| Lindsey Graham says women 'have a place in America' and 'can go anywhere' if they are against abortion Posted: 01 Nov 2020 05:53 AM PST  Graham urged women to be more like newly appointed Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who in the past has signaled her anti-abortion stances.
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| Black toddler taken, mother beaten by police during Philadelphia protests Posted: 30 Oct 2020 11:58 AM PDT  A Black mother is claiming that the Philadelphia police beat her, took her toddler from her during the recent protests, and then used the boy for propaganda. The Fraternal Order of Police posted a picture of an officer holding a Black child close to her chest on Thursday following days of unrest after Walter Wallace Jr. was killed by police. "This child was lost during the violent riots in Philadelphia, wandering around barefoot in an area that was experiencing complete lawlessness," the union claimed in a tweet and Facebook post that have since been deleted.
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| Dem Rep. Tells Hunter Biden’s Business Partner He Will Defend Him against ‘Partisan Hack’ Attack Posted: 30 Oct 2020 11:36 AM PDT  A Democratic congressman told Hunter Biden's former business associate, Tony Bobulinski, that he will defend him from attacks calling Bobulinski a "partisan hack" over his decision to go public with claims about the Biden family's foreign business dealings.Democratic Representative Ro Khanna sent an email to Bobulinski, who has donated to Khanna in the past, wishing him well and saying he vouched for him that he has "never been a 'partisan hack' in our interactions and have talked about putting country over party," Fox News reported."Tony, hope you are doing okay. I did give an on the record statement to The NY Times that I know you, you have always acted honorably with me, and you and other family members supported me," Khanna wrote in his message. "I have told any media outlets that have asked the same thing."The California Democrat said that he "refused to comment on the details of your allegations because I don't have personal knowledge about that, but have said I respect your service to our country and that you have never been a 'partisan hack' in our interactions and have talked about putting country over party."In a Fox News interview that was aired Tuesday, Bobulinksi accused Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden of "lying" about whether he was directly involved in his son's foreign business dealings.The former U.S. Navy lieutenant and corporate investor was the former CEO of SinoHawk Holdings, which he said was a partnership between the CEFC China Energy conglomerate and the Biden family. He was the recipient of a May 13, 2017 email that discussed a plan to have 10 percent in their related joint venture, Oneida Holdings, "held by H for the big guy?" The "big guy" was Joe Biden, and "H" was Hunter, Bobulinski confirmed.Bobulinski said he had several meetings with the former vice president, one on May 2, 2017, according to text messages about the meeting.Bobulinski said he decided to go public with documents and information on the Bidens after Democratic congressman Adam Schiff said on television that this "smear" of Biden "comes from the Kremlin," a claim Bobulinski called "absolutely disgusting.""I also have made it clear that I do not think you are a Russian agent," Khanna added in his email to Bobulinski. "I will continue to make that statement to any media that asks.""I remain appreciative for your past support and your requesting your family members to support," Khanna said. "After the heat of the election, if you want to, I am happy to chat."Bobulinski also said he was warned by former partner Rob Walker that going public with his claims against the Bidens would "bury all of us.""Throughout 2015 and 2016 while Joe was still the sitting vice president of the United States, these guys had been doing extensive work around the world," Bobulinski said in the Fox News interview, adding that "the only qualification they had was the Biden name."
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| Tensions between left and right-wing protesters in Vancouver, Washington, after a Black man was shot dead by police officers in a drugs bust Posted: 31 Oct 2020 08:11 AM PDT  Kevin E. Peterson Jr, 21, produced a handgun and was shot dead by deputies, said Clark County Sheriff's Office.
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| Ivanka Trump says that parenthood has made her ‘unapologetically pro-life' Posted: 31 Oct 2020 07:37 AM PDT  The president's daughter has revealed her own position on abortion with only days to go until the 3 November election
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| Taiwan celebrates equality, coronavirus success in Asia's largest Pride march Posted: 31 Oct 2020 02:24 AM PDT  More than 130,000 people, many wearing rainbow masks, marched through Taipei on Saturday to celebrate LGBTQ+ equality and the island's success in fighting coronavirus, in one of the largest Pride marches globally this year. "Taiwan has done a fantastic job at both equality and pandemic control," said Chen Wei-chun, a 32-year-old bank employee who joined the march with a rainbow mask on. Taiwan has recorded just 555 COVID-19 infections and seven deaths, the majority of cases imported, thanks to early and effective response.
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| Tropical Storm Eta ties record; expected to become hurricane Posted: 31 Oct 2020 10:53 PM PDT |
| Trump tells small Minnesota rally that the state’s governor advised him to cancel Posted: 30 Oct 2020 05:06 PM PDT 
President Trump told a small group of supporters at his Minnesota rally on Friday that the state's governor had advised him to cancel the event.
