| EXPLAINER-What a N.Korean holiday may reveal about Kim Jong Un's plans Posted: 07 Oct 2020 05:48 PM PDT |
| PRESS DIGEST-Financial Times - Oct 8 Posted: 07 Oct 2020 05:47 PM PDT |
| UN chief: Pandemic shows need for universal health coverage Posted: 07 Oct 2020 05:44 PM PDT  The coronavirus pandemic has highlighted the "utterly inadequate health systems" around the world, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Wednesday in arguing that universal health coverage is essential for nations to deal with future health crises. Guterres said in a video message and policy briefing that COVID-19 has shown the need for universal health coverage, strong public health systems, and emergency preparedness for communities and people everywhere. "At least half the world's people do not have access to the health services they need," he said.
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| Covid could add to 2 million per year stillbirth toll: UN Posted: 07 Oct 2020 05:04 PM PDT  Almost two million babies are stillborn every year -- one every 16 seconds -- the United Nations said Thursday, warning that the Covid-19 pandemic could add another 200,000 deaths to the "devastating" toll.
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| Coronavirus in Africa: Five reasons why Covid-19 has been less deadly than elsewhere Posted: 07 Oct 2020 04:20 PM PDT  The continent of a billion people has had fewer deaths than the UK despite the generally fragile health systems.
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| Mail-in ballot mix-ups: How much should we worry? Posted: 07 Oct 2020 04:07 PM PDT  Several high-profile cases of voters getting incorrect blank absentee ballots in the mail are raising questions about how often such mix-ups occur and whether they could affect this year's presidential election. Mail-in ballots are under heightened scrutiny this year as voters request them in record numbers amid the coronavirus pandemic and President Donald Trump launches baseless attacks against the process.
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| Putin sends a mixed message on US election, hedging his bets Posted: 07 Oct 2020 02:10 PM PDT  Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday decried what he called Joe Biden's "sharp anti-Russian rhetoric" but praised the Democratic presidential nominee's comments on arms control. In his first detailed statements on the U.S. presidential campaign, Putin also lamented President Donald Trump's failure to improve relations between Moscow and Washington, but blamed this on a "bipartisan consensus on the need to contain Russia, to curb our country's development." Putin's comments, to Russian state television, seemed intended to serve multiple purposes: playing to Trump's side by casting the Democrats in a pro-Moscow light, while at the same time hedging his bets by flirting with Biden's camp in case he wins.
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| 2 million stillbirths every year, pandemic might worsen toll Posted: 07 Oct 2020 01:54 PM PDT  The World Health Organization, UNICEF and partners said there are about 2 million stillbirths every year, mostly in the developing world, according to the first-ever global estimates published Thursday. The U.N. health agency said that last year three of every four stillbirths occurred in sub-Saharan Africa or Southern Asia. It defined a stillbirth as a baby born with no signs of life at 28 weeks of pregnancy or later.
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| Republicans see 'grim' Senate map and edge away from Trump Posted: 07 Oct 2020 01:51 PM PDT  Vulnerable Republicans are increasingly taking careful, but clear, steps to distance themselves from President Donald Trump, one sign of a new wave of GOP anxiety that the president's crisis-to-crisis reelection bid could bring down Senate candidates across the country. In key races from Arizona to Texas, Kansas and Maine, Republican senators long afraid of the president's power to strike back at his critics are starting to break with the president — particularly over his handling of the pandemic — in the final stretch of the election. GOP strategists say the distancing reflects a startling erosion of support over a brutal 10-day stretch for Trump, starting with his seething debate performance when he did not clearly denounce a white supremacist group through his hospitalization with COVID-19 and attempts to downplay the virus's danger.
