USA

WASHINGTON, Oct. 22 (Xinhua) -- CNN on Wednesday discredited a "shoddy" study paper claiming COVID-19 was engineered in a Chinese lab, finding the conspiracy theory to be linked to Steve Bannon, a proven far-right fringe extremist and long-time critic of China.

CNN said it spoke with six scientists and experts who found the China-bashing study's methodology to be "flawed," adding that the group described the study as "junk science," "leaps of logic" and "window dressing."

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. health officials Wednesday redefined what counts as close contact with someone with COVID-19 to include briefer but repeated encounters.

For months, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said close contact meant spending a solid 15 minutes within 6 feet of someone who tested positive for coronavirus. On Wednesday, the CDC changed it to a total of 15 minutes or more — so shorter but repeated contacts that add up to 15 minutes over a 24-hour period now count.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — At least 10 bodies were found Wednesday in an unmarked mass grave at a Tulsa cemetery where investigators are searching for the remains of victims of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, Oklahoma’s state archaeologist said.

“What we were finding was an indication that we were inside a large area ... a large hole that had been excavated and into which several individuals had been placed and buried in that location. This constitutes a mass grave,” state archaeologist Kary Stackelbeck said.

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. officials accused Iran on Wednesday of being behind a flurry of emails sent to Democratic voters in multiple battleground states that appeared to be aimed at intimidating them into voting for President Donald Trump.

The officials did not lay out specific evidence for how they came to pinpoint Iran, but the activities attributed to Tehran would mark a significant escalation for a country some cybersecurity experts regard as a second-rate player in online espionage. The announcement was made at a hastily called news conference 13 days before the election.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. regulators who will decide the fate of COVID-19 vaccines are taking an unusual step: Asking outside scientists if their standards are high enough.

The Food and Drug Administration may have to decide by year’s end whether to allow use of the first vaccines against the virus. Thursday, a federal advisory committee pulls back the curtain on that decision process, debating whether the guidelines FDA has set for vaccine developers are rigorous enough.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump still has a path to the 270 Electoral College votes he needs to win reelection. But it requires everything to break in his direction a second time.

Persuadable voters in battleground states will need to overwhelmingly swing in his favor. He’ll have to win back crucial voting blocs. And his turnout operation will need to dramatically outperform Democrat Joe Biden’s in an extraordinarily turbulent year.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, are set to square off in their final debate Thursday, one of the last high-profile opportunities for the trailing incumbent to change the trajectory of an increasingly contentious campaign.

Worried about losing the White House, some advisers are urging Trump to trade his aggressive demeanor from the first debate for a lower-key style that puts Biden more squarely in the spotlight. But it’s unclear whether the president will listen.

NEW YORK, Oct 21 (APP): The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), an independent watchdog body, has condemned authorities in Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir for closing the Srinagar office of The Kashmir Times (KT), a leading English daily and one of the oldest newspapers in the disputed state.

In a tweet, CPJ, which is based in New York, called on the authorities to stop trying to silence “independent and critical voices”, after the paper’s premises were shut down.

WASHINGTON, Oct 21 (NNN-AGENCIES) – U.S. first lady, Melania Trump, on Tuesday, cancelled her scheduled campaign trip to key swing state, Pennsylvania, since she is still sick with “lingering cough,” according to her spokeswoman, Stephanie Grisham.

“Mrs Trump continues to feel better every day, following her recovery from COVID-19, but with a lingering cough, and out of an abundance of caution, she will not be travelling today,” Grisham told CNN.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration has begun the process of removing Sudan from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism while also working to get Khartoum to recognize Israel, which it hopes will happen quickly, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday.