Month: August 2020

The Chinese-owned social media app TikTok “is going to be out of business in the United States” on September 15, unless Microsoft or another company concludes a purchase deal that satisfies the U.S. government, President Donald Trump told reporters Monday.  “A very substantial portion of that price is going to have to come into the Treasury of the United States because we’re making it possible for this deal to happen,” explained Trump. “It’s a little bit like the landlord-tenant (relationship).”  The president suggested it would be “easier to buy the whole thing than to buy a portion” of TikTok. “How do you do 30 percent? Who is going to get the name? The name is hot. The brand hot. And who is going to get the name? How do you do that if it’s owned by two different companies?” Trump said at the White House. In a statement, Microsoft confirmed that its chief executive officer, Satya Nadella, had spoken to Trump and was committed to acquiring the company by the stated deadline.  “Microsoft will move quickly to pursue discussions with TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, in a matter of weeks, and in any event completing these discussions no later than September 15, 2020. During this process, Microsoft looks forward to continuing dialogue with the United States government, including with the president,” the statement read.  “Price is important as well as whatever restrictions come with it from a government perspective, but I think it’s an exciting avenue for Microsoft to really increase its consumer base,” the company’s largest individual shareholder, former CEO Steve Ballmer told CNBC earlier Monday.  The Chinese video app is extremely popular globally. It has been downloaded 2 billion times, including 165 million times in the United States.    TikTok features not only entertainment videos, but also debates, and it takes positions on political issues, such as racial justice and the coming U.S. presidential election.   Trump said late last week that he would ban the app because of security concerns. Trump Sets Clock Ticking for TikTokUS president has threatened to ban popular Chinese-owned social media app amid security concerns Officials in Washington have repeatedly expressed concern that TikTok may pose a security threat, fearing the company might share users’ data with the Chinese government.    ByteDance has said it does not share user data with the government of China and maintains that it stores Americans’ user data only in the United States and Singapore.  TikTok recently chose former Disney executive Kevin Mayer as its chief executive in a move seen as an effort to distance itself from Beijing.   TikTok General Manager Venessa Pappas uploaded a video on Saturday to reassure users that “we’re not going anywhere,” noting the platform has 1,500 employees in the U.S. and has been planning on bringing an additional 10,000 jobs into the country over the next three years.   The U.S. government’s Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), an interagency group led by the Treasury Department, opened a national security review of TikTok last year.    CFIUS’s job is to oversee foreign investments and assess them for potential national security risks. It can force companies to cancel deals or institute other measures it deems necessary for national security.     
  
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Putting your child on the bus for the first day of school is always a leap of faith for a parent. Now, on top of the normal worries about teachers and lessons and adjusting to new routines, there’s COVID-19.
Rachel Adamus was feeling those emotions at sunrise Monday as she got 7-year-old Paul ready for his first day of second grade and 5-year-old Neva ready for the start of kindergarten.
With a new school year beginning this week in some states, Adamus is struggling to balance her fears with her belief that her children need to go to school for the sake of their education. The death toll in the U.S. from the coronavirus has reached about 155,000, and cases are rising in numerous states.
As the bus pulled away from the curb in Adamus’ Dallas, Georgia, neighborhood, the tears finally began to fall.
“I tried not to cry. I’m usually not like this on the first day of school,” said Adamus, who said her aunt died from COVID-19 in Alabama and her husband’s great uncle succumbed to the virus in a New Jersey nursing home. “This is the hardest it’s been.”
The Adamus children are among tens of thousands of students in Georgia and across the nation who were set to resume in-person school Monday for the first time since March.
Both youngsters were wearing masks, although that is not mandatory for the 30,000 students in Paulding County, about 25 miles northwest of Atlanta.
Nine districts were starting face-to-face classes in Georgia, all also offering parents a stay-at-home virtual option. That’s in addition to three districts that started face-to-face classes last week. Five more Georgia districts were starting all-online classes on Monday.
Parents in Louisiana and Tennessee will also be among those navigating the new academic year as schools open up in parts of those states this week. Schools in Hawaii were supposed to reopen Tuesday, but the teachers union led a move to delay that until Aug 17.
Many schools are planning a hybrid approach, with students alternating between in-person classes and online instruction. Some schools will have full in-person instruction for lower grade levels only.
Many school districts around the country had offered parents a choice of at least some in-person classes or remote instruction. But an uptick in COVID-19 cases in many states has prompted districts to scrap in-person classes at least for the start of the school year, including Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Washington.
Adamus lives near North Paulding High School, where the principal sent a letter over the weekend announcing a football player tested positive for the coronavirus after attending practice. The Georgia High School Association, in a memo sent last week, said it has received reports of 655 positive tests since workouts for football and other sports started on June 8. Mandatory practices began statewide last week.
In Mississippi, where the virus is spreading fast, 44 districts begin classes in person this week, starting Monday with the rural 1,700-student Newton County system east of Jackson. The 2,700-student Corinth district was the first traditional district to begin class in Mississippi last week. By week’s end, one Corinth High student had tested positive and a dozen or more classmates were in quarantine.
In Indiana, where schools reopened last week, a student at Greenfield-Central Junior High School tested positive on the first day back to class.
School Superintendent Harold Olin said the student was tested days earlier and attended class before receiving the results. The student was isolated in the school clinic, while school nurses worked to identify others who may have had close contact.
“This really does not change our plans,” Olin said. “We knew that we would have a positive case at some point in the fall. We simply did not think it would happen on Day One.”
One student who won’t be starting at North Paulding on Monday is Aliyah Williams. Her mother, Erica Williams, said she was keeping the 14-year-old freshman home because two of her younger sons have cystic fibrosis and she can’t risk their being exposed. Williams said she thinks her daughter will be OK academically with online classes. But she’s worried about Aliyah’s inability to see her friends.
“She’s a social butterfly. That’s a big part of her personality,” Williams said.
Aliyah has been participating in color guard with the school band, but Williams said she is now “conflicted” about that too, considering the football player’s positive test.
Other parents have to balance their job with schooling decisions. Shannon Dunn has to report to her job this week as a cafeteria manager at an elementary school in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, but she has no idea what she will do when her daughter starts kindergarten with online-only instruction.
Dunn’s East Baton Rouge Parish district has asked employees to begin work this week, while students are set to begin virtual classes next week. School officials have said they hope to begin in-person classes after Labor Day.
“My family works. I have no one I can take her to and say, `OK, at 12 o’clock you are going to have to start working online with her for school,'” Dunn said.
Dunn said she hopes her daughter will be able to attend in-person classes at her school after Labor Day. But even if she does, that will not ease Dunn’s mind completely.
“I’m definitely going to worry,” she said. “I will send her to in-person classes, but if I hear of the spread of COVID at the school, then I’d have to rethink it all over again.” 
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Lawmakers in Nevada have agreed to send ballots to all voters in the western U.S. state for November’s presidential election, a move that drew an immediate rebuke from President Donald Trump as unfair to Republicans.The legislation, which is expected to be signed by Democratic Governor Steve Sisolak, would make Nevada the eighth state to automatically send mail-in ballots to make it easier to vote and avoid long lines at polling places on Nov. 3 in the midst of the continuing surge of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States.Trump has contended, without evidence, that increased mail-in voting, in Nevada and elsewhere, will lead to widespread election fraud and an election rigged against him.The president threatened to sue to block the change in the voting regimen in Nevada, where he lost by 27,000 votes to Democrat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election. Polling shows the state leaning toward the presumptive Democratic candidate, former Vice President Joe Biden, over Trump in the election three months from now.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 6 MB480p | 8 MB540p | 11 MB720p | 21 MB1080p | 45 MBOriginal | 50 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioNevada has six electoral votes of the 270 needed to win the presidency in the Electoral College, the country’s indirect system of democratic national elections in which the state-by-state outcomes determine who wins a four-year term in the White House.  In a Twitter comment, Trump said, “In an illegal late night coup, Nevada’s clubhouse Governor made it impossible for Republicans to win the state. Post Office could never handle the Traffic of Mail-In Votes without preparation. Using Covid to steal the state. See you in Court!”In an illegal late night coup, Nevada’s clubhouse Governor made it impossible for Republicans to win the state. Post Office could never handle the Traffic of Mail-In Votes without preparation. Using Covid to steal the state. See you in Court! https://t.co/cNSPINgCY7— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 3, 2020COVID-19 is the disease caused by the coronavirus.In previous years, five of the 50 states, including Republican-dominated Utah, have conducted mail-in votes with few allegations of fraud. Two Democratic states, California and Vermont, moved this year to adopt mail-in voting, but Trump has launched a lengthy string of verbal attacks on states that have revised restrictions to make it easier to vote in the midst of the pandemic.More than voter fraud, the country could be facing an issue regarding counting on Election Day, Nov. 3, with most Americans accustomed to learning who won the presidency the same day they cast ballots.The counting of mail-in ballots in states that have held political party primary elections in recent months has extended for weeks in some contests, possibly presaging difficulties throughout the country in the presidential election. Two elections in New York that were held in late June have yet to be decided because of the slow count of mailed-in ballots.
 
