Nigerian judge throws out case against 47 men facing homosexuality charge
The case dates back to 2018 and had widely been seen as a test of the country's laws banning same-sex relationships.

Chris Agiriga, 23, one of the men arrested on charges of public display of affection with members of the same sex, walks with a friend on the streets of Mushin in Lagos, Nigeria, on Feb. 14, 2020.

Temilade Adelaja / Reuters file


Oct. 27, 2020, 12:52 PM MDT / Source: Reuters

LAGOS - A judge in a Nigerian court on Tuesday threw out a case against 47 men charged with public displays of affection with members of same sex, ending what had widely been seen as a test of the country's laws banning same-sex relationships.

The Nigerian law banning gay marriage, punishable by up to 14 years in prison, and same-sex "amorous relationships," prompted an international outcry when it came into force under former President Goodluck Jonathan in 2014.

The men were arrested in a police raid on a Lagos hotel in the city's Egbeda district in 2018. Police said the men were being initiated into a gay club, but the defendants said they were attending a birthday party.

Prosecution and defense lawyers in the case had told Reuters nobody had yet been convicted under the law, which led to the case of the men being widely seen as a test case that could help to establish the burden of proof.

Prosecutors failed to attend Tuesday's hearing at the federal high court in Lagos, having previously failed to present some of their witnesses in a case that had been adjourned on several occasions.
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Justice Rilwan Aikawa struck out the case and said he had done so due to the "lack of diligent prosecution".

The specific charge the men faced, relating to public displays of affection, carries a 10-year prison sentence.

Outside the court, many of the men smiled and cheered, including dancer James Brown who, smiling, said: "I am free. It means a lot of good things."

Under Nigerian law, defendants in a case that is struck out can be re-arrested and arraigned again on the same charge, whereas that is not possible in cases that have been dismissed.

Taxi driver Onyeka Oguaghamba, a father-of-four who said he merely drove people to the party, said he was happy the case had been struck out but disappointed that it was not dismissed entirely.

"I am not happy, because I'm looking for the matter to end in a way that people will see me and believe what I have been saying from the beginning," he said, adding that the decision meant he could be charged again.

Oguaghamba and others previously told Reuters they had been stigmatized as a result of the raid and a televised news conference held by police in which they were identified the day after their arrest.

Chris Agiriga, another of the men, said the striking out of the case would not help him to be reconciled with his family who had rejected him over the matter.

"Since the past two years, this has caused a lot of damage in my life," he said.

Emmanuel Sadi, a program officer with rights group the Initiative for Equal Rights (TIERS), said the outcome of the case raised questions about the law used to charge the men.

"You can't even build a case around it," he said. "I hope they (the government) realize how redundant it is as a law, and they are open to removing or repealing it," he said.

Homosexuality is outlawed in many socially conservative African societies where some religious groups brand it a corrupting Western import. Gay sex is a crime in countries across the continent, with punishments ranging from imprisonment to death.

N.Y. Attorney General Letitia James developing 'long' list of Trump actions for Biden to undo
The Democratic official also told NBC News she is reviewing legal options in case the president contests the election results.

New York State Attorney General Letitia James takes her oath of office 

on Jan. 1, 2019.Andrew Lichtenstein / Corbis via Getty Images file

Oct. 30, 2020, By Allan Smith NBC

New York Attorney General Letitia James says her office is preparing a substantial list of legal actions for a potential Biden administration to begin quickly reversing Trump administration initiatives, she told NBC News in an interview.

"We're preparing a list. And the list is long," she said Thursday. "We'll have a team of individuals, again, working on reversing all of the bad regulations and laws that have been put forth ... We will work with the Biden administration to ask them to file stays in a number of cases that are pending in the courts all across this country."

James, a leading Democratic state attorney general, said she and her colleagues are also reviewing "legal options to determine what action, if any" state attorneys general will take should the election results be contested.

In her second year as the top law enforcement official in New York, James has battled the Trump administration on everything from environmental regulations and immigration enforcement to its handling of the census. More recently, she's been involved in litigation over Postal Service slowdowns.

Meanwhile, because of the Trump Organization's footprint in New York City, James has been at the forefront of legal action against President Donald Trump's family business.

