<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/donald-trumps-campaign-website-hacked-a-week-before-us-election-2020-338446">Donald Trump's campaign website hacked a week before US Election 2020</a>

<img src="https://cdn.wionews.com/sites/default/files/styles/story_page/public/2020/10/25/166530-trump.jpg?itok=6fTp6yAs" />

The hacker(s), who have not been caught till now, claimed to have dirt on the President.&nbsp;They did not offer any proof or evidence but posted a cryptocurrency account asking people to transfer funds in if they want to see the secrets being revealed.&nbsp;

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/charlie-hebdo-caricatures-recep-erdogan-sparks-turkish-fury-338428">Charlie Hebdo caricatures Recep Erdogan; sparks Turkish fury</a>

<img src="https://cdn.wionews.com/sites/default/files/styles/story_page/public/2020/09/17/160373-untitled-design-80.jpg?itok=OcIgxUID" />

Charlie Hebdo's intervention came during an escalating war of words between Erdogan, Macron, and other European leaders after the beheading of French schoolteacher Samuel Paty by a suspected Islamist attacker this month.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/citizens-launch-anti-lukashenko-strike-500-riot-related-cases-initiated-in-belarus-338444">Citizens launch anti-Lukashenko strike, 500 riot-related cases initiated in Belarus</a>

<img src="https://cdn.wionews.com/sites/default/files/styles/story_page/public/2020/10/04/163085-luka11.jpg?itok=-XUGfCHD" />

Over 500 criminal cases have been opened in Belarus over riots and participation of Belarusian citizens in them, Andrey Serbun, deputy head of the Belarusian Prosecutor General's Office`s department for overseeing the implementation of legislation by the Investigative Committee, said.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/us-election-2020-surge-in-can-i-change-my-vote-donald-trump-says-trend-refers-to-him-338447">US election 2020: Surge in 'can I change my vote'; Donald Trump says trend refers to him</a>

<img src="https://cdn.wionews.com/sites/default/files/styles/story_page/public/2020/10/15/165062-us-elections.jpg?itok=xecivbyt" />

More than 60 million Americans have cast ballots in the US presidential election, a record-breaking pace that could lead to the highest voter turnout in over a century.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/videos/protests-continue-in-islamic-world-against-france-over-cartoon-row-338442">Protests continue in Islamic world against France over cartoon row</a>

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<a href="https://www.wionews.com/videos/amy-coney-barrett-takes-first-oath-at-the-white-house-338445">Amy Coney Barrett takes first oath at the White House</a>

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&nbsp;

Donald Trump's campaign website hacked a week before US Election 2020 The hacker(s), who have not been caught till now, claimed to have dirt on the President. They did not offer any proof or evidence but posted a cryptocurrency account asking people to transfer funds in if they want to see the secrets being revealed.

Donald Trump's campaign website hacked a week before US Election 2020 The hacker(s), who have not been caught till now, claimed to have dirt on the President. They did not offer any proof or evidence but posted a cryptocurrency account asking people to transfer funds in if they want to see the secrets being revealed. Charlie Hebdo caricatures Recep Erdogan; sparks Turkish fury Charlie Hebdo's intervention came during an escalating war of words between Erdogan, Macron, and other European leaders after the beheading of French schoolteacher Samuel Paty by a suspected Islamist attacker this month. Citizens launch anti-Lukashenko strike, 500 riot-related cases initiated in Belarus Over 500 criminal cases have been opened in Belarus over riots and participation of Belarusian citizens in them, Andrey Serbun, deputy head of the Belarusian Prosecutor General's Office`s department for overseeing the implementation of legislation by the Investigative Committee, said. US election 2020: Surge in 'can I change my vote'; Donald Trump says trend refers to him More than 60 million Americans have cast ballots in the US presidential election, a record-breaking pace that could lead to the highest voter turnout in over a century. Protests continue in Islamic world against France over cartoon row × Amy Coney Barrett takes first oath at the White House ×

Morning news brief: Donald Trump's website hacked; Erdogan-Macron clash and more

The campaign for the US presidential election has entered its final week.

With one week to go until Election Day, 66 million Americans -- wary of the health dangers of crowded polling booths, and energised by a race framed as critical to the future of the country -- have already voted.

The number of early ballots far surpasses the total of 58 million pre-election votes in 2016.

On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump was hopscotching across the Midwest and will be visiting the crucial battleground state of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Arizona and Nevada in the coming days. His Democratic challenger Joe Biden was campaigning in the once reliably Republican state of Georgia, and was further scheduled to travel to Georgia, Atlanta and Warm Springs.

Biden is also slated to hold a socially distanced drive-in car rally in Atlanta, Georgia's largest city. Trump defeated Hillary Clinton by five points in Georgia in 2016 but polls have him running neck-in-neck with Biden in the Peach State.

Biden campaign has high hopes of switching Georgia from Red to Blue and also winning the two US Senate seats up for grabs.

Trump was to finish the day with a campaign rally in Omaha, Nebraska, in a sign that he expects a potentially tight White House race where every Electoral College vote counts.

Ahead of Trump's visit to Michigan, the Biden campaign lashed out at his handling of the coronavirus pandemic which has left more than 225,000 people dead in the United States.

"President Trump's mismanagement of this pandemic has devastated Michigan," it said.&nbsp;

"Cases are surging, hundreds of thousands are out of work, and there's no end in sight.

"Eight months into this crisis, he still has no plan to get the virus under control, no interest in listening to the scientists, and no ability to lead our country through this moment," the Biden campaign said.&nbsp;

"With one week left until the election, Michiganders can finally put an end to the chaos, failure, and division that has defined Donald Trump's presidency."

Election tracking website RealClearPolitics has Biden up 7.6 points in an average of national polls and leading Trump by nine points in Michigan.&nbsp;

Trump dismissed the polls in a tweet on Tuesday and accused the media of focussing on the Covid-19 pandemic to hurt his chances for reelection.

"The Real Polls are now saying that I am WINNING!" he said.

"Until November 4th., Fake News Media is going full on Covid, Covid, Covid. We are rounding the turn," he said.

Trump also touted the confirmation of his latest Supreme Court nominee, Amy Coney Barrett, as a landmark victory for conservatives.

"This is a momentous day for America, for the United States Constitution and for the fair and impartial rule of law," he said at the swearing-in ceremony of the 48-year-old Barrett Monday night.

But amid this, the shooting of another Black man in Philadelphia catalysed into protests overnight. The White House said meanwhile that it was closely following the situation.

The Philadelphia shooting was the latest to spark anger in the United States, which has seen a wave of protests for racial justice since the police killing of George Floyd in May in Minnesota.

Trump has focussed on the unrest to bolster his claims to be the "law-and-order" candidate in his election battle against Biden.

(with inputs)

The campaign for the US presidential election has entered its final week. With one week to go until Election Day, 66 million Americans -- wary of the health dangers of crowded polling booths, and energised by a race framed as critical to the future of the country -- have already voted.

The campaign for the US presidential election has entered its final week. With one week to go until Election Day, 66 million Americans -- wary of the health dangers of crowded polling booths, and energised by a race framed as critical to the future of the country -- have already voted. The number of early ballots far surpasses the total of 58 million pre-election votes in 2016. On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump was hopscotching across the Midwest and will be visiting the crucial battleground state of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Arizona and Nevada in the coming days. His Democratic challenger Joe Biden was campaigning in the once reliably Republican state of Georgia, and was further scheduled to travel to Georgia, Atlanta and Warm Springs. Biden is also slated to hold a socially distanced drive-in car rally in Atlanta, Georgia's largest city. Trump defeated Hillary Clinton by five points in Georgia in 2016 but polls have him running neck-in-neck with Biden in the Peach State. Biden campaign has high hopes of switching Georgia from Red to Blue and also winning the two US Senate seats up for grabs. Trump was to finish the day with a campaign rally in Omaha, Nebraska, in a sign that he expects a potentially tight White House race where every Electoral College vote counts. Ahead of Trump's visit to Michigan, the Biden campaign lashed out at his handling of the coronavirus pandemic which has left more than 225,000 people dead in the United States. "President Trump's mismanagement of this pandemic has devastated Michigan," it said. "Cases are surging, hundreds of thousands are out of work, and there's no end in sight. "Eight months into this crisis, he still has no plan to get the virus under control, no interest in listening to the scientists, and no ability to lead our country through this moment," the Biden campaign said. "With one week left until the election, Michiganders can finally put an end to the chaos, failure, and division that has defined Donald Trump's presidency." Election tracking website RealClearPolitics has Biden up 7.6 points in an average of national polls and leading Trump by nine points in Michigan. Trump dismissed the polls in a tweet on Tuesday and accused the media of focussing on the Covid-19 pandemic to hurt his chances for reelection. "The Real Polls are now saying that I am WINNING!" he said. "Until November 4th., Fake News Media is going full on Covid, Covid, Covid. We are rounding the turn," he said. Trump also touted the confirmation of his latest Supreme Court nominee, Amy Coney Barrett, as a landmark victory for conservatives. "This is a momentous day for America, for the United States Constitution and for the fair and impartial rule of law," he said at the swearing-in ceremony of the 48-year-old Barrett Monday night. But amid this, the shooting of another Black man in Philadelphia catalysed into protests overnight. The White House said meanwhile that it was closely following the situation. The Philadelphia shooting was the latest to spark anger in the United States, which has seen a wave of protests for racial justice since the police killing of George Floyd in May in Minnesota. Trump has focussed on the unrest to bolster his claims to be the "law-and-order" candidate in his election battle against Biden. (with inputs)

Campaigning for US presidential election enters final week

The confirmation on Monday of Justice Amy Coney Barrett all but ensures a durable conservative majority on the Supreme Court for years to come and provides the capstone on the Trump administration’s broader effort to push the entire federal judiciary solidly to the right.

Its work has been so fast and so effective that there is only one vacancy now in the appellate courts: the seat left open by Barrett’s promotion.

But President Donald Trump and Republicans risk becoming victims of their own success. Without the specter of a liberal court to motivate conservative voters anymore, they may find themselves without the issue that played a crucial role in Trump’s unexpected victory four years ago and has fortified his political base throughout a tumultuous first term.

“It’s like the dog catching the car,” said Charlie Cook, editor of the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, which handicaps elections and is forecasting a difficult environment for Republicans up and down the ballot.

On a larger level, there is the risk of getting complacent. Republicans feel satisfied that they appear to have prevailed in their decades-long quest to install more conservatives on the courts. Then there is the issue that the Barrett confirmation was uneventful and anticlimactic — not exactly the kind of spectacle that gets people marching in the streets.

Normally, a Supreme Court confirmation fight is an occasion that seizes the country’s attention and energizes partisans left and right. But the fact the entire country knew Barrett’s confirmation was a virtual lock took away any sense of mystery or intrigue.

“There was no drama,” Cook said. “After about three days it became clear there was pretty much nothing the Democrats could do. So it just didn’t get legs. And there is just so much else going on.”

Privately, Republicans have expressed some disappointment that there was very little of the partisan fury and indignation that erupted during the confirmation of Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh in 2018. The Kavanaugh hearings included a sexual assault allegation against him from his high school years, and became a remarkably emotional and divisive culture war clash that raised questions of class and privilege, gender roles and the presumption of belief extended to victims of sexual assault.

Though Kavanaugh forcefully denied the charges, and his allies accused Democrats of a vicious smear campaign, Republicans also believe the hearings awakened their voters a few weeks before the midterm elections at a point when polls were showing low enthusiasm on their side and many donors were remaining on the sidelines.

That November, Republicans gained a total of two Senate seats. In red states like North Dakota, the Kavanaugh issue helped put already difficult races even more out of reach. Donors who had written the party off started signing checks again.

Strategists said they could not be as certain that conservative voters will view the court with the same urgency as they have before. And they are seeking new ways to motivate their base.

“Right now we’re fat and happy,” said Mike Davis, president of the Article III Project, a group that strategizes with Republican senators and the White House on judicial confirmations. “We have the first true conservative majority on the Supreme Court in 80 years. The president has done such an outstanding job on judicial appointments that we are out of federal circuit seats to fill. So Republicans could be complacent while Democrats are fired up.”

But Davis has not given up on the court as the path to igniting fervor on his side. He is pinning his hopes on court packing.

“Court packing is so much more of a culture fight,” Davis said, describing the Republican messaging on the issue, which encompasses a variety of proposals to reform the structure of the judiciary such as adding new justices to the Supreme Court and expanding the lower courts.

He ran through a list of rights that he thought an expanded court would jeopardize: religious expression, free speech, gun ownership. “Court packing is an extreme, clear and present danger,” he said.

Trump and Republicans in races across the country are amplifying those claims. Speaking at a campaign rally on Monday afternoon in Allentown, Pennsylvania, the president warned that his opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden, would “pack the Supreme Court with radical justices who will shred your Second Amendment and pro-life and so many other things.”

He mentioned Barrett’s nomination only in passing. And he did not bring up the issue of the Supreme Court — the issue many conservative voters see as his greatest achievement — at all during the final presidential debate last week.

Few other Republican candidates are mentioning the Barrett confirmation in their campaigns, instead going after Democrats with exaggerated claims about a plot by “far-left Democrats like Nancy Pelosi” to pack the courts, as an ad by the National Republican Senatorial Committee in Kansas put it. As speaker of the House, Pelosi has no official role in court confirmations, which the Senate handles. And Biden has not said he supports any plan to add judges to the courts, but he has proposed studying the issue through a bipartisan commission if elected.

When Trump started running for president five years ago, the idea that he could be in a position to pick the next justice on the Supreme Court was enough to alarm many conservatives. They worried he didn’t understand how important the issue was, questioned the sincerity of his opposition to abortion and considered it a very real possibility that he would name his sister, a retired federal judge, to the bench.

But in the spring of 2016, as he was wrapping up the nomination, he released a list of noted conservative judges and lawyers he promised to stick to when nominating someone that helped give him credibility on the issue. And conservatives turned out, determined to prevent a Supreme Court shaped by Hillary Clinton that would perhaps forever foreclose overturning Roe v. Wade, which established a legal right to abortion.

The court as an issue helped Trump win 81% of the white evangelical vote. And his commitment to it throughout his first term — along with his willingness to talk about the issues so bluntly and declare his desire to see Roe undone, which Republicans typically did not say even if they believed it privately — has forged a seemingly unbreakable bond with social conservatives.

Robert P. Jones, president of the Public Religion Research Institute, said that those trends appeared likely to hold in this election. Nearly 9 in 10 white evangelicals say they are “absolutely certain” to vote, he said, and the share of white evangelicals who support the president remains high — 79%.

Jones believes there is room to grow. “At this point in the game in 2016, that number was only 69%,” he said.

Jessica Anderson, executive director of Heritage Action for America, cited “unprecedented enthusiasm” for Barrett’s nomination among grassroots conservatives and said her place on the bench would bring about “a much-needed change from the activist drift of the court.”

A significant number of people could, however, see the court as an issue that makes them vote for Biden. The death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a hero to many liberals, was a galvanizing event unlike almost any other this year for Democrats.

Senate Democrats also played their weak hand during the confirmation more cautiously and strategically than Republicans anticipated. Instead of raising questions about Barrett’s religious convictions as a conservative Catholic and how that shaped her jurisprudence, which Republicans had expected and prepared for, Democrats were mostly focused on framing a Barrett confirmation as the death knell of the Affordable Care Act and the coverage it provides for preexisting medical conditions.

“That didn’t excite the conservative base,” said Frank Cannon, president of the American Principles Project.

But what can, he said, is a vote in the Senate to confirm a sixth conservative to the court — and a reminder that the election a week away could nullify that and all the work conservatives have done with the courts over the last four years.

“With our voters, we’ve been reminding them that if Trump loses and we lose the Senate, the Democrats are intent on packing the court,” he said. “We can lose this in a blink — one week after we won it — and I think that’s a powerful message.”

The confirmation on Monday of Justice Amy Coney Barrett all but ensures a durable conservative majority on the Supreme Court for years to come and provides the capstone on the Trump administration’s broader effort to push the entire federal judiciary solidly to the right.

The confirmation on Monday of Justice Amy Coney Barrett all but ensures a durable conservative majority on the Supreme Court for years to come and provides the capstone on the Trump administration’s broader effort to push the entire federal judiciary solidly to the right. Its work has been so fast and so effective that there is only one vacancy now in the appellate courts: the seat left open by Barrett’s promotion. But President Donald Trump and Republicans risk becoming victims of their own success. Without the specter of a liberal court to motivate conservative voters anymore, they may find themselves without the issue that played a crucial role in Trump’s unexpected victory four years ago and has fortified his political base throughout a tumultuous first term. “It’s like the dog catching the car,” said Charlie Cook, editor of the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, which handicaps elections and is forecasting a difficult environment for Republicans up and down the ballot. On a larger level, there is the risk of getting complacent. Republicans feel satisfied that they appear to have prevailed in their decades-long quest to install more conservatives on the courts. Then there is the issue that the Barrett confirmation was uneventful and anticlimactic — not exactly the kind of spectacle that gets people marching in the streets. Normally, a Supreme Court confirmation fight is an occasion that seizes the country’s attention and energizes partisans left and right. But the fact the entire country knew Barrett’s confirmation was a virtual lock took away any sense of mystery or intrigue. “There was no drama,” Cook said. “After about three days it became clear there was pretty much nothing the Democrats could do. So it just didn’t get legs. And there is just so much else going on.” Privately, Republicans have expressed some disappointment that there was very little of the partisan fury and indignation that erupted during the confirmation of Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh in 2018. The Kavanaugh hearings included a sexual assault allegation against him from his high school years, and became a remarkably emotional and divisive culture war clash that raised questions of class and privilege, gender roles and the presumption of belief extended to victims of sexual assault. Though Kavanaugh forcefully denied the charges, and his allies accused Democrats of a vicious smear campaign, Republicans also believe the hearings awakened their voters a few weeks before the midterm elections at a point when polls were showing low enthusiasm on their side and many donors were remaining on the sidelines. That November, Republicans gained a total of two Senate seats. In red states like North Dakota, the Kavanaugh issue helped put already difficult races even more out of reach. Donors who had written the party off started signing checks again. Strategists said they could not be as certain that conservative voters will view the court with the same urgency as they have before. And they are seeking new ways to motivate their base. “Right now we’re fat and happy,” said Mike Davis, president of the Article III Project, a group that strategizes with Republican senators and the White House on judicial confirmations. “We have the first true conservative majority on the Supreme Court in 80 years. The president has done such an outstanding job on judicial appointments that we are out of federal circuit seats to fill. So Republicans could be complacent while Democrats are fired up.” But Davis has not given up on the court as the path to igniting fervor on his side. He is pinning his hopes on court packing. “Court packing is so much more of a culture fight,” Davis said, describing the Republican messaging on the issue, which encompasses a variety of proposals to reform the structure of the judiciary such as adding new justices to the Supreme Court and expanding the lower courts. He ran through a list of rights that he thought an expanded court would jeopardize: religious expression, free speech, gun ownership. “Court packing is an extreme, clear and present danger,” he said. Trump and Republicans in races across the country are amplifying those claims. Speaking at a campaign rally on Monday afternoon in Allentown, Pennsylvania, the president warned that his opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden, would “pack the Supreme Court with radical justices who will shred your Second Amendment and pro-life and so many other things.” He mentioned Barrett’s nomination only in passing. And he did not bring up the issue of the Supreme Court — the issue many conservative voters see as his greatest achievement — at all during the final presidential debate last week. Few other Republican candidates are mentioning the Barrett confirmation in their campaigns, instead going after Democrats with exaggerated claims about a plot by “far-left Democrats like Nancy Pelosi” to pack the courts, as an ad by the National Republican Senatorial Committee in Kansas put it. As speaker of the House, Pelosi has no official role in court confirmations, which the Senate handles. And Biden has not said he supports any plan to add judges to the courts, but he has proposed studying the issue through a bipartisan commission if elected. When Trump started running for president five years ago, the idea that he could be in a position to pick the next justice on the Supreme Court was enough to alarm many conservatives. They worried he didn’t understand how important the issue was, questioned the sincerity of his opposition to abortion and considered it a very real possibility that he would name his sister, a retired federal judge, to the bench. But in the spring of 2016, as he was wrapping up the nomination, he released a list of noted conservative judges and lawyers he promised to stick to when nominating someone that helped give him credibility on the issue. And conservatives turned out, determined to prevent a Supreme Court shaped by Hillary Clinton that would perhaps forever foreclose overturning Roe v. Wade, which established a legal right to abortion. The court as an issue helped Trump win 81% of the white evangelical vote. And his commitment to it throughout his first term — along with his willingness to talk about the issues so bluntly and declare his desire to see Roe undone, which Republicans typically did not say even if they believed it privately — has forged a seemingly unbreakable bond with social conservatives. Robert P. Jones, president of the Public Religion Research Institute, said that those trends appeared likely to hold in this election. Nearly 9 in 10 white evangelicals say they are “absolutely certain” to vote, he said, and the share of white evangelicals who support the president remains high — 79%. Jones believes there is room to grow. “At this point in the game in 2016, that number was only 69%,” he said. Jessica Anderson, executive director of Heritage Action for America, cited “unprecedented enthusiasm” for Barrett’s nomination among grassroots conservatives and said her place on the bench would bring about “a much-needed change from the activist drift of the court.” A significant number of people could, however, see the court as an issue that makes them vote for Biden. The death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a hero to many liberals, was a galvanizing event unlike almost any other this year for Democrats. Senate Democrats also played their weak hand during the confirmation more cautiously and strategically than Republicans anticipated. Instead of raising questions about Barrett’s religious convictions as a conservative Catholic and how that shaped her jurisprudence, which Republicans had expected and prepared for, Democrats were mostly focused on framing a Barrett confirmation as the death knell of the Affordable Care Act and the coverage it provides for preexisting medical conditions. “That didn’t excite the conservative base,” said Frank Cannon, president of the American Principles Project. But what can, he said, is a vote in the Senate to confirm a sixth conservative to the court — and a reminder that the election a week away could nullify that and all the work conservatives have done with the courts over the last four years. “With our voters, we’ve been reminding them that if Trump loses and we lose the Senate, the Democrats are intent on packing the court,” he said. “We can lose this in a blink — one week after we won it — and I think that’s a powerful message.”

