| RNC chairwoman says Republicans who distance themselves from Trump are 'hurting themselves in the long run' Posted: 18 Oct 2020 11:05 AM PDT  Her comments came after Trump lashed out at Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse for leaked audio from a constituent town hall where he criticized the president.
|
| Rapper charged with coronavirus benefit fraud after boasting in song about benefit fraud Posted: 18 Oct 2020 09:31 AM PDT  Nuke Bizzle bragged about fraudulently claiming unemployment benefits in a music video on YouTube prior to his arrest.
|
| Archbishop of San Francisco performs exorcism ceremony at site of vandalized Saint Junipero Serra statue Posted: 18 Oct 2020 07:49 AM PDT  The archbishop of San Francisco performed an exorcism ceremony on Saturday outside the Saint Raphael Catholic Church in downtown San Rafael, at the spot where protesters had toppled a statue of Saint Junipero Serra earlier in the week.Armed with holy water and Latin prayers, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone performed the ritual to "drive out evil and defend the image of Serra," the Los Angeles Times reports. As Cordileone explained to the crowd of 150 who'd assembled for the ceremony, "the experts in the field tell me that Latin tends to be more effective against the devil because he doesn't like the language of the church."For those whose Latin was a little rusty, a translation of the proceedings was provided, and included prayers calling for Satan's "proud head" to be "crushed." "Be gone, Satan, inventor and master of all fallacy, enemy of the salvation of men. Place yourself before Jesus Christ," Cordileone ordered.As the San Francisco Chronicle notes, despite the popular representation in The Exorcist, exorcisms are "more commonly a solemn ceremony like Saturday's, a religious ritual to evict the devil or evil spirits from an area or person."Meanwhile, in the more earthly sphere, five people have been arrested on vandalism charges for knocking over the statue on Monday, which was both Columbus Day and Indigenous Peoples Day. Critics say Serra, a Spanish missionary priest, was a "brutal colonialist" who helped "to erase and destroy" the culture of native Californians, Vox writes. Cordileone defended Serra in the Saturday ceremony, saying the missions were "not to dominate and annihilate" but to save native Californians "from domination and annihilation" with the teachings of Catholicism.The statue will be repaired, according to a spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of San Francisco. More stories from theweek.com Why this libertarian is voting for Biden The town halls weren't a debate — but Trump still won Is America ready for a boring president?
|
| China warns U.S. it may detain Americans over prosecutions: WSJ Posted: 17 Oct 2020 03:22 PM PDT  The Chinese government has warned Washington it may detain Americans in China in response to the Justice Department's prosecution of Chinese military-affiliated scholars, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday. The newspaper, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter, said Chinese officials had issued repeated warnings through multiple channels to U.S. government officials. The paper said China's message was the United States should end prosecutions of Chinese scholars in U.S. courts, or Americans in China could find themselves in violation of Chinese law.
|
| Women spoke out in support of Finland's Prime Minister Sanna Marin after she received backlash for posing topless in a blazer Posted: 17 Oct 2020 07:58 AM PDT  Social media users called the backlash sexist and pointed to other world leaders who have posed topless without repercussions.
|
| Ankara-backed nationalist ousts president in Turkish Cypriot poll Posted: 18 Oct 2020 10:56 AM PDT  Right-wing nationalist Ersin Tatar, backed by Ankara, scored a surprise victory in a run-off presidential election Sunday in breakaway northern Cyprus, ousting pro-reunification incumbent Mustafa Akinci.
