| Appellate court halts Wisconsin ballot-counting extension Posted: 27 Sep 2020 01:40 PM PDT |
| Jill Biden, Doug Emhoff team up in final campaign stretch Posted: 27 Sep 2020 01:16 PM PDT  Jill Biden and Doug Emhoff are both from New Jersey. Biden and Emhoff have rapidly become two of the campaign's most prolific surrogates, engaging in in-person campaign events and virtual fundraisers at a pace that often outmatches their spouses at the top of the ticket. While Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have spent their days campaigning in key states like Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Florida, Jill Biden and Emhoff have had nonstop schedules of virtual fundraisers, constituency-focused events and trips to important but less high-profile states like Virginia and Maine, where Jill Biden visited this week.
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| Joe Biden: Vacancy about health law, not court expansion Posted: 27 Sep 2020 10:43 AM PDT  Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden wants voters to see Republicans' push for a speedy Supreme Court confirmation as an end-run of Congress and the 2010 health care law. In remarks on Sunday, the former vice president sidestepped any talk of expanding the court to counter conservative gains should he defeat President Donald Trump in November and Democrats regain a Senate majority. Biden called that scenario a distraction from the practical effects that Trump's nominee, conservative federal judge Amy Coney Barrett, could have if she succeeds the late liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
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| With anger at police high, officers face greater danger Posted: 27 Sep 2020 10:29 AM PDT  Two police officers are shot after responding to sounds of gunfire during a protest. The shootings — one in Los Angeles and the other 2000 miles (3,200 kilometers) away in Louisville, Kentucky, less than two weeks later — are stark reminders of the dangers law enforcement officers face at a time when anger toward them in the wake of police killings of Black Americans, such as George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, has boiled over. "I think it's more than a suggestion that people are seeking to do harm to cops," Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown told reporters at a recent briefing.
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| Macron says Hezbollah needs to end ambiguity in Lebanon Posted: 27 Sep 2020 10:14 AM PDT |
| Lawyer says officer thought Blake was trying to kidnap child Posted: 27 Sep 2020 09:43 AM PDT  The Kenosha police officer who shot Jacob Blake in the back seven times last month told investigators he thought Blake was trying to abduct one of his own children and that he opened fire because Blake started turning toward the officer while holding a knife, the officer's lawyer contends. Sheskey saw Blake put a child in the SUV as he arrived, but he didn't know that two other children were also in the back seat, Matthews said.
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| UN failures on coronavirus underscore the need for reforms Posted: 27 Sep 2020 09:40 AM PDT  The coronavirus that has claimed nearly 1 million lives has underscored the failure of the United Nations to bring countries together to defeat it, prompting renewed calls to reform the world body so that it can meet challenges far different — and more daunting — than those it faced at its birth. As U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said last week, "The pandemic is a clear test of international cooperation – a test we have essentially failed." The first-ever virtual meeting of world leaders at the General Assembly, highlighted increasing tensions among major powers, the growing inequality between rich and poor countries, and the escalating difficulty of getting the U.N.'s 193 member nations to agree on major issues — let alone unite on reforms.
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| Trump vows quick court vote, Biden urges delay for Nov. 3 Posted: 27 Sep 2020 09:38 AM PDT  President Donald Trump said Sunday that confirmation of his Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett will go "quickly" but his Democratic rival, Joe Biden, implored the Republican-led Senate to hold off on voting on her nomination until after the Nov. 3 election to "let the people decide." Speaking at a press conference at the White House, the president spotlighted Barrett's Roman Catholic religion, portraying her as a victim of attacks on her faith. "It's a disgrace," Trump said.
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| South African defence minister's pay docked over use of air force plane Posted: 27 Sep 2020 09:20 AM PDT  South Africa's defence minister was accused of misusing state resources for party political business.
