
Former President Barack Obama knows what it's like to make history at a Democratic National Convention, and soon, so will Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.). Obama was set to give the final speech during night three of the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday, but instead, he asked organizers to switch things up and give his slot to Harris, a person familiar with the matter told The Washington Post. Because as the first Black president, he wanted to "pass the torch" to Harris, who is poised to become the first Black and South Asian woman on a major party's presidential ticket.

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden condemned the views of former Women's March co-chair Linda Sarsour, who has been repeatedly accused of anti-Semitism, after she participated in a Democratic National Convention council meeting on Tuesday. Sarsour, a Muslim activist who endorsed Biden after he announced Senator Kamala Harris (D., Calif.) as his running mate last week, spoke at the DNC's “Muslim Delegates and Allies Assembly” on Tuesday, sparking disapproval in light of her history of controversial comments on Jews and Israel. “Joe Biden has been a strong supporter of Israel and a vehement opponent of anti-Semitism his entire life, and he obviously condemns her views and opposes BDS, as does the Democratic platform,” Biden spokesman Andrew Bates said, according to CNN's Jake Tapper.

In an angry monologue on his Tuesday night show, Fox News host Tucker Carlson tore into Michelle Obama for her speech to the Democratic National Convention, accusing Democrats of elevating her to the level of a religious leader. “Michelle Obama, it's fair to say, has done pretty well for herself,” Mr Carlson said. The speech that had infuriated Mr Carlson was widely received as by far the best of Monday's Democratic convention night, echoing her still-remembered address to the 2016 convention in which she debuted what has become her signature line: “When they go low, we go high.”

The public quickly reached its verdict: Minneapolis police killed George Floyd. Video seen around the world shows him on the pavement, his neck pinned beneath the knee of Officer Derek Chauvin, pleading for his life — "I can't breathe" — until his body goes limp. Chauvin was charged with murder and three other officers — Thomas Lane and Alexander Kueng, who both helped hold down Floyd, and Tou Thao, who kept onlookers at bay — were charged as accomplices.

The US state of Michigan has agreed to pay a settlement of $600m to victims of the Flint water crisis, US media say. Most of the money will go to children in the city who were exposed to drinking water poisoned with lead, reports add. At least 12 people died after Flint switched its water supply to the Flint River in 2014 to save money.

Victims and surviving family members gave emotional testimony against the Golden State Killer ahead of his sentencing, calling him a “sick monster” and a “horrible man” who should ”go straight to hell”. A number of victims and family members appeared in a courtroom in California on Tuesday to confront serial killer Joseph DeAngelo, who pleaded guilty in June to 13 murders and more than 50 rapes between 1973 and 1986. The testimony marks the first of four days of hearings in Sacramento County Superior Court before he is formally sentenced to life in prison on Friday.
Three crew members on board the International Space Station will spend the weekend in the vessel's Russian segment while they search for the source of a cabin air leak, NASA and Russian space agency Roscosmos said on Thursday. "In September 2019, NASA and its international partners first saw indications of a slight increase above the standard cabin air leak rate," NASA said in a statement. It said the crew, composed of NASA's Chris Cassidy and Russia's Ivan Vagner and Anatoly Ivanishin, would close the station's hatches this weekend to monitor air pressure and find the source of the leak.

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump is taking his effort to block his critics on Twitter to the Supreme Court. The Justice Department on Thursday asked the high court to review a federal appeals court ruling that found the president's practice of blocking critics violates the First Amendment. Trump, who now has more than 85 million Twitter followers, prompted the court battle in 2017 by blocking some of the social media company's users from following his Twitter account.

A lawyer for Thomas Lane, one of the four former Minneapolis police officers charged in George Floyd's death, told the Los Angeles Times that he planned to argue that Floyd "killed himself." He told the Times that Floyd died from a fentanyl overdose and an underlying heart condition and that the police officers involved in Floyd's death on May 25 were just "doing their jobs." "None of these guys — even Chauvin — actually killed him," he said, referring to Derek Chauvin, the officer who knelt on Floyd's neck for nine minutes.
Massachusetts congressman and Senate primary candidate Joe Kennedy III tells Yahoo News Editor in Chief Daniel Klaidman and Chief Investigative Correspondent Michael Isikoff that he had no knowledge that his father, Joe Kennedy II, had transferred a large sum of money into a super-PAC supporting his primary run against Sen. Ed Markey.

Two people were killed fighting lightning-sparked California wildfires, and tens of thousands have evacuated homes as the state scrambles to find more firefighters. The deaths on Wednesday of a utility worker and helicopter pilot participating in the fire response came after nearly 11,000 lightning strikes hit the state over a 72-hour stretch this week, igniting 367 fires. Authorities are warning all 40 million state residents to be ready to evacuate, if necessary.

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More than 17 years after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, President Donald Trump said Thursday the United States will eventually withdraw all American troops from the conflict-ridden nation, though he did not provide a timetable. "At some point, we obviously will be gone," Trump said during an Oval Office meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi. Trump and the Iraqi leader said they planned to discuss oil development, relations with Iran, and Iraq's internal security, the chief focus for U.S. forces who remain in the country.