|
| Merkel's old rival Merz says Germany has become 'sluggish' under the Chancellor in first CDU husting Posted: 18 Oct 2020 09:20 AM PDT  Angela Merkel's old foe Friedrich Merz said that Germany had become "too sluggish" under its veteran leader, as the three candidates for the Christian Democratic Union party leadership met in Berlin for the first hustings on Saturday evening. Mr Merz, a pro-business millionaire who has been out of frontline politics for the best part of two decades, argued that the government has dropped the ball on issues such as digitalisation and clean energy technologies. "This country has become too slow, we have become too sluggish," he said, complaining that a lack of digitalisation in schools had been exposed during the pandemic. The 64-year-old is up against the governor of North Rhine-Westphalia, Armin Laschet, and foreign policy expert Norbert Röttgen. Mr Röttgen is only seen as having an outside chance of winning the vote among party delegates at the party convention on December 4th. Mr Laschet, a centrist and close confidant of Ms Merkel, told the meeting that he was the man to continue the success that she had brought Germany. The leadership race takes place just two years after the last contest to take over the dominant party of German post-war politics. The woman who won on that occasion, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, beat Mr Merz in a closely fought contest. But she stood down at the beginning of this year after failing to reverse slumping polling figures. It was just a few weeks after her resignation that the party's fortunes were turned around because of strong public approval for how Berlin managed the coronavirus pandemic. Unusually, the public's favourite to take over from Ms Merkel is not a member of the CDU. Instead Markus Söder, leader of the Bavarian CSU, a sister party to the CDU, is enjoying strong polling figures thanks to his safety-first approach to the pandemic. Mr Söder, state premier in Bavaria, has however signalled that he does not intend to run for the top job.
|
| Letters to the Editor: We've always had white nationalists, but social media amplifies the threat Posted: 17 Oct 2020 03:00 AM PDT  A former official in the Anti-Defamation League recalls dealing with anti-Semitic white nationalists and warns that social media poses a unique threat.
|
| Gottlieb says "biggest wave" of coronavirus infections still to come Posted: 18 Oct 2020 10:08 AM PDT  Hospitalizations are rising in 42 states, and 45 have expanding epidemics, Gottlieb said.
|
| Biden and Harris have awful records. Trump is making it easy for me to vote for them anyway. Posted: 18 Oct 2020 04:53 AM PDT  Joe Biden made bad laws, Kamala Harris enforced laws badly. But I've already seen the profound damage of Trump's presidency, so I'm voting Democratic.
|
| Not enough or double the prejudice: On being Black and Asian American in 2020 Posted: 18 Oct 2020 04:00 AM PDT  12 multiracial people discuss the messy, complicated conversations they're having about identity in this political moment.
|
| US schedules first federal execution of woman since 1953 Posted: 18 Oct 2020 05:34 PM PDT  Lisa Montgomery is due to become the first woman to face federal execution in the US in 67 years.
|
| More than 1,000 current and former CDC staff hit out at Trump coronavirus response Posted: 18 Oct 2020 01:06 AM PDT  Open letter calls for greater role for CDC in fighting Covid-19
|
| Cruise ship rescues 24 people from boat off Florida coast Posted: 18 Oct 2020 10:53 AM PDT  A Carnival Cruise Line ship rescued two dozen people, including two children, from a sinking boat 37 miles off the Florida coast, the cruise line reported Saturday.
|
| 'Not going to waste a single minute on tweets': GOP Sen. Sasse pushes back after Trump attacks Posted: 17 Oct 2020 08:40 AM PDT  Trump and GOP Sen. Ben Sasse are publicly feuding as Republicans are working overtime to try keep control of the Senate.
|
| Pupils saw body of their decapitated Paris teacher online Posted: 17 Oct 2020 11:18 AM PDT  Social media bosses were summoned by the French government after it emerged the terrorist who beheaded a teacher may have been led to his victim by an online campaign of harassment. Samuel Paty, 47, was murdered with a butcher's knife in the street about three hundred metres from the school in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine at around 5pm on Friday. The married father was targeted for using cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in a class on freedom of expression A week earlier, one man who said his daughter was in Mr Paty's class recorded a video shared on social media in which he branded the teacher a thug and appealed to others to "join forces and say 'stop, don't touch our children'". Mr Paty's name and school address were also put on the internet after he showed the cartoons of a nude Mohammed in class. He suggested any Muslims who might be offended leave the room before showing the images. Islam prohibits images of the prophet, considering that they lead to idolatry. The killer had approached pupils in the street and asked them to point out his victim, anti-terrorist prosecutor Jean-Francois Ricard said on Saturday. An 18-year-old Chechen-Russian, named as Abdoulakh Anzorov, posted a photo of his victim's severed head on Twitter where it was seen by some of his pupils before he was shot dead by police. One parent Delphine, whose daughter was in Mr Paty's class last year, told The Sunday Telegraph: "My daughter has access to so many concerning websites. She saw the images of the body online, and many of the kids did too. That's what worries me most."
