| Why is QAnon more obsessed with an imaginary sex-trafficking ring than with Jeffrey Epstein’s real one? Posted: 23 Oct 2020 06:31 PM PDT  Epstein's long history of sexual misconduct, on private islands, in his Florida mansion, aboard yachts and and his private jet, with a who's who of powerful "elites" including former President Bill Clinton (who denies having had a close relationship with Epstein or any knowledge of his crimes), is probably the closest real-world analogue of the imaginary global sex-trafficking ring at the core of the QAnon conspiracy.
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| Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is heavily favored to win her reelection race. Her challenger has still raised $10 million because Republicans are desperate to beat her. Posted: 25 Oct 2020 09:22 AM PDT  "I guarantee you 75% of his contributors don't know anything about him," a Republican strategist told The New York Times.
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| Family of hiker missing for 2 weeks in Mount Rainier pushes for active search Posted: 23 Oct 2020 10:09 PM PDT  Sam Dubal, 33, went missing while on an overnight trip that began Oct. 9. His family is pleading for three more days of searching.
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| Border Patrol agents fatally shoot man in Texas after he backed vehicle into agent, official says Posted: 25 Oct 2020 05:13 PM PDT  Authorities used lethal force after a man backed a vehicle into a Border Patrol agent and a suspect, pinning them against a parked car, an official said.
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| JetBlue bans white man, donning Burger King crown, after racist scene on New York-bound flight Posted: 24 Oct 2020 07:12 AM PDT |
| Erdogan doubles down in backlash against Macron's Islam comments Posted: 25 Oct 2020 02:09 PM PDT  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.
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| Amy Coney Barrett faces recusal questions over links to Shell Posted: 24 Oct 2020 01:15 AM PDT  Barrett previously recused herself from cases because her father worked for Shell but has failed to commit to doing so in futureAmy Coney Barrett is poised to make critical rulings on whether oil and gas companies will be held accountable for the effects of the climate crisis once she is confirmed to the supreme court, even though she has acknowledged in the past that she has a conflict of interest in cases involving Royal Dutch Shell.As an appellate court judge, Barrett – who is expected to be confirmed to the supreme court on Monday – recused herself from cases involving four Shell entities because her father worked at Shell Oil Company as a lawyer.Industry experts and lawyers have expressed concern – and doubt – whether Barrett would recuse herself from the cases again once she joins the court, in part because there are no rules for supreme court justices that would force her to do so.Pressed on the matter in written questions by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democrat from Rhode Island, Barrett would not commit to recusing herself from cases in the future."The question of recusal is a threshold question of law that must be addressed in the context of the facts of each case," she wrote. "As Justice Ginsburg described the process that supreme court justices go through in deciding whether to recuse, it involves reading the statute, reviewing precedents, and consulting with colleagues. As a sitting judge and as a judicial nominee, it would not be appropriate for me to offer an opinion on abstract legal issues or hypotheticals."Barrett has not recused herself in the past from cases involving the oil industry's most powerful lobby group, the American Petroleum Institute, even though her father was an "active member" of the group's subcommittee of exploration and production law as recently as 2016, and twice served as its chairman.Environmentalists have already expressed alarm at Barrett's handling of environment-related questions at her confirmation hearing, in which she refused to accept science that shows humans are dangerously heating the planet and said she could not opine on the issue of climate change because it was a "very contentious matter of public debate". She separately stated that she did not hold "firm views" on climate change.Her views are behind even most mainstream Republicans, many of whom have stopped denying climate change and instead begun to downplay its impacts or suggest that a free market and new technology will be enough to fix the problem.In the very likely event that she is confirmed, Barrett's decision about whether she will recuse herself from cases involving Shell given her conflict will be known relatively soon because the