BIDEN LEADS TRUMP. SO DID HILLARY CLINTON

The polls are once again delivering feel-good boosts to Democrats: Joe Biden

beats President Donald Trump by 10, 11 or 12 points nationally, depending on

the day. His edge in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin averages eight.

Experts promise better than 4-in-5 odds of a new president next year.

But then the partisans remember that they have been here before, four years

ago this week. The conflicting emotions can be overwhelming.

"I am feeling anxious and trapped between a sense of unbridled optimism and

sheer dread," said Abington Township, Pa., Commissioner Bill Bole, who like

many Democrats never thought Trump could defeat Hillary Clinton in 2016 and

was stunned when he did.

With the benefit of hindsight, even the most partisan tacticians caution

that the election result remains unknown. Polling, which has consistently

shown Biden well ahead and en route to winning in the electoral college, is

but a snapshot, with a built-in margin of error that can go either way or

not at all. Voting may have begun, but there are still weeks to go, and

voters have changed their minds before.

Nick Gourevitch, a partner at Global Strategy Group who has been polling on

the presidential race said, "Biden seems in better shape, but it is still a

polarized country and a Trump win is still within the realm of possibility."

This uncertainty has become a point of leverage for Trump, who has always

dismissed polls that reflect badly on him as "fake" efforts to suppress his

voters. It has also become a rallying cry for Democrats, who have been

warning the country - and their own voters - against complacency.

Privately, Trump's advisers are less bullish than the boss, admitting that

he is behind in several key states. But they believe he can close the gap

over the next 15 days, and have no interest in broadcasting anything short

of certainty.

On the Biden side, the creeping sense of deja vu has become a dominant

feeling.

"The thing is, people don't react logically. They react emotionally to

this," said Ed Rendell, a former Pennsylvania governor and top Biden

surrogate who has been trying to calm nervous Democrats by pointing to the

better polling, lack of a strong minor-party candidate, and some promising

early-voting figures when compared with four years ago.

"And emotionally, you see the same scenario developing all over again."

Biden campaign manager Jen O'Malley Dillon has been telling donors,

activists and voters to assume that the current polling leads will not last,

even as the campaign also argues that Trump's approach to campaigning with

large crowds in the midst of a surging pandemic is exactly the opposite of

what swing voters want to see. She has said Biden does not have a

double-digit lead.

"National polls tell us very little about the pathway to 270 electoral

votes," O'Malley Dillon wrote Saturday in a memo to donors. "We also know

that even the best polling can be wrong, and that variables like turnout

mean that in a number of critical states we are functionally tied."

FIRST COMMERCIAL PASSENGER FLIGHT FROM UAE LANDS IN ISRAEL

The first commercial passenger flight to Israel by a carrier from the United

Arab Emirates landed near Tel Aviv on Monday, further cementing a

normalisation deal between the two countries.

Etihad Airways Flight No. 9607 landed at Israel's Ben-Gurion international

airport just after 7 am. The Boeing 787 Dreamliner departed for Abu Dhabi

later Monday with an Israeli travel and tourism delegation on board,

according to an Etihad statement.

Etihad said it plans regular passenger flights between the countries in the

future and was launching a dedicated Hebrew website.

Etihad previously sent to Tel Aviv an unmarked cargo plane flying aid to

assist the Palestinians in fighting the coronavirus. In August, a Star of

David-adorned El Al plane flew from Israel to Abu Dhabi, carrying a

high-ranking American and Israeli delegation in the first-ever direct

commercial passenger flight between the two countries.

Israel and the UAE announced in August they had agreed to normalise ties,

setting off a flurry of business, banking and intergovernmental agreements,

along with an end to a longstanding boycott by the UAE against Israel.

Nearby Gulf monarchy Bahrain also signed an agreement on September 15 at the

White House alongside the UAE to normalise relations with Israel. The UAE

and Bahrain are the third and fourth Arab states to establish ties with

Israel.

An Israeli delegation flew to Bahrain on Sunday to formalise that deal.

US COULD SOON TAKE SUDAN OFF STATE SPONSORS OF TERRORISM LIST: OFFICIALS

The Trump administration is close to an agreement with Sudan to remove

Khartoum from the US list of state sponsors of terrorism and an announcement

could be made in coming days, two US officials said on Monday.

The deal could also set in motion steps by Sudan toward establishing

diplomatic relations with Israel, one of the officials told Reuters,

following similar US-brokered moves in recent weeks by the United Arab

Emirates and Bahrain. But details were still being worked out, the source

said.

