| New York City set to impose new COVID-19 closures despite Orthodox Jewish protests Posted: 07 Oct 2020 11:34 AM PDT  New York City will begin enforcing new shutdown rules on businesses and schools in coronavirus hot spots on Thursday that have already triggered angry protests from a small contingent of Orthodox Jews in one of the affected areas. Mayor Bill de Blasio first announced his plan to tamp down outbreaks in parts of Brooklyn and Queens on Sunday after the rate of positive coronavirus tests in some neighborhoods exceeded 3% for seven straight days. De Blasio's decision to delineate the neighborhoods where closures would be enforced using postal ZIP codes drew scorn from New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, a fellow Democrat with whom he has often feuded.
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| Elderly couple kidnapped, smuggled into Canada and held hostage by ‘cocaine ring' Posted: 07 Oct 2020 03:44 PM PDT  'My understanding from the family is that they're shook up, but doing fine,' says friend Justus Martin
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| McConnell to Defend Barrett from ‘Self-Parodying’ Media’s Attacks on Her Faith: ‘Definition of Discrimination’ Posted: 07 Oct 2020 08:34 AM PDT  Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell is set to blast critics of Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett's religious views in planned remarks on the Senate floor on Wednesday, calling the media's attacks on her Catholic beliefs the "definition of discrimination."The Kentucky Republican plans to call the "ongoing attacks by Senate Democrats and the media" a "disgrace," according to Politico Playbook."Only our self-parodying liberal media would call it a scandal that a young person in graduate school found community in shared religious beliefs and met their future spouse," McConnell's planned remarks say. "Most Americans would call that a beautiful story. … Every Supreme Court Justice in history has possessed personal views. Judges have a job to do and they swear to do it impartially.""It is the definition of discrimination to assert that Justice Barrett's particular faith makes her uniquely unqualified for this promotion," the statement concludes.The 48-year-old Notre Dame law professor and conservative Catholic mother of seven children, including two adopted children from Haiti, has been repeatedly attacked by Democrats and the media over her Catholic beliefs. Some have compared her purported membership in People of Praise to the dystopian novel The Handmaid's Tale. Barrett's religious background was also center-stage in her 2017 confirmation hearing for the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals when Senator Dianne Feinstein (D., Calif.) criticized her religious views."Why is it that so many of us on this side have this very uncomfortable feeling that, you know, dogma and law are two different things? And I think whatever a religion is, it has its own dogma," Feinstein said. "The law is totally different, and I think in your case, professor, when you read your speeches, the conclusion one draws is that the dogma lives loudly within you, and that's of concern."However, even some Democrats have criticized the party's scrutiny of Barrett's beliefs, including Senator Joe Manchin (D., W. Va.) who has said "religion should not enter into" the conversation over who would fill the Supreme Court vacancy left by the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. He said it's "awful to bring in religion." In an appearance on Fox News on Tuesday, McConnell defended Barrett, as well as his decision to go forward with her confirmation hearing on October 12 amid Democrats' calls to delay the hearing until it can be held in person."It's about time we quit talking about the process and talk about the nominee herself," he said. "[Barrett's' an absolute sterling choice. The president could not have picked a better nominee … Quintessentially American. It's a great success story."Vice presidential nominee Senator Kamala Harris (D., Calif.) and Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) called for the hearing to be delayed this week after a number of White House staff and Senate Republicans contracted the coronavirus. McConnell accused Democrats of using the outbreak as "another effort to delay the process on this outstanding Supreme Court nominee."The Senate minority leader said there is "nothing" that he can foresee preventing Barrett's confirmation ahead of the November 3 election. "We've been operating successfully with masking and social distancing since May," he said. "We're going to continue to operate. The American people are entitled to it and that's what we are going to do."
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| A Florida Keys girl was being attacked by pit bulls. Her neighbor is getting a medal Posted: 08 Oct 2020 02:08 PM PDT  When his neighbor was in danger one day in 2018, Donald Lowrie raced right into the fight. Now Lowrie, 50, is being celebrated as a national hero for rescuing the 8-year-old girl who was being attacked in her home by two pit bulls. Lowrie is one of 17 people awarded the 2020 Carnegie medal, which recognizes people who have risked their lives trying to save others.
