Students in Malawi, one of the poorest countries in Africa, have been out of school since March because of the COVID-19 pandemic. While most students have been able to study from home with lessons offered on the internet or radio, many in poor and remote villages have been left out. A British charity has helped bridge the gap by distributing solar-powered computer tablets with pre-programmed lessons to rural primary school students.All the content is in Malawi’s main language, Chichewa, and helps students improve skills in reading, writing and math. Parents say the intervention has eased their worry over their children’s education, a worry which spiked again after the government announced last week that it had suspended plans to reopen schools on July 13 due to a rise in COVID-19 cases. Charity Kanyoza, an education specialist at British charity Voluntary Services Overseas, assists a student with a computer tablet at her home in Lilongwe, Malawi. (Photo courtesy of VSO/Craig Mawanga)”I lost hope, but with the coming of these iPads, we are very happy because now my children have something to do,” said parent Olive Makison. “They have stopped playing around. They are now learning. This will improve their education.”British charity Voluntary Services Overseas, or VSO, said it has provided 1,000 tablets to learners from poor families who cannot access the radio and television lessons which the government is currently providing. “What happens is that, the moment that the learners start using them, there is what we call diagnostic tools that place the kid at a right curriculum depending on his or her levels, so the kid starts learning from there,” said Yesani Kapanda, program manager for VSO. Students’ progress is monitored remotely. “We have put a sim card in those tablets and we are able to monitor what is happening. If the learners are not using them, we are able to identify such households. We have also built a capacity of some teachers in those communities that are able to follow up to those households and provide any support they may needs as learners are using these gadgets,”  Kapanda said.Shireen Joseph, a grade 4 student in Lilongwe using the VSO system, told VOA she enjoys learning because the tablets are interactive. Gossam Mafuta, director of basic education in the Ministry of Education, told VOA that although the tablet lessons are in line with primary school curriculum, learners will not be assessed on those lessons once schools are reopened.   “We are just bridging the gap, trying to make sure that we keep them engaged so that they don’t forget the curricula material they engaged with,” Mafuta said. “When they come, we are not going to assess them on that material. We will actually begin again and try to find means on how we can actually bridge up with those who are not getting it because we are mindful that not all our learners are getting these lessons.” VSO’s Kapanda said the organization plans to distribute 5,000 more tablets, which will also have content for junior secondary school learners. 
 
…

Members of the U.S. House of Representatives held a moment of silence Monday in honor of Georgia congressman and civil rights leader John Lewis, who died last week at age 80.The veteran lawmaker and son of sharecroppers was heavily involved in the 1960s civil rights movement, from speaking at the monumental 1963 March on Washington, to marching in his native Alabama in 1965. During a Selma-to-Montgomery march that year, Lewis was beaten badly as he and other protesters attempted to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge to get to the state capital. Lewis suffered a fractured skull during the confrontation with state troopers. The violence came to be known as “Bloody Sunday.”According to a bio about Mourners of the late Rep. John Lewis, a pioneer of the civil rights movement and long-time member of the U.S. House of Representatives, hold a vigil in his memory in Atlanta, Georgia, July 19, 2020.Lewis served as the congressman for Georgia’s 5th District from his first election in 1987 until the day he died. Lewis passed away on Friday, about seven months after he was diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer.House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer also gave a tribute to Lewis Monday.Hoyer said that Lewis was “a veteran legislator and person of wisdom and experience” who “still carried in his heart the same energy, optimism, and determined spirit that he bore in his youth. John never stopped being the young man who dreamed of change and knew it could be achieved.”Hoyer concluded by stating, “He was our inspiration, he was our guide, he was our friend, he was our colleague. As I said on Saturday morning, there is a hole in the heart of America.”House Speaker Nancy Pelosi walks towards the House Chamber at the Capitol, July 20, 2020, in Washington. Pelosi, who presided over a moment of silence for Georgia Rep. John Lewis, choked up recalling their last conversation the day before he died.Earlier, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in an interview on the CBS television network, noted she served with Lewis for 33 years in Congress. Pelosi told CBS’s Gayle King that Lewis “challenged our conscience in so many ways in terms of equality and justice. And it was justice for all.” Pelosi also described Lewis as “a patriot.”Separately, photos posted on Twitter showed workers putting a dark-colored drape over the door to Lewis’ Capitol Hill office, where handwritten notes had been left.State law requires that the Georgia Democratic Party appoint a nominee to replace Lewis one business day after his death. The committee in charge of appointing a nominee has announced five finalists to replace him on the ballot in November.
 
