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The U.S. National Hurricane Center says Tropical Storm Delta has formed in the Southern Caribbean, the 25th named storm of the year. On its current path, it is likely to become the fourth hurricane to threaten the U.S. Gulf Coast this year.Meteorologists say the storm has formed earlier in the year than any other 25th named Atlantic storm on record, beating the old record by a month.At last report, the storm was about 265 kilometers south-southwest of Negril, Jamaica, with maximum sustained winds of about 95 kph (59 mph) and was moving to the west at about 11 kph (6.8 mph).Forecasters believe it could strengthen to hurricane status by late Monday or early Tuesday as it nears western Cuba.  Hurricane warnings and watches have been posted for that area of Cuba, and a hurricane warning is in effect for the Isle of Youth just south of Cuba.The Hurricane Center reports Delta is expected to travel across the very warm waters of the northwestern Caribbean Sea and encounter very low vertical wind shear during the next couple of days, allowing for significant strengthening over that time.The current forecast track of Delta would put it at or near the coast of Louisiana by Friday. The region has already this year been hit by hurricanes Hanna, Laura and Sally and tropical storms Marco and Beta.A pier is washed away by Tropical Storm Gamma in Cozumel, Mexico, Octo. 3, 2020, in this still image from video obtained via social media. (@The_Klute via Reuters)Meanwhile in the western Caribbean, Tropical Storm Gamma is expected to move inland over southeast Mexico later Monday and through Tuesday, after pummeling the Yucatan Peninsula on Saturday.The storm reportedly knocked down trees, flooded streets and took out power in much of the area. The storm is expected to weaken over the next few days, though it could produce as much as 15 centimeters (6 inches) of rain in some areas. 
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Courts in California have ruled that a homeless person may register to vote at a location where they say they spend most of their time. Volunteers are going to places where they congregate to help them register.  Angelina Bagdasaryan has the story, narrated by Anna Rice.
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The 2020 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to scientists Harvey J. Alter, Michael Houghton, and Charles M. Rice.  Thomas Perlmann, secretary-general of Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institute said the three scientists were awarded for their studies and discoveries into Hepatitis C virus.  The advances will help lead to new ways of treating and curing Hepatitis C.    It is the 111th prize in the category that has been awarded since 1901. The laureates will each receive an equal share of the $1.1 million cash award. The Nobel Prizes for Physics, Chemistry, Literature, and Peace will be announced each day from Tuesday through Friday respectively. The prize for Economic science will be announced on Monday, October 12.  
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The world tallied more than 35 million cases of COVID-19, Sunday, according to Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, and more than a million deaths.  Among the nations hardest hit is Great Britain, which is closing in on 500,000 cases and more than 42,400 deaths, the worst in Europe and the fifth highest in the world, according to Johns Hopkins data.  On Sunday, Britain again set a record for new COVID-19 cases in one day: 22,961. Authorities blame the high number partly on a technical issue that had kept more than 15,000 test results from being transferred into computer systems and to contact tracers on time. The technical problem was identified Friday and has been resolved, according to a statement from Public Health England (PHE). If Britons, like the rest of the world, were hoping for a vaccine soon and a return to their pre-pandemic lives, the chairwoman of Great Britain’s vaccine task force had some sobering news. Kate Bingham told the Financial Times on Sunday that vaccinating everyone was “not going to happen.” A woman holds an umbrella as she walks past a Cineworld in Leicester’s Square in London, Oct. 4, 2020.”People keep talking about time to vaccinate the whole population, but that is misguided,” she told the newspaper. Vaccinating healthy people, who are unlikely to have severe outcomes from COVID-19, “could cause them some freak harm,” she said. “It’s an adult-only vaccine, for people over 50, focusing on health workers and care home workers and the vulnerable,” Bingham said in an interview.   In France, starting Tuesday, Paris bars will close for two weeks and restaurants will begin using new sanitary protocols, according to the prime minister’s office. France on Sunday reported 12,565 new cases of coronavirus, while 893 COVID-19 patients had been admitted into intensive care over the past week. The maximum COVID-19 measures take effect when the incidence rate exceeds 100 infections per 100,000 among the elderly and 250 per 100,000 for the general public.    In Russia, officials said Sunday 10,499 new COVID-19 cases were reported in the previous 24-hour period.  Russia’s Tass news agency said it was the first time since May 15 that the new caseload had exceeded 10,000.  
