University of Chicago closes after gun threat
The University of Chicago canceled all classes and activities scheduled for Nov. 30 on its main campus following an online threat of gun violence to which the FBI alerted the school.
The university, one of the leading teaching and research institutions in the nation and where President Barack Obama taught law, said in a statement Sunday night that an online threat from an unknown person mentioned the quad, a popular gathering place, and 10 a.m. Monday.
The time mentioned in the threat came and went without incident.
Turkey detains migrants
Authorities in northwestern Turkey rounded up some 1,300 asylum seekers and migrants allegedly preparing to make their way into Greece on Nov. 30.
Some 750 migrants were detained in a pre-dawn sweep in the town of Ayvacik, in Canakkale province, which is a main crossing point to the Greek island of Lesbos. By the afternoon, authorities had detained 550 more people, some of whom were trying to hide in olive groves.
The move came a day after Turkey and EU leaders sealed a joint summit with a commitment to re-energize Turkey’s long-stalled membership bid and bolster their resolve to deal with the Syrian refugee crisis.
World leaders meet in Paris to discuss climate
The largest group of world leaders ever to stand together kicked off two weeks of high-stakes climate talks outside Paris on Nov. 30, saying that striking an ambitious deal to curb global warming can show terrorists what countries can achieve when they are united.
The conference is aimed at the most far-reaching deal ever to tackle global warming. The last major agreement, the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, required only rich countries to cut carbon dioxide emissions, and the U.S. never signed on. Since then, global temperatures and sea levels have continued to rise, and the Earth has seen an extraordinary run of extreme weather.
The U.N.-organized gathering of 151 heads of state and government comes at a somber time for France, two weeks after militants linked to the Islamic State group killed 130 people around Paris. Fears of more attacks prompted extra-high security and a crackdown on environmental protests.
Online shopping weakens Black Friday sales
Retailers are rolling out online deals on so-called “Cyber Monday.” But now that shoppers are online all the time anyway, the 10-year-old shopping holiday is losing some of its luster.
Still, Monday is expected to be the biggest online shopping day ever, with estimates that it will rack up over $3 billion in sales.
Online shopping is taking its toll on brick-and-mortar shopping. Frenzied crowds seemed to be a thing of the past on Black Friday — the busy shopping day after Thanksgiving — and sales fell to $10.4 billion this year, down from $11.6 billion in 2014.
Retailers have been touting online deals since the beginning of November. And they no longer wait for Monday to roll out Cyber Monday deals, either. Amazon started “Lighting Deals” on Saturday and Wal-Mart beginning all of its Cyber offers on 8 p.m. on Sunday.
Planned Parenthood shooter makes court appearance
The man accused of killing three people, including a police officer, at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs lived a troubled, isolated life in the mountains of South Carolina and Colorado, but acquaintances said he never hinted that he would target the organization.
Robert Lewis Dear told authorities “no more baby parts” after being arrested for the Nov. 27 shooting, part of a rambling statement that investigators are parsing to understand the reasoning behind hours-long standoff and shootout that also sent nine other people to a hospital.
Colorado Springs police on Sunday said they would not disclose any information on the motive for the attack, a move that guarantees further speculation over the intention of Dear as he prepared for his initial appearance in state court on Nov. 30.
Dear shot and killed a police officer and two civilians who were accompanying separate friends to the clinic: Jennifer Markovsky, 36, a mother of two and Ke’Arre Stewart, 29, an Iraq War veteran and father of two.
