U.S.Yahoo News'A flat-out lie': Breonna Taylor attorneys seek new prosecutor after jurors speak out
The two anonymous members of the grand jury in the Breonna Taylor case who spoke out this week about the deliberations had no agenda other than to pursue the truth, their lawyer told Yahoo News on Friday. But their disclosures have spurred calls for a new prosecutor who, attorneys for Taylor's family hope, will handle the case differently than Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, whose office took over the case from local prosecutors in May. Taylor, 26, was killed during a botched raid on her Louisville apartment on March 13.
WorldAssociated PressCroatia accused of brutality, sexual abuse against migrants
SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — Danish aid workers stationed in the Balkans say dozens of migrants have alleged they were brutalized by Croatian law-enforcement officers when they tried to cross into the European Union nation, before being summarily expelled back to Bosnia. Nicola Bay, the head of the Danish Refugee Council in Bosnia, told The Associated Press Friday that 149 migrants of varying nationalities, independently interviewed by his staff in the country over the past 10 days, reported being exposed to “extremely abusive” treatment by Croatian police. The testimonies include allegations of brutal and prolonged beatings, of people being stripped naked and being forced to lie like logs stacked on top of each other, Bay said, adding: “In two cases, we have reports of severe sexual abuse.”
WorldReutersIran says U.S.-brokered Sudan-Israel deal secured by 'ransom'
Iran's foreign ministry on Saturday described a U.S.-brokered Sudan-Israel deal to normalise ties as "phoney" and accused Khartoum of paying a ransom in return for Washington removing it from a list of state sponsors of terrorism. The deal agreed on Friday marked the third Arab government after the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain to set aside hostilities with Israel in the last two months. "Pay enough ransom, close your eyes to the crimes against Palestinians, then you'll be taken off the so-called 'terrorism' blacklist," the ministry tweeted in English.
PoliticsThe WeekTrump quietly closed the U.S.'s vaccine safety office last year. Researchers are scrambling to replace it.
Developers will start rolling out their COVID-19 vaccines in the coming months, leaving U.S. health officials to test their long-term safety. But that won't be easy, especially given that the Trump administration quietly shut down the office responsible for ensuring the safety of vaccines last year, The New York Times reports. Before the late 1980s, vaccine safety relied on parents, doctors, vaccine makers, and hospitals to step forward and report symptoms they feared were connected to a vaccine.
U.S.USA TODAY'Mama, they just shot us for nothing': Waukegan police officer fatally shoots Black teen, injures woman
The incident happened just before midnight Tuesday, when an officer approached a "suspicious" vehicle, Waukegan Police Commander Edgar Navarro told reporters Wednesday. As the officer was conducting his investigation, the vehicle fled and was spotted moments later by another officer, who got out of his car to approach the vehicle, Navarro said. "That officer exited his vehicle, and the vehicle that he was investigating began to reverse towards the officer.
PoliticsAssociated PressFour years in, Trump has plenty of unfinished business
President Donald Trump swept into office nearly four years ago as an outsider who promised to get things done quickly on behalf of the American people through sheer force of will and unrivaled knowledge about the art of the deal. Trump, as he said he would, tilted the Supreme Court further to the right with confirmation of two conservative justices and likely a third, Amy Coney Barrett, in the coming days. Trump has managed to undermine President Barack Obama's health care law, but has fallen far short of his promise to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.
WorldReutersPhilippines' Duterte promises payment as Red Cross stops COVID-19 tests
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said on Friday his government will pay the 931 million pesos ($19.25 million) it owes the Red Cross after the humanitarian agency stopped conducting COVID-19 tests. The Philippine Red Cross (PRC), which has conducted 1.1 million swab tests and accounts for quarter of the country's output, on Friday stopped providing testing services until it gets paid, prompting the country's limited number of laboratories to fill the gap. "The president has given his commitment that the government will pay its obligation to the PRC," Duterte's spokesman, Harry Roque, said in a statement.
WorldBBCChina warns UK not to offer citizenship to Hong Kong residents
China has told Britain to "immediately correct its mistakes" after the UK reaffirmed its plan to offer a route to British citizenship to almost three million people living there. The offer was made in July when Beijing imposed a strict national security law on the former British colony. Critics say it undermines the civil freedoms that China agreed to uphold when Hong Kong was handed back in 1997.
