<p> On Monday, Pfizer and BioNTech SE announced that Phase III data is pointing to 90% efficacy of its COVID-19 vaccine, exceeding expectations that a vaccine might only reduce symptomatic COVID-19 in 60-70% of cases.</p>
<p> Former Vice President Joe Biden was declared the winner of the 2020 presidential election on Saturday, sparking questions of how he will approach governing after taking the oath of office in January.</p>
<p> Anticipation is mounting around the possible spread of disinformation on social media channels in the lead up to Tuesday’s presidential election and following the closing of polls.</p>
<p> The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis will release the third quarter gross domestic product (GDP) report on Thursday, five days before the election.</p>
<p> New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Monday parents whose children are currently enrolled in all-remote classes will now have until Nov. 15 to opt back into in-person classes – a shift from the previous plan which allowed parents numerous opportunities to choose to enroll for in-person education.</p>
<p> The Trump administration has accused Iran of targeting Democratic voters in an e-mail intimidation campaign seemingly designed to create uncertainty around the U.S. election.</p>
<p> A forensic team in Tulsa, Oklahoma has unearthed 11 coffins while searching for victims of the 1921 massacre in which hundreds of Black residents were killed.</p>
<p> The first literary festival featuring multiple African languages will take place virtually from Oct. 26 to Nov. 2 as part of Afrolit Sans Frontières, a series of virtual literary festivals for writers of African origin. The festival will take place simultaneously on the Afrolit Sans Frontiéres <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Afrolit-Sans-Frontieres-111661363846632/">Facebook</a> page, YouTube and on Twitter via the handle AfrolitSansFro1.</p>
<p> The Senate Judiciary Committee plans to vote on the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court on Thursday, with a possible final vote on her confirmation as soon as Monday, Oct. 26 – a week in advance of the election.</p>
<div class="navTarget" id="covid-19-apps-in-eu"> <p> The European Commission has launched a new system designed to link national COVID-19 tracing apps across the European Union — starting with Germany’s Corona-Warn-App, Ireland’s COVID tracker and Italy’s immuni. With the system — known as the interoperability gateway — the apps can work in all participating countries. </p></div>
<p> On Thursday, a former Mexican defense minister, General Salvador Cienfuegos, was detained in Los Angeles on drug charges. The arrest prompted President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to vow to punish other military officials involved.</p>
<p> Thousands continued to protest in Thailand in the wake of an emergency decree issued Thursday by the government limiting gatherings to groups of five and the arrest of key protest leaders.</p><p> <a href="https://history.cornell.edu/tamara-loos">Tamara Loos</a>, professor of history and Thai studies at Cornell University, says the events of this week indicate that Thailand has reached a tipping point, with widespread protests necessitating a response from the regime and monarchy.</p>
<p> Hungry giant predators, treacherous mud and a tired, probably cranky toddler – more than 10,000 years ago, that was the stuff of every parent’s nightmare.</p><p> Evidence of that type of frightening trek was recently uncovered, and at nearly a mile it is the longest known trackway of early-human footprints ever found.</p>
<p> Authorities in Nigeria disbanded a controversial police unit following nationwide protests to end police brutality. The Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) had been linked to several recent cases of kidnapping, murder and extortion that fueled citizens’ outcry over its tactics and government protection.</p>
<p> The Nobel Prize in Chemistry was jointly awarded on Wednesday to Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna for their 2012 work on the development of Crispr-Cas9, a method for genome editing. This is the first time a Nobel Prize has been awarded to two women.</p>
<p> Questions swirl about President Donald Trump’s health status following his COVID-19 diagnosis late last week, even as he left the hospital to greet supporters.</p><p> <a href="https://sociology.cornell.edu/mabel-berezin">Mabel Berezin</a>, professor of sociology at Cornell University and an expert on the history and development of populism and fascism in Europe, weighs in on the president’s public appearance Sunday during treatment and his disregard for public health guidelines:</p>
<p> On Monday, British company Cineworld, which owns Regal Cinemas in the United States, announced it would temporarily close all of its 663 movie theaters in both countries, a move expected to impact 45,000 employees and send the future of the entertainment industry further into uncertainty.</p>
<p> President Trump and others in the White House testing positive for COVID-19 has raised questions about what impact the news will have on coronavirus messaging. </p>
<p> <em>Yagna Nag Chowdhuri, Ph.D. ’20, is a recent alumna of the Asian literature, religion, and culture program at Cornell from which she holds a Ph.D. Now, she will be starting a new position as Manager of Strategic Research at Asian Cultural Council in New York as a Mellon/ACLS Public Fellow.</em></p><p> <strong>What is your area of research and why is it important?</strong></p>
<p> President Donald Trump will debate former Vice President Joe Biden on Tuesday evening in Cleveland, Ohio. Chris Wallace of Fox News will moderate the matchup and announced the debate will include discussion of the Supreme Court, COVID-19, economy, race and violence, and election integrity.</p>
<p> Following the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, President Trump nominated Judge Amy Coney Barrett on Saturday to the Supreme Court. Barrett, a federal appeals court judge, is a religious conservative and draws criticism from Democrats for her positions on healthcare and abortion.</p>
