Nation & World Glance
Kurdish forces in Jarablus in northern Syria on Sunday, hours after al-Baghdadi blew himself up during a U.S. raid in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province.
The pressure is now on Facebook to ban political ads, too
SAN FRANCISCO — Twitter’s ban on political advertising is ratcheting up pressure on Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg to follow suit. But so far, that doesn’t appear likely to happen.
Facebook’s policy is to accept paid political ads from candidates without factchecking them or censoring them, even if they contain lies.
And Zuckerberg doubled down on that stand Wednesday following Twitter’s announcement, reiterating that “political speech is important” and that Facebook is loath to interfere with it.
Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites have come under fire over Russia’s use of such platforms to spread misinformation and sow political division in the U.S. during the 2016 presidential campaign. That debate has heated up again in recent weeks along with the 2020 race for the White house.
Twitter chose to respond with a ban on all political advertising, suggesting that social media is so powerful that false or misleading messages pose a risk to democracy.
MULTAN, Pakistan — A raging fire swept through a train in Pakistan’s eastern Punjab Province on Thursday, killing 74 people, and survivors said afterward it took nearly 20 minutes for the train to stop amid contradictory reports about the condition of the train’s brakes.
Three carriages were consumed by flames from a fire caused by a cooking gas stove and dozens of people jumped in panic from the speeding train.
Conductor Sadiue Ahmed Khan told The Associated Press the train’s emergency breaking system was in perfect working order and the train stopped within three minutes after the first signs of fire. “This is the worst tragedy in my life as a driver,” he said.
Storms precede season’s first freeze across South
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Storms with heavy rain and strong winds raked across the central United States from the Gulf Coast to the Great Lakes on Thursday ahead of an arctic blast that forecasters said could bring near-record cold to the South.
Temperatures were predicted to drop as much as 30 degrees in a few hours, and forecasters said severe storms were possible from Alabama to New England.
Winds gusted above 30 mph, and trees were toppled in the western Carolinas and Tennessee, where news outlets reported at least five people were injured when trees hit vehicles. Tornado watches stretched from South Carolina to northern Pennsylvania.
More than 85,000 homes and businesses were in the dark because of intermittent power outages from Louisiana to West Virginia.
A freeze warning reached across more than dozen states, from southwestern Texas into the South and Midwest. Overnight lows could dip into the upper 20s in parts of the Deep South, forecasters said.
A blanket of snow caused travel problems in Illinois, meanwhile, with snow forcing the cancellation of more than 200 flights at Chicago’s international airports on Halloween.
As much as 3 inches of snow driven by 50 mph winds was predicted around the Great Lakes.