| Amy Coney Barrett's confirmation shows how the courts will be Trump’s most lasting legacy Posted: 26 Oct 2020 05:09 PM PDT  With Amy Coney Barrett's confirmation, even if the Republican Party faces potential cataclysm on Election Day, it can rest safely in the knowledge that it has fully remade the federal judiciary in its image.
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| Teacher's elevator death blamed on human error Posted: 26 Oct 2020 03:27 AM PDT  Officers found 38-year-old Carrie O'Connor in the elevator on September 14.
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| France may be at 100,000 virus cases daily as Molotov cocktails thrown at German public health agency Posted: 26 Oct 2020 05:22 AM PDT  Pressure in France for local lockdowns is increasing after the government's chief scientific advisor estimated that the country is seeing 100,000 new coronavirus cases every day. On Sunday, 52,000 new Covid-19 infections were reported in France, another daily record - but yesterday Jean-François Delfraissy, the government's chief scientific advisor, said the true figure was probably twice as high. Dr Delfraissy joined other senior doctors in urging the government to introduce local lockdowns or a weekend lockdown that would effectively extend the current 9pm curfew in force in much of the country to weekends in order to limit social contacts.
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| The Electoral College can pick a president who got fewer votes. Here's why and how. Posted: 26 Oct 2020 11:06 AM PDT  The 2020 presidential election again highlights one of the most confusing and controversial parts of the U.S. elections: The Electoral College.
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| Trump supporting write-in candidate declares herself governor of Ohio after discussing plot to kidnap Mike DeWine Posted: 26 Oct 2020 09:55 AM PDT  A woman who ran as a write-in candidate against Ohio Governor Mike DeWine has unlawfully declared herself governor of the state and been implicated in a plot to kidnap and prosecute Mr DeWine. Renea Turner, who ran against Mr DeWine as a write-in candidate in 2018, posted a video to her Facebook on Thursday in which she places her hand on a Bible and proclaims herself the governor of Ohio. "Ohio is free from Tyrannous leadership," she wrote in a Facebook post following the stunt.
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| Man charged in burning of ballot drop box in Boston Posted: 26 Oct 2020 09:43 AM PDT  A man was charged with setting a Boston ballot drop box on fire and damaging dozens of ballots, police said Monday. Worldy Armand, a 39-year-old Boston resident, was taken into custody late Sunday, hours after he started a fire inside a drop box outside the Boston Public Library in the city's Back Bay neighborhood, authorities said. The box contained more than 120 ballots.
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| Protesters storm churches in Poland on the 4th day of unrest after a court ruling tightened the country's already-strict abortion laws Posted: 25 Oct 2020 05:17 PM PDT  The court banned abortion in the case of fetal defects, making abortion legal only in cases of incest, rape, or danger to the mother's life.
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| How to tell if your non–medical grade "fashion mask" is really working Posted: 25 Oct 2020 11:00 AM PDT  As facemasks become fashion accessories, scientists say there are ways to tell if yours is truly effective
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| China Communist Party plenum kicks off in Beijing Posted: 26 Oct 2020 12:43 AM PDT  The three-day meeting comes amid speculation that President Xi intends to be "president-for-life".
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| Kushner faces sharp criticism after he suggests some Black Americans don't 'want to be successful' Posted: 26 Oct 2020 08:14 AM PDT  President Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner is facing some sharp criticism over what his detractors believe was a textbook example of a lack of self-awareness.During a Fox News interview on Monday, Kushner, speaking about Black communities in the United States, said his father-in-law's policies "are the policies that can help people break out of the problems that they're complaining about, but he can't want them to be successful more than they want to be successful," before claiming there has been a groundswell of support for Trump among Black voters.Kushner's comments were understood by his critics to imply that some Black Americans don't strive for success, and he was quickly rebuked. Obsevers pointed out that Kushner comes from a wealthy family, and married into another one, and, therefore, was able to jump over hurdles faced by many other Americans throughout his life. > When I first met Jared, we were college students and he owned $10 million worth of residential rental properties in Somerville based on money he got from his dad.> > More Black people should try that. https://t.co/z13KwvXUKf> > -- Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) October 26, 2020> "he can't want them to be successful more than that they want to be successful," is a thing said by Jared Kushner, whose father bought him into Harvard and NYU, then gave him a real estate fortune, before he got his current job from his father in lawpic.twitter.com/iAp4yAs8va> > -- Edward-Isaac Dovere (@IsaacDovere) October 26, 2020More stories from theweek.com The very different emotional lives of Trump and Biden voters The 19 greatest and worst presidential campaign ads of the 2020 election The Trump administration has surrendered to the pandemic
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| Pence urged to skip Barrett vote after aides test positive for COVID-19 Posted: 26 Oct 2020 05:50 AM PDT  A deeply torn Senate is set to confirm Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, but Democratic leaders are asking Vice President Mike Pence to stay away from presiding over Monday's session due to potential health risks after his aides tested positive for COVID-19.