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| Daylight-saving time is literally killing us — but at least we'll get a little extra sleep this Sunday Posted: 31 Oct 2020 02:43 PM PDT  Daylight-saving time ends on Sunday, November 1, 2020. Years of data tell us the bi-annual switch is deadly. Here's how it puts stress on our bodies.
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| Two people killed as man in 'medieval clothing' goes on stabbing rampage in Quebec Posted: 31 Oct 2020 11:36 PM PDT  Police in the Canadian city of Quebec have arrested a man on suspicion of killing two people and injuring five others in a stabbing rampage on Halloween on Saturday. The provincial police had been looking for a man dressed in medieval clothing and armed with a bladed weapon who had left "multiple victims". Police said the suspect was in his mid-20s. They confirmed that two people had died and five others were hurt. There was no word on a possible motive for the attacks. Police said five victims were transported to a hospital, however there was no immediate word on their conditions. "Shortly before 1am, the SPVQ (Quebec city police force) arrested a suspect," the force said on Twitter, asking residents of the city to "stay inside with the doors locked" because an "investigation is still ongoing". A man was arrested early on Sunday.
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| Tensions rise outside of Kamala Harris event in Fort Worth Posted: 31 Oct 2020 03:46 PM PDT  As the November 3 presidential election draws near, tensions continue to rise amongst Democrats and Republicans. Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris arrived at a campaign stop in Fort Worth, Texas at First Saint John Catherdral on Friday. A small group of Trump-Pence supporters were also present, causing discord, according to the Star Telegram.
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| Fact check: There is no Sen. Rob Donaldson, so posts of his speech about Barrett are fake Posted: 31 Oct 2020 09:53 AM PDT  A post on new Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett originated as a hypothetical. It took off, with many people assuming it was from a real senator.
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| Pregnant New Jersey woman killed by shooter who waited outside her home, baby survives Posted: 01 Nov 2020 08:02 AM PST  The unidentified 31-year-old woman delivered a healthy child before dying, according to local reports.
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| Daylight-saving time ends on Sunday, November 1 — here's why we have it and why some countries and states have gotten rid of it Posted: 31 Oct 2020 11:55 AM PDT  At 2 a.m. ET on November 1, Americans will "fall back" by moving their clocks an hour earlier to end seven months of daylight-saving time.
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| 'A whole lot of hurt': Fauci angers Trump White House with dark Covid outlook Posted: 01 Nov 2020 06:41 AM PST  * Top expert says Biden taking pandemic 'seriously' * Spokesman for president accuses doctor of political bias * Swing-state health workers organize in bid to beat TrumpThe US should prepare for "a whole lot of hurt" under the coronavirus pandemic, senior public health expert Anthony Fauci said, predicting a winter of 100,000 or more cases a day and a rising death toll."We're in for a whole lot of hurt," Fauci told the Washington Post in a hard-hitting interview published on Saturday night, three days out from election day, immediately angering the Trump White House."It's not a good situation. All the stars are aligned in the wrong place as you go into the fall and winter season, with people congregating at home indoors. You could not possibly be positioned more poorly."More than 9.1m cases of Covid-19 have been recorded in the US and more than 230,000 people have died. Daily case counts vary but agree that on Friday the US set a world record for cases in a single day, between 99,000 and 100,000, as numbers surge in several states, many of them electoral battlegrounds key to control of the White House. On Saturday, Johns Hopkins University reported more than 81,000 new cases. There were 862 deaths, down from more than 1,000 the day before.Donald Trump, recently recovered from the virus himself, continues to campaign for re-election, staging rallies at which mitigation strategies such as mask-wearing and social distancing are not observed and regularly claiming the US is "rounding the corner". On Friday he made the baseless claim that doctors were rewarded financially if people died of Covid.> You could not possibly be positioned more poorly> > Anthony FauciHis challenger, Joe Biden, who leads most national and battleground state polls, is staging fewer events and observing Covid protocols.Trump has charged that Biden is "hiding" and regularly mocked his opponent for wearing a mask. On Sunday, campaign adviser Anita Dunn told CNN's State of the Union that since March, "what Vice-President Biden has done is basically why he's got in this race, he showed people what a responsible president does and how a responsible president acts."Fauci told the Post Biden was "taking it seriously from a public health perspective". Trump, he said, was "looking at it from a different perspective … the economy and reopening the country."Judd Deere, a White House spokesman, told the Post Trump "always put the well-being of the American people first", and added: "It's unacceptable and breaking with all norms for Dr Fauci, a senior member of the president's coronavirus taskforce and someone who has praised President Trump's actions throughout this pandemic, to choose three days before an election to play politics."In fact Fauci has often clashed with Trump, and recently complained about comments being used out of context in a campaign commercial.Fauci, 79, has been director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984, serving six presidents. He is immensely popular with the public and largely seen as safe from being fired. But the Post also reported that "at one point during the interview, Fauci said he needed to be careful with his words because he would be blocked from doing appearances in the future".Deere said that "as a member of the Task Force, Dr Fauci has a duty to express concerns or push for a change in strategy, but he's not done that, instead choosing