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Saturday, October 31, 2020
Covid: What will the England lockdown achieve?
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Covid-19: Austria and Portugal announce restrictions
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Oleksandr Usyk beats Derek Chisora on points in stylish display
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Typhoon Goni: Philippines hit by year's most powerful storm
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Fact check: There is no Sen. Rob Donaldson, so posts of his speech about Barrett are fake
GOP official backtracks on resignation after sharing derogatory images of Harris
One of his tweaked images of Sen. Kamala Harris depicts her at the vice-presidential debate with her legs spread open. Hobart “Hobie” Young, a member of the Upper Township Committee in Cape May County, New Jersey, resigned from his role after posting vulgar, manipulated images of Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris on Facebook. One picture is a wide shot of the Oct. 7 vice presidential debate depicting Harris sitting with her legs open opposite Vice President Mike Pence.
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2020 election results: Why Americans probably won’t find out who won on 3 November
'They give me the willies': scientist who vacuumed murder hornets braces for fight
Chris Looney helped dismantle the first nest of Asian giant hornets in the US. Now he’s preparing for the next stepThe eradication of the first nest of Asian giant hornets on US soil somewhat resembled a science fiction depiction of an alien landing site. A crew of government specialists in white, astronaut-like protective suits descended upon the hornet nexus to vanquish it with a futuristic-looking vacuum cleaner, to the relief of onlookers.The nest of the fearsome invasive insects, notoriously known as “murder hornets”, was found in a tree crevice near Blaine, in Washington state, via a tracking device attached to a previously captured worker hornet. The Washington state department of agriculture (WSDA) confirmed the nest had been successfully removed, with dozens of live captives taken back for inspection.“It was cold so they were docile, so between their slowness and the protective gear no one was hurt,” said Chris Looney, a WSDA entomologist who was tasked with vacuuming up the hornets.Wielding a lengthy, toxic stinger, the hornets can cause renal failure and death in people, as dozens of people in Japan have found out to their cost. One entomologist in Canada described the feeling of being stung as like “having hot tacks pushed into my flesh”.They can also squirt venom, as Looney saw first-hand when his lab workbench was sprayed by hornets as they roused themselves following capture. “I was more worried about getting permanent nerve damage in the eye from the squirted venom than being stung,” said Looney, who wore goggles for the capture. “They are pretty intimidating, even for an inch-and-a-half insect. They are big and loud and I know it would hurt very badly if I get stung. They give me the willies.”Murder hornets do not earn their moniker from killing people, however, with honeybees far more likely to be targeted. A honeybee colony can be decimated within a few hours, with the hornets decapitating their victims and feeding severed body parts to their young. This poses a gnawing concern for hobbyist beekeepers and even farmers in the US north-west, where managed honeybees are crucial for the pollination of crops such as blueberries and raspberries.Asian giant hornets were first discovered in North America last year, popping up in British Columbia, Canada, before a handful of specimens made it south of the border to Washington state. The hornets, native to east Asia, most likely arrived on the continent clinging to imported goods sent via sea or air. A close relative of the hornet has already made separate inroads into France and the UK.A key, and unnerving, question is how far they will manage to spread across America. Looney said the removal of the first nest found in the US was just a “small victory” in a battle likely to rage for several years to contain the insects. Thousands of sightings have been reported in Washington, and while many are false or mistaken, Looney said it was likely the hornets had spread, potentially establishing dozens more nests.“It’s hard to say how they will behave here compared to their native range, but the fear is that there are large apiaries of bees that could be sitting ducks, while as the hornets move south to warmer weather their colonies could grow larger,” he said. “The object of our work is to avoid finding this out.”Scientists who have modeled the potential spread of the hornets predict they will be able to extend down the west coast into California. The Rocky Mountains and drier interior of the US pose major barriers to an eastward push but environs on the east coast such as New York would be ideal homes for the murder hornets should they inadvertently be transported there.Looney said he was “troubled” by evidence that overwintering hornet queens like to bury themselves in straw and hay, commodities that are regularly shifted around the US by train or truck. A hornet queen that hitched a ride would still face challenges establishing a nest even if moved to the east coast – it could immediately be crushed underfoot, after all – but the potential pathway is there.“I’m more worried about human transportation of these hornets than I initially was,” Looney conceded.The Asian giant hornet is just the latest invasive species to make its mark on North America. Burmese pythons are now legion in southern Florida, while Asian carp are common in the Mississippi river system. In the insect world, the spotted lanternfly is a growing agricultural pest and emerald ash borers have arrived to lay waste to stands of trees.These arrivals are symptoms of the growth in international trade and tourism, while climate change is making many parts of the US more hospitable for certain invasive species. The Asian giant hornet, for example, is thought to favor the sort of elevated temperatures that the US is experiencing as the planet heats up. This could help it spread at the rate of its cousin species in France, which has been able to advance up to 78km a year. If it is not controlled, the murder hornet could fundamentally change ecosystems across the US.Still, even in a fraught year racked by a pandemic, social unrest and economic disaster, Looney said any fears of being assailed by a murder hornet should be “low on the anxiety meter”.He added: “We should be concerned about it but we will do our best until the money runs out or the battle is won or lost. If we fail, it will be unpleasant. But there are other things to be much more worried about right now.”