WorldAssociated PressCartel battles stun once-peaceful state in central Mexico
Much of the bloodshed is due to a clash between the rising Jalisco New Generation Cartel based in a neighboring state and a local gang named for the town where it originated, Santa Rosa de Lima. The conflict has intensified since the local group, weakened by arrests of its leaders, allied itself with what has long been one of Mexico's most powerful cartels, Sinaloa, which had been alarmed by the Jalisco cartel's rise. And much of that struggle is for control of the market for methamphetamines — both routes to the United States and locally, where the color of the meth or the markings on the package in an addict's pocket may determine whether he lives or dies.
PoliticsThe WeekGet ready for Trump TV, America
Now, as the voters are about to weigh in on whether Trump gets a second term, Trump TV is back in the news. But the truth is that if Trump does not win re-election, it's because he has conducted his re-election campaign, and much of his presidency, like it was already Trump TV. While it is hard for his critics to believe, there are millions of Americans who not only support Trump because of his more or less conservative policies, but also actually like the qualities that set him apart from normal politicians: the tweeting, the belligerence, the political incorrectness, the adversarial relationship with a media they regard as partisan and biased to the point of being corrupt.
WorldBusiness InsiderNorth Korea told citizens to stay inside, claiming (with no scientific basis) that a storm of yellow dust coming from China was carrying COVID-19
North Korea has warned its citizens to stay indoors to avoid a yellow dust storm which it claims could carry the coronavirus over from China. The state-run KCTV network warned Wednesday that the storm would arrive Thursday. The Rodong Sinmun newspaper said the storm posed a "danger of invading malicious viruses."
HealthBBCCoronavirus: US cases reach record high amid new wave of infections
US coronavirus cases have hit a record daily high as states grapple with a renewed wave of infections. Citing data from local state health authorities, the Covid Tracking Project reported 83,010 new cases on Friday. US Surgeon General Jerome Adams has warned that hospital admission numbers are growing, but mortality rates are falling due to better patient care.
U.S.Associated PressCalifornia prosecutors again seek death for Scott Peterson
California prosecutors said Friday they again will seek the death penalty for Scott Peterson even as a county judge considers throwing out his conviction for murdering his pregnant wife, Laci Peterson, because of juror misconduct during a 2005 trial that riveted the nation. Stanislaus County Assistant District Attorney Dave Harris announced that it is prosecutors' intention to retry the penalty phase of the case, spokesman John Goold said after a court hearing. He said prosecutors otherwise won't comment or discuss the decision.
WorldReutersU.S. to base Coast Guard cutters in western Pacific in response to China
The U.S. national security adviser said on Friday the U.S Coast Guard was basing Enhanced Response Cutters in the western Pacific for maritime security missions, citing illegal fishing and harassment of vessels by China. In a statement, Robert O'Brien also said the Coast Guard planned to evaluate next fiscal year the feasibility of basing Fast Response Cutters in American Samoa in the South Pacific. The statement described the United States as a Pacific power and added that China's "illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, and harassment of vessels operating in the exclusive economic zones of other countries in the Indo-Pacific threatens our sovereignty, as well as the sovereignty of our Pacific neighbors and endangers regional stability."
PoliticsLA TimesColumn: Sleepy Joe? In final debate, Biden navigated a minefield of Trump disruptions
I don't want to hear another word about Joe Biden's bumbles, stumbles, gaffes or verbal perambulations — and certainly not as a reflection of his mental agility. Disagree with the man's policies, past or proposed, all you want — but the man our president continues to refer to as “Sleepy Joe” has done what few others have been able to accomplish: emerge from a battlefield mined and muddied by Donald Trump with, as J. D. Salinger once wrote, all of his f-a-c-u-l-t-i-e-s intact. It is not an easy thing to do, as Trump's past opponents, and more than a few of his former supporters and staff, will tell you.
NewsINSIDEREpstein accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre posted jubilant tweets after 418 pages of Ghislaine Maxwell's damning testimony was unsealed
Virginia Roberts Giuffre, a woman who has accused Jeffrey Epstein and his alleged madam Ghislaine Maxwell of underage sex trafficking, celebrated the release of Maxwell's 2016 deposition. In it Maxwell described her relationship with Epstein and dodged questions about high-profile figures like Prince Andrew and Bill Clinton. Attorneys for Maxwell had tried to prevent its release, arguing it would lead to her getting an unfair trial.
ScienceAssociated PressAsteroid samples escaping from jammed NASA spacecraft
A NASA spacecraft is stuffed with so much asteroid rubble from this week's grab that it's jammed open and precious particles are drifting away in space, scientists said Friday. Scientists announced the news three days after the spacecraft named Osiris-Rex briefly touched asteroid Bennu, NASA's first attempt at such a mission. The mission's lead scientist, Dante Lauretta of the University of Arizona, said Tuesday's operation 200 million miles away collected far more material than expected for return to Earth — in the hundreds of grams.