to criticise the president in the media and make his political leanings known by praising the president's opponent – exactly what the American people have come to expect from the Swamp."Public records show Fauci is not registered as a Democrat or a Republican."The Swamp" is Trump campaign speak for Washington, supposedly a den of "deep state" bureaucrats and intelligence officials dedicated to thwarting the president and feathering their own nests. Trump's former campaign manager, Steve Bannon, a key propagator of the deep state theory, has said it is "for nut cases".Speaking to the Post, Fauci was critical of a controversial outsider brought into the coronavirus taskforce by Trump. Scott Atlas, a Stanford neuroradiologist and Fox News contributor, favours ending public health restrictions and pursuing "herd immunity"."I have real problems with that guy," Fauci said. "He's a smart guy who's talking about things that I believe he doesn't have any real insight or knowledge or experience in. He keeps talking about things that when you dissect it out and parse it out, it doesn't make any sense."On Saturday, Atlas promoted an interview with RT – a Kremlin-backed TV channel which regularly spreads disinformation. "Lockdowns, facts, frauds," he tweeted. "If you can't handle truth, use a mask to cover your eyes and ears."Fauci also said: "Right now, the public health aspect of the [White House] taskforce has diminished greatly … the last time I spoke to the president was not about any policy. It was when he was recovering in Walter Reed, he called me up."Fauci said he called into meetings but largely avoided the White House because "of all the infections there". After an event for supreme court nominee Amy Coney Barrett on 26 September, cases proliferated among the Trump family, senior aides and top Republicans. Last weekend, senior aides to Vice-President Mike Pence were infected.Fauci also addressed controversial remarks last weekend by White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, who said the administration was not going to control the pandemic."I tip my hat to him for admitting the strategy," he said. "He is straightforward in telling you what's on his mind. I commend him for that."
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| Twitter allows New York Post account to tweet again after contested Hunter Biden story led the company to update hacked materials policy Posted: 30 Oct 2020 05:03 PM PDT  Twitter reversed course following backlash over its decision to block users from sharing the Post's story amid concerns about its source and veracity.
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| Body mistaken for Halloween prop sits on balcony for days, Los Angeles cops say Posted: 01 Nov 2020 07:23 AM PST  "He looked fake."
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| A high school newspaper has exposed how state police quoted Adolf Hitler and advocated violence in a training manual Posted: 31 Oct 2020 09:54 AM PDT  The training manual quotes from Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf, calling for the "perpetually constant and regular employment of violence."
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| Trump says he isn't the 'most famous man' in the world — Jesus is Posted: 30 Oct 2020 02:35 PM PDT 
While campaigning in Wisconsin on Friday, President Trump said he isn't the "most famous man" in the world. He said that Jesus Christ is instead.
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| Moldova elects president amid Russia-West tug of war Posted: 01 Nov 2020 03:13 AM PST  Voters in ex-Soviet Moldova went to the polls on Sunday to elect a president under the watchful eye of Moscow which wants the polarised country to remain in its orbit amid political and security crises on Russia's borders.
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| Lawyer: Wisconsin cop can't be fired for future shooting Posted: 31 Oct 2020 09:25 AM PDT  An attorney for a Wisconsin police officer who has fatally shot three people since 2015 says his client shouldn't be disciplined or fired simply because city officials are worried he might do it again. Wauwatosa Officer Joseph Mensah, who is Black, has been cleared of any criminal wrongdoing in all three cases. Former federal prosecutor Steven Biskupic issued a report in early October saying Mensah should be fired because the risk that he would kill a fourth person and expose the city to liability was too great.
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| Anti-Lockdown Riots Break Out in Spain after Government Extends State of Emergency Posted: 01 Nov 2020 06:43 AM PST  Riots broke out in Spanish cities for the second night in a row on Saturday after the government extended a national state of emergency, in response to a new wave of coronavirus infections.Other European nations have imposed new lockdown measures as numbers of new coronavirus cases have surged across the continent. Almost 26,000 new cases were recorded in Spain on Saturday alone, the highest daily rate since the start of the pandemic.Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and his coalition decided on Thursday to extend Spain's state of emergency by six months, but delegated responsibility for imposing most new restrictions on regional governments. However, the national government has already imposed a nighttime curfew across the country in an attempt to curb coronavirus spread.Riots protesting the restrictions occurred in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, and various other cities, Spanish newspaper El Pais reported. Police arrested 32 people in Madrid, after rioters set fire to trash cans and vandalized storefronts and banks. Regional police in Barcelona warned on Friday that "very violent and organized far-right groups" were behind demonstrations in that city.In Madrid, demonstrators chanted slogans including, "Stop the political mafia, stop the dictatorship," "Madrid says enough," and "Madrid is being ruined." Sánchez condemned the behavior of the rioters as "violent and irrational."Frustration with the reimposition of coronavirus restrictions has been brewing in other parts of Europe. Residents of Italy, which was hit hard at the onset of the pandemic, have been protesting new restrictions in Rome, Florence, Naples, and other cities. Those demonstrations have also turned violent in some cases.
