HellsBelle

The Onion’s offer to buy right-wing provocateur Alex Jones’ Infowars platform, as part of a liquidation to pay off his debts to the families of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims, is on hold until a bankruptcy judge can approve it.

Houston bankruptcy Judge Christopher M. Lopez at a hearing Monday rejected a request from Jones for an emergency temporary restraining order to stop a bankruptcy trustee or those from The Onion from taking over Infowars assets, saying it wasn’t necessary since he hasn’t entered an order allowing such a change.

Lopez said he’s ready to consider objections as early as next week from Jones, a losing bidder, or others who have concerns with the transparency of the auction or the structure of the winning bid. The decision will determine whether Jones can remain on air on the platform he’s been broadcasting on for roughly 25 years.

The Utah Hockey Club got the full Toronto experience Sunday night ahead of their first-ever matchup against the Maple Leafs—bumper-to-bumper traffic that forced the team to walk to the game.

“I think that’s a first for everyone. Never saw that before,” Utah defenceman Maveric Lamoureux tells the camera that documented the team’s stroll to Scotiabank Arena.

Lamoureux said the team’s bus was “not moving at all” in the Sunday evening traffic, just hours after the Santa Claus Parade and resulting road closures.

“So it’s pretty much the whole team walking the street,” he said, noting that they would probably miss their 5:15 p.m. pre-game meeting.

U.S. farm industry groups want President-elect Donald Trump to spare their sector from his promise of mass deportations, which could upend a food supply chain heavily dependent on immigrants in the United States illegally.

So far Trump officials have not committed to any exemptions, according to interviews with farm and worker groups and Trump's incoming "border czar" Tom Homan.

Nearly half of the nation's approximately 2 million farm workers lack legal status, according to the departments of Labor and Agriculture, as well as many dairy and meatpacking workers.

A bankruptcy judge is set to hear arguments Monday in conspiracy theorist Alex Jones ’ effort to stop the satirical news outlet The Onion from buying Infowars and turning it into a parody.

Jones alleges fraud and collusion marred the bankruptcy auction in which The Onion was named the winning bidder on Nov. 14 over a company affiliated with him.

It’s not clear how soon U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez in Houston will issue a ruling. He could allow The Onion to move forward with the sale, order a new auction or name the other bidder as the winner. At stake is whether Jones gets to stay at Infowars’ studio in Austin, Texas, under a new owner friendly to him, or whether he gets kicked out by The Onion.

A white Florida woman who fatally shot a Black neighbor through her front door during an ongoing dispute over the neighbor’s boisterous children faces sentencing Monday for her manslaughter conviction.

Susan Lorincz, 60, was convicted in August of killing 35-year-old Ajike “A.J.” Owens by firing a single shot from her .380-caliber handgun in June 2023. Lorincz faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in state prison because a firearm was used.

The shooting was the culmination of a long-running argument between the two neighbors over Owens’ children playing in a grassy area at both of their houses in Ocala, about 80 miles (130 kilometers) northwest of Orlando.

Kim Dotcom, the internet entrepreneur fighting deportation from New Zealand to the United States on charges relating to his file-sharing website Megaupload, has suffered a “serious stroke”, a post on his X account said Monday.

“I have the best health professionals helping me to make a recovery. I will be back as soon as I can. Please be patient and pray for my family and I,” the post said.

Dotcom’s lawyer, Ira Rothken, confirmed to The Associated Press that the contents of the statement were accurate. Rothken would not say whether Dotcom or someone else wrote the post and did not provide further details.

Kim Dotcom, the internet entrepreneur fighting deportation from New Zealand to the United States on charges relating to his file-sharing website Megaupload, has suffered a “serious stroke”, a post on his X account said Monday.

“I have the best health professionals helping me to make a recovery. I will be back as soon as I can. Please be patient and pray for my family and I,” the post said.