- WorldReuters Videos
Armed gangs seen in Lagos as protests continue
Armed gangs stopped cars on a main road leading into Lagos on Friday (October 23) - a day after Nigerian President Buhari called for demonstrations against police brutality to end. A highway leading to the international airport was obstructed by blockades manned by groups of young men, who demanded cash from motorists. A Reuters witness said that buses whose drivers refused to pay were destroyed.
PoliticsUSA TODAYFact check: Obama administration approved, built temporary holding enclosures at southern border
The claim: Michelle Obama criticized the Trump administration for putting kids in cages, but the cages were built during the Obama administration The claim is illustrated in a Facebook meme that recently went viral. Former President Barack Obama's head was superimposed over the face of a person in a construction worker's outfit. "Obama" stands in front of crowds of fenced-in children who are supposedly migrants detained at the southern U.S. border.
PoliticsAssociated PressChina hopes for change if Biden wins, but little likely
Chinese leaders hope Washington will tone down conflicts over trade, technology and security if Joe Biden wins the Nov. 3 presidential election. Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers and their constituents seem disinclined to adopt a softer approach toward China, possibly presaging more strife ahead, regardless of the election's outcome. Despite discord on so many other fronts, both parties are critical of Beijing's trade record and stance toward Hong Kong, Taiwan and religious and ethnic minorities in Tibet and Xinjiang, where the ruling Communist Party has detained Muslims in political re-education camps.
WorldReutersDubai sets record for world's biggest fountain
With multicoloured lights and jets of water blasting into the night sky, the United Arab Emirate's newest attraction set a world record on Thursday as the largest fountain ever. Located at The Pointe in Dubai's waterfront Palm Jumeirah area, the glitzy Palm Fountain was unveiled in a launch that was live-streamed around the world. The fountain spans over 14,000 square feet (1,300 square meters) of sea water, according to Gail Sangster, asset director at Nakheel Malls, the developers behind the fountain.
U.S.Business InsiderA US Navy training aircraft crashed into an Alabama neighborhood, killing both crew members on board
A T-6B Texas II aircraft, which was being used for training purposes, crashed in a residential neighborhood in Foley, Alabama, on Friday afternoon. Both crew members on board died, and no civilian casualties have been reported, the US Navy said. The plane had flown from Naval Air Station Whiting Field, Florida, a Navy spokeswoman told the Associated Press.
PoliticsAssociated PressTrump campaign sues in Nevada to stop Vegas-area vote count
The Trump campaign and Nevada Republicans asked a state judge on Friday to stop the count of Las Vegas-area mail-in ballots, alleging that “meaningful observation” of signature-checking is impossible in the state's biggest and most Democratic-leaning county. A lawsuit filed in state court less than two weeks before the Nov. 3 election complains that observers haven't been allowed close enough to workers and machines at the busy vote-counting center to see whether ballots that get second- and third-step validation should be rejected. Judge James Wilson in Carson City declined to issue an immediate order to stop the count, but scheduled a hearing next Wednesday on the request.
PoliticsThe IndependentLincoln Project targets Ivanka and Jared for Covid-19 death count with massive Times Square billboards
The Lincoln Project has installed two large advertisements in New York's Times Square taking aim at Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner. On one Ms Trump is depicted posing as a spokesmodel, gesturing towards the latest count of how many New Yorkers and how many Americans in total have died from Covid-19. A large quote attributed to Mr Kushner by Vanity Fair adorns the second billboard beside a smiling corporate-style portrait of him.
U.S.USA TODAYIs Zeta forming? Area near South Florida could become next storm – or just bring more rain
An area of disheveled showers and thunderstorms south of Cuba on Friday was given a 60% chance of becoming a tropical cyclone over the next five days as it ambles north over western Cuba and into the Gulf of Mexico. If it develops, it could become Tropical Storm Zeta and could bring more rain to South Florida. Early Friday, the bowl of low pressure was becoming "much better" organized and its path changed significantly, National Hurricane Center meteorologists said.
“Many are longtime Republicans wrestling with what they see as a choice between two lousy candidates.”
“Some undecideds turn out to be people who’ve long felt alienated from the two big political parties.”
“They’re not following the 24-hour news cycle. The election and politics are just not a high priority.”
“One common trait: at this stage of the game, the undecided voter doesn’t fit into an easy political profile.”
“More realistically...these voters may not be motivated to vote at all in the 2020 election.”