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Florida felons must pay all fines, restitution and legal fees before they can regain their right to vote, a federal appellate court ruled Friday in a case that could have broad implications for the November elections.Reversing a lower court judge’s decision that gave Florida felons the right to vote regardless of outstanding legal obligations, the order from the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the position of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and the GOP-led state Legislature, leaving voting rights activists aghast.Under Amendment 4, which Florida voters passed overwhelmingly in 2018, felons who have completed their sentences would have voting rights restored. But the legal dispute arose after lawmakers the next year moved to define what it means to complete a sentence.In addition to prison time served, lawmakers directed that all legal financial obligations, including unpaid fines and restitution, would also have to be settled before a felon could be eligible to vote.The appeals court agreed with the Republican lawmakers, a decision that voting rights advocates called an affirmation of a “pay-to-vote” system that primarily disenfranchises minorities and poor people.”This ruling runs counter to the foundational principle that Americans do not have to pay to vote,” said Julie Ebenstein, senior staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union’s Voting Rights Project. “The gravity of this decision cannot be overstated. It is an affront to the spirit of democracy.”In a 200-page ruling on a 6-4 vote, the full 11th Circuit said the Constitution’s due process clause was not violated by the passage of the law implementing Amendment 4.”States are constitutionally entitled to set legitimate voter qualifications through laws of general application and to require voters to comply with those laws through their own efforts,” Chief U.S. Circuit Judge William Pryor wrote in the majority opinion. “So long as a state provides adequate procedures to challenge individual determinations of ineligibility — as Florida does — due process requires nothing more.”Four judges issued a dissenting opinion. They argued in part that it is sometimes extremely difficult for returning felons to know what outstanding financial obligations they may still have and that the state should create a mechanism to provide that information.”In light of the chaos created by the majority’s holding that (financial obligations) must be satisfied according to the ‘every-dollar’ method, countless scores of individuals will be uncertain of their eligibility to vote,” wrote U.S. Circuit Judge Beverly Martin in the dissent.”With its constitution amended in this way, Florida gained an obligation to establish procedures sufficient to determine the eligibility of returning citizens to vote, and to notify them of their eligibility in a prompt and reliable manner,” the dissenters added.But Pryor wrote that it’s not the state’s responsibility to create a system to let felons know what they owe.”The Due Process Clause does not require States to provide individual process to help citizens learn the facts necessary to comply with laws of general application,” he wrote.DeSantis spokesman Fred Piccolo said in an email that the court’s decision affirms that “all terms of a sentence means all terms.””There are multiple avenues to restore rights, pay off debts, and seek financial forgiveness from one’s victims,” Piccolo added. “Second chances and the rule of law are not mutually exclusive.”The amendment permanently bars convicted murderers and rapists from voting, regardless of financial debts. Still, other felons in Florida who have completed prison sentences and would otherwise be eligible but have not paid fines and other legal obligations — estimated in March to number about 774,000 — represent a significant bloc of voters, should they be allowed to cast ballots. Some of them may have settled their debts since that initial March estimate.The state does not track how many felons have registered to vote since Amendment 4 passed, but its backers estimate that the monetary requirement and the coronavirus pandemic have limited the number to 100,000, far less than those potentially eligible.The Florida Rights Restoration Coalition has raised more than $4 million to help pay court costs. Donations have come from retired basketball star Michael Jordan as well as More Than a Vote, an organization dedicated to maximizing Black voter turnout that counts basketball star LeBron James and comedian Kevin Hart among its backers. Still, the total owed could be as high as $3 billion.The ruling could influence the election outcome in November. Florida is considered a must-win state in President Donald’s Trump’s bid for reelection and is famed for its razor-thin statewide election results. Democrats had hopes of gaining support from thousands of former felons in Florida.Paul Smith, vice president at the Campaign Legal Center, which is pushing for full voting rights for most felons, slammed the ruling.”This is a deeply disappointing decision,” Smith said. “While the full rights restoration envisioned by Amendment 4 has become less likely to be realized this fall, we will continue this fight for all Florida voters, so the full benefits of Amendment 4 will someday be realized.”U.S. Rep. Val Demings, a Democrat from Orlando who was considered as a vice presidential nominee by Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, said she is introducing a bill in Congress to prohibit states from denying voting rights to American citizens, regardless of prior criminal convictions.”A criminal conviction does not erase a person from our communities or our country,” said Demings, who is Black and a former Orlando police chief. 
