| Global Powder Coating Equipment Industry Posted: 30 Jul 2020 06:27 PM PDT |
| UN leaders to meet virtually; Trump might attend in person Posted: 30 Jul 2020 05:57 PM PDT  The annual meeting of world leaders at the United Nations is going virtual this year for the first time in its 75-year history because of the COVID-19 pandemic — except for the likely personal appearance by President Donald Trump. "We're hoping that President Trump will actually be speaking in person in the General Assembly," Kelly Craft, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said Thursday, adding that he will be "the only" leader to speak in the assembly chamber. In past years, thousands of people have flocked to New York for the annual meeting of world leaders at the General Assembly, known as the General Debate.
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| Election results may be delayed — but not because of fraud Posted: 30 Jul 2020 05:52 PM PDT  A shift to mail voting is increasing the chances that Americans will not know the winner of November's presidential race on election night. Trump, seeking to already undermine the results of an election he could lose, demanded that the winner of the Nov. 3 contest be known that night. "I don't want to be waiting around for weeks and months and literally, potentially if you really did it right, years, because you'll never know," Trump told reporters.
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| Africa's week in pictures: 24-30 July 2020 Posted: 30 Jul 2020 04:31 PM PDT  A selection of the week's best photos from across the continent and beyond.
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| Yemen rebels free Baha'is after years in prison Posted: 30 Jul 2020 04:31 PM PDT  Yemen's Huthi rebels on Thursday freed six members of the Baha'i faith whose years of imprisonment had raised international concern, the community said. The community thanked Martin Griffiths, the UN special envoy for Yemen and the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights for securing the release of the six Baha'is. "As Yemen's search for durable, societal peace continues, Baha'is must be able -- like all Yemenis -- to practice their faith safely and freely, in keeping with the universal principles of freedom of religion or belief," said Diane Ala'i, representative of the Baha'i International Community at the United Nations in Geneva.
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| Rights group: Egypt's new laws entrench el-Sissi's rule Posted: 30 Jul 2020 03:40 PM PDT  Egypt's president has approved new legal amendments that further exclude any serious competitors from elections and give the military greater control over civilian affairs, a leading rights group said on Thursday. The amendments, published earlier this week in the country's official gazette, bar retired military officers from running for presidential, parliamentary or local elections without permission from the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces. Current military officers had already been prohibited from running in elections or joining political groups.
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| Pompeo warns of UN sanctions if Iran arms ban ends Posted: 30 Jul 2020 03:19 PM PDT  Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday gave his clearest indication yet that the United States would seek to force UN sanctions on Iran if an arms embargo lapses. Russia and China, two of the Permanent Five nations that enjoy veto power on the Security Council, want the UN embargo on selling conventional weapons to Iran to end on October 18 as laid out under a 2015 resolution. Pompeo told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the United States would introduce a resolution to extend the embargo "in the near future" which "we hope will be met with approval from other members of the P5."
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| Q&A: Questions stirred by Trump's idea of an election delay Posted: 30 Jul 2020 02:31 PM PDT  President Donald Trump has raised the radical prospect of delaying a presidential election, contending the expansion of voting by mail will lead to history's most fraudulent U.S. election. There's no precedent in modern politics for the sort of delay Trump is suggesting. Time and again, voter fraud has proved exceedingly rare, and voting without going to polling places has become more common.
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| US frowns upon Iranian supermarket in Venezuela's capital Posted: 30 Jul 2020 02:21 PM PDT  U.S. officials frowned upon the opening of an Iranian supermarket in Venezuela's capital, saying Thursday that any presence of Iran in the Western Hemisphere is "not something we look very favorably on." Acting Assistant Secretary for U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs Michael Kozak told journalists in a call that the opening of the market shows this is like an alliance of "pariah" states. "I would be surely surprised if Venezuela is able to obtain much benefit from Iran," said Kozak in his response to a reporter's question about the supermarket.
