| Trump's vaccine promises meet reality Posted: 29 Oct 2020 11:45 AM PDT  The president's optimistic claims that a vaccine for COVID-19 would be ready before the end of the year seem increasingly unlikely to be fulfilled.
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| FBI Investigating Hunter Biden for Money Laundering: Report Posted: 29 Oct 2020 03:23 PM PDT  The FBI opened an investigation into Hunter Biden and associates in 2019 on suspicion of money laundering, a Justice Department official told Sinclair Broadcasting.The criminal investigation is ongoing, the DOJ official said.The revelation comes after Tony Bobulinski, a former business partner of Hunter Biden, came forward with a trove of documents regarding the Biden family's dealings with now-defunct Chinese energy firm CEFC. While Joe Biden has denied that he has ever spoken with Hunter regarding the latter's overseas business dealings, Bobulinski claims the former vice president is lying.> EXCLUSIVE: Tony Bobulinski tells @WeAreSinclair he was questioned by six @FBI agents, with counsel present, for five hours on October 23, listing him as a "material witness" in an ongoing investigation focused on Hunter Biden and his associates. His cell phones were examined. pic.twitter.com/5lPzRTREJN> > -- James Rosen (@JamesRosenTV) October 29, 2020Additionally, Bobulinski told Sinclair that he was interviewed by FBI agents for five hours last Friday and was listed as a "material witness" for the agency.The interview "was a very cooperative deep dive into all the facts across that time period" during which Bobulinski conducted business with members of the Biden family, Bobulinski said.The New York Post reported earlier this month that it was given materials purportedly from Hunter Biden's laptop. While a subsequent Fox News report revealed that Hunter Biden's laptop was subpoenaed by the FBI in connection with a money laundering investigation, the Thursday report by Sinclair marks the first confirmation that Hunter Biden himself is the subject of an ongoing criminal probe.The Biden campaign has not denied the veracity of any of the materials revealed by the Post or Bobulinski. However, the campaign has stated that "Joe Biden has never even considered being involved in business with his family, nor in any overseas business whatsoever."
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| Official: Rifle shell casings found at Breonna Taylor scene Posted: 30 Oct 2020 10:13 AM PDT  Two long-rifle shell casings were found in and near Breonna Taylor's Louisville apartment after a botched police drug raid that ended in Taylor's death, Kentucky's attorney general said. It's the first time these specific shell casings have been mentioned by authorities investigating Taylor's death. One of the casings was found by Taylor's sister in her bedroom and the other was found in the parking lot outside the apartment, according to a court filing this week in a criminal case against the sole Louisville police officer charged in connection with the raid.
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| Tourist arrested for hiding a loaded firearm at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom Posted: 29 Oct 2020 06:36 PM PDT  A 27-year-old woman has been arrested for hiding a loaded firearm at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom, the Orange County Sheriff's Office confirmed.
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| Lawyers: Cop video of shooting of 2 suggests cover-up Posted: 29 Oct 2020 03:54 PM PDT  A body camera worn by a suburban Chicago police officer who shot a Black couple in their car was only turned on moments after the shooting, a fact that the lawyers representing the woman say suggests an attempt to cover up what had happened even before he fired.
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| President Erdogan accused of fuelling the anger that led to French terror attacks Posted: 29 Oct 2020 08:35 AM PDT  The Turkish president's bellicose rhetoric towards France over the publication of caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed may have contributed to a climate of anger that led to the deadly terror attack in the city of Nice on Thursday, terrorism experts and EU politicians have said. A woman was decapitated, and two more people killed, in an attack in a church in Nice on Thursday that the city's mayor described as terrorism after the alleged perpetrator reportedly chanted "Alllahu akbar" as he was arrested. Terrorism experts believe the attack – alongside a stabbing at the French consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and an incident in Avignon where police killed a man brandishing a gun – were retaliation by extremists for France's hardening attitudes towards Muslims. French President Emmanuel Macron ordered a crackdown on Islamists this month, following the beheading of a teacher who showed his class caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed, something many Muslims consider blasphemous and offensive. Turkish President Recep Tayipp Erdogan has led criticism in the Muslim world of Mr Macron, repeatedly saying he needed mental evaluation over his stance towards Islam.
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| Top U.S. officials were briefed on an active threat against Pentagon leaders, say five officials Posted: 29 Oct 2020 01:07 PM PDT  Some officials said the briefings suggested the threat may be potential retaliation for the U.S. military's killing of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani.
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| Las Vegas police charge driver after man pushed a cyclist to her death, fell out a minivan window, hit his head on a lamppost, and died at the scene Posted: 30 Oct 2020 08:15 AM PDT  Rodrigo Cruz, 22, was the driver of the minivan involved in the two deaths, the Las Vegas police said.
