EveryMintNews: September 2020

Wednesday, 30 September 2020

Who won the presidential debate?

Writers for The Independent have their say on the chaotic first clash between Donald Trump and Joe Biden

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'Basically nobody' turned off the 1st presidential debate while it was in progress

Viewers apparently couldn't peel their eyes away from the first presidential debate Tuesday night.Despite widespread criticism of the chaos that unfolded on stage, the final 15 minutes actually rated slightly higher than the opening 15 minutes, and audiences fell just 2 percent from the 9:30 p.m. ET peak by the time it all wrapped up, Nielsen data shows. So, even if they were disappointed with what they witnessed, it seems like those who tuned in were prepared to finish what they started and stay engaged with the national political moment. > Debate rating and share by quarter-hour:> > 9:00 - 42.5/68 > 9:15 - 43.4/68 > 9:30 - 43.7/69 > 9:45 - 43.5/68 > 10:00 - 42.9/68 > 10:15 - 42.2/67 > 10:30 - 42.9/69> > -- Michael Mulvihill (@mulvihill79) September 30, 2020Overall, though, Tuesday's ratings across the major networks dropped significantly from 2016's first presidential debate. > The early TV ratings for the debate last night are down BIG.> > A total of only 29 million viewers across ABC, NBC, FOX and CBS.> > The viewership on broadcast was nearly 43 million in 2016 for the first debate.> > Brutal numbers. Have people lost interest? (Source: TVLine)> > -- David Hookstead (@dhookstead) September 30, 2020More stories from theweek.com 3 reasons the stakes for the NBA Finals are extra high GOP Sen. Tim Scott calls for Trump to correct his Proud Boys comments: 'If he doesn't correct it, I guess he didn't misspeak' Trump pummels Biden — and America

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A 'super healthy' 19-year-old college student has died from coronavirus complications

Chad Dorrill, a "super healthy" student at Appalachian State University and former star basketball player, died from complications of the coronavirus.

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Sonic boom heard in Paris and suburbs caused by fighter jet breaking sound barrier

A loud blast heard throughout Paris on Wednesday briefly caused panic as edgy residents feared a bombing five days after a terrorist attack outside the former offices of the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo. The noise was caused by a sonic boom as a military jet broke the speed of sound, police said. Pierre Duclos, who was in a café around the corner from the site of the attack on Friday when the explosion-like noise was heard, said: “Everyone looked at each other and a few people got up and went outside. For a while, we thought another terrorist attack was coming and we were all shocked. Some people asked the café owner to close and lock the door. I was here on Friday and frankly I was really worried again today.

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The family of one of the officers who killed Breonna Taylor started an online fundraiser so he can retire early and focus on his 'safety'

The family of Detective Myles Cosgrove is trying to raise $75,000 so that he can buy out the rest of his service time and retire early.

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Amnesty Int'l halts India operations, citing gov't reprisals

Human rights watchdog Amnesty International said Tuesday that it is halting its operation in India, citing reprisals by the government and the freezing of its bank accounts by Indian authorities. Amnesty International India said it has laid off its staff and paused all its ongoing campaign and research work on human rights, and that Indian authorities froze its bank accounts on suspicion of violating rules on foreign funding.

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Narrabri gas field: Australia approves controversial project

The major fossil fuel project was overwhelmingly opposed by local residents and environmentalists.

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Fox News host floats bonkers conspiracy theory that Joe Biden will use listening devices at debate

“The Trump team asked to inspect the ears of each debater for electronic devices or transmitters,” Bill Hemmer says

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Police arrest Proud Boy member on assault and gun charges hours after Trump refuses to denounce white supremacy

Arrest follows president’s controversial comments at debate: 'Proud Boys – stand back and stand by’

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The U.S. is once again giving away 55,000 green cards to foreigners. It’s simple and free.

The U.S. State Department announced on Wednesday that it will officially open registration for the Diversity Visa Program for Fiscal Year 2022 (DV-2022), better known as the visa lottery.