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| King of Jordan names his policy adviser country's new PM Posted: 07 Oct 2020 01:28 PM PDT |
| Editorial Roundup: US Posted: 07 Oct 2020 12:35 PM PDT |
| Investigation finds 'no evidence' Cambridge Analytica misused data to influence Brexit vote Posted: 07 Oct 2020 12:22 PM PDT  A probe into Cambridge Analytica has found 'no evidence' it misused data to influence the Brexit vote. The three-year investigation into Cambridge Analytica, and its now defunct parent company SCL, followed a whistle blower's claim that it had illegally harvested personal data to influence the outcome of both the Brexit referendum and 2016 US presidential election. In a letter to Julian Knight, the chairman of the digital select committee, Elizabeth Denham, the Information Commissioner, said: "From my review of the materials recovered by the investigation I have found no further evidence to change my earlier view that SCL/CA were not involved in the EU referendum campaign in the UK." The letter, which was published on Tuesday, said: "This has been a complex and wide-ranging data protection investigation, touching on some of the most contentious and widely debated issues of recent times. "What is clear is that the use of digital campaign techniques are a permanent fixture of our elections and the wider democratic process and will only continue to grow in the future. The Covid-19 pandemic is only likely to accelerate this process as political parties and campaigns seek to engage with voters in a safe and socially distanced way." In 2018 Facebook claimed Brexit was not influenced by the Cambridge Analytica scandal as no UK users' data was harvested by the consultancy firm. The social media company appealed the £500,000 fine imposed on it at the time, although the letter said 'their appeal was withdrawn based on a settlement agreement' and that 'Facebook paid the full monetary penalty'. Ms Denham added: "I have also confirmed my previous understanding about the poor data practices at the company, which, had they sought to continue trading, would likely have attracted further regulatory action against them by my office." It comes weeks after Alexander Nix, the former boss of Cambridge Analytica, received a seven-year ban from serving as a company director over "potentially unethical" behaviour linked to his position during the scandal. The Insolvency Service said Nix had allowed companies to offer potentially unethical services, including "bribery or honey-trap stings, voter disengagement campaigns, obtaining information to discredit political opponents and spreading information anonymously in political campaigns."
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| Scene for VP debate: Red, white and blue — and plexiglass Posted: 07 Oct 2020 12:21 PM PDT  The stage in Utah has been set with all the trappings of a modern political debate: Red, white and blue carpets, a backdrop of the Declaration of Independence — and plexiglass. The clear partitions that will divide Vice President Mike Pence and Sen. Kamala Harris in Wednesday's vice presidential debate in Salt Lake City are a late addition that serve as a clear reminder that the coronavirus pandemic rages on less than a month before the Nov. 3 election. The plexiglass caused a stir: Harris' team requested they be used after President Donald Trump was diagnosed with COVID-19 shortly after his first presidential debate against Democrat Joe Biden.
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| 'The military's #MeToo moment:' Fort Hood victims speak out Posted: 07 Oct 2020 12:12 PM PDT  Maria Valentine says she was just months into her training at Fort Hood, a U.S. Army base in Texas, in 2006 when a sergeant with a history of alleged harassment toward other soldiers wrote her up after she complained that she didn't want him touching her during body mass measurements. Valentine is one of five women — two active duty soldiers, two veterans and one civilian — who spoke to The Associated Press about experiencing harassment, assault or rape by soldiers at Fort Hood, the other four since 2014. Current and former soldiers have taken to social media with their own accounts of sexual assault and harassment at the base following the disappearance and slaying this year of Spc.
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| Busy 2020 hurricane season has Louisiana bracing a 6th time Posted: 07 Oct 2020 12:04 PM PDT  For the sixth time in the Atlantic hurricane season, people in Louisiana are once more fleeing the state's barrier islands and sailing boats to safe harbor while emergency officials ramp up command centers and consider ordering evacuations. The storm being watched Wednesday was Hurricane Delta, the 25th named storm of the Atlantic's unprecedented hurricane season. Forecasts placed most of Louisiana within Delta's path, with the latest National Hurricane Center estimating landfall in the state on Friday.
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| Eitan Haber, trusted aide to Yitzhak Rabin, dies at 80 Posted: 07 Oct 2020 11:28 AM PDT |
| Peru bet on cheap COVID antibody tests; it didn't go well Posted: 07 Oct 2020 11:24 AM PDT  In the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, the harried health officials of Peru faced a quandary. In March, President Martin Vizcarra took the airwaves to announce he'd signed off on a massive purchase of 1.6 million tests – almost all of them for antibodies. Now, interviews with experts, public purchase orders, import records, government resolutions, patients, and COVID-19 health reports show that the country's bet on rapid antibody tests went dangerously off course.
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| Police release details of Breonna Taylor investigation Posted: 07 Oct 2020 11:13 AM PDT  Police files released Wednesday show contacts between Breonna Taylor and a man she dated previously who was suspected of drug dealing, but raise new questions about what led narcotics investigators to the raid of her home that resulted in her death in a burst of police gunfire. Lt. Dale Massey, a member of the Louisville Metro Police Department SWAT team that arrived on the scene, described the execution of the warrant as an "egregious act." Massey's comments were included in extensive testimony and other evidence that shed light on the internal Louisville police review of Taylor's death.
