Start your week smart: Gaza hospital crisis, government shutdown, NYC mayor, Iceland emergency, Veterans Day

By CNN Newsource

Published November 12, 2023 5:57 AM

By Andrew Torgan and Daniel Wine, CNN

(CNN) — One way to get wary diners to try an exotic new dish is to tell them, “It tastes just like chicken!” Now, in a twist on the “which came first” question, one poultry producer has created a new snack mix that lets humans try food that’s similar to what its chickens eat..

Here’s what else you need to know to Start Your Week Smart.

The weekend that was

• Heavy fighting near Gaza’s largest hospital has left it in a “catastrophic situation,” with patients and staff trapped inside, ambulances unable to collect the wounded and life-support systems without electricity. Israel said it will help evacuate babies. Follow live updates.
• House Republicans are pursuing a two-step plan for funding the government, sources told CNN, as Congress barrels toward another spending deadline Friday. Newly elected House Speaker Mike Johnson announced the plan and said, “I wasn’t the architect of the mess we are in.”
• FBI agents seized the cell phones of New York City Mayor Eric Adams as part of a federal investigation into campaign fundraising, a source told CNN. The seizure is a dramatic escalation of the federal probe into whether foreign money was funneled to his campaign.
• Iceland has declared a state of emergency, with police officials urging residents to evacuate the coastal town of Grindavík following an intense wave of earthquakes in the southwest of the country linked to a possible volcanic eruption.
• President Joe Biden honored Veterans Day at Arlington National Cemetery, a site he described as a “sanctuary of sacrifice” during his deeply personal remarks. Biden talked about his late son, Beau, who served in the Delaware Army National Guard.

The week ahead

Monday
Donald Trump Jr. will be the first defense witness called in the civil fraud trial against former President Donald Trump, his adult sons Donald Jr. and Eric, and the Trump Organization. The New York attorney general’s office rested its case last week and was denied a motion to limit certain expert witnesses from testifying for the defense. Judge Arthur Engoron ruled the Trump team can call all of its witnesses but said he would limit the experts’ testimony to relevant topics in line with his summary judgment decision, where he has already ruled the Trumps and their company are liable for “persistent and repeated” fraud.

Tuesday
The Bureau of Labor Statistics is set to release its latest reading of inflation with the Consumer Price Index for October. Its previous report in September showed gas prices and rents remaining high, while grocery price increases continued to ratchet down.

King Charles III turns 75 years old. Of course, as any devotee of the Royal Family knows, His Majesty gets to celebrate his birthday not just once, but twice a year.

Wednesday
Closing arguments will begin in the 14th Amendment disqualification trial against Donald Trump in Colorado. Witness testimony in the case wrapped up earlier this month. Days later, the Minnesota Supreme Court rejected a similar attempt to block Trump from appearing on the state’s GOP primary ballot next year — but said the challengers can try again to block him from the general election ballot if he wins the Republican nomination. The 14th Amendment, ratified after the Civil War, says US officials who take an oath to uphold the Constitution are banned from future office if they “engaged in insurrection.” But the Constitution doesn’t say how to enforce the ban, and it has only been applied twice since 1919, which is why many experts view these challenges as a long shot.

President Biden is set to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping in the San Francisco Bay Area, senior US administration officials said, setting up a test of whether the two men can slow a downward spiral in US-China relations at a moment of heavy global turbulence.

Friday
The federal government is set to run out of money at midnight ET, which puts House Speaker Mike Johnson in the same difficult situation as his predecessor, Rep. Kevin McCarthy, who was ousted in unprecedented fashion more than a month ago. Johnson hopes his strategy will keep the government’s lights on without sparking a right-wing rebellion. Meanwhile, the White House Office of Management and Budget has already begun its initial communications with agencies on how to prepare for a possible government shutdown, a source familiar with the plans said.

Saturday
Hot dog! Happy 95th birthday, Mickey Mouse! The world’s most famous animated rodent made his big-screen debut when “Steamboat Willie” premiered on November 18, 1928, in New York’s Colony Theatre.

One Thing: The rise of ‘Fire Weather’
In this week’s One Thing podcast, journalist and author John Vaillant talks about how climate change is helping to alter the behavior of wildfires — and why most communities are still unprepared to fight them. Listen here.

Photos of the week

Check out more images from the week that was, curated by CNN Photos.

What’s happening in entertainment

TV and streaming
In case you haven’t heard, Hollywood actors are back to work after reaching a tentative deal with the major studios last week, ending a historic strike that lasted almost four months. Here’s what we know about the tentative release dates for some of TV’s most anticipated series, including the sixth and final season of Netflix’s “The Crown,” which premieres Thursday.

In theaters
A new chapter in “The Hunger Games” franchise makes its debut Friday with the release of the prequel, “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes,” starring “West Side Story” breakout Rachel Zegler.

In the holiday horror spirit of “Halloween” and “Silent Night, Deadly Night” comes “Thanksgiving,” from blood-and-guts impresario Eli Roth — and featuring People Magazine’s “Sexiest Man Alive.” (What’s next? “Groundhog Night: Punxsutawney Phil’s Revenge”?)

Or, if murderous pilgrims and children fighting to the death are not your speed, give “Trolls Band Together” a shot.

What’s happening in sports

At a glance …
Sports fans have no shortage of games to watch today and all this week with the NFL, NBA, NHL and college football and basketball seasons all underway.

Speaking of the NHL, the Vegas Golden Knights — the 2023 Stanley Cup champions — will be honored at a ceremony at the White House on Monday.

For more of your favorite sports, head on over to CNN Sports as well as Bleacher Report, which — like CNN — is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery.

Quiz time!

Looking for a challenge to start your week? Take CNN’s weekly news quiz to see how much you remember from the week that was! So far, 51% of fellow quiz fans have gotten eight or more questions right. How will you fare?

Play me off …

‘Stairway to Heaven’
In 1971, the British rock band Led Zeppelin released an album with no tracklist, no title, not even the band’s name on the cover — just a photograph of an elderly man with a bundle of sticks on his back. More than half a century later, the mystery of the “Stick Man” has been solved. And that album, dubbed “Led Zeppelin IV,” sold 37 million copies. Here is its most famous track. (Click here to listen)

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