Her office's yearslong probe into Trump's charitable foundation led to its dissolution. More recently, her investigation into whether the president's business had inflated the value of its assets for the purposes of tax breaks and loans came to a head earlier this month when Eric Trump, the president's son and an executive at his business, sat for a pre-election deposition.

The younger Trump had pushed back on having to testify before the election, but after a judge ruled against his effort, he agreed to sit for questioning on whether the Trump Organization had committed fraud. He called the legal effort "a continued political vendetta."

James said she could not get into the details of his testimony, adding, "We're in the midst of discovery and they're handing over documents and that is ongoing."

As for Eric Trump's claim of political bias — something the president has repeatedly claimed about James and her predecessors in the office — the attorney general said she doesn't "pay a lot of attention to all the noise and all the critics."

"I keep hearing this. I know Eric Trump has accused me of bias. The NRA have accused me of bias," she said, acknowledging a separate high-profile case her office is in the midst of with the National Rifle Association. "A number of elected officials have accused me of bias. Some Republican attorneys general have accused me of political bias. I just put my head down and just go to work."

"Again, politics is not an issue that I will tolerate in my office," she said. "It's based on allegations, primarily from individuals within the Trump administration who have come forward, and laid bare a pattern of illegality and misconduct, which requires an investigation on the part of regulators, i.e., the New York State Office of Attorney General."

She pointed to the Trump Organization investigation her office has ongoing having stemmed from allegations made by the president's convicted former lawyer, Michael Cohen, who leveled such allegations of asset valuation malfeasance while testifying before Congress in early 2019.

As for rumors she may run for mayor of New York City or governor of the state, James said she had "no comment."

"But you know that it's no secret, I was considering running for mayor when this opportunity availed itself, and here I am as the attorney general," she said. "That's not something that I was focused on or planning on."

"There's a phrase that my mother used to say and that is, 'You plan and God laughs,'" she added. "So, I'm no longer planning. I'm just working."

Allan Smith is a political reporter for NBC News.

'Quick, quick, quick': Trump rushes McSally at rally as she fights to hold her Senate seat

The president hurried Arizona Sen. Martha McSally before calling up three out of state politicians to address the crowd.

All spoke longer than McSally did — as did another guest speaker Trump called on, Nigel Farage of Britain's Brexit party. Trump did not rush any of those four.

'They don't want to hear this, Martha!': Trump rushes McSally on stage during Arizona rally OCT. 29, 2020 01:54 VIDEO

Oct. 28, 2020, 6:57 PM MDT
By Vaughn Hillyard and Dareh Gregorian

President Donald Trump offered a not-very warm welcome to Sen. Martha McSally on Wednesday at his campaign rally in Arizona, where McSally, also a Republican, is fighting to hold on to her seat.

After saying she was "respected by everybody" and "great," Trump rushed McSally to the stage at an airport rally in Goodyear to say a few words.

"Martha, just come up fast. Fast. Fast. Come on. Quick. You got one minute! One minute, Martha! They don’t want to hear this, Martha. Come on. Let’s go. Quick, quick, quick. Come on. Let’s go," Trump said.

McSally spoke for just over a minute, and said she was "proud" to work with the president — something a moderator could not get her say during her debate with Democratic challenger Mark Kelly earlier this month.

After McSally spoke, Trump called up a trio of politicians from out of state to speak — Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. Of the three, only McCarthy, the House Republican leader, is running for re-election in November. All spoke longer than McSally did — as did another guest speaker Trump called on, Nigel Farage of Britain's Brexit party. Trump did not rush any of those four.

Polling in Arizona has shown McSally consistently behind Kelly. Earlier Wednesday, McSally published an op-ed article in which she said she will vote for Trump. She had long asserted that she has the right to a "secret ballot" when asked if she's voting for him.

Trump told reporters during another trip to Arizona last week that he thought McSally was "doing fine" and that he didn't think their fates in the state were tied together.

"I think we're very separated, but we support each other fully," he said. "But I’ve never been a believer that somebody — that you’re tied together. I don’t — I don’t believe that. I know I’m doing very well. I don’t know what her numbers are. I haven’t looked. But I hope she does well."

McSally was appointed to her seat in 2018 by Gov. Doug Ducey after Sen. Jon Kyl announced he was retiring.