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| High court nominee served as 'handmaid' in religious group Posted: 07 Oct 2020 11:02 AM PDT  Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett served as a "handmaid," the term then used for high-ranking female leaders in the People of Praise religious community, an old directory for the group's members shows. Barrett has thus far refused to discuss her membership in the Christian organization, which opposes abortion and, according to former members, holds that men are divinely ordained as the "head" of both the family and faith, while it is the duty of wives to submit to them. Portions of two People of Praise directory pages for the South Bend, Indiana, branch were shared with The Associated Press by a former member of the community on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue and because this person still has family members in People of Praise.
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| Astronaut chooses daughter's wedding over space test flight Posted: 07 Oct 2020 10:46 AM PDT  The commander of Boeing's first astronaut flight has pulled himself off the crew so he's on Earth — not at the International Space Station — for his daughter's wedding next year. Boeing astronaut Chris Ferguson announced his decision Wednesday. Last year, NASA astronaut Eric Boe stepped aside from the first Starliner crew for medical reasons.
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| Wisconsin activates field hospital as COVID keeps surging Posted: 07 Oct 2020 10:44 AM PDT  Wisconsin health officials announced Wednesday that a field hospital will open next week at the state fairgrounds near Milwaukee as a surge in COVID-19 cases threatens to overwhelm hospitals. Wisconsin has become a hot spot for the disease over the last month, ranking third nationwide this week in new cases per capita over the last two weeks. "We hoped this day wouldn't come, but unfortunately, Wisconsin is in a much different, more dire place today and our healthcare systems are beginning to become overwhelmed by the surge of COVID-19 cases," Democratic Gov. Tony Evers said in a statement.
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| Ex-officer charged in George Floyd's death freed on $1M bond Posted: 07 Oct 2020 10:44 AM PDT  The former Minneapolis police officer charged with murder in the death of George Floyd posted bail Wednesday and was released from prison, leading Minnesota's governor to activate the National Guard to help keep the peace in the event of protests. According to court documents, Derek Chauvin posted a $1 million bond and was released from the state's facility in Oak Park Heights, where he had been detained. Floyd, a Black man in handcuffs, died May 25 after Chauvin, who is white, pressed his knee against Floyd's neck for several minutes as Floyd said he couldn't breathe.
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| Yemeni officials say clashes continue in Hodeida, 52 killed Posted: 07 Oct 2020 10:31 AM PDT |
| UK pushes for Brexit trade deal but EU demands clarity Posted: 07 Oct 2020 10:27 AM PDT  Britain on Wednesday pressed the European Union to secure a post-Brexit trade deal by mid-October, despite deadlock in talks and calls for movement on key areas of disagreement.
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| UK's Frost: Deal or no deal, we need practical agreements with the EU Posted: 07 Oct 2020 09:55 AM PDT |
| Alexei Navalny calls Gerhard Schroder 'Putin's errand boy' after he casts doubt on poisoning Posted: 07 Oct 2020 09:41 AM PDT  Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition leader, launched a scathing attack on Gerhard Schröder on Wednesday after the former German chancellor appeared to cast doubt on whether the Kremlin had been behind his poisoning. "Schröder is Putin's errand boy," Mr Navalny said in an interview with Germany's Bild newspaper. "It's one thing to be a Putin lobbyist. But now he's trying to protect murderers." Mr Schröder responded by threatening legal action against Bild for publishing comments Mr Navalny made suggesting he had received secret payments from the Putin regime. Mr Schröder served as German chancellor between 1998 and 2005. Once feted for keeping Germany out of the Iraq war and modernising its welfare system, he has become a highly controversial figure since his retirement from politics. Like Tony Blair, he has made millions since leaving politics but has been dogged by scrutiny of his business links with foreign regimes.