‘Fat and happy’ with a conservative court, are Republicans losing a winning issue?

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/donald-trumps-pick-amy-coney-barrett-sworn-in-as-supreme-court-justice-at-white-house-338166">Donald Trump's pick Amy Coney Barrett sworn in as Supreme Court Justice at White House</a> 
 
<img src="https://cdn.wionews.com/sites/default/files/styles/story_page/public/2020/09/27/161880-amy-coney-barrett.jpg?itok=uvySTIh8" />

President Donald Trump’s pick for the US Apex Court Amy Coney Barrett was sworn in as Supreme Court Justice in a ceremony at the White House late on Monday."I know you will make us all very, very proud," US President Donald Trump said at the swearing-in ceremony.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/wont-forget-silence-of-some-states-says-france-after-teachers-beheading-338170">Won’t forget ‘silence’ of some states, says France after teacher’s beheading</a> 
 
<img src="https://cdn.wionews.com/sites/default/files/styles/story_page/public/2020/10/22/166193-untitled-design-13.jpg?itok=q7nzhki6" />

French Minister for Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves Le Drian criticised Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for not having expressed any condemnation or solidarity following the beheading of French history teacher Samuel Paty, who murdered for showing cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in class.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/head-of-us-military-academy-resigns-amid-systemic-racism-probe-338163">Head of US military academy resigns amid ‘systemic racism’ probe&nbsp;</a> 
 
<img src="https://cdn.wionews.com/sites/default/files/styles/story_page/public/2020/10/27/166788-us-general.JPG?itok=EQosRnKG" />

The superintendent of a top US military academy resigned from his post-Monday after the Virginia governor ordered an investigation into accusations of systemic racism at the school.

&nbsp;

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Donald Trump's pick Amy Coney Barrett sworn in as Supreme Court Justice at White House President Donald Trump’s pick for the US Apex Court Amy Coney Barrett was sworn in as Supreme Court Justice in a ceremony at the White House late on Monday.

Donald Trump's pick Amy Coney Barrett sworn in as Supreme Court Justice at White House President Donald Trump’s pick for the US Apex Court Amy Coney Barrett was sworn in as Supreme Court Justice in a ceremony at the White House late on Monday."I know you will make us all very, very proud," US President Donald Trump said at the swearing-in ceremony. Won’t forget ‘silence’ of some states, says France after teacher’s beheading French Minister for Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves Le Drian criticised Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for not having expressed any condemnation or solidarity following the beheading of French history teacher Samuel Paty, who murdered for showing cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in class. Head of US military academy resigns amid ‘systemic racism’ probe The superintendent of a top US military academy resigned from his post-Monday after the Virginia governor ordered an investigation into accusations of systemic racism at the school.

Morning news brief: Macron's war against 'radical Islam', US election and more

Billionaire Michael Bloomberg is planning to spend around $15 million on television advertising in Texas and Ohio during the final week of the presidential campaign to help Democratic candidate Joe Biden defeat the incumbent president, Donald Trump.

Statewide ads in Texas and Ohio will run from Wednesday through November 3.

Bloomberg previously vowed to spend up to $100 million of his personal fortune to support Biden in Florida though his super PAC, Independence USA, and other Democratic groups.

The former New York City mayor lost to Biden in a crowded field for the Democratic nomination.

Bloomberg asked his team to see polling data from multiple states and after reviewing the numbers on Monday decided to invest additional money to support Biden in Texas and Ohio, the spokesperson said by email, confirming a report in the New York Times.

Bloomberg will also increase pro-Biden advertising in Florida, fortifying a campaign that began mid-September with daily ads in 10 Florida media markets.

The Texas ads, in English and Spanish, will focus on Trump's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Ohio ads will focus on the pandemic plus the economy and Biden`s "build back better" theme, the spokesperson said.

Trump won Texas and Ohio in his 2016 election, and holding on to both states is crucial to his re-election prospects. As the second and seventh most populous states, both are prizes in the state-by-state contests that decide the presidential race.

Billionaire Michael Bloomberg is planning to spend around $15 million on television advertising in Texas and Ohio during the final week of the presidential campaign to help Democratic candidate Joe Biden defeat the incumbent president, Donald Trump.

Billionaire Michael Bloomberg is planning to spend around $15 million on television advertising in Texas and Ohio during the final week of the presidential campaign to help Democratic candidate Joe Biden defeat the incumbent president, Donald Trump. Statewide ads in Texas and Ohio will run from Wednesday through November 3. Bloomberg previously vowed to spend up to $100 million of his personal fortune to support Biden in Florida though his super PAC, Independence USA, and other Democratic groups. The former New York City mayor lost to Biden in a crowded field for the Democratic nomination. Bloomberg asked his team to see polling data from multiple states and after reviewing the numbers on Monday decided to invest additional money to support Biden in Texas and Ohio, the spokesperson said by email, confirming a report in the New York Times. Bloomberg will also increase pro-Biden advertising in Florida, fortifying a campaign that began mid-September with daily ads in 10 Florida media markets. The Texas ads, in English and Spanish, will focus on Trump's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Ohio ads will focus on the pandemic plus the economy and Biden`s "build back better" theme, the spokesperson said. Trump won Texas and Ohio in his 2016 election, and holding on to both states is crucial to his re-election prospects. As the second and seventh most populous states, both are prizes in the state-by-state contests that decide the presidential race.

Bloomberg planning to fund late $15 million push to help Biden in Ohio, Texas

With exactly one week to go for the US election 2020,&nbsp;Dave Wasserman, the polling guru who forecasted Republican candidate Donald Trump's 2016 win, is betting on Democratic&nbsp;candidate Joe Biden this time.

Wasserman believes that while polls are more stable in comparison to four years ago, President Trump is underperforming and though the race may tighten in the upcoming week, his path looks increasingly difficult.

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/us-election-2020-opinion-polls-show-joe-biden-holding-substantial-lead-337842/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

Democratic presidential challenger Joe Biden leads President Donald Trump by a solid margin in Wisconsin and maintains a narrower advantage in Pennsylvania with just over a week until November 3.

<img alt="Trump" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="9d39d742-f6eb-4801-a174-3455da9357a2" src="//cdn.wionews.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/Capture%208256_0.PNG" />

Wasserman has predicts that&nbsp;six states,&nbsp;Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan, North Carolina, Florida and Arizona,&nbsp;will play critical roles in deciding whether Trump wins a second term in office or if Biden ousts him.

He highlighted the possibility of&nbsp;the race getting&nbsp;closer to where it was in September, which was when Biden had an average lead of more like 7 or 8 points than 10.&nbsp;

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/who-will-be-americas-future-us-election-2020-new-york-direct-338147/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

Trump does not have a lot of margin for error&nbsp;as Biden has a much more stable lead in comparison to Hillary Clinton for years ago.

Biden's lead increased in October after Trump, who faced criticism for downplaying coronavirus pandemic as a ''flu'' and a ''hoax'', himself contracted the novel virus.

As COVID-19 hits swing states, Biden and Trump showed sharp contrast. While Trump said America was turning the corner in the fight against COVID-19 and mocked Biden's more cautious campaigning style. Biden&nbsp;warned that the cold months ahead could be even harsher due to a resurgence of the virus, which has killed more people in the United States than anywhere else and is on the rise in several battleground states.

Wasserman says that in 2016, polls chronically undersampled Trump’s base of support, and that led a lot of the media astray. And the polls are far from perfect in US election 2020 as well as&nbsp;there’s a lot of disagreement between online polls and live-interview polls.

With exactly one week to go for the US election 2020, Dave Wasserman, the polling guru who forecasted Republican candidate Donald Trump's 2016 win, is betting on Democratic candidate Joe Biden this time.

With exactly one week to go for the US election 2020, Dave Wasserman, the polling guru who forecasted Republican candidate Donald Trump's 2016 win, is betting on Democratic candidate Joe Biden this time. Wasserman believes that while polls are more stable in comparison to four years ago, President Trump is underperforming and though the race may tighten in the upcoming week, his path looks increasingly difficult. Democratic presidential challenger Joe Biden leads President Donald Trump by a solid margin in Wisconsin and maintains a narrower advantage in Pennsylvania with just over a week until November 3. Wasserman has predicts that six states, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan, North Carolina, Florida and Arizona, will play critical roles in deciding whether Trump wins a second term in office or if Biden ousts him. He highlighted the possibility of the race getting closer to where it was in September, which was when Biden had an average lead of more like 7 or 8 points than 10. Trump does not have a lot of margin for error as Biden has a much more stable lead in comparison to Hillary Clinton for years ago. Biden's lead increased in October after Trump, who faced criticism for downplaying coronavirus pandemic as a ''flu'' and a ''hoax'', himself contracted the novel virus. As COVID-19 hits swing states, Biden and Trump showed sharp contrast. While Trump said America was turning the corner in the fight against COVID-19 and mocked Biden's more cautious campaigning style. Biden warned that the cold months ahead could be even harsher due to a resurgence of the virus, which has killed more people in the United States than anywhere else and is on the rise in several battleground states. Wasserman says that in 2016, polls chronically undersampled Trump’s base of support, and that led a lot of the media astray. And the polls are far from perfect in US election 2020 as well as there’s a lot of disagreement between online polls and live-interview polls.

US election 2020: Polling guru who forecasted Donald Trump's 2016 win, reveals this year's winner

EAST STROUDSBURG, Pa. — Like nearly half of all the eligible voters in her county in 2016, Keyana Fedrick did not vote.

Four years later, politics has permeated her corner of northeastern Pennsylvania. Someone sawed a hole in a large Trump sign near one of her jobs. The election office in her county is so overwhelmed with demand that it took over the coroner’s office next door. Her parents, both Democrats born in the 1950s, keep telling her she should vote for Joe Biden. Anything is better than President Donald Trump, they say.

But Fedrick, who works two jobs, at a hotel and at a department store, does not trust either of the two main political parties, because nothing in her 31 years of life has led her to believe that she could. She says they abandon voters like “a bad mom or dad who promises to come and see you, and I’m sitting outside with my bags packed and they never show up.”

That is why Fedrick does not regret her decision in 2016 to skip the voting booth. In fact, she plans to repeat it again this year — something that she and a friend have started to hide from people they know.

“We said we’re just going to lie, like ‘Oh yeah, I voted,” she said. “I don’t feel like getting crucified for what I think.”

As the presidential campaign reaches its final week, early-voting turnout in a number of states has been higher than last time, mail-in ballot requests are surging and some are predicting the highest turnout in many decades. But if history is any indication, a significant portion of Americans will not participate, a signal of distrust and disillusionment with the political system that spans the partisan divide.

Voting is fundamentally an act of hope. But since the 1960s, between a third and a half of eligible voters have stayed home during presidential elections, one of the lowest rates among America’s developed peers. Since the early 1900s, the high point for presidential turnout was in 1960, when 63.8% of eligible adults voted, according to the United States Elections Project that tracks voting data back to 1789. Most recently, the highest peak was in 2008, when 61.6% turned out.

An analysis of Census Bureau survey data from the 2016 election shows a deep class divide: Americans who did not vote were more likely to be poor, less likely to have a college degree, and more likely to be a single parent than the people who voted. They were also less likely to be in the labor force.

The data give a comprehensive look at who voted and who did not, and while no two elections are the same, it points to patterns for why some people are more likely to vote than others.

Not voting has been a feature of the American political landscape for decades. But with razor slim margins in a number of swing states last time, nonvoters have taken on an outsize importance: Even a small victory in converting some of them may tip the scales.

Consider Pennsylvania. More than 3.5 million eligible voters in the state did not cast ballots for president in the 2016 election, a number that dwarfed Trump’s slender margin of 44,292. Monroe County, the Pocono Mountain vacation spot where Fedrick lives, is a microcosm of the state. About 56,000 eligible adults stayed home, more than 100 times Hillary Clinton’s 532-vote margin of victory.

In interviews in Monroe County this month, some of the people who did not vote in 2016 said they planned to vote this year. The stakes were too high to miss it, they said.

“I never thought I’d be bothered with this crap, but now it really counts,” said Jack Breglia, 49, a retired tow truck driver in Kunkletown, Pennsylvania. He could not remember the last time he voted but said he planned to vote for Trump this time.

But many others said they would not. They expressed a profound distrust of politics and doubted their vote would have an effect. They felt a sense of foreboding about the country and saw politics as one of the main forces doing the threatening. Many were not particularly partisan and said they shrank from people who were.

“I try to avoid it because it gets angry and nasty,” said Susan Miller, 42, a waitress at Compton’s Pancake House in Stroudsburg, who said she had voted once in her life, for Barack Obama in 2008.

One predictor of political engagement is growing up in a family that talked about politics. Miller did not. And she is so sick of the one person in her life who is loudly insisting that she vote — an aunt who supports Trump — that she has started simply pretending that she will.

Like many people interviewed for this article, Miller was scrambling to pay rent and buy groceries. Monroe County’s unemployment rate stood at around 13% in August, as the pandemic bit into the county’s tourism industry. Her tips have fallen by half and she is now working for Instacart to make up the difference. Two close relatives have died of COVID-19.

“Politics? It’s the least of my worries,” she said.

She said she would vote again “if the right person came in.”

But Biden is not that person, she said. Miller said she had not watched any of the debates or kept up with the candidates.

“I’m just trying to make it through,” she said.

In recent decades, richer, more educated people are far more likely to vote. In the 2016 analysis, about three quarters of those living in households earning at least $150,000 voted, compared with less than half of those in households earning less than $25,000. About 76% of college graduates voted, compared with 52% of people with just a high school degree.

Marriage mattered, too: Just 45% of single women who had children and were eligible to vote cast ballots compared with 70% of married mothers.

Jennifer Martin, 46, a single mother waiting in line in her car at the Pleasant Valley Ecumenical Network food pantry in Sciota, Pennsylvania, said last time she voted she was in her 20s. Politics, she said, has little relevance to her life. The two political parties seemed about the same.

A recent study found that people like Martin who do not follow politics closely have different concerns from those who do. For example, they say that low hourly wages are among the most important problems facing the country. For hard partisans, who are more likely to vote, the issue barely registers.

“I work at a day care where they pay their workers nothing,” she said. “That’s why I have to come to places like this to feed my family.”

Might the election change things?

“I’m not interested in it,” she said.

Fedrick was one of those who stayed away in 2016, but not because she was not following the news. She has become increasingly angry at the American political system, which she believes is tilted against Black people like her and people who are poor.

She grew up in Newark, New Jersey, whose failing schools and violent streets prompted her parents — an art teacher and a city bus driver — to move to East Stroudsburg when she was 12.

College was a stretch financially. She said she has tried twice for associate degrees, but has not finished either. She ended up with $5,000 in debt. At 31, she is still living with her mother.

Her father, who grew up in rural Georgia in the 1960s, keeps telling her things have gotten better. Government can be responsive, even if it is slow. Voting matters.

She sees no evidence of progress. Minimum wage has been stuck for more than a decade and the problems of police violence against Black people, joblessness and incarceration only seem to get worse.

“We need to break up with the system,” she said. “This system wasn’t designed for us to win.”

Just 47% of African Americans under 30 voted in 2016, compared with nearly 70% of those over 65, a pattern of youth disenchantment common to Americans of all races and ethnicities

Many interviewed in Monroe County said they felt their vote did not matter, pointing to the contested 2000 presidential election and to Trump losing the popular vote. Some said they thought powerful insiders were the ones who really decided.

“We love you and we wish you good luck,” said Fannie Sanchez, 44, a New York-born daughter of Columbian immigrants, of voters. People who do not vote “already saw that there’s something being maneuvered back there. We just unplug ourselves.”

Sanchez is part of a demographic that also had low turnout in 2016: American-born Hispanics. She said in 2008 she swallowed her cynicism and cast the first vote in her life, for Obama.

“I had to just close my eyes and say, ‘If this is fake, I don’t care. I want to be part of this.’”

But she did not vote for him again. Politicians are noisy, but ultimately of no use.

“They rent space in my brain and they frustrate me, but in the end, they do what they want anyway,” she said.

The sheer toxicity of politics is also having an effect. Kyle Marsh, 23, an operations manager for a beer wholesaler, is not particularly political, but most around him are. His mother, a nurse, is furious at Trump. His friends are angry, too. On Instagram recently, one said, “imagine being dumb enough to vote for the worst person in history?” The post made him uncomfortable: He has a friend who likes Trump. But he kept quiet.

“Do you know how many friends I’d lose if I say something?” he said. Voting means being part of the outrage. That is why he will opt out.

Others see a reason to vote this time. Latoya Garrison, a single mother who works nights at a factory putting safety seals on cosmetics, did not vote in 2016. But the coronavirus changed her mind this time. Her tips waitressing at the Roasted Tomato dwindled to $30 a day, and this fall, a social services agency helped her pay rent.

“I’m looking for who is more into controlling this virus, so we can go back to normal,” she said. “I don’t care about anything else.”

The week before last, she voted by mail for Biden.

EAST STROUDSBURG, Pa. — Like nearly half of all the eligible voters in her county in 2016, Keyana Fedrick did not vote. Four years later, politics has permeated her corner of northeastern Pennsylvania.