The Washington Post reported last week that Trump told donors at a fundraiser it was going to be "very tough" for Republicans to keep control of the Senate because there were some he'd have a hard time supporting.

"There are a couple senators I can't really get involved in. I just can't do it. You lose your soul if you do," an attendee quoted him as saying.

Vaughn Hillyard is a political reporter for NBC News.
Dareh Gregorian is a politics reporter for NBC News.

Trump adviser Stephen Miller reveals aggressive second-term immigration agenda
The immigration hardliner says the president would fight to limit asylum, target "sanctuary cities," expand the "travel ban" and cut work visas.

VIDEO
Trump adviser Stephen Miller lays out plans for aggressive immigration agenda

OCT. 30, 20200 3:11

Oct. 30, 2020, By Sahil Kapur

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump's senior adviser Stephen Miller has fleshed out plans to rev up Trump's restrictive immigration agenda if he wins re-election next week, offering a stark contrast to the platform of Democratic nominee Joe Biden.

In a 30-minute phone interview Thursday with NBC News, Miller outlined four major priorities: limiting asylum grants, punishing and outlawing "sanctuary cities," expanding the so-called travel ban with tougher screening for visa applicants and slapping new limits on work visas.


The objective, he said, is "raising and enhancing the standard for entry" to the United States.

Examining Trump's immigration campaign promises four years later

AUG. 25, 2020  05:51 VIDEO

Some of the plans would require legislation. Others could be achieved through executive action, which the Trump administration has relied on heavily in the absence of a major immigration bill.

"In many cases, fixing these problems and restoring some semblance of sanity to our immigration programs does involve regulatory reform," Miller said. "Congress has delegated a lot of authority. ... And that underscores the depth of the choice facing the American people."

Miller, who serves in a dual role as an adviser in the White House and to Trump's re-election campaign, stressed that he was speaking about second-term priorities only in his capacity as campaign adviser.

Immigration has been overshadowed by surging coronavirus case numbers and an economy shattered by a nearly yearlong pandemic, but it was central to Trump's rise to power in the Republican Party, and Miller has been a driving force for the administration's often controversial policies to crack down on illegal migration and erect hurdles for aspiring legal immigrants.

Miller has spearheaded an immigration policy that critics describe as cruel, racist and antithetical to American values as a nation of immigrants. He scoffs at those claims, insisting that his only priority is to protect the safety and wages of Americans.

And he said he intends to stay on to see the agenda through in a second term if Trump is re-elected.

An immigration freeze

In the near term, Miller wouldn't commit to lifting the freeze on new green cards and visas that's set to expire at the end of the year, saying it would be "entirely contingent" on governmental analysis that factors in the state of the job market.

Asked whether he would support reinstating the controversial "zero tolerance" policy that led to families' being separated, Miller said the Trump administration is "100 percent committed to a policy of family unity," but he described the policy as one that would keep families together in immigration detention by changing what is known as the Flores settlement agreement.

Over the past year, the administration has sought to amend the Flores agreement, which says children can't be held over 20 days in Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention. If it succeeds, immigrant families could be detained indefinitely as they await their day in immigration court.
Keep asylum down

On Trump's watch, asylum grants have plummeted. Miller wants to keep it that way. He said a second-term Trump administration would seek to expand "burden-sharing" deals with Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador that cut off pathways to the U.S. for asylum-seekers.

"The president would like to expand that to include the rest of the world," Miller said. "And so if you create safe third partners in other continents and other countries and regions, then you have the ability to share the burden of asylum-seekers on a global basis."

Supreme Court to hear cases on Trump’s immigration policiesOCT. 19, 202006:16


Punish and outlaw sanctuary cities

"Another major priority with a big contrast is going to be really cracking down aggressively on sanctuary cities," Miller said.
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He noted that the administration has withheld some grants to sanctuary cities. In a second term, he said, it would continue the battle with two new initiatives.

First, Miller said, Trump would push for legislation filed by Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., which would punish jurisdictions that refuse to turn over arrested people who are in the U.S. illegally to ICE for deportation. Second, Trump would go a step further with a law to "outlaw the practice," thereby making it mandatory for authorities to turn those migrants over to the feds.
Expand travel ban, screenings

Miller said another priority would be "building on and expanding the framework that we've created with the travel ban, in terms of raising the standard for screening and vetting for admission to the United States."