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| Pham Doan Trang: Vietnam arrests leading pro-democracy blogger Posted: 07 Oct 2020 12:08 PM PDT  Pham Doan Trang is accused of anti-state activities, which could see her jailed for years.
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| Cash-strapped local officials reportedly rushed to secure part of Mark Zuckerberg's $250 million donation to cover debt and other costs incurred ahead of the election Posted: 08 Oct 2020 11:12 AM PDT  Nearly 2,000 of the nation's election offices are seeking part of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's $250 million donation to help offset election costs.
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| Hurricane Delta heads into Gulf on path for U.S. after hitting Mexico Posted: 07 Oct 2020 11:16 PM PDT  The storm is expected to hit the Gulf Coast later this week, which would mark the 10th hurricane landfall on the mainland U.S. this season, setting a record.
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| Slain Black man's family vows legal fight against police Posted: 08 Oct 2020 05:31 AM PDT  An attorney for the family of a Black teen killed by a suburban Milwaukee police officer vowed Thursday to keep fighting and working to prove racism pervades the officer's department, after a prosecutor declined to file charges in the case. Attorney Kimberley Motley said she plans to file a federal lawsuit against Wauwatosa Police Officer Joseph Mensah in 17-year-old Alvin Cole's death. Motley sued in state court on Tuesday seeking department documents that she believes will show Mensah's supervisors are racist and that officers have racially profiled Black drivers for years.
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| Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani ‘spotted maskless at Manhattan fundraiser’ after coughing in Fox News interview Posted: 07 Oct 2020 03:07 AM PDT  A number of the president's key aides have tested positive for coronavirus
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| Florida principal fired for Holocaust comments will be rehired, school board votes Posted: 07 Oct 2020 03:21 PM PDT  The Palm Beach County School Board voted to rehire a former high school principal who was fired last year after he refused to say the Holocaust was a "factual, historical event."
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| Amy Coney Barrett served as 'handmaid' in religious group Posted: 08 Oct 2020 12:10 PM 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.
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| Dems crushing GOP incumbents in ad spending in key Senate races Posted: 08 Oct 2020 12:38 PM PDT  In some cases, the Democrats have outspent Republican incumbents by as much as 2 to 1.
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| Affirmative action debate ignores Asian American community college students Posted: 08 Oct 2020 06:34 AM PDT  As California votes on affirmative action, nearly half the state's AAPI students who start off at community colleges would benefit, advocates say.
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| South Korean tower block engulfed in flames Posted: 08 Oct 2020 01:32 PM PDT  Hundreds fled the inferno in the city of Ulsan, with dozens affected by smoke inhalation.
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| Texas man who sold AR-15 rifle used in 2019 Midland-Odessa mass shooting pleads guilty to dealing firearms without license Posted: 07 Oct 2020 06:30 PM PDT  Marcus Anthony Braziel, 45, pleaded guilty to one count of dealing firearms without a license and one count of subscribing to a false tax return.
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| Facebook finds pro-Trump group helped make hundreds of accounts to spam comments with attacks on Biden Posted: 08 Oct 2020 10:39 AM PDT  Social media giant finds Turning Point USA enlisted marketing group for 'coordinated inauthentic behavior' campaign, Facebook says
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| Hurricane watches issued for northern Gulf Coast ahead of Hurricane Delta landfall Posted: 07 Oct 2020 08:18 AM PDT  Hurricane Delta, after battering the Yucatán Peninsula with 100-mph winds, re-emerged into the Gulf of Mexico Wednesday, where it could restrengthen into a Category 3 storm before making landfall on the northern Gulf Coast.
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| Before attack, a Pakistani teen sought better life in France Posted: 07 Oct 2020 11:11 PM PDT  Ali Hassan was only 15 when he left Pakistan to be smuggled to Europe, following the path of his older brother and many other young men from his home country dreaming of a better life. Before the Sept. 25 attack, he proclaimed in a video he was seeking vengeance after the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo published caricatures of Islam's Prophet Muhammad. Little is known about Hassan's time in France.