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| Young and progressive voters aren’t just ‘settling for Biden’ anymore; they’re going all in Posted: 26 Oct 2020 12:05 PM PDT  The general election is a week away, and groups like Settle for Biden hope to be the push that gets young voters and progressives to the polls.
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| Family’s dog turns ‘vicious’ and kills infant as parents slept, Virginia police say Posted: 26 Oct 2020 08:13 AM PDT  The dad killed the dog as soon as he saw what happened, police say
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| 18-year-old freshman at University of Dayton apparently dies from Covid-19 Posted: 26 Oct 2020 10:01 AM PDT  Michael Lang, 18, died on Thursday "apparently due to complications from" coronavirus after a long hospitalization, officials at the Ohio school said.
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| India's first 'saviour sibling' cures brother of fatal illness Posted: 26 Oct 2020 05:04 PM PDT  Her birth has also led to a debate about the ethics of using technology to create a child.
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| ‘Trump’s never going to leave Mar-a-Lago - he’ll go back to being a businessman’: President’s neighbours reflect on prospect of life after White House Posted: 26 Oct 2020 12:15 PM PDT  President officially moved residency to Sunshine state last year
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| Turkey's Erdogan says it's time for two-state solution in Cyprus Posted: 26 Oct 2020 10:38 AM PDT  Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday it was time for a realistic proposal about a two-state solution on the divided island of Cyprus to be discussed, and added that the parameters of the current talks were not sustainable. Cyprus was split after a Turkish invasion in 1974 triggered by a brief Greek-inspired coup. The European Union admitted the island into the bloc in 2004, represented by the internationally recognised Greek Cypriot government in the south.
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| Court Ruling Could Kill Uber and Lyft in California Posted: 26 Oct 2020 03:30 AM PDT  Just days before Californians themselves were set to decide on the matter, a state appeals court has ruled that app-based ride-sharing companies Uber and Lyft must comply with state law AB5 and classify all of their drivers as employees rather than contractors. The ruling raises the possibility that the companies will simply end operations in the state altogether, both having stated previously that their business model depends on the flexibility of using contractors.The companies claim, and drivers often confirm, that the flexibility of contract work is key to their operations. Employers are required under federal and state law to schedule and track their employees' hours for overtime, unemployment, and other purposes. That's not case with contractors, who are legally considered independent businesses.Critics of the ride-sharing companies, such as California Gov. Gavin Newsom, claim that's just a dodge to get out of paying overtime and complying with other workplace regulations. Labor unions have pushed for the drivers to be classified as employees, since contractors cannot join unions.A three-judge state appeals court panel on Thursday agreed, rejecting the companies' arguments out of hand. The panel was in full crusader mode, calling the case a "reminder that the foundation of interim injunctive relief lies in equity comes from Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who was renowned for her expertise in procedure long before she became the national icon known as RBG."The panel said that there was just no reason to assume that forcing ride-sharing companies to operate as traditional employers would in any way hurt their business model, even as it conceded that that model was built around contractors."We recognize that defendants' business models are different from that traditionally associated with employment, particularly with regard to drivers' freedom to work as many or as few hours as they wish, when and where they choose, and their ability to work on multiple apps at the same time," it said.The "multiple apps" point, in particular, is worth noting, because that refers to the ability of drivers to work for multiple different app-based companies at the same time. In other words, the drivers can work for a company and its direct competitor, a situation no traditional employer would tolerate. But a business cannot automatically restrict a contractor from doing that. The ride-sharing companies don't even try. If you've ever taken a ride in an Uber or a Lyft, you've probably also seen a sticker for the other service in the drivers' window.The panel nevertheless argued the companies were employers because the ride-sharing service they provided was the core of their business model, rather than an incidental activity, pointing to a Supreme Court ruling called Dynamex. As for the possibility that the companies cannot function as traditional employers, the panel asserted that just couldn't possibly be true."The People counter, correctly, that a party suffers no grave or irreparable harm by being prohibited from violating the law," the panel said.That is not true in the real world, however: An ill-conceived law can cause great damage. A good example can be found in the case of AB5 itself. In addition to scaring off many employers who use contractors, the law reined in contract work generally, strictly limiting what even traditional freelancers like photographers or musicians could do. State lawmakers were forced to amend the law and carve out exemptions for numerous professions. That's clear proof that they had overreached. Freelancers still claim it's too restrictive.It may yet get worse for Californians. If the state ballot's Proposition 22 to roll back AB5 fails and the panel's ruling stands, the companies have said they'll simply stop operating the state. Customers throughout the state will have limited transportation options — a potential public safety issue, as Mothers Against Drunk Driving has warned. Meanwhile, numerous drivers will be left without a way to make the additional money that ridesharing offers at a time when Californians need the opportunity. The national unemployment rate is 7.9 percent, but the Golden State's rate is 11 percent. California's unemployment has been consistently higher than the national average throughout the year, and the state's effort to reign in gig-economy companies has likely been a factor.
