| Banned protesters send #ZimbabweanLivesMatter viral Posted: 05 Aug 2020 05:17 PM PDT  The social media campaign tapping into the anger of the global BlackLivesMatter phenomenon.
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| Survivors mark 75th anniversary of world's 1st nuke attack Posted: 05 Aug 2020 04:25 PM PDT |
| Joe Arpaio clings to relevancy in what’s likely his last run Posted: 05 Aug 2020 04:08 PM PDT  Arizona has grown more politically moderate in the past five years, but Republican primary voters haven't entirely abandoned Joe Arpaio, the six-term sheriff of metro Phoenix who lost the job in 2016 amid voter frustration over his legal troubles and headline-grabbing tactics. In what Arpaio acknowledges could be his last political race, he was trailing Jerry Sheridan, his former second-in-command, by 572 votes as the vote count continued Wednesday. Mike O'Neil, a longtime Arizona pollster who has followed Arpaio's career, said the lawman remains in contention because he has strong name recognition and is still popular in some Republican circles — even though he was trounced in 2016 and finished third in the 2018 U.S. Senate primary.
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| 8 Western nations urge Russian forces to leave Georgia Posted: 05 Aug 2020 04:04 PM PDT |
| Fatal quarrel among Palestinians ignites protest in Ramallah Posted: 05 Aug 2020 02:56 PM PDT |
| DR Congo armed groups killed 1,300 in first half of 2020: UN Posted: 05 Aug 2020 02:42 PM PDT  More than 1,300 people were killed in the first half of 2020 by armed groups in DR Congo, three times more than in the same period in 2019, according to a report published on Wednesday by the United Nations. Between January and June 2020, fighters of all armed groups were responsible for the summary executions or arbitrary killings of at least 1,315 people, including 267 women and 165 children, the UN Joint Human Rights Office (UNJHRO) said. The surge is the result of a deterioration in the human rights situation in provinces where conflict is rife, particularly Ituri, South Kivu, Tanganyika and North Kivu, the UNJHRO said.
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| A look at some deadly explosions involving ammonium nitrate Posted: 05 Aug 2020 02:40 PM PDT  The investigation into an explosion in the harbor of Lebanon's port city of Beirut is focusing on how 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate, a highly explosive chemical used in fertilizers, came to be stored at the facility for six years, and why nothing was done about it. Aug. 12, 2015: A massive warehouse explosion rocked the port city of Tianjin, China, killing 173 people and injuring nearly 800. Investigators found the warehouse held illegal stores of ammonium nitrate, which caught fire and caused a series of blasts.
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| US to submit UN resolution on Iran arms next week Posted: 05 Aug 2020 02:32 PM PDT  The United States will submit a UN Security Council resolution next week to extend an arms embargo on Iran despite opposition from Russia and China, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday. A ban on conventional weapons sales to Iran ends on October 18 and the United States has threatened to try to force a return of UN sanctions if it is not extended.
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| 'We don't seem to learn': Beirut explosion echoes US tragedy Posted: 05 Aug 2020 02:30 PM PDT  The staggering videos from the Lebanese capital are grimly familiar to Tommy Muska thousands of miles away in Texas: a towering blast, a thundering explosion and shock waves demolishing buildings with horrifying speed. It is what the mayor of West, Texas, lived seven years ago when one of the deadliest fertilizer plant explosions in U.S. history partly leveled his rural town. On Wednesday, Muska also couldn't shake a familiar feeling — that yet again, no lessons will be learned.
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| No hoopla: Virus upends Trump, Biden convention plans Posted: 05 Aug 2020 02:04 PM PDT  At the last minute, President Donald Trump and his Democratic rival, Joe Biden, are searching for places to impressively yet safely accept their parties' presidential nominations as the spread of the coronavirus adds fresh uncertainty to the campaign for the White House. Trump said Wednesday he's considering giving his Aug. 27 acceptance speech on the grounds of the White House, a move that could violate ethics law. Biden, meanwhile, scrapped plans to accept the Democratic nomination on Aug. 20 in Milwaukee, where the party has spent more than a year planning a massive convention.
