TOP TECH NEWS: November 2020

NEW YORK — Gov. Andrew Cuomo repeated his threat to sue the Trump administration as he invoked Martin Luther King, Jr. during Sunday remarks about the COVID outbreak at historic Riverside Church in Manhattan. "The Rev. Dr. King, who spoke in this magnificent church, said of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health is the most shocking and the most inhumane because it often results in ...

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SpaceX says 'all systems are go' to launch NASA's longest, most ambitious astronaut mission yet on Sunday night

NASA this week certified SpaceX's rocket and spaceship. Weather permitting, the company will launch its Crew-1 astronaut mission at 7:27 p.m. ET.

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How the Armenian Genocide’s Legacy Explains a Conflict on Pause

For Armenians around the world, the recent one-sided peace deal to end the conflict involving the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh must be seen through the lens of history. And that history is stitched together by widespread persecution and mass suffering over hundreds of years. It is a history that includes the first genocide of the 20th century, when more than 1.5 million Armenians were systematically exterminated by the Ottoman Turks, an event Turkey still denies to this day. Framing today’s conflict over land gravely misses the point.Armenians see these latest acts of aggression by Turkey vis-à-vis Azerbaijan as a continuation of genocide and a threat to their very existence. In some ways, history is repeating itself. Regardless, these events further underscore why recognition of the Armenian genocide and the war over Nagorno-Karabakh are not mutually exclusive.To fully understand why this decades-old conflict suddenly reignited, one must examine the rise of authoritarianism in Turkey under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. During his rule, Erdogan has sought to increase Turkey’s regional influence and on many occasions has glowingly talked about resurrecting the Ottoman Empire, all while styling himself as a modern-day sultan.During the Trump administration, Erdogan has tried to stretch that influence from the Aegean Sea to the South Caucasus. It is one of the reasons that Turkey has been a staunch supporter of Azerbaijan in the latter nation’s efforts to retake Nagorno-Karabakh. With the two nations bound by strong cultural, ethnic, and historic ties, Turkey has vowed to help Azerbaijan on the battlefield or at the negotiating table. However, Erdogan’s belligerent and hostile behavior has only reminded Armenians of their terrible past.Since the conflict erupted last month, Turkey has armed and sent Syrian mercenaries, including Islamic terrorists, into the region to help Azerbaijan fight Armenians where there have been confirmed reports of war crimes and atrocities. We’ve seen this before. A hundred years ago, Ottoman Turks enlisted the help of Kurds, who participated in massacres of Armenians and played a vital role in the Armenian genocide. It is as if Erdogan has turned to the Ottoman Empire’s playbook.There’s no denying Turkey’s role in fueling the fire in Nagorno-Karabakh through its reckless actions and rhetoric. But Ankara’s ongoing campaign to deny the Armenian genocide has also helped it there. Denial has helped establish a level of insouciance from countries such as the United States, Great Britain, and Israel, thereby allowing Turkey to continue to act with impunity. Thus it can, for example, provide Azerbaijan with drones that are indiscriminately killing innocent civilians and destroying cultural centers and churches that have stood since long before Azerbaijan became a country.For far too long, the West has turned a blind eye to Turkey’s egregious behavior. There is a reason that more journalists sit in Turkish prisons than anywhere else in the world, and that Ankara regularly tops the annual lists of human-rights violations. Turkey’s considerable success in refusing to acknowledge its historical role in the Armenian genocide makes Ankara today believe that it can do what it wants without consequences. It is why Erdogan felt compelled to challenge the United States to impose sanctions on his country for its involvement over Nagorno-Karabakh and launched a personal attack on French president Emmanuel Macron.These recent actions by Erdogan did not happen overnight. Ankara has been trying to shape U.S. foreign policy for years concerning Turkey and the Armenian genocide. As part of an effort to sow doubt about the veracity of the Armenian genocide, Turkey has embarked on a years-long campaign to block any U.S. legislation that formally acknowledges it. For the most part, Turkey has successfully used the cover of NATO and realpolitik to convince lawmakers that recognizing the Armenian genocide is not in the political interests of the United States. When Congress finally passed a nonbinding resolution last year that formally affirmed recognition, Ankara officially responded by calling the bill political theater. There were even multiple reports that President Trump tried to thwart the resolution on the Senate floor to appease Erdogan.It should not surprise us, then, when we see Turkey’s wanton disrespect for the rule of law and aggressive behavior in its actions in Nagorno-Karabakh. In many ways, we have allowed it to happen, and have even encouraged it. We have only ourselves to blame.It is often said that those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. It is also often said that denial is the last stage of genocide. That is why recognition of the Armenian genocide goes hand in hand with a real resolution of the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh. Armenians know all too well what happens when this type of aggression goes unchecked. Until Turkey comes to terms with its past, we can expect Ankara to continue its quixotic quest to revive the Ottoman Empire.

