Kentucky's Black Republican attorney general comes under fire in Breonna Taylor probe

In the continuing fallout from the death of Breonna Taylor, many residents of Louisville appear to view Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, who is Black, as an obstacle to justice in the case.

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Colleges must do more to stop coronavirus spread, CDC says

The coronavirus is spreading among young people on college campuses, a trend that college administrators and the public health officials working with them must do more to prevent, say new studies from the CDC.

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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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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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Coronavirus antibody cocktail shortens recovery time, new data shows

New data on Regeneron's coronavirus monoclonal antibody cocktail shows the drug is "moving in the right direction," Stat News reports.A high dose of the cocktail led viral levels to decrease more quickly in non-hospitalized patients. The drug also appeared to have a bigger effect in COVID-19 patients who had not created high levels of antibodies on their own, shortening their recovery time, even at a lower dose.Regeneron's chief scientific officer George Yancopoulos said "we are highly encouraged by the robust and consistent nature of these initial data," adding that the company is discussing its findings with regulatory authorities while trials continue.Non-affiliated observers like Eric Topol of the Scripps Research Translation Institute, meanwhile, told Stat that the data looks good so far, but "you just can't say much about how transformative this is going to be." Topol doesn't believe the treatment is ready for any sort of emergency authorization.Still, the data comes on the heels of other promising results from Eli Lilly's monoclonal antibody candidate, adding to the hope that they could play a significant role in combating the virus. Read more at Stat News.More 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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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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Keep shark tooth, Malta tells Britain's Prince George

Malta, making a rapid U-turn, said on Tuesday Britain's Prince George was welcome to keep a fossilised shark tooth that was given to him by veteran naturalist Sir David Attenborough. The 23-million-year-old fossil was discovered by Attenborough in Malta when he was holidaying on the Mediterranean island in the 1960s. Culture Minister Jose Herrera said on Monday he would "set the ball rolling" in retreiving the tooth, but the plan rapidly ran aground.

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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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Doctor ‘snubbed for trying to tell Trumps to wear masks at debate'

Melania also took off mask once she sat down

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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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Germany welcomes China climate goals, wants more EU action

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has welcomed China's plan to be carbon-neutral by 2060, contrasting it with the U.S. failure to abide by the goals of the landmark 2015 Paris climate accord. In a speech Wednesday to Germany's parliament, Merkel stressed the significance of Chinese President Xi Jinping's announcement last week as the European Union debates ramping up its own medium- and long-term emissions reduction goals. “I think it's beyond debate that we need to work with China when it comes to protecting the climate,” she told lawmakers.

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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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Trump is down in the polls, and the debate was a fiasco. It was a wasted opportunity for Trump, who needs a win before he runs out of time.

Trump is slipping in the polls 35 days before the election. The debate was a fiasco. Tomorrow he will still be down, and there will be 34 days to go.

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U.S. renews pressure on Europe to ditch Huawei in new networks

Telecoms company Huawei Technologies is part of China's surveillance state, complicit in human rights abuses, a senior U.S. official said on Tuesday, as Washington renewed pressure on Europe to ban the company from fifth-generation (5G) networks. Keith Krach, the undersecretary of state for economic affairs, stepped up warnings as Germany and Italy consider their next-generation mobile networks, in his first tour of European capitals since the COVID-19 pandemic hindered travel in March. Huawei [HWT.UL] is "an arm of the CCP surveillance state and a tool for human rights abuse," Krach told a German Marshall Fund think-tank event, referring to the Chinese Communist Party.

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Twitter temporarily suspends Hungarian government's account

The Hungarian government says its official Twitter account was temporarily suspended and then restored without explanation. Government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs said Wednesday in a Facebook post that “we have taken the necessary steps and are awaiting an official explanation from Twitter” regarding the status of the government’s @abouthungary account. While the account was suspended, the following notice appeared on its feed: "Twitter suspends accounts which violate the Twitter rules."

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Facebook removes Trump ads with baseless claims

The Trump campaign began running the ads Tuesday with at least 38 different versions.