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| Outsiders heading for New York from all other states must test negative for coronavirus before and after they arrive, Cuomo announces Posted: 31 Oct 2020 11:05 AM PDT  New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Saturday announced new measures to combat the spread of COVID-19 in the state of New York.
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| 'The numbers floored me': hunger in Pennsylvania hits highest level since pandemic's start Posted: 01 Nov 2020 04:00 AM PST  Demand for food aid surges in state and across country, with 54m potentially facing hunger by year's endCharles Bennicoff hasn't worked since last winter. He's an experienced landscape gardener but the mom-and-pop business he worked for in Allentown, Pennsylvania, cut its staff after losing most of their contracts during the pandemic.Bennicoff, 50, now relies on a food pantry for a few bags of groceries every couple of weeks to supplement the food stamps and social security his mentally ill wife receives. He still picks up the occasional odd job but doesn't qualify for unemployment benefits because the landscaping job was cash in hand.It's the first time the couple have needed food aid since recovering from drug addiction and homelessness about 20 years ago, and Bennicoff is struggling to stay positive."Covid has taken a toll, emotionally and financially. There's a thousand people dying every day because of the president's lies, and I can't just shrug that off. I have tears in my eyes every night," said Bennicoff.Hunger is rising in Pennsylvania, with the demand for food aid at its highest level since the start of the pandemic, according to new figures obtained by the Guardian.Food banks distributed almost 1.17m aid boxes in the first three weeks of October, providing fresh produce and staples like rice, pasta and peanut butter to 2.75m people. October will almost certainly beat the previous record monthly distribution from July, when 1.38m households received food boxes across the state."These numbers have floored me," said Sheila Christopher, executive director of Pennsylvania Food Banks. "Demand is going up across the state and the country. We've never seen anything like this before, it gives me goosebumps."And it's not just here: nationwide the demand for aid at food banks and pantries has soared during the pandemic amid unprecedented job losses and the worst unemployment rate in modern times.A recent census bureau survey found 12% of American households with children did not have enough food sometimes or often during the previous week – compared with 10% before the pandemic.A staggering 54 million people in the US – ostensibly the richest country in the world – may have faced hunger by the end of 2020, according to Feeding America, the national food bank network. This would represent a 54% increase since last year, according to food insecurity figures recently released by the Department of Agriculture (USDA)."We're already stretched trying to keep up with demand and now we're preparing for an even worse second wave," said Katarah Jordan, director of the Second Harvest Food Bank of Lehigh Valley and Northeast Pennsylvania, which supplies 200 pantries.Allentown is the biggest city in the Lehigh Valley, a metropolitan region comprising three eastern Pennsylvania counties (Northampton, Carbon and Lehigh) and one in western New Jersey. It's the third-most populous area in Pennsylvania after Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, and one where Joe Biden must claw back votes Democrats lost in 2016 in order to win the White House.In this region, demand for food aid is up 45%.Trump, whose path to victory was guaranteed in 2016 after beating Hillary Clinton by just over 44,200 votes to collect Pennsylvania's 20 electoral college votes, has held campaign events across the state in recent weeks amid polls that show Biden has a narrow lead.At a rally in Allentown last Monday, Trump repeated false the claim that the gravity of the pandemic was being exaggerated by his political enemies, including the state's Democratic governor, Tom Wolf.Last week, the White House claimed that Trump had ended the pandemic despite new cases and deaths spiralling across much of the country. Almost 230,000 Americans have died so far, and public health experts warn that the worst is yet to come as the country moves into a second wave."You cannot believe anything Trump says. He's put his financial gains above our safety … At the very least, we need a president with a conscience," said Bennicoff.On Tuesday, Bennicoff, his wife and their three children will vote for the first time. He registered to vote after the veteran investigative journalist Bob Woodward revealed that Trump purposefully played down the seriousness of the coronavirus.Another first-time voter collecting groceries from the Allentown Ecumenical pantry is Kathleen Beatty, 59, who lost her cleaning job at the start of the pandemic.Beatty has relied on food aid since the federal unemployment benefit was cut amid a political stalemate in Washington. "I don't know what I'd do without this help. I haven't needed a food bank since the 1980s," she said.Beatty qualifies for Medicaid to cover the cost of treating chronic conditions – a benefit which could be cut if the supreme court overturns the Affordable Care Act, as desired by