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'You want a Prime Minister's spouse who's interested rather than doesn't care'

As a former Tory communications director and ministerial aide, Carrie Symonds has both strong views on her party, together with the powerful network that comes from a decade working at the heart of the Conservatives. This weekend, a series of toxic claims and counterclaims about the role of the Prime Minister's fiancee in the departure of two of Boris Johnson's most senior aides have raised questions about the influence that Ms Symonds's views (and friends) have on the workings of No 10 Downing Street. Just days ago, Dominic Cummings (see below), Mr Johnson's chief aide, and Lee Cain, his communications director, were ousted from No 10 after the Prime Minister heard claims that he and Ms Symonds had been the subject of hostile briefings. Their departure came after a major row over the appointment of Allegra Stratton, a longstanding acquaintance of Ms Symonds, as the Prime Minister's new chief spokesman, despite the firm advice of Mr Cain. Ms Symonds went on to insist that Mr Johnson should not appoint Mr Cain as chief of staff, with sources claiming that she was supported by figures such as Munira Mirza, the head of the Prime Minister's policy unit. Ms Mirza has told friends that the claims about her involvement are untrue. This weekend, senior sources said that Ms Symonds's influence on Mr Johnson's work as Prime Minister had appeared to grow steadily since the Prime Minister's hospitalisation with Covid-19 in April. However, a senior insider claimed that Ms Symonds appeared "determined" to play a significant role in the workings of the Government, "and that’s the heart of the problem." The source said she clearly had strong views about "wholesale change at No 10", adding that the former Tory communications director is perceived as "wanting to run the Government by WhatsApp from the flat." Another source said Ms Symonds used the No 11 flat "as a sort of private office". The flat above No 11 Downing Street that Ms Symonds shares with Mr Johnson and their baby Wilfred has become the centre of intrigue for No 10 staff who have, since last summer, observed a steady stream of familiar faces paying social visits to the Prime Minister's fiancee, while the official cogs of government turn downstairs.

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Booming population helped Dems in Georgia. Mississippi's 'brain drain' is keeping it red.

Political experts say Mississippi won't see nail-biter elections, especially at the nation level, anytime soon — thanks in part to stalled population growth.

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Column: The Georgia Senate runoffs could make all the difference. But is electing a Democrat possible?

As money comes pouring in from Hollywood, Silicon Valley and Wall Street, and election ads saturate the state, will will there be a backlash from Georgia voters?

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Erdogan calls for Cyprus to be permanently split in two at controversial picnic in no-man's land

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Sunday he favours a permanent division of Cyprus into two states. The comments were made during a visit to the breakaway Turkish-held north of the island, decried as a “provocation” by the internationally-recognised Greek-speaking south. It marks a further setback to hopes for an eventual reunification of the Mediterranean island which is split between EU member the Republic of Cyprus, which controls the island's southern two thirds, and the north occupied by Turkey since 1974. “There are two peoples and two separate states in Cyprus,” said Mr Erdogan. “There must be talks for a solution on the basis of two separate states.” During his visit, Turkish jets left vapour trails in the sky in the shape of the star and crescent of the Turkish flag - mirroring a huge flag painted decades ago on a rocky mountainside in the north. Mr Erdogan's visit to the Turkish-held statelet recognised only by Ankara comes amid heightened tensions on the island and in the Eastern Mediterranean and was condemned as a “provocation without precedent” by the Republic of Cyprus.

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The Dakotas are ‘as bad as it gets anywhere in the world’ for Covid-19 as governor finally mandates masks

The states had largely dodged big outbreaks during the spring and summer

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Rebekah Mercer is funding Parler, the social-media app touted by Republican politicians and pundits that conservatives are flocking to

Mercer, who has funded conservative causes, said she and Parler CEO John Matze founded the platform "to provide a neutral platform for free speech."