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Men flock to military recruitment centers in Azerbaijan during a partial mobilisation

SHOTLIST BAKU, AZERBAIJANSEPTEMBER 29, 2020SOURCE: AFPTV 1. Wide shot men queueing in front of a military recruitment centre2. Wide shot men queueing in front of a military recruitment centre3. Wide shot men queueing in front of a military recruitment centre4. Wide shot man wrapped in Azerbaijan flag in crowd5. Wide shot people waiting in hall 6. SOUNDBITE 1 - Mirkamran Hashimli (male, Azerbaijani, 16 sec): "This is a very proud feeling. Of course, as other zealous citizens of the republic, I do not regret going to fulfill this task wholeheartedly and through my own choice. I hope Karabakh is ours, it will be ours!" 7. Cutaway: Wide shot man holding passport 8. Cutaway: Wide shot passports on table 9. Cutaway: Mid shot man registering 10. SOUNDBITE 2 - Shaddin Rustamov (male, Azerbaijani, 18 sec): "That is a very proud feeling. That is something we have been waiting for a long time. It's something we've been waiting for for 25 years. Hopefully this year will be the last. Future generations will rest in Kalbajar and Shusha." 11. Cutaway: Wide shot people waiting in recruitment station hall 12. Cutaway: Wide shot men seated 13. Mid shot officer calling out names of conscripts 14. Wide shot man getting on bus15. Wide shot men getting on bus ///-----------------------------------------------------------AFP TEXT STORY: CHRONOEscalation in disputed Nagorny KarabakhParis, Sept 29, 2020 (AFP) - Nagorny Karabakh, a breakaway region of Azerbaijan mainly inhabited by Armenians, has since Sunday been the scene of deadly clashes which have sparked international concern.Here is a timeline: - 'Counter-offensive' - Armenia and Azerbaijan, two former Soviet republics in the Caucasus, have accused each other of initiating deadly clashes, the worst since 2016, that broke out on Sunday in their decades-long territorial dispute.Ethnic Armenian separatists seized the Nagorny Karabakh region from Baku in a 1990s war that claimed 30,000 lives. Since then, clashes have been a regular occurence between Azerbaijani troops and the rebels, but also between Baku and Yerevan.On Sunday, Azerbaijan's defence ministry said it launched a "counter offensive to suppress Armenia's combat activity and ensure the safety of the population."The enclave's separatist authorities claimed its troops shot down two Azerbaijani helicopters and three drones. Azerbaijan says it has just lost one helicopter.Talks to resolve one of the worst conflicts to emerge from the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union have been largely stalled since a 1994 ceasefire agreement.France, Russia and the United States have mediated peace efforts as the "Minsk Group" but the last big push for a peace deal collapsed in 2010. - 'Mobilisation' - From the announcement of the first clashes, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Nagorny Karabakh authorities declare martial law and military mobilisation.Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose country is a firm supporter of Azerbaijan and has poor relations with Armenia, promises Baku support.Yerevan and the Nagorny Karabakh authorities denounce Turkish "meddling" and accuse Ankara of providing weapons, military specialists and pilots of drones and planes to Azerbaijan. Pashinyan says "we are on the brink of a full-scale war in the South Caucasus, which might have unpredictable consequences". Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev promises to win against Armenian and separatist forces. - International concern - International reaction is quick, with former Soviet-era master Moscow calling for an immediate ceasefire and talks between the arch-rivals.The European Union warns regional powers not to interfere in the fighting and condemns a "serious escalation" that threatens regional stability.The United States urges "both sides to cease hostilities immediately".Iran says it is ready to launch talks between the two neighbouring sides. - Positions lost - By late Sunday, Azerbaijan says it has retaken a handful of villages under Armenian control, something denied by Yerevan.Azerbaijani forces also capture from rebels a strategic mountain, the Murovdag peak, in Karabakh.Azerbaijan declares martial law and a curfew in the capital Baku and several other cities. - Erdogan weighs in - On the 28, Turkey's Erdogan demands Armenia put an end to its "occupation" of Nagorny Karabakh and vows complete support for Baku.UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says he is "extremely concerned over the fresh resumption of hostilities".The authorities of Nagorny Karabakh say they have regained territory lost the day before, while Azerbaijan says it has made advances, using rockets, artillery and air power.On Monday evening Armenia's defence ministry says Azerbaijani forces launched a "massive offensive at the Karabakh frontline's southern and north-eastern sectors". - UN Security Council meets - By Tuesday, the third day of fighting, the total number of confirmed deaths has risen to 98 -- including 84 separatist fighters and 14 civilians. But each side claims to have killed hundreds of enemy troops.The UN Security Council schedules emergency talks Tuesday behind closed doors on the crisis, at the request of Germany and France, according to diplomats.US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo calls for an end to fighting and a return to negotiations "as quickly as possible".kd/jmy/cdw

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Hathras gang rape: India victim cremated 'without family's consent'

The woman's death after she was gang raped allegedly by upper-caste men has caused huge anger in India.

