| UN investigator says Belarus must stop repressing its people Posted: 26 Oct 2020 05:55 PM PDT  The U.N. human rights investigator for Belarus demanded Monday that the government "stop repressing its own people," saying at least 20,000 were detained in August and September and hundreds reported beaten, intimidated, tortured or ill-treated in custody. Anais Marin quoted sources in the Interior Ministry and non-governmental groups for those figures and said most detainees have ended up facing administrative or criminal charges, citing over 400 criminal cases against protesters since disputed elections Aug. 9.
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| Trump and Africa: How Ethiopia was 'betrayed' over Nile dam Posted: 26 Oct 2020 05:44 PM PDT  The US president has sided with Egypt in the escalating dispute over a mega dam, analysts say.
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| Iran's Zarif urges UN to unite against US unilateral actions Posted: 26 Oct 2020 04:49 PM PDT |
| High court won’t extend Wisconsin's absentee ballot deadline Posted: 26 Oct 2020 04:36 PM PDT  The Supreme Court is siding with Republicans to prevent Wisconsin from counting mailed ballots that are received after Election Day. In a 5-3 order, the justices on Monday refused to reinstate a lower court order that called for mailed ballots to be counted if they are received up to six days after the Nov. 3 election. A federal appeals court had already put that order on hold.
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| US solidifies sanctions against Iran oil before election Posted: 26 Oct 2020 04:04 PM PDT  President Donald Trump's administration on Monday slapped fresh sanctions on Iran's oil sector including over sales to Syria and Venezuela, reducing Joe Biden's room for maneuver if he wins next week's election.
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| Trump eyes hosting election night party at his DC hotel Posted: 26 Oct 2020 02:55 PM PDT  President Donald Trump has his eye on hosting an election night party at his own hotel in the nation's capital. Over the past several days, the campaign has pushed out fundraising emails in the president's name offering donors the chance to enter a drawing "to join Team Trump at the Election Night Party in my favorite hotel," in Washington, suggesting he will use his luxury hotel as the backdrop for reacting to election results. The campaign has also spotlighted plans for the party in fundraising blasts from the president's son Donald Trump.
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| Vladimir Putin Sees Nothing 'Criminal' In Hunter Biden's Ukraine Work Posted: 26 Oct 2020 02:26 PM PDT  Russian President Vladimir Putin has openly disagreed with President Trump's debate claims about Hunter Biden. President Trump has blasted Democratic opponent Joe Biden for his son's alleged unethical ties in the region. Joe Biden has dismissed them as false.
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| Putin Says Nothing Criminal In Hunter Biden's Ukraine Work Posted: 26 Oct 2020 02:26 PM PDT Russian President Vladimir Putin has openly disagreed with President Trump's debate claims about Hunter Biden. President Trump has blasted Democratic opponent Joe Biden for his son's alleged unethical ties in the region. Joe Biden has dismissed them as false.
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| Sudan’s leader: Israel deal 'incentive' to end pariah status Posted: 26 Oct 2020 01:37 PM PDT  Sudan's leader said Monday that the decision to normalize ties with Israel was an incentive for President Donald Trump's administration to end Sudan's international pariah status. Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, head of the ruling sovereign council, told state television that without the normalization with the Jewish state now, Sudan would have had to wait until deep into next year to be removed from the U.S.'s list of state sponsors of terrorism.
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| Albania repatriating 5 family members of fighters in Syria Posted: 26 Oct 2020 01:30 PM PDT  Albania's prime minister said Monday that four children and a woman, all related to Albanian nationals who joined Islamist extremist groups fighting in Syria and Iraq, are being repatriated from a Syrian camp. Edi Rama told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from Beirut, Lebanon, that the return of the five was arranged after 12-month negotiations, and that his government also hoped to secure the repatriation of other Albanian nationals stuck in Syria in similar circumstances. All five were taken to Beirut Monday, where Rama had dinner with them, and were due to fly back to the Albanian capital of Tirana Tuesday.
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| Palestinians push for international conference, US is open Posted: 26 Oct 2020 12:39 PM PDT |
| Why Nigerian looters are targeting Covid-19 aid Posted: 26 Oct 2020 11:45 AM PDT  Raids on warehouses and businesses continue in the wake of anti-police brutality protests.
