US Business

As barman Michael Anderson cowered on the patio of a nightclub, hiding from the gunman who was killing his friends and colleagues, he was convinced he was going to die too.

“I just felt alone, really alone and scared,” he said.

“I didn’t even have my phone with me. I was afraid I wouldn’t even get to say goodbye to my mother.” 

Moments earlier he had been pouring drinks at Club Q, a long-established LGBTQ venue in Colorado Springs in the foothills of the US Rocky Mountains.

Earlier there had been a drag show to mark the Transgender Day of Remembrance, and the music was pumping when he began hearing popping sounds.

“I looked up and saw a shadow of a tall person holding a rifle. I saw the gun plainly… and then the shots continued… round after round after round. It was absolutely terrifying,” he told AFP.

“I ducked down behind the bar. Glass was just flying everywhere around me, like there were just bullets breaking bottles and whatever else was back there.”

Penned in and scared he was going to be targeted, Anderson crawled out to a patio where he and a co-worker wedged themselves between a wall and a booth, seeking any protection they could find.

Inside, the gunman, later identified by police as 22-year-old Anderson Lee Aldrich, was shooting indiscriminately at clubbers in a rampage that would leave at least five dead at 18 wounded, some of them critically.

And he wasn’t done yet.

“I saw a gun come out from the patio door, the barrel of a gun sticking out,” Anderson said.

“And that was the moment I was most terrified. Because I knew we were next. 

“He was gonna find us.”

– ‘They saved my life’ –

What happened next has left Anderson eternally grateful to the people he describes as heroes.

Police say at least two individuals rushed at the shooter and overpowered him.

When Anderson next looked up, he saw the gunman pinned to the floor.

“There were some very brave people beating him and kicking him, stopping him from causing more damage,” he said.

“I don’t know who did that. But I really would like to know because I’m very grateful. They saved my life last night.”

The United States is no stranger to acts of horrific violence, but for Anderson and other members of the LGBTQ community in Colorado Springs, a city of around half a million people, the threat seemed somehow remote.

“The community here is tight-knit,” he said. “Everyone knows each other. We’re a family, you know where we come together.

“When I started at Club Q… my general manager told me: ‘you’re a part of our family. Now we’re here for you.’

“We always thought this could never happen here; never Colorado Springs, never Club Q. 

“But maybe that’s something we tell ourselves so we can go out and feel safe.”

Anderson said he hopes the gunman will spend the rest of his life in prison, living with the full horror of his actions.

And America, he said, needs to be kinder.

Less than two weeks after an election in which several candidates amped up their anti-gay, anti-trans rhetoric in the rush for votes, politicians need to rethink their strategy, he said.

“The people spewing that may think that it’s harmless, and it’s just part of their culture war, but their culture war has real consequences I’ve seen firsthand.”

Disney ousted chief executive Bob Chapek on Sunday and announced that it had brought back former CEO Bob Iger to once again take the reins.

The change, a dramatic turn of events for one of the largest media conglomerates in the world, was effective immediately, Disney said in a statement.

“We thank Bob Chapek for his service to Disney over his long career,” Susan Arnold, chair of Disney’s board, said.

The board of directors decided that as the company “embarks on an increasingly complex period of industry transformation, Bob Iger is uniquely situated to lead.”

Chapek spent two years as CEO, a period that saw Wall Street concerned about rising expenses at the company. Disney’s stock has fallen 41 percent this year.

Iger, who previously served as Disney’s CEO for 15 years, increasing the company’s market capitalization five-fold during that period, has pledged to return as CEO for at least two years, the statement said.

Iger, now 71, had promoted Chapek as his replacement in 2020 but the relationship soured and by early this year the two rarely spoke.

“I am deeply honored to be asked to again lead this remarkable team… through unrivaled, bold storytelling,” Iger said.

Under Iger’s leadership, Disney acquired Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm and 21st Century Fox. It also opened its first theme park in China — the Shanghai Disney Resort — and launched the Disney+ and ESPN+ streaming services.

Chapek upset many of Disney’s 200,000 employees earlier this year with how he handled the “Don’t Say Gay” law in Florida, where a Disney theme park is located. The law bars public schools from teaching learners in kindergarten through third grade about sexual orientation or gender identity.

Chapek remained silent on the issue until pressure grew among Disney’s employees.

The scandal prompted Florida to end Disney’s self-governing status in its Orlando theme park, which comes into effect in June 2023.

As recently as June, Disney’s board had signaled that it still supported Chapek, offering him a contract extension of three more years.

Chapek oversaw a marked increase in Disney’s total revenue to $28.7 billion for the fiscal year, which ended October 1, 2022.

But costs were also rising sharply and Chapek last week announced company-wide cost-cutting measures and said layoffs were likely.

After dealing with major challenges caused by the Covid-19 pandemic at the company, Chapek hit speedbumps in ramping up Disney’s streaming services.

Earlier this month, he reported an increase of 12.1 million subscribers to Disney+ — bringing its global total to 164.2 million. Disney’s Hulu and ESPN+ also added one million and 1.5 million subscribers, respectively.