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| 2020 polls: Can Trump pull another 2016 upset? The data says no chance Posted: 29 Oct 2020 08:59 AM PDT  The blue wave is coming - if you believe the polls
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| Facebook admits it 'improperly' blocked some political ads due to 'technical issues' as Joe Biden's campaign slams it for being 'wholly unprepared' Posted: 29 Oct 2020 08:18 PM PDT  Facebook said no ads were blocked "because of any partisan consideration," as Biden's camp accused the company of offering "no clarity" on the issue.
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| Rudy Giuliani wants Twitter CEO jailed over limitations on unverified Hunter Biden story Posted: 29 Oct 2020 04:59 PM PDT  'Maybe he's working for the Chinese,' former mayor baselessly claims
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| Philadelphia police say they rescued a lost child. His family says they actually ripped him from his mother's car. Posted: 30 Oct 2020 10:34 AM PDT  During recent protests over the police killing of Walter Wallace Jr. in Philadelphia, the U.S.'s largest police union posted what looked like a sympathetic photo. A Philadelphia police office held a Black toddler, with a caption purporting he was found "walking around barefoot in an area that was experiencing complete lawlessness," the National Fraternal Order of Police's Facebook post said.But lawyer's for the boy's family say that's not what happened. Rickia Young was driving with her toddler son to pick up her 16-year-old nephew when she accidentally drove into an area where police and protesters were facing off. She tried to turn around, but police surrounded the car, smashed its windows, and threw Young and her nephew onto the street, her lawyers tell The Washington Post. The officers then pulled the toddler from the seat, video of the incident shows.> The attacked on this boy and his mother were caught on video. @ryanjreilly has done a good job of pointing out this lie by @GLFOP https://t.co/kJ4QcrXegc> > — Riley H. Ross III (@AttorneyRoss) October 30, 2020Police soon detained Young, but she had to be taken to the hospital before she could be processed because she was bleeding from her head after police threw her to the ground. Young's nephew was also injured, and the toddler was hit in the head. Young was split from her son for hours before she was released without charges. Her family found the boy in his car seat in the back of a police car, broken glass from the car's windows still in the seat, the Post describes.The whole scene was caught on video by AApril Rice, who told the Philadelphia Inquirer watching what happened was "surreal" and "traumatic." The National Fraternal Order of Police has since deleted the post. Philadelphia police still haven't told the Young family where to find the car, along with her son's hearing aids and other belongings inside.More stories from theweek.com How to make an election crisis 64 things President Trump has said about women Republicans are on the verge of a spectacular upside-down achievement
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| Two same-sex couples in military marry in first for Taiwan Posted: 29 Oct 2020 09:24 PM PDT  Two lesbian couples tied the knot in a mass wedding held by Taiwan's military on Friday in a historic celebration with their peers. Taiwan is the only place in Asia to have legalized same-sex marriage, with more than 4,000 such couples marrying since the legislation passed in May 2019. The mass wedding with 188 couples was the first time same-sex couples have been wed and celebrated at a military ceremony.
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| Man falls through New York City pavement into 'rat-filled chasm' Posted: 30 Oct 2020 02:10 AM PDT  A man was trapped in a hole teeming with rats for half an hour after a New York City pavement collapsed from under him last Saturday. Leonard Shoulders dropped almost 15 feet into the sinkhole and was unable to cry for help out of fear the rats would get in his mouth. "Rats crawling on him. He can't move. He just… it was so bad," the victim's brother Greg White told NBC News. "He didn't wanna yell 'cause he was afraid there was gonna be rats going inside his mouth." Mr Shoulders plunged more than 12 feet into the vault, breaking his arm and leg, when the ground gave way beneath him while he waited for a bus in the Bronx. "He went down feet first," Mr White added. "He was just standing and the sidewalk just — It was like a suction. Like a sinkhole. He just went down."