The US Army is investigating the presence of two uniformed soliders at the virtual Democratic National Convention as a potential policy violation. The two Army soldiers appeared during the roll call vote by party delegates from American Samoa. Participation in political events breaks Defense Department protocol of employees maintaining nonpartisanship.

A Brooklyn mother traveling alone with her six children was forced off a JetBlue flight in Orlando, Florida, Wednesday when her 2-year-old daughter wouldn't wear her mask. Flight attendants ordered Chaya Bruck of Midwood to get off the Newark, New Jersey-bound plane after her daughter Dina refused to keep the face covering on — and when the desperate mom tried to explain the tot wasn't cooperating, the attendants told all of the passengers to get off the aircraft. “It was horrible, the whole experience was traumatizing,” Bruck told the New York Daily News from Orlando International Airport, where she and her children were still stranded Wednesday afternoon.

The United States will not seek the death penalty for two British members of an Islamic State execution squad nicknamed the "Beatles," whose extradition the Justice Department is seeking, Attorney General William Barr said on Wednesday. In a letter to Priti Patel, Britain's interior minister this week Barr said if Britain grants an extradition request for Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh, U.S. prosecutors will not seek the death penalty and would not carry out executions if they were to be imposed.

Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. sought to distance itself Wednesday from a viral image about a purported "zero tolerance" policy that bans MAGA attire and which drew President Donald Trump's ire. The giant tiremaker responded to a report by a local Kansas TV station featuring an image that the news outlet said it received from a Goodyear employee and which was allegedly displayed during a diversity training at a company plant. The image in the story by CBS affiliate WIBW in Topeka, Kansas, which was widely shared on social media, listed two columns, one headlined "acceptable" and the other "unacceptable."

Thousands of chicks transported through USPS to farms in Maine arrived dead, the Press Herald reported. The chicks were mishandled due to cost-cutting measures undertaken by the USPS and the organization's postmaster general Louis DeJoy, the report alleged. Rep. Chellie Pingree of Maine is sending a letter addressing the issue to DeJoy and US Department of Agriculture Commissioner Sonny Perdue.

US authorities have approved a plan to release more than 750 million genetically modified mosquitoes across the Florida Keys, despite objections from local residents. British-based firm Oxitec are behind the project, that will test whether the altered mosquitoes can work as an alternative to pesticides to control the spread of diseases, such as Zika, dengue, chikungunya and yellow fever, according to CNN. The male mosquito, which is named OX5034, has been created to produce female offspring that die at larval stage, before they grow big enough to spread disease and bite.

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A Florida sheriff's deputy is under investigation after a video showed him slamming a handcuffed teenager against a wall and threatening to show him "what f---ing freedom of speech is." The Palm Beach Sheriff's Office told Insider in a statement that Sheriff Ric Bradshaw "does not condone the behavior of our deputy." The deputy has been placed on administrative leave.

Fox News' Sean Hannity might fawn over President Trump on the air, but according to a new report, he strikes a bit of a ... different ... tone in private. An excerpt from CNN reporter Brian Stelter's book Hoax published by Vanity Fair on Thursday delves into the Fox News host's relationship with Trump, whom he frequently hosts on his show for prime-time interviews. Hannity is one of the network's most ardent Trump loyalists, but Stelter quotes an associate as saying that when he's not on the air, he "would tell you, off-off-off the record, that Trump is a bats--- crazy person."

Germany and France offered on Thursday to provide medical care on their soil for Russian opposition leader Alexander Navalny, who is gravely ill after aides said he was poisoned. French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel said they were deeply concerned at what was happening to Navalny, one of the fiercest critics of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Macron, who hosted Merkel for talks at his summer residence in a medieval island fortress in the Mediterranean, said he had discussed Navalny's illness at length with the German leader.

American Airlines says it's suspending service to 15 cities across the US on October 7 as federal assistance through the CARES Act is scheduled to expire. Secondary cities across the airline's route network from New Mexico to Connecticut are on the chopping block, with some cities in danger of losing all air connectivity once American leaves. Cities served only by the American Eagle regional arm are most affected.

Relentless monsoon rains lashed Pakistan's most populous province overnight and on Thursday, killing 24 people and injuring 18, emergency services said. Most of the deaths were caused by collapsing roofs and walls, according to the emergency services spokesman Muhammad Asghar. Many homes in rural Pakistan are made of sun-baked mud and straw or flimsy cinder bloc construction, he said.

“Harris brings an unusual blend of social justice progressiveness and law-and-order conservatism.”
“It's hard to imagine Trump-skeptical independents now aching to pull the trigger for Biden with Kamala on the ticket.”
“If Biden wishes, he can delegate the daily barrage of rebukes against his opponent to her. Biden now can rise above the fray.”
“Voters viewed her as among the most qualified to be president on Day 1 — a key positive.”
“Here’s a reality check: Running mates have very little direct effect on voters.”