EAST STROUDSBURG, Pa. — Like nearly half of all the eligible voters in her county in 2016, Keyana Fedrick did not vote. Four years later, politics has permeated her corner of northeastern Pennsylvania. Someone sawed a hole in a large Trump sign near one of her jobs. The election office in her county is so overwhelmed with demand that it took over the coroner’s office next door. Her parents, both Democrats born in the 1950s, keep telling her she should vote for Joe Biden. Anything is better than President Donald Trump, they say. But Fedrick, who works two jobs, at a hotel and at a department store, does not trust either of the two main political parties, because nothing in her 31 years of life has led her to believe that she could. She says they abandon voters like “a bad mom or dad who promises to come and see you, and I’m sitting outside with my bags packed and they never show up.” That is why Fedrick does not regret her decision in 2016 to skip the voting booth. In fact, she plans to repeat it again this year — something that she and a friend have started to hide from people they know. “We said we’re just going to lie, like ‘Oh yeah, I voted,” she said. “I don’t feel like getting crucified for what I think.” As the presidential campaign reaches its final week, early-voting turnout in a number of states has been higher than last time, mail-in ballot requests are surging and some are predicting the highest turnout in many decades. But if history is any indication, a significant portion of Americans will not participate, a signal of distrust and disillusionment with the political system that spans the partisan divide. Voting is fundamentally an act of hope. But since the 1960s, between a third and a half of eligible voters have stayed home during presidential elections, one of the lowest rates among America’s developed peers. Since the early 1900s, the high point for presidential turnout was in 1960, when 63.8% of eligible adults voted, according to the United States Elections Project that tracks voting data back to 1789. Most recently, the highest peak was in 2008, when 61.6% turned out. An analysis of Census Bureau survey data from the 2016 election shows a deep class divide: Americans who did not vote were more likely to be poor, less likely to have a college degree, and more likely to be a single parent than the people who voted. They were also less likely to be in the labor force. The data give a comprehensive look at who voted and who did not, and while no two elections are the same, it points to patterns for why some people are more likely to vote than others. Not voting has been a feature of the American political landscape for decades. But with razor slim margins in a number of swing states last time, nonvoters have taken on an outsize importance: Even a small victory in converting some of them may tip the scales. Consider Pennsylvania. More than 3.5 million eligible voters in the state did not cast ballots for president in the 2016 election, a number that dwarfed Trump’s slender margin of 44,292. Monroe County, the Pocono Mountain vacation spot where Fedrick lives, is a microcosm of the state. About 56,000 eligible adults stayed home, more than 100 times Hillary Clinton’s 532-vote margin of victory. In interviews in Monroe County this month, some of the people who did not vote in 2016 said they planned to vote this year. The stakes were too high to miss it, they said. “I never thought I’d be bothered with this crap, but now it really counts,” said Jack Breglia, 49, a retired tow truck driver in Kunkletown, Pennsylvania. He could not remember the last time he voted but said he planned to vote for Trump this time. But many others said they would not. They expressed a profound distrust of politics and doubted their vote would have an effect. They felt a sense of foreboding about the country and saw politics as one of the main forces doing the threatening. Many were not particularly partisan and said they shrank from people who were. “I try to avoid it because it gets angry and nasty,” said Susan Miller, 42, a waitress at Compton’s Pancake House in Stroudsburg, who said she had voted once in her life, for Barack Obama in 2008. One predictor of political engagement is growing up in a family that talked about politics. Miller did not. And she is so sick of the one person in her life who is loudly insisting that she vote — an aunt who supports Trump — that she has started simply pretending that she will. Like many people interviewed for this article, Miller was scrambling to pay rent and buy groceries. Monroe County’s unemployment rate stood at around 13% in August, as the pandemic bit into the county’s tourism industry. Her tips have fallen by half and she is now working for Instacart to make up the difference. Two close relatives have died of COVID-19. “Politics? It’s the least of my worries,” she said. She said she would vote again “if the right person came in.” But Biden is not that person, she said. Miller said she had not watched any of the debates or kept up with the candidates. “I’m just trying to make it through,” she said. In recent decades, richer, more educated people are far more likely to vote. In the 2016 analysis, about three quarters of those living in households earning at least $150,000 voted, compared with less than half of those in households earning less than $25,000. About 76% of college graduates voted, compared with 52% of people with just a high school degree. Marriage mattered, too: Just 45% of single women who had children and were eligible to vote cast ballots compared with 70% of married mothers. Jennifer Martin, 46, a single mother waiting in line in her car at the Pleasant Valley Ecumenical Network food pantry in Sciota, Pennsylvania, said last time she voted she was in her 20s. Politics, she said, has little relevance to her life. The two political parties seemed about the same. A recent study found that people like Martin who do not follow politics closely have different concerns from those who do. For example, they say that low hourly wages are among the most important problems facing the country. For hard partisans, who are more likely to vote, the issue barely registers. “I work at a day care where they pay their workers nothing,” she said. “That’s why I have to come to places like this to feed my family.” Might the election change things? “I’m not interested in it,” she said. Fedrick was one of those who stayed away in 2016, but not because she was not following the news. She has become increasingly angry at the American political system, which she believes is tilted against Black people like her and people who are poor. She grew up in Newark, New Jersey, whose failing schools and violent streets prompted her parents — an art teacher and a city bus driver — to move to East Stroudsburg when she was 12. College was a stretch financially. She said she has tried twice for associate degrees, but has not finished either. She ended up with $5,000 in debt. At 31, she is still living with her mother. Her father, who grew up in rural Georgia in the 1960s, keeps telling her things have gotten better. Government can be responsive, even if it is slow. Voting matters. She sees no evidence of progress. Minimum wage has been stuck for more than a decade and the problems of police violence against Black people, joblessness and incarceration only seem to get worse. “We need to break up with the system,” she said. “This system wasn’t designed for us to win.” Just 47% of African Americans under 30 voted in 2016, compared with nearly 70% of those over 65, a pattern of youth disenchantment common to Americans of all races and ethnicities Many interviewed in Monroe County said they felt their vote did not matter, pointing to the contested 2000 presidential election and to Trump losing the popular vote. Some said they thought powerful insiders were the ones who really decided. “We love you and we wish you good luck,” said Fannie Sanchez, 44, a New York-born daughter of Columbian immigrants, of voters. People who do not vote “already saw that there’s something being maneuvered back there. We just unplug ourselves.” Sanchez is part of a demographic that also had low turnout in 2016: American-born Hispanics. She said in 2008 she swallowed her cynicism and cast the first vote in her life, for Obama. “I had to just close my eyes and say, ‘If this is fake, I don’t care. I want to be part of this.’” But she did not vote for him again. Politicians are noisy, but ultimately of no use. “They rent space in my brain and they frustrate me, but in the end, they do what they want anyway,” she said. The sheer toxicity of politics is also having an effect. Kyle Marsh, 23, an operations manager for a beer wholesaler, is not particularly political, but most around him are. His mother, a nurse, is furious at Trump. His friends are angry, too. On Instagram recently, one said, “imagine being dumb enough to vote for the worst person in history?” The post made him uncomfortable: He has a friend who likes Trump. But he kept quiet. “Do you know how many friends I’d lose if I say something?” he said. Voting means being part of the outrage. That is why he will opt out. Others see a reason to vote this time. Latoya Garrison, a single mother who works nights at a factory putting safety seals on cosmetics, did not vote in 2016. But the coronavirus changed her mind this time. Her tips waitressing at the Roasted Tomato dwindled to $30 a day, and this fall, a social services agency helped her pay rent. “I’m looking for who is more into controlling this virus, so we can go back to normal,” she said. “I don’t care about anything else.” The week before last, she voted by mail for Biden.

They did not vote in 2016. Why they plan on skipping the election again

By early October, even people inside the White House believed President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign needed a desperate rescue mission. So three men allied with the president gathered at a house in McLean, Virginia, to launch one.

The host was Arthur Schwartz, a New York public relations man close to Trump’s eldest son, Donald Jr. The guests were a White House lawyer, Eric Herschmann, and a former deputy White House counsel, Stefan Passantino, according to two people familiar with the meeting.

Herschmann knew the subject matter they were there to discuss. He had represented Trump during the impeachment trial early this year, and he tried to deflect allegations against the president in part by pointing to Hunter Biden’s work in Ukraine. More recently, he has been working on the White House payroll with a hazy portfolio, listed as “a senior adviser to the president,” and remains close to Jared Kushner.

The three had pinned their hopes for reelecting the president on a fourth guest, a straight-shooting Wall Street Journal White House reporter named Michael Bender. They delivered the goods to him there: a cache of emails detailing Hunter Biden’s business activities, and, on speaker phone, a former business partner of Hunter Biden’s named Tony Bobulinski. Bobulinski was willing to go on the record in The Journal with an explosive claim: that Joe Biden, the former vice president, had been aware of, and profited from, his son’s activities. The Trump team left believing that The Journal would blow the thing open and their excitement was conveyed to the president.

The Journal had seemed to be the perfect outlet for a story the Trump advisers believed could sink Biden’s candidacy. Its small-c conservatism in reporting means the work of its news pages carries credibility across the industry. And its readership leans further right than other big news outlets. Its Washington bureau chief, Paul Beckett, recently remarked at a virtual gathering of Journal reporters and editors that while he knows that the paper often delivers unwelcome news to the many Trump supporters who read it, The Journal should protect its unique position of being trusted across the political spectrum, two people familiar with the remarks said.

As the Trump team waited with excited anticipation for a Journal exposé, the newspaper did its due diligence: Bender and Beckett handed the story off to a well-regarded China correspondent, James Areddy, and a Capitol Hill reporter who had followed the Hunter Biden story, Andrew Duehren. Areddy interviewed Bobulinski. They began drafting an article.

Then things got messy. Without warning his notional allies, Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor and now a lawyer for Trump, burst onto the scene with the tabloid version of the McLean crew’s carefully laid plot. Giuliani delivered a cache of documents of questionable provenance — but containing some of the same emails — to The New York Post, a sister publication to The Journal in Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. Giuliani had been working with the former Trump aide Steve Bannon, who also began leaking some of the emails to favored right-wing outlets. Giuliani’s complicated claim that the emails came from a laptop Hunter Biden had abandoned, and his refusal to let some reporters examine the laptop, cast a pall over the story — as did The Post’s reporting, which alleged but could not prove that Joe Biden had been involved in his son’s activities.

While the Trump team was clearly jumpy, editors in The Journal’s Washington bureau were wrestling with a central question: Could the documents, or Bobulinski, prove that Joe Biden was involved in his son’s lobbying? Or was this yet another story of the younger Biden trading on his family’s name — a perfectly good theme, but not a new one or one that needed urgently to be revealed before the election.

Trump and his allies expected the Journal story to appear Monday, Oct. 19, according to Bannon. That would be late in the campaign, but not too late — and could shape that week’s news cycle heading into the crucial final debate last Thursday. An “important piece” in The Journal would be coming soon, Trump told aides on a conference call that day.

His comment was not appreciated inside The Journal.

“The editors didn’t like Trump’s insinuation that we were being teed up to do this hit job,” a Journal reporter who wasn’t directly involved in the story told me. But the reporters continued to work on the draft as the Thursday debate approached, indifferent to the White House’s frantic timeline.

Finally, Bobulinski got tired of waiting.

“He got spooked about whether they were going to do it or not,” Bannon said.

At 7:35 Wednesday evening, Bobulinski emailed an on-the-record, 684-word statement making his case to a range of news outlets. Breitbart News published it in full. He appeared the next day in Nashville, Tennessee, to attend the debate as Trump’s surprise guest, and less than two hours before the debate was to begin, he read a six-minute statement to the press, detailing his allegations that the former vice president had involvement in his son’s business dealings.

When Trump stepped on stage, the president acted as though the details of the emails and the allegations were common knowledge. “You’re the big man, I think. I don’t know, maybe you’re not,” he told Biden at some point, a reference to an ambiguous sentence from the documents.

As the debate ended, The Wall Street Journal published a brief item, just the stub of Areddy and Duehren’s reporting. The core of it was that Bobulinski had failed to prove the central claim. “Corporate records reviewed by The Wall Street Journal show no role for Joe Biden,” The Journal reported.

Asked about The Journal’s handling of the story, the editor-in-chief, Matt Murray, said the paper did not discuss its newsgathering. “Our rigorous and trusted journalism speaks for itself,” Murray said in an emailed statement.

And if you’d been watching the debate, but hadn’t been obsessively watching Fox News or reading Breitbart, you would have had no idea what Trump was talking about. The story the Trump team hoped would upend the campaign was fading fast.

The Gatekeepers Return

The McLean group's failed attempt to sway the election is partly just another story revealing the chaotic, threadbare quality of the Trump operation — a far cry from the coordinated “disinformation” machinery feared by liberals.

But it’s also about a larger shift in the American media, one in which the gatekeepers appear to have returned after a long absence.

It has been a disorienting couple of decades, after all. It all began when The Drudge Report, Gawker and the blogs started telling you what stodgy old newspapers and television networks wouldn’t. Then social media brought floods of content pouring over the old barricades.

By 2015, the old gatekeepers had entered a kind of crisis of confidence, believing they couldn’t control the online news cycle any better than King Canute could control the tides. Television networks all but let Donald Trump take over as executive producer that summer and fall. In October 2016, Julian Assange and James Comey seemed to drive the news cycle more than the major news organizations. Many figures in old media and new bought into the idea that in the new world, readers would find the information they wanted to read — and therefore, decisions by editors and producers, about whether to cover something and how much attention to give it, didn’t mean much.

But the past two weeks have proved the opposite: that the old gatekeepers, like The Journal, can still control the agenda. It turns out there is a big difference between WikiLeaks and establishment media coverage of WikiLeaks, a difference between a Trump tweet and an article about it, even between an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal suggesting Joe Biden had done bad things, and a news article that didn’t reach that conclusion.

Perhaps the most influential media document of the past four years is a chart by a co-director of the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard, Yochai Benkler. The study showed that a dense new right-wing media sphere had emerged — and that the mainstream news “revolved around the agenda that the right-wing media sphere set.”

Bannon had known this, too. He described his strategy as “anchor left, pivot right,” and even as he ran Breitbart News, he worked to place attacks on Hillary Clinton in mainstream outlets. The validating power of those outlets was clear when The New York Times and Washington Post were given early access in the spring of 2015 to the book “Clinton Cash,” an investigation of the Clinton family’s blurring of business, philanthropic and political interests by writer Peter Schweizer.

Schweizer is still around this cycle. But you won’t find his work in mainstream outlets. He’s over on Breitbart, with a couple of Hunter Biden stories this month.

And the fact that Bobulinski emerged not in the pages of the widely respected Journal but in a statement to Breitbart was essentially Bannon’s nightmare, and Benkler’s fondest wish. And a broad array of mainstream outlets, unpersuaded that Hunter Biden’s doings tie directly to the former vice president, have largely kept the story off their front pages, and confined to skeptical explanations of what Trump and his allies are claiming about his opponent.

“SO USA TODAY&nbsp;DIDN’T WANT TO RUN MY HUNTER BIDEN COLUMN THIS WEEK,” conservative writer Glenn Reynolds complained Oct. 20, posting the article instead to his blog. Trump himself hit a wall when he tried to push the Hunter Biden narrative onto CBS News.

“This is ‘60 Minutes,’ and we can’t put on things we can’t verify,” Lesley Stahl told him. Trump then did more or less the same thing as Reynolds, posting a video of his side of the interview to his own blog, Facebook.

The media’s control over information, of course, is not as total as it used to be. The people who own printing presses and broadcast towers can’t actually stop you from reading leaked emails or unproven theories about Joe Biden’s knowledge of his son’s business. But what Benkler’s research showed was that the elite outlets’ ability to set the agenda endured in spite of social media.

We should have known it, of course. Many of our readers, screaming about headlines on Twitter, did. And Trump knew it all along — one way to read his endless attacks on the establishment media is as an expression of obsession, a form of love. This week, you can hear howls of betrayal from people who have for years said the legacy media was both utterly biased and totally irrelevant.

“For years, we’ve respected and even revered the sanctified position of the free press,” wrote Dana Loesch, a right-wing commentator not particularly known for her reverence of legacy media, expressing frustration that the Biden story was not getting attention. “Now that free press points its digital pen at your throat when you question their preferences.”

On the Other Side of the Gate

There’s something amusing — even a bit flattering — in such earnest protestations from a right-wing movement rooted in efforts to discredit the independent media. And this reassertion of control over information is what you’ve seen many journalists call for in recent years. At its best, it can also close the political landscape to a trendy new form of dirty tricks, as in France in 2017, where the media largely ignored a last-minute dump of hacked emails from President Emmanuel Macron’s campaign just before a legally mandated blackout period.

But I admit that I feel deep ambivalence about this revenge of the gatekeepers. I spent my career, before arriving at The Times in March, on the other side of the gate, lobbing information past it to a very online audience who I presumed had already seen the leak or the rumor, and seeing my job as helping to guide that audience through the thicket, not to close their eyes to it. “The media’s new and unfamiliar job is to provide a framework for understanding the wild, unvetted, and incredibly intoxicating information that its audience will &lt;em&gt;inevitably&lt;/em&gt; see — not to ignore it,” my colleague John Herrman (also now at The Times) and I wrote in 2013. In 2017, I made the decision to publish the unverified “Steele dossier,” in part on the grounds that gatekeepers were looking at it and influenced by it, but keeping it from their audience.

This fall, top media and tech executives were bracing to refight the last war — a foreign-backed hack-and-leak operation like WikiLeaks seeking to influence the election’s outcome. It was that hyper-vigilance that led Twitter to block links to The New York Post’s article about Hunter Biden — a frighteningly disproportionate response to a story that other news organizations were handling with care. The schemes of Herschmann, Passantino and Schwartz weren’t exactly WikiLeaks. But the special nervousness that many outlets, including this one, feel about the provenance of the Hunter Biden emails is, in many ways, the legacy of the WikiLeaks experience.

I’d prefer to put my faith in Murray and careful, professional journalists like him than in the social platforms’ product managers and executives. And I hope Americans relieved that the gatekeepers are reasserting themselves will also pay attention to who gets that power, and how centralized it is, and root for new voices to correct and challenge them.

By early October, even people inside the White House believed President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign needed a desperate rescue mission. So three men allied with the president gathered at a house in McLean, Virginia, to launch one.

By early October, even people inside the White House believed President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign needed a desperate rescue mission. So three men allied with the president gathered at a house in McLean, Virginia, to launch one. The host was Arthur Schwartz, a New York public relations man close to Trump’s eldest son, Donald Jr. The guests were a White House lawyer, Eric Herschmann, and a former deputy White House counsel, Stefan Passantino, according to two people familiar with the meeting. Herschmann knew the subject matter they were there to discuss. He had represented Trump during the impeachment trial early this year, and he tried to deflect allegations against the president in part by pointing to Hunter Biden’s work in Ukraine. More recently, he has been working on the White House payroll with a hazy portfolio, listed as “a senior adviser to the president,” and remains close to Jared Kushner. The three had pinned their hopes for reelecting the president on a fourth guest, a straight-shooting Wall Street Journal White House reporter named Michael Bender. They delivered the goods to him there: a cache of emails detailing Hunter Biden’s business activities, and, on speaker phone, a former business partner of Hunter Biden’s named Tony Bobulinski. Bobulinski was willing to go on the record in The Journal with an explosive claim: that Joe Biden, the former vice president, had been aware of, and profited from, his son’s activities. The Trump team left believing that The Journal would blow the thing open and their excitement was conveyed to the president. The Journal had seemed to be the perfect outlet for a story the Trump advisers believed could sink Biden’s candidacy. Its small-c conservatism in reporting means the work of its news pages carries credibility across the industry. And its readership leans further right than other big news outlets. Its Washington bureau chief, Paul Beckett, recently remarked at a virtual gathering of Journal reporters and editors that while he knows that the paper often delivers unwelcome news to the many Trump supporters who read it, The Journal should protect its unique position of being trusted across the political spectrum, two people familiar with the remarks said. As the Trump team waited with excited anticipation for a Journal exposé, the newspaper did its due diligence: Bender and Beckett handed the story off to a well-regarded China correspondent, James Areddy, and a Capitol Hill reporter who had followed the Hunter Biden story, Andrew Duehren. Areddy interviewed Bobulinski. They began drafting an article. Then things got messy. Without warning his notional allies, Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor and now a lawyer for Trump, burst onto the scene with the tabloid version of the McLean crew’s carefully laid plot. Giuliani delivered a cache of documents of questionable provenance — but containing some of the same emails — to The New York Post, a sister publication to The Journal in Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. Giuliani had been working with the former Trump aide Steve Bannon, who also began leaking some of the emails to favored right-wing outlets. Giuliani’s complicated claim that the emails came from a laptop Hunter Biden had abandoned, and his refusal to let some reporters examine the laptop, cast a pall over the story — as did The Post’s reporting, which alleged but could not prove that Joe Biden had been involved in his son’s activities. While the Trump team was clearly jumpy, editors in The Journal’s Washington bureau were wrestling with a central question: Could the documents, or Bobulinski, prove that Joe Biden was involved in his son’s lobbying? Or was this yet another story of the younger Biden trading on his family’s name — a perfectly good theme, but not a new one or one that needed urgently to be revealed before the election. Trump and his allies expected the Journal story to appear Monday, Oct. 19, according to Bannon. That would be late in the campaign, but not too late — and could shape that week’s news cycle heading into the crucial final debate last Thursday. An “important piece” in The Journal would be coming soon, Trump told aides on a conference call that day. His comment was not appreciated inside The Journal. “The editors didn’t like Trump’s insinuation that we were being teed up to do this hit job,” a Journal reporter who wasn’t directly involved in the story told me. But the reporters continued to work on the draft as the Thursday debate approached, indifferent to the White House’s frantic timeline. Finally, Bobulinski got tired of waiting. “He got spooked about whether they were going to do it or not,” Bannon said. At 7:35 Wednesday evening, Bobulinski emailed an on-the-record, 684-word statement making his case to a range of news outlets. Breitbart News published it in full. He appeared the next day in Nashville, Tennessee, to attend the debate as Trump’s surprise guest, and less than two hours before the debate was to begin, he read a six-minute statement to the press, detailing his allegations that the former vice president had involvement in his son’s business dealings. When Trump stepped on stage, the president acted as though the details of the emails and the allegations were common knowledge. “You’re the big man, I think. I don’t know, maybe you’re not,” he told Biden at some point, a reference to an ambiguous sentence from the documents. As the debate ended, The Wall Street Journal published a brief item, just the stub of Areddy and Duehren’s reporting. The core of it was that Bobulinski had failed to prove the central claim. “Corporate records reviewed by The Wall Street Journal show no role for Joe Biden,” The Journal reported. Asked about The Journal’s handling of the story, the editor-in-chief, Matt Murray, said the paper did not discuss its newsgathering. “Our rigorous and trusted journalism speaks for itself,” Murray said in an emailed statement. And if you’d been watching the debate, but hadn’t been obsessively watching Fox News or reading Breitbart, you would have had no idea what Trump was talking about. The story the Trump team hoped would upend the campaign was fading fast. The Gatekeepers Return The McLean group's failed attempt to sway the election is partly just another story revealing the chaotic, threadbare quality of the Trump operation — a far cry from the coordinated “disinformation” machinery feared by liberals. But it’s also about a larger shift in the American media, one in which the gatekeepers appear to have returned after a long absence. It has been a disorienting couple of decades, after all. It all began when The Drudge Report, Gawker and the blogs started telling you what stodgy old newspapers and television networks wouldn’t. Then social media brought floods of content pouring over the old barricades. By 2015, the old gatekeepers had entered a kind of crisis of confidence, believing they couldn’t control the online news cycle any better than King Canute could control the tides. Television networks all but let Donald Trump take over as executive producer that summer and fall. In October 2016, Julian Assange and James Comey seemed to drive the news cycle more than the major news organizations. Many figures in old media and new bought into the idea that in the new world, readers would find the information they wanted to read — and therefore, decisions by editors and producers, about whether to cover something and how much attention to give it, didn’t mean much. But the past two weeks have proved the opposite: that the old gatekeepers, like The Journal, can still control the agenda. It turns out there is a big difference between WikiLeaks and establishment media coverage of WikiLeaks, a difference between a Trump tweet and an article about it, even between an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal suggesting Joe Biden had done bad things, and a news article that didn’t reach that conclusion. Perhaps the most influential media document of the past four years is a chart by a co-director of the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard, Yochai Benkler. The study showed that a dense new right-wing media sphere had emerged — and that the mainstream news “revolved around the agenda that the right-wing media sphere set.” Bannon had known this, too. He described his strategy as “anchor left, pivot right,” and even as he ran Breitbart News, he worked to place attacks on Hillary Clinton in mainstream outlets. The validating power of those outlets was clear when The New York Times and Washington Post were given early access in the spring of 2015 to the book “Clinton Cash,” an investigation of the Clinton family’s blurring of business, philanthropic and political interests by writer Peter Schweizer. Schweizer is still around this cycle. But you won’t find his work in mainstream outlets. He’s over on Breitbart, with a couple of Hunter Biden stories this month. And the fact that Bobulinski emerged not in the pages of the widely respected Journal but in a statement to Breitbart was essentially Bannon’s nightmare, and Benkler’s fondest wish. And a broad array of mainstream outlets, unpersuaded that Hunter Biden’s doings tie directly to the former vice president, have largely kept the story off their front pages, and confined to skeptical explanations of what Trump and his allies are claiming about his opponent. “SO USA TODAY DIDN’T WANT TO RUN MY HUNTER BIDEN COLUMN THIS WEEK,” conservative writer Glenn Reynolds complained Oct. 20, posting the article instead to his blog. Trump himself hit a wall when he tried to push the Hunter Biden narrative onto CBS News. “This is ‘60 Minutes,’ and we can’t put on things we can’t verify,” Lesley Stahl told him. Trump then did more or less the same thing as Reynolds, posting a video of his side of the interview to his own blog, Facebook. The media’s control over information, of course, is not as total as it used to be. The people who own printing presses and broadcast towers can’t actually stop you from reading leaked emails or unproven theories about Joe Biden’s knowledge of his son’s business. But what Benkler’s research showed was that the elite outlets’ ability to set the agenda endured in spite of social media. We should have known it, of course. Many of our readers, screaming about headlines on Twitter, did. And Trump knew it all along — one way to read his endless attacks on the establishment media is as an expression of obsession, a form of love. This week, you can hear howls of betrayal from people who have for years said the legacy media was both utterly biased and totally irrelevant. “For years, we’ve respected and even revered the sanctified position of the free press,” wrote Dana Loesch, a right-wing commentator not particularly known for her reverence of legacy media, expressing frustration that the Biden story was not getting attention. “Now that free press points its digital pen at your throat when you question their preferences.” On the Other Side of the Gate There’s something amusing — even a bit flattering — in such earnest protestations from a right-wing movement rooted in efforts to discredit the independent media. And this reassertion of control over information is what you’ve seen many journalists call for in recent years. At its best, it can also close the political landscape to a trendy new form of dirty tricks, as in France in 2017, where the media largely ignored a last-minute dump of hacked emails from President Emmanuel Macron’s campaign just before a legally mandated blackout period. But I admit that I feel deep ambivalence about this revenge of the gatekeepers. I spent my career, before arriving at The Times in March, on the other side of the gate, lobbing information past it to a very online audience who I presumed had already seen the leak or the rumor, and seeing my job as helping to guide that audience through the thicket, not to close their eyes to it. “The media’s new and unfamiliar job is to provide a framework for understanding the wild, unvetted, and incredibly intoxicating information that its audience will inevitably see — not to ignore it,” my colleague John Herrman (also now at The Times) and I wrote in 2013. In 2017, I made the decision to publish the unverified “Steele dossier,” in part on the grounds that gatekeepers were looking at it and influenced by it, but keeping it from their audience. This fall, top media and tech executives were bracing to refight the last war — a foreign-backed hack-and-leak operation like WikiLeaks seeking to influence the election’s outcome. It was that hyper-vigilance that led Twitter to block links to The New York Post’s article about Hunter Biden — a frighteningly disproportionate response to a story that other news organizations were handling with care. The schemes of Herschmann, Passantino and Schwartz weren’t exactly WikiLeaks. But the special nervousness that many outlets, including this one, feel about the provenance of the Hunter Biden emails is, in many ways, the legacy of the WikiLeaks experience. I’d prefer to put my faith in Murray and careful, professional journalists like him than in the social platforms’ product managers and executives. And I hope Americans relieved that the gatekeepers are reasserting themselves will also pay attention to who gets that power, and how centralized it is, and root for new voices to correct and challenge them.

