| Merkel's party set to decide on her successor in January Posted: 31 Oct 2020 03:07 PM PDT |
| Halloween in the pandemic: Costumes and candy, at a distance Posted: 31 Oct 2020 02:14 PM PDT  Ghosts, skeletons, princesses and black cats roamed the streets as usual this Halloween, but they kept their distance, wore face coverings and carried hand sanitizer in their quest for treats. Like with everything else this year, the pandemic also left its mark on Halloween. Parades, parties and haunted houses were canceled due to bans on large gatherings and concerns that spooky celebrations could spread the coronavirus.
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| Ivory Coast elections: Voters go to the polls amid opposition boycott Posted: 31 Oct 2020 01:39 PM PDT  President Alassane Ouattara is running for a third term which his opponents say is illegal.
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| Obama criticizes Trump in scathing, personal terms Posted: 31 Oct 2020 01:30 PM PDT  Barack Obama is hitting President Donald Trump right where he thinks it'll hurt most: His ego. Campaigning for Joe Biden on Saturday, the former president painted Trump as insecure and self-absorbed, describing him as a failed president who cares more about himself than the country. In a scathing speech, Obama mocked and belittled Trump for everything from the president's criticism of the media coverage of the coronavirus pandemic — Trump, he said, was "jealous of COVID's media coverage" — to his "obsession with crowd size."
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| Thousands protest in Jerusalem against Israeli PM Posted: 31 Oct 2020 12:46 PM PDT |
| Tanzania elections: Main opposition parties demand fresh vote Posted: 31 Oct 2020 12:34 PM PDT  Opposition calls for mass protests after denouncing last week's presidential election as fraudulent.
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| Teen told police where to find gun used in Kenosha shootings Posted: 31 Oct 2020 11:47 AM PDT  A visibly upset 17-year-old accused of fatally shooting two demonstrators in Wisconsin told officers at his local police station in Illinois where to find an assault rifle he said he had used just two hours earlier to shoot several people, according to police records. Kyle Rittenhouse cycled through a range of emotions, crying and vomiting several times, as he described to police what happened late on Aug. 25 after he traveled to Kenosha, ostensibly to protect businesses from protesters following the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old Black man, the Antioch Police Department records show. "I shot two white kids," Rittenhouse said, adding that he had "ended a man's life."
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| State legislative elections key to redistricting power Posted: 31 Oct 2020 09:53 AM PDT  Up the road is the Harris County GOP headquarters. Roughly in between is Trini Mendenhall Community Center, where Patterson cast her ballot this month — for all Democratic candidates. "Republicans, Republicans, Republicans," said Patterson, 63, recalling the only political yard signs she used to see in the neighborhood.
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| Orthodox priest shot at church in France, motive unknown Posted: 31 Oct 2020 09:49 AM PDT  A Greek Orthodox priest was shot Saturday while he was closing his church in the French city of Lyon, and authorities locked down part of the city to hunt for the assailant, authorities said. Charlton reported from Paris.
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| Fears Covid could scupper EU trade deal talks Posted: 31 Oct 2020 08:37 AM PDT  Brexit negotiators fear the crunch trade talks could be scuppered by rising Covid-19 cases. Amid soaring levels of coronavirus infections in Brussels, where detailed talks are taking place this weekend, officials are concerned that the negotiations could collapse if any senior figures test positive for the disease, leading to key negotiators having to isolate. The talks are now centred on draft legal texts of a post-Brexit trade agreement. Officials believe that the negotiations are now at a stage that is too complex to be effectively conducted by video conference - with less than two weeks thought to be remaining to agree a deal. The talks are being held according to social distancing rules. But a source close to the negotiations said: "Covid-19 is causing a lot of worry. If one person in a senior team catches it you can see a situation where we cannot do it any more." Belgium had the highest rate of infections in the EU as of Friday, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. Over the last fortnight there were 1,609 confirmed infections per 100,000 inhabitants – an increase of 186 per cent compared with the two weeks before. In England, the latest figures suggest a rate of 229 infections per 100,000 people. On Friday, Belgium closed all non-essential shops and banned homes from receiving visitors, except for a single "cuddle contact". Trade talks are expected to continue through the weekend following negotiations in London. The negotiations could then switch back to the UK on Wednesday, despite rising infection rates in the capital. On Friday Mr Barnier tweeted: "After seven days of intensive negotiations in London, talks continue. Working hard for an agreement. Much remains to be done." Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, said that this weekend's talks would focus on devising an enforceable "level playing field" system with dispute resolution mechanisms. The EU is insisting that the UK follows a "level playing field" of rules and regulations in exchange for access to the bloc's single market. Britain had previously rejected any enforceable guarantees, insisting instead on commitments similar to those in the EU's trade deal with Canada. A senior German government official said on Friday that he was "deeply concerned" about the lack of progress in trade talks given the heavy reliance of German companies on funding in the City of London.