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Big Tech and Big Law dominate Biden transition teams, tempering progressive hopes

Obama-era centrism prevails in Joe Biden's transition teams. That has some progressives worried that Biden represents nothing more than a return to normal, at a time when many of them believe the nation is ready to embrace policy ideas well to the left of center.

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Muslim activist says American Airlines wrongfully singled her out after she was arrested

Amani Al-Khatahtbeh reportedly got into a dispute with a white man which later led to the airline contacting the policeA Muslim woman who was arrested on an American Airlines plane on Saturday before its departure from New Jersey said that she was wrongfully singled out following a dispute with a white man traveling in first class.Amani Al-Khatahtbeh, an activist and blogger, described alleged details about the dispute in a Twitter thread about an hour before her apparent arrest, saying it began at a Transportation Security Administration checkpoint in Newark Liberty international airport.“I had the craziest experience in TSA this morning. An entitled white man behind me insisted on cutting me in line because I was ‘still taking my shoes off’,” Al-Khatahtbeh tweeted at 9.18am, before her Charlotte, North Carolina-bound flight. “When I said he could wait like everyone else, he started going off about how he’s ‘pre check’ and ‘first class’.”At 10.07, she tweeted: “Guys he made a complaint about me and @AmericanAir is attempting to remove me from the flight.” She then posted a 15-minute video to Facebook from the airplane in which a police officer eventually tells her she is under arrest.“Literally they called the cops on me,” she said in the video. “This man in first class made a complaint about me because he cut me in line at TSA and now they literally have police coming to escort me off this flight right now, for no reason, literally taking this man’s word over mine.“He made me feel uncomfortable, this man sitting in first class. I’m a veiled Muslim woman on this flight and they’re taking his word for it.”She claimed that she was being removed while the man wasn’t.Authorities confirmed that an incident had taken place and officials said she had since been released.The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said: “This morning, the port authority police department received a request from American Airlines personnel at Newark Liberty international airport, who indicated the airline had directed a passenger to deplane from a flight, and that police assistance was needed. Police responded, and briefly took the individual into custody; she has been released. The port authority’s independent inspector general has begun an investigation.”The port authority said she was charged with delay of transportation and trespass.American Airlines said: “We are aware of an incident that took place during boarding of flight 2029 at Newark Liberty international airport. We are concerned by these allegations and our team is working to understand what occurred.”The airline said that the flight did take off, delayed by about an hour. The airline said she was not on the flight. It is unclear whether the man was taken off the plane.TSA said the incident “is not a TSA matter”.“No complaint was made by any passengers at the checkpoint. If there was a customer service issue on board the aircraft, that is an airline matter. In situations such as this, TSA has no involvement after a passenger clears the checkpoint and boards a flight,” the agency said.“The man was directed to the TSA PreCheck® lane. The woman was directed to the non-TSA PreCheck lane, so they went in different directions to be screened.“An officer told both passengers to tone down the volume of the conversation,” TSA also said.The Council on American-Islamic Relations released a statement on the incident, with Nihad Awad, the Cair national executive director, saying: “The airline must immediately explain why it singled out Amani by contacting the police and ejecting her from a flight based on the word of a man who had allegedly harassed her.”“Law enforcement must immediately release Amani from custody and conduct a full and transparent investigation into what happened,” said Selaedin Maksut, Cair-New Jersey executive director, in a statement. “Any investigation must look into the conduct of the unidentified man who allegedly sparked this disturbing incident.”

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Elon Musk says he's positive for COVID-19, and NASA won't let him attend SpaceX's astronaut launch on Sunday

Musk's positive tests couldn't have come at a worse time: SpaceX is set to launch four NASA astronauts into orbit for its Crew-1 mission on Sunday.

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Navajo Nation orders new three-week stay-at-home lockdown

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Coronavirus updates: Dr. Anthony Fauci says spring could bring return to normal; British PM Boris Johnson in self-quarantine; 245K US deaths

Latest coronavirus news: The U.S. is on track to hit 2,000 deaths daily, rural hospitals are being overwhelmed, schools returning to remote learning.

