Every minute, 28 child marriages take place. That’s 15 million girls a year removed from their schools, taken from their families, and denied their childhood.

The Center for Reproductive Rights reports that 24 percent of Pakistani girls are married before they’re 18 (unlike in neighboring India, Bangladesh, or Nepal, child marriage is still legal in Pakistan.) And although the legal age for girls to marry is 16, seven percent of girls in Pakistan are married at 15 or younger.

These statistics tell us the prevalence of young girls forced into marriage, but tell us nothing about what it’s like to be a child bride or the parent of a child forced into marriage. For that, we turn to stories like the film Dukhtar, and storytellers like Afia Nathaniel.

Nathaniel, once a computer scientist and now a film director, was born in Lahore, Pakistan. In her 20s, she earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science, and worked in the field for a few years before she realized she didn’t enjoy it. “I took a good look at what I wanted to do with my life, and I said, ‘I can’t be chained to a desk, writing, coding, and programming,’” Nathaniel explained. “That’s not what I want to do. I want to tell stories.”

President Obama has been brought to laughter by a tiny baby dressed as the Pope, giving the child’s outfit top prize at the White House’s traditional Halloween event.

The first family of the US held their Halloween event at the White House, decorating the building with spooky props and performers and handing sweets to local children. But the show was stolen by a baby dressed as a Pope, complete with white Popemobile and red shoes.

Nobody seems to be talking about this, but it seems like a BFD to me.
Clinton is using her superstar status and fundraising prowess to directly benefit the downticket races that we need to win to rebuild the Democratic party nationwide.

She is the only candidate we have that is in the position to do this, and she's doing it.

Those are some blood red states that she's raising money for,

If this ends up a wave election, Clinton is positioning us to ride that wave, even if she is not the nominee.

That is her commitment to the Democratic Party.

The Middle East is changing rapidly, mostly for the worse. Many of the changes are closely related to Iran and will be exacerbated by the added stature and additional funds it will gain from sanctions relief. While Iran has not abandoned its long-term nuclear aspirations, but merely come to terms with current international realities, the nuclear issue is likely to be on the back burner for the foreseeable future. In these circumstances, after repairing its ties with Washington, Israel will face three primary challenges.

First, Israel needs to ensure that the planned inspections regime is, indeed, implemented fully and effectively, so that Iran’s nuclear ambitions are checked for the duration of the agreement. ...

Second, even assuming the deal’s effective implementation, Israel must still contend with countering Iran’s influence in the region, which is likely to grow, especially in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq. Much has been made in the media of the convergence of strategic interests between Israel and the Sunni Arab states. Unfortunately, ... it is hard to imagine how common interests can be translated into significant strategic cooperation, especially with the Saudis, for anything beyond even limited intelligence exchanges. ... Moreover, under now-President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey, once a partner in the region, has made a strategic decision to downgrade relations with Israel. Nothing short of a change in Turkey’s government will lead to an even partial restoration of strategic ties. Israel should seek closer relations with the Kurds in Iraq and Syria, but they are unlikely to prove more reliable allies today than they did in the past.

Third, and maybe most immediately, Israel needs to deal with what remains of Syria. No other issue poses such immediate dangers for Israel and such limited options. Israel should continue to do its utmost to stay out of the Syrian quagmire. But it cannot allow Syria to become a new front for attacks against Israel, which would create one long frontline extending from Lebanon. Should Syrian President Bashar al-Assad remain in power, the Syrian rump state will, for all practical purposes, be an Iranian and Hezbollah stronghold and springboard on Israel’s border. Assad’s fall, however, also bodes ill for Israel, as the self-proclaimed Islamic State, or some combination of the other Islamist opposition groups now vying for power, will inevitably turn their attention toward Israel once the internal battle is resolved.

6. The demands to see the secret text got some results.
WikiLeaks made public two draft chapters of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, giving ammo to the opposition and making many wonder why we were having to rely on Julian Assange for this information.

While the fast-track bill doesn’t do anywhere near enough to respond to secrecy concerns, it does require the executive branch to make public the full text of new trade agreements for 60 days before they are sent to Congress. Then lawmakers need to wait at least another 30 days before voting.

In the TPP’s case, this could help stretch out the timeline into the heat of election season, when Democrats will be even more sensitive to pressure from their base. As Public Citizen President Robert Weissman noted, “When the inexcusable and anti-democratic veil of secrecy surrounding the TPP is finally lifted, and the American people see what is actually in the agreement, they are going to force their representatives in Washington to vote that deal down.”

Election 2015: The Guardian poll projection
Our model takes in all published constituency-level polls, UK-wide polls and polling conducted in the nations, and projects the result in each of the 650 Westminster constituencies using an adjusted average.