That includes enhanced screening methods and more information-sharing among agencies to vet applicants seeking admission into the country. The U.S. already looks for ties to terrorism and extremist groups. Miller wants to go further by vetting the "ideological sympathies or leanings" of visa applicants to gauge their potential for recruitment by radicals.

That may include changing the interview process, adding interviews or talking to people close to applicants about their beliefs.

"That's going to be a major priority," he said. "It's going to require a whole government effort. It's going to require building a very elaborate and very complex screening mechanism."
Curtail work visas

Miller said a second-term Trump administration would finalize efforts to curtail use of guest-worker programs like H-1B visas, including by eliminating the lottery system used in the process when applications exceed the annual quota and by giving priority to those being offered the highest wages.

He said Trump would pursue a "points-based entry system" for American visa grants aimed at admitting only those who "can contribute the most to job creation and economic opportunity" while preventing "displacement of U.S. workers."
Biden responds

Asked to respond, Biden's director of Latino media Jennifer Molina said, "We are going to win this election so that people like Stephen Miller don't get the chance to write more xenophobic policies that dishonor our American values."

Biden himself weighed in Friday afternoon, saying in a statement that the agenda outlined by Miller represents "four more years of hateful rhetoric and division" and policies that demonstrate "cruelty and exclusion" rather than hope.

"This agenda is designed to do one thing only: divide our communities with cheap, xenophobic rhetoric, and demonize those seeking to make legitimate asylum claims in the United States to find a life of safety for themselves and their children," he said.


Sahil Kapur is a national political reporter for NBC News.
Julia Ainsley and Jacob Soboroff contributed.

'American fiasco': House coronavirus oversight report rips Trump admin's pandemic response
The interim report, which collected information the panel has gathered since April, charges that the administration bungled the response in numerous ways.

Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., a close Biden ally, at the Capitol last month. 

Tom Williams / CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images file


Oct. 30, 2020, By Dareh Gregorian and Haley Talbot

A House subcommittee on the coronavirus crisis blasted the Trump administration's response to the pandemic in a report Friday, calling it "among the worst failures of leadership in American history."

"The virus is a global scourge, but it has been an American fiasco, killing more people in the United States than in any other country," said the report, which the Democratic-run subcommittee of members of both parties released four days before Election Day.

The interim report collected information the panel has gathered since April to charge that President Donald Trump and members of his administration bungled the nation's response to the virus in numerous ways. That includes the president's attempts to downplay the crisis, political interference in the health response, and the mismanagement of funds that Congress secured to combat the pandemic, which opened the door to potentially billions of dollars of fraud while people and businesses in need were shortchanged, the report said.

“This report exhaustively documents what has long been clear: The Trump administration’s response to the coronavirus crisis has been a tragic failure," said Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., the subcommittee's chair and a top ally of Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.

Biden has campaigned in part on Trump's handling of the pandemic, which has sickened over 9 million and killed almost 230,000 across the country. Trump maintains that he has done "a great job" with the crisis and insists the country is "rounding the corner" in the fight against the virus.

The ranking Republican on the subcommittee, Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, dismissed the report as "partisan" in a statement, saying it underscores how Democrats have used the panel "to attack President Trump and politicize the pandemic to the detriment of the American people."

Among the report's findings:

"President Trump’s decision to mislead the public about the severity of the crisis, his failure to listen to scientists about how to keep Americans healthy, and his refusal to implement a coordinated national plan to stop the coronavirus have all contributed to devastating results."
The administration "engaged in a persistent pattern of political interference during the pandemic, repeatedly overruling and sidelining top scientists and undermining Americans’ health in an attempt to benefit the president politically." The subcommittee's investigators "identified at least 61 instances in which Trump administration officials injected politics into public health."

"The administration’s implementation of relief programs passed by Congress has also been marred by fraud, waste, and abuse," the report says, and the subcommittee's "investigations identified more than $4 billion in potential fraud in small business programs."

The Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service mishandled stimulus payments to low-income Americans, leaving those payments unclaimed by 9 million people who might be eligible but never registered to receive them.

The report said the subcommittee is still "investigating questionable contracts and loans that may be hindering the nation’s ability to quickly produce and distribute protective equipment and other supplies needed to contain the virus."