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| Hezbollah Will Not Escape Blame for Beirut Posted: 05 Aug 2020 01:57 PM PDT  (Bloomberg Opinion) -- As if the Lebanese haven't suffered enough. For months, they have been caught between an economic meltdown, crumbling public services and a surging pandemic. Now they must count the dead and survey the extensive damage to their capital after two giant explosions on Tuesday.The blasts, especially the second, were so huge they were reportedly heard and felt in Cyprus. At least 100 people are reported to have been killed — that number will almost certainly rise — and thousands injured. A large expanse of the port and its immediate neighborhood lies in smoking ruin; miles away, streets are full of shattered glass.Prime Minister Hassan Diab's government says the explosions were caused when careless welding ignited about 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate, a highly combustible material used as fertilizer and for bomb-making. By comparison, Timothy McVeigh used about 2.4 tons of the same chemical in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. The 2015 disaster in the Chinese city of Tianjin was caused by the explosion of 800 tons of ammonium nitrate.The equivalent of 1,100 Oklahoma City-size bombs could indeed account for the devastation and the reddish mushroom cloud that plumed gaudily over the Beirut port. But it doesn't mean Lebanese will simply accept that the explosion was an unavoidable, force majeure event.Assuming the official account holds up, the disaster again exposes the rot that is destroying the country — an especially corrosive mix of corruption, ineptitude and malign intentions.The ammonium nitrate was apparently seized in 2013 from a Moldovan-flagged ship traveling from Georgia to Mozambique. But someone — who, we don't yet know — brought it into Beirut; instead of returning, auctioning or disposing of it, the port management inexcusably allowed it to be stored there for years.There are no prizes for guessing who in Lebanon might be interested in keeping such vast quantities of explosive material close at hand. The U.S. Treasury and Israel both believe Hezbollah controls many of Beirut's port facilities.Diab, whose government is entirely dependent on political support from Hezbollah and its Maronite Christian allies, has vowed to hold those responsible to account. More than likely, some minor officials will be fingered for permitting improper storage of highly dangerous material.Iran-backed Hezbollah, with its large and well-armed militia as well as its political hold on the prime minister, has nothing to fear from the state. But it will not escape public opprobrium: Most Lebanese will assume the ammonium nitrate belonged to the militia, for use in Syria and against Israel.Why the chemicals exploded is another matter, rich with possibilities of conjecture. In the court of public opinion, the usual suspects will be rounded up from the ongoing shadow war between Iran and Hezbollah on one side and Israel on the other. President Donald Trump, who can be relied upon to make everything worse, speculated it was a deliberate attack. This will be picked up and amplified by conspiracy theorists in the Middle East.But suspicions of Hezbollah's culpability will intensify on Friday when a United Nations special tribunal for Lebanon that has been looking into the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri is expected to issue verdicts in cases against four Hezbollah cadres being tried in absentia. The men are in hiding, and have not been seen in years; even if they are found guilty, no one expects them to be handed over. Hariri, remember, was killed in a massive blast.A guilty verdict would increase domestic pressure on Hezbollah, its allies and the government. When Lebanese have finished mourning their dead, anger will return — the kind that fueled the massive street demonstrations that brought down Diab's predecessor last October.Even without the Beirut blasts, the timing of the verdict would have been awkward for Diab, who is struggling to negotiate an economic bailout with the International Monetary Fund: Among the hurdles is Hezbollah's resistance to the necessary reforms. Hezbollah finds itself uncomfortably positioned as the principal backer of the government presiding over a thoroughgoing collapse of the Lebanese state and society. It will not easily shake off blame for the Beirut blast, or for the Hariri assassination. Even in this country that has suffered so much and for so long, the latest of Lebanon's tragedies will not soon be forgotten, nor its perpetrators forgiven.(Corrects the number of Oklahoma City-size bombs that would equal the size of the Beirut explosion in the fourth paragraph.)This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Hussein Ibish is a senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington. 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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| Pompeo: US to call UN vote on Iran arms embargo extension Posted: 05 Aug 2020 01:09 PM PDT  The Trump administration will press ahead with efforts to extend a United Nations arms embargo on Iran despite widespread opposition to such a move at the world body, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday. The decision sets the stage for a potential crisis at the U.N. Security Council amid rising tensions in the Middle East. Pompeo said the United States would call for a Security Council vote next week on a U.S.-drafted resolution to extend the embargo that is due to expire in October.
