Jay Leno reportedly seriously burned in car mishap
Jay Leno is reportedly receiving care at a Los Angeles burn center after suffering injuries to his face from a car fire.
TMZ reports the well-known car collector was in his massive Los Angeles garage when one of the autos burst into flames. The 72-year-old former Tonight Show and Jay Leno's Garage host was reportedly burned on the left side of his face. The gossip site says Jay's ear and eye were spared from injury.
In a statement to Variety, Leno clarified he suffered "some serious burns from a gasoline fire."
The comedian added, "I am ok. Just need a week or two to get back on my feet."
The trade reports that Leno was forced to cancel a Sunday night corporate gig for The Financial Brand in Las Vegas due to a "serious medical emergency," but the organizers didn't specify at that time what had happened.
Late this evening, RTC's affiliate ABC News added that the Grossman Burn Center in California has passed along a message regarding Jay Leno, who is being cared for there following being burned in a garage accident.
"Jay wants everyone to know that he is in stable condition and receiving treatment at the Grossman Burn Center for burns that he received to his face and hands from a gasoline accident in his garage over the weekend," began the statement obtained by ABC News affiliate KABC-TV.
"He is in good humor and is touched by all the inquiries into his condition and well wishes. He wants to let everyone know he is doing well and is in 'the best burn center in the United States.'"
The 72-year-old former Tonight Show host apparently suffered burns to the left side of his face in the mishap in his Los Angeles garage where he stores his massive car collection.
He also issued a statement to Variety: "I am ok. Just need a week or two to get back on my feet."
Source-ABC
Australian police to Medibank hackers: 'We know who you are'
Australian police say they have identified the Russian cyber-criminals holding the medical data of millions for ransom.
Hackers are demanding a dollar for each of the 9.7m sensitive records stolen from the medical insurer Medibank.
The hackers have published sensitive documents online including abortion records in an episode described in parliament as "morally reprehensible".
In a news conference, police warned hackers: "We know who you are".
Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw told reporters that police believe the hackers are in Russia but did not provide any evidence.
"We believe we know which individuals are responsible but I will not be naming them," he said.
The Commissioner said his team was holding talks with Russian law enforcement officials and asked Moscow to help.
"Russia benefits from the intelligence-sharing and data shared through Interpol, and with that come responsibilities and accountability," he said.
Cyber-security researchers and western agencies have long accused Russia of harboring cyber-crime gangs.
The website being used by the Medibank hackers to leak the sensitive material is being linked to a notorious gang called REvil which is thought to be based in Russia.
REvil carried out dozens of high-profile ransomware attacks - making hundreds of millions of dollars - until the gang was disrupted last year.
Multiple arrests of alleged members were made around the world including, in a highly unusual sign of international cooperation, in Russia.
However, experts think some of the gang have resurfaced under a new guise and are responsible for the Medibank hack.
The hack has rocked Australia, with emotional scenes in parliament discussing the distress it's causing Australians.
Cyber Security Minister Clare O'Neil told politicians: "As the Minister for cyber-security, but more importantly as a woman, what has occurred here is morally reprehensible."
Medibank's refusal to pay a ransom for the data is being supported by the Australian government.
Source-BBC
Massive turnout in defense of Mexico’s electoral authority
Tens of thousands of people packed the Mexican capital’s main boulevard Sunday to protest President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s proposal to overhaul the country’s electoral authority in the largest demonstration against one of the president’s efforts during his nearly four years in office.
The massive turnout was a strong rebuke of the president’s assertion that criticism comes only from a relatively small, elite opposition.
Opposition parties and civil society organizations had called on Mexicans to demonstrate in the capital and other cities against proposed electoral reforms that would remake the National Electoral Institute, one of the country’s most prized and trusted institutions.
López Obrador sees the institute as beholden to the elite, but critics say his reforms would threaten its independence and make it more political. The initiative includes eliminating state-level electoral offices, cutting public financing of political parties, and allowing the public to elect members of the electoral authority rather than the lower chamber of Congress.
It would also reduce the number of legislators in the lower chamber of Congress from 500 to 300 and senators from 128 to 96 by eliminating at-large lawmakers. Those are not directly elected by voters, but appear on party lists and get seats based on their party’s proportion of the vote.
The proposal is expected to be discussed in Mexico’s Congress in the coming weeks, where the president’s Morena party and allies hold an advantage.