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Pakistan army says Indian fire kills soldier, boy in Kashmir

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Marco Rubio on Trump-Biden debate, Supreme Court and Russia probe

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., reacts to the presidential debate and other topics on ‘Fox & Friends.’

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Who won the presidential debate? What Americans say about Biden, Trump in polls

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Rep. Katie Porter eviscerates pharma CEO with a brutal math lesson about his $13 million salary

Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.) never wastes an opportunity to roast a CEO.On Wednesday, three pharmaceutical executives, including former Celgene CEO Mark Alles, testified on drug pricing for the House Oversight Committee. While at the company, Alles saw a massive increase in the price of the cancer drug Revlimid -- and Porter broke down just what it got Alles in return.Porter started her takedown by asking Alles if he knew what a Revlimid pill cost in 2005: $215, she reminded him with the help of a whiteboard. And by the time Alles left the company late last year, after its sale to Bristol-Myers Squibb, a single Revlimid pill cost $763. "Did the drug get substantially more effective in that time? Did cancer patients need fewer pills?" Porter questioned, trying to figure out why Celgene upped the price. Alles answered by saying Revlimid proved effective in more patients. "So you discovered more patients who might benefit from paying $763 a pill?" Porter rhetorically responded, outlining how the average senior in her district couldn't even afford one pill.Porter then moved on to tear apart the $13 million Alles made in 2017 as Celgene's CEO. "It's 200 times the average American's income and 360 times what the average senior makes on Social Security," Porter noted. She then reminded Alles just how he made "half a million dollars, personally, just by tripling the price of Revlimid." "The drug didn't get any better, the cancer patients didn't get any better, you just got better at making money," Porter concluded. Watch her questioning below. > Half a million dollars.> > That's the bonus a Big Pharma CEO got for hiking the price of ONE cancer treatment drug.> > How many patients lost their lives because they couldn't afford this medicine? Here's our conversation: pic.twitter.com/mkke6y9tnw> > -- Rep. Katie Porter (@RepKatiePorter) September 30, 2020More stories from theweek.com 3 reasons the stakes for the NBA Finals are extra high GOP Sen. Tim Scott calls for Trump to correct his Proud Boys comments: 'If he doesn't correct it, I guess he didn't misspeak' Trump pummels Biden — and America

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South Carolina city apologizes to Black residents for racial injustice resulting from its policies

The Spartanburg city council unanimously approved a resolution that acknowledges systematic racism.

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Armenia publishes photos of "shot-down warplane"

Allies Turkey and Azerbaijan have denied Yerevan's claim that a Turkish F-16 fighter jet shot down the Armenian plane, killing the pilot. On Wednesday (September 30), Armenia's defense ministry named the pilot as Major Valeri Danelin.

Fighting between Azerbaijan and ethnic Armenian forces over the breakaway territory of Nagorno-Karabakh entered a fourth day on Wednesday in the biggest eruption of their decades-old conflict since a 1994 ceasefire, and France and Turkey traded recriminations as international tensions mounted.

Azerbaijan and the ethnic Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh said there were attacks from both sides along the line of contact that divides them. Dozens have been reported killed and hundreds wounded in fighting that began on Sunday and has spread far beyond the enclave's borders, threatening to spill into all-out war between the former Soviet republics of Azerbaijan and Armenia.

The fighting has increased concerns about stability in the South Caucasus region, a corridor for pipelines carrying oil and gas to world markets, and raised fears that regional powers Russia and Turkey could be drawn in.

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Comey refutes Trump’s debate claim that Biden pushed for Flynn prosecution

"I would remember it because it would be highly inappropriate," Comey said. "It did not happen."

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Sept was worst; India added 41% of Covid cases

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Live: International flights suspended till Oct 31

India's Covid tally raced past 62 lakh on Wednesday with 80,472 infections being reported in last 24 hours. While the number of recoveries surged to 51,87,825 pushing the recovery rate to 83.33 per cent, according to the Union health ministry data. Stay with TOI for live updates-

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SC refuses to postpone civil services exam slated for Oct 4

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Onions, ironing and 'sex appeal': Who is Tony Abbott?