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President Donald Trump awarded the Medal of Honor to Sergeant Major Thomas “Patrick” Payne of the U.S. Army at the White House on Friday for his actions during a daring nighttime hostage rescue of 75 prisoners being held by ISIS in Iraq.Payne, an Army Ranger, is the first U.S. service member to receive the military’s highest award for heroism in support of the fight against ISIS.While he was deployed to Iraq in 2015 to support Operation Inherent Resolve, Payne led a combined assault team that liberated hostages at an Islamic State compound. After freeing dozens of captives, Payne received a distress call from another team stationed on the roof of a nearby building that was on fire and taking enemy fire from multiple sides.”Sergeant Payne knowingly risked his own life by bravely entering the building under intense enemy fire, enduring smoke, heat and flames to identify the armored door imprisoning the hostages,” the White House said in a statement.Trump described the rescue near Kirkuk as “one of the largest and most daring rescue missions in American history,” according to the New York Post.“As the building began to collapse, Payne received orders to evacuate but he refused to do so. He didn’t want to leave anyone behind. Pat ran back into the burning building that was collapsing two more times. He saved multiple hostages and he was the last man to leave,” Trump said during the ceremony.Payne’s role in the rescue operation on October 22, 2015, resulted in the freeing of 75 people being held by ISIS and the deaths of 20 enemy fighters killed in action. The 36-year-old sergeant major was awarded the medal on the 19th anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks against the U.S.”Sergeant Major Payne is part of the 9/11 generation and joined the Army out of a sense of patriotism and duty to serve his country,” said the White House statement. Payne, raised in South Carolina, has brothers serving in the Army and the Air Force.Payne has served on 17 deployments, including to Iraq, Afghanistan and Africa, averaging nearly one tour a year. While serving on a tour in Afghanistan in 2010, a grenade blast injured Payne’s knee and he was awarded a Purple Heart.“Pat, you embody the righteous glory of American valor,” Trump said during his remarks before placing the medal around Payne’s neck. “We stand in awe of your historic, daring and gallant deeds. You truly went above and beyond the call of duty to earn our nation’s highest military honor.” 
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Singer-songwriter Jesse Colin Young made history with the “Youngbloods” on their classic ‘60s peace anthem “Get Together.” Earlier this year, Jesse released his 19th solo album “Dreamers” and this is his first album of new material since 2006’s “Celtic Mambo.”  **This interview originally aired on Nov. 12, 2019. 
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French Prime Minister Jean Castex said Friday the government was not planning a new, nationwide lockdown in response to a dramatic spike in COVID-19 cases this week. In a televised statement in Paris, following a meeting with the Defense Council, Castex acknowledged the COVID-19 situation has gotten worse, and he urged citizens to practice social distancing and wear masks. In addition, he said, the government would take steps to slow the spread of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.  He said these measures would include fast-tracked testing for priority cases and giving local authorities the power to make some businesses reduce opening hours. But the French prime minister said they would not “put on hold our social, cultural and economic lives, the education of our children, and our capability to live normally.” The French government is under renewed pressure to curb the spread of the disease as health authorities Thursday reported 9,843 new confirmed coronavirus cases, a new record, topping the previous record of 8,975, set six days earlier. French health experts have called on the government to act to avoid a second wave of the virus. The head of the government’s scientific council, Jean-François Delfraissy, said Wednesday the government needs to make “a number of difficult decisions in the next 10 days.”  In March, France imposed a strict lockdown. That succeeded in preventing the hospital system from being overwhelmed by COVID-19 cases, but it also dealt a severe blow to the economy. That lockdown was relaxed in early May. 