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Washington’s point person on arms control visited Vietnam, a Communist war rival five decades ago, for meetings about perceived threats from China because Vietnamese officials hold positions in key international bodies and align ever more closely with the West, experts say.   U.S. presidential arms control envoy Marshall Billingslea met Vietnamese officials Thursday to discuss Chinese offshore expansion, including fears of a growing nuclear arsenal, he told reporters. The envoy had visited traditional U.S. allies Japan and South Korea on the same trip.   “We know that the United States has recognized Vietnam’s strategic potential in Asia and that the strategic potential of Vietnam is increasing with the competition between the United States and China, so I should think a lot of discussion would be revolved around the larger balance of power in the region, including the South China Sea,” said Alexander Vuving, professor at the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in Hawaii. Vietnam this year became a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) negotiating bloc, attractions for the U.S. delegation, analysts say. Vietnamese leaders have opened already to other high-level U.S. visits, arms sales from Western ally India and ports-of-call by the Australian navy.The U.S. flag (L) flutters next to the Vietnamese flag in Hanoi, Vietnam June 1, 2015.“We have solicited their advice on how to use multilateral mechanisms because…when it comes to what the Chinese are doing, this is not simply about great power competition,” Billingslea told a telephone news briefing Friday. Vietnam, like the United States, resents Beijing’s expansion in the South China Sea. Chinese sovereignty claims to about 90% of the waterway overlap those of Vietnam, as well as Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and the Philippines – all militarily weaker than China. The United States fought for 12 years against Vietnam’s Communist forces, which were on their way to taking over the Southeast Asian country’s south. U.S. forces pulled out in 1973 and Communist forces took over all of Vietnam in 1975.    Today’s Communist officials in Hanoi still have a unique party-to-party relationship with China as well as access to North Korea, a fellow Communist state that has outraged U.S. officials.   The U.S. may be looking to Vietnam for tips on how to approach North Korea at a series of Asian leadership meetings set for late 2020, said Carl Thayer, emeritus professor at the University of New South Wales in Australia. Vietnam, he said, would be able to size up the views of other ASEAN states and check in on Pyongyang.   “The significance is that the U.S. sees Vietnam as a player that one can exchange ideas with, that can canvas the region of the ASEAN members but is at the U.N. as well and that has a relationship with North Korea that many other countries don’t have,” Thayer said.   North Korea irks the United States by test-firing missiles near Japan and South Korea. Meetings in 2018 and 2019 between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un failed to stop the tests.   U.S. arms control envoys seldom bring up their top agenda item, denuclearization, with smaller countries, Vuving said. Vietnam has missile defense systems but no nukes. It operates the world’s 22nd most powerful armed forces, according to the GlobalFirePower.com database. China was the chief talking point, Billingslea said on the media call Friday. “We are talking about a dangerous, revisionist power that is engaged…in a secretive nuclear weapons buildup and a massive missile production program,” Billingslea said. China has reneged on promises related to peace in the disputed sea, he added, and Beijing “challenges” freedom of navigation. The envoy linked North Korea to “a number of significant challenges with regard to nuclear weapons.”   Chinese landfilling of disputed South China Sea islets – some for military use – through 2017 rattled the other five claimants, including an ever-outspoken Vietnam. Chinese vessels have passed through the ocean economic zones of Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia this year. Claimant countries value the 3.5 million-square-kilometer sea for its fisheries and energy reserves. Washington has no claims to the sea but wants to stop rival world superpower China from gaining too much control offshore, analysts have said. The U.S. government in 2016 lifted a wartime embargo on selling Vietnam lethal weapons. The envoy now sees Vietnam as “instrumental” in checking Chinese actions because of its serial protests to Beijing, said Stephen Nagy, senior associate professor of politics and international studies at International Christian University in Tokyo.    Billingslea probably wants Japan, South Korea and Vietnam to push back together against China, Nagy said.  “I think that if they can get (Vietnam) on the same page of the book, that this will be important in terms of drawing the red lines such that China will cease, or pull back or stop being engaging in such provocative behavior in the Indo-Pacific region in general,” Nagy said. 
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After tweeting a video early Sunday evening saying he’s “getting great reports” from his doctors, U.S. President Donald Trump promised a little surprise for his supporters outside the hospital where he is being treated for COVID-19.pic.twitter.com/0Bm9W2u1x7— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 4, 2020  The president then briefly left Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in an armored SUV with Secret Service agents in tow to drive by a flag-waving, cheering crowd outside the hospital.     “President Trump took a short, last-minute motorcade ride to wave to his supporters outside and has now returned to the Presidential Suite inside Walter Reed,” White House spokesman Judd Deere said in a statement.     Earlier Sunday, the doctors treating the president revealed that their patient experienced “two episodes of transient drops in his oxygen saturation.”     Despite that, “The fact of the matter is, he is doing really well,” the president’s primary physician, Dr. Sean Conley, told reporters. COVID-19 is the disease caused by the coronavirus.     Trump COVID-19 Treatment Continues; Doctors say He Has Experienced Oxygen Saturation Drops TwiceThe president could be discharged from the hospital as early as Monday, according to his team of doctors  A team led by Conley was more transparent during Sunday’s news briefing than the previous day, when their appearance before a pool of White House reporters seemed to raise as many questions as it answered.      Conley, asked by a reporter why he had been evasive on the question of whether Trump had required supplemental oxygen at the White House on Friday — which the president did for about an hour — replied he was trying “to reflect the upbeat attitude of the team.”      Conley, an osteopath and a commander in the U.S. Navy, explained that he did not “want to give any information that might steer the course of illness in another direction and in doing so it came off that we were trying to hide something, which wasn’t necessarily true.”      That medical team, during a 10-minute briefing on Sunday outside the front steps of the Walter Reed, explained that the president is now taking a steroid, dexamethasone, which is typically not administered in mild or moderate cases of the coronavirus, along with a five-day course of remdesivir, an antiviral medication.      Dr. Sean Dooley, an Army colonel and pulmonologist, told reporters that the president’s vital signs were stable on Sunday morning and the patient was walking around, not complaining of shortness of breath or experiencing any other respiratory symptoms.      “If he continues to look and feel as well as he does today, our hope is that we can plan for a discharge as early as tomorrow to the White House, where he can continue his treatment course,” announced Dr. Brian Garibaldi, a civilian specialist in pulmonary and critical care medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.      Some key questions remain, such as whether the president has suffered any lung damage. Doctors in their responses Sunday declined to go beyond saying there have been the “expected findings” with their patient, who is a 74-year-old overweight male.      Trump on Friday had a high fever, and that — along with the brief need for supplemental oxygen — prompted the president’s move from the White House to the hospital, according to Conley.      Trump tweeted a video Saturday evening in which he said he was doing well and hoped to be back soon, acknowledging that the next few days will be the “real test.”     Conley received word Thursday evening that both Trump and first lady Melania Trump tested positive for the coronavirus after one of the president’s close aides, Hope Hicks, was confirmed to be ill with the infection.      The president’s decision to do a drive-around for supporters Sunday evening was condemned by one attending physician at Walter Reed as irresponsible.       Dr. James Phillips, who is also chief of disaster medicine at George Washington University in Washington, tweeted that the special vehicle the president was riding in is sealed against chemical attack.       “The risk of COVID19 transmission inside is as high as it gets outside of medical procedures. The irresponsibility is astounding. My thoughts are with the Secret Service forced to play,” said Phillips, referring to the driver and an accompanying agent in the front seat who appeared to be wearing masks, face shields and gowns.  That Presidential SUV is not only bulletproof, but hermetically sealed against chemical attack. The risk of COVID19 transmission inside is as high as it gets outside of medical procedures. The irresponsibility is astounding. My thoughts are with the Secret Service forced to play.— Dr. James P. Phillips, MD (@DrPhillipsMD) October 4, 2020“Appropriate precautions were taken in the execution of this movement to protect the president and all those supporting it, including PPE,” Deere, the White House spokesman said. “The movement was cleared by the medical team as safe to do.”Earlier Sunday, National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien said  there had not been a discussion of temporarily transferring power to Vice President Mike Pence.     “We have a government that is steady,” O’Brien said on CBS News’ Face the Nation, adding later, “We have plans for everything.”      Trump’s campaign Friday put on hold all previously announced events involving the president’s participation. Pence is to make campaign appearances this week, as well as face off Wednesday evening against the Democrats’ vice presidential nominee, U.S. Senator Kamala Harris of California.       Sunday marked 30 days before the Nov. 3 presidential election. Trump’s    opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden, said Friday he was sending “prayers for the health and safety of the first lady and the president of the United States.”      Biden added that the president’s positive test is a “bracing reminder to all of us that we have to take this virus seriously.” 
Trump and Biden were about 4 meters apart on a debate stage Tuesday evening in Cleveland, Ohio. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests at least 2 meters for social distancing purposes.      Biden’s campaign said the former vice president tested negative Friday for the coronavirus and a test on Sunday was also negative.      Speaking Friday in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Biden, wearing a surgical mask, called again for a national mask mandate, asserting it could save 100,000 lives in 100 days.      The coronavirus has killed nearly 210,000 people in the United States and infected about 7.4 million across the country, according to Johns Hopkins University data.  
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State and county officials in New Jersey are contacting more than 200 people who were at President Donald Trump’s Bedminster golf club for Thursday’s campaign fundraiser and asking them to monitor themselves for possible coronavirus symptoms.If they were in close contact with the president or his staff, they are being asked to quarantine for 14 days. Officials recommend waiting five to seven days from the event to get a COVID-19 test to prevent false negatives.Trump Leaves Hospital Briefly; Doctors Report 2 Drops in Oxygen SaturationThe president drove by his supporters outside the hospital where he is being treated, could be discharged as early as Monday, his doctors say Trump announced early Friday that he and his wife had tested positive for the novel coronavirus. According to a statement issued Sunday, the White House sent the New Jersey officials a list of 206 attendees.”The White House supplied to NJ officials the names of at least 206 individuals who attended the events,” the New Jersey Department of Health said on Twitter. The department has contacted the people and recommended that they self-monitor for symptoms and quarantine if they were in close contact with the president and his staff.Meanwhile, Somerset County officials are contacting employees who worked at the event, most of whom live in the county.State and county officials said the federal government is also conducting contact tracing.White House spokesman Judd Deere said in a statement that a full contact tracing, consistent with guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was completed for the president’s Bedminster trip. Trump did not have any interactions with Bedminster staff or guests that would be considered “close” based on the guidelines, Deere said.All White House staff considered to be in close contact during the trip have been identified, contacted and recommended to quarantine, Deere said.
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Police in Minsk, Belarus used water cannon to disperse crowds as protests against President Alexander Lukashenko continued for the ninth straight Sunday. An estimated 100,000 people took to the streets of the capital Sunday.Since the longtime president claimed victory in a contested election August 9, protesters have regularly taken to the streets demanding his resignation and the release of political prisoners.Lukashenko maintains he won the poll in a landslide — garnering 80% of all ballots — despite widespread claims at home and abroad the vote was heavily rigged to keep him in power.For Belarus Protesters, Battle is for Long HaulDemonstrations intensified after an embattled Lukashenko was secretly sworn in for yet another term, but protesters realize the end may not come soonOver the weekend, Belarus canceled the accreditation of all foreign journalists.Late last week, the European Union imposed sanctions on about 40 Belarusian officials accused of falsifying the election results and cracking down on the subsequent protests. Lukashenko was not on the list.Public anger has stewed over the crackdown in the wake of the protests that have seen more than 7,500 arrests and police violence against demonstrators.Hundreds have emerged from police custody with bruises and tales of torture at the hands of Lukashenko’s security agents.Lukashenko has said the protests are encouraged and supported by the West and accused NATO of moving forces near Belarusian borders. The alliance has denied the accusations.