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Al-Qaida's No. 2, Accused in U.S. Embassy Attacks, Is Secretly Killed in Iran

WASHINGTON -- Al-Qaida's second-highest leader, accused of being one of the masterminds of the deadly 1998 attacks on U.S. embassies in Africa, was killed in Iran three months ago, intelligence officials have confirmed.Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah, who went by the nom de guerre Abu Muhammad al-Masri, was gunned down on the streets of Tehran by two assassins on a motorcycle on Aug. 7, the anniversary of the embassy attacks. He was killed along with his daughter, Miriam, the widow of Osama bin Laden's son Hamza bin Laden.The attack was carried out by Israeli operatives at the behest of the United States, according to four of the officials. It is unclear what role if any was played by the United States, which had been tracking the movements of al-Masri and other Qaida operatives in Iran for years.Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York TimesThe killing occurred in such a netherworld of geopolitical intrigue and counterterrorism spycraft that al-Masri's death had been rumored but never confirmed until now. For reasons that are still obscure, al-Qaida has not announced the death of one of its top leaders, Iranian officials covered it up, and no country has publicly claimed responsibility for it.Al-Masri, who was about 58, was one of al-Qaida's founding leaders and was thought to be first in line to lead the organization after its current leader, Ayman al-Zawahri.Long featured on the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorist list, he had been indicted in the United States for crimes related to the bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, which killed 224 people and wounded hundreds. The FBI offered a $10 million reward for information leading to his capture, and as of Friday, his picture was still on the Most Wanted list.That he had been living in Iran was surprising, given that Iran and al-Qaida are bitter enemies. Iran, a Shiite Muslim theocracy, and al-Qaida, a Sunni Muslim jihadi group, have fought each other on the battlefields of Iraq and other places.American intelligence officials say that al-Masri had been in Iran's "custody" since 2003, but that he had been living freely in the Pasdaran district of Tehran, an upscale suburb, since at least 2015.Around 9 on a warm summer night, he was driving his white Renault L90 sedan with his daughter near his home when two gunmen on a motorcycle drew up beside him. Five shots were fired from a pistol fitted with a silencer. Four bullets entered the car through the driver's side and a fifth hit a nearby car.As news of the shooting broke, Iran's official news media identified the victims as Habib Daoud, a Lebanese history professor, and his 27-year-old daughter Maryam. The Lebanese news channel MTV and social media accounts affiliated with Iran's Revolutionary Guard reported that Daoud was a member of Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militant organization in Lebanon.It seemed plausible.The killing came amid a summer of frequent explosions in Iran, mounting tensions with the United States, days after an enormous explosion in the port of Beirut and a week before the U.N. Security Council was to consider extending an arms embargo against Iran. There was speculation that the killing may have been a Western provocation intended to elicit a violent Iranian reaction in advance of the Security Council vote.And the targeted killing by two gunmen on a motorcycle fit the modus operandi of previous Israeli assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists. That Israel would kill an official of Hezbollah, which is committed to fighting Israel, also seemed to make sense, except for the fact that Israel had been consciously avoiding killing Hezbollah operatives so as not to provoke a war.In fact, there was no Habib Daoud.Several Lebanese with close ties to Iran said they had not heard of him or his killing. A search of Lebanese news media found no reports of a Lebanese history professor killed in Iran last summer. And an education researcher with access to lists of all history professors in the country said there was no record of a Habib Daoud.One of the intelligence officials said that Habib Daoud was an alias Iranian officials gave al-Masri and the history teaching job was a cover story. In October, the former leader of Egypt's Islamic Jihad, Nabil Naeem, who called al-Masri a longtime friend, told the Saudi news channel Al-Arabiya the same thing.Iran may have had good reason for wanting to hide the fact that it was harboring an avowed enemy, but it was less clear why Iranian officials would have taken in the Qaida leader to begin with.Some terrorism experts suggested that keeping Qaida officials in Tehran might provide some insurance that the group would not conduct operations inside Iran. American counterterrorism officials believe Iran may have allowed them to stay to run operations against the United States, a common adversary.It would not be the first time that Iran had joined forces with Sunni militants, having supported Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Taliban."Iran uses sectarianism as a cudgel when it suits the regime, but is also willing to overlook the Sunni-Shia divide when it suits Iranian interests," said Colin P. Clarke, a counterterrorism analyst at the Soufan Center.Iran has consistently denied housing the Qaida officials. In 2018, the Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi said that because of Iran's long, porous border with Afghanistan, some Qaida members had entered Iran, but they had been detained and returned to their home countries.However, Western intelligence officials said the Qaida leaders had been kept under house arrest by the Iranian government, which then made at least two deals with al-Qaida to free some of them in 2011 and 2015.Although al-Qaida has been overshadowed in recent years by the rise of the Islamic State, it remains resilient and has active affiliates around the globe, a U.N. counterterrorism report issued in July concluded.Iranian officials did not respond to a request for comment for this article. Spokesmen for the Israeli prime minister's office and the Trump administration's National Security Council declined to comment.Al-Masri was a longtime member of al-Qaida's highly secretive management council, along with Saif al-Adl, who was also held in Iran at one point. The pair, along with Hamza bin Laden, who was being groomed to take over the organization, were part of a group of senior Qaida leaders who sought refuge in Iran after the 9/11 attacks on the United States forced them to flee Afghanistan.According to a highly classified document produced by the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center in 2008, al-Masri