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| Mnuchin Says He First Saw Pelosi’s Letter on Coronavirus Stimulus Negotiations ‘In the Press’ Posted: 30 Oct 2020 06:01 AM PDT  Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Thursday said that he first learned about a letter House speaker Nancy Pelosi sent to him regarding coronavirus stimulus talks "in the press.""I woke up this morning and read @SpeakerPelosi 's letter to me in the press," Mnuchin said on Twitter. "Enclosed is my response. Her ALL OR NONE approach is hurting hard-working Americans who need help NOW!"> I woke up this morning and read @SpeakerPelosi's letter to me in the press. Enclosed is my response. Her ALL OR NONE approach is hurting hard-working Americans who need help NOW! pic.twitter.com/tarhPwYmkv> > -- Steven Mnuchin (@stevenmnuchin1) October 29, 2020Pelosi aides said they had sent the letter to Mnuchin shortly after midnight, though the treasury secretary said he first saw the letter when Politico's morning newsletter Playbook published it just after 6 a.m., according to the Washington Post.The letter outlined a number of outstanding issues in the negotiations including state and local aid, school funding, child-care money, tax credits for working families, unemployment insurance aid and liability protections for businesses. Mnuchin's letter said that because Pelosi had sent the letter "to my office at midnight and simultaneously released it to the press, I can unfortunately only conclude it is a political stunt."He tweeted his letter one minute after sending it to Pelosi's office. In the letter he mentioned that the pair had negotiated nearly every day over the past 45 days "in an attempt to reach a serious bipartisan compromise," as coronavirus cases surged and the economy struggled.Pelosi's office pushed back against Mnuchin's response."It is disappointing that the White House wasted time on this letter instead of meaningful responses to meet the needs of the American people," Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill said.Democrats and Republicans have since remained in political gridlock for months over the size and contents of a second round of stimulus relief. While the White House has offered $1.9 trillion, Democrats have pushed for a more expansive bill at $2.2 trillion.The California Democrat's letter outlined the outstanding issues and said she was waiting for an answer from the administration regarding the Democrats' language on a national coronavirus testing strategy after Mnuchin had said on October 15 that he was ready to accept after some small edits. Mnuchin, however, said that the administration had accepted Pelosi's proposal on dollars and language for coronavirus testing, and had also provided notes on the section on contact tracing. He added that he has worked alongside other agencies and committee chairs on responses on several areas of coronavirus relief, including rental assistance, small businesses and funding for the Postal Service. "While you accuse the Administration of holding up negotiations, you refuse to bring to the floor of the House stand-alone legislation to support Airline workers, additional Paycheck Protection Program payments to small businesses, and additional Direct Payments that we can fund using already approved money that we have not spent," Mnuchin wrote.In her letter Pelosi called on Mnuchin, President Trump, and Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell to create a path forward for negotiations after the November 3 election. "Your responses are critical for our negotiations to continue," Pelosi wrote in her letter. "The President's words that 'after the election, we will get the best stimulus package you have ever seen' only have meaning if he can get Mitch McConnell to take his hand off the pause button and get Senate Republican Chairmen moving toward agreement with their House counterparts."Pelosi and Trump on Thursday both expressed hope that a stimulus bill could be passed after the election. In a news conference on Thursday, Pelosi said she was optimistic that Joe Biden would win the presidency, but said that she would not pass a small bill with the intent of adding more relief once Biden takes office."We're not talking size, we're talking quality. We're not going to take a small bill" that has provisions Democrats have found to be unacceptable, Pelosi said."I want a bill for two reasons. First and foremost the American people need help. They need real help. And second of all, we have plenty of work to do in a Joe Biden administration … So we want to have as clean a slate as possible going into January," Pelosi said.
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| A Florida man was scalped by a black panther after he paid $150 for an illegal 'full contact' experience at a backyard animal sanctuary Posted: 30 Oct 2020 08:45 AM PDT  Dwight Turner paid $150 to play with, take pictures, and rub the belly of a black panther at a private enclosure behind a house.
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| Death toll rises in Vietnam after Typhoon Molave triggers widespread flooding, landslides Posted: 29 Oct 2020 11:50 AM PDT  After forging a path of destruction over the northern and central Philippines and strengthening over the South China Sea, Typhoon Molave brought its deadly impacts to Vietnam from Wednesday into Thursday, inflicting more damage in a country that has been battered by numerous landfalling tropical systems since the beginning of the month. As of Thursday evening, local time, the death toll has risen to 35 and at least 50 people are still missing, according to state media. The death toll is expected to rise in the coming days as search and rescue missions continue and communications with more remote villages are restored. Soldiers and villagers dig through mud after a landslide swamps a village in Phuoc Loc district, Quang Nam province, Vietnam, on Thursday, Oct. 29, 2020. Three separated landslides triggered by Typhoon Molave killed over a dozen villagers and left dozens more missing in the province as rescuers scramble to recover more victims. (Lai Minh Dong/VNA via AP) A dozen of those killed by the typhoon were sailors of two fishing vessels that sank while trying to seek shelter from the powerful typhoon. According to VnExpress International, the vessels sank near the province of Binh Dinh