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| Taiwan Preps for an Invasion From China as Tensions Heat Up Posted: 07 Oct 2020 09:37 AM PDT  HONG KONG—In a rare act of bipartisanship, Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) passed a resolution on Tuesday calling for the Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs to reestablish formal diplomatic relations with the United States, two and a half weeks after Chinese state media issued a threat against the personal safety of Taiwan's president.Multiple factors explain the two parties' support for the bill, and they all point to the Chinese Communist Party's aggression toward Taiwan. Every day for more than two weeks, warplanes dispatched by China's People's Liberation Army Air Force breached Taiwan's air defense identification zone—airspace that has been managed by Taiwan since the end of World War II.These fly-bys are part of a sustained campaign by Beijing to provoke military reactions from Taiwan and one of its closest allies, the United States, which maintains a naval presence in the Taiwan Strait. Chinese warships routinely conduct drills in the same waters.In Taiwan Elections, President Tsai Ing-wen Triumphed, and China's Fake News FailedBut recent saber-rattling has been rising to a crescendo. CCP-backed nationalistic outlet Global Times said in September that Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-wen is "playing with fire" by hosting a senior U.S. State Department official in Taipei, and that "a war will be set off" if Taiwan continues down its path of democratic governance and self-determination, ending with Tsai being "wiped out."Read that as a direct threat of violence made on a state-affiliated social media account against a democratically elected national leader.After recent visits by U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar to Taiwan in early August—the highest-ranking American official to travel to the island since 1979—and then State Department envoy Keith Krach's stop in Taipei in mid-September, Taiwanese legislators want their foreign ministry to lean on the U.S. to "help resist the CCP."At the moment, the United States does not recognize Taiwan as a country, but regularly supplies military equipment to the Taiwanese military for defense purposes.The Daily Beast has reached out to current and former Taiwanese diplomats, including foreign minister Joseph Wu, but has not received a response regarding the landmark resolution or the ministry's next steps.Will China Invade Hong Kong? Or Taiwan Instead?Taiwan is a subject of obsession among CCP leadership. To annex its main island—which Beijing sees as part of "One China"—would cement the legacy of a party leader with revanchist predilections. In January 2019, CCP leader Xi Jinping said in a speech to party officials and military officers that China is "growing strong, the nation is rejuvenating, and unification between the two sides of the Strait is the great trend of history."That's all to say that Beijing is ready to mobilize troops rather than tolerate an independent Taiwanese nation. One possible path to "reunification" that cannot be ignored is a hostile takeover or open war, specifically a military invasion by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) to conquer and take control of Taiwan, a nation of nearly 24 million people, by sea and air.This specter has led to massive and frequent arms acquisitions by Taiwanese authorities. In September, the Trump administration approved plans to sell $7 billion worth of weapons and military equipment to Taiwan, coinciding with elevated provocation by Chinese forces in the Taiwan Strait. The deal covers sea mines, drones, and cruise missiles as part of the second largest weapons sale from the U.S. to the island nation, just $1 billion shy of Taiwan's purchase made last year.A preference of individually cheaper armaments over flashy, big-ticket items like fighter jets fits the Taiwanese military's adoption of asymmetric defense measures in preparation for armed conflict with Chinese forces.Last year, speaking to The Daily Beast, Holmes Liao, the coordinator of security technologies at Taipei's Prospect Foundation, a research institute that focuses on foreign policy and international affairs, said the Taiwanese military's defense strategy has shifted from actively disrupting Chinese forces to "anticipate an invasion from the Strait and then to defeat the enemy on the beach." The core idea is to make it extremely costly for the PLA to eliminate Taiwan's defenses and to discourage an invasion.Whether or not Taiwan's foreign ministry actively probes the possibility of establishing renewed diplomatic relations with the United States, the Trump administration is unlikely to recognize Taiwan's sovereignty explicitly, because doing so may lead to a full break with Beijing, which is an outcome that even most China hawks wish to avoid. In his book The Room Where It Happened, former national security adviser John Bolton wrote that Trump is "particularly dyspeptic about Taiwan."Nonetheless, the Taiwan Strait is where China and the U.S. constantly send military signals to each other, making it a stretch of air and sea where armed conflict between the two superpowers is most likely to take place. Lately, those signals have been getting hotter, and recent developments suggest China's PLA is ready to escalate tensions in the region to probe exactly how far the U.S. is willing to go to maintain its naval presence near Taiwan—and mainland China.In the meantime, the people of Taiwan are caught in the crossfire. As each day passes, that metaphor inches closer to reality.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| UK sees 'landing zone' for Brexit trade deal but tells EU to hurry up Posted: 07 Oct 2020 09:06 AM PDT |
| Palestinian hunger striker said to be in critical condition Posted: 07 Oct 2020 08:43 AM PDT |
| UN calls for universal health coverage without delay Posted: 07 Oct 2020 08:34 AM PDT  United Nations chief Antonio Guterres said Wednesday that the coronavirus pandemic had shown that countries must increase efforts to provide universal health care coverage without delay.