was the "most experienced and capable operational planner not in U.S. or allied custody." The document described him as the "former chief of training" who "worked closely" with al-Adl.In Iran, al-Masri mentored Hamza bin Laden, according to terrorism experts. Hamza bin Laden later married al-Masri's daughter, Miriam."The marriage of Hamza bin Ladin was not the only dynastic connection Abu Muhammad forged in captivity," Ali Soufan, a former FBI agent and Qaida expert, wrote in a 2019 article for West Point's Combating Terrorism Center.Another of al-Masri's daughters married Abu al-Khayr al-Masri, no relation, a member of the management council. He was allowed to leave Iran in 2015 and was killed by a U.S. drone strike in Syria in 2017. At the time, he was the second-ranking Qaida official after Zawahri.Hamza and other members of the bin Laden family were freed by Iran in 2011 in exchange for an Iranian diplomat abducted in Pakistan. Last year, the White House said Hamza bin Laden had been killed in a counterterrorism operation in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region.Abu Muhammad al-Masri was born in Al Rarbiya district of northern Egypt in 1963. In his youth, according to affidavits filed in lawsuits in the United States, he was a professional soccer player in Egypt's top league. After the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, he joined the jihadi movement that was coalescing to assist the Afghan forces.After the Soviets withdrew 10 years later, Egypt refused to allow al-Masri to return. He remained in Afghanistan where he eventually joined bin Laden in the group that was later to become the founding nucleus of al-Qaida. He was listed by the group as the seventh of its 170 founders.In the early 1990s, he traveled with bin Laden to Khartoum, Sudan, where he began forming military cells. He also went to Somalia to help the militia loyal to Somali warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid. There he trained Somali guerrillas in the use of shoulder-borne rocket launchers against helicopters, training they used in the 1993 battle of Mogadishu to shoot down a pair of U.S. helicopters in what is now known as the Black Hawk Down attack."When al-Qaida began to carry out terrorist activities in the late 1990s, al-Masri was one of the three of bin Laden's closest associates, serving as head of the organization's operations section," said Yoram Schweitzer, head of the Terrorism Project of the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv. "He brought with him know-how and determination and since then was involved in a large part of the organization's operations, with an emphasis on Africa."Shortly after the Mogadishu battle, bin Laden put al-Masri in charge of planning operations against U.S. targets in Africa. Plotting a dramatic, ambitious operation that, like the 9/11 attacks, would command international attention, they decided to attack two relatively well-defended targets in separate countries simultaneously.Shortly after 10:30 a.m. on Aug. 7, 1998, two trucks packed with explosives pulled up in front of the U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The blasts incinerated people nearby, blew walls off buildings and shattered glass for blocks around.In 2000, al-Masri became one of the nine members of al-Qaida's governing council and headed the organization's military training.He also continued to oversee Africa operations, according to a former Israeli Intelligence official, and ordered the attack in Mombasa, Kenya, in 2002 that killed 13 Kenyans and three Israeli tourists.By 2003, al-Masri was among several Qaida leaders who fled to Iran which, although hostile to the group, seemed out of American reach."They believed the United States would find it very difficult to act against them there," Schweitzer said. "Also because they believed that the chances of the Iranian regime doing an exchange deal with the Americans that would include their heads were very slim."Al-Masri was one of the few high-ranking members of the organization to survive the American hunt for the perpetrators of 9/11 and other attacks. When he and other Qaida leaders fled to Iran, they were initially kept under house arrest.In 2015, Iran announced a deal with al-Qaida in which it released five of the organization's leaders, including al-Masri, in exchange for an Iranian diplomat who had been abducted in Yemen.Abdullah's footprints faded away, but according to one of the intelligence officials, he continued to live in Tehran, under the protection of the Revolutionary Guards and later the Ministry of Intelligence and Security. He was allowed to travel abroad and did, mainly to Afghanistan, Pakistan and Syria.Some American analysts said al-Masri's death would sever connections between one of the last original Qaida leaders and the current generation of Islamist militants, who have grown up after bin Laden's 2011 death."If true, this further cuts links between old-school al-Qaida and the modern jihad," said Nicholas J. Rasmussen, a former director of the National Counterterrorism Center. "It just further contributes to the fragmentation and decentralization of the al-Qaida movement."--TIMELINE1963Abu Muhammad al-Masri was born in northern Egypt, and grew up to play soccer in Egypt's top professional league. After the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, he joined the jihad movement there.1980sAfter the Soviets withdrew, Egypt refused to allow al-Masri to return. He remained in Afghanistan, and eventually joined Osama bin Laden in a group that was later to become the nucleus of al-Qaida.EARLY 1990sAl-Masri traveled with bin Laden to Khartoum, Sudan, where he began forming military cells. He also went to Somalia, where he helped train the fighters who fought U.S. troops in a battle popularly known as the Black Hawk Down attack.1998Al-Masri was one of the masterminds of the deadly attacks on U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.2000Al-Masri became one of the nine members of al-Qaida's governing council and was put in charge of the organization's military training activities.2002While overseeing African operations, he issued orders for the attacks in Mombasa, Kenya, that killed 15 people, according to a former Israeli Intelligence official.2003After the 9/11 attacks, al-Masri was among several Qaida leaders who fled to Iran. They were initially held under house arrest.2015Iran and al-Qaida announced a deal in which Iran released five of the organization's leaders, including al-Masri, from prison in exchange for an Iranian diplomat who had been abducted in Yemen.2020Al-Masri was secretly assassinated in Tehran at the behest of the U.S., officials said. But no one -- Iran, al-Qaida, the U.S. or Israel -- publicly acknowledged the killing.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company