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| Turkey: Suspected Kurdish militants dead after police chase Posted: 26 Oct 2020 11:41 AM PDT |
| Under Trump, US no longer leads world on refugee protections Posted: 26 Oct 2020 11:18 AM PDT  For decades, America led the world in humanitarian policies by creating a sanctuary for the oppressed, admitting more refugees annually than all other countries combined. Trump has arguably changed the immigration system more than any U.S. president, thrilling supporters with an "America first" message and infuriating critics who call his signature domestic issue insular, xenophobic and even racist. Before November's election, The Associated Press is examining some of Trump's biggest immigration policy changes, from halting asylum to stepping back from America's humanitarian role.
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| Turkey, Turkish Cypriots seek 2-state deal for Cyprus Posted: 26 Oct 2020 11:16 AM PDT |
| US health official says pandemic clearly can be controlled Posted: 26 Oct 2020 11:02 AM PDT  A day after White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said "we're not going to control the pandemic," a top Trump administration health official said Monday that Americans have already proven they can do that through basic safeguards shown to work. "I think we can control the pandemic," Assistant Secretary for Health Adm. Brett Giroir said on a call with reporters.
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| Barrett ads tied to interest groups funded by unnamed donors Posted: 26 Oct 2020 10:27 AM PDT  The expected confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday is the culmination of a decadeslong coordinated effort by a constellation of conservative groups, fueled by tens of millions of dollars from wealthy anonymous donors, to tilt the high court farther to the right. At the forefront has been Judicial Crisis Network, which has spent at least $6.3 million in five weeks on national television spots supporting the Republican effort to confirm President Donald Trump's nominee a week before the election. The group spent an additional $2.9 million on digital ads, direct mail and text messages supporting Barrett as of Oct. 26, according to data obtained by The Associated Press from a conservative advertising firm.
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| EU close to decision on UK request to review O2-Virgin deal, says Vestager Posted: 26 Oct 2020 10:18 AM PDT |
| Rights group: Hamas frees Gazan man who met Israelis on Zoom Posted: 26 Oct 2020 10:17 AM PDT |
| Coronavirus deaths are rising again in the US, as feared Posted: 26 Oct 2020 10:15 AM PDT  Deaths per day from the coronavirus in the U.S. are on the rise again, just as health experts had feared, and cases are climbing in practically every state, despite assurances from President Donald Trump over the weekend that "we're rounding the turn, we're doing great." With Election Day just over a week away, average deaths per day across the country are up 10% over the past two weeks, from 721 to nearly 794 as of Sunday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Newly confirmed infections per day are rising in 47 states, and deaths are up in 34.
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| Moon holds more water in more places than ever thought Posted: 26 Oct 2020 09:34 AM PDT  The moon's shadowed, frigid nooks and crannies may hold frozen water in more places and in larger quantities than previously suspected. While previous observations have indicated millions of tons of ice in the permanently shadowed craters of the moon's poles, a pair of studies in the journal Nature Astronomy take the availability of lunar surface water to a new level. More than 15,400 square miles (40,000 square kilometers) of lunar terrain have the capability to trap water in the form of ice, according to a team led by the University of Colorado's Paul Hayne.
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| Iran pleads at UN against US wars Posted: 26 Oct 2020 09:26 AM PDT  Iran's foreign minister on Monday urged action at the United Nations against US unilateralism as he denounced Washington over wars waged since 2001.
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| Somalia conflict: Al-Shabab 'collects more revenue than government' Posted: 26 Oct 2020 09:22 AM PDT  Al-Shabab uses threats and violence to extort the money from Somalis, a new report says.
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| Strikers in Belarus press for authoritarian leader's ouster Posted: 26 Oct 2020 09:21 AM PDT  Factory workers, students and business owners in Belarus on Monday began a strike to demand that authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko resign after more than two months of continuing mass protests following a disputed election. Most state-run enterprises continued to operate despite the strike, which was called by opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. Students in some universities refused to attend lectures and marched in Minsk in protest.