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| Prosecutor: No charges for officer in Michael Brown’s death Posted: 30 Jul 2020 02:16 PM PDT  St. Louis County's prosecutor announced Thursday that he will not charge the former police officer who fatally shot Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, a dramatic decision that could reopen old wounds amid a renewed and intense national conversation about racial injustice and the police treatment of people of color. Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell's decision marked the third time prosecutors investigated and opted not to charge Darren Wilson, the white officer who fatally shot Brown, a Black 18-year-old, on Aug. 9, 2014. A St. Louis County grand jury declined to indict Wilson in November 2014, and the U.S. Department of Justice also declined to charge him in March 2015.
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| Democrats and Republicans take aim at Pompeo over US troop withdrawal from Germany Posted: 30 Jul 2020 12:49 PM PDT  Secretary of state receives bipartisan grilling, and makes false claim to have fought along East German border as soldier in 1980sThe Trump administration's decision to withdraw nearly 12,000 troops from Germany has come under bipartisan attack in the Senate, amid warnings it would disrupt US alliances.The secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, fended off insistent questions in the Senate on Thursday, and in so doing, falsely claimed to have fought along the East German border when he was stationed there as an army lieutenant in the late 1980s. There was no fighting in Germany during the cold war.The Pentagon has insisted the withdrawal was ordered as part as an overall strategic repositioning of US forces abroad, but Donald Trump made clear that he saw it as punishment of Germany for not spending enough on defence.Pompeo said that the state department had been part of the discussion about the redeployment, which involves 6,400 soldiers being brought to the US and another 5,500 being placed elsewhere in Europe, mostly Belgium and Italy.Questioning Pompeo at a hearing of the Senate foreign relations committee, Democrat Jeanne Shaheen said: "The only country that has publicly supported the removal of US troops from Germany today has been Russia."The Republican senator Mitt Romney, reflecting widespread unease in the GOP about the move, told Pompeo: "I have heard from the highest levels of the German government that this is seen by them as an insult to Germany, and I can't imagine at a time when we need to be drawing in our friends and allies so that we can collectively confront China, we want to insult them."Pompeo insisted that the withdrawal of troops to the US did not mean they were "off the field"."These units will participate in rotational activity. They'll be forward deployed," he said. "They won't be stationed or garrisoned, but make no mistake about it, they will be fully available to ensure that we can properly prosecute the challenges we have from the global powers."His remarks appeared to reflect defence department assurances that troops brought back to the US would be available to serve temporary tours in the Baltic states, Poland or the Black Sea region.When pressed by Shaheen on the impact of the withdrawal on the relationship with Berlin, Pompeo did not directly respond, but said: "This is personal for me. I fought on the border of East Germany when I was a young soldier. I was stationed there."Pompeo served as a lieutenant in a tank regiment in West Germany from 1986 to 1991, during which time the east-west border was entirely peaceful. He did not take part in any combat during his military career.Shaheen reminded him that his former unit was one of those being recalled to the US. Foreign Policy cited defence department documents on Thursday, in which troops in Germany were informed the redeployment would "likely take months to plan and years to execute".Trump has said he ordered the move because Germany was not spending enough on its own defence and American taxpayers were being "taken for suckers".However, Germany has recently increased its spending, and has said it is on course to achieve the 2% GDP target for defence expenditure that Nato set for 2024.Belgium and Italy, where many US troops are due to be redeployed, spend less than Germany as a share of national income.Diplomats and former officials have suggested that Trump's decision may have been driven by personal animus towards Germany and its chancellor, Angela Merkel.Fox News reported in June that the withdrawal was the idea of the ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell, as a reprisal for Angela Merkel's decision not to attend a G7 summit at Camp David at the height of the pandemic.
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| Iraq: Since October, 560 protesters, police died in rallies Posted: 30 Jul 2020 12:37 PM PDT  Iraq's government said Thursday that since last October when anti-government protests erupted in the country, a total of 560 protesters and members of the security forces have been killed in the violence. The figure was reported by Hisham Daoud, an advisor to Iraq's prime minister, at a press conference in Baghdad. Also Thursday, Interior Minister Othman al-Ghanimi announced the result of an investigation into the deaths of two protesters at the hands of Iraqi security forces on Sunday.