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| AP Explains: Why France incites such anger in Muslim world Posted: 31 Oct 2020 08:02 AM PDT  Many countries, especially in the democratic West, champion freedom of expression and allow publications that lampoon Islam's prophet. Its brutal colonial past, staunch secular policies and tough-talking president who is seen as insensitive toward the Muslim faith all play a role. As France steps up security and mourns three people killed in a knife attack at a church on Thursday – the latest of many attributed to Islamic extremists in recent years -- here's a look at some of the reasons the country is under fire.
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| Federal agencies fall short of Trump forest protection goals Posted: 31 Oct 2020 07:59 AM PDT  Nearly two years ago, President Donald Trump stood amid the smoky ruins of Paradise, California, where he blamed the deadliest wildfire in the state's history on poor forest management. It was only slightly better than their average annual performance over nearly two decades.
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| Niger: American hostage rescued by US special forces Posted: 31 Oct 2020 07:55 AM PDT  Philip Walton, an American citizen, was abducted from a village in Niger by armed men on Monday.
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| Minority US contract tracers build trust in diverse cities Posted: 31 Oct 2020 07:28 AM PDT  When a contact tracer called the Iraqi woman to say her 18-year-old daughter tested positive for the coronavirus and could quarantine for free in a hotel, the woman panicked — recalling the family's terror of risking separation forever during their flight from Baghdad after a bomb killed her brother. The contact tracer, Iraqi immigrant Ethar Kakoz, had made a similar harrowing journey using smugglers to get out of Iraq after her parents were told she could be kidnapped. Kakoz is among a growing legion of ethnically and racially diverse contact tracers hired by local health departments to help immigrants, refugees and minorities protect themselves during a pandemic that has disproportionately affected people of color.
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| Black Lives Matter faces test of its influence in election Posted: 31 Oct 2020 07:22 AM PDT  Black Lives Matter has been a lot of things in its brief, fiery life. A movement that led protests coast to coast, calling for America to get serious about preventing Black deaths at the hands of law enforcement. A heaven-sent resource for people like Helen Jones, desperate for justice after her son died in a Los Angeles County jail.
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| Biden set to focus on EU at expense of ‘special relationship’ Posted: 31 Oct 2020 07:15 AM PDT  Joe Biden is preparing to cast aside Donald Trump's emphasis on the "special relationship" if he wins the US election, The Sunday Telegraph can disclose, as advisers to the presidential hopeful revealed that he plans to focus on rebuilding America's relations with the European Union. One influential foreign policy adviser to Mr Biden told an audience in Germany last week that, if elected, the former vice-president would quickly issue a "declaration of support for the European Union" and "European integration". Anthony Gardner, a former US ambassador to the EU who chairs Mr Biden's working group on the bloc, suggested that the relationship between the UK and America under a Biden presidency would partly depend on the ties Britain decides to form with the EU. Mr Gardner, who is based in London and is being touted as Mr Biden's possible choice for US ambassador to the UK, described Brexit as "the biggest own-goal that I've seen in my lifetime" and separately suggested that a Biden White House would be uninterested in "super ambitious trade deals". Mr Biden's team is understood to be discussing plans for a trip to Europe in the first 100 days of his presidency if he is elected on Tuesday. Nato is preparing to hold a leaders' summit in Brussels in March if Mr Biden wins the election, with the presidential candidate's team having indicated that he would use the trip to conduct a mini European tour. Options under discussion include a major speech in Germany or at the European Parliament in Brussels.