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| Progressives say primary wins latest sign of momentum shift Posted: 05 Aug 2020 12:52 PM PDT  Progressive Democrats celebrated two primary victories Wednesday, claiming the protests over George Floyd's death and a renewed focus on racial and economic justice have given their candidates new momentum after some rough patches this year. Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a member of the "squad" of four first-term congresswomen of color who have drawn attention for their liberal views and distaste for President Donald Trump, scored a convincing victory over Detroit City Council President Brenda Jones. Jones had criticized Tlaib as being too divisive.
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| U.S. pushes ahead with bid to extend Iran arms embargo though support unclear Posted: 05 Aug 2020 12:05 PM PDT |
| U.S. Health Secretary to Visit Taiwan, in a Move Likely to Anger Beijing Posted: 05 Aug 2020 11:54 AM PDT  TAIPEI, Taiwan -- The United States' top health official, Alex Aza, will lead a delegation on a trip to Taiwan, a rare high-level visit to the island by a U.S. official that is likely to further fray ties between Beijing and Washington.Azar, the secretary of health and human services, will be the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit since 1979, the year the United States severed its formal ties with Taiwan and established diplomatic relations with the Chinese government in Beijing.No date was given for Azar's trip to Taiwan, a self-ruled island that the Chinese government claims as its territory. But in a statement Tuesday, the health department billed it as an opportunity to strengthen economic and public health cooperation with Taiwan and to highlight its success in battling the coronavirus pandemic."Taiwan has been a model of transparency and cooperation in global health during the COVID-19 pandemic and long before it," Azar said in the department's statement. "I look forward to conveying President Trump's support for Taiwan's global health leadership and underscoring our shared belief that free and democratic societies are the best model for protecting and promoting health."As of Tuesday, the island of 23 million just off the coast of southeastern China had reported just 476 coronavirus cases and seven deaths. Officials in Taiwan have tried to turn that success into a geopolitical victory. Its government has sent millions of masks, emblazoned with the words "made in Taiwan," to the United States, Italy and other countries devastated by the coronavirus.It has also promoted itself as a model of democracy, even as China tries to use the crisis to promote the strength of its authoritarian system.On Wednesday, a spokesman for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said China was "firmly opposed to official interactions between the U.S. and Taiwan," without mentioning Azar by name. The spokesman, Wang Wenbin, urged the United States to adhere to the "one China principle," which holds that mainland China and Taiwan are part of a single country, so as not to "gravely damage Sino-U.S. relations and the peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait.""China has lodged solemn representations with the U.S.," Wang said at a regular briefing, adding that Taiwan was "the most important and sensitive issue in China-U.S. relations."Beijing has long sought to isolate Taiwan diplomatically and objected to U.S. support for the island, which remains an important, though unofficial, American ally in the Pacific region. Although the United States has been cautious about making official contact with Taiwan, it continues to be the island's leading arms supplier.Taiwan's Foreign Ministry said Wednesday that Azar would meet with senior Taiwanese leaders, including President Tsai Ing-wen. Discussions are expected to touch on Taiwan's role as a supplier of medical equipment and critical technology, among other issues, the U.S. health department said.The island is home to one of the world's leading computer chipmakers, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., and is a major manufacturer of medical masks and other hospital equipment.Azar will also deliver a speech in which he will highlight "Taiwan's constructive role in the international community, especially in global public health," the statement said.The trip threatens to further fuel tensions between the United States and China, with diplomatic ties reaching their lowest point since the two countries normalized relations more than four decades ago.The superpowers are locked in a fast-growing battle on multiple fronts, including in trade, technology, defense and human rights. Both the United States and China have recently stepped up military activity in the region, sparking concerns about the risk of a clash over Taiwan or the South China Sea.In addition, Beijing has in recent years steadily picked off Taiwan's few remaining