10 things you need to know today: October 11, 2016

Paul Ryan gives an address on Capitol Hill

(Image credit: Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

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1. Clinton widens lead over Trump in national poll
2. Paul Ryan distances himself from Trump
3. U.N. calls for $120 million to aid storm-ravaged Haiti
4. Rescuers rush to aid people stranded by flooding after Hurricane Matthew
5. Samsung scraps Galaxy Note 7 after continuing fire reports
6. Buffett releases tax information to refute Trump claim
7. ISIS confirms death of propaganda chief
8. Justice Ginsburg calls anthem protest 'dumb'
9. Colombia announces peace talks with second-largest rebel group
10. Tiger Woods won't play Safeway Open, delaying comeback

published 11 October 2016

1. Clinton widens lead over Trump in national poll

Hillary Clinton extended her lead over Donald Trump to double digits after Friday's release of audio in which Trump makes lewd comments about women, according to a national NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released Monday. At one point in the recording, Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, says his fame makes it easy for him to kiss and grope women without their consent. The poll respondents were interviewed on Saturday and Sunday, before the second presidential debate. In a four-way matchup including Libertarian Gary Johnson and Green Party nominee Jill Stein, 46 percent of the likely voters interviewed supported Clinton; 35 percent backed Trump. That marked a seven percentage point decline for Trump since the previous similar poll, on Sept. 19. Clinton leads by 14 percentage points in a head-to-head matchup with Trump.

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) announced Monday that he would stop defending Donald Trump's candidacy, delivering a fresh blow to the already shaken campaign of the Republican presidential nominee. In a conference call with GOP lawmakers, Ryan said he would never campaign with Trump and focus instead on supporting GOP House and Senate candidates to keep Democrat Hillary Clinton from taking the White House with Democrats also in control of Congress. One conservative lawmaker reportedly called people abandoning Trump "cowards." Trump said via Twitter that Ryan "should spend more time on balancing the budget, jobs and illegal immigration and not waste his time on fighting Republican nominee."

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United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Monday that a "massive response" is needed to help Haiti recover from widespread damage from Hurricane Matthew. Some remote villages on the western tip of the Caribbean nation's southern peninsula have been completely flattened by high winds, storm surges, and mudslides. The U.N. has called for nearly $120 million in emergency aid to help Haiti recover. "Hundreds have died; at least 1.4 million people need assistance at this time," Ban said. "Some towns and villages have been almost wiped off the map; crops and food reserves have been destroyed; at least 300 schools have been damaged."

The U.S. death toll from Hurricane Matthew climbed to 21 on Monday as rescuers rushed to save hundreds of people stranded by flooding the hurricane left behind when it headed out to sea. In the eastern North Carolina city of Lumberton, teams of rescuers worked on saving 1,500 stranded people. "We have people on roofs," North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory (R) said. Authorities in Marion County used boats and helicopters to rescue the last of 150 people who sought shelter in the Nichols, South Carolina, town hall as the Lumber River rose.

Samsung Electronics said Tuesday that it was permanently ending production of the Galaxy Note 7 and told consumers to stop using the smartphones because some of them — even replacements that were supposed to be safe — have overheated and caught fire. The problem continued with replacement phones after the South Korean electronics giant recalled more than two million of the latest version of its large-screen smartphone. The company also has asked carriers to stop selling and exchanging Note 7s. Samsung shares dropped by more than 7 percent in Seoul on Tuesday.

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett on Monday released federal tax information to refute Donald Trump's claim that he and Buffett use the same deductions to avoid paying federal income taxes. Buffett said he had paid federal taxes every year since 1944, and that in 2015 he paid $1,845,577 in federal income tax on $11,563,931 in adjusted gross income, donating more than $2.8 billion to charity without taking deductions. Buffett also said he was releasing the information even though he is under audit. Trump has said he is under audit and won't release his returns until the audit is finished.

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Monday said it was "dumb and disrespectful" for San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick and other football players to protest racial inequality by refusing to stand during the national anthem. Ginsburg told Yahoo that the players' decision to kneel during the anthem was like flag burning. "I think it's a terrible thing to do, but I wouldn't lock a person up for doing it," she said. "If they want to be arrogant, there's no law that prevents them from that." Kaepernick has said he means no disrespect to the military, but wants to stand up for victims of racial oppression who "don't have a voice."

Colombia's government and the National Liberation Army (ELN) announced on Monday that they would start formal peace talks on Oct. 27. The talks with the ELN, the South American nation's second-largest rebel group, offer new hope for the peace efforts of President Juan Manuel Santos following the unexpected narrow rejection of his deal with the country's largest rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Santos last week was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his push to end the country's 52-year conflict.

Tiger Woods said Monday that he would not play in the Safeway Open this week or the Turkish Open next month, disappointing fans who were awaiting his return to competitive golf after a 14-month break. Woods, who has won 14 major tournaments, has not played in a PGA Tour event since the August 2015 Wyndham Championship, after numerous problems with back, knee, elbow, neck, and wrist injuries. "After a lot of soul searching and honest reflection, I know that I am not yet ready to play on the PGA Tour or compete in Turkey," Woods posted on tigerwoods.com. "My health is good, and I feel strong, but my game is vulnerable and not where it needs to be."

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Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.