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| Pence Struggles to Explain Why Trump Admin Didn’t Follow Its Own COVID Guidelines Posted: 07 Oct 2020 07:04 PM PDT  The vice president who was applauded behind-the-scenes by his opponent's team as a polished speaker and smooth liar struggled mightily to articulate why he did not follow his own White House's health recommendations during what became known as a coronavirus superspreader ceremony in the Rose Garden."How can you expect Americans to follow the administration's safety guidelines to protect themselves from COVID when you at the White House have not been doing so?" USA Today's Susan Page asked Vice President Mike Pence during Wednesday night's debate in Salt Lake City.Pence, who was enlisted to lead the Coronavirus Task Force back in late February, calmly delivered a lengthy and convoluted answer, beginning with how Americans have been provided adequate "facts" during the global pandemic, and finishing with a reference to the weighty work of confirming another Supreme Court justice."The American people have demonstrated, over the last eight months that when given the facts they're willing to put the health of their families and their neighbors and people they don't even know first," Pence said. "President Trump and I have great confidence in the American people and their ability to take that information and put it into practice."In his role spearheading the task force, the former Indiana governor served as the go-between for the president and governors as many desperately asked for assistance and supplies. Pence worked closely with Dr. Deborah Birx, the top coordinator, as well as other officials such as Dr. Anthony Fauci, the leading expert on vaccines in the country, to try and contain the virus from spreading. During the initial weeks of the pandemic, Pence convened daily situation room meetings to game out ways that the Trump administration was going to limit the number of cases and deaths.He sought to allude to some of that while seated across from Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) with plexiglass between them on stage. But he continued to evade the question."In the height of the epidemic when we were losing a heartbreaking number of—2,500 Americans a day, we surged resources to New Jersey and New York and New Orleans and Detroit. We told the American people what needed to be done, and the American people made the sacrifices. When the outbreak in the sun belt happened this summer, again, Americans stepped forward. But the reality is the work of the president of the United States goes on. [A] vacancy on the Supreme Court of the United States has come upon us, and the president introduced Judge Amy Coney Barrett," Pence concluded.While Pence was, at least initially, the public face of the semi-regular coronavirus briefings, he was soon nudged out by President Donald Trump who thought he should be more front and center in a national crisis—especially one unraveling during his re-election bid. Frequently, even as Pence was undermined by his boss who remains hell-bent on projecting optimism, he would avoid criticizing Trump. He even went out of his way to defend him when he ignored the most basic health recommendations.Pence used his protective approach towards the president by further explaining what was, in his view, the success of the event."If I may say, that Rose Garden event, I've done a great deal of speculation about it," he said. "My wife Karen and I were there and honored to be there. Many of the people who were at that event, Susan, actually were tested for coronavirus, and it was an outdoor event, which all of our scientists regularly and routinely advise. The difference here is President Trump and I trust the American people to make choices in the best interest of their health. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris consistently talk about mandates, and not just mandates with the coronavirus but a government takeover of health care."Deciding not to waste time, Harris put the Trump-Pence coronavirus track record on blast, showcasing the main theme that aides and others familiar with her preparations had indicated that she would emphasize."Let's talk about respecting the American people," Harris said. "You respect the American people when you tell them the truth. You respect the American people when you have the courage—" she continued, before being cut off by Pence."Which we've always done," he said.Harris continued with a straightforward approach. "To be a leader speaking of those things that you may not want people to hear but they need to hear so they can protect themselves. But this administration stood on information that if you had as a parent, if you had as a worker knowing you didn't have enough money saved up and now you're standing in a food line because of the ineptitude of an administration that was unwilling to speak the truth to the American people," she said."So let's talk about caring about the American people. The American people have had to sacrifice far too much because of the incompetence of this administration."Earlier in the day, senior officials from the Biden-Harris ticket hosted a call with reporters to understate the significance of the prime-time event. As the nation mourns hundreds of thousands of people dead and infected by COVID-19, one vice presidential debate can't take away from that devastating reality, the thinking went in both Democrats' camps."Nothing that happens on the debate stage tonight will change the fact that Donald Trump and Mike Pence lied to the American people about how dangerous COVID-19 is, and they haven't done everything in their power to contain it from the start," said Liz Allen, Harris' communications director. "Nothing will bring back over 210,000 Americans."Democrats familiar with the senator's approach to the debate also spent the hours leading up to the night talking up expectations for her opponent. The strategy represented a vastly different style from Trump's, who regularly downplayed Biden's performance prospects before he faced off against him last week. —With additional reporting from Hunter WoodallRead 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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| DeVos pledges use of 'bully pulpit' to urge school reopening Posted: 07 Oct 2020 02:38 PM PDT  The comments come the same day Boston schools paused reopening plans because of a rise in coronavirus cases.
