| Pandemic threatens lives of millions of children: UN Posted: 08 Sep 2020 05:54 PM PDT  Disruptions to health services due to the pandemic are putting millions of additional lives at risk worldwide, the United Nations said Wednesday, warning that Covid-19 could reverse decades of progress in reducing child mortality.
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| How Sudan's rebel deal offers lifeline for peace Posted: 08 Sep 2020 05:07 PM PDT  Promises to end the devastating wars in Darfur, South Kordofan and Blue Nile come with a price tag.
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| US asks to defend Trump in rape accuser's defamation lawsuit Posted: 08 Sep 2020 04:49 PM PDT |
| EXPLAINER-What we know about China's 'dual circulation' economic strategy Posted: 08 Sep 2020 04:00 PM PDT |
| Trump, Biden and the road to 270 electoral votes Posted: 08 Sep 2020 03:49 PM PDT  For such a volatile year, the White House race between President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden has been remarkably consistent. With Election Day just eight weeks away, Biden is maintaining the same comfortable lead in most national polls that he enjoyed through the summer. Trump remains in striking distance, banking on the intensity of his most loyal supporters and the hope that disillusioned Republicans ultimately swing his way.
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| Myanmar soldiers confess for first time to mass killings, rapings of Rohingya Posted: 08 Sep 2020 03:48 PM PDT  The testimony marks the first time members of Myanmar's military have admitted to what the U.N. and international prosecutors call a genocidal campaign against the Rohingya.
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| Trump Channels Noam Chomsky on U.S. Aggression Posted: 08 Sep 2020 03:15 PM PDT  (Bloomberg Opinion) -- President Donald Trump has positioned himself in this election as the defender of "law and order" against a scary and violent left. But on foreign policy, at least, he is sounding like a leftist hero.In a rambling press conference on Monday, Trump accused former Vice President Joe Biden, his Democratic opponent, of sending "our youth to fight in these crazy endless wars." Then he mused: "I'm not saying the military is in love with me. The soldiers are. The top people in the Pentagon probably aren't because they want to do nothing but fight wars so that all of those wonderful companies that make the bombs, that make the planes and everything else, stay happy."In that outburst, Trump was making a radical argument: that the U.S. military is not a force for peace but is addicted to war. It is the profit motive of defense corporations — not a desire to deter aggressors, protect allies or uphold international law — that has driven decisions to use military force.The figure most associated with this kind of thinking is Noam Chomsky, the famous linguist who emerged during the Vietnam War as an anti-war prophet. In his book "Manufacturing Consent," he argues that not only does the military have an interest in perpetual war — but that the media is in on it, too. Major networks and newspapers go along with military efforts to demonize foreign leaders who do not acquiesce to American might.A cruder version of this argument was made in the 1930s, as fascists gathered strength in Europe and Japan, by a retired Marine general named Smedley Butler. "War is a racket," he wrote in the opening chapter of his book of the same name. "It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives." Butler would later gain fame after he alleged a coup against President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, claiming corporate plotters had approached him to lead the putsch.It's doubtful that Trump knows or understands any of this history. His remarks, which followed a brutal article in the Atlantic that cited anonymous sources quoting him calling U.S. soldiers who died in combat "losers" and "suckers," should nonetheless come as no surprise. Trump's rhetorical themes about a "Deep State" and endless wars are all echoes of a far-left critique of American power. In this world, institutions such as the Central Intelligence Agency and the U.S. military are themselves forces against U.S. democracy and, more generally, world peace.For the most part, this view is nonsense. Most modern generals have proved to be cautious. Colin Powell, for example, had to be cajoled and pressed into being the public face of the Iraq War in 2003, when he was secretary of state. He also famously opposed sending U.S. peacekeepers into the Balkans in the 1990s. More recently, Trump's top military advisers opposed his decision to withdraw the U.S. from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal in part because they worried that, without it, a shooting war with Iran would be more likely.In this respect, Trump's own policies refute his rhetoric. He has increased defense spending every year he has been in office. He has withdrawn from not only the Iran deal but also a treaty with Russia regarding intermediate-range nuclear forces. And he has authorized the killing of Iran's most important general as well as limited air strikes against Syrian targets. And yet his top military advisers have not tried to persuade him to launch a new war.That said, Trump is trying to end the wars he says are endless. In this respect, he fails to understand why U.S. forces remain in places like Afghanistan and Iraq. To the president, it's all "a rip off." The U.S. trains armies and police forces, and builds up infrastructure, and what does it get in return?This is the wrong way to look at what Trump calls "endless wars." The reason America keeps supporting weak, corrupt governments in Baghdad and Kabul is because their collapse would lead to more war, more terrorism and more suffering. Nineteen years ago this week, when a plot hatched in war-ravaged Afghanistan felled the World Trade Center and destroyed part of the Pentagon, the U.S. learned this lesson. Trump's foreign-policy message for 2020 is an attempt to persuade Americans to forget this history. This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Eli Lake is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering national security and foreign policy. He was the senior national security correspondent for the Daily Beast and covered national security and intelligence for the Washington Times, the New York Sun and UPI.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinionSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| South Lawn, Rose Garden under repair post-convention Posted: 08 Sep 2020 03:01 PM PDT  The Rose Garden has been a muddy mess and the South Lawn marred by brown patches since President Donald Trump used them as backdrops for last month's Republican National Convention. The Rose Garden repairs come just weeks after the White House completed a major renovation of the garden intended, in part, to improve drainage issues. The president's reelection campaign, the Republican National Committee and officials in the East Wing of the White House, which oversaw the Rose Garden renovation, did not respond to questions about the damage or who will pay for it.