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| How the name 'Karen' became a stand-in for problematic white women and a hugely popular meme Posted: 26 Oct 2020 12:43 PM PDT  The "Karen" meme depicting women who ask to "speak to the manager" has become nearly ubiquitous online. Here is the meme's history and origin.
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| Senate confirms Barrett to the Supreme Court Posted: 26 Oct 2020 05:33 PM PDT  The Senate voted on Monday evening to confirm Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, just eight days before the election which solidifies a conservative majority on the high court for a generation.
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| Florida Democrats need to flip 3 state Senate seats. Here’s why they’re going for 2. Posted: 26 Oct 2020 07:50 AM PDT  Florida's government could undergo a seismic shift it hasn't seen in more than a quarter century.
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| 7 held for suspected tanker hijack after UK commando raid Posted: 26 Oct 2020 02:25 AM PDT  Seven stowaways seized when British naval special forces stormed an oil tanker in the English Channel have been arrested on suspicion of hijacking, police said Monday. Hampshire Police said the men, believed to be from Nigeria, were being held at several police stations on suspicion of "seizing or exercising control of a ship by use of threats or force." Special Boat Service commandos were lowered by rope from helicopters onto the tanker, whose crew had locked themselves in a secure part of the ship known as the citadel.
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| Canadian policeman describes arresting Huawei exec Meng Posted: 26 Oct 2020 04:12 PM PDT  A Canadian police officer testified Monday about his arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou on a US extradition warrant, revealing that Washington had requested that data on her phone and laptop be secured so that it could not be "erased remotely."
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| Ocasio-Cortez: No problem with Biden's lack of support for fracking ban, would be 'privilege' to lobby him Posted: 25 Oct 2020 09:59 AM PDT  Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) told CNN's Jake Tapper on Sunday's edition of State of the Union that she feels strongly about the need to ban fracking in the United States, but she's not letting that get in the way of her efforts to help former Vice President Joe Biden defeat President Trump in the upcoming election.Biden, she said, has "made very clear" that he disagrees with a fracking ban, but she says it would be a "privilege" to lobby him on the issue in the future. However, "we need to focus on winning the White House first," she told Tapper.> "Vice President Biden has made very clear that he does not agree with a fracking ban… It will be a privilege to lobby him should we win the White House, but we need to focus on winning the White House first," Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/NZ5SzTY8Co> > — State of the Union (@CNNSotu) October 25, 2020Ocasio-Cortez has emerged as one of the most prominent voices in the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, and she certainly has policy disagreements with the more moderate Democratic nominee. Indeed, earlier in the year, when she first threw her support behind Biden's candidacy after he secured the nomination over Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Ocasio-Cortez said "the whole process of coming together should be uncomfortable for everyone involved." But her latest comments reaffirm that she prefers that uncomfortable process continue over the next four years.More stories from theweek.com The very different emotional lives of Trump and Biden voters The 19 greatest and worst presidential campaign ads of the 2020 election The Trump administration has surrendered to the pandemic
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| Russia proposes new missile verification regime with U.S. after demise of treaty Posted: 26 Oct 2020 02:29 AM PDT  The Kremlin on Monday proposed that Russia and the United States agree not to deploy certain land-based missiles in Europe and introduce mutual verification measures to build trust following the demise of the INF nuclear arms control treaty. The United States withdrew from the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty last year, accusing Moscow of violating it, a charge denied by the Kremlin. Global nuclear arms control architecture has come under further strain since then as the former Cold War foes have been unable to agree on a replacement to New START, another major arms control pact that is due to expire in February 2021.