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| Transgender woman's killing in Georgia marks "grim milestone" Posted: 07 Oct 2020 11:12 AM PDT  Felycya Harris, a beloved interior decorator and dancer, is being remembered by friends for her upbeat personality.
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| Russia evacuates villages as huge blaze breaks out at arms depot Posted: 07 Oct 2020 05:50 AM PDT  Russian authorities evacuated more than 2,300 people from villages in the region of Ryazan on Wednesday and five people were taken to hospital after a blaze broke out at an ammunition depot, sending thick smoke belching into the air. Fires and explosions at ammunition depots have plagued the Russian army for years and drawn criticism of lax safety standards.
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| A transgender man is suing Amazon, claiming he was denied a raise after disclosing he was pregnant Posted: 07 Oct 2020 12:02 PM PDT  Shaun Simmons, a transgender man in New Jersey, told NBC News he was passed over for a promotion when he told his manager he was pregnant.
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| Court documents call for Parkland parents to prove mental anguish after school shooting Posted: 07 Oct 2020 07:53 AM PDT  Parents who sued a school district after their children died in a mass shooting at a Florida high school are being asked to turn over their psychiatric records to prove they have suffered mental anguish.
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| A ‘golden-hearted young man’: Another Florida correctional officer dies of COVID-19 Posted: 08 Oct 2020 10:25 AM PDT  The email from the warden came Tuesday evening, bearing bad news.
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| China will exploit new sailing routes to the Atlantic and threaten UK interests, warns First Sea Lord Posted: 08 Oct 2020 10:14 AM PDT  The First Sea Lord has warned that China will exploit new sailing routes to the Atlantic that are being opened up as a result of melting polar ice caps. In a speech on board the aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales Admiral Tony Radakin said the effects of climate change on the northern sea passage would create "new maritime trade routes across the top of the world" which would halve "the transit time between Europe and Asia". Admiral Radakin said: "When China sails its growing Navy into the Atlantic, which way will it come, the long route, or the short?" He cautioned that the free movement of "nations, their navies, and above all their merchant ships" could be put at risk when China starts to use these routes as it would "threaten this concept" of free maritime movement. "The world is getting more competitive, more contested," he added. "We will have to play our role in that world. As the High North becomes more open and accessible it's going to be more contested and competitive as well."
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| Trump's spy chief declassified a slew of documents that national security veterans say were part of an effort to boost the president's Russia claims Posted: 06 Oct 2020 09:05 PM PDT  Former officials accused intelligence chief John Ratcliffe of selectively declassifying information that could compromise US sources and methods.
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| Biden on fracking: Mike Pence repeatedly claimed Democrat wants to ban practice — but he’s never said that Posted: 08 Oct 2020 08:34 AM PDT  Former VP has not proposed nationwide ban on shale gas drilling, despite claims
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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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| U.S. sues Yale for alleged bias against Asian and white applicants Posted: 08 Oct 2020 03:27 PM PDT  The lawsuit escalates the Trump administration's push against affirmative action in admissions to elite universities, after it publicly supported a lawsuit by Asian-American students accusing Harvard University of discriminating against them. The Justice Department said Asian-American and white applicants were typically only one-eighth to one-fourth as likely to win admission to Yale as similarly qualified Black applicants.