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A secretive Republican group called Amish PAC ended the election cycle with money in its pocket

The PAC is funded in large part by three major GOP donors whose connections to the Amish community are not apparent

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K-pop fans are protesting a pro-Trump rally by flooding the #MillionMAGAMarch hashtag with pictures of pancakes

Shea Depmore urged her Twitter followers to post pictures of pancakes instead of counter-protesting in person at the Million MAGA March.

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Biden's possible India links spark genealogical frenzy

Already bursting with pride at Kamala Harris's ancestry, India has now started digging up potential local roots for US President-elect Joe Biden.

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Pelosi's office backs down. Incoming House member dinner switches to boxed meals after event gets skewered on social media.

Pelosi's chief of staff tweeted "Members-elect are now picking up their boxed meals and departing the Capitol. There is no group dinner."

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Prosecutors play Ahmaud Arbery suspect’s voicemail seeking DA’s help in court

As the case of the shooting of Ahmaud Arbery plays out, more details involving the suspects have come to light. A prosecutor says one of the suspects involved in the fatal shooting of the 25-year-old Black man phoned a district attorney after the late-February incident in southeast Georgia, according to CNN. Jesse Evans, the prosecutor on the case, said Gregory McMichael, 54, called his former boss and Brunswick, Georgia district attorney Jackie Johnson after his son, Travis McMichael, pulled the trigger on Arbery during a brief confrontation.

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GOP captures second Democratic US House seat in California

Republican Young Kim defeated U.S. Rep. Gil Cisneros on Friday in a Southern California district, the second GOP candidate to snatch a Democratic-held seat in the state this year. The contest in the 39th Congressional District anchored in Orange County was a rematch from 2018, when Cisneros was one of seven Democrats who claimed GOP-held California districts that year. Kim overcame President Donald Trump’s poor performance in heavily Democratic California, where he got only one-third of the votes.

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An interactive tool will let you calculate the chance that someone at your Thanksgiving dinner may have COVID-19

Your chance of encountering someone sick varies based on your location in the US and the size of a gathering. This tool calculates that risk.

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Saturday, November 14, 2020

Magnitude 5.5 earthquake strikes Nevada

The quake struck about 20 miles southeast of the town of Mina at a depth of almost four miles.