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| Lawyer: Yemeni rebels free 6 Baha’i prisoners held for years Posted: 30 Jul 2020 12:13 PM PDT |
| China is ramping up propaganda to cover up human rights abuses against Uighurs Posted: 30 Jul 2020 11:50 AM PDT  China has spent years cracking down on the freedoms of its Uighur Muslim minority. And as the rest of the world starts to take notice, China has ramped up propaganda efforts to hide just what it's doing, a report published Thursday from the Uighur Human Rights Project reveals.The United Nations estimates more than a million Uighurs have been held in concentration and re-education camps, while others face constant surveillance and imprisonment for anything deemed suspicious. Uighurs' forced labor has reportedly been used to produce masks that ended up in the U.S. and products for several American brands. The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists revealed a lot of this in its November 2019 "China Cables" report based on Chinese government leaks, which Beijing responded to with "outright denial," the ICIJ says.Around the same time the China Cables were published, the Uighur Human Rights Project noticed a "huge uptick in the amount of propaganda that's being produced by the Chinese state media," UHRP project manager Nicole Morgret said. "Chinese officials have since aimed to paint a sanitized image of the camps" via social media, tours of Uighur camps for foreign diplomats and journalists, and videos where Uighurs are deny abuses, the ICIJ describes. The propaganda has been spread even through ads and Twitter bots, following Russia's strategy of spreading disinformation around the globe.Read more from the ICIJ here, and find the whole report here.More stories from theweek.com Conservative propaganda has crippled the U.S. coronavirus response Facebook beats 2nd quarter revenue expectations even as ad industry struggles Trump says with increased mail-in voting, it could take 'years' to know who won the election
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| Global Purging Compounds Industry Posted: 30 Jul 2020 11:08 AM PDT |
| 'Evasive' ex-minister loses bid to keep £20 million divorce battle secret Posted: 30 Jul 2020 11:05 AM PDT  A millionaire former Conservative business minister has failed to keep his bitter £20 million divorce battle secret after a judge ruled that his evidence had been "evasive". Judge Anne Hudd concluded on Thursday that details of the dispute between former Watford MP Richard Harrington and his estranged wife Jessie should be made public. Mr Harrington, 61, had argued that the judge's ruling should not be made public, while his estranged wife had argued for its release. But the judge, who heard the case at the Central Family Court in London, said "some aspects" of Mr Harrington's behaviour meant publication was in the public interest. Mr Harrington, who became MP for Watford in 2010 and stood down late last year, formerly served as business minister and was a fierce critic of the Brexit strategies of both Boris Johnson and Theresa May. The documents show that his 30-year marriage broke down in 2013 but divorce proceedings were only initiated after he began a new relationship in 2017. Jessie Harrington, 60, then demanded 53 per cent of the couple's £20 million fortune, mostly earned during Mr Harrington's successful career in property development, including properties in Brighton, Spain and the Caribbean. She said she needed the extra money in part because she had been diagnosed as a "hoarder", the ruling said, and had additional "needs arising from her disability". "A significant feature of this case has been the wife's diagnosis with a hoarding disorder," it said, adding that the issue had partly led to the marriage breakdown. "The husband… says at the time of an earlier house move, there were perhaps two boxes of newspapers. The wife now estimates that there are between 100 and 150. She says she is not able to throw any away until she has looked through those papers to identify any articles of potential interest and she would then have to read them before she would feel able to dispose of them. "She has a room full of boxes of unopened porcelain. There are piles of books and boxes elsewhere. Post has often gone unanswered. The husband has received a fine for not taxing a car because the wife had not opened the letters nor sent on any of the remainders." The judge ruled that Mrs Harrington should keep the family home because of the trauma an immediate house clearance would cause her. "She has talked both to the single joint expert, and also within these proceedings, about the reasons it is important to her to have personal objects around her," the judge said. "She says that they contain memories and there is a level of security in those objects that cannot let her down." However, Judge Hudd ruled that the couple's "substantial wealth" should be split 50-50. In her judgment, she said she thought Mr Harrington had been "evasive" when answering some questions. He had been asked how an extension of the Metropolitan Underground line would affect land in which he had an interest. The judge said he had conceded that the value of the investment would be "likely to benefit" only after a question was asked for a third time. She also criticised the "vagueness" of his answers when questioned about his general business dealings. In a statement after the judgment was published, Mr Harrington said: "Contrary to claims made, all my disclosures to the court were full and frank to the very best of my