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| Trump Is Said to Set Aside Career Intelligence Briefer to Hear From Advisers Instead Posted: 31 Oct 2020 07:11 AM PDT  WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump has dispensed with intelligence briefings from a career analyst in favor of updates from political appointees including John Ratcliffe, the director of national intelligence and a longtime partisan defender of his, in the closing weeks of an election targeted by intensifying foreign interference, according to interviews.While the president has long distrusted the intelligence community and displayed frustration with head of the CIA and antipathy toward the FBI director, Ratcliffe has served as a more supportive figure. He secured influence by delivering on the president's political agenda, chiefly by declassifying documents related to the Russia investigation.Critics have attacked Ratcliffe's embrace of Trump, saying Ratcliffe cannot be trusted to deliver unvarnished facts in this highly polarized election and is focused on politics in what is supposed to be an apolitical role. Ratcliffe, who took the job in May, has shown little interest in the workforce or making sure the intelligence community's budget is being properly allocated, former officials said.Cliff Sims, a senior adviser to Ratcliffe, said the director had "kept his commitment to keep politics out of intelligence." Administration officials said there was no evidence that Ratcliffe was slanting intelligence or withholding information from the president.Trump has not had a briefing led by his designated briefer, veteran intelligence officer Beth Sanner, in more than a month, people familiar with the matter said. The last formal intelligence briefing led by Sanner was scheduled for Oct. 2, though administration officials said it was canceled after the president disclosed early that morning that he had tested positive for the coronavirus.Instead, Trump has relied on Ratcliffe to brief him two or three times a week, including one delivered Thursday, the people said. He supplements those meetings with informal briefings from Robert C. O'Brien, the national security adviser; Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff; and others.The shift toward briefings conducted by Ratcliffe reflects Trump's busy campaign schedule and an effort to reduce the number of people around him as he was sick with COVID-19, according to two administration officials. They also said the president was getting the information he needed, pointing to his fielding of questions about the state of the cease-fire between Armenia and Azerbaijan.Early in Trump's presidency, aides shrunk the size of traditional intelligence briefings to prevent leaks, officials have said.Ronald Reagan was the last president not to regularly hear from his designated intelligence briefer. Trump is also the first president to rely primarily on the director of national intelligence to deliver his intelligence since the position was created in 2004."The president is doing something highly unusual, at least for the last 15 years," said David Priess, a former CIA officer and the author of "The President's Book of Secrets," a book about intelligence briefings.Directors of national intelligence have typically provided "color commentary" about the intelligence presented by the president's designated briefer, said Chris Whipple, author of "The Spymasters," a history of relations between the White House and the intelligence chiefs. Given Ratcliffe's history, Whipple warned, the director may be telling Trump only "what he wants to hear."Ratcliffe's displays of loyalty extended to public appearances, as well; he has appeared on Fox News defending Trump. And ahead of a nationally televised news conference last week where Ratcliffe and other officials revealed Iranian and Russian attempts to influence the election, he altered comments prepared for him to read from, according to two officials.Ratcliffe deleted a reference to the Proud Boys, the far-right group whom Iranian hackers pretended to be when sending spoofed emails to voters, and added the fact that Iran's effort was intended to hurt Trump's reelection campaign. The changes, which Politico reported earlier, did not alter the accuracy of the comments, intelligence officials said. But they made the remarks more palatable to Trump, who often bristles at discussions of election interference.Sims said Ratcliffe's influence was good for the intelligence community."Their unique insights are reaching the highest levels and informing policy decisions," Sims said.Trump's animosity toward the intelligence community dates to its early 2017 assessment that Russia interfered in the 2016 election and developed a preference for his candidacy.But there is evidence that the president's unease with Christopher A. Wray, the FBI director, and Gina Haspel, the CIA director, is growing.Trump displayed his unhappiness with Wray on Twitter after Wray testified on Capitol Hill in recent weeks about two well-documented issues, Russia's election interference and far-right violent extremism, that the president has sought to de-emphasize.The president does not even like to hear about the FBI during intelligence briefings, people familiar with them said. Trump has told aides that Wray has actively undermined him and that he intends to fire him after the election, said people familiar