|
| Jacinda Ardern's majority may prove to be her biggest challenge Posted: 18 Oct 2020 02:37 AM PDT  Jacinda Ardern may find it hard to reconcile the demands of her disparate voters, says columnist Josh Van Veen.
|
| Healthcare workers, high-risk people will get priority for COVID-19 vaccine in New York: governor Posted: 18 Oct 2020 10:19 AM PDT  New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Sunday that healthcare workers and high-risk populations, including some long-term care residents, would get priority in his state to receive a COVID-19 vaccine when one is approved and available. According to the five-phase preliminary plan for New York's vaccine administration program, some details of which Cuomo announced at a news briefing, healthcare workers in patient-care settings, long-term care facility workers and some long-term care residents would be among the first to receive a vaccine. In the second phase of vaccine rollout, first responders, school staff, other public-facing frontline workers and people whose health conditions put them at extreme risk would get priority for the vaccine.
|
| White supremacists across the country indicted on drug and firearm charges Posted: 17 Oct 2020 01:27 PM PDT  According to the U.S. Justice Department, 21 Utah-based white supremacists have been indicted for allegedly selling drugs and firearms. In recent days, similar charges were brought against white supremacist gang members in Texas, Kentucky, and Mississippi.
|
| Fire experts say mismanaged, choked forests need to be cleared out Posted: 18 Oct 2020 08:38 AM PDT  "Forest management is a lot like gardening. You have to keep the forest open and thin," said Mike Rogers, a former Angeles National Forest supervisor.
|
| Vietnam landslide hits army camp, buries 22 personnel Posted: 17 Oct 2020 10:44 PM PDT  A landslide in central Vietnam on Sunday buried at least 22 army personnel, just a week after another landslide killed 13 as heavy rains continued to pound the region, state media reported. The latest landslide sent rock and earth crushing into an army camp at the foot of a mountain following a week of incessant rain in Quang Tri province, the official Vietnam News Agency reported. On Thursday, rescuers recovered 13 bodies, 11 of them army officers, from a landslide in Thua Thien-Hue, Quang Tri's neighboring province.
|
| Airlines face tough winter as hoped-for pick-up fails to materialise Posted: 17 Oct 2020 09:19 PM PDT  Airlines face a long, hard winter after a much hoped for rebound from the coronavirus crisis failed to materialise, prompting savage cost cutting programmes and fresh calls for government support.
|
| National steelworkers union shines 'Biden Harris' sign on Trump Tower in Chicago Posted: 18 Oct 2020 01:33 PM PDT  The 98-story Chicago skyscraper previously sparked controversy from the public after an enormous, LED "TRUMP" logo was stamped on it.
|
| Ahead of 3rd debate, Trump again goes after moderator. This time it's NBC's Kristen Welker he calls 'unfair.' Posted: 18 Oct 2020 03:07 PM PDT  Trump praised Welker in the past, complementing her in January for landing a gig on NBC's "Today" show. "They made a very wise decision," Trump said.
|
| Ivory Coast election: Pascal Affi Nguessan's home burnt down Posted: 18 Oct 2020 10:39 AM PDT  Pascal Affi Nguessan has called for a boycott of the 31 October election.
|
| Italy to announce new COVID-19 restrictions as infections spike: PM's office Posted: 17 Oct 2020 07:14 AM PDT  Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte will announce on Sunday another set of measures to counter the new wave of COVID-19 cases, his office said, after the country registered a new daily record in infections on Saturday. Conte's office said the government is discussing new restrictions with local and health authorities, aiming to stem contagion while limiting the impact on individuals and businesses. Italy was the first major European country to be hit by COVID-19 and had managed to get the outbreak under control by the summer thanks to a rigid two-month lockdown on business and people's movement.
