Friday, November 27 top news briefs
It is Friday, November 27. Here are today’s top news briefs.
Today in Iran, a top scientist who was one of the leaders of the country’s nuclear program was assassinated while he sat in a car. His name was Mohsen Fakhrizadeh. A news image showed a black sedan with its windshield riddled with bullet holes. A news report said there were attackers who used machine guns and explosives, and that Fakhrizad had bodyguards who returned fire. Several others were killed. A top Iranian official said he suspects Israel was behind it. This is a very sensitive situation because Israel and the Trump administration has been very critical of the Iranian nuclear program, while Iran obviously values its nuclear program.
The 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan was postponed to 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic, and Axios reported that Olympics officials are moving ahead with an opening ceremony scheduled for July 23. There will be 18 test events in the spring. There will be over 15,000 athletes for both the Olympic and Paralympic games flying into Japan in the summer.
Today in Pennsylvania, a federal appeals court panel unanimously rejected a Trump campaign’s appeal to file a new lawsuit to challenge Pennsylvania’s election results. Judge Stephanos Bibas said there was no proof of unfairness. A Trump representative said they would appeal to the Supreme Court.
President Trump said yesterday at the White House that he would leave the White House if the Electoral College elects Joe Biden as the next president, but Trump said the election was a massive fraud and that our voting system is like a third world country. Today he tweeted that Biden can only enter the White House if he can prove that his 80 million votes weren’t illegal.
Amazon has hired an average of 1,400 new employees per day since January as its business has exploded because of the coronavirus pandemic. A total of 425,000 employees were hired around the world this year, and they have 1.2 million employees worldwide. For private companies, only Walmart has more employees. Amazon is in second place.
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On Wednesday night, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 to block an executive order from New York State to restrict the number of people allowed in a house of worship. The rules limited attendance depending on how serious cases were in the area, with either 10 or 25 people only, or at 50% of the building’s capacity. A Catholic diocese and two Jewish synagogues in New York City sued, arguing the orders violated their First Amendment rights to have the “free exercise of religion,” and pointed out that it was unfair because businesses in their areas were allowed to remain open. Five justices, including the newly-confirmed justice Amy Coney Barrett, sided with the religious groups. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) said the rules weren’t about religion but about preventing “superspreader” events. The Supreme Court sided with the religious groups 5-4.
On Wednesday in Toronto, Canada, a barbecue restaurant owner named Adam Skelly was arrested because he reopened his business and allowed customers to dine there in violation of local Covid-19 restrictions. Skelly was warned on Tuesday night about opening his restaurant, but he returned on Wednesday morning and opened it up again. There were customers who ordered food, but they dispersed when police officers showed up and detained Skelly. There were protesters who were either supporting or against Skelly. Toronto Police said the restaurant was seized and the locks were changed. Toronto is now in a four-week lockdown because Covid-19 cases are spiking.
That’s all the top news briefs for today and this week. Check out our Deaf News videos. Have a good weekend and stay with the light.
https://www.npr.org/2020/11/27/939491725/top-iranian-military-scientist-assassinated-state-media-reports
https://www.axios.com/mohsen-fahrizade-iran-nuclear-assassinated-tehran-b1765dd7-ab7b-4e54-ac95-29fc082dcef2.html
https://www.axios.com/trump-campaign-pennsylvania-lawsuit-appeal-1a3245a6-f564-404b-bf0d-58aa2d35d799.html
https://twitter.com/Hagstrom_Anders/status/1332096214800752640
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/27/technology/pushed-by-pandemic-amazon-goes-on-a-hiring-spree-without-equal.html
https://www.scotusblog.com/2020/11/justices-lift-new-yorks-covid-related-attendance-limits-on-worship-services/
https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/charges-laid-after-toronto-bbq-restaurant-openly-defies-lockdown-rules-for-second-straight-day-1.5203777