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| Venezuelan gas lines surge as Iranian tankers go undercover Posted: 08 Sep 2020 02:57 PM PDT  Gasoline shortages have returned to Venezuela, sparking mile-long lines in the capital as international concerns mounted Tuesday that Iran yet again may be trying to come to the South American nation's rescue. Three Iranian tankers that delivered gasoline to Venezuela earlier this year have turned off their location tracking devices for up to three weeks, raising suspicions among global ship trackers that the tankers are again headed to Iran's ally. Iran uses cloaking to evade detection by the United States, which seeks to block shipments to Venezuela in a campaign aimed at forcing socialist President Nicolás Maduro from power.
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| Lukashenko reportedly tells Russian TV the U.S. is orchestrating the Belarus protests Posted: 08 Sep 2020 02:11 PM PDT  In his first sit-down interview since anti-government protests swept the nation, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko made a slight concession, The Guardian reports — the so-called "last dictator in Europe," who has held his post for 26 years, acknowledged he "may have sat in the president's chair a little too long." But, other than that, he denied responsibility for the unrest, instead pointing a conspiratorial finger at the United States, and reiterated that he does not plan on stepping down.Lukashenko reportedly told members of the Russian media — whom The Guardian notes did not appear to subject the ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin to tough questioning — that he believes Washington is orchestrating the protests via the messaging app Telegram from centers in Poland and the Czech Republic, using the situation as a dry run, more or less, for a similar operation in Russia for the future.The claims are unsubstantiated and dismissive of Belarus' growing, internal, and organic opposition movement that is seeking change from the autocratic regime in Minsk, although Lukashenko accused what he described as a class of "young bourgeois" in Belarus who "want power" of stirring up trouble, as well. Read more at The Guardian, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and RT.More stories from theweek.com Senate Republicans are apparently struggling to find 51 GOP votes for a COVID-19 relief bill Are the troops turning on Trump? Ellen DeGeneres says she's coming back for a new season, and 'yes, we're gonna talk about it'
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| Amid virus surge, Noem pushes tourism with CARES Act funds Posted: 08 Sep 2020 01:20 PM PDT  South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem's administration announced Tuesday that it is using federal coronavirus relief funds to pay for a $5 million tourism ad campaign aimed at drawing people to the state, even as it emerges as one of the nation's top hot spots for COVID-19 infections. The 30-second spot, which premiered on Fox News alongside Noem's speech at the Republican National Convention last month, features the governor saying that "with our breathtaking landscapes and wide-open spaces, we're a place to safely explore." The ad is narrated by Noem.
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| UK admits to breaking EU treaty as top legal official quits Posted: 08 Sep 2020 12:49 PM PDT  Britain on Tuesday admitted that it may break international law by rewriting parts of its Brexit divorce treaty relating to Northern Ireland, sparking widespread criticism and clouding the latest round of fraught EU trade talks.
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| Rochester police leaders retire after suffocation death Posted: 08 Sep 2020 12:39 PM PDT  Top police leaders in Rochester, New York, announced their retirements Tuesday amid nightly protests over the handling of the suffocation death of Daniel Prude, whose family filed a federal lawsuit alleging a cover-up by law enforcement. Police Chief La'Ron Singletary, Deputy Chief Joseph M. Morabito and two commanders retired, while two more deputy chiefs and a commander gave up top leadership positions and returned to lower ranks. Mayor Lovely Warren said during a video call with members of the City Council that she did not ask Singletary, 40, to resign, but that his abrupt decision to step down came after "new information that was brought to light today that I had not previously seen before."
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| Belarus musician emerges as a key opposition activist Posted: 08 Sep 2020 12:05 PM PDT  A professional flute player with no political experience might seem to be an unlikely figure to take on the feared KGB state security agency in Belarus. "I was happy to see that Masha has outfoxed their sly plans and come out the winner," said fellow activist Maxim Znak, using an informal name for her. The 38-year-old musician with close-cropped blond hair has emerged as a key opposition activist, appearing at political rallies and fearlessly walking up to lines of riot police and making her signature gesture — a heart formed by her hands.