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Mitch McConnell ‘refusing to debate his election rival if there is a female moderator’

‘He continues to resist allowing women to host debates,’ said McConnell’s opponent in the Kentucky Senate race

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New top story on Hacker News: An Elementary Introduction to Information Geometry [pdf]

An Elementary Introduction to Information Geometry [pdf]
7 by Anon84 | 0 comments on Hacker News.

New top story on Hacker News: How an industry of endless construction one-offs is holding our society back

How an industry of endless construction one-offs is holding our society back
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New top story on Hacker News: Amazon Timestream is generally available

Amazon Timestream is generally available
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New top story on Hacker News: Elements of Programmnig

Elements of Programmnig
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Trump’s top intelligence official releases unverified and previously rejected Russia information.

By BY JULIAN E. BARNES, ADAM GOLDMAN AND NICHOLAS FANDOS from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2Gp6k3a

Bad Call Sends Kristina Mladenovic Spiraling Again

By BY BEN ROTHENBERG from NYT Sports https://ift.tt/2Gie6Mb

The Facebook Pages With the Largest Share of Debate Conversation

By BY DAVEY ALBA from NYT Technology https://ift.tt/3n663Tg

Barrett told senators that Trump offered her the nomination much sooner than was previously known.

By BY NICHOLAS FANDOS from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/3kQQRrs

Man dies after falling 100 feet from Oregon cliff while posing for photo in tree

Branch brake caused 43-year-old to plummet into ocean

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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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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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Ethiopian Airlines rides out pandemic on strength of cargo boom

Six months since the coronavirus pandemic upended the global airline industry, Ethiopian Airlines is facing a heavy toll: more than $1 billion in lost revenue, to say nothing of 850 infected employees.

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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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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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Details of how the grand jury didn't indict any officers for Breonna Taylor's death are being made public after a juror broke ranks and attacked the Kentucky AG

The juror accused AG Daniel Cameron of misrepresenting proceedings, and said they were given no option to indict over Breonna Taylor's death.

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Brad Parscale, former Trump campaign manager, hospitalised after self-harm threats

Police called to Fort Lauderdale home said Parscale, who had access to firearms, accompanied officers willinglyDonald Trump’s former campaign manager Brad Parscale has been hospitalised after he threatened to harm himself, according to Florida police and campaign officials.Police were called to the home in Desota Drive in the Seven Isles community of Fort Lauderdale late on Sunday afternoon. The home is owned by Bradley and Candice Parscale.“When officers arrived on scene, they made contact with the reportee (wife of armed subject) who advised her husband was armed, had access to multiple firearms inside the residence and was threatening to harm himself,” Fort Lauderdale police said in a statement.“Officers determined the only occupant inside the home was the adult male. Officers made contact with the male, developed a rapport, and safely negotiated for him to exit the home.”Police identified the man as Parscale. He did not threaten police and accompanied officers willingly under Florida’s Baker Act, which gives police the power to detain a person who poses a potential threat to themselves or others for 72 hours for psychiatric evaluation.On Monday afternoon, police body-cam footage was released of Parscale being dramatically taken down and handcuffed by police.Parscale was taken to Broward Health medical center.The number and nature of the firearms in the Parscale home was not known.Fort Lauderdale’s mayor, Dean Trantalis, said he had been informed there was a Swat team standoff at Parscale’s home.“It was indicated to me that he had weapons,” Trantalis told the Sun-Sentinel.“I’m glad he didn’t do any harm to himself or others. I commend our Swat team for being able to negotiate a peaceful ending to this.”Parscale was removed as Trump’s campaign manager in July after a much-hyped campaign rally in Tulsa attracted an embarrassingly sparse crowd.He was replaced by the then deputy campaign manager, Bill Stepien, but has stayed on as a senior adviser to the campaign. On his Twitter account Parscale describes himself as “senior adviser, digital and data” for Donald Trump.The Trump campaign communications director, Tim Murtaugh, issued a statement late on Sunday offering support to Parscale.“Brad Parscale is a member of our family and we all love him. We are ready to support him and his family in any way possible.”A police report on Monday noted that officers were called by a woman reporting that Parscale had been heard “ranting and raving about something” before a gunshot was fired.Candice Parscale told police that she ran from the house because she was alarmed by her husband’s behavior, local TV station WPLG reported.According to the report, Parscale began to barricade himself inside the home, hanging up on callers, the police report said, adding that he later spoke to police negotiators.“I initiated a double leg take down,” wrote Sgt Matthew Moceri, a responding officer, noting that the 6ft 8in Parscale towered over him and would not get on the ground.When officers initially arrived, Candice Parscale said the couple had argued and Brad pulled out a handgun and loaded it.She said he had post-traumatic stress disorder and had recently become violent, showing police bruises on her arms from an argument two days prior. Police photographed the injuries, they said, and the Miami Herald reported.In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255, or you can text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis text line counsellor. In the UK, the Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14. Other international suicide helplines can be found at www.befrienders.org.