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Deadly wildfires in California have burned more than 4 million acres (1.6 million hectares/6,250 square miles) this year — more than double the previous record for the most land burned in a single year in the state.  California fire officials said the state reached the astonishing milestone Sunday with about two months remaining in the fire season. The previous record was set two years ago when wildfires destroyed 1.67 million acres (648,000 hectares/2,609 square miles).”The 4 million mark is unfathomable. It boggles the mind, and it takes your breath away,” said Scott McLean, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, known as Cal Fire.Firefighters Hope Better Weather Will Help Contain California WildfiresBlazes on verge of consuming record amount of landCal Fire said in a statement Sunday that there have been more than 8,200 wildfires since the start of the year that have burned “well over 4 million acres in California.”  The flames have scorched an area larger than Connecticut. About 17,000 firefighters are still battling nearly two dozen major blazes throughout the state.Despite the grim milestone, there were signs for optimism this weekend.Powerful winds that had been expected to drive flames in recent days hadn’t materialized, and warnings of extreme fire danger for hot, dry and gusty weather expired Saturday morning as a layer of fog rolled in. Clearer skies in some areas allowed large air tankers to drop retardant after being sidelined by smoky conditions several days earlier.”In certain areas, we were able to get quite a bit of aircraft in. So we really pounded a couple different areas hard with aircraft,” Mclean said. “If the weather does what is predicted, we’re on that glide path I hope. But that doesn’t diminish the amount of work that still needs to be done.”  Virtually all the damage has occurred since mid-August, when five of the six largest fires in state history erupted. Lightning strikes caused some of the most devastating blazes. The wildfires have incinerated hundreds of homes and killed 31 people, but large parts of them are burning in largely unpopulated land.Many of the most destructive fires sparked in northern California, where hills and mountains dotted with many dead trees have provided plenty of fuel for fires to ignite amid high temperatures and strong winds. Thick, gray smoke from the blazes has fouled the air in many hill communities and major cities in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond.Numerous studies have linked bigger wildfires in America to climate change from the burning of coal, oil and gas. Scientists say climate change has made California much drier, meaning trees and other plants are more flammable.Fire officials said the Glass Fire burning in wine country for the past week was their top priority.  Three fires, driven by strong winds and high temperatures, merged into one tearing into vineyards and forested mountain areas, including part of the city of Santa Rosa. Thousands of people were under evacuation orders, including the entire population of Calistoga, a town of 5,000.
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The South Pacific archipelago of New Caledonia has voted to remain part of France, election authorities announced. Officials said 53.26% of more than 180,000 registered voters rejected independence in a referendum Sunday. At least 80% of eligible voters went to the polls. In a tweet, French President Emmanuel Macron called the vote a “mark of confidence in the Republic.”  “Together we will build the New Caledonia of tomorrow,” he wrote. Les Calédoniens ont confirmé leur souhait de maintenir la Nouvelle-Calédonie dans la France. C’est une marque de confiance dans la République. J’entends aussi la voix de ceux qu’anime la volonté de l’indépendance. Nous construirons tous ensemble la Nouvelle-Calédonie de demain.— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) October 4, 2020New Caledonia’s economy is supported by about $1.5 billion in French subsidies each year and many have said they fear the economy will collapse without those payments.   While the territory already enjoys a large degree of autonomy, it does heavily rely on France for some matters, including defense and education.   The referendum is part of a process that started in 1988 to end years of violence between the supporters and opponents of independence from France. A decade later, a deal was reached to have the independence vote in 2018. Although voters said “no” to independence two years ago, the deal allowed for two more referendums to be held by 2022.   Under colonial rule, the territory’s indigenous Kanaks had been confined to reserves and excluded from much of the island’s economy.   Political analysts say the Kanaks tend to back independence, while the descendants of European settlers lean toward maintaining the connection to France.  
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As the summer coronavirus spike in Sunbelt states subsides, Florida has gone the furthest in lifting restrictions, especially on restaurants where the burden of ensuring safety has shifted to business owners and residents — raising concerns of a resurgence. In his drive to return the state to normalcy, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis lifted limits on indoor seating at restaurants, saying they can operate at 100% in municipalities with no restrictions and that other local governments can’t restrict indoor seating by more than 50%. In some of Florida’s touristy neighborhoods, patrons have since been flocking to bars and restaurants, filling terraces, defying mask orders — drawing mixed reactions from business owners and other customers. “We’re generally concerned that we’re going to find ourselves on the other side of an inverted curve and erasing all the progress we’ve made,” said Albert Garcia, chairman of the Wynwood Business improvement district, which represents 50 blocks of restaurants and bars in Miami’s trendy arts district. Other Sunbelt states that have been COVID-19 hot spots over the summer haven’t gone as far. In Texas, bars have been closed since June under Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s orders, and restaurants can hold up to 75% of their capacity, while face covers are required throughout the state. And in Arizona, restaurants and bars must run at half-capacity. Though Florida’s governor generally wears a mask when arriving at public appearances and has allowed municipalities to impose mask rules, he has declined to impose a statewide mandate. And on Sept. 25, as the state entered a Phase 3 reopening, he barred municipalities from collecting fines for mask violations. DeSantis says contact tracing has not shown restaurants to be substantial sources of spread. “I am confident that these restaurants want to have safe environments,” he said earlier this week. “And I’m also confident that as a consumer, if you don’t go and you don’t think they’re taking precautions, then obviously you’re going to take your business elsewhere.” Craig O’Keefe, managing partner for Johnnie Brown’s and Lionfish in Delray Beach, said they’re now accommodating as many people as they did before the pandemic began and he’s hired eight people in the past few days. Demand surged last weekend. “It was like someone turned