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White House coronavirus experts said Sunday the outbreak has hit a new phase, becoming “extraordinarily widespread” in rural areas as well as big cities.
 
“To everybody who lives in a rural area: You are not immune or protected from this virus,” Dr. Deborah Birx, White House task force coordinator, said on CNN Sunday.
 
She said the virus in August is not what it looked like in March and April, when only large cities and heavily populated states were reporting cases.  
 
Birx stressed the importance of wearing masks indoors if the elderly or those with underlying health conditions are in the house.  
 
A senior official at the Department of Health and Human Services, Admiral Brett Giroir, appeared on NBC’s Meet the Press. He also talked about the importance of wearing masks and avoiding crowds.  
 
“That’s why we’re going to all the states, we’re on local radio, we give specific instructions to every governor by county, what they need to do when we start — when those counties start tipping yellow, because that’s the time when you have to stamp it down,” he said.  
 
About the same time that Birx was on CNN, Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi was on ABC television accusing Birx of helping President Donald Trump spread disinformation about COVID-19.
 
Pelosi was responding to a question about a Politico article where she reportedly said the Trump administration is in “horrible hands” in part because of Birx.
 
“I think the president is spreading disinformation about the virus, and she’s his appointee,” Pelosi said on ABC’s “This Week.” “I don’t have confidence, no.”
 
Trump continues to insist that the reason the United States has the highest number of COVID cases in the world — 4.6 million, according to Johns Hopkins University data — is because the U.S. does more testing than anyone else.
 
He tweeted Sunday that the top U.S. infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, was wrong when he said last week that Europe’s relative success in fighting the virus is because it shut down twice as many businesses as the U.S. did.  
 
“Wrong!” Trump tweeted. “We have more cases because we have tested far more than any other country, 60,000,000. If we tested less, there would be less cases. How did Italy, France & Spain do? Now Europe sadly has flare ups. Most of our governors worked hard & smart. We will come back STRONG!” Mr. Trump wrote.Passers-by wear masks to protect against the coronavirus as they walk past an empty business location, in Boston’s Downtown Crossing neighborhood, Aug. 2, 2020.COVID elsewhereOn Sunday, Manchester, England, declared what it calls a major incident because of a jump in coronavirus cases in the city.
 
The city council said people should not be alarmed, calling the declaration “standard practice.”
 
New lockdown measures have been imposed, including banning members of two different households from mixing in pubs and restaurants.
 
British health officials also announced plans Sunday to introduce millions of COVID-19 tests that they say can detect the virus in 90 minutes.  
 
The tests will be distributed to hospitals, nursing homes and laboratories.
 
“The fact these tests can detect flu as well as COVID-19 will be hugely beneficial as we head into winter, so patients can follow the right advice to protect themselves and others,” Health Minister Matt Hancock said.  
 
Another European leader, Kosovo’s Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti, said Sunday he has COVID-19 and will spend two weeks in isolation.
 
“I don’t have symptoms expect a very mild cough,” Hoti said on his Facebook page.
Thirteen more coronavirus deaths were reported Sunday in Kosovo, bringing the total to 249 deaths and 90,000 cases.
 
In Australia, Victoria declared a “State of Disaster” Sunday after 700 new COVID-19 cases were confirmed overnight.
 
Measures include an overnight curfew starting at 8 p.m. and only one member from a household will be allowed to go shopping and only at a store within five kilometers of home.  
 
“You have to err on the side of caution and go further and harder,” Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews said.  
 
The Philippines will impose stricter measures starting Tuesday after the number of cases there shot past the 100,000 mark.
 
Some businesses will be closed, and anyone not quarantined or having to report to a job will need a pass.  
 
President Rodrigo Duterte appeared on nationwide television Sunday after a group representing nearly 2 million doctors and nurses said they are afraid the country is losing the fight against COVID-19.  
 
“Our health care workers are burnt out with the seemingly endless number of patients trooping to our hospitals,” the medical groups said in a letter to Duterte.  
 
“I have heard you. Don’t lose hope. We are aware that you are tired,” he said.  
 
Finally, President Trump is no different from millions of American parents who want their children to have a normal school year, but he may not see his wish come true.
 
Trump’s 14-year-old son, Barron, will be among those taking at least some of his classes online this fall.
 
Barron is about to enter the ninth grade at the private St. Andrew’s Episcopal School in Potomac, Maryland. The school is in Montgomery County, where health officials have ordered all schools, private and public, to remain closed at least through October 1st when the decision will be reevaluated.
 
St. Andrew’s is considering a hybrid plan that would allow students to take some classes in person and others remotely. 
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White House coronavirus experts said Sunday the outbreak has hit a new phase, becoming “extraordinarily widespread” in rural areas as well as big cities.
 
“To everybody who lives in a rural area: You are not immune or protected from this virus,” Dr. Deborah Birx, White House task force coordinator, said on CNN Sunday.
 
She said the virus in August is not what it looked like in March and April, when only large cities and heavily populated states were reporting cases.  
 
Birx stressed the importance of wearing masks indoors if the elderly or those with underlying health conditions are in the house.  
 
A senior official at the Department of Health and Human Services, Admiral Brett Giroir, appeared on NBC’s Meet the Press. He also talked about the importance of wearing masks and avoiding crowds.  
 
“That’s why we’re going to all the states, we’re on local radio, we give specific instructions to every governor by county, what they need to do when we start — when those counties start tipping yellow, because that’s the time when you have to stamp it down,” he said.  
 
About the same time that Birx was on CNN, Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi was on ABC television accusing Birx of helping President Donald Trump spread disinformation about COVID-19.
 
Pelosi was responding to a question about a Politico article where she reportedly said the Trump administration is in “horrible hands” in part because of Birx.
 
“I think the president is spreading disinformation about the virus, and she’s his appointee,” Pelosi said on ABC’s “This Week.” “I don’t have confidence, no.”
 
Trump continues to insist that the reason the United States has the highest number of COVID cases in the world — 4.6 million, according to Johns Hopkins University data — is because the U.S. does more testing than anyone else.
 
He tweeted Sunday that the top U.S. infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, was wrong when he said last week that Europe’s relative success in fighting the virus is because it shut down twice as many businesses as the U.S. did.  
 