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Typhoon Goni: Philippines hit by year's most powerful storm
Trump told donors at a closed-door event that he will have his 'own team' and law enforcement monitoring polling places and is planning to dispute individual ballots
Kyle Rittenhouse extradited to Wisconsin following terse ruling from Illinois judge accusing him of asking the court to 'ignore binding Illinois law'
Lawyers say deportees to Cameroon would be flying on 'death planes'
Body-camera footage released of Wallace killing; family says officers were improperly trained
The footage from body-worn cameras that was taken as police responded to a call about Walter Wallace Jr. shows him emerging from a house with a knife as relatives shout at officers about his mental health condition, a lawyer for the man's family said Thursday.
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Biden Team Cancels Texas Event After Highway ‘Ambush’ by MAGA Cavalry
Joe Biden’s presidential campaign canceled a Friday event in Austin, Texas, after harassment from a pro-Trump contingent.Texas has emerged as a battleground state in Tuesday’s presidential election, with polls showing the typically Republican stronghold now only marginally favoring President Donald Trump. The Biden campaign scheduled a Friday event in the state, in a bid to drum up last-minute support. But when the Biden campaign bus drove to Austin, it was greeted by a blockade of pro-Trump demonstrators, leading to what one Texas House representative described as an escalation “well beyond safe limits.”The cancelation comes amid national anxiety about voter intimidation, a tactic the Trump campaign has implicitly endorsed.Historian Dr. Eric Cervini was driving to help with the Biden campaign stop when he filmed a line of pickup trucks along the highway, many of them flying Trump flags. The drivers were “waiting to ambush the Biden/Harris campaign bus as it traveled from San Antonio to Austin,” Cervini tweeted.“These Trump supporters, many of whom were armed, surrounded the bus on the interstate and attempted to drive it off the road,” he alleged. “They outnumbered police 50-1, and they ended up hitting a staffer’s car.”A Biden campaign staffer told The Daily Beast that Trump supporters surrounded the bus on the highway and slowed down in front of it, attempting to stop it or run it off the road. The official sent a picture taken on the bus, showing Trump trucks surrounding the front of the vehicle. Staffers on the bus called police, who helped the bus reach its destination.Video from the highway shows trucks surrounding the bus, at one point colliding with an SUV.> This is a traffic violation and attempted homicide. Why hasn’t anyone been arrested? pic.twitter.com/QnfF4vXMQn> > — haunting student debt owners (@mcbyrne) October 31, 2020> I flew down to Texas to help with the Biden/Harris bus tour, intended to drum up enthusiasm at polling locations. Instead, I ended up spending the afternoon calling 911. 1/ pic.twitter.com/gKAjv7gv85> > — Dr. Eric Cervini (@ericcervini) October 31, 2020Footage from a CBS affiliate in Austin shows Trump supporters with signs and bullhorns surrounding the bus when it parked, with one person screaming that Biden was a communist.Rep. Sheryl Cole, a Democrat representing nearby Pflugerville in Texas’s House, announced that a Biden event in her city had been canceled due to the harassment.“This is a 1st for me - but we just cancelled a joint event in Pflugerville w/ @JoeBiden campaign,@AustinYoungDems, & more, due to security reasons,” she tweeted. “Unfortunately, Pro-Trump Protestors have escalated well beyond safe limits. Sorry to all who looked forward to this fun event.”The Biden campaign’s Texas communications director, Tariq Thowfeek, said holding the event would have placed Biden staffers and supporters at risk. “Rather than engage in productive conversation about the drastically different visions that Joe Biden and Donald Trump have for our country, Trump supporters in Texas today instead decided to put our staff, surrogates, supporters, and others in harm’s way,” Thowfeek told The Daily Beat.