USA

WASHINGTON, July 29. /TASS/: Russia and China are working actively to devlop more and more advanced and numerous missile defense systems, the US Department of Defense said in a statement.

''China and Russia are developing increasingly capable and numerous missile defense systems, and integrating them into their defense strategies as they compete with the United States,'' the statement an unnamed Department of Defense official as saying.

According to the official, the missile defense domain is becoming an important element of rivalry between superpowers.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A group of top Republican U.S. Senators on Tuesday ramped up pressure on TikTok, asking the Trump administration to assess the threat that the popular Chinese-owned video sharing app might meddle in U.S. elections.

In a letter dated Tuesday, Marco Rubio, Tom Cotton and other lawmakers cited alleged censorship by TikTok of sensitive content, including a video critical of China’s treatment of its Uighur minority, as well as alleged attempts by Beijing to manipulate political discussions on social media apps.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military on Wednesday unveiled plans to withdraw about 12,000 troops from Germany following a decision by President Donald Trump, but said it will keep nearly half of them in Europe to address tension with Russia.

Trump announced his intention last month to cut the 36,000-strong U.S. troop contingent in Germany to 25,000, faulting the close U.S. ally for failing to meet NATO’s defense spending target and accusing it of taking advantage of the United States on trade.

29 July 2020; MEMO: Hollywood’s Seth Rogen on Monday said he was fed a “huge amount” of lies about Israel, as Palestinians were left out of the narrative.

Washington, Jul 29 (PTI) China under President Xi Jinping has become more aggressive and bullish, former US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said on Tuesday, asserting that such a behavior is unlikely to last long.

Indian-American Haley, in an interview to Fox News, said the Chinese were quiet and strategic during her tenure at the UN. They moved and made sure that they were trying to get positions in certain areas, and trying to get things done behind closed doors, she said.

Washington, Jul 29 (PTI) US biotechnology company Moderna's experimental vaccine to prevent COVID-19 induced robust immune response and rapidly controlled the novel coronavirus in the upper and lower airways of monkeys exposed to SARS-CoV-2, according to a study published on Tuesday.

The candidate vaccine, mRNA-1273, was co-developed by scientists at Moderna and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) in the US.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said he never questioned Russian President Vladimir Putin about U.S. intelligence reports that Russia paid the Taliban to kill American troops in Afghanistan, casting doubt on the reports in an interview.

“I have never discussed it with him,” Trump said in an interview on Tuesday with “Axios on HBO.”

Trump, a Republican who has sought to cultivate warmer relations with Moscow, has said he was not briefed on the matter before it emerged in news media in late June. He has called the reports a hoax and casts doubt on them.

WASHINGTON, July 28 (Xinhua) -- Democrats in the U.S. Senate released on Tuesday a scathing review on Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's tenure at the State Department.

The 46-page report, entitled "Diplomacy in Crisis: The Trump Administration's Decimation of the State Department," says during Pompeo's tenure, critical senior positions remain vacant without nominees, with 11 assistant secretary of under-secretary posts vacant or filled by acting officials.

WASHINGTON, July 28 (Xinhua) -- U.S. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler and Attorney General William Barr clashed in a hearing on Tuesday.

In his opening remarks, Nadler, a New York Democrat, said that Barr's tenure "has been marked by a persistent war against the department's professional core in an apparent attempt to secure favors" for President Donald Trump and that he has "aided and abetted the worst failings of this President."

UNITED NATIONS, July 28 (Xinhua) -- The prolonged UN-brokered peace talks between the Yemeni government and the Houthi rebels might fail, UN Special Envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths warned on Tuesday.

"There is a real risk that these negotiations will slip away, and that Yemen will enter a new phase of prolonged escalation, of the uncontrolled spread of COVID-19, and of severe and threatening economic decline," Griffiths told the Security Council in a briefing.

He said he still has hopes, but does not want to "sugarcoat things."