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| Tom Cotton is campaigning hard, just not for reelection Posted: 26 Oct 2020 09:00 AM PDT  Six years after being elected in an expensive and heated race, Republican Sen. Tom Cotton is on the ballot again and he's campaigning hard — just not in Arkansas. With no Democratic rival and millions in campaign funds to spend, Cotton has run ads in the battleground states of Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin. Cotton's moves show a barely concealed ambition: While his GOP colleagues are struggling mightily to save their Senate seats, his schedule has all the hallmarks of someone focused on the White House in 2024.
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| Israeli museum postpones plans to sell Islamic antiquities Posted: 26 Oct 2020 08:47 AM PDT |
| Soldiers fire on Guinea protesters after disputed election Posted: 26 Oct 2020 08:02 AM PDT  Guinean soldiers fired on protesters with automatic rifles after the controversial re-election of the country's president last week, according to videos shared on social media. President Alpha Condé, a former freedom fighter who once described himself as the 'Mandela and Obama of Guinea', won almost 60 per cent of the vote, the country's official election body announced on Saturday. The victory grants the 82-year-old the right to begin his third term, which opponents have called a power grab in violation of the country's constitutional two-term limit. Mr Condé says a referendum in March legitimises his position. The opposition candidate Cellou Dalein Diallo, who was reported to have garnered just over 33 per cent of the vote, urged his followers to take to the streets after he proclaimed the vote rigged and himself the rightful winner. Videos on Twitter showed families crying over the shooting of their relatives and security forces vandalising the homes and property of protesters. With reports of dozens of people killed in the unrest that has followed last Sunday's poll, analysts fear further bloodshed between the country's two main ethnicities - the Mandinka, the president's ethnicity, and the Fulani, Mr Diallo's. Emissaries from the United Nations, the African Union and West Africa's regional power bloc rushed to the country's capital Conakry on Sunday to try to defuse tensions. Mr Condé became Guinea's first democratically-elected president in 2010 after more than four decades as an opposition leader. He spent years in exile after he was imprisoned and tortured by Guinea's former dictator Lansana Conté. When Mr Condé finally came to power, he was widely lauded as a champion of democracy by the likes of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Hungarian liberal activist and billionaire, George Soros. But in recent years the ageing president has grown more authoritarian in the hopes of hanging on power.
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| Trump's closest allies around the world are distancing themselves from him in apparent preparation for a Biden win Posted: 26 Oct 2020 07:46 AM PDT  Vladimir Putin, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Boris Johnson have refused to echo President Donald Trump's attacks or set up meetings with Joe Biden's team.
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| Israel-Sudan Deal Seals Trump's Mideast Legacy Posted: 26 Oct 2020 07:25 AM PDT |
| Low expectations in Mexico as US election approaches Posted: 26 Oct 2020 07:24 AM PDT  A week before U.S. elections, expectations and attention are unusually low in a foreign country that may have more at stake than any other. Many Mexicans would be glad to see a more neighborly president who hasn't called Mexicans rapists or threatened to build a wall against them, but the relationship has survived a Donald Trump presidency, so there's a feeling it can handle any outcome. In the streets, few can name Democratic candidate Joe Biden, but there's a general sense that Mexicans are ready to take their chances with someone other than Trump.
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| The Latest: Trump celebrates expected Barrett confirmation Posted: 26 Oct 2020 07:18 AM PDT  President Donald Trump is celebrating the expected confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court as he campaigns in Pennsylvania during his third rally of the day. Trump says he's glad that Barrett didn't run for president and that he would rather be running against former Vice President Joe Biden. Barrett is expected to be confirmed to the Supreme Court on Monday night.
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| French doctor warns his country has 'lost control' of virus Posted: 26 Oct 2020 07:04 AM PDT  A French doctor warned Monday that his country has "lost control of the epidemic," a day after health authorities reported more than 52,000 new coronavirus cases as nations across Europe enact more sweeping restrictions to try to slow surging infection rates. Spain — the first European country to surpass 1 million confirmed COVID-19 cases — declared a state of emergency Sunday that included a nationwide overnight curfew, a cap of six people on social gatherings and possible travel bans in and out of the hardest-hit regions. In two major Italian cities, people took to the streets amid a pushback from small sections of society to new restrictions.