Trump had one last story to sell. The Wall Street Journal wouldn’t buy it

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/us-election-2020-nine-days-before-election-day-us-exceeds-early-vote-total-for-all-of-2016-337906">US election 2020: Nine days before Election Day, US exceeds early vote total for all of 2016</a> 
 
<img src="https://cdn.wionews.com/sites/default/files/styles/story_page/public/2020/09/05/158271-us-voting.jpg?itok=9MQqM01g" />

According to a survey of election officials in all 50 states and Washington, this is higher than the 57 million who voted early or by mail in 2016.

 
<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/after-imran-khan-recep-erdogan-doubles-down-in-backlash-against-macrons-islam-comments-337912">After Imran Khan, Recep Erdogan doubles down in backlash against Macron's Islam comments</a> 
 
<img src="https://cdn.wionews.com/sites/default/files/styles/story_page/public/2020/09/17/160373-untitled-design-80.jpg?itok=OcIgxUID" /> 
 
The backlash against President Emmanuel Macron's comments on Islam intensified Sunday, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan again urging him to have "mental checks" and protests in Muslim-majority nations.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/historic-treaty-to-prohibit-nuclear-weapons-to-enter-into-force-337907">'Historic' treaty to prohibit nuclear weapons to enter into force</a> 
<img src="https://cdn.wionews.com/sites/default/files/styles/story_page/public/2020/09/02/157737-untitled-design-73.jpg?itok=eC-MHjS_" />

The "historic" international treaty banning nuclear weapons has passed an important threshold and is all set to enter into force after 90 days. 
&nbsp;

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US election 2020: Nine days before Election Day, US exceeds early vote total for all of 2016 According to a survey of election officials in all 50 states and Washington, this is higher than the 57 million who voted early or by mail in 2016.

US election 2020: Nine days before Election Day, US exceeds early vote total for all of 2016 According to a survey of election officials in all 50 states and Washington, this is higher than the 57 million who voted early or by mail in 2016. After Imran Khan, Recep Erdogan doubles down in backlash against Macron's Islam comments The backlash against President Emmanuel Macron's comments on Islam intensified Sunday, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan again urging him to have "mental checks" and protests in Muslim-majority nations. 'Historic' treaty to prohibit nuclear weapons to enter into force The "historic" international treaty banning nuclear weapons has passed an important threshold and is all set to enter into force after 90 days.

Morning news brief: US election, Macron's Islam comments and more

Exceeding the early vote total for all of 2016, more than 58.7 million Americans have voted so far. 
 
According to a survey of election officials in all 50 states and Washington, this is higher than the 57 million who voted early or by mail in 2016. 
 
<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/covid-hit-trump-team-slams-failure-biden-337891">Also read: Covid-hit Trump team slams 'failure' Biden</a> 
 
Millions of Americans wary of crowded polling booths during the coronavirus pandemic and energized by an election fight that both President Donald Trump and his Democratic rival Joe Biden have framed as existential are smashing records for casting ballots, whether by mail or in person. 
 
The tally by the independent US Election Project, run by the University of Florida, said that as of Sunday more than 59 million people had voted so far. 
 
So far, Democrats -- who have encouraged early voting -- have been leading the way, but whether that means Biden can breathe easy remains to be seen. 
 
Trump for months has been claiming, without evidence that mail-in ballots lead to fraud and many Republicans are expected to vote on Election Day. 
 
With coronavirus cases spiking across the country, however, Michael McDonald -- a political science professor at the University of Florida who administers the Election Project -- warned that the strategy "looks all the riskier." 
 
"What if at least some of his voters decide not to vote? What if a polling place becomes unavailable or an election office shuts down?" he tweeted. 
 
The Election Project has predicted that turnout this year could top 150 million in total. Some 137 million ballots were cast in the 2016 election. 
 
Some states key to the 2020 outcome were also firmly on the path to breaking records, such as Texas, where the Election Project said Sunday that 80 per cent of the early 2016 vote had already turned out. 
 
"Folks, Texas still has in-person early voting until Friday, plus Election Day. No doubt Texas turnout will be above 2016. Question is, how much?" McDonald tweeted.

(With inputs from agencies)

Exceeding the early vote total for all of 2016, more than 58.7 million Americans have voted so far. According to a survey of election officials in all 50 states and Washington, this is higher than the 57 million who voted early or by mail in 2016.

Exceeding the early vote total for all of 2016, more than 58.7 million Americans have voted so far. According to a survey of election officials in all 50 states and Washington, this is higher than the 57 million who voted early or by mail in 2016. Also read: Covid-hit Trump team slams 'failure' Biden Millions of Americans wary of crowded polling booths during the coronavirus pandemic and energized by an election fight that both President Donald Trump and his Democratic rival Joe Biden have framed as existential are smashing records for casting ballots, whether by mail or in person. The tally by the independent US Election Project, run by the University of Florida, said that as of Sunday more than 59 million people had voted so far. So far, Democrats -- who have encouraged early voting -- have been leading the way, but whether that means Biden can breathe easy remains to be seen. Trump for months has been claiming, without evidence that mail-in ballots lead to fraud and many Republicans are expected to vote on Election Day. With coronavirus cases spiking across the country, however, Michael McDonald -- a political science professor at the University of Florida who administers the Election Project -- warned that the strategy "looks all the riskier." "What if at least some of his voters decide not to vote? What if a polling place becomes unavailable or an election office shuts down?" he tweeted. The Election Project has predicted that turnout this year could top 150 million in total. Some 137 million ballots were cast in the 2016 election. Some states key to the 2020 outcome were also firmly on the path to breaking records, such as Texas, where the Election Project said Sunday that 80 per cent of the early 2016 vote had already turned out. "Folks, Texas still has in-person early voting until Friday, plus Election Day. No doubt Texas turnout will be above 2016. Question is, how much?" McDonald tweeted. (With inputs from agencies)

US election 2020: Nine days before Election Day, US exceeds early vote total for all of 2016

Over many decades, the United States has become an oligarchy, a government in which a small group exercises control especially for corrupt and selfish purposes.

The oligarchy is primarily composed of the Democrat Party, the media, academia, the permanent federal bureaucracy and the multinational interests that provide its financial support.

Republicans like Mitt Romney are also members of the oligarchy as well as the greedy political operatives, who profit from candidates like him.

Such Republicans falsely claim to be putting “country over party," but are actually putting oligarchy over democracy.

They do so because of their private dislike for Donald Trump or simply for their own power and profit, often both.

The “damage” Democrats and the anti-Trump Republicans claim he has done, has not been to the country, but to the power of the oligarchy and its growing attempts to control and exploit the American people for personal gain.

The oligarchy rejects democracy, preferring authoritarianism or, increasingly in the Democrat Party, the totalitarianism of Big Tech, Antifa and Black Lives Matter.

Like Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden is the candidate of the oligarchy.

In a September 6, 2016 article in The Hill entitled “Why Donald Trump appeals to ordinary Americans,” I wrote:

“This election is not simply a contest between the Democrat and Republican ideologies, but a battle between the entrenched power of the bipartisan political establishment versus the freedom and well-being of the American people.”

Compared to four years ago, the threat to individual freedom, the Constitution and the rule of law emanating from the oligarchy is both greater and imminent.

In 2016, I said:

“The federal government and the media are, as institutions, hopelessly corrupt and, although we have elections, we no longer have representative government.”

Yet, even the most cynical among us, could not have imagined that politically-motivated elements within the federal government would use its immense law enforcement power in a coordinated attack with the media to destroy the lives of innocent citizens and patriots like General Michael Flynn and organize what amounted to a coup d'état against a sitting President.

Like what I stated in 2016, most of the social chaos and extremism we are currently witnessing in our Democrat-run cities is the product of a well-funded and well-organized anti-American, radical, leftist agenda.

It is the direct consequence of educational and media political indoctrination coupled to the divisive rhetoric and destructive policies of the Democrat Party.

In the face of the present turmoil, many in the Republican Party have chosen to stand idly aside, unwilling to defend the rights, liberties and well-being of American citizens.

Those anti-Trump Republicans have chosen to no longer represent the Americans who had once been their constituency, but, instead, have adopted the identity of junior partners in a ruling class.

It is a fundamental principle of democracy that the efficiency and effectiveness of government are directly dependent upon the trustworthiness of government officials as representatives and executors of the views and desires of the people.

Americans now believe that we are not citizens of a republic, but subjects of an elected aristocracy, composed of a self-absorbed permanent political class, which serves the interests of international financiers at the expense of the American people.

The oligarchy maintains its authority by an ever-expanding and increasingly intrusive government and uses a compliant media to manipulate public opinion in order to sustain the illusion of democracy.

Three years before the start of the American Civil War, Abraham Lincoln said a government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free — that a house divided against itself cannot stand.

Likewise, a government separated from the people cannot stand.

There remains a winning coalition in America, one which Donald Trump represents, one inclusive of all Americans, and one for all those who believe in a simple proposition — honest, representative and effective government.

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL.)

Over many decades, the United States has become an oligarchy, a government in which a small group exercises control especially for corrupt and selfish purposes. The oligarchy is primarily composed of the Democrat Party, the media, academia, the permanent federal bureaucracy and the multinational interests that provide its financial support.

Over many decades, the United States has become an oligarchy, a government in which a small group exercises control especially for corrupt and selfish purposes. The oligarchy is primarily composed of the Democrat Party, the media, academia, the permanent federal bureaucracy and the multinational interests that provide its financial support. Republicans like Mitt Romney are also members of the oligarchy as well as the greedy political operatives, who profit from candidates like him. Such Republicans falsely claim to be putting “country over party," but are actually putting oligarchy over democracy. They do so because of their private dislike for Donald Trump or simply for their own power and profit, often both. The “damage” Democrats and the anti-Trump Republicans claim he has done, has not been to the country, but to the power of the oligarchy and its growing attempts to control and exploit the American people for personal gain. The oligarchy rejects democracy, preferring authoritarianism or, increasingly in the Democrat Party, the totalitarianism of Big Tech, Antifa and Black Lives Matter. Like Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden is the candidate of the oligarchy. In a September 6, 2016 article in The Hill entitled “Why Donald Trump appeals to ordinary Americans,” I wrote: “This election is not simply a contest between the Democrat and Republican ideologies, but a battle between the entrenched power of the bipartisan political establishment versus the freedom and well-being of the American people.” Compared to four years ago, the threat to individual freedom, the Constitution and the rule of law emanating from the oligarchy is both greater and imminent. In 2016, I said: “The federal government and the media are, as institutions, hopelessly corrupt and, although we have elections, we no longer have representative government.” Yet, even the most cynical among us, could not have imagined that politically-motivated elements within the federal government would use its immense law enforcement power in a coordinated attack with the media to destroy the lives of innocent citizens and patriots like General Michael Flynn and organize what amounted to a coup d'état against a sitting President. Like what I stated in 2016, most of the social chaos and extremism we are currently witnessing in our Democrat-run cities is the product of a well-funded and well-organized anti-American, radical, leftist agenda. It is the direct consequence of educational and media political indoctrination coupled to the divisive rhetoric and destructive policies of the Democrat Party. In the face of the present turmoil, many in the Republican Party have chosen to stand idly aside, unwilling to defend the rights, liberties and well-being of American citizens. Those anti-Trump Republicans have chosen to no longer represent the Americans who had once been their constituency, but, instead, have adopted the identity of junior partners in a ruling class. It is a fundamental principle of democracy that the efficiency and effectiveness of government are directly dependent upon the trustworthiness of government officials as representatives and executors of the views and desires of the people. Americans now believe that we are not citizens of a republic, but subjects of an elected aristocracy, composed of a self-absorbed permanent political class, which serves the interests of international financiers at the expense of the American people. The oligarchy maintains its authority by an ever-expanding and increasingly intrusive government and uses a compliant media to manipulate public opinion in order to sustain the illusion of democracy. Three years before the start of the American Civil War, Abraham Lincoln said a government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free — that a house divided against itself cannot stand. Likewise, a government separated from the people cannot stand. There remains a winning coalition in America, one which Donald Trump represents, one inclusive of all Americans, and one for all those who believe in a simple proposition — honest, representative and effective government. (Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL.)

Liberty is the key issue of the US 2020 election

Democratic nominee Joe Biden substantially leads his Republican opponent Donald Trump as the Arab world's preferred candidate in next month's US presidential candidate, an opinion poll indicated Sunday.

Out of 3,097 people polled across 18 Middle East and North African countries, around 39 percent favoured Biden while only 12 percent opted for Trump, according to the survey carried out by British pollster YouGov and commissioned by Saudi daily Arab News.

"When asked which candidate would be better for the Arab World if elected president, most believe that neither candidate (49 percent) would fulfil such a description, yet Biden is still considered a better option to Trump," the survey said.

The November 3 election, in which incumbent Trump is fighting to secure a second term in office, is being closely watched across the Arab world, where the United States plays a key role.

Trump is widely seen as the preferred candidate among a slew of Arab governments, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, for an array of reasons including his tough stance against their regional rival Iran.

In contrast to his predecessor Barack Obama, Trump also staunchly backed Arab rulers, including Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, in the face of serious allegations of human rights abuse.

But the poll reflects a different public opinion.

"If the Arab world were choosing the next president, Biden would win by a landslide," YouGov's chief Stephan Shakespeare told AFP.

"But that's partly because they don't know much about Biden -- only half say they have heard of them, while nearly everyone has heard of Trump."

Should Biden win, some 58 percent of Arabs said he "must distance himself from the Obama administration policies."

Biden served as vice president in the Obama administration.

Trump won some support in the poll for scrapping an Obama-era nuclear agreement with Tehran and imposing strict sanctions against the Iranian regime, but only 17 percent Arabs felt his stance would made the region safer.

The poll suggested Trump's 2017 decision to move the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem proved overwhelmingly unpopular, with 89 percent of Arabs opposing it.&nbsp;&nbsp;

The poll listed youth empowerment, the Arab-Israeli conflict and the global coronavirus pandemic among the top three concerns Arabs would like the next US president to focus on.

Democratic nominee Joe Biden substantially leads his Republican opponent Donald Trump as the Arab world's preferred candidate in next month's US presidential candidate, an opinion poll indicated Sunday.

Democratic nominee Joe Biden substantially leads his Republican opponent Donald Trump as the Arab world's preferred candidate in next month's US presidential candidate, an opinion poll indicated Sunday. Out of 3,097 people polled across 18 Middle East and North African countries, around 39 percent favoured Biden while only 12 percent opted for Trump, according to the survey carried out by British pollster YouGov and commissioned by Saudi daily Arab News. "When asked which candidate would be better for the Arab World if elected president, most believe that neither candidate (49 percent) would fulfil such a description, yet Biden is still considered a better option to Trump," the survey said. The November 3 election, in which incumbent Trump is fighting to secure a second term in office, is being closely watched across the Arab world, where the United States plays a key role. Trump is widely seen as the preferred candidate among a slew of Arab governments, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, for an array of reasons including his tough stance against their regional rival Iran. In contrast to his predecessor Barack Obama, Trump also staunchly backed Arab rulers, including Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, in the face of serious allegations of human rights abuse. But the poll reflects a different public opinion. "If the Arab world were choosing the next president, Biden would win by a landslide," YouGov's chief Stephan Shakespeare told AFP. "But that's partly because they don't know much about Biden -- only half say they have heard of them, while nearly everyone has heard of Trump." Should Biden win, some 58 percent of Arabs said he "must distance himself from the Obama administration policies." Biden served as vice president in the Obama administration. Trump won some support in the poll for scrapping an Obama-era nuclear agreement with Tehran and imposing strict sanctions against the Iranian regime, but only 17 percent Arabs felt his stance would made the region safer. The poll suggested Trump's 2017 decision to move the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem proved overwhelmingly unpopular, with 89 percent of Arabs opposing it. The poll listed youth empowerment, the Arab-Israeli conflict and the global coronavirus pandemic among the top three concerns Arabs would like the next US president to focus on.

Arabs favour Biden over Trump in US election, poll says

Donald Trump's re-election campaign on Sunday focussed on the US president's Democratic rival Joe Biden's intermittent rallies and accused him of "47 years of failure".

Trump has maintained a furious pace of campaigning for days -- including stops Sunday in New Hampshire and Maine -- while Biden has set a more cautious course, speaking less frequently and to smaller, socially distanced groups.

The stark contrast can be attributed to how the United States has been engulfed by a surge in Covid-19 cases nine days before the November 3 vote.

Even the list of the administration staff to have caught the virus burgeoned to include Vice President Mike Pence's chief of staff, Marc Short, as well as a number of other aides.

In an interview with Fox News, Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh slammed Biden for his light campaign schedule. He said the Democratic challenger was "feeling the heat" and "took five out of six days off" before the last presidential debate on Thursday.

"President Trump has accomplished more in 47 months than Joe Biden has in 47 years of failure," Murtaugh added.

Biden planned on Sunday only to participate in a virtual "I will vote" concert. His deputy campaign manager defended him for this, telling NBC's "Meet the Press," that "we are campaigning incredibly hard."

"The difference between what we're doing and what Donald Trump is doing is that we're doing it safely," Kate Bedingfield said.

On Saturday, Biden and former president Barack Obama accused Trump of massively mishandling the pandemic.

"Donald Trump isn't suddenly going to protect all of us. He can't even take the basic steps to protect himself," Obama said, referring to Trump's hospitalisation for Covid-19 three weeks ago.

But the president has projected confidence despite trailing in national polls.

Trump told supporters in North Carolina, "This election is a choice between a Trump super-recovery and a Biden depression."

Trump held three campaign rallies on Saturday even as he complained that the media was fixated on the problem.

Biden, in response, said, "Trump himself should be more fixated on the problem."

"We're not learning how to live with it. You're asking us to learn how to die with it," he added.

Ahead of the presidential election, both campaigns are scrambling to make their closing arguments and win over the few still undecided voters.&nbsp;

Biden has maintained a stable lead of around 10 points in national polls, and narrower leads in battleground states like Florida that typically decide the winner of US presidential elections.

By far, more than 57 million Americans have cast early votes.

