10 things you need to know today: October 24, 2016
Clinton takes double-digit lead in new poll, California tour bus crash kills 13, and more
- 1. Clinton surges to 12-point lead in ABC News poll
- 2. 13 killed in California tour bus crash
- 3. Kurdish forces advance to within 5 miles of Mosul
- 4. France begins clearing 'Jungle' migrant camp
- 5. Trump gets lift from newspaper endorsement
- 6. Venezuelan opposition calls for putting Maduro on trial
- 7. Spain's Socialists clear path for Rajoy to form minority government
- 8. Haiti searches for more than 170 inmates after jailbreak
- 9. Political activist Tom Hayden dies at 76
- 10. Bill Murray awarded Kennedy Center's Mark Twain Prize
1. Clinton surges to 12-point lead in ABC News poll
Hillary Clinton expanded her lead over Donald Trump to double digits in the inaugural ABC News 2016 election tracking poll, which was released Sunday. Clinton led Trump among likely voters nationally 50 percent to 38 percent in a four-way race including Gary Johnson and Jill Stein. Polls on average put Clinton's lead at just under 6 percentage points. A flurry of accusations of sexual misconduct hurt Trump, with 69 percent disapproving of his responses to questions about his treatment of women. Trump's campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway acknowledged Sunday that the Republican presidential nominee has lost ground against Clinton, with the election just over two weeks away. "We are behind," Conway said, but "the race is not over."
2. 13 killed in California tour bus crash
Thirteen people were killed on Sunday when a tour bus collided with a tractor-trailer truck on Interstate 10 near Palm Springs, California. The driver of the bus was among the dead. Thirty-one passengers were injured and rushed to three local hospitals. Early videos showed dozens of firefighters using ladders to get into the bus to reach victims. The California Highway Patrol said the bus was operated by USA Holiday, a Los Angeles company. The 1996 MCI bus was returning to Los Angeles with 44 passengers from the Red Earth Casino near the Salton Sea.
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3. Kurdish forces advance to within 5 miles of Mosul
Kurdish Peshmerga forces pushed to within five miles of Mosul, Iraq, on Sunday as Iraqi government forces and their allies continued to make swift gains in their effort to drive the Islamic State out of the northern Iraq city. A coalition of 100,000 troops is closing in on Mosul, where ISIS forces number an estimated 5,000 to 6,000. Iraqi officials expect ISIS militants to dig in and fight to defend Mosul, which has become the de facto cultural capital of the self-proclaimed caliphate, or Islamic State.
4. France begins clearing 'Jungle' migrant camp
French authorities began clearing the refugee camp known as the "Jungle" outside the port city of Calais on Monday, starting a long-awaited final push to close the sprawling tent city. Thousands of migrants stood in a mile-long line waiting to be processed and moved out in buses. Between 6,000 and 10,000 migrants and refugees have lived in the camp, some for years, hoping to cross the English Channel and settle in the U.K. France plans to dismantle the controversial camp, which has become a symbol of Europe's struggle to keep up with a massive influx of refugees from the Middle East and Africa, and has told its residents they must move to accommodations in another part of France or return to their home countries.
5. Trump gets lift from newspaper endorsement
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has slipped in the polls, but he got a boost on Sunday with an endorsement from the Las Vegas Review-Journal. The newspaper, Nevada's largest, was just the first major newspaper to back the billionaire real estate mogul. The Review-Journal was bought late last year by the billionaire casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, a Trump supporter. The paper's editorial said that "Trump's impulsiveness and overheated rhetoric alienate many voters," but he "represents neither the danger his critics claim nor the magic elixir many of his supporters crave." The paper added that Trump "promises to be a source of disruption and discomfort to the privileged, back-scratching political elites" who put their own interests over the nation's.
Las Vegas Review-Journal The New York Times
6. Venezuelan opposition calls for putting Maduro on trial
Venezuela's opposition-led National Assembly on Sunday declared that the socialist government had staged a coup after a court blocked an attempt to recall President Nicolas Maduro. Lawmakers called for putting Maduro on trial, although his government and the Supreme Court were expected to shield him. Ruling party officials say the opposition collected fraudulent signatures on a petition aiming to force a referendum, hoping to force out Maduro to gain control of the South American country's vast oil wealth. Maduro's popularity has plummeted as inflation has soared. Polls suggest that as many as 80 percent of Venezuelans want Maduro out of office.
7. Spain's Socialists clear path for Rajoy to form minority government
Lawmakers from Spain's Socialist Party on Sunday abstained in a second vote to let acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy take office for a second term, ending a 10-month political impasse. Rajoy's conservative People's Party can now form a minority government following elections in December and June that left no one party or coalition with majority control of parliament. In the latest vote, Rajoy's party won a plurality, and the Socialists, the second most powerful party, lost five seats, leaving them with 85 and fearing further losses if a third general election had been necessary.
8. Haiti searches for more than 170 inmates after jailbreak
Haitian police recaptured at least 12 out of more than 170 inmates who overpowered guards and escaped from a prison in the coastal city of Arcahaie, about 30 miles north of the capital, Port-au-Prince. One guard was killed, and an inmate died after falling while scaling a prison wall. Police officers searched cars and boats trying to find the rest of the escapees. Justice Minister Camille Edward Junior said one of the men recaptured was the alleged escape mastermind, convicted kidnapper Yvener Carelus. "He planned the escape from the inside with a few accomplices," the minister told a local newspaper.
9. Political activist Tom Hayden dies at 76
Tom Hayden, a 1960s antiwar and civil rights advocate who later championed liberal causes as a California state legislator, died Sunday in Santa Monica after a long illness. He was 76. Hayden burst into national politics in 1962 as lead author of a student manifesto and a founder of Students for a Democratic Society. He was a defendant in the Chicago Seven trial after riots at the 1968 Democratic National Convention, and twice went to Hanoi as a peace activist. He married actress Jane Fonda, a fellow activist, in 1973 and formed the Campaign for Economic Democracy, which supported liberal candidates and initiatives. He was elected to the California Assembly in 1982, and served 18 years in the Assembly and state Senate.
Los Angeles Times The New York Times
10. Bill Murray awarded Kennedy Center's Mark Twain Prize
Bill Murray accepted the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor Sunday at the Kennedy Center. He was the latest in a string of Saturday Night Live alums, including Tina Fey, Will Ferrell, and Eddie Murphy, to receive the award. Murray shot to stardom on SNL and was nominated for an Oscar for Lost in Translation, but is also known for his habit of showing up out of nowhere at wedding receptions, parties, and intramural games. Murray, 66, sat through tributes from colleagues, including David Letterman, who had Murray as a guest on his late-night show 44 times. "It's really hard to listen to all those people be nice to you for two days," Murray said. "You just get real suspicious." The ceremony will air Friday on PBS.
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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.
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