knowledge." A former Conservative minister has failed to keep the details of his fight over money with his estranged wife secret, after a judge ruled the dispute should be made public. Richard and Jessie Harrington were ordered to split their £20 million fortune evenly after private hearings in the Central Family Court in London. Despite Mrs Harrington wishing to walk away with a 53 per cent share, Judge Ann Hudd ruled their fortune should be divided equally, saying they had "generated substantial wealth" together, largely through property in the UK and abroad. The Brexit rebel, who stepped down as the MP for Watford in 2019, had argued that the ruling should remain behind closed doors as there was "no sufficient public interest" to displace his "expectation" of privacy. However, Judge Hudd argued publication was in the public interest and said there had been "shortcomings" in the former business minister's disclosure of information. In the written explanation of her decision, the judge said: "Given the issues that arose within these proceedings and the findings that I made about some aspects of [Mr Harrington's] behaviour and shortcomings in his disclosure, I am satisfied that this is a case in which publication of my judgment would be in the public interest. "There is a clear public interest in knowing that public figures are subject to the same treatment as other citizens, and although he is no longer in public office he was at the relevant time of my decision and throughout the substantive financial remedy proceedings." His estranged wife had called for publication of the details, arguing "transparency" was in the public interest given Mr Harrington was a "public figure". Mr Harrington, who was a property developer before he became an MP, had previously said the contents of a judgment should remain private because people involved had an "onerous and extensive duty" to provide "full and frank disclosure" of financial information. In a statement after the judgment was published, Mr Harrington said: "From the start of the divorce proceedings, which began after a separation of many years, I believed it right that our assets should be split 50-50. "This was what I offered at the outset. After two years of considerable and unnecessary expense, this was exactly what the judge ruled." The judge ruled journalists could report the couple were locked in a financial dispute earlier this year, but said no details could be revealed. Mr Harrington resigned as business minister in March 2019, saying that Brexiteers were holding the government to ransom. He accused Theresa May's government of "playing roulette" with the lives of British people over the issue.
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| ‘America’s Dying’: Russian Media Is Giddy at Chaos in the USA Posted: 30 Jul 2020 10:48 AM PDT  This week, U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated his intent to move forward with reducing the U.S. military presence in Germany, without any consultations with Berlin. And even as members of the U.S. Congress and America's allies abroad expressed concerns about the drawdown, the Trump administration's decision brought joy to the Kremlin and Russian media.Back in June, 22 Republican members of the House Armed Services Committee urged Trump not to go ahead with the move, stating in a letter: "We believe that such steps would significantly damage U.S. national security as well as strengthen the position of Russia to our detriment ... In Europe, the threats posed by Russia have not lessened, and we believe that signs of a weakened U.S. commitment to NATO will encourage further Russian aggression and opportunism."German officials have called the move politically motivated. While Trump claimed that the drawdown was based on Germany not meeting the NATO target of spending 2 percent of its GDP on defense, Belgium and Italy—the two countries that will be receiving some of the U.S. troops from Germany—spend an even a smaller percentage on defense. The move will cost billions of dollars to the American taxpayers and undermine NATO alliances.Meanwhile, when the intent to reduce the U.S. contingent in Germany was first announced, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that the Kremlin "would welcome any steps by Washington to scale down its military presence in Europe," brazenly telling the United States to take home not only its troops, but also its tactical nuclear weapons. Russians See the COVID Vaccine as Key to Global Dominance—of Course They'd Try to Steal ItThe Kremlin-controlled Russian state media also sensed a precious propaganda opportunity. Sergey Brilyov, anchor of the news show Saturday Vesti on Russian state media channel Rossiya-1, pondered whether the controversial move by the Trump administration could be considered the proof that Russia no longer poses a military threat to Europe.Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov used the same rationale today, when he claimed that Russia doesn't present any threat to European countries and "the fewer U.S. soldiers are on the European continent, the calmer it is in Europe." Russian Envoy in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov speculated that the withdrawal of part of the U.S. contingent from Germany won't impact the country's security and Berlin is likely to even "benefit" from this move.Unsurprisingly, Germany doesn't see it that way. Norbert Roettgen, the head of the Bundestag's Foreign Affairs Committee, warned on Twitter, "In withdrawing 12,000 soldiers from Germany, the USA achieve[s] the exact opposite from what [Defense Secretary] Mark Esper outlined. Instead of strengthening NATO it is going to weaken the alliance. The US' military clout will not increase, but decrease in relation to Russia and the Near and Middle East."The troop withdrawal is just the latest piece of good news for Russia in its relations with the Trump administration. When news broke of Russian bounties placed on the heads of American soldiers, followed by revelations that Russia and China have been hacking Western coronavirus research, it seemed that the die was cast and the sanctions against the Kremlin were all but inevitable. A chorus of experts on Russian state TV unanimously warned the audiences: There will be new sanctions.But so far, the sanctions for the hacking of the coronavirus vaccine have been imposed solely on China. Other Russian pundits and experts accurately predicted that—unlike the Democrats—Trump and the GOP would single out not Russia but China as America's top adversary. Therefore, instead of a stern rebuke, Russian President Vladimir Putin enjoyed a friendly phone conversation with Trump. During their phone call, Trump didn't raise the issue of Russian bounties on American armed forces in Afghanistan, nor did he admonish Putin for Russia's hacking of the coronavirus vaccine research. Likewise, Trump didn't question the Russian president about his country's ongoing interference in U.S. elections and domestic affairs.Instead of confronting Putin, Trump lashed out at Democratic Congressman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) about domestic antifascist group antifa, tweeting in part, "Jerry, blame it on Russia, Russia, Russia!" The unfunny punchline reaffirmed that Russian wrongdoing would continue to be swept under the carpet by the Trump administration—a signal that was enthusiastically received in Moscow. "Trump is still ours," concluded Russian International Affairs Council expert Alexey Naumov. "Whew," theatrically exhaled the host of a state media news talk show 60 Minutes, Olga Skabeeva."Trump is ours" is a familiar refrain in Russian state media. Its aim is twofold: mocking the inquiry into the Kremlin's involvement in the U.S. elections, while simultaneously emphasizing the inexplicable hold Putin seems to possess over his American counterpart. It's hardly humorous, in light of Trump's actions that consistently benefit Russia's agenda on the world stage. During the 2018 Trump-Putin press conference in Helsinki, the Russian president openly admitted that he wanted Trump to win the 2020 election. Russian experts, pundits, and the Kremlin's bullhorns repeatedly reiterate that Trump is still the preferred figure in the upcoming presidential contest—as a "chaos candidate," dividing Americans domestically and causing international rifts within transatlantic alliances. The weakening of the enemy is most certainly a coveted opportunity for Russia—and there is no doubt that the United States is seen as such by the Kremlin. Discussing the United States on Russia's state TV program 60 Minutes last week, Alexei Kondratiev, member of the Federation Council on the Russian Federation's Defense and Security Committee, emphasized, "They are our enemies, 100 percent." During the same show, expert Alexey Naumov claimed that the world is witnessing the U.S. "in its death throes," as America's greatness and its global standing is in steep decline. "America is dying," announced host Olga Skabeeva.Margarita Simonyan, the head of the state-funded TV channel RT, formerly known as Russia Today, was similarly blunt in her assessment. She told Komsomolskaya Pravda—a daily Russian tabloid newspaper—that America's complete disintegration would be highly beneficial for Russia. Simonyan speculated that internal chaos would force the United States to focus on its own survival, allowing Russia and other countries to pursue their global aims unimpeded: "In order for them to leave us alone, it is necessary that they be terribly busy with their own internal problems." This perception falls in line with recent revelations that Russian intelligence services are using English-language websites to spread disinformation—undoubtedly, just a tiny snowflake on the tip of Russia's anti-Western disinformation iceberg. In the run up to the U.S. presidential elections, these efforts can be expected to intensify.As for the weakening of NATO, Trump is essentially fulfilling Putin's wishes by ordering the drawdown of U.S. armed forces from Germany. The Kremlin is sure to exploit the fault lines in transatlantic relations between Western allies and widen the cracks at every opportunity, aided by the divisive actions of the Kremlin's unlikely comrade at the White House. Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Wisconsin governor orders masks statewide amid virus surge Posted: 30 Jul 2020 10:47 AM PDT  Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers on Thursday issued a statewide mask mandate amid a spike in coronavirus cases, setting up a conflict with Republican legislative leaders and some conservatives who oppose such a requirement and successfully sued to kill the governor's "safer at home" order. Evers, a Democrat, declared a new public health emergency and ordered the wearing of masks for anyone age 5 and up starting on Saturday for all enclosed spaces except a person's home. "This virus doesn't care about any town, city, or county boundary, and we need a statewide approach to get Wisconsin back on track," Evers said in a statement, citing the recent rise in cases across the state.
