Categories
Selected Articles

Conversations https://thenewsandtimes.blogspot.com/2025/11/conversations-113025.html

Categories
Selected Articles

Conversations

Conversations – 11.30.25

News Review – 9:06 AM 11/30/2025 

news today
Here are some of the top news headlines for today, 

Sunday, November 30, 2025: 

U.S. News
  • California Mass Shooting: Four people are dead and at least ten others wounded after a shooting at a family gathering in a banquet hall in Stockton, California. The suspect remains at large, and authorities believe it was a targeted attack.
  • National Guard Shooting: A National Guard member wounded in a recent shooting near the White House is “fighting for his life”. House and Senate committees have launched inquiries into reports that the Defense Secretary ordered a second strike to kill survivors of an alleged drug boat interdiction in the Caribbean.
  • Immigration: The U.S. has halted all asylum decisions after the D.C. shooting. Protesters in New York City clashed with police while attempting to block federal agents from conducting an ICE raid.
  • Health & Environment: A resident in Northern Arizona has died from the plague. Meanwhile, a bizarre marijuana disorder that causes severe vomiting has received an official medical code as cases spike. 
World News
  • Middle East Conflict: The death toll in Gaza has surpassed 70,000 since the start of the Israeli offensive, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, as a ceasefire remains fragile.
  • Israel: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has formally requested a presidential pardon on corruption charges.
  • : The U.S. has closed its airspace to Venezuelan flights, and President Trump indicated that land strikes against alleged drug traffickers in the country could begin “very soon”. Venezuela has condemned these actions as a “colonialist threat”.

  • Asia Disasters: The death toll from a massive apartment fire in Hong Kong has risen to 146 people. Across Southeast Asia, hundreds of people have been killed and millions displaced by severe flooding and mudslides in Indonesia and Sri Lanka. 
Other Headlines
  • Sports: Inter Miami, led by Lionel Messi, will face the Vancouver Whitecaps in the MLS Cup final.
  • Technology: Airbus has grounded thousands of planes globally due to a software glitch that could cause pilots to lose control.
  • Business: Black Friday online shoppers spent a record $11.8 billion, a 9.1% jump from last year. 


Netanyahu has formally requested a presidential pardon
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has formally requested a presidential pardon from President Isaac Herzog for his ongoing corruption trial

. The request was submitted on Sunday, November 30, 2025, and has been described as “extraordinary” by the President’s Office due to it being made while the trial is still underway and without an admission of guilt. 

Key Details
  • Pardon Request: Netanyahu’s request consisted of two documents: a detailed legal letter from his lawyer and a personal letter from the Prime Minister himself.
  • Reasoning: In the letter, Netanyahu argues that the pardon would serve the national interest by allowing him to focus fully on Israel’s significant security and diplomatic challenges and help “heal the rifts” within Israeli society, rather than being distracted by court proceedings.
  • Denial of Guilt: Netanyahu continues to deny all charges of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust and insists he would be acquitted if the trial ran its course. A pardon typically requires an admission of guilt, an expression of remorse, and retirement from public life, which he has not offered.
  • Trump’s Influence: The request follows a letter from U.S. President Donald Trump earlier in November, which urged President Herzog to grant Netanyahu a full pardon, calling the case a “political, unjustified prosecution”.
  • Ongoing Trial: Netanyahu is the first sitting Israeli Prime Minister to stand trial. The trial began in 2020, and the defense case with Netanyahu’s testimony started in December 2024, but it has faced numerous delays. The proceedings are expected to continue for several more years. 
Next Steps
The President’s Office has confirmed the request was received and, in accordance with standard procedures, has transferred it to the Pardons Department in the Ministry of Justice. This department will gather opinions from relevant authorities before sending a recommendation to the President’s legal advisor, who will then provide an opinion to President Herzog. Herzog will consider the opinions before making a decision. There is no set deadline for this process. 
Reactions
The request has drawn sharp division in Israel: 
  • Support: Netanyahu’s coalition partners, including Defense Minister Israel Katz and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, supported the request, citing the “complex security reality” and the need for national unity.
  • Opposition: Opposition Leader Yair Lapid urged President Herzog not to grant the pardon without an admission of guilt and a withdrawal from political life, arguing that doing so would be a “deadly blow to the rule of law”. 