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| Rats help clear minefields in Cambodia – and suspicion of the military Posted: 26 Oct 2020 04:59 AM PDT  Editor's note: Dr. Darcie DeAngelo is a medical anthropologist at the Institute for Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention (I-GMAP) at Binghamton University, State University of New York. In this interview, she explains the relationship between locals who live near minefields in Cambodia and the mine detectors, often former military combatants, who are viewed with suspicion because of divisions caused by the series of civil wars between the 1970s and 1990s. Why are there so many unexploded bombs and minefields in Cambodia?Cambodia is known for being the site of U.S. bomb droppings during the Vietnam War and for the Khmer Rouge genocidal regime, which also planted land mines from 1975 to 1979. Today a majority of Cambodia's population is age 35 or younger, which means most of the population has grown up since the Khmer Rouge regime ended in 1979. This statistic fails to take into account the uneven distribution of the regime's end in the country as fighting continued in the northwest of the country where the Vietnamese and their Cambodian allies fought to keep the Khmer Rouge army out of the country. Most of the land mines in Cambodia were planted between 1985 and 1989, when the Vietnamese-allied government installed a "bamboo curtain" against the invading Thai and Khmer Rouge along the Thai-Cambodia border in the northwest. This area, called the K5 belt, remains the most densely land-mine-contaminated region of the world, a 1,046-kilometer (650-mile) strip of land with "up to 2,400 mines per linear kilometer." Cambodia's problem of millions of undetonated land mines makes it the country with the highest population of amputees in the world. On average it has 100 land mine accidents per year. Why are the military and other de-mining organizations viewed with suspicion by the locals?Land mine clearance requires a huge amount of military infrastructure. Decontamination, which is the term used for removal of land mines, depends on the same military skill sets that contamination depends on. So people who are de-miners are often soldiers or former combatants in Cambodia, and the divisions from the civil war still run deep. The largest de-mining organization in the country is part of the military branch of government. The current Cambodian state has been running operations to clear the land mines since the 1990s, but the state is also rumored to grab village lands, disappear people who disagree with the ruling party, and quell legitimate protests, so de-miners carry a stigma of military corruption. After war and mass atrocity, the state loses legitimacy. And so what happens is the villagers distrust even peacekeeping efforts, so even efforts to decontaminate the country result in a kind of mistrust. When you distrust the state, you need to build state legitimacy, and de-mining offers a real opportunity for states to do so. They can rehabilitate soldiers and build relationships between villagers and soldiers. But in Cambodia, I heard from villagers that they distrusted the de-miners and found them untrustworthy. They didn't think that their land would be returned to them when the land mines were cleared, which causes some problems when it comes to information about where the land mines are. How does mine clearing with rats work?Rats are being used in de-mining because of their incredible sense of smell, relatively low cost of maintenance and ease of transport. Just like dogs, they don't detect any false positives, as a metal detector would.In the minefield, the rat is connected to two de-miners who walk on cleared corridors with the decontaminated area in between them. The de-miners step down the field in unison as the rat sniffs for mines in the pit, scratching twice when it smells TNT. Then the de-miner maps the location, and clicks a clicker, telling the rat it can go get its reward, a delicious banana. The rats don't get blown up by the mines because they're so light. The rats each weigh 1 to 3 pounds, so they are weightless to a land mine, which usually requires a minimum of 11 to 35.3 pounds of pressure to activate. How did the introduction of rats to de-mining change how it is viewed in Cambodia?Rats have successfully been used to decontaminate Mozambique in Africa, and as for their import into Cambodia, the success story really lies in the fact that the organizations using them have been able to obtain donations and become independent so that they can work on demilitarizing the de-mining industry.Rats don't fit in with the military aesthetic of de-mining, unlike dogs, which are military aid animals and have been used within militaries for centuries. The image of a soldier proudly standing next to his dog is very different from a soldier cradling a small rat in his arms. So when the villagers first saw the rat, they were a little bit puzzled, but I actually think the rat humanized the de-miners in a way that demilitarized them. When they see the rat with a soldier, it's more of this kind of absurdity. So it make them pause and think, "OK, what is a rat doing there?" Villagers have said in interviews that they wondered about it and it made them take a second glance. It undermines the kind of villainous characterization of the de-miners for the villagers. APOPO, an organization