official allies and has blocked Taiwan's participation as an observer in the World Health Assembly, the World Health Organization's top decision-making body.The tension between Beijing and Taiwan dates to the end of China's civil war in 1949, when the Communist Party defeated its Nationalist enemies, who fled to the island and set up the Republic of China government that still rules the territory today. Unification with Taiwan remains one of the Chinese Communist Party's ultimate goals, and in recent years, China's top leader, Xi Jinping, has bluntly warned that any move toward formal independence by the island would invite military force.Azar's trip will be the first by a U.S. health secretary and the first in six years by a U.S. Cabinet member, according to the health department. The last trip by a U.S. Cabinet-level official to Taiwan was in 2014 by Gina McCarthy, then the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.The Health and Human Services Department did not say whether Azar would attend an official memorial that has been established in Taipei, Taiwan's capital, for Lee Teng-hui, the former Taiwanese president who died last week.In a statement offering his condolences, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo praised Lee, who led the island's transformation into a vibrant democracy, crediting him with ending decades of authoritarianism and ushering in a "new era of economic prosperity, openness and the rule of law."The announcement of Azar's visit comes as coronavirus case numbers have been surging throughout most of the United States. More than 4.7 million people there have been infected and at least 157,100 have died, according to a New York Times database.This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company
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| Not easy eating green: Herbivores most at extinction risk Posted: 05 Aug 2020 11:23 AM PDT  Although scientists often worry most about the loss of the world's predators, a comprehensive new study finds that plant-eating herbivores are the animals most at risk of extinction. About one in four species of herbivores, 25.5%, are considered threatened, endangered or vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the world's scientific authority on extinction risk, according to a study in Wednesday's journal Science Advances. "The implications for this are huge," Atwood said.
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| Floods affect more than 50,000 in Sudan: UN Posted: 05 Aug 2020 10:20 AM PDT  More than 50,000 people have been affected by flooding across Sudan over the past week, the United Nations said Wednesday. "Torrential rains continued in several parts of Sudan... leading to flooding, landslides, damages to houses and infrastructure in at least 14 of the (country's) 18 states," the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said. "More than 50,000 people have been affected," it said in a statement.
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| AP PHOTOS: Beirut images show shattered, dust-covered city Posted: 05 Aug 2020 09:24 AM PDT  The aftermath of a massive explosion in the Lebanese capital of Beirut shows a shattered city covered in dust and debris. The blast sent a mushroom cloud into the sky, killed more than 100 people and injured thousands, with more bodies probably buried in the rubble. A photo of a damaged hospital room offered a chilling scene.
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| Global High Pressure Grinding Rollers Industry Posted: 05 Aug 2020 09:13 AM PDT |
| Virus testing in the US is dropping, even as deaths mount Posted: 05 Aug 2020 09:12 AM PDT  U.S. testing for the coronavirus is dropping even as infections remain high and the death toll rises by more than 1,000 a day, a worrisome trend that officials attribute largely to Americans getting discouraged over having to wait hours to get a test and days or weeks to learn the results. An Associated Press analysis found that the number of tests per day slid 3.6% over the past two weeks to 750,000, with the count falling in 22 states. "There's a sense of desperation that we need to do something else," said Dr. Ashish Jha, director of Harvard's Global Health Institute.
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| Trump again says Lebanon blast might have been attack Posted: 05 Aug 2020 08:58 AM PDT  President Donald Trump on Wednesday continued to suggest that the massive explosion that killed at least 135 people in Lebanon might have been a deliberate attack, even as officials in Lebanon and his own defense chief said it's believed to have be an accident. "Whatever happened, it's terrible, but they don't really know what it is," Trump insisted. Investigators probing the deadly blast that ripped across Beirut on Tuesday are focused on possible negligence in the storage of tons of ammonium nitrate, a highly explosive fertilizer, in a waterfront warehouse.