“Wrong!” Trump tweeted. “We have more cases because we have tested far more than any other country, 60,000,000. If we tested less, there would be less cases. How did Italy, France & Spain do? Now Europe sadly has flare ups. Most of our governors worked hard & smart. We will come back STRONG!” Mr. Trump wrote.Passers-by wear masks to protect against the coronavirus as they walk past an empty business location, in Boston’s Downtown Crossing neighborhood, Aug. 2, 2020.COVID elsewhereOn Sunday, Manchester, England, declared what it calls a major incident because of a jump in coronavirus cases in the city.
 
The city council said people should not be alarmed, calling the declaration “standard practice.”
 
New lockdown measures have been imposed, including banning members of two different households from mixing in pubs and restaurants.
 
British health officials also announced plans Sunday to introduce millions of COVID-19 tests that they say can detect the virus in 90 minutes.  
 
The tests will be distributed to hospitals, nursing homes and laboratories.
 
“The fact these tests can detect flu as well as COVID-19 will be hugely beneficial as we head into winter, so patients can follow the right advice to protect themselves and others,” Health Minister Matt Hancock said.  
 
Another European leader, Kosovo’s Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti, said Sunday he has COVID-19 and will spend two weeks in isolation.
 
“I don’t have symptoms expect a very mild cough,” Hoti said on his Facebook page.
Thirteen more coronavirus deaths were reported Sunday in Kosovo, bringing the total to 249 deaths and 90,000 cases.
 
In Australia, Victoria declared a “State of Disaster” Sunday after 700 new COVID-19 cases were confirmed overnight.
 
Measures include an overnight curfew starting at 8 p.m. and only one member from a household will be allowed to go shopping and only at a store within five kilometers of home.  
 
“You have to err on the side of caution and go further and harder,” Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews said.  
 
The Philippines will impose stricter measures starting Tuesday after the number of cases there shot past the 100,000 mark.
 
Some businesses will be closed, and anyone not quarantined or having to report to a job will need a pass.  
 
President Rodrigo Duterte appeared on nationwide television Sunday after a group representing nearly 2 million doctors and nurses said they are afraid the country is losing the fight against COVID-19.  
 
“Our health care workers are burnt out with the seemingly endless number of patients trooping to our hospitals,” the medical groups said in a letter to Duterte.  
 
“I have heard you. Don’t lose hope. We are aware that you are tired,” he said.  
 
Finally, President Trump is no different from millions of American parents who want their children to have a normal school year, but he may not see his wish come true.
 
Trump’s 14-year-old son, Barron, will be among those taking at least some of his classes online this fall.
 
Barron is about to enter the ninth grade at the private St. Andrew’s Episcopal School in Potomac, Maryland. The school is in Montgomery County, where health officials have ordered all schools, private and public, to remain closed at least through October 1st when the decision will be reevaluated.
 
St. Andrew’s is considering a hybrid plan that would allow students to take some classes in person and others remotely. 
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Microsoft Corp said Sunday it would continue talks to acquire popular short-video app TikTok from Chinese internet giant ByteDance. Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump has agreed to give ByteDance 45 days to negotiate the sale, two people familiar with the matter said Sunday.
 
Microsoft, which is aiming to conclude talks by Sept. 15, released a statement following a conversation between CEO Satya Nadella and Trump. It said it would ensure that all of the private data of TikTok’s American users is transferred to and remains in the United States.
 
“Microsoft fully appreciates the importance of addressing the president’s concerns. It is committed to acquiring TikTok subject to a complete security review and providing proper economic benefits to the United States, including the United States Treasury,” Microsoft said in a statement.
 
The company added there was no certainty a deal would be reached.
 
The ByteDance-Microsoft negotiations will be overseen by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, a U.S. government panel that has the right to block any agreement, the two sources added.
 
ByteDance, Microsoft and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.  
 
Earlier Sunday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Fox News that Trump would take action soon.
 
“President Trump has said ‘enough’ and we’re going to fix it and so he will take action in the coming days with respect to a broad array of national security risks that are presented by software connected to the Chinese Communist Party,” Pompeo said on “Sunday Morning Futures.”
 
And Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told ABC on Sunday that the Committee on Foreign Investment on the United States “agrees that TikTok cannot stay in the current format because it risks sending back information on 100 million Americans.”
 
Over the weekend several Republican senators said they backed a plan for ByteDance to divest the U.S. operations of TikTok.
 
Senator John Cornyn, a Texas Republican, said on Twitter that a divestment “and purchase by U.S. company is win-win.”
 
Senator Roger Wicker, a Republican who chairs the Commerce Committee, added that “tight security measures need to be part of any deal in order to protect consumer data and ensure no foreign access.”
 
Republican Senator Marco Rubio said on Twitter “if the company & data can be purchased & secured by a trusted U.S. company that would be a positive & acceptable outcome.”
 