The gaffe-prone former prime minister is a polarising figure in Australia.

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Families of 12 Hong Kong activists captured at sea by China look for answers

The families of 12 activists captured by China in August demand their swift return.

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US Election: Whoever becomes the next president, social media is changing

Both Trump and Biden want to take away the US law that protects platforms from being liable for what their users post.

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Tuesday, 29 September 2020

Watch Live Debate Stream: Trump vs Biden

By BY THE NEW YORK TIMES from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/34dnCIH

Twins’ Playoff Misery Continues, Courtesy of the Depleted Astros

By BY TYLER KEPNER from NYT Sports https://ift.tt/3ieKlZY

In the Breonna Taylor Case, a Battle of Blame Over the Grand Jury

By BY SHAILA DEWAN, WILL WRIGHT AND JOHN ELIGON from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/3kYO1AO

Cuomo and De Blasio Need a United Front on Coronavirus Hot Spots

By BY THE EDITORIAL BOARD from NYT Opinion https://ift.tt/2G2aIW0

Chris Christie helped run Trump’s debate prep. He’ll also be a debate pundit for ABC.

By BY MICHAEL M. GRYNBAUM from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/34970Sm

WATCH: What to watch for during the 1st presidential debate l FiveThirtyEight

The FiveThirtyEight Politics crew discusses what to expect during the first debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden.

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WATCH: Trump, Biden aiming to win over undecided voters in 1st debate

A Pennsylvania pastor who voted for Donald Trump in 2016 but says he is still uncommitted this election cycle.

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NYC officials scramble to fix printing error on absentee ballots sent to voters

New York City officials are scrambling to fix an error that sent out at least 100,000 absentee ballots with the wrong name and address printed on the return envelope.

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Restaurants and bars now included in $3 trillion federal aid proposal

The revised version of the HEROES Act would now include the RESTAURANTS Act to help independent restaurants across the U.S. in the proposed $3 trillion stimulus plan.

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Collins, Gideon clash over Supreme Court, pandemic in debate

Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins and Democratic challenger Sara Gideon clashed Monday over the Supreme Court and the response to the pandemic during their second debate in the closely watched Senate race. Gideon, the Maine House speaker, accused the four-term Collins of failing to use her seniority to show results for the people of Maine, especially when additional help is needed during the pandemic. Collins said the Paycheck Protection Program she authored saved hundreds of thousands of jobs while noting that the Maine Legislature adjourned during the pandemic.

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Nigeria's Boko Haram crisis: 'Bomb on donkey' used to ambush Borno governor

Militants from an Islamic State-linked group strapped the animal with explosives in Borno state.

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Mass evacuations as wildfire erupts in California wine country

Tens of thousands of people have been forced out of their homes as a new wildfire burns out of control in Napa and Sonoma counties.

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Germany walks away from Lockheed, Boeing cargo helicopter offers

The surprise decision halts an acquisition race that was scheduled to a see a contract awarded in 2021.

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In Vilnius, Macron meets exiled Belarus opposition leader

Tsikhanouskaya said Macron promised her to help negotiate with the Belarus authorities and secure the release of the political prisoners. "He promised us to do everything to help with negotiations, (during) this political crisis in our country ... and he will do everything to help to release all the political prisoners", Tsikhanouskaya told reporters in English after the meeting in Vilnius.

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White nationalist from Charlottesville rally nicknamed ‘Crying Nazi’ is charged with threatening to rape a woman

Christopher Cantwell sent a series of threatening text messages in bid to uncover information about leader of a far-right group

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Justice Ginsburg buried at Arlington in private ceremony

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was buried Tuesday in a private ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, laid to rest beside her husband and near some of her former colleagues on the court. Washington last week honored the 87-year-old Ginsburg, who died Sept. 18, with two days where the public could view her casket at the top of the Supreme Court's steps and pay their respects. On Friday, the women's rights trailblazer and second woman to join the high court lay in state at the U.S. Capitol, the first woman to do so.

