10 things you need to know today: October 31, 2020
1.
The United States on Friday set another daily coronavirus infection record, tallying more than 99,000 new cases in a 24-hour period. That is also the highest single-day figure for a country since the pandemic began, surpassing India's previous mark of 97,894 cases. This week, several states recorded their worst seven-day stretch of new infections, and 16 reported daily records on Friday. The current wave is more widespread than previous ones and does not have an epicenter, though South Dakota and North Dakota are ranked first and second in recent cases per capita. Overall, the U.S. surpassed 9 million infections, which still leads the world, but it's far from the only country struggling with the virus. Belgium became the latest European country to announce a new national lockdown Friday, while British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is considering one for England next week. [ The Washington Post, The New York Times]
2.
President Trump and Democratic rival Joe Biden are hitting the campaign trail for a final frenzied weekend of rallies and on-the-ground work in battleground states this weekend, as the presidential race reaches its last days. Both candidates held events in Wisconsin on Friday, with Biden also spending time in Iowa and Trump visiting Michigan. Biden will head to the latter state Saturday, joining up with his old boss, former President Barack Obama, for rallies in Flint and Detroit. Biden is expected to spend the last day before Tuesday's Election Day in his home state of Pennsylvania. The state is Biden's most-visited location, as pundits say if Trump loses Pennsylvania he has an extremely slim path to victory. Trump, meanwhile, will make stops in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Iowa, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and Wisconsin this weekend, with return trips to several of those states on Monday. [The Associated Press, Bloomberg]
3.
Sean Connery has died, his family confirmed Saturday. He was 90. A cause of death wasn't immediately known, but Variety notes it was believed the actor had been unwell for some time. The Scottish-born Connery was best known for his James Bond portrayal and is considered one of the best actors to take on the iconic role, but his movie career spanned decades and included several other memorable parts in films like The Name of the Rose and The Untouchables, for which he won a BAFTA and an Oscar, respectively. In a statement, Bond producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli said Connery "was and shall always be remembered as the original James Bond" and is "undoubtedly largely responsible for the success of the film series." [Variety, CNN]
4.
United States border officials have expelled migrant children from Central America and other countries into Mexico, even if they have no family connections in Mexico, The New York Times reported Friday. More than 200 migrant children in the past eight months have been sent into Mexico, as the Trump administration argues the expulsions are necessary to combat the nation's coronavirus outbreak. Children from Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala have been expelled with no accompanying adult and sent to Mexican child welfare authorities, "at least at first," writes the Times. Previously, lawyers reported they still have not located 545 migrant children who were separated from their families upon arriving at the border. Locating Central American migrant children who have been expelled into Mexico has also been difficult. Border agents have now been instructed to exempt children under 10 from the expulsion policy. [The New York Times]
5.
The Philippines is bracing for the arrival of "super" Typhoon Goni, a category 5 storm that has emerged as the Earth's strongest storm since Hurricane Dorian in 2019, The Washington Post reports. It is expected to make landfall on Sunday. Goni is reportedly sporting sustained winds that peaked at 185 miles per hour. Philippine officials have ordered the evacuation of thousands of residents in the southern part of the archipelago's main island of Luzan. Authorities will try to impose social distancing measures in evacuation centers, as the Philippines continues to deal with the coronavirus pandemic. The pandemic also means the country's "calamity" funds have dwindled, though relief goods, heavy machinery, and personal protective equipment are already positioned in key areas. Goni is the 18th tropical storm to hit the Philippines this year, and it comes just a few days after Typhoon Molave hit the country, killing 22 people. [Al Jazeera, The Washington Post]
6.
A magnitude 7.0 earthquake hit the Aegean Sea on Friday, leaving at least 27 dead in Turkey and Greece. At least 800 people have been reported injured in Turkey, where the quake was felt as far away as Istanbul. Several buildings collapsed and streets flooded along the coastline. The earthquake hit about 10 miles north of the Greek island Samos, where two teenagers died when a wall collapsed on them. Search teams are working in Turkey's Izmir, where at least 20 buildings were destroyed. Dozens of people trapped under rubble in Turkey have been saved. More than 400 aftershocks have been recorded, 35 of which were over 4.0 magnitude. [The Washington Post, CNN]
7.
Inspire, a holding company backed by the private equity firm Roark Capital Group, will buy Dunkin' Brands Group in an $11.3 billion deal, the second-largest acquisition of a North American restaurant chain in at least a decade following Restaurant Brands International's $13.3 billion purchase of Tim Hortons in 2014, The Wall Street Journal reports. With Dunkin' in tow, Inspire is expected to become the second-largest U.S. restaurant chain by domestic sales after McDonald's Corp, and it will have 32,000 restaurants and 600,000 company and franchise employees. Inspire's expansion began in 2018, when Arby's merged with Buffalo Wild Wings. The group then bought Sonic and Jimmy John's. The Canton, Massachusetts-based Dunkin' will also give Inspire a larger international profile, as more than 42 percent of its 21,000 stores are outside the U.S. The deal, which was previously hindered by the coronavirus pandemic, is expected to close by the end of the year, the companies said Friday. [The Wall Street Journal, CNN]
8.
French police took a third person into custody in connection with a knife attack that killed three people at a church in Nice on Thursday, marking the country's second deadly knife attack in two weeks. The suspected assailant, a 21-year-old Tunisian man, was shot by police and is in critical condition in a hospital, but at least two of the three people who are in custody are being investigated over suspected contacts with the attacker, Reuters reports. Tensions remain in high in France, where President Emmanuel Macron — who said what happened in Nice was an "Islamist terrorist attack" — has deployed thousands of soldiers to protect schools and places of worship and promised to protect the right to caricature the Prophet Mohammed. Meanwhile, protests erupted in many Muslim-majority countries, with tens of thousands of people taking to the streets and accusing Macron and France of Islamophobia. [Reuters, Al Jazeera]
9.
Ivory Coast voters are casting ballots for their country's presidential election Saturday. The lead up to the election has been violent, resulting in at least 30 deaths, amid clashes over President Alassane Ouattara's attempt to secure a third term in office, which is in violation of the constitution's two-term limit. He initially said he would stand down, but announced he would run again after the death of his preferred successor, BBC notes. Ouattara's main challengers, former President Henri Konan Bedie, and former Prime Minister Pascal Affi N'Guessan, have called for an election boycott and civil disobedience, but they have not formally withdrawn their candidacies. Georgia, the country, is also holding its presidential election Saturday, in which an opposition coalition is challenging the increasingly unpopular ruling party, Al Jazeera reports. [BBC, Al Jazeera]
10.
Taylor Swift has made her biggest political statement yet, allowing her song "Only the Young" to be used in a campaign ad for Democratic nominee Joe Biden and his running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), on Friday. The spot comes from Rep. Eric Swalwell's (D-Calif.) Remedy PAC, and promotes turnout among younger voters. In the first time she's allowed a song to be used in a political ad, Swift's tune plays as images of Black Lives Matter and #MeToo protests, caged immigrant children, and Republican politicians roll across the screen. "They've marched for years on these issues," Swalwell explained to CNN. "The song calls on people to run, and essentially run to the polls." [CNN]
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