargeolet had believed he was looking for another shipwreck — he instead found a rocky reef, made up of various volcanic formations, and thriving with lobsters, deep-sea fish, sponges and several species of coral that could be thousands of years old.

Black voters in Florida express fear, confusion as DeSantis election laws kick in

Washington Post

HOBE SOUND, Fla. — Geraldine Harriel usually helps her elderly parents vote by taking their mail-in ballots to the elections office for them. But new voting laws in Florida and Gov. Ron DeSantis’s elections police force had her questioning that this year.

So on a recent Sunday, she drove them to an early-voting site — gingerly guiding her 80-year-old mother who walks with a cane to the entryway and then pushing her 84-year-old father in a wheelchair along the same path.

“Nobody wants to take the chance of being picked up,” Harriel, 65, said, referring to the voting police unit, which made its first arrests in August.