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Trump vs. Biden: Facing Off on Taming a ‘Rising China’

As President, Donald Trump has cast China as a global villain: a malevolent actor that all but launched a worldwide pandemic on an unsuspecting world, robbed Americans of their jobs and stole U.S. business secrets. He has made the Chinese Communist Party a catch-all enemy that pulls puppet-like strings to make international organizations like the World Health Organization work at cross-purposes with Washington, all charges Beijing vigorously denies.

At the same time, Trump has presented himself to the world—and to U.S. voters—as the only person capable of pummeling Beijing into submission, chiefly through a landmark trade deal. Democrats, the President and his allies say, are the willing patsies who bow to Beijing, as when former Vice President-turned-Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden sought closer ties to the growing superpower in his multiple visits there. “A rising China is a positive, positive development, not only for China but for America and the world writ large,” Biden said in 2011 after returning to the U.S. from one such trip.

It’s a black-and-white narrative that will be argued on stage Tuesday night during the first Presidential debate in Cleveland, Ohio, with each man’s record and the COVID-19 pandemic on the debate docket. China will loom large for its role as Trump’s designated fall guy for the virus that has killed more than 200,000 Americans, for its economy, which is thriving despite the pandemic, and for its military, which could surpass America’s in size and strength by 2049.

Biden heads for the debate stage buoyed by an August Fox News poll that shows more Americans trust him over Trump to handle China. He is sure to point out Trump’s swings between painting China as an existential threat to the U.S. and effusive praise for Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

But many Trump supporters, if not most Americans, have become accustomed to Trump’s praise of strongmen in public, which in this case has given way to a barrage of insults, slamming Xi for letting the “Wuhan virus” spread. And Trump’s arguments that the Obama Administration was fooled by China could be persuasive on live television, says Michael Green, an Asia specialist from the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “The Trump Administration’s line,” says Green, a former Bush official who has backed Biden, “is that everybody was duped by China.” Green says that is “ridiculous and wrong…but it’s a pretty easy line to use in a debate.”

It will be tricky for Biden to counter these charges in clear terms to the American people. During his early years as Vice President, Washington and key allies like the U.K. were still hopeful of working with China, guardedly optimistic that Chinese Communist Party leaders could be carrot-pulled into more free-market, human-rights and democracy-oriented behavior.

The last year has seen China double down in a different direction. Its crackdown on Hong Kong demonstrators culminated in enacting a National Security Law on the region, decades ahead of the city’s agreed return to Chinese rule, and it has continued its crackdown on Muslim Uighurs, with hundreds of thousands reportedly sent to re-education camps.

The Trump Administration has accused Chinese leaders of being slow to tell the world how easily COVID-19 was spreading from person to person, and slow to admit a WHO team trying to investigate the outbreak. The Administration criticized China for releasing a DNA map of the virus without also sharing actual physical samples, which could help determine whether it jumped from animals or originated in a Chinese weapons lab, a popular but unsubstantiated theory among some in the GOP that is ridiculed by Chinese officials.

The Trump Administration has pursued a go-it-alone policy of using economic pain to bring Beijing to the negotiating table, aiming to check unfair trading practices and China’s aggressive militarization in the South China Sea. The Administration has slapped hundreds of billions of tariffs on Chinese goods, and imposed sanctions against alleged Chinese hackers accused of stealing U.S. intellectual property. The U.S. has also sanctioned Chinese officials who have cracked down on Hong Kong and the country’s Muslim Uighur minority.

The tough talk led to the January signing of the first phase of a trade deal, which keeps U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods largely intact, with the threat of more if China doesn’t follow through, and requires Beijing to buy upwards of $200 million in U.S. goods and services over the next two years. As of August, China has only bought $56.1 billion in U.S. goods, according to the Peterson Institute for International Economics, and with Trump skewering Beijing verbally at every opportunity, doesn’t appear to be working to step up spending.

