Incoming: A Surveillance State In The Making

A deadly attack in Germany, three impeachment stories you should know, It's..........Rebekah Vardy's account. Your BuzzFeed News newsletter, October 10.

A gunman apparently motivated by anti-Semitism livestreamed himself on Twitch attacking a synagogue

The shooting attack left two people dead in Halle, Germany. The gunman, who has not been officially identified, could be heard railing against feminism and Jewish people, using slang common on websites like 4chan and 8chan.

The attack was livestreamed on Twitch for more than 30 minutes before the video was removed. The shooting, which German law enforcement officials are calling a “rampage attack,” occurred on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.

In the livestream, a man with a shaved head, says in English, “My name is Anon, and I think the Holocaust never happened.”

After he fails to break into the synagogue's doors, the man repeatedly calls himself a loser. Unable to get inside, residents reported seeing the gunman shoot a young woman outside the synagogue, before opening fire at a nearby kebab shop.

A spokesperson for the German prosecutor general called the attacker likely a right-wing extremist. One suspect is currently in custody.

Three stories you should know about the impeachment inquiry

First: Two key players in the Ukraine controversy spent lavishly as they dug for dirt on Joe Biden. Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman pushed Ukrainian prosecutors to investigate President Donald Trump’s top political rival and his son, Hunter, under Rudy Giuliani’s direction. And they spent extravagantly while digging for dirt, including on strip clubs and $20,000 in expenses at Trump hotels.

Second: Giuliani sent Trump on a wild goose chase with a bunch of fake internet nonsense. To understand why Trump is so obsessed with Ukraine, you have to understand the nonsense Giuliani reads on the internet. Ryan Broderick dives into the soupy depths of that nonsense.

Third: Joe Biden said Trump should be impeached. The Democratic presidential candidate, who for months had resisted calling unequivocally for Trump’s impeachment, did so forcefully. “He's shooting holes in the Constitution,” Biden said.

SNAPSHOTS

Millions of Americans could lose power for days in an effort to prevent wildfires. California’s largest utility company shut down power to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses in parts of the state to prevent its faulty power lines from starting wildfires. About 2.4 million California residents could go up to a week without electricity.

Angry parents are demanding refunds for YouTube star Blippi’s live show. The wildly popular YouTube star announced a tour, but the fine print on the tour’s website indicates the man in the videos won’t be there — he hired an actor to play Blippi on stage. Parents are furious.

Fans are calling out Reese Witherspoon and Kristen Bell for supporting Ellen DeGeneres in the George W. Bush mess. Earlier this week, Ellen defended herself after receiving criticism for being friendly with the former president. Now, Witherspoon and Bell have been criticized for backing Ellen. Meanwhile, Mark Ruffalo had no time for Ellen’s views.

Coleen Rooney accused someone using Rebekah Vardy’s account of selling fake stories about her to the tabloids, and it’s all so dramatic. If you don’t know either of their names, here’s a primer on this story out of the UK, which I promise…... is worth it. Here are the best tweets about the drama.

India is creating a national facial recognition system, and critics are afraid of what will happen next

In early September, New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi airport became the fourth airport in India to test a facial recognition system to let passengers board by letting a machine scan their faces. The tech is scheduled to roll out at all the major airports in the country.

The policy has a catchy name: India’s government calls it “Digi Yatra,” or  Digital Journey. The plan is to use biometric data — the curves of passengers’ faces, the tilts of their noses — to create a “digital travel experience.”

Beyond airports, hundreds of Indian police stations, malls, and schools already use a patchwork of facial recognition systems, and major cities have rushed to install hundreds of thousands of closed-circuit cameras.

It all adds up to something critics are worried about: a world where facial recognition tech, an already existing national biometric ID system, and weak data privacy laws are creating a surveillance state in a country ruled by a populist right-wing government.

Some hunky divers recreated the “Avengers, assemble” scene on TikTok and it’s made quite the splash

There’s that scene in Avengers: Endgame where all the heroes are reunited together for a big battle scene, and Captain America utters the words of fan service: “Avengers, assemble.” There might have been screaming at the theater when it happened.

Some British divers recreated that scene on TikTok, and people can’t stop sharing it because honestly, it’s just as good. Possibly better, because it’s the Avengers, but… as divers? The internet: what a wonder.

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