…

After changing its usage rules last month to capitalize the word “Black” when used in the context of race and culture, The Associated Press on Monday said it would not do the same for “white.”
The AP said white people in general have much less shared history and culture, and don’t have the experience of being discriminated against because of skin color.
Protests following the death of George Floyd, which led to discussions of policing and Confederate symbols, also prompted many news organizations to examine their own practices and staffing. The Associated Press, whose Stylebook is widely influential in the industry, announced June 19 it would make Black uppercase.
In some ways, the decision over “white” has been more ticklish. The National Association of Black Journalists and some Black scholars have said white should be capitalized, too.
“We agree that white people’s skin color plays into systemic inequalities and injustices, and we want our journalism to robustly explore these problems,” John Daniszewski, the AP’s vice president for standards, said in a memo to staff Monday. “But capitalizing the term white, as is done by white supremacists, risks subtly conveying legitimacy to such beliefs.”
Columbia Journalism Review, the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, the Los Angeles Times, NBC News and Chicago Tribune are among the organizations that have recently said they would capitalize Black but have not done so for white.
“White doesn’t represent a shared culture and history in the way Black does,” The New York Times said on July 5 in explaining its decision.
CNN, Fox News and The San Diego Union-Tribune said they will give white the uppercase, noting it was consistent with Black, Asian, Latino and other ethnic groups. Fox cited NABJ’s advice.
CBS News said it would capitalize white, although not when referring to white supremacists, white nationalists or white privilege.
Some proponents believe that keeping white lowercase is actually anti-Black, saying it perpetuates the idea that whites are the default race.
“Whiteness remains invisible, and as is the case with all power structures, its invisibility does crucial work to maintain its power,” wrote Eve Ewing, a sociologist of race and education at the University of Chicago who said she’s changed her mind on the issue over the past two years.
“In maintaining the pretense of its invisibility, whiteness maintains the pretense of its inevitability, and its innocence,” she wrote on the website Nora.
Kwame Anthony Appiah, a philosophy professor at New York University, wrote in the Atlantic that capitalizing white would take power away from racists, since their similar use “would no longer be a provocative defiance of the norm.”
The AP checked with a variety of experts and sources in making its decision.
“We will closely watch how usage and thought evolves, and will periodically review our decision,” Daniszewski said.
…