supreme court recently agreed to hear a case in which the city of Baltimore is suing major oil companies, including Shell, for damages related to the climate crisis."Judge Barrett's evasions last week and in responses to our questions for the record may be what Senate Republicans needed to jam this nominee through for their big donors, but that's no good for a court that must be seen as giving every litigant a fair proceeding and impartial ruling," said Whitehouse. "As the Senate rushes headlong to get her confirmation done before the election, we are left to wonder whether she will recuse herself in matters involving Shell subsidiaries, or the American Petroleum Institute, once in a court with no code of ethics; particularly where her evasions on climate change aligned with industry propaganda."At the heart of the Baltimore case – whose outcome will probably influence similar legal challenges in a dozen other lawsuits across the country – is the question of whether cities and states can seek damages through state laws for harms due to the climate crisis, which they blame on the companies.According to Scotusblog, the case before the supreme court is centered on a narrow and technical procedural matter about federal law. But the handling of the case by Barrett will nevertheless be closely watched, in part because another conservative justice, Justice Samuel Alito, recused himself from the case.Of 16 lawsuits from state and local governments who want the courts to hold oil and gas companies accountable for the effects of the climate crisis, 13 name Shell.Jean Su, energy justice director and attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, said if Barrett does not recuse herself on cases involving the company "it is a true reflection of the unraveling of the ethics of that court.""If you now have the supreme judicial branch and judges who completely flout pretty cut and dry ethical rules, you are discrediting the judiciary very heavily," Su said. "It'll be a sign that the highest court in the land is political."Helen Kang, a law professor and director of the Environmental Law and Justice Clinic at Golden Gate University School of Law, said that if Barrett has recused herself previously "unless there has been a change of circumstances, it appears that she should recuse herself".
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| Afghan security forces kill senior al Qaeda leader al-Masri Posted: 24 Oct 2020 12:20 PM PDT  Afghan security forces have killed Abu Muhsin al-Masri, a senior al Qaeda leader who was on the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Most Wanted Terrorists list, Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security (NDS) said in a tweet late on Saturday. The head of the U.S. National Counter-Terrorism Center, Chris Miller, confirmed al-Masri's death in a statement, saying his "removal .. from the battlefield is a major setback to a terrorist organization that is consistently experiencing strategic losses facilitated by the United States and its partners."
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| Singapore Airlines doesn't want to dethrone its original world's longest flight even though the new one is 3 miles longer – here's how the two will differ Posted: 25 Oct 2020 05:45 AM PDT  The new Singapore-New York route is one of the few new international routes to launch during the pandemic, but the airline is keeping it low-key.
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| A white woman yelled 'f--- Black Lives Matter' at a Starbucks barista after she told her to wear a mask Posted: 25 Oct 2020 08:03 AM PDT  An unnamed white woman yelled at barista Alex Beckom when she told her she had to put on a mask in Starbucks. A video of the encounter went viral.
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| Indiana student, 20, killed by stray bullet while visiting New York City Posted: 25 Oct 2020 11:59 AM PDT  Indiana University sophomore Ethan Williams had dreamed of a trip to New York City ever since seeing a Spider-Man movie as a child, his family said.
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| Ethiopia blasts Trump remark that Egypt will 'blow up' dam Posted: 24 Oct 2020 10:10 AM PDT 
Ethiopia on Saturday denounced "belligerent threats" by President Trump over the huge dam it has nearly completed on the Blue Nile River. This comes a day after Trump said downstream Egypt will "blow up" the project it has called an existential threat.
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| 'An incredibly tragic day for Ocala': Florida police chief Greg Graham killed in plane crash Posted: 25 Oct 2020 03:15 PM PDT  The death of Greg Graham, who became Ocala's 30th police chief in January 2012, stunned the central Florida city northwest of Orlando.
