| How Mali's coup affects the fight against jihadists Posted: 21 Sep 2020 05:07 PM PDT  Thousands of UN, French and regional soldiers are in Mali fighting Islamist militants - what difference will the coup make?
|
| Top contenders for Ginsburg's seat on Supreme Court Posted: 21 Sep 2020 04:17 PM PDT  President Donald Trump has said he would nominate a woman to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died Friday at the age of 87 and was a champion of gender equality. Barrett, 48, is widely considered to be the front-runner. Barrett was nominated by Trump to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit and confirmed by the Senate in October 2017 by a 55-43 vote.
|
| Former Wisconsin police chief to review Jacob Blake shooting Posted: 21 Sep 2020 03:48 PM PDT  Wisconsin's attorney general announced Monday that he has selected a former Madison police chief to serve as an independent consultant for prosecutors weighing whether to file charges against the officer who shot Jacob Blake, a Black man who was left paralyzed from the waist down. The shooting of Blake on Aug. 23 by a white Kenosha police officer made Wisconsin the epicenter of the nation's ongoing debate over police violence and racial injustice. It came three months after the death of George Floyd in the custody of Minneapolis police.
|
| Campus outbreak threatens San Diego's economic recovery Posted: 21 Sep 2020 02:49 PM PDT  The start of the semester at San Diego State University was, as always, a time for students to make and renew friendships on and off its urban campus and enjoy the beach and the city's unmatched August weather. James Floyd, a freshman from Davis, California, noticed a mood change when classmates began getting tested. There have been larger outbreaks at U.S. colleges but none may be more impactful than the one at San Diego State.
|
| Trump administration at odds with allies over reimposing U.N. sanctions on Iran Posted: 21 Sep 2020 01:57 PM PDT  The Trump administration unveiled a new set of punitive measures against Iran on Monday, even as it faced isolation on the world stage after other major powers rejected a unilateral move by the U.S. to reimpose U.N. sanctions on Tehran. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and other Cabinet members announced new U.S. sanctions targeting Iran's Defense Ministry and its ballistic missile program, as well as the leader of Venezuela's regime, Nicolás Maduro, for allegedly helping Iran's weapons programs.
|
| Trump administration at odds with allies over reimposing U.N. sanctions on Iran Posted: 21 Sep 2020 01:57 PM PDT  The U.N. will not reimpose sanctions against Iran as demanded by the Trump White House after a majority on the Security Council rejected the move.
|
| CDC changes, then retracts, web posting on how virus spreads Posted: 21 Sep 2020 01:50 PM PDT  The top U.S. public health agency stirred confusion by posting — and then taking down — an apparent change in its position on how easily the coronavirus can spread from person to person through the air. It was "an honest mistake" that happened when a draft update was posted before going through a full editing and approval process, said Dr. Jay Butler, the CDC's deputy director for infectious diseases. Most CDC guidance about social distancing is built around that idea, saying that about 6 feet is a safe buffer between people who are not wearing masks.
|
| US Forces Are Ready for Iran's Response to New Sanctions, Esper Says Posted: 21 Sep 2020 01:42 PM PDT  The sanctions are meant to prevent Iran's access to conventional weapons and thwart its nuclear ambitions.
|
| Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. Honors Founder Knut Kloster Posted: 21 Sep 2020 01:30 PM PDT |
| Cuban-American judge from Florida on Trump high court list Posted: 21 Sep 2020 12:38 PM PDT  A daughter of Cuban exiles who has had a swift rise as a lawyer and judge is on President Donald Trump's short list to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the U.S. Supreme Court. The president said Monday that he does not personally know Barbara Lagoa, but praised her as "terrific." Barely veiled was the fact that, as a Cuban-American from South Florida's city of Hialeah, her selection could benefit Trump in the Nov. 3 election, when Florida could be the ultimate kingmaker.
|
| Ginsburg's death exposes fragility of health law protection Posted: 21 Sep 2020 12:37 PM PDT  With COVID-19 the newest preexisting condition, the Obama-era health law that protects Americans from insurance discrimination is more fragile following the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. A week after the presidential election, the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments on an effort backed by President Donald Trump to strike down the Affordable Care Act, or ACA, in its entirety. Former President Barack Obama's landmark law bars insurers from turning away people with health problems, or charging them more.
