Good Morning, it’s Tuesday, November 23rd. And You’re listening to Ausum’s Morning News Briefing, where we round up the top latest articles that everyone is talking about.

US President Joe Biden has said that he will nominate Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell to a second term. The Wall Street Journal suggests that this shows Biden’s inclination to continue the US economic policy.

Following the tragic parade in Wisconsin where five were killed after a vehicle ploughed into a crowd, The Guardian states that a 39-year-old man has been charged with homicide.

Within Bulgaria, 46 people have died after a bus crashed and caught fire. Axios reports that 12 of the victims were children.

After company leaks, The Washington Examiner announced that Facebook has become more secretive. There is now a new “Integrity Umbrella” system which only allows 6,000 employees access to sensitive internal documents.

The Verge states that Elizabeth Holmes has said to a jury that at least some of Theranos was real.

That’s all for today. For the full Ausum experience, make sure to download the Ausum app. Catch us, every weekday, morning and afternoon.

Good Afternoon, it’s Monday, November 22nd. And you’re listening to Ausum’s Afternoon News Briefing, where we round up the top latest articles that everyone is talking about.

AP News reported that Police Chief Dan Thompson said an SUV driver slammed into a Christmas parade in suburban Milwaukee, killing at least five people and wounded 48. While there was no evidence it was a terrorist attack or that the suspect, Darrell Brooks Jr., knew anyone in the parade, the driver was fleeing the site of a domestic argument that had occurred only minutes earlier.

Today, the select House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack informed a federal appeals court that it urgently needed voluminous data from former President Trump's White House, claiming that further time would impede its investigation. According to The Hill, Trump has filed an appeal after a judge denied his attempt to stop the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) from cooperating with the select committee's document demands. Next week, a three-judge panel will hear oral arguments.

Business Insider covered 29-year-old April Koh's $2 billion mental-health firm. After suffering from her own mental health, Koh founded Spring Health in her senior year at Yale at the age of 24. As a corporate perk, the firm provides treatment and coaching to clients such as General Mills and PepsiCo. During the coronavirus epidemic, demand skyrocketed. But, beneath the great financial figures, there is another, less happy narrative. According to current and former employees, she oversaw a fast-paced atmosphere that bred panic and anxiety.

Forbes reported that President Joe Biden is expected to release more than 35 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve as early as Tuesday. The measure is meant to reduce oil prices, which in turn will reduce gasoline costs. As the holidays approach, gas costs have become an increasingly crucial concern for Biden. According to AAA, the average price of a gallon of petrol in the United States is currently $3.41, which is more than 60% more than this time last year.

According to the Guardian, President Joe Biden has stated that he will renominate Jerome Powell to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. In addition, the president will propose Dr. Lael Brainard to serve as vice-chair of the Federal Reserve Board, a position she has held since 2014. Though Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren, Jeff Merkley, and Sheldon Whitehouse have all stated their opposition to Powell's candidacy, the chairman looks to have enough Republican support to overcome progressive resistance.

The Washington Examiner reported that Republican Senate candidate Sean Parnell stepped down on Monday, only hours after a court handed exclusive legal custody of his three children to his divorced wife after she accused him of domestic abuse. According to Politico, a source close to Parnell claimed he phoned former President Donald Trump, who backed his candidacy, to notify him of his decision.

That’s all for today. Be sure to download the Ausum app to get the full Ausum experience. Catch you next time for the Ausum News Briefing every weekday, morning, and afternoon.

Good Morning, it’s Monday, November 22nd. And You’re listening to Ausum’s Morning News Briefing, where we round up the top latest articles that everyone is talking about.

Five people have died after a driver plowed into a crowd at a Wisconsin holiday parade. The New York Times reports that 40 people were injured and the motivations of the incident are unclear.

Regarding the Covid-19 pandemic, the BBC announced that despite protests, Austria is back in full national lockdown.