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| Report: Car bomb in north Syria kills, wounds several people Posted: 30 Jul 2020 10:46 AM PDT |
| Spain: American gets 7 years in prison for drug smuggling Posted: 30 Jul 2020 10:45 AM PDT |
| In sprawling Capitol, leaders struggle to keep virus at bay Posted: 30 Jul 2020 10:33 AM PDT  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell are under increasing pressure from lawmakers to boost testing for the coronavirus in the Capitol, an idea they have so far rejected because of concerns about the availability of tests across the country. Despite the unusual nature of work in the Capitol — lawmakers fly in and out weekly, from 50 states, and attend votes and hearings together — the two leaders have maintained that they will not institute a testing program for members, staff or the hundreds of other people who work in the complex. The lack of tracking was highlighted this week when a GOP lawmaker, Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert, found out he had contracted the virus.
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| Global Powder Metallurgy Parts Industry Posted: 30 Jul 2020 10:08 AM PDT |
| Trump likely to address U.N. in person in September, says U.N. envoy Posted: 30 Jul 2020 10:03 AM PDT |
| Trump plans to address United Nations General Assembly in person Posted: 30 Jul 2020 09:59 AM PDT |
| Global Rail Composites Industry Posted: 30 Jul 2020 09:48 AM PDT |
| Full appeals court agrees to wade into Michael Flynn case Posted: 30 Jul 2020 09:39 AM PDT  The entire Washington-based federal appeals court is stepping into the legal dispute over former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn as it weighs whether a judge can be forced to dismiss a case that the Justice Department no longer wants to pursue. The action Thursday by the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit vacates a decision from a three-judge panel last month that ordered the case dropped. Sidney Powell, a lawyer for Flynn, did not immediately return an email seeking comment, but tweeted the news and wrote, "WOW!" A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment.
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| Global Rapid Prototyping Materials Industry Posted: 30 Jul 2020 09:28 AM PDT |
| Philadelphia trash piles up as pandemic stymies its removal Posted: 30 Jul 2020 09:20 AM PDT  What would Ben Franklin think? The Founding Father who launched one of America's first street-sweeping programs in Philadelphia in the late 1750s would see and smell piles of fly-infested, rotting household waste, bottles and cans as the city that he called home struggles to overcome a surge in garbage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. "It's just the smell of rot," said James Gitto, president of the West Passyunk neighborhood association in South Philadelphia.
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| Zimbabwe police clear streets ahead of anti-government protests Posted: 30 Jul 2020 09:05 AM PDT  Parts of the capital are deserted ahead of demonstrations that the government calls Western-backed.
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| First Bolsonaro trip since recovery aims at opponents' votes Posted: 30 Jul 2020 08:55 AM PDT  Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Thursday took his first trip since recovering from COVID-19, ignoring social distancing recommendations as he worked to chip away support in his political rivals' stronghold. Bolsonaro said he intended to travel Brazil after beating the disease, which had kept him confined to the presidential residence for more than two weeks. On Saturday, he announced that he had tested negative, and chose as his first destinations two small cities in Brazil's Northeast – the second-most populous region and the only one he lost in the 2018 presidential election.
