USA

SEATTLE, WASHINGTON, 28 June 2020, VoA - Pilots and test crew members from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and Boeing Co aim to kick off a certification test campaign for the 737 MAX on Monday, expected to last at least three days, people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The flight test is a pivotal moment in Boeing's worst-ever corporate crisis, long since compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic that has slashed air travel and jet demand.

NEW YORK, June 29 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Global COVID-19 deaths surpassed 500,000 on Sunday, reaching 500,108, as of 4:33 p.m. (2033 GMT), according to the Centre for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE), at Johns Hopkins University.

Meanwhile, the total COVID-19 cases around the world rose to 10,063,319, according to the CSSE.

The United States reported the most COVID-19 cases and deaths, standing at 2,539,544 and 125,747, respectively.

Other countries with over 20,000 fatalities include Brazil, Britain, Italy, France, Spain and Mexico.

RED BLUFF, Calif (AP) — A man who drove into a Walmart distribution center in Northern California and went on a shooting rampage that left him and another man dead, and four others wounded, was fired from his job at the center last year, authorities said.

Louis Wesley Lane, 31, was fired from the distribution center near Red Bluff in February 2019 after failing to show up for work, Tehama County Assistant Sheriff Phil Johnston told a news conference early Sunday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — It was a startling declaration about one of the pillars of American democracy, all the more so given its source.

The president of the United States last week publicly predicted without evidence that the 2020 presidential election would be “the most corrupt election in the history of our country.”

“We cannot let this happen,” Donald Trump told an audience of young supporters at a Phoenix megachurch. “They want it to happen so badly.”

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — The suspect arrested in the shooting death of a man during a Louisville protest over the police killing of Breonna Taylor had taken part in demonstrations but was disruptive and had been asked by other protesters to leave, authorities and protesters said Sunday.

The man, identified by an arrest citation as Steven Nelson Lopez, was hospitalized and being interviewed by homicide investigators about the shooting that happened late Saturday, interim Louisville Police Chief Robert Schroeder said at a news conference.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Forty years after a sadistic suburban rapist terrorized California in what investigators later realized were a series of linked assaults and slayings, a 74-year-old former police officer is expected to plead guilty Monday to being the elusive Golden State Killer.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Hours after an astonishing summit with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, President Donald Trump boldly declared a breakthrough. “There is no longer a Nuclear Threat from North Korea,” he tweeted.

Yet two years later, despite two more face-to-face meetings and many exchanges of warm words between the leaders, North Korea continues to build up its nuclear program and test missiles. And even if Trump still hopes for an agreement, his administration isn’t betting on it happening before the November election.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Sunday tweeted approvingly of a video showing one of his supporters chanting “white power,” a racist slogan associated with white supremacists. He later deleted the tweet and the White House said the president had not heard “the one statement” on the video.

The video appeared to have been taken at The Villages, a Florida retirement community, and showed dueling demonstrations between Trump supporters and opponents.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has denied that he was made aware of U.S. intelligence officials’ conclusions that Russia secretly offered bounties to Taliban-linked militants for killing American troops in Afghanistan. The Trump administration was set to brief select members of Congress on the matter on Monday.

NEW YORK, Jun 27 (APP): After weeks of protests against police brutality and racism across the United States, and amid a renewed spike in coronavirus cases, the number of voters disapproving of the job President Donald Trump is doing is at an all-time high, according to a new poll.

Trump’s approval rating sits at just 40% overall, while a record 58% disapprove, the NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll found.

But the percentage of respondents who disapprove of his performance in the White House reached its highest level yet this month, at 58 percent.