Nearly 225,000 people in the US have died from Covid-19 -- the world's highest toll.

Donald Trump's re-election campaign on Sunday focussed on the US president's Democratic rival Joe Biden's intermittent rallies and accused him of "47 years of failure".

Donald Trump's re-election campaign on Sunday focussed on the US president's Democratic rival Joe Biden's intermittent rallies and accused him of "47 years of failure". Trump has maintained a furious pace of campaigning for days -- including stops Sunday in New Hampshire and Maine -- while Biden has set a more cautious course, speaking less frequently and to smaller, socially distanced groups. The stark contrast can be attributed to how the United States has been engulfed by a surge in Covid-19 cases nine days before the November 3 vote. Even the list of the administration staff to have caught the virus burgeoned to include Vice President Mike Pence's chief of staff, Marc Short, as well as a number of other aides. In an interview with Fox News, Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh slammed Biden for his light campaign schedule. He said the Democratic challenger was "feeling the heat" and "took five out of six days off" before the last presidential debate on Thursday. "President Trump has accomplished more in 47 months than Joe Biden has in 47 years of failure," Murtaugh added. Biden planned on Sunday only to participate in a virtual "I will vote" concert. His deputy campaign manager defended him for this, telling NBC's "Meet the Press," that "we are campaigning incredibly hard." "The difference between what we're doing and what Donald Trump is doing is that we're doing it safely," Kate Bedingfield said. On Saturday, Biden and former president Barack Obama accused Trump of massively mishandling the pandemic. "Donald Trump isn't suddenly going to protect all of us. He can't even take the basic steps to protect himself," Obama said, referring to Trump's hospitalisation for Covid-19 three weeks ago. But the president has projected confidence despite trailing in national polls. Trump told supporters in North Carolina, "This election is a choice between a Trump super-recovery and a Biden depression." Trump held three campaign rallies on Saturday even as he complained that the media was fixated on the problem. Biden, in response, said, "Trump himself should be more fixated on the problem." "We're not learning how to live with it. You're asking us to learn how to die with it," he added. Ahead of the presidential election, both campaigns are scrambling to make their closing arguments and win over the few still undecided voters. Biden has maintained a stable lead of around 10 points in national polls, and narrower leads in battleground states like Florida that typically decide the winner of US presidential elections. By far, more than 57 million Americans have cast early votes. Nearly 225,000 people in the US have died from Covid-19 -- the world's highest toll.

Covid-hit Trump team slams 'failure' Biden

The US Senate plans to move closer toward a final confirmation vote on President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee, Amy Coney Barrett, on Monday, just over a week before Election Day.

Barrett looks almost certain to take up a lifetime appointment on the bench over universal Democratic opposition -- with Republicans controlling the chamber 53-47 and no indication of an internal revolt.

With Barrett on board, the Supreme Court would have a solid 6-3 conservative majority that could last for years.

Notably, no nominee to the Supreme Court has ever been confirmed by the Senate this close to a presidential election.

Trump has said he believes the Supreme Court will decide the election's outcome and has made clear he wants Barrett on the bench for any election-related cases.

Barrett is also likely to participate in the November 10 oral arguments in which Trump and fellow Republicans are asking the court to strike down the Affordable Care Act, the health reform law known as Obamacare.

Barrett, nominated on September 26 to succeed liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, has criticised previous rulings upholding Obamacare but said during her confirmation hearing she has no agenda to invalidate the measure.

More than 50 million ballots have already been cast ahead of Election Day on November 3.

The US Senate plans to move closer toward a final confirmation vote on President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee, Amy Coney Barrett, on Monday, just over a week before Election Day.

The US Senate plans to move closer toward a final confirmation vote on President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee, Amy Coney Barrett, on Monday, just over a week before Election Day. Barrett looks almost certain to take up a lifetime appointment on the bench over universal Democratic opposition -- with Republicans controlling the chamber 53-47 and no indication of an internal revolt. With Barrett on board, the Supreme Court would have a solid 6-3 conservative majority that could last for years. Notably, no nominee to the Supreme Court has ever been confirmed by the Senate this close to a presidential election. Trump has said he believes the Supreme Court will decide the election's outcome and has made clear he wants Barrett on the bench for any election-related cases. Barrett is also likely to participate in the November 10 oral arguments in which Trump and fellow Republicans are asking the court to strike down the Affordable Care Act, the health reform law known as Obamacare. Barrett, nominated on September 26 to succeed liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, has criticised previous rulings upholding Obamacare but said during her confirmation hearing she has no agenda to invalidate the measure. More than 50 million ballots have already been cast ahead of Election Day on November 3.

With no indication of revolt, Barrett Supreme Court confirmation edges closer

As the 2020 presidential election enters its final week, a majority of Americans appear ready to accept the result of an exhausting campaign even if their preferred candidate loses, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found.

Its latest survey, conducted from Oct. 13-20, shows that 79% of all Americans, including 59% of those who want to re-elect President Donald Trump, will accept a win by Democratic challenger Joe Biden even if they may not support a Biden presidency.

Among those Trump supporters who said they would not accept a Biden victory, 16% said they would do something to challenge a Democratic win such as protesting in public or resorting to violence.

The poll also found that 73% of Americans, including 57% of Biden supporters, would similarly accept a Trump victory.

Among those who said they would not accept a Trump win, 22% said they would take action to challenge the result. 
U.S. election officials are dealing with a series of challenges this year that have raised concerns about the public`s confidence in the result.

Top national security officials warned last week that Russia and Iran have been hacking into U.S. voting systems and looking for ways to undermine the election.

Trump also has repeatedly questioned the integrity of U.S. elections, arguing that the process is "rigged" against him and repeatedly asserting without evidence that the surge in mail-in voting this year will increase the likelihood of voter fraud. He has refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power if the vote count indicates he has lost.

So far, at least, a majority of the U.S. public appears ready to accept the result.

Donald Green, a political scientist at Columbia University, said the poll results ease his concerns about post-election violence. But he warned that if the election is close, or one candidate can make a credible accusation of voter fraud, it could spark wider discontent and protests than the poll suggests.

"This is why many people who oppose Trump are holding their breath and hoping for a lopsided outcome that is not up for grabs," Green said.

The latest Reuters/Ipsos poll shows Biden leads Trump by 8 percentage points nationally: 51% of likely voters say they are backing the Democratic challenger while 43% are voting for the president.

Biden also is ahead in Wisconsin and Michigan, but the race appears to be much closer in other battleground states including Pennsylvania, Florida, Arizona and North Carolina.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted online, in English, throughout the United States. It gathered responses from 2,649 American adults, including 1,039 who said they had voted for Trump or were planning to vote for him, and 1,153 who said they were similarly backing Biden.

The poll has a credibility interval, a measure of precision, of 4 percentage points.

As the 2020 presidential election enters its final week, a majority of Americans appear ready to accept the result of an exhausting campaign even if their preferred candidate loses, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found.

As the 2020 presidential election enters its final week, a majority of Americans appear ready to accept the result of an exhausting campaign even if their preferred candidate loses, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found. Its latest survey, conducted from Oct. 13-20, shows that 79% of all Americans, including 59% of those who want to re-elect President Donald Trump, will accept a win by Democratic challenger Joe Biden even if they may not support a Biden presidency. Among those Trump supporters who said they would not accept a Biden victory, 16% said they would do something to challenge a Democratic win such as protesting in public or resorting to violence. The poll also found that 73% of Americans, including 57% of Biden supporters, would similarly accept a Trump victory. Among those who said they would not accept a Trump win, 22% said they would take action to challenge the result. U.S. election officials are dealing with a series of challenges this year that have raised concerns about the public`s confidence in the result. Top national security officials warned last week that Russia and Iran have been hacking into U.S. voting systems and looking for ways to undermine the election. Trump also has repeatedly questioned the integrity of U.S. elections, arguing that the process is "rigged" against him and repeatedly asserting without evidence that the surge in mail-in voting this year will increase the likelihood of voter fraud. He has refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power if the vote count indicates he has lost. So far, at least, a majority of the U.S. public appears ready to accept the result. Donald Green, a political scientist at Columbia University, said the poll results ease his concerns about post-election violence. But he warned that if the election is close, or one candidate can make a credible accusation of voter fraud, it could spark wider discontent and protests than the poll suggests. "This is why many people who oppose Trump are holding their breath and hoping for a lopsided outcome that is not up for grabs," Green said. The latest Reuters/Ipsos poll shows Biden leads Trump by 8 percentage points nationally: 51% of likely voters say they are backing the Democratic challenger while 43% are voting for the president. Biden also is ahead in Wisconsin and Michigan, but the race appears to be much closer in other battleground states including Pennsylvania, Florida, Arizona and North Carolina. The Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted online, in English, throughout the United States. It gathered responses from 2,649 American adults, including 1,039 who said they had voted for Trump or were planning to vote for him, and 1,153 who said they were similarly backing Biden. The poll has a credibility interval, a measure of precision, of 4 percentage points.

Majority will accept result of US election, even if they dislike the winner: Reuters poll

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/us-election-2020-trump-biden-press-on-in-the-final-leg-of-campaigning-337583">US Election 2020: Trump, Biden press on in the final leg of campaigning</a> 
 
<img src="https://cdn.wionews.com/sites/default/files/styles/story_page/public/2020/10/24/166445-biden-trump.jpg?itok=emVbm3Au" />

Donald Trump and Joe Biden both hit the campaign trail soon after the presidential debate. Donald Trump held rallies in Florida while Joe Biden gave a speech in Delaware.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/more-than-half-a-million-people-in-the-us-may-die-of-coronavirus-by-february-study-337577">More than half a million people in the US may die of coronavirus by February: Study&nbsp;</a> 
 
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The United States of America (USA) is facing a continued COVID-19 public health challenge through the winter and half million Americans could die from COVID-19 by the end of February next year, according to a study by University of Washington.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/south-asia/pak-to-remain-in-grey-list-of-fatf-till-feb-2021-337494">Pak to remain in 'grey' list of FATF till Feb 2021</a> 
 
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Pakistan will remain in FATF's 'grey' list till February 2021 as it has failed to fulfil six key obligations of the global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog. 
&nbsp;

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US Election 2020: Trump, Biden press on in the final leg of campaigning Donald Trump and Joe Biden both hit the campaign trail soon after the presidential debate.

US Election 2020: Trump, Biden press on in the final leg of campaigning Donald Trump and Joe Biden both hit the campaign trail soon after the presidential debate. Donald Trump held rallies in Florida while Joe Biden gave a speech in Delaware. More than half a million people in the US may die of coronavirus by February: Study The United States of America (USA) is facing a continued COVID-19 public health challenge through the winter and half million Americans could die from COVID-19 by the end of February next year, according to a study by University of Washington. Pak to remain in 'grey' list of FATF till Feb 2021 Pakistan will remain in FATF's 'grey' list till February 2021 as it has failed to fulfil six key obligations of the global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog.

Morning news brief: US election, Coronavirus, Pakistan & more!

Donald Trump and Joe Biden both hit the campaign trail soon after the presidential debate. Donald Trump held rallies in Florida while Joe Biden gave a speech in Delaware. Both of them lashed out at each other with Trump downplaying the threat of coroanavirus pandemic and Joe Biden trying to corner him on the same issue questioning Trump's leadership.

Florida is an important state and has often decided who wins the presidency. Biden has a firm lead over Trump in the state. Trump held two rallies on Friday

Targeting the politically powerful seniors' vote in Florida, Trump began with a rally in the famous retirement community The Villages, where he told a large crowd that all Biden talks about is "Covid, Covid, Covid" to try and "scare people."

"We're going to quickly end this pandemic, this horrible plague," he said, underlining his consistent message that the virus is on a rapid decline, when in fact case numbers are spiralling upward again, with more than 220,000 Americans already dead.

Referring to Biden's warning of a "dark winter" ahead, Trump countered: "We're not entering a dark winter. We're entering the final turn and approaching the light at the end of the tunnel."

He then pivoted to his own scare tactics, claiming that Biden would let in hordes of illegal immigrants that he said were comprised of "criminals and rapists and even murderers."

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&nbsp;

"Joe Biden cares more about illegal aliens than he does about senior citizens," he said.

Trump finished his day with a rally in Pensacola, Florida, where he told the cheering crowd that "11 days from now, we're going to win my home state of Florida."

Also Read | <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/us-election-2020-social-media-labels-presidential-debate-moderator-kristen-welker-as-clear-winner-337469">US election 2020: Social media labels presidential debate moderator Kristen Welker as 'clear winner'</a>

While he is a lifelong New Yorker, Trump changed his residency to Florida during his White House tenure and on Saturday he was to cast his own ballot in West Palm Beach.

The rest of the weekend will see Trump, 74, maintaining the frenetic pace with rallies in North Carolina and Ohio on Saturday, then New Hampshire on Sunday, before a spate of more rallies next week.

Trump said that by November 3 he'll be doing "five or six a day."

'President still doesn't have a plan'

Joe Biden, who remained relatively low-key on the campaign tral till now is ramping up his presence before the voters.

In his home state of Delaware, he gave a speech about economic recovery from the pandemic, slamming Trump's record and vowing -- as Trump has -- that he would provide a safe coronavirus vaccine to all who want it.

"We saw him refuse to take responsibility for a crisis that should have been met with real, presidential leadership," Biden said. "We saw him diminish the pain felt by so many Americans."

Also Read | <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/us-election-2020-joe-biden-pledges-free-covid-vaccine-for-everyone-in-the-us-if-elected-337576">US election 2020: Joe Biden pledges free Covid vaccine for ‘everyone’ in the US if elected</a>

"We are more than eight months into the crisis and the president still doesn't have a plan," Biden claimed.&nbsp; 
"He's given up. He quit on you, on your family, on America. He just wants us to grow numb and resigned to the horrors."

On Saturday, Biden will travel to Pennsylvania, which like Florida is in the top tier of battleground states deciding national elections.

Barack Obama, whom Biden served as vice president, will lend his Democratic star power to the campaign on Saturday with a rally in Miami.

Pivot too late?

Trump's campaign has been turned upside down by the coronavirus crisis, which a majority of voters say he has failed to handle well.

In addition to the national disaster, Trump's reelection bid has been hampered throughout by his own erratic and often bad tempered behavior.

At Thursday's final televised debate in Nashville, the president pivoted to the more cheerful, even-keeled leader that aides have long been hoping Americans will see.

Perhaps most startling was the relative civility of the debate compared to the disastrous first showdown last month when Trump continuously shouted Biden down.

This time, Trump called his Democratic opponent "Joe" and even lauded moderator Kristen Welker of NBC News, who had a mute button to keep order.

"I thought I did great," Trump said Friday. "It's two different styles. I can do different styles."

But whether this shift from the usually bruising diet of insults, grievances and conspiracy theories will be enough at this stage -- or whether it will even last the weekend -- is an open question.

Despite the sunnier image, Trump's team had gone into Thursday's debate hoping to damage Biden with a murky and dubiously sourced allegation that he profited from foreign business deals conducted by his son while he was serving in the White House.

The attack largely fizzled, however, when Biden not only parried the accusations but noted that serious questions were mounting around Trump himself, including his holding of a bank account in China and failing to publish his US tax returns.

(With AFP inputs)

Donald Trump and Joe Biden both hit the campaign trail soon after the presidential debate. Donald Trump held rallies in Florida while Joe Biden gave a speech in Delaware.

Donald Trump and Joe Biden both hit the campaign trail soon after the presidential debate. Donald Trump held rallies in Florida while Joe Biden gave a speech in Delaware. Both of them lashed out at each other with Trump downplaying the threat of coroanavirus pandemic and Joe Biden trying to corner him on the same issue questioning Trump's leadership. Florida is an important state and has often decided who wins the presidency. Biden has a firm lead over Trump in the state. Trump held two rallies on Friday Targeting the politically powerful seniors' vote in Florida, Trump began with a rally in the famous retirement community The Villages, where he told a large crowd that all Biden talks about is "Covid, Covid, Covid" to try and "scare people." "We're going to quickly end this pandemic, this horrible plague," he said, underlining his consistent message that the virus is on a rapid decline, when in fact case numbers are spiralling upward again, with more than 220,000 Americans already dead. Referring to Biden's warning of a "dark winter" ahead, Trump countered: "We're not entering a dark winter. We're entering the final turn and approaching the light at the end of the tunnel." He then pivoted to his own scare tactics, claiming that Biden would let in hordes of illegal immigrants that he said were comprised of "criminals and rapists and even murderers." × "Joe Biden cares more about illegal aliens than he does about senior citizens," he said. Trump finished his day with a rally in Pensacola, Florida, where he told the cheering crowd that "11 days from now, we're going to win my home state of Florida." Also Read | US election 2020: Social media labels presidential debate moderator Kristen Welker as 'clear winner' While he is a lifelong New Yorker, Trump changed his residency to Florida during his White House tenure and on Saturday he was to cast his own ballot in West Palm Beach. The rest of the weekend will see Trump, 74, maintaining the frenetic pace with rallies in North Carolina and Ohio on Saturday, then New Hampshire on Sunday, before a spate of more rallies next week. Trump said that by November 3 he'll be doing "five or six a day." 'President still doesn't have a plan' Joe Biden, who remained relatively low-key on the campaign tral till now is ramping up his presence before the voters. In his home state of Delaware, he gave a speech about economic recovery from the pandemic, slamming Trump's record and vowing -- as Trump has -- that he would provide a safe coronavirus vaccine to all who want it. "We saw him refuse to take responsibility for a crisis that should have been met with real, presidential leadership," Biden said. "We saw him diminish the pain felt by so many Americans." Also Read | US election 2020: Joe Biden pledges free Covid vaccine for ‘everyone’ in the US if elected "We are more than eight months into the crisis and the president still doesn't have a plan," Biden claimed. "He's given up. He quit on you, on your family, on America. He just wants us to grow numb and resigned to the horrors." On Saturday, Biden will travel to Pennsylvania, which like Florida is in the top tier of battleground states deciding national elections. Barack Obama, whom Biden served as vice president, will lend his Democratic star power to the campaign on Saturday with a rally in Miami. Pivot too late? Trump's campaign has been turned upside down by the coronavirus crisis, which a majority of voters say he has failed to handle well. In addition to the national disaster, Trump's reelection bid has been hampered throughout by his own erratic and often bad tempered behavior. At Thursday's final televised debate in Nashville, the president pivoted to the more cheerful, even-keeled leader that aides have long been hoping Americans will see. Perhaps most startling was the relative civility of the debate compared to the disastrous first showdown last month when Trump continuously shouted Biden down. This time, Trump called his Democratic opponent "Joe" and even lauded moderator Kristen Welker of NBC News, who had a mute button to keep order. "I thought I did great," Trump said Friday. "It's two different styles. I can do different styles." But whether this shift from the usually bruising diet of insults, grievances and conspiracy theories will be enough at this stage -- or whether it will even last the weekend -- is an open question. Despite the sunnier image, Trump's team had gone into Thursday's debate hoping to damage Biden with a murky and dubiously sourced allegation that he profited from foreign business deals conducted by his son while he was serving in the White House. The attack largely fizzled, however, when Biden not only parried the accusations but noted that serious questions were mounting around Trump himself, including his holding of a bank account in China and failing to publish his US tax returns. (With AFP inputs)

US Election 2020: Trump, Biden press on in the final leg of campaigning

United States President Donald Trump cast an early ballot Saturday in the US election before hitting another campaign trial ahead of the November 3 vote.

"I voted for a guy named Trump," he said with a smile as he emerged.

Trump shifted his permanent residence and voter registration from New York to Florida last year.

Trump, who is trailing Democrat Joe Biden in the polls, voted at a library serving as a polling center in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Nearly 55 million Americans have now cast early votes as the coronavirus has made in-person voting more problematic.

"It was a very secure vote. Much more secure than when you send in a ballot, I can tell you that," said Trump, who insists without giving evidence that mail-in voting leads to fraud.

"Everything was perfect, very strict, right by the rules. When you send in your ballot, it could never be secure like that," he said.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/trump-to-vote-in-person-in-florida-before-hitting-campaign-trail-337640">Also read |&nbsp;Trump to vote in person in Florida before hitting campaign trail</a>

While voting, he wore a mask, which is rare for the president, who has played down the pandemic.

Trump is waging a frenetic last-ditch drive to catch up with Biden in the final days of the race, with rallies planned Saturday in North Carolina, Ohio and Wisconsin, all of them battleground states.

United States President Donald Trump cast an early ballot Saturday in the US election before hitting another campaign trial ahead of the November 3 vote. "I voted for a guy named Trump," he said with a smile as he emerged.

United States President Donald Trump cast an early ballot Saturday in the US election before hitting another campaign trial ahead of the November 3 vote. "I voted for a guy named Trump," he said with a smile as he emerged. Trump shifted his permanent residence and voter registration from New York to Florida last year. Trump, who is trailing Democrat Joe Biden in the polls, voted at a library serving as a polling center in West Palm Beach, Florida. Nearly 55 million Americans have now cast early votes as the coronavirus has made in-person voting more problematic. "It was a very secure vote. Much more secure than when you send in a ballot, I can tell you that," said Trump, who insists without giving evidence that mail-in voting leads to fraud. "Everything was perfect, very strict, right by the rules. When you send in your ballot, it could never be secure like that," he said. Also read | Trump to vote in person in Florida before hitting campaign trail While voting, he wore a mask, which is rare for the president, who has played down the pandemic. Trump is waging a frenetic last-ditch drive to catch up with Biden in the final days of the race, with rallies planned Saturday in North Carolina, Ohio and Wisconsin, all of them battleground states.

