An Ignoble Experiment: The 7: Kamala Harris’s heated Fox News interview; Liam Payne’s shocking death; how CEO pay compares to yours; and more

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Good morning. It's Thursday, Oct. 17, and our tech columnist investigated how Instagram hides your political posts — including when you use the word "vote." Now let's get to the news.

Kamala Harris clashed with host Bret Baier in a heated Fox News interview.

What happened? Baier tried to put Harris on the defensive with aggressive questions about immigration. The risky interview may help Harris gain more Republican support.
In related news: Former president Jimmy Carter cast an early ballot in Georgia — as did a record number of other voters. And a quirky district in Nebraska could help Harris win.

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JD Vance falsely said Donald Trump did not lose the 2020 election.

What to know: Trump's running mate had sidestepped recent questions about whether Trump lost. But, yesterday, he said Trump did not lose "by the words that I would use."
In other news: Trump repeated false claims about migrants during an event on Spanish-language network Univision. And an influx of shadowy spending is flooding swing states.

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Liam Payne, a former member of One Direction, has died.

What we know: The 31-year-old fell from his third-floor hotel room in Buenos Aires, officials said. TMZ is facing a backlash for publishing photos it said were of Payne's body.
How we'll remember him: As one of five members in one of the world's biggest boy bands, which formed in 2010 on the British singing competition series "The X Factor."

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Far-right Israeli ministers are advocating a controversial plan for Gaza.

What is it? To systematically empty areas of civilians and starve out — or shoot down — anyone who stays. This strategy may already partly be in motion in northern Gaza.
What else to know: The U.S. used B-2 stealth bombers to carry out strikes in Yemen targeting the Houthis, an Iranian-backed militant group.
In the U.S.: Israel's attacks in Gaza and Lebanon are complicating the final stretch of the presidential election.

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Italy passed a law that effectively bars gay couples from becoming parents.

How? It outlaws the use of international surrogacy for would-be parents. Domestic surrogacy is already banned in Italy, and same-sex couples are barred from adoption.
In related news: Italy's far-right government started rolling out a controversial plan to send migrants to an asylum camp in Albania, where they will be processed remotely.

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CEO pay fell last year, but it's still way higher than yours.

The numbers: Compensation for chief executives — including base salary, bonuses, stock awards and stock options — fell 19.4%, a new analysis found. Experts aren't sure wh y.
But don't feel bad for them: CEOs earned 290 times as much as the average worker in 2023. That's a far bigger gap than it used to be — in 1965, it was 21 times as much.

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Scientists are making artificial nests to help penguins breed.

Artificial African penguin nests, such as this double-layered ceramic one, have been deployed in various colonies in South Africa. (Photo by Lorien Pichegru)

Why? African penguins are among the world's most endangered seabirds. So researchers have experimented with different fake nest designs to give them a nice place to breed.
Does it actually work? Yes — the artificial nests increased breeding by 16.5% compared to natural nests, a new study found. But different colonies need different nest designs.

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