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| Spain declares state of emergency over coronavirus as Italy closes cinemas, theatres and gyms Posted: 25 Oct 2020 09:16 AM PDT  Pedro Sánchez, the prime minister of Spain, declared a state of emergency and imposed a nationwide curfew on Sunday, as Italy closed down event halls and Bulgaria's leader tested positive for coronavirus. Under Spain's state of emergency, which was due to come into force on Sunday, citizens must remain inside their homes between 11pm and 6am unless they have a valid reason, such as work or other essential activities. Regional governments have been allowed to adjust the timing of the start and end of the curfew by one hour, while the Canary Islands have been exempted from the curfew altogether. After Spain recorded 110,000 new cases last week, passing a milestone of one million cases, Mr Sánchez said the situation was "extreme", and urged citizens to "stay at home wherever possible". The state of emergency also includes a "rule-of-six" limit on social gatherings, and allows regional governments to seal their borders against non-essential entry or exit, as well as place districts or cities under perimeter lockdowns. Mr Sánchez said he wants parliament to approve the state of emergency for six months, until 9 May. "Experts estimate that is the time we need to overcome the most destructive phase of the pandemic. The cost in terms of lives must be as low as possible," he said. It came as Italy announced it would close cinemas, theatres, gyms and swimming pools, while restaurants and bars were told to shut at 6pm, in a fresh round of tough restrictions. The new rules, which come into force on Monday, were imposed after 20,000 cases of coronavirus were recorded on Saturday. Giuseppe Conte, the Italian prime minister, has stopped short of a full nationwide lockdown as the country's economy was severely damaged by a ten-week lockdown imposed earlier in the pandemic. "Our aim is to protect health and the economy," Mr Conte said.
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| Reid says Biden should end Senate filibuster after 3 weeks Posted: 24 Oct 2020 06:06 AM PDT  Former Senate leader Harry Reid says if Democrats win the presidency and the Senate, Joe Biden should take "no more than three weeks" to test bipartisanship before ending the filibuster so Democrats can overcome what they call Republican obstruction and pass bills. The retired Nevada Democrat told The Associated Press in an interview that he understands Biden wants to work with Republicans, as the former vice president and Delaware senator has in the past.
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| Will Trump blame McConnell for blocking a new stimulus? Posted: 24 Oct 2020 06:00 AM PDT  The GOP federal response to the pandemic could shift or fragment their base going forward
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| Gottlieb warns of "dangerous tipping point" as virus spread accelerates Posted: 25 Oct 2020 09:29 AM PDT  "These cases are going to continue to build. There's really no backstop here," Gottlieb said on "Face the Nation."
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| Nigeria protests: Police chief deploys 'all resources' amid street violence Posted: 25 Oct 2020 06:43 AM PDT  The shooting of unarmed protesters this week sparked the worst street violence in two decades.
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| Kuwait retail co-ops remove French products over Prophet cartoon Posted: 25 Oct 2020 08:06 AM PDT  Kuwait's retail co-ops have pulled French products in boycott over the use of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad in a French school class on freedom of expression whose teacher was then beheaded by a Chechen teenager. France's foreign affairs ministry said there had been calls to boycott French products, notably food products, in several Middle Eastern countries as well as calls for demonstrations against France over the cartoons.
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| The operator of this Boeing 767 private jet says the plane has an air system so advanced it kills pathogens so passengers don't need to wear a mask onboard – see inside Posted: 25 Oct 2020 05:16 AM PDT  This luxury flying apartment costs an hour what a New York City studio costs for an entire year. The difference being this one kills COVID in the air.
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| Hotels are trying to attract families with gourmet cooking classes, cabana classrooms, and yoga breaks as kids continue with remote schooling across the US Posted: 25 Oct 2020 05:53 AM PDT  Hotels are beckoning families with "schoolcation" packages that tap into their newfound flexibility to travel during the school year.
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| Police chief: Illinois officer who shot Black couple in car fired Posted: 24 Oct 2020 09:00 AM PDT 
A police officer who shot a Black couple inside a vehicle — killing a 19-year-old man and wounding his girlfriend — has been fired, the police chief announced Friday.
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| Women donors emerge as new power brokers in 2020 election as Democrats look to flip the Senate Posted: 25 Oct 2020 05:22 PM PDT  Record-high campaign contributions from women helped Democrats take the House in 2018 and now women have their sights set on the Senate.
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| Black contractor braves threats in removing Richmond statues Posted: 25 Oct 2020 06:07 AM PDT  Devon Henry paced in nervous anticipation, because this was a project like nothing he'd ever done. An accomplished Black businessman, Henry took on a job the city says others were unwilling to do: lead contractor for the now-completed removal of 14 pieces of Confederate statuary that dotted Virginia's capital city. "You did it, man," said Rodney Henry.
