10 Things You Need To Know Today

10 Things You Need To Know Today

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Sunday said that President Trump was welcome to testify in the House impeachment inquiry. If Trump has information to clear himself "then we look forward to seeing it," she said on CBS' Face the Nation. Hong Kong police and protesters continued a violent standoff for a second day at a university campus occupied by anti-government activists. The protesters barricaded themselves inside Polytechnic University, and used gasoline bombs and bows and arrows to fight off the police. One arrow reportedly hit a media liaison officer in the calf. Riot police rushed into the area after giving protesters an ultimatum to get out. Some of the protesters retreated inside the university as the officers tried to storm in, while other demonstrators set fires on bridges leading to the campus. Also on Monday, a Hong Kong court ruled that a ban on face masks that authorities imposed last month, invoking a colonial-era emergency law, was unconstitutional, although the ban was not immediately lifted. Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Sunday apologized for supporting the aggressive "stop-and-frisk" policing strategy for a decade.

The practice resulted in disproportionate police stops of black and Latino people in the city. Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said Sunday that people participating in protests over a 50-percent hike in gas prices are "thugs" stirred up by counterrevolutionaries and foreign enemies of the Islamic republic. Protesters have responded to the price increase by abandoning cars on highways and participating in mass street protests. Authorities say at least three people have died in the unrest, including a police officer killed in an attack on a police station in the western city of Kermanshah on Saturday, the state-run IRNA news agency reported. Khamenei specifically blamed the unrest on people linked to the family of Iran's late shah, who was overthrown 40 years ago, and the exile group Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, which advocates toppling Iran's government. Two chemistry professors at Henderson State University in Arkansas have been arrested on allegations that they made methamphetamine at the school.

The chemistry professors, Terry David Bateman and Bradley Allen Rowland, were arrested on Friday, Clark County Sheriff Jason Watson said in a statement. Bateman, 45, and Rowland, 40, were placed on administrative leave on Oct. 11. Three days earlier, university authorities received a report of an undetermined chemical odor at a science facility. Initial tests found elevated levels of benzyl chloride, a chemical that can be used to make meth, in a lab. The building was closed for two weeks to make it safe to use again. Venice, Italy, was flooded Sunday by a record third exceptional tide in a week. The latest extraordinarily high tide reached 1.5 meters. On Tuesday, the flood tide peaked at 1.87 meters, the highest flood level in 53 years. This week's three 1.5-meter tides were unprecedented. Since records began in 1872, that mark had never been hit even twice in a single year. Store owners around hard-hit St. Mark's Square closed their doors.

The famous St. Mark's Basilica was also closed, and canal-side windows were blocked off with sandbags to prevent the church's crypt from flooding again. The city's mayor estimated the flood damage at hundreds of millions of dollars, and Italian authorities declared a state of emergency. President Trump has changed his mind about banning e-cigarettes with youth-friendly flavors like mint, candy, and fruit, The Washington Post and The New York Times report. Ford on Sunday unveiled its all-electric 2021 Mustang Mach-E, an SUV based on the automaker's new EV architecture. The Mach-E marks an attempt to expand the appeal of the iconic Mustang and lure in a new generation of buyers. The Mach-E is the first Mustang that isn't a two-door sports car. 11 billion effort to introduce 40 new electric and hybrid models by 2022. Ford said the Mach-E would get 210 miles to 300-plus miles on a charge, depending on the battery option. The Mach-E's performance and price will rival Tesla's Model Y SUV. Ford CEO Jim Hackett said the Mach-E also will have the company's new hands-free driver assist system, similar to Tesla's Autopilot and Cadillac's Super Cruise systems. Gunmen fired into a crowd of people at a backyard party in southeast Fresno in central California on Sunday, killing four people and wounding six more. Fresno Police Lt. Bill Dooley said. About 35 people were at the party. All of the victims were Asian men between the ages of 25 and 35. "Thank God that no kids were hurt," Dooley said. Police said investigators could not immediately determine whether the victims knew the attacker or attackers. Police reported no immediate arrests in the case.