CNN Breaking News Alert

Louis Vuitton artistic director and Off-White founder Virgil Abloh died Sunday of cancer, according to a tweet by luxury group LVMH. He was 41.

"LVMH, Louis Vuitton and Off White are devastated to announce the passing of Virgil Abloh on Sunday, November 28th, of cancer, which he had been battling privately for several years," the tweet read.

LVMH owns Louis Vuitton among other luxury brands.

In an attached statement, the group also quoted LVMH chairman Bernard Arnault: "We are all shocked after this terrible news. Virgil was not only a genius designer, a visionary, he was also a man with a beautiful soul and great wisdom," the statement read in part.

A magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck Peru early Sunday morning, according to the United States Geological Study (USGS) and Peru's National Seismology Center.

The earthquake's epicenter was reported in the Amazonas region but was also felt in the capital of Lima and other neighboring towns.

The world health organization has designated a newly identified coronavirus a “variant of concern.”  

According to a W-H-O statement, advisors recently found the variant – named Omicron – has a possible increased risk of reinfection and several mutations.

The organization has called on countries to continue to monitor the situation and work on efforts to better understand coronavirus variants.  

The Dow opened some 800 points lower on Black Friday as stocks around the world tumbled in the face of a new Covid-19 variant.

The variant has been detected in South Africa, Botswana, Hong Kong and Israel, prompting some countries to put flight bans in place.

The news has sent financial markets into a tizzy, with stock and oil prices falling sharply.

A jury has found all three men charged in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery guilty of murder. 

Gregory McMichael, Travis McMichael and William "Roddie" Bryan Jr. were charged with malice and felony murder in Arbery's death, which sparked national outrage after a video of his shooting was made public. 

Arbery was jogging in Brunswick, Georgia, when he was fatally shot in 2020. 

At least 27 migrants have died after a boat capsized in the English Channel, off the coast of Calais, northern France on Wednesday, police sources told CNN affiliate BFMTV. 

France's regional maritime prefecture said in a statement that a search-and-rescue operation for survivors was still ongoing and described it as the worst-ever accident in the stretch of water.

A federal jury in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Tuesday found defendants in the Unite The Right civil trial liable for more than $26 million in damages. The jury found all defendants violated a Virginia state conspiracy law.

Brian Laundrie died by suicide from a gunshot wound to the head, an attorney for the Laundrie family told CNN on Tuesday.

Attorney Steven Bertolini said Laundrie’s parents, Chris and Roberta Laundrie, “have been informed that the cause of death was a gunshot wound to the head and the manner of death was suicide.”

Laundrie’s remains were found in a Florida nature reserve last month. He disappeared just days after his fiancée Gabby Petito was reported missing. 

Petito’s death was ruled a homicide by manual strangulation. 

President Biden will announce today that the Department of Energy will release 50 million barrels of oil from the country’s strategic petroleum reserve.  

 
Rising prices at the pump are frustrating Americans and contributing to the biggest spike in inflation in decades.

Both are directly tied to Biden’s political fortunes. 
 
The White House says the release comes as a joint effort with China, India, Japan, South Korea and the United Kingdom.  
 
Officials believe the coordinated effort could potentially have more of an impact on gas prices.

Authorities in Wisconsin have identified the driver of a red SUV they say drove into the Waukesha Christmas parade, as Darrell E. Brooks Jr., 39. 

Waukesha Police Chief Dan Thompson said Monday that Brooks is the "lone suspect" in the incident and that he “intentionally drove his SUV through the barricades into a crowd of people, which resulted in killing five individuals and injuring 48. 

The five people killed ranged from 52 to 81 years old, Thompson said.