Two of the seventeen missionaries kidnapped in Haiti by a notorious street gang have been released. The Washington Post notes that this group included 16 Americans and a Canadian.

Following the global supply chain crisis, Fox News states that the issues are beginning to ease however it is unlikely for services to return to pre-covid operations before next year.

In the UK, Business Insider reports that octopuses, crabs, and lobsters will be recognised as ‘sentient beings’. This is after a review found that they experience pain and distress.

That’s all for today. For the full Ausum experience, make sure to download the Ausum app. Catch us, every weekday, morning and afternoon.

Good Morning, it’s Friday, November 19th. And You’re listening to Ausum’s Morning News Briefing, where we round up the top latest articles that everyone is talking about.

Democrats are moving towards voting on President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better plan. This plan is a $1.85 trillion social welfare spending bill. The Washington Examiner suggests that this bill is an attempt from Democrats to revive party approval ratings.

Kevin Stitt, Governor of Oklahoma, has called off the execution of a death row inmate just a few hours before he was scheduled to die by lethal injection. The New York Times reports that the campaign for the inmate’s clemency drew in celebrities, conservatives and Christian leaders.

The two men accused of Malcolm X’s assassination in 1965 have been exonerated by a Manhatten judge half a century later. The Guardian noted that both these men maintained their innocence throughout this time.

After analysing the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, The New York Times announced that Scientists believe that the first case was a vendor at Wuhan animal market. Initially, it was thought that the initial case was an accountant who lived many miles away from the market.

Following the floods that occurred in Canada, The Guardian reports that 18,000 people are still stranded. This event has risen fear about climate change as wildfires earlier in the year wiped out vegetation that would have slowed the floods.

That’s all for today. For the full Ausum experience, make sure to download the Ausum app. Catch us, every weekday, morning and afternoon.

Good Afternoon, it’s Thursday, November 18th. And you’re listening to Ausum’s Afternoon News Briefing, where we round up the top latest articles that everyone is talking about.

The Washington Post reports that The House begins to discuss the $2 trillion bill to change health care, education, environment, immigration, and tax laws. Democrats are hoping to move the next item on President Biden's economic agenda by the end of the week. The Hill added that Moderates want assurances that the legislation is fully paid for. Liberal Democrats, who had championed a much larger version of the bill, are cheering it to the finish line.

The Washington Examiner reported that Rep. G. K. Butterfield said Thursday that he will resign at the end of his term, a setback to Democrats' hopes of retaining control of the House after next year's midterm elections.

AP News reported that Muhammad Aziz and the late Khalil Islam, two of Malcolm X's convicted assassins, were exonerated on Thursday, putting an end to decades of debate about who was responsible for the civil rights icon's killing. According to prosecutors and the men's attorneys, a subsequent investigation revealed fresh evidence that undermined the case against the defendants and demonstrated that officers hid some of what they knew.

According to The Guardian, Kevin Stitt, the Republican governor of Oklahoma, granted clemency to Julius Jones, a death row convict who was scheduled to be executed on Thursday. Jones' sentence for the 1999 murder of Paul Howell was commuted to life in prison without the possibility of release.

The Daily Wire reported that Judge Bruce Schroeder, the Wisconsin judge presiding over Kyle Rittenhouse's trial, barred MSNBC from the courtroom on Thursday after officials apprehended a guy who claimed to work for MSNBC while tailing the jury's sealed bus.

In world news, Reuters reported that Belarus officials removed the biggest camps where migrants had congregated along the border with Poland on Thursday, signaling a shift in strategy that might help soothe a crisis that has escalated in recent weeks into a major East-West conflict.

More trouble for Facebook, or should I say Meta... The Wall Street Journal reported that a bipartisan group of state attorneys general said today that it is investigating how Instagram attracts and impacts youth. At least eight states, including Massachusetts and Nebraska, have agreed to participate in the investigation, the whole list of states is not yet available. The attorneys general have stated that they are examining whether the business, formerly known as Facebook, broke consumer protection laws and endangered the public.