that uses the rats in de-mining, posts publicity photos where the rats snuggle with their handlers. Since then the land mine detection dog organizations have started posting photos of their dogs being playful, and pictures of the puppies. So there is an effect which pervades other organizations, and demilitarization is seen as something to be valued, even in a highly militarized industry. These are opportunities for demilitarization of de-mining for the country itself, for the state and for people's trust in authorities.This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. It was written by: Darcie DeAngelo, Binghamton University, State University of New York.Read more: * Rise of the super rat: rodents detect landmines, sniff out TB, find disaster victims * Cambodia has come a long way in 25 years of peace – but it's far from perfectDarcie DeAngelo does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
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| Fort Sill Just Became the First Training Base to Get the New Army Greens Uniform Posted: 26 Oct 2020 04:26 PM PDT |
| A cow escaped from home and ended up stuck on a neighbor's trampoline, and yes, there are pictures Posted: 26 Oct 2020 10:32 AM PDT  Neighbors woke up to a herd of 40 cows scattered in their yards. This troublemaker needed the help of a tractor to get back on solid ground.
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| Mitch McConnell’s Conservative Challenger Gets a Boost... From Dems Posted: 26 Oct 2020 09:16 AM PDT  In a last-ditch effort to unseat Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), a deep-pocketed Democratic group has begun airing ads backing the Libertarian candidate in Kentucky's U.S. Senate contest.A new super PAC called True Kentucky Patriots started buying television and digital ads last week in support of Libertarian Brad Barron, calling him "Kentucky's true conservative for U.S. Senate," in the words of one thirty-second spot. "Barron is one hundred percent pro-Second Amendment, one hundred percent pro-life, and one hundred percent pro-term limits. Sorry Mitch, 36 years is too long."The group is clearly designed to peel off conservative votes from McConnell, who faces a challenge from Democrat Amy McGrath. Federal Election Commission records show that True Kentucky Patriots is affiliated with one of the Senate race's largest independent spenders, a pro-McGrath group called the Ditch Fund.True Kentucky Patriots also shares a treasurer with the Ditch Fund, and both groups have paid a Democratic firm called Beacon Media to produce and place their respective digital ads.It's not uncommon for political operatives to attempt to boost third party candidates that they hope will act as spoilers and split an opposing ideological coalition's votes to the detriment of one major party candidate or the other. But it's less common for groups doing so to disclose those efforts in publicly available campaign finance filings.True Kentucky Patriots hasn't been around long enough to reveal any of its donors, and it won't have to do so until nearly three weeks after election day. But pro-McGrath forces have already attempted to promote Barron's candidacy through other means. Another anti-McConnell super PAC, Fire Mitch Save America PAC, has sent mailers promoting Barron's Senate bid.FEC filings also show that Democrats have sought to boost Barron directly. At least five of Barron's donors have also given to McGrath's campaign. One of them, a New York-based Microsoft employee, even donated to both McGrath and Barron on the same day.Polling in the Kentucky Senate contest has shown McConnell with a consistent lead, though his margin has varied from as little as five points to as much as twelve. The most recent poll of the race has McConnell with a nine-point lead over McGrath, and just four percent saying they support Barron's candidacy, meaning the Libertarian likely will not draw enough votes to tilt the election. The race has nonetheless drawn massive investments from both parties. McConnell and McGrath have together spent nearly $115 million, with outside groups dropping another $26 million, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.Kentucky isn't the only state where Democrats have attempted to boost a third party spoiler in a tight Senate contest. In South Carolina, Democrat Jaime Harrison's campaign has run ads ostensibly attacking an obscure Constitution Party candidate by calling him too conservative for the state. It appears to be an effort to encourage support for the more right-wing contender among the state's more conservative voters—to the detriment of Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham.But the most famous would-be spoiler candidate of the 2020 election cycle is Kanye West. A number of Republican operatives have lined up behind his dead-end presidential campaign in an effort to draw votes from Democratic nominee Joe Biden in some key battleground states.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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| China retaliates against news media in latest feud with US Posted: 26 Oct 2020 08:18 AM PDT |
| Pakistan opens first metro line after years of delays Posted: 26 Oct 2020 04:22 AM PDT  Pakistan's first metro line began operations Monday in the eastern city of Lahore following years of delays, in a country severely lacking public transport or modern infrastructure.