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Following ceasefire and concessions Armenians leave disputed territory, some setting fire to homes

Following a Russian-brokered ceasefire that includes territorial concessions which will go into effect Sunday, Armenians are leaving villages in the Nagorno-Karabakh region and some are setting fire to their homes, The Associated Press and Reuters report. It's unclear when and how many Azeris, many of whom were displaced from the same land in 1994, will return to the villages.The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed territory, which is officially recognized as part of Azerbaijan but has been controlled by ethnic Armenians for decades, flared up in recent months. The fighting resulted in Azerbaijan seizing the key city of Shusha, leading to the ceasefire, which Russia — generally considered a staunch ally and protector of Armenia — plans to enforce with 2,000 peacekeepers.The Armenians who are leaving their homes cast doubt on the idea that they could live peacefully beside the returning Azeris, per AP and Reuters, and many remain uncertain of where their next destination will be. "We are homeless now, do not know where to go and where to live," one woman leaving her home told AP. Read more at The Associated Press and Reuters.More stories from theweek.com 7 scathingly funny cartoons about Trump's refusal to concede Trump is reportedly 'very aware' he lost the election but is putting up a fight as 'theater' Texas senator suggests it's too soon to declare Biden the winner because Puerto Rico is still counting votes

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Trump plans “vote-count rallies” to “wreck” Fox News in bid to launch competing network: report

Trump reportedly considers launching a "cheaper" streaming-only MAGA platform over an "expensive" cable channel

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Fact check: No evidence vote was cast in Joe Frazier's name

There is no evidence that former heavyweight champion boxer Joe Frazier, who died in 2011, voted this year in Pennsylvania.

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Humanitarian group: 20 migrants drown off coast of Libya

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Army identifies U.S. soldiers killed in Egypt helicopter crash

The Army revealed the names of the American soldiers who were killed when their Blackhawk went down in the Sinai Peninsula -- once a battleground between Egypt and Israel. Two members of the French and Czech militaries were also killed in the crash, which was caused by a mechanical failure.

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Vietnam bracing for Typhoon Vamco as death toll in Philippines rises to 53

Vietnam was bracing for Typhoon Vamco to make landfall in the country's central coast early on Sunday, as the death toll in the Philippines rose to 53 from that country's deadliest storm this year. Packing winds of up to 165 kph (103 mph), Vamco is forecast to hit a swathe of Vietnam's coast from Ha Tinh to Quang Ngai province, the government's weather agency said on Saturday. "This is a very strong typhoon," Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said, warning provinces in Vamco's projected path to prepare for its impact. The provinces plan to evacuate 468,000 people by the end of Saturday, state media cited the government's disaster management authority as saying. Vietnam is prone to destructive storms and flooding due to its long coastline. Vamco will be the 13th storm that affects the Southeast Asian country this year, where more than 160 people have been killed in natural disasters triggered by a series of storms since early October.

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Hurricane watches and warnings issued for stronger Tropical Storm Iota, in record season

Tropical Storm Iota, which formed in the central Caribbean Sea on Friday and marking the 30th named storm in a record-breaking hurricane season., is forecast to turn into a hurricane before approaching Central America next week. Central America is already reeling from Eta hitting Nicaragua as a Category 4 hurricane last week.

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In California: Newsom bemoans attending dinner; travel discouraged

Plus: College football and COVID-19, Trump breaks a record, and has the pandemic made San Francisco more affordable?

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Philippines' Duterte absolves police chief over lockdown birthday party

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Saturday cleared his newly appointed police chief of any violation of rules when he celebrated his birthday in May during one of the world's strictest coronavirus lockdowns. In a national address, Duterte defended police chief Debold Sinas, promoted on Monday Nov. 9 to national police commander from Manila police boss, and noted his appointee's achievements despite a social media stir over perceived special treatment. Sinas had led anti-drug operations in which thousands of people were killed.

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Kamala Harris, Joe Biden send out wishes for happy Diwali

Diwali, one of the most important holidays in India, symbolizes new beginnings and the triumph of good over evil, and light over darkness.

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Pro-Trump senator says Covid survivors should throw away their masks and ‘celebrate’ as he falsely claims they are immune

US has recorded more than 100,000 Covid-19 cases every day for the last week

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Fauci said the US has 'no appetite' for lockdowns but mask wearing and distancing could be enough, the day after a Biden advisor called for a weeks-long lockdown

Dr. Anthony Fauci told "Good Morning America" that taking steps like mask wearing and social distancing means that a lockdown might not be needed.