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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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Supreme Court nominee Amy Barrett's ties to faith group draw questions about its treatment of women

Members of People of Praise say it's a Christian fellowship. Some former members and critics say it's authoritarian and controlling.

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Brooklyn voters report getting ballot return envelopes with the wrong name and address. The error could invalidate their vote.

"This is not my ballot, we have this random lady's ballot — it's like they messed this up in a big way," Victoria Edel told THE CITY.

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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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Fighting rages in Nagorno-Karabakh as Erdogan calls for Armenia to end 'occupation'

Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has told Armenia to end its "occupation" of the flashpoint region of Nagorno-Karabakh amid a second day of fighting that claimed 21 more lives. Armenian forces have been in fierce clashes with Azerbaijan's troops in the region since Sunday, in the most severe flare-up of violence there for decades. On Monday, Mr Erdogan said the time has come to end the long-running crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh, which broke away from Azerbaijan, a Turkish ally, in the 1990s after a bloody separatist war. "The time has come for the crisis in the region that started with the occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh to be put to an end," Mr Erdogan said. "Once Armenia immediately leaves the territory it is occupying, the region will return to peace and harmony." Meanwhile, the president of Armenia, Armen Sarkissian, claimed that Ankara had provided F-16 fighter jets to support its ally. There were competing claims about fighting on the ground from both sides as forces from the two ex-Soviet neighbours pounded each other with rockets and artillery in the fiercest explosion of the conflict in more than a quarter of a century. In Nagorno-Karabakh said residents had taken cover in bomb shelters and constant shelling could be heard. “We haven’t seen anything like this since the ceasefire to the war in the 1990s," said Olesya Vartanyan, senior analyst for the South Caucasus region at Crisis Group, told Reuters. "The fighting is taking place along all sections of the front line.” Armenian officials said that another 15 of their soldiers had died, on top of 16 killed when hostilities first broke on Sunday. They added that "fights of various intensity” were “raging on", and that four Azerbaijani helicopters and 36 Azerbaijani tanks and APCs had been destroyed. Azerbaijan said that only one helicopter had been downed and that Armenian air defence systems had been heavily bombed. Both sides also accused each other of sending mercenaries who had fought in Syria into the conflict. Armenia's ambassador to Russia claimed that Turkey had sent 4,000 Syrian fighters that it had previously sponsored to fight against Syria's president Bashar-al Assad. Meanwhile, an Azerbaijani military spokesman, Colonel Vagif Dargahli, said that "mercenaries of Armenian origin from Syria" had been killed during the fighting. Neither Turkey nor Azerbaijan have so far offered any evidence to support their claims about the hired guns, although Turkey is widely believed to have sent Syrian mercenaries to back its allies in the Turkish-supported government in Libya. The clashes have led to fears that the conflict - effectively "frozen" for nearly 30 years - could now return to the full-blown hostilities of the 1990s, when 30,000 lives were lost. Although Nagorno-Karabakh has been under effective Armenian control since then, the territory is still regarded internationally as part of Azerbaijan, which wants to reclaim it.