on Tuesday night. While strong winds from Molave created treacherous conditions across the western South China Sea, heavy rainfall caused deadly landslides across central provinces. CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APP Military officers, who were put on standby by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc ahead of Molave's arrival, scrambled to three villages where three separate landslides were responsible for killing at least 19 people and are suspected of burying more than 40 others in thick mud and debris, The Associated Press reported. Homes and roadways in parts of Tra Van village, Tra Leng village and Phuoc Loc district were buried under the landslides. Officers used bulldozers and excavators to help clear gain access to the affected areas and begin rescuing victims, The AP said. Four more residents were killed in Quang Nam province, a tourist draw for an ancient town and Hindu temples, by falling trees and collapsed houses, The AP reported. More than 130 people have been killed in the central Vietnam province since the beginning of October following the tumultuous weather pattern that has brought a relentless series of tropical storms and typhoons. Typhoon Molave is the fourth named tropical system to make landfall over Vietnam this month, and officials are calling this the strongest storm to hit the country in the last 20 years, The Associated Press reported. Molave made landfall just prior to midday Wednesday, local time, according to VnExpress International, unloading torrential rain and damaging winds across the typhoon-weary nation. At landfall, the typhoon had the equivalent strength of a Category 2 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale in the Atlantic and East Pacific basins. Molave lost some wind intensity just prior to landfall after spending some time with the equivalent strength of a Category 3 major hurricane. Ahead of the storm, officials were preparing to evacuate 1.3 million residents along the coast of central Vietnam, according to Reuters. Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc also urged provinces in the typhoon's path to prepare by bringing boats ashore. This satellite image shows Typhoon Molave closing in on the Vietnam coast on Wednesday morning, local time. (CIRA/RAMMB) Molave is the fourth named tropical system to make landfall over Vietnam since Oct. 11, according to AccuWeather Lead International Meteorologist Jason Nicholls. It is also the country's sixth landfalling storm this year. Fierce winds were already beginning to whip ahead of Molave's landfall, with a local news agency reporting nearly 82,000 customers had lost power in the province of Phú Yên by Wednesday morning, local time. As of Wednesday evening, local time, Molave had lost enough wind intensity that it was designated a tropical storm over western Vietnam. Molave first developed into a tropical depression to the east of the Philippines late last week and was given the name Quinta by the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration. Molave is the name used by the Japanese Meteorological Agency for the part of the basin that falls under the agency's purview. Residents wearing masks to prevent the spread of the coronavirus wade through a flooded road from Typhoon Molave in Pampanga province, northern Philippines, on Monday, Oct. 26, 2020. The fast-moving typhoon has forced thousands of villagers to flee to safety in provinces. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila) The storm quickly strengthened into a typhoon with sustained winds of 120 km/h (75 mph) before making its first landfall over San Miguel, Philippines, on Sunday evening, local time. This is equivalent to a Category 1 hurricane in the Atlantic and East Pacific tropical basins. Widespread rainfall totals of 100-200 mm (4-8 inches) were reported in the northern and central Philippines. More than 120,000 people have been displaced by the storm, and at least eight are missing. As of Friday morning, local time, the typhoon is being blamed for at least 22 deaths in the Philippines. As recovery efforts continue, all eyes will be on the strengthening Typhoon Goni, also known as Rolly in the Philippines. Residents impacted by Molave in the Philippines are likely to face impacts from Goni this weekend. Goni could go on to bring more tropical downpours and gusty winds to Vietnam next week. Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
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| Who is leading key Senate races less than a week from election? Here’s what polls show Posted: 29 Oct 2020 03:15 PM PDT  With five days to go, here's how candidates stack up in key U.S. Senate races.
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| Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman got served a lawsuit via WhatsApp. Court documents show that he received and read the message. Posted: 30 Oct 2020 01:03 AM PDT  The case, filed by former top security advisor Dr. Saad Al-Jabri alleges that bin Salman set a hit squad to assassinate him in Canada.
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| How a fake persona laid the groundwork for a Hunter Biden conspiracy deluge Posted: 30 Oct 2020 08:19 AM PDT  A 64-page document that was later disseminated by close associates of President Donald Trump appears to be the work of a fake "intelligence firm."
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| Lawyers for Black couple shot by police outside Chicago claim officer’s body camera was turned off intentionally Posted: 29 Oct 2020 04:50 PM PDT  Officer claims couple tried to hit him with their car
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| Searchers find 59 bodies in Mexico mass graves, dig for more Posted: 29 Oct 2020 10:13 AM PDT  Search teams dug for more remains Thursday at a site in central Mexico where 59 bodies have already been found in clandestine graves over the past week in an area known as a cartel battleground. It was the largest such burial site found to date in Guanajuato, the state with the largest number of homicides in Mexico, though bigger clandestine burial sites have been excavated in other parts of the country. Especially striking about this discovery, but also a testament to the prevailing level of fear, is that the site is in the town of Salvatierra, not a desolate area out in the countryside.