Portland police early Monday detailed another night of conflict between protesters and federal forces outside the U.S. courthouse in Oregon’s largest city, including a small fire outside the building and tear gas deployed to disperse the crowd.A department statement said police officers did not engage with the the crowd, and that federal authorities periodically came of out of the courthouse to keep demonstrators at bay, according to police and news outlets.  Video posted online also showed protesters taking down fencing that had surrounded the courthouse. “Dozens of people with shields, helmets, gas masks, umbrellas, bats, and hockey sticks approached the doors” before federal law enforcement came out and dispersed the crowd,” police said. “At 1:34 a.m. people lit a fire within the portico in front of the federal courthouse. Others gathered around the fire adding wood and other debris to make it larger. At 1:42 a.m. federal law enforcement came out of the courthouse, dispersed the crowd and extinguished the fire,” the statement  said. Gas was used at least twice to remove protesters, the statement said, but Portland officers “were not present during any of the activity” or deploy any “CS gas.” The statement comes as some local and state leaders have voiced their displeasure with the presence of federal agents in the city that has seen protests every day since the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis nearly two months ago.  Speaking on CNN’s ‘State of the Union,’ Democratic Mayor Ted Wheeler said federal officers “are not wanted here. We haven’t asked them here. In fact, we want them to leave.” Top leaders in the U.S. House said Sunday they were “alarmed” by the Trump administration’s tactics against protesters in Portland and other cities, including Washington, D.C. They’ve called on federal inspectors general investigate.A protester walks away from chemical irritants as federal agents use crowd control munitions to disperse Black Lives Matter protesters at the Mark O. Hatfield United States Courthouse, July 19, 2020, in Portland, Oregan. “This is a matter of utmost urgency,” wrote House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-New York, Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie G. Thompson, D-Mississippi, and Oversight and Reform Committee Chairwoman Carolyn B. Maloney, D-New York, in a letter to the inspectors general of Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security. The Democratic lawmakers are seeking an investigation “into the use of federal law enforcement agencies by the Attorney General and the Acting Secretary of Homeland Security to suppress First Amendment protected activities in Washington, D.C., Portland, and other communities across the United States.” President Donald Trump has decried the demonstrations, and Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf blasted the protesters as “lawless anarchists” in a visit to the city last Thursday. “We are trying to help Portland, not hurt it,” Trump tweeted Sunday. “Their leadership has, for months, lost control of the anarchists and agitators. They are missing in action. We must protect Federal property, AND OUR PEOPLE. These were not merely protesters, these are the real deal!” Late Saturday, Portland police declared demonstrations near the federal courthouse a riot after saying protesters broke into the Portland Police Association building and started a fire. Dumpster fires were also set and fencing was moved and made into barricades, police said. Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum sued Homeland Security and the Marshals Service in federal court late Friday. The complaint said unidentified federal agents have grabbed people off Portland’s streets “without warning or explanation, without a warrant, and without providing any way to determine who is directing this action.” Rosenblum said she was seeking a temporary restraining order to “immediately stop federal authorities from unlawfully detaining Oregonians.” It’s unclear whether anyone was arrested or detained during the protest Sunday night.  
…

Global markets are mostly lower Monday as investors await news from Brussels where European Union leaders are negotiating details of a pandemic economic rescue package. In Asia, markets were mixed. The Nikkei gained 21 points, but was virtually unchanged percentage-wise.  Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index is down 0.3% in late afternoon trading, while the Shanghai Composite index is up 3.1%.   Sydney’s S&P/ASX index is down 0.5%, the KOSPI index in Seoul is trading 0.1% lower, and Taiwan’s TSEC lost seven points, but was virtually unchanged percentage-wise.  Mumbai’s Sensex was up 0.6% in late afternoon trading. Europe is also off to a slow start, with London’s FTSE index 0.8% lower, the CAC-40 in Paris down 0.7%, and the DAX index in Frankfurt down 0.4%. In oil trading, U.S. crude oil is selling at $40.20 per barrel, down 0.9%, and Brent crude oil is down at $42.75 per barrel, also down 0.9%.   And all three major U.S. indexes are trending downward in futures trading. 
…