with Trump's thinking. The president's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., said recently that if his father won reelection, he has "to break up the highest level of the FBI."The White House did not respond to a request for comment about Trump's plans to dismiss Wray. The FBI declined to comment, but a senior bureau official pointed to a recent letter from associations representing current and former FBI agents backing Wray.Trump has also grown weary of Haspel, though aides are divided over whether he would oust her after the election."Director Haspel continues to proudly serve at CIA, and we'll leave the election season speculation to others," said Timothy Barrett, the agency's spokesman.Trump has privately expressed frustration for what he sees as a failure by Haspel to adopt his priorities, namely her opposition to Ratcliffe declassifying documents about the Russia investigation and related matters. While Haspel was said to express concern that their release would reveal the CIA's sources of information and methods of intelligence gathering -- among the agency's most closely held secrets -- Trump's allies saw the material as important political fodder for his reelection campaign.Last year, when O'Brien took over as national security adviser, Haspel was meeting with the president two or three times a week, according to a senior official. But when Richard Grenell, a close political ally of Trump's, took over as acting director of national intelligence in February, Haspel's attendance at White House briefings grew more infrequent, and it has tapered off further since Ratcliffe took up the post, according to current and former officials.Haspel's decreased trips to the White House are at least in part because of the pandemic and also a reflection of the fact that Ratcliffe has the lead on election interference, the most urgent national security issue of the moment, according to people familiar with the matter.Haspel has also avoided the spotlight and Washington power battles, allowing Ratcliffe to emerge as the more influential figure in the latest iteration of turf battles between CIA directors and directors of national intelligence."Trump clearly has a level of comfort with Ratcliffe," Priess said. "Ratcliffe is seen not just as the director of national intelligence; he is seen first and foremost as a political ally and someone who is on the president's team."This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company
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| Mystery surrounds former Marine's imprisonment in Venezuela Posted: 31 Oct 2020 06:54 AM PDT  MEDELLIN, Colombia (AP) — "Don't WORRY!," reads the cryptic note scribbled on a scrap of perforated paper smuggled out of a dank, basement cellblock. The weeks-old message is all the family of Matthew Heath has to pin its hopes on since the former U.S. Marine corporal was arrested at a roadblock in Venezuela almost two months ago and accused by President Nicolás Maduro of being a terrorist and spying for Donald Trump. Nobody in the family or Trump administration has spoken to Heath.
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| Space station marking 20 years of people living in orbit Posted: 31 Oct 2020 06:36 AM PDT |
| Sudan says deal with US blocks further compensation claims Posted: 31 Oct 2020 06:32 AM PDT  Sudan says it has signed an agreement with the U.S. that could effectively stop any future compensation claims being filed against the African country in U.S. courts, following Washington's decision to remove the country from its list of state sponsors of terrorism. The deal restores in U.S. courts what is known as sovereign immunity to the Sudanese government, and comes after a year of negotiations between the Trump administration and Sudan's new leadership, the Sudanese Justice Ministry said. A transitional government led by a mix of military and civilian figures currently rules Sudan, after the overthrow of former leader Omar al-Bashir in April 2019 led to the country seeking better ties with the U.S.
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| After year of disruption, America set to choose a path ahead Posted: 31 Oct 2020 05:34 AM PDT  After a year of deep disruption, America is poised for a presidential election that renders a verdict on the nation's role in the world and the direction of its economy, on its willingness to contain an escalating pandemic and its ability to confront systemic racial inequity. The choice before voters is a referendum on the role of the presidency itself and a test of the sturdiness of democracy, with the president challenging the legitimacy of the outcome even before Election Day and law enforcement agencies braced for the possibility of civil unrest. Voters appear to recognize the moment: More than 91 million people have already cast ballots, shattering records for early voting.
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| Road to 270: Biden has options, Trump walks narrow path Posted: 31 Oct 2020 04:50 AM PDT  President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden each has a path to the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the White House. Biden's is appreciably wider. The former vice president is competitive in all the battleground states Trump carried in 2016 and has put a handful of traditional Republican states, including Georgia and Arizona, in play.
