Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez pledged Tuesday to beat the latest surge in COVID-19 cases that has hit the nation, and he urged the Spanish people to remain “alert but serene” as the country works to flatten the increase.In a televised speech, Sanchez told the nation that Spain’s total number of infections hit 405,436 during a surge last week, which the Health Ministry reports was the worst week for infections since the pandemic’s peak in late March.Sanchez said the trend is “worrying” but urged people to remain calm, because the COVID-19 rate is “far from the situation in mid-March,” when the government imposed a state of emergency.Insufficient tracking of the outbreaks has been identified by experts as one of Spain’s main failures in dealing with the aftermath of the first virus wave. To address that situation, Sanchez announced 2,000 military personal trained to carry out contact tracing will be made available to the country’s 17 regions to help stem the tide of the virus.Sanchez said his government would work with the governments of the autonomous regions to get children back to school safely in September. He also urged citizens to download a government-sponsored contact-tracing phone application, which also can help them with getting tested or quarantined.The prime minister pledged he will not allow COVID-19 to take over the lives of the nation again, saying, “We will beat the curve again, and we have to do it united because there is no other way. We have done it before. We know how to do it, and I am convinced we will do it again.” 
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The president of the U.N. Security Council said Tuesday there is no consensus for restoring international sanctions on Iran in the 15-member council and that he would take no further action on a U.S. demand to re-impose them.  “It is clear for me that there is one member, which has a particular position on the issue, while there are significant numbers of members who have contrasting views,” said Council President Indonesian Ambassador Dian Triansyah Djani. “In my view, there is no consensus in the council. Thus, the president is not in the position to take further action.”  Last week, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo came to New York and personally notified the United Nations that the United States was triggering a mechanism under the U.N. Security Council resolution that enshrined the 2015 nuclear deal into international law and would “snapback” sanctions on Iran dating back to 2006.   But other deal participants immediately cried foul, saying the U.S. withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in May 2018, and therefore gave up its right to initiate the process. Washington rejected their interpretation and said the U.S. can trigger snapback as a named participant in the council resolution.   Resolution failedOn August 14, the U.S. sought to have the council adopt a resolution to renew an arms embargo on Iran that, under the terms of the JCPOA, will expire on October 18. The move failed, with only one other council member (the Dominican Republic) voting with Washington. The Trump administration then triggered snapback in order to re-impose the embargo, as well a series of other sanctions.   “The Trump Administration has no fear in standing in limited company on this matter, in light of the unmistakable truth guiding our actions,” said U.S. Ambassador Kelly Craft on Tuesday. “I only regret that other members of this council have lost their way and now find themselves standing in the company of terrorists.”  In the nuclear deal, the original participants – Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States, plus Germany – agreed with Iran to gradually lift the sanctions in return for limits on Tehran’s nuclear activities that would prevent it making a nuclear bomb.   If snapback is imposed, diplomats say it would almost certainly collapse the deal, which has been struggling since the U.S. left and Iran responded by resuming some of its prohibited nuclear activities.   “We are firmly convinced that protecting the JCPOA is of crucial importance,” said Germany’s Deputy U.N. Ambassador Günter Sautter. “The nuclear deal with Iran is not perfect, but it continues to be the international community’s best tool to prevent a nuclear arms race in the Middle East.”  Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said he hoped the council president’s decision would be the end of the matter and that the U.S. would “refrain from further steps to pursue this path.”  The remaining JCPOA participants have urged Iran to quickly return to compliance with the deal. 