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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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Trump's spy chief just released 'Russian disinformation' against Hillary Clinton that he acknowledged may be fabricated

DNI John Ratcliffe said in a letter that the US intel community "does not know the accuracy" of the allegation or whether it's been fabricated.

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The number of children with COVID-19 has risen 'dramatically' over the past 5 months, report finds

Children make up 10% of COVID-19 cases, a big rise from 2.2% in April, the American Academy of Pediatrics reports. Increased testing isn't to blame.

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New top story on Hacker News: Fortran Compiled to WebAssembly

Fortran Compiled to WebAssembly
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New top story on Hacker News: Denmark: We can slash CO2 by 70% in a decade and still have welfare

Denmark: We can slash CO2 by 70% in a decade and still have welfare
41 by doener | 1 comments on Hacker News.

New top story on Hacker News: The pace of environmental change can doom or save coral reefs

The pace of environmental change can doom or save coral reefs
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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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Positive COVID-19 test rates top 25% in some U.S. Midwest states

The positivity rate has risen to 26% in South Dakota, up from 17% the previous week, according to the analysis using testing data from The COVID Tracking Project. The World Health Organization considers rates above 5% concerning because it suggests there are more cases in the community that have not yet been uncovered. Several states such as New York, Massachusetts, Vermont and Maine have positive test rates of less than 1%.

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Turkey Sends ISIS Warlord to Azerbaijan to Face-Off Against Putin’s Armenian Allies