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| New portrait of Queen Victoria's African goddaughter sheds light on forgotten Black history Posted: 08 Oct 2020 06:32 AM PDT  Sarah Forbes Bonetta, born to an African ruler as Aina, became Queen Victoria's goddaughter in the mid-19th century.
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| Hurricane Delta is expected to gain strength and size before slamming into Louisiana and Texas as a major hurricane on Friday Posted: 08 Oct 2020 03:40 PM PDT  Hurricane Delta is the 25th named storm of the 2020 hurricane season. That puts this year on track to have more named storms than any year on record.
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| Divers discover French WWI submarine off Tunisia Posted: 08 Oct 2020 08:33 AM PDT  Tunisian divers have discovered a French submarine wreck from World War I, the Ariane, which was sunk by a German submarine in 1917.
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| Tech worker pleads guilty in Utah college student's murder Posted: 07 Oct 2020 04:31 PM PDT  A tech worker pleaded guilty in the death of a Utah college student Wednesday, more than a year after her disappearance sparked a large-scale search that ended with the discovery of her charred remains in his backyard.
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| Ex-Clemson football coach Danny Ford among farmers suing SC hemp firm over ruined crop Posted: 08 Oct 2020 12:35 PM PDT  Ford, who led the Clemson Tigers to a national championship in 1981, was one of 20 farmers selected to participate in the state's pilot hemp program in 2017.
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| Putin Is Facing the Toughest Fight of His Presidency as Former USSR Goes up in Flames Posted: 08 Oct 2020 08:36 AM PDT  Tuesday, October 7, was Russian President Vladimir Putin's 68th birthday, and, in keeping with his Soviet-style personality cult, it would normally have been an occasion for Putin to bask in public fanfare. But this year was different. Putin is holed up at his residence outside Moscow, where he has been since early April, avoiding infection from the coronavirus that is again rampant in Russia, while unrest surges in three countries of the former Soviet Union, and France and Germany are pushing for new EU economic sanctions against Russia because of the poisoning of Russian democrat Alexei Navalny.In honor of Putin's birthday, the Russian news agency Tass released the final episode of a series entitled 20 Questions with Vladimir Putin, a special interview project to commemorate Putin's twenty years as leader. In this episode Putin does not discuss pressing economic issues or international affairs, but rather his hobbies, family and other personal matters. Significantly, while Putin mentions that he enjoys his "sweet" grandchildren, he also confesses to his interviewer that "when you occupy this position, sometimes it feels like you cease to be a human being and become nothing more than a mere function."Funeral for Reporter Who Set Herself on Fire Reawakens Russia's Passion to Stand up to PutinNo wonder Putin has begun feeling like an automaton. Bad things have been happening to Putin in battalions lately. On July 9, just as the number of coronavirus cases in Russia had begun to decline and the virus seemed under control, mass protests erupted in the Siberian district of Khabarovsk over the arrest on unsubstantiated murder charges of the popular governor, Sergei Furgal.The unrest in Khabarovsk, a cause for deep concern in the Kremlin, was soon overshadowed by events in Belarus, where the largest political rally in over a decade took place in Minsk on July 30 in support of the opposition presidential candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya. Opposition protests, accompanied by mass arrests, plunged Belarus into turmoil after Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, in power for 26 years, reported a landslide victory in the August 9 presidential elections. Despite a severe crackdown, the protests have continued. On October 4, 100,000 people marched in Minsk demanding Lukashenko's resignation.The events in Belarus, a neighboring country that serves as Russia's strategic buffer to NATO states, pose a huge dilemma for Putin. The overthrow of an authoritarian leader like Lukashenko by a grassroots democratic movement would set a dangerous example that Russians might at some point follow. But if the Kremlin sends paramilitary forces into Belarus to support Lukashenko, as Putin suggested last month might be done, such a move could result in more Western sanctions against Russia, which would further damage Russia's faltering economy.Adding to the Kremlin's troubles, a violent conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia erupted on September 27 over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, which lies in Azerbaijan, but is controlled by ethnic Christian Armenians who are backed by the Armenian government. Russia would like to put an end to what is the deadliest fighting between Azerbaijan and Armenia