“I’m already fed up with Andrés Manuel, with so many lies, so much crime,” said Alejandra Galán, a 45-year-old manager, as she raised a Mexican flag in the middle of the multitude. “He wants to take the (electoral institute) from us so that eventually it’s like Venezuela, Cuba, but we’re not going to let him.”
Jorge González said such comparisons to authoritarian regimes may seem exaggerated at this point, but “I think it’s only a step away. We have to have a clear separation of powers, independent institutions, and especially the National Electoral Institute.”
The 49-year-old, who works in the finance sector, noted the seven decades of uninterrupted rule by the Institutional Revolutionary Party, which was finally ousted in 2000. “The fear is not having an independent civic institution, where we can really trust in the elections and (instead) going back to a way with an institute where it’s run by a single party.”
Fernando Belaunzarán, one of the promoters of the protest, said 200,000 people participated in the march. Authorities did not confirm this figure.
López Obrador has spent decades battling electoral authorities. He considers himself a victim of electoral fraud on multiple occasions, though it was the National Electoral Institute that confirmed his landslide presidential victory in 2018.
Organizers have said the march is not against López Obrador, but to draw attention to the proposal and to urge lawmakers to vote against it.
López Obrador’s party does not have enough votes to pass the constitutional reform without support from the opposition.
Last week, López Obrador dedicated a good part of his daily morning press conferences to dismissing the promoters of the demonstration, calling them “cretins” and “corrupt,” aiming to trick the people. He defended the proposal as seeking to reduce the electoral authority’s budget and avoiding “electoral fraud.”
While agreeing that some cost savings could be desirable, some analysts worry eliminating the state electoral offices would concentrate power too much at the federal level and sacrifice efficiency.
Selecting members of the Electoral Court and leadership of the institute by popular vote would give the parties more power to pick candidates. The proposal would also reduce members of the institute’s council from 11 to seven.
Patricio Morelos of Monterrey Technological University pointed out that with López Obrador enjoying high popularity and his party controlling the majority of Mexico’s 32 state governments, they would have an advantage if the electoral authority is remade and would likely exert control.
Protester Giovanni Rodrigo, a 44-year-old salaried worker, said López Obrador does not want to let go of power, if it’s not himself in the presidency, he wants to decide who.
Source-AP
Republicans anger over midterms
News that Democrats have held the US Senate after midterm elections this week has sparked recriminations within the Republican Party.
Critics of former President Donald Trump blamed him for the poor showing while other Republicans faulted their Senate leader, Mitch McConnell.
The White House, meanwhile, made its strongest indication yet that President Joe Biden will run for re-election.
The race for the US House of Representatives remains uncalled.
Republicans are still favored to win the lower chamber of Congress which would severely hamper President Joe Biden's plans but their likely majority is shrinking as votes continue to be counted.
Over the weekend, US networks projected that Democrats had held two Senate seats in Arizona and Nevada, retaining control of the upper chamber.
"This is the third election in a row that Trump has cost us the result," Maryland's Republican Governor Larry Hogan, a long-time critic of the ex-president, told CNN on Sunday.
"He said we would be tired of winning. Well, I'm tired of losing."
History suggests the party controlling the White House usually loses seats in a midterm election, and Democrats' performance this year is considered the best for a sitting party in at least 20 years.
"The pundits in Washington said we couldn't win because history, history, history," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told ABC's This Week program.
But Democrats "never accepted the punditry" and focused on "the contrast between themselves and their opponents", the senior California Democrat said.
Mrs. Pelosi was among a handful of party officials on Sunday who backed President Biden for re-election in 2024.
Senior White House adviser Anita Dunn told CBS News the president was not influenced by "what the other side is doing or what another candidate may be doing", and will announce his decision soon.
She said the midterm results were "hugely consequential" for the party's agenda and Mr. Biden believes he is "the best person to continue the progress that we have made".
If Mr. Biden does run again, he will likely be in a rematch of his 2020 race with Mr. Trump, who is widely expected to formally announce for 2024 this coming Tuesday.
Source-BBC
UK Recession looms as economy starts to shrink
The UK economy shrank between July and September as the country heads into what is expected to be the longest recession on record.
The economy contracted by 0.2% during the three months as soaring prices hit businesses and households.
A country is in recession when its economy shrinks for two three-month periods in a row. The UK is expected to be in one by the end of the year.