 
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While most parents are stressed about kids and remote online learning, some experts say expect more of that in the future, and that that may be a good thing. Deana Mitchell reports
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Police used tear gas to subdue protesters in the city of Kenosha, Wisconsin Monday as people took to the streets for the second straight night after the shooting of a Black man by police on Sunday.   Despite a dusk-to-dawn curfew, protesters gathered Monday night, confronting law enforcement officers in riot gear outside the county courthouse, blocks from where Jacob Blake was shot on Sunday in an encounter with police caught on video. Police countered protesters with tear gas, shortly after the 8:00 pm curfew took effect Monday.Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers called out the National Guard Monday to help keep the peace.In video posted online, Blake was seen walking to his vehicle and being followed by two police officers with their guns drawn. As he entered the driver’s side of the car, he was shot in the back with at least seven gunshots heard on the recording. A family attorney said Blake’s children were inside the car.Wisconsin Governor Deploys National Guard after Police Shooting of Black Man Violence erupted Sunday in Kenosha after officers shot African American man in the back in circumstances that are unclearBlake survived the shooting and is in stable condition after undergoing surgery Sunday.Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden issued a statement Monday on his campaign website which began with the word “Enough” in large, white letters on a black background. He said the shots that were fired at Blake “pierced the soul of our nation.” He called for a full and transparent investigation and said the officers must be held accountable.Wisconsin Republican Senator Ron Johnson, on his Twitter account, also called for a full and thorough investigation into the shooting and said that, while he understood emotions were running high, he urged demonstrators to remain peaceful.There was no immediate response from U.S. President Donald Trump.  On Monday, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said Trump was expected to be fully briefed on the matter.The shooting occurred nearly three months after the May 25 death of a Black man in police custody in the city of Minneapolis.  The death of George Floyd sparked nationwide protests against police brutality and racism.
 
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An independent report into Australia’s Black Summer bushfires has recommended sweeping changes to land clearing practices and the creation of an international research center to investigate extreme fire behavior. The 2019-2020 disaster was unprecedented in scale. The Gospers Mountain fire north of Sydney was the largest forest fire ever recorded in Australia, burning more than 500,000 hectares. More aggressive hazard reduction, or controlled burn-offs that can reduce the severity of future bushfires, would make Australia safer, according to an independent panel.However, previous research has shown that as conditions get hotter and drier, it becomes less effective.  But the report wants landowners in high-risk areas to increase prescribed burning.  It also said that climate change was one of many factors that made last summer “so extraordinary”. The fires were fueled by record-breaking temperatures and a long drought across southern and eastern Australia. New South Wales state premier Gladys Berejiklian says global warming is making the country more vulnerable. “The next fire season is already upon us, so the government has taken every action we can already in response to the recommendations that we received.  We do also have to also accept that in addition to the issues that have been canvassed this morning, our climate is changing and those who wrote the report actually acknowledge that our climate is changing,” Berejiklian said.  The New South Wales state government has accepted each of the panel’s 76 recommendations. The report has called for more scientific research into fighting fires, including the use of artificial intelligence and drones to help put them out quickly.   It said the answer was not more fire trucks or firefighters.  Critics of the inquiry have reportedly said it was lackluster and contained no significant recommendations.  The Black Summer fires killed more than 30 people and destroyed thousands of homes. For the first time ever catastrophic fire conditions had been forecast for Australia’s biggest city, Sydney.    Ominously, the panel warned that Australia should expect to see similar conditions, or worse, to happen again.  
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People along the U.S Gulf coast of Texas and Louisiana are under a Hurricane Watch as Tropical Storm Laura is expected to develop into a hurricane Tuesday as it churns north in the Gulf of Mexico.Forecasters at the U.S. based National Hurricane Center believe Laura will grow stronger but the storm’s path and intensity is still uncertain. Laura has also prompted storm surge watches for sections of the Gulf Coast in Mississippi, Texas and Louisiana. A hurricane watch has been posted from areas of Texas and Louisiana where the Storm could make landfall Wednesday night into Thursday.  Overnight Monday, Laura was bringing heavy rains to Cuba into portions of the Florida Keys. So far, tropical storm Laura is blamed for at least 11 deaths in Haiti and the Dominican Republic before knocking power to hundreds of thousands customers in Puerto Rico. 