|
| Trooper wounded in crash faced firing in Black man's death Posted: 21 Sep 2020 12:32 PM PDT  A Louisiana state trooper was critically injured early Monday in a single-vehicle highway crash that came hours after learning he would be fired for his role last year in the in-custody death of a Black man. Master Trooper Chris Hollingsworth received word Sunday that State Police intended to terminate him following an internal investigation into the May 2019 death of Ronald Greene, a case that has drawn mounting scrutiny and become the subject of a federal civil rights investigation. State Police, despite growing pressure, have repeatedly declined to release body-camera footage and other records related to Greene's arrest, citing the ongoing investigations.
|
| Alone among nations, U.S. moves to restore U.N. Iran sanctions Posted: 21 Sep 2020 12:11 PM PDT  The Trump administration reimposed sanctions against Iran in defiance of nearly all U.N. members, who have rejected U..S. legal standing to do so.
|
| Virtual UN meeting saps NYC of yearly hubbub, cash infusion Posted: 21 Sep 2020 12:07 PM PDT  In a normal September, leaders of nations big and small would converge on New York this week, giving the United States' largest city a chance to show itself off as a crossroads of the world. Police wouldn't discuss this year's security plan.
|
| Palestinians arrest supporters of Abbas rival close to UAE Posted: 21 Sep 2020 11:44 AM PDT |
| On 75th Anniversary of the U.N., Some Countries Question Its Effectiveness Posted: 21 Sep 2020 11:09 AM PDT |
| Yemen gets new virus hospital after other facilities close Posted: 21 Sep 2020 11:02 AM PDT  The Red Cross on Monday announced the opening of a new field hospital in southern Yemen specifically to treat coronavirus patients, as the virus continues to spread largely unchecked in the war-torn country. Many medical facilities in Aden, southern Yemen's main city, have closed as staffers fled or simply turn patients away. In a news release, the International Committee for the Red Cross said the new 60-bed field hospital in Aden has emergency rooms, wards, an X-ray department and a laboratory.
|
| Trump administration unveils new sanctions on Iran despite foreign resistance Posted: 21 Sep 2020 10:25 AM PDT  The announcement comes amid a clash with the United Nations over a provision of the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran.
|
| Europe adopts tougher virus restrictions as infections surge Posted: 21 Sep 2020 10:07 AM PDT  As the U.S. closed in on 200,000 coronavirus deaths Monday, the crisis deteriorated across Europe, with Britain working to draw up new restrictions, Spain clamping down again in Madrid and the Czech Republic replacing its health minister with an epidemiologist because of a surge of infections. The push to reimpose tough measures in Europe to beat back a scourge that had seemingly been brought under control in the spring contributed to a drop on Wall Street. In Britain, Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to announce a round of restrictions Tuesday to slow the spread of the disease.
|
| Alone among nations, US moves to restore UN Iran sanctions Posted: 21 Sep 2020 09:56 AM PDT  The United States slapped additional sanctions on Iran on Monday after the Trump administration's disputed unilateral weekend declaration that all United Nations penalties eased under the 2015 nuclear deal had been restored. The announcement came in defiance of nearly all U.N. members, including U.S. allies in Europe, who have rejected U..S. legal standing to impose the international sanctions. It set the stage for an ugly showdown at the annual U.N. General Assembly this week and also came as President Donald Trump seeks to portray himself as a champion for Middle East stability ahead of November's presidential election.
|
| Cameroon soldiers jailed for killing women and children Posted: 21 Sep 2020 09:36 AM PDT  Cameroon initially dismissed the film of two women and two children being shot as "fake news".
|
| Botswana: Mystery elephant deaths caused by cyanobacteria Posted: 21 Sep 2020 09:31 AM PDT  Toxins made by algae in water holes caused 330 elephant deaths in Botswana earlier this year.
|
| Israeli defense chief heads to US to discuss military edge Posted: 21 Sep 2020 09:09 AM PDT  Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz headed to Washington on Monday for talks with his U.S. counterpart on maintaining Israel's qualitative military edge in the Middle East following its historic normalization agreement with the United Arab Emirates. Since the agreement was announced last month, the UAE has made no secret about its desire to acquire F-35 warplanes and other advanced U.S.-made weaponry. Israel is the only U.S. ally in the Middle East to possess the stealth fighter jet.