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| London's Bridges Really Are Falling Down Posted: 08 Sep 2020 12:04 PM PDT  LONDON -- One by one, they stepped forward to tell their stories. Children suddenly forced to travel two hours each way to school. Pensioners whose weekly doctors' appointments have turned into arduous, half-day treks. Shopkeepers whose businesses have been crippled by the disappearance of commuters.All because Hammersmith Bridge, a majestic but badly corroded 19th-century suspension bridge that connects the district of Barnes with much of London, was closed last month for safety reasons."Now, I need to wake up at quarter past 6, every day, six days a week," said Aston Jenkins, 10, drawing sympathetic groans from the frustrated, if exceedingly polite, crowd protesting recently at the bridge. "I can't cope with that."While Hammersmith Bridge's structural problems are particularly dire, it is far from the only London bridge that is crumbling. Two major crossings in the city center, Vauxhall Bridge and London Bridge, are closed to car traffic while they receive urgent repairs. Tower Bridge, the very symbol of London, was closed for two days last month after a mechanical glitch jammed its drawbridge open.It fell to a young schoolgirl -- outfitted in a red cardigan and patent-leather Mary Janes, and brandishing a placard with angry pink letters -- to make the inevitable point: "London Bridges are falling down!"Philip Englefield, a professional magician who lives in Barnes, pointed out that when a suspension bridge collapsed in Genoa, Italy, in 2018, killing 43 people, the Italians worked tirelessly, even as the country battled the coronavirus pandemic, to build a replacement. It was inaugurated last month."Why can't we do that?" Englefield asked the crowd, as a gentle rain further dampened their spirits. "For goodness' sake, this is England."It turns out that is precisely the problem: Hammersmith Bridge is an apt metaphor for all the ways the country has changed after a decade of economic austerity, years of political wars over Brexit, and months of lockdown to combat the pandemic, the last of which has decimated already-stressed public finances.Like other London roads and bridges, Hammersmith Bridge had been neglected for decades. Fully repairing it would cost an estimated 141 million pounds ($187 million) -- funds that neither Hammersmith & Fulham Council, which owns the bridge, nor London's transportation authority, which depends on it, currently have.Transport for London, which runs the subway and bus system and some major roads, has already had to negotiate a nearly 2 billion pound bailout from the government to make up for a shortfall in revenue after ridership plummeted during the lockdown. Except for rush hour, London's subways are still largely ghost trains.Hammersmith has appealed for help to Prime Minister Boris Johnson. But Johnson won election by promising to spend money on marquee projects like a $130 billion-plus high-speed railway, not a cast-iron relic of Queen Victoria's reign.He also wants to spread the wealth to Britain's economically challenged Midlands and North, not rescue a leafy, affluent enclave of London, where professionals commute from gracious Regency villas to jobs in the City and students practice on the manicured playing fields of the elite St. Paul's School."The national government is afraid of spending money in London because it would threaten its 'leveling up' agenda," said Tony Travers, an expert in urban affairs at the London School of Economics. "Promising to build shiny things for the future is more attractive than fixing road surfaces or mending bridges."It doesn't help that the member of Parliament from Johnson's Conservatives who represented the district that encompasses Barnes, Zac Goldsmith, lost his seat in the last election. Goldsmith, a well-connected friend of Johnson's, had pledged to fix the bridge during his campaign. His successor, Sarah Olney, from the centrist Liberal Democrats, said she could not get any Cabinet ministers to answer her letters pleading for help.Michael White, a former political editor at The Guardian who lives on the north bank of the Thames, pointed out a problem of asymmetry: Barnes, on the southern side, needs the bridge more than Hammersmith, on the northern side, because scores of its commuters cross it every day to reach the nearest Tube station. There is less traffic in the opposite direction, which makes an expensive repair job politically hard to sell for officials in less well-off Hammersmith.Still, the Labour Party leader of the council, Stephen Cowan, insisted that Hammersmith was fully committed to fixing the bridge -- if it can find a financial lifeline. He credited the council with averting a potential calamity by hiring engineers to inspect the bridge in 2014. They found a web of tiny fractures in its cast-iron pedestals, evidence of untold years of corrosion.In April 2019, authorities closed the bridge to cars, but left it open to pedestrians and cyclists. Then, after a recent heat wave, inspectors discovered that the fractures had widened. Because cast iron is more brittle than steel, those changes raised the danger that the pedestals could shatter, plunging the bridge into the Thames. The council immediately closed the bridge to everyone."If we hadn't done the comprehensive integrity review," Cowan said, "I genuinely believe we could have had a catastrophe."Not only is the bridge, and the footpath under it, off limits, the Port of London has banned boats from sailing underneath it. That will disrupt the annual Boat Race between Oxford and Cambridge universities, since by custom, the rowers cover a 4.2-mile stretch of the Thames that rounds the bend at Barnes, where revelers line up under the bridge's swooping cables.In a letter to the prime minister last month, Cowan appealed to Johnson's sense of history. What a "terrible metaphor" it would be, he said, to allow a pioneering example of 19th-century engineering "to simply crumble away in the middle of the Thames, at the heart of our capital city." In truth, he said, the bridge's unusual design has long made it vulnerable to structural problems, and its cast-iron construction has made it much harder and costlier to fix.The bridge narrowly escaped destruction in 1996 when the Irish Republican Army planted two powerful plastic explosives