U.S.

A U.S. Justice Department review of the origins of the probe into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election is now a criminal investigation, a person familiar with the matter said. The person, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, declined to say whether a grand jury had been convened in the investigation.

The late Elijah Cummings, a veteran Democratic lawmaker and civil rights activist who was a leading force in the impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump, will be eulogized by former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton in his hometown of Baltimore.

The winds that drove wildfires that forced some 2,000 people to flee homes in Northern California’s wine country are expected to abate. While it gives firefighters a better chance to tackle the blaze and utility workers time to re-connect electricity, the break may be short-lived, forecasters with the National Weather Service said.

Donald Trump and his top Democratic rivals for the White House in November 2020 will take part in a forum on criminal justice reform at a historically black South Carolina college this weekend. The forum, at Benedict College, in Columbia, is aimed at tackling the next steps in reforming the U.S. criminal justice system after Trump last year signed bipartisan legislation that instituted a number of changes, including easing harsh minimum sentences for nonviolent drug offenders.

Business

In the bestselling novel “Circe” — optioned by WarnerMedia for its forthcoming HBO Max streaming service — the daughter of the Greek god Helios tames wild beasts and menaces the gods. WarnerMedia executives want “Circe” to unleash a different power: attracting young viewers to the company’s belated entry in the streaming-video war. Next week, when WarnerMedia reveals details about its upcoming subscription streaming video service HBO Max, some current HBO subscribers in the United States will learn that they will have access to the new service at no additional charge.

Just a few months ago, WeWork’s co-founder Adam Neumann was being courted by Wall Street’s top investment bankers in anticipation of one of this year’s most high-profile initial public offerings. By October, with the IPO abandoned and his office-space sharing company bleeding cash, Neumann found himself late on a Sunday evening pleading with WeWork’s largest lender for a $5 billion lifeline, people familiar with the matter said.

U.S. electric vehicle maker Tesla started selling its China-made Model 3 with an autopilot function priced from 355,800 yuan ($50,310), making it the company’s cheapest model on sale in the country, the official website showed.

Amazon.com forecast revenue and profit for the holiday quarter below expectations, as it faces fierce competition and rising costs from its plan to speed up delivery times globally. Shares fell as revenue growth for the company’s lucrative cloud computing business also slowed down in the third quarter, missing analysts’ estimates. Amazon beat expectations on overall third-quarter revenue, posting a sales rise of 24% to $70 billion.