U.S. and world news for Oct. 28

Trump rally: Donald Trump was about two hours late beginning his speech to a rally at Madison Square Garden in New York yesterday, resulting in many people becoming tired of waiting and walking out of the rally according to video recordings. Trump was introduced by his wife Melania, who made her first appearance with him at a Trump rally this year. There were about 30 speakers, including J. D. Vance and Elon Musk. Former Trump Attorney and Fixer Michael Cohen said that the campaign paid for busloads of people to be brought into New York for the rally.

Rally content: The Trump campaign put out a statement distancing itself from the comment made by a comedian during Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden that Puerto Rico is an island of garbage. The comment denigrating Puerto Rico was just one of numerous examples of hate speech, racism and anti-Semitism on display during the rally. Vice President Harris noted that when a storm decimated Puerto Rico while Trump was in the White House, he went to the island and staged a photo opportunity tossing rolls of paper towels to storm victims.

Fact check: CNN’s fact checker Daniel Dale reported today that Donald Trump’s speech at the Madison Square Garden rally was loaded with lies, many of which Trump had previously used including in his interview Friday on the Joe Rogan podcast. These included Trump repeating his falsehood that FEMA has not helped people recovering from Hurricane Helene. He claimed that more than 100,000 people attended his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, four times the Secret Service’s crowd count. He said that there was no inflation when he was president, when inflation actually came to 8%.

U.N aid: Israel’s Parliament is expected to consider two bills this week that would restrict humanitarian relief efforts by the U.N. The legislation would prohibit the U.N. from providing aid to civilians in territories occupied by Israel’s military. The U.S. and other nations have expressed concern about the legislation. The U.N. says that if the new Israeli policy takes effect it would have to end food, shelter and health care aid to 2.5 million people in Gaza.

Halloween: The BBC reports that police in the Chinese city Shanghai have been staging crackdowns on people celebrating Halloween. The celebrations in China typically last several days and are marked by street gatherings. In the past, some people celebrating Halloween have dressed up in costumes that satirize Chinese government officials. It’s believed the police crackdowns are designed to head off further criticism of Chinese government officials.

McDonald’s: McDonald’s says that it is bringing back its Quarter Pounder after having removed it following an E. coli outbreak. Cesar Piña, McDonald’s chief supply chain officer in North America said in an internal memo that the Colorado Department of Agriculture has completed its testing and found no evidence of E. coli bacteria in Quarter Pounder beef patties. The E. coli was believed to have come from slivered onions from a supplier in Colorado Springs. The 900 McDonald’s restaurants that received slivered onions from that source will serve Quarter Pounders without onions for the time being.