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| The myth of Mike Pence's appeal Posted: 07 Oct 2020 08:32 AM PDT  Before certain events of last Friday, this year's first and only vice presidential debate might have been politely described as the least anticipated event of 2020, notwithstanding the release of a new Bright Eyes album.There are good reasons for this, which are worth discussing, as a nation now prepares to turn its lonely eyes to Michael Pence.The vice president is, surprisingly, one would think, given his ostensibly straight-shooting style, among the least understood figures in American politics. This is true not least of all among liberals, many of whom appear to be under the impression that Pence would have a better chance at the top of the GOP ticket than his boss. The argument, if I understand it correctly, is that the Republican product — lower taxes, repealing the Affordable Care Act — would sell better with different packaging.This is totally wrong. It is the same absurd logic that led feckless cable news journalists to give Donald Trump the billions of dollars in free air time that ultimately won him his party's nomination in 2016, on the assumption that he was certain to lose the general election. So far from being the least likely candidate to beat Hillary Clinton, Trump is probably the only Republican who could have done it.Which of the other roughly 224 participants in the 2016 GOP primary could have won Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania? It is difficult now to remember that as recently as 2015, defending the Iraq war was a mainstream position in Republican circles; with the lone exception of Rick Santorum, who had been out of the Senate for a decade, not a single other candidate in that primary was critical of NAFTA or the broader thrust of American trade policy. Trump's insistence upon leaving Social Security and Medicare intact separated him from his opponents, who favored either means testing and increased age thresholds for these programs or their outright elimination. These are not positions that would have won over the small — tens of thousands in a handful of Midwestern states — but crucial number of reliable Democratic voters who broke for Trump.Nor was Trump's appeal simply a question of policy. It is his crude antagonistic style that endears him to his supporters, many of whom do not share any of the Republican Party's traditional commitments and stand to benefit little if at all from the enactment of its economic agenda. Like Barack Obama before him, Trump managed to convince millions of Americans that voting for him was some kind of life-affirming existential gesture.It is just about possible to believe that in 2016, Trump needed Pence, who gave him credibility with congressional Republicans and in the wider world of conservative think tanks and media outlets. If the governor of Indiana, for utterly inexplicable reasons then considered something of a rising star in right-wing politics, was on board with this guy, then Tea Party congressmen could hold their noses. But now? I am surprised the president did not dump Pence unceremoniously in favor of someone like Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina who briefly served as Trump's ambassador to the United Nations. As things stand, the best that can be hoped for from Pence in Wednesday's debate is that his sheer tediousness will convince viewers to turn off their televisions and watch old Trump clips on YouTube.Pence is an impossible old fossil, a crude survival of Homo republicanthalensis as the species existed during the Bush administration. His vision of conservatism failed decisively in two successive presidential elections. It has as much of a chance of meeting with a revival in the next one as Perry Como has of reaching the top of the Spotify charts.This is why fantasies of replacing Trump at the top of the Republican ticket with Pence are absurd regardless of any lingering concerns about the former's health. It is also why in 2024 it is impossible to imagine him winning the nomination, much less the White House.Regardless of what happens at the beginning of November, Pence has no political future, at least outside of his home state, in which it is possible to imagine him lording over undergraduates and hapless administrators as the chancellor of, say, Purdue University.Want more essential commentary and analysis like this delivered straight to your inbox? Sign up for The Week's "Today's best articles" newsletter here.More stories from theweek.com Trump is shockingly bad at this Is Joe Biden the Konrad Adenauer of the U.S.?
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| No charges for Wisconsin officer in killing of Black teen Posted: 07 Oct 2020 08:18 AM PDT  A Black Wisconsin police officer who fatally shot a Black teenager outside a suburban Milwaukee mall in February won't be charged because he had reasonable belief that deadly force was necessary, a prosecutor said Wednesday. Wauwatosa Officer Joseph Mensah shot 17-year-old Alvin Cole outside Mayfair Mall on Feb. 2 after police responded to a reported disturbance at the shopping center. Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm, in a 14-page letter laying out his rationale, said evidence showed Cole fled from police carrying a stolen 9 mm handgun.
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| The Latest: Pence, Harris face off in 1st and only VP debate Posted: 07 Oct 2020 07:50 AM PDT  Republican Mike Pence and Democrat Kamala Harris are facing off in their only vice presidential debate. Wednesday's prime-time meeting is a chance for voters to decide whether Pence or Harris is ready to assume the duties of the presidency. It's hardly a theoretical question: President Donald Trump is 74 and recovering from the coronavirus, and Joe Biden is 77.