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| Suspect arrested for allegedly abducting two girls from home where two boys found dead Posted: 26 Oct 2020 05:24 AM PDT  Donny Jackson, 40, was arrested after allegedly abducting his two daughters, who were later found safe. It is unclear what his relationship is to the two dead boys.
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| 16 lies in 60 minutes: Every misleading claim Trump made during prime-time CBS interview Posted: 26 Oct 2020 10:02 AM PDT  US president stormed out of sit down after 38 minutes
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| AstraZeneca's coronavirus vaccine is looking especially promising for the elderly Posted: 26 Oct 2020 10:04 AM PDT  Another potential coronavirus vaccine is moving along, with especially good news for the elderly.AstraZeneca announced Monday that its COVID-19 vaccine in development with the University of Oxford has produced a similar immune response in both younger and older adults. The vaccine also results in low adverse responses among older people, the pharmaceutical giant said. That's a standout response considering COVID-19 tends to be more severe in older patients.Several dozen coronavirus vaccines are in the works around the globe, with AstraZeneca's one of many undergoing clinical testing. It's unclear when AstraZeneca will publish the results of its large ongoing trial that will help determine its vaccine's safety, but it is expected to be one of the first vaccine candidates to seek regulatory approval, Reuters reports. This vaccine is expected to protect people from the coronavirus for about a year.More stories from theweek.com The very different emotional lives of Trump and Biden voters The 19 greatest and worst presidential campaign ads of the 2020 election The Trump administration has surrendered to the pandemic
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| American Airlines is planning a charm offensive to reassure skeptical fliers the Boeing 737 Max is safe, report says Posted: 26 Oct 2020 06:31 AM PDT  American Airlines is planning ways to soothe passenger fears about flying on the Boeing 737 Max plane, CNBC reported.
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| Fake heiress Anna Delvey says she wants people to stop showing up at her prison to visit her Posted: 26 Oct 2020 02:51 PM PDT  The "Soho scammer" was sentenced to prison last year and has been posting to Instagram while serving time.
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| Head of Virginia military academy resigns amid report of racist culture Posted: 26 Oct 2020 12:41 PM PDT  J. H. Binford Peay III, who had been the institute's superintendent for 17 years, told its board he was stepping down after learning on Friday that Virginia Governor Ralph Northam and "certain legislative leaders had lost confidence in my leadership ... and desired my resignation." "You have profoundly changed our school for the better," John William Boland, president of the school's Board of Visitors, said in a letter to Peay. Last week, Northam and several top elected officials and lawmakers wrote to the board to express concern "about the clear and appalling culture of ongoing structural racism" at the college.
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| UN investigator says Belarus must stop repressing its people Posted: 26 Oct 2020 05:55 PM PDT  The U.N. human rights investigator for Belarus demanded Monday that the government "stop repressing its own people," saying at least 20,000 were detained in August and September and hundreds reported beaten, intimidated, tortured or ill-treated in custody. Anais Marin quoted sources in the Interior Ministry and non-governmental groups for those figures and said most detainees have ended up facing administrative or criminal charges, citing over 400 criminal cases against protesters since disputed elections Aug. 9.
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| 60,000 in Southern California to evacuate after wildfire spreads Posted: 26 Oct 2020 01:57 PM PDT  A fast-moving wildfire forced evacuation orders for 60,000 people in Southern California on Monday as powerful winds across the state prompted power to be cut to hundreds of thousands to prevent utility equipment from sparking new blaze
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| 'Worst time to resign' says under-fire Barca president Posted: 26 Oct 2020 05:08 PM PDT  Under-pressure Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu suggested Monday that "now would be the worst time" to leave his post.
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| The pandemic has accelerated an already growing shift in Arizona. That could spell trouble for Trump. Posted: 25 Oct 2020 01:23 PM PDT  Biden holds a narrow lead, according to polls, aided by pandemic upheaval and demographic shifts years in the making. But don't count the president out yet, some said.
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| 45 missing kids rescued in Ohio’s largest anti-human trafficking effort, officials say Posted: 26 Oct 2020 12:38 PM PDT  The U.S. Marshals Service worked alongside 50 state law enforcement agencies.