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| More mass testing in China after 137 virus cases in Xinjiang Posted: 25 Oct 2020 09:40 AM PDT  Chinese officials were racing Sunday to smother a fresh coronavirus outbreak in the country's far northwest after 137 new infections were discovered.
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| Tanks sent to tourist island of Zanzibar as Tanzania's strongman leader eyes indefinite rule Posted: 24 Oct 2020 05:11 AM PDT  Zanzibar is best known by holidaymakers for its sandy white beaches and winding medieval passageways. But where once there were tourists, tanks and soldiers now line the cobbled streets in the iconic district of Stone Town as the East African nation lurches towards a general election on Wednesday that could spell the end of what's left of democracy on the mainland of Tanzania. The archipelago has been a hotbed of government opposition ever since it joined the adjacent territory of Tanganyika in 1964, creating Tanzania. Tanzania's strongman John Magufuli, who is running for national re-election on Wednesday, is the greatest barrier to free and fair elections that Zanzibar has ever faced, opposition leaders claim. According to his critics, he is leading Tanzania away from one of Africa's most inclusive and peaceful democracies towards a totalitarian state. Opponents accuse him of shooting opposition figures, muzzling the independent press and replacing the judiciary with government stooges. His announcement in June that Tanzania is "Covid-19 free" and a goat, pawpaw and papaya had tested positive for the virus raised eyebrows around the world.
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| UK 'SBS' special forces storm tanker and detain stowaways in Channel Posted: 25 Oct 2020 07:50 AM PDT  Troops from the Special Boat Service, a navy special forces unit whose headquarters in just a few miles away from where the vessel began showing signs of distress, boarded the Nave Andromeda near the Isle of Wight off southern England. Defence Secretary Ben Wallace and Home Secretary Priti Patel authorised the armed forces to board the ship "to safeguard life and secure a ship that was subject to suspected hijacking", the defence ministry said. The defence ministry declined to confirm or deny the involvement of the SBS - in line with British government policy of not commenting on special forces operations.
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| 'Murder hornet': First nest found in US eradicated with vacuum hose Posted: 25 Oct 2020 07:39 AM PDT  The Asian giant hornets can wipe out a colony of honeybees in hours.
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| Hurricane force gusts prompt extremely critical fire risk in California Posted: 24 Oct 2020 07:28 PM PDT  Meanwhile, record shattering cold brings heavy snow and wind chills below zero to Colorado.
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| Texas boy, 3, dies after accidentally shooting himself in the chest at birthday party Posted: 25 Oct 2020 07:18 AM PDT  The Montgomery County Sheriff's Office said its "thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of this tragic accident."
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| Pelosi says she would seek another term as House Speaker if Democrats keep majority after election Posted: 25 Oct 2020 02:13 PM PDT  "You keep thinking that Mr. President, you just keep on thinking that," Pelosi said about Trump's claims that Republicans will take back the House.
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| Nigeria's police order massive mobilization after unrest Posted: 24 Oct 2020 11:46 AM PDT  Nigeria's top police official on Saturday ordered the immediate mobilization of all officers to "reclaim the public space from criminal elements masquerading as protesters" after days of unrest and demonstrations over police abuses that left at least 69 people dead. The police order could further heighten tensions in Africa's most populous country after some of its worst turmoil in years. Nigeria's inspector general of police, M.A. Adamu, ordered colleagues to "dominate the public space" while announcing that enough is enough, a statement said.
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| Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Kun-hee dies at 78 Posted: 24 Oct 2020 09:32 PM PDT  Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Kun-hee, who transformed the South Korean firm into a global tech titan, died at the age of 78 on Sunday, the company said.
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| The Electoral College can pick a president who got fewer votes. Here's why and how. Posted: 25 Oct 2020 11:10 AM PDT  The 2020 presidential election again highlights one of the most confusing and controversial parts of the U.S. elections: The Electoral College.
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| Archbishop Pizzaballa appointed Jerusalem Patriarch Posted: 24 Oct 2020 12:05 PM PDT  Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Vatican's apostolic administrator in the Holy Land, has been named as the new Patriarch of Jerusalem by Pope Francis. Pizzaballa, 55, a Franciscan friar, has served as the acting Patriarch for four years and has steered the diocese through a financial crisis and the coronavirus pandemic, when the churches at the birthplace of Christianity were closed throughout its holiest season, Easter. In ordinary years, the Holy Land would be preparing for an influx of pilgrims over Christmas - but the outbreak has dealt a heavy blow to tourism in Bethlehem, Jerusalem and Nazareth, home to some of its most famous churches.