Iran’s judiciary says a former translator Monday, whom the government accused of spying for U.S. and Israeli intelligence, and of helping to locate Revolutionary Guards commander Qassem Soleimani has been executed. Soleimani was killed in an America drone attack earlier this year.  The execution of Mahmoud Mousavi-Majd, who was arrested in 2018, comes as millions of Iranians have taken to social media to protest the death sentences of three young men accused of participating in anti-government protests last November.Trump Warns Iran Not to Execute 3 Protesters as Their Lawyers Request RetrialLawyers for 3 men sentenced to death for joining November 2019 antigovernment protests in Iran said Wednesday they asked for a retrial One of their attorneys, Babak Paknia, said Sunday that their executions had been suspended. The lawyer identified the three as friends Amirhossein Moradi, a 26-year-old retail worker, Said Tamjidi, a 28-year-old driver for Snapp (Iran’s Uber), and Mohammad Rajabi, also 26 and unemployed. The country’s Supreme Court decided to review their case, state TV also reported on Sunday. “Suspension of execution of three sentenced-to-death defendants and re-examination of the file, after follow-ups of the lawyers of the three defendants accused of robbery by using force, as well as rioting in last year’s November protests, on implementation of Article 474 which means re-examination of the lawsuit, the Supreme Court of the country has accepted their appeal,” Ali Zohourian IRIB newsreader reported. Rights activists said the sentences for the three men were aimed at discouraging future protests and intimidating potential participants. The Farsi hashtag “Don’t execute” was re-tweeted millions of times last week. Meanwhile, state news agency IRNA quoted Iranian police as saying Monday that they had arrested people participating in last week’s protest in Behbahan city, in the southwest of the country, for “an illegal and norm-breaking gathering.”    The number of those arrested and their identities were not revealed. 
…

The coronavirus outbreak in Florida grew more dire Sunday as nearly 50 hospitals throughout the state say they have no available beds in their intensive care units. The state is not only the COVID epicenter in the United States, it is one of the world’s hot spots, with more than 12,000 new cases reported Sunday – the fifth straight day that number exceeded 10,000. Miami Mayor Francis Suarez is making mask wearing in public mandatory. Starting Monday, anyone without a face covering gets an immediate $50 fine. A third offense brings a $500 fine. Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber has issued an 8pm curfew for the famed South Beach area, home to countless bars and nightclubs.  “There has been some adherence to the mask rules, not nearly enough. At some points, it was resembling a bit of a party, an outdoor party. We can’t have anything resembling Bourbon Street (in New Orleans) right now in our community,” said Gelber.  In Europe, the focus is on recovery from the pandemic.   European Council President Charles Michel said Sunday that European leaders need to overcome their differences and agree on a budget and a continentwide COVID-19 recovery fund. The 27 European Union leaders appeared to be at an impasse Sunday night on a $2.1 trillion budget that includes $858 billion specifically earmarked to help businesses and others affected by the coronavirus pandemic. “Are the 27 EU leaders capable of building European unity and trust or, because of a deep rift, will we present ourselves as a weak Europe, undermined by distrust,” he implored, telling the leaders to think about the more than 600,000 COVID deaths worldwide.EU leaders meet on the sidelines of an EU summit at the European Council building in Brussels, July 19, 2020.Europe has more than 3 million confirmed cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus as of Sunday, according to data from the World Health Organization (WHO), and more than 200,000 deaths. The coronavirus has pushed the EU into a deep recession, with economists predicting the bloc’s economy will shrink a staggering 8.3% this year. Reporters in Brussels say the dispute is between five wealthier northern EU nations, dubbed “the frugals,” who want stricter controls on spending than southern nations hit hardest by the pandemic, including Italy and Spain, are willing to accept. In the United States, where new COVID-19 case number records are set nearly every day, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti says he is “on the brink” of issuing another stay-at-home order in the country’s second biggest city. This would be the third time since March he made such a decision. Garcetti blames the White House for what he calls a lack of national leadership in battling the disease. “This was politicized when it should have been unified. We were left on our own when we should have had help,” he told CNN Sunday. “We know this will be a marathon. Stop telling people this will be over soon. … If we don’t come together as a nation with national leadership, we will see more people die.”  California Governor Gavin Newsome last week again closed bars and restaurants across the state because of the surge in new cases.  The U.S. reported 67,574 new cases of COVID-19, for a total of nearly 3.7 million confirmed cases, and nearly 140,000 deaths, according to data Sunday from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).  The president of Chile, the world’s largest producer of copper, has announced a five-part plan to reopen the country he calls “Step by Step.” “These five weeks of improvement allow us to start a new stage today,” President Sebastian Pinera said Sunday. “This plan, which will be step by step, cautiously, prudently, will be applied gradually and flexibly,” he said. Pinera announced plans to reopen Chile after some of the country’s regions have shown improvement in the rate of infections. According to the WHO, Chile had 2,300 new cases Sunday, more than 328,000 confirmed cases and nearly 8,500 deaths as of Sunday. Nigerian Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama announced he has COVID-19 after his fourth test for the virus came back positive. He said he went for the test at the first sign of a throat irritation. He joins more than 36,000 of his countrymen who have tested positive, according to WHO data. Nearly 800 Nigerians have died of the disease, the WHO data says. Onyeama said he is going to be isolated in a health facility, but did not sound too worried, tweeting Sunday “That is life. Win some, lose some.”  One of life’s biggest winners revealed Sunday that he and his wife had COVID-19 when the pandemic started to take hold in April. Golf legend Jack Nicklaus told the TV audience watching the PGA Memorial tournament that he and his wife, Barbara, tested positive for the coronavirus but were “done with it” by the third week in April.  “It didn’t last very long, and we were very, very fortunate, very lucky,” Nicklaus said. “Barbara and I are both of the age, both of us 80 years old, that is an at-risk age. Our hearts go out to the people who did lose their lives and their families. We were just a couple of the lucky ones.” 
…

