Tuesday, November 29 top stories

It is Tuesday, November 29. Here are today’s top stories.

England now a minority Christian country

The Guardian reported that England and Wales are now minority Christian countries, according to information from a 2021 census. There is a 5.5 million drop in the number of Christians and a 1.2 million rise in the number of Muslims. Almost 40% said they had no religion.

Ex-cop killed after catfishing girl

Police in Riverside, California said a 28-year-old man who was a former cop in Virginia drove across the country to meet a teenage girl that he catfished online, murdered three of her family members, and kidnapped her. The man was shot and killed in a police shootout. The girl survived the ordeal.

Catfishing is when someone conceals their true identity and poses as someone else online to develop a relationship.

The ex-cop’s name is Austin Lee Edwards. He used to work for the Virginia State Police before he resigned in October. Through catfishing, he was able to get the girl’s address and drove there on the day after Thanksgiving on Friday.

Police said he murdered the girl’s mother, Brooke Winek, and the girl’s grandparents, Mark and Sharie Winek, and then set the home on fire.

A neighbor saw that the teenage girl was distressed while getting into a red car with a man and notified the police. Riverside authorities also received calls about a house fire and upon arriving, found the three bodies. Police were able to track down the red vehicle and said Edwards shot at them and they returned fire, killing him. The teenage girl was unharmed and is now in protective custody.

Riverside’s police chief said this is a horrific reminder that there are predators that exist online and that parents or guardians should have a conversation with their children on how to be safe online.

Will Smith talks Oscars slap

Will Smith has started doing interviews to talk about the Oscars slap and to promote his new film, “Emancipation,” which will be released on December 2.

Smith told “The Daily Show” that he “lost it” when he slapped comedian Chris Rock after he made a joke about his wife’s hair. He said he had a rage that was bottled for a really long time. He said in another interview that he understands if people are not ready to see him in a film again, but that he hopes that his actions don’t diminish the work of the team behind the “Emancipation” movie.

Smith was banned from the Oscars for 10 years but he is still eligible to be nominated and win Oscars.

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100 fishermen rescued in Minnesota

About 100 people who were fishing on a frozen lake in northern Minnesota were stranded when a large part of the ice broke off and floated away from the shoreline. The chunk of ice drifted about 30 yards into open water.

First responders used a temporary bridge to evacuate the fishermen. Authorities said ice this early in the ice fishing season is very unpredictable and that people should be very careful when going out on the ice.

300k voted in Georgia Senate race

On Monday, over 300,000 people in Georgia voted during early voting in Georgia’s Senate runoff between Sen. Raphael Warnock (D) and his Republican challenger Herschel Walker. It has broken a state record for a single day of early voting. The final day of voting will be on December 6.

During the general election in November, Warnock edged Walker by about 37,000 votes but did not get the required 50% threshold to win the race outright. This rule is unique to Georgia. So the two are going up against each other in a head-to-head battle. AP News said Walker underperformed with Republican-leaning voters when compared with votes that went for Gov. Brian Kemp.

Democrats have already secured control of the Senate with 50 seats and Vice President Kamala Harris’ tiebreaker.

China increases police presence

AP News said Chinese universities sent students home and police officers increased their presence to prevent more protests on Tuesday. In recent days, thousands of people protested the Chinese government’s severe Covid-19 restrictions often include locking down entire apartment buildings or larger regions for several months. Many were detained for protesting. AP said it was the most widespread protest since the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy movement.

AP said videos and posts on Chinese social media about protests were deleted by the Chinese government and that police are checking people’s phones to see if there are images of protests and warning others to not protest.

That is all the top stories for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/nov/29/leicester-and-birmingham-are-uk-first-minority-majority-cities-census-reveals

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2022/11/28/police-killed-california-catfishing-girl-killing-family/10788663002/

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/will-smith-emancipation-film-first-since-oscar-slap/

https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/29/entertainment/will-smith-daily-show/index.html

https://abcnews.go.com/US/100-fishermen-rescued-after-large-chunk-ice-breaks/story?id=94109788

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/3753492-nearly-a-quarter-million-vote-in-single-day-in-georgia-senate-runoff-race/

https://apnews.com/article/georgia-runoff-election-f3147edfee2c15e2bb021a8cfb5526e9

https://apnews.com/article/health-beijing-xi-jinping-shanghai-covid-5e6340710ba8b273b3be88d8844feed0

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