Meanwhile, China’s global exports rose this summer, mainly because of its dominance of personal protective equipment manufacturing and work-from-home technology, according to the Council on Foreign Relations, while the U.S. trade deficit with China has grown. The U.S.-China trade war had already cost 300,000 jobs since it started in early 2018, according to Moody Analytics, even before the coronavirus wreaked havoc on the U.S. job market.

Biden’s own approach to China, as outlined in his public comments so far, sounds like a Trump-lite trade policy with a side of wishful thinking that Beijing can still be coaxed back to better behavior by a concerted scolding by Washington and its allies. He told the Council on Foreign Relations he would double down on Trump’s sanctions over the Hong Kong security law and its detention of up to a million minority Uighurs, but he told NPR that he would lift tariffs on Chinese imports and work through international trade bodies like the WTO to bring Beijing to heel.

Biden claims a key tool to counter China would be to super-charge those measures in cooperation with allies, in part by renegotiating the Trump-abandoned Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal, an acronym that by itself can cause eyes to glaze, to band Pacific economies against Beijing. As Biden wrote in Foreign Affairs, “The most effective way to meet that challenge is to build a united front of U.S. allies and partners to confront China’s abusive behaviors and human rights violations, even as we seek to cooperate with Beijing on issues where our interests converge.”

Explaining that on stage on Tuesday would be a wonky turn likely lost on any popular audience, who may not remember that it was combined allied economic action against Iran that brought it to the negotiating table for the Iran nuclear deal, an argument that would draw scorn from most Republicans.

Trump, for his part, will likely argue that if a tougher tack had been taken sooner, it might have clipped Beijing’s wings—though some current and former U.S. military and intelligence officers will tell you China was always heading this way, citing hawkish books like The Hundred-Year Marathon, which relies on Chinese documents and defectors to claim, controversially, that China intends to replace the U.S. as a global superpower by 2049.

Trump has already previewed a debate attack to come on Biden’s son Hunter, who Trump has claimed made more than a billion dollars in an investment deal with the Bank of China, less than two weeks after flying there on his father’s plane in 2013, a charge that multiple fact-checks have found false. Hunter Biden’s spokesperson George Mesires tells TIME that he has “never made any money” from BHR Partners, the company he founded that struck the deal, “either from his former role as a director, or on account of his equity investment, which he is actively seeking to divest.”

Then and Now

When Biden served as Vice President, he helped launch Obama’s 2009 “U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue.” At the time, it seemed that Washington and Beijing could work together toward common good in the service of mutual interests. Those early efforts arguably produced tangible results, as when both countries signed up to the Paris Climate Agreement in 2016, together representing 40% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. “We are moving the world significantly towards the goal we have set,” Obama said of the nations’ cooperation. China also “tightened its controls on weapons sold to Iran” in response to U.S. pressure, according to a Brookings Institution review, and the countries worked together to keep North Korea in check.

“There was very broad bipartisan support for a strategy towards China… that mixed engagement with China, and counterbalancing China by keeping our defenses strong, pushing on human rights, and especially working with allies, like Japan, and Australia,” says Green, the former Bush NSC official.

The mood soured, however, by the second Obama/Biden term, with the Obama Administration decrying thousands of cyberattacks a day on the U.S. government by Chinese military hackers, and later arresting a Chinese national for the theft of millions of government employees’ personal records from the Office of Personnel Management by a secretive Chinese military hacking unit, leading to a bilateral anti-hacking pact that the Trump Administration later accused the Chinese of violating.

Obama and Biden also negotiated the TPP—which Trump swiftly pulled out of after his inauguration in 2017—to gather together 12 regional Pacific economies, representing 40% of the world’s trade, into a single trading market to offset China’s economic bullying. And Obama’s military challenged China’s construction of an artificial island and military base in the South China Sea with its own “presence patrols” of U.S. Naval vessels steaming through sea channels in international waters that China was trying to claim for its own.

All of the Obama Administration’s efforts were eventually swallowed up and erased, like the wakes of those U.S. Naval ships, in part by Trump’s TPP departure, but mostly by the steady waves of a strategically planned and clinically executed Chinese campaign to widen its economic influence, build its military might, and become a diplomatic superpower that cannot be ignored on any major international issue.