The Bank of England has forecast a "very challenging" two-year recession.
A recession has been widely expected in the UK due to the prices of goods such as food, fuel, and energy soaring, which is down to several factors, including the war in Ukraine.
Higher prices for goods have led to many households facing hardship and cutting back on spending, which has started to drag on the economy.
When a country is in recession, it's a sign that its economy is doing badly.
During recessions, companies typically make less money, and the number of people unemployed rises. Graduates and school leavers also find it harder to get their first job.
This means the government receives less money in tax to use on public services such as health and education.
The Bank of England expects the UK recession to be the longest since records began in the 1920s and said unemployment will almost double.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said he would try to make any recession "shallower and quicker" than predicted.
But he has warned of "eye-watering" decisions needed on public spending and taxation to "restore confidence and economic stability".
Mr. Hunt said he was "under no illusion that there is a tough road ahead".
He is set to unveil his tax and spending plans next week in the Autumn Statement, which comes as households are being squeezed by the worst cost-of-living crisis since the 1950s.
Sam Burrows, managing director of Bristol Beer Factory, told the BBC he has been weighing up how much of his soaring business costs can be passed on to customers in recent months.
"We can't price consumers out. We need people in pubs eating, drinking and enjoying the hospitality sector, so it's a balancing act for me," he said.
Mr. Burrows said he wanted to invest and expand his business but was having to factor in the current economic climate.
However, he said the World Cup and Christmas were coming at the right time.
"A bit of national pride and some positive energy with a good performance in the World Cup, Christmas spending, it's all going to help hospitality," he added.
Countries all around the world are experiencing high price rises, but the UK economy is performing the worst compared to other major nations and is smaller than it was before the Covid pandemic.
Source-BBC
Turks and Caicos Islands Sports Commission Condemns Youth Violence
The Turks and Caicos Islands Sports Commission condemns the violence displayed outside of the Gustavus Lightbourne Sports Complex which occurred post-conclusion of last weekend’s sporting events.
Roughly forty - five minutes after the event ended, young persons began engaging in a physical confrontation on the exterior of the facility and in one incident a weapon was used. We would like to advise the general public that this form of behaviour is not tolerated at Sports Commission facilities.
The Sports Commission considers the safety of its participants and spectators paramount and has implemented additional security measures to ensure the safety of its patrons. Such measures have proven to be successful in deterring disorderly conduct within the various facilities.
The general public is advised that:
All spectators will be required to vacate the premises immediately upon the conclusion of scheduled events, however, parents who intend on transporting their children must do so no later than thirty minutes after the event has concluded.
Schools are being advised to coordinate transportation for their respective sports teams to and from the competition venue to further safeguard athletes. The Commission also encourages parents/guardians to reinforce positive social behaviours with their children, allowing for proper social interactions amongst their peers.
We implore the various sports coaches to ensure proper oversight of their respective teams to allow for appropriate behaviour that reflects the values of the institutions they represent.
Persons visiting major sporting facilities or attending major sporting events may be required to provide identification prior to entry.
The Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force will be present to reduce loitering and disorder around sports venues and reduce the chances of violent outbreaks among young people.
Honourable Rachel Taylor, Minister of Education, Labour, Customer and Employment Services has expressed great concern for the behaviours displayed by young persons during the recent violent altercations. “Young persons in the Turks and Caicos Islands must conduct themselves in a manner which reflects positive values and they must understand that their choice of actions today may impact their future.”
If anyone has information that can aid the authorities with their investigations of the most recent incident, the Sports Commission encourages these persons to communicate with the authorities directly or contact ‘Crime Stoppers’ anonymously at 1-800-8477.
It is essential that we as a country condemn the condoning of violent behaviour amongst young persons at any time or place.
Joe Biden issues climate rallying cry to world leaders
It is the duty and responsibility of every nation to act on climate, US President Joe Biden has said at the UN summit COP27.
Mr. Biden spoke in Egypt after US mid-term elections delivered better-than-expected results for the president.
He claimed the US is a global leader on climate after it passed sweeping laws to tackle global warming.
About 35,000 people are in Sharm el-Sheikh for the two-week meeting.
"The climate crisis is about human security, economic security, environmental security, national security, and the very life of the planet," said Mr. Biden.
