USA

NEW YORK (AP) — While deaths from the coronavirus in the U.S. are mounting rapidly, public health experts are seeing a flicker of good news: The second surge of confirmed cases appears to be leveling off.

Scientists aren’t celebrating by any means, warning that the trend is driven by four big, hard-hit places — Arizona, California, Florida and Texas — and that cases are rising in close to 30 states in all, with the outbreak’s center of gravity seemingly shifting from the Sun Belt toward the Midwest.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A shift to mail voting is increasing the chances that Americans will not know the winner of November’s presidential race on election night. But that doesn’t mean the results will be flawed or fraudulent, as President Donald Trump suggested on Thursday.

Trump, seeking to already undermine the results of an election he could lose, demanded that the winner of the Nov. 3 contest be known that night.

CLAYTON, Mo. (AP) — St. Louis County’s prosecutor announced Thursday that he will not charge the former police officer who fatally shot Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, a dramatic decision that could reopen old wounds amid a renewed and intense national conversation about racial injustice and the police treatment of people of color.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The coronavirus pandemic sent the U.S. economy plunging by a record-shattering 32.9% annual rate last quarter and is still inflicting damage across the country, squeezing already struggling businesses and forcing a wave of layoffs that shows no sign of abating.

UNITED NATIONS, Jul 30 (APP): A third of the world’s children are poisoned by lead, a potent neurotoxin that can cause irreparable damage to the brain, according to a new report published by the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) and the and international non-profit organization focused on pollution issues, Pure Earth.  The study warns that “lead poisoning is affecting children on a massive and previously unknown scale.”

WASHINGTON, July 30 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The United States slapped sanctions on the son of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, extending efforts to block funds for the war-torn country’s regime.

Hafez al-Assad, 18, named after his grandfather, will not be allowed to travel or maintain assets in the United States, the State Department said.

The designation was part of a second set of sanctions under the Caesar Act, a US law that took effect in June that aims never to normalize the Assad government even as it succeeds in winning back most of Syria after a brutal nine-year war.

30 July 2020; MEMO: US President Donald Trump has announced plans to extend the national emergency order for Lebanon “beyond August 1, 2020” citing concerns over the strength of Hezbollah in a statement released yesterday.

The extension, according to the statement, is because of “certain ongoing activities”, including Iranian arms transfers to Hezbollah, which “constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States”.

Washington, Jul 30 (PTI) US President Donald Trump has alleged that India, China and Russia do not take care of their air, while America does, noting that he withdrew from the one-sided, energy-destroying Paris climate accord which would have made it a non-competitive nation .

UNITED NATIONS, July 29 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese envoy on Wednesday urged the United States to stop politicizing the Syrian humanitarian issue and immediately lift unilateral sanctions against Syria.

China has always adopted a constructive and responsible approach in dealing with the issue of cross-border humanitarian mechanism for Syrians. In fact, it is the United States that should reflect on its actions, said Zhang Jun, China's permanent representative to the United Nations.

WASHINGTON, July 30 (Xinhua) -- The United States failed to recognize the coronavirus threat from Europe in time, Robert Redfield, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), has said.

Since the country's COVID-19 epidemic broke out, the United States has reported over 4.4 million confirmed cases and over 150,000 deaths.

"The introduction from Europe happened before we realized what was happening," Redfield said in an interview with ABC News on Tuesday.