| Trump says he is holding up coronavirus aid to block Postal Service funds for voting by mail Posted: 13 Aug 2020 08:10 AM PDT  The president said on Thursday that he is willing to block a relief package because it contains money for the U.S. Postal Service that would shore up election infrastructure amid the pandemic.
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| Oregon State Police Withdraws from Portland Courthouse after D.A. Announces He Won’t Prosecute Most Rioters Posted: 14 Aug 2020 05:50 AM PDT  Oregon state police are backing out of an agreement to protect the Portland federal courthouse from rioters, after the Multnomah County district attorney announced he will not prosecute most rioters who are arrested.Portland has seen riots almost every night since the May death of George Floyd, an African American man killed during his arrest by Minneapolis police officers. Rioters initially targeted the federal courthouse in the city, but after federal and state law enforcement came to an agreement to jointly protect the courthouse, rioters moved on to attack city police.Multnomah County D.A. Mike Schmidt announced on Tuesday that his office would not prosecute most rioters who have been arrested, except where charges include deliberate property damage, theft, or threat of violence. Police have arrested over 500 people since the riots began, but less than 50 have been prosecuted so far.Oregon state police told KOIN 6 on Thursday that they are ending their deployment at Portland's federal courthouse because of anger over Schmidt's decision after being called in to assist as part of the agreement reached between local authorities and the federal government."The Oregon State Police is continually reassessing our resources and the needs of our partner agencies and at this time we are inclined to move those resources back to counties where prosecution of criminal conduct is still a priority," OSP said in a statement.Governor Kate Brown said the withdrawal was being coordinated between all relevant agencies."This transition was made in coordination with local and federal officials," Brown wrote on Twitter. "If further state support is needed in Portland, OSP troopers will be available to return to the city.""The OSP Troopers assigned to this event demonstrated the best traditions of the agency's commitment to service, however, our initial commitment to the City of Portland has concluded and it is time we integrate this valuable resource back to their respective communities," OSP said in a statement to National Review. "OSP will always be here for Portland, as we have for decades and I'll continue to assess subsequent resource demands with the Portland Police Bureau Chief, whom I have a great deal of respect for and a strong working relationship."
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| Bald eagle takes down government drone Posted: 13 Aug 2020 04:24 PM PDT  The device was mapping shoreline erosion when it was attacked in the air.
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| You Need These High-Design Lawn Games to Maximize Summer Fun Posted: 14 Aug 2020 07:00 AM PDT |
| 3 women arrested for allegedly attacking a Chili's host for enforcing social distancing Posted: 14 Aug 2020 11:57 AM PDT  "I was kind of fighting for my life," restaurant hostess Kelsy Wallace, 17, said. "I was really scared, calling out for my mama."
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| The Beirut blast leveled historic neighborhoods. Some fear developers may finish the job Posted: 13 Aug 2020 04:33 AM PDT  Restoring historic districts badly damaged in the Beirut blast will be a tall order given Lebanon's weak economy and developers' eagerness to move in.
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| Venezuela jails 15 for decades over botched invasion Posted: 14 Aug 2020 02:51 PM PDT  Venezuela on Friday sentenced 15 people to more than two decades in prison over a failed invasion plot that President Nicolas Maduro has said was an attempt to overthrow him.
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| Cop fired for racist Christmas decorations returns to work Posted: 13 Aug 2020 03:40 PM PDT |
| White House report recommends Georgia issue statewide mask mandate Posted: 14 Aug 2020 11:36 AM PDT  Georgia Governor Brian Kemp is trying to stop Atlanta from mandating masks.
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| Ex-FBI lawyer to plead guilty to falsifying documents in Russia inquiry; first case brought in DOJ review Posted: 14 Aug 2020 10:44 AM PDT  Former FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith was charged with making false statements in the Russia inquiry.
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| Scorching temperatures in Death Valley will shatter records in West, southwest Posted: 13 Aug 2020 11:01 AM PDT  Cities like Las Vegas, Phoenix, Tucson and Salt Lake City could experience record high temperatures in the coming days.
