CORENEWS

Presidential debate: Trump and Biden ready for first TV showdown – live

First of three presidential debates tonight in Cleveland
Debate offers Trump chance to yank 2020 race his way
Coronavirus rates on the rise again in New York
Faulty ballots sent to an unknown number of Brooklyn voters
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12.53am BST

We’re closing down this blog, but Joan E Greve and I will be covering the presidential debate tonight. Follow along here.

12.38am BST

A federal appeals court upheld a ruling – contested by Republicans - that extends the deadline for counting absentee ballots in Wisconsin.

The decision means that ballots postmarked by 3 November will be so long as they arrive before 9 November. The Republican National Committee and state Republican leaders and legislators had argued against the extension - arguing that people would have plenty of time to return their ballots.

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from The Guardian https://ift.tt/30h80m2

Priti Patel looked at idea of sending asylum seekers to South Atlantic

Home secretary asked officials to see if applicants could be processed on isolated St Helena

A Whitehall brainstorming session prompted by Priti Patel led to the idea being floated of sending asylum seekers to a volcanic island in the South Atlantic, the Guardian understands.

The Financial Times reported that the home secretary had asked officials to look into the idea of processing asylum seekers on Ascension Island, an isolated volcanic British territory, and on St Helena, which is part of the same island group but 800 miles away.

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from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3cINhgj

40% of world’s plant species at risk of extinction

Race against time to save plants and fungi that underpin life on Earth, global data shows

Two in five of the world’s plant species are at risk of extinction as a result of the destruction of the natural world, according to an international report.

Plants and fungi underpin life on Earth, but the scientists said they were now in a race against time to find and identify species before they were lost.

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from The Guardian https://ift.tt/36gBPXN

Deaths from natural causes in English and Welsh prisons 'unacceptably high'

Panel calls for improved access to healthcare for inmates to avoid preventable deaths

The number of deaths from natural causes on the prison estate is “unacceptably high”, a watchdog has warned, urging ministers to do more to allow inmates to be allowed out to die.

The average age of an inmate dying a “natural death” is 56, compared with 81 in the general population, the Independent Advisory Panel (IAP) on Deaths in Custody said.

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from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3l2C0KH

UK spent £569m on 20,900 ventilators for Covid care but most remain unused

Government was right to prioritise speed over cost, says National Audit Office

The government spent £569m buying 20,900 ventilators to keep people alive during the Covid-19 pandemic but lack of demand means NHS hospitals have used just a few of them.

All but 2,150 of the machines it bought are still being held in a Ministry of Defence warehouse in case they are needed in the coming second wave of the disease.

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from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2HIDMSM

Coronavirus live news: 60m Indians may have contracted Covid; Disney announces mass layoffs

India’s pandemic agency says cases may be ten times official figure; New York introduces face mask fines as positivity rates climb; Boris Johnson apologises for getting north-east England lockdown rules wrong. Follow the latest updates

12.48am BST

A commonly used arthritis drug is to be trialled with care home residents who have Covid, after it was observed that those taking it for their joint pains were less likely to end up in hospital with the virus.

Older people in care homes, who often have some degree of dementia, tend not to do well in hospital, where they become more confused and may pick up infections. The trial will break new ground by giving the drug to people at care homes, where they can be supervised and monitored afterwards by doctors and nurses.

12.26am BST

Arthritis drug to be trialled as Covid treatment in UK care homes

Adalimumab could counter hyper-inflammation seen in severe coronavirus cases

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from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2EKoGLr

Cut to £20-a-week Covid boost will lead to big rise in poverty, UK charities warn

Benefit given to 16 million people not mentioned in chancellor’s new support package announcement

Around 700,000 people, including 300,000 children, will be “cut adrift” into poverty at a time of surging unemployment and plummeting living standards if the government cuts the £20-a-week pandemic uplift to key social security benefits, charities have warned.

The letter reflects growing pressure on the chancellor Rishi Sunak, who failed to say whether he would protect the £20 increase, which benefits around 16 million people, when he outlined his latest Covid-19 support package last week, despite warning that the UK faced a winter of business failures and rising unemployment.

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from The Guardian https://ift.tt/30ltNZU

New York City to fine people who refuse to wear masks as Covid rates rise

Bill de Blasio announces crackdown amid positive test rise
Officials concerned over virus increase in nine zip codes

New York City will impose fines on people who refuse to wear a face covering in public, Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Tuesday, as he announced that the rate of positive tests for the coronavirus had climbed above 3% in the city for the first time in months.

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Tow company sold vehicles of Texas military members while they were on duty, feds say

One of the service members was at basic training when his car was towed, officials say.

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U.S. commerce chief sets October 5 target date to end census operations

U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has set Oct. 5 as a target date to end data collection operations for the 2020 U.S. census, the U.S. Census Bureau said on Monday, weeks before the scheduled completion date of Oct. 31. President Donald Trump's administration, which said in August that it planned to shorten the time line by a month, was sued by municipalities and civil rights groups, which argued the "rushed" schedule would lead to inaccurate census results and "a massive undercount of the country's communities of color." "The Secretary of Commerce has announced a target date of October 5, 2020 to conclude 2020 Census self-response and field data collection operations," the Census Bureau wrote on Twitter on Monday.

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New aftermath footage of police raid that killed Breonna Taylor shows Louisville officers violating investigation policies

The footage shows officers involved in the raid on Taylor's apartment walking throughout the scene unescorted, a violation of their police department rules.

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Pelosi warns Democrats the election may be decided by the House — where the GOP holds an edge

If the Electoral College is tied, each state delegation gets a single vote. Republicans currently control 26

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