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| Expect a lot more of the same if Trump wins a second term Posted: 31 Oct 2020 04:39 AM PDT  Expect to see a lot more of the same if there's a second Trump administration. President Donald Trump has consistently pointed to tax cuts and regulatory relief as key successes of his first four years in office.
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| Iraq clears sit-in square, a year after mass protests began Posted: 31 Oct 2020 04:14 AM PDT  Iraqi security forces on Saturday cleared out sit-in tents from the capital's central square that has been the epicenter of the anti-government protest movement, a year after the eruption of demonstrations against corruption led to months of clashes with authorities across Iraq. More than 500 people were killed during the months-long protest movement, many of them demonstrators shot by Iraqi security forces. Iraqi authorities also reopened the nearby Jumhuriyah bridge, which leads toward the heavily fortified Green Zone housing government buildings and foreign embassies.
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| Biden looks to restore, expand Obama administration policies Posted: 31 Oct 2020 03:58 AM PDT  Joe Biden is promising to take the country on a very different path from what it has seen over the past four years under President Donald Trump, on issues ranging from the coronavirus and health care to the environment, education and more. The Democratic presidential nominee is promising to reverse Trump policy moves on things such as withdrawing the U.S. from the Paris climate agreement and weakening protections against environmental pollution. While Trump wants to kill the Affordable Care Act, Biden is proposing to expand "Obamacare" by adding a public option to cover more Americans.
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| England to enter new lockdown; UK virus cases pass 1 million Posted: 31 Oct 2020 03:53 AM PDT  British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Saturday announced a new month-long lockdown for England after being warned that without tough action a resurgent coronavirus outbreak will overwhelm hospitals in weeks. On the day the U.K. passed 1 million confirmed COVID-19 cases, Johnson made a sudden about-face and confirmed that stringent restrictions on business and daily life would begin Thursday and last until Dec. 2. Under the new restrictions, bars and restaurants can only offer take-out, non-essential shops must close and people will only be able to leave home for a short list of reasons including exercise.
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| Armenia asks Moscow for help amid Nagorno-Karabakh fighting Posted: 31 Oct 2020 03:47 AM PDT  Armenia's leader urged Russia Saturday to consider providing security assistance to end the fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh, the biggest escalation in the decades-long conflict between his country and Azerbaijan. Following more than a month of intense fighting in which Azerbaijani troops forged into the separatist territory, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian asked Russia's President Vladimir Putin to quickly discuss possible security aid to his country.
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| Sudan deal plunges migrants in Israel into new uncertainty Posted: 31 Oct 2020 03:19 AM PDT  Usumain Baraka speaks impeccable Hebrew, considers Israelis among his best friends and can quote passages from the Old Testament. Now, after Israel and Sudan agreed to normalize ties, Baraka is among 6,000 Sudanese in Israel once again fearing for their fate. Israel already has indicated it will seek to settle the migrant issue in upcoming talks with Sudan, whipping up trepidation in the community that Israel might forcibly return them to Sudan, a place they say they fled because of conflict or persecution.