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| Record-breaking GDP growth leaves U.S. economy in the same place as the height of the Great Recession Posted: 29 Oct 2020 08:27 AM PDT  America just posted its biggest annualized and single-quarter GDP growth of all time. It isn't that impressive.The U.S. GDP jumped at a 33.1 percent annualized rate in the third quarter, a growth of 7.4 percent from Q2, Commerce Department records released Thursday reveal. But as Gregory Daco, the chief U.S. economist at Oxford Economics, put it in a tweet, that growth is both "record-breaking and meaningless at the same time."It's true that the 7.4 percent GDP rise from Q2 to Q3 is a record. But it also comes after a record contraction from Q1 to Q2, and a total loss of 10.3 percent throughout 2020, so it doesn't even come close to making up what was lost amid the pandemic. In fact, the 3.5 percent total GDP shrinkage during 2020 "means we are still down almost as much as we were during the height of the Great Recession," tweets Diane Swonk, chief economist at Grant Thornton.> Translation into % difference from pre-Covid> > US GDP -3.5% > \- consumer spend -3.3% > \- business investment -4.9% > \- residential invest +5.1% > \- exports -15.3% > \- imports -7.1% > \- federal gov spending +2.6% > \- state and local gov spending -1.9% pic.twitter.com/uLNPEnuUYF> > — Gregory Daco (@GregDaco) October 29, 2020Economist Justin Wolfers meanwhile debunked the 33.1 percent growth rate the entire Trump family was touting Thursday morning. Looking at annualized growth reveals how much bigger the economy would be if it "grew at this rate for the next three quarters," Wolfers tweeted. "But there's no chance that will happen, so the annualized rate answers a question no one is asking." And if that wasn't convincing enough, Wolfers had another way of looking at it. Kathryn Krawczyk> If you have a cranky uncle who insists that you focus on annualized rates, point out that the number of new covid cases in Q3 rose to be +87% higher than in Q2, which is an annualized rate of +1,123%.> > — Justin Wolfers (@JustinWolfers) October 29, 2020More stories from theweek.com How to make an election crisis 64 things President Trump has said about women Republicans are on the verge of a spectacular upside-down achievement
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| Malaysia's Mahathir says Muslims can kill French, Twitter deletes post Posted: 29 Oct 2020 11:53 AM PDT  Former Malaysian premier Mahathir Mohamad tweeted Thursday that Muslims had a right "to kill millions of French people" after a deadly attack in Nice, sparking widespread anger and prompting Twitter to delete his post.
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| Tony Chung: Hong Kong activist detained near US consulate charged Posted: 29 Oct 2020 10:32 AM PDT  Tony Chung was detained as he reportedly planned to claim asylum at the US consulate.
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| The independent candidate who could decide the Senate Posted: 30 Oct 2020 01:30 AM PDT  A Senate hopeful in Maine who would be a spoiler in any other race says the state's unusual voting system will help oust Susan Collins.
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| Polling averages show Trump gaining on Biden in most swing states. Will it be enough? Posted: 30 Oct 2020 11:37 AM PDT  Trump gained on Biden in polling average in 9 of 12 swing states since Monday, continuing last week's trend. But of those, he is only ahead in Texas.
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| Kyle Rittenhouse extradited to Wisconsin following terse ruling from Illinois judge accusing him of asking the court to 'ignore binding Illinois law' Posted: 30 Oct 2020 02:22 PM PDT  Rittenhouse, charged in Wisconsin with first-degree homicide over the shooting of three people at Kenosha protests, had been fighting his extradition.
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| Judge grants Meghan Markle's request to postpone lawsuit against tabloid Posted: 29 Oct 2020 07:15 AM PDT  A British judge on Thursday granted a request by the Duchess of Sussex to postpone the trial of her invasion of privacy lawsuit against the publisher of a British newspaper that published portions of a private letter she wrote to her father.
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| Jerry Falwell Jr. is suing Liberty University after his forced resignation over sex scandal Posted: 29 Oct 2020 01:14 PM PDT  The former president was ousted earlier this year and now hints he was victim of political retribution.
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| The Government has agreed only three claims by families of deceased Windrush victims Posted: 29 Oct 2020 12:44 PM PDT  The Government has settled only three of the 71 claims by families of dead victims of the Windrush scandal, according to Home Office data. Around one in eight (12 per cent) of Windrush victims claiming compensation have received payouts, according to the official figures. Of 1,587 claims made to the scheme by the end of September, £1,619,291.42 had been paid out to 196 people, around 12 per cent of those who had applied. The data also showed 71 claims have been made for people who have already died, but only three have resulted in payments so far. Some 124 claims have been subject to an appeal over the decision made, while 81 eligible applicants were told they were not entitled to any money because their claims did not demonstrate that they had been adversely affected by the scandal. The fund has an estimated budget of at least £200 million. Previously, Home Secretary Priti Patel described the scheme as "complicated" and said she wanted to see payments "sped up". Earlier this year, Windrush campaigner Paulette Wilson (see below) died, aged 64, just weeks after delivering a petition to Downing Street calling for action to address the failings that led to the scandal and demanding swift compensation for victims.