US president casts early ballot in Florida, says he voted for 'a guy named Trump'

LAWRENCEBURG, Ind. — For 20 years, off and on, I’ve lived in this small, blue-collar town about 30 minutes west of Cincinnati. My grandparents, immigrants from Germany, bought my old farmhouse, on 15 acres, during World War II. I’ve always felt that this town embodies much of what I love about the Midwest: friendliness, a lack of pretension and a prevailing sense of decency among neighbors.

A few weeks ago, I met up with a good friend, an 84-year-old retiree named Frank, who lives nearby. He told me that he’d put up a “Biden-Harris” lawn sign, and within 36 hours it had been stolen. In response, his girlfriend taped another sign to the inside of their ranch home’s front window. Frank immediately took it down. “The chair I like to sit in is right there,” he explained. “The next time they come, I’m afraid it might be a brick, or a bullet.” Just a few years ago, I would have said that Frank was overreacting. Now I’m not so sure.

Over the past four years, my hometown has become radicalized. This is a loaded word, but it’s the only way to describe it.

As recently as 2008, I saw Bill Clinton speak at our community center, where the crowd was so large that people had to listen to him from loudspeakers in a nearby firehouse. The mood was electric. “People are broke at the end of every month,” he said. “This has to change.” He promised that with Democratic leadership, it would. An aggressive new energy policy would bring jobs, with higher incomes.

And this promise was very welcome. At the time, the best job I could find was at a call center, selling home security systems. But I felt hopeful. I stuck an Obama sign in my yard and a campaign bumper sticker on my old Corolla. Like a lot of my neighbors, I believed that Democrats would, in fact, improve the town’s fortunes, and on election night, Barack Obama carried the state.

But things didn’t improve. Not really. The latest census reports median household income in Lawrenceburg as $30,735, with a little over 32 percent of us in poverty. And in 2014, according to The New York Times, our small county (which is over 97 percent white) sent more people to prison than San Francisco. In January, our hospital cited a “higher number of uninsured patients” as a reason it needed to “right-size” its work force by laying off 31 employees and eliminating behavioral health services.

And there are darker omens. Last fall, my teenage nephew came running into the house, wide-eyed, saying he’d found a human skull in the woods. I followed him until, panting at the bottom of a ravine, I saw the skull trapped in a thicket of sticks and leaves, missing several of its front teeth. The police arrived, and for the rest of the night, I watched from my bedroom window as flashlights swept over the long grass, through the woods, until they were finally swallowed by darkness.

It was an overdose, an officer told me later, the victim most likely another casualty of the nation’s opioid epidemic. (In 2017, in this county, there were 80 opioid prescriptions for every 100 residents.) The young man seemed to have died higher up on the hill, where they found more of his remains. The rain must have washed his skull down the slope.

The skull felt like a portent, but also a turning point. Months later, I noticed a vendor at a roadside stand selling Trump flags. “Trump 2020: Keep America Great,” one read. Another read “Trump 2020: No More [Expletive].” It was more than half a year away from the election, and I remember thinking: Why flags? A flag was something people fought under, and for; something people carried to war. By the summer, another vendor popped up selling flags with even bolder slogans like “Trump 2020: [Expletive] Your Feelings,” “Liberty or Die,” “Make Liberals Cry Again.” The economy was in the dumps but the flag business was booming.

And not just Trump flags. In the past few months, I have seen three Confederate flags hoisted in neighbors’ yards, where previously I’d seen none. Just a few weeks ago, two masked men appeared outside our high school, holding a large KKK flag and fliers, apparently scouting for young recruits.

At times, all of this has felt like a horror movie, where it starts off happily enough — in a sun-drenched, idyllic farmhouse — and then the darkness slowly takes over. The change has occurred so slowly that at times, I hardly noticed it, until one day I barely recognized my hometown.

Last week, I drove down for a closer look at the nearest Trump stand, where alongside the flags hung Trump T-shirts. One read, “I’m a Deplorable.” And it reminded me of my grandparents, of how they felt while still in Germany: willing to work as hard as anyone but seeing no way to improve their circumstances. In my more charitable moments, I can see my neighbors’ xenophobia and racism and their Trump-loving thuggishness as symptoms of alienation from people who feel forsaken and disdained. This is, perhaps, the part of me that still feels deeply connected to where I live. But I’ve been appalled by the ugliness I’ve seen here this past year. And more often, in the dwindling autumn light, I find myself staring at my grandparents’ old farmhouse and wondering if it’s finally time to pack my bags.

LAWRENCEBURG, Ind. — For 20 years, off and on, I’ve lived in this small, blue-collar town about 30 minutes west of Cincinnati. My grandparents, immigrants from Germany, bought my old farmhouse, on 15 acres, during World War II.

LAWRENCEBURG, Ind. — For 20 years, off and on, I’ve lived in this small, blue-collar town about 30 minutes west of Cincinnati. My grandparents, immigrants from Germany, bought my old farmhouse, on 15 acres, during World War II. I’ve always felt that this town embodies much of what I love about the Midwest: friendliness, a lack of pretension and a prevailing sense of decency among neighbors. A few weeks ago, I met up with a good friend, an 84-year-old retiree named Frank, who lives nearby. He told me that he’d put up a “Biden-Harris” lawn sign, and within 36 hours it had been stolen. In response, his girlfriend taped another sign to the inside of their ranch home’s front window. Frank immediately took it down. “The chair I like to sit in is right there,” he explained. “The next time they come, I’m afraid it might be a brick, or a bullet.” Just a few years ago, I would have said that Frank was overreacting. Now I’m not so sure. Over the past four years, my hometown has become radicalized. This is a loaded word, but it’s the only way to describe it. As recently as 2008, I saw Bill Clinton speak at our community center, where the crowd was so large that people had to listen to him from loudspeakers in a nearby firehouse. The mood was electric. “People are broke at the end of every month,” he said. “This has to change.” He promised that with Democratic leadership, it would. An aggressive new energy policy would bring jobs, with higher incomes. And this promise was very welcome. At the time, the best job I could find was at a call center, selling home security systems. But I felt hopeful. I stuck an Obama sign in my yard and a campaign bumper sticker on my old Corolla. Like a lot of my neighbors, I believed that Democrats would, in fact, improve the town’s fortunes, and on election night, Barack Obama carried the state. But things didn’t improve. Not really. The latest census reports median household income in Lawrenceburg as $30,735, with a little over 32 percent of us in poverty. And in 2014, according to The New York Times, our small county (which is over 97 percent white) sent more people to prison than San Francisco. In January, our hospital cited a “higher number of uninsured patients” as a reason it needed to “right-size” its work force by laying off 31 employees and eliminating behavioral health services. And there are darker omens. Last fall, my teenage nephew came running into the house, wide-eyed, saying he’d found a human skull in the woods. I followed him until, panting at the bottom of a ravine, I saw the skull trapped in a thicket of sticks and leaves, missing several of its front teeth. The police arrived, and for the rest of the night, I watched from my bedroom window as flashlights swept over the long grass, through the woods, until they were finally swallowed by darkness. It was an overdose, an officer told me later, the victim most likely another casualty of the nation’s opioid epidemic. (In 2017, in this county, there were 80 opioid prescriptions for every 100 residents.) The young man seemed to have died higher up on the hill, where they found more of his remains. The rain must have washed his skull down the slope. The skull felt like a portent, but also a turning point. Months later, I noticed a vendor at a roadside stand selling Trump flags. “Trump 2020: Keep America Great,” one read. Another read “Trump 2020: No More [Expletive].” It was more than half a year away from the election, and I remember thinking: Why flags? A flag was something people fought under, and for; something people carried to war. By the summer, another vendor popped up selling flags with even bolder slogans like “Trump 2020: [Expletive] Your Feelings,” “Liberty or Die,” “Make Liberals Cry Again.” The economy was in the dumps but the flag business was booming. And not just Trump flags. In the past few months, I have seen three Confederate flags hoisted in neighbors’ yards, where previously I’d seen none. Just a few weeks ago, two masked men appeared outside our high school, holding a large KKK flag and fliers, apparently scouting for young recruits. At times, all of this has felt like a horror movie, where it starts off happily enough — in a sun-drenched, idyllic farmhouse — and then the darkness slowly takes over. The change has occurred so slowly that at times, I hardly noticed it, until one day I barely recognized my hometown. Last week, I drove down for a closer look at the nearest Trump stand, where alongside the flags hung Trump T-shirts. One read, “I’m a Deplorable.” And it reminded me of my grandparents, of how they felt while still in Germany: willing to work as hard as anyone but seeing no way to improve their circumstances. In my more charitable moments, I can see my neighbors’ xenophobia and racism and their Trump-loving thuggishness as symptoms of alienation from people who feel forsaken and disdained. This is, perhaps, the part of me that still feels deeply connected to where I live. But I’ve been appalled by the ugliness I’ve seen here this past year. And more often, in the dwindling autumn light, I find myself staring at my grandparents’ old farmhouse and wondering if it’s finally time to pack my bags.

The radicalization of a small American town

United States President Donald Trump will vote in person in West Palm Beach, Florida, before holding campaign rallies in the three swing states of North Carolina, Ohio and Wisconsin.

Trump shifted his permanent residence and voter registration from New York to Florida last year.

In the 2016 presidential election, Trump won Florida, a major swing state, by 49.02 per cent of the votes, while his then Democratic rival Hillary Clinton came in close with 47.82 per cent of the ballots.

According to the latest polling averages, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is currently leading Trump in Florida by 1.4 percentage points or 48.2 per cent to 46.8 per cent.

After voting, the president will hold rallies in the three states, all won by Trump in 2016.

On Saturday, Biden will hold drive-in rallies in Pennsylvania, another battleground state which swung in Trump's favour in 2016 with 48.18 per cent of the votes, while Clinton garnered 47.46 per cent of the total ballots.

Biden's planned rallies will be held in Bucks County north of Philadelphia and Luzerne County near his birthplace of Scranton, according to local media.

According to the latest Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll released on Wednesday, Biden was in the lead with support from 49 per cent of registered voters, while Trump had the backing of 45 per cent.

With just 10 days before the November 3 election, around 53.5 million American citizens have already cast early votes, marking a record pace in more than a century.

United States President Donald Trump will vote in person in West Palm Beach, Florida, before holding campaign rallies in the three swing states of North Carolina, Ohio and Wisconsin.

United States President Donald Trump will vote in person in West Palm Beach, Florida, before holding campaign rallies in the three swing states of North Carolina, Ohio and Wisconsin. Trump shifted his permanent residence and voter registration from New York to Florida last year. In the 2016 presidential election, Trump won Florida, a major swing state, by 49.02 per cent of the votes, while his then Democratic rival Hillary Clinton came in close with 47.82 per cent of the ballots. According to the latest polling averages, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is currently leading Trump in Florida by 1.4 percentage points or 48.2 per cent to 46.8 per cent. After voting, the president will hold rallies in the three states, all won by Trump in 2016. On Saturday, Biden will hold drive-in rallies in Pennsylvania, another battleground state which swung in Trump's favour in 2016 with 48.18 per cent of the votes, while Clinton garnered 47.46 per cent of the total ballots. Biden's planned rallies will be held in Bucks County north of Philadelphia and Luzerne County near his birthplace of Scranton, according to local media. According to the latest Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll released on Wednesday, Biden was in the lead with support from 49 per cent of registered voters, while Trump had the backing of 45 per cent. With just 10 days before the November 3 election, around 53.5 million American citizens have already cast early votes, marking a record pace in more than a century.

Trump to vote in person in Florida before hitting campaign trail

BANGOR, Maine — Sen. Susan Collins of Maine seemed to have a challenge on her hands.

A Republican running for reelection in a difficult year for her party, Collins was opposed by a well-funded Democrat with a political base in vote-rich southern Maine who was hoping to capitalize on the unpopularity of the Republican in the White House. But in that 2008 race, even as the GOP presidential nominee lost Maine by 17 percentage points, Collins won reelection by over 20 points, carrying every county in the state.

That was then.

Twelve years after what Collins thought was the most difficult reelection of her career, she is facing eerily similar circumstances — but this time she’s in the fight of her political life. And it is what has changed since 2008 in Maine, the Republican Party and politics broadly that could end her career.

The four-term senator has alienated Democrats here and beyond by voting to confirm Justice Brett Kavanaugh. She has become a national punchline among liberals for what they see as her toothless tut-tutting of President Donald Trump, whom she is invariably “concerned” about. And she’s been out-raised $63 million to $25 million by her Democratic opponent, Sara Gideon, the speaker of the state House.

Collins’ biggest problem this year, however, may not be Gideon or the out-of-state donors eager to send her a message, but rather the shifting ground under her feet.

She is confronting a state, sharply cleaved by region and class, that would have been politically unrecognizable to her predecessors; an increasingly alien party overtaken by a president who demands unflinching loyalty; and, perhaps most daunting of all, a polarized political culture that elevates tribalism and national issues over the bipartisanship and pork-barreling that she has always pursued.

“I don’t know if people respond as well to that anymore,” conceded former Sen. William S. Cohen of Maine, a moderate Republican whom Collins succeeded in the Senate after working for him as a young staff member. “Therein lies the challenge of being somebody in the middle.”

Collins is the only Republican senator on the ballot this year who has not endorsed Trump.

In an interview on her campaign bus, she acknowledged momentarily considering running this year as an independent — “it crossed my mind,” she said — but was quick to note that she couldn’t easily abandon “the New England brand of Republicanism.”

It’s a dying breed. Collins is the only remaining Republican member of Congress from New England.

Equally endangered, though, are any senators who can win reelection when their party’s nominee is soundly defeated in the state. Trump is expected to be competitive only in Maine’s 2nd Congressional District, which he won in 2016, and even there polls suggest that Joe Biden, the Democratic nominee, has an edge.

In 1984, when Ronald Reagan won a 49-state landslide, Democrats still netted two Senate seats. And even as recently as 2008, Republicans like Collins were winning reelection in blue states while Democratic senators were cruising in red ones like South Dakota and West Virginia.

By 2016, though, the results of every Senate race mirrored the state’s preference in the presidential race.

Now Collins is no more likely to outrun Trump by 20 points, as she did John McCain in 2008, than Maine is to embrace crab over lobster as its crustacean of choice.

Her argument, though, is that there are exceptions to this era of polarization, and that well-known lawmakers in lightly populated states can overcome the partisan tide. Sens. Jon Tester of Montana and Joe Manchin of West Virginia, for example, both won as Democrats in Republican-leaning states just two years ago.

“There’s a lot of parallels,” Collins said. “I still believe that most voters want problems solved and that they’re put off by this us-against-them tribalism.”

Listening to Collins kick off her statewide bus tour in Bangor was like stepping into a political time machine.

She drew applause after trumpeting her record as the most bipartisan senator, noted that she had never missed a floor vote and bragged about the federal dollars she had delivered for new breakwaters in small communities.

Then she delivered the finale: “With your help, when I’m reelected, a year later I become the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee,” she announced.

The pitch resonated with some supporters, but even they were self-aware about the dated nature of Collins’ appeal.

“I guess I’m a dinosaur in that I appreciate her centrist views and also I appreciate that she’s been doing this a long time and has ranking positions on a lot of important committees,” said Janna Jensen of nearby Brewer. “I don’t know how many people value that.”

A New York Times-Siena College survey last month pointed to the limitations of localism — and that was before the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg elevated the Supreme Court and issues like abortion rights.

Fifty percent of Mainers said national issues, like which party controls the Senate, were most important to their Senate vote, while 41% said local matters, such as who can do more for Maine, were paramount.

A Rhode Island native, as Collins delights in noting, Gideon has made health care the centerpiece of her campaign, even more than Collins’ vote on Kavanaugh.During her time in the Legislature, the Democrat pushed to expand Medicaidin the state, clashing with former Gov. Paul LePage, a Republican, on the issue.As much as any individual policy issue, though, Gideon’s core message is that a vote for Collins is a vote to keep Republicans in control of the Senate.

“As long as Susan Collins is elected again to the United States Senate, Mitch McConnell will again likely be the Senate majority leader,” Gideon told attendees at a supper near Lewiston last month.

She repeated a version of that line in a brief interview afterward, and grew slightly defensive when that was pointed out.

“I don’t walk around talking about Mitch McConnell all the time,” she said, before retreating to a talking point about what Mainers focus on “when they sit down at their kitchen table.”

Yet Gideon was more candid at the end of the conversation, when asked if she was happy with the Senate contest becoming nationalized.

“We are where we are in this country,” she said.

And Collins is where she is, in the dwindling middle between a party that loves Trump and one that loathes him.

The most frequently heard criticism of her is that she has changed, and has betrayed her moderate roots. Gideon has encouraged this sentiment and, when asked what she had in mind, cited Collins’ support for the 2017 Republican tax cuts.

Yet Collins also supported George W. Bush’s similarly high-end tax cuts, just as she backed his nominees to the Supreme Court.

What Maine voters often mean when they say Collins has changed, though, is that the Republican Party has changed — and by that they mean Trump.

“The party has moved right,” said Carl Bucciantini, a retired teacher who came to hear Gideon. “It was conservative under Reagan, conservative under the Bushes and now it’s just crazy&lt;em&gt;.”&lt;/em&gt;

Collins continues to dodge the question of how she’ll vote for president, but she said last month that she would probably avoid Trump if he campaigned in Maine.

In the same interview, conducted before the death of Ginsburg, Collins said she would oppose filling a Supreme Court vacancy in October. Since the senator reaffirmed that view after Ginsburg’s death, Trump has repeatedly criticized Collins.

“I think that Susan Collins is going to be hurt very badly — her people aren’t going to take this,” the president predicted in September, before heckling her on Twitter last week for opposing the hasty court nomination&lt;em&gt;. &lt;/em&gt;

Pressed as to why she never fully broke with Trump the same way that her heroine, former Maine Sen. Margaret Chase Smith, had confronted Joseph McCarthy, Collins recalled that she had helped torpedo the effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act and parted ways with the president on issues like his attempt to use military money for a border wall.

“I have had so many Margaret Chase Smith moments,” she said.

The more persuasive answer, though, came from a supporter at the bus tour introduction who loathes Trump but said Collins was caught in a political vise.

“She can’t,” said the supporter, Kathy Anderson, when asked why Collins wouldn’t condemn Trump. “Look at the demographics here.”

Maine has always been split between its more affluent coastline and its blue-collar interior. But the political and social gap has widened even further in recent years.

“A lot of the people down here are more connected to Napa Valley than they are Penobscot Valley,” said John Baldacci, a former Democratic governor of the state, who grew up in Bangor and now works in Portland.

The influx of transplants along the Maine coast and the migration of working-class whites into the Republican Party under Trump and LePage, who called himself “Trump before Trump,” have upended the state’s politics.

Perhaps most significant, and for Collins most threatening, LePage’s consecutive plurality victories prompted Maine to enact ranked-choice voting. In this system, voters rank their preference on the ballot so that those who receive few first-place votes are eliminated and the eventual winner garners a majority.

This means that the votes of those supporting a liberal independent candidate, Lisa Savage, can ultimately go to Gideon if Savage’s backers list Gideon as their second choice.

It’s a significant shift in a state with a long tradition of independence.

Maine has elected two unaffiliated governors in the last half-century and in 1992 handed Ross Perot more than 30% of the vote, his best showing of any state. Now, though, it has the same red-and-blue divide as the rest of the country — and the old outlines of its political map have been redrawn.

Republicans used to run up some of their best margins in wealthy enclaves along the Atlantic, while Democrats consistently fared best in immigrant-heavy and union-organized mill towns farther inland.

Maps from the last two major elections, the 2016 presidential contest and the 2018 governor’s race, reveal a near-unbroken stretch of Democratic blue up the Atlantic Coast from Kittery to Bar Harbor.

There are effectively two states — one working class and more pro-Trump, and the other more upscale and deeply contemptuous of the president — that Collins must bridge.

They can be seen in the Trump lawn signs sprouting up across inland Maine and the ubiquity of Biden signs nearly anywhere saltwater is in the air.

Back on Collins’ bus, she concluded an interview by recalling that in 2008 she “only lost eight communities in the entire state.”

But once she stepped into the office of an oil heating company to address employees, she returned to the present.

“The country is so polarized and Maine is, too, unfortunately,” Collins said.

BANGOR, Maine — Sen. Susan Collins of Maine seemed to have a challenge on her hands. A Republican running for reelection in a difficult year for her party, Collins was opposed by a well-funded Democrat with a political base in vote-rich southern Maine who was hoping to capitalize on the unpopularity of the Republican in the White House.