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| Tribes see ballot collection as a lifeline in Indian Country Posted: 27 Sep 2020 08:18 AM PDT  Many older people living on the expansive Pyramid Lake Paiute Reservation in northern Nevada relied on the tribe's senior services van to get to the grocery store or the doctor before the coronavirus pandemic ended that option. Now, tribal officials worry how elders and others who don't have cars or can't travel on their own will get to the post office to return their ballots before Election Day. "The distance has been a barrier for our people to vote," tribal council member Janet Davis said outside the small, wood-shingle post office in the town of Nixon, not far from the turquoise lake that gives the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe its name.
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| Nearly 1M who died of COVID-19 also illuminated treatment Posted: 27 Sep 2020 07:29 AM PDT  The nearly 1 million people around the world who have lost their lives to COVID-19 have left us a gift: Through desperate efforts to save their lives, scientists now better understand how to treat and prevent the disease — and millions of others may survive. Ming Wang, 71, and his wife were on a cruise from Australia, taking a break after decades of running the family's Chinese restaurant in Papillion, Nebraska, when he was infected. In the 74 days he was hospitalized before his death in June, doctors frantically tried various experimental approaches, including enrolling him in a study of an antiviral drug that ultimately showed promise.
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| Barrett could be Ginsburg's polar opposite on Supreme Court Posted: 27 Sep 2020 07:12 AM PDT  Amy Coney Barrett paid homage to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in her White House speech Saturday as a shatterer of glass ceilings. Barrett, a judge on the federal appeals court based in Chicago, made clear in her Rose Garden address that she looks to conservative Justice Antonin Scalia, for whom she once worked, and not Ginsburg, on matters of law.
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| Military suicides up as much as 20% in COVID era Posted: 27 Sep 2020 06:49 AM PDT  Military suicides have increased by as much as 20% this year compared to the same period in 2019, and some incidents of violent behavior have spiked as service members struggle under COVID-19, war-zone deployments, national disasters and civil unrest. While the data is incomplete and causes of suicide are complex, Army and Air Force officials say they believe the pandemic is adding stress to an already strained force. Such a move would be part of a broader effort to make the wellbeing of soldiers and their families the Army's top priority, overtaking combat readiness and weapons modernization.
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| 10 things you need to know today: September 27, 2020 Posted: 27 Sep 2020 06:44 AM PDT |
| The eyes don't have it: Masks upset classroom communication Posted: 27 Sep 2020 06:01 AM PDT |
| On guns, abortion, high court could become more conservative Posted: 27 Sep 2020 05:39 AM PDT  If Congress confirms President Donald Trump's nominee to succeed Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the Supreme Court would become more conservative, and also perhaps more ready to tackle certain hot-button issues like abortion and guns. Chief Justice John Roberts would also likely become less able to steer the outcome in divisive cases. Ginsburg, who died Sept. 18 at 87, was the leader of the liberal wing of the court, which had been split 5-4 between conservatives and liberals.
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| UN: Yemen's warring sides to swap more than 1,000 prisoners Posted: 27 Sep 2020 05:06 AM PDT |
| Islamist militants kill 18 in north-eastern Nigeria Posted: 27 Sep 2020 04:16 AM PDT  The Islamic State group said it was behind the ambush on a convoy of government officials.
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| Large majority of Swiss reject bid to rein in immigration from EU, says exit poll Posted: 27 Sep 2020 04:10 AM PDT  Swiss voters overwhelmingly rejected a Eurosceptic party's attempt to restrict immigration from the EU in a referendum yesterday (on Sunday) seen as a key test of attitudes towards foreigners. The Swiss People's Party (SVP) called the referendum on scrapping a mutual free movement agreement with the EU. Echoing some of the arguments for Brexit, the Right-wing populist party pushed to take back control of immigration, which it said had become "uncontrolled and excessive". Switzerland's population of about 8.2 million includes some 1.4 million EU citizens. About half a million Swiss nationals live in the EU. The SVP, Switzerland's largest parliamentary party, proposed to give Swiss nationals preferential access to jobs and welfare benefits over citizens of the 27-nation bloc that surrounds the prosperous Alpine country, which is not an EU member-state. Its proposal was defeated 63 per cent to 37 per cent, according to projections by the SRF broadcaster, based on partial results. The initiative was opposed by the government, business leaders and all other political parties out of fear that it would jeopardise Switzerland's close ties with the EU. The SVP had painted a bleak picture of older Swiss workers being replaced by younger immigrants. It blamed foreigners, who make up a quarter of the country's population, for rising housing costs and overcrowded schools and public transport.