|
| Baby of Indian woman dies after 'husband cut her belly open to check gender' Posted: 21 Sep 2020 08:32 AM PDT  A pregnant woman whose belly was allegedly cut open by her husband with a sickle in India has given birth to a stillborn baby boy, according to police. The 35-year old woman, named locally as Anita Devi, was about seven months pregnant when her husband sliced her stomach in order to check the baby's gender, according to the woman's family. The couple have five daughters and the husband was allegedly pressuring his wife to deliver him a son. According to Ms Devi's brother, the couple used to fight regularly over having a son. Speaking to the Times of India, the brother said: "My brother-in-law often used to beat my sister for giving birth to five daughters. Our parents had intervened on several occasions. But no one imagined that he would take such a cruel step." "When I reached there, I saw blood everywhere. Anita's stomach was slit, and she told me that her husband did this." The 43-year old man, named locally as Pannalal, has been arrested on charges of attempted murder. He has denied intentionally hurting his wife, claiming it was an accident. He told local media that he threw the sickle at his wife during an argument, but had no idea that she would be injured so gravely. "I have five daughters, one of my sons is dead. I know that children are the gift of God. Now whatever is to happen, will happen," he said The incident occured in the Badaun region of India's most populous state, Uttar Pradesh. Ms Devi was taken to Delhi on advice of her doctor on Sunday, where she remains in a critical condition. According to claims reported in the Times of India, Pannalal took the drastic step after being convinced by a local priest that his wife was having another girl. He initially tried to get Ms Devi to have an abortion, but when she refused, he took extreme action. There is a historical cultural norm in India that favours sons over daughters, which has resulted in a skewed gender ratio in the country. According to a report from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), approximately 46 million girls have gone missing in India in the past 50 years. 460,000 girls are killed every year through abortion after gender-based sex selection and excess female mortality due to deliberate neglect of girls after birth.
|
| Reports: Israeli PM's aides break quarantine after US visit Posted: 21 Sep 2020 08:19 AM PDT  Two of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's senior aides broke quarantine regulations after returning from an official visit to Washington last week, Israeli media reported Monday. The breaches of health regulations by senior officials — which came as the country entered its second nationwide lockdown — were the latest cases of Israeli leaders and officials not abiding by the rules they have set for the public to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus. The Israeli delegation landed in Tel Aviv on Wednesday and was required to quarantine for a minimum of five days following last week's ceremony at the White House normalizing ties between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.
|
| Algeria leader says early parliament vote before year's end Posted: 21 Sep 2020 08:13 AM PDT |
| Enormous California wildfire threatens desert homes near LA Posted: 21 Sep 2020 08:07 AM PDT  An enormous wildfire that churned through mountains northeast of Los Angeles and into the Mojave Desert was still threatening homes on Monday and was one of more than two dozen major fires burning across California. Five of the largest wildfires in state history are currently burning and more than 5,600 square miles (14,500 square kilometers) have been charred, an area larger than the state of Connecticut, Gov. Gavin Newsom said.
|
| 'I miss mommy': Families shattered by COVID forge new paths Posted: 21 Sep 2020 07:54 AM PDT  Just four months had passed since Ramon Ramirez buried his wife and now, here he was, hospitalized himself with COVID-19. Before long, he was added to the rolls of the pandemic's dead, and his daughter, Marlene Torres, was handed the crushing task of making good on her promise.
|
| Archaeologists unearth 27 coffins at Egypt's Saqqara pyramid Posted: 21 Sep 2020 07:52 AM PDT  Egyptian archaeologists have unearthed more than two dozen ancient coffins in a vast necropolis south of Cairo, an official said Monday. The sarcophagi have remained unopened since they were buried more than 2,500 years ago near the famed Step Pyramid of Djoser in Saqqara, said Neveine el-Arif, a spokeswomen for the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities. Footage shared by the ministry showed colorful sarcophagi decorated with ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, as well as other artifacts the ministry said were found in the two wells.