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| Hurricane Zeta Knocks Out the South, Causing Pre-Election Panic Posted: 30 Oct 2020 09:46 AM PDT  At least six people have died and at least 2 million are without power after Hurricane Zeta barreled through the South on Thursday evening, knocking out some early voting sites and sending state officials scrambling to pick up the pieces in time for Election Day.Zeta moved quickly after making landfall on the Louisiana coast as a Category 2 storm on Wednesday afternoon. It hit at least seven states, some of which were still recovering from earlier storms, and weakened to a post-tropical cyclone with "strong, damaging wind gusts" upwards of 50 mph by the following afternoon, according to the National Hurricane Center. In its wake it left downed trees, flooded streets, and power outages.By Thursday evening, officials stated Zeta had moved out over the Atlantic ocean, marking the end of the 27th storm during this year's hurricane season set to end in one month."Damage was extensive in some places. New Orleans sustained a direct hit from Zeta," New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell tweeted Friday morning. "Now it takes Teamwork."> Remember covid is still here as we CleanUpNOLA • Damage was extensive in some places. NewOrleans sustained a direct hit from ZETA • Now it takes Teamwork ↔️��Repost mtathleticacademy • Our team don't play! ������������ Hurricane clean up party! MotivationTeam pic.twitter.com/WcgaEcdMtY> > — Mayor LaToya Cantrell (@mayorcantrell) October 30, 2020Among the six killed were three people in Georgia who died after trees fell on their homes. A similar tragedy happened to one person in Alabama, while a man in Mississippi drowned in a Marina after videotaping the storm. In New Orleans, a 55-year-old was electrocuted by low power lines.Cantrell begged people to leave it up to public safety officials to manage the damage. "We do not want to lose another life. It is unnecessary," she said.State officials across the South were scrambling to assess the damage and restore power to more than 2 million homes and voting sites before Election Day.As of Friday morning, about 326,531 customers in Louisiana were still without electricity, according to Entergy Louisiana. In New Orleans, which was hit directly by the storm's eye and 110 mph winds, officials estimated that 80 percent of residents were without power and might not see relief for at least three days."That eyewall came through here last night. It came in bright as day," Paul Noble, a retired East Baton Rouge Parish sheriff's deputy, told The Advocate. "It was rocking. It was sliding stuff off the stove."Another resident told the outlet that during Hurricane Katrina, a benchmark for storms in the area, utility poles "laid down" amidst the massive flooding. "Here, they snapped," Travis Latapie, a local shrimper, said.> Trailer pieces just blew across hwy 23 in Plaquemines Parish. pic.twitter.com/44D7n4RScq> > — Adam Ney (@sayneykid) October 28, 2020And the outage numbers surged in other affected states—more than 500,000 people in Georgia, 400,000 in Alabama, 360,000 across the Carolinas, 55,000 in Virginia, and about 180,000 in Mississippi were still without power Friday.But despite the mass outrages, state officials are still determined to have the lights on for Election Day. During a press briefing Thursday night, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards stressed that local voting officials and electricity companies are working diligently to determine if power will be restored to precincts by Tuesday—and are creating alternative sites in case."If you haven't voted early and you were planning on voting on Election Day, we need you paying attention and we'll get you that information as soon as we can," Edwards said Thursday night.> One last bit about Mailman John—one of the first things he and his supervisor did after this happened was secure and protect the mail in his truck. Because there were ballots inside, and democracy is really, really important. Thanks, John. Thanks, @USPS https://t.co/gdFA7KxZZU pic.twitter.com/vhO2vRsuAS> > — James D. Hogan (@jamesdhogan) October 29, 2020In Georgia, several advanced voting locations were knocked offline on Thursday, calling into question how the final two days of early voting will pan out for the state. According to The New York Times, 15 counties opened polling sites late because of the storm, while others relied on generators.In Douglas County, all six early voting locations lost power, while four in Cobb County were closed—creating wait times of upwards of 90 minutes on Thursday. As of Wednesday, more than 2.3 million Georgians had voted in-person and more than 1.1 million absentee ballots had been returned, officials said."The Elections and Voter Registration Department of Douglas County is feverishly working to reopen them," Douglas County spokesman Rick Martin said Thursday, stressing that officials had to ensure election workers could safely reach reopened sites.Politico also reported that officials in three countries in Florida's Panhandle limited early voting hours this week in anticipation of the storm. Those counties—Escambia, Okaloosa, and Santa Rosa—are Republican strongholds."It's an abundance of caution for us," Okaloosa Supervisor of Elections Paul Lux told Politico. "Hurricane Sally just in September weakened a bunch of trees and power lines, so we need to be careful, but I do think we will get back up and running quickly."But despite the setbacks, locals are also determined to ensure a successful Election Day. In Statesville, a North Carolina city about an hour outside of Charlotte, one mail carrier barely escaped injury after a tree smashed his truck."One last bit about Mailman John—one of the first things he and his supervisor did after this happened was secure and protect the mail in his truck. Because there were ballots inside, and democracy is really, really important," resident James Hogan said in a Twitter post, adding that the mailman was leaning out of his truck delivering mail when the tree fell.Earlier this week, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey declared a state of emergency, and upwards of 3,300 evacuees in Louisiana were put in hotels and shelters.The storm has also posed a problem for emergency responders trying to reach Grand Isle, a remote Louisiana barrier island whose levees were breached by Zeta in three places. It's believed to be one of the hardest hit areas of the storm.A spokesperson for Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards told The Daily Beast the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority is now on the island of 1,400 residents to assess the damage along with the Army Corps of Engineers. Some were forced to helicopter in.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Op-Ed: The immorality of sentencing a 15-year-old to prison forever Posted: 30 Oct 2020 04:00 AM PDT  The Supreme Court needs to state again that a child cannot be sentenced to life without parole unless a trial court determines that child is beyond rehabilitation.