IMRAN KHAN'S GOVERNANCE WORSE THAN DICTATORSHIP: OPPN LEADERS

Prime Minister Imran Khan is "incapable and clueless", and his government is

worse than a dictatorship, Pakistan's opposition leaders have said at the

second rally of an alliance formed to oust the premier.

The Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), an alliance of 11 opposition parties

formed on September 20, has launched a three-phased anti-government movement

under an "action plan" to remove the Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf

(PTI) government.

Under the plan, a number of rallies public meetings and demonstrations will

be held across the country, before a "decisive long march" to Islamabad in

January next year.

"This incapable and clueless prime minister will have to go home," Pakistan

Peoples Party (PPP) chief Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said on Sunday at the

Bagh-e-Jinnah, which was packed with people including supporters and workers

of the alliance's members.

History has proved that the biggest dictators could not survive and "what

standing does this puppet have?", Zardari said targeting Prime Minister Khan

and added that "this is not a new fight but this will be a decisive fight".

U.S. CHARGES SIX RUSSIAN MILITARY OFFICERS IN VAST HACKING CAMPAIGN

Six Russian military intelligence officers have been charged in the United

States with carrying out cyberattacks on Ukraine's power grid, the 2017

French elections and the 2018 Winter Olympic Games, the Justice Department

announced on Monday.

The six GRU agents were also accused of staging a malware attack called

"NotPetya" that infected computers of businesses worldwide, causing nearly

$1 billion in losses to three U.S. companies alone.

In addition, they allegedly targeted international investigations into the

nerve agent poisoning of Russian former double agent Sergei Skripal and his

daughter, as well as waged cyberattacks on media outlets and parliament in

Georgia.

At the same time, British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab accused Russian

military intelligence services of carrying out internet reconnaissance

missions against targets linked to the Tokyo Olympics, before they were

postponed until 2021 by the coronavirus pandemic.

"The targets included the Games' organisers, logistics services and

sponsors," the Foreign Office said in a statement.

U.S. Assistant Attorney General John Demers said the six officers were

responsible for "the most disruptive and destructive series of computer

attacks ever attributed to a single group.

U.S. SUPREME COURT PERMITS CRUCIAL VOTE COUNTING EXTENSION IN PENNSYLVANIA

In a victory for Democrats, the Supreme Court of the United States declined

to stay a Pennsylvania Supreme Court order allowing some postal ballots

received for up to three days after Election Day (November 3) to be tallied

provided they are postmarked by November 3. Republicans had approached the

U.S.'s top court for an emergency stay on the extended counting period - a

special accommodation for the pandemic.

Both U.S. President Donald Trump and his Democratic opponent Joe Biden are

hoping to win this crucial swing state which Mr. Biden is leading overall,

as per polls. Mr Trump won the state by less than a percentage point in

2016.

A stay on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court order permitting extended counting

would have needed the assent of at least five U.S. Supreme Court judges.

With Chief Justice John Roberts siding with the liberal judges, the bench

was tied four and four. As is normal for emergency rulings , no reasoning

was provided by the court.

The ruling renews focus on how election-related judgements will go with a

new potential justice - Amy Coney Barrett ( a Trump nominee) - who could be

confirmed by the U.S. Senate as early as next week in time for the

elections.

TRUMP SLAMS GOVT COVID EXPERT FAUCI 'AND ALL THESE IDIOTS'

US President Donald Trump went after top government scientist Anthony Fauci

in a call with campaign staffers on Monday, suggesting the hugely respected

and popular doctor was an "idiot."

Fauci, a key member of the White House coronavirus task force, has

increasingly become a focus for the president's frustration as he bids to

shape the messaging on the much-criticized federal response to the pandemic.

"People are tired of Covid," Trump told his campaign team in a call on which

several members of the press were present.

"People are saying, 'Whatever -- just leave us alone.' They're tired of it.

People are tired of hearing Fauci and all these idiots," the president said,

according to several US media outlets.

The pandemic has killed almost 220,000 people in the United States.

"He's been here for, like, 500 years," Trump complained of the 79-year-old

Fauci, who is recognized worldwide for his work directing the National

Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases in suburban Washington.

"Fauci, if we listened to him, we'd have 700,000 (or) 800,000 deaths," Trump

claimed on the call, before saying that it would be counterproductive to

fire him before the presidential election November 3.

The president's latest attack seemed to garner a defense of the doctor from

Republican Senator Lamar Alexander.

"Dr Fauci is one of our country's most distinguished public servants. He has

served 6 presidents, starting with Ronald Reagan," Alexander tweeted.