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| U.S. judge dismisses NRA lawsuit challenging gun shop closures in New York state Posted: 14 Aug 2020 01:24 PM PDT  A federal judge on Friday dismissed the National Rifle Association's lawsuit challenging New York's decision to close gun stores in the state in the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic. The decision came eight days after New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a lawsuit seeking to dissolve the gun rights group, accusing senior leaders of corruption including the improper diversion of millions of dollars. U.S. District Judge Mae D'Agostino said the NRA lacked standing to challenge on behalf of its members a March 20 executive order by Governor Andrew Cuomo requiring gun stores to close in the state because they were "non-essential" businesses.
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| The US said federal agents have seized millions of dollars in bitcoin from terrorist groups al-Qaeda and Hamas Posted: 14 Aug 2020 11:38 AM PDT  Officials said it's the US government's "largest-ever" seizure of cryptocurrency accounts controlled by terrorist organizations.
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| A slogan whose ambiguity serves a purpose Posted: 13 Aug 2020 03:00 AM PDT  The fact that the slogan "Defund the police" needs explanation is a plus because it serves as a quick, catchy way into a larger, more complex story.
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| India Supreme Court finds Prashant Bhushan guilty of contempt Posted: 14 Aug 2020 12:47 AM PDT  The court took action on its own authority against Prashant Bhushan for allegedly derogatory tweets.
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| Bison violently attacks motorcyclist in South Dakota Posted: 14 Aug 2020 11:04 AM PDT  A motorcyclist has survived a violent attack by a bison in the Black Hills of South Dakota, sheriff's officials said.
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| Mozambique's leader blames 'war' in north on wealth-seekers Posted: 14 Aug 2020 05:06 AM PDT |
| Police: North Carolina man faces murder charge in shooting death of 5-year-old boy Posted: 13 Aug 2020 06:27 PM PDT  Darius Sessoms, 25, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of 5-year-old Cannon Hinnant in North Carolina.
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| Mei Xiang, the National Zoo's female giant panda, is very pregnant and her cub could come as soon as this weekend Posted: 14 Aug 2020 12:11 PM PDT  The panda cub could be the first cub at The National Zoo since Bei Bei was born in 2015. He left to China last year.
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| Close contact with a Covid-19 sufferer brings 20 per cent chance of catching virus, study finds Posted: 13 Aug 2020 08:34 AM PDT  Coming into close contact with a Covid-19 sufferer yields a 20 per cent chance of catching the disease, a new study shows. The large-scale survey, by Imperial College London, found antibodies in one in five people who said they had interacted with a positive case. Overall, some 3.4 million people are now estimated to have been infected with coronavirus – about six per cent of the population. The results come from the world's largest home testing programme looking for past evidence of the disease, using fingerprick testing kits. The study tracked the spread of infection across England after the pandemic's first peak, with volunteers testing themselves at home between June 20 and July 13. People living in London were most likely to have been infected, along with those working in care homes and health care, people from black, Asian and minority ethnic groups and people living in larger households. The programme suggested a total of 13 per cent of people living in London had Covid-19 antibodies, compared with less than three per cent in the south-west of England. People working in care homes (16 per cent) and healthcare (12 per cent) returned far higher results than people who were not key workers, at five per cent. The study found that 17 per cent of black volunteers had antibodies, while the categories of Asian and other ethnic minorities had 12 per cent each. The figure among white volunteers was only five per cent. People aged 18-34 showed the highest incidence of antibodies, at eight per cent, while the over-65s had the lowest rate, at just three per cent (the graphic below shows infections by age range during July and August).
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| Cadillac will charge a subscription fee for Super Cruise, its answer to Tesla's Autopilot, after the trial period ends Posted: 13 Aug 2020 10:06 AM PDT  Cadillac's subscription fee for the Super Cruise technology will kick in after the first three years of use are up.
