Good morning and congrats to Jean-Pierre Sauvage, James Fraser Stoddart and Bernard L Feringa — they just won the Nobel prize for chemistry. Here’s what else you need to know to Get Up to Speed and Out the Door.
Campaign 2016
It was supposed to be the “boring guys” debate, but it was anything but. Veep hopefuls Tim Kaine and Mike Pence clashed repeatedly over their running mates and the direction of the country. Kaine was eager — maybe a little too eager — to interrupt Pence and pepper him with some of Donald Trump’s most damaging lines, daring Pence to defend him. Pence, employing skills he learned from his years as a radio talk show host, calmly deflected the criticism and turned them into attacks on Hillary Clinton. Unlike his running mate, Pence didn’t take the bait, and that’s probably why viewers declared him the winner of this match-up.
If you missed the debate, here’s a 90-second recap.
Here’s a reality check on the candidates’ claims.
And here’s the best (and worst) of the debate’s one-liners.
Hurricane Matthew
Matthew’s on the move, and so are folks on the southeast US coast. People in parts of Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas have started to leave their homes, as Matthew may hit any one of those states between Thursday evening and Saturday as a Category 4 storm. The evacuations have produced long gas lines in Florida and highway gridlock in South Carolina. Matthew killed seven people as it blew through the Caribbean, including Haiti, a country that’s suffered enough already due to storms and earthquakes.
Syria
Just when you think the stories out of Syria couldn’t get any sadder, an even more heartbreaking story comes along. A 4-year-old girl, out to get water in a rebel-held part of Aleppo, came across what she thought was a toy — a silver ball. It wasn’t. It was a cluster bomb. It exploded, putting her in the hospital, where she later died. She becomes one of the more than 470,000 people killed since 2011 in Syria’s awful civil war.
NC police shooting
Newly released police body cam footage gives more insight into Keith Lamont Scott’s death. The video shows Scott dying in a parking lot, with his hands cuffed behind his back and his pants pulled down to his ankles. His shirt had been cut to treat his gunshot wounds.Officers giving him first aid are heard saying “stay with us, bro.” But the video doesn’t clear up if police were justified in fatally shooting him in the first place. Scott’s death last month sparked days of sometimes violent protests in Charlotte.
Colombia
Colombia’s ceasefire with FARC rebels expires on October 31. That gives the government and rebel leaders until the end of the month to figure out Plan B. You might remember Plan A — a peace deal that would have ended the 52-year war — was narrowly shot down by voters, throwing the country into a tizzy. Voters rejected the peace pact mainly because they couldn’t stomach the idea of rebels not getting any prison time for crimes they committed.
BREAKFAST BROWSE
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Paisley peek
Zoning woes may keep Paisley Park closed to tours until the end of the year, but the house that Prince built will open for a few days this week for fans.
Going to rehab
Rapper Kid Cudi, after posting “I am not at peace” on Facebook, has checked himself into rehab for depression.
Pottermania
Wizarding school is back in session, as all eight Harry Potter movies return to the big screen starting next week.
Media maven
Why was Kim K. a robbery target in Paris? Probably the same thing that’s made her a star — her high-profile social media presence.
AND FINALLY …
You looking at me?
This baby elephant may be little, but it’s not too small to throw its weight around when it encounters a photographer.