The U.S. public hasn’t paid much heed to China’s long-game, but the COVID-19 crisis has caused more Americans to see China negatively, according to a Pew Research Service poll released in July. It’s against that backdrop that Biden will have to explain to information-overwhelmed American viewers why he once entertained the notion that China’s Communist Party could be reasoned with, and how his policies would produce a different result than the steadily increasing cold war between Beijing and Washington.

China-focused political economist Derek Scissors, of the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute, believes both candidates are weak on China. He says the first phase of the President’s trade deal is a “failure,” with U.S. exports to China “far behind schedule,” U.S. portfolio investment in China soaring, Beijing’s hack-and-grab theft of U.S. intellectual property continuing, and Trump’s sanctions having little effect on Chinese tech companies’ predatory behavior.

On the other hand, Biden’s China record is one of “wishful thinking,” Scissors says, mostly focused on global climate change initiatives. “The Obama Administration was paralyzed by hope for meaningful Chinese cooperation, instead getting an increasingly nasty dictatorship,” he says. “Biden’s move away from that approach is unconvincing so far.”

Retired Amb. Joseph DeTrani, former CIA director of East Asia Operations, says both candidates behaved appropriately for the China they faced at the time. In Biden’s engagement with China as a Senator during the 1980s and 1990s “bilateral relations were solid,” he says, so cooperative moves like championing Beijing’s entry into the World Trade Organization were appropriate. When tensions later rose, the Obama Administration announced its “pivot” to East Asia, concerned about China’s behavior in the South and East China Seas and its ambitious Belt and Road Initiative, which ostensibly aimed to improve China’s physical access to markets by building roads, bridges and ports globally, but instead often trapped countries in debt-ridden deals that forced them to forfeit ownership of the projects to the Chinese.

DeTrani says Trump can argue that he, rather than his predecessors, acted against Beijing’s predatory trade practices, including “a very unfavorable historical trade imbalance with China, something previous administrations ignored.” He points out that Trump’s position hardened when it became clear China hadn’t shared data on the pandemic “in a timely way,” and with its crackdown on Hong Kong, the proliferation of Uighur reeducation camps and other human rights abuses.

With China’s military growing, already outpacing the U.S. Navy, and its still-expanding economy keeping it on track to eclipse U.S. power in the next decade, according to the Australia-based Lowy Institute, the next U.S. president will be facing a formidable adversary that no recent American leader has managed to check.

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Russian cleaner sweeps to power in surprise village vote

'Flabbergasted' Marina Udgodskaya only entered the race as her boss needed someone else to stand.

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Chris Wallace: First debate host and Fox anchor unloved by Trump

Chris Wallace, known for his tough interviewing of all politicians, hosts the first US presidential debate.

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Coronavirus: The disabled Indians losing their livelihoods

As Covid hits India, many disabled people are losing their jobs and can't afford food and healthcare.

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The Atlantic Daily: A Q&A With Sarah Zhang

Every weekday evening, our editors guide you through the biggest stories of the day, help you discover new ideas, and surprise you with moments of delight. Subscribe to get this delivered to your inbox.

A COVID-19-vaccine rollout could be chaotic—and a true logistical nightmare, our health reporter Sarah Zhang warns in an essential new piece.

We caught up with Sarah to find out why—and hear the latest on the search for a vaccine.

The conversation that follows has been edited and condensed.

Caroline Mimbs Nyce: Why does this vaccine rollout have the potential to be such a headache?

Sarah Zhang: First, you have the challenge of getting what is very likely two doses of a vaccine to hundreds of millions of Americans in the middle of a pandemic. And they’re not interchangeable. If you get the first dose of one vaccine, you have to get that same vaccine as a second dose. So there’s gonna be a lot of paperwork involved.