 
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Rio Tinto’s decision to part ways with its CEO and two senior executives reflects heightened investor concern over social issues and the loss of “social license” to operate, governance groups and investors said.The global miner said on Friday chief executive Jean-Sébastien Jacques and two other executives would step down following an outcry over its decision to detonate part of an ancient gorge that showed 46,000 years of human habitation.The move comes as investors are demanding increased transparency in how companies manage environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks, said Danielle Welsh-Rose, Aberdeen Standard Investments ESG Investment Director, Asia Pacific.”The leadership changes at Rio Tinto today are significant in many ways, including showing that investors and other stakeholders will hold companies to account on their ESG performance,” she said.Rio had been slow to recognize the importance of ESG issues following recent banking scandals in Australia, said Vas Kolesnikoff, Australian head of governance adviser ISS.”This is the social license to operate. If you don’t adhere to appropriate conduct and standards, you’re going to fall foul of investors,” he said.Ben Cleary, a partner at Tribeca Investment Partners said the Rio departures were a big moment for the mining industry.”For the CEO and a couple of senior management to go over an ESG issue, it’s just going to reverberate through board rooms throughout the resource sector,” he said, adding that it could slow down the sector.Rio’s detonations, which allowed it to access higher-grade ore, also came amid a wider movement in Australia focused on the treatment of aboriginal groups, who fall behind the general population on markers ranging from child mortality to literacy.Land rights barrister Greg McIntyre said it was too early to say whether Rio’s move signaled a turning point in relation to dealings with aboriginal groups.”What it does indicate is that this issue is being taken seriously, which is a positive development, but it’s not a solution to the problem.” 
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India has recorded nearly 100,000 new COVID-19 cases in one day. The South Asian nation said Friday there had been 96,551 new cases in the previous 24-hour period.India has a total of 4.5 million COVID cases.With almost 6.4 million infections, the United States is the only country that has more COVID infections than India.In the U.S. cases of COVID-19 are “increasingly rapidly among young adults,” according to a research letter from Harvard, published at the online site of the JAMA medical journal.The study included 3,222 young adults between the ages of 18 and 34.The investigation found that the young adults “experienced substantial rates of adverse outcomes: 21% required intensive care, 10% required mechanical ventilation, and 2.7% died.”Patients with morbid obesity, hypertension, and diabetes were at “greater risks of adverse events.” The young adults with more than one of the conditions, the researchers found, “faced risks comparable with those observed in middle-aged adults without them.” Black and Hispanic patients made up more than half of the patients who required hospitalization.A separate Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report says an investigation of symptomatic outpatients from 11 U.S. health facilities found that people who tested positive for COVID-19 were twice as likely to have reported dining at a restaurant than those who tested negative.British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced this week his government will launch an ambitious program to test at least half a million people daily for COVID-19, with the results back within minutes. Johnson said he hoped the “moonshot” program — a reference to the 1960s-era American manned lunar landing program — will be in place before the end of the year, and would return Britain to some sort of normality and grant more freedom to those who test negative for the coronavirus.Johnson coupled the announcement of the mass testing initiative with a new order limiting the number of people taking part in most social gatherings to six, from the current 30.The new limit would take effect next week, as Britain is experiencing a surge of nearly 3,000 new COVID-19 cases daily in recent weeks, the highest daily figures since May.Britain’s Chief Medical Officer Chris Whittey says the new “rule of six” restrictions are likely to remain in place for several months.Johns Hopkins University reports there are more than 28 million cases of COVID-19 cases worldwide with more than 900,000 deaths. 
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Leaders of Mali’s military junta will resume their three-day “national consultation” Friday to outline a transition to a civilian government, a month after deposing President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita.On Thursday, Colonel Assimi Goita, the head of Mali’s junta, told political parties and civil society groups gathered in the capital, Bamako, that everyone “must put aside their differences to lay the foundations for a reformed Mali, refounded on work, efficiency and social justice.”Goita and a group of mutinous soldiers carried out the coup, which led to Keita’s resignation on August 18.The junta says it wants Mali to return to civilian rule, but multiple discussions with regional leaders have yet to result in an agreement on a clear path forward with civilian transitional leaders.The West African regional bloc, ECOWAS, has insisted the junta, known as the National Committee for the Salvation of the People, install civilian transition leaders by September 15 and hold an election within a year for a president and prime minister.The military has been seeking a three-year transition, to include the writing of a new constitution. 
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