Monday, December 27 top stories
It is Monday, December 27. Hope your weekend went well. Here are some top stories from the weekend.
The new Spider-Man film, “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” has broken $1 billion in box office earnings to make it the highest-grossing film of 2021 and the first pandemic-era film to reach this milestone. The last time a film grossed over a billion bucks was in 2019 with the film, “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.”
Desmond Tutu, an Anglican Archbishop from South Africa who won a Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 in honor of his struggle and leadership to end apartheid, passed away at the age of 90 on Sunday.
When Tutu was an activist against apartheid, he had four basic demands: equal civil rights for all, the abolition of South Africa’s pass laws limiting black citizens’ ability to move, a common system of education, and the cessation of forced deportation of black South Africans.
When apartheid finally ended and Nelson Mandela became South Africa’s first Black president, Tutu was appointed by Mandela to be the chairperson of the Truth & Reconciliation Commission.
Former president Barack Obama in a statement after Tutu’s death said he was a “mentor, a friend, and a moral compass.”
One of Tutu’s most well-known and used quotes is, “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.”
Former police officer Kim Potter was found guilty on Thursday afternoon of manslaughter in the shooting death of Daunte Wright during a traffic stop on April 11. Potter said she meant to pull out her Taser but accidentally drew her firearm. Potter was taken to state prison to await her sentencing, which will take place on February 18. Potter faces up to 15 years in prison, but may serve no more than eight years because she has no criminal history. Prosecutors want Potter to face a harsh sentence because they say Potter abused her position of authority and caused serious danger to others by discharging her firearm.
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About 7,000 flights were cancelled around the world during Christmas weekend and many of the cancellations are blamed on the omicron strain of the coronavirus. DW.com reported that multiple airlines said they are facing staff shortages with pilots, cabin crew, and other employees calling in sick or staying in quarantine.
Today an additional 2,000 flights were cancelled worldwide.
Former president Donald Trump said in an interview with popular conservative commentator Candace Owens that he got the Covid-19 booster shot and that the vaccines work. Owens tried to press Trump with ideas that the vaccines were not good, asking why more people have died of Covid-19 this year. Trump responded by saying that the “ones who get very sick and go to the hospital are the ones that don’t take the vaccine. But it’s still their choice. And if you take the vaccine, you’re protected.” So in short, Trump is pro-vaccine but anti-mandate.
The largest and most expensive space telescope, called the James Webb Space Telescope, launched off Earth on Saturday from a launchpad on the French Guiana. The telescope will orbit the sun with equipment that is larger and more powerful than the Hubble Space Telescope. It has 18 gold-plated hexagonal mirrors and cost about $10 billion and took almost 20 years to complete in a collaboration between the NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Canadian Space Agency. Scientists hope to look deep into space to find the oldest, most distant stars to learn more clues about how the universe came about billions of years ago. The NASA administrator said it is a “keyhole into the past.”
That is all the top stories for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/26/africa/desmond-tutu-death-intl-hnk/index.html
https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1984/tutu/biographical/
https://www.youthforhumanrights.org/voices-for-human-rights/champions/desmond-tutu.html
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/12/24/kim-potter-manslaughter-sentencing-daunte-wright-death/9014739002/
https://www.dw.com/en/coronavirus-digest-over-7000-flights-canceled-over-christmas-weekend-as-omicron-surges/a-60258143
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-59798609
https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucelee/2021/12/24/trump-tells-candace-owens-that-covid-19-vaccines-work-one-of-the-greatest-achievements-of-mankind/?sh=3a228aa2434f
https://theweek.com/donald-trump/1008381/trump-rejects-anti-vaccine-talking-point-in-candace-owens-interview-if-you
https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/public-global-health/587079-trump-pushes-back-on-candace-owens-people-arent-dying
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/25/science/james-webb-telescope-launch.html