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| Canada border officer says giving police Meng Wanzhou's device passwords was 'embarrassing, heart-wrenching' blunder Posted: 31 Oct 2020 02:30 AM PDT  A Canadian border officer who dealt with Meng Wanzhou at Vancouver's airport in the hours before her arrest said he made an "embarrassing" and "heart-wrenching" mistake, when his handwritten note with the passwords of Meng's electronic devices ended up in police hands, breaching privacy laws.Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) officer Scott Kirkland denied that he deliberately obtained the passwords on behalf of police, depicting the handover instead as a blunder he only realised he had made a few days later.But Meng's lawyers say it was part of a covert plot by the CBSA and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), to gather evidence for the American FBI.Get the latest insights and analysis from our Global Impact newsletter on the big stories originating in China.Kirkland came under intense cross-examination on Friday from the Huawei executive's lawyer Mona Duckett, as she attempted to prove Meng's rights were violated in the border process.Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of Huawei Technologies, leaves her home to attend court on Thursday. Photo: Bloomberg alt=Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of Huawei Technologies, leaves her home to attend court on Thursday. Photo: BloombergThey want Meng's extradition case in the Supreme Court of British Columbia thrown out as a result. The US wants Meng sent to New York to face trial on fraud charges, which are denied by Meng, the chief financial officer of Huawei Technologies.Meng, 48, was arrested at Vancouver's airport on December 1, 2018, more than three hours after arriving on a flight from Hong Kong.Kirkland had previously testified that he worried that delaying Meng's arrest would be challenged in court, and he suggested that she be arrested by the RCMP immediately after she got off the plane.Instead, he and colleagues conducted a border examination during which they questioned her about Huawei's activities in Iran and seized her devices and passwords.Duckett called Kirkland's note with the passcodes, provided by Meng, the keys to "a private box with a wealth of personal information" on her."This piece of paper is instructions for police, isn't it?" said Duckett.Canada Border Services Agency officer Scott Kirkland questions Meng Wanzhou at Vancouver's airport on December 1, 2018. Photo: Supreme Court of British Columbia exhibit alt=Canada Border Services Agency officer Scott Kirkland questions Meng Wanzhou at Vancouver's airport on December 1, 2018. Photo: Supreme Court of British Columbia exhibitKirkland denied this, maintaining that the passwords were only obtained for the purposes of his immigration exam. But the note was placed on a stack with Meng's devices, which were handed over to the RCMP when they arrested her.Providing the passwords to police was a breach of the Privacy Act, Kirkland previously agreed.He described a postmortem of the border inspection, conducted with CBSA colleagues the next week, when he said he realised he had made a mistake."It was an embarrassing moment for me, in that meeting. I, as I am right now, was embarrassed ... it was heart-wrenching to realise I had made that mistake," said Kirkland.Meng's treatment has infuriated Beijing, sending China's relations with Canada and the US into a downward spiral.Beijing subsequently arrested Canadians Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, accusing them of spying. In Canada, their situation is widely seen as hostage-taking.Meng is under partial house arrest in Vancouver, living in one of her two homes in the city. Her extradition proceedings are expected to last well into next year, but appeals could drag out the process much longer.This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2020 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved. Copyright (c) 2020. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
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| Billionaire casino boss Sheldon Adelson splashes the cash in bid to help Trump Posted: 31 Oct 2020 02:00 AM PDT  The magnate, 87, is expected to have spent $250m this election cycle to support conservative causes, fundraisers sayThe casino billionaire and ardent Israel backer Sheldon Adelson is expected to have written about $250m in checks to back Donald Trump, Republican Senate and House members and conservative causes, say two GOP fundraising sources familiar with the mega-donor's spending plans.Adelson and his wife Miriam, an Israeli-born physician, have already spent a single election record sum of $183m through 14 October, according to the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics.Since late summer, when Adelson began bankrolling a new pro-Trump Super Pac, dubbed Preserve America, the 87-year-old Adelson and his wife have poured $75m into its coffers, making them its leading financiers.To date, Preserve America, has raised $83.8m, and has been running ads attacking Democrat Joe Biden as "too weak to lead America".Adelson – who sources say talks to Trump periodically – and his wife have developed close ties with Trump largely based on their similar views on pro-Israel and hawkish Middle East policies.The Trump administration pleased Adelson and other conservatives by moving the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and Trump officials adopted a hardline stance against Iran by scrapping the Obama administration's nuclear accord with Tehran, and recently wooed the UAE and other nations to recognize Israel.Sheldon and Miriam Adelson have also donated $50m to a Super Pac called the Senate Leadership Fund, which is run by