TikTok down across the UK, Australia and parts of Europe

TikTok is down in the UK, the Netherlands and Australia with users reporting problems connecting to the app.

There have been thousands of reported issues with the social media site in the last hour, according to Downdetector.

Problems with logging in, viewing videos and uploading content are all being reported.

This is a breaking news story – more to follow

Lunch Special: Denver sports live chat with Mark Kiszla – The Denver Post

Got a question about Colorado sports? The Denver Post’s Mark Kiszla is discussing all things Denver sports in a live Lunch Special chat, scheduled to begin at noon on Monday, Oct. 12, 2020.

Mobile users, if you can’t see the live blog, tap here.

Trump Defectors Help Biden Build Leads in Wisconsin and Michigan

New polls show Biden is gaining in the Northern battlegrounds among white voters.

By Nate Cohn

Southwest is expanding at United's Houston and Chicago hubs

• The low-cost airline is planning to add service at Houston's George Bush Interncontinental Airport and Chicago's O'Hare.
• Southwest's surprise strategy shift is a bet it can attract passengers at two major United Airlines hubs.

Southwest Airlines is pushing into United Airlines' territory.

Dallas-based Southwest on Monday said it plans to add service at Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport and Chicago O'Hare next year, two United hubs and the cities' larger airports. It marks a strategy shift for the low-cost carrier that has relied mainly on secondary airports in some of the largest U.S. cities. Its operations in those cities are still centered on Houston's Hobby Airport and Chicago's Midway International Airport.

The shift comes as airlines rethink their networks after the coronavirus pandemic devastated demand. Business travel has largely been absent, forcing carriers to focus on vacationers with beach and other outdoor destinations.

Southwest isn't the only carrier to sense opportunity amid the lull in traffic to once-congested airports. Chicago-based United is planning to return in early 2021 to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport after a more than five-year absence, CNBC reported last month.

Snowfall helps contain Deep Creek fire south of Kremmling

The 88-acre Deep Creek fire is 100% contained after snow fell on the fire on Sunday.

Firefighters continue to patrol the perimeter of the fire in Grand and Summit counties. All evacuations for the fire have been lifted.

“The White River National Forest and Bureau of Land Management have lifted the closures for the Dice Hill and upper Spring Creek Road areas,” fire officials said on InciWeb. The area directly burned by the fire remains closed.

The fire, which was human caused, started Wednesday about 15 miles south of Kremmling.

Delhi, Male ink $400-mn pact for connectivity

India had previously loaned $800 mn

Following up on India’s announcement of a $500 million package to the Maldives, the Exim Bank of India and the Maldives’s Ministry of Finance on Monday signed an agreement for $400 million in Male.

The line of credit (LoC) will fund the Greater Male Connectivity Project (GMCP), a key pledge of President Ibrahim Solih, a statement from the Indian Embassy in Male said. India has also pledged a grant of $ 100 million for the initiative.

The initial announcement was made at a virtual meeting between External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and Maldives Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid in August. “The Greater Male Connectivity Project will lead to greater possibilities. It is the gateway to a more developed and economically-resilient nation,” tweeted Mr. Shahid on Monday.

“Thank you India for partnering with the Maldives in delivering this project with $100 million of grant and $400 million Line of Credit,” Mr. Shahid tweeted on Monday. The grant and LoC come in addition to the previous LoC of $800 million, among India’s largest loans extended in the region.

Maldivians have often highlighted the disparity between capital Male and the atolls that can be reached only via boat service. The GMCP, a 6.7 km bridge and causeway network connecting Male, with islands Villingili, Gulhifalhu and Thilafushi, is the second significant connectivity project in the Indian Ocean archipelago, coming two years after the China backed $200 million Sinamale Bridge, or the China-Maldives Friendship Bridge connecting airport island of Hulhule with the capital, was inaugurated.

Value of homes sold fell 43% in 9 months of 2020: Anarock

‘July-September sales saw value improve to ₹29,731 crore’

Homes worth about ₹88,730 crore were sold during the first nine months of the current year in the top seven markets, which was a decline of 42.5%, or ₹65,590 crore, over the same period last year, according to Anarock Property Consultants. The decline was attributed to the impact of COVID-19.

The total value of homes sold in the seven markets — Bengaluru, Pune, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Chennai, Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) and Delhi NCR, stood at about ₹1.54 lakh crore in the same period of 2019.

Between January and September 2020, as many as 87,460 units were sold across these cities as against about 2.02 lakh units sold in the year-earlier period, as per Anarock.

MMR clocked sales of ₹49,313 crore, followed by Bengaluru (₹12,569 crore), Delhi NCR (₹9,430 crore), Pune (₹8,692 crore), Hyderabad (₹3,116 crore), Kolkata (₹2,833 crore) and Chennai (₹2,777 crore)

‘Worst is over’

However, it added that the quarterly numbers indicated that the worst was over for the residential sector.

In July-September 2020, the value of homes sold rose by more than 2.3 times to about ₹29,731 crore, up from ₹12,694 crore in the preceding quarter (April-June 2020). In the January-March 2020 quarter, home sales value stood at about ₹46,306 crore.