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Fed officials differ over economy's risks as coronavirus surges

For St. Louis Fed President James Bullard, the current surge in U.S. coronavirus cases can be controlled and the economy recover if households are just nudged in the right direction, exhorted in a 'this-time-we-mean-it' push to wear masks and take other steps that health officials have urged since March. New York Fed President John Williams says a full recovery will have to wait for a vaccine, with the health crisis putting a "question mark" on the economy until then. Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari on Friday re-upped his support for a temporary lockdown to try to slow the spread and reduce deaths in an overwhelmed healthcare system, predicted a muted recovery if the virus remains uncontrolled.

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Secret intelligence exists that ‘would cast Trump in very negative light’, warns ex-FBI chief

‘It’s almost incomprehensible to me that he would want that information out,’ says Andrew McCabe

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11-year-old boy killed in Atlanta drive-by shooting

What started as a day of celebration ended with an unimaginable tragedy that took the life of an 11-year-old boy. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that Connie Sims took his son, Tyrell Sims, to the mall on the afternoon of Nov. 6 to celebrate him passing an exam. Later that evening, Tyrell went to play in the front yard with his friend after helping his friend’s grandmother decorate for Christmas, according to his father.

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Minneapolis business owner on city’s crime spike: We don’t have help like before

The Minneapolis city council members and police chief clash over funding; Salon owner Flora Westbrooks shares with ‘Fox & Friends’ how her business was impacted during the riots.

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With COVID-19 surging, schools suspend in-person education

With COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in the state spiking to record levels, bus drivers and teachers in quarantine, students getting sick and the holidays looming, Schools Superintendent Scott Hanback in Tippecanoe County, Indiana, made a tough decision this week. Texas surpassed 1 million cases this week.

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Booming population helped Dems in Georgia. Mississippi's 'brain drain' is keeping it red.

Political experts say Mississippi won't see nail-biter elections, especially at the nation level, anytime soon — thanks in part to stalled population growth.

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California Gov. Newsom slammed for telling residents to restrict social gathering not long after he attended a private dinner party

California recently surpassed 1 million confirmed cases of coronavirus, according to Johns Hopkins University.

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Trump plans “vote-count rallies” to “wreck” Fox News in bid to launch competing network: report

Trump reportedly considers launching a "cheaper" streaming-only MAGA platform over an "expensive" cable channel

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4-year-old boy in Texas loses mom and dad to Covid

"Just this morning he told me that he wishes he had his mom back and he just wanted her back," Raiden Gonzalez's grandmother said. "I just told him that they're now angels watching over us."

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Coronavirus concerns may have kept Trump from meeting newly-elected GOP lawmakers in person at White House

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) set up a visit to the White House for newly-elected Republican lawmakers Friday evening, but they didn't get a chance to meet President Trump in person, Politico reports.The president did reportedly send his regards to the newcomers, but the fact that he stayed out of the spotlight raised some eyebrows.> Weird @playbookplus note: "LAST NIGHT, MCCARTHY took the newly elected Republicans to the White House...INTERESTING TO NOTE: President DONALD TRUMP did not come down to meet the group. He did send his well wishes."> > -- Meridith McGraw (@meridithmcgraw) November 14, 2020As it turns out, further reporting revealed Trump probably wasn't standing anyone up, but, in a bit of twist, likely stayed away because the group hadn't been tested for COVID-19 prior to their arrival. > UPDATE to Playbook: MCCARTHY himself didn't go to the W.H. w the new freshmen Republicans -- but his team organized, attended. POTUS didn't go down to say hi, and that could be because the group of newly elected GOP lawmakers was not tested for Covid @ WH, per several sources.> > -- Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) November 14, 2020More stories from theweek.com 7 scathingly funny cartoons about Trump's refusal to concede Trump is reportedly 'very aware' he lost the election but is putting up a fight as 'theater' Texas senator suggests it's too soon to declare Biden the winner because Puerto Rico is still counting votes

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Friday, November 13, 2020

'Defying the odds': 51-year-old woman gives birth to her own granddaughter

Julie Loving, 51, carried her daughter's child through gestational surrogacy. After a Nov. 2 delivery, everyone is doing "fantastic and healthy."

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Dahleen Glanton: Give Republicans a standing ovation for their voter fraud performance

One by one, Republicans have taken to the stage to show their support for Donald Trump's ridiculous claim that the presidential election was stolen from him. But it is just a performance. Despite how genuine their acts might appear, the GOP has already abandoned Trump. The problem is that Trump and his supporters don't seem to realize it. This preposterous brouhaha over "illegal ballots" has ...