Twitter says the hack that compromised the accounts of some of its most high-profile users targeted 130 people. The hackers were able to reset the passwords of 45 of those accounts.  
 
The San Francisco-based company said in a blog post Saturday that for up to eight of these accounts the attackers also downloaded the account’s information through the “Your Twitter Data” tool. None of the eight were verified accounts, Twitter said, adding that it is contacting the owners of the affected accounts.  
“We’re embarrassed, we’re disappointed, and more than anything, we’re sorry. We know that we must work to regain your trust, and we will support all efforts to bring the perpetrators to justice,” Twitter said in the blog post.  
 
The July 17 attack broke into the Twitter accounts of world leaders, celebrities and tech moguls in one of the most high-profile security breaches in recent years. The attackers sent out tweets from the accounts of the public figures, offering to send $2,000 for every $1,000 sent to an anonymous Bitcoin address.
 
It highlighted a major flaw with the service millions of people have come to rely on as an essential communications tool.
 
Allison Nixon, chief research officer at cybersecurity firm 221B said in an email Sunday that the people behind the attack appear to have come from the “OG” community, a group interested in original, short Twitter handles such as @a, @b or @c, for instance.  
 
“Based upon what we have seen, the motivation for the most recent Twitter attack is similar to previous incidents we have observed in the OG community — a combination of financial incentive, technical bragging rights, challenge, and disruption,” Nixon wrote.
 
“The OG community is not known to be tied to any nation state. Rather they are a disorganized crime community with a basic skillset and are a loosely organized group of serial fraudsters.”
 
While this attack did not appear go further than the Bitcoin ruse — at least for now — it raises questions about Twitter’s ability to secure its service against election interference and misinformation ahead of the U.S. presidential election.  
 
“Entire markets and potentially elections may be manipulated or altered in this way,” Nixon said. “Victims of account takeovers generally do not know that the fraud has occurred, and generally cannot take security precautions to prevent it.”
 
…

Britain and China issued new salvos of criticism against each other Sunday, with the U.K. foreign secretary hinting that he may suspend the U.K.’s extradition arrangements with Hong Kong over China’s moves against the city-state.  
 
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab also accused Beijing of “gross and egregious” human rights abuses against its Uighur population in China’s western province of Xinjiang.
 
In response, the Chinese ambassador to Britain warned that China will deliver a “resolute response” to any move by Britain to sanction officials over the alleged rights abuses.  
 
The comments were the latest signs of sharply increased tensions between the U.K. and China. Issues include China’s treatment of its Uighur minority and a new, sweeping national security law that China imposed on Hong Kong, a semi-autonomous territory that Britain handed over to China in 1997.
 
Britain’s recent decision to prohibit Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei from being involved in the U.K.’s superfast 5G mobile network has further frayed bilateral relations.  
 