underneath that failed to detonate. Four years later, another IRA faction successfully exploded a bomb under the bridge, forcing it to close for repairs for two years.Residents could face a similar or even longer wait this time. Even stopgap fixes are costly: Stabilizing the bridge enough so that people could walk across it and boats could pass under it would cost 46 million pounds, Cowan said. Building a temporary bridge for pedestrians and cyclists would cost 27 million pounds and take six to nine months.In the meantime, the locals are floating other solutions, like starting a ferry service or running shuttle buses. Some, like Toby Gordon-Smith, have resorted to roundabout routes across other bridges (there are more than a dozen road or pedestrian crossings between Hammersmith Bridge and Tower Bridge). Gordon-Smith, 46, who uses a wheelchair, said he chose to live in a riverfront apartment in Barnes because he could wheel himself across the bridge to his office in Hammersmith -- 10 minutes door to door."This is an important place for me to live, to be able to access my work, to be able to access the rest of London," he said.For older people who came to the rally, the fragility of London's bridges is more than just grist for a nursery rhyme. Christopher Morcom, 81, recalled that in 1967, an American entrepreneur, Robert McCulloch, bought the crumbling London Bridge, dismantled it, and transported it stone by stone to Lake Havasu City, Arizona, where it now sits as a tourist attraction in the desert. (The London Bridge currently undergoing work is a replacement for that 19th-century version.)It all gave Morcom the germ of an idea. "I don't know whether this old bridge is reparable," he said, gesturing to Hammersmith Bridge. "Maybe we should sell it to the president of the United States."This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company
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| British Government to Help Retailers Bounce Back From COVID-19 Posted: 08 Sep 2020 11:59 AM PDT  British businesses, hit by a double whammy of COVID-19 and preparations for the Brexit finale in December, are being urged to focus on exports and to sharpen their e-commerce game.
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| British Government to Help Retailers Bounce Back From COVID-19 Posted: 08 Sep 2020 11:59 AM PDT |
| Tehran launches new case against UK-Iranian Zaghari-Ratcliffe Posted: 08 Sep 2020 11:57 AM PDT  Iran on Tuesday told Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe,a British-Iranian woman detained in Tehran, that she faces a new indictment, dampening her supporters' hopes of an early release.
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| US Navy ends search for USS Nimitz sailor in Arabian Sea Posted: 08 Sep 2020 11:32 AM PDT |
| SNP accused of 'pure treachery' to fishermen after ministers 'sided with EU' over trade talks Posted: 08 Sep 2020 11:30 AM PDT  SNP ministers have been accused of betraying Scotland's fishing industry after they told the EU that the UK should give ground in Brexit trade negotiations. Officials in Whitehall are said to have been left furious after Scottish ministers told the EU that the British side should soften its position in a long-standing wrangle over access to fishing waters and quotas after the Brexit transition period ends. Douglas Ross, the Scottish Conservative leader, said that the SNP had displayed "pure treachery" and attempted to "sell out Scotland's fishing industry by backing Brussels over the UK Government in trade negotiations."
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| US sanctions 2 Lebanese politicians allied with Hezbollah Posted: 08 Sep 2020 11:00 AM PDT  The U.S. Treasury on Tuesday sanctioned two former Lebanese Cabinet ministers who are allied with militant Hezbollah in a rare move against politicians close to the Iran-backed group. The sanctioned officials are former finance minister Ali Hassan Khalil and former public works and transportation minister Youssef Fenianos. Khalil is currently a member of the Lebanese Parliament.
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| US officials: Israel, UAE to sign deal at White House Posted: 08 Sep 2020 10:49 AM PDT  Israel and the United Arab Emirates will sign their historic deal normalizing relations at a White House ceremony on Sept. 15, U.S. officials said Tuesday. The officials said senior delegations from both countries will likely be led by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Emirati Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the brother of the UAE crown prince. The officials, who were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, said the ceremony would either be on the South Lawn, the Rose Garden or inside depending on weather.
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| 83 migrants rescued in Sahara Desert, says migration agency Posted: 08 Sep 2020 10:42 AM PDT |
| Government to fund projects across home nations in fight to keep Union together Posted: 08 Sep 2020 10:41 AM PDT  Roads, cultural events and other schemes in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland will be directly funded for the first time in decades by the Government in London under a Brexit law to be published on Wednesday. The Internal Market Bill will allow the UK Government in Whitehall to spend public money on its own projects in areas such as economic development, culture, sport, educational activities and training. A new Office for the Internal Market – which will secure the rights of all businesses to trade freely in all parts of the UK – will also decide how state aid money can be spent within the Union, replacing Brussels' oversight. The plans were immediately attacked by the SNP as a "Tory power grab" that will represent the "biggest threat to devolution in decades". However, Alun Cairns, a former Conservative Wales secretary, said the new law was the beginning of "the fight back to save the United Kingdom" as people in devolved areas would benefit directly from UK money. Since devolution in Scotland and Wales at the end of the last century, ministers in London have not been allowed to spend public money in certain devolved policy areas. The change could allow the London-based government to apply to build a road through parts of Scotland or Wales, although local planning permissions would be needed.
