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Cubs win their first World Series in 108 years, Obama defends Clinton against FBI 'innuendo,' and more 1. [Cubs beat Indians to win their first World Series since 1908] The Chicago Cubs [won their first World Series in 108 years] on Wednesday night, beating the Cleveland Indians 8-7 in a 10-inning Game 7. The cliffhanger capped a rare comeback after the Cubs fell behind three games to one in the best-of-seven baseball championship series. The Cubs held a comfortable lead on Wednesday until their closer, Aroldis Chapman, lost a three-run lead, giving up the game-tying, two-run homer with his team just four outs away from the win. Then, in the 10th, the Cubs retook the lead on a Ben Zobrist double and scored another run. The Indians pushed across one run in the bottom of the 10th, but couldn't manage to tie the game again. "It was like a heavyweight fight, man," said Zobrist, who was named World Series MVP. "Just blow for blow, everybody playing their heart out." Source: [Chicago Tribune], [New York Daily News] 2. [Obama criticizes FBI for 'leaks,' 'innuendo' about Clinton] President Obama on Tuesday criticized FBI Director James Comey's decision to alert Congress to the discovery of a new batch of emails related to Hillary Clinton's private server, saying investigations are not supposed to be done by "leaks" and "innuendo." Obama noted that the FBI had concluded the case did not warrant prosecution, and no evidence has been found to justify a shift. Obama said he did not want to appear to be "meddling," but that it was important to respect investigative guidelines. Behind the scenes, some FBI agents reportedly have pushed for aggressively investigating Clinton and her family's charitable foundation, clashing with corruption prosecutors who dismiss the agents' evidence as worthless hearsay. Source: [The New York Times], [The Wall Street Journal] 3. [Suspect arrested in 'ambush-style' Iowa police killings] Iowa police on Wednesday captured a man suspected in the fatal "ambush style" shootings of two Des Moines area police officers who had been sitting alone in their patrol cars. Scott Michael Greene surrendered without incident hours after the manhunt began. Greene, 46, had a [history of run-ins with police]. In 2014, he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge for resisting officers trying to pat him down for weapons, and days later he was charged with harassing and threatening a black man, calling him racial slurs. Police said he did not appear to have had any interaction with the slain officers, Urbandale Officer Justin Martin and Des Moines police Sgt. Anthony Beminio, before the killings. Source: [USA Today], [Des Moines Register] 4. [Fed holds interest rates steady as expectations build for looming hike] The Federal Reserve [left interest rates unchanged] at the end of a two-day meeting on Wednesday, as economists expected. "In the midst of an election, the last thing the Fed wants to do is add fuel to all the political controversy from the candidates," Sung Won Sohn, an economics professor at California State University, Channel Islands, told ABC News. The Fed said the case for a rate hike "continued to strengthen" with upbeat economic data, but it would wait for more progress before nudging rates higher. Many believe the Fed will resume rate increases in December after holding off all year due to fear the recovery was too shaky. Source: [Reuters], [Bloomberg] 5. [2 U.S. service members killed in Afghanistan] Two U.S. service members were [killed in a battle with Taliban fighters] in Afghanistan's Kunduz province on Thursday, NATO announced. Two other Americans were wounded. The U.S. forces were helping to "train, advise, and assist" the Afghan military as it fights to clear Taliban fighters from the area. The Taliban briefly overran Kunduz's capital twice, in 2015 and again in early October, before Afghan forces drove them out with U.S. help. Gen. John W. Nicholson, the U.S. commander in the country, called the day's loss "heartbreaking" and offered condolences to the soldiers' families. "Despite today's tragic event," he said, "we are steadfast in our commitment to help our Afghan partners defend their nation." Source: [NBC News] 6. [Reuters poll shows Clinton lead unchanged] Seesawing continued in polls ahead of the Nov. 8 presidential election, with the latest Reuters/Ipsos daily tracking poll released Wednesday showing Democrat Hillary Clinton leading Republican Donald Trump by 6 percentage points. That was the same edge she had in the survey of likely voters a week ago, before an FBI announcement on renewed scrutiny of emails connected to the private server Clinton used as secretary of state. Other national polls have shown Clinton's lead dwindling since the FBI's surprise announcement, with the RealClearPolitics polling average showing Clinton's lead narrowing from 4.6 points on Friday to 1.7 points on Wednesday. Source: [Reuters] 7. [Person of interest questioned in Mississippi church arson] Police interviewed a "person of interest" late Wednesday in the investigation of a fire that severely damaged Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church, a 111-year-old African-American landmark in Greenville, Mississippi, that had "Vote Trump" spray-painted on its wall. Police Chief Delando Wilson told The Wall Street Journal the person had not been charged in the fire, which has been ruled an act of arson. Mayor Errick D. Simmons called the attack, which is being investigated as a possible hate crime, "a heinous, hateful, and cowardly act" intended to deprive people of their right to "freely worship." Source: [The Wall Street Journal], [The