Categories
Selected Articles

Police Scotland urged to reopen probe into sex claims against Al-Fayed

Police previously closed an investigation into a ‘non-recent sexual assault’.
Categories
Selected Articles

BetMGM Bonus Code NEWSWEEK1500: Claim NFL Week 13 Bonus, MO Pre-Launch Offer

The BetMGM bonus code NEWSWEEK1500 will unlock access to a $1,500 first bet offer along with a $100 Missouri bonus.
Categories
Selected Articles

Why doing good also makes us feel good, during the holidays and beyond

Why doing good also makes us feel good, during the holidays and beyond [deltaMinutes] mins ago Now
Categories
Selected Articles

Thousands protest far-right surge in Croatia following incidents

Thousands protest far-right surge in Croatia following incidents [deltaMinutes] mins ago Now
Categories
Selected Articles

A Border Patrol-led immigration crackdown is coming to southeast Louisiana. Here’s what to know

A Border Patrol-led immigration crackdown is coming to southeast Louisiana. Here’s what to know [deltaMinutes] mins ago Now
Categories
Selected Articles

22 movies no one expected to bomb at the box office

ryan reynolds as green lantern
“Green Lantern” was a huge box office bomb, even though it was released during peak superhero mania.

  • These movies had huge budgets that producers expected would turn in huge profits when released.
  • However, the films lost millions of dollars for studios after hitting theaters.
  • Pixar’s 2025 release, “Elio,” was “catastrophic” for the studio.

When “Joker” was released in 2019, it grossed over $1 billion worldwide, making it the highest-grossing R-rated movie at the time, and its star, Joaquin Phoenix, won an Academy Award.

Greenlighting a sequel was a no-brainer.

However, “Joker: Folie à Deux,” which was released in October 2024, made just a fifth of what its predecessor earned at the box office, joining a long list of films that — surprisingly — nobody wanted to see.

Pixar had a similar problem this year. After a decade of domination, the animation juggernaut’s grip on the box office has been slipping, and nothing made that clearer than the release of “Elio” in June.

Though producers, directors, and cast members likely assumed the films on this list would be box-office smashes, many ended up losing tens of millions of dollars. Some lost hundreds of millions.

Take a look at the films that were surprise box-office bombs.

Zoë Ettinger contributed to an earlier version of this story.

“Elio” became the lowest-grossing (non-pandemic) Pixar movie by $64 million.
elio pixar
“Elio.”

Pixar movies are almost always a sure bet, box-office wise. Five have made over $1 billion, and another 12 have made at least $500 million worldwide.

However, the studio’s latest offering, “Elio,” a story about a lonely boy who looks to the stars to find friends — and is abducted by aliens in the process — made $154 million worldwide.

It also had the lowest wide-release opening weekend of any Pixar movie, even unadjusted for inflation, per The Numbers. It made a dismal $20.84 million. That’s lower than “Toy Story’s” opening weekend in 1995, a full 30 years ago.

We may never know why “Elio” bombed so hard, but we do know that production was troubled, per The Hollywood Reporter, with one source at Pixar calling the resulting low box office “catastrophic.”

“Joker: Folie à Deux” was a failure for Warner Bros last year.
This is a still from
Joaquin Phoenix plays the Joker in “Joker: Folie à Deux” and “Joker.”

No matter how controversial the first “Joker” film was, it was a financial success — it was the highest-grossing R-rated movie ever (until this year’s “Deadpool & Wolverine”) and made over $1 billion worldwide.

If you had told anyone in 2019 that the sequel to “Joker” would barely cross the $200 million threshold, they would not have believed you.

According to estimates by Variety, the film could lose its studio anywhere from $125 to $200 million.

To make matters worse, it also earned the rare “D” on CinemaScore, meaning that nobody saw it, and the people who did hated it.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe had its first real bomb on its hands with 2023’s “The Marvels.”
Brie Larson as Captain Marvel in
Brie Larson as Captain Marvel in “The Marvels.”

The MCU is the most successful film franchise of all time, raking in billions of dollars for Disney. But the cracks started to show with “The Marvels,” which had the lowest opening of any MCU movie at $65 million.

Forbes reported the film lost $237 million, even though it wasn’t actually as bad as some people on the internet would have you believe.

The 2001 Muhammad Ali biopic “Ali” starred A-lister Will Smith as the iconic boxer, but the film lost Sony millions of dollars.
ali

The biographical film about the life of boxer Muhammad Ali had a $107 million production cost that was raised to $118 million after director Michael Mann moved filming to Africa, according to Bomb Report.