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| Biden campaigns in Florida ahead of election Posted: 29 Oct 2020 05:03 PM PDT 
Joe Biden campaigned in Florida on Thursday.
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| ‘I’m getting my money!’ Florida shopper denied refund returns with a crowbar, cops say Posted: 30 Oct 2020 12:49 PM PDT  A Florida shopper wouldn't take no for an answer, and things got a little out of hand.
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| US sells oil seized from Iran to Venezuela for $40 million Posted: 29 Oct 2020 05:11 PM PDT  The United States said Thursday that it had sold Iranian oil seized on its way to Venezuela for more than $40 million.
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| Woman in labor refused to go to the hospital until she voted Posted: 30 Oct 2020 11:43 AM PDT  "It was an odd situation, but she wanted to vote and that was her right as an American citizen," a poll worker said.
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| 'Extinct' giant spider rediscovered on army training area Posted: 30 Oct 2020 07:31 AM PDT  A giant spider which was feared extinct in the UK has been rediscovered at an army training centre after not being spotted for over 25 years. Conservationists say that interesting creatures are often unearthed at Ministry of Defence sites because they are undisturbed and unaffected by farming or development. The Great Fox-Spider is Red-listed as 'Critically Endangered' and was feared extinct in the UK as it hadn't been seen since 1993. It was discovered by an arachnid-obsessed worker at the Surrey Wildlife Trusts, who had been hunting high and low on MoD land with his torch. For two years, Mike Waite, spider enthusiast at the Trust, walked around for hours at night in the hopes of finding the nocturnal, ground-dwelling arachnid. Finally he discovered some unidentifiable immature spiderlings, on MOD land managed by the Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Trust, and then, at last several mature males and one female Great Fox-Spider, which was 55mm or just over two inches in diameter including its hairy, spiny legs. The delighted naturalist said: "I am naturally over-the-moon to have finally proved the continued existence of the Great Fox-Spider in the UK. Although I've always held a latent interest in spiders, as a bona-fide arachnologist, I am still a relative newbie, so am doubly pleased to have made this important contribution to our scientific knowledge." Mr Waite now plans to continue his study to gauge the size of the population, looking for their silk-lined burrows over winter. The spiders are named because of their wolf-like chasing of prey. They love to run across sandy terrain, over gravel and rocks before catching insects. The Great Fox-Spider then pounces, injecting the unfortunate bugs with deadly venom. The spider is then ready to feast on its catch using its strong, fang-bearing front appendages called chelicerae. Great Fox-Spiders have excellent eyesight with wrap-around vision provided by eight black eyes on its head, or cephalothorax. Two large eyes glint from the top of the head; two large eyes stare out the front; and four smaller eyes form a row just above the spider's mouth. Conservationists have praised the MOD for preserving land for important animals. Rob Free, Weald Reserves Manager, Amphibian and Reptile Conservation (ARC) said: "The discovery of the Great Fox-Spider shows how amazing the MOD heathland is, not just for spiders, but also for Sand Lizard, Smooth Snake, Dartford Warbler, Nightjar, Silver-studded Blue butterfly and Marsh Clubmoss. The spider's rediscovery is a wonderful exoneration of all the incredibly hard work put in by MOD staff, Conservation Group members, ARC staff and volunteers." ARC has managed key parts of the site since 1974, with particular emphasis on preventing the endangered Sand Lizard from becoming extinct, and as MOD's conservation partner, ARC has been managing much of the open heathland on the site since January 2019. Managed for nature's recovery, the MOD site is recognised as being nationally important for its populations of rare bird, reptile and invertebrate species. Rich Lowey, Defence Infrastructure Organisation's Head of Technical Services, said: "Many people are unaware of the size and diversity of the Defence estate and its tremendous wildlife richness. It has generally been protected from agricultural intensification and urban development, so it now provides a vital sanctuary for many of the country's most rare and endangered species and habitats. We are proud to hear that the Great Fox-Spider has survived because of MOD's commitment and enthusiasm to have positive and active conservation management on the Estate and close integrated working with ARC, Surrey Wildlife Trust and MOD Conservation Groups."
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| 6 dead, millions powerless as Zeta roars across southern, eastern US Posted: 29 Oct 2020 12:33 PM PDT  Zeta, now downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone, continued to lash portions of the southern and eastern U.S. Thursday with heavy rain and high winds.