Clarion-Ledger] 8. [Facebook profit surges with ad growth] Facebook reported quarterly earnings that smashed analysts' expectations after markets closed Wednesday, but its shares still fell by 2 percent in after-hours trading as the company warned the advertising growth fueling its profit surge would slow down. The dominant social networking company's net income tripled to $2.38 billion from $896 million a year earlier. Its earnings, excluding certain expenses, reached $1.09 per share, up from 57 cents a year earlier and beating analysts' expectations of 97 cents per share. Revenue rose to $7 billion from $4.5 billion a year earlier. Source: [USA Today], [MarketWatch] 9. [Trump rape accuser cancels first public appearance] The woman who has filed a lawsuit accusing Donald Trump of raping her two decades ago when she was 13 abruptly [canceled what was to be her first news conference] on Wednesday because of death threats, her attorney, Lisa Bloom said. The woman, identified only as Jane Doe, said in a suit filed in June that Trump raped her in 1994 at a party held in New York City by Jeffrey Epstein, a financier convicted in 2008 of soliciting an underage girl for sex. Trump has called the suit "disgusting," and Trump attorney Alan Garten said the allegations were "categorically untrue," "baseless," and "irresponsible." Source: [Politico] 10. [Central Italy shaken by another earthquake] A magnitude 4.8 earthquake, initially reported as a 5.0, hit early Thursday in the same region of central Italy shaken by strong quakes last week. There were no immediate reports of injuries, deaths, or significant fresh damage to buildings, including those already weakened by the previous temblors. More powerful quakes, measuring 5.5 and 6.1, hit a week ago followed by a 6.6 magnitude temblor on Sunday — the strongest to hit Italy in 36 years. The deadliest recent quake struck the region in August, killing 300 people. Source: [The Guardian] MOST POPULAR [Carrie Underwood, Chris Stapleton, Garth Brooks win big at CMAs, but Beyoncé steals the show] Peter Weber [2 U.S. service members killed in fight against Taliban in Afghanistan] Peter Weber [Stephen Colbert marvels over the excuse from a Trump fan yelling anti-Semitic slurs at rally] Peter Weber [Stephen Colbert eats goat to celebrate the Chicago Cubs' World Series win] Peter Weber [Breaking news: The presidential race is stable] Marc Ambinder CAPTURED: A PHOTO BLOG Jackie Friedman [Shanghai's sacred spaces] [Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser.] [Unsubscribe from this list] | [Update subscription preferences] | [Privacy Policy © 2015 THE WEEK PUBLICATIONS, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THE WEEK ® IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OWNED BY FELIX DENNIS.] Get 4 Risk-Free [issues of The Week] [TRY IT OUT] [Subscribe] [Subscriber login] [Give a gift] [Back issues] [Classroom subscriptions] [Newsletters] [Privacy policy] [Terms & conditions] [The Week UK] [Contact Us] [Ad info] [RSS] 1.[Cubs beat Indians to win their first World Series since 1908] The Chicago Cubs [won their first World Series in 108 years] on Wednesday night, beating the Cleveland Indians 8-7 in a 10-inning Game 7. The cliffhanger capped a rare comeback after the Cubs fell behind three games to one in the best-of-seven baseball championship series. The Cubs held a comfortable lead on Wednesday until their closer, Aroldis Chapman, lost a three-run lead, giving up the game-tying, two-run homer with his team just four outs away from the win. Then, in the 10th, the Cubs retook the lead on a Ben Zobrist double and scored another run. The Indians pushed across one run in the bottom of the 10th, but couldn't manage to tie the game again. "It was like a heavyweight fight, man," said Zobrist, who was named World Series MVP. "Just blow for blow, everybody playing their heart out." Source: [Chicago Tribune], [New York Daily News] 2.[Obama criticizes FBI for 'leaks,' 'innuendo' about Clinton] President Obama on Tuesday criticized FBI Director James Comey's decision to alert Congress to the discovery of a new batch of emails related to Hillary Clinton's private server, saying investigations are not supposed to be done by "leaks" and "innuendo." Obama noted that the FBI had concluded the case did not warrant prosecution, and no evidence has been found to justify a shift. Obama said he did not want to appear to be "meddling," but that it was important to respect investigative guidelines. Behind the scenes, some FBI agents reportedly have pushed for aggressively investigating Clinton and her family's charitable foundation, clashing with corruption prosecutors who dismiss the agents' evidence as worthless hearsay. Source: [The New York Times], [The Wall Street Journal] 3.[Suspect arrested in 'ambush-style' Iowa police killings] Iowa police on Wednesday captured a man suspected in the fatal "ambush style" shootings of two Des Moines area police officers who had been sitting alone in their patrol cars. Scott Michael Greene surrendered without incident hours after the manhunt began. Greene, 46, had a [history of run-ins with police]. In 2014, he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge for resisting officers trying to pat him down for weapons, and days later he was charged with harassing and threatening a black man, calling him racial slurs. Police said he did not appear to have had any interaction with the slain officers, Urbandale Officer Justin Martin and Des Moines police Sgt. Anthony Beminio, before the killings. Source: [USA Today], [Des Moines Register] 4.