|
| Conservatives refuse to hand back £1.7m from Russian donor Posted: 21 Sep 2020 07:47 AM PDT  A Russian oligarch closely linked to Vladimir Putin paid millions of pounds to the husband of one of the Conservative Party's biggest donors, according to an investigation. Lubov Chernukhin, a banker married to the Russian president's former deputy finance minister, has given at least £1.7 million to the Conservatives, Electoral Commission records show. Mrs Chernukhin has also met Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his two Conservative predecessors as PM, Theresa May and David Cameron. Leaked files seen by the BBC's Panorama programme show that her husband, Vladimir Chernukhin, received £6.1 million, initially coming from a politician who has been sanctioned in the US over his relationship with the Kremlin. Mr Chernukhin was sent the money in 2016 from a British Virgin Islands company linked to Suleyman Kerimov, according to a major leak of banks' "suspicious activity reports" that have been called the "FinCEN Files". Mr Kerimov, a gold magnate who sits in the upper house of Russia's parliament, was put under investigatio in France last March over an alleged tax fraud involving luxury villas on the Riviera. He strongly denied any wrongdoing and was planning to challenge it, his lawyers said in a statement last year. The claims prompted the Labour MP Chris Bryant to call for the Conservatives to return Mrs Chernukhin's money. "Successive Tory prime ministers have been utterly complacent and naive about accepting vast slabs of cash from Russian cronies of Putin," he said. "The Conservative Party should return every penny it has received from Lubov Chernukhin now."
|
| Saudi Arabia to launch app for Mecca pilgrims amid virus Posted: 21 Sep 2020 07:44 AM PDT  Saudi Arabia on Monday released new details on how it plans to gradually allow Muslims back to Islam's holiest site in Mecca to perform the smaller, year-round pilgrimage, which has been suspended for the past seven months due to the coronavirus. Hajj Minister Muhammad Benten said the kingdom will launch an online application that allows citizens, residents of Saudi Arabia and visitors to apply and reserve a specific time and date in which they can perform the pilgrimage, known as "umrah," to avoid crowding and maintain social-distancing guidelines. The kingdom held a dramatically downsized, symbolic hajj pilgrimage in July due to concerns that it could easily have become a global super-spreader event for the virus.
|
| Report: Order to shorten count wasn't made by Census Bureau Posted: 21 Sep 2020 07:37 AM PDT  The decision to shorten by a month the 2020 head count of every U.S. resident was not made by the U.S. Census Bureau, and some agency officials suspect it was made by the White House or the Department of Commerce, according to a report from the bureau's watchdog agency. The report by the Office of Inspector General did not identify who made the decision to shorten the 2020 census from the end of October to the end of September, but it said bureau officials confirm it was not made by them. The accelerated schedule "increases the risks to the accuracy of the 2020 Census," the Inspector General report said.
|
| U.S. set to announce new sanctions tied to Iran arms Posted: 21 Sep 2020 07:07 AM PDT |
| Bahrain king says accord with Israel not directed against any country Posted: 21 Sep 2020 06:55 AM PDT |
| Navalny says nerve agent was found 'in and on' his body Posted: 21 Sep 2020 06:20 AM PDT  Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny demanded Monday that Russia return the clothes he was wearing on the day he fell into a coma in Siberia, calling it "a crucial piece of evidence" in the nerve agent poisoning he is being treated for at a German hospital. In a blog post Monday, Navalny said the Novichok nerve agent was found "in and on" his body, and said the clothes taken off him when he was hospitalized in Siberia a month ago after collapsing on a Russian flight are "very important material evidence." Navalny, Russian President Vladimir Putin's fiercest critic, fell ill on a domestic flight to Moscow on Aug. 20, was brought to a hospital in the Siberian city of Omsk and was transferred to Germany for treatment two days later.
|
| Jawar Mohammed: Top Ethiopia opposition figure 'proud' of terror charge Posted: 21 Sep 2020 06:15 AM PDT  Jawar Mohammed did not admit guilt in court but accused the government of targeting opponents.
|
| The Latest: Gardner pledges to consider Trump's court pick Posted: 21 Sep 2020 06:00 AM PDT  A Republican senator in a tough reelection race will consider President Donald Trump's nominee to the Supreme Court. Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner joined other Republicans on Monday in pledging to consider Trump's nominee to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Gardner says he will vote to confirm Trump's pick if the person "will protect our Constitution, not legislate from the bench, and uphold the law."