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| British-Australian academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert detained in Iran moved out of desert prison Posted: 25 Oct 2020 06:43 AM PDT  Kylie Moore-Gilbert, the British-Australian academic who has been detained in Iran for the past two years, has been moved from the notorious desert prison of Qarchak to an unknown location. Her move was first reported by the Iranian Association of Human Rights Activists, who said that she was moved, along with all of her belongings, on Saturday. A source close to the case confirmed the move, but did not know any further details. There has been no official word from the Iranian government. Dr Moore-Gilbert, a lecturer in Islamic Studies, was arrested for espionage after attending a conference in Qom in 2018. She was charged in a secret trial and given 10 years imprisonment. Both Dr Moore-Gilbert and the Australian government reject the charges, which they say are politically motivated. Iran's Revolutionary Guards claim that someone she interviewed for a research project flagged her as suspicious so they stopped her from returning to Melbourne. Qarchak prison, in the desert on the eastern outskirts of Tehran, has a reputation for being the most dangerous of the country's women's prisons. Dr Moore-Gilbert had been moved from Evin prison in Tehran to Qarchak in August, which activists at the time believed to be a "punishment". It was not immediately clear where Dr Moore-Gilbert has been taken. Just 11 days prior to her movement she had been transferred to Ward Eight (formerly known as the Mothers' Ward) of Qarchak, alongside at least 15 other political prisoners. While those campaigning for her release see her move as a sign of hope, not knowing where the mystery location she has been sent to or the reason behind the move, gives little to base it on.
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| Inside the Refugee Camp on America's Doorstep Posted: 24 Oct 2020 06:55 AM PDT  MATAMOROS, Mexico -- A butter yellow sun rose over the crowded tent camp across the river from Texas, and a thick heat baked the rotten debris below, a mixture of broken toys, human waste and uneaten food swarming with flies.Clothing and sheets hung from trees and dried stiff after being drenched and muddied in a hurricane the week before.As residents emerged from the zipper-holes of their canvas homes that morning in August, some trudged with buckets in hand toward tanks of water for bathing and washing dishes. Others assembled in front of wash basins with arms full of children's underwear and pajamas. They waited for the first warm meal of the day to arrive, though it often made them sick.The members of this displaced community requested refuge in the United States but were sent back into Mexico and told to wait. They came there after unique tragedies: violent assaults, oppressive extortions, murdered loved ones. They are bound together by the one thing they share in common -- having nowhere else to go."Sometimes I feel like I can't hold on anymore," said Jaqueline Salgado, who fled to the camp from southern Mexico, sitting outside her tent on a bucket as her children played in the dirt. "But when I remember everything I've been through, and how it was worse, I come back to the conclusion that I have to wait."Salgado is one of about 600 people stranded in a place that many Americans might have thought would never exist. It is effectively a refugee camp on the doorstep of the United States, one of several that have sprung up along the border for the first time in the country's history.After first cropping up in 2018, the encampment across the border from Brownsville, Texas, exploded to nearly 3,000 people the following year under a policy that has required at least 60,000 asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico for the entirety of their legal cases, which can take years.Those who have not given up and returned home or had the means to move into shelters or apartments while they wait have been stuck outside ever since in this camp, or others like it that are now strung along the southwest border.Many have been living in fraying tents for more than a year.The Trump administration has said the "remain in Mexico" policy was essential to end exploitation of American immigration laws and alleviate overcrowding at Border Patrol facilities after nearly 2 million migrants crossed into the United States between 2017 and 2019.The Mexican authorities have blamed the U.S. government for the situation. But they have also declined to designate the outdoor areas as official refugee camps in collaboration with the United Nations, which could have provided infrastructure for housing and sanitation."It has been the first time we have been in this situation," Shant Dermegerditchian, director of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees' office in Monterrey. "And we certainly don't support this."The U.S. Supreme Court agreed this week to review the policy after it was successfully challenged in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The case will not be resolved until after the election, so those living in the camp have months