Third of voters pessimistic about finances ahead of possible general election

More than a third of voters are deeply pessimistic about the economy and their own finances, according to a new Sky Data state-of-the-nation poll.

Twice as many young children are suffering with anorexia than previously thought, according to a new study.

And the oil company on trial for allegedly knowing the damage it was doing to the environment.

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Forget Smoking Gun. Harvard Law Prof. Says There’s Now A ‘Smoking Howitzer’ On Trump.

Laurence Tribe on Wednesday suggested that Democrats are now in possession of the “smoking Howitzer” with which to impeach President Donald Trump.

The Harvard constitutional law professor told CNN’s Anderson Cooper he believed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was “wise to hold off” on announcing a formal impeachment inquiry into Trump (which she did last month) until she had “what amounts to not just a smoking gun, but a smoking Howitzer.”

Tribe suggested she now had it following Tuesday’s private congressional testimony of former Ukraine Ambassador Bill Taylor, who reportedly acknowledged that Trump had pressured Ukraine’s president to investigate his potential Democratic 2020 rival Joe Biden by withholding military aid to the country. Tribe described Taylor’s statement as “dynamite.”

“This is just the most transparently clear abuse of power and an impeachable offense that I can remember in the history of the United States and I studied it pretty thoroughly,” Tribe later added. “This makes the Nixon situation looks silly by comparison, this is way more serious.”

Check out the interview below:

Russia sends S-400 missile defense systems to Serbia for drill: RIA

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia has sent a division of S-400 missile defense systems to Serbia to take part in a military drill there, the RIA news agency cited Russia’s Defense Ministry as saying on Thursday.

Russia has also sent a Pantsir missile system battery to Serbia, it said, adding it is the first time the systems would take part in a drill abroad.

South African regulator says 40 of 46 grounded planes back in air

JOHANNESBURG, Oct 24 (Reuters) – Forty of the 46 airplanes grounded this week owing to faults at the maintenance unit of state-owned South African Airways (SAA) have been returned to service, South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) Chief Executive Poppy Khoza said on Thursday.

Khoza said SACAA had made five findings during its audit at SAA Technical, two of which were serious. The two serious findings were that unqualified personnel had signed off on maintenance work and that maintenance checks on flight data recorders and cockpit voice recorders had not been done correctly. (Reporting by Alexander Winning Editing by Tim Cocks)

Moscow says rising Norwegian military spending targets Russia

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia is concerned by Norwegian military spending and the development of its military infrastructure and sees those moves as clearly targeted at Moscow, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov plans to raise these concerns on Friday at talks with his Norwegian counterpart in the Norwegian town of Kirkenes, the ministry said in a statement.

Lucky punter wins €5.2m in the Lotto

A LUCKY punter is €5.2 million richer after hitting the jackpot in last night’s Lotto draw.

Ireland’s newest millionaire won a life-changing €5,260,021 in the main draw.

The winning numbers were 13, 27, 32, 36, 38, 39 and bonus 43.

It is not known yet where the winning ticket was sold or whether the unknown customer has contacted the Lottery to claim their prize.

In total more than 66,000 players won prizes in the Lotto last night.

Jim Mattis’ Reported Response To Donald Trump’s Military Parade Was Something Else

Former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis was so set against President Donald Trump’s idea to hold a multi-million dollar military parade in Washington that he reportedly said he’d “rather swallow acid” than watch it, according to a soon-to-be-released book by his former communications director.

Retired U.S. Navy Commander Guy Snodgrass revealed Mattis’ scathing reaction to Trump’s plan in his upcoming memoir “Holding the Line: Inside Trump’s Pentagon With Secretary Mattis,” which The Washington Post published excerpts from on Wednesday.

Trump eventually did hold a “Salute to America” event on this year’s Fourth of July, by which time Mattis (who last week turned one of Trump’s insults against him into a compliment) had already left the administration.

Snodgrass’ book also reportedly detailed how Mattis attempted to reign in Trump’s alleged attempt to “screw” Amazon founder Jeff Bezos by preventing the company from bidding on a Pentagon cloud networking contract.

Popeyes on hiring frenzy ahead of chicken sandwich return

Popeyes is bringing its wildly popular chicken sandwich back to its menu — and franchises are boosting their staff to deal with expected crowds, a report said Wednesday.

The owner of a company that operates 150 Popeyes’ outposts told Bloomberg that he’ll be adding 400 employees at the restaurants when they offer the sandwich during the month of November.

“The first time they weren’t ready,” Guillermo Perales told Bloomberg of the first time the sandwich was offered in August and employees couldn’t keep up with the extreme demand.

The corporate owner of the fast-food joint told Bloomberg in a statement the are working with franchises to make sure they’re prepared to offer the sandwich.

“We have been working diligently to bring the sandwich back to our restaurants soon, as we know our guests are anxiously anticipating its return,” Restaurant Brands International told Bloomberg in a statement.

There’s no word yet on the exact date the sandwich will return to the restaurants.