Raab said Sunday that Britain’s government has reviewed its extradition arrangements with Hong Kong and that he plans to make a statement Monday in parliament on the topic.
 
Earlier this month, Australia suspended its extradition treaty with Hong Kong in response to China’s imposition of security legislation on the semi-autonomous territory. Critics see the new law as a further erosion of the rule of law and freedoms that Hong Kong was promised when it reverted to Chinese rule.
 
Raab added that while Britain wants good relations with China, it could not stand by amid reports of forced sterilization and mass education camps targeting the Uighur population in Xinjiang.
 
“It is clear that there are gross, egregious human rights abuses going on. We are working with our international partners on this. It is deeply, deeply troubling,” he told the BBC.  
 
Liu Xiaoming, the Chinese ambassador, denied there were concentration camps in Xinjiang during an interview with the BBC and insisted there are “no so-called restriction of the population.” When confronted with drone footage that appeared to show Uighurs being blindfolded and led onto trains, Liu claimed there are many “fake accusations” against China.
 
Beijing was ready to respond in kind should Britain impose sanctions on Chinese officials, Liu added.  
 
“If the U.K. goes that far to impose sanctions on any individuals in China, China will certainly make a resolute response to it,” he said. “You have seen what happened between China (and) the United States … I do not want to see this tit-for-tat between China-U.S. happen in China-U.K. relations.”
 
Liu also said Britain “should have its own independent foreign policy, rather than dance to the tune of the Americans like what happened to Huawei.”  
 
The criticism echoed comments this week by a Chinese government spokeswoman who accused Britain of colluding with Washington to hurt Huawei and “discriminate, suppress and exclude Chinese companies.” 
…

The United States is calling on leaders in Afghanistan to conclude an ongoing prisoner swap and launch a peace dialogue with the Taliban insurgency without delay.In a series of tweets Sunday, acting U.S. ambassador to Kabul Ross Wilson also stressed the need for Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and his political rival-turned-coalition partner, Abdullah Abdullah, to implement a power-sharing deal which the two signed in May.“We urge this country’s leaders promptly to establish the new government, create the High Council for National Reconciliation, complete the exchange of prisoners, and move to the opening of intra-Afghan negotiations,” said the American charge d’affairs.
 
Under his power-sharing deal with Ghani, Abdullah has been appointed as the head of the High Council for National Reconciliation, which is tasked to lead a team of Afghan negotiators in still-unscheduled talks with the Taliban.
 
The proposed negotiations, however, hinge on the prisoner swap, in which Kabul is required to free 5,000 Taliban prisoners in return for around 1,000 Afghan security force captives held by the insurgent group.  
 
Afghan officials have said that about 4,400 prisoners have been freed. But the government has refused to release the last batch of around 600 inmates, describing them as “too dangerous” and insisting some foreign governments also want them to remain in jails.
 
“The Afghan people have made clear their impatience. Start intra-Afghan negotiations now so that discussions on a permanent and comprehensive ceasefire can begin,” said the ambassador, underscoring Washington’s apparent frustration at Kabul’s refusal to move forward with more prisoner releases.FILE – Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani and his rival-turned-coalition-partner Abdullah Abdullah attend a ceremony to sign a political agreement in Kabul, Afghanistan, May 17, 2020.The prisoner exchange was agreed to in a landmark deal signed by Washington and the Taliban in February to end the nearly 19-year-old Afghan war, America’s longest.  
 
The Taliban says it has already released 845 Afghan security force captives from its custody and is working to free the remainder. However, insurgent officials have ruled out participation in peace talks until all 5,000 Taliban prisoners are set free.  
 
On Sunday, the Taliban criticized Kabul for “creating hurdles” in the way of intra-Afghan talks by not releasing the remaining prisoners. The insurgent group’s statement dismissed as “lame excuses” the claim by Afghan officials that foreign governments opposed the prisoner releases. It noted that the U.S.-Taliban agreement has been endorsed not only by the United Nations but also by a number of countries.
 