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| Rudy Giuliani: US would become ‘banana republic’ if Biden administration prosecuted Trump Posted: 13 Aug 2020 03:20 PM PDT  President Donald Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani has said that if a future administration under Joe Biden tried to prosecute Donald Trump, the country would become a "banana republic."During an appearance on Fox News on Wednesday, Mr Giuliani was asked "how damaging would it be for a Biden administration to criminally prosecute a former president?"
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| US seizes millions of dollars of Iranian fuel bound for Venezuela Posted: 14 Aug 2020 01:47 PM PDT  The US says it seized 1.1 million barrels of fuel from four tankers en route to Venezuela.
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| Astronomers find "Milky Way look-alike" 12 billion light years away Posted: 13 Aug 2020 04:08 PM PDT  The galaxy appears as a near-perfect ring of light — a so-called "Einstein Ring."
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| Ammonium Nitrate Blew Up Beirut. It Also Fuels Africa’s Most Dangerous Illegal Mines. Posted: 13 Aug 2020 01:43 AM PDT  ABUJA, Nigeria—The ammonium nitrate that exploded last week in Beirut—killing 154 people, injuring more than 5,000 and causing widespread destruction—was destined for Mozambique, a transit point for raw materials in the explosives trade, where shipments often end up in the hands of illegal Chinese-owned mining companies with dubious human rights records. Almost seven years ago, Fábrica de Explosivos de Moçambique (FEM), a Mozambican firm that produces explosives, ordered 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate from a Georgian company known as Savaro for the purpose of manufacturing explosives for mining companies. But the substance was transported in September 2013 on the Russian ship Rhosus, which docked in Beirut, where it tried to make more money by picking up several pieces of heavy machinery, and never made it to Mozambique, as Lebanese authorities impounded the cargo for failing to pay port fees.FEM, a company majority-owned by the Portuguese explosives company Moura Silva e Filhos, has come under intense scrutiny since the ammonium nitrate it ordered caused the blast in Beirut on Aug. 4. A spokesperson for the company admitted to CNN that FEM had ordered the substance from Georgia but was told several months later by the company that was supposed to facilitate the transfer to Mozambique that the vessel carrying ammonium nitrate had been seized in Lebanon and that the order was "not going to be delivered." As a result, according to the spokesperson, FEM "never paid for it." Beirut Government Was Warned Over Explosives in Port Two Weeks Before Deadly Blast: ReportBut FEM's claim that it didn't pay for the ammonium nitrate has been disputed by a number of sources. Baroudi and Partners, a Lebanese law firm representing the ship's crew, said in a statement on Aug. 5 that the substance was purchased by the International Bank of Mozambique (IBM) for FEM. An official in Mozambique's Justice Ministry who didn't want to be named also told The Daily Beast that IBM "did the transaction on behalf of FEM."Conflicting reports regarding the final destination of the ammonium nitrate have also raised questions regarding the transparency of the purchase. While the Mozambican port authorities said on Aug. 6 that the substance was meant to be transported from a port in the eastern city of Biera, where the Russian ship would have arrived from Beirut, to either Zambia or Zimbabwe, Mozambique's largest weekly newspaper, Savana, reported that the ammonium nitrate was actually supposed to be used for the manufacturing of explosives for the Brazilian mining company, Vale, which operates the country's largest coal mine in the western Tete province. FEM did not respond to The Daily Beast's request for comments.The explosives market across Mozambique, as well as in neighboring Zambia and Zimbabwe, is huge, with dozens of mining firms depending on big companies like FEM for explosives. (Landlocked Zambia and Zimbabwe also depend on Mozambique's seaports for imports that come across the water). But the three countries are also the preferred places for a high number of illegal miners who, despite not being licensed to operate, are still able to obtain explosives from manufacturers on the black market.A Mozambican customs official informed The Daily Beast privately that explosives are usually transported by land from FEM offices in Mozambique to Zambia where they are sold to mining companies in the country. The company itself does have an office in Zambia and there are allegations that it sells explosives to illegal miners, including unscrupulous Chinese nationals."Explosives companies including FEM do not carry out serious background checks on some of these so-called