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| Joe Biden's environmental record, from 1973 to today Posted: 08 Sep 2020 10:25 AM PDT |
| Netanyahu slams Israeli police amid report about cover-up Posted: 08 Sep 2020 10:23 AM PDT  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lashed out at the country's law enforcement system on Tuesday, continuing a crusade to discredit those who have pressed corruption cases against him ahead of the resumption of his trial early next year. Netanyahu's latest tirade came in response to a report by Channel 12 TV alleging that police covered up a conflict of interest involving one of its senior investigators who was looking into alleged crimes committed by Netanyahu and his wife Sara. Speaking at an event meant to be focused on Israel's struggling battle against the coronavirus, Netanyahu was asked about the report and devoted a chunk of his time accusing the police of conspiring to oust him.
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| Computer glitches disrupt classes as schools return online Posted: 08 Sep 2020 10:07 AM PDT  Students across the U.S. ran into computer glitches Tuesday as they began the school year with online instruction at home because of the coronavirus, adding to the list of problems that have thrust many a harried parent into the role of teacher's aide and tech support person. The online learning platform Blackboard, which provides technology for 70 of the nation's 100 biggest districts and serves more than 20 million U.S. students from kindergarten through 12th grade, reported that websites for one of its learning products were failing to load or were loading slowly, and users were unable to register on the first day of school. Websites that track internet outages like downdetector.com also recorded spikes in reported problems for services like Microsoft Teams and Google Drive, many spiking around 9 a.m. Three of Texas' largest districts — Houston, Dallas and Fort Worth — were hit with technical problems, as were school systems in places such as Idaho and Kansas.
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| Sir Jonathan Jones: straight-shooting civil servant whose resignation was long in the making Posted: 08 Sep 2020 10:03 AM PDT  There were warning signs in the days leading up to his resignation as the Government's most senior lawyer that all was not well with Sir Jonathan Jones. Despite being knighted at the beginning of the year, it seems the 58-year-old Durham graduate was growing increasingly frustrated in his £160,000 a year role as the head of the Government's legal service. On September 4, he pointedly tweeted about the Home Office's ill-fated social media post on "activist lawyers", which was found to be in breach of civil service requirements and subsequently deleted. The straight-shooting civil servant, who was permanent secretary of the Government Legal Department and treasury solicitor, retweeted "without comment" a post by legal writer David Allen Green, pointing out that "hundreds of lawyers actively seek to influence the courts on issues of public policy," which added: "They are usually successful. They are the Government Legal Service." Friends say the baby-faced former barrister, who was one of the most highly paid people in the British public sector, was unhappy about the Government's plan to override parts of the withdrawal agreement and had made that clear to his inner circle in recent days. He had already reportedly come close to resigning last autumn over the Government's attempts to circumvent the Benn Act, the rebel legislation which forced Boris Johnson to ask Brussels for a Brexit extension. However, one source said he had decided against it after concluding that despite briefings to the media, the Government did not in fact intend to break the law. In an interview with the Institute for Government in February, Sir Jonathan stressed the need for ministers to uphold international law, saying: "Fundamentally, international law is the law. It derives from obligations the government has entered into through treaty or otherwise arise under international law." "We treat that as the law, and the government is subject to the rule of law and will comply with those obligations. So, the role of the lawyer [...] will be just the same: to give the best, professional...advice as to what the law means, how it applies, and so what is the risk that a given course of conduct may be incompatible with that law." Having already concluded that any changes to the Northern Ireland protocol via the Internal Market Bill would be in breach of the law, he is understood to have received external advice from a QC which reinforced his view. Lord Falconer, the shadow (and former) Attorney General who has previously worked with Sir Jonathan, described him as an "impressive lawyer and a loyal civil servant".
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| Battered by the virus, tribes race to boost census count Posted: 08 Sep 2020 09:52 AM PDT  When Lauri Dawn Kindness was growing up, her hometown on the Crow Indian Reservation had an arcade, movie theater, gas stations and family cafe along streets shaded by towering cottonwood trees near a bend in the Little Bighorn River. Kindness is back here after more than a dozen years in the U.S. Army, including four combat tours, and she wants to help her people. Reaching a full count on most reservations now looks nearly impossible.
