Saturday, October 31, 2020
Last North Carolina polls before election give Biden, Cunningham narrow leads
Two new polls are shoring up predictions that Democrats will sweep North Carolina's statewide races next week.Democratic nominee Joe Biden has a 6-point lead over Trump in the typically red state, an NBC News/Marist poll of likely voters out Friday reveals. Meanwhile Democrat Cal Cunningham has a 10-point advantage over Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), suggesting he'll be one of the seats Democrats can count on to flip the Senate. And Gov. Roy Cooper (D) has the biggest lead of all: a whopping 19 points over GOP challenger Dan Forest.A New York Times/Siena College poll out Friday was a bit more cautious. Biden received 48 percent support to Trump's 45, a point down from where the Democrat was earlier this month in the same poll. Cunningham has the same margin over Tillis, 46-43, a slight decline from where he's been over the past month. Biden has held a modest lead over Trump in North Carolina for the past few months, leaving his chances in the swing state still uncertain. Cunningham has tended to pull in higher but still modest margins than Biden, even after he admittedly exchanged romantic texts with a woman who isn't his wife, while polls have universally given Cooper a major advantage.NBC News and Marist surveyed 800 likely voters from Oct. 25–28, with a 4.7 percentage point margin of error. The Times and Siena College surveyed 1,034 likely voters from Oct. 23–27, with a margin of error of about 4 percentage points.More stories from theweek.com How to make an election crisis 64 things President Trump has said about women Republicans are on the verge of a spectacular upside-down achievement
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/34IHwNh
Migrant Children From Other Countries Are Being Expelled Into Mexico
U.S. border authorities have been expelling migrant children from other countries into Mexico, violating a diplomatic agreement with Mexico and testing the limits of immigration and child welfare laws.The expulsions, laid out in a sharply critical internal email from a senior Border Patrol official, have taken place under an aggressive border closure policy the Trump administration has said is necessary to prevent the coronavirus from spreading into the United States. But they conflict with the terms upon which the Mexican government agreed to help implement the order, which were that only Mexican children and others who had adult supervision could be pushed back into Mexico after attempting to cross the border.The expulsions put children from countries such as Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador at risk by sending them with no accompanying adult into a country where they have no family connections. Most appear to have been put, at least at first, into the care of Mexican child welfare authorities, who oversee shelters operated by religious organizations and other private groups.The expulsions, which appear to number more than 200 over the past eight months, reflect the haphazard nature with which many of the administration's most aggressive immigration policies have been introduced. In many cases, they have led to the shuffling of young children among U.S. government agencies and now, among the governments of countries that are not their own. For years now, the Trump administration's handling of migrant children has left members of families separated for months on end and unable to reach one another.A report to the courts earlier this month revealed that the parents of 545 such children currently in the United States, some of them separated from their families as long ago as 2017, still have not been located.Under existing diplomatic agreements and U.S. policies, children from countries other than Mexico are supposed to be put on flights operated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement to their home countries, where they can be reunited with their families.Rumors of children from other countries being expelled into Mexico have swirled among nonprofit workers advocating for child welfare in Mexico and the United States. But locating any such children has been difficult because of spotty reporting from Mexican government authorities.But an email from the U.S. Border Patrol's assistant chief, Eduardo Sanchez, obtained by The New York Times, makes it clear that such transfers have not only occurred but also that they are a clear violation of U.S. policy."Recently, we have identified several suspected instances where Single Minors (SM) from countries other than Mexico have been expelled via ports of entry rather than referred to ICE Air Operations for expulsion flights," Sanchez wrote.Referring to the federal public health statute upon which the administration's border closure policy rests, he continued, "Please note that if not corrected, these actions will place Title 42 operations in significant jeopardy and must be ceased immediately. To reiterate, under no circumstances should a SM from a country other than Mexico be knowingly expelled to Mexico."Brian Hastings, chief of the Border Patrol's Rio Grande Valley sector, acknowledged in an interview that non-Mexican children had been sent back into Mexico.Hastings said that without rapidly returning migrants under the pandemic rule, "we would have massive amounts of infections, massive amounts of commingling, and again, we would fill a hospital." He said that border agents are directed to contact the Mexican consular office each time an unaccompanied child is expelled.And Mark Morgan, acting commissioner of the Customs and Border Protection agency, acknowledged in a separate interview this week that such expulsions would violate an agreement between Mexico and the United States. "That's not part of their policy," Morgan said of Mexico.The two officials said that the expulsion policy has helped prevent the kind of overcrowding in border facilities that led to widespread criticism over the agency's care for children last year.But border agents have now been directed to exempt most children under the age of 10 from the expulsion policy and transfer them to shelters in the United States that are overseen by the U.S. Health and Human Services agency, Hastings said.The coronavirus pandemic created an opportunity for the Trump administration to enact its most stringent border restrictions yet. Thousands of children have since been rapidly expelled to their home countries after crossing the border into the United States -- a departure from years of established practices, under which children traveling without adult guardians were transferred into a U.S. government shelter system, where they were assigned to caseworkers who worked to reunite them with American sponsors while their cases for asylum were being considered in the courts.Contrary to that policy, the children expelled during the pandemic have been held only briefly in Border Patrol facilities or in hotels before being sent to their homes countries, often without any notification to their families ahead of time. Some have had to borrow cellphones when they arrive at airports to look for family members who may be willing to take them in.The latest expulsions add a new and potentially more devastating complication, creating even more confusion for families from Central America and elsewhere who may be trying to find their children.It is possible that some of the expelled children may have had family members in Mexico who were themselves waiting for entry to the United States, but Mexican authorities did not provide information about children handed off to their shelters.A Salvadoran father living in California who asked not to be named because he is in the country illegally said he first learned that his 15-year-old daughter had been expelled into Mexico in August, when he received a phone call from the Salvadoran Embassy in Ciudad Juarez."They said I had to stay calm because she was going to be OK," the father said. "I didn't know what to ask; it was just all confusing." His daughter had no family in Mexico, he said.She had been waiting in El Salvador to be approved for a visa to enter the United States under a special program for victims of sexual violence, based on what had happened to her in her home country, he said. He was not sure why she had tried to cross the U.S. border before she was approved to do so -- he assumed it was out of fears for her own safety.After lawyers intervened on the girl's behalf, arguing that her rights had been violated during the expulsion, she was allowed into the United States and is now living in a shelter in Arizona. Her father said he is waiting for