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| AP EXPLAINS: A look at $60M bribery probe unfolding in Ohio Posted: 30 Jul 2020 08:52 AM PDT  The arrest July 21 of powerful Republican House Speaker Larry Householder and four associates in a $60 million federal bribery case has upended both politics and policy-making in Ohio. The Ohio House removed Householder from his post Thursday in a unanimous, bipartisan vote and replaced him with state Rep. Robert Cupp, a former Ohio Supreme Court justice. Householder retains his legislative seat for now.
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| 2nd US virus surge hits plateau, but few experts celebrate Posted: 30 Jul 2020 08:39 AM PDT  While deaths from the coronavirus in the U.S. are mounting rapidly, public health experts are seeing a flicker of good news: The second surge of confirmed cases appears to be leveling off. Scientists aren't celebrating by any means, warning that the trend is driven by four big, hard-hit places — Arizona, California, Florida and Texas — and that cases are rising in close to 30 states in all, with the outbreak's center of gravity seemingly shifting from the Sun Belt toward the Midwest. COVID-19 deaths do not move in perfect lockstep with the infection curve, for the simple reason that it can take weeks to get sick and die from the virus.
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| Slaying at US judge's home raises concern about cyberthreats Posted: 30 Jul 2020 08:17 AM PDT  In 2005, U.S. District Judge Joan Lefkow returned from work to find her husband and mother shot dead in the basement of her Chicago home. Investigators initially focused on a White Supremacist who had put out a hit on Lefkow. Lefkow was forced to relive her family tragedy this month when a struggling lawyer armed with a gun and a grudge opened fire at the home of another female judge — U.S. District Judge Esther Salas in suburban New Jersey — killing her 20-year-old son and critically wounding her husband.
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| AP PHOTOS: Nation honors John Lewis with final farewell Posted: 30 Jul 2020 08:03 AM PDT  From the heart of the once-segregated South to Washington, D.C., the nation's final goodbye to Rep. John Lewis reflected the dignity of the sharecropper's son who became a symbol of moral courage during a lifetime spent getting into "good trouble." In Selma, Alabama, the river town where Lewis was beaten by state troopers on "Bloody Sunday" while marching for voting rights in 1965, a pair of dark horses pulled a caisson that carried his flag-draped casket across the Edmund Pettus Bridge one last time. "Good trouble!" some shouted from the roadside, echoing the phrase Lewis used to describe his confrontations with white segregationists during the civil rights era.
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| Former GOP presidential hopeful Herman Cain dies of COVID-19 Posted: 30 Jul 2020 07:59 AM PDT  Herman Cain, former Republican presidential candidate and former CEO of a major pizza chain who went on to become an ardent supporter of President Donald Trump, died Thursday of complications from the coronavirus. Dan Calabrese, who authored a post on Cain's website announcing the death, told The Associated Press that Cain died at an Atlanta hospital early Thursday morning. Cain had been ill with the virus for several weeks.
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| AP FACT CHECK: Trump's view of flawed voting is baseless Posted: 30 Jul 2020 07:57 AM PDT  President Donald Trump's apocalyptic views of voting by mail are baseless, according to research into election fraud and the record. Five states — Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington and Utah — relied on mail-in ballots even before the coronavirus pandemic raised concerns about voting in person this coming November.
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| Israel says it arrested Hamas militant who fled strip by sea Posted: 30 Jul 2020 07:44 AM PDT |
| Protesters vary as much as their arrests, AP analysis shows Posted: 30 Jul 2020 07:43 AM PDT  Sheena McFerran was two rows behind a line of police at a protest in Portland, Oregon, when she saw officers pepper-spraying a Black man. "I said, 'Hell no,' so I pulled his backpack back really hard and stepped into the space he was in," said McFerran, a 34-year-old manager for the Sierra Club who's white. Edward Schinzing, 32, was just around the corner on another night.