BANGOR, Maine — Sen. Susan Collins of Maine seemed to have a challenge on her hands. A Republican running for reelection in a difficult year for her party, Collins was opposed by a well-funded Democrat with a political base in vote-rich southern Maine who was hoping to capitalize on the unpopularity of the Republican in the White House. But in that 2008 race, even as the GOP presidential nominee lost Maine by 17 percentage points, Collins won reelection by over 20 points, carrying every county in the state. That was then. Twelve years after what Collins thought was the most difficult reelection of her career, she is facing eerily similar circumstances — but this time she’s in the fight of her political life. And it is what has changed since 2008 in Maine, the Republican Party and politics broadly that could end her career. The four-term senator has alienated Democrats here and beyond by voting to confirm Justice Brett Kavanaugh. She has become a national punchline among liberals for what they see as her toothless tut-tutting of President Donald Trump, whom she is invariably “concerned” about. And she’s been out-raised $63 million to $25 million by her Democratic opponent, Sara Gideon, the speaker of the state House. Collins’ biggest problem this year, however, may not be Gideon or the out-of-state donors eager to send her a message, but rather the shifting ground under her feet. She is confronting a state, sharply cleaved by region and class, that would have been politically unrecognizable to her predecessors; an increasingly alien party overtaken by a president who demands unflinching loyalty; and, perhaps most daunting of all, a polarized political culture that elevates tribalism and national issues over the bipartisanship and pork-barreling that she has always pursued. “I don’t know if people respond as well to that anymore,” conceded former Sen. William S. Cohen of Maine, a moderate Republican whom Collins succeeded in the Senate after working for him as a young staff member. “Therein lies the challenge of being somebody in the middle.” Collins is the only Republican senator on the ballot this year who has not endorsed Trump. In an interview on her campaign bus, she acknowledged momentarily considering running this year as an independent — “it crossed my mind,” she said — but was quick to note that she couldn’t easily abandon “the New England brand of Republicanism.” It’s a dying breed. Collins is the only remaining Republican member of Congress from New England. Equally endangered, though, are any senators who can win reelection when their party’s nominee is soundly defeated in the state. Trump is expected to be competitive only in Maine’s 2nd Congressional District, which he won in 2016, and even there polls suggest that Joe Biden, the Democratic nominee, has an edge. In 1984, when Ronald Reagan won a 49-state landslide, Democrats still netted two Senate seats. And even as recently as 2008, Republicans like Collins were winning reelection in blue states while Democratic senators were cruising in red ones like South Dakota and West Virginia. By 2016, though, the results of every Senate race mirrored the state’s preference in the presidential race. Now Collins is no more likely to outrun Trump by 20 points, as she did John McCain in 2008, than Maine is to embrace crab over lobster as its crustacean of choice. Her argument, though, is that there are exceptions to this era of polarization, and that well-known lawmakers in lightly populated states can overcome the partisan tide. Sens. Jon Tester of Montana and Joe Manchin of West Virginia, for example, both won as Democrats in Republican-leaning states just two years ago. “There’s a lot of parallels,” Collins said. “I still believe that most voters want problems solved and that they’re put off by this us-against-them tribalism.” Listening to Collins kick off her statewide bus tour in Bangor was like stepping into a political time machine. She drew applause after trumpeting her record as the most bipartisan senator, noted that she had never missed a floor vote and bragged about the federal dollars she had delivered for new breakwaters in small communities. Then she delivered the finale: “With your help, when I’m reelected, a year later I become the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee,” she announced. The pitch resonated with some supporters, but even they were self-aware about the dated nature of Collins’ appeal. “I guess I’m a dinosaur in that I appreciate her centrist views and also I appreciate that she’s been doing this a long time and has ranking positions on a lot of important committees,” said Janna Jensen of nearby Brewer. “I don’t know how many people value that.” A New York Times-Siena College survey last month pointed to the limitations of localism — and that was before the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg elevated the Supreme Court and issues like abortion rights. Fifty percent of Mainers said national issues, like which party controls the Senate, were most important to their Senate vote, while 41% said local matters, such as who can do more for Maine, were paramount. A Rhode Island native, as Collins delights in noting, Gideon has made health care the centerpiece of her campaign, even more than Collins’ vote on Kavanaugh.During her time in the Legislature, the Democrat pushed to expand Medicaidin the state, clashing with former Gov. Paul LePage, a Republican, on the issue.As much as any individual policy issue, though, Gideon’s core message is that a vote for Collins is a vote to keep Republicans in control of the Senate. “As long as Susan Collins is elected again to the United States Senate, Mitch McConnell will again likely be the Senate majority leader,” Gideon told attendees at a supper near Lewiston last month. She repeated a version of that line in a brief interview afterward, and grew slightly defensive when that was pointed out. “I don’t walk around talking about Mitch McConnell all the time,” she said, before retreating to a talking point about what Mainers focus on “when they sit down at their kitchen table.” Yet Gideon was more candid at the end of the conversation, when asked if she was happy with the Senate contest becoming nationalized. “We are where we are in this country,” she said. And Collins is where she is, in the dwindling middle between a party that loves Trump and one that loathes him. The most frequently heard criticism of her is that she has changed, and has betrayed her moderate roots. Gideon has encouraged this sentiment and, when asked what she had in mind, cited Collins’ support for the 2017 Republican tax cuts. Yet Collins also supported George W. Bush’s similarly high-end tax cuts, just as she backed his nominees to the Supreme Court. What Maine voters often mean when they say Collins has changed, though, is that the Republican Party has changed — and by that they mean Trump. “The party has moved right,” said Carl Bucciantini, a retired teacher who came to hear Gideon. “It was conservative under Reagan, conservative under the Bushes and now it’s just crazy.” Collins continues to dodge the question of how she’ll vote for president, but she said last month that she would probably avoid Trump if he campaigned in Maine. In the same interview, conducted before the death of Ginsburg, Collins said she would oppose filling a Supreme Court vacancy in October. Since the senator reaffirmed that view after Ginsburg’s death, Trump has repeatedly criticized Collins. “I think that Susan Collins is going to be hurt very badly — her people aren’t going to take this,” the president predicted in September, before heckling her on Twitter last week for opposing the hasty court nomination. Pressed as to why she never fully broke with Trump the same way that her heroine, former Maine Sen. Margaret Chase Smith, had confronted Joseph McCarthy, Collins recalled that she had helped torpedo the effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act and parted ways with the president on issues like his attempt to use military money for a border wall. “I have had so many Margaret Chase Smith moments,” she said. The more persuasive answer, though, came from a supporter at the bus tour introduction who loathes Trump but said Collins was caught in a political vise. “She can’t,” said the supporter, Kathy Anderson, when asked why Collins wouldn’t condemn Trump. “Look at the demographics here.” Maine has always been split between its more affluent coastline and its blue-collar interior. But the political and social gap has widened even further in recent years. “A lot of the people down here are more connected to Napa Valley than they are Penobscot Valley,” said John Baldacci, a former Democratic governor of the state, who grew up in Bangor and now works in Portland. The influx of transplants along the Maine coast and the migration of working-class whites into the Republican Party under Trump and LePage, who called himself “Trump before Trump,” have upended the state’s politics. Perhaps most significant, and for Collins most threatening, LePage’s consecutive plurality victories prompted Maine to enact ranked-choice voting. In this system, voters rank their preference on the ballot so that those who receive few first-place votes are eliminated and the eventual winner garners a majority. This means that the votes of those supporting a liberal independent candidate, Lisa Savage, can ultimately go to Gideon if Savage’s backers list Gideon as their second choice. It’s a significant shift in a state with a long tradition of independence. Maine has elected two unaffiliated governors in the last half-century and in 1992 handed Ross Perot more than 30% of the vote, his best showing of any state. Now, though, it has the same red-and-blue divide as the rest of the country — and the old outlines of its political map have been redrawn. Republicans used to run up some of their best margins in wealthy enclaves along the Atlantic, while Democrats consistently fared best in immigrant-heavy and union-organized mill towns farther inland. Maps from the last two major elections, the 2016 presidential contest and the 2018 governor’s race, reveal a near-unbroken stretch of Democratic blue up the Atlantic Coast from Kittery to Bar Harbor. There are effectively two states — one working class and more pro-Trump, and the other more upscale and deeply contemptuous of the president — that Collins must bridge. They can be seen in the Trump lawn signs sprouting up across inland Maine and the ubiquity of Biden signs nearly anywhere saltwater is in the air. Back on Collins’ bus, she concluded an interview by recalling that in 2008 she “only lost eight communities in the entire state.” But once she stepped into the office of an oil heating company to address employees, she returned to the present. “The country is so polarized and Maine is, too, unfortunately,” Collins said.

Susan Collins hasn’t changed much, but Maine has

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'You are getting a lot of money from Russia. You owe an explanation to the American people, you have to clean it up,' Trump told Biden during the live TV presidential debate&nbsp;

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/kazakhs-despair-for-relatives-missing-in-xinjiang-337318">Kazakhs despair for relatives missing in Xinjiang</a>

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Rights groups at the time of Adilgazy Muqai's disappearance were sounding the alarm over a mushrooming network of facilities for the massive incarceration of mostly Muslim minority citizens in Xinjiang

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/entertainment/hollywood/news-in-pics-priyanka-chopra-reaches-germany-to-shoot-for-the-matrix-4-with-keanu-reeves-337310">Priyanka Chopra reaches Germany to shoot for 'The Matrix 4' with Keanu Reeves</a>

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‘The Matrix 4’ is led by Keanu Reeves (Neo) who rose to fame with the franchise as the promised one while also featuring Carrie-Anne Moss.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/videos/gravitas-hunt-for-a-vaccine-the-hefty-cost-for-cutting-corners-337263">Watch:&nbsp;Hunt for a vaccine and the hefty cost for cutting corners</a>

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US elections: Look at Russia, China and India, it's filthy, says Trump on carbon emissions The quip from Trump appears likely to be discussed everywhere, including among Indian-American voters in the US.

US elections: Look at Russia, China and India, it's filthy, says Trump on carbon emissions The quip from Trump appears likely to be discussed everywhere, including among Indian-American voters in the US. US Elections 2020: I think he's a Democrat, but that's OK, says Trump on Fauci 'You are getting a lot of money from Russia. You owe an explanation to the American people, you have to clean it up,' Trump told Biden during the live TV presidential debate Kazakhs despair for relatives missing in Xinjiang Rights groups at the time of Adilgazy Muqai's disappearance were sounding the alarm over a mushrooming network of facilities for the massive incarceration of mostly Muslim minority citizens in Xinjiang Priyanka Chopra reaches Germany to shoot for 'The Matrix 4' with Keanu Reeves ‘The Matrix 4’ is led by Keanu Reeves (Neo) who rose to fame with the franchise as the promised one while also featuring Carrie-Anne Moss. Watch: Hunt for a vaccine and the hefty cost for cutting corners

Morning news brief: Trump, Biden in final US election debate, hunt for vaccine & more

The Louisiana National Guard was called in to stop a series of cyberattacks aimed at small government offices across the state in recent weeks, according to two people with knowledge of the events, highlighting the cyber threat facing local governments in the run up to the 2020 U.S. presidential election.

The situation in Louisiana follows a similar case in Washington state, according to a cybersecurity consultant familiar with the matter, where hackers infected some government offices with a type of malware known for deploying ransomware, which locks up systems and demands payment to regain access.

Senior U.S. security officials have warned&nbsp;since at least 2019 that ransomware poses a risk to the U.S. election, namely that an attack against certain state government offices around the election could disrupt systems needed to administer aspects of the vote.

It is unclear if the hackers sought to target systems tied to the election in Louisiana or were simply hoping for a payday. Yet the attacks raised alarms because of the potential harm it could have led to and due to evidence suggesting a sophisticated hacking group was involved.

Experts investigating the Louisiana incidents found a tool used by the hackers that was previously linked to a group associated with the North Korean government, according to a person familiar with the investigation.

That tool was described to Reuters as a remote access trojan, or RAT, used to infiltrate computer networks. But cybersecurity analysts who have examined this RAT - known as “KimJongRat” - say some of its code had been publicized in a computer virus repository, where hackers could copy it; making attribution to North Korea less certain.

While staff at several government offices in northern Louisiana were successfully compromised as part of the campaign, according to the two people familiar with the incident response, the cyberattack was stopped in its early stages before significant harm was done.

The Louisiana National Guard declined to comment on the incidents. A spokesman for the Louisiana State Police said they were called in to investigate the cyberattacks, but declined further comment. The Governor`s office said they could not comment on an ongoing investigation.

Tyler Brey, a spokesman for the Louisiana Secretary of State`s office, said Louisiana is a “top down state,” where election data is centrally stored at the secretary of state’s office, which can make it easier for election officials to recover from cyberattacks.

One person familiar with the events said they assessed the hacker’s objective was to infect computers with ransomware, but added that it was difficult to determine because the attack was stopped in its early phases.

If so, Louisiana wouldn`t be the first. Over the last year, several U.S. cities have been victimized by ransomware, including: incidents in Baltimore, Maryland, and Durham, North Carolina.

THE BIG QUESTION

Jen Miller Osborn, deputy director of threat intelligence for U.S. cybersecurity company Palo Alto Networks, tracked a hacking group last year that used KimJongRat. She said it would be “atypical” for the group she’s studied to conduct a cyber operation for financial gain.

A prior cybersecurity research report in 2013 by Luxembourg firm iTrust Consulting noted that KimJongRat was written with Korean computer code which carried references to the North Korean leader’s family members.

Emotet, an increasingly common trojan often used against banks, was also deployed by the attackers and found on computers in Louisiana. When staff were hacked, their email accounts would sometimes be co-opted by the hackers to send malware to other colleagues.

On October 6, the Homeland Security Department`s cybersecurity division, known as CISA, published an alert saying Emotet was being used to target numerous local government offices across the country.

In recent cases where cybercriminals have gone after local government offices as the election approaches, like in Washington, U.S. officials along with technology companies such as Microsoft Corp are racing to better understand if the hackers share connections with foreign intelligence agencies from Russia, Iran, China and North Korea.

“It`s a very interesting question and something we are digging into and trying to find data, information, and intelligence that would help us understand that better,” Microsoft Vice President Tom Burt said in a recent interview.

“There are a small number of criminal groups who are responsible for the majority of the ransomware attacks and so understanding who they are, how they’re organized, who they work with, where they are operating from, is something we’re working on," Burt added.

Microsoft is among a select group of cybersecurity companies helping respond to the attacks in Washington, where they`ve offered cybersecurity protection software for free to local government officials until the election, according to a person familiar with their response.

A Microsoft spokesperson declined to comment on the company`s work there.

The Louisiana National Guard was called in to stop a series of cyberattacks aimed at small government offices across the state in recent weeks, according to two people with knowledge of the events, highlighting the cyber threat facing local governments in the run up to the 2020 U.

The Louisiana National Guard was called in to stop a series of cyberattacks aimed at small government offices across the state in recent weeks, according to two people with knowledge of the events, highlighting the cyber threat facing local governments in the run up to the 2020 U.S. presidential election. The situation in Louisiana follows a similar case in Washington state, according to a cybersecurity consultant familiar with the matter, where hackers infected some government offices with a type of malware known for deploying ransomware, which locks up systems and demands payment to regain access. Senior U.S. security officials have warned since at least 2019 that ransomware poses a risk to the U.S. election, namely that an attack against certain state government offices around the election could disrupt systems needed to administer aspects of the vote. It is unclear if the hackers sought to target systems tied to the election in Louisiana or were simply hoping for a payday. Yet the attacks raised alarms because of the potential harm it could have led to and due to evidence suggesting a sophisticated hacking group was involved. Experts investigating the Louisiana incidents found a tool used by the hackers that was previously linked to a group associated with the North Korean government, according to a person familiar with the investigation. That tool was described to Reuters as a remote access trojan, or RAT, used to infiltrate computer networks. But cybersecurity analysts who have examined this RAT - known as “KimJongRat” - say some of its code had been publicized in a computer virus repository, where hackers could copy it; making attribution to North Korea less certain. While staff at several government offices in northern Louisiana were successfully compromised as part of the campaign, according to the two people familiar with the incident response, the cyberattack was stopped in its early stages before significant harm was done. The Louisiana National Guard declined to comment on the incidents. A spokesman for the Louisiana State Police said they were called in to investigate the cyberattacks, but declined further comment. The Governor`s office said they could not comment on an ongoing investigation. Tyler Brey, a spokesman for the Louisiana Secretary of State`s office, said Louisiana is a “top down state,” where election data is centrally stored at the secretary of state’s office, which can make it easier for election officials to recover from cyberattacks. One person familiar with the events said they assessed the hacker’s objective was to infect computers with ransomware, but added that it was difficult to determine because the attack was stopped in its early phases. If so, Louisiana wouldn`t be the first. Over the last year, several U.S. cities have been victimized by ransomware, including: incidents in Baltimore, Maryland, and Durham, North Carolina. THE BIG QUESTION Jen Miller Osborn, deputy director of threat intelligence for U.S. cybersecurity company Palo Alto Networks, tracked a hacking group last year that used KimJongRat. She said it would be “atypical” for the group she’s studied to conduct a cyber operation for financial gain. A prior cybersecurity research report in 2013 by Luxembourg firm iTrust Consulting noted that KimJongRat was written with Korean computer code which carried references to the North Korean leader’s family members. Emotet, an increasingly common trojan often used against banks, was also deployed by the attackers and found on computers in Louisiana. When staff were hacked, their email accounts would sometimes be co-opted by the hackers to send malware to other colleagues. On October 6, the Homeland Security Department`s cybersecurity division, known as CISA, published an alert saying Emotet was being used to target numerous local government offices across the country. In recent cases where cybercriminals have gone after local government offices as the election approaches, like in Washington, U.S. officials along with technology companies such as Microsoft Corp are racing to better understand if the hackers share connections with foreign intelligence agencies from Russia, Iran, China and North Korea. “It`s a very interesting question and something we are digging into and trying to find data, information, and intelligence that would help us understand that better,” Microsoft Vice President Tom Burt said in a recent interview. “There are a small number of criminal groups who are responsible for the majority of the ransomware attacks and so understanding who they are, how they’re organized, who they work with, where they are operating from, is something we’re working on," Burt added. Microsoft is among a select group of cybersecurity companies helping respond to the attacks in Washington, where they`ve offered cybersecurity protection software for free to local government officials until the election, according to a person familiar with their response. A Microsoft spokesperson declined to comment on the company`s work there.

National Guard called in to thwart cyberattack in Louisiana weeks before election

More than 50 million Americans have voted early in the White House race pitting President Donald Trump against Democrat Joe Biden, a group monitoring balloting said Friday.

Voters are smashing records for casting ballots ahead of Election Day on November 3 in order to avoid crowded polling centers and long lines out of fear of catching the coronavirus.

The tally by the US Elections Project, run by the University of Florida, said more than 35 million people have now voted by mail and more than 15 million in person by leaving their ballots in designated drop boxes.

The tally already surpasses all 47 million votes cast early in the 2016 election, and there is still more than a week to go.

Early voting rules vary by state. One of the most populous, New York, gets started only on Saturday, so that will increase the tally even more.

Democrats are urging people to vote early as a precaution, and in some cases long lines have formed at places where voters can drop off their ballots.

Without providing evidence, Trump, who is trailing Biden in national polls and in key battleground states, has insisted that mail-in voting is prone to fraud.

More than 50 million Americans have voted early in the White House race pitting President Donald Trump against Democrat Joe Biden, a group monitoring balloting said Friday.

More than 50 million Americans have voted early in the White House race pitting President Donald Trump against Democrat Joe Biden, a group monitoring balloting said Friday. Voters are smashing records for casting ballots ahead of Election Day on November 3 in order to avoid crowded polling centers and long lines out of fear of catching the coronavirus. The tally by the US Elections Project, run by the University of Florida, said more than 35 million people have now voted by mail and more than 15 million in person by leaving their ballots in designated drop boxes. The tally already surpasses all 47 million votes cast early in the 2016 election, and there is still more than a week to go. Early voting rules vary by state. One of the most populous, New York, gets started only on Saturday, so that will increase the tally even more. Democrats are urging people to vote early as a precaution, and in some cases long lines have formed at places where voters can drop off their ballots. Without providing evidence, Trump, who is trailing Biden in national polls and in key battleground states, has insisted that mail-in voting is prone to fraud.

More than 50 million have voted early in US election: monitor

A 19-year-old man with a van full of guns and explosives has been charged by feds for plotting the&nbsp;assassination of&nbsp;Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.

It comes on the same day as the last presidential debate and with less than two weeks to go for the US election 2020 on November 3.

Alexander Hillel&nbsp;Treisman&nbsp;had posted a&nbsp;meme captioned "should I kill Joe Biden?"

The feds believe that it was not an idle threat as&nbsp;Treisman had conducted internet searches seeking information about Biden's home address, state gun laws, and night vision goggles.&nbsp;

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/in-calmer-debate-biden-and-trump-offer-sharply-divergent-visions-for-nation-337432" hreflang="en">In calmer debate, Biden and Trump offer sharply divergent visions for nation</a>

He was arrested&nbsp;after a search of his abandoned white Ford van in Kannapolis, North Carolina revealed several weapons including an AR-15 style semi-automatic rifle and a canister of explosive material.

The search also found&nbsp;books on bomb-making, $509,000 in US currency, and drawings of swastikas and planes crashing into buildings, according to the October 6 filing in the US District Court for the Middle District, North Carolina.

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The currency was believed to be&nbsp;Treisman's inheritance, officials said in the filing.&nbsp;

Following his arrest, the Federal Bureau of Investigation searched his phone, computers, and other devices and found 1,248 videos and 6,721 images of child pornography content, according to federal prosecutors..

He also purchased an AR-15 in New Hampshire and traveled to a Wendy's fast-food restaurant within four miles of Biden's home and wrote a checklist note ending with "execute," according to testimony by officers in the court filing, first reported by the Daily Beast on Thursday.

After his arrest the "defendant disclosed that he has an interest in terrorist incidents and mass shootings," and had traveled across the country to buy a variety of firearms, the document said.

Treisman&nbsp;was arrested on May 28 and on September 28 was indicted by a federal grand jury for possession of child pornography, it said.

Treisman&nbsp;did not have any prior criminal history.

ABC News said it was not clear why&nbsp;Treisman&nbsp;has so far just been charged with possession of child pornography.