mining companies," the official said. "Because of that, criminal companies, especially those owned by Chinese people, are mining in Zambia simply because they have explosives."FEM's presence in Africa is quite significant. The company, which specializes in the manufacture and application of explosives for commercial purposes, also has subsidiary companies in Zambia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola and commercial agreements in Malawi. But it is in Mozambique, where it has its head office, that its operations are most known.FEM is said to have sold explosives to Mineradora Industrial de Cassassole, a Chinese company operating in Tete province whose illegal mining operations led to the death of one of its workers two years ago.It was revealed after the worker—29-year-old Sakson Lobiano—died in 2018 that Mineradora Industrial de Cassassole, which was only licensed by Mozambican authorities to operate an open cast gold mine in Tete's northern Macanga district, decided to operate underground and opened an illegal shaft 90 meters deep, where Lobiano was killed. The miner died from inhaling dust and toxic particles from an explosion that was ignited by a Chinese co-worker, who had no training in underground work or license to handle explosives."We believe the company got those explosives from FEM," Alex Camacho, a local environmental activist in Tete, told The Daily Beast. "[FEM] is where virtually every mining company gets it explosives from."In its website, FEM boasts that it has been the main company "responsible for manufacturing and supplying the Mozambican explosives market" since its founding in 1955. It also noted that in the last two decades it has expanded to become a reference in the whole of southern Africa. But its growth has also come with accusations of negligence."That Mozambique has so many illegal miners who all have access to explosives should tell everyone that the manufacturers are letting their explosives get to the wrong hands," said Camacho who is individually campaigning against illegal mining in Tete. "In Mozambique, once you think about explosives, you think about FEM."Mozambique, the world's seventh-poorest country, has suffered years of illegal mining as well as logging of its natural forests by Chinese companies that take advantage of widespread corruption in the impoverished country to gain access.According to the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), an international NGO with offices in London and Washington, D.C., Chinese companies in 2012 imported between 189,615 and 215,654 cubic meters of timber that had been illegally exported from Mozambique. The illegal action comprised a huge 48 percent of China's imports from the African nation.But it is in the mining sector that exploitation by Chinese-owned companies in southeast Africa have been mostly noted.There are several Chinese mining and explosives companies operating in Zambia and many of them have been accused of human rights abuses and negligence towards safety regulations.In 2005, 52 Zambian workers were killed at a Chinese-owned explosives factory near Chambeshi, a town in Zambia's copper belt. In 2010, Zambia charged two Chinese managers with attempted murder after they opened fire on protesting Zambian workers. Seven years later, Zambian authorities arrested 31 Chinese nationals for illegal mining in the copper belt.In Zimbabwe, Chinese-run mines have been dogged with several allegations of human rights violations of local workers.Early this year, local miners in Matabeleland South province protested their sacking by their Chinese employer, whom they also accused of constantly beating up workers. Their protest was followed by complaints in April by workers in another mining company of being underpaid and working without protective clothing as COVID-19 began to spread. Then came the shooting of two Zimbabwean mining workers in June by their Chinese boss during a row with workers over outstanding pay in central Zimbabwe."Chinese mining companies do what they like in southeastern Africa and no one can question them," said Camacho, the environmental activist. "It is sad that the government agencies that are supposed to regulate their activities are only concerned about the money they can generate from these companies."Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Antifa website redirected to Biden’s campaign site causes right-wing conspiracy meltdown Posted: 13 Aug 2020 02:23 PM PDT  The website for anti-facist group Antifa redirected to Joe Biden's campaign website on Wednesday, which led some people to claim that the Democrats are connected to the organisation.For a few hours on Wednesday, Antifa.com redirected to JoeBiden.com, the campaign website of the presumptive Democratic candidate for president, before it returned back to the original page of the group Donald Trump has described as being run by "anarchists."