Second has to do with the specific vaccines that are furthest along in clinical trials right now. They use new technology called mRNA, which hasn’t been used in vaccines before. The downside is that the technology is extremely fragile physically. One vaccine has to be kept at –94 degrees Fahrenheit, which you’re just not gonna find in a regular doctor’s office.

All these decisions have been made to get the vaccine out faster. But the trade-off is that they make them much harder to use in the field.

Caroline: You write in your piece that the first vaccine may not be the most important. Can you explain what you mean by that?

Sarah: Imagine: How are you going to get a vaccine that needs to be stored at –94 degrees into a developing country or a rural area? It seems pretty unlikely that that’s the vaccine that is going to be widely used across the world.

In the beginning, speed is really important. But as we hopefully develop more vaccines, how easy it is to use is going to be really important too.

Caroline: You’ve been cautioning readers to temper their expectations around a vaccine. What’s your advice going into this winter?

Sarah: Be patient. There’s a lot of cautious optimism that some of the vaccines that are in clinical trials are going to work.

It’s okay if some of them don’t; that’s the whole point of doing a trial. There will probably be news that feels disappointing, but that’s just a part of the process.

The fact that there are literally dozens of vaccines in the pipeline means that it’s very likely we’re gonna have one—or probably several—options. It’ll just take time, so we gotta hunker down, and wait for it.

Read her piece.

What to read as you wait for tonight’s debate to begin:

Here are three things to think about.

1. Some Democratic operatives “see the debates as Biden’s best chance to blow an election,” our staff writer Edward-Issac Dovere reports.

2. Peter Wehner, a contributor to our Ideas section, thinks Biden should call out the president as “a terribly broken man.”

3. The responsibility to fact-check what the candidates say tonight lies with viewers themselves, argues John Dickerson, who moderated a 2016 Republican-primary debate.

Today’s break from the news:

Our happiness columnist shares his best tips for breaking through hopelessness. For starters: Change your definition of productivity.

Did someone forward you this newsletter? Sign up here.

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Monday, 28 September 2020

US lawmakers propose tighter rules for new airplanes

Changes proposed to the way regulators approve new passenger planes.

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SEC: Fiat Chrysler to pay $9.5M for misleading investors

SEC regulators said it misled investors about emissions control problems.

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Gunmen on motorcycle kill journalist in Honduras

He'd worked in radio and TV before starting a social media information channel.

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South Carolina TV anchor hit man with beer bottle in fight over politics, police say

The victim was left with cuts on his face, police said.

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‘His case is made in urine’: Biden campaign responds to Trump call for drug testing ahead of debate

President has repeatedly claimed rival may be using performance-enhancing stimulants

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Angry about Breonna Taylor? Do what Barack Obama said in 2016: 'Don't boo. Vote'

There's only one thing to do now that the we know the outcome of the Breonna Taylor case: 'Don't boo. Vote.'

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Haunted house shooter thought someone had cut in line, Michigan police say

Police are searching for the suspect, who they say fled the scene in a blue sedan.

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Biden's plan for the first presidential debate against Trump

President and former VP go head-to-head on Tuesday night

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President Donald Trump owns more than $122 million in personal real estate — here's a look at his penthouse and beachfront mansions

The New York Times found that Donald Trump has outstanding debt across his real-estate portfolio. Here's a closer look at his 8 personal properties.

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What politicians from Amy Coney Barrett's home state of Indiana say about her Supreme Court nomination

Gov. Eric Holcomb said Barrett will add "another healthy dose of Hoosier hospitality to our nation’s capital."