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U.S. President Donald Trump took center stage at the Republican National Convention Monday night and immediately signaled that defending his handling of the coronavirus pandemic and the ensuing economic crisis is paramount in winning a second term. On the first night of the nationally televised Republican convention, Trump was shown greeting health care workers at the White House who – against the views of many Americans — praised his handling of the coronavirus pandemic. “You’re an incredible group,” Trump told several health care workers and two COVID-19 survivors who recovered from the infectious disease that has killed more than 177,000 people in the U.S., according to Johns Hopkins University data, the most of any nation in the world. “We have to make this China virus go away,” Trump told the group in the East Room of the White House, an apparent acknowledgement that the unrelenting virus is also a threat to his reelection to a second term. None of the group was wearing a face mask or socially distancing from the others as health experts have advised.   Later, in the Diplomatic Room, Trump greeted a half-dozen people who had been held prisoner overseas, all of whom had been released after U.S. diplomatic efforts during Trump’s presidency. Michael White, held for two years in Iran, told Trump, “You were able to get me out of that prison. It was amazing.”White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, left, Vice President Mike Pence and chief of staff Mark Meadows stand off stage as they listen to President Donald Trump speak at the 2020 Republican National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., Aug. 24, 2020.Democrats released an ad mocking the Republican convention just as Republicans staged counter events last week while the Democrats met. “Welcome to the RNC, Republican National Chaos,” the narrator says in the 30-second spot, which opened with a scene of downtown Charlotte. “Because Trump is meeting the COVID moment with job-destroying incompetence and deadly mismanagement, students and teachers are left to themselves, the jobless left without a lifeline, grandparents left to die alone, an economy left to perish.” A parade of Republicans, most speaking from the empty Mellon Auditorium a short distance from the White House, praised Trump and called for his reelection. His oldest son, Donald Trump Jr., described his father’s Democratic opponent in the November 3 election, former Vice President Joe Biden, as “the Loch Ness monster of the swamp,” a reference to the federal government, and a threat to U.S. democracy.  The younger Trump called Democrats the party of “rioting, looting and vandalism” during protests against racial injustice in the U.S. “Trump’s America is the land of opportunity,” he declared. For President Trump, the four days of the Republican convention are crucial, a chance through saturation television coverage for him to convince enough American voters that he deserves another four-year term when national polls often show voters disapprove of his performance as the country’s chief executive during the past 3½ years.Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., speaks during the Republican National Convention from the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington, Aug. 24, 2020.Many voters have voiced their discontent about the chaotic Trump presidency and his uneven response to the coronavirus pandemic. Others have grown weary of his thousands of tweets with barbed comments aimed at anyone he disagrees with or attacks him. He has 10 weeks to make his case before Election Day, but the polls show Biden leading by an average of 7.6 percentage points, according to an aggregation of polls by the Real Clear Politics website. However, Biden’s edge is a bit thinner in several key battleground states that could once again prove decisive in the election.  Only two U.S. presidents have lost reelection contests after a single term in office in the past four decades. Trump lost the popular vote in 2016 to Democrat Hillary Clinton by nearly 3 million votes but won the election by narrowly capturing three states — Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin — that Democrats had usually won. However, polls show Biden is leading in all three states. The U.S. president is chosen in the Electoral College, the country’s indirect form of democracy where the overall national outcome is determined by the winner in each of the 50 states, not the national popular vote. Earlier in the day, the more than 300 delegates who gathered in Charlotte, North Carolina, for the business portion of the convention renominated Trump and Vice President Mike Pence for a second four-year term, with the U.S. leader appearing shortly after that to thank the party stalwarts. Trump called the November 3 vote “the most important election in the history of our country.” He contended that the only way Democrats could defeat him is through a rigged election using mail-in-ballots sent to voters.  “They’re trying to steal the election,” Trump declared without evidence. “Suppose they don’t mail them to Republican neighborhoods.”  Trump’s visits with the health workers and the freed prisoners marked the first of four straight evenings he plans to speak to the mostly virtual convention, with the focus shifting from Charlotte to Washington, and culminating Thursday with his renomination acceptance speech at the White House. Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, the lone Black Republican in the U.S. Senate, and Nikki Haley, an Indian American and a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, also spoke on his behalf. Trump, as president, has been a vocal supporter of gun ownership rights as sanctioned by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. But as many Democrats call for limitations on gun ownership, Republicans brought the issue to the fore with a pair of controversial speakers, Mark and Patricia McCloskey, a St. Louis, Missouri, couple who brandished guns at Black Lives Matter protesters as they walked past their mansion in a June demonstration against racial injustice. The McCloskeys said they felt threatened by the protesters, but a St. Louis prosecutor charged both with a felony, unlawful use of a weapon.Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley leaves after speaking during the Republican National Convention from the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington, Aug. 24, 2020.Mark McCloskey said, “Donald Trump will protect your God-given right to protect your homes and family.” His wife said, “Your family will not be safe with the radical Democrats’ agenda.” Democrats last week conducted their convention entirely virtually, with a collection of taped and live presentations, to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Republican delegates in Charlotte were subject to regular temperature checks and daily testing for COVID-19. All were required to be tested before they left their states, and throughout Monday’s events they were wearing devices to enable contact tracing. A total of 336 delegates gathered at the convention to renominate Trump. The size of the Republican gathering is downscaled from past conventions, just not as much as the Democrats’ conclave. Gone at both party conventions are the thousands of delegates who have crammed into arenas and stadiums at quadrennial gatherings in years past. Biden, as he accepted his party’s presidential nomination last week, contended that Trump had created a “season of darkness in America” in which he had failed to control the unrelenting pandemic while millions of workers have lost their jobs. “We will choose hope over fear, facts over fiction, fairness over privilege,” Biden said. Trump claimed that “the Democrats held the darkest and angriest and gloomiest convention in American history.” He accused them of “attacking America as racist and a horrible country that must be redeemed.” But he wasted no time in attacking Biden after the delegates cast their votes to renominate him. As he has often done in recent times, Trump attacked his Democratic opponent as a puppet of the radical left, warning that if the former vice president is elected in November, “Your American dream will be dead.” Republicans are billing their convention “Honoring the Great American Story.” The Trump campaign said that each night will include remarks from political leaders as well as “everyday Americans whose stories are filled with hope and patriotism.” All three living former Democratic presidents — Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama — along with 2004 nominee John Kerry and 2016 nominee Hillary Clinton, spoke on behalf of Biden at the Democratic convention. But neither former Republican President George W. Bush nor 2012 nominee Mitt Romney, who now is a Utah senator and a Trump critic, is on the Republican convention schedule.  More than two dozen former Republican lawmakers announced their support for Biden as the Republican convention started. 
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U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visits Sudan on Tuesday as the Trump administration pushes for Arab nations to normalize ties with Israel. Pompeo’s schedule includes meetings with Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and Sovereign Council Chair General Abdel Fattah el-Burhan. In addition to Sudan-Israel relations, the State Department says Pompeo will also discuss “continued U.S. support for the civilian-led transitional government” in Sudan. Hamdok became prime minister last August after the military ousted president Omar al-Bashir following months of mounting protests against his 30-year rule. Pompeo began his trip Monday in Israel where he said the United States will ensure Israel’s military advantage in the Middle East under any potential U.S. arms deals with the United Arab Emirates.    “The United States has a legal requirement with respect to qualitative military edge.  We will continue to honor that,” said Pompeo after his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem.U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wear face masks to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus after they make joint statements to the press, in Jerusalem, Aug. 24, 2020.“But we have a 20-plus year security relationship with the United Arab Emirates as well, where we have provided them with technical assistance and military assistance,” he added.       The top U.S. diplomat’s trip to the Middle East comes after Washington helped broker the Israel-UAE deal earlier this month, a pact that Netanyahu said heralds a new era for the region.     But Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said the deal is a “betrayal” of Palestinians.  The Israel-UAE deal is seen as breaking a tradition among most Arab countries not to make peace with Israel until Israel and the Palestinians make peace.    Pompeo is also traveling to Bahrain, UAE and Sudan from August 23-28, with Iran, regional security issues, and “establishing and deepening Israel’s relationships in the region” high on the agenda.    The U.S. and Israel are hopeful that other Arab nations will follow the UAE in normalizing relations with Israel.  “We discussed this and I hope we’ll have good news in the future, maybe in the near future,” said Netanyahu on Monday.    Bahrain and Oman are seen as the next Gulf countries to establish diplomatic ties with Israel.  Monday, British Foreign Minister Dominic Raab renewed a call for a dialogue between governments of Israel and the Palestinian Authority.  “Israel’s suspension of annexation is an essential step towards a more peaceful Middle East. It is important to build on this new dynamic, and ultimately only the government of Israel and the Palestinian Authority can negotiate the two state solution required to secure lasting peace,” said Raab in a statement.  Raab met with Pompeo on Monday in Jerusalem and is set to meet with Netanyahu and Abbas this week.   Netanyahu has praised the Trump administration for its efforts to initiate a return of the international sanctions against Iran that were lifted under the 2015 agreement restricting the country’s nuclear program.      The United States withdrew from the agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, and other signatories, including Britain, France and Germany, said because the U.S. walked away they could not support its sanctions action. 