“Our supporters will continue to organize their communities for Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and Democrats up and down the ballot, and to the Texans who disrupted our events today: We’ll see you on November 3rd.”The Trump campaign—and often Trump himself—has encouraged in-person conflict around the polls. Trump used the first presidential debate to urge supporters to act as “poll watchers,” a call that sparked concerns of voter intimidation. His son, Donald Trump Jr., made an explicit call-out regarding the Biden campaign’s Texas outreach efforts.In a video ahead of a Friday event by Biden’s running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris, Trump Jr. encouraged his father’s supporters to show up at Harris’s event.Trump’s Crew of Far-Right Vigilante Poll Watchers Is Coming“Hey Laredo, Don Jr. here,” he said. “I heard you had an awesome turnout for the Trump Train. It’d be great if you guys would all get together, head down to McAllen and give Kamala Harris a nice Trump Train welcome. Get out there, have some fun, enjoy it. Don’t forget to vote and bring all of your friends. Let’s show them how strong Texas still is as Trump country. Get out there, guys.”Some Trump supporters appeared to heed the call. At least one Facebook event with more than 700 responses, viewed by The Daily Beast, encouraged Trump fans to attend a Harris event in Fort Worth, Texas on Friday and “give Kamala Harris a big Texas welcome..... TRUMP STYLE!” The event was listed as canceled ahead of time, although its organizers acknowledged that some people might still try to attend, “and that's your right.”Trump supporters have previously been accused of intimidation this election. In Beverly Hills, California this week, an Australian television personality filmed participants at a pro-Trump rally shouting at her and threatening her in her car. A man brandishing a Trump flag at her appeared to photograph her and take down her license plate number.“We’ve got you now,” the man shouted. “You’re going to vote for Trump whether you like it or not, you’ve got no choice.”When Biden spoke at a Minnesota event on Friday, the same day as his campaign was ambushed in Austin, Trump supporters in a caravan of vehicles reportedly surrounded the venue honking their horns and chanting.During early voting in the swing state of Virginia late last month, a caravan of Trump supporters drove to the Democratic-leaning Fairfax County and surrounded people in an early voting line, shouting at them on loudspeakers“We had a couple poll observers there that had to actually escort voters in because we saw people that would get to the edge of the parking lot, and see this giant group of Trumpers yelling and screaming,” the executive director of the Fairfax County Democratic Committee told The Daily Beast at the time.‘Daily Show’s’ Jordan Klepper Hits One Last ‘Eerily Quiet’ Trump RallyRead 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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Chris Wallace: Trump, Biden cannot win without these three states
Trump and Biden again imagine fighting each other in high school; Trump slams Supreme Court: Live election updates
COVID-19 means US Air Force bombers flying around the world are operating in a 'degraded' environment
Christians Worldwide Mark International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church
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Christians Worldwide Mark International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church
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Friday, October 30, 2020
The Papers: 'National lockdown looms' and Stiles tributes
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Trump's vaccine promises meet reality
‘It’s propaganda’: Police pulled Black toddler from family car then claimed he was found lost, attorneys say
Lawyers: Cop video of shooting of 2 suggests cover-up
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 Pelosi? Odds are low, but here's how it could happen
Kyle Rittenhouse extradited to Wisconsin following terse ruling from Illinois judge accusing him of asking the court to 'ignore binding Illinois law'
Popular Thai pro-democracy figure charged over flash mob rally
One of Thailand’s most popular anti-establishment politicians has been charged for his role in an illegal flash mob protest last year, in a move that is likely to fuel the current wave of pro-democracy protests. Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, 41, a charismatic billionaire and founder of the dissolved Future Forward party, is accused of five public assembly violations linked to the rally in Bangkok's central shopping district last December, Krisadung Nutcharat, his lawyer, said on Thursday. The charges include failing to notify police of a public gathering, blocking a sky train station, using a megaphone without permission and holding a rally close to a royal residence. Four other people from his Progressive Movement Group and Move Forward Party face similar charges. All five deny any wrongdoing. Mr Thanathorn has been an outspoken advocate of the protest movement that has gripped the Thai capital, Bangkok, since June, and he recently condemned a short-lived emergency order aimed at keeping demonstrators off the streets. During last year’s elections, he and his pro-democracy Future Forward Party, proved to be enormously popular with young, first-time voters, and garnered the third-largest share of seats.