the light on,” O’Keefe said. “It was great to see people out smiling, having fun getting to see each other. It’s been a really nice thing to get people back to work.” Shutdowns and restrictions have battered Florida’s economy, leaving hundreds of thousands unemployed in the tourist-dependent state. FILE – Guests wearing protective masks wait outside the Magic Kingdom theme park at Walt Disney World on the first day of reopening, in Orlando, Florida, on July 11, 2020.Earlier this week, The Walt Disney Co. announced it would lay off 28,000 workers in its theme parks division even after the Florida parks were allowed to reopen this summer. Florida has had more than 14,500 deaths from the pandemic, ranking 12th per capita among states. Its outbreak peaked in the summer, seeing as many as 12,000-15,000 cases added per day. New cases, positivity rates, hospitalizations and deaths have been on a downward trend for several weeks. Still, the state has added 2,000 to 3,000 cases per day over the past couple of weeks. Dr. Peter Hotez, an infectious disease specialist at the Baylor College of Medicine and co-director of Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development, said that loosening restrictions in Florida is a “mistake” that could increase community transmission at a time when teachers are being summoned back to school. “It really sends the message either implicitly or explicitly that it’s OK. It’s back to normal now, and it’s not the case. We are still in a very serious situation,” Dr. Hotez told members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus this week. In South Florida, Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez said Friday that he was concerned over a slight uptick in county hospitalizations in recent days and warned people not to let their guard down, using President Donald Trump’s COVID-19 diagnosis as an example that the virus is highly contagious. Gimenez has been consulting with attorneys and staff on what rules local governments could continue to enforce without violating new state orders. The county plans to limit many restaurants to 50% indoor capacity and continue requiring masks in public. An 11 p.m. curfew is keeping a lid on nightlife, and the county even restricts loud music at venues so people don’t have to shout, which is believed to spread the virus more easily. “I think there’s a lot of confusion because people thought that was it — everything is open,” Gimenez told reporters. “We are still not out of the woods.” Omer Horev co-owns Pura Vida, a Miami chain of coffee shops with locations in iconic South Beach, the Design District near downtown and at the University of Miami. Horev said he isn’t relaxing any rules at his businesses. Store managers told him some customers have been defying their mask rules after DeSantis’ new order and he hasn’t seen any local enforcement in the past week. “We are in this gray area where you don’t know what is enforced,” he said. “I feel safe; I am OK with it, as long as restaurant operators such as us and others do the right thing in keeping the employees and guests safe.” In Tallahassee, Denise Barber, a 65-year-old retired state worker, used to dine out almost every day before the pandemic. She’s now comfortable dining out again, but only at places being more cautious than required. She’ll check a restaurant’s Facebook page or call them to verify their rules. “I want to go out to eat more. I can still do it, but I’m going to have to do a lot of research to find a place,” she said. 
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Pope Francis said on Sunday that the COVID-19 pandemic was the latest crisis to prove that market forces alone and “trickle-down” economic policies had failed to produce the social benefits their proponents claim.In an encyclical on the theme of human fraternity, Francis also said private property cannot be considered an absolute right in all cases where some lived extravagantly while others had nothing.Called “Fratelli Tutti” (Brothers All), the encyclical’s title prompted criticism for not using inclusive language after it was announced last month.In Italian, Fratelli means brothers but it is also used to mean brothers and sisters. The Vatican said it was taken from the “Admonitions”, or guidelines, written by St Francis of Assisi in the 13th century to his followers and could not be changed.The pope says in the first line of the 86-page encyclical that St. Francis had “addressed his brothers and sisters” that way. In the document, he uses the term “men and women” 15 times and speaks several times about defending the rights and dignity of women.Encyclicals are the most authoritative form of papal writing, but they are not infallible.The encyclical, which Francis signed in Assisi on Saturday, covers topics such as fraternity, immigration, the rich-poor gap, economic and social injustices, healthcare imbalances and the widening political polarization in many countries.The pope took direct aim at trickle-down economics, the theory favored by conservatives that tax breaks and other incentives for big business and the wealthy eventually will benefit the rest of society through investment and job creation.”There were those who would have had us believe that freedom of the market was sufficient to keep everything secure (after the pandemic hit),” he wrote.Francis denounced “this dogma of neo-liberal faith” that resorts to “the magic theories of ‘spillover’ or ‘trickle’ … as the only solution to societal problems”. A good economic policy, he said, “makes it possible for jobs to be created and not cut.”‘Empire of money’The 2007-2008 financial crisis was a missed opportunity for change, instead producing “increased freedom for the truly powerful, who always find a way to escape unscathed”. Society must confront “the destructive effects of the empire of money.”Francis repeated past calls for redistribution of wealth to help the poorest and for fairer access to natural resources by all.”The right to private property can only be considered a secondary natural right, derived from the principle of the universal destination of created goods,” he said.A Vatican official said the pope was referring to those with massive wealth. The pope wrote that the belief of early Christians – “that if one person lacks what is necessary to live with dignity, it is because another person is detaining it” – was still valid.Those with much must “administer it for the good of all” and rich nations are obliged to share wealth with poor ones. But he said he was “certainly not proposing an authoritarian and abstract universalism.”Some ultra-traditionalist Catholics have accused Francis of secretly backing a perceived plot for a “One-World Government,” a debunked conspiracy theory. Without naming countries or people, Francis condemned politicians who “seek popularity by appealing to the basest and most selfish inclinations” or who enact policies of “hatred and fear towards other nations.”Addressing racism, a key issue in the United States following the Black Lives Matter movement, Francis said: “Racism is a virus that quickly mutates and, instead of disappearing, goes into hiding, and lurks in waiting.”He repeated calls for the abolition of nuclear weapons and the death penalty, positions which have been assailed by conservative Catholics, particularly in the United States. 
