10 things you need to know today: November 21, 2022

(Image credit: Matthew Staver/The Washington Post)

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1. 'Heroic' patrons subdued gunman in deadly shooting at Colorado LGBTQ nightclub
2. U.N. nuclear watchdog calls shelling at Ukraine nuclear plant 'completely unacceptable'
3. Earthquake kills dozens in Indonesia
4. New York prosecutors charge 2 men in alleged plot to attack synagogue
5. Equatorial Guinea says ruling party got 99 percent in early vote count
6. Report: Musk considers more layoffs at Twitter
7. Collapsing crypto firm FTX owes creditors at least $3 billion
8. At least 4 dead after vessel carrying Cuban migrants capsizes off Florida Keys
9. Power Rangers actor Jason David Frank dies at 49
10. Qatar becomes 1st World Cup host to lose opening match

published 21 November 2022

1. 'Heroic' patrons subdued gunman in deadly shooting at Colorado LGBTQ nightclub

Colorado Springs authorities on Sunday credited two "heroic" patrons of a local LGBTQ nightclub, Club Q, with subduing a gunman who killed at least five people, preventing more casualties. "We owe them a debt of thanks," Police Chief Adrian Vasquez said. One patron hit the gunman with his own handgun and pinned him until police arrived. Police identified the suspect in the shooting, which also left 25 people injured, as Anderson Lee Aldrich, 22. Aldrich, who was arrested in 2021 after his mother said he threatened her with a homemade bomb, was being treated in a hospital for injuries on Sunday. The attacker used an AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle in the shooting, which police are investigating as a hate crime.

The United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency on Sunday condemned the latest shelling at Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which is controlled by Russian troops. Ukraine and Russia blamed each other for the series of blasts on Saturday night and Sunday. The head of the IAEA, Rafael Grossi, said the shelling of the nuclear plant, Europe's largest, was "extremely disturbing" and "completely unacceptable," because it raised the risk of a nuclear disaster. "Whoever is behind this, it must stop immediately," he said. "As I have said many times before, you're playing with fire!"

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A magnitude 5.6 earthquake killed dozens of people on Indonesia's main island of Java on Monday. The quake was centered in the Cianjur region of West Java province, where it damaged dozens of buildings, including an Islamic boarding school and a hospital, and caused landslides. High-rises in the capital, Jakarta, swayed, prompting evacuations. "The quake felt so strong. My colleagues and I decided to get out of our office on the ninth floor using the emergency stairs," said Vidi Primadhania, an employee in South Jakarta. The archipelago nation of more than 270 million people is in the Pacific Basin's "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanoes and fault lines that is frequently struck by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and tsunamis.

New York authorities on Sunday formally charged two men arrested late Friday at New York's Penn Station with multiple felony counts, including criminal possession of a weapon and making a terroristic threat in connection with an alleged plan to attack Jewish sites. Authorities said the "developing threat to the Jewish community" included plans detailed in social media posts about "shooting up a synagogue." Police reportedly seized an 8-inch military style knife and an illegally held gun with a 30-round magazine from the suspects, Christopher Brown, 21, and Matthew Mahrer, 22. Brown also allegedly had a Swastika arm patch and ski mask. "A potential tragedy was averted when they were intercepted by police officers at Penn Station," said Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney.

Equatorial Guinea's government released preliminary election results on Monday showing that the ruling party had received 99 percent of the votes counted so far in Sunday's presidential, legislative, and municipal elections. The results put President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, Africa's longest-serving ruler and the longest-serving president in world history, on track to extend his 43 years of authoritarian rule. The country's electoral system is not considered free, and Obiang has never received less than 90 percent of the vote in his four decades in power in the tiny, impoverished, oil-producing Central African country of about 1.5 million.

Elon Musk is considering more layoffs at Twitter, Bloomberg News reported over the weekend. The latest cuts could come as soon as Monday, affecting the social media company's sales and partnership teams. Musk, who acquired Twitter for $44 billion last month, has already fired about 50 percent of Twitter's 7,500 employees. Hundreds more have quit. Also this weekend, Musk lifted a lifetime ban imposed on former President Donald Trump after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol by a mob of his supporters. Musk reinstated Trump after an informal Twitter poll found 51.8 percent of responding users said Trump's account should be restored.

Collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX said in a bankruptcy court filing over the weekend that it owes its top 50 creditors at least $3 billion. The documents filed to U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware said the company owed 10 of its creditors at least $100 million, underscoring how many lenders and investors stood to lose big as the three-year-old company goes down. FTX owes its biggest creditor $226 million. The names of the creditors were redacted from the document, although it has previously been reported that FTX got money from investment firms Sequoia Capital, BlackRock, and Tiger Global. FTX, once nominally valued at $32 billion, filed for bankruptcy protection on Nov. 11.

At least four people drowned when a homemade vessel carrying 19 Cuban migrants capsized in a failed attempt to flee Cuba, the U.S. Coast Guard said Sunday. Rescuers were searching for another five people who were missing from the boat, which tipped over off the Florida Keys, about 50 miles from Little Torch Key. Nine people were rescued, several of them wearing life jackets, which authorities said probably saved their lives as they were tossed about by eight-foot seas and 30 mile-per-hour winds. Last month, 96 migrants, most of them from Haiti and Uganda, were rescued from an overcrowded boat about 20 miles away from Boca Raton, Florida.

Actor Jason David Frank, known for his work in the Power Rangers franchise, died over the weekend in Texas, his manager, Justine Hunt, confirmed Sunday to The Associated Press. He was 49. No cause of death was immediately released. Frank originated the role of Tommy Oliver, the Green Ranger, when Mighty Morphin Power Rangers premiered on Fox Kids in 1993. Frank, a martial arts expert, stayed with the show for three seasons and often returned in later years in subsequent Power Rangers shows and films. His character initially was a deadly foe of the team of heroes, having been placed under a spell by Power Rangers nemesis Rita Repulsa, but he was later freed from the spell and became the White Ranger.

Ecuador beat host country Qatar 2-0 on Sunday in the opening match of the World Cup, marking the first time in the global soccer tournament's 92 years that the host team has lost its opening game. It was also Qatar's first ever World Cup game. The tournament is being played in the Middle East for the first time, and Qatar has spent more than $200 billion getting ready for the event. Over the last 12 years, it has built stadiums, hotels, roads, and other infrastructure to get ready for the World Cup, drawing controversy over its treatment of migrant workers brought in to work on the construction projects.

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Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.