He echoed UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's comments on Monday that Russia's war in Ukraine is a reason to act faster on climate.
Noting that the past eight years have been the warmest on record, he described the impacts of climate change on African nations, including a four-year drought in the Horn of Africa.
Mr. Biden promised to tighten US rules on methane emissions from oil and gas companies. Methane is the most potent greenhouse gas and significantly contributes to the warming of Earth's atmosphere.
"Today, thanks to the actions we have taken, I can stand here as president of the United States of America and say with confidence the US will meet our emissions targets by 2030," he said.
He also pledged more money for poorer nations suffering from climate disasters, including drought and flooding. But the sums remain far short of what the US, along with other developed nations, has promised.
"Joe Biden comes to COP27 and makes new promises but his old promises have not even been fulfilled. I'd rather have one apple in my hand than the promise of five that never come," said Mohamed Adow, Power Shift Africa director.
"The inconvenient truth is that the United States is grossly underperforming on its international climate finance commitments," said the president of the World Resources Institute Ani Dasgupta.
Mr. Biden's Democrat party feared that it would lose crucial seats in the mid-term elections on Tuesday, which could have weakened its climate agenda. But it performed better than expected.
"While control of Congress is still being determined, one thing is certain: the massive climate-friendly investments in the Inflation Reduction Act are here to stay," says Dan Lashof, director of the World Resources Institute United States.
Mr. Biden also held talks with Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi amid heightened concern over the fate of jailed British-Egyptian pro-democracy activist Alaa Abdel Fattah.
There's been no independent confirmation about Mr. Abdel Fattah's condition since he is said to have received "medical intervention" on Thursday, days after he began refusing water as part of a long hunger strike.
It is the sixth day of the COP summit, which is focussed on implementing ambitious promises made at COP26 in Glasgow last year.
Source-BBC
Celebrities & Fans attended memorial for TakeOff the rapper from Migos
Thousands of fans have paid their final respects to the Migos rapper Takeoff at a star-studded memorial service in Atlanta, Georgia.
Stars including Drake, Justin Bieber, and Chloe Bailey were all reported to be in attendance at Friday's "celebration of life" ceremony.
The 28-year-old musician died in a shooting at a bowling alley in Houston, Texas earlier this month.
Police are still investigating and have made no arrests.
Fans braved the rain to attend the roughly three-hour event at the State Farm Arena, a 21,000-capacity stadium.
Relatives - including the two surviving members of Migos, his uncle Quavo and his cousin Offset - led with heartfelt tributes to the young artist.
Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens gave the late rapper, whose real name is Kirshnik Khari Ball, the city's highest honor: the Phoenix Award.
The event also featured musical performances from Bieber, Bailey, and gospel artists Yolanda Adams and Byron Cage.
No media was allowed inside the venue, and phones and recording devices were also banned.
But in images and videos leaked on social media, Drake and others were shown making heartfelt speeches.
Following the event, a motorcade was seen carrying Takeoff's body to its final resting place.
The rapper was killed on 1 November by a stray bullet after an altercation broke out at a private party he was attending in Houston.
Source-BBC
US State Maryland’s newly elected Governor has Jamaican roots
Democratic representative, Wes Moore who was elected as Maryland’s first black governor on Tuesday has Jamaican roots.
Moore, whose mother Joy Moore was born in Jamaica and migrated to the United States as a child with her parents, managed to flip a governor's office from Republican to Democratic with his victory.
Of the 36 governor's races this year, Maryland and Massachusetts represented the best chances for Democrats to regain a governor's office at a time when the GOP holds a 28-22 edge in governor's seats.
Only two other black politicians have ever been elected governor in the United States — Virginia's Douglas Wilder in 1989, and Deval Patrick of Massachusetts in 2006.
Cuban and US Officials Meet to Discuss Consular Services
On Wednesday, November 9th, Cuban and US officials met in Havana to discuss the expansion of consular and visa services on the island.
The US delegation included the Assistant Secretary of State for consular affairs and the director of US citizenship and immigration services.
The US embassy closed its doors in Cuba following a series of health incidents in 2017.
A full reopening of the embassy office has not been announced, however, visa processing is set to resume in January of 2023.
This move comes in conjunction with the migration of Cuban nationals from the island in decades. Approximately 221,000 Cubans were apprehended by law enforcement officials on the US-Mexico border in 2022. Representing a 471% increase from 2021.