![Judge Amy Coney Barrett takes the oath to join the US Supreme Court on the South Lawn of the White House in a controversial appointment just a week before the US presidential election [Ken Cedeno/Pool via EPA]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/h_56453028-1.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
![France's president has faced a flurry of criticism over his plans to 'reform' Islam [File: Christian Hartmann/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/2019-12-04T113353Z_76383423_RC2BOD9CP72Z_RTRMADP_3_NATO-SUMMIT.jpg?resize=120%2C80)
![The USS Curtis Wilbur launches a harpoon surface-to-surface missile [File: US Navy/Handout via Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Harpoon-Missile.jpg?resize=120%2C80)
![The WHO chief is urging the world not to give up on the battle against COVID-19 as case numbers and deaths surge again [Lucy Nicholson/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/2020-10-27T000349Z_1696363092_RC2OQJ936U9M_RTRMADP_3_HEALTH-CORONAVIRUS-USA.jpg?resize=120%2C80)
![Polls show Biden with a lead in the Electoral College and US election forecasters see a narrow window for a Trump victory [Alia Chughtai/Al Jazeera]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Electoral-College-forecasts-02.jpg?resize=120%2C80)
![AstraZeneca has signed several supply and manufacturing deals with companies and governments around the world [File: Dado Ruvic/Illustration/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/2020-10-20T163915Z_956403597_RC2GMJ9L007D_RTRMADP_3_HEALTH-CORONAVIRUS-ASTRAZENECA-USA.jpg?resize=120%2C80)
![A protesters with a tattoo on his body holds a banner during a protest against the Nigeria rogue police, otherwise known as Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), in Lekki district of Lagos [Akintunde Akinleye/EPA]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/h_56421256.jpg?resize=120%2C80)
![While research 11 years ago indicated water was relatively widespread in small amounts on the moon, a team of scientists is now reporting the first unambiguous detection of water molecules on the lunar surface [File: Lucy Nicholson/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/2020-10-26T131357Z_927083144_RC2DQJ95G8HF_RTRMADP_3_SPACE-EXPLORATION-MOON.jpg?resize=120%2C80)
![South Korean exports rebounded in the third quarter at the fastest rate since 1986 as lockdowns in key markets eased [File: Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/2016-09-21T120000Z_1066116767_S1BEUCMNMWAA_RTRMADP_3_HANJIN-SHIPPING-DEBT.jpg?resize=120%2C80)
Malaysia PM Muhyiddin gets reprieve from key political ally
Political bloc that led the country for 60 years until 2018 also said that it would not back Anwar Ibrahim.
![Muhyiddin, who has a razor-thin majority in parliament, is under pressure from unhappy coalition partners who have demanded more powerful positions in his administration [File: Lim Huey Teng/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/84f8ebd922674796a69ef00f058350f5_18.jpeg?resize=570%2C380)
New study links air pollution to 15 percent of COVID-19 deaths
Researchers say deaths linked to COVID-19 and air pollution represent ‘potentially avoidable, excess mortality’.
![People cross a road on a polluted day in Beijing on October 10, 2020 [Greg Baker/ AFP]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/000_8RT793.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
COVID-19 deaths are rising in the US, as feared by experts
The US has recently seen a record-breaking surge in daily and weekly averages of new coronavirus cases.
![Seattle firefighter Bill Dennis reaches in to take a sample from a passenger in a car at a free COVID testing site Friday, October 23, 2020, in Seattle, as states from Connecticut to Idaho reel from the surge [Elaine Thompson/AP Photo]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/AP_20297719533972.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
Duterte wants government-to-government deal for COVID-19 vaccines
Philippine president’s top science and technology official says vaccine would be available at the earliest in mid-2021.
![Duterte also ordered on Tuesday the extension of quarantine in Metro Manila and six other areas across the the country until the end of November [File: Presidential Palace via AP]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/4789274c2145423e9750e5a86e36b779_18.jpeg?resize=570%2C380)
The men vying to lead Tanzania
Voters will head to the polls on Wednesday to elect their president, lawmakers and local governments.
![President John Magufuli (left) will face off against main challenger Tundu Lissu (right) [File: AFP]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/000_1WU6CD-1.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
Guatemala health workers face retaliation over COVID-19 concerns
Front-line workers say they are dealing with poor job conditions and unpaid salaries, and face backlash for speaking out.
![Healthcare workers at the Roosevelt Hospital in Guatemala City and around the country have been speaking out about their poor working conditions [David Toro/Al Jazeera]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/p4.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
Iran accuses France’s Macron of fuelling ‘extremism’
Insulting Muslims for ‘abhorrent crimes of such extremists is an opportunistic abuse of freedom of speech’, Zarif says.
!['Muslims are the primary victims of the cult of hatred,' Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says [File: Dalati Nohra/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/bb6fc241d8a44416bfb5344cba7f18f5_18.jpeg?resize=570%2C380)
Amy Coney Barrett joins the Supreme Court: US election news
After a controversial Senate vote along party lines, Barrett is quickly sworn in at White House ceremony
![Amy Coney Barrett was administered administers the Constitutional Oath by on the South Lawn of the White House after she was confirmed by the Senate [Patrick Semansky/AP Photo]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/AP_20301045589200.jpg?resize=570%2C380)