Sony and Microsoft told The Verge that they are very concerned about Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick, noting that they want to be viewed as dedicated to a less toxic video game business. Activision Blizzard is one of the most dominant publishers in the video game business, and both console makers rely on them to supply new high-budget titles for their platforms.

According to Forbes, In early afternoon trading Thursday, Apple shares climbed 3.04 percent to a new intraday high of $158.32, following a Bloomberg article that revealed the most specific information yet on its secretive and highly anticipated electric car initiative. Apple is now aiming for a 2025 delivery date. The automobiles would apparently have "no steering wheel or pedals" and will be seamlessly integrated with the company's many devices, including an "iPad-like" touchscreen.

That’s all for today. Be sure to download the Ausum app to get the full Ausum experience. Catch you next time for the Ausum News Briefing every weekday, morning, and afternoon.

Good Morning, it’s Thursday, November 18th. And You’re listening to Ausum’s Morning News Briefing, where we round up the top latest articles that everyone is talking about.

The largest sentence handed out in connection to the January 6th Capitol riot has been given to Jacob Chansley. Axios reported that Chansley received a sentence of 41 months in federal prison.

Bloomberg announced that Bill Gates has said, by mid 2022, Covid deaths may drop to flu levels. This is assuming that dangerous new variants don’t emerge in the meantime.

Within the United States, drug overdose deaths reached record numbers during the pandemic. The New York Times notes that this could be a result of rising mental health problems, lack of access to treatment and wider availability to street drugs.

Business Insider states that only two house Republicans voted to censure Paul Gosar, GOP representative of Arizona, for sharing a violent animated video that showed this killing Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

A new poll suggests that nearly half of Democrats blame Biden Administration policies for the current inflation. Forbes noted that 62% of registered voters believe Biden’s policies are somewhat responsible for the inflation.

The historic strike from John Deere employees has ended, the Washington Post reports that the employees approved a new contract after they had rejected the two previous offers.

Following the fatal shooting on the set of Rust, The Guardian announced that the film’s script supervisors are suing Alec Baldwin and producers. The film’s script supervisor claims that the script never required Baldwin to fire the gun that killed one person and injured another.

That’s all for today. For the full Ausum experience, make sure to download the Ausum app. Catch us, every weekday, morning and afternoon.

Good Afternoon, it’s Wednesday, November 17th. And you’re listening to Ausum’s Afternoon News Briefing, where we round up the top latest articles that everyone is talking about.

Bloomberg reports that people were anticipating return-to-normal holiday celebrations after a drop in new Covid-19 cases in the United States in September and October. However, a recent surge has prompted government authorities to issue warnings. In 25 states, the seven-day average of new hospital admissions with confirmed Covid-19 is increasing. Concerns are surfacing in the upper Midwest and Northeast. Overall hospitalizations in New York have risen 11% this month to more than 2,000. Governor Kathy Hochul criticized vaccination holdouts.

The Financial Times reported that US President Joe Biden has asked the FTC to look into oil firms. He claims they are engaging in "possibly criminal action," which is raising gas costs for Americans. According to FTC Chair Lina Khan, Biden stated that there is "mounting evidence of anti-consumer behavior" in the market, noting that the two "largest oil and gas companies..., ExxonMobil and Chevron, as measured by market capitalisation" are planning "billions of dollars of stock buybacks and dividends" even as gas prices continue to rise.

According to Newsweek, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) voted on Wednesday to endorse a new Communion declaration that has caused discussion in the Catholic world in recent months. "The Mystery of the Eucharist in the Life of the Church," as a Communion "teaching text." The declaration would not establish a national policy governing whether or not U.S. politicians may or cannot receive Communion, according to the USCCB before the vote. On Wednesday, the legislature approved the document by a vote of 222-8.