the Republicans.Still, Beatty wants four more years for Trump. "He did a great job putting the wall up, to keep out people who shouldn't be here illegally from taking our money. He's done a good job on the pandemic, too."The numbers tell a different story. In Pennsylvania, daily coronavirus cases are up 54% compared with two weeks ago, according to the New York Times database. The state unemployment rate was 8.1% in September, slightly higher than the national average and twice the pre-pandemic rate, according to Bureau of Labor statistics.The Covid public health crisis triggered the worst economic crisis in almost a century and exposed the precarious state of millions of working Americans thanks to weak labor rights, eroded government safety nets and low wages. Low wage workers, especially people of colour, have been the hardest hit.Janette Ortiz, 30, moved to Allentown from Puerto Rico in 2015 in search of a better life. She contracted Covid in March while working at a food distribution warehouse - not long after becoming pregnant.Ortiz was briefly hospitalized, but then went back to work. But she says she was fired a couple of months later after missing a few days due to morning sickness. Ortiz and her mother were forced to move to a smaller apartment and depend on the monthly food pantry run by the Grace Episcopal church.Even before the pandemic, half of American adults had either no emergency savings or not enough to cover three months of living expenses, according to Bankrate's 2019 financial security index."I hope to find a job after the baby is born … I'll vote on Tuesday because healthcare is very important,' said Ortiz. Her baby is due in three weeks.
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| People are calling to boycott Home Depot after its co-founder said he was voting for Trump and encouraged others to do the same Posted: 01 Nov 2020 06:39 AM PST  Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus said he was supporting a second term for President Trump and explained why other Americans should do similarly.
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| China destroys domes of famous mosques as cultural whitewash continues Posted: 31 Oct 2020 06:24 AM PDT  China's campaign to suppress Islam is accelerating as authorities remove Arab-style onion domes and decorative elements from mosques across the country. Stark changes have been observed at the main mosque in Yinchuan, capital of Ningxia province, where most of China's Hui ethnic Muslim minority live. The bright green onion-shaped domes and golden minarets that used to soar into the sky atop Nanguan Mosque have all been pulled down. Golden Islamic-style filigree, decorative arches, and Arabic script that before adorned the mosque have also been stripped away. What remains is unrecognisable – a drab, gray, rectangular facility with "Nanguan Mosque" written in Chinese, as shown in photos posted online by Christina Scott, the UK's deputy head of mission in China, on a recent trip. "TripAdvisor suggested the Nanguan Mosque in Yinchuan well worth a visit," Ms Scott wrote on Twitter, along with 'before and after' photos. "Only this is what it looks now, after 'renovations.' Domes, minarets, all gone. No visitors allowed either, of course. So depressing."
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| An activist's dreams 'were about to come true.' Then, a horrific accident cut her life short. Posted: 01 Nov 2020 01:30 AM PST  "Our mission is to make sure this doesn't happen again," the husband of Esther Nakajjigo told NBC News in an exclusive interview.
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| Dozens of undelivered ballots found at Miami-Dade post office with mail backlog Posted: 31 Oct 2020 08:47 AM PDT  Special agents with the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General discovered 48 pieces of election mail sitting in a post office in South Miami-Dade County on Friday, the office announced Saturday morning. Forty-two of them were ballots that had not yet been delivered to voters, officials said, while the other six had already been filled out and were brought to the Miami-Dade supervisor of elections Friday night.
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| Chile elite say facing 'uncertain' future after vote Posted: 31 Oct 2020 07:02 PM PDT  In Santiago's well-heeled suburbs, Chile's elite say they are facing uncertainty after the rest of the country voted to ditch the dictatorship-era constitution that has served them well for decades.
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| Trump admin funds plasma company based in owner's condo Posted: 01 Nov 2020 05:13 AM PST  When the Trump administration gave a well-connected Republican donor seed money to test a possible COVID-19-fighting blood plasma technology, it noted the company's "manufacturing facilities" in Charleston, South Carolina. Plasma Technologies LLC is indeed based in the stately waterfront city. Instead, the company exists within the luxury condo of its majority owner, Eugene Zurlo.
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| KitchenAid's holy grail mixer is at its lowest price ever for Black Friday 2020 Posted: 31 Oct 2020 01:53 PM PDT  Black Friday 2020 is in full swing at Best Buy, where you can pick up the KitchenAid Professional 5-quart mixer for its lowest price of all time—details.