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| Biden won't go to Milwaukee to accept Democratic nomination Posted: 05 Aug 2020 08:37 AM PDT  Joe Biden will not travel to Milwaukee to accept the Democratic presidential nomination because of concerns over the coronavirus, party officials said Wednesday, signaling a move to a convention that essentially has become entirely virtual. It is the latest example of the pandemic's sweeping effects on the 2020 presidential election and the latest blow to traditional party nominating conventions that historically have marked the start of fall general election campaigns. "From the very beginning of this pandemic, we put the health and safety of the American people first," said Democratic National Committee Chair Tom Perez.
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| Global Hospital Acquired Infection Control Industry Posted: 05 Aug 2020 08:33 AM PDT |
| It’s Time to Rethink Our Russia Policy Posted: 05 Aug 2020 08:00 AM PDT |
| The tragedy in Beirut Posted: 05 Aug 2020 07:43 AM PDT  Millions of people around the world reacted with horror to footage of a massive explosion that killed dozens of people and injured thousands more in Beirut on Tuesday. It is still too early to say what caused the blast, which Lebanese authorities attributed to a fire igniting explosive materials stored in a "dangerous warehouse." It has been reported that nearly 3,000 tons of ammonium nitrate had been impounded in 2014 and left in storage there. An early statement sourced to an unnamed official denied Israeli involvement; Gabi Ashkenazi, Israel's foreign minister, later claimed that the explosion was most likely an accident.What we do know is that the blast will only exacerbate one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. Never mind the ongoing pandemic. Well before COVID-19 was on the lips of a single person outside Wuhan, Lebanon's debt-to-GDP ratio was the third highest in the world. The unemployment rate is over 30 percent. Its currency is being exchanged for American dollars on the black market at more than four times the official exchange. Half of the population lives in poverty. Prices of food and other goods have been increasing at an unsustainable rate, and there are severe shortages of fuel. Electricity works two or three hours a day, including on airport runways. The once-praised head of the country's central bank has been caught in what is essentially the state-run equivalent of a Ponzi scheme.The explosion also comes as a verdict is expected in the trial of four men who have been accused of murdering Rafik Hariri, the prime minister of Lebanon who died in a car bomb incident in 2005. Hariri, who first came into office in 1992, was instrumental in the drafting of the agreement that ended the Lebanese Civil War of 1975-1990, which killed 120,000 people and led to the emigration of nearly a million others. Almost immediately following his death the country returned to war again, this time with Israel.In recent years the situation in Lebanon has gone mostly unremarked upon in the United States, at least outside of our sizable Lebanese diaspora. Americans are an inward-facing people at the best of times; during the last six months of lockdowns, economic downturn, civil unrest, and rising crime it is almost unimaginable that the horror in Lebanon would have captured our attention at all had it not been for videos of Tuesday's explosions.This is not to suggest that there are any straightforward solutions to Lebanon's problems or that increased American attention to the country or the region more generally would improve things. (The last two decades have shown us how effective we are in the Middle East and Central Asia when we put our thinking caps on.) Whatever our State Department or the European Union might insist in their designations, Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militia, enjoys widespread support and considerable political influence in Lebanon. The idea that destroying the organization is either possible or desirable should be dismissed out of hand.Instead the only course of action available at present is the one already being proposed by leaders of countries around the world: humanitarian aid, including emergency food and medical supplies, and eventually some kind of bailout of Lebanon's devastated economy that could perhaps be offered in exchange for a reduction in Hezbollah's stock of weapons. Such a relief package would almost certainly have to sidestep the conditions usually imposed by the International Monetary Fund and similar groups regarding transparency, which are unlikely to be adhered to even if they are somehow agreed upon. If this seems inadequate to the scale of the misery there, we should remember that the vast majority of those who will call for more sweeping actions in the days and months to come were not even aware of the crisis 24 hours ago.More stories from theweek.com Republicans offer $400/week unemployment benefits, but stimulus bill talks remain divided How the Electoral College made America's pandemic response worse GOP senator questions Trump giving RNC speech from the White House: 'Is that even legal?'