|
| FBI has ‘duty to inform’ Senate Committee about veracity of Hunter Biden emails: Sen. Johnson Posted: 18 Oct 2020 07:57 AM PDT  Sen. Ron Johnson argues Joe Biden's campaign's response to the Hunter emails is 'pretty odd.'
|
| Elon Musk's SpaceX keeps winning US military contracts — here's why, according to an aerospace expert Posted: 18 Oct 2020 04:30 AM PDT  Steve Nutt, professor at the University of Southern California, says Elon Musk's SpaceX is now the main alternative to traditional contractors.
|
| CNN's Jake Tapper scolds Lara Trump for seemingly mocking Joe Biden's stutter in heated interview Posted: 18 Oct 2020 09:34 AM PDT  CNN's Jake Tapper cut off Lara Trump during a tense interview on State of the Union on Sunday after she dodged a question about appearing to mock Joe Biden's stutter by claiming the Democratic presidential candidate is in "cognitive decline."Tapper had aired a clip of Trump's daughter-in-law claiming that every time Biden speaks, "I'm like 'Joe, can ya get it out, let's get the words out, Joe.' You kinda feel bad for him." Tapper asked Lara Trump in response, "How do you think it makes little kids with stutters feel when they see you make a comment like that?"Trump said she didn't know Biden had famously overcome a stutter, and pivoted to alleging his speech was evidence of "cognitive decline." Tapper quickly interrupted: "I think you have absolutely no standing to diagnose somebody's cognitive decline," he told her, pointing out that "I'm sure it offends you" when people do the same to President Trump."I'm not diagnosing him," Trump protested. "I'm saying Joe Biden is struggling at times on stage and it's concerning to a lot of people that this could be the leader of the free world. That is all I'm saying. I genuinely feel sorry for Joe Biden."But Tapper's patience had run out. "I'm sure [your comments] were from a place of concern," he said. "We all believe that." Watch below. > Jake Tapper calls out Lara Trump for openly mocking Joe Biden's stutter. > > Lara says, "First and foremost I had no idea that Joe Biden ever suffered from a stutter. I think what we see on Joe Biden on stage is very clearly a cognitive decline."> > Tapper isn't having it. pic.twitter.com/qGlfOLzd3k> > -- The Recount (@therecount) October 18, 2020More stories from theweek.com Why this libertarian is voting for Biden The town halls weren't a debate — but Trump still won Is America ready for a boring president?
|
| Exclusive: Interpol facing Parliamentary inquiry over concerns UAE 'torture' chief may get top job Posted: 17 Oct 2020 05:42 AM PDT  Russia is a "criminal state" which is "abusing" the powers of Interpol, MPs will be told this week, amid concerns that a UAE security chief accused of presiding over 'torture' will become the organisation's new head. The global police and crime organisation is facing a Parliamentary inquiry over concerns that it is vulnerable to manipulation by 'rogue' member states including Russia, China and the UAE. The Foreign Affairs Committee will hear from Bill Browder, the British financier and arch critic of Vladimir Putin, who has been subject to eight interpol arrest notices by Russia on "trumped up" charges over the 'poisoning' of a Kremlin whistleblower - all of which have been refused. Interpol should "suspend access of serial abusers like Russia to its databases," he will say on Tuesday. "Britain should work with its allies – the US, Canada, Australia, the European Union, and others on withholding funds if Interpol refuses to reform," he will add. The organisation has come under increased scrutiny after its president Meng Hongwei was disappeared by Chinese authorities and sentenced to 13 years in prison on bribery charges in 2018. Russia's Alexander Prokopchuk was lined up as a presumptive successor but has been accused of abusing Red Notices. His election was likened to "putting a fox in charge of the henhouse" by US officials who helped block his leadership bid. Earlier this month, the Telegraph revealed that a United Arab Emirates security head accused of presiding over the 'torture' of a British academic is a frontrunner for the role, and could be elected in December. Major General Nasser Ahmed Al-Raisi has been accused of serious human rights violations in the Middle East, including against British citizens Matthew Hedges and Ali Ahmad, and Interpol has been warned it could lose credibility if he is chosen to be its President. He has never responded to claims. American-born Browder has spent more than a decade fighting to uncover Russian money laundering after once being the country's largest foreign investor. His lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, was killed in a Moscow jail in 2009, and Mr Browder pushed through the Magnitsky Act in the US which barred a number of officials from entering America, as well as having their assets frozen.