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The U.S. Supreme Court begins its new nine-month term on Monday buffeted by the death of liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a Senate confirmation battle over her successor, the coronavirus pandemic and the approaching presidential election whose outcome the justices may be called upon to help decide.Amid the maelstrom, the shorthanded court – with eight justices rather than a full complement of nine – also has a series of major cases to tackle, including a Republican bid to invalidate the Obamacare healthcare law set to be argued on Nov. 10, a week after Election Day.If President Donald Trump’s nominee to replace Ginsburg, federal appeals court judge Amy Coney Barrett, is confirmed as expected by a Senate controlled by his fellow Republicans, the court’s ideological balance would tilt further rightward with a potent 6-3 conservative majority.The court kicks off its term according to custom on the first Monday of October. It will begin unlike any other, with two cases being argued by teleconference due to the coronavirus pandemic. The court for the first time began hearing cases that way in May and will continue doing so at least at the term’s outset.The court building, where large crowds of mourners gathered outside after Ginsburg’s death of Sept. 18, remains closed to the public because of the pandemic.The confluence of events is a test of leadership for conservative Chief Justice John Roberts, who in February also presided over a Senate impeachment trial that ended in Trump’s acquittal on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress for pressing Ukraine to investigate his Democratic election rival Joe Biden.Roberts is known as an institutionalist who prizes the court’s independence.”He would like to be a steady hand and wants the court to be on a steady path,” said Nicole Saharsky, a lawyer who argues cases before the justices.The most anticipated case in the term’s first week comes on Wednesday, when the justices weigh a multibillion-dollar software copyright dispute between Alphabet Inc’s Google and Oracle Corp. The case involves Oracle’s accusation that Google infringed its software copyrights to build the Android operating system used in smartphones.In the Obamacare case, Barrett could cast a pivotal vote.A group of Democratic-led states including California and New York are striving to preserve the 2010 law, formally known as the Affordable Care Act, in a case in which Republican-led states and Trump’s administration are trying to strike it down.Obamacare has helped roughly 20 million Americans obtain medical insurance either through government programs or through policies from private insurers made available in Obamacare marketplaces. It also bars insurers from refusing to cover people with pre-existing medical conditions. Republican opponents have called the law an unwarranted intervention by government in health insurance markets.The Supreme Court previously upheld it 5-4 in a 2012 ruling in which Roberts cast the crucial vote. It rejected another challenge 6-3 in 2015. Ginsburg was in the majority both times.Barrett in the past criticized those two rulings. Democrats opposing her nomination have emphasized that she might vote to strike down Obamacare, although legal experts think the court is unlikely to do so.Religious rightsThe court hears another major case on Nov. 4 concerning the scope of religious-rights exemptions to certain federal laws. The dispute arose from Philadelphia’s decision to bar a local Roman Catholic entity from participating in the city’s foster-care program because the organization prohibits same-sex couples from serving as foster parents.The justices already have tackled multiple election-related emergency requests this year, some related to rules changes prompted by the pandemic. More are likely.The conservative majority has sided with state officials opposed to courts imposing changes to election procedures to make it easier to vote during the pandemic.Trump has said he wants Barrett to be confirmed before Election Day so she could cast a decisive vote in any election-related dispute, potentially in his favor. He has said he expects the Supreme Court to decide the outcome of the election, though it has done so only once – the disputed 2000 contest ultimately awarded to Republican George W. Bush.Democrats have said they will query Barrett during confirmation hearings set to begin on Oct. 12 on whether she should recuse herself in certain election-related cases. Justices have the final say on whether they step aside in a case.Jeffrey Rosen, president of the nonprofit National Constitution Center, said at an event on Friday hosted by the libertarian Pacific Legal Foundation that he expects the court either to stay out of major election cases or, if unable to do so, to try to reach a unanimous outcome.”The court’s legitimacy is crucially important to all the justices in this extraordinarily fragile time,” Rosen added.If the court is divided 4-4 in any cases argued before a new justice is seated, it could hold a second round of oral arguments so the new justice could participate. 