The report includes recommendations on how to solve the issues the panel discovered going forward. These include increasing transparency on the spread of the virus and providing consistent public health advice; implementing a science-based national response plan and ending what it said were efforts to silence or punish federal employees who insist on following science; ensuring low-income people know about their eligibility for aid; and putting additional oversight in place to lessen the risk of fraud and waste in small-business loans and other relief measures.

"While we cannot bring back the more than 225,000 Americans we have lost to this disease, I hope that this report will serve as a wake-up call to make the improvements needed to prevent further unnecessary deaths and deprivation that will occur if the response continues on its current course,” Clyburn said.

Scalise praised Trump's handling of the crisis, calling the Democrats' claims "baseless" and saying Trump's efforts has put the country "on a path to a full recovery."

"From testing to vaccine development to safely reopening our economy and schools, President Trump followed the science to develop national plans that have been rapidly implemented to address an ever-changing situation," he said.


Dareh Gregorian is a politics reporter for NBC News.
Haley Talbot is an associate producer in the NBC News Washington bureau.

A Top Trump health official warns of 'draconian measures' if America doesn't mask up
In other coronavirus news: Trump sidelined experts early in pandemic, there are too many new cases in Philadelphia to track, and teens and tweens are volunteering for Covid-19 vaccine test trials.

Coronavirus testing czar: 'Nobody's waving the white flag' to pandemic

OCT. 28, 2020  05:38



Oct. 28, 2020, By Corky Siemaszko

The Trump administration’s Covid-19 testing czar warned Wednesday that local governments may be forced to impose “draconian measures” if Americans don’t start taking safety precautions seriously and the coronavirus crisis worsens.

“We still can control this” by wearing masks, social distancing and being careful around the holidays, Brett Giroir, the assistant secretary of health, said on NBC’s “Today” show.


“But if we don’t do those things, it may force local officials or government officials in the states to have more draconian measures because cases will go up if we don’t make a change.”

Admiral Brett Giroir, U.S. assistant secretary for health, demonstrates a Covid-19 test during an event in the Rose Garden of the White House on Sept. 28, 2020.

Ken Cedeno / Pool via Getty Images

Giroir, who spoke out as Covid-19 was spreading across the United States at the fastest rate since the start of the pandemic, also contradicted President Donald Trump’s repeatedly false claims that increased testing is the reason for the uptick in reported coronavirus cases.

“Yes, we’re getting more cases identified, but the cases are actually going up, and we know that too because hospitalizations are going up,” Giroir said. “Now, the (daily) peak was in the 70,000s, in July, we’re at about 42, 43,000 now, so we’re much less in July. But those are going up, those are real. And we do know that deaths are increasing, unfortunately.”

Actually, the current level of new cases is eclipsing the July levels, according to the latest NBC News analysis.

Nearly 74,000 cases were reported on Tuesday. And the U.S. has been averaging 71,000 new cases per day over the past week, which is the most in any seven-day stretch since the crisis started.

Giroir’s dire words came with Election Day less than a week away and as Trump, whose re-election chances have been imperiled by his administration’s much-criticized response to the pandemic, has been campaigning hard in states like Wisconsin and Nebraska that are currently coronavirus hot spots.

Trump, who contracted Covid-19 along with first lady Melania Trump and their son Barron, has continued to downplay the dangers of a virus that has infected 8.9 million in the U.S. and killed nearly 228,000, according to the latest NBC News statistics.

“Covid, covid, covid, covid, covid, covid cases,” Trump fumed Tuesday before a tightly packed, mostly mask-less crowd Tuesday in Michigan. “Do you ever notice they use the word ‘cases?’ Like Barron Trump has a case, sniffles, one Kleenex and he was better.”

Trump has also been insisting without evidence that “we are rounding the turn” on the pandemic.

Meanwhile, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy listed the battle to “defeat” Covid-19 as one of the Trump administration’s “accomplishments from first term.”

“From the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Administration has taken decisive actions to engage scientists and health professionals in academia, industry and government to understand, treat and defeat the disease,” it said.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka called Trump's handling of the pandemic "backward" and said that pushing for the economy to reopen before the crisis was contained has made a bad situation worse.

“He doesn't understand that in order to fix the economy, first you have to control the virus," Trumka said on MSBNC. "And to control the virus, you have to protect workers so that you don't continue to spread the virus and continue to have hot spots. He thinks, if you open the economy, everything will go away and be great for everyone.”