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| South Africa's ruling party rejects Trump comment on Mandela Posted: 08 Sep 2020 09:42 AM PDT  The report that U.S. President Donald Trump made crude, disparaging remarks about Nelson Mandela, South Africa's Nobel Peace Prize-winning former leader, has drawn an angry response from South Africa's ruling party and others. According to a book written by Michael Cohen, Trump's former personal lawyer, Trump said that Mandela, who guided South Africa in its politically fraught transition from a racist apartheid government to a democracy, was a terrible leader.
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| US sells ambassador home in Israel, securing Jerusalem move Posted: 08 Sep 2020 09:36 AM PDT |
| Trump expands ban on new offshore drilling sites in Atlantic Posted: 08 Sep 2020 09:36 AM PDT  President Donald Trump expanded a ban on new offshore drilling Tuesday, an election-year reversal likely to appeal to voters in Florida and other coastal states. Two years ago, Trump had taken steps to vastly expand offshore drilling from coast to coast. "This protects your beautiful gulf and your beautiful ocean, and it will for a long time to come," Trump said as he announced the expanded drilling ban during an appearance at the Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse.
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| Dutch government compensates victim of airstrike in Iraq Posted: 08 Sep 2020 09:31 AM PDT |
| Michael Cohen's book: ANC blasts 'divisive' Trump over Mandela Posted: 08 Sep 2020 09:09 AM PDT  South Africa's governing party is scathing about the US president's reported insult of Nelson Mandela.
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| Doctors studying why obesity may be tied to serious COVID-19 Posted: 08 Sep 2020 09:09 AM PDT  Excess weight increases the chances of developing a number of health problems, including heart disease and diabetes. Scientists are still studying the factors that might be at play — the way obesity affects the immune system may be one — but say it's another example of the pandemic illuminating existing public health challenges. Obesity may be one reason some countries or communities have been hit hard by the virus, researchers say.
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| U.N. rights chief demands Russia investigate suspected poisoning of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny Posted: 08 Sep 2020 09:05 AM PDT  The top United Nations human rights official on Tuesday urged Russia to either conduct or fully cooperate with an independent investigation into Germany's findings that well-known Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny was poisoned with a Soviet-era nerve agent. "It is not good enough to simply deny he was poisoned, and deny the need for a thorough, independent, impartial and transparent investigation into this assassination attempt," Michelle Bachelet, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, said in a statement to Reuters. "It is incumbent on the Russian authorities to fully investigate who was responsible for this crime — a very serious crime that was committed on Russian soil."
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| EXPLAINER-UK says it may break the law on Brexit: how so? Posted: 08 Sep 2020 08:57 AM PDT |
| Zambia's president mourns death of good-luck fish Posted: 08 Sep 2020 08:43 AM PDT  Students light candles and plan to embalm the 22-year-old fish which lived in a university pond.
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| Palestinians set to soften stance on UAE-Israel normalisation - draft statement Posted: 08 Sep 2020 08:18 AM PDT |
| 7 killings investigated at illegal pot grow in California Posted: 08 Sep 2020 08:03 AM PDT  Detectives on Tuesday investigated what prompted the Labor Day killings of seven people at an illegal marijuana growing operation in a small, rural Southern California community known for horse ranches and plant nurseries along dirt roads. The fatal shootings in Aguanga, north of San Diego, represent the latest flashpoint in the violence that often permeates California's illegal marijuana market. The state broadly legalized recreational marijuana sales in January 2018 but the illicit market is thriving — in part because hefty legal marijuana taxes send consumers looking for better deals in the illegal economy.
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| Social media is forcing Iran to face a taboo topic: Sexual violence Posted: 08 Sep 2020 07:09 AM PDT  A rape victim must have 4 witnesses to back up their allegation under Iran's Islamic laws, so it's little wonder victims rarely speak out. But Iran's "MeToo" moment may be dawning.
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| State TV: Iran constructing new building near nuke site Posted: 08 Sep 2020 07:08 AM PDT |
| Trump supporters rally near Portland and at Oregon's Capitol Posted: 08 Sep 2020 06:45 AM PDT  Hundreds of people gathered Monday afternoon in a small town south of Portland for a pro-President Donald Trump vehicle rally — just over a week after member of a far-right group was fatally shot after a Trump caravan went through Oregon's largest city. The rally's organizers said they would drive to toward Salem and most left the caravan before that.
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| Tehran launches new case against UK-Iranian Zaghari-Ratcliffe Posted: 08 Sep 2020 06:13 AM PDT  Iran on Tuesday told Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian woman detained in Tehran since 2016, she faces a "new indictment", state media reported.
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| Myanmar army deserters confirm atrocities against Rohingya Posted: 08 Sep 2020 06:06 AM PDT  Two soldiers who deserted from Myanmar's army have testified on video that they were instructed by commanding officers to "shoot all that you see and that you hear" in villages where minority Rohingya Muslims lived, a human rights group said Tuesday. The comments appear to be the first public confession by soldiers of involvement in army-directed massacres, rape and other crimes against Rohingya in the Buddhist-majority country, and the group Fortify Rights suggested they could provide important evidence for an ongoing investigation by the International Criminal Court. More than 700,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar to neighboring Bangladesh since August 2017 to escape what Myanmar's military called a clearance campaign following an attack by a Rohingya insurgent group in Rakhine state.
