Tuesday morning news - October 26, 2021

For WORLD Radio, I'm Kent Covington. 

Heavy rains soak Calif., trigger flooding and landslides » A long and wide plume of moisture from the Pacific Ocean brought a deluge of rain to drought-stricken and fire-scorched California counties.

The rain was certainly welcomed, but maybe not so much so quickly. Meteorologist Sierra Littlefield with the National Weather Service said Monday…

LITTLEFIELD: We have seen lots of drainage problems leading to flooding concerns and just large volumes of water.

In the San Francisco Bay area, it looks to be one of the biggest rain events ever for this time of year. San Francisco International Airport got about 5 inches of rain.

Flooding caused road closures in the San Francisco and Oakland areas.

Further inland, some rivers overflowed in Napa and Sonoma counties. Heavy rains also triggered landslides in some areas.

Areas where fires have charred vegetation are at especially high risk of flooding and landslides. California Highway Patrol closed a stretch of State Route 70 in Butte and Plumas counties because of multiple landslides within the massive Dixie Fire burn scar.

Moderna: study shows vaccine safe & effective for young children » Moderna said Monday that a low dose of its COVID-19 vaccine is safe and appears to be effective for young children. WORLD’s Leigh Jones has more.

LEIGH JONES, REPORTER: The manufacturer joins its rival Pfizer in moving toward expanding shots to children.

The FDA is currently considering the Pfizer shots for children, 5 to 11.

Researchers at Moderna tested two shots for the 6- to 11-year-olds, given a month apart. Each contained half the dose given to adults. The company said results showed vaccinated children developed antibodies similar to levels that young adults produce after full-strength shots.

The study involved nearly 5,000 young kids. Some of the children experienced typical temporary side effects including fatigue, headache, fever and injection site pain. The study was too small to spot any extremely rare side effects.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Leigh Jones.

Facebook Papers: Whistleblower’s concerns widespread » Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen spoke to a panel of lawmakers in the British Parliament on Monday.

Just as she testified in Washington earlier this month, Huagen told British lawmakers that Facebook’s algorithm favors hateful content because it increases user interaction.

COLLINS: Facebook didn’t invent hate, do you think it’s making hate worse?
HAUGEN: Unquestionably it’s making hate worse.

Haugen heard there fielding a question from Damian Collins, who chairs a committee looking into the company’s safety practices.

The UK is working on online safety regulations that would regulate social media companies and levy stiff fines for violations.

Haugen leaked a trove of internal Facebook documents which reveal internal messages from employees who accused the platform of inciting violence and fostering social media addiction.

Haugen also said a weak chain of command and lack of resources left too much misinformation and hate speech unchecked. Facebook denies those allegations.

But others have cited censorship concerns, saying some Facebook employees have sought to target conservative news sites.

Thousands protest another military coup on Sudan » Thousands have flooded the streets of Sudan protesting a military coup that threatens the country’s shaky progress toward democracy. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin has more.

KRISTEN FLAVIN, REPORTER: Protesters on Monday defied the military, setting tire barricades on fire until soldiers violently broke up the gatherings. Demonstrators in the capital of Khartoum shouted “The people are stronger!”

The Sudan Doctors’ Committee reported military forces fired tear gas and bullets into crowds, killing at least two and wounding roughly 80.

Hours earlier, Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan’s declared that the military was dissolving Sudan’s transitional government. He claimed that faction infighting forced the military to intervene.

The military arrested interim Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, his wife, and several senior officials. The military also airports and bridges into the capital city and shut down internet access.

The transitional government was supposed to shift to a fully civilian government next month. The country has been in a state of transition since the ouster of dictator Omar al-Bashir in 2019.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

Hertz order for Teslas ranks among biggest-ever EV purchases » Don’t forget to plug in your rental car at night! Something you might need to keep in mind when renting a care from Hertz.

The car rental giant announced Monday that it will buy 100,000 electric vehicles from Tesla. It is one of the largest purchases of battery-powered cars in history.

Hertz’ interim CEO Mark Fields said that Teslas are already arriving at the company’s sites and should be available for rental starting next month.

That company said it will establish its own electric vehicle charging network as it strives to produce the largest rental fleet of electric vehicles in North America.

Analysts say Hertz-Tesla deal likely is worth around $4 billion dollars.

I’m Kent Covington. For more news, features, and analysis, visit us at wng.org.

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