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| Early voting brings one million Black voters to Georgia polls Posted: 30 Oct 2020 05:03 PM PDT  As Georgia wrapped up weeks of early voting on Friday for the Nov. 3 election, Black voter turnout had far surpassed the level seen at the same time in 2016. More than 3.8 million Georgians had already cast ballots as of 5 p.m. on Friday, compared to 4.1 million overall in the last presidential election. In Swainsboro, Georgia, the tiny election registration office building was the only early voting precinct, limiting entry to five voters at a time.
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| A hangman's noose displayed in a polling station in Missouri covered up following complaints of voter intimidation towards Black voters Posted: 01 Nov 2020 05:55 AM PST  The noose was part of a display in a historical exhibit marking the last legal execution by hanging in Missouri in 1937.
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| SEAL Team Six Rescues American Hostage in Nigeria Posted: 31 Oct 2020 08:21 AM PDT  SEAL Team Six has rescued an American who was being held hostage by a criminal gang in Northern Nigeria, according to reports.The gang kidnapped 27-year-old Philip Walton in Niger, which borders Nigeria, earlier this week. Officials worried the gang would sell Walton to terrorists, CBS News reported. A number of Walton's captors were killed in the raid, according to Fox News."U.S. forces conducted a hostage rescue operation during the early hours of 31 October in Northern Nigeria to recover an American citizen held hostage by a group of armed men," Chief Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said in a statement Saturday. "This American citizen is safe and is now in the care of the U.S. Department of State. No U.S military personnel were injured during the operation."President Trump called the operation a "big win" in a tweet on Saturday.> Big win for our very elite U.S. Special Forces today. Details to follow!> > -- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 31, 2020Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reaffirmed the U.S.' commitment to the "safe return of all U.S. citizens taken captive," in a statement on Saturday. "We delivered on that commitment late last night in Nigeria, where some of our bravest and most skilled warriors rescued a U.S. citizen after a group of armed men took him hostage across the border in Niger," Pompeo said.He continued: "Thanks to the extraordinary courage and capabilities of our military, the support of our intelligence professionals, and our diplomatic efforts, the hostage will be reunited with his family."
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| Kyle Rittenhouse admitted he 'ended a man's life' and 'shot two white kids' in Kenosha shootings, but claimed self defense, police said Posted: 31 Oct 2020 12:38 PM PDT  In a police report obtained by Insider, the 17-year-old told police he "shot two white kids" and "ended a man's life" when he turned himself in.
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| Scientists capture two murder hornet queens after destroying nest Posted: 01 Nov 2020 07:29 AM PST  The team also uncovered the radio tag that led them to the nest in the first place — which appeared to have been chewed off.
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| 'Crossroads of the climate crisis': swing state Arizona grapples with deadly heat Posted: 01 Nov 2020 12:00 AM PDT  Maricopa county is home to America's hottest city, where deaths from the heat are weighing on voters' mindsEven now, Ivan Moore can't think why his father didn't didn't tell anyone that the air conditioning in their house was busted. "I honestly don't know what was going through his mind," he said.That week three years ago, temperatures in Phoenix, Arizona were forecasted to top 115F (46C). Moore, his wife and two children went to the mountains for a camping trip, and his dad Gene, stayed behind. A few days later, Gene died.The air conditioning had been blowing hot air. "He'd opened a window but it was too hot," Moore said. "My dad's heart basically gave out on him."Phoenix – America's hottest city – is getting hotter and hotter, and Moore's father is one of the hundreds of Arizonans who have succumbed to the desert heat in recent years.In August this year, Maricopa county, which encompasses Phoenix, recorded 1,000 Covid-19 deaths. That same month, the county was investigating more than 260 heat-related deaths.This summer, temperatures here stayed above 90F (32C), even at night, for 28 days straight, with the scorching weather in July and August breaking records. It was so hot and dry that towering saguaro cactuses that dot the landscape began to topple over and die.At the same time, wildfires across the western US this year cast a foreboding orange glow over the region and clouded Phoenix communities, already breathing some of the highest concentrations of toxic pollution in the nation, with even more smoke."I grew up in the desert, in the heat," Moore said. "But I think about what it's going to be like in another five years, in 10 years."The thought has been weighing on him – and many other Arizonans – as they cast their ballots ahead of next week's elections. Even amid a global pandemic, and the economic catastrophe it has triggered, polls find that Americans increasingly cite the climate emergency as a major concern. That's especially true in regions like Maricopa, where the crisis is already having deadly effects.Once a stronghold of western conservatism, Maricopa county has been slowly undergoing a political transformation – and has become one of the fiercely contested election battlegrounds in the nation.Asked to choose between a Democratic presidential candidate, Joe Biden, who recognizes global heating as an emergency, and a Republican, Donald Trump, who has called it a "hoax", a growing number of voters in the Valley of the Sun say they are seeking leadership that will address climate and help their desert home survive an increasingly precarious future. 