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| Putin offers NATO site inspections to avoid missile buildup Posted: 26 Oct 2020 06:55 AM PDT |
| Climate change poses growing threats to vulnerable Africa, UN says Posted: 26 Oct 2020 06:00 AM PDT |
| Putin rejects Donald Trump's criticism of Biden family business Posted: 26 Oct 2020 05:58 AM PDT  Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Sunday that he saw nothing criminal in Hunter Biden's past business ties with Ukraine or Russia.
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| Rubicon’s Nate Morris Named Fulbright Specialist Scholar Posted: 26 Oct 2020 05:45 AM PDT  Program Administered by U.S. Department of State and J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship BoardAtlanta, GA, Oct. 26, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Nate Morris, the founder and CEO of Rubicon, has earned the prestigious designation as a Fulbright Specialist Scholar, a program run by the U.S. Department of State and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board.Rubicon is a technology innovator in the waste and recycling industry. "Rubicon's model for improving waste efficiency will serve to teach and inspire future leaders," said Heather Nauert, former acting Undersecretary for Public Affairs and Public Diplomacy and Spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State. "Nate will be an excellent ambassador for American innovation."Morris will serve a three-year term as a Fulbright Specialist Scholar once the program's initiatives resume. Because of COVID-19, its activities have been suspended until the U.S. Department of State determines it is safe to resume operations."It is an honor to represent the United States and the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board to share best ideas and practices as it relates to entrepreneurship and the environment," said Morris. "It is a prestigious and iconic program.""I welcome the opportunity to share my experiences creating a mission-driven business and working with some of the world's leading visionaries, business leaders, and investors with my host institution," said Morris. "These lessons will be valuable to budding entrepreneurs looking to use business to solve some of the most pressing challenges in their country." The Fulbright Specialist Program, part of the larger Fulbright Program, was established in 2001 by the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. The program pairs highly qualified U.S. academics and professionals with host institutions abroad to share their expertise, strengthen institutional linkages, hone their skills, gain international experience, and learn about other cultures while building capacity at their overseas host institutions.Specialists, who represent a wide range of professional and academic disciplines, are competitively selected to join the Fulbright Specialist Roster based on their knowledge, skill sets, and ability to make a significant contribution to projects overseas. Those individuals that have been approved to join the Fulbright Specialist Roster are then eligible to be matched with approved projects designed by foreign host institutions from more than 150 countries and other areas. Once abroad, Specialists partner with their host institution to conduct project activities in support of the host institution's priorities and goals. The Fulbright Specialist Program aims to provide a short-term, on-demand resource to international host institutions, giving them greater flexibility in how they participate with the Fulbright program. Specialists are strongly encouraged to continue to work with host institutions in the years following their initial exchange, creating opportunities for ongoing cooperation and consultancies.Of those who have participated in the program, 86 have received the Pulitzer Prize; 75 have been MacArthur Fellows; 60 have received a Nobel Prize; 37 have served as heads of state or governments; 10 have been elected to the U.S. Congress; and one has served as secretary general of the United Nations.Morris, an entrepreneur from Kentucky, is passionate in the belief that innovation in the technology sector can be effective in eliminating waste in all its forms and, at long last, address the global threat posed by waste. He is a passionate advocate for "American Innovation" and the key role that must play in developing a sustainable American infrastructure in a post COVID-19 world.Founded with a $10,000 line of credit, Rubicon now operates in 20 countries on 5 continents. The company helps Fortune 500 organizations, main street businesses, and municipalities around the world move toward zero waste. Under Morris's leadership as Chairman and CEO, Rubicon has become a catalyst for groundbreaking change across the waste management sector. Rubicon has been recognized as "One of the World's Most Innovative Companies" by Fast Company and as an "Industry Disruptor" by Inc. Magazine.A ninth-generation Kentuckian, Morris was born in Lexington and raised by a single mother with help from his grandmother and grandfather, an Army veteran and former President of United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 862.Morris was the first Kentuckian to be named to Fortunate Magazine's "40 under 40" list and to be