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| Boston delays school reopening plan after virus cases surge Posted: 07 Oct 2020 07:42 AM PDT |
| UK close to Brexit deal tying it to the European Court of Human Rights Posted: 07 Oct 2020 07:36 AM PDT  British negotiators are close to clinching a deal that commits the UK to remaining subject to rulings by the European Court of Human Rights after Brexit, as Michael Gove put the chances of securing a free trade agreement at about 66 percent. The UK would sacrifice a new extradition treaty and access to EU criminal databases if it quit the international agreement, under the terms of the potential deal, Brussels sources told the Daily Telegraph. Separately David Frost, the UK's chief negotiator, signalled a potential British concession over subsidy law. He said, "We're beginning a discussion on if it is possible to go further than normal in a free trade agreement and agree some provisions that shape and condition subsidy policy on both sides." In a potential olive branch to Brussels, he agreed that a strong dispute resolution system for state aid, a key EU demand, could also be in the UK's interest. In the House of Commons, Mr Gove, a Cabinet Minister, was asked if there was a 66 percent chance of a free trade deal with Brussels. "That's about right," the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster said. The EU insists that respect for the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), and its Strasbourg court, is a condition for cooperation in law enforcement after the end of the transition period on December 31. Either party can trigger a "guillotine clause" suspending or terminating the judicial cooperation agreement if they have serious concerns about the protection of human rights and the rule of law, under a British proposal put to the EU. Lord Frost, the UK's chief negotiator, told peers in the Lords EU Committee on Wednesday, "I think I can see a way forward on that that satisfies all sides' needs. We aren't there yet but I think I can see it." The deal, part of the ongoing UK-EU trade negotiations in London this week, risks enraging Tory MPs and voters. More than half of Conservative voters back reforming human rights law, according to a poll published on Sunday. The ECHR, and its European Court of Human Rights, are part of a completely different legal system to the EU. They are both part of the Council of Europe, which has 47 member states including Russia and the UK. "Upholding the ECHR would be identified in the deal as a precondition for cooperation in the security area. Should that stop, then the security cooperation would end," an EU source said. "The negotiators are still exploring but it is in a more constructive space." A UK spokesman said, "The UK remains committed to the ECHR. We agree that cooperation with the EU should be based on our shared values of respect for fundamental rights and for the rule of law." Failure to reach agreement on police cooperation before January 1 will not mean the end of all collaboration between UK and EU police forces. But that cooperation will be based on older, pre-EU agreements or Brussels' rules for intelligence sharing with non-EU countries, which are less efficient and more cumbersome. Dominic Cummings, the Prime Minister's most senior adviser, has attacked the European court's judgements in the past for blocking the deportation of "dangerous" foreign criminals such as radical Islamist cleric Abu Qatada. Lord Frost suggested it was possible that Boris Johnson's deadline of the October 15 EU summit could be hit. He said, "We've made quite good progress so far. This is a hugely wide ranging agreement and in many areas the landing zone and the nature of the agreement is pretty clear if not exactly pinned down yet." Michel Barnier, the EU's chief negotiator told ambassadors in Brussels the European Council summit would be for "stock-taking" rather than for the blessing of a finalised agreement. Charles Michel, the president of the European Council, spoke to Mr Johnson, who underlined his commitment to try and reach a deal, on Wednesday. "The EU prefers a deal but not at any price," Mr Michel tweeted after the call, "Time for the UK to put its cards on the table." In the Lords Committee, Michael Gove claimed that the EU had 'recognised' that exit summary declarations for firms sending goods from Northern Ireland to Great Britain 'are not strictly necessary for the safety and integrity of the Single Market'. If true, that would remove one of the reasons for controversial clauses in the Internal Market Bill overriding the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement. A successful trade deal is widely believed to make the clauses unnecessary and the EU has said it will never sign off on a deal while the provisions remain in the legislation. "We'll wait and see what happens in the negotiations," Mr Gove said, when asked if the clauses could be dropped if the trade talks were successful.
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| Texas high court blocks Houston plan to offer mail ballots Posted: 07 Oct 2020 07:26 AM PDT |
| Hard-hit Peru's costly bet on cheap COVID-19 antibody tests Posted: 07 Oct 2020 07:08 AM PDT  In the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, the harried health officials of Peru faced a quandary. In March, President Martin Vizcarra took the airwaves to announce he'd signed off on a massive purchase of 1.6 million tests – almost all of them for antibodies. Now, interviews with experts, public purchase orders, import records, government resolutions, patients, and COVID-19 health reports show that the country's bet on rapid antibody tests went dangerously off course.
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| For Coptic Church, changes, questions after priest ouster Posted: 07 Oct 2020 07:04 AM PDT  Sally Zakhari said that for 17 years, she told priests and leaders in the Coptic Orthodox Church how a Coptic priest sexually abused her at her Florida home during what was supposed to be her first confession. Then, Zakhari went public with her allegations, airing them on social media in July. Khalil was stripped of his priesthood and ordered to return to his pre-ordination name days later.
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| Ethiopia profile - Timeline Posted: 07 Oct 2020 06:47 AM PDT  A chronology of key events in the history of Ethiopia from the 2nd-century Kingdom of Axum to the present day.
