The World Side

By Rajan Zed

Hindus are urging for a Diwali holiday in all 24 public school districts of Middlesex County. Schools have declared holidays around other religious days, so why not Diwali?

Although traditions vary, Diwali celebrations usually include families and friends gathering for worship at home shrines and visiting the temple. Additionally, there are feasts, the sharing of gifts, decorating hands with henna designs, fireworks, and the lighting of diyas — small lamps usually made from clay that symbolizes goodness and purity. Lighting them denotes triumph over darkness, connecting to the light. We also draw intricate, colorful designs called rangolis and place them around the home to honor the festival and welcome good luck.

Holidays of all major religions should be celebrated and honored, and no one should be penalized for practicing their faith.

Establishing a holiday on Diwali in all Middlesex County school districts will be a step in

Following last year’s premiere of “Candy Coated Christmas,” featuring Food Network star Ree Drummond, Discovery+ is getting even more into the scripted holiday spirit with two new Christmas movies from Food Network — and the first two ever from HGTV, Variety has learned exclusively.

The Warner Bros. Discovery-owned cable channels have just wrapped production on the four features, which include cameos from HGTV’s “Home Town” hosts Ben and Erin Napier and “Love It or List It’s” Hilary Farr, as well as Food Network stars Bobby Flay and Duff Goldman .

Titled “One Delicious Christmas,” “A Gingerbread Christmas,” “A Christmas Open House” and “Designing Christmas,” the four movies will all launch Friday, Nov. 11 exclusively on Discovery+.

Here are the official descriptions for the four new movies, with casts led by Katie Stevens, Jessica Szohr, Tiya Sircar and Vanessa

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Wall Street was pleased with

Amazon
‘s

move to state a holiday fees for sellers. Analysts see the fee bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars in profit.

Citing higher expenses during the holiday season,

Amazon
.

com (ticker: AMZN) said it will impose a 35-cent per item “peak fulfillment fee” on merchants that use the Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) service to sell products in the US and Canada from Oct. 15 through Jan. 14. If a seller uses FBA, Amazon handles picking, packing, and shipping items.