On Saturday, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said the “right answer” to address security concerns about TikTok would be to “have an American company like Microsoft take over TikTok. Win-win. Keeps competition alive and data out of the hands of the Chinese Communist Party.” 
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More than four and a half million coronavirus infections have been confirmed in the United States, and June statistics show unemployment is at over 11%. Senate Republicans and House Democrats remain at odds over a relief bill for Americans. VOA’s Esha Sarai has more.
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Two U.S. astronauts returned to Earth on Sunday, splashing safely into the Gulf of Mexico after a two-month mission to the International Space Station aboard the commercially developed SpaceX spacecraft Crew Dragon.Astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley landed at midafternoon off the western coast of Florida, avoiding the dangers of Tropical Storm Isaias moving along the Atlantic Ocean coast of the southern state.The two men had lifted off to space from Florida in May, the first NASA astronaut launch from U.S. soil since 2011 and the first time a commercially developed spacecraft had carried humans into orbit.Hurley and Behnken, both married to astronauts, departed the International Space Station on Saturday night. They awoke to a recording of their young children urging them to “rise and shine” and “we can’t wait to see you.””Don’t worry, you can sleep in tomorrow,” said Behnken’s 6-year-old son, Theo, who was promised a puppy after the flight. “Hurry home so we can go get my dog.”The Dragon capsule slowed from an orbital speed of 28,000 kph to 560 during reentry into the atmosphere and finally to 24 kph at splashdown.In this frame grab from NASA TV, the SpaceX Dragon capsule splashes down Aug. 2, 2020, in the Gulf of Mexico.More than 40 staff were on a SpaceX recovery ship, including doctors and nurses who planned to examine the two astronauts.  NASA astronauts last returned from space to water on July 24, 1975, in the Pacific, the scene of most splashdowns.Until the SpaceX launch, the U.S. had relied in recent years on Russian rockets to send its astronauts to the space station. The private company is planning its next launch near the end of September, sending four astronauts to the space station for six months. 
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John Barrett plans to keep his daughter home from elementary school this year in suburban Atlanta, but he wishes she was going. Molly Ball is sending her teenage sons to school in the same district on Monday, but not without feelings of regret. As the academic year begins in many places across the country this week, parents are faced with the difficult choice of whether to send their children to school or keep them home for remote learning because of the coronavirus pandemic. Many are unhappy with either option.  “I definitely think it’s healthy for a child to go back to school,” said Ball, who feels her sons, William and Henry, both at River Ridge High School in Georgia’s Cherokee County district, suffered through enough instability in the spring. “At the same time, I wish they weren’t going back to school right now. It’s very scary.” Molly Ball talks to her son Henry about plans to send him back to in-person classes this fall, as they stand outside their house in Woodstock, Ga., July 23, 2020.Offering parents choices eases some of the problems facing schools. If some students stay home, that creates more space in buildings and on buses.  But the number of families with a choice has dwindled as the virus’s spread has prompted school districts to scrap in-person classes — at least to start the academic year — in cities including Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Washington, as well as parts of the South and Midwest where school is starting this week.  Many districts that don’t begin instruction until after Labor Day are warily tracking the virus — and weighing concerns of educators  and parents — as they consider plans including hybrid approaches, with in-person learning at least a few days a week.  In Cherokee County, administrators have stuck with plans to offer in-person school five days a week despite pressure from some parents and teachers. The countywide district also rejected demands to require masks inside school buildings. The families of about 23% of Cherokee County’s 43,000 students have opted for them to learn remotely from home. Barrett said the mask decision contributed to his decision to keep Autumn, who is in a special education program, home to start third grade at Bascomb Elementary School. “At a minimum, there ought to be a mask mandate, and maybe a staggered schedule. They’re not interested in responding to the realities of the virus as it’s happening in Georgia,” Barrett said. Barrett works from home and his wife, who has an educational background, isn’t employed. He says that gives them “an ability to bridge the gap.” But he worries that Autumn will still fall behind, especially on her individualized education program, the plan written for each special education student. “She gives up a lot of the ability to make progress on her IEP,” Barrett said. “It’s a big decision, and it feels like a definite loss.” Parents are not the only ones who are struggling. Districts that offer two modes of instruction create new challenges for teachers as well, especially those in smaller districts who are being asked to educate students in person and online at the same time.  “The key is going to be the complexity, how they handle it,” said Allen Pratt, executive director of the National Rural Education Association. “Is it going to be standards-driven, what students need to move to the next grade level? Is it going to be equal to face-to-face or better than face-to-face?” Denise Dalrymple is reluctantly sending her two sons back to first and sixth grades in Cherokee County because she says it’s impossible for her to work otherwise. Like many districts, the county says it will have increased academic expectations for online learning this fall, compared to the spring. “You basically have to make the student’s education time a priority over your own job,” Dalrymple said. Others are more enthusiastic about a return.  “It was automatic because my husband and I both work, because it would have upset both of our schedules,” said Jackie Taylor, who has three school-aged children and lives in nearby Canton. She said her children have been around other kids this summer, making the transition back to school less concerning. “We use the neighborhood pool, we do the sports,” Taylor said as she watched her son practice baseball. “Obviously they’re in close proximity in the dugouts.” Siana Onanovic said her son Kelvin will be attending Woodstock High, also in the Cherokee district, in person as a freshman. That’s in part because the special science and engineering curriculum that drew her family to the school’s attendance zone isn’t available online.  But, like many, she had her reservations. “There are so many pros and cons on each side,” she said.   
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The White House and top congressional Democrats remained at odds Sunday over the scope of more assistance for 30 million American workers left unemployed by the coronavirus pandemic. In back-to-back appearances on ABC’s “This Week” show, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the leader of the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, sparred over how much new aid the national government should approve beyond less generous state unemployment benefits. Motorists take part in a caravan protest in front of Senator John Kennedy’s office at the Hale Boggs Federal Building asking for the extension of the $600 in unemployment benefits to people out of work because of the coronavirus in New Orleans, La.Four months of $600-a-week extra national benefits expired Friday. But Pelosi and other Democrats want to extend the payments through the end of 2020, while President Donald Trump and his administration initially want to cut the extra aid to $200 a week while working toward a package that would set the aid at 70% of what a worker had been paid before being laid off as the virus swept through the United States. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California, speaks to reporters following a meeting at the Capitol on a COVID-19 relief bill, Aug. 1, 2020, in Washington.Pelosi, Mnuchin, Senate Democratic leader Charles Schumer and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said Saturday they had made progress in reaching a deal on the unemployment assistance and other aid to boost the country’s flagging economy. Their aides were set to resume discussions Sunday on details of a package while the main negotiators planned to renew their talks on Monday. They remain far apart on the size of an overall coronavirus assistance package, however, with Democrats calling for $3 trillion in new spending and Republicans wanting to limit it to $1 trillion. The Pelosi and Mnuchin disagreements quickly became apparent on the ABC talk show. “Overwhelmingly this is about keeping people out of poverty,” Pelosi said. “The $600 is essential,” she said. “This is about putting workers first, putting money in the pockets of American workers.” She did not, however, rule out the possibility of settling on a smaller continuing aid figure, but criticized some Republican lawmakers “who don’t want (to approve) anything.” She said the new assistance should be tied to unemployment rate. She downplayed complaints by Republicans that some unemployed workers have collected more in jobless benefits than they were paid while working. Mnuchin said Trump “is very concerned about the expiration” of the benefits” and “wants to spend what we need to.” But Mnuchin said he was surprised Democrats have spurned a White House offer to extend the $600-a-week federal benefits for a week while talks continue.  He said the continuing benefits “should be tied to some percentage of wages.” Mnuchin said “there’s no question some people were paid more to stay home than to work,” an outcome Republicans are determined to end. He said the virus has “devastated our economy.” Mnuchin said last week’s report that the U.S. economy, the world’s largest, fell 9.5% from April to June, the most in records dating back seven decades, was not surprising. He expressed optimism for the future, however. “I think we’re going to see a very big bounce back,” especially in 2021, he said.  