permission from the U.S. government to be reunited with his daughter."I've been out of my mind," he said. "This is a really, really stressful situation. It's about your kids, you want always the best for them, but at the same time you know that you can't physically protect them or do anything right now, so that is really frustrating."Lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union are challenging the practice of expelling migrant children in federal court, arguing that it violates child welfare laws, such as the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, as well as national immigration laws, which require special protections for migrant children traveling alone."Even apart from the general illegality of Title 42, it is separately illegal under the immigration laws to expel a non-Mexican child to Mexico," said Lee Gelernt, the lead attorney in the case.The government has recently begun referring to migrant children who cross the border alone differently -- as "single minors" rather than "unaccompanied alien children" -- reinforcing the notion that while the pandemic-related border closure is in place, such children are not eligible for the legal protections that would otherwise have been available to them.According to public data, U.S. authorities have expelled more than 200,000 people since the new public health border closure took effect, but the administration would not answer questions about how many of them were children nor about how many were sent to Mexico. In December, border authorities acknowledged in federal court that at least 8,800 children have been expelled from the United States since March.Human rights organization Women's Refugee Commission, working with several other advocacy organizations, filed a public records request with Mexican authorities and received data suggesting that at least 208 Central American children had been returned to the custody of Mexican authorities between March 21 and June 5 of this year.Mexican child welfare authorities did not respond to requests for comment.Adults have also been expelled during the pandemic, in relatively large numbers, allowing some of them to quickly attempt to reenter the country.To combat repeat attempts, Hastings said, the Border Patrol has begun expulsion flights into the interior of Mexico for Mexican adults who have tried to enter the United States four or more times.This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/31ZftHl
A Mars-sized planet is aimlessly zooming through the Milky Way
Trump wall: How much has he actually built?
She fell in the kitchen at her Florida home. Two weeks later, this beauty queen is gone
The battle for Senate control looks more volatile than the presidential race
Florida entrepreneurs and business owners support Biden, slam Trump in virtual forum
Washington cops fatally shoot Black man, leave body in street for 12 hours
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2HPSLL4
2020 election results: Why Americans probably won’t find out who won on 3 November
Daylight-saving time ends on Sunday, November 1 — here's why we have it and why some countries and states have gotten rid of it
'They give me the willies': scientist who vacuumed murder hornets braces for fight
Chris Looney helped dismantle the first nest of Asian giant hornets in the US. Now he’s preparing for the next stepThe eradication of the first nest of Asian giant hornets on US soil somewhat resembled a science fiction depiction of an alien landing site. A crew of government specialists in white, astronaut-like protective suits descended upon the hornet nexus to vanquish it with a futuristic-looking vacuum cleaner, to the relief of onlookers.The nest of the fearsome invasive insects, notoriously known as “murder hornets”, was found in a tree crevice near Blaine, in Washington state, via a tracking device attached to a previously captured worker hornet. The Washington state department of agriculture (WSDA) confirmed the nest had been successfully removed, with dozens of live captives taken back for inspection.“It was cold so they were docile, so between their slowness and the protective gear no one was hurt,” said Chris Looney, a WSDA entomologist who was tasked with vacuuming up the hornets.Wielding a lengthy, toxic stinger, the hornets can cause renal failure and death in people, as dozens of people in Japan have found out to their cost. One entomologist in Canada described the feeling of being stung as like “having hot tacks pushed into my flesh”.They can also squirt venom, as Looney saw first-hand when his lab workbench was sprayed by hornets as they roused themselves following capture. “I was more worried about getting permanent nerve damage in the eye from the squirted venom than being stung,” said Looney, who wore goggles for the capture. “They are pretty intimidating, even for an inch-and-a-half insect. They are big and loud and I know it would hurt very badly if I get stung. They give me the willies.”Murder hornets do not earn their moniker from killing people, however, with honeybees far more likely to be targeted. A honeybee colony can be decimated within a few hours, with the hornets decapitating their victims and feeding severed body parts to their young. This poses a gnawing concern for hobbyist beekeepers and even farmers in the US north-west, where managed honeybees are crucial for the pollination of crops such as blueberries and raspberries.Asian giant hornets were first discovered in North America last year, popping up in British Columbia, Canada, before a handful of specimens made it south of the border to Washington state. The hornets, native to east Asia, most likely arrived on the continent clinging to imported goods sent via sea or air. A close relative of the hornet has already made separate inroads into France and the UK.A key, and unnerving, question is how far they will manage to spread across America. Looney said the removal of the first nest found in the US was just a “small victory” in a battle likely to rage for several years to contain the insects. Thousands of sightings have been reported in Washington, and while many are false or mistaken, Looney said it was likely the hornets had spread, potentially establishing dozens more nests.“It’s hard to say how they will behave here compared to their native range, but the fear is that there are large apiaries of bees that could be sitting ducks, while as the hornets move south to warmer weather their colonies could grow larger,” he said. “The object of our work is to avoid finding this out.”Scientists who have modeled the potential spread of the hornets predict they will be able to extend down the west coast into California. The Rocky Mountains and drier interior of the US pose major barriers to an eastward push but environs on the east coast such as New York would be ideal homes for the murder hornets should they inadvertently be transported there.Looney said he was “troubled” by evidence that overwintering hornet queens like to bury themselves in straw and hay, commodities that are regularly shifted around the US by train or truck. A hornet queen that hitched a ride would still face challenges establishing a nest even if moved to the east coast – it could immediately be crushed underfoot, after all – but the potential pathway is there.“I’m more worried about human transportation of these hornets than I initially was,” Looney conceded.The Asian giant hornet is just the latest invasive species to make its mark on North America. Burmese pythons are now legion in southern Florida, while Asian carp are common in the Mississippi river system. In the insect world, the spotted lanternfly is a growing agricultural pest and emerald ash borers have arrived to lay waste to stands of trees.These arrivals are symptoms of the growth in international trade and tourism, while climate change is making many parts of the US more hospitable for certain invasive species. The Asian giant hornet, for example, is thought to favor the sort of elevated temperatures that the US is experiencing as the planet heats up. This could help it spread at the rate of its cousin species in France, which has been able to advance up to 78km a year. If it is not controlled, the murder hornet could fundamentally change ecosystems across the US.Still, even in a fraught year racked by a pandemic, social unrest and economic disaster, Looney said any fears of being assailed by a murder hornet should be “low on the anxiety meter”.He added: “We should be concerned about it but we will do our best until the money runs out or the battle is won or lost. If we fail, it will be unpleasant. But there are other things to be much more worried about right now.”