close allies of Mitch McConnell and to date has raised over $308m to keep the Chamber in GOP hands.Adelson, whose net worth is pegged at almost $32bn by Forbes, has long been the top bankroller of the Republican Jewish Coalition, a conservative pro-Israel lobbying group whose board he sits on.The RJC is on track to spend a record $10m to help woo Jewish voters in several battleground states including Florida and Pennsylvania, where the group hopes its ads and get-out-the-vote work can help Trump pull off wins again, as he did in 2016.Further, Adelson has written big checks for some Super Pacs backing Senate allies facing tough races, including South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham, a staunch Israel backer. The couple have donated $1m to the pro-Graham pac Security is Strength.The Adelsons have also kicked in $40m to the Congressional Leadership Fund, a Super Pac that backs House GOP candidates; the Pac's fundraising depends heavily on ex-senator Norm Coleman, who is known for his close Adelson ties.In 2018, the Adelsons spent $124m overall to Super Pacs, campaign committees and candidates, according to the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP).The Adelsons typically donate much of their money late in election cycles, and historically give a mix of publicly disclosed checks, and others to dark money outfits which remain secret.The two sources who indicated Adelson's total spending would reach $250m didn't identify where the additional tens of millions of dollars were going, or if these funds have already been donated to non-profit dark money groups which don't require public disclosure.Adelson's late donation spree this year has come as Trump continues to lag behind Biden in national and most battleground state polls, and as Biden's campaign fundraising has outpaced Trump's in recent months.This election cycle, the second biggest donor behind the Adelsons has been New York billionaire Michael Bloomberg, who has spent $107m, much of it on ads in Florida to help Biden, CRP data shows.Adelson's huge donations have occurred even as his casino empire, which stretches from Las Vegas to Asia, has seen its revenues drop significantly this year because of the pandemic. As Bloomberg first reported, Adelson has recently begun exploring the sale of his two Vegas casinos and an expo center – which could fetch $6bn – to focus on his Macau and Singapore casinos, which in recent years have yielded higher revenues.Trump has diligently courted both Adelson and his wife's support since he took office. Early in 2020, Trump tapped Adelson to serve on a business council that is supposed to offer guidance on how to reopen the country, and in 2018 Trump gave Miriam the Presidential Medal of Freedom.In January, the Adelsons came to Washington for the White House's formal announcement of Trump's much-touted Middle East peace plan, which Trump called the "deal of the century" but which Palestinian leaders and most Arab countries dismissed as too favorable to Israel.Trump's cultivation of the casino billionaire has also occurred in private get-togethers in Washington and in Las Vegas, where the Adelsons live.In May 2018, the day before Trump announced the US was going to pull out of Obama's nuclear accord with Iran, Adelson came to Washington for a private meeting with Trump and top officials including Mike Pence and then national security adviser John Bolton, who had good ties with Adelson.But Trump's drive to woo Adelson conflicts with his multiple campaign pledges to "drain the swamp" in Washington to curb big donor and lobbyist influence."Somehow, promises to change the culture in Washington or 'drain the swamp' fade away when the usual mega-donors line up to throw millions at the election," said Sheila Krumholz, who heads CRP. "It's a seasonal amnesia."
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| Italian nurse on coronavirus duty sees the nightmare return Posted: 31 Oct 2020 01:18 AM PDT  A 54-year-old nurse became convinced the coronavirus "hated" her during the first seven months of Italy's outbreaks. Settembrese, who specializes in treating patients with infectious diseases, faced huge risks during the long hours she spent in close contact with sick and dying COVID-19 patients. The nurse's encounters with the coronavirus started Feb. 21, the day Italy's first domestic cases were confirmed in the country's north.
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| Nearly 3 months after vote, Belarus protests still go strong Posted: 31 Oct 2020 01:15 AM PDT  Nearly three months after Belarus' authoritarian president's re-election to a sixth term in a vote widely seen as rigged, demonstrators keep swarming the streets of Belarusian cities to demand his resignation in the most massive and sustained wave of protests the ex-Soviet nation has ever seen. While President Alexander Lukashenko has relied on massive arrests and intimidation tactics to hold on to power, the continuing rallies have cast an unprecedented challenge to his 26-year rule. Authorities have responded to protests triggered by Aug. 9 election that gave Lukashenko a landslide victory over Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya by unleashing a violent post-election crackdown.
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| Unrest erupts over police killing of Black man near Portland Posted: 31 Oct 2020 12:17 AM PDT  Tensions boiled over into unrest late Friday following a vigil for a Black man shot and killed by law enforcement in a city near Portland, Oregon, in southwestern Washington state. Mourners gathered in Hazel Dell, an unincorporated area of Vancouver, Washington, where family and friends say Kevin E. Peterson Jr., 21, was shot Thursday night. The city is about 12 miles (19 kilometers) north of Portland.