in 25 years, but both countries are ignoring appeals for a cease-fire.Just days later, a political uprising engulfed the Central Asian state of Kyrgyzstan, yet another former Soviet republic. As with Belarus, claims of rigged elections ignited the turmoil. On October 5, following parliamentary elections the previous day, masses of demonstrators took to the streets, eventually seizing government buildings and the office of the president, Sooronbai Jeenbekov, who is now in hiding. Kyrgyzstan has seen years of political conflict, characterized more by fighting among elite rival groups and clans than by struggles for democracy, so the situation there is not comparable to that in Belarus, which has much greater implications for the Kremlin. Nonetheless, the Kremlin cannot ignore the chaos in a country that depends economically on Russia and houses a Russian military base.The spread of COVID-19, which has caused significant unemployment and economic disruption in Kyrgyzstan, contributed to the political discontent there, as it has elsewhere, including in Russia. (From January to September 2020, the number of bankruptcies of Russian citizens and individual entrepreneurs increased by 64.9 percent, to 77,000.) According to Russia's Levada-Center, a polling organization, Putin's approval ratings dropped to an all-time low of 59 percent when the coronavirus reached pandemic levels in April and May of this year, only to climb back up as the rates of infection declined. So the recent steep rise in Russia's coronavirus cases, with daily totals approaching the record high of 11,656 on May 11, is further cause for disquiet among Putin and his government.But of all the problems Putin faces as he continues to isolate, communicating with his political and military advisors mainly through video conferences, the most troubling may be that of Navalny, who the Kremlin failed to eliminate as planned on August 20. As with GRU defector Sergei Skripal, Russia's security services botched their job, and Navalny not only survived, but is speaking out publicly about the poisoning, which he attributes to Putin directly. And he is urging tougher western sanctions on members of Putin's inner circle. In a recent interview with Germany's Bild newspaper, cited by Radio Liberty, Navalny stressed that "the most important thing is to impose entry bans against those who profit from the regime and freeze their assets… They embezzle money, steal billions, and at the weekend they fly to Berlin or London, buy expensive apartments, and sit in cafes."Although the fearless Navalny plans to return to Russia once he has recovered from the poisoning to continue his opposition to the Putin regime, he does not pose an immediate political threat to Putin. According to an in-depth analysis last week by Levada-Center Deputy Director Denis Volkov, only one third of the 77 percent of Russians who had heard about Navalny's poisoning believe that it was a deliberate attack. Most think that it was a provocation by western security services or something Navalny did to himself. This is because of long-formed views of older Russians, who get their news on Russian state-controlled television, from which Navalny and other opposition politicians are banned. Navalny's audience comes from younger Russians who regularly consult the internet. Volkov points out that: "Russian television and the Internet do not just differ in interpretation, but present two different pictures of what is happening."But, Volkov says, this situation is changing: "For his supporters, Navalny is important, first of all, because he 'speaks the truth,' 'gives an alternative point of view,' 'fights against the authorities' and 'is not afraid.' Although Navalny gained his fame as the author of high-profile anti-corruption investigations, in his current image this characterization fades into the background. In the context of declining public support for top officials, his image as an alternative to the current government and its policies is becoming increasingly important. And this makes the Kremlin nervous."Volkov goes on to point out that Navalny's positive image is a result of his painstaking work on the internet, his effective team of like-minded colleagues and his network of regional headquarters: "For some of his supporters from the regions, Navalny was the first politician from Moscow whom they saw in person. All this allowed him to slowly but surely build up his authority." Although current Russian political views are dominated by the older generation, which is afraid of change and dislikes Navalny, it is only a matter of time, Volkov says, before the younger generation becomes more politically active.It is worth noting that Putin's birthday also marks the fourteenth anniversary of the as yet unsolved murder of Russian journalist and fierce Putin critic Anna Politkovskaya, who was gunned down in the stairwell of her Moscow apartment building on October 7, 2006. Referring to this "coincidence"—some say the killing was a birthday gift to Putin—St. Petersburg Parliamentary deputy Boris Vishnevsky, a member of the liberal Yabloko party, had this to say:"Today, sitting in his bunker, Putin will receive flattering congratulations from the stalwarts of his 'vertical' power base, who assure him that 'without Putin there will be no Russia.' But the event that happened on a previous October 7 [Politkovskaya's murder] will be remembered for a very long time. As well as Anna Politkovskaya herself. And today's event [Putin's birthday] will be forgotten as soon as the birthday boy loses power."