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2HIAH5G
US salutes Greece, Turkey earthquake diplomacy
US election: Don Jr told Trump supporters to ‘have some fun’ before Biden vehicles ‘rammed by armed group’
Tensions between left and right-wing protesters in Vancouver, Washington, after a Black man was shot dead by police officers in a drugs bust
'Voters are fed up': will Arizona's suburbs abandon the party of Trump?
The president won narrowly in Maricopa county in 2016. Polls show his support is draining – and fellow Republicans are at riskIn the agonizing days after the 2018 election, Christine Marsh, a Democratic candidate for state senate in a traditionally Republican suburban Phoenix district, watched her opponent’s lead dwindle to a few hundred votes, with thousands of ballots left to be counted.In the end, just 267 votes separated them.Marsh lost. But the result was ominous for Republicans, in a corner of Phoenix’s ever-expanding suburbs where Barry Goldwater, the long-serving Arizona senator and conservative icon, launched his presidential campaign in 1964 from the patio of his famed hilltop estate in Paradise Valley.series linker embedIn the decades since, population growth and shifting demographics have transformed the cultural, political and economic complexion of the region.And the election of Donald Trump has exacerbated these trends across the country, perhaps nowhere more dramatically than in diverse, fast-growing metropolitan areas like Phoenix, where the coalition of affluent, white suburban voters that once cemented Republican dominance is unraveling.“We’ve seen a huge shift in my district, even in just the last two years,” said Marsh, a high school English teacher who is challenging the Republican incumbent, Kate Brophy McGee, again this year. The district, which includes the prosperous Paradise Valley and parts of north central Phoenix, is now at the center of the political battle for Arizona’s suburbs.Over the last four years, Republicans have watched their support collapse in suburbs across the country, as the president’s divisive rhetoric and incendiary behavior alienates women, college graduates and independent voters. But as Trump continues to downplay the seriousness of the coronavirus pandemic, even after more than 225,000 deaths nationwide and as cases continue to climb, his conduct is imperiling not only his own re-election campaign, but his entire party. ‘Ground zero’The depth of Trump’s problems with suburbanites is magnified in Maricopa county, one of the largest and most suburban counties in the nation, with a population of almost 4.5 million.In 2016, the suburbs helped deliver Trump’s narrow victory here. But polling shows the president has lost significant ground with these voters, threatening his prospects in a state that has voted for a Democratic presidential candidate only once since 1952.“If the president loses Arizona, it’ll be largely because he lost Maricopa county – because he lost the suburbs,” said Jeff Flake, the former Arizona senator and a conservative critic of the president who has endorsed his Democratic opponent, Joe Biden.The political dividing line in America now runs directly through suburbs like the ones around Phoenix, rare ground where Trump inspires both fierce loyalty and deep revulsion.Here, across desert sprawl of stuccoed housing developments and saguaro-scattered foothills, is “ground zero”, said Mike Noble, the chief pollster at OH Predictive Insights in Phoenix. Not only are these voters poised to deliver a referendum on Trump next week, they will also be decisive in determining control of the US Congress and the state legislature.In his analysis of precincts that voted for Trump in 2016 yet backed the Democratic Senate candidate Kyrsten Sinema two years later, the vast majority were in suburban parts of Maricopa county. Sinema, who cast herself as an “independent voice” willing to break with her party, became the first Democrat in 30 years to win a US Senate seat in the state, beating the Republican Martha McSally, who had tied her fate to the president.“The big story of the last four years is the shift of white, college-educated independents and self-identified moderates,” he said.Independents, or unaffiliated voters, make up roughly a third of Arizona’s electorate. In 2016, they broke narrowly for Trump, but this year, polling suggests these voters are swinging heavily away from the president.According to an October Monmouth poll, independent voters in Arizona favor Biden by 21 percentage points. The survey also found that most of the state’s independent voters believe McSally, who was appointed to fill the unexpired term of the late Republican senator John McCain after losing to Sinema in 2018, is too supportive of the president. She now faces an uphill battle to keep the seat, after months spent trailing her Democratic challenger, Mark Kelly.Unlike McSally, McGee – the Republican state senator who is trying to hold on to her seat in Phoenix – has carefully cultivated a reputation as a moderate, breaking with her party on legislation related to Medicare expansion and school vouchers.Yet like many Republicans running in increasingly formidable terrain, McGee faces strong national headwinds after four years of anti-Trump activism and resistance in the suburbs. Arizona’s Red for Ed movement, which led to a week-long teacher walkout in 2018, galvanized parents and students alike and helped build support for Marsh who was the 2016 state teacher of the year.This year, education, compounded by the coronavirus, is a top priority for Arizonans, and, on this issue, voters favor Democrats. A ballot measure imposing a surtax on the highest earners to increase public education funding is poised for approval, with polling showing support from a majority of Democrats and independent voters.