PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 18, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- PREIT today highlighted new stores opening throughout its portfolio highlighted by an expanded, new prototype Apple store at Cherry Hill Mall. The store features Apple's latest store design elements, an outdoor seating area and exterior and interior accessibility. Cherry Hill Mall will also welcome new tenants, Jamba and Tempur-Pedic, in the fourth quarter. Read more

Pope Francis gave his blessing Friday to a new Vatican think tank that is seeking to prevent the Mafia and organized crime groups from exploiting the image of the Virgin Mary for their own illicit ends.The Vatican’s Pontifical Marian Academy launched the think tank Friday at a conference entitled “Liberating Mary from the Mafia.” It was a reference to the historic relationship between the Italian mob and the Catholic Church, and the popular displays of Marian devotion by mobsters in Italy and beyond.In a message from the pope read out at the start of the conference, held at Rome’s Museum of Civility, Francis said the religious and cultural image and patrimony of the Madonna “must be preserved in its original purity.”   Read more

Here are a few things to know about the day’s news from The Associated Press. Minnesota will feel like a genuine battleground when President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, campaign there to mark the beginning of early voting. Students have contracted COVID-19 at schools like the centuries-old Sorbonne University in Paris, an experience that is a warning to other European universities that are preparing to reopen. Rescuers across southern Alabama and the Florida Panhandle are using boats and high-water vehicles to reach people cut off by floodwaters in the aftermath of Hurricane Sally. Read more

The pandemic was not just the main topic of the night — it was the cause of the unusual format of the event: a drive-in with 35 cars outside PNC Field. Read more

Prince Joachim, the younger son of Queen Margrethe of Denmark, who underwent an emergency surgery in France in July for a blood clot in his brain, says he is “eager to get started” as he arrived for his first work day at the Danish Embassy in Paris. The 51-year-old prince spoke to reporters outside the Danish mission where he will be defense attache. Joachim was rushed to the Toulouse University Hospital on July 24. He is sixth in line to Denmark’s throne after his elder brother, Crown Prince Frederik, and his brother’s four children. Read more

It happened just before 10:30 p.m. Thursday in the 400 block of Washington Street. Read more

Satellite images indicate that North Korea is preparing for a massive military parade in its capital to mark the 75th anniversary of its ruling party next month. The images show thousands of people assembled in formation near Pyongyang’s Kim Il Sung Square and rehearsing for a military parade. The anniversary of the founding of the ruling Workers’ Party is on Oct. 10.  North Korea often holds military parades on state anniversaries to bolster unity and intimidate enemies. But the parade rehearsal comes as North Korea continues to grapple with the coronavirus pandemic. Read more

Expect the last weekend of summer to feel more like we expect an October weekend to feel, with highs only in the mid 60s and overnight lows deep down into the 40s.  Read more

South Africa's chief medical adviser says the country should know its true toll from the coronavirus pandemic within a few weeks, as it prepares to almost fully reopen its economy. The first surge in cases was brought under control. Salim Abdool Karim says in an AP interview that the country's official death toll from COVID-19 is more than 15,700 but the real number is likely more than 30,000 when deaths not recorded at hospitals are taken into account. He hopes a nationwide survey for the presence of antibodies to the virus will show results soon. Similar surveys are beginning in other countries across Africa. Read more

A representative of Belarus, backed by Russia, China and Venezuela, has tried and failed to limit speeches as the U.N.‘s top human rights body holds an urgent debate on alleged rights violations by Belarusian authorities under President Alexander Lukashenko. The president of the Human Rights Council put an end to Friday's repeated interruptions of speakers by the four countries, which argued a breach of procedural rules. The speakers decrying a string of alleged rights violations in Belarus included Lukashenko’s main challenger in the country's disputed presidential election. After the former candidate told the council that peaceful protesters were being beaten and raped and some “have been found dead,” the Belarusian ambassador broke in to object.  Read more

Fears of a too-tough U.S. Open were drowned in a sea of red numbers during  the first round at Winged Foot. A total of 21 playes limboed under the par-70 bar, taking advantage of calm weather, soft fairways, and easy pin positions on the roller-coaster greens. Justin Thomas, one of the golfers most worried about being embarrassed, turned in one of the best rounds he's ever played _ firing 65 to lead by a shot. But he expects the course to strike back.“As great of a round and fun as it was, it’s over with now, and I need to get over it.” Read more

Taiwan's defense ministry says China flew 18 warplanes including fighter jets near Taiwan in an unusually large show of force as a U.S. envoy held talks with officials on the self-governing island. The trip by Under Secretary of State Keith Krach is the second by a high U.S. official in two months. He held talks Friday with Taiwan’s minister of economic affairs and vice premier, and is to have dinner with President Tsai Ing-wen. In response to Krach’s visit, China's military conducted combat exercises near the Taiwan Strait, in at least the second round of war games this month aimed at intimidating supporters of the island’s independent identity. Read more

Donald Trump almost won Minnesota in 2016 and sees it as a state he can peel away from Democrat Joe Biden in November. That could potentially help insulate him in case he loses any battlegrounds that backed him four years ago. But Minnesota — which hasn’t voted Republican in a presidential race since 1972 — has steadily moved farther away from the president since then. And polls suggest Biden has built a consistent lead as both he and Trump visit the state on Friday, when early voting opens.  Read more

Joe Biden is deriding President Donald Trump for his handling of COVID-19, calling his downplaying of the pandemic “criminal” and his administration “totally irresponsible.” Speaking Thursday about Trump’s admission that he publicly played down the impact of the virus while aware of its severity, Biden declared: “He knew it and did nothing. It’s close to criminal.” The pandemic is responsible for the unusual format of the event. It's a drive-in of 35 cars parked outside PNC Field, and audience members are watching Biden onstage as they listen from outside their cars or from radios inside their cars. Read more