Here are the headlines you Need2Know for Friday, October 16, 2020:

SPLIT-SCREEN ELECTION

President Trump and Joe Biden mostly stayed on the opposing political tracks they’ve been running on for the last few months at two dueling town hall appearances on NBC and ABC. The president again refused to denounce QAnon, questioned the effectiveness of masks and the legitimacy of the election, but did appear to commit to a peaceful transfer of power for the first time, part of a contentious rapid-fire back-and-forth with NBC’s Savannah Guthrie. Biden was pressed by ABC’s George Stephanopoulos on what he would have done differently in the pandemic and his position on packing the Supreme Court. (Biden said he’d give an answer on that question before the election.) AP

SOCIAL MEDIA POLITICAL CONTENT

Twitter has reversed course on a controversial policy that banned users from posting links to hacked materials, admitting it was overly broad and could do harm to journalists and whistleblowers. Joe Biden’s national press secretary told Cheddar that Twitter’s decision to block the sharing of a disputed New York Post article about the candidate and his son was evidence that the allegations in and of themselves are false: WATCH

COVID-19: LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

COVID cases in the U.S. are fast approaching a third peak, led by states like Alaska, Minnesota and Wisconsin that have officials worried about a lack of ICU beds in rural areas. Deaths are, for now, staying relatively flat, at around 800 a day. Dr. Fauci is warning that the country must get its baseline caseload down significantly before the winter. Canada will keep its border with the U.S. closed until America gets cases under control. USA TODAY

MEXICAN GENERAL ARRESTED

Mexico’s former defense minister was arrested at LAX last night by federal agents working on behalf of the DEA. Gen. Salvador Cienfuegos Zepeda is the highest-ranking Mexican official to be detained on U.S. soil on drug and corruption charges. Mexico’s military generals have generally been considered untouchable -- at least in Mexico -- as the army is one of the few institutions in the country that has broad public support. NPR

YOUTUBE QANON CRACKDOWN

Google is the latest tech giant to crack down QAnon, banning any content related to the conspiracy movement that threatens real-world violence from YouTube. Journalists who cover QAnon say that YouTube has played the biggest role of any platform in moving the group from the fringes into the mainstream, as YouTube videos are often cross-posted to Facebook, where they spread like wildfire. CBS NEWS

IPHONE PREORDERS

Preorders for the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro open today, with the devices shipping next week. The cheapest phone in this release is $800, but the big carriers are offering different trade-in promotions: SEE THEM

PLAYOFF BASEBALL

The Braves answered the Dodgers historic win in Game 3 of the NLCS with their own offensive clinic in Game 4, winning 10-2 and putting L.A. on the brink again. Game 5 is tonight, preceded by Game 6 of the ALCS, where the Rays will look to close out the Astros. CBS SPORTS 

SPOTTED...

...Timothée Chalamet, on the cover of the new issue of GQ. The heartthrob debunks the conspiracy theories about those infamous paparazzi photos of he and ex-girlfriend Lily-Rose Depp in deep make-out mode being staged: READ THE COVER STORY

TONY NOMS

The Tony nominations have been announced, even though we still don’t know when -- or how -- the award show will take place. Jagged Little Pill, based on the Alanis Morissette album, notched 15 nominations to lead the Best Musical race. Slave Play scored 12 nominations, the most ever for a play. The nominations come amid the biggest crisis in the history of theater, with nearly all productions shut down indefinitely. BROADWAY WORLD

LEFTOVERS: CLOSE CALL

An old Soviet satellite and a piece of a decommissioned Chinese rocket came within feet of each other overnight, averting a major collision that astronomers had worried could have set off a wave of space debris into low-Earth orbit. The issue of space junk is real: NASA has been ringing alarm bells for years, saying the amount of stuff in orbit -- from human waste to rocket stages -- is already creating hazards for spacecraft launches, operational satellites and the ISS. BBC

Listen to the N2K Podcast! Looking for more context and analysis on the big stories of the day? Check out our podcast! Hosts Jill and Carlo break down the headlines, every weekday morning Listen on Apple or Spotify, or watch on YouTube, and send us your feedback!

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