Box Office Mojo estimates the film made $87.8 million worldwide. Sony was reportedly on the hook for over $100 million when including marketing costs.

In 2003, Brad Pitt and Catherine Zeta-Jones starred in “Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas,” but not even they could prevent the movie from losing $125 million at the box office.
“Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas”.

DreamWorks co-founder David Geffen has publicly said that the film, which centered on a legendary sailor framed for stealing a sacred book, lost the studio $125 million, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The 2004 film “Alexander” starred Colin Farrell and Angelina Jolie at the peak of their powers, but it reportedly lost about $71 million.
alexander movie

The film, about the life of Alexander the Great, had a reported budget of $155 million. According to the Bomb Report, the film’s gross sank 65.2% in its second weekend and another 68.9% in its third week. Overall, production company Intermedia posted a $29.4 million loss for the year.

The 2004 film “Around the World in 80 Days” starred Jackie Chan straight off two successful “Rush Hour” films, but his popularity couldn’t save the movie.
“Around the World in 80 Days”.

Based on the beloved adventure novel by Jules Verne about traveling the world in 80 days, the film had an estimated budget of $110 million, but only made $72 million worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo.

The film is most notable now, perhaps, for being the last acting role of Arnold Schwarzenegger before he became the governor of California.

In 2005, A-listers Jamie Foxx, Josh Lucas, and Jessica Biel starred in “Stealth” — it was a notorious flop.
Jamie Foxx in
Jamie Foxx in “Stolen”.

The film is about three top Navy fighter pilots tasked with manning a drone-like plane. It had a budget of $138 million and was directed by “The Fast and Furious” director Rob Cohen, so everyone had high expectations.

However, it lost at least $56 million due to box-office deficits, and likely even more after taking out movie theaters’ cuts and marketing costs, Box Office Mojo reported.

“Sahara” starred Matthew McConaughey and Penelope Cruz, but it lost an estimated $78 million at the box office in 2005.
Sahara

The film follows a treasure hunter as he travels to Africa in search of a long-lost ship. It had a reported production cost of $160 million. The Los Angeles Times reported it lost the studio $78 million, and called it “one of the biggest financial flops in Hollywood history.”

In 2006, Kurt Russell starred in “Poseidon,” which lost an estimated $69 million.
Kurt Russell in
Kurt Russell in “Poseidon”.

“Poseidon” is a remake of the original beloved film, 1972’s “The Poseidon Adventure.” The disaster movie about a sinking cruise ship had a budget of $160 million. After everything, it lost the studio $69 million, Business Insider previously reported.

“Evan Almighty,” the 2007 spin-off of the mega-hit “Bruce Almighty,” lost an estimated $50 million.
Evan Almighty

The film centered around the biblical tale of Noah’s ark, and it starred Steve Carell and Morgan Freeman. It had an estimated budget of $175 million and even became the most expensive comedy of all time, according to Reuters.

But, according to Bomb Report, the film lost one of its backers $50 million.

Martin Scorsese’s 2011 film “Hugo” lost an estimated $80 million at the box office.
hugo

The film about a young orphan living in a train station starred young actors Asa Butterfield and Chloë Grace Moretz. It ended up going $80 million over budget, according to Bomb Report, and lost the studio $80 million — proving that not every Scorsese film is a box-office hit.

“Green Lantern” co-starred Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively, both beloved stars, but it had an estimated $75 million box-office loss in 2011.
green lantern

The superhero film about a test pilot who gets a powerful alien ring had an estimated budget of $200 million, but it barely broke even at the box office. Overall, the studio took a $75 million loss, according to Bomb Report.

At the time, superhero films were in the middle of a renaissance after movies like “Iron Man” and “The Dark Knight” had proven that comic-book movies had mass appeal. But, “Green Lantern’s” failure shows that a built-in fan base doesn’t always lead to success.

“Pan,” the 2015 reimagining of “Peter Pan,” starred box office draw Hugh Jackman, but it ended up losing the studio up to $150 million.
Pan

“Pan” had an estimated budget of $150 million, but its offensive casting of Rooney Mara as the Native American character Tiger Lily, its heavy reliance on CGI, and general disinterest in another “Peter Pan” film led the movie to box-office bomb status, The New York Times reported.

 The Hollywood Reporter predicted that the film “could see losses in the $130 million to $150 million range” back in 2015.

