USA

TASS, August 30: The number of confirmed novel coronavirus cases across the globe exceeded 25 mln on Sunday, according to the US-based Johns Hopkins University, which relies on data provided by international organizations, federal and local authorities.

According to the research university, 25,009,250 cases have been registered, 842,702 people have died and another 16,411,400 have recovered. The highest caseload has been recorded in the United States (5,961,582), which is followed by Brazil (3,846,153) and India (3,542,733).

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A solid year for progressive Democrats who have defeated at least three incumbents in the U.S. Congress in primaries could fizzle out this week in Massachusetts where three party stalwarts were set to fend off challengers.

The progressive model for success has seen an array of mostly young candidates, sometimes minorities, toppling older establishment incumbents. But the most prominent race on Tuesday turns things upside down with an older, veteran lawmaker claiming the progressive mantle from his younger challenger.

UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Head of the UN Alliance of Civilizations Miguel Moratinos on Saturday condemned the burning of the Quran by far-right extremists in the Swedish city of Malmo.

Moratinos described the incident on Friday, which triggered riots in Malmo, as "despicable and totally unacceptable nor justifiable," said his spokesperson, Nihal Saad, in a statement.

NEW YORK, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Global COVID-19 deaths surpassed 840,000 on Saturday, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.

With total COVID-19 cases around the world reaching 24,892,543, the death toll worldwide rose to 840,341 as of 6:28 p.m. (2228 GMT), the CSSE data showed.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump will travel to Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Tuesday, amid fury over the police shooting of Jacob Blake in the back, which left the 29-year-old Black man paralyzed.

White House spokesman Judd Deere told reporters aboard Air Force One on Saturday that Trump will be meeting with law enforcement officers and “surveying” some of the damage from recent protests that turned destructive.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Public health experts expressed concern Friday about President Donald Trump’s largely mask-free, socially un-distanced Republican convention event on the White House lawn, saying some of his 1,500 guests may have inadvertently brought and spread the coronavirus to others.

“There almost certainly were individuals there who were infected with COVID-19 but don’t know it,” said Dr. Leana Wen, an emergency physician and public health professor at George Washington University..

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — One person was shot and killed late Saturday in Portland, Oregon, as a large caravan of President Donald Trump supporters and Black Lives Matter protesters clashed in the streets, police said.

It wasn’t clear if the shooting was linked to fights that broke out as a caravan of about 600 vehicles was confronted by protesters in the city’s downtown. An Associated Press freelance photographer heard three gunshots and then observed police medics working on the body of the victim, who appeared to be a white man.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California lawmakers are setting up a task force to study and make recommendations for reparations to African Americans, particularly the descendants of slaves, as the nation struggles again with civil rights and unrest following the latest shooting of a Black man by police.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Joe Biden said on Saturday that as president, he would never use the military “as a prop or private militia” and accused President Donald Trump of employing U.S. forces to settle “personal vendettas” and violate citizens’ rights.

The Democratic presidential nominee, in a virtual address to the National Guard Association of the United States’ general conference, said Trump recommended “that you should be deployed to quote, ‘dominate,’ your fellow citizens for exercising their right to peacefully protest.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation’s top intelligence official has informed Congress that his office will no longer give in-person election security briefings on Capitol Hill, a move that raised concern among lawmakers Saturday about the public’s right to know about foreign interference in the upcoming presidential election.

President Donald Trump said National Intelligence Director John Ratcliffe made the decision because the administration “got tired” of intelligence about election security leaking from Congress.