[Fed holds interest rates steady as expectations build for looming hike] The Federal Reserve [left interest rates unchanged] at the end of a two-day meeting on Wednesday, as economists expected. "In the midst of an election, the last thing the Fed wants to do is add fuel to all the political controversy from the candidates," Sung Won Sohn, an economics professor at California State University, Channel Islands, told ABC News. The Fed said the case for a rate hike "continued to strengthen" with upbeat economic data, but it would wait for more progress before nudging rates higher. Many believe the Fed will resume rate increases in December after holding off all year due to fear the recovery was too shaky. Source: [Reuters], [Bloomberg] 5.[2 U.S. service members killed in Afghanistan] Two U.S. service members were [killed in a battle with Taliban fighters] in Afghanistan's Kunduz province on Thursday, NATO announced. Two other Americans were wounded. The U.S. forces were helping to "train, advise, and assist" the Afghan military as it fights to clear Taliban fighters from the area. The Taliban briefly overran Kunduz's capital twice, in 2015 and again in early October, before Afghan forces drove them out with U.S. help. Gen. John W. Nicholson, the U.S. commander in the country, called the day's loss "heartbreaking" and offered condolences to the soldiers' families. "Despite today's tragic event," he said, "we are steadfast in our commitment to help our Afghan partners defend their nation." Source: [NBC News] 6.[Reuters poll shows Clinton lead unchanged] Seesawing continued in polls ahead of the Nov. 8 presidential election, with the latest Reuters/Ipsos daily tracking poll released Wednesday showing Democrat Hillary Clinton leading Republican Donald Trump by 6 percentage points. That was the same edge she had in the survey of likely voters a week ago, before an FBI announcement on renewed scrutiny of emails connected to the private server Clinton used as secretary of state. Other national polls have shown Clinton's lead dwindling since the FBI's surprise announcement, with the RealClearPolitics polling average showing Clinton's lead narrowing from 4.6 points on Friday to 1.7 points on Wednesday. Source: [Reuters] 7.[Person of interest questioned in Mississippi church arson] Police interviewed a "person of interest" late Wednesday in the investigation of a fire that severely damaged Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church, a 111-year-old African-American landmark in Greenville, Mississippi, that had "Vote Trump" spray-painted on its wall. Police Chief Delando Wilson told The Wall Street Journal the person had not been charged in the fire, which has been ruled an act of arson. Mayor Errick D. Simmons called the attack, which is being investigated as a possible hate crime, "a heinous, hateful, and cowardly act" intended to deprive people of their right to "freely worship." Source: [The Wall Street Journal], [The Clarion-Ledger] 8.[Facebook profit surges with ad growth] Facebook reported quarterly earnings that smashed analysts' expectations after markets closed Wednesday, but its shares still fell by 2 percent in after-hours trading as the company warned the advertising growth fueling its profit surge would slow down. The dominant social networking company's net income tripled to $2.38 billion from $896 million a year earlier. Its earnings, excluding certain expenses, reached $1.09 per share, up from 57 cents a year earlier and beating analysts' expectations of 97 cents per share. Revenue rose to $7 billion from $4.5 billion a year earlier. Source: [USA Today], [MarketWatch] 9.[Trump rape accuser cancels first public appearance] The woman who has filed a lawsuit accusing Donald Trump of raping her two decades ago when she was 13 abruptly [canceled what was to be her first news conference] on Wednesday because of death threats, her attorney, Lisa Bloom said. The woman, identified only as Jane Doe, said in a suit filed in June that Trump raped her in 1994 at a party held in New York City by Jeffrey Epstein, a financier convicted in 2008 of soliciting an underage girl for sex. Trump has called the suit "disgusting," and Trump attorney Alan Garten said the allegations were "categorically untrue," "baseless," and "irresponsible." Source: [Politico] 10.[Central Italy shaken by another earthquake] A magnitude 4.8 earthquake, initially reported as a 5.0, hit early Thursday in the same region of central Italy shaken by strong quakes last week. There were no immediate reports of injuries, deaths, or significant fresh damage to buildings, including those already weakened by the previous temblors. More powerful quakes, measuring 5.5 and 6.1, hit a week ago followed by a 6.6 magnitude temblor on Sunday — the strongest to hit Italy in 36 years. The deadliest recent quake struck the region in August, killing 300 people. Source: [The Guardian] MOST POPULAR [Carrie Underwood, Chris Stapleton, Garth Brooks win big at CMAs, but Beyoncé steals the show] Peter Weber [2 U.S. service members killed in fight against Taliban in Afghanistan] Peter Weber [Stephen Colbert marvels over the excuse from a Trump fan yelling anti-Semitic slurs at rally] Peter Weber [Stephen Colbert eats goat to celebrate the Chicago Cubs' World Series win] Peter Weber [Breaking news: The presidential race is stable] Marc Ambinder CAPTURED: A PHOTO BLOG Jackie Friedman [Shanghai's sacred spaces] [Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser.] [Unsubscribe from this list] | [Update subscription preferences] | [Privacy Policy] © 2015 THE WEEK PUBLICATIONS, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THE WEEK ® IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OWNED BY FELIX DENNIS. Get 4 Risk-Free [issues of The Week] [TRY IT OUT]