The completion of the prisoner exchange process was “one of the most fundamental issues” of the Afghan peace process, the Taliban said.
 
“If the Kabul administration officials truly seek intra-Afghan negotiations then they must execute their responsibilities related to completion of the prisoner exchange process,” the group said.
 
Under its deal with the Taliban, the Trump administration has committed to withdraw all American and allied troops from Afghanistan by July 2021.  
 
In return, the insurgents have pledged to prevent al-Qaida and other terrorist groups from using Afghan soil for international attacks, and promised to seek reconciliation with other Afghan groups through a dialogue process.  
 
The Taliban also pledged in its deal with the U.S. to cease all attacks on international forces in the country. But insurgent battlefield raids against Afghan security forces have spiked in recent weeks, killing scores of government personnel and civilians.  
 
The May 17 power-sharing deal gave Abdullah the right to appoint half of the cabinet. But the political situation in Kabul remains tense.
 
The Ghani-Abdullah deal grew out of last September’s fraud-marred presidential election, which both leaders claimed to have won. The two formed parallel governments in March before reaching the deal, mainly under pressure from the United States and other international partners of Afghanistan. 
…

U.S. President Donald Trump is questioning the mental sharpness of his November election opponent, former vice president Joe Biden, contending he is “not competent to be president.” 
Trump, in a barrage of attacks aired in an interview on the “Fox News Sunday” TV show, said, “Biden can’t put two sentences together.” “They wheel him out. He goes up — he repeats — they ask him questions. He reads a teleprompter and then he goes back into his basement,” Trump contended. “You tell me the American people want to have that in an age where we’re in trouble with other nations that are looking to do numbers on us?” Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden speaks at Alexis Dupont High School in Wilmington, Del., on June 30, 2020.The Trump campaign has aired ads that question whether the mental acuity of the 77-year-old Biden, who would be the oldest U.S. president ever if he wins the Nov. 3 election and is inaugurated next January, has diminished as he ages. At 74, Trump is now the oldest. Fox newsman Chris Wallace, in the interview conducted Friday at the White House, asked the U.S. leader whether he thought Biden was senile. “I don’t want to say that. I’d say he’s not competent to be president,” Trump responded. “To be president, you have to be sharp and tough and so many other things. … Joe doesn’t know he’s alive, OK? He doesn’t know he’s alive.” The Republican president claimed that if his Democratic opponent submitted to the same contentious questioning from Wallace as he was, Biden would end up sitting on the ground saying, “Mommy, mommy, please take me home.” Trump declared that he would defeat Biden, even as Wallace unveiled a new Fox national poll showing Biden ahead of Trump by a 49-to-41% margin, a finding similar to that of other recent university and news organization polls. A compilation of polls by the Real Clear Politics website shows Biden ahead by an average of 8.6 percentage points. One poll of registered voters showed that, contrary to Trump’s contention, many think it is Trump who lacks key characteristics to be president, with fewer than half thinking he exhibits the mental soundness (43%), intelligence (42%), and judgment (40%) to serve effectively. Biden tops Trump on each measure, with 47% expressing confidence in his mental soundness, 51% believing he is intelligent and 52% agreeing that he has the right degree of judgment. But Trump dismissed the polling as “fake” and said he will win the election “because the country, in the end, they’re not going to have a man who — who’s shot. He’s shot, he’s mentally shot.” Trump declined to say whether he would accept the results if he loses the election.”You don’t know until you see. It depends,” he said. He claimed, as he has in recent weeks, that mail-in voting, which Democrats and some Republicans have supported as a response to the coronavirus pandemic, “is going to rig the election.” “I’m not a good loser. I don’t like to lose,” he said. “I don’t lose too often. I don’t like to lose.” Only two U.S. presidents in the last four decades — Jimmy Carter in 1980 and George H.W. Bush in 1992  have lost re-election bids after a single term in the White House.  
…

