USA

NEW YORK (AP) — A New York City prosecutor fighting to get President Donald Trump’s tax returns told a judge Monday he was justified in demanding them because of public reports of “extensive and protracted criminal conduct at the Trump Organization.”

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr. is seeking eight years of the Republican president’s personal and corporate tax records, but has disclosed little about what prompted him to request the records, other than part of the investigation related to payoffs to two women to keep them quiet about alleged affairs with Trump.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Negotiators on a huge coronavirus relief bill reported slight progress after talks resumed in the Capitol, with issues like food for the poor and aid to schools struggling to reopen safely assuming a higher profile in the talks.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration’s plan to provide every nursing home with a fast COVID-19 testing machine comes with an asterisk: The government won’t supply enough test kits to check staff and residents beyond an initial couple of rounds.

NORTH MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (AP) — Hurricane Isaias has made landfall near Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina, according to the National Hurricane Center. The hurricane touched down just after 11 p.m. on Monday with maximum sustained winds of 85 mph (136 km/h).

Coastal shops and restaurants closed early, power began to flicker at oceanfront hotels and even the most adventurous of beachgoers abandoned the sand Monday night as newly restrengthened Hurricane Isaias sped toward the Carolinas.

03 Aug 2020; MEMO: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu struck back on Sunday at demonstrations calling for his resignation, accusing protesters of trampling democracy and the Israeli media of encouraging them.

Netanyahu, who was sworn in for a fifth term in May after an election, has often complained of press bias against him, and some of the charges he faces in a corruption trial related to alleged attempts to seek favourable coverage from media barons in return for state favours

New York, Aug 3 (AP/PTI) New York landmark retailer Lord & Taylor has filed for bankruptcy, joining a growing list of retailers flummoxed by the pandemic.

The company, which was sold to the French rental clothing company Le Tote Inc. last year, filed Sunday for bankruptcy protection in the Eastern Court of Virginia.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- Allowing U.S. citizens to sue China over the COVID-19 pandemic would be a "huge mistake," a Californian senator has said.

"We launch a series of unknown events that could be very, very dangerous. I think this is a huge mistake," said Senior Senator Dianne Feinstein recently during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.

Noting that China has pulled tens of millions of people out of poverty in a short period of time, Feinstein regarded China as a country "growing into a respectable nation among other nations" and a "potential trading partner."

WASHINGTON, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- Officials from the White House said Sunday that the U.S. presidential election will be held on Nov. 3 as planned after President Donald Trump earlier raised the possibility of delaying it.

"We're going to hold an election on Nov. 3 and the president is going to win," White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows told CBS's Face the Nation.

Meadows's remarks were echoed by presidential campaign adviser Jason Miller, who told Fox News Sunday that "The election is going to be on Nov. 3 and President Trump wants the election to be on Nov. 3."

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic Rep. Karen Bass, one of the top contenders to be Joe Biden’s running mate, on Sunday defended her past travel to Cuba and the sympathetic comments she made after the death of Fidel Castro, the dictator who ruled the communist country for decades.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Slow, grinding negotiations on a huge COVID-19 relief bill are set to resume, but the path forward promises to be challenging. Both the Trump administration negotiating team and top Capitol Hill Democrats reported progress over the weekend even as they highlighted their differences.

Ahead of Monday’s talks, all sides predict a long slog ahead despite the lapse of a $600-per-week supplemental COVID jobless benefit, the beginning of school season, and the call of lawmakers’ cherished August recess. Several more days of talks are expected, if not more.