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| Conservatives lead in French Senate elections, Greens gain Posted: 27 Sep 2020 04:01 AM PDT  France's main conservative party looked set to keep control of the Senate and the Greens made new gains in partial elections Sunday that posed a new challenge to President Emmanuel Macron's struggling centrist movement. Nearly half of the chamber's 348 seats were up for grabs in the vote, an indirect election in which some 90,000 local elected officials like city councilors choose the senators. As results gradually came in Sunday night, Senate President Gerard Larcher of the Republicans party tweeted that the center-right majority was intact, and that he would run for another term as Senate leader "to restore the confidence that our country so lacks."
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| Israelis mark Yom Kippur under 'painful' virus lockdown Posted: 27 Sep 2020 02:39 AM PDT  The solemn Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, which annually sees Israeli life grind to a halt, begins on Sunday in a nation already under a sweeping coronavirus lockdown. Every year, businesses shut down, roads empty out and even radio and TV stations go silent as the faithful fast for 25 hours and hold intensive prayers of atonement on the holiest day in the Jewish calendar. It's the second nationwide lockdown since the pandemic began, an attempt to contain one of the most severe outbreaks in the world.
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| Former Lebanese FM, president's son-in-law, has coronavirus Posted: 27 Sep 2020 02:37 AM PDT  A former Lebanese foreign minister and son-in-law of President Michel Aoun has tested positive for the coronavirus, his office said Sunday. The statement from his office said Gebran Bassil, who also heads the Christian Free Patriotic Movement party, will isolate until he recovers, adding that the infection level is still "low and acceptable." The announcement comes amid an alarming surge in coronavirus cases in Lebanon, with record numbers registered almost every day for the past week.
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| France vows to protect its Jewish community after stabbing Posted: 27 Sep 2020 01:36 AM PDT  France's interior minister promised Sunday to protect France's Jewish community from extremists after a double stabbing in Paris blamed on Islamic terrorism. Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin visited a synagogue Sunday ahead of the evening start of Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, and said more than 7,000 police and soldiers are protecting Jewish services this weekend. France has Europe's largest Jewish community.
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| Facing IS, last embattled Sikhs, Hindus leave Afghanistan Posted: 27 Sep 2020 01:13 AM PDT  Afghanistan's dwindling community of Sikhs and Hindus is shrinking to its lowest levels. With growing threats from the local Islamic State affiliate, many are choosing to leave the country of their birth to escape the insecurity and a once-thriving community of as many as 250,000 members now counts fewer than 700. The community's numbers have been declining for years because of deep-rooted discrimination in the majority Muslim country.
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| Fighting erupts between Armenia, Azerbaijan; 18 killed Posted: 27 Sep 2020 12:25 AM PDT  Fighting between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces has erupted again over the disputed separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh and the territory's defense ministry said 16 soldiers and two civilians have been killed and more than 100 others wounded. Azerbaijan's president, meanwhile, says his military has suffered losses, but gave no details. Armenia also claimed that four Azerbaijani helicopters were shot down and 33 Azerbaijani tanks and fighting vehicles were hit by artillery.
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| Lebanese army: Shooting in north Lebanon kills 2 soldiers Posted: 27 Sep 2020 12:19 AM PDT  Gunmen in a car opened fire on an army post in northwestern Lebanon on Sunday, triggering a shootout in which two soldiers and one gunman were killed, the Lebanese military said. The attack struck an army post in the Minyeh region, about 90 kilometers (55 miles) north of Beirut. An army operation was underway to arrest the fugitive and uncover the circumstances of the attack, the military said.