recognized as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. He is also the youngest inductee ever to the Kentucky Entrepreneur Hall of Fame. About RubiconRubicon is a software company that provides smart waste and recycling solutions for businesses and governments worldwide. Using technology to drive environmental innovation, the company helps turn businesses into more sustainable enterprises, and neighborhoods into greener and smarter places to live and work. Rubicon's mission is to end waste, in all of its forms, by helping its partners find economic value in their waste streams and confidently execute on their sustainability goals. Learn more at www.rubicon.com.Rubicon's inaugural Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Report, Toward a Future Without Waste, can be found at www.rubicon.com/esg-report/. CONTACT: Dan Bayens dan@contentcreative.com (859) 489-3022
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| Time for Brexit deal is short, and significant gaps remain - UK PM Johnson's spokesman Posted: 26 Oct 2020 05:42 AM PDT |
| Severed families, raided workplaces and a climate of fear: Assessing Trump's immigration crackdown Posted: 26 Oct 2020 04:59 AM PDT  Donald Trump was on the defensive about his immigration policies in the final presidential debate, with a question about 545 migrant children taken by the U.S. government who may never be reunited with their parents. Immigration authorities say they cannot find the children's families, many of whom have been deported to Central America. Taking children away from their families at the border was part of a broader strategy aimed at discouraging immigrants from coming. The cruelty of the family-separation policy traumatized migrant children and spurred nationwide protests. A federal judge ordered the government to reunite the separated families on June 26, 2018.Four years ago, candidate Trump was on the offensive about enforcement, portraying immigration as a threat to American security. Trump laid out his platform in an Aug. 31, 2016, campaign speech. This overview examines President Trump's record on three big promises made in that speech. 1: The ban"[I]mmigration will be suspended [from] places like Syria and Libya."In a 2017 executive proclamation, the Trump administration indefinitely barred immigrants from Iran, Syria, North Korea, Chad, Libya, Yemen and Somalia from entering the U.S. The rule, a revised version of the "Muslim ban" previously struck down as discriminatory, was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2018. Though the specific countries included in the ban have changed since then, the ban has dramatically limited immigration from several Muslim-majority countries. Immigrant visas to people from war-torn Yemen dropped from over 1,000 per month in 2016 to less than 100 per month in 2018. Student and tourist visas from the banned countries also plummeted.The Trump administration reduced refugee admissions allowed into the U.S. by capping the number who may be resettled in the country at 15,000 in 2020, down from 85,000 in 2016. This also disproportionately affected those from Muslim-majority regions. 2: Extreme enforcement"All immigration laws will be enforced."This promise was, perhaps, doomed from the start. The federal government lacks capacity and popular support to fully enforce U.S. immigration laws, which one federal court called "a maze of hyper-technical statutes and regulations." Doing so would also require surveillance and militarization that most Americans would find unacceptable.Under Trump, a system prioritizing the removal of people found guilty of a crime was replaced with instructions to deport "all removable aliens," including those who had been allowed to stay in the U.S. by discretion of an immigration judge.To this end, the administration pledged to hire an additional 10,000 enforcement agents. Hiring has fallen short – both Border Patrol and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement have fewer agents now than they did in 2016. Two numbers that have grown under Trump are the number of child migrants held in state custody and the daily total of immigrants imprisoned in prisonlike detention centers. The U.S. detains more migrants than any other country, a trend that has been growing since the Clinton administration. The daily average hit a historic peak of over 50,000 in October 2019. That population has since declined during the pandemic. 3: The wall"We will build a great wall … and Mexico will pay."Despite an executive order signed just days into his term calling for securitizing the border, Trump has fortified less new mileage along the U.S.-Mexico border than his two predecessors. George W. Bush added about 450 miles along all four southern border states – California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas – under a bipartisan 2006 congressional agreement called the Secure Fence Act. Around 100 more miles of the border were fenced under Barack Obama. As of August 2020 Trump had covered just 5 previously unfenced miles along the U.S.-Mexico border. Double barriers or replacement fencing have also been constructed on several hundred miles since 2016.The government does not fully disclose the length or location of border walls on its website, making these figures difficult to pin down. But Trump's 5 new miles bring the total length of fenced U.S.