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| More than 1 million Vietnam residents to evacuate ahead of Typhoon Molave Posted: 26 Oct 2020 11:51 AM PDT  Typhoon Molave displaced more than 100,000 in the Philippines over the weekend as it lashed the country with fierce winds and torrential rain. Now, the storm is following a path that has been forged by numerous storms before and is tracking toward areas in Vietnam that have faced three named tropical systems already this month. As the storm traverses the South China Sea over the next few days, it will be located in an area of low wind shear. And despite the numerous storms that have tracked over this part of the Pacific, the ocean waters remain warm. This environment will allow Typhoon Molave to continue to strengthen. This satellite image shows Typhoon Molave traversing the South China Sea on Monday night, local time. (CIRA/RAMMB) Officials are 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. The prime minister also stated that the military will be on standby to support residents and provide transportation with tanks and helicopters if needed. Molave will be the fourth named tropical system to make landfall over Vietnam since Oct. 11, according to AccuWeather Lead International Meteorologist Jason Nicholls. It will also be the country's sixth landfalling storm this year. Nicholls expects Molave to strike southern Vietnam as the equivalent of a Category 2 hurricane in the Atlantic and East Pacific basins. Maximum sustained wind speeds of 135-154 km/h (84-96 mph) are expected with a storm of this strength. "Wind gusts of 129-160 km/h (80-100 mph) are possible near landfall in central Vietnam on Wednesday," stated Nicholls. He added that an AccuWeather Local StormMax™ of 195 km/h (120 mph) will be most likely near the storm's center. While the wind threat will wane Wednesday night and Thursday, local time, as the storm rapidly weakens over the rugged terrain of the region, heavy rainfall will persist into the end of the week across Indochina. CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APP "Rainfall across central Vietnam will reach at least 100-200 mm (4-8 inches) in an area near and north of landfall," Nicholls added. "There will be an AccuWeather Local StormMax™ of 400 mm (16 inches), most likely in Vietnam, potentially in areas that have already received extreme rainfall and flooding in October." Due to the copious amounts of rainfall across central Vietnam and surrounding areas in recent weeks, widespread flooding is expected from Molave. Additional rainfall from this typhoon will destabilize mountain slopes across the region, increasing the risk for mudslides. While widespread flooding is expected from this system, Molave's quick pace over the peninsula will keep rainfall totals from climbing even higher. Typhoon Molave is a 3 on the AccuWeather RealImpact™ Scale for Tropical Cyclones in Vietnam with heavy rainfall and dangerous wind gusts expected through the middle of the week. The scale was created by the company in 2019 to offer a more comprehensive outlook for tropical cyclone impacts than the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. 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. 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 Monday, night, local time, two deaths have been blamed on the typhoon, The Associated Press reported. Typhoon Molave may not be the last tropical threat for the area into the beginning of November as AccuWeather meteorologists will be monitoring numerous areas for potential development. Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
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| Singapore halts use of flu vaccines after 48 die in South Korea Posted: 25 Oct 2020 06:14 PM PDT  Singapore has temporarily halted the use of two influenza vaccines as a precaution after some people who received them in South Korea died, becoming among the first countries to publicly announce a halt of the vaccines' usage. South Korea reported that, as of Saturday, 48 people had died after getting flu shots, but said it would carry on with the state-run vaccination programme because it found no direct link between the deaths and the shots. No deaths associated with influenza vaccination have been reported in Singapore to date, but the decision to halt the use of SKYCellflu Quadrivalent and VaxigripTetra was precautionary, the health ministry and the Health Sciences Authority (HAS) said in a statement on Sunday. The HSA is in touch with the South Korean authorities for further information as it investigates to determine whether the deaths are related to flu vaccinations. SKYCellflu Quadrivalent is manufactured by South Korea's SK Bioscience and locally distributed by AJ Biologics, while VaxigripTetra is manufactured by Sanofi and locally distributed by Sanofi Aventis. Two other influenza vaccines that have been brought into Singapore for the Northern Hemisphere 2020-21 influenza season may continue to be used, Singapore health authorities said.
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| A man threw his boyfriend a 'surprise funeral' for his birthday and told attendees to pretend that he was a ghost Posted: 26 Oct 2020 11:26 AM PDT  "It was so charming and funny and morbid and I loved every second of it," McCann told the Mirror Online.
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