|
| Lebanese president warns of 'hell' if no new gov't formed Posted: 21 Sep 2020 05:51 AM PDT  Lebanon's president said Monday that the crisis-hit country could be going to "hell" if a new government was not formed, suggesting it would require a "miracle" for that to happen at this point. The stark warning comes as the country struggles to contain a spiraling economic and financial crisis that threatens to nose-dive further in the coming weeks, as well as concerns of unrest in the fragile country also witnessing a surge in coronavirus cases and deaths. In a televised address, President Michel Aoun criticized his political allies, the Shiite groups Hezbollah and Amal, for insisting to hold on to the Finance Ministry portfolio in any new government and on naming the Shiite ministers in the Cabinet.
|
| Alabama Archives faces its legacy as Confederate 'attic' Posted: 21 Sep 2020 05:50 AM PDT  Hundreds of memorials glorifying the Confederacy had been erected by the time Marie Bankhead Owen built what may have been the grandest: The Alabama Department of Archives and History, which cataloged a version of the past that was favored by many Southern whites and all but excluded Black people. Owen used taxpayer money to turn the department into an overstuffed Confederate attic promoting the idea that the South's role in the Civil War was noble rather than a fight to maintain slavery. "If history is to serve the present, it must offer an honest assessment of the past," Director Steve Murray and trustees said in a "statement of recommitment."
|
| HR McMaster was 'surprised and disappointed' at Trump claim Putin didn't interfere in election Posted: 21 Sep 2020 05:45 AM PDT  Former national security adviser said he and others told Trump he was denying Russian meddling in 2016 'when we know it's incontrovertible'HR McMaster was not trying to save the world from Donald Trump when he became his second national security adviser, the retired general said in his first interview to promote his new book – if his second since leaving the White House."It was my duty to help the president come to his own decisions," McMaster told CBS 60 Minutes on Sunday night, setting himself apart from other White House aides and a string of senior military figures, including former defense secretary James Mattis, who have publicly criticised the president.But McMaster did criticise aspects of foreign policy including the pursuit of peace talks with the Taliban in Afghanistan and rejected Trump's claim that climate change is a hoax. Asked if his experience told him Trump "might make a decision, but it's not likely to stick", McMaster said: "Well, yeah, that's exactly what was my experience."McMaster also described how he reacted with "surprise, disappointment, disbelief" when in 2017 Trump told reporters he believed Vladimir Putin when he denied interfering in the 2016 US election."Every time he sees me," Trump said then of the Russian president, "he says, 'I didn't do that,' and I really believe that when he tells me that. He means it.""Well," said McMaster, "my reaction was one of surprise, disappointment, disbelief."McMaster said he and other advisers "had a conversation with the president afterwards, we said, 'Your answer to that question will be misconstrued as a complete denial of Russian meddling when we know it's incontrovertible. It's just, it's just a fact.'"Trump did retract his statement – a rare occurrence – but he has cast doubt on intelligence community conclusions and agreed with Putin since.McMaster also told CBS how the hashtag FireMcMaster, which proliferated on social media before Trump fired him, was partly fueled by Russia."It was a combination of … these sorts of people who saw me as an impediment to their agenda. And it was a campaign that started domestically, but then was reinforced by an adversary, reinforced by the Kremlin."[The Russians] were full participants in it, but I don't think they started it. But many people who operate, you know, in this sort of venomous, you know, social media environment and bloggers and the pseudo-media. They're the ones who initiated the campaign."Regarding Afghanistan, McMaster said Trump was "in effect … partnering with the Taliban against, in many ways, the Afghan government. And so, I think that it's an unwise policy".Trump aims to reduce troops in Afghanistan to around 5,000 and has announced the withdrawal of 12,000 from Germany."I think these are both big mistakes," McMaster said. "I think they're mistakes because they're consistent with, I think, this sentiment that you see really across both political parties for retrenchment or withdrawal from complex problem sets overseas."We lack confidence because we haven't had, I think, sound strategies and policies in place and Americans are losing faith in these efforts. I don't blame them."McMaster's new book, Battlegrounds, is not a Trump book. He writes at its outset that some people wanted him to write such a memoir, perhaps in the mould of The Room Where It Happened by his successor John Bolton, a bestseller which detailed Trump's behaviour and which has drawn a furious legal response from the White House.Instead, McMaster, whose first book Dereliction of Duty concerned policy failures in the Vietnam war, offers detailed examinations of key foreign policy issues – Russia, China, North Korea – spliced with regular pleas for unity at home."What is so sad these days," he said, "is that we are so engaged in partisan infighting against each other that we don't take the time just to inventory what we can agree on. Can we agree that climate change is bad? Yes. Can we agree that it's man-made? Yes. Can we agree that we can do something about it? Certainly, we can." Interviewer Scott Pelley said: "The president says climate change is a hoax." "Well," said McMaster, "it's not a hoax. It's not a hoax."Trump's brutal treatment of McMaster is documented in the vast corpus of Trump books. For example, the president reportedly complained his national security adviser was boring and "looked like a beer salesman" when he showed up for work in a suit, rather than full uniform.Eventually, on 22 March 2018, Trump fired McMaster – by tweet.