“I really do think it’s frustration,” Marsh said. “Voters are really fed up with the lack of leadership and they realize that the only way we’re going to change anything in Arizona is by changing the balance of power.” ‘Suburban women, will you please like me?’Trump has attempted to woo back suburban voters by casting himself as the protector of a certain “suburban lifestyle dream” who would forestall an “invasion” of low-income housing and keep their neighborhoods safe from the “crime and chaos” of America’s “dysfunctional cities”.His appeals, intended to stoke the racist fears of white voters, conjures a decades-old image of suburbia that is completely detached from the racially diverse and economically prosperous communities growing around America’s biggest cities. Polling suggests the entreaties have not worked.Unlike four years ago, Trump is trailing by significant margins among white women, a group that includes independents and moderate Republicans likely to be turned off by Trump’s inflammatory speech.“Suburban women, will you please like me?” Trump pleaded at a recent rally in Pennsylvania. “Please? Please!” Lisa James, a veteran Republican strategist in Phoenix, said a public safety message had the potential to resonate with conservative suburban women, who were upset by scenes of rioting and violence that occurred alongside largely peaceful protests against racism and police brutality this summer.“These voters are concerned about the safety and security of their families and their communities,” James said. “Events like that will lead many of them right back to the Republican party.”The October Monmouth poll found that nearly 60% of Arizona voters, including a majority of voters in Maricopa county, worried “a lot” about the potential breakdown of law and order. The issue was more of a concern for voters than the coronavirus pandemic and other financial matters.However, it hasn’t reshaped their opinion of the president. The same survey found that Arizonans preferred Biden over Trump, even though they trusted Trump more to maintain law and order.Other national polls show Trump’s standing on the issue even more diminished, with voters saying Biden was better suited to handle crime and public safety. In a national Fox News survey released earlier this month, 58% of voters agreed that the way Trump talks about racial inequality and policing had lead to “an increase in acts of violence”.In 2016, Karie Barrera said, she was an independent who cast her ballot for Hillary Clinton. Four years later, the recently retired educator said she was still not enthralled by the president. But she became increasingly alarmed after the Black Lives Matter protests led to calls for making school curriculums more inclusive.“I don’t like that you’re going to mess with our real history,” Barrera said.The president has claimed that schoolchildren are being taught a “twisted web of lies” about systemic racism in America and called for a return to “patriotic education”. Barrera agrees: “You don’t rewrite our history.”Yet the very rhetoric that reassures Barrera is jeopardizing a coalition that once cemented Republican dominance in states like Arizona.“The more that Trump’s rhetoric is designed to appeal to a white, male, working-class set of voters, the more alienated these college-educated, right-leaning independents and Republicans start to feel,” said Sarah Longwell, a Republican consultant who has spent the last several years studying suburban voters. ‘This was personal’In 2016, women in Arizona narrowly favored Clinton over Trump. In the latest New York Times/Siena College poll of Arizona voters, Biden held a daunting 18-point lead among women in the state.From the outset, it was clear that many of the women Longwell convened in her focus groups didn’t like Trump: they didn’t like his tweets, his treatment of women, his conduct or his leadership style. But they took a chance on him in 2016 because they believed the alternative wasn’t any better. These were often the voters who bolted first, helping Democrats retake the House in the 2018 midterm elections.Among those who didn’t, Longwell said many have grappled with their discomfort over Trump’s behavior and their allegiance to the Republican party. She said that despite the tumult of the last four years, little moved these women – until the pandemic arrived.“Suddenly there was a shift,” she said. “Voters started talking about the stakes being too high. They were suffering personal consequences, which is very different from an abstract foreign policy issue. This was personal.”Longwell, who founded Republican Voters Against Trump, said the suburban shift away from the Republican party could be the beginning of a “meaningful political realignment” that will outlast Trump’s presidency.“It will depend who the Democrats are in the future and it will depend who the Republicans are in the future,” she said. “But these voters have no interest in a Trumpy Republican party.” ‘Adiós Trump’In 2008 and 2012, Yasser Sanchez worked to elect John McCain and Mitt Romney to the White House. But this year, for the first time in his life, the lifelong Republican is voting for a Democratic presidential nominee – and has no qualms about it.Sanchez, an immigration lawyer in Mesa, a conservative Phoenix suburb with more than half a million residents, said he was appalled by Trump’s conduct, his vilification of immigrants and his disdain for American institutions. But equally disappointing, Sanchez said, was the near-unwavering loyalty he received from Republican leaders.“The Republican party used to stand for certain principles,” he said. “Now it stands for defending whatever the president tweets that morning.”The Trump presidency has forced Sanchez to reconsider his political identity. He isn’t a Democrat, but he also doesn’t see a place for himself in the party he had supported all his life.This year, Sanchez is doing everything he can to ensure Arizona elects Biden. He hosted a voter registration drive in the parking lot of his law firm and placed an “Adiós Trump” billboard along the busy Interstate 10 in Phoenix.“For now, I’m comfortable being an independent,” he said. “Unless there’s a reckoning within the Republican party, I will not be going back.”
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/35Nt0CZ
Philadelphia police say they rescued a lost child. His family says they actually ripped him from his mother's car.