Trump has been accused of dragging his feet on dealing with the virus, dismissing the advice of experts, promoting unproven cures and politicizing the use of masks by refusing until just recently to wear them in public.

Asked by NBC’s Savanah Guthrie if he was frustrated by Trump’s mixed messaging on masks, Giroir answered, “Look, I have a job to do, like the other docs.”

“We’re going to try to give the American people the best evidence possible,” he said.

“And what I want to emphasize is that we will have a vaccine,” Giroir added. “We will have a safe and effective vaccine. It may be this month, it may be next month, it may be in December, this will not go on forever.”

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert and a frequent Trump target, made some of the same points Giroir did in a Tuesday interview on Diane Rehm’s “On My Mind” podcast.

“We’ve had 80-plus thousand infections the other day, and we’re averaging between, on a seven-day basis, over 60,000 infections,” Fauci said. “And if you look at the map of the country, of the counties, states and cities in which you have an increase in test positivity, that more than 30 of those states are going in the wrong direction.”

The White House itself has not been immune. Besides the first family, more than a dozen Trump aides, allies and others came down with infections after Trump hosted a Sept. 26 gathering in the Rose Garden to introduce Amy Coney Barrett as his nominee for Supreme Court justice.

Fauci said that when it comes to masks, the White House doesn’t practice what it preaches.

"I believe what we’re seeing is that the White House is saying to wear masks,” Fauci said. "The only trouble is, when you look at what actually happens at these congregate settings, not a lot of people are wearing the masks.”

Corky Siemaszko is a senior writer for NBC News Digital.

Biden vows to pass LGBTQ rights legislation in first 100 days
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has promised to make the Equality Act a "top legislative priority" should he win Tuesday’s election.

Joe Biden speaks in Wilmington, Del., on Oct. 28, 2020.

Jim Watson / AFP - Getty Images

Oct. 29, 2020, By Reuters

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has promised to make passing the LGBTQ rights legislation known as the Equality Act a top priority, hoping to sign what would be a landmark civil rights law within 100 days should he win Tuesday’s election.

Biden, a leading voice for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer rights as vice president under Barack Obama from 2009 to 2017, also pledged in an interview with the Philadelphia Gay News to expand queer rights internationally by making equality a centerpiece of U.S. diplomacy should he win the election and assume office in January.

Biden has championed the Equality Act before, but his priority for the issue is significant given the urgency of the coronavirus pandemic and a host of other executive orders and regulatory actions that would compete for attention in the early days of a Biden administration.

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He outlined his agenda for LGBTQ rights in an email interview with Philadelphia Gay News publisher Mark Segal, a nationally known advocate for gay rights since the 1970s.

“I will make enactment of the Equality Act a top legislative priority during my first 100 days - a priority that Donald Trump opposes,” Biden said of the Republican incumbent he is challenging.

The Trump administration opposed the Equality Act, saying it would “undermine parental and conscience rights,” and has also restricted queer rights in the name of religious liberty. The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on Biden’s interview.

The Democratic-led U.S. House of Representatives passed the Equality Act in 2019, but the legislation stalled in the Republican-controlled Senate. Biden would need the Democrats to hold the House and take control of the Senate to ensure passage.

The Equality Act would protect U.S. citizens from discrimination based on sexual identity and gender identity by amending the Civil Rights Act of 1964, one of the most revered accomplishments of the civil rights movement, which banned discrimination based on race, religion, sex and national origin.

On the international front, Biden also promised to defend American diplomats who speak out for LGBTQ rights in countries that are hostile to queer people and promised to use “America’s full range of diplomatic tools,” including private diplomacy, public statements and United Nations agencies, to promote equality.

“I’ll stand up to bullies and once more put human rights at the center of America’s engagement with the world,” Biden said.

New Zealand votes to legalize euthanasia but likely not marijuana use

NOT SO FAST VOTES ARE STILL COMING IN

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Friday after the results were released that she had voted in favor of both referendums.

New Zealanders voted to legalize euthanasia in a binding referendum, results released Friday showed. Mark Baker / AP

Oct. 30, 2020, 3:53 AM MDT
By The Associated Press

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — New Zealanders voted to legalize euthanasia in a binding referendum, but preliminary results released Friday showed they would likely not legalize recreational marijuana use.