But that news was tempered by increasing operating losses for streaming services, which nearly doubled to $1.47 billion last quarter.

Those numbers gave some Wall Street analysts serious concerns, and the host of CNBC’s “Mad Money” show, Jim Cramer, called last week for Disney to sack Chapek and fix the company’s “balance sheet from hell.”

During Iger’s tenure, Disney produced a number of record-setting films including Marvel’s “Avengers: Endgame,” the highest-grossing film of all time. The company also produced “Frozen” and “Frozen 2” and Marvel’s “Black Panther.”   

The gunman who opened fire inside an LGBTQ Colorado nightclub, killing at least five, was stopped by two “heroic” people inside the club, police told a press conference Sunday.

They identified the suspect as 22-year-old Anderson Lee Aldrich, and said he had used a rifle at the club, where partygoers were apparently marking Transgender Day of Remembrance, which pays tribute to trans people targeted in violent attacks.

Eighteen people were wounded in the incident shortly before midnight, police said, adding that an unspecified number of the wounded remained in critical condition.

The shooting was the latest in a long history of attacks on LGBTQ venues in the United States, the deadliest of which claimed 49 lives at a nightclub in Orlando, Florida, in 2016.

The suspect in Colorado Springs entered Club Q and immediately began shooting at people inside, police chief Adrian Vasquez told a press conference. 

“At least two heroic people inside the club confronted and fought with the suspect and were able to stop the suspect from continuing to kill and harm others,” he added.

Joshua Thurman of Colorado Springs was in the club at the time.

“It was so scary,” he told reporters Sunday. “There were bodies on the floor. There was shattered glass, broken cups, people crying.

“It was supposed to be our safe space… Where are we supposed to go?”

Aeron Laney, 24, was at the club for the first time, having just moved to Colorado Springs.

She described a small club where everyone seemed to know each other, the kind of place she knew she would fit right in.

“Everyone was just having a good time and smiling and laughing,” she told AFP, tearfully looking at the bank of flowers growing outside the club.

“I just can’t wrap my hand around somebody just walking in and seeing people that are so happy and so comfortable in their community and just wanting to end that.”

Laney and her friend Justin Godwin left minutes before the gunman stormed in.

“Maybe the guy was already there. Like was he in the parking lot… just planning it?” Godwin, 25, said. “It’s just terrifying.”

US President Joe Biden released a statement condemning the attack, slamming violence against the LGBTQ community, particularly transgender women of color.

“We must drive out the inequities that contribute to violence against LGBTQI+ people. We cannot and must not tolerate hate,” he said.

– Earlier bomb threat –

The authorities said the suspect was being treated at a local hospital but they released no other information about him, noting that officials including the FBI are investigating.

A man with the same name was arrested on June 18, 2021, aged 21 after his mother said he had threatened to hurt her with a homemade bomb or “multiple weapons,” according to a news release at the time from the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office. 

Police spokeswoman Pamela Castro said Sunday that police received an initial call about an active shooting in the club at 11:56 pm. She said a first officer arrived within four minutes, and that the suspect had been subdued just two minutes later.

“Club Q is a safe haven for our LGBTQ citizens,” Chief Vasquez said. “I’m so terribly saddened and heartbroken.”

Club Q said on Facebook that it was “devastated by the senseless attack on our community,” adding, “We thank the quick reactions of heroic customers that subdued the gunman and ended this hate attack.”

Authorities said Sunday that the shooting had not yet been officially classified as a hate crime but that first-degree murder charges were certain to be filed.

Governor Jared Polis, who in 2018 became the first openly gay man elected as a US governor, called the shooting “horrific, sickening and devastating.” 

Messages of support poured in by the hundreds to the club’s Facebook page, some from as far away as Sweden, Britain, New Zealand, Germany and Australia.

– ‘Events we train for’ –

Authorities could not immediately say how many people were in the popular club at the time.

Dozens of police and firefighters rushed to the scene. 

Bartender Michael Anderson was working at the club.

“I always hoped that I would never be somewhere where this would happen,” he told CBS.

Transgender Day of Remembrance has been marked each year since 1999, when it began as a vigil to honor the memory of Rita Hester, who had been killed the year before.

Transgender rights were a hot-button issue in the United States leading up to midterm elections earlier this month, with Republicans putting forward a slew of legislative proposals to restrict them. 

Gun violence is a huge problem in the United States, where more than 600 mass shootings have occurred so far in 2022, according to the Gun Violence Archive website.

Asian markets fell Monday as China’s first Covid death in six months sparked fears officials would reimpose strict, economically painful restrictions to fight outbreaks across the country.

The news threw a spanner in the works for investors who had grown hopeful of a gradual reopening after Beijing eased a number of virus-fighting measures earlier this month.

The death of an 87-year-old man in Beijing on Sunday came as infections across the country spiked, testing authorities’ plans to loosen their grip by lowering quarantine times for foreigners and cancelling mass tests.