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| Pro-Choicers, Not Christians, Are Today’s Abortion Fundamentalists Posted: 30 Oct 2020 12:01 PM PDT  The New York Times columnist Nick Kristof begs a number of questions in his new pro-abortion column, "Er, Can I Ask a Few Questions about Abortion?" I'll leave Christians to debunk his more tendentious theological assertions. It is quite odd, however, to read enlightened secular pundits attempting to appropriate biblical text to argue that Jesus would have been completely cool with ending life for the sake of convenience.What would Jesus do? Avoid injecting potassium chloride into the beating heart of the unborn child, I suspect.Again, I'm no theologian, but I also strongly suspect that the "Jesus says nothing about abortion!" argument isn't dispositive of anything. The Sermon on the Mount wasn't about nationalized health-insurance schemes, after all. Yet progressives demand that Christians adopt a narrow, hyperliteral interpretation of the Bible on abortion while also demanding that they take a broad, malleably metaphoric approach to the text when it comes to things like socializing medicine or open immigration.These are often the same people who sincerely believe that the Constitution was written to protect the deliberate termination of a pregnancy but not the principled right to self-defense or free expression — because, well, those old white guys and their parchment paper and muskets.Kristof points to the views of Baptists in the 1970s as proof of the Christian regression on abortion rights. Many secularists have convinced themselves that actual Christians are just as incurious and stultified as the Christians of their imagination. The Christians I know, and I happen to know many, often grapple with how scientific advances affect faith. When it comes to abortion, it's the progressives who act like fundamentalists.Just today, I ran across a story about a boy named Logan Ray — born at 23 weeks, weighing just 1.5 pounds and measuring twelve inches long — celebrating his first birthday. One day soon, there will be babies celebrating birthdays who were born at 21 weeks. And then 20. And those who treat abortion as both rite and right will continue to make arbitrary distinctions between "fetal life" and life itself, just as Kristof does. For those who believe in actual science, the concept of life isn't contingent on a mother's decision, the public's perception, or a pundit's policy arguments.On that note, Kristof makes this assertion:> Partly because Obamacare covers contraception, the number of abortions in the United States has plunged to its lowest level since Roe v. Wade, including in states that support a woman's right to an abortion. If you're troubled by abortions, shouldn't you thank President Barack Obama for reducing them?First of all, had it not been for a few now-extinct Blue Dog Democrats, Barack Obama's signature legislation would already be forcing taxpayers to fund not merely abortifacient drugs but in-person late-term abortions. More than any president in history, Obama helped radicalize Democrats on the issue. They've been transformed from the party that advocated for "safe, legal, and rare" to one that filibusters bills that would protect babies who survive abortion attempts from negligent homicide.Moreover, there is no evidence that Obamacare did anything to lower abortion rates, which, for a host of reasons, had been dropping steadily for decades before the ACA was passed. Contrary to Kristof's claim, the trajectory shows no perceptible impact from passage of the law. Why would it? The notion that birth control was unavailable to women before 2010 is simply a myth.One could just as easily argue, in fact, that restrictions pushed by state-level Republicans, many of whom came into office beginning in 2010, helped decrease overall abortions. After all, I am constantly told there is an unprecedented and dangerous attack on "reproductive rights" — for progressives, that euphemism never gets old — as we speak.What isn't mentioned in Kristof's column — or in most of the pieces attempting to convince social conservatives that abortion is a nonissue in 2020 — is that the Democratic Party nominee supports overturning the Hyde Amendment, which bans the use of federal funds to pay for abortion except to save the life of the mother. Which is to say, Democrats want to compel taxpayers to participate in funding abortion up through the ninth month of pregnancy.Now, again, I don't claim to speak for Christians or anyone other than myself. But perhaps Kristof should ask one of the nuns Biden says he plans to sue if he wins the presidency about the theological implications of compelling the faithful (or anyone else) to support abortion — since he's curious.
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| Republican Sen. Mike Lee said fact-checking labels placed by social media companies are a form of censorship Posted: 29 Oct 2020 12:43 AM PDT  The comment was made in a Senate hearing where Republicans said Twitter, Facebook, and Google discriminate against conservatives on their platforms.
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| Activists call for justice after Washington D.C. man killed on scooter after police chase Posted: 30 Oct 2020 06:47 AM PDT  D.C. police were pursuing Karon Hylton-Brown when the scooter rider was struck by a car. Protesters in Washington, D.C. have taken to the streets after a 20-year-old man on a scooter was killed after allegedly being pursued by police. Karon Hylton-Brown was reportedly riding a moped on the sidewalk one week ago without a helmet when D.C. police tried to stop him, and he didn't stop.
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| “Over 1,000 people died today”: Don Jr. falsely claims that COVID-19 deaths are “almost nothing” Posted: 30 Oct 2020 10:38 AM PDT  Deaths rose to 1,040 on Thursday as the number of new COVID-19 cases hit the highest number on record
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