Prime Minister Netanyahu’s corruption trial will begin hearing witness testimony in January, the court in Israel announced Sunday after lawyers for the prime minister argued for a six-month delay because of the coronavirus. The decision comes amid growing protests over his handling of the pandemic including violence and calls for Netanyahu to resign. A second wave of the pandemic and new restrictions have left the public angry and confused. A judge in Jerusalem ruled that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s trial on three counts of corruption, fraud and breach of trust will begin to hear testimony from witnesses in January, and that hearings will be held three times a week. Women wearing face masks to protect from the coronavirus ride a public bus as they watch supporters of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wave flags outside the district court in Jerusalem, July 19, 2020.Netanyahu was not present. His defense attorney had asked for a delay because of the COVID-19 pandemic, arguing it will be hard for him to question witnesses who are wearing face masks. Israeli analysts say Netanyahu has consistently tried to delay his trial and has asked the court to allow him to accept donations from wealthy friends and relatives for his defense — a request the court has denied. Netanyahu is accused in three different cases, including Case 4000, which is seen as the most serious. In that case he is accused of approving regulatory moves that would benefit the main shareholder of Israel’s largest telecom company in exchange for positive news coverage. Israel’s justice minister says the trial will continue even if Israel imposes a full lockdown to fight the pandemic.   The trial comes as the Israeli public has lost faith in the government in general and in Netanyahu in particular, according to Tamar Hermann, a pollster at the Israel Democracy Insitute. “So what we see is a general sharp decline in trust in all people and teams involved in the policy-making regarding the corona crisis,” said Hermann.A demonstrator stands in front of a line of Israeli police officers during a protest against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, July 18, 2020.Hermann said Netanyahu’s approval rating has gone from 60 percent in March, even during the first wave of the pandemic, to less than 30 percent. Frustration over the handling of the second wave is also breeding growing anger at the government, especially among younger Israelis.   For the second week in a row more than ten thousand Israelis demonstrated in both Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, most wearing masks. But after the demonstration ended, a few dozen blocked roads and clashed with police, leading to arrests. The unemployment rate in Israel is skyrocketing and many say they have not yet received promised government aid. COVID-19 has now left 400 dead since the beginning of the pandemic and a growing number of others with serious damage to their health. The government this weekend decided to close all gyms, pools and restaurants except for take-out and delivery. Beaches and malls will be closed on weekends but not during the week.    
…

President Donald Trump says he is in favor of Americans wearing face masks to help curb the surging coronavirus pandemic, but says he will not impose a national mandate.“I’m a believer in masks,” Trump said in an interview at the White House first aired on the “Fox News Sunday” TV show. “I think masks are good.”But Trump, who wore a mask in public for the first time only a week ago, told newsman Chris Wallace in the interview conducted Friday: “I don’t agree with the statement that if everybody wears a mask, everything disappears.”Even as several of the 50 U.S. state governors and big-city mayors have imposed mask-wearing mandates in the face of fast-rising coronavirus caseloads, Trump said he believes mask-wearing should be voluntary.“I want people to have a certain freedom and I don’t believe in” making it a legal requirement, Trump said in his first Sunday talk show interview in more than a year.He noted that Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country’s leading infectious disease expert, and Surgeon General Jerome Adams both advised against wearing a mask in the first days of the virus’ spread in the U.S. Both have long since changed their minds and repeatedly called for face coverings.“Hey, Dr. Fauci said don’t wear a mask,” Trump said. “Our surgeon general — terrific guy — said don’t wear a mask. Everybody who is saying don’t wear a mask — all of sudden everybody’s got to wear a mask, and as you know masks cause problems, too.”More than 70,000 new coronavirus cases have been recorded daily in recent days in the U.S. In all, more than 140,000 Americans have died from COVID-19, with more than 3.7 million coronavirus infections. Both figures are far higher than in any other country.Health experts predict that tens of thousands more Americans will die from the pandemic in the coming months. 
…