Monday,  Sept. 21st, 2020

Jacob Gardner, a Omaha, Nebraska bar owner who was charged for fatally shooting James Scurlock during a George Floyd protest in the state, dies from suicide. (New York Times)

Microsoft agrees to buy video game holding company ZeniMax Media, including Bethesda Softworks and their following subsidiaries for $7.5 billion, in what is the biggest and most expensive takeover in the history of the video game industry. (Bloomberg)

he number of cases in Iran rises by 3,341 in the past 24 hours, the highest daily tally since early June. The number of total cases in the country reaches to 425,481. (Reuters)

The government raise its COVID-19 alert level from 3 to 4, meaning transmission is “high or rising exponentially”. It comes after the government’s scientific adviser warned there could be 50,000 new cases a day by mid-October without further action. (BBC)

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern lifts all remaining lockdown restrictions in the country except for Auckland, which maintains its lockdown until at least October 7. (AP)

BuzzFeed News and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists release the FinCEN files, a collection of 2,657 documents relating to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. (BuzzFeed News) (BBC)

A federal judge blocks the Commerce Department from requiring U.S. app stores to remove WeChat downloads. (NBC News)

 

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Sunday,  Sept. 20th, 2020

Police arrest 86 people at a protest against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Times Square. The rally called for the abolition of ICE in the wake of allegations of a high rate of hysterectomies and alleged medical neglect. (CNN)

Chuck Schumer: Mitch McConnell is displaying ‘blatant, nasty hypocrisy’ Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) on Sunday night vowed to fight against Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who said he will push to have the Senate vote on President Trump’s nominee to replace Ginsburg on the Supreme Court. McConnell blocked former President Barack Obama from being able to select a replacement for Justice Antonin Scalia in February 2016, claiming it was too soon before the November election. By calling for a quick vote now, when the presidential election is just 44 days away, McConnell is displaying “blatant, nasty hypocrisy,” Schumer said. He urged voters to call their senators and tell them “not to be afraid of Mitch McConnell.” Ocasio-Cortez said it is “extraordinarily important that we understand the stakes of this vacancy,” as reproductive, labor, and health-care rights “are on the line.” A Trump appointment, she added, puts “all of our rights, the rights that so many people died for … at risk.” Source: The Week

London’s Metropolitan Police reports that around 200 books worth £2.5 million were recovered from a house in Neamț County, Romania. The books, believed to have been stolen by Romanian gangs from a London warehouse in January 2017, include first editions by Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei and English scientist Isaac Newton, and sketches by Spanish painter Francisco Goya. (DW)

The United States Department of Commerce says it will ban U.S. citizens from downloading the Chinese apps TikTok and WeChat effective September 20, unless a partnership between Oracle Corporation and TikTok owner ByteDance is agreed to and approved by President Donald Trump. (BBC)

Chinese technology company ByteDance announces a proposed joint deal with American corporations Oracle and Walmart to continue the operation of its video-sharing social networking service TikTok in the United States. U.S. President Donald Trump recognizes the proposal, having threatened to ban the service in suspicion of Chinese espionage should ByteDance have failed to reach a deal with an American firm. (AFP via The Hindu)

The United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declares the 2015 nuclear accord with Iran as no longer in force. He also warns that the United States “is prepared to use our domestic authorities to impose consequences” for other countries that do not enforce the sanctions. Britain, France, Germany, China, and Russia oppose the snapback sanctions.  (Al Jazeera)

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) releases a statement that a screening facility for White House mail intercepted a package containing ricin poison that was addressed to Donald Trump earlier this week. The FBI and the Secret Service are investigating where the package came from and whether others have been sent through the postal service. (BBC)

Hundreds of Romanian families protest at the University Square in Bucharest against the government’s new mandate on social distancing and the wearing of face masks in schools. Many compare the measures to the country’s communist regime. (AP via ABC News)

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Saturday,  Sept. 19th, 2020

A 1634 edition of The Two Noble Kinsmen, the last play by English playwright William Shakespeare, is discovered at the Royal Scots College’s library in Salamanca, Spain. It is believed to be the oldest copy of any of his works in the country. (BBC)

Robert Koch Institute reports 2,297 new cases in Germany in the last 24 hours, taking the nationwide total to more than 270,000, the highest single daily increase since April. (Daily Sabah)

Two people are killed and 14 others injured in a mass shooting at a home in Rochester, New York. (The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle)

Former UK diplomat Fraser Cameron is placed under investigation by Belgian authorities for allegedly selling sensitive information to Chinese spies posing as journalists. (BBC)

Trump says GOP has ‘obligation’ to replace Ginsburg ‘without delay’ President Trump on Saturday urged Senate Republicans to confirm a new Supreme Court Justice, who he will nominate, to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died Friday night at 87. Trump told GOP lawmakers “we have this obligation, without delay.” Ginsburg’s death has already sparked a debate over the vacant seat. In 2016, Senate Republicans blocked then-President Barack Obama’s nominee, Merrick Garland, because it was an election year. So is 2020, but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has argued it’s a different situation because the Senate majority and president are from the same party and, therefore, he is aiming to fast-track a nomination. Trump’s latest statement signals he is on the same page as McConnell. Democrats — and some Republicans — have said a confirmation hearing should wait until at least after the November election, if not January’s inauguration. Source: Donald Trump

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