of waiting ahead, if not longer.The camp drew attention during Thursday night's presidential debate, when former Vice President Joe Biden noted, "This is the first president in the history of the United States of America that anybody seeking asylum has to do it in another country," he said. "They're sitting in squalor on the other side of the river."The arrival of the coronavirus has made things much worse. Though only a few cases broke out at the camp, most of the American aid workers who entered regularly to distribute supplies stopped coming, hoping to avoid transporting the virus.The Gulf Cartel, which traffics drugs across the border and is as powerful a force as local law enforcement, moved in to fill the void.The gang charges tolls to camp residents who decide to swim across the river on their own and sometimes kidnaps them for ransom. Beatings and disappearances have also become more common -- sometimes to protect women or children who are being abused, but other times because camp residents have violated the gang's rules about when and where they are permitted to roam outside their tents.Nine bodies have washed ashore on the banks of the Rio Grande near the camp in the last two months; the Mexican authorities said most of the deaths were a result of a rise in gang activity during the pandemic."I haven't done anything, I haven't stolen anything, and still I have to keep escaping. Why?" Salgado said that day in August.She said she and her children were on the run from her abusive husband, who drank excessively and would beat them when he was upset, and because her brother had been kidnapped and killed. Just then, her 11-year-old son, Alexander, who seemed to have only vaguely been paying attention, put down his toys and started to heave."He is constantly nervous," his mother said. "Every time we fought, his anxiety would make him sick and he would end up vomiting."Most children in the camp have not attended formal schooling since they left home. Parents agonize over whether they will be able to make up for the lost time. Some have become worried enough to launch their children across the river on the backs of smugglers, sending them alone on the last leg of their dangerous journey to the United States.Those who cannot bear to make such a decision are often tormented by second-guessing."I was scared I would never see him again because he's all I have," said Carmen Vargas, clinging to the arm of her 13-year-old son, Cristopher, who has a mop of curly brown hair and is tall for his age. "But my son needs to go to school. He's only 13 years old, and practically he has lost two years already."Cristopher teared up listening to his mother describe the life they had left behind. She pulled out identification cards showing that she had been a municipal police officer in Honduras, but said her success became a liability when she put a powerful drug cartel member in jail in 2018. Within hours, the cartel announced a hit on Vargas. She and Cristopher fled, leaving behind the ornate wooden furniture she had saved up to buy and a refrigerator full of food.With cupped palms, Vargas caught beads of sweat that dripped down her forehead as she spoke. She apologized for the stench; just outside her tent, insects crawled around a pile of feces that had washed up when the river flooded. "You have to withstand everything here: sun, water, cold, heat, we have it all."The camp residents are chronically sick with flulike viruses and stomach bugs that wend endlessly through the tents and with respiratory problems aggravated by the dusty air. Their skin is pockmarked from the throngs of mosquitoes that overwhelm the camp after it rains.Most acknowledge that life on the other side of the border would hardly be charmed -- especially if they lost their asylum cases and had to live in the shadows."Without papers, is it still better to be in the U.S. rather than here? Yes, it's a thousand times better," said Lucia Gomez, from Guerrero, Mexico, as she picked up clothing and toys that had been scattered outside their tent by hurricane winds. "They might find you, detain you and deport you," she said. "But if you manage to avoid them, you will be able to put food on the table."In her arms, she held her youngest child, an 8-month-old boy named Yahir, whose back was covered in a bumpy heat rash. Her son William, 16, plopped cherries into his mouth from a plate that was covered in flies.Gomez said her family had made a run for the camp from southern Mexico after their home was ransacked and her husband and father-in-law were shot to death. "A man came in and shouted, 'Put your hands up!'" her 8-year-old son Johan chimed in, holding his arms up as if he were holding an imaginary gun."That is why we wait," she said. "We try to get through this unworthy life. And we try to resist for our children's sake."Volunteer groups bought the laundry basins and water tanks, as well as hand-washing stations and a row of concrete showers that, after months of laying dry in the middle of the camp, were recently connected to a water source.But their efforts have often felt futile. Since the camp appeared, the invisible wall of policies blocking its inhabitants from being allowed into