-Mexico border to around 660 miles. The Mexican government has refused to bankroll any of this project. So has Congress, which in 2018 rejected Trump's request of US$18 billion to build 864 miles of border wall. Trump's subsequent diversion of funds from the defense budget for a border wall by declaring a "state of emergency" was ruled improper by a federal appeals court earlier this month. Crackdown through criminalizationLargely stymied by the courts and Congress in implementing some of his promised anti-immigration policies, Trump and his administration advanced a strategy of harsh law enforcement and regulatory changes to crack down on immigrants.ICE regularly conducts dramatic SWAT-style raids in migrant-heavy workplaces like poultry plants and occasionally detains people near "sensitive locations" like churches, something ICE's own guidelines recommend against. When immigrants go for a routine ICE check-in, they may be apprehended and deported. "Zero tolerance" rules expose even legal permanent residents to removal by making a long list of actions into deportable offenses, including using welfare services, admitting to addiction problems or failing to inform the government quickly of a change of address. By the numbers, President Barack Obama still removed more people each year, partly because unauthorized border crossing by Mexican nationals across the southern border was higher during the Obama years. But Trump's immigration enforcement is more random and punitive, vastly increasing criminal prosecutions for immigration-related offenses and removing people who have been in the U.S. longer. Trump has also tried repeatedly to end the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA. The Trump administration has also dramatically restricted the federal system allowing migrants to apply for asylum under international and domestic law and has treated asylum seekers as if they were criminals. The administration finally shut it down entirely during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many such actions have been challenged as unconstitutional, among them family separation and sending asylum seekers to Mexico to wait while their claims are processed, and the cases will be heard by the Supreme Court next year. The balanceAll told, Trump has made over 400 changes to immigration policy, largely fulfilling his 2016 promises and creating a climate of fear even among immigrants who are legal residents and citizens.However, because these changes happened almost entirely through executive ordersr – not legislative action – they can be undone by a future president, even without congressional support. But the human cost to migrant parents and children cannot so easily be reversed.This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. It was written by: Miranda Cady Hallett, University of Dayton.Read more: * Thousands of asylum seekers left waiting at the US-Mexico border * Migrant caravans restart as pandemic deepens the humanitarian crisis at the US-Mexico borderMiranda Cady Hallett 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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| Brexit decision entirely separate from U.S. election outcome says PM Johnson Posted: 26 Oct 2020 04:53 AM PDT |
| Japan rejects nuclear ban treaty; survivors to keep pushing Posted: 26 Oct 2020 04:42 AM PDT  Japan said Monday it will not sign a U.N. treaty that bans nuclear weapons and does not welcome its entry into force next year, rejecting the wishes of atomic bomb survivors in Japan who are urging the government to join and work for a nuclear-free world. The United Nations confirmed Saturday that 50 countries have ratified the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, paving the way for its entry into force in 90 days. The announcement was hailed by anti-nuclear activists, but the treaty has been strongly opposed by the United States and other major nuclear powers.
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| Putin pours cold water on Trump's Hunter Biden hopes Posted: 26 Oct 2020 04:29 AM PDT  If President Trump were looking for a little last-minute boost from Russian President Vladimir Putin, Putin had nothing for him on Sunday. In televised remarks on state TV, Putin "took the time to knock down what he made clear he regarded as false allegations from Trump about the Bidens," Democratic nominee Joe Biden and his son Hunter, Reuters reports. Putin said Trump's story about Hunter Biden getting money from the widow of a former Moscow mayor was news to him, even though Trump tried to tie Putin to the alleged payment.In Ukraine, Putin said, Hunter Biden "had or maybe still has a business, I don't know. It doesn't concern us. It concerns the Americans and the Ukrainians." And regarding the money Hunter Biden made working for a Ukrainian company, he added, "I don't see anything criminal about this, at least we don't know anything about this (being criminal)."U.S. intelligence has determined that Russia is secretly working to boost Trump and damage Biden in the 2020 race, much as Russian intelligence boosted Trump and damaged Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016. But with Biden leading substantially in the polls, Russian state TV has started mocking Trump as Putin's poodle while Putin has started saying a few positive things about Biden. Biden isn't reciprocating, telling 60 Minutes on Sunday's broadcast that Russia is America's biggest threat but China is its top adversary.