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A New York Times survey of 270 U.S. colleges and universities has uncovered 6,600 COVID-19 infections among students and staff and 14 coronavirus-related deaths.Hundreds of the almost 1,000 schools the newspaper contacted did not reply to the questions. The statistics do not include numbers for the fall semester that has already started at some schools.“This data, which is almost certainly an undercount, shows the risks colleges face as they prepare for a school year in the midst of a pandemic,” the newspaper said.American educators are cobbling together a hodgepodge of plans on how best to protect students and staff from the virus. Some have taken all classes online, while other have a mixture of online and in-class learning.China is sending seven Chinese health officials, the first of a 60-member team to Hong Kong Sunday to begin widespread COVID-19 testing in the territory. The global financial hub is experiencing a third wave of the coronavirus outbreak. Hong Kong’s new infections have been in the triple digits for the past 11 days.A cyclist passes a group of police and soldiers patrolling the Docklands area of Melbourne on Aug. 2, 2020, after the announcement of new restrictions to curb the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus.Australia has not been hit as hard as some countries with the coronavirus, but the state of Victoria has experienced a recent surge in cases, resulting in the imposition of new lockdown restrictions in Melbourne, the capital, effective Sunday. Victoria is Australia’s second-most-populous state.The coronavirus pandemic, declared by the World Health Organization on March 11, will be a lengthy one, the WHO said Saturday.Citing the likelihood of response fatigue, the health organization’s emergency committee anticipates the COVID-19 pandemic will be long and the global risk level of COVID-19 very high, it said in a statement.So far, worldwide, at least 17.8 million people have been infected and more than 685,000 people have died, according to Johns Hopkins University data.”It’s sobering to think that six months ago,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said before entering the meeting as it began Friday, “there were less than 100 cases and no deaths outside China.”Lawmakers for the Navajo Nation, another group hit hard by the pandemic, approved nearly $651 million in spending to fight COVID-19. The funds came from more than $714 million the tribe received as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act.About 175,00 people live on the reservation that spreads across parts of New Mexico, Arizona and Utah. About one-third of the homes lack running water, and quarantining is an unfamiliar concept.As of Friday, the tribe reported more than 9,000 people infected and 456 deaths.On Saturday, Vietnam said it plans to test everyone in Danang, a city of 1.1 million people, for the coronavirus.The country had been a success story, passing 100 days without a new case of the coronavirus-caused disease, when a cluster of cases surfaced in the popular resort city.Forty new cases were reported Saturday and four more Sunday, for a total of nearly 600 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and three deaths.Up to 800,000 visitors to Danang have left for other parts of the country since July 1, the Health Ministry said Saturday, adding that more than 41,000 people have visited three hospitals in the city since.New coronavirus cases in other cities, including Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, have links to Danang.Also Saturday, France began testing travelers for the coronavirus when they arrive at an airport or port from one of 16 countries. Travelers can skip the test if they have proof of a negative test within 72 hours.France is not allowing most travel to or from those 16 countries, which include the U.S. and Brazil.Confirmed cases of COVID-19 have increased in France recently to more than 225,000 and more than 30,200 deaths. It is now mandatory to wear a face mask in indoor public spaces. 
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The Portland Police Bureau declared an unlawful assembly Saturday night when people gathered outside a police precinct in Oregon’s largest city and threw bottles towards officers, police said.Until that point, federal, state and local law enforcement had been seemingly absent from the protests Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The demonstrations – that for weeks ended with tear gas, fireworks shot towards buildings, federal agents on the street and injuries to protesters and officers – have recently ended with chanting and conversations.Activists and Oregon officials urged people at Saturday night’s protest in Portland to re-center the focus on Black Lives Matter, three days after the Trump administration agreed to reduce the presence of federal agents.Groups gathered Saturday evening in various areas around downtown Portland to listen to speakers and prepare to march to the Justice Center and Mark O. Hatfield Courthouse.One of the more popular events, “Re-centering why we are here – BLM,” was hosted by the NAACP. Speakers included activists as well as Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley and Portland City Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty.Merkley and Hardesty spoke about policies they are putting forward, including to cut police funding and restrict chokeholds.“The next thing we need you to do is vote like your life depends on it, because guess what, it does,” Hardesty said.For the first time since the presence of federal agents in Portland diminished law enforcement and protesters noticeably clashed Saturday night.As one group of protesters gathered outside the courthouse another marched to a precinct for the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office and Portland Police Bureau.Police stated that protesters threw glass bottles and directed lasers at officers. Just before 10 p.m., Portland police declared an unlawful assembly and told people to disperse or they may be subject to use of force or be arrested. Police could be seen charging, multiple times, at protesters in the area.At the courthouse, the scene was different. Around 11:30 p.m. hundreds of people remained, standing and listening to speakers.By midnight, protesters again began to march through the streets downtown.Thursday and Friday’s protests also attracted more than 1,000 people _ both nights were relatively peaceful. In a news release early Saturday, the Portland Police Bureau described Friday’s crowd as subdued and said there was no police interaction with protesters.At one point during Friday’s protest, a lone firework was shot at the courthouse. In the weeks past the action would be met with more fireworks or teargas canisters being dropped over the fence into the crowd. This time, protesters chastised the person who shot the firework, pleading to keep the demonstration peaceful.The relative calm outside a federal courthouse that’s become ground zero in clashes between demonstrators and federal agents had come after the U.S. government began drawing down its forces under a deal between Democratic Gov. Kate Brown and the Trump administration.Portland had seen more than two months of often violent demonstrations following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. In early July, President Donald Trump sent more federal agents to the city to protect the federal courthouse, but local officials said their presence made things worse. 
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The United States has condemned the Hong Kong government’s decision to postpone the Legislative Council elections initially scheduled for September 6, 2020, for one year.“There is no valid reason for such a lengthy delay,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement Saturday, adding that “the elections should be held as close to the September 6 date as possible.”If elections are not held in “a manner that reflects the will and aspirations of the Hong Kong people,” he said, the semi-autonomous city “will continue its march toward becoming just another Communist-run city in China.”Pompeo called the postponement a “regrettable action” which confirms Beijing’s intention not to honor the Sino-British Joint Declaration, an UN-registered treaty, and the Basic Law, when Britain turned Hong Kong to China in 1997.China’s hand-picked Hong Kong leader, Carrie Lam, announced Friday that the city’s September legislative election would be postponed for a year, because of the coronavirus pandemic.The move is seen as a blow to the pro-democracy camp, which was widely expected to do well in the election.Observers say the postponement was the latest in a series of moves by the government in recent days to thwart the pro-democracy movement.Just recently, Hong Kong authorities fired two pro-democracy academics active in politics, arrested four young activists on national security charges and issued arrest warrants for six others, including a U.S. citizen, and disqualified 12 pro-democracy candidates for the legislative election.The six have fled the territory and are wanted on suspicion of violating the national security legislation that entered into force a month ago.Two prominent U.S. legislators, Congressman Eliot Engel, Chairman of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, and Senator Robert Menendez, the senior Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, issued a stern warning to China Friday, saying in a statement that “if Beijing thinks that this effort will silence those who stand for freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law, it is gravely mistaken: today we are all Hong Kongers.” “This action only further undermines the credibility of China as a responsible rule-abiding member of the international community,” Engel and Menendez said.  
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Florida, already hard hit by the coronavirus, is bracing for another brutal blow Sunday as Tropical Storm Isaias is expected to strengthen into a hurricane again on its way to the Sunshine State.Isaias weakened from a hurricane to a tropical storm Saturday after it blew through the Bahamas.“Don’t be fooled by the downgrade,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Saturday. “We’ll start seeing impacts tonight.”Isaias is moving northwest with maximum sustained winds of 110 kph, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said late Saturday. It is expected to reach the southeastern coast of Florida early Sunday and travel up the state’s east coast toward North Carolina.Both the southern U.S. states Florida and North Carolina have declared hurricane warnings.DeSantis has declared a state of emergency for a dozen counties on the Atlantic coast. Heavy rains from the storm are expected to arrive over the Carolinas by early next week.”The most important thing we want people to do now is remain vigilant,” DeSantis said.Florida is one of the U.S. states hardest hit by the novel coronavirus, with more than 480,000 cases and more than 7,000 deaths as of Saturday.The storm has prompted authorities in parts of Florida to close coronavirus testing sites at a time cases have been growing in the state.Officials in Miami-Dade County said they do not believe it will be necessary to open evacuation centers for this storm but said 20 centers remain on standby in case conditions change.In North Carolina, in addition to declaring emergencies in coastal counties, Gov. Roy Cooper also ordered the evacuation of Ocracoke Island, which was hit by last year’s Hurricane Dorian.In the Bahamas, Isaias downed trees and knocked out power. Officials evacuated people in Abaco and in the eastern end of Grand Bahama. 