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| EU eyes sanctions over disputed Belarus election 'as soon as end-August' Posted: 13 Aug 2020 04:37 AM PDT  The European Union will likely impose new sanctions on Belarus as soon as later this month, diplomats and officials said, after President Alexander Lukashenko cracked down on protests triggered by a disputed election. Germany, Lithuania, Latvia and Sweden have spoken publicly in favour of sanctions and Austria was another hawk, according to the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of emergency talks between EU foreign ministers on Friday. Security forces have clashed with protesters in Minsk and other Belarusian cities in recent days after Lukashenko claimed a landslide re-election victory in a vote on Sunday that his opponents say was rigged.
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| US says Iran forces board ship in international waters Posted: 13 Aug 2020 12:35 AM PDT  Iranian forces boarded a tanker in international waters in the Gulf of Oman, using a helicopter and two ships to take over the vessel for several hours, US officials said. "Today in international waters, Iranian forces, including two ships and an Iranian "Sea King" helicopter, overtook and boarded a ship called the 'Wila'," the US Central Command said in a tweet on Wednesday.
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| Nigerian police rescue Kano man locked up in his parents' garage Posted: 14 Aug 2020 09:52 AM PDT  The emaciated aged 30 had been left for at least three years without proper care, police say.
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| ‘The President Was Not Encouraging’: What Obama Really Thought About Biden Posted: 14 Aug 2020 02:11 AM PDT  Behind the friendship was a more complicated relationship, which now drives the former vice president to prove his partner wrong.
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| Drug-dealing stripper wanted white supremacist gang to kill Texas roommate, feds say Posted: 14 Aug 2020 01:29 PM PDT  Besides dancing and dealing, the Dallas man had murder on his mind, according to authorities.
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| Iowans grapple with aftermath of Monday's deadly derecho, 'a disaster that we have never seen' Posted: 14 Aug 2020 12:00 PM PDT  The National Guard arrived in Cedar Rapids on Friday to assist residents there after Monday's deadly derecho storm that was like a hurricane
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| Nearly half of women said they've been cheated on during the pandemic in a dating app survey Posted: 13 Aug 2020 06:16 AM PDT  A survey of 2,000 users by Dating.com found 45% of women reported being cheated on since early March.
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| Special Tactics Airman Who Fought Off Taliban Despite Concussion Will Get Silver Star Posted: 13 Aug 2020 12:08 PM PDT  For his actions on May 25, 2013, in Afghanistan's eastern Ghazni province, John Grimesey will receive the Silver Star.
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| Chainsaw-wielding men covered in blood arrested on Toronto beach Posted: 14 Aug 2020 09:54 AM PDT  Two men have been arrested after appearing on a Canadian beach spattered in blood and wielding chainsaws.Witnesses alleged that they menaced and "charged" at various people gathered at Toronto's Cherry Beach on Sunday morning, before police quickly intervened, responding to reports of a large fight.
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| Defying precedent, Trump says he will give Republican convention speech from the White House lawn Posted: 13 Aug 2020 05:49 PM PDT  "I'll probably be giving my speech at the White House because it is a great place," Trump told the New York Post on Thursday.