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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| 'He wouldn't have a chance': Trump pours cold water on suggestion Don Jr could run for NYC mayor Posted: 08 Oct 2020 08:41 AM PDT  Current mayor Bill de Blasio will be replaced next year
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| White House chief of staff Mark Meadows reportedly hosted a 70-person wedding for his daughter in May, violating COVID-19 rules Posted: 08 Oct 2020 08:02 AM PDT  The indoor event reportedly took place in May when state orders limited gatherings to 10 people, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
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| In midst of cardinal scandal, pope seeks to reassure money inspectors Posted: 08 Oct 2020 05:17 AM PDT  Pope Francis sought to assure external inspectors of the Vatican's financial operations on Thursday that he was pushing ahead with reforms, as the Holy See reeled from a scandal in which he fired a powerful cardinal. In an address to Moneyval, the Council of Europe's financial monitoring arm, Francis listed recent actions he had taken to make Vatican finances more transparent. Last month, the pope fired Italian Cardinal Angelo Becciu, accusing him of embezzlement and nepotism.
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| Disney slams California governor after he slows reopening of California theme parks Posted: 08 Oct 2020 10:09 AM PDT  Disney's chief medical officer pointed to the safe reopenings of its other parks after California Gov. Gavin Newsom slowed the reopening process.
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| Thousands of coronavirus deaths recorded by ONS not due to Covid, new figures show Posted: 08 Oct 2020 05:25 AM PDT  Thousands of coronavirus deaths recorded by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) were not due to Covid, new figures show. On Thursday, the ONS published data comparing Covid deaths in England and Wales to those from influenza and pneumonia up to the end of August. In order to make the comparison, the body published, for the first time, figures for people who had died "due" to Covid rather than those who had the virus mentioned on their death certificate. While official figures show that 52,327 people died from coronavirus up to the end of August, 48,168 deaths were "due" to the disease – 4,149 fewer than official records show. Early in the pandemic, the World Health Organisation (WHO) warned that even if coronavirus appeared on a death certificate as a "significant condition", the death should not be included in the figures. WHO guidelines say such deaths "are not due to Covid-19 and should not be classified as such". The new figures back up research from academics at the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine at Oxford University, who last month found that coronavirus was not the main cause of death for nearly one third of recorded Covid-19 victims in July and August. The team uncovered the discrepancy after comparing deaths from all causes to the coronavirus figures. Their analysis showed that around 30 per cent of people included in the coronavirus death toll over the summer months had died from other causes. It means someone who suffered a heart attack, or even died in a road traffic accident, may have been included in the figures if they had also tested positive for coronavirus at some point or if doctors believed the virus may have exacerbated their condition. Experts at Oxford are concerned that the problem with over-counting will get worse as more people in the population contract coronavirus. They are worried it means thousands more people died at the peak because of the pandemic response rather than because of the virus and have been wrongly included in the Covid-19 statistics. The new ONS figures also show that Covid was nearly four times deadlier than flu and pneumonia between January and August, with 48,168 deaths, compared with 13,619 for pneumonia and 394 deaths due to influenza. But the figures also showed that the deaths for flu and pneumonia were nearly 3,500 lower than would normally be expected based on the five-year average, suggesting that some people died of Covid instead (the graphic below shows how flu and Covid-19 compare).
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| US Army Europe and US Army Africa to merge as commander pins on fourth star Posted: 08 Oct 2020 11:40 AM PDT  The U.S. Army Europe commander pins on his fourth-star and brings U.S. Army Africa into the fold.
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