According to The Washington Post, officials indicated on Thursday that prosecutors in Manhattan would seek to overturn the convictions of two men who spent decades in jail for their alleged participation in the killing of civil rights icon Malcolm X. The Netflix documentary cast doubt on Muhammad Aziz and Khalil Islam's culpability. The office of District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. initiated an investigation into the matter. Talmadge Hayer, a third individual, has acknowledged his participation in the murder while publicly claiming that Aziz and Islam had nothing to do with it.

Yesterday we spoke about the allegations against Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision. Forbes updates us on the latest development stating that Activision shareholders have demanded the resignation of two directors and CEO Bobby Kotick, who has been accused of neglecting to handle serious staff wrongdoing while being aware of it. The stockholders own 4.8 million shares, accounting for only 0.6 percent of Activision's total holdings. Their letter lends credence to employees' requests for Kotick's resignation.

Business Insider updates us on the recent shutdown of Zillow's iBuyer arm. Real estate investors say that the firm failed at property flipping because local expertise outweighs clever algorithms. They also claimed to have seen Zillow overpay for homes, underestimate the cost of improvements, and anticipate to flip properties in absurdly large quantities. Local house flippers argue that the downfall demonstrates that there is no alternative for local knowledge.

According to Entrepreneur, beginning January 19, Amazon UK customers will no longer be able to pay using a Visa credit card. High transaction costs were mentioned as the reason for the decision, a problem that occurred when Brexit was signed into law, removing an EU-enforced restriction on the fees credit card issuers may charge in the UK. Visa debit cards, as well as American Express, Mastercard, and Eurocard credit cards, will continue to be accepted.

That’s all for today. Be sure to download the Ausum app to get the full Ausum experience. Catch you next time for the Ausum News Briefing every weekday, morning, and afternoon.

Good Morning, it’s Wednesday, November 17th. And You’re listening to Ausum’s Morning News Briefing, where we round up the top latest articles that everyone is talking about.

Floods and landslides have swept the North Western United States and Canada. Forbes reports that this has resulted in at least one person dead, thousands without power and the closure of the largest port in Vancouver.

On Tuesday Biden began selling his $1trillion infrastructure bill. The New York Times announced that the US president is saying the law will lead the country to regain a competitive edge against China.

Despite inflation, US retail sales are continuing to rise. However, Newsweek noted that this is threatening already strained supply chains.

On the Belarussian border, police are firing teargas and using water cannons on those trying to get into Poland. The Guardian revealed that the Polish minister believes this crisis could last for months.

Regarding the Covid-19 pandemic, Axios states Pfizer has asked the US Food and Drug Administration to authorise its antiviral pill.

The Washington Post reported that a 30-year-old Argentinian woman is the second documented person whose body appears to have cured itself of HIV on its own.

Frida Kahlo’s self-portrait has been sold for $34.9 million. This is significant as Forbes announced that this is the highest price ever realized for an artwork by a Latin American artist at auction.

Within Los Angeles, Axios states that The Staples Centre, home of the Lakers, will be renamed Crypto.com Arena. This appears to be part of the Cryptocurrency attempt to become more embedded into mainstream America.

That’s all for today. For the full Ausum experience, make sure to download the Ausum app. Catch us, every weekday, morning and afternoon.

Good Afternoon, it’s Tuesday, November 16th. And you’re listening to Ausum’s Afternoon News Briefing, where we round up the top latest articles that everyone is talking about.

The Independent reports the latest on the Kyle Rittenhouse trial, which continued on Tuesday morning, with the defendant selecting the names of the 12 jurors who will decide his fate. A random lottery-style drawing was used to reduce the pool of 18 jurors who heard two weeks of testimony to a dozen. Kenosha is braced for violence in the aftermath of the verdict, with Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers deploying 500 National Guard troops.

A report was just released by Business Insider claiming that Bobby Kotick, Activision's longstanding CEO, apparently knew for years about a variety of charges of sexual harassment and rape at his firm.  A massive new Wall Street Journal investigation uncovers multiple specific cases of harassment and rape at Activision. Kotick was not only aware of the allegations but apparently interfered in at least one occasion to keep a male employee accused of sexual harassment despite the company's human resources department suggesting he be dismissed.