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| Pompeo says Russian deaths in Syria sent warning Posted: 30 Jul 2020 07:30 AM PDT  US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Thursday that the deaths of "300 Russians" in Syria sent a warning to Moscow, as he defended the administration as tough on President Vladimir Putin. Pompeo came under fire at a Senate hearing over President Donald Trump's statement that he had not raised with Putin accusations that Moscow paid the Taliban bounties to kill US troops in Afghanistan.
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| Coronavirus: How fast is it spreading in Africa? Posted: 30 Jul 2020 07:27 AM PDT  There are concerns the disease is accelerating in Africa, and that we don't know the real scale of the outbreak.
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| Students, alumni clamor to take care of university's cows Posted: 30 Jul 2020 06:51 AM PDT  What would happen to the cows? The university's beloved herd of about 100 dairy cows is normally tended by students taking part in the Cooperative for Real Education in Agricultural Management program, or CREAM. In no time, dozens of CREAM alumni and students clamored to spend their spring and summer caring for the Holsteins.
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| Pompeo insists he raised Taliban 'bounties' on US troops with Russia despite Trump not doing so Posted: 30 Jul 2020 06:15 AM PDT  Secretary of State Mike Pompeo assured lawmakers on Thursday that the Trump administration has confronted top Russian diplomats and military officers about the alleged bounties Russia has offered Taliban-linked rebels to kill American troops in Afghanistan — even though Donald Trump has refused to bring the topic up with his counterpart Vladimir Putin."I can assure you and the American people that each time I've spoken with [Russian Foreign Minister Sergey] Lavrov, I have raised all of the issues that put any American interests at risk, whether it's our soldiers on the ground in Syria, soldiers on the ground in Afghanistan, the activities that are taking place in Libya, the actions in Ukraine," Mr Pompeo testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
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| Trump floats idea of election delay, a virtual impossibility Posted: 30 Jul 2020 06:03 AM PDT  President Donald Trump, lagging in the polls and grappling with deepening economic and public health crises, on Thursday floated the startling idea of delaying the Nov. 3 presidential election. Trump suggested the delay as he pushed unsubstantiated allegations that increased mail-in voting due to the coronavirus pandemic would result in fraud. The date of the presidential election — the Tuesday after the first Monday in November in every fourth year — is enshrined in federal law and would require an act of Congress to change.
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| Global Robotic Flexible Washer Industry Posted: 30 Jul 2020 05:48 AM PDT |
| U.K. Enterprises Slow to Adopt SAP’s S/4HANA During Brexit, COVID-19 Pandemic Posted: 30 Jul 2020 05:36 AM PDT |
| Schneider Electric shows they are acting to build a green and inclusive future for all through H1 extra-financial results Posted: 30 Jul 2020 05:31 AM PDT  Each quarter, Schneider Electric publishes 21 indicators from the Schneider Sustainability Impact (SSI) which measures their progress towards their sustainability commitments from 2018-2020. These objectives are closely aligned with the United Nations (UN) Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs) and summarize the extra-financial performance of the Group.
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| EU prolongs North Korea nuclear sanctions for a year Posted: 30 Jul 2020 05:14 AM PDT |
| More seals means learning to live with sharks in New England Posted: 30 Jul 2020 05:04 AM PDT  Seals are thriving off the Northeast coast thanks to decades of protections, and that victory for wildlife has brought a consequence for humans — more encounters with sharks. Seals are a favorite prey of large sharks such as the great white. The death this week of swimmer Julie Dimperio Holowach, who was killed by a great white off Harpswell, Maine, might have happened because the shark mistook her for a seal, authorities said.
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| 'On our way to Mars': NASA rover will look for signs of life Posted: 30 Jul 2020 04:52 AM PDT  The biggest, most sophisticated Mars rover ever built — a car-size vehicle bristling with cameras, microphones, drills and lasers — blasted off for the red planet Thursday as part of an ambitious, long-range project to bring the first Martian rock samples back to Earth to be analyzed for evidence of ancient life. NASA's Perseverance rode a mighty Atlas V rocket into a clear morning sky in the world's third and final Mars launch of the summer. The plutonium-powered, six-wheeled rover will drill down and collect tiny geological specimens that will be brought home in about 2031 in a sort of interplanetary relay race involving multiple spacecraft and countries.
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