'The crossroads of the climate crisis'"We are a desert community," said Laura Jimena Dent, the executive director of the Arizona-based environmental justice non-profit Chispa. "We are literally at the crossroads of the climate crisis."Since 1865, the temperatures in Maricopa have risen by nearly 2C. And since the 1950s, the water level in the region's well has dropped by 125ft. Even in a politically divided swing state, that's hard for anyone to ignore. A recent survey found that nearly three-quarters of Arizonans "agree" or "strongly agree" that the federal government "needs to do more to combat climate change".Even after the coronavirus pandemic hit this year, when researchers at Yale university conducted an annual survey of voters across the country, climate change went up on a list of voter priorities.> For the first time in American history, climate change has reached the very top echelons of voting issues> > Anthony Leiserowitz, Yale University"You see that reflected in how much political leaders – especially Democrats – have been talking about climate change this election," said Anthony Leiserowitz, an expert on public opinion of climate change at Yale University.Whereas liberal Democrats ranked climate change as their second most important issue out of 30, moderate Democrats rank it 8th, and moderate Republicans rank it somewhere in the middle.But in the US, and in Maricopa county, most voters agree climate change is happening, and they want lawmakers to do something about it. "For the first time in American history, climate change has reached the very top echelons of voting issues," Leiserowitz said.Indeed, just a few weeks ago, Americans heard Trump and Biden respond to the first question about the climate crisis at a presidential debate in 20 years. While Trump flatly refused to acknowledge that climate change was fueling wildfires across the west, Biden touted a $2tn plan to invest in green infrastructure, emphasizing the "millions of good-paying jobs" that his climate proposals could create.Responding to the wildfires ripping across California in a speech earlier this summer, Biden also cast the climate crisis as a threat to the safety and security of America's suburbs, flipping an attack the president has leveled against him to appeal to voters in regions like Maricopa – a sprawling suburban oasis in the desert."If you give a climate arsonist four more years in the White House, why would anyone be surprised if we have more of America ablaze?" he asked.Similarly, in a heated debate between the state's US Senate candidates, the incumbent Republican Martha McSally, who serves on the Senate energy and natural resources committee and is a close ally of the president, acknowledged "the climate is changing", but derided any "heavy-handed approach" to addressing it.Meanwhile, the Democrat Mark Kelly, a former astronaut, mused about how fragile the planet looks from low-Earth orbit. "There is no planet B," he said. "We have to do a better job taking care of this planet."The stark contrast between the parties' stances can help explain why voters in Maricopa have been increasingly repelled by the Republicans, said Josh Ulibarri, a Democratic pollster based in Phoenix.Conservatives here have been slowly leaving a Republican party that has grown increasingly extreme and rightwing. "Climate is part of that," Ulibarri said.Fifteen years ago, Arizona was one of the first states to develop a climate action plan, and climate change – at least in this region – was a bipartisan issue. John McCain, the state's late senior senator, was one of the few Republican lawmakers in Washington DC to support climate change legislation. But as national and local politics became more polarized, Republican politicians moved right.series linker embedAs a result, "college-educated voters and women voters have moved away from Republicans because they don't believe in science", Ulibarri said.Many independents recoiled, as well.Moore falls in that category. "Normally I go through, and I don't care if candidates are Republicans or Democrats – I do my research on whose viewpoints I agree with," he said. "But right now, the GOP – not Republicans but the party itself – has gone too far, too far right. They've been ridiculous with the choices they're making – the party needs a reset."Among other things, "we need our leaders figuring out: how do we live in a world that's going to get even hotter?" he added. This year, he picked Democrats up and down the ballot.Ultimately, Republicans' resistance to acknowledging and addressing climate change will hurt them politically, said Jeff Flake, a former Arizona senator. "I do think over time it really makes it difficult to attract, particularly, the younger generation, millennials, Gen Xers, and whoever else, when we don't have rational policies on climate change," said Flake, a Republican who has been critical of Trump's politics.With so much else going on, he said that while he doesn't see climate change playing a big role in this election, he imagines it will be hard to ignore in future ones. 