> Which country is the biggest threat to America?> > Russia, says Joe Biden. But China is our biggest competitor. https://t.co/itlQnd75E0 pic.twitter.com/9YHlYTvxR8> > — 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) October 26, 2020Trump's Hunter Biden allegations are probably too little, too late, and too tame anyway, even if they were true, anti-Trump GOP strategist Mike Madrid tells Politico. "Whatever October surprise or whatever money he's got, he needed to spend yesterday," he said. "He's got a bigger time problem than a money problem and he's got a huge money problem. It's time. He's running out of time."More stories from theweek.com The very different emotional lives of Trump and Biden voters The 19 greatest and worst presidential campaign ads of the 2020 election The Trump administration has surrendered to the pandemic
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| 10 things you need to know today: October 26, 2020 Posted: 26 Oct 2020 03:58 AM PDT |
| Airstrike kills dozens of Turkish-backed Syrian fighters Posted: 26 Oct 2020 03:52 AM PDT  An airstrike on a rebel training camp in northwestern Syria on Monday killed more than 50 Turkish-backed fighters and wounded nearly as many, in one of the heaviest blows to the opposition's strongest groups, a spokesman and a war monitor said. The opposition blamed Russia for the daytime strike and vowed to retaliate for the attack on Faylaq al-Sham. Russia and Turkey, although they support opposite sides in Syria's conflict, have worked together to maintain a cease-fire in the last enclave of Syria's rebels, centered on the province of Idlib.
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| Xi's big carbon promise on the table as China's leaders meet Posted: 26 Oct 2020 03:52 AM PDT  China's Communist leadership will discuss Xi Jinping's ambitious carbon neutral pledge in talks that began Monday on the country's economic strategy for the next five years.
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| Election 2020 Today: Early voting, White House outbreak Posted: 26 Oct 2020 03:40 AM PDT  ON THE TRAIL: President Donald Trump plans to intensify an already breakneck travel schedule in the final full week of the presidential campaign, overlooking a surge of coronavirus cases in the U.S. and a fresh outbreak in his own White House. Democrat Joe Biden also plans to pick up his travel schedule, aiming to hit the half-dozen battleground states the campaign sees as key to his chances. EARLY VOTE: More people already have cast ballots in this year's presidential election than voted early or absentee in the 2016 race as the start of in-person early voting in big states has caused a surge in turnout in recent days.
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| Huawei CFO arrives at Canada court for witness testimony in U.S. extradition case Posted: 26 Oct 2020 03:02 AM PDT  Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou arrived at a Canada courtroom on Monday for the first of five days of witness testimony, the latest round of hearings as Canada seeks to extradite her to the United States on charges of bank fraud. The five days of hearings will focus on alleged abuses of process committed by Canadian and U.S. authorities during Meng's December 2018 arrest at Vancouver International Airport. Meng, 48, is charged by the United States with bank fraud for allegedly misleading HSBC about Huawei's business dealings in Iran, causing the bank to break U.S. sanction laws.
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| House already won? Pelosi thinks so, and reaches for more Posted: 26 Oct 2020 03:00 AM PDT  Speaker Nancy Pelosi once predicted she'd have the 2020 House Democratic majority secured by November — of 2019. With control of the House hardly contested, Pelosi is working to fortify Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and win extra House seats in case Congress is called on to resolve any Electoral College dispute with President Donald Trump. Pelosi said she feels so confident Democrats will keep the House this election, she's already preparing to win the next one in 2022.
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| Canada court to hear witness testimony in Huawei CFO's U.S. extradition case Posted: 26 Oct 2020 03:00 AM PDT |
| 2020 Watch: Is Biden remaking the Democratic coalition? Posted: 26 Oct 2020 02:27 AM PDT  On paper, Democrat Joe Biden continues to lead President Donald Trump by a significant margin nationally, but polling suggests the race is tight in key battlegrounds like Florida, Arizona and North Carolina. Meanwhile, Trump is racing across America to reach as many voters as possible — the pandemic and public health guidance notwithstanding — while Biden sticks close to home, relying on surrogates like former President Barack Obama to energize targeted groups of Democratic voters.
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| Merkel's party postpones Dec. 4 congress to choose new leader - sources Posted: 26 Oct 2020 02:19 AM PDT |
