The Presidential race is in its last days, with an actual civil debate for once, and COVID-19 is raging again across the country as the population begins to reject those precautions that have heretofore kept the disease at manageable levels.

But you already know all this; you couldn’t have missed it. So here’s some things you might not have known about — until now.

– According to UN observers, the two warring sides in Libya’s ongoing civil war have signed a peace treaty. The combatants have been waging a proxy war between the great regional powers for several years. Presumably, they’re becoming tired of killing each other for the benefit of the Turkish arms manufacturing industry.

– Bolivia held their special election, and a new president has been elected Luis Arce is a member of the Movement for Socialism Party, the same as ousted former leader Evo Morales. Election interference is said to have been about normal.

– In Syria, the Grand Mufti of Damascus was assassinated by a car bombing. The method and target indicate the attack was religious in justification if nevertheless politically motivated — indistinguishable from most other terrorist acts, in fact.

– Peace talks in Afghanistan continue even as Afghan airstrikes target Taliban bases above madrasas (placed there so civilian casualties are inevitable) and the Taliban responds by assaulting Afghan army bases. There is some skepticism about the sincerity of the talks, which appear to be designed specifically to permit the Americans to leave and let Afghans get back to the business of killing Afghans without foreign interference.

– The FDA has announced their approval of antiviral drug Remdesivir as a treatment for COVID-19. While it does not greatly improve survival rates in severe cases, it has been demonstrated to reduce hospital stays in mild-to-medium infections. Negative interactions have been observed with anti-Malarial drugs such as hydrochloroquine.

– Pope Francis has announced his support for civil unions for same-sex couples, declaring that everyone deserves to love and be loved. Somehow, this is seen to be controversial.

– Hurricane Epsilon has formed in the Atlantic. Meanwhile, a 7.5 Richter earthquake struck parts of Alaska, prompting tsunami warnings. There is no relationship between these events and the Pope’s announcement, whatever the Westboro Baptist Church thinks.

– Sudan is in the process of being removed from the American list of state sponsors of terrorism after agreeing to apologize for their role in embassy bombings twenty years ago. This will permit them to, among other things, borrow the money with which they will pay reparations.

– The Armenia/Artsakh/Azerbaijani conflict has escalated, with several Azerbaijani military victories over the breakaway Artsakh republic. Meanwhile, Armenia and Azerbaijan have announced they are again attempting to institute a ceasefire. There is a certain amount of skepticism about this statement.

– The Artemis Accords, a multi-power agreement concerning exploitation of the moon and lunar resources, has been finalized and is in the process of being signed by every nation with a space program. The goal is to protect certain heritage sites such as the Apollo 11 landing zone, and setting standards for resource exploitation in the future. The United States has taken a major role in this initiative.

– Belarus has announced they are seeking the arrest of the opposition candidate from this year’s contested elections, clearly demonstrating to the rest of the world their commitment to the democratic process.

– NASA has successfully landed a probe on an asteroid in space, which will be returning with samples. Holy crap!

– THIS JUST IN: After setting a new record for time being dead, Epstein is now still dead. Meanwhile, former… what’s the word? “Associate” is so bloodless… Ghislaine Maxwell has apparently completed her testimony without either committing suicide, being shot trying to escape, or suffering any number of potential fatal accidents.

And that’s all the news that’s fit to print. Please notice no mention has been made of the Hunter Biden email scandal; this was deliberate. As it is written, “I can’t be having with that sort of thing.”

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