Actors on strike:Â Members of the performers’ union, SAG-AFTRA, are on strike against Hollywood studios and producers. The union has about 160,000 members. They join members of the Writers Guild who have been on the picket lines since May. The actors are looking for higher wages, better residual payments for repeat use of material, and controls on the use of artificial intelligence to generate images of them and replicate their voices. It’s the first time both the actors and writers have been on strike together since 1960.
Trump trial date:Â Prosecutors for Special Counsel Jack Smith have asked Federal Judge Aileen Cannon to begin jury selection on Dec. 11 and to reject the Trump side’s request to delay indefinitely his trial on charges stemming from Trump taking classified documents and refusing to return them to the government. The government says that Trump’s running for the Republican Presidential Nomination is no reason to delay the trial.
Trump confidants before grand jury:Â The New York Times reports that Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, aide Hope Hicks and several other confidants of Trump have been questioned by Jack Smith’s team before a federal grand jury. They reportedly were asked about whether Trump understood that he had lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden. The line of questioning would be to help determine whether Trump had criminal intent when he continually told followers that the election was fraudulent.
Heat wave:Â The extreme heat is expected to get worse today and over the weekend in the southwest and into California according to the National Weather Service. Phoenix hit 110 degrees yesterday for the tenth consecutive day. In the East, the ocean temperatures around the Florida Keys have been in the high 90s, with effects on coral reefs and other sea life starting to be felt.
North Korea’s missile:Â North Korea’s envoy to the United Nations, in a rare appearance at the Security Council yesterday, said that his country’s launch of a new missile on Wednesday was to deter military moves by what he called hostile forces. He said North Korea’s new intercontinental ballistic missile is at the heart of the country’s nuclear strike force. It was the first time North Korea spoke at the Security Council since 2017.
Aspartame questions:Â The World Health Organization (WHO) has released a report that says the chemical sweetener aspartame may cause cancer in humans. The report says the conclusion is based on limited evidence and occasional use of aspartame may not be hazardous. An official of the WHO in Geneva said it might be a different story for people who consume a lot of the sweetener, such as from regularly drinking diet sodas.
