USA

Washington, May 20 (AP/PTI) Joe Biden on Tuesday night deflected questions about President Donald Trump's allegations of improper behaviour during the Obama administration and other conspiracy theories pushed by his top allies, saying, I don't want to get down in the mud with these guys.

Speaking at a Yahoo News virtual town hall, Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, said Trump is trying to distract voters from his inadequate response to the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than 90,000 Americans.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In an alert that appeared aimed squarely at Iran, the U.S. Navy issued a warning on Tuesday to mariners in the Gulf to stay 100 meters (yards) away from U.S. warships or risk being “interpreted as a threat and subject to lawful defensive measures.”

The notice to mariners, which was first reported by Reuters, follows U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat last month to fire on any Iranian ships that harass Navy vessels.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The top U.N. official in Libya warned Tuesday that the war in the North African country will “intensify, broaden and deepen” because of increasing foreign intervention and the influx of weapons, military equipment and mercenaries to both sides.

Acting U.N. special envoy Stephanie Williams said the escalation will have “devastating consequences for the Libyan people” who are “getting lost in the mix, their voices crowded out.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — Joe Biden on Tuesday night deflected questions about President Donald Trump’s allegations of improper behavior during the Obama administration and other conspiracy theories pushed by his top allies, saying, “I don’t want to get down in the mud with these guys.”

Speaking at a Yahoo News virtual town hall, Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, said Trump is trying to distract voters from his inadequate response to the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than 90,000 Americans. Trump has said the virus will disappear “like a miracle.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump emphatically defended himself Tuesday against criticism from medical experts that his announced use of a malaria drug against the coronavirus could spark wide misuse by Americans of the unproven treatment with potentially fatal side effects.

Trump’s revelation a day earlier that he was taking hydroxychloroquine caught many in his administration by surprise and set off an urgent effort by officials to justify his action. But their attempt to address the concerns of health professionals was undercut by the president himself.

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Republican voters in Oregon’s vast 2nd Congressional District on Tuesday elected a former state senator to be their candidate to replace Rep. Greg Walden, who didn’t run for a 12th term in the conservative region covering the rural eastern and central part of the state.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican political operatives are recruiting “extremely pro-Trump” doctors to go on television to prescribe reviving the U.S. economy as quickly as possible, without waiting to meet safety benchmarks proposed by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to slow the spread of the new coronavirus.

EDENVILLE, Mich. (AP) — Two breached dams caused by several days of rainfall and rising water on Tuesday forced the evacuation of about 10,000 people in mid-Michigan, where the governor said one downtown could be “under approximately 9 feet of water” by morning.

For the second time in less than 24 hours, families living along two lakes and a river were ordered Tuesday to leave home.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Public health officials in some states are accused of bungling coronavirus infection statistics or even using a little sleight of hand to deliberately make things look better than they are.

The risk is that politicians, business owners and ordinary Americans who are making decisions about lockdowns, reopenings and other day-to-day matters could be left with the impression that the virus is under more control than it actually is.

19 May 2020; MEMO: Israeli Ambassador to the United States, Ron Dermer, has been lobbying in favour of Israel’s annexation plans, fearful of the plan being scrapped should Joe Biden become US president.

Three sources reported by the Israeli TV Channel 13 said that Dermer is leading a campaign targeting Trump administration officials, congressmen and women, journalists and other influencers to convince them that Israel must move forward on annexation plans.