During recent protests over the police killing of Walter Wallace Jr. in Philadelphia, the U.S.'s largest police union posted what looked like a sympathetic photo. A Philadelphia police office held a Black toddler, with a caption purporting he was found "walking around barefoot in an area that was experiencing complete lawlessness," the National Fraternal Order of Police's Facebook post said.But lawyer's for the boy's family say that's not what happened. Rickia Young was driving with her toddler son to pick up her 16-year-old nephew when she accidentally drove into an area where police and protesters were facing off. She tried to turn around, but police surrounded the car, smashed its windows, and threw Young and her nephew onto the street, her lawyers tell The Washington Post. The officers then pulled the toddler from the seat, video of the incident shows.> The attacked on this boy and his mother were caught on video. @ryanjreilly has done a good job of pointing out this lie by @GLFOP https://t.co/kJ4QcrXegc> > — Riley H. Ross III (@AttorneyRoss) October 30, 2020Police soon detained Young, but she had to be taken to the hospital before she could be processed because she was bleeding from her head after police threw her to the ground. Young's nephew was also injured, and the toddler was hit in the head. Young was split from her son for hours before she was released without charges. Her family found the boy in his car seat in the back of a police car, broken glass from the car's windows still in the seat, the Post describes.The whole scene was caught on video by AApril Rice, who told the Philadelphia Inquirer watching what happened was "surreal" and "traumatic." The National Fraternal Order of Police has since deleted the post. Philadelphia police still haven't told the Young family where to find the car, along with her son's hearing aids and other belongings inside.More stories from theweek.com How to make an election crisis 64 things President Trump has said about women Republicans are on the verge of a spectacular upside-down achievement
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/3ebDq33
A high school newspaper has exposed how state police quoted Adolf Hitler and advocated violence in a training manual
Orthodox priest in 'critical condition' after shooting in Lyon, France
French police locked down parts of Lyon on Saturday as they searched for gunmen who shot an Orthadox priest with a sorn-off shotgun before fleeing. The priest, who has Greek nationality, was closing his church when the attack happened and is now in a serious condition. The interior ministry warned people to "avoid the area" where the attack took place. A police source said the priest was of Greek nationality, and had been able to tell emergency services as they arrived that he had not recognised his assailant. The motivation for the attack was not known last night, but the shooting came in the wake of several grisly Islamist attacks on French soil and a growing tension between France and the Muslim world. Emmanuel Macron, the French president, lashed out at Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, slamming Turkey's "bellicose" stance towards Nato allies. Mr Macron said that France's wish was now that things "calm down" but for this to happen, it is essential that the "Turkish president respects France, respects the European Union, respects its values, does not tell lies and does not utter insults," Macron said.
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2TJ6s0y
Friday, October 30, 2020
Body-camera footage released of Wallace killing; family says officers were improperly trained
The footage from body-worn cameras that was taken as police responded to a call about Walter Wallace Jr. shows him emerging from a house with a knife as relatives shout at officers about his mental health condition, a lawyer for the man's family said Thursday.
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/37VmH2R
White House coronavirus adviser Dr Birx boycotting Covid task force over misinformation
Biden campaigns in Florida ahead of election
Joe Biden campaigned in Florida on Thursday.
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2TDV9Hc
Wisconsin expects to count absentee ballots within hours. Pennsylvania is buckling down for several days.
At least one swing state may be spared the political controversy of a late absentee ballot count seemingly changing its 2020 election results.Every U.S. state is receiving a boatload more mail-in ballots than it usually does during a typical election year, and four of them — Alabama, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin — won't even be able to open those ballots until Election Day. This almost guarantees a delayed result from those four states, but Wisconsin is confident it'll have everything set by the morning after the election, local election officials tell NBC News affiliate WTMJ Milwaukee.Wisconsin's electoral votes will be critical in determining the winner of the 2020 election, as the previously Democratic state went for President Trump in 2016. County clerks all say they'll count ballots nonstop until they're finished, and expect results at 9:30 p.m. at the earliest. Waukesha County, the third most populous in the state, says its count will wrap around 3 a.m. And Milwaukee County, home to nearly a million people, expects to be done by 6 a.m. Wednesday.Meanwhile in Pennsylvania, state Attorney General Josh Shapiro (D) is preparing for a long haul, including pushback from Republicans. The state accepts all absentee ballots that were mailed before Election Day even if they arrive later, meaning a count to finalize the swing state's results could take days. Shapiro fears Republicans may use these late ballots "as a hook to challenge all mail-in ballots," and a court may then halt the count of all absentee ballots while the challenge is considered, he told The Washington Post. So to prepare, Pennsylvania officials will separate late-arriving ballots in hopes of avoiding a total counting shutdown.Find when every state expects to count its absentee ballots at The New York Times.More stories from theweek.com How to make an election crisis 64 things President Trump has said about women Republicans are on the verge of a spectacular upside-down achievement
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/35Ekypu
The Government has agreed only three claims by families of deceased Windrush victims
The Government has settled only three of the 71 claims by families of dead victims of the Windrush scandal, according to Home Office data. Around one in eight (12 per cent) of Windrush victims claiming compensation have received payouts, according to the official figures. Of 1,587 claims made to the scheme by the end of September, £1,619,291.42 had been paid out to 196 people, around 12 per cent of those who had applied. The data also showed 71 claims have been made for people who have already died, but only three have resulted in payments so far. Some 124 claims have been subject to an appeal over the decision made, while 81 eligible applicants were told they were not entitled to any money because their claims did not demonstrate that they had been adversely affected by the scandal. The fund has an estimated budget of at least £200 million. Previously, Home Secretary Priti Patel described the scheme as "complicated" and said she wanted to see payments "sped up". Earlier this year, Windrush campaigner Paulette Wilson (see below) died, aged 64, just weeks after delivering a petition to Downing Street calling for action to address the failings that led to the scandal and demanding swift compensation for victims.
