News Wrap: Zeta leaves widespread damage, power outages across South

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• Judy Woodruff:

  In the day's other news: Stark new numbers underscored the worsening COVID-19 pandemic. The World Health Organization reported a weekly record of 1.5 million new cases across Europe.

  In Berlin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned of a hard winter, and she denounced those who claim there's no need for new restrictions.

• Angela Merkel (through translator):

  We are in a dramatic situation, and it affects us all. The situation is worrying and cannot be talked away. Wishful thinking or trivializations are not just untruthful. They are irresponsible.

• Judy Woodruff:

  Here in the U.S., tallies of new infections hit new records today in at least seven states.

  Remnants of Hurricane Zeta raced across the South and the Mid-Atlantic today, leaving widespread damage, power outages and at least six people dead. High winds uprooted trees and knocked out electricity to several million customers from New Orleans to Atlanta and beyond.

  The governor of Louisiana, where Zeta made landfall last night, urged caution today.

• Gov. John Bel Edwards:

  I want to remind everybody that it's not the storm, principally, that causes folks to be hurt or killed. It's the immediate aftermath, when the cleanup starts, and when people run generators and so forth.

  So, really asking everybody to be cautious.

• Judy Woodruff:

  The worst damage appeared to be in several towns along the Louisiana and Mississippi coasts.

  The most powerful typhoon to hit Vietnam in 20 years has killed 35 people and left dozens missing. It slammed into the country on Wednesday, triggering floods and landslides. Rescuers have been digging for survivors and using bulldozers to clear roads. Naval vessels are searching for fishermen whose boats sank.

  There's word that at least 140 migrants drowned last weekend off of West Africa. The U.N.'s International Organization of Migration says that it was the deadliest such incident this year. The vessel burned and sank off Senegal as it was trying to reach Spain's Canary Islands nearly 900 miles away. Migrant arrivals in the Canaries have risen sharply this year, but more than 400 have died in the attempt.

  France is on maximum alert tonight, after a man with a knife killed three people at a church in Nice. Police say the attacker was a Muslim extremist from Tunisia. He was wounded and captured.

  President Emmanuel Macron visited the church later. He announced that he is more than doubling the number of soldiers deployed to protect against terrorist incidents.

• Emmanuel Macron (through translator):

  It's a message of complete strength that I would like to convey today. And it's also a message of unity. And I would like to say to all of our citizens, whatever their religion, if they believe or not, that we have to, in these moments, come together and not give in to the spirit of division.

• Judy Woodruff:

  France has suffered a series of recent attacks over cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, offensive to Muslims. Turkey, in particular, denounced publication of the cartoons. Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Macron of Islamophobia.

  Back in this country, hospitals may be under threat of so-called ransomware attacks disrupting patient care as virus cases spike. The FBI and other agencies warn that a Russian cyber-gang is tying up crucial systems until money is paid.

  We will return to this later in the program.

  The U.S. Interior Department removed gray wolves from the endangered species list today. The decision could allow wolf hunts in the presidential battleground states of Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Conservation groups fought a similar move under the Obama administration, and they vow to fight this one.

  And on Wall Street, the day's economic reports helped stocks rebound a bit after Wednesday's big sell-off. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 139 points to close at 26659. The Nasdaq rose 180 points, and the S&P 500 added 39.