International News
Turkey launches ground offensive in northern Syria
BBC World News
The offensive was launched just days after President Donald Trump withdrew US troops from the border area, a decision that was criticised at home and abroad.
The Kurds - who helped defeat the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria - guard thousands of IS fighters and their relatives in prisons and camps in areas under their control. It is unclear whether they will continue to do so if battles break out.
Germany shooting: suspected gunman livestreamed synagogue attack
BBC World News
The suspected gunman in the Yom Kippur synagogue attack in Halle, Germany, broadcast his rampage on the livestreaming platform Twitch, in the latest instance of rightwing extremists using mass shootings to create and promote real-time propaganda.
Ecuador’s protesters march; clashes break out in Quito
AP News
QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Thousands of protesters staged anti-government rallies Wednesday, seeking to intensify pressure on Ecuador’s president after a week of unrest sparked by fuel price hikes.
Stone-throwing demonstrators clashed with police using tear gas to fend off crowds, including around the empty government headquarters in the capital of Quito.
NBA postpones media sessions in Shanghai amid China rift
AP News
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver told the Brooklyn Nets and Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday that the league is still expecting them to play as scheduled this week, even while the rift between the league and Chinese officials continued in ways that clearly suggested the two planned games in Shanghai and Shenzhen were anything but guaranteed.
US News
After 200 years, Montgomery, Alabama, has elected its first black mayor
Vox News
Montgomery, the majority-black state capital of Alabama, made history this week by electing its first black mayor.
On Tuesday evening, 67 percent of voters backed probate judge Steven Reed, who was up against David Woods, a white television station owner, according to unofficial results. In August, the two received the most votes in the city’s mayoral election (Reed was one of 10 black candidates), but neither candidate captured a 50 percent majority, leading to this month’s nonpartisan runoff election.
Northern Californians face days of power shutoffs amid high wildfire threat
The Guardian
Schools are closed. Traffic lights down. Tunnels dark. Businesses unopened. Hospitals running on generators.
Much of northern California is facing life without electricity or gas for as many as five to seven days, after the country’s largest utility company cut power to an unprecedented swath of the state as a preventive measure against wildfires.
'I couldn’t be a sellout': Rihanna says she turned down Super Bowl over Kaepernick
The Guardian
Rihanna has confirmed she turned down the chance to headline February’s Super Bowl halftime show in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick.
In 2016, quarterback Kaepernick started to kneel for the pre-game national anthem in protest at racial injustice in the United States. He has been out of the NFL since leaving the San Francisco 49ers in 2017, and he later settled a case with the league in which he alleged he had been blackballed by team owners for his protests.
Politician charged in human trafficking adoption scheme
AP News
PHOENIX (AP) — An Arizona elected official ran a human smuggling scheme that promised pregnant women thousands of dollars to lure them from a Pacific Island nation to the U.S., where they were crammed into houses to wait to give birth, sometimes with little to no prenatal care, prosecutors allege.
Paul Petersen, the Republican assessor of Arizona’s most populous county, was charged in Utah, Arizona and Arkansas with counts including human smuggling, sale of a child, fraud, forgery and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
A Homeless Singer’s Viral Video Lands Her an Offer From a Grammy-Nominated Producer
Mother Jones
Emily Zamourka says she learned to sing by imitating opera performers on TV while growing up in Russia. Decades later, with her belongings beside her, she began singing at a Los Angeles subway stop—and a police officer’s video of the scene got more than 1 million views.
Science/Environment News
Warm autumn weather brings out troops of amorous tarantulas
Tree Hugger
Warm weather in the San Francisco Bay Area has extended tarantula mating season – a surprisingly public affair that has led to advisories from officials to be on the lookout for thousands of giant male spiders. The spiders aren’t dangerous to people, in fact it’s the other way around."