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Last week The New York Times published a detailed report about U.S. President Donald Trump’s tax returns — the documents Americans file each year with the government that are used to calculate their income tax.Unlike all other U.S. presidents in recent decades, Trump has declined to release his returns, saying that he cannot while he undergoes a long-running audit with federal tax authorities. The newspaper said it obtained years of Trump’s tax return data from sources who were legally allowed to view them but who wished to remain anonymous.Here is a summary of the newspaper’s key findings and some questions raised by the disclosures.What news did The New York Times uncover in its reports on the president’s taxes?In a report released the evening of September 27, The New York Times revealed that it had obtained what it described as “tax-return data extending over more than two decades for Mr. Trump and the hundreds of companies that make up his business organization, including detailed information from his first two years in office.”The newspaper offered up a long list of details about the president’s finances, revealing that his business empire has, for years, generated hundreds of millions of dollars in losses that allowed him to reduce his income tax liability to zero in 10 of the last 15 years, and to a mere $750 in 2016, the year he won election, and 2017, his first year in the White House.During Tuesday night’s presidential debate, Trump said, “I paid millions of dollars in taxes, millions of dollars of income tax,” adding that “I paid $38 million one year, I paid $27 million one year.” However, he provided no documentation.The paper also revealed that Trump has hundreds of millions of dollars in outstanding debts coming due over the next few years — debts that he has personally guaranteed. It laid out some questionable practices, such as paying his daughter Ivanka, an employee of his company, as an outside consultant, and then deducting the expenses as a cost of doing business. Other details included tens of thousands of dollars in tax write-offs associated with styling Trump’s hair for TV appearances.Where did the newspaper obtain these records?The Times has been very careful not to reveal much information about how its reporters came into possession of the president’s tax information. This includes refusing to publish or make available the source data on which its stories on the topic are based.In a note accompanying the initial publication, Dean Baquet, the paper’s executive editor, wrote, “We are not making the records themselves public because we do not want to jeopardize our sources, who have taken enormous personal risks to help inform the public.”Why are the records just coming into public view now, after years of speculation about what’s in them?It is unclear why the president’s tax information was revealed to the Times now, though the proximity of the 2020 presidential election seems like a probable contributing factor.Going back to the early 1970s, presidential candidates from both major parties have voluntarily released their tax returns to the public in order to demonstrate that they had no financial conflicts of interest that might affect their behavior in office, and no outstanding debts that could be used to exert pressure on them.Early in his run for the presidency, Trump said that he would eventually release his returns, but has used the fact — confirmed by the Times — that he is under audit as an excuse to delay making them public. There is no legal barrier to an individual releasing tax returns that are being audited.Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden this week released his 2019 tax returns showing that he and his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, paid $299,346 in federal income tax on $944,737 in income.The president’s returns have been the subject of much wrangling in both state and federal courts. After the administration declined to obey a federal law requiring it to release the returns after a formal request from Congress, Democrats sued the administration in a case that remains ongoing. Prosecutors in New York state are also fighting in court to get access to the president’s tax records.What does the White House say about the newspaper’s reporting?The president’s first reaction to the Times story was to declare it “fake news,” as he does with much unfavorable media coverage. Trump and his spokespersons have declared that, contrary to the Times story, the president has paid “millions” of dollars in taxes over the years in question. However, the wording in those statements is often vague, and there has been little to no pushback from the administration on specific details of the story.During his debate with Biden in Cleveland, Ohio, Trump again insisted that he paid millions in federal income taxes for 2016 and 2017, and appeared to argue that to the extent he took action to lower his tax liability, it was legal.“It was the tax laws– I don’t want to pay tax,” he said. “Before I came here, I was a private developer. I was a private business [person]. Like every other private person, unless they’re stupid, they go through the laws and that’s what it is.”What do Republicans and Democrats say about the reports?Republicans in Congress were largely silent about the details in the Times report, but some were extremely angry that the information was provided to the newspaper in the first place.Rep. Kevin Brady, the top Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee, which has jurisdiction over taxation issues, said, “While many critics question the article’s accuracy, equally troubling is the prospect that a felony crime was committed by releasing the private tax return information of an individual – in this case the president’s.” Brady and other senior Republicans called for an investigation to identify the paper’s source.Democrats used the revelations to attack the president. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, in interviews and on social media, declared the revelations of the president’s massive personal debts “a national security issue.” She also noted that the reports indicate Trump has paid far more in personal income taxes to foreign governments than he has to the United States.“The President of the United States paid $750 in federal taxes,” she wrote on Twitter. “Yet he paid other countries more. What leverage do they have over him? What is he hiding? The people have a right to know.”What do tax experts say about the disclosures in the reporting?Tax experts may have been among the Americans least surprised by the revelations in the New York Times report. It has long been understood that the U.S. tax code is complex enough to allow the wealthy many opportunities to avoid paying what most would consider a fair share of their income. Nowhere is that more true than in the president’s chosen field of real estate development.“I don’t think, actually, all that much is new to people who really follow the news,” said C. Eugene Steuerle, institute fellow and Richard B. Fisher chair at the non-partisan Tax Policy Center in Washington. “There were some particular details that were enticing, you know, like the personal expenses for getting a new hairdo, that titillate. But many of those were not big picture issues. I mean, the big picture issue is the extent to which the president, but as it turns out, many real estate developers, can avoid paying income tax.”What do national security experts say about the disclosures in the reporting?While the administration itself has largely been silent on the question, retired national security and intelligence professionals have reacted with alarm to the report, particularly to the extent to which the president is personally in debt.Larry Pfeiffer, a former chief of staff at the CIA and the current director of the Hayden Center for Intelligence at George Mason University, told The Washington Post that the debts are “an outrageous vulnerability,” that would cause any other senior official to have their security clearance revoked.
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President Donald Trump has released a new video from the hospital in which he says he’s starting to feel better and hopes to “be back soon.”pic.twitter.com/gvIPuYtTZG— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 3, 2020In the four-minute video, Trump says he “wasn’t feeling so well” when he was admitted to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Friday after testing positive for the coronavirus.But he said that “I feel much better now” and that “we’re working hard to get me all the way back.”Trump sounds a little raspy in the video, but he appears to be in good spirits as he says he’s fighting for the millions of people around the world who have had the virus.He said that while he could have stayed in the White House to protect himself from the virus, as president he couldn’t be “locked up in a room upstairs.”He also thanks the doctors and nurses who are treating him and the world leaders and Americans who have sent their good wishes.