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| Turkey sends rescue and medical teams after Beirut explosion Posted: 05 Aug 2020 07:21 AM PDT |
| Global Hydraulic Dosing Pumps Industry Posted: 05 Aug 2020 07:13 AM PDT |
| Beirut Explosions Create a Dilemma for the World Posted: 05 Aug 2020 07:03 AM PDT |
| Videos show explosion in N.Korean town - reports Posted: 05 Aug 2020 07:03 AM PDT |
| Global Hydraulic Fluids Industry Posted: 05 Aug 2020 06:53 AM PDT |
| In a horrific instant, a burst of power that ravaged Beirut Posted: 05 Aug 2020 06:12 AM PDT  As black smoke billowed into the sky, Shiva Karout stepped out of his gym with his colleagues and customers to watch. "We got a bit scared, and we all went back in," Karout recounted. Karout went after him.
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| China Targets U.S. Universities And Colleges For Spying Posted: 05 Aug 2020 06:00 AM PDT  Evanina, the country's top counterintelligence official, tells Newsy China — which vows to be the world's top superpower by 2049 — poses a threat far greater than Russia or Iran. An American scientist who participates in China's Thousand Talents program told Newsy it's wrong for researchers to hide their earnings and affiliations, but that fears of the program being a spy front are overblown — because, quote, "Trump is after China."
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| As Schools Reopen, Intelligence Officials Say China Spying Looms Large Posted: 05 Aug 2020 06:00 AM PDT Evanina, the country's top counterintelligence official, tells Newsy China — which vows to be the world's top superpower by 2049 — poses a threat far greater than Russia or Iran. An American scientist who participates in China's Thousand Talents program told Newsy it's wrong for researchers to hide their earnings and affiliations, but that fears of the program being a spy front are overblown — because, quote, "Trump is after China."
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| MobiusTrend: Opportunities Brought by Air Imaging Holographic Technologies Posted: 05 Aug 2020 05:55 AM PDT |
| Poop scoop: Satellite images reveal Antarctic penguin haunts Posted: 05 Aug 2020 05:28 AM PDT  British scientists say there are more emperor penguin colonies in Antarctica than previously thought based on evidence of bird droppings spotted from space. A study published Wednesday by scientists at the British Antarctic Survey counted 61 emperor penguin colonies dotted around the southernmost continent, 11 more than the number previously confirmed. The majestic emperor penguin breeds in remote areas where temperatures can drop as low as minus 50 degrees Celsius (minus 58 degrees Fahrenheit).
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| Tribe, economy, even cemeteries hurt as virus hits Choctaws Posted: 05 Aug 2020 05:25 AM PDT  When Sharon Taylor died of coronavirus, her family — standing apart, wearing masks — sang her favorite hymns at her graveside, next to a tiny headstone for her stillborn daughter, buried 26 years ago. Holy Rosary is one of the only cemeteries in this Choctaw Indian family's community, and it's running out of space — a sign of the virus's massive toll on the Choctaw people. As confirmed coronavirus cases skyrocket in Mississippi, the state's only federally recognized American Indian tribe has been devastated.
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| Israeli military sets up coronavirus task force Posted: 05 Aug 2020 05:07 AM PDT |
| World responds to Lebanon's plight, France's Macron to visit Posted: 05 Aug 2020 04:26 AM PDT  As Lebanese rescuers counted the dead and combed rubble for signs of life a day after a huge explosion shattered swaths of Beirut, nations near and far pledged Wednesday that the country, already trapped in a deep economic crisis, would not be left alone. From Australia to Indonesia to Europe and the United States, countries readied to send in aid and search teams. Reflecting both the gravity of the disaster and France's special relationship with its former protectorate, French President Emmanuel Macron was to visit Lebanon Thursday.