|
| The SME Climate Hub launching today: New initiative will support small and medium-sized businesses to curb carbon emissions to increase competitiveness Posted: 21 Sep 2020 05:01 AM PDT  The SME Climate Hub will encourage small and medium-sized companies to commit to halving greenhouse gas emissions before 2030 and reaching net-zero emissions before 2050. SMEs making this commitment -- which will be globally recognized by the United Nations Race to Zero campaign -- will be able to take advantage of accessible tools and resources to help them reduce emissions and build business resilience. The platform will couple these tailored resources with opportunities for businesses to unlock direct commercial incentives.
|
| Firmenich steps up leadership on climate action & biodiversity at Climate Week NYC Posted: 21 Sep 2020 05:00 AM PDT  At Climate Week NYC, Firmenich, the world's largest privately owned perfume and taste company, is engaging with like-minded businesses and United Nations leaders to accelerate exponential action on the race to a zero-carbon future. Building on the Group's ambitious, science-based targets, Firmenich committed to three new initiatives on climate change, biodiversity and an inclusive recovery, advancing the Group's progress towards B Corp certification.
|
| Firmenich steps up leadership on climate action & biodiversity at Climate Week NYC Posted: 21 Sep 2020 05:00 AM PDT At Climate Week NYC, Firmenich, the world's largest privately owned perfume and taste company, is engaging with like-minded businesses and United Nations leaders to accelerate exponential action on the race to a zero-carbon future. Building on the Group's ambitious, science-based targets, Firmenich committed to three new initiatives on climate change, biodiversity and an inclusive recovery, advancing the Group's progress towards B Corp certification.
|
| Firmenich steps up leadership on climate action & biodiversity at Climate Week NYC Posted: 21 Sep 2020 05:00 AM PDT At Climate Week NYC, Firmenich, the world's largest privately owned perfume and taste company, is engaging with like-minded businesses and United Nations leaders to accelerate exponential action on the race to a zero-carbon future. Building on the Group's ambitious, science-based targets, Firmenich committed to three new initiatives on climate change, biodiversity and an inclusive recovery, advancing the Group's progress towards B Corp certification.