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| Website reliance increases as organizations turn to the cloud to serve customers during the pandemic Posted: 08 Sep 2020 06:00 AM PDT |
| Postal chief under fire over alleged campaign law violations Posted: 08 Sep 2020 05:56 AM PDT  Postmaster General Louis DeJoy is facing increased scrutiny as House Democrats investigate allegations that he encouraged employees at his former business to contribute to Republican candidates and then reimbursed them in the guise of bonuses, a violation of campaign finance laws. Five people who worked for DeJoy's former company, New Breed Logistics, say they were urged by DeJoy's aides or by DeJoy himself to write checks and attend fundraisers at his mansion in Greensboro, North Carolina, The Washington Post reported. Two former employees told the newspaper that DeJoy would later give bigger bonuses to reimburse for the contributions.
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| UN finds 2 virus cases in Syrian refugee camp in Jordan Posted: 08 Sep 2020 05:37 AM PDT  The U.N. refugee agency said Tuesday it has confirmed two coronavirus cases in the Azraq camp for Syrian refugees in Jordan, which is home to more than 40,000 people who have fled their country's civil war. The UNHCR said the two patients were transferred to quarantine facilities after testing positive late Monday, and their neighbors have been isolated as more testing is carried out. Azraq is home to around 40,000 Syrian refugees, while the larger Zaatari camp in Jordan houses around 80,000.
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| Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe faces new charge while on temporary release says Iran state media Posted: 08 Sep 2020 05:31 AM PDT  An Iranian court issued a new unspecified charge against British aid worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe on Tuesday, Iranian state media reported. The British-Iranian dual national has been detained in Tehran since 2016 on sedition charges, but was temporarily released from Evin Prison prison in March amid the coronavirus outbreak after serving nearly all of her five-year sentence. She is barred from leaving the country. "The branch 15 of the Islamic Revolutionary court summoned Nazanin Zaghari and her designated lawyer this morning and informed her of a new indictment," an unnamed official told the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) news website. Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a project manager with the Thomson Reuters Foundation, was arrested during a holiday in April 2016 and accused of plotting the "soft toppling" of Iran's clerical establishment. Her family and employer deny the accusations against her. They say the 41-year-old from Hampstead, north London, was in Iran with her young daughter Gabriella to visit family. "Our colleague is innocent and remains unlawfully held hostage for crimes she has not committed," said Antonio Zappulla, Thomson Reuters Foundation CEO. "We had desperately hoped there might be an end in sight to her trauma," he said in a statement. "Instead, she now faces a new charge – details of which remain hidden – following a secret appearance at the country's revolutionary court today." Labour MP for Hampstead and Kilburn Tulip Siddiq tweeted that she had spoken with Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe and could "confirm that she was taken to court this morning and told she will face another trial on Sunday." Her husband Richard Ratcliffe, who has campaigned relentlessly for her release, believes his wife's release is contingent on the UK paying Iran money owed on a cancelled 1970s weapons deal. "The failure to resolve this issue has resulted in Nazanin being taken hostage, and other people being taken hostage," Mr Ratcliffe said in a BBC Panorama documentary broadcast last month. Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has acknowledged that he is seeking to pay a debt to the Iranian government, in a letter reported in the Guardian on Friday to lawyers acting for families of dual nationals detained in Iran, including Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe. The debt derives from Chieftain tanks ordered by the shah of Iran. When the Shah was overthrown in 1979, Britain did not deliver the 1,500 tanks to the new Islamic republic nor return the money. International arbitration in 2008 found that the UK owed the debt, thought to be worth about £400m. Neither the UK nor Iran acknowledges a link between the payment of the debt and freeing of British prisoners in Iran. Mr Ratcliffe said last month he feared his wife, who was due for release in March 2021, could face a second trial. "Behind closed doors, they keep saying there's a second court case, they keep talking about running it," he told ITV. Amnesty International condemned the reports of a new charge against Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe. "Nazanin has already been convicted once after a deeply unfair trial, and there should be no question of her being put through that ordeal again," said Kate Allen, the advocacy group's UK director. "As a matter of absolute urgency the UK government should make fresh representations on Nazanin's behalf, seeking to have any suggestion of a second trial removed."