Beijing has in recent days moved to confine some residents to their homes and ordered others to quarantine centres.

The measures dealt a particular blow to Hong Kong’s Hang Seng, which fell more than two percent, extending a sell-off at the end of last week and eating further into a recent massive rally. Shanghai was down.

“It feels like one step forward, two steps back,” Willer Chen, at Forsyth Barr Asia, said.  

“It is super hard to reopen in the short term given winter is coming and cases are at a super high level and spreading across the whole country.”

There were also losses in Tokyo, Sydney, Seoul, Singapore, Taipei and Manila. Kuala Lumpur dropped with the ringgit after Malaysian elections ended with no clear winner, fuelling uncertainty in the country.

Regional investors brushed off a positive end to last week for US and European markets, while attention turns to the release later in the week of minutes from the Federal Reserve’s most recent policy meeting.

Global markets have enjoyed a broadly healthy November thanks to signs of China easing and indications of slowing US inflation that fanned optimism the Fed would start to slow its pace of interest rate hikes.

The well-below-forecast readings in the consumer and wholesale indexes suggested months of strict tightening measures were finally working through the economy and having results, allowing for a less hawkish Fed.

But several officials soon lined up to warn that more needed to be done to get inflation back down from four-decade highs to more bearable levels.

The sharp rise in interest rates and elevated inflation has this year sent shudders through trading floors as investors fear they will send the US economy into recession.

In the latest comments, Atlanta Fed chief Raphael Bostic said he saw borrowing costs hitting five percent — from their current levels of around four percent — before they are held.

Boston Fed president Susan Collins remained open to options for the next hike — including a fifth straight 75-basis-point lift.

However, National Australia Bank’s Tapas Strickland said: “That comment by itself sounds hawkish, but Collins overall was more cautious and also expressed confidence that policymakers can tame inflation without doing too much damage to employment.

“Instead, it was likely that comment coming after a bevy of Fed Speakers during the week that added a hawkish hue to it.”

While the mood among traders remains less than bright, there appears to be a feeling that there is some light at the end of the tunnel.

“Whether it’s the time of year or recession uncertainty, few seem inclined to chase the risk rally,” said Stephen Innes at SPI Asset Management.

“Still, there is growing recognition that the consensus view of recession and earnings downgrades could face mitigation from declining inflation.

“A lower dollar, lower volatility and the acknowledgement of having to buy early could improve the risk outlook.”

And Bokeh Capital Partners’ Kim Forrest added that 10-year Treasury yields had tumbled since late October, showing “a softening inflationary environment”. 

“The bond market is a little bit smarter about what the Fed needs to do and what it’s going to do. It’s been telling us that the Fed probably won’t be able to get its rates up to five percent nor will it need to,” she told Bloomberg Television.

Demand concerns caused by China’s Covid woes further hit oil prices, with both main contracts in the red, having tumbled last week.

– Key figures around 0230 GMT –

Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.1 percent at 27,871.09 (break)

Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 2.8 percent at 17,492.08

Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 1.0 percent at 3,066.47

Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.1843 from $1.1883 on Friday

Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0292 from $1.0321

Dollar/yen: UP at 140.42 yen from 140.40 yen

Euro/pound: UP at 86.91 from 86.83 pence

West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.7 percent at $79.55 per barrel

Brent North Sea crude: DOWN 0.8 percent at $86.92 per barrel

New York – Dow: UP 0.6 percent at 33,745.69 (close)

London – FTSE 100: UP 0.5 percent at 7,385.52 (close)

— Bloomberg News contributed to this story —

Disney and Marvel’s “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” dominated the North American box office for a second straight weekend, taking in an estimated $67.3 million, industry watcher Exhibitor Relations reported Sunday.

That take for the sequel to the hugely popular “Black Panther” — with the fictional African kingdom of Wakanda again fighting for its survival — was a bit below industry expectations despite a current global total of $546 million, trade publications said.

But it was still more than seven times its closest competitor in North American theaters, Searchlight’s new horror-comedy film “The Menu,” which took in $9 million for the Friday-through-Sunday period.

“The Menu” stars Ralph Fiennes as a celebrity chef who prepares an elaborate — and increasingly creepy — meal for a group of wealthy, entitled people (including Anya Taylor-Joy of “The Queen’s Gambit”) who have no idea what, or who, is about to be served.

In third place was a surprise success, “The Chosen Season 3: Episodes 1 & 2,” a crowd-funded Christian movie that pulled in $8.2 million. “By Christian drama film standards, it’s a very good opening,” said David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research.

In its fifth week out, Warner Bros.’ superhero film “Black Adam” placed fourth, at $4.5 million. Dwayne Johnson stars in the “Shazam!” spinoff.

In fifth place was Universal rom-com “Ticket to Paradise,” at $3.2 million. Julia Roberts and George Clooney star.

Rounding out the top 10 were:

“She Said” ($2.3 million)

“Lyle, Lyle Crocodile” ($1.9 million)

“Smile” ($1.2 million)

“Drishyam 2” ($1.1 million)

“Prey for the Devil” ($935,000)