'We're building the political power'Like many areas of the country, in Maricopa, poor neighborhoods and neighborhoods where Latino and Black families live are worst affected by both the heat and the bad air. Across the US, young voters and Latino voters are especially likely to prioritize climate action, polling shows."Latinos are more convinced climate change is real and that it's human caused, more worried about it, and more supportive of action than any other voting bloc," said Leiserowitz of Yale.In Maricopa, where about one third of the county's 4.5 million residents identify as Latino, environmental justice activists are at the forefront of efforts to galvanize voters to elect environmentally minded candidates."Our focus is on getting young people, Latino people, people of color across our state who have traditionally been less engaged in the political process," Dent said. "We are making calls, we are sending mail and digital ads, text messages and handwritten postcards."Translating concern about climate change into votes has proved challenging in the past, but as the region grows hotter, and more polluted, "we're building the political power", she said.The county earned an "F" rating this year from the American Lung Association. The cars and trucks that congest the city's sprawling highways have made Phoenix the seventh-most ozone-polluted metropolitan area in the country. Here, the heat speeds up production of the toxic ozone particles, which can damage the lungs and lead to serious, even deadly respiratory issues."For a decade, we in our communities have been raising our voices about these issues," said Blanca Abarca, 54, a community activist.Abarca lives in a largely Latino neighborhood in south Phoenix located downwind of an industrial dump the EPA has found is leeching "low levels" of toxic compounds and heavy metals including arsenic, barium, mercury, and nickel. She, her husband and their teenage daughter have MacGyvered their whole house to cope with the heat.They rely on a swamp cooler, ventilators on their roof and ceiling, and the trees they planted all around their house. They've got an AC unit - but they hardly use it. The high electricity bills could send them into debt."I tell people who can vote to do it for the community – to elect leaders who are going to better this great country, and for the future of our children," she said while on a break from gardening at Spaces of Opportunity, a community farm in south Phoenix where she and many others in the neighborhood come for a respite from heat.To be clear, she added, that is not how she would characterize the current president.Her efforts – and those of other progressive Latino activists – have been paying off. Young Latino voters have been casting ballots in record numbers in recent years, helping elect Democratic lawmakers in local and statewide elections.In 2019, the Democrat Kate Gallego was elected mayor of Phoenix – in part thanks to a wave of young, progressive Latino voters. Gallego has a bachelor's degree in environmental science."I grew up with asthma. And as you spend time wheezing by the track, it gives you an opportunity to reflect on air quality," she said. Since taking office, Gallego has focused on developing better public transportation infrastructure to reduce the number of vehicles on the road. She's also overseeing the development of a network of "cool corridors" – to ensure that no resident is more than five minutes from water and shade.In another sign of progress, Arizona utility regulators this week approved a plan to transition to 100% carbon-free energy sources – such as solar and nuclear energy – by 2050. Two Republicans on the utilities board voted with a Democrat to get the measure passed.In the desert, "we just have to take climate change very seriously", Gallego said."And, you know, I have a father who fancies himself a political consultant," she added. "And he told me if I can just do something about the summer heat, I will definitely be re-elected."
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| How the controversial Nile dam might fix Sudan's floods Posted: 31 Oct 2020 06:03 PM PDT  Egypt and Ethiopia are at loggerheads over the mega dam, with Sudan literally stuck in the middle.
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| Trump appears to mock Laura Ingraham for wearing a mask at campaign rally Posted: 30 Oct 2020 12:18 PM PDT 
At a campaign rally in Waterford Township, Mich., on Friday, President Trump appeared to mock Fox News host Laura Ingraham for wearing a mask, saying she was being "very politically correct."
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| France church attack: Assailant's family seeks answers Posted: 31 Oct 2020 03:38 AM PDT  A third suspect is in French custody Saturday in connection with an Islamic extremist knife attack that killed three people in a Nice church, as the distraught family of the suspected Tunisian assailant asked to see video footage of what happened. Investigators in France, Tunisia and Italy are trying to determine the motive of chief suspect Ibrahim Issaoui, and whether he acted alone and whether he premeditated Thursday's attack on the Notre Dame Basilica. Authorities have labeled the attack, which took place amid growing tensions around cartoons published by a French newspaper mocking the Prophet Muhammad, an act of Islamist terrorism.
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| CDC officials are considering a plan to distribute COVID-19 vaccines to the most vulnerable first — including people of color Posted: 30 Oct 2020 09:24 PM PDT  Experts said they would set aside the limited supply for this group since that have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.
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| Illinois shatters single-day COVID-19 record set a day earlier with nearly 7,000 new cases Posted: 30 Oct 2020 03:56 PM PDT  CHICAGO — Illinois on Friday reported nearly 7,000 newly confirmed cases of the coronavirus, eclipsing a single-day record set just 24 hours earlier and pushing the total number of known cases since the pandemic began past 400,000. "This is an extraordinarily dangerous time," Gov. J.B. Pritzker said during his daily COVID-19 briefing. "And as a result, we must do everything in our power to ...
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| Pennsylvania's small-town Trump defectors: Rare — but possibly decisive Posted: 31 Oct 2020 01:06 PM PDT  Analysis: In one of the most hotly contested 2020 battlegrounds, some Democrats worry that Trump will win. But it wouldn't take many Trump crossover votes to tip the state to Biden.
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