the United States has only grown taller and more fortified.Some have found ways to improvise a modicum of comfort. Antonia Maldonado, 41, from Honduras, stood in a kitchen she had cobbled together under tattered blue tarps suspended from trees. She placed raw chicken onto a grate over an open flame, using a scavenged piece of wood resting on two stacks of upside-down buckets as a countertop.She said she had been looking toward the election for hope that a new administration might ease some of the restrictions put into place by President Donald Trump."Not a leaf gets into that country without his permission," Maldonado said, adding, "I just want to live with dignity. I'm not asking for riches."Some parents pinch pesos to buy decorations and treats from supermarket reject bins for their children's birthdays. But many walk around the camp with bloodshot eyes, constantly on the brink of tears, or in a zombielike state, as if they have shut down emotionally.When Rodrigo Castro de la Parra arrived in Matamoros, he alternated between emotional extremes. In the span of a year, he had gone from being a shy high school student who liked to stay up late at night and draw flowers in his notebook to the head of his entire family. That was after the 18th Street Gang, the most brutal and powerful gang in Guatemala, murdered his mother and sister -- signaling a grudge that meant he and the rest of his relatives could be next on its kill list."I can't sleep," he said one afternoon, sitting outside the tents where he lived with his wife, daughter, grandmother, orphaned niece and his 16-year-old-sister, who had given birth after arriving at the camp. "Sometimes I feel hysterical." He said he worried that someone else in his family could be killed.But only two weeks later, it was Castro de la Parra's body that washed out of the river at one edge of the camp. His death was a mystery. The police investigated it as a possible homicide but ultimately determined that he had drowned.His wife, Cinthia, was still in shock when she took a bus back to Guatemala City for the repatriation of her husband's body. She also hoped to replace her travel documents that had been soaked in his pants when he died.She would need them when she went back with their 2-year-old to try again.This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company
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| 'Not just numbers': The women disappearing in Peru Posted: 24 Oct 2020 04:17 PM PDT  Thousands of women go missing in Peru every year and many are never found.
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| CNN's Jake Tapper presses White House chief of staff after new round of coronavirus cases among top officials Posted: 25 Oct 2020 08:20 AM PDT 
CNN's Jake Tapper grilled White House chief of staff Mark Meadows after it was revealed that top aides to Vice President Pence tested positive for COVID-19. Under CDC guidelines, this development would call for Pence, who has been in close contact with them, to self-isolate. But Pence is still hitting the campaign trail.
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| 'Toxic': CDC staffers say morale inside the agency has plummeted during the pandemic Posted: 25 Oct 2020 03:00 AM PDT  One CDC staffer said a Trump victory in November could be a "tipping point" for a mass exodus of employees.
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| Foreign students show less zeal for US since Trump took over Posted: 25 Oct 2020 08:13 AM PDT  On a recruiting trip to India's tech hub of Bangalore, Alan Cramb, the president of a reputable Chicago university, answered questions not just about dorms or tuition but also American work visas. The session with parents fell in the chaotic first months of Donald Trump's presidency. After an inaugural address proclaiming "America first," two travel bans, a suspended refugee program and hints at restricting skilled worker visas widely used by Indians, parents doubted their children's futures in the U.S.
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| Nigeria clashes trigger global movement against police brutality Posted: 24 Oct 2020 12:36 PM PDT  More than two weeks ago, tens of thousands of Nigerians began demanding the disbanding of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, a controversial police unit known as SARS.
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| Pakistan's PM Khan accuses Macron of 'attacking Islam' Posted: 25 Oct 2020 11:30 AM PDT  Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan accused French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday of "attacking Islam", after the European leader criticised Islamists and defended the publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed.
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| Bombardier's new $9.9 million private jet that has its own private office and near-cross-country range just entered service – see inside the Learjet 75 Liberty Posted: 24 Oct 2020 05:21 AM PDT  Bombardier designed the Learjet 75 Liberty to specifically compete against the best aircraft from Cessna and Embraer in price and performance.
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