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The coronavirus pandemic, declared by the World Health Organization on March 11, will be a lengthy one, the WHO said Saturday.Citing the likelihood of response fatigue, the health organization’s emergency committee anticipates the COVID-19 pandemic will be long and the global risk level of COVID-19  very high, it said in a statement.So far worldwide, at least 17.7 million people have been infected and at least 681,000 people have died, according to Johns Hopkins University data.”It’s sobering to think that six months ago,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said before entering the meeting as it began Friday, “there were less than 100 cases and no deaths outside China.”In the United States, which leads the world in confirmed cases, 4.6 million, and deaths, more than 145,000, another member of the U.S. Congress has tested positive for the virus.Rep. Raul Grijalva, 72, a Democrat from Arizona, on Saturday became at least the 11th member of Congress to test positive for the coronavirus. Grijalva is the chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, where he sat close to Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert, who earlier this week tested positive for the virus. It is unclear where Grijalva was exposed to the virus, and like Gohmert, he has no symptoms.“While I cannot blame anyone directly for this, this week has shown that there are some members of Congress who fail to take this crisis seriously,” Grijalva said in the statement. “Numerous Republican members routinely strut around the Capitol without a mask to selfishly make a political statement at the expense of their colleagues, staff, and their families.”Lawmakers for the Navajo Nation, another area hit hard by the pandemic, passed nearly $651 million in spending to fight the coronavirus. The funds came from more than $714 million the tribe received as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act.A man walks his dog as the sun sets in Asuncion, Paraguay, Aug. 1, 2020, amid the novel coronavirus pandemic.About 175,00 people live on the reservation that spreads across parts of New Mexico, Arizona and Utah. About one-third of the homes lack running water, and quarantining is an unfamiliar concept.As of Friday, the tribe reported more than 9,000 people infected and 456 deaths.On Saturday, Vietnam said it plans to test everyone in Danang, a city of 1.1 million, for the coronavirus.The country had been a success story, passing 100 days without a new case of coronavirus, when a cluster of cases surfaced in the popular resort city.Forty new cases were reported Saturday and four more Sunday, for a total of nearly 600 confirmed cases of coronavirus and three deaths.Up to 800,000 visitors to Danang have left for other parts of the country since July 1, the Health Ministry said Saturday, adding that more than 41,000 people have visited three hospitals in the city since.New coronavirus cases in other cities, including Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, have links to Danang.Also Saturday, France began testing travelers for the coronavirus when they arrive at airport or port from one of 16 countries. Travelers can skip the test if they have proof of a negative test within 72 hours.France is not allowing most travel to or from those 16 countries, which include the U.S. and Brazil.Daily confirmed cases of COVID-19 have increased in France recently to more than 225,000 and more than 30,200 deaths. It is now mandatory to wear a face mask in indoor public spaces. 
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Eastman Kodak Co. on Monday granted its executive chairman options for 1.75 million shares as a result of what a person familiar with the arrangement described as an “understanding” with its board that had previously neither been listed in his employment contract nor made public.One day later, the administration of President Donald Trump announced a $765 million financing deal with Eastman Kodak, and in the days that followed the stock soared, making those additional options now held by executive chairman Jim Continenza worth tens of millions.The decision to grant Continenza options was never formalized or made into a binding agreement, which is why it was not disclosed previously, according to the person familiar with the arrangement. The options were granted to shield Continenza’s overall stake in the company from being diluted by a $100 million convertible bond deal clinched in May 2019 to help Eastman Kodak stay afloat, according to the person’s account.While Kodak’s approach is permissible, it is unusual because executives are paid to grow a company’s long-term value and are not usually given extra compensation personally to cover events that may hurt share prices, several experts said.Kodak disclosed the stock options award to Continenza in a filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which was previously reported. But the person familiar with the arrangement told Reuters that the transaction occurred because of the understanding with the board.Unexpected windfallThat arrangement reported by Reuters for the first time sheds new light on Eastman Kodak’s handling of the unexpected windfall for its top executives.An Eastman Kodak spokeswoman said that Continenza had no comment. The spokeswoman said the gains reflected by the rise in the share price are only on paper: Continenza, she said, “is a strong believer in the future of the company and has never sold a single share of stock.”Prior to this week’s financing deal, the company warned investors it was at risk of not continuing as a going concern, but it was boosted by the agreement with the Trump administration on Tuesday to supply drug ingredients.As a result, Continenza’s gains at the end of this week amounted to about $83 million following a roughly tenfold increase in Eastman Kodak’s stock, compared with the approximately $53 million in gains he would have seen were it not for the additional options, according to a Reuters analysis of company filings.Roughly 29% of the options Continenza received on Monday vested immediately, giving him the right to cash them out as soon as possible.FILE – The Kodak logo is shown during the 2017 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada, Jan. 6, 2017.Wide latitude on optionsWhile most corporate boards and their committees have wide latitude in awarding options, three corporate governance experts interviewed by Reuters said the move to mitigate the impact of dilution on Continenza’s stake in the company without a prior contractual obligation was unusual.”The compensation committee’s job is not to protect the CEO from every adverse effect on the stock price,” said Sanjai Bhagat, a finance professor at the University of Colorado. “It’s to get the CEO to think about long-term value.”A fourth expert, Robin Ferracone, chief executive of compensation consultant Farient Advisors, said the company might have offered the prospect of additional options to executives as they worked toward the convertible bond offering — to avoid their being “disincentivized” to seal a deal that would help the firm but potentially water down their holdings.The additional options awarded to Continenza, a former telecommunications executive, were approved by the board’s compensation committee on Monday, the spokeswoman said. Shareholders had voted in May of this year to increase the shares available for executive compensation.”The issue is the board wanted to make sure the CEO had the same economic alignment as was contemplated when he took the job,” said a person close to the company.The company’s market capitalization jumped from a little over $100 million at the start of the week to almost $1 billion by Friday following the deal.Other executivesEastman Kodak also granted options on Monday to three other executives, worth $712,000 each, according to regulatory filings. Kodak declined to comment on the reason for these awards.The company has struggled to reinvent itself from a flagging camera company after emerging from bankruptcy in 2013. Its selection by the U.S. government for the production of key pharmaceutical ingredients surprised many industry analysts who expected such a deal to go to a major generic drugmaker.The government’s U.S. International Development Finance Corp. released a July 28 statement quoting Continenza as saying: “Kodak will play a critical role in the return of a reliable American pharmaceutical supply chain.”Trump, too, hailed the development. “I want to congratulate the people in Kodak,” he said at a press briefing. “They’ve been working very hard.”
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A pair of NASA astronauts face the final and most important part of their SpaceX test flight: returning to Earth with a rare splashdown.Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken took part in a farewell ceremony Saturday at the International Space Station, several hours ahead of their planned departure on a SpaceX Dragon capsule.  Despite approaching Hurricane Isaias, NASA said the weather looks favorable for a Sunday afternoon splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico near Panama City, Florida. It will be the first splashdown for astronauts in 45 years. The last time was following the joint U.S.-Soviet mission in 1975 known as Apollo-Soyuz.The astronauts’ homecoming will cap a two-month mission that ended a prolonged launch drought in the U.S., which has relied on Russian rockets to ferry astronauts to the space station since the end of the shuttle era.  In launching Hurley and Behnken from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on May 30, SpaceX became the first private company to send people into orbit. Now SpaceX is on the verge of becoming the first company to bring people back from orbit.  “The hardest part was getting us launched, but the most important is bringing us home,” Behnken said.  A successful splashdown, Behnken said, will bring U.S.-crew launching capability “full circle.”This photo provided by NASA shows, from left, front, astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley on the International Space Station, Aug. 1, 2020. Behnken and Hurley are scheduled to leave the station in a SpaceX capsule Saturday and splashdown Sunday.Space station commander Chris Cassidy, who will remain on board with two Russians until October, presented Hurley with the small U.S. flag left behind by the previous astronauts to launch to the space station from U.S. soil, in July 2011. Hurley was the pilot of that final shuttle mission.The flag — which also flew on the first shuttle flight in 1981 — became a prize for the company that launched astronauts first.  Elon Musk’s SpaceX easily beat Boeing, which isn’t expected to launch its first crew until next year and will land in the U.S. Southwest. The flag has one more flight after this one: to the moon on NASA’s Artemis program in the next few years.”We’re a little sad to see them go,” Cassidy said, “but very excited for what it means to our international space program to add this capability” of commercial crew capsules. The next SpaceX crew flight is targeted for the end of September.Hurley and Behnken also are bringing back a sparkly blue and purple dinosaur named Tremor. Their young sons chose the toy to accompany their fathers on the historic mission.