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| What do we know about superspreader events in the pandemic? Posted: 07 Oct 2020 06:36 AM PDT  In Hong Kong, an outbreak at four bars infected 39 customers, 20 staff members and 14 musicians before ballooning further to infect 33 family members and other contacts. Scientists studying three months of contact tracing data from Hong Kong estimated that 19% of people infected were responsible for 80% of the spread of coronavirus infections. To prevent superspreader events, we need to better understand them, said Anne Rimoin, an infectious diseases expert at the University of California, Los Angeles.
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| UK's Frost says we are still some way from a deal with EU on subsidies Posted: 07 Oct 2020 06:35 AM PDT |
| For Coptic Church, changes, questions after priest ouster Posted: 07 Oct 2020 06:06 AM PDT  For 17 years, Sally Zakhari said she told priests and leaders in the Coptic Orthodox Church her childhood nightmare — how a Coptic priest visiting from Egypt sexually abused her at her Florida home during what was supposed to be her first confession. Then, Zakhari aired her allegations on social media in July and Khalil was stripped of his priesthood and ordered to return to his pre-ordination name days later.
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| UK's Frost says working very hard to get EU deal, Oct. 15 is deadline Posted: 07 Oct 2020 06:06 AM PDT |
| Officials: Nigerian migrant burned alive in Libya's Tripoli Posted: 07 Oct 2020 06:00 AM PDT  A migrant worker was burned to death in the Libyan capital, U.N. and government officials said Wednesday, the latest in abuses that migrants and refuges face in the conflict-stricken country. The Interior Ministry of the U.N.-supported government said three Libyans on Tuesday stormed a factory in the Tripoli neighborhood of Tajoura, where African migrants were working. "The young man was burned alive, in yet again another senseless crime against migrants in the country," tweeted Federico Soda, the chief in Libya for the International Organization for Migration.
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| 'Just not fair': Communities bristle at new NYC shutdowns Posted: 07 Oct 2020 05:51 AM PDT  Anger and resentment flared Wednesday in New York City neighborhoods facing new coronavirus shutdowns, with some residents saying the state is unfairly targeting Orthodox Jewish communities as it tries to stamp out hot spots before they spread. Protests erupted in Brooklyn's Borough Park neighborhood Tuesday night after Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced new restrictions on schools, businesses and houses of worship in some parts of the city and state.
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| South Africa white farmers condemned for storming Senekal courthouse Posted: 07 Oct 2020 05:49 AM PDT  The protesters wanted the police to hand over suspects in a farmer's murder.
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| Russia reports successful test launch of hypersonic missile Posted: 07 Oct 2020 05:33 AM PDT |
| Election 2020 Today: VP debate night, US cautions voters Posted: 07 Oct 2020 05:30 AM PDT  DEBATE NIGHT: Vice President Mike Pence and his Democratic challenger, California Sen. Kamala Harris, are set to face off in a debate that will offer starkly different visions for a country confronting escalating crises. The debate in Salt Lake City is the most highly anticipated vice presidential debate in recent memory. Pence will likely have to defend the Trump administration's handling of the pandemic, while Harris is expected to address racial injustice and explain her views on law enforcement. TRUMP'S TAXES: An obscure function of Congress may have once put President Donald Trump's tax information in the hands of congressional staff. But even if it did, that doesn't mean staffers can give access to Trump's tax returns to lawmakers, at least not legally.
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| Nobel Peace Prize awaited as ray of hope after a tough year Posted: 07 Oct 2020 05:30 AM PDT  In a year of the coronavirus pandemic, military conflicts, democratic backsliding and accelerating climate change, Friday's announcement of this year's Nobel Peace Prize is being awaited as a chance to impart hope to a world in turmoil. From climate activists to political dissidents to international organizations, there is no shortage of causes or candidates for the Norwegian Nobel Committee to consider for what arguably remains the world's most prestigious prize. The committee in Oslo maintains absolute secrecy on who it favors as the person or group that has done the most to promote peace, but that has never stopped speculation ahead of the announcement.