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| The COVID-19 virus can spread through the air – here's what it'll take to detect the airborne particles Posted: 14 Aug 2020 05:12 AM PDT  A growing body of research shows that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, can spread from person to person through the air. Indoor spaces with poor ventilation in areas where the virus is prevalent are particularly hazardous.In the fictional world of "Star Trek," public health officials and first responders would be able to determine instantly if a space had a dangerous concentration of airborne virus, and any other pathogen, by simply waving around a tricorder. That technology, imagined 60 years ago, is still firmly in the realm of fiction. However, devices that can rapidly detect particular airborne pathogens – including SARS-CoV-2 – are in the works in various research laboratories. The air we breatheDetection of the presence of airborne virus particles is complicated by the mixture of other particles in the air. The atmosphere includes a large number of floating particles, a significant fraction of which are biological. Typically, with each breath, you inhale about a thousand biological particles.These bioaerosols include live and dead organisms, including viruses, bacteria, fungi, pollen and plant and animal debris. Viruses are the smallest of these particles. They range in size from 10 to 300 nanometers, or millionths of a millimeter. In contrast, red blood cells average about 6 to 8 microns, or 6,000 to 8,000 nanometers, in diameter. Bacteria range from 1 to 4 microns and fungi 5 to 10 microns. Plant and animal debris is generally larger than 10 microns.Most of these biological particles are not a health concern, because most are bits of plants and animals, including humans. However, it only takes a small number of dangerous microbes to produce a pandemic. IDing bad news microbesTo understand the potential threat from bioaerosols, it's important to identify the small fraction of problematic or pathogenic microbes from among all the bioaerosols present. Bioaerosol identification begins with capturing biological particles from the air, typically by collecting particles on a filter, in a liquid vial or on hydrogels. Often, researchers transfer the collected bioaerosols to a culture medium that is designed to support microbe growth. How the microbes respond to a specific culture medium – the size, shape, color and growth rate of the microbe colony – can indicate the microbe species. This process can take several days to weeks, and is often ineffective. It turns out the scientists can only identify about 1% of airborne microbes with this approach.Increasingly, scientists are relying on gene-based analyses to map viruses and other microorganisms collected in air samples. One popular technique for gene-based analysis is polymerase chain reaction (PCR), which uses an enzymatic reaction to make many copies of a specific gene or portion of a gene so that the genetic sequence – DNA or RNA – can be detected in a sample. A PCR test can be designed to spot gene sequences specific to a microorganism so that detecting the sequence equals identifying the microorganism. This technique is currently the gold-standard for detecting the presence of SARS-CoV-2 from nasal swab samples. PCR-based methods are very accurate in identifying pathogens.Next generation sequencing technology makes it possible to rapidly sequence organisms' whole genomes. Using these techniques, researchers now have the ability to understand the entire population of microorganisms — their diversity and abundance — in the air. Rapid detectionDespite these advances, there is still a lot of work to be done to be able to instantaneously identify the presence of pathogens in air. Current techniques for identifying microbes are expensive, require specialized equipment and involve long processing steps. They also can't detect a species from small amounts of genetic material.Recent advances, however, provide some promise for the development of sensors that can provide quick information about bioaerosols. One approach uses laser induced florescence. In this technique, particles are illuminated with light of a particular color or wavelength, and only biological particles respond by fluorescing, or emitting light. This technique can be used to identify and quantify the presence of biological particles in air in real-time but it doesn't differentiate between a safe and a harmful microbe. Another advance is using mass spectrometry for bioaerosol detection. In this technique, a single bioaerosol particle is blasted apart with a laser and the molecular fragments are immediately analyzed to determine the molecular composition of the particles. Researchers are also using Raman spectroscopy-based sensors. Raman spectroscopy can identify molecular composition from light reflected off of samples without destroying the samples. Big challenge in a small packageThese techniques are advancing instant detection and identification of airborne bacteria and fungi, but they are less efficient in detecting viruses, including SARS-CoV-2. This is primarily because viruses are very small, which makes it difficult to collect them with air samplers and difficult to perform PCR analysis given the small amount of DNA/RNA. Researchers are working to address the limitations of detecting airborne viruses. In our lab at Clarkson University, we have developed a low-cost bioaerosol sensor and collector for wide-scale bioaerosol