ISTANBUL, Turkey—On Sunday afternoon, a video depicting a large convoy of Islamist Syrian rebel fighters yelling enthusiastically as they drove off to war circulated widely on Arabic social media. Fighters in the packed trucks, driving quickly past the group of children filming with their phones, could be heard yelling “Allahu Akbar!” and, “our leader, till’ the end of time, is our master, Muhammad!”However what shocked those watching the video weren’t the shouts of the Syrian fighters but rather those of the children filming, who yelled back at the soldiers in a language unfamiliar to most Syrians following their country’s nine-year war. “That’s not Kurdish, right?” said one user in an online group where the video emerged. “If they were Kurds you think they’d be cheering them on?” responded another with a laugh out loud emoji.After several hours rumors swirled that the video was shot in Azerbaijan, a small Turkic speaking nation nudged between Iran and Russia and that the Syrian rebel fighters had been sent there to prop up the Azeri government in its a war against it’s neighbor Armenia that had begun that day. According to high-ranking Syrian rebel sources that spoke to The Daily Beast, these rumors are true. The fighters that appeared in the circulated video were part of a group of 1,000 Syrian rebel soldiers sent in two batches from Turkey on 22 and 24 September 2020.“500 Hamza Brigade fighters were flown last Tuesday from southern Turkey to the Azeri airbase at Sumqayit [30 kilometers north of the Azeri capital of Baku]”, according to a source within the Syrian National Army (SNA) rebel outfit who requested anonymity. “Two days later, on Thursday, another 500 fighters from the Sultan Murad brigades rebel faction were similarly flown out to Azerbaijan”.These claims were echoed by the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Syrian opposition body that monitors human rights violations in the country whose sources suggested more batches of Syrian rebel fighters were preparing to be deployed to Azerbaijan.The Hamza and Sultan Murad brigades are known within Syrian rebel circles as factions that enjoy especially close relations with Turkey, the last remaining patron of the Syrian opposition. Sayf Balud, commander of the Hamza brigades, however, is also known for his checkered past, in particular, as a former commander within the radical jihadist group ISIS.An ethnic Syrian Turkman from the town of Biza’a in Aleppo city’s northern countryside, Balud originally joined the Abu Bakr Sadiq brigades, a moderate rebel faction near his hometown that received widespread support from Gulf states in the early years of the conflict. However hailing from a small, relatively unknown family, Balud failed to climb up the ranks of Syria’s rebel movement as quickly as he would have liked and as others from more prominent backgrounds regularly did. By early 2013, Balud joined ISIS, whose ranks were mostly staffed by foreigners and cared less about the social status of their Syrian recruits.In July 2013, Balud appeared in an ISIS propaganda video shot in the border town of Tal Abyad after the group successfully captured the city from the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG). In the video, Sayf appears next to an Egyptian foreign fighter addressing a room full of two dozen captured YPG soldiers, who were assembled before an ISIS camera crew to officially repent for having joined an armed faction that ISIS’ leadership described as being “at war with God”.Over the next several years, Balud’s star continued to rise, as the commander attained a level of status within ISIS that would have been unattainable within other rebel groups. Despite the large-scale defeat of ISIS across northern Syria at the hands of the YPG in 2016 and 2017, the cunning commander was able to leverage his history of fighting against Kurds to re-invent himself as a valuable client for another foreign patron: Turkey.By January 2018, when Turkish backed rebel forces launched “Operation Olive Branch” to take over the Kurdish canton of Afrin located in Syria’s uppermost northwest corner, Balud regularly appeared in the group’s propaganda videos as the official commander of the newly formed Hamza brigades. His status as an ethnic Turkman, a small minority within Syria whose likeness to their Turkish kinsmen across the border has pushed Ankara to grant many coveted privileges such as Turkish citizenship and sensitive leadership positions, further endeared Balud to his new patrons.According to SNA sources, Syrian rebel units now being sent to Azerbaijan by Turkey are almost exclusively led ethnic Syrian Turkmen. “Sayf Balud is a Turkman. The Sultan Murad brigade’s commander, Fahim Aissa, is a Syrian Turkman, like Balud. Turkey only trusts factions led by Syrian Turkman to carry out these missions. These are sensitive for Turkey politically and they don’t trust Syrian Arabs to lead them”.Turkey’s intervention in Azerbaijan is indeed sensitive. After a four-year lull in fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, fighting between both countries erupted on Sunday leading to the death of two-dozen fighters from both sides.Though internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, in 1991 Armenian factions within the Nagorno-Karabakh region declared themselves independent. Three years of war over the disputed territory ended in 1994 with a Russian brokered ceasefire. The newly declared Nagorno-Karabakh republic was shortly after occupied by Armenia which has maintained de-facto control of the area since. With the exception of four days of fighting in April 2016, Sunday’s clashes were the first major instance of renewed combat between both countries over the status of the area. Both sides accuse the other of having initiated fighting on Sunday that sparked clashes that led to the death of dozens of soldiers.As the Daily Beast went to press clashes continued between both sides with dozens more casualties reported. Fighting alongside the Azeri regular forces were 1,000 Syrian rebel fighters, among them former jihadists led by ex-ISIS commander Sayf Balud. All About the OilTurkey's move to send Syrian rebels to face-off against Armenia, a longtime rival of Turkey, is just the latest in a long string of neo-Ottoman foreign adventures undertaken by President Erdoğan over the last 6 months. Ankara has deployed both its armed forces and Syrian proxies to crack down on Kurdish PKK and YPG forces in northern Syria and Iraqi Kurdistan throughout 2020.Turkey has also intervened in western Libya and waters throughout the eastern Mediterranean where its navy has threatened NATO allies France and Greece in an attempt to strongarm both countries and lay claim to gas reserves located within Greece's maritime borders.In Azerbaijan, Turkey is looking to demonstrate loyalty and prop up an oil-rich regime with whom it has maintained close military ties since the 1994 ceasefire. Since 2005, they have launched numerous lucrative oil and gas initiatives including a pipeline that exports 1.2 million barrels of Azeri oil per day to the European Union (EU), earning Turkey upwards of $200m in annual transit fees. In 2006, this cooperation expanded following the announcement of the launch of the South Caucuses gas pipeline that annually exports 8.8 billion cubic meters of much needed Azeri gas to the Turkish market, a net importer of energy.In 2011, Turkey began work to construct a new expanded network known collectively as the Trans Anatolian Pipeline which is expected to export 31 billion cubic meters of Azeri gas to the EU by 2026, with further expansion to come. Turkish shareholders, who own a 30% stake in the project, stand to make huge profits.Turkey’s push to transform Azerbaijan into a lucrative oil and gas export hub is also motivated by Ankara’s desire to come out from under Russia’s shadow. Turkey is dependent on Russia for 40% of its fossil fuels, a reliance that has forced Ankara to treat Russia as a friendly nation despite the fact that the two countries share almost no common interests.The “Southern Gas Corridor,” a term used to refer to the various pipelines emerging out of Azerbaijan, has also been heavily cheered on by the EU, which also wants to break its dependence on Russian gas. It should come as no surprise, perhaps, that Russia is therefore on the other side in the ongoing dispute between Azerbaijan and Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh.Nagorno-Karabakh is now the third theater where Russia and Turkey find themselves supporting opposite sides of an active Middle East conflict zone. In Syria, Russian support for dictator Bashar al-Assad and Turkey’s support for the country’s rebels such as Sayf Bulad and others led to direct conflict between both countries’ armies earlier this year that resulted in the death of dozens of Turkish soldiers. In Libya, the situation is reversed, with Turkey supporting Libya’s government and Russia supporting Khalifa Haftar, a renegade general and rebel leader who has sought to seize control of Libya’s lucrative oil sector and capture the capital of Tripoli.In both conflicts, Sayf Bulad and the Hamza brigades have proven extremely useful to Turkey. Thousands of the group’s fighters, including Sayf Bulad himself, were deployed to Libya last summer and helped repel a major assault launched by Russian-backed Khalifa Haftar and take back significant territory captured by the general in previous years. The Turkish backed authority in Tripoli is now safely guarded against external threats, while Turkish companies are set to gain lucrative contracts in Libya’s oil and gas and reconstruction sectors.Within this context of great power struggles, Syria's rebels, once idealistic and seeking to liberate their country from dictator Bashar al-Assad, have found themselves reduced to pawns compelled to serve as mercenaries and shock troops used by Turkey to advance its foreign policy in a world where Ankara finds itself increasingly isolated. In doing so, they find themselves led by and mixed in with fighters from the most vicious jihadist group the world has ever seen.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