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| Allies and foes watch as Trump fights the coronavirus Posted: 07 Oct 2020 05:26 AM PDT  America's national security officials are on alert and global markets shook – at least briefly – following the announcement that President Donald Trump tested positive for the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.As someone who studies the U.S.'s image, I am curious about the geopolitical implications of the leader of the free world falling victim to the pandemic, and how America's allies, adversaries and others might use this moment, or ones in the weeks and months ahead, to their advantage. I am also reminded of a famous quote from the Austrian diplomat Klemens Wenzel Furst von Metternich, who in 1848 said, "When France sneezes, the whole of Europe catches a cold." He probably didn't think his warning about the global implications of a respiratory disease would ever literally come true.American adversaries like Russia, allies like the United Kingdom and regions with mixed relations like the Korean peninsula are all watching carefully to see what this illness at the top might mean for them, even as the president returns to the White House.Given the overall decline in America's standing in the world in recent years, it may be that Trump's illness isn't at important as the U.S. national security community would think. Or, the world may continue to wait cautiously until Trump's health is out of the woods. A cautious eye from RussiaRussia is a formidable adversary with a curious relationship to Trump. After the fall of the Berlin Wall and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1989, Russia sought to expand its influence in world affairs, seeking to regain power and prestige lost since the heyday of the Cold War.Russia's quest for greatness, perhaps sparked by fears of Western expansion through enlargement of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, led to its annexation of Crimea in 2014 and military intervention in the Syrian Civil War in 2015. In 2016, Russia covertly influenced the U.S. presidential election. Through a coordinated social media campaign, hacking operations and exploiting contacts within the Trump campaign, Russia violated and destabilized America's election process. There is evidence that Russia is at it again. Trump has repeatedly denied those facts, calling it all a "hoax." This has led some leading analysts and government officials to suspect the Russian government may have some information that would compromise Trump if it were made public.That could include personal or business debt owed to the Russian government, or more salacious, unproven allegations. In 2017, the FBI opened an investigation into whether the president might be somehow working for Russia – but it never completed the work, so any potential conclusions are unknown. It is clear, though, that Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to exert dominance over the United States and would lose substantial leverage were Trump to succumb to COVID-19. According to author Angela Stent, Putin is someone who looks for the weaknesses, vulnerabilities and distractions in an opponent – even a larger one – and then moves in. Perhaps Putin's past as the 1976 judo champion of Leningrad has informed his approach to politics. Although Russia is no longer the superpower it once was, Putin has sought to leverage America's indecision against itself, whether it was Obama's hesitancy to intervene in Syria in 2015, or infighting between the president and the Senate over the existence of Russian interference in the U.S. electoral process. A friendly hand from the UKThe United Kingdom, by contrast, would likely retain a close, strong relationship with the United States, with deep economic ties and similar interests of promoting freedom and democracy around the world. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Trump also share a personal bond, having won populist support campaigning against their nations' political establishments. But that is only the latest in a long tradition of connections between American presidents and British leaders dating back to Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Winston Churchill during World War II. Those political connections, with more recent chapters involving Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, as well as Bill Clinton and Tony Blair, are supported by historic and cultural ties as well.Those bonds, both personal and policy, would likely endure, regardless of what may happen to Trump – and despite the fact that many British people dislike the president. The Korean situationThe Korean peninsula has a long and complex history, particularly since the division of the two Koreas at the 38th parallel at the close of World War II. Both Koreas are highly nationalistic, but would likely react in different ways if faced with a weakened Trump.The isolated nation of North Korea has had at times a tempestuous relationship with the United States, detonating nuclear weapons to capture the world's attention and extract economic concessions from the international community. Trump and North Korea's Kim Jong Un have enjoyed occasional good relations since their first summit in Singapore in 2018, largely symbolic, followed by a lackluster meeting in Hanoi in 2019 and a rendezvous at the Demilitarized Zone later that year. Kim and Trump have apparently even exchanged personal letters of affection. Critics have said Kim simply played Trump as a novice on the world's stage, using these meetings to bolster North Korea's standing in the world. That may have helped further consolidate Kim's personal power in a failed state where military generals may be waiting for their opportunity to seize control. Others have said Trump bungled the relationship by failing to prevent Kim from developing more nuclear weapons. But Trump has managed to achieve key face-to-face meetings with Kim. Trump's demise might destabilize U.S.-North Korean relations, prompting North Korea once again to threaten to use nuclear weapons. Meanwhile, in South Korea, whose national security depends on U.S. military power and assurances of mutual defense against North Korean and Chinese aggression, confidence in the American president to do the right thing in world affairs has faltered. South Koreans have largely disapproved of Trump's policies on climate change, the Iran nuclear deal and the U.S.-Mexico border wall. A weakened President Trump might give South Koreans pause to rethink their relationship with other great powers nearby, like China, although the latest data suggest South Koreans prefer Trump over Chinese President Xi Jinping.Trump's relatively quick return to the White House may slow these international reevaluations, but the unpredictable nature of COVID-19 means they'll all be keeping a close eye on what happens next.This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts.Read more: * A brief history of presidents disclosing – or trying to hide – health problems * Trump's COVID-19 diagnosis: What lies ahead could include a constitutional crisis over successionMonti Datta does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
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