The Day After Yesterday

Poland Delays Abortion Ban

Poland delayed implementing a high court ruling that would ban all abortions in cases of fetal abnormalities amidst nearly two weeks of mass protests across the nation. A Polish spokesperson said the verdict was postponed to give the government more time to discuss the issue further.

More: The ongoing demonstrations are the largest in Poland since the nine years of peaceful protests preceding the fall of communism in 1989.

ISIS Claims Responsibility for Vienna

ISIS reportedly claimed responsibility for an attack in Vienna, Austria, on Monday where at least one gunman killed four people and wounded 22 others before he was shot dead by police. Austrian officials described the gunman as an “Islamist terrorist,” and made 14 additional arrests after searching his home on Tuesday.

🌀 Hurricane Eta made landfall as a Category 4 storm on Nicaragua's eastern coast on Tuesday, boasting sustained winds of 140 mph and drenching some areas with up to 35 inches of rainfall. The storm, which has caused at least one death, continued to move inland overnight Tuesday and is expected to weaken before reaching Honduras later this week. (Live tracker)

Under The Gun

According to FBI data published Tuesday, a record 32 million gun background checks have been conducted in 2020 so far. Two separate independent analyses of FBI background check data found that more gun purchases occurred in October 2020 than any other October on record.

A Star Is Born

Beta testers of SpaceX’s Starlink have begun to post reviews of the satellite internet service. One user brought the new equipment and a portable power supply to an Idaho national forest, where he reportedly connected to the internet and performed a speed test that measured downloads of 120Mbps, uploads of 12Mbps, and latency of 37ms. He also said connectivity was poor in areas with heavy tree canopies that block a direct line of sight to the sky.

Ant Can’t, Says Shanghai

The Shanghai Stock Exchange late Tuesday suspended Ant Group’s record-breaking IPO scheduled for Thursday. The move comes a day after four Chinese regulatory agencies summoned Ant’s billionaire owner, Jack Ma, and the company’s top two executives to a private meeting ahead of its projected $34.4B IPO. Ant Group said it will also suspend a concurrent public offering planned for Hong Kong’s stock exchange.

Pick Of The Litter

Nine-year-old Sophie Moan had just moved to Blyth, England, when the pandemic caused the country to enter lockdown, making it difficult for her to get to know her new hometown. Nevertheless, the persistent young girl resolved to make the best of the situation, using her free time during mornings in quarantine to take a stroll through the coastal community. It was on these morning walks that Sophie discovered a problem plaguing Blyth – an abundance of litter.

Thus, after casually collecting discarded garbage during her walks for some time, Sophie came up with the idea to conduct sponsored trash pickups, setting up Facebook and GoFundMe pages to raise money for the local Blyth Animal Shelter as she tidied up her town. The considerate youngster, who initially set a fundraising goal of $100 for her community cleanup, ultimately raised $1,600 – collecting more than 400 bags of garbage from Blyth’s streets over the course of the summer.

Baby Come Back

In March, just before leaving her east African home country of Mauritius to visit her sister in Letterkenny, Ireland, Gimee Etwarysing found out she was pregnant. Shortly after arriving in Ireland, and at 21-weeks pregnant, Gimee was distraught to learn that Mauritius had entered a COVID-19 quarantine. He knew that the longer the lockdown lasted, the less likely she would be to return home in time to give birth.

With her partner unable to leave Mauritius to join Gimee, the expectant mother suffered a difficult pregnancy, dipping into her savings to pay for the healthcare expenses. On October 8th, she gave birth to a healthy baby girl named Leah. With the lockdown in Mauritius now lifted, Gimee hopes to return home with her daughter by Christmas.

A Whale Of A Time

When a newborn mixed-breed dog named Elba was abandoned outside of an animal shelter in Sacramento, CA, she was on the verge of death, weighing just three-and-a-half pounds and nearly frozen in the cold. After being nursed back to health by the shelter’s veterinary staff, Elba demonstrated her personality as a high-energy dog, a trait that turned away potential owners looking for a calm canine but made her a perfect match for Dr. Deborah Giles, who adopted her.

Dr. Giles is a researcher at the University of Washington Center for Conservation Biology who studies killer whales off the northwestern coast, and recognized that Elba’s energetic disposition made her a perfect candidate for the Conservation Canines, a program that trains shelter dogs to detect wildlife scat. Through the program, the adopted dog learned how to trace whale feces (picture), a substance that allows researchers to measure the health of the endangered population, and now spends her days helping the innovative Dr. Giles conduct her conservation research.

It’s Getting Cold Out There.

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