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2G9stCz
Vancouver Braces for Protests After Police Kill 21-Year-Old Black Man in Bank Parking Lot
Police in Vancouver, Washington, are bracing for a second night of protests after officers fatally shot a 21-year-old Black man in a bank parking lot Thursday night.Clark County sheriff’s deputies shot and killed Kevin Peterson, Jr., 21, near a U.S. Bank just prior to 6 p.m. Thursday. The officers involved have not been named. Protesters gathered near the site of the shooting Thursday night, and mourners planned to gather at the site Friday night for a vigil.Police didn't offer any details about the shooting until Friday afternoon, when Sheriff Chuck Atkins said the deputies had been conducting a narcotics investigation when they began their pursuit of Peterson on foot. “A foot pursuit ensued where deputies from the Clark County sheriff’s office were chasing a man with a firearm. The information I have, is that upon entering the parking lot of the bank, the man repeatedly, reportedly fired his weapon at the deputies. The deputies returned fire and the subject was tragically killed. It is my understanding that the man’s firearm was observed as the scene,” Atkins said at a brief press conference. Peterson had called his girlfriend Olivia Selto just before the incident, and she was still on the phone with him when he was shot, according to The Oregonian. She said she heard the gunshots. The couple had a child together, Kailiah Peterson.“I told him I loved him as many times as I could and he said it back,” she told the paper, adding that the last thing she heard from him was “a few heartbreaking sounds.” Kevin Peterson, Sr. said of his son, who had five siblings, “He wasn’t a problem child at all. He was a good kid. He didn’t have a record, nothing. It’s sad this happened to him.” He said he was not allowed to identify his son until early the following morning.The Southwest Washington Independent Investigation Team has taken over the investigation into the shooting, which Atkins said he “fully supported.” At a press conference Friday, Atkins said, “Since it’s not my investigation, I’m waiting along with you for some of the information I need.”Atkins said he supported demonstrators who planned to gather.“It is right and correct that the community should grieve alongside his family,” he said. “I have a team working to ensure that people can come on over and hold a peaceful whatever-you-want-to-call-it, obviously they’re going to be allowed to do that. It’s something we expect, and they have a right to come over and pay their respects.”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.
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/3kM8AAB
Fox News Breaking News Alert
OFFICERS AMBUSHED: Two New Orleans cops shot at in French Quarter
10/30/20 5:30 PM
‘It’s propaganda’: Police pulled Black toddler from family car then claimed he was found lost, attorneys say
Facebook admits it 'improperly' blocked some political ads due to 'technical issues' as Joe Biden's campaign slams it for being 'wholly unprepared'
President Erdogan accused of fuelling the anger that led to French terror attacks
The Turkish president’s bellicose rhetoric towards France over the publication of caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed may have contributed to a climate of anger that led to the deadly terror attack in the city of Nice on Thursday, terrorism experts and EU politicians have said. A woman was decapitated, and two more people killed, in an attack in a church in Nice on Thursday that the city’s mayor described as terrorism after the alleged perpetrator reportedly chanted “Alllahu akbar” as he was arrested. Terrorism experts believe the attack – alongside a stabbing at the French consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and an incident in Avignon where police killed a man brandishing a gun – were retaliation by extremists for France’s hardening attitudes towards Muslims. French President Emmanuel Macron ordered a crackdown on Islamists this month, following the beheading of a teacher who showed his class caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed, something many Muslims consider blasphemous and offensive. Turkish President Recep Tayipp Erdogan has led criticism in the Muslim world of Mr Macron, repeatedly saying he needed mental evaluation over his stance towards Islam.
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/3jG2m47
Las Vegas police charge driver after man pushed a cyclist to her death, fell out a minivan window, hit his head on a lamppost, and died at the scene
The Electoral College can pick a president who got fewer votes. Here's why and how.
Lawyers for Black couple shot by police outside Chicago claim officer’s body camera was turned off intentionally
Official: Rifle shell casings found at Breonna Taylor scene
Two long-rifle shell casings were found in and near Breonna Taylor's Louisville apartment after a botched police drug raid that ended in Taylor's death, Kentucky's attorney general said. It's the first time these specific shell casings have been mentioned by authorities investigating Taylor's death. One of the casings was found by Taylor's sister in her bedroom and the other was found in the parking lot outside the apartment, according to a court filing this week in a criminal case against the sole Louisville police officer charged in connection with the raid.
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/3oDuCrP
There's even more evidence premature birth rates are dropping during the pandemic
Lawyers: Cop video of shooting of 2 suggests cover-up
A body camera worn by a suburban Chicago police officer who shot a Black couple in their car was only turned on moments after the shooting, a fact that the lawyers representing the woman say suggests an attempt to cover up what had happened even before he fired.
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2HHPUDv
Fauci says first U.S. COVID-19 vaccines could ship late December or early January
If all goes well, the first doses of a safe and effective coronavirus vaccine will likely become available to some high-risk Americans in late December or early January, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious diseases expert, said on Thursday. Based on current projections from vaccine front-runners Moderna Inc and Pfizer Inc, Americans will likely know "sometime in December whether or not we have a safe and effective vaccine," Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said in a live chat on Twitter and Facebook. "The first interim look (at trial results) should be, we hope, within the next few weeks," he said.
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/34H2PyJ
How a fake persona laid the groundwork for a Hunter Biden conspiracy deluge
Popular Thai pro-democracy figure charged over flash mob rally
One of Thailand’s most popular anti-establishment politicians has been charged for his role in an illegal flash mob protest last year, in a move that is likely to fuel the current wave of pro-democracy protests. Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, 41, a charismatic billionaire and founder of the dissolved Future Forward party, is accused of five public assembly violations linked to the rally in Bangkok's central shopping district last December, Krisadung Nutcharat, his lawyer, said on Thursday. The charges include failing to notify police of a public gathering, blocking a sky train station, using a megaphone without permission and holding a rally close to a royal residence. Four other people from his Progressive Movement Group and Move Forward Party face similar charges. All five deny any wrongdoing. Mr Thanathorn has been an outspoken advocate of the protest movement that has gripped the Thai capital, Bangkok, since June, and he recently condemned a short-lived emergency order aimed at keeping demonstrators off the streets. During last year’s elections, he and his pro-democracy Future Forward Party, proved to be enormously popular with young, first-time voters, and garnered the third-largest share of seats.
