Key Storylines
- AFRICA: Ethiopian Military operations in the north have “clear, limited and achievable objectives,” Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed reported.
- AMERICAS: Philadelphia police said they are investigating an alleged plot to attack the city’s Convention Center, where ballots from the 2020 presidential election are being tallied.
- ASIA: Indonesia reported 3,778 additional COVID-19 cases and 94 COVID-19 deaths on Friday, data from the country’s health ministry announced.
- EUROPE: German Police said they are raiding apartments and offices over possible links to the Austrian Islamic State sympathizer who went on a deadly gun rampage in central Vienna.
- MIDDLE EAST: The U.S. State Department gave Congress notification it will sell 18 sophisticated armed MQ-9B aerial drones to the U.A.E in a deal worth as much as $2.9 billion, people briefed on the agreement said
- TECH & COMMUNICATIONS: Facebook announced it has dismantled seven separate networks of fake accounts and pages on its platform that were active in Iran, Afghanistan, Egypt, Turkey, Morocco, Myanmar, Georgia, and Ukraine due to “coordinated inauthentic behavior
Top Story
- United States: Former Vice President Joe Biden draws closer to election victory despite President Trump’s complaints about voter fraud.
- While Biden, a Democrat, called for calm and patience, Republican Trump, without providing evidence, said democrats were engaging in fraud and election theft.
- President Donald Trump’s two sons have criticized Republicans for failing to back the president as he struggles to win re-election.
- After President Trump questioned the presidential election results Thursday night, giving a speech deemed false by many major news networks causing, MSNBC, CBS, and ABC, cut away to fact-check the president in real-time.
- Democrat Joe Biden has been able to overtake President Donald Trump in the battleground state of Georgia.
- The Secret Service is sending reinforcements to Wilmington, Del., to help protect former vice president Joe Biden as the campaign grows more confident in an eventual win, according to two people familiar with the plans.
- Joe Biden is gaining on President Trump in Pennsylvania with most of the outstanding vote coming from democratic areas, inching him closer to a win in the tight race for the White House.
- Reporting: Reuters, BBC WaPo, AP, WaPo, The Hill,
Africa
- Ethiopia: Military operations in the north have “clear, limited and achievable objectives”, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed reported. (Reuters)
- Libya: The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said that nearly 300 illegal migrants were rescued off the coast. (Xinhua)
- Libya: The National Center for Disease Control of the nation reported 853 additional COVID-19 cases, taking the nationwide count to 65,440 with 38,110 recoveries and 910 deaths. (Xinhua)
- Somalia: A minister survived a landmine blast in Mogadishu. but two of his bodyguards were injured, a government official reported. (Xinhua)
Americas
- Region: As the remnants of Hurricane Eta returned to Caribbean waters, governments in Central America worked on recording the displaced and dead and recover bodies from landslides and flooding that claimed dozens of lives from Guatemala to Panama. (AP)
- United States: A U.S. appeals court has ordered the immediate release of a Russian woman who was convicted of international parental kidnapping for taking her children from the United States to Russia amid a divorce from her American husband. (RFE)
- United States: Philadelphia police said they are investigating an alleged plot to attack the city’s Convention Center, where ballots from the 2020 presidential election are being tallied. (Reuters)
Asia
- Australia: Canberra has advised businesses to seek new export markets and decrease their reliance on China as a worsening dispute threatens up to A$6bn in annual trade. (FT)
- Indonesia: The nation reported 3,778 additional COVID-19 cases and 94 COVID-19 deaths on Friday, data from the country’s health ministry announced. (Reuters)
- Malaysia: The government announced an expansionary budget aimed at spurring domestic activity as the country grapples with the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, setting aside concerns of a growing fiscal deficit for the time being. (Reuters)
- South Korea: New COVID- infections rose by triple digits for a third straight day, due to an increase of cluster infections across the country, putting the country’s virus fight at risk amid the approaching winter season (YNA)
Europe
- Region: Three civilians were killed after the Azerbaijani military shelled the main city of the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, Armenia said, following weeks of fighting over the territory. (AFP)
- Germany: Police said they are raiding apartments and offices over possible links to the Austrian Islamic State sympathizer who went on a deadly gun rampage in central Vienna. (AFP)
- Germany: Industrial production rose by 1.6 percent on the month in September, the Federal Statistical Agency (Destatis) reported. (DPA)
- United Kingdom: England enters a month-long lockdown to reduce the spread of a resurgent of COVID-19. (Xinhua)
Middle East
- Lebanon: The United States is planning to sanction Gebran Bassil, the leader of the Free Patriotic Movement party, and is allied with Hezbollah, the Wall Street Journal reported. (Reuters)
- United Arab Emirates: The U.S. State Department gave Congress notification it will sell 18 sophisticated armed MQ-9B aerial drones to the country in a deal worth as much as $2.9 billion, people briefed on the agreement said. (Reuters)
Tech & Communications
- Social Media: Facebook announced it has dismantled seven separate networks of fake accounts and pages on its platform that were active in Iran, Afghanistan, Egypt, Turkey, Morocco, Myanmar, Georgia, and Ukraine due to “coordinated inauthentic behavior”. (Reuters)
World
- Cyclones:
- Hurricanes:
- Hurricane Eta
- Location: 17.3 N 87.4 W
- Movement: N at 7 mph
- Wind: 35mph
- Map
- Hurricane Eta
- Earthquakes: Nothing to report.
- Volcanoes: Nothing to report.
- Global Disease Outbreaks:
- COVID-19 Coronavirus Disease: Global
- Confirmed Cases as of 06NOV20: 48,764,912
- Total Recovered Cases as of 06NOV20: 32,245,387
- Deaths as of 06NOV20: 1,234,742
- Countries with Confirmed Cases: 190
- Sourcing: John Hopkins University
- Ebola Virus Disease: DR Congo (11th Ebola outbreak figures from Equateur Province)
- Confirmed Cases as of 17OCT20: 119
- Probable Cases as of 17OCT20: 9
- Deaths as of 17OCT20: 53
- Sourcing: WHO
- COVID-19 Coronavirus Disease: Global
Tomorrow’s Outlook (07NOV20)
- Global: Atlantic Council virtual event on Russia and Belarus
- Egypt: Parliamentary elections hit the second round
- Ghana: Presidential and Parliamentary elections
- India: Bihar state assembly elections third phase
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