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Governor seeks review of police protest response in Oregon

Criticism of the law enforcement response to a protest in Portland late Saturday into early Sunday prompted Oregon Gov. Kate Brown to ask authorities to review “any alleged incidents” involving their officers. “Journalists and law enforcement officers have difficult jobs to do during these demonstrations, but I do still believe that we can protect free speech and keep the peace,” Brown tweeted.

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'An illegitimate sham': Democrats refuse to meet with Amy Coney Barrett before grilling her at hearings

‘I will take the opportunity to question her when she is under oath,’ Senator Mazie Hirono says, setting up October showdown with Trump Supreme Court nominee

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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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Pelosi warns House could be forced to decide presidential election

In a letter to her Democratic colleagues, Pelosi underscored the need for Democrats to expand their majority in the House and win control of state House delegations.

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Body camera footage shows Trump's former campaign manager Brad Parscale being tackled by police outside his Florida home

Candice Parscale called 911 on Sunday, saying her husband had loaded a firearm and threatened to hurt himself, according to a police report.

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'Utter devastation': Three dead as multiple wildfires in California explode in size

"This was pretty devastating," one official said. "Just literally hundreds and hundreds of homes devastated with nothing standing."

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Donald Trump paid just $750 federal income tax in 2016, New York Times reports

Donald Trump paid just $750 (£587) in federal income taxes in 2016, the year he won the US presidency, according to a bombshell investigation by The New York Times. The US president paid the same amount again in 2017, his first year in the White House, according to the paper, which obtained details of his tax return data. The paper also claimed that Mr Trump paid zero federal income taxes in 11 of the 18 years it was able to scrutinise, partly because of losses made in his businesses. The report comes after years of Mr Trump defying recent political precedent by refusing to publish his tax returns, citing an on-going audit to justify keeping them secret. It dropped less than two days before Mr Trump faces Joe Biden, the Democratic presidential nominee, at the much-anticipated first head-to-head debate of the election campaign.

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Massacre in Mexican bar leaves 11 people dead

A massacre in a Mexican bar left 11 people dead on Sunday (September 27).

The attorney general's office in the central state of Guanajuato said the bodies of seven men and four women were found at the scene in the city of Jaral del Progreso in the early hours.

Authorities added that another woman was also found with gunshot injuries.

It comes as the country grapples with a record homicide rate - despite the government's promises to tackle gang violence.

Guanajuato, a major car-making hub, has become a recurring scene of criminal violence in Mexico, ravaged by a turf war between the local Santa Rosa de Lima gang and the powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel.

In July, gunmen killed 24 people at a drug rehabilitation center in Guanajuato.

It was one of the worst mass slayings since President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador took office - pledging to reduce record levels of violence.

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