|
| Democrats outnumber Republicans in Florida’s mail-in votes so far Posted: 18 Oct 2020 08:44 AM PDT  As Americans have been urged to vote early and mail-in ballots have been put under the microscope, early results in Florida reveal that Democrats have an early edge on Republicans as the November 3 election draws closer. The Florida Division of Elections reports that 49 percent of the mail-in ballots are from Democrats and more than 30 percent are from Republicans thus far. The Division of Elections shows that 2,423,573 Florida citizens have mailed in the ballots for the forthcoming election as of Saturday, October 17.
|
| Queen grants rare royal pardon to murderer who fought off a terrorist knife attacker with a 5-foot narwhal tusk on London Bridge Posted: 18 Oct 2020 04:55 AM PDT  Steve Gallant was on his day release at a conference set up to help rehabilitate prisoners when the terror attack took place last November.
|
| Galapagos Islands | With tour boats moored due to the coronavirus pandemic, the animals are out Posted: 18 Oct 2020 04:00 AM PDT  The Galapagos marine reserve faces threats from industrial fishing, climate change and a drastic drop in tourism and funding for conservation.
|
| Tulsa digs again for victims of 1921 race massacre Posted: 18 Oct 2020 06:35 AM PDT  A second excavation begins Monday at a cemetery in an effort to find and identify victims of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre and shed light on violence that left hundreds dead and decimated an area that was once a cultural and economic mecca for African Americans. "I realize we can tell this story the way it needs to be told, now," said Phoebe Stubblefield, a forensic anthropologist at the University of Florida and a descendant of a survivor of the massacre who is assisting the search, told The Associated Press. The violence happened on May 31 and June 1 in 1921, when a white mob attacked Tulsa's Black Wall Street, killing an estimated 300 people and wounding 800 more while robbing and burning businesses, homes and churches.
|
| 'It just exploded': Cameron Peak, CalWood fires drive thousands from their homes in Colorado Posted: 18 Oct 2020 03:59 PM PDT  The CalWood fire began burning Saturday about 50 miles southeast of the Cameron Peak Fire that has burned more than 300 square miles since mid-August.
|
| One of Kentucky's largest newspapers endorsed Mitch McConnell challenger Amy McGrath Posted: 17 Oct 2020 12:34 PM PDT  "McConnell purports to care about Kentucky and the country, but time and again, he has chosen the GOP instead," Lexington Herald-Leader's editorial board said.
|
| Rep. Jordan on Hunter Biden emails: Not ‘holding my breath’ waiting on FBI to release information Posted: 18 Oct 2020 06:43 AM PDT  Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan reacts to the allegations against Hunter Biden on 'Fox & Friends Weekend.'
|
| Illinois Governor says spikes in COVID-19 infections are from 'president's allies' telling people in his state not to follow the rules Posted: 18 Oct 2020 11:23 AM PDT  "The reality is that this virus hasn't gone away, we do need to continue to keep ourselves safe from it," Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said.
|
| Transcript: Tom Perez on "Face the Nation" Posted: 18 Oct 2020 08:54 AM PDT  The following is a transcript of an interview with DNC Chair Tom Perez that aired Sunday, October 18, 2020, on "Face the Nation."
|
| Ireland to impose nationwide COVID-19 curbs on Monday: minister Posted: 18 Oct 2020 04:38 AM PDT |
| Forced to undergo genital exams in colonial India Posted: 17 Oct 2020 08:21 PM PDT  Sex workers had to register themselves and get medically examined under British rule, new research shows.
|
