Friday morning news - October 30, 2020

Trump, Biden duel in swing state campaign rallies » It is the home stretch of the 2020 campaign—the final weekend ahead of Election Day. And candidates across the country are pounding the pavement, including President Trump and Democratic rival Joe Biden. 

BIDEN: Hello Broward County! Thank you all so much for being here!

Biden heard there in South Florida Thursday. 

The president also campaigned in the Sunshine State, rallying supporters in Tampa.

TRUMP: So I’m thrilled to be here in my—our home state, Florida! 

He later traveled to North Carolina. 

And today, the candidates will hold dueling events in Minnesota and Wisconsin. 

President Trump will also be in Michigan today. Biden will be there tomorrow, campaigning with former President Barack Obama. 

The Trump campaign is counting on the polls to be wrong, as they were at this point four years ago. An average of national polls shows Biden up by nearly 8 points nationally. He also leads in most battleground states. 

Economy grew at record rate in second quarter » The president got some good news to campaign on Thursday. The U.S. economy grew at a record rate of 33.1 percent in the third quarter, recouping about two-thirds of the losses from earlier in the pandemic. 

That’s the biggest increase in growth since the government started keeping records in 1947. 

Top White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow told Fox News: 

KUDLOW: This is not a one-time impact. This is going to go on. It’s a strong, strong recovery. The v-shaped concept that I coined a while back, looking pretty good right now. 

A “v-shape” recovery would mean the economy bounces back just as sharply as it fell. 

And the White House says the Commerce Department numbers show the economy is bouncing back just as the president predicted. 

But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that’s no thanks to the president. 

PELOSI: The CARES Act deserves credit for that. We had lost ground in the second quarter. The CARES Act deserves credit for injecting the resources into the economy…

Also on Thursday, the Labor Department reported that jobless claims fell last week to the lowest level since March. 

A total of 751,000 Americans filed unemployment claims. That was down 40,000 from the prior week. 

FBI warns ransomware assault threatens healthcare system » The FBI and other federal agencies have issued a warning to hospitals and healthcare providers to protect their computer networks. That as cybercriminals target the healthcare sector. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin has more. 

KRISTEN FLAVIN, REPORTER: The FBI, Homeland Security, and Health and Human Services have issued a joint advisory urging healthcare providers to beef up cybersecurity and back up all their data.

Cyberattacks have already targeted at least five hospitals this week.

Cybersecurity group FireEye blamed the attacks on a Russian-speaking Eastern European group known as UNC 1878. The criminals release a strain of ransomware into the systems that scrambles data. The only way to restore the data is to pay a ransom in exchange for a decryption key.   

A previous attack in September struck all 250 facilities of Universal Health Services.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin. 

Zeta rampages through Southeast, leaves millions without power » The remnants of Hurricane Zeta sped across the Southeast on Thursday, leaving a trail of damage. Officials blame the storm for at least six deaths and widespread destruction across several states. 

Zeta also knocked out power to nearly 3 million homes and businesses in Atlanta and beyond. 

And many are still without power in Louisiana, where Zeta roared ashore as a Category 2 hurricane on Wednesday. 

Governor John Bel Edwards said some polling locations still have no electricity with the election just a few days away. 

EDWARDS: As we get closer to Tuesday, obviously a determination is going to have to be made whether they’re going to be able to power those locations back up or not. 

He said authorities have to make that determination far enough in advance so that if they have to move voting locations, they can inform voters of the change. 

France on high alert following deadly church attack » France remains on high alert today after an attacker with a knife killed three people inside a church in Nice. It was the country’s third terrorist attack in two months. WORLD’s Sarah Schweinsberg has that story. 

SARAH SCHWEINSBERG, REPORTER: French authorities raised the security alert status to the highest level following Thursday’s church attack. 

Police wounded the attacker and later transported him to a hospital. Two women and a man died. 

The attacker reportedly yelled “Allah Akbar!” repeatedly during and after the attack. 

Tensions are increasing between France and the Muslim world. That after the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo republished controversial caricatures of Muhammad. 

The trial of suspects involved in a 2015 attack against the newspaper is nearly complete, with a verdict expected next month.

Some Muslim nations called for a boycott against French products after President Emmanuel Macron defended the cartoons as free speech.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Sarah Schweinsberg.

(AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) A sailboat sits among debris along Highway 90 in Pass Christian, Miss., Thursday, Oct. 29, 2020, in the aftermath of Hurricane Zeta, which passed through Wednesday. 

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