With about 83 percent of votes counted, New Zealanders emphatically endorsed the euthanasia measure with 65 percent voting in favor and 34 percent voting against.

The "No" vote on marijuana was much closer, with 53 percent voting against legalizing the drug for recreational use and 46 percent voting in favor. That left open a slight chance the measure could still pass once all special votes were counted next week, although it would require a huge swing.

The two referendums represented significant potential changes to New Zealand's social fabric, although the campaigns for each ended up being overshadowed by the coronavirus pandemic and a parallel political race, in which Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and her liberal Labour Party won a second term in a landslide.

New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern wins 2nd term in election landslide

OCT. 19, 202002:08

In past elections, special votes — which include those cast by overseas voters — have tended to track more liberal than general votes, giving proponents of marijuana legalization some hope the measure could still pass.

Proponents of legalizing the drug were frustrated that Ardern wouldn't reveal how she intended to vote ahead the Oct. 17 ballot. Many believed an endorsement by Ardern could have boosted support for the measure, but she said she wanted to leave the decision to New Zealanders.

Ardern said Friday, after the results were released, that she had voted in favor of both referendums.

Conservative lawmaker Nick Smith, from the opposition National Party, welcomed the preliminary marijuana result.

"This is a victory for common sense. Research shows cannabis causes mental health problems, reduced motivation and educational achievement, and increased road and workplace deaths," he said.

But liberal lawmaker Chlöe Swarbrick, from the Green Party, said they had long assumed the vote would be close and they needed to wait until the special votes were counted.

"We have said from the outset that this would always come down to voter turnout. We've had record numbers of special votes, so I remain optimistic," she said. "New Zealand has had a really mature and ever-evolving conversation about drug laws in this country and we’ve come really far in the last three years."

Proponents had argued the measure would reduce profits for gangs and improve social outcomes for indigenous Maori.

  

A cyclist rides past a sign in support of making marijuana legal in Christchurch, New Zealand. Preliminary results on Friday showed it was unlikely the measure would pass. Mark Baker / AP

The marijuana measure would allow people to buy up to 14 grams (0.5 ounce) a day and grow two plants.

Other countries that have legalized or decriminalized recreational marijuana include Canada, South Africa, Uruguay, Georgia plus a number of U.S. states.

The euthanasia measure, which would also allow assisted suicide and takes effect in November 2021, would apply to adults who have terminal illnesses, are likely to die within six months, and are enduring "unbearable" suffering.

Other countries that allow some form of euthanasia include the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Canada, Belgium and Colombia.

Typhoon Goni: Philippines orders evacuations as world's strongest storm of 2020 approaches
"The strength of this typhoon is no joke," said Gremil Naz, a local disaster official.

Philippine Coast Guard personnel evacuate residents from the coastal villages of Buhi town ahead of Typhoon Goni's landfall.- / AFP - Getty Images

Oct. 31, 2020, By Reuters

MANILA — Philippine officials ordered the evacuation of thousands of residents in the southern part of the main Luzon island on Saturday as a category 5 storm, that is the world's strongest this year, approached the Southeast Asian nation.

Typhoon Goni, with 133 miles sustained winds and gusts of up to 164 mph, will make landfall on Sunday as the strongest typhoon to hit the Philippines since Haiyan, which killed more than 6,300 people in 2013.

Pre-emptive evacuations have started in coastal and landslide-prone communities in the provinces of Camarines Norte and Camarines Sur. While Albay provincial government also said it would order residents in risky areas to leave their homes.

"The strength of this typhoon is no joke," Gremil Naz, a local disaster official, told DZBB radio station.

Last week, Typhoon Molave killed 22 people in the country, mostly through drowning, in provinces south of the capital Manila, which is also in the projected path of Goni.

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Authorities are facing another hurdle as social distancing needs to be imposed in evacuation centers to prevent the spread of coronavirus. The Philippines has the second highest Covid-19 infections and deaths in southeast Asia, next only to Indonesia.

Relief goods, heavy machinery and personal protective equipment are already positioned in key areas, Filipino Grace America, mayor of Infanta town in Quezon province, told DZBB radio. "But because of the Covid-19 pandemic, our funds for calamity concerns and expenses are insufficient."