According to the Financial Times, Joe Biden and Xi Jinping have agreed to undertake discussions to de-escalate tensions. The United States is growing increasingly concerned about China's nuclear arsenal and a recent test of a hypersonic missile. China has historically declined to conduct nuclear discussions, owing in part to the fact that the United States possesses a far greater stockpile of weapons. The two sides have not agreed on a structure for the talks, and the US is waiting to see if China would follow through on Xi's vow. The Chinese Embassy did not reply quickly to a request for comment.

The Guardian reported that Pfizer's Covid-19 anti-viral tablet has been submitted to the US Food and Drug Administration for clearance. The medication decreases hospitalizations and fatalities caused by the coronavirus by approximately 90%. Pfizer has also agreed to collaborate with an UN-backed organization to manufacture generic, lower-cost versions of the tablet.

The Verge reported that Meta, formerly Facebook, has removed two staff lectures on a researcher's coping method when under scrutiny from the press from its internal program. Information flow inside the company's Integrity division has been hindered as a result of leaks and criticism. A couple of the debates were chosen for an internal research meeting. Many of the changes appear to be geared at preventing the next Frances Haugen, who worked in the Integrity division and was in charge of making the social network safer before leaving earlier this year, bringing thousands of internal data with her.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Walmart raises its forecast and claims that its shelves are fully stocked for the holidays. In the most recent quarter, Walmart's comparable sales increased 9.2 percent, and the store stated that it has enough inventory despite global supply-chain issues.

The Washington Post reported that retail sales increased by 1.7 percent in October as Americans got a head start on holiday shopping despite paying higher prices for gas, food, and other everyday items. The better-than-expected performance indicated a significant improvement over September.

The Next Web has some advice for Christmas Shopping this year. Google Maps is releasing a slew of new features to help you dodge the crowds while shopping for Christmas. Area Busyness examines geographical data to determine when a community is congested. When you launch Google Maps, the app will display the spots to avoid. You may then touch on a neighborhood to check how busy it is throughout the day, as well as the crowdedness of nearby places. Google also improved its grocery pickup service, which now allows you to follow the status of an order, give your estimated arrival time, and notify the shop when you've arrived.

That’s all for today. Be sure to download the Ausum app to get the full Ausum experience. Catch you next time for the Ausum News Briefing every weekday, morning, and afternoon.

Good Morning, it’s Tuesday, November 16th. And You’re listening to Ausum’s Morning News Briefing, where we round up the top latest articles that everyone is talking about.

Biden signed a $1.2trillion infrastructure bill on Monday, The Washington Post reports that this legislation aims to improve the US roads, bridges, pipes, ports and Internet connections.

The Guardian announced that during Xi Jinping and Joe Biden’s virtual summit, the leaders warned each other over the future of Taiwan.

On the US-Mexico border, Forbes states arrests have dropped to an 8 month low. This follows border arrests surging to record highs earlier this year.

One of the British Conservative Party top donors has been exposed by Bloomberg to have transferred 1.5 million pounds to Prince Andrew to pay off a loan. This transfer could illustrate how Andrew could afford such a lavish lifestyle.

Facebook and Instagram have been shown to gather browsing data from under-18s. The Guardian noted that this comes after the platforms’ parent company said it would only allow advertisers to target young people through age, gender and location categories.

Regarding the Coronavirus pandemic, The New York Times reported that Europe is beginning to toughen its rules for the unvaccinated as the fourth wave of the virus begins.

Russia fired a missile at its own satellite, The Guardian announced that the US says this behaviour was “dangerous” and the debris created “threatens interests of all nations”.

Following the Astroworld tragedy where ten died and hundreds were injured, Business Insider states Nike is delaying the release of its sneaker collaboration with Travis Scott.

That’s all for today. For the full Ausum experience, make sure to download the Ausum app. Catch us, every weekday, morning and afternoon.