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| Tanzania, once envy of the region, watches democracy slide Posted: 31 Oct 2020 12:14 AM PDT  Vote-counting was far from over when Tanzanian opposition leader Seif Sharif Hamad was frustrated enough to call people onto the streets. As thwarted observers alleged the most blatant election fraud in the country's history, and with no way to challenge the results in court, there was little to do but protest. As they walked toward a roundabout in the semi-autonomous region of Zanzibar on Thursday, police fired tear gas, then arrested them — Hamad's second arrest in a week.
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| Analysis: 2020, and the American chorus' newly loud voices Posted: 31 Oct 2020 12:00 AM PDT  An election is approaching unlike any in recent memory, guaranteed to be a signpost in the long tale of what America is becoming and how it gets there. This notion, emerging as 2020 unfolds in its own weird way, has one particularly notable trait: It accepts that while your United States and your neighbor's may in some ways overlap, and in other ways not at all, they're equally American nonetheless.
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| Death toll reaches 39 in quake that hit Turkey, Greek island Posted: 30 Oct 2020 10:41 PM PDT  Three young children and their mother were rescued alive from the rubble of a collapsed building in western Turkey on Saturday, some 23 hours after a powerful earthquake in the Aegean Sea killed at least 39 people and injured more than 800 others. The Friday afternoon quake that struck Turkey's Aegean coast and north of the Greek island of Samos registered a magnitude that Turkish authorities put at 6.6 while other seismology institutes said it measured 6.9. It toppled buildings in Izmir, Turkey's third-largest city, and triggered a small tsunami in the Seferihisar district and on the Greek island.
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| Show your work: AP plans to explain vote calling to public Posted: 30 Oct 2020 09:27 PM PDT  The Associated Press, one of several news organizations whose declarations of winners drive election coverage, is pulling back the curtain this year to explain how it is reaching those conclusions. If necessary, top news executives will speak publicly in interviews about the process, said Sally Buzbee, senior vice president and executive editor. Given high interest in the presidential race, the complicating factor of strong early voting and President Donald Trump's warnings about potential fraud, television executives are making similar promises of transparency.
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| Who is voting? Who is winning? Early vote only offers clues Posted: 30 Oct 2020 09:19 PM PDT  As early voting breaks records across the U.S., political analysts and campaigns are reviewing reams of data on the voters, looking for clues to key questions: Who is voting? Registered Democrats are outpacing registered Republicans significantly — by 14 percentage points — in states that are reporting voters' party affiliation, according to an Associated Press analysis of the early vote. Meanwhile, polls show Republicans have heeded President Donald Trump's baseless warnings about mail voting, and large numbers intend to vote on Election Day.
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| Obama: Trump failed to take pandemic, presidency seriously Posted: 30 Oct 2020 09:07 PM PDT  Calling Joe Biden his "brother," Barack Obama on Saturday accused Donald Trump of failing to take the coronavirus pandemic and the presidency seriously as Democrats leaned on America's first Black president to energize Black voters in battleground Michigan on the final weekend of the 2020 campaign. Obama, the 44th president, and Biden, his vice president who wants to be the 46th, held drive-in rallies in Flint and Detroit, predominantly Black cities where strong turnout will be essential to swing the longtime Democratic state to Biden's column after Trump won it in 2016.
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| Saudi man crashes car into gates of Mecca's Grand Mosque Posted: 30 Oct 2020 07:31 PM PDT |
| Iran spreading election propaganda and targeting U.S. state voter rolls, officials say Posted: 30 Oct 2020 06:59 PM PDT  The FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency both issued advisories Friday warning that Iran is spreading propaganda and targeting U.S. state websites, including election sites, in "an intentional effort to influence and interfere with the 2020 U.S. presidential election." The FBI sent a FLASH bulletin to various states, saying an Iranian group is "creating fictitious media sites and spoofing legitimate media sites to spread anti-American propaganda and misinformation about voter suppression."
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| Malaysia Is Divided by Failures That Go Beyond Any One Man Posted: 30 Oct 2020 05:00 PM PDT |
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