Programming note: NO YouTube Watch Party this morning on YouTube. We're working out a hiccup with today's podcast.
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Here are the headlines you Need2Know for Friday, October 15, 2021:
CLINTON HOSPITALIZED
Former President Bill Clinton has been in the hospital since Tuesday for a non-Covid-related infection, but is “on the mend,” according to his spokesman. Clinton, 75, was administered antibiotics and fluids in an IV for the unspecified infection. The 42nd president has had several health scares since leaving office, including quadruple bypass surgery and a collapsed lung. He credited his switch to a vegan diet for saving his life. AP
MODERNA BOOSTER
The FDA’s advisory panel has unanimously endorsed booster shots for Moderna vaccine recipients who are 65 or older, as well as younger adults who are at high risk because of their medical conditions or jobs -- the same group that’s also eligible for a Pfizer booster. Assuming the FDA follows the panel’s recommendation, as it usually does, those people will be eligible for boosters if they’re six months past their last dose. The committee will vote on boosters for Johnson & Johnson today. NPR
737 MAX INDICTMENT
A federal grand jury has indicted a former Boeing pilot on charges that he deceived the FAA by providing regulators with false information related to the flight control software that caused two 737 Max planes to crash, killing hundreds. Mark Forkner, who was Boeing’s chief technical pilot for the 737 Max, is the first person to be criminally charged in those twin tragedies. CNN
LEBANON ON THE BRINK
Beirut saw its worst street violence in years this week when heavy gunfire broke out during a Hezbollah protest against a judge leading the investigation into that huge explosion at the city’s port last year. At least six people were killed in the protest. Lebanon has been in the process of a societal collapse, with its currency plummeting 90 percent in value since 2019. Fuel shortages have caused widespread blackouts and gas lines. Now there’s a growing worry that the country could be on the verge of another civil war. NY TIMES
USA ON STRIKE
Thousands of John Deere workers are on strike at plants across the country after union employees rejected the tractor giant’s contract offer. Deere workers, part of the United Auto Workers union, are the latest to strike for more favorable labor conditions and pay in the post-Covid world. The Hollywood production workers union is prepared to walk out on Monday. Kellogg’s workers have been on the picket line for more than a week, following a weekslong strike by Nabisco employees that ended after they reached a new contract deal. DES MOINES REGISTER
LINKEDIN BAILS ON CHINA
LinkedIn is shutting down in China, the last of the big American social networks to fold in that country and the biggest tech company to give up on the Chinese market in years. LinkedIn, which is owned by Microsoft, cited a “significantly more challenging operating environment” and compliance landscape in China. Beijing is in the midst of a significant crackdown on Big Tech that is affecting its own companies as well as the few Western tech platforms that still operate there. BBC
MLB POSTSEASON
The San Francisco Giants won 107 games this year, and were eliminated from the playoffs on a check-swing call that was iffy at best. The first base ump in last night’s National League Division Series Game 5 called the Giants’ Wilmer Flores out on a checked-swing third strike in the ninth inning, sending the Dodgers to the NLCS, where they will face the Braves, and the Giants home: DID HE GO?
WHAT TO WATCH
Ben Affleck and Matt Damon reunite as both writers and co-stars in a new movie hitting theaters today. The Last Duel, directed by Ridley Scott, is a “medieval feminist revenge saga,” as one critic put it. The film marks the first time Affleck and Damon have co-written a feature since Good Will Hunting. If you’re staying home, there’s a couple highly anticipated series coming back this weekend. Netflix’s creepy You returns today, while the new season of Succession hits HBO on Sunday: WHAT WE'RE WATCHING
SPOTTED...
..Jonah Hill, asking his Instagram followers to please stop commenting on his body: SEE POST
...an artwork by Banksy that partially self-destructed moments after it was sold at auction for $1.4 million in 2018, back on the auction block -- where it went for $25.4 million: SEE IT
...Victor Williams, a reporter for WDIV in Detroit, skateboarding -- impressively -- through his live report on a local skate park opening: WATCH
LEFTOVERS: STRANGE BEDFELLOW
What are the odds of this? A Canadian woman asleep in her bed awoke when a meteorite crashed through her roof and landed inches away from her face. Ruth Hamilton of British Columbia woke up earlier this month to the sound of an explosion and her dog barking. She originally thought a tree had fallen on her house, but turned over and saw a 2.8 lb rock between her two pillows and a hole in the ceiling above her. A local university confirmed that the rock came from an asteroid, and said the chance of a meteorite that size making it through the atmosphere, breaking through a roof and landing on someone’s bed was about 1 in 100 billion: SEE IT
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