Dotcom’s lawyer, Ira Rothken, confirmed to The Associated Press that the contents of the statement were accurate. Rothken would not say whether Dotcom or someone else wrote the post and did not provide further details.

The new study, funded by the government and carried out by King’s College London (KCL) and the homelessness charity Greater Change, will recruit 360 people in England and Wales. Half will continue to get help from frontline charities. The other half will get additional help from Greater Change, whose support workers will discuss their financial problems then pay for items such as rent deposits, outstanding debts, work equipment, white goods, furniture or new clothes. They do not make direct transfers to avoid benefits being stopped due to a cash influx.

Professor Michael Sanders, who runs KCL’s experimental government unit, said: “What we’re trying to understand is the boundary conditions for cash transfers. When does it work? For whom does it work? What are the amounts you need to give people in order to make it work?”

One of the first cash transfer schemes was in Mexico in 1997 and since then they have been used around the world. But most evidence is from low and middle-income countries, and there has been opposition from politicians and the public, who often believe people will spend the money unwisely. Last year researchers in Canada found that giving CA$7,500 (£4,285) to 50 homeless people in Vancouver was more effective than spending money housing them in shelters, and saved around CA$777 (£443) per person.

The world will be “unable to cope” with the sheer volume of plastic waste a decade from now unless countries agree to curbs on production, the co-chair of a coalition of key countries has warned ahead of crunch talks on curbing global plastic pollution.

Speaking before the final, critical round of UN talks on the first global treaty to end plastic waste, in Busan, South Korea, this week, Norway’s minister for international development, Anne Beathe Tvinnereim, acknowledged the split that had developed between plastic-producing countries and others. She represents more than 60 “high ambition” nations, led by Rwanda and Norway, who want plastic pollution tackled over its full life cycle. Crucially, this means clamping down heavily on production.

While a “perfect treaty” may not be possible due to the strength of opposition, mainly from oil-producing countries, she hoped a deal could be reached that could be strengthened over time.

But, 16 years (after the 2008 crisis), some experts believe new risks are emerging. And this time, they are linked to highly indebted companies backed by private equity firms, which are part of the growing but opaque portion of the financial system known as the shadow banking sector. Shadow banking refers to financial firms that face little to no regulation compared with traditional lenders, and includes businesses such as hedge funds, private credit and private equity funds.

While the use of securitisation dipped in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, as a result of a tarnished reputation and regulatory backlash, its popularity has subsequently risen. Today, the global securitisation market covers about £4.7tn of assets, according to estimates by analysts at RBC Capital.

In this public market, bundled loans are rated by credit rating agencies and sold on to a broad range of investors, and their terms, structure and sales are openly disclosed. These are the routes typically taken by traditional banks, which face far more stringent regulation. The remaining £120bn is made up of securitised loans bundled up by the shadow banking sector. Private securities are sold directly to a limited pool of sophisticated investors. They are less regulated, need not be reviewed by ratings agencies, and are far more opaque.

After Trump was declared the winner over Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, many politically engaged Black women said they were so dismayed by the outcome that they were reassessing — but not completely abandoning — their enthusiasm for electoral politics and movement organizing.

Black women often carry much of the work of getting out the vote in their communities. They had vigorously supported the historic candidacy of Harris, who would have been the first woman of Black and South Asian descent to win the presidency.

Harris’ loss spurred a wave of Black women across social media resolving to prioritize themselves, before giving so much to a country that over and over has shown its indifference to their concerns.

The Pittsburgh Penguins are struggling mightily this season. Sitting at the bottom of the Metropolitan Division with a dismal 7-11-4 record and a minus 29 goal differential, changes are likely on the horizon. One name unexpectedly swirling in the NHL trade rumor mill is Penguins captain Sidney Crosby.

Could “Sid the Kid” actually waive his no-movement clause to chase one last Stanley Cup with a contender? It’s not as far-fetched as it sounds. While Crosby remains a highly productive player, the Penguins’ championship window appears to have slammed shut.