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Guatemalan authorities said Saturday they have disbanded a caravan of migrants heading north from Honduras, bound for the U.S. border, sending more than 3,000 back home over the past few days.Since Thursday, when thousands of migrants began crossing into Guatemala without permission, authorities said most had “opted to return” and were sent back to Honduras on buses.The caravan had split into two groups Friday, with one headed for the Peten region of northern Guatemala, and the other for the Mexican border city of Tapachula.The group headed for northern Guatemala ran into a roadblock manned by police and soldiers, where so many of their fellow migrants were turned around.A few small groups of migrants could still be seen walking along the highway Saturday morning.Olvin Suazo, 21, and three friends, all farm workers in their early 20s from Santa Barbara, Honduras, said they would continue north.Guatemalan Vice Minister of Foreign Relations Eduardo Sanchez called on Honduras to stop such large groups of migrants, calling them a health risk amid the pandemic.The migrants are headed to the U.S. because of poverty exacerbated by widespread job losses sparked by the pandemic in Latin America.Their journey came two years after a caravan that formed shortly before the U.S. midterm elections and became a campaign issue. Those migrants initially received support from communities along the way, particularly in southern Mexico.But Mexico deployed National Guard troops and immigration agents to intercept large groups of migrants after U.S. President Donald Trump, who is seeking reelection, threatened tariffs on Mexican imports if it did not stem the flow of migrants to the U.S. border.Mexico’s migration authority chief Francisco Garduno said this week the government would deploy hundreds of military and immigration personnel to its border to prevent the caravan from entering the country.Mexican President Lopez Obrador suggested the caravan was associated with the November 3 U.S. presidential election.“It has to do with the election in the United States,” Obrador told reporters. “I don’t have all the elements, but I think there are indications that it was put together for this purpose. I don’t know to whose benefit, but we’re not naive.”The Trump administration said Thursday it would admit a record low 15,000 refugees during the coming year.Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has vowed to raise the refugee cap to 125,000, saying accepting persecuted people is consistent with American values. 
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President Donald Trump’s COVID-19 diagnosis serves as a reminder of the pervasive spread of the coronavirus and shows how tenuous of a grip the nation has on the crisis, health experts said.With U.S. infections rising for several weeks, Trump was one of about 40,000 Americans who learned they had tested positive when he broke the news early Friday. First lady Melania Trump also tested positive, and both were described as having mild symptoms. The president went to a military hospital for what the White House said was a precautionary visit of “a few days.” Some of his top advisers and allies also have tested positive recently.”No one is entirely out of the virus’ reach, even those supposedly inside a protective bubble,” said Josh Michaud, associate director of global health policy with the Kaiser Family Foundation in Washington.Eight months after the virus reached the United States, worrying signals mounted of what’s ahead this fall. The National Football League postponed a game because of a worsening outbreak among the Tennessee Titans. Some hospitals in Wisconsin have run low on space, and experts warned of a likely surge in infections during the colder months ahead. Some economists say it could take as long as late 2023 for the job market to fully recover.FILE – Cousins Latasha Taylor, left, and Desmond Tolbert sit during an interview on April 18, 2020 in Dawson, Ga. Both have been affected by the COVID-19 deaths of Tolbert’s parents.As of Saturday afternoon EDT, the U.S. led the world in numbers of confirmed infections, with more than 7.37 million, and deaths, with more than 209,000, according to Johns Hopkins University data. Only a handful of countries rank higher in COVID-19 deaths per capita.’Mind-boggling’ data”The statistics are so mind-boggling, they make us numb to the reality of just how painful, unacceptable and absurd this is,” said Dr. Reed Tuckson, board chairman of the nonpartisan Health Policy Alliance in Washington. “Every single American must double down on vigilance. If we don’t, then we are being foolhardy and irresponsible.”The president’s infection occurred as the nation has reached a crossroads in its response to the virus.The U.S. is averaging 40,000 cases a day. The situation is improving in Sun Belt states that were hot spots in the summer — months after states reopened in May and gatherings during the Memorial Day and July Fourth holidays fueled a surge in infections, hospitalizations and deaths.Many of those states took action this week to loosen restrictions. Mississippi’s governor ended a mask requirement; South Carolina’s governor said he would ease capacity restrictions on restaurants; and New Orleans bars were given the green light to sell carry-out drinks. Florida has moved ahead with an aggressive reopening that gives bars and restaurants latitude to allow as many customers as they choose.FILE – People line up for a COVID-19 test in a parking lot Monday May 11, 2020, in Milwaukee. This was one of two sites in the city to open Monday and offer free testing. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)The outlook is gloomier in the Midwest.Wisconsin reported a record daily death toll Wednesday, and hospitals in multiple cities said they were running out of space. A 530-bed field hospital that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers built on the state fairgrounds in the city of West Allis in April could be put to use if the situation worsens.Iowa reported more than 1,000 new cases for the third consecutive day Friday as the virus continued to aggressively spread in many regions of the state. South Dakota health officials reported record highs in deaths and cases Thursday.’Crazy quilt of approaches’Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious-diseases expert at Vanderbilt University, said Trump’s diagnosis “reinforces the notion we need a national policy and we need everyone to participate in the basic preventions.”Instead, Schaffner said, the response “has been subcontracted to the governors, which has left us with a crazy quilt of approaches.”For months, Trump has downplayed the virus, rarely wearing a mask, holding large campaign rallies, and urging businesses and schools to reopen. Masks have not been mandatory for White House staff, despite evidence they help to stop the spread.”Now, tragically, this experiment has shown, at the highest office of the country, it ain’t working. It didn’t work,” Schaffner said.Michaud said the nation is experiencing “a dangerous moment.””We have lots of schools, universities, workplaces, and other businesses and institutions reopening. Colder weather is also on the way, which will likely increase the chances people will congregate together indoors,” Michaud said.If complacency sets in, infections will rise.”We’re still not doing sufficient testing and contact tracing across the country,” Michaud said. “For all these reasons, we’re likely to see more transmission in the U.S., not less, in the coming weeks and months.”
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