|
| Viktor Orban Joins Despot All-Stars Backing Trump 2020 Posted: 21 Sep 2020 04:43 AM PDT  Viktor Orban, the hardline nationalist, anti-LGBT, anti-Muslim prime minister of Hungary, has taken the highly unusual step of endorsing the sitting U.S. president for a second term.The strongman said he appreciated President Donald Trump's refusal to be swayed by morality."We root for Donald Trump's victory because we know well American Democratic government's diplomacy, built on moral imperialism," he said in a statement published Monday. "We have been forced to sample it before, we did not like it, we do not want seconds."Orban will face his own re-election battle in 2022 and would undoubtedly welcome an endorsement from Trump. "They prepare for a decisive battle in 2022, backed by the international media, Brussels bureaucrats, and NGOs disguised as civil organizations," Orban wrote. "It is time for us to line up too."Trump's illiberal instincts and outbursts like shouting "12 more years" at the Republican National Convention in August, have played well with the dictatorial set.During interviews for Bob Woodward's new book Rage, Trump admitted he has a soft spot for dictators. "The tougher and mean they are, the better I get along with them," he said.Orban's endorsement follows other hard-line leaders, including Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan, who condemned Joe Biden as "interventionist" over the weekend."Nobody can attack our nation's will and democracy or question the legitimacy of our President, who was elected by popular vote," Erdogan's press secretary wrote on Twitter. "We believe that these unbecoming statements, which have no place in diplomacy by a presidential candidate from our NATO ally, the United States, are unacceptable to the current administration too."U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that President Vladimir Putin is once again instructing his state apparatus to help Trump win the election. Last month, the director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center announced that the Russians were actively trying to undermine Biden. "We assess that Russia is using a range of measures to primarily denigrate former Vice President Biden and what it sees as an anti-Russia 'establishment.' This is consistent with Moscow's public criticism of him when he was Vice President for his role in the Obama Administration's policies on Ukraine and its support for the anti-Putin opposition inside Russia," William Evanina said. Russian state television also makes it clear that Putin is backing Trump. The Kremlin has not publicly endorsed him, but it continues to orchestrate pro-Trump propaganda. Lawmakers, state media experts, and pro-Putin pundits on the closely-monitored TV stations happily make it clear that the Kremlin is still backing Trump.Russian Media Is Rooting for Civil War in America: 'The Worse, the Better'Other conservative politicians, including Italy's Matteo Salvini, who is poised to make gains in regional elections on Monday, have endorsed a second term for Trump.Nigel Farage, the Brexit leader, has continued to campaign for Trump and predicts that he will defeat Biden in November.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.
|
| Navalny asks for his clothes back as no official probe into poisoning launched in Russia Posted: 21 Sep 2020 04:25 AM PDT  Alexei Navalny, Russia's opposition leader who was in a medically induced coma for weeks, has asked authorities to return belongings and clothes that were seized from him as no official inquiry has been launched into his poisoning in Russia. Mr Navalny, a prominent critic of Russian president Vladimir Putin, fell suddenly ill on a flight from Siberia to Moscow last month and spent weeks on a ventilator in a coma before regaining consciousness earlier this month. Several European laboratories independently confirmed that he had been poisoned with the Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok that was previously used in the attack on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury. Russian officials have launched a preliminary investigation but one month after Mr Navalny was poisoned no criminal investigation has been started. The opposition leader's team revealed last week that they managed to retrieve water bottles from his hotel room shortly after he fell sick on the plane and that traces of Novichok were found on one of those bottles. The clothes that Mr Navalny wore when he fell ill were seized by authorities before his medical evacuation to Germany. Mr Navalny in a blog post on Monday slammed the Russian government for refusing to investigate his poisoning. "I get a feeling as if I slipped in a supermarket and broke a leg instead of falling into a coma on a plane," he said. Mr Navalny, a lawyer, said that authorities are obliged to return his clothes that might contain traces of the poison now that the one-month deadline for opening a criminal probe has passed. "Thirty days of the preliminary investigation have been used to hide this important piece of evidence," he said. "My clothes are an important piece of evidence given the fact that Novichok was found on my body and that contamination by touch is quite possible. I demand that my clothes be packed in a plastic bag and returned to me." The 44-year old opposition leader said on Saturday that he is now being able to work with a "tremble" but added that simple tasks are still a challenge for him. Doctors have said his condition is improving but said it was too early to rule out long-term damage to his health.
|
| Nokia CEO signs UN pledge calling for renewed global co-operation Posted: 21 Sep 2020 04:15 AM PDT |
| Contraceptives Market to Exhibit 5.5% CAGR and Reach USD 30.15 Billion by 2027; Increasing Rates of Unwanted Pregnancies in North America to Favor Growth: Fortune Business Insights™ Posted: 21 Sep 2020 04:01 AM PDT |
| Iran: nuclear deal with world powers worth preserving Posted: 21 Sep 2020 03:59 AM PDT  The head of Iran's nuclear agency said Monday that the landmark 2015 deal between Tehran and world powers on his country's atomic program is struggling since the unilateral U.S. withdrawal, but is still worth preserving. Ali Akbar Salehi told delegates at a conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna that the so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, has been "caught in a quasi-stalemate situation" since President Donald Trump pulled the U.S. out in 2018. The remaining world powers in the deal — France, Germany, Britain, China and Russia — have been struggling to offset re-imposed American sanctions.
|
| 10 things you need to know today: September 21, 2020 Posted: 21 Sep 2020 03:59 AM PDT |