A 19-year-old man with a van full of guns and explosives has been charged by feds for plotting the assassination of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. It comes on the same day as the last presidential debate and with less than two weeks to go for the US election 2020 on November 3.

A 19-year-old man with a van full of guns and explosives has been charged by feds for plotting the assassination of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. It comes on the same day as the last presidential debate and with less than two weeks to go for the US election 2020 on November 3. Alexander Hillel Treisman had posted a meme captioned "should I kill Joe Biden?" The feds believe that it was not an idle threat as Treisman had conducted internet searches seeking information about Biden's home address, state gun laws, and night vision goggles. Also read: In calmer debate, Biden and Trump offer sharply divergent visions for nation He was arrested after a search of his abandoned white Ford van in Kannapolis, North Carolina revealed several weapons including an AR-15 style semi-automatic rifle and a canister of explosive material. The search also found books on bomb-making, $509,000 in US currency, and drawings of swastikas and planes crashing into buildings, according to the October 6 filing in the US District Court for the Middle District, North Carolina. The currency was believed to be Treisman's inheritance, officials said in the filing. Following his arrest, the Federal Bureau of Investigation searched his phone, computers, and other devices and found 1,248 videos and 6,721 images of child pornography content, according to federal prosecutors.. He also purchased an AR-15 in New Hampshire and traveled to a Wendy's fast-food restaurant within four miles of Biden's home and wrote a checklist note ending with "execute," according to testimony by officers in the court filing, first reported by the Daily Beast on Thursday. After his arrest the "defendant disclosed that he has an interest in terrorist incidents and mass shootings," and had traveled across the country to buy a variety of firearms, the document said. Treisman was arrested on May 28 and on September 28 was indicted by a federal grand jury for possession of child pornography, it said. Treisman did not have any prior criminal history. ABC News said it was not clear why Treisman has so far just been charged with possession of child pornography.

US election 2020: 19-year-old charged for plotting the assassination of Joe Biden

United States President Donald Trump abruptly left a solo interview with CBS News’ -- “60 Minutes”, and did not return for an appearance he was scheduled to shoot with Vice-President Mike Pence.

Trump sat down with host Lesley Stahl for only 45 minutes on Tuesday before leaving abruptly the interview. He later told the network he believed they had enough material to use.

Later, Trump posted on Twitter a clip of the reporter at the White House attacking her for not wearing a face mask.

“I am pleased to inform you that, for the sake of accuracy in reporting, I am considering posting my interview with Lesley Stahl of 60 Minutes, PRIOR TO AIRTIME! “ he added.&nbsp; 
“This will be done so that everybody can get a glimpse of what a FAKE and BIASED interview is all about ... “ Trump tweeted.

According to CNN, however, Stahl had a mask on from the time she entered the White House to when the interview started. The image from the tweet only showed her standing with her producers before she went back to her belongings to wear the mask.

Along with Trump and Pence, former Vice President Joe Biden and California Senator Kamala Harris also gave interviews with CBS and all four are scheduled to appear in a programme on Sunday.&nbsp;

Trump and Pence were scheduled to appear on the Sunday programme together, as they did four years ago for a walk and talk session before Trump decided to end the interview without reason. Biden and Harris, however, filmed their interviews separately.

Polling in states where Trump won in 2016, shows Biden to be ahead this time. Trump admitted that he was upset while standing on the tarmac in Arizona on Monday.

He has, to this end, demanded his attorney general to work “fast” to investigate the unfounded accusations against Biden before the elections. After the panel organising Thursday’s debate announced that the candidates’ microphones would be muted for certain parts of the event, Trump accused them of bias.

United States President Donald Trump abruptly left a solo interview with CBS News’ -- “60 Minutes”, and did not return for an appearance he was scheduled to shoot with Vice-President Mike Pence.

United States President Donald Trump abruptly left a solo interview with CBS News’ -- “60 Minutes”, and did not return for an appearance he was scheduled to shoot with Vice-President Mike Pence. Trump sat down with host Lesley Stahl for only 45 minutes on Tuesday before leaving abruptly the interview. He later told the network he believed they had enough material to use. Later, Trump posted on Twitter a clip of the reporter at the White House attacking her for not wearing a face mask. “I am pleased to inform you that, for the sake of accuracy in reporting, I am considering posting my interview with Lesley Stahl of 60 Minutes, PRIOR TO AIRTIME! “ he added. “This will be done so that everybody can get a glimpse of what a FAKE and BIASED interview is all about ... “ Trump tweeted. According to CNN, however, Stahl had a mask on from the time she entered the White House to when the interview started. The image from the tweet only showed her standing with her producers before she went back to her belongings to wear the mask. Along with Trump and Pence, former Vice President Joe Biden and California Senator Kamala Harris also gave interviews with CBS and all four are scheduled to appear in a programme on Sunday. Trump and Pence were scheduled to appear on the Sunday programme together, as they did four years ago for a walk and talk session before Trump decided to end the interview without reason. Biden and Harris, however, filmed their interviews separately. Polling in states where Trump won in 2016, shows Biden to be ahead this time. Trump admitted that he was upset while standing on the tarmac in Arizona on Monday. He has, to this end, demanded his attorney general to work “fast” to investigate the unfounded accusations against Biden before the elections. After the panel organising Thursday’s debate announced that the candidates’ microphones would be muted for certain parts of the event, Trump accused them of bias.

Trump abruptly leaves a 60-min interview in only 45 mins

Presidential debates in the United States are an interesting event to be a part of. More so when the incumbent president, Donald Trump is participating in it.

At the second debate, conducted on October 22, the mention of Abraham Lincoln's name, however, raised more eyebrows than Trump and his Democratic challenger Joe Biden.

On Thursday night, as the debate turned to a discussion of the Black Lives Matter movement, Biden slammed Trump for his self-praise&nbsp;that said no president since Lincoln has helped Black people more than he has.

"Abraham Lincoln here is one of the most racist presidents we've had in modern history. He pours fuel on every single racist fire. Every single one," Biden said of Trump.

Trump responded: "He made a reference to Abraham Lincoln, where did that come in?"

"You said you're Abraham Lincoln," Biden responded.

"No, no. ... I didn't say 'I'm Abraham Lincoln.' I said, 'Not since Abraham Lincoln has anybody done what I've done for the Black community.'"

Trump has a history of comparing himself to the country's 16th president. Last year, Trump claimed no other president had been treated as badly by the press as he has, including Lincoln.

The 'Abraham Lincoln' moment became one of the hot topics on social media.

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Biden sarcastically refers to Trump as "Abraham Lincoln," and Trump gets confused by it <a href="https://t.co/Ogdt1QXf3g">pic.twitter.com/Ogdt1QXf3g</a>
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) <a href="https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1319464085369593861?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 23, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Abraham Lincoln is watching tonight: <a href="https://t.co/wgJpBKTN2l">pic.twitter.com/wgJpBKTN2l</a>
— Michael Beschloss (@BeschlossDC) <a href="https://twitter.com/BeschlossDC/status/1319463720142163969?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 23, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Biden: Abraham Lincoln over here... 
 
Trump: I’m not Abraham Lincoln. I’m Donald Trump. 
 
Biden: Yeah we know bro.
— Adam Parkhomenko (@AdamParkhomenko) <a href="https://twitter.com/AdamParkhomenko/status/1319465268763070464?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 23, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Fact Check: Donald Trump is correct when he says he’s not Abraham Lincoln
— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheDailyShow/status/1319464228294713344?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 23, 2020</a></blockquote>
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&nbsp;

Presidential debates in the United States are an interesting event to be a part of. More so when the incumbent president, Donald Trump is participating in it. At the second debate, conducted on October 22, the mention of Abraham Lincoln's name, however, raised more eyebrows than Trump and his Democratic challenger Joe Biden.

Presidential debates in the United States are an interesting event to be a part of. More so when the incumbent president, Donald Trump is participating in it. At the second debate, conducted on October 22, the mention of Abraham Lincoln's name, however, raised more eyebrows than Trump and his Democratic challenger Joe Biden. On Thursday night, as the debate turned to a discussion of the Black Lives Matter movement, Biden slammed Trump for his self-praise that said no president since Lincoln has helped Black people more than he has. "Abraham Lincoln here is one of the most racist presidents we've had in modern history. He pours fuel on every single racist fire. Every single one," Biden said of Trump. Trump responded: "He made a reference to Abraham Lincoln, where did that come in?" "You said you're Abraham Lincoln," Biden responded. "No, no. ... I didn't say 'I'm Abraham Lincoln.' I said, 'Not since Abraham Lincoln has anybody done what I've done for the Black community.'" Trump has a history of comparing himself to the country's 16th president. Last year, Trump claimed no other president had been treated as badly by the press as he has, including Lincoln. The 'Abraham Lincoln' moment became one of the hot topics on social media. Biden sarcastically refers to Trump as "Abraham Lincoln," and Trump gets confused by it pic.twitter.com/Ogdt1QXf3g — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 23, 2020 × Abraham Lincoln is watching tonight: pic.twitter.com/wgJpBKTN2l — Michael Beschloss (@BeschlossDC) October 23, 2020 × Biden: Abraham Lincoln over here... Trump: I’m not Abraham Lincoln. I’m Donald Trump. Biden: Yeah we know bro. — Adam Parkhomenko (@AdamParkhomenko) October 23, 2020 × Fact Check: Donald Trump is correct when he says he’s not Abraham Lincoln — The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) October 23, 2020 ×

'Abraham Lincoln here...': Trump misses Biden's joke at presidential debate

US election 2020: Trump family finally wears facemasks at the last presidential debate

US President Donald Trump on Thursday described the air in India as "filthy" as he denounced Democratic rival Joe Biden's plans to tackle climate change.

At their second and final presidential debate, Trump renewed his criticism that action on climate change was unfair to the United States.

"Look at China, how filthy it is. Look at Russia, look at India -- it's filthy. The air is filthy," Trump said at the debate in Nashville.

This came despite Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi having shared a friendly relationship with the United States.

People -- across India and on the social media -- were surprised, some shocked to see such blatant statements from the American president. They took to Twitter to express the dismay and surprise. A few even said they agreed with Trump.

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<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FilthyIndia?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#FilthyIndia</a> is Trending <a href="https://twitter.com/narendramodi?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@narendramodi</a> ur friend <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@realDonaldTrump</a> is not taking ur friendship seriously <a href="https://t.co/b0dDlZznvn">pic.twitter.com/b0dDlZznvn</a>
— Deepanshu (@Deepanshu929) <a href="https://twitter.com/Deepanshu929/status/1319572652093132803?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 23, 2020</a></blockquote>
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116k infants d!ed in India within a month of their birth during the year 2019. That's another thing India tops in. 
 
Filthy air is only called filthy air. 
 
Since Doland said it out hope that hurts at the right places.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FilthyIndia?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#FilthyIndia</a> <a href="https://t.co/vaPJr6HnoC">pic.twitter.com/vaPJr6HnoC</a>
— Beeno🌼💖 Tesla's Coil⚡ (@RebelGeek1111) <a href="https://twitter.com/RebelGeek1111/status/1319546619809964033?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 23, 2020</a></blockquote>
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This is India!! 
Even after 7 decades, 90 % still does not have access to toileting facilities🤧🤧🤧<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FilthyIndia?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#FilthyIndia</a> <a href="https://t.co/kffPj5SbND">pic.twitter.com/kffPj5SbND</a>
— Dr Fatima K - PTI (FOLLOW 4 ANY MEDICAL ADVICE ) (@p4pakipower) <a href="https://twitter.com/p4pakipower/status/1319563560268320769?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 23, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Delhi's Air Quality Index is 567 
 
Washington DC's Air Quality Index is 25 
 
Pic 1: Delhi 
Pic 2: Washington DC 
 
And, we are to blame. We need to change our ways. 
 
Don't give "pollution less" gyaan only on Diwali. Follow that lifestyle all through the year.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FilthyIndia?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#FilthyIndia</a> <a href="https://t.co/4birxOo5QM">pic.twitter.com/4birxOo5QM</a>
— Vaidehi 🇮🇳 🕉️ (@dharmicverangna) <a href="https://twitter.com/dharmicverangna/status/1319537322291990530?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 23, 2020</a></blockquote>
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We don't mind keeping our country filthy, we just don't like being called that by someone else. 
 
If you don't want to be called filthy, clean up!! 
Remember you needed a PM to talk from the Red Fort on 15th August 2014 to tell you we needed toilets.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FilthyIndia?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#FilthyIndia</a>
— Just B (@JustPunforfun) <a href="https://twitter.com/JustPunforfun/status/1319541157152473088?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 23, 2020</a></blockquote>
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At the first presidential debate, Trump also spoke critically of India, questioning its coronavirus data amid criticism of his handling of the pandemic.

Trump made the remarks despite having pulled the United States out of the Paris climate accord, which aims to cap global warming "well below" two degrees Celsius.

The planet has already been warmed by around one degree Celsius (34 degrees Fahrenheit) from pre-industrial levels, enough to boost the intensity of deadly heat waves, droughts and tropical storms.

Trump's remarks come days before Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary Mark Esper visit New Delhi for talks on building the growing US-India partnership.

US President Donald Trump on Thursday described the air in India as "filthy" as he denounced Democratic rival Joe Biden's plans to tackle climate change. At their second and final presidential debate, Trump renewed his criticism that action on climate change was unfair to the United States.

US President Donald Trump on Thursday described the air in India as "filthy" as he denounced Democratic rival Joe Biden's plans to tackle climate change. At their second and final presidential debate, Trump renewed his criticism that action on climate change was unfair to the United States. "Look at China, how filthy it is. Look at Russia, look at India -- it's filthy. The air is filthy," Trump said at the debate in Nashville. This came despite Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi having shared a friendly relationship with the United States. People -- across India and on the social media -- were surprised, some shocked to see such blatant statements from the American president. They took to Twitter to express the dismay and surprise. A few even said they agreed with Trump. #FilthyIndia is Trending @narendramodi ur friend @realDonaldTrump is not taking ur friendship seriously pic.twitter.com/b0dDlZznvn — Deepanshu (@Deepanshu929) October 23, 2020 × 116k infants d!ed in India within a month of their birth during the year 2019. That's another thing India tops in. Filthy air is only called filthy air. Since Doland said it out hope that hurts at the right places.#FilthyIndia pic.twitter.com/vaPJr6HnoC — Beeno🌼💖 Tesla's Coil⚡ (@RebelGeek1111) October 23, 2020 × This is India!! Even after 7 decades, 90 % still does not have access to toileting facilities🤧🤧🤧#FilthyIndia pic.twitter.com/kffPj5SbND — Dr Fatima K - PTI (FOLLOW 4 ANY MEDICAL ADVICE ) (@p4pakipower) October 23, 2020 × Delhi's Air Quality Index is 567 Washington DC's Air Quality Index is 25 Pic 1: Delhi Pic 2: Washington DC And, we are to blame. We need to change our ways. Don't give "pollution less" gyaan only on Diwali. Follow that lifestyle all through the year.#FilthyIndia pic.twitter.com/4birxOo5QM — Vaidehi 🇮🇳 🕉️ (@dharmicverangna) October 23, 2020 × We don't mind keeping our country filthy, we just don't like being called that by someone else. If you don't want to be called filthy, clean up!! Remember you needed a PM to talk from the Red Fort on 15th August 2014 to tell you we needed toilets.#FilthyIndia — Just B (@JustPunforfun) October 23, 2020 × At the first presidential debate, Trump also spoke critically of India, questioning its coronavirus data amid criticism of his handling of the pandemic. Trump made the remarks despite having pulled the United States out of the Paris climate accord, which aims to cap global warming "well below" two degrees Celsius. The planet has already been warmed by around one degree Celsius (34 degrees Fahrenheit) from pre-industrial levels, enough to boost the intensity of deadly heat waves, droughts and tropical storms. Trump's remarks come days before Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary Mark Esper visit New Delhi for talks on building the growing US-India partnership.

Trump calls India air 'filthy'; social media fills in

Only 11 days are left for the presidential election in the United States and President <a href="https://www.wionews.com/topics/donald-trump">Donald Trump </a>and Democratic nominee <a href="https://www.wionews.com/topics/joe-biden">Joe Biden</a> will give one of the final and major pushes to the presidency bid when they will clash for the last presidential debate late on Thursday.

The 90-minute US election final debate will be held at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. Let's take a look at what all can be expected in this final US presidential debate.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/barack-obama-enters-the-field-blasts-donald-trump-in-first-us-election-rally-for-joe-biden-337016">Barack Obama enters the field, blasts Donald Trump in first US election rally for Joe Biden</a>

<h2>Mute button</h2>

After many interruptions in the first US election debate, the final debate will feature the mute button, in which one candidate will be muted when the other one is speaking in the allotted two-minute period when questions will be asked by the moderator.&nbsp;

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/iran-russia-obtained-voter-registration-information-says-us-intelligence-director-john-ratcliffe-337000">Iran, Russia obtained voter registration information, says US intelligence director John Ratcliffe</a> 
&nbsp;

<h2>Pressure on host?</h2>

After the first presidential debate, moderator Chris Wallace came under a lot of criticism for unable to control the debate, with interruptions happening during the entire debate. This time's moderator Kristen Welker is already being attacked by Trump for being "terrible" and "unfair". How will Welker handle both the candidates, only time will tell.

<h2>Trump's attack and Biden's patience</h2>

In the first face-off, Trump constantly pushed and interrupted Biden, which forced the latter calling the US president "shut up". It has to be seen whether Trump will again follow a similar approach to get under the skin of Biden and if Biden can able to counter him or not.&nbsp;

Only 11 days are left for the presidential election in the United States and President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden will give one of the final and major pushes to the presidency bid when they will clash for the last presidential debate late on Thursday.

Only 11 days are left for the presidential election in the United States and President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden will give one of the final and major pushes to the presidency bid when they will clash for the last presidential debate late on Thursday. The 90-minute US election final debate will be held at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. Let's take a look at what all can be expected in this final US presidential debate. Also read | Barack Obama enters the field, blasts Donald Trump in first US election rally for Joe Biden Mute button After many interruptions in the first US election debate, the final debate will feature the mute button, in which one candidate will be muted when the other one is speaking in the allotted two-minute period when questions will be asked by the moderator. Also read | Iran, Russia obtained voter registration information, says US intelligence director John Ratcliffe Pressure on host? After the first presidential debate, moderator Chris Wallace came under a lot of criticism for unable to control the debate, with interruptions happening during the entire debate. This time's moderator Kristen Welker is already being attacked by Trump for being "terrible" and "unfair". How will Welker handle both the candidates, only time will tell. Trump's attack and Biden's patience In the first face-off, Trump constantly pushed and interrupted Biden, which forced the latter calling the US president "shut up". It has to be seen whether Trump will again follow a similar approach to get under the skin of Biden and if Biden can able to counter him or not.

US election 2020: What to expect as Donald Trump, Joe Biden gear up for final debate

Donald Trump has said that he will "do plenty" with China if he is re-elected for a second term, as the US president once again went on the offensive against Beijing over the COVID-19 pandemic. 
 
<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/europe-wonders-if-it-can-rely-on-us-again-whoever-wins-337232">Also read | Europe wonders if it can rely on US again, whoever wins</a> 
 
"Well, we're going to do plenty with China. What they did to us is a disgrace," Trump said during a media appearance published by the Sinclair Broadcast Group on Wednesday evening.

"You're sitting there with that mask because of China, OK? It's disgraceful. It's a total disgrace, but you will find out," Trump told the interviewer.

Trump has time and again called COVID-19 the "China Virus", and his administration has urged the World Health Organization and other international bodies to take strong action after China became the first epicentre of the disease at the end of the past year.

Meanwhile, In a fresh step in its confrontation with China, the US has designated operations of six China-based media companies as foreign missions. Such a designation requires the outlets to inform the US State Department of their personnel rosters and real-estate holdings. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that the fresh step was taken to resist communist propaganda. Pompeo also said that the US is going to start a dialogue with the European Union on China.

The United States also said last month it would require senior Chinese diplomats to get State Department approval before visiting U.S. university campuses or holding cultural events with more than 50 people outside mission grounds.

The incumbent president is set to face off against Democrat candidate Joe Biden on November 3.

(With inputs from agencies)

Donald Trump has said that he will "do plenty" with China if he is re-elected for a second term, as the US president once again went on the offensive against Beijing over the COVID-19 pandemic.

Donald Trump has said that he will "do plenty" with China if he is re-elected for a second term, as the US president once again went on the offensive against Beijing over the COVID-19 pandemic. Also read | Europe wonders if it can rely on US again, whoever wins "Well, we're going to do plenty with China. What they did to us is a disgrace," Trump said during a media appearance published by the Sinclair Broadcast Group on Wednesday evening. "You're sitting there with that mask because of China, OK? It's disgraceful. It's a total disgrace, but you will find out," Trump told the interviewer. Trump has time and again called COVID-19 the "China Virus", and his administration has urged the World Health Organization and other international bodies to take strong action after China became the first epicentre of the disease at the end of the past year. Meanwhile, In a fresh step in its confrontation with China, the US has designated operations of six China-based media companies as foreign missions. Such a designation requires the outlets to inform the US State Department of their personnel rosters and real-estate holdings. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that the fresh step was taken to resist communist propaganda. Pompeo also said that the US is going to start a dialogue with the European Union on China. The United States also said last month it would require senior Chinese diplomats to get State Department approval before visiting U.S. university campuses or holding cultural events with more than 50 people outside mission grounds. The incumbent president is set to face off against Democrat candidate Joe Biden on November 3. (With inputs from agencies)

US election 2020: Trump warns of action against China if he is re-elected