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Fauci says Florida lifting restrictions on bars and restaurants is 'very concerning'

Dr. Anthony Fauci is calling for the United States to "double down" on public health measures amid the COVID-19 pandemic and expressing concern over Florida letting bars and restaurants fully reopen.Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, spoke to Good Morning America on Monday after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) announced last week he would be lifting restrictions on bars and restaurants and allowing them to operate at 100 percent capacity."That is very concerning to me," Fauci told GMA. "We have always said that ... that is something we really need to be careful about, because when you're dealing with community spread, and you have the kind of congregate setting where people get together, particularly without masks, you're really asking for trouble."Fauci went on to say that "now's the time" to "double down" on "common sense" public health measures, while the U.S. is reporting an average of about 40,000 COVID-19 cases every day. Fauci had previously stressed the need to get the daily number of cases in the U.S. down to 10,000 a day by September."We're not in a good place with regard to what I had said back then," Fauci said on Monday. "There are states that are starting to show [an] uptick in cases, and even some increase in hospitalizations in some states. And, I hope not, but we very well might start seeing increases in deaths." > FULL INTERVIEW: https://t.co/RBF8en28xI> > -- Good Morning America (@GMA) September 28, 2020More stories from theweek.com Trump literally can't afford to lose the election Trump avoids tax return questions as he brings yet another truck to the White House The bigger truth revealed by Trump's taxes

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Veteran facing border wall scam charges with Steve Bannon: ‘Not a penny’ was taken

When ‘Build the Wall’ amputee veteran Brian Kolfage was arrested, officers forbade use of prosthetic legs, now he plans to sue

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Alabama town removes statue of Confederate soldier in the middle of the night

The town will pay a $25,000 fine for removing the 115-year-old monument

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Commentary: We need to talk about those Breonna Taylor T-shirts

Recent events have sparked a surge in Black Lives Matter merchandise. It can be difficult to conclude where proceeds from these products actually go.

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Tow company sold vehicles of Texas military members while they were on duty, feds say

One of the service members was at basic training when his car was towed, officials say.

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Live: 3 dead as building collapses in Vadodara

Stay here for real-time updates on breaking news from India and across the world that you can't miss:

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Govt clears military acquisitions worth Rs2290 cr

The defence ministry on Monday approved arms acquisitions worth another Rs 2,290 crore, including procurement of 72,000 more assault rifles from the US, amid the ongoing military confrontation in eastern Ladakh with China.

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Ai Weiwei: 'Too late' to curb China's global influence

The Chinese artist and dissident says the West should have worried about China decades ago.

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Kangana Ranaut: The star taking on Bollywood

Why is Kangana Ranaut on a warpath with many of her colleagues?

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TikTok ban: How did TikTok stay online in the US?

Sophia Smith-Galer explains why President Trump shifted his position on banning new downloads of the app

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Dublin Lord Mayor: Hazel Chu and her Chinese heritage

The city's first Lord Mayor of Chinese heritage reveals the racism she and her family have faced.

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Scientists create a microscopic robot that ‘walks’

The scientists behind a microscopic "walking" robot hope their tech could one day be used against cancer.

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From tea fields to university in Sri Lanka

Theresa is one of the first women from her community of tea pickers in Sri Lanka to go to university.

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Sunday, 27 September 2020

Maryland man gets year in prison for hosting large parties, ignoring gathering limits

A Maryland man has been sentenced to a year in prison for throwing house parties in March that violated the state’s coronavirus protective orders. Shawn Marshall Myers, of Hughesville, Maryland, was arrested that month after hosting the second of two large parties at his home and received his punishment on Friday. More than 50 people attended the first party and more than 60 attended the second party days later, which came after the governor issued a stay-at-home mandate prohibiting residents from unnecessary social gatherings and trips outside the home, Washington Post reports.

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Lindsey Graham: We need a ninth Supreme Court justice, because "the courts will decide" the election

"The courts will hear all of our complaints," the GOP senator says on "Fox & Friends." "The courts will decide"

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'Taiwan is Taiwan': China name dispute moves from birds to climate change

The dispute over international organisations referring to Taiwan as Chinese has moved from wild bird conservation to climate change, after a global alliance of mayors began listing Taiwanese cities as belonging to China on its website. China has ramped up pressure on international groups and companies to refer to democratic, self-ruled Taiwan as being part of China, to the anger of Taiwan's government and many of its people. This month a Taiwan bird conservation body said it had been expelled from a partnership with a British-based wildlife charity after it demanded the Taiwan group change its name and sign documents stating it did not support Taiwan's independence.

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