The 2016 sequel “Alice Through the Looking Glass,” which starred Johnny Depp and Anne Hathaway, lost an estimated $70 million.
alice through looking glass

A sequel to the 2010 Tim Burton film “Alice in Wonderland,” “Alice Through the Looking Glass” had an estimated budget of $170 million and ended up costing Disney an estimated $70 million — it was especially shocking, considering that the first film topped $1 billion.

Steven Spielberg’s 2016 adaptation of “The BFG,” based on Roald Dahl’s book, was estimated to have lost at least $90 million.
The BFG

The film follows the Big Friendly Giant as he befriends a young orphan Sophie, even though it goes against giant nature. It had an estimated budget of $140 million, and according to The Hollywood Reporter, “lost $90 million to $100 million for partners Disney, [Steven] Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment and Participant Media.”

It’s one of the acclaimed director’s biggest flops.

The 2017 film “King Arthur: Legend of the Sword” ended up losing an estimated $150 million.
king arthur legend sword charlie hunman
“King Arthur: Legend of the Sword,” a movie that is bad.

The film follows a young Arthur after the murder of his father and his quest to gain back the throne of Camelot. It had an estimated budget of $175 million and only grossed $148 million, according to Box Office Mojo. Forbes blamed the lack of movie stars, extensive re-shoots, and an inflated budget, among other things, for the film’s reported $150 million loss.

“Justice League” had a star-studded cast and an unreal amount of hype, but it lost Warner Bros. somewhere between $50 and $100 million in 2017.
justice league movie

DC’s answer to Marvel’s “Avengers” superhero team-up movie had an estimated budget of $300 million. Business Insider reported that the film could have cost Warner Bros. up to $100 million.

The 2018 fantasy would-be epic “A Wrinkle in Time” was based on a hit novel produced by Disney and starred Oprah, Reese Witherspoon, and Mindy Kaling … but it still flopped.
a wrinkle in time

The mind-bending story of young Meg’s journey across time and space to rescue her father from darkness had a reported budget of $103 million, and Yahoo Finance reported that Disney lost between $86 million and $186 million on the film.

Though “Star Wars” films are usually a hit, 2018’s “Solo: A Star Wars Story” reportedly lost an estimated $76 million.
Solo: A Star Wars Story
Directed by Ron Howard.

The film follows a young Han Solo (played by Alden Ehrenreich), the most iconic space smuggler of all time, as he meets his future partner and best friend Chewbacca, future frenemy Lando Calrissian, and a heretofore unknown love interest Qi’ra.

It had an estimated budget of $275 million. Though the film made over $392 million worldwide, that’s nothing when you compare it to the $2 billion gross of “The Force Awakens,” and the $1 billion grosses of “The Last Jedi” and “The Rise of Skywalker.”

Based on the hit musical, the 2019 adaptation of “Cats” was a box office flop, losing between $71 and $113 million.
cats movie

The CGI-heavy movie about a tribe of cats called the Jellicles had an estimated budget of $95 million and a famously cursed production. Though “Cats” is a beloved musical and ran on Broadway for years, audiences didn’t show the film version the same love. Deadline calculated losses at approximately $113.6 million.

“Dolittle” was supposed to be Robert Downey Jr.’s follow-up to “Avengers,” but it was the first big flop of 2020.
robert downey jr dolittle

The film about a doctor who can talk to animals had an estimated budget of $175 million and an all-star voice cast including Tom Holland, Emma Thompson, Rami Malek, Octavia Spencer, and more. That didn’t stop Vulture from calling it “2020’s first official mega-flop.”

The Observer estimated that “Dolittle” needed to make $500 million to turn a profit and with a final gross of just half that, you can be sure that no one at Universal was pleased with those results.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Categories
Selected Articles

Celebrating 25 memorable moments in Alabama high school football Super 7 history: Nos. 16-25

As we head into the Super 7 football championships this week at Protective Stadium in Birmingham, we thought it would be interesting to take a look at some of the big moments of the last 25 years. There have been plenty of them obviously. We will reveal our top moments in three takes beginning today with Nos. 16-25. Here we go … 25. Action Jackson St. James quarterback KJ Jackson threw five …
Categories
Selected Articles

Pete Davidson kisses pregnant girlfriend Elsie Hewitt at bunny-themed baby shower

Elsie Hewitt celebrated her baby shower after opening up about her “agonizing” pregnancy.