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A region in Africa that includes 43 nations has been certified free of the wild polio virus (Aug. 24) after Nigeria, the last endemic country, recorded no new cases for the past three consecutive years. Nigeria’s polio survivors are celebrating the eradication of the virus, even though many still face challenges. Timothy Obiezu profiles the president of Nigeria’s Polio Survivors Association, who has been helping other survivors through sport.
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Investigators in Juba were scouring the wreckage Monday of a Russian-made plane that crashed Saturday three kilometers from Juba International Airport, killing seven of the eight passengers and crew on board. Peter Paul Nhial, the lone survivor of the crash, told South Sudan in Focus on Monday he believes engine failure caused the Antonov-26 to go down. “As we took off from Juba International Airport to Aweil via Wau, we heard a sound on the engine on the right side of the plane. When that happened, the plane started to descend towards the ground,” Nhial told VOA. Nhial, who suffered third-degree burns over most of his body, a broken right leg and a severed spinal cord, said after he heard the loud bang, the pilot immediately told the passengers he was returning to the airport. “As he tried to turn, then the engine shut down, the pilots could not do anything. The plane could not ascend further upwards and could not turn either. So, it fell and burst into flames and scattered us apart,” Nhial told VOA. The AN-26 was built in 1969, but the plane’s age should not be considered a significant factor, said David Subek Dada, CEO of the South Sudan Civil Aviation Authority. “If you are talking about the age, how many aircrafts all over the world have crashed — and these are modern new aircrafts? Let us not push that because the aircrafts are old or because we don’t have regulations. There are many reasons an accident can happen whether we like it or not, whether the aircraft is new or old,” Subek told South Sudan in Focus. Because of COVID-19 restrictions, South Sudan Transport and Roads Minister Madut Biar said he suspects some aviation companies could not service their aircraft. “When coronavirus happened, some of the planes could not fly back to where they are supposed to be serviced in the region or even beyond. Or maybe the engineers that were supposed to come and service the planes here on the ground were locked down because of the coronavirus,” Biar told South Sudan in Focus. The Transport and Roads Ministry and the Civil Aviation Authority have formed a technical committee to investigate the crash and ensure justice for the victims, Biar said. “The government is going to take action or remedial measures so that such accidents are reduced, including even the pilots themselves and the service companies,” Biar told VOA. The AN-26 was owned by South West Aviation, a South Sudanese company. Aviation companies operating in South Sudan must adhere to certain specifications of their aircraft, including weight limits and regular maintenance procedures, according to the Civil Aviation Authority. The investigation team is searching for the plane’s black box, which they hope will reveal the cause of the crash.  
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Tropical Storm Laura is likely to become a hurricane Tuesday as it heads into the warm waters of the Caribbean, forecasters warn, while its twin storm Marco is losing strength but will still produce heavy and high winds as it approaches the Gulf Coast of the southern United States. The Yoleine Toussaint, 22, removes mud from plates in front of her flooded house, one day after the passing of Tropical Storm Laura, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Aug. 24, 2020.The forecasters say Marco will degenerate into a tropical depression by late Monday or early Tuesday, but is still forecast to produce a potentially deadly storm surge for areas of coastal Louisiana and Mississippi and produce as much as 25 centimeters of rain for some areas. As of midday Monday, Tropical Storm Laura was just off the southern coast of Cuba, after leaving a path of destruction in its wake across Puerto Rico, Haiti and the Dominican Republic, where it killed at least 11 people.  Forecasters expect the storm to move into the very warm waters of the northwestern Caribbean early Tuesday, where they expect it to become a hurricane. It could strengthen into a large and dangerous storm as it crosses the equally warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico.  The storm is forecast to make landfall late Wednesday or early Thursday in a zone between roughly New Orleans and Houston. The National Hurricane Center warned residents and businesses in these areas to monitor the progress of Laura and ensure they have their hurricane plan in place, as storm surge and hurricane watches will likely be issued later Monday. 
 
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