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/3mDcDQb
Republican Sen. Mike Lee said fact-checking labels placed by social media companies are a form of censorship
Kyle Rittenhouse extradited to Wisconsin following terse ruling from Illinois judge accusing him of asking the court to 'ignore binding Illinois law'
Supreme Court issues flurry of last-minute election orders
Wisconsin, no. That’s how the Supreme Court has answered questions in recent days about an extended timeline for receiving and counting ballots in those states. At first blush, the difference in the outcomes at the Supreme Court seems odd because the high court typically takes up issues to harmonize the rules across the country. A big asterisk: These cases are being dealt with on an emergency basis in which the court issues orders that either block or keep in place a lower-court ruling.
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2HKZPIR
Death toll rises in Vietnam after Typhoon Molave triggers widespread flooding, landslides
After forging a path of destruction over the northern and central Philippines and strengthening over the South China Sea, Typhoon Molave brought its deadly impacts to Vietnam from Wednesday into Thursday, inflicting more damage in a country that has been battered by numerous landfalling tropical systems since the beginning of the month. As of Thursday evening, local time, the death toll has risen to 35 and at least 50 people are still missing, according to state media. The death toll is expected to rise in the coming days as search and rescue missions continue and communications with more remote villages are restored. Soldiers and villagers dig through mud after a landslide swamps a village in Phuoc Loc district, Quang Nam province, Vietnam, on Thursday, Oct. 29, 2020. Three separated landslides triggered by Typhoon Molave killed over a dozen villagers and left dozens more missing in the province as rescuers scramble to recover more victims. (Lai Minh Dong/VNA via AP) A dozen of those killed by the typhoon were sailors of two fishing vessels that sank while trying to seek shelter from the powerful typhoon. According to VnExpress International, the vessels sank near the province of Binh Dinh on Tuesday night. While strong winds from Molave created treacherous conditions across the western South China Sea, heavy rainfall caused deadly landslides across central provinces. CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APP Military officers, who were put on standby by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc ahead of Molave's arrival, scrambled to three villages where three separate landslides were responsible for killing at least 19 people and are suspected of burying more than 40 others in thick mud and debris, The Associated Press reported. Homes and roadways in parts of Tra Van village, Tra Leng village and Phuoc Loc district were buried under the landslides. Officers used bulldozers and excavators to help clear gain access to the affected areas and begin rescuing victims, The AP said. Four more residents were killed in Quang Nam province, a tourist draw for an ancient town and Hindu temples, by falling trees and collapsed houses, The AP reported. More than 130 people have been killed in the central Vietnam province since the beginning of October following the tumultuous weather pattern that has brought a relentless series of tropical storms and typhoons. Typhoon Molave is the fourth named tropical system to make landfall over Vietnam this month, and officials are calling this the strongest storm to hit the country in the last 20 years, The Associated Press reported. Molave made landfall just prior to midday Wednesday, local time, according to VnExpress International, unloading torrential rain and damaging winds across the typhoon-weary nation. At landfall, the typhoon had the equivalent strength of a Category 2 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale in the Atlantic and East Pacific basins. Molave lost some wind intensity just prior to landfall after spending some time with the equivalent strength of a Category 3 major hurricane. Ahead of the storm, officials were preparing to evacuate 1.3 million residents along the coast of central Vietnam, according to Reuters. Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc also urged provinces in the typhoon's path to prepare by bringing boats ashore. This satellite image shows Typhoon Molave closing in on the Vietnam coast on Wednesday morning, local time. (CIRA/RAMMB) Molave is the fourth named tropical system to make landfall over Vietnam since Oct. 11, according to AccuWeather Lead International Meteorologist Jason Nicholls. It is also the country's sixth landfalling storm this year. Fierce winds were already beginning to whip ahead of Molave's landfall, with a local news agency reporting nearly 82,000 customers had lost power in the province of Phú Yên by Wednesday morning, local time. As of Wednesday evening, local time, Molave had lost enough wind intensity that it was designated a tropical storm over western Vietnam. Molave first developed into a tropical depression to the east of the Philippines late last week and was given the name Quinta by the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration. Molave is the name used by the Japanese Meteorological Agency for the part of the basin that falls under the agency's purview. Residents wearing masks to prevent the spread of the coronavirus wade through a flooded road from Typhoon Molave in Pampanga province, northern Philippines, on Monday, Oct. 26, 2020. The fast-moving typhoon has forced thousands of villagers to flee to safety in provinces. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila) The storm quickly strengthened into a typhoon with sustained winds of 120 km/h (75 mph) before making its first landfall over San Miguel, Philippines, on Sunday evening, local time. This is equivalent to a Category 1 hurricane in the Atlantic and East Pacific tropical basins. Widespread rainfall totals of 100-200 mm (4-8 inches) were reported in the northern and central Philippines. More than 120,000 people have been displaced by the storm, and at least eight are missing. As of Friday morning, local time, the typhoon is being blamed for at least 22 deaths in the Philippines. As recovery efforts continue, all eyes will be on the strengthening Typhoon Goni, also known as Rolly in the Philippines. Residents impacted by Molave in the Philippines are likely to face impacts from Goni this weekend. Goni could go on to bring more tropical downpours and gusty winds to Vietnam next week. Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/37PE4Cm
Thursday, October 29, 2020
Karabakh says Azerbaijan forces closing in on key town of Shusha
Miami Beach ‘concerned about a surge’ as 26 more employees test positive for COVID-19
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez warned Rep. Ted Yoho that she won't be 'so nice next time' following harassment incident
Factbox: Key details from fifth plenum of China's Communist Party
Chinese President Xi Jinping and the Central Committee, the largest of the ruling Communist Party's top decision-making bodies, have concluded a four-day meeting on China's economic and social policy goals for the next five years. Below are some key details from the communique of the plenum, the fifth meeting of the Central Committee since the once-in-five years Communist Party congress in 2017, as released by state media on Thursday. Party leadership said in the communique that the value of China's gross domestic product is expected to exceed 100 trillion yuan ($14.92 trillion) this year.