Local officials canceled port operations and barred fishers from setting sail.

Typhoon Goni, moving westward at 12 mph from the Pacific Ocean, will bring intense rains over the capital and 14 provinces nearby on Saturday evening, and threats of floods and landslides.

Another typhoon, Atsani, is gaining strength just outside the Philippines. Around 20 typhoons hit the Philippines every year.

GOP DIRTY TRICKS 

Pot candidate upends tight U.S. House race even after his death

Adam Weeks left a voicemail in which he said he was recruited by Minnesota Republicans solely to siphon votes away from Democratic Rep. Angie Craig

Craig first ran for the seat in 2016, losing to a Republican by two points with a third-party candidate drawing nearly 8%. Two years later, without a third-party candidate, Craig beat the same Republican by 5 points in a rematch.

Democratic Rep. Angie Craig is in a tight re-election race in Minnesota’s 2nd Congressional District. Manuel Balce Ceneta / AP file


Oct. 28, 2020, 2:50 PM MDT / Source: Associated Press
By The Associated Press


MINNEAPOLIS — Adam Weeks was never going to win Minnesota’s 2nd District seat in Congress, but the deceased Legal Marijuana Now Party candidate has had an outsized effect on the race.

His death in September from an apparent accidental fentanyl overdose set off a legal battle over whether the contest should be delayed until February. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that it won't be. Now, according to a published report, Weeks left a voicemail for a friend in which he said he was recruited to the race by Republicans solely to siphon votes away from Democratic Rep. Angie Craig in a competitive suburban-to-rural district south of Minneapolis.

The Star Tribune obtained a voicemail that Weeks left for his friend, Joey Hudson, four weeks before Weeks died last month. In the recording, which the newspaper said Hudson gave them, Weeks said Republican operatives approached him in the hopes he’d “pull votes away” from Craig and give an advantage to the “other guy,” Tyler Kistner, the GOP-endorsed candidate.

Democrats have accused GOP operatives of recruiting third-party candidates such as Weeks to siphon off votes that would otherwise go to Democratic candidates in a number of races across Minnesota and the rest of the country. Hip-hop star and fashion mogul Kanye West, a fan of President Donald Trump, got on the presidential ballot in Minnesota and several other states with help from GOP operatives but denied being a spoiler.

“I swear to God to you, I’m not kidding, this is no joke,” the man the Star Tribune identified as Weeks said. The paper said his voice was confirmed by his cousin and through independent comparison to other videos he posted online before his death. “They want me to run as a third-party, liberal candidate, which I’m down. I can play the liberal, you know that.”

Hudson did not immediately return a message Wednesday from The Associated Press. Spokesmen for the Craig and Kistner campaigns declined to comment.

But Brian Evans, a spokesman for Minnesota's Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, told the AP that Republicans have recruited or are suspected of recruiting several candidates to run as Legal Marijuana Now or other third-party candidates across Minnesota. Legal Marijuana Now has major party status in the state and is thus entitled to ballot spots.

“There are not that many third-party candidates running, and if you look at where they're running it's disproportionately in some of the most competitive districts in Minnesota,” Evans said. “It's clear that Republicans are recruiting a lot of these folks. It's beyond clear.”

The party put out a statement Wednesday listing several races in which Democrats believe, based on media reports, that Republicans have engaged in a coordinated effort to recruit third-party candidates to pull votes away from Democrats in close races.

“Running fake candidates to trick people out of their votes is a new low and shows how desperate Minnesota Republicans are,” Evans said.

Condemning the GOP tactic as “unconscionable” were leaders of three of the top pro-legalization groups in the state, Minnesotans for Responsible Marijuana Regulation, Sensible Change MN and MN NORML.

“The efforts of the marijuana legalization parties has been hijacked by Republican operatives seeking to game the system,” they said. “Placing Republican foils on the ballot under the guise of serving as legalization advocates sows distrust of what is supposed to be a democratic system.

A Minnesota GOP spokesman did not immediately return messages seeking comment Wednesday.

Craig first ran for the seat in 2016, losing to a Republican by two points with a third-party candidate drawing nearly 8%. Two years later, without a third-party candidate, Craig beat the same Republican by 5 points in a rematch.