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Lawyers for Black couple shot by police outside Chicago claim officer’s body camera was turned off intentionally
Amidst a second COVID-19 lockdown, Macron is facing mounting international backlash and a boycott of French goods over his comments about Islam
Supreme Court issues flurry of last-minute election orders
Wisconsin, no. That’s how the Supreme Court has answered questions in recent days about an extended timeline for receiving and counting ballots in those states. At first blush, the difference in the outcomes at the Supreme Court seems odd because the high court typically takes up issues to harmonize the rules across the country. A big asterisk: These cases are being dealt with on an emergency basis in which the court issues orders that either block or keep in place a lower-court ruling.
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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
Elizabeth Warren reportedly wants to be Biden's Treasury secretary
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is reportedly looking to make a big, structural career change.The former presidential candidate is ready to make her case to be Democratic nominee Joe Biden's Treasury secretary should he win next week, three Democratic officials who have spoken to her inner circle tell Politico; Two straightforwardly said "she wants it." A Warren Treasury would appeal to progressives who have been reluctant to support Biden, but also draw opposition from Wall Street leaders Warren would try to regulate.Warren certainly has the background to lead the Treasury. She's an expert on bankruptcy law, originated the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau under former President Barack Obama, and made economic reform a big part of her 2020 campaign. And while she could keep advocating for these goals in the Senate, Warren allies tell Politico this is "a once-in-a lifetime opportunity to enact some of the 'big structural change' she talked about during the presidential primary." Warren also would like to "rectify what she thinks were mistakes in the Obama administration's response to the Great Recession," namely not reshaping the system as a whole, Politico adds.Biden's potential Cabinet has been in the works for months, with Politico reporting he wants to "assemble a center-left amalgamation of personnel designed to prioritize speed over ideology in responding to the coronavirus and the resulting economic ruin." Warren has long been viewed as a more progressive piece of that puzzle, though for now, her campaign says it's focused on the election that's just a few days away.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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Official: Rifle shell casings found at Breonna Taylor scene
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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“Over 1,000 people died today”: Don Jr. falsely claims that COVID-19 deaths are “almost nothing”
Judge grants Meghan Markle's request to postpone lawsuit against tabloid
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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There's even more evidence premature birth rates are dropping during the pandemic
Thursday, October 29, 2020
Jeremy Corbyn suspension 'could cost Labour next election'
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US Election 2020: Trump and Biden duel in critical state of Florida
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Erdogan vows legal response to Charlie Hebdo cartoon showing him lifting skirt of veiled woman
Anger at France deepened in Muslim-majority countries on Wednesday over a Charlie Hebdo cartoon showing Turkey’s president drinking beer while lifting the skirt of a woman wearing a hijab to reveal her naked buttocks. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the president, described the cartoonists as “scoundrels” and accused the West of wanting to “relaunch the Crusades”. His office also vowed to take unspecified "legal and diplomatic actions" through the Turkish legal system. His row with France erupted after President Emmanuel Macron ordered a crackdown on Islamists this month, following the beheading of a teacher who showed his class Charlie Hebdo cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed. Protesters in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu shouted: “Down with France. It insulted our prophet.”
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Lev Parnas associate David Correia pleads guilty to fraud and lying
Ice Cube explains why he blew off Zoom call with Kamala Harris: ‘I want to get things done’
Ice Cube has been adamant that Democrats told him to hold off until after the election before making demands for his “Contract With Black America.” The NWA rapper and actor recently revealed to Fox Soul’s Cocktails with Queens, that features Claudia Jordan, Vivica A. Fox, LisaRaye McCoy, and Syleena Johnson, that he turned down a request by the California senator to be a part of a Zoom call.
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