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As the Nov. 3 presidential vote nears, there are fresh signs that the nation’s electoral system is again under attack from foreign adversaries.Intelligence officials confirmed in recent days that foreign actors are actively seeking to compromise the private communications of “U.S. political campaigns, candidates and other political targets” while working to compromise the nation’s election infrastructure. Foreign entities are also aggressively spreading disinformation intended to sow voter confusion heading into the fall.There is no evidence that America’s enemies have yet succeeded in penetrating campaigns or state election systems, but Democrat Joe Biden’s presidential campaign confirmed this week that it has faced multiple related threats.The former vice president’s team was reluctant to reveal specifics for fear of giving adversaries useful intelligence.Because of such secrecy, at least in part, foreign interference largely remains an afterthought in the 2020 contest, even as Republicans and Democrats alike concede it poses a serious threat that could fundamentally reshape the election at any moment. Biden’s campaign is increasingly concerned that pro-Russian sources have already shared disinformation about Biden’s family with President Donald Trump’s campaign and his Republican allies on Capitol Hill designed to hurt the Democratic candidate in the days leading up to the election.Top Democrats Sound Alarm About Election InterferenceIn a letter to the FBI, lawmakers say they are ‘gravely concerned’ about a campaign to ‘launder and amplify disinformation,’ even as top US officials are promising any attempts at election meddling will be punishedWhen asked directly, the Trump campaign refused to say whether it had accepted materials from any foreign nationals related to Biden. Trump was impeached last year after being caught pressuring Ukrainian leaders to produce damaging information about work Biden’s son did in the region, even though repeated allegations of corruption against the Bidens have been widely discredited.Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, a key Trump ally and chair of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, denied having accepted any damaging materials on Biden from foreign nationals even after at least one Ukranian national, Oleksandr Onyshchenko, told The Washington Post he had shared tapes and transcripts with Johnson’s committee and Trump ally Rudy Giuliani. House Democrats announced Friday they have subpoenaed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for documents he turned over to Johnson’s panel.”It does a disservice to our election security efforts when Democrats use the threat of Russian disinformation as a weapon to cast doubt on investigations they don’t like,” Johnson spokesperson Austin Altenburg said.The 2020 campaigns and party committees have been receiving regular briefings from the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, whose director, Bill Evanina, released a rare public statement last week confirming Russia’s continued work to meddle in the U.S. election.Evanina said that Russia, as part of an effort to weaken the U.S. and its global standing, has been spreading disinformation to undermine confidence in American democracy and “to denigrate what it sees as an anti-Russia ‘establishment’ in America.”The threat is not limited to Russia. China, a target of escalating condemnation across the Trump administration in recent weeks, has been looking for ways to affect American policy, counter criticism of Beijing and pressure political figures it views as opposed to Chinese interests, Evanina said, while Iran has been involved in circulating disinformation and anti-American content online.Trump’s team reported no specific foreign threats against the president’s campaign, but campaign general counsel Matthew Morgan highlighted the Republican Party’s yearslong effort to install various voter ID requirements across the country — including photo verification, signature matching and witness requirements — as an important tool to block foreign interference.”Contrary to their narrative, the Democrats’ efforts to tear these safeguards apart — as they sue in 18 states across the nation — would open our election system up to foreign interference,” Morgan said. “That’s why we’re fighting back — to protect the sanctity of our election system.”Despite Morgan’s argument, there is no evidence of significant voter fraud in U.S. politics, whether by American voters or foreign nationals.And there is no evidence, as Trump repeatedly charges, that an increased reliance on mail balloting this fall leaves the electoral system particularly vulnerable to outside meddling. The president pointed to those baseless claims this week to suggest delaying the election, something that can’t be done without support in Congress, where Democrats and Republicans alike rejected the notion.There is ample evidence, however, that foreign powers are trying to sow confusion by spreading misinformation in addition to seeking to hack into political campaigns, as Evanina said last week.Russian Influence in Britain is ‘New Normal,’ Intelligence Committee WarnsLong-awaited House of Commons report released, laying bare Kremlin-sponsored bids to influence outcomes of British elections, other votes, and to meddle in workings of British democracy generallyFormer Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, a Republican, described Trump’s warnings about mail voting “absurd” and “ridiculous.””He should be far more forceful and far more direct in condemning foreign interference,” Ridge said in an interview. “The enemy is not within.”Foreign interference played a significant role in the 2016 election, of course.U.S. intelligence agencies determined that Russian operatives seeking to boost Trump’s campaign hacked into the Democratic National Committee’s servers and later shared damaging messages with WikiLeaks while running a covert social media campaign aimed at sowing discord among American voters.All told, the Justice Department charged 25 Russian nationals in a covert effort to spread disinformation on social media and in the hacking of Democratic emails. While Trump has downplayed the threat of Russian meddling, he authorized a 2018 cyberattack against the Russian troll farm known as the Internet Research Agency.Lest there be any doubt about continued foreign interference in 2020, U.S. officials confirmed this week that Russian intelligence services have been using a trio of English-language websites to spread disinformation about the politically charged coronavirus pandemic.Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said in an interview that foreign adversaries “never stopped trying to interfere with our election process.”He noted that the foreign meddling includes some new tactics compared to 2016. He noted, for example, that the Internet Research Agency is operating under a different name.Warner declined to be more specific about 2020 interference, which has been discussed in classified briefings. He said he has a “huge concern” that voters don’t appreciate the true nature of the threat.”The idea that we could be headed into Labor Day without the American public being officially put on notice seems grossly inappropriate,” Warner said.
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President Donald Trump went to one of his private golf courses Saturday in Virginia after threatening to halt operations in the United States of a popular Chinese-owned video sharing social media app. “As far as TikTok is concerned, we’re banning them from the United States,” he told reporters Friday on Air Force One traveling with him from Florida. He said he would likely use an executive order to prohibit the app. No action was announced before the president left the White House Saturday morning for the Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia.Trump was seen by VOA dressed casually departing the West Wing of the White House. It is common for him on weekends to golf at his 325-hectare property, which is located 40 kilometers northwest of the White House.   Trump also told reporters on Air Force One the previous day that he does not support a deal that would allow a U.S. company to buy TikTok’s American operations. The app is extremely popular globally. It already has been downloaded 2 billion times worldwide, and 165 million of those downloads were in the United States. The app features not only entertainment videos, but also debates, and it takes positions on political issues, such as racial justice and the coming U.S. presidential election. Officials in Washington are concerned that TikTok may pose a security threat, fearing the company might share its user data with China’s government.When asked by Fox News last month whether Americans should download the app on their phones, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said, “Only if you want your private information in the hands of the Chinese Communist Party.” TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, has said it does not share user data with the Chinese government and maintains that it only stores U.S. user data in the U.S. and Singapore. ByteDance has agreed to divest the U.S. operations of TikTok completely in a bid to save a deal with the White House, the Reuters news agency reported Saturday. TikTok also recently chose former Disney executive Kevin Mayer as its chief executive in a move seen as an effort to distance itself from Beijing. “Banning an app like TikTok, which millions of Americans use to communicate with each other, is a danger to free expression and technologically impractical,” said the American Civil Liberties Union.  The U.S. government’s Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), an interagency group led by the Treasury Department, opened a national security review of TikTok last year.  CFIUS’s job is to oversee foreign investments and assess them for potential national security risks. It can force companies to cancel deals or institute other measures it deems necessary for national security.Microsoft and other U.S. companies, in recent days, reportedly have been looking to purchase the U.S. operations of TikTok.Some on social media are accusing Trump of singling out TikTok because pranksters used the app to order hundreds of thousands of tickets to his June 20 rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, which attracted a smaller-than-expected crowd. TikTok is also where comedian Sarah Cooper posts her videos lip-synched to Trump sound bites, which have attracted millions of views.  Cooper on Friday, uploaded a video mouthing comments made by the president earlier in the day about TikTok.   How to tick tack pic.twitter.com/1Mn8nk363f