<p> Protests continued in Thailand on Friday after parliament failed to reach an agreement on possible constitutional reforms. Demonstrators have been taking to the streets since July in an effort to pressure parliament to limit the powers of the country’s monarchy. <br /> <br /><a href="https://history.cornell.edu/tamara-loos">Tamara Loos</a>, professor and chair of history, says that the rallies highlight how Thai society has changed its approach to politics, and the monarchy: <br /></p>
<p> On Sept. 23, the mayor of Louisville, Kentucky declared a state of emergency for the city in advance of the attorney general’s announcement regarding possible charges against the police officers involved in the killing of Breonna Taylor in March.</p>
<p> The <a href="https://www.historicalkeyboards.org/">Cornell Center for Historical Keyboards</a> (CCHK) presents a full program of virtual events for the fall 2020 semester, comprised of two distinct series: "<a href="https://www.historicalkeyboards.org/music-as-refuge/">Music as Refuge</a>," beginning Sept. 23; and <a href="https://www.historicalkeyboards.org/beethoven-and-pianos/">"Beethoven and Pianos: Off the Beaten Path</a>," beginning Oct. 2.</p>
<p> On Tuesday, U.S. President Donald Trump will host leaders of Israel, United Arab Emirates and Bahrain at the White House in a ceremony to mark the normalization of relations between Israel and the two Gulf countries. The deal, which the Trump administration has described as a pivotal step towards peace in the Middle East, signals a shift amongst Arab countries, traditionally wary of siding too close to Israel.<br /> </p>
<p> An international team of researchers has discovered the presence of the chemical compound phosphine in the atmosphere of Venus — a discovery that could indicate some form of life on the hot planet. They describe their findings in the journal Nature Astronomy.</p>
<p> In the wake of the largest anti-government protests in Thailand since 2014, the Thai King Vajiralongkorn reinstated his Royal Noble Consort, Sineenat Wongvajirapakdi, after having demoted her in October of 2019. <br /> <br /><a href="https://history.cornell.edu/tamara-loos">Tamara Loos</a>, professor and chair of history, says that the King’s treatment of Sineenat represents one of the many reasons why protestors in Thailand have targeted the monarchy for reform:<br /> <br /></p>
<p dir="ltr"> <strong>Name and title:</strong></p><p dir="ltr"> Isabel M. Perera, Assistant Professor, Government</p><p dir="ltr"> <strong>Academic focus:</strong></p><p dir="ltr"> Health, labor and social policy, in comparative and historical perspective</p><p dir="ltr"> <strong>Current research project: </strong></p>
<p dir="ltr"> <strong>Name and title:</strong></p><p dir="ltr"> Helena Aparicio, Assistant Professor, Linguistics</p><p dir="ltr"> <strong>Academic focus:</strong></p><p dir="ltr"> I use a combination of experimental and computational methods to study how humans process and interpret language.</p><p dir="ltr"> <strong>Current research project: </strong></p>
<p dir="ltr"> <strong>Name and title: </strong></p><p dir="ltr"> Laura Niemi, Assistant Professor, Psychology</p><p dir="ltr"> <strong>Academic focus:</strong></p><p dir="ltr"> Moral psychology, social psychology, cognitive science, psychology of language</p><p dir="ltr"> <strong>Current research project: </strong></p><p dir="ltr"> I study how people judge each other, make morally relevant decisions, and live out their values. </p>
<p dir="ltr"> <strong>Name and title:</strong></p><p dir="ltr"> Todd Hyster, Associate Professor, Chemistry & Chemical Biology</p><p dir="ltr"> <strong>Academic focus:</strong> </p><p dir="ltr"> Biocatalysis and organic synthesis</p><p dir="ltr"> <strong>Current research project:</strong></p>
<p dir="ltr"> <strong>Name and title:</strong></p><p dir="ltr"> Leslie S. Babonis, Assistant Professor, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology</p><p dir="ltr"> <strong>Academic focus:</strong></p><p dir="ltr"> Evolutionary development, the origin of novelty, invertebrate biodiversity</p><p dir="ltr"> <strong>Current research project: </strong></p>
<p dir="ltr"> <strong>Name and title:</strong></p><p dir="ltr"> Barum Park, Assistant Professor, Sociology</p><p dir="ltr"> <strong>Academic focus:</strong></p><p dir="ltr"> Political sociology, social networks, social mobility</p><p dir="ltr"> <strong>Current research project:</strong></p>
<p dir="ltr"> <strong>Name and title:</strong></p><p dir="ltr"> Ivanna Yi, Assistant Professor, Asian Studies</p><p dir="ltr"> <strong>Academic focus:</strong></p><p dir="ltr"> Korean literature, culture, and performance </p><p dir="ltr"> <strong>Current research project: </strong></p>
<p dir="ltr"> <strong>Name and title:</strong></p><p dir="ltr"> Casey Schmitt, Assistant Professor, History</p><p dir="ltr"> <strong>Academic focus:</strong></p><p dir="ltr"> Early American and Caribbean history, slavery, labor, and human trafficking</p><p dir="ltr"> <strong>Current research project: </strong></p><p dir="ltr"> My book manuscript titled: "The Predatory Sea: Human Trafficking, Colonization, and Trade in the Greater Caribbean, 1530-1690" </p>
<p> <strong>Name and title:</strong></p><p dir="ltr"> Noah Tamarkin, Assistant Professor, Anthropology</p><p dir="ltr"> <strong>Academic focus:</strong></p><p dir="ltr"> Social politics of genetics, race, citizenship and belonging, South Africa</p><p dir="ltr"> <strong>Current research project:</strong></p>
<p dir="ltr"> <strong>Name and title:</strong></p><p dir="ltr"> Jason Sion Mokhtarian, Associate Professor and Herbert and Stephanie Neuman Chair in Hebrew and Jewish Literature, Near Eastern Studies</p><p dir="ltr"> <strong>Academic focus:</strong></p><p dir="ltr"> Rabbinic Judaism, Iranian studies, Talmud in its Sasanian context, Jews of Persia</p><p dir="ltr"> <strong>Current research project: </strong></p>
<p dir="ltr"> <strong>Name and title:</strong></p><p dir="ltr"> Landon Schnabel, Robert and Ann Rosenthal Assistant Professor, Sociology</p><p dir="ltr"> <strong>Academic focus:</strong></p>