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| Leaders to UN: If virus doesn't kill us, climate change will Posted: 26 Sep 2020 11:45 PM PDT  In a year of cataclysm, some world leaders at this week's annual United Nations meeting are taking the long view, warning: If COVID-19 doesn't kill us, climate change will. With Siberia seeing its warmest temperature on record this year and enormous chunks of ice caps in Greenland and Canada sliding into the sea, countries are acutely aware there's no vaccine for global warming. "We are already seeing a version of environmental Armageddon," Fiji's Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama said, citing wildfires in the western U.S. and noting that the Greenland ice chunk was larger than a number of island nations.
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| Arrests in Portland protest follow fairly calm rally Posted: 26 Sep 2020 09:41 PM PDT  Several people in Portland, Oregon, were arrested in anti-police brutality protests that continued into early Sunday, hours after demonstrations ended with few reports of violence. The protests that began Saturday night were declared an unlawful assembly and police began forcing demonstrators out after objects were thrown at officers, including full drink cans, firecrackers and rocks, police said. Hundreds of people had gathered at demonstrations in the downtown area of Oregon's largest city when the unlawful assembly was announced just before midnight.
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| Trump caps judiciary remake with choice of Barrett for court Posted: 26 Sep 2020 09:08 PM PDT  President Donald Trump has nominated Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, capping a dramatic reshaping of the federal judiciary that will resonate for a generation and that he hopes will provide a needed boost to his reelection effort. Barrett, a former clerk to the late Justice Antonin Scalia, said Saturday that she was "truly humbled" by the nomination and quickly aligned herself with Scalia's conservative approach to the law, saying his "judicial philosophy is mine, too." Barrett, 48, was joined in the Rose Garden by her husband and seven children.
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| New US threats to Iraq widen rifts, leave PM exposed Posted: 26 Sep 2020 07:36 PM PDT  Enraged by near-daily attacks on its interests in Iraq, Washington has threatened to close its embassy in Baghdad, in a blow to a premier seen as a bulwark against Iran.
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| North Korea accuses South of intrusion to find dead official Posted: 26 Sep 2020 07:07 PM PDT  North Korea accused South Korea of sending ships across the disputed sea boundary to find the body of a South Korean official recently killed by North Korean troops, warning Sunday the intrusion could escalate tensions. "We urge the South side to immediately halt the intrusion across the military demarcation line in the West Sea that may lead to escalation of tensions," the official Korean Central News Agency said. Along with its denial, South Korea proposed a joint investigation to resolve discrepancies in each country's account of the South Korean official's death last week.
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| In a time of disarray, UN's virtual meeting adds surreal notes Posted: 26 Sep 2020 06:33 PM PDT  "Our common house is in disorder," said French President Emmanuel Macron, describing the troubled state of the United Nations General Assembly as it prepares for a second week of mostly virtual meetings and speeches starting Tuesday.
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| North Korea warns of naval tensions during search for slain South Korean Posted: 26 Sep 2020 04:33 PM PDT  North Korea said on Sunday it is searching for the body a South Korean official killed by its troops, but warned that South Korean naval operations in the area threatened to raise tensions. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un issued a rare apology on Friday for the fatal shooting of the South Korean fisheries official in North Korean waters. Seoul then urged Pyongyang to further investigate the fatal shooting and suggested it could be a joint probe by the two sides. South Korea's military has accused the North's soldiers of killing the man, dousing his body in fuel and setting it on fire near the sea border. North Korean state news agency KCNA said on Sunday that the country's authorities were considering ways to hand over the body to the South if it is found. The report called it an "awful case which should not have happened" but warned that South Korean naval operations near the site of the incident had crossed into North Korean waters.
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| Some Breonna Taylor protesters out past curfew, fires set Posted: 26 Sep 2020 02:48 PM PDT  A diverse crowd of hundreds marched in Louisville's streets chanting "Black Lives Matter" on Saturday night, the fourth night of protests after a grand jury declined to charge officers in the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor. A few police cars followed behind, with officers telling protesters to stay on the sidewalk and out of the street before the march ended.
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