— Sarah Cooper (@sarahcpr) July 31, 2020
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The U.S. National Hurricane Center said early Saturday that Hurricane Isaias is getting “a little stronger” as it drenches the Bahamas and makes its way toward the U.S. mainland.Isaias is moving northwest with maximum sustained winds at 135 kph, according to meteorologists.Isaias, located about 185 kilometers south southeast of Nassau, is expected to make landfall on Florida’s southeastern coast late Saturday or Sunday.The southern U.S. states of Florida and North Carolina have declared hurricane warnings.Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has declared a state of emergency for a dozen counties on the Atlantic Coast. Heavy rains from the storm are expected to begin in Florida on Saturday and arrive over the Carolinas by early next week.In North Carolina, Gov. Roy Cooper also declared emergencies in coastal counties and ordered the evacuation of Oracoke Island, which was hit by last year’s Hurricane Dorian.The hurricane has prompted authorities in parts of Florida to close coronavirus testing sites at a time when cases have been growing in the state.Officials in Miami-Dade County said they do not believe it will be necessary to open evacuation centers for this storm but said 20 centers remain on standby in case conditions change.In the Bahamas, officials evacuated people in Abaco and in the eastern end of Grand Bahama who have been living in temporary structures since Hurricane Dorian.Earlier, while still a tropical storm, Isaias lashed Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, causing power outages and small landslides.A man died in the Dominican Republic when he was electrocuted by a fallen electrical cable, according to the Associated Press.U.S. President Donald Trump has signed an emergency declaration for Puerto Rico, which has yet to fully recover from 2017’s Hurricane Maria and a recent series of earthquakes.Isaias is the ninth named storm of a busy Atlantic hurricane season. This is the earliest date a storm beginning with the letter “I” has formed.   
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The U.S. Gross Domestic Product contracted 9.5% in the second quarter, the worst drop ever recorded according to data published by the Department of Commerce. The massive fall in economic output comes as the country experiences a surge in coronavirus cases that has forced many states to tap the brakes on reopening plans in an effort to again slow the spread of the disease. VOA correspondent Mariama Diallo reports.
Camera: Skype
Produced by: Kim Weeks
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Two prominent members of the U.S. Congress issued a stern warning to China on Friday in response to arrest warrants issued for six pro-democracy activists, including a U.S citizen, under Hong Kong’s new national security law.Chinese state television said Friday Hong Kong authorities had issued warrants for Nathan Law, Wayne Chan Ka-kui, Honcques Laus, Simon Cheng, Ray Wong Toi-yeung and Samuel Chu, a U.S. citizen. The six have fled the territory and are wanted on suspicion of violating the national security legislation that entered into force a month ago.Congressman Eliot Engel, Chairman of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, and Senator Robert Menendez, the senior Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a statement, “If Beijing thinks that this effort will silence those who stand for freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law, it is gravely mistaken: Today we are all Hong Kongers.”Engel and Menendez said they were deeply concerned by the decision of pro-Beijing authorities of the semi-autonomous territory, which included “an extraterritorial warrant for the arrest of an individual who has been a United States citizen for over two decades.”“This action only further undermines the credibility of China as a responsible rule-abiding member of the international community,” they said. 
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The first wave of college students returning to their dorms aren’t finding the typical mobs of students and parents. What they found Friday were strict safety protocols and some heightened anxiety amid a global pandemic where virus infections are growing in dozens of states.North Carolina State University staggered the return of its students over 10 days and welcomed the first 900 students to campus, where they were greeted Friday by socially distant volunteers donning masks and face shields.The rite of passage was a well-organized but low-key affair, as boxes were unloaded, luggage was wheeled and beds were hauled.”It’s just odd not seeing anybody. You expect it to be hustle and bustle and all that around, but there was nothing. It was pretty empty,” said Dominick DePaola, an incoming freshman from Charlotte, North Carolina.Across the country, students are jumping through additional hoops by getting tests, navigating travel quarantines, and abiding by strict rules.Elon University in North Carolina mailed testing kits to all 7,000 students ahead of their arrival in a few weeks. Maine’s Colby College will be testing students before they arrive and then three times a week for the first two weeks on campus. They’ll be tested twice a week after that, until the semester ends.The University of Rhode Island is scaling back campus housing to abide by distancing requirements, causing a scramble for some students.At N.C. State, the university usually houses 10,000 students but will have 6,700 on its Raleigh campus this fall, said Chancellor Randy Woodson. And those students were arriving over an extended period instead of all at once over a single weekend as they normally would.Volunteer and student Nathan Hsieh wears a face shield as he assists college students who begin moving in for the fall semester at N.C. State University in Raleigh, N.C., July 31, 2020.”Just like the rest of the world, we have to figure out how to carry on,” said Betsy Flanagan, who was sending her freshman son, Arch, off to college. “This virus isn’t going away and it’s going to be with us for quite a while, so we all have to figure out how to safely exist, and that includes continuing to educate our future.”In West Virginia, one university put out the welcome mat Friday for students and their families, only to temporarily pull it away.Over an eight-day stretch, students at West Virginia State University, a small historically Black college, were given staggered, two-hour time slots to unload belongings into their residence halls, then were sent home until the start of the fall semester on August 10.”I don’t have anything to worry about,” said Jihad Shockley, a sophomore resident assistant from Columbus, Ohio, and a member of the Yellow Jackets’ men’s basketball team. “It’s like, if you get it, quarantine for two weeks (and) hope for the best. I guess I’m not really too scared about it.”Nationwide, it appears that the second surge of confirmed virus cases appears to be leveling off. But scientists warn that trend is driven by four big, hard-hit places — Arizona, California, Florida and Texas — and that cases are rising in more than two dozen other states.Students appeared to be ready to accept the risk and move on.Freshman Nicholas Cecil, of Hilliard, Ohio, missed his senior season of baseball and his high school prom, called off due to the virus. He’s ready to put that behind him at West Virginia State University, where he’s on the baseball team.”Honestly, it’s a new chapter in my life,” Cecil said. “It’s meeting new people, getting out, and playing baseball at a high level. It’s kind of the first step to being an adult. You’re living more so on your own.”In North Carolina, students were happy to be on campus, even if it was a bit subdued, compared to the normal, frenetic move-in process.”Because of corona, I didn’t really have too many expectations,” said Ann Grace Jacocks, an incoming freshman from Fayetteville, North Carolina.”A lot of classes are going to be online, so that’s not fun, but other than that, I’m ready to go,” said Arch Flanagan, an incoming freshman. 
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The southern U.S. states of Florida and North Carolina have declared hurricane warnings after Hurricane Isaias drenched the Bahamas and headed toward the U.S. East Coast.Hurricane Isaias had sustained winds Friday of 120 kph and was expected to strengthen during the night, the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said. The storm is currently a Category 1 hurricane with a chance of increasing to a Category 2, however the eye is forecast to stay in the Atlantic Ocean and not turn toward land.”While current projections have the eye of Isaias remaining at sea, the situation remains fluid and can change quickly,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis told a media briefing.DeSantis issued a state of emergency for a dozen counties on the Atlantic Coast. Heavy rains from the storm are expected to begin in Florida late Friday and hit the Carolinas by early next week.In North Carolina, Gov. Roy Cooper also declared emergencies in coastal counties and ordered the evacuation of Oracoke Island, which was hit by last year’s Hurricane Dorian.South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster told reporters he did not think a state of emergency was necessary.The hurricane has prompted authorities in parts of Florida to close coronavirus testing sites at a time when cases have been growing in the state.DeSantis said testing sites would remain open on Florida’s west coast as well as in some eastern hospitals and community centers.Officials in Miami-Dade County said they do not believe it will be necessary to open evacuation centers for this storm but said 20 centers remain on standby in case conditions change.In the Bahamas, officials evacuated people in Abaco and in the eastern end of Grand Bahama who have been living in temporary structures since Hurricane Dorian.Earlier, while still a tropical storm, Isaias hit Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, causing power outages and small landslides.A man died in the Dominican Republic when he was electrocuted by a fallen electrical cable, according to the Associated Press.U.S. President Donald Trump has signed an emergency declaration for Puerto Rico, which has yet to fully recover from 2017’s Hurricane Maria and a recent series of earthquakes.Isaias is the ninth named storm of a busy Atlantic hurricane season. This is the earliest date a storm beginning with the letter “I” has formed.  
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