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| Districts go round and round on school bus reopening plans Posted: 05 Aug 2020 04:13 AM PDT  School districts nationwide puzzling over how to safely educate children during a pandemic have a more immediate challenge — getting 26 million bus-riding students there in the first place. Few challenges are proving to be more daunting than figuring out how to maintain social distance on school buses. Should students with COVID-19 symptoms be isolated at the front of the school bus?
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| Medtronic Announces Comprehensive U.S. Launch of New InterStim™ Micro Neurostimulator Posted: 05 Aug 2020 04:00 AM PDT |
| WHO says N.Korea's COVID-19 test results for first suspected case 'inconclusive' Posted: 05 Aug 2020 03:04 AM PDT |
| Egypt, Sudan suspend talks with Ethiopia over disputed dam Posted: 05 Aug 2020 02:57 AM PDT  Egypt and Sudan suspended talks with Ethiopia after it proposed linking a deal on its newly constructed reservoir and giant hydroelectric dam to a broader agreement about the Blue Nile waters that would replace a colonial-era accord with Britain. The African Union-led talks among the three key Nile basin countries are trying to resolve a years-long dispute over Ethiopia's construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile.
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| City streets drain of life in Australia's toughest lockdown Posted: 05 Aug 2020 01:43 AM PDT  Melbourne's usually vibrant downtown streets were draining of signs of life on Wednesday on the eve of Australia's toughest-ever pandemic restrictions coming into force. Many of the stylish boutiques and eateries in a city dubbed Australia's Hipster Capital that prides itself on superior coffee had already closed their doors ahead of a ban on non-essential businesses that will throw 250,000 people out of work from Thursday. The closing down of Australia's second-largest city, which usually accounts for a quarter of the nation's economic activity, also coincided with frenetic preparation.
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| Video suggests explosions in North Korean city near China Posted: 05 Aug 2020 01:39 AM PDT  A video obtained by The Associated Press shows plumes of black smoke rising from a North Korean city near the border with China amid reports that deadly explosions occurred there earlier this week. There has been no official word from North Korea or China about what happened in the North Korean city of Hyesan on Monday. The video acquired by AP shows orange flames and black smoke shooting into the sky from Hyesan as loud explosion-like sounds are heard.
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| Fireworks, ammonium nitrate likely fueled Beirut explosion Posted: 05 Aug 2020 01:36 AM PDT  Fireworks and ammonium nitrate appear to have been the fuel that ignited a massive explosion that rocked the Lebanese capital of Beirut, experts and videos of the blast suggest. The scale of the damage — from the epicenter of the explosion at the port of Beirut to the windows blown out kilometers (miles) away — resembles other blasts involving the chemical compound commonly used as an agricultural fertilizer.
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| Global Industrial Overload Relays Industry Posted: 05 Aug 2020 01:33 AM PDT |
| The Latest: Germany sends crews to find blast survivors Posted: 05 Aug 2020 12:10 AM PDT  Germany has dispatched dozens of search and rescue specialists to Lebanon to help in the race to find survivors trapped beneath rubble following Tuesday's explosion in Beirut. Russia's Ministry for Emergencies says that its first plane carrying relief teams, doctors and medical equipment has landed in Beirut. The airlift follows a request for help from the Lebanese authorities faced with the aftermath of the massive explosion that devastated Beirut.
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| Negligence probed in deadly Beirut blast amid public anger Posted: 04 Aug 2020 10:34 PM PDT  Investigators probing the deadly blast that ripped across Beirut focused Wednesday on possible negligence in the storage of tons of a highly explosive fertilizer in a waterfront warehouse, while the government ordered the house arrest of several port officials. International aid flights began to arrive as Lebanon's leaders struggled to deal with the widespread damage and shocking aftermath of Tuesday's blast, which the Health Ministry said killed 135 people and injured about 5,000 others. The Port of Beirut and customs office is notorious for being one of the most corrupt and lucrative institutions in Lebanon where various factions and politicians, including Hezbollah, hold sway.
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