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/3jFBvFf
Neo-Nazis Who Targeted Podcaster and Terrorized Random Family Busted in MI: Cops
Two alleged members of the white supremacist group The Base were arrested Thursday morning in connection with a harassment campaign against a Michigan family.According to the state attorney general, the two men, Justen Watkins, 25, and Alfred Gorman, 35, mistakenly believed the family home belonged to a left-leaning podcast host. The duo allegedly took pictures outside the house dressed in Nazi gear late last year, and posted pictures to the internet with captions threatening Daniel Harper, the host of the anti-fascist podcast “I Don’t Speak German.” The men are charged with gang membership, unlawful posting of a message, and using computers to commit a crime after what was described as a joint operation between state police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It comes three weeks after the FBI’s high-profile bust of members of an unrelated, Boogaloo-infused Michigan paramilitary group who are charged with plotting to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.An affidavit by Michigan State Police Detective Sergeant Sherry Workman shows that the arrests arose from a “domestic terrorism investigation” conducted alongside the FBI. “The Base” is a rough English translation of “al-Qaeda,” whether intentional or otherwise; the terror groups share no other links.Sutton Roach, an FBI spokesperson, confirmed that the bureau executed arrest warrants Thursday morning on Watkins and Gorman but declined further comment.Harper, the podcaster The Base attempted to target, told The Daily Beast the arrests were a long time coming.“Given the flurry of federal activity around the Base and various related groups between mid-2019 and spring 2020, I assumed that there was either an ongoing investigation or that they had hit a dead end,” he said.Harper, who tracks far-right groups like the Base, said that, as months passed, he guessed authorities might have been sidetracked by other fringe movements. “There was also the possibility that they had gotten distracted by the ongoing pandemic and/or the boogaloo boys,” he said.It was unclear whether investigators were unable to find violations of federal law, as the two Base leaders were charged only with Michigan violations. The affidavit does not accuse Watkins or Gorman of outright acts of violence.According to the police affidavit, sometime after mistakenly stalking a Dexter, Mich. home believed to belong to antifascist podcaster Harper, Watkins boasted on the Base’s Telegram channel that he was ready to commit lurid violence against what he described as a Jew-run America. He allegedly ran what the affidavit calls a “hate camp” in Bad Axe, Mich. where he instructed Base members in “tactical and firearms training” that the fascist organization turned into propaganda and recruitment videos."I will train with firearms, explosives, knives, Ryder trucks, and anything else I have to destroy this KIKE SYSTEM THAT IS GENOCIDING MY people," Watkins allegedly wrote in early 2020, in what the affidavit describes as a manifesto posted to Telegram. That manifesto allegedly ended: "To victory with PURE UNADULTERATED ARYANVIOLENCE! HAIL TERROGRAM!"The affidavit does not indicate how long the Michigan police and the FBI have been investigating the December 2019 incident. But the local sheriff’s office has been aware of it since the residents of the house, Richard and Dawn Shea, reported the tactically-geared men on their porch taking pictures.The Base encourages terror tactics against its enemies, and often incorporates those people into its propaganda, as members allegedly did with Harper and the pictures of the house.The affidavit suggests a recent leadership change in The Base, which was founded by Rinaldo Nazarro, a former military contractor who was first identified by The Guardian early this year. Following his identification by the Guardian, Nazarro passed on leadership to Watkins, the latter man claimed, according to the arrest affidavit.“In early 2020, several members of The Base were arrested across the United States for criminal activities relating to their involvement in The Base,” it continues. “Following the highly public arrests, and ‘doxxing’ (publishing private identifying information about an individual on the internet) of The Base's founder and then leader, Watkins announced that the former leader had appointed Watkins as the new leader of The Base.”The arrests alluded to in the affidavit include the bust of multiple Base members for allegedly planning a mass shooting at a pro-gun rally in Richmond, Virginia, this year, and for allegedly plotting an attack on an anti-fascist couple in Georgia. Three of the arrested members, including one who was on the lam from Canada, allegedly hoped the attack on the gun rally would be part of a plot to overthrow the government and establish a white ethnostate, according to an arrest affidavit in that case.FBI Director Christopher Wray testified last month that white supremacist terrorism comprised the “biggest chunk” of domestic terrorism currently menacing America. He also revealed that the FBI had more than 1,000 domestic-terrorism investigations open; 107 people were arrested as the result of those investigations in 2019.But the bureau has also drawn substantial criticism for opacity surrounding its domestic counterterrorism efforts, particularly while the Trump administration misleadingly portrays an equal or greater terror threat from antifascist and Black-liberation activists. The Daily Beast reported on Monday that the bureau is sitting on a legally-required public accounting of white-supremacist and other domestic terrorism, as well as government efforts to combat it.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.
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/3mA6owF
Biden blasts Trump for Omaha rally that left supporters stranded in the cold
Mitch McConnell’s approval drops nationwide despite political win with Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination
The Latest: Calls for voting extension in Georgia after Zeta
A group of civil rights organizations is asking Georgia’s governor to extend early voting hours Friday after the storm disrupted voting Thursday in the battleground state. Groups including the Georgia NAACP and Fair Fight Action called on Republican Gov. Brian Kemp to use emergency powers to order voting be extended through 9 p.m. Friday in affected areas. Voting was disrupted at some sites in metro Atlanta and north Georgia after the storm caused power outages.
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/3kDDTgU