sampling. This battery-operated sampler uses a micro-sized high-voltage source to ionize airborne viruses, bacteria and fungi and collect them on a surface. Ionization gives the biological particles an electrical charge. Giving the collection surface the opposite charge causes the particles to stick to the surface.Samples from our collector can be analyzed with new portable DNA/RNA sequencers, which allows for near real-time bioaerosol detection with low-cost, hand-held equipment. Where's my tricorder?These advances could soon make it possible to detect a known pathogen, like SARS-CoV-2, with a portable device. But they're still far from being a tricorder. [Deep knowledge, daily. Sign up for The Conversation's newsletter.]For one, they require relatively high levels of a pathogen for detection. Being able to identify a virus like SARS-CoV-2 at lower levels that are nonetheless sufficient for disease transmission will require developing sensors with lower detection limits. Additionally, these sensors can only be tailored to detect specific pathogens, not scan for all possible pathogens.Though the equivalent of the tricorder in "Star Trek" isn't around the corner, the need for such a device has never been greater. Now is an opportune time for the emergence of new sensing techniques piggy-backing on the dramatic advances being made in the fields of electronics, computing and bioinformatics. When the next new pathogen emerges, it would be nice to have a tricorder handy.This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts.Read more: * Rapid home-based coronavirus tests are coming together in research labs — we're working on analyzing spit using advanced CRISPR gene editing techniques * Aerosols are a bigger coronavirus threat than WHO guidelines suggest – here's what you need to knowSuresh Dhaniyala is President, Potsdam Sensors, a startup that is commercializing TracB. He has received funding from the National Science Foundation.Shantanu Sur has received funding from the National Science Foundation Hema Priyamvada Ravindran does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
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| Daimler reaches deals to settle US diesel emissions claims Posted: 13 Aug 2020 10:37 AM PDT |
| Turkey threatens to cut diplomatic ties with UAE over Israel peace deal Posted: 14 Aug 2020 02:31 AM PDT  Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish president, has threatened to sever diplomatic ties with the United Arab Emirates and recall his ambassador after the Gulf state signed a peace deal with Israel. "I gave an order to the foreign minister. I said we could suspend diplomatic relations with the Abu Dhabi administration or withdraw our ambassador," Mr Erdogan told reporters on Friday. As part of the deal, announced by President Donald Trump on Thursday, the UAE would become the first Gulf state to normalise relations with Israel, which in return is expected to suspend its plans for annexation of the West Bank. However, the historic peace deal has laid bare tensions between the Middle East's former imperial powers and youthful, oil-rich nations in the Gulf, with both Iran and Turkey strongly condemning the accord. On Friday, Tehran condemned the UAE's decision to normalise ties with Israel as an "act of strategic stupidity," while Ankara said history would never forgive the Gulf state for its "hypocritical behaviour." "History and the conscience of the region's peoples will not forget and never forgive this hypocritical behaviour of the UAE, betraying the Palestinian cause for the sake of its narrow interests," said a statement by the foreign ministry of Turkey, which once led the Ottoman Empire. "It is extremely worrying that the UAE should, with a unilateral action, try and do away with the (2002) Arab Peace Plan developed by the Arab League. It is not in the slightest credible that this three-way declaration should be presented as supporting the Palestinian cause." Meanwhile a spokesman for the foreign ministry of Iran, the former Persian empire, said: "The oppressed people of Palestine and all the free nations of the world will never forgive the normalising of relations with the criminal Israeli occupation regime and the complicity in its crimes." It also emerged on Friday that the Israeli security agency Mossad is due to lead a delegation to the UAE for further discussions on the deal. Under the terms of the deal, Israel agreed to suspend controversial plans to annex parts of the West Bank in return for a full diplomatic relationship and lucrative trade deals with the United Arab Emirates. Forging closer links between Israel and Arab nations is a key pillar of Mr Trump's strategy for the Middle East, and the diplomatic coup on Thursday could provide a major boost for US elections in November. However, setting up diplomatic ties with Israel and increasing trade and cooperation in key security areas, such as Iranian regional influence, has also been a longstanding ambition for the UAE.
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| Mexican government forces out over 1,000 immigration officials accused of corruption Posted: 14 Aug 2020 05:24 PM PDT |
| Hand sanitizers made in China, Texas, North Carolina now on the FDA’s Do Not Use list Posted: 13 Aug 2020 02:43 PM PDT  The FDA's Do Not Use hand sanitizer list, once a roll call of Mexican-made hand sanitizers with methanol, now includes hand sanitizers from China, Texas, North Carolina, Georgia and Utah.
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