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| Probiotics Crucial During Pandemic Microbe-Phobia, Says International Probiotics Association Posted: 08 Sep 2020 05:28 AM PDT  Jessica ter Haar, Ph.D. IPA's scientific director, Jessica ter Haar, Ph.D., says while many people have entered into a sort of microbe-phobia to avoid coronavirus, it's important to note that there are still many microbes that are essential for good health. George Parakevakos IPA's executive director George Parakevakos says probiotics are one of the safest supplements on the market.LOS ANGELES, Sept. 08, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- By and large the COVID-19 pandemic has brought attention to the importance of proper hygiene, but could all the hand washing, antibacterial cleansing and people avoiding cause another health problem? Some experts say all this clean living could in fact make our innate immune systems weaker. Jessica ter Haar, Ph.D., the scientific director of the International Probiotics Association (IPA) says while many people have entered into a sort of microbe-phobia to avoid coronavirus, it's important to note that there are still many microbes that are essential for good health. "We are living in strange times. We try to prevent transmission of the virus, but end up avoiding all contact to be safe. At this point in the pandemic our bodies are challenged in new ways, but at the same time, with much less support. People are isolated, stressed, and alone, but are advised to self-isolate and practice social distancing. Many of us are living in that proverbial protected bubble that we previously condemned," said ter Haar, who holds a doctorate in medical microbiology and probiotics from the University of Groningen. "Many microbes are good for your health. We sterilize everything to protect ourselves from the virus, but at the same time by not exposing ourselves to germs we are weakening our body's own natural defenses to everyday threats."Microbes are not visible with the naked eye and our bodies are host to trillions of these microorganisms. While some microbes can make us sick, ter Haar says many keep us healthy. A microbiome refers to the microorganisms in a particular environment. The gut microbiome is a concept that's been around for centuries but has only commonly been used in conversation since the early 2000s. The understanding of the human microbiome has been further complicated by confusion around terminology, and differences between common microbes, known as bacteria, fungi and viruses.To clarify the confusion about microbes, it's important to know that bacteria are single-cell organisms and most are not dangerous to humans; less than 1% of all bacteria are responsible for disease. In fact, many bacteria live in our bodies and help us stay healthy. Bacterial infections can be treated with antibiotics, which kill the bacteria or at least stop bad bacteria from multiplying. Fungi are similar to bacteria, and live in different environments, but can also cause disease. Fungal infections can become life threatening if the immune system is weak. A fungus also has many helpful qualities; in fact, the discovery of penicillin was due to a type of mold and used to produce this antibiotic. Viruses are more challenging, in that they have no cells of their own and invade healthy cells from which they start multiplying. Host cells are essential to a virus because it can't produce without them. Many viruses are responsible for diseases and while some are harmless like a minor cold, others can be deadly and can cause serious diseases like AIDS, measles and COVID-19. It's difficult to fight a virus with medication, which is why vaccinations are often used to try to "train" the immune system to be better prepared to fight the virus."By not living life, we are not getting those natural microbes that we really need to support our immune system's defenses, metabolism, digestion and even our brain's mood and focus," said ter Haar. "Probiotics can be the hero in our current germophobic environment to help counter this lack of microbe exposure and stimulate our body's own bacterial population in the gut microbiome and cells. Probiotics can literally wake up sleepy bacteria and cells and assist in protecting our health."Probiotics are live microorganisms that when administered in adequate amounts confer a health benefit on the host. Experts from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and WHO created this definition of probiotics with more than 8,000 research articles indexed by PubMed. Rising to popularity quickly, probiotics have taken center stage in the past decade. George Parakevakos, IPA's executive director, says it's largely due to how probiotics make people feel."People report feeling better when they're taking a probiotic, which makes perfect sense because when the gut is happy the rest of the body seems to be in sync," said Parakevakos, whose nonprofit organization has been the collective voice for the probiotics industry since 2001. "There's a ton of science that continues to evolve, but everything we've seen points to positive health outcomes. There are no documented adverse events and probiotics are one of the safest supplements on the market."A recent global analysis of clinical trials with probiotics show more than 1,600 human clinical trials have been published on probiotics in ClinicalTrials.gov and the International Clinical Trials Registry Platform of WHO databases. The FDA has direct supervision over the probiotic industry and regulates all dietary supplements under the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA). This regulation involves many levels of FDA involvement from document reviews, audits and more. Often people confuse the regulation of dietary supplements with adverse events/reports. The FDA is responsible for taking action against any adulterated or misbranded dietary supplement product after it reaches the market. IPA members are probiotic companies in good standing with science-based products that adhere to FDA's safety and marketing guidelines. For more information on the science and safety behind probiotics visit: http://internationalprobiotics.org/.About the International Probiotics Association The International Probiotics Association (IPA) is a global non-profit organization bringing together through its membership, the probiotic sector's stakeholders, including but not limited to, academia, scientists, healthcare professionals, consumers, industry and regulators. The IPA's mission is to promote the safe and efficacious use of probiotics throughout the world. Holding NGO status before Codex Alimentarius, the IPA is also recognized as the unified Global Voice of Probiotics® around the world.Media Contact: Amy Summers 212-757-3419 or amy@pitchpublicitynyc.com Pitch PublicityPhotos accompanying this announcement are available at:https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/e9f6228f-7e7c-4237-bfe4-a0b81b6f937dhttps://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/f85f9431-08c0-465a-a7f8-14b4c5591bf5
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