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22 July 2020; MEMO: American Defence Department announced on Monday that it would buy the eight F-35A fighter jets which had been intended for Turkey as the US ousted Ankara from the joint strike fighter program last year, Defence News reported.

The Hague, Jul 21 (AP/PTI) A Dutch government auction of frequencies that can be used by mobile telecom companies to provide new, high-speed 5G communications raised 1.23 billion euros (USD 1.4 billion), the minister responsible for the sale said Tuesday.

Three companies, KPN, T-Mobile and VodafoneZiggo, bought bandwidth, said State Secretary for Economic Affairs Mona Keijzer said.

BEIJING (Reuters) - The United States has told the Chinese consulate in Houston to shut down in three days, citing a need to protect American intellectual property and information, amid a sharp deterioration in relations between the two countries.

Beijing condemned the order and threatened retaliation. A source said China was considering closing the U.S. consulate in the city of Wuhan.

Ties between the United States and China have become increasingly tense since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus in Wuhan at the beginning of the year.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Democratic candidate Joe Biden leads President Donald Trump by 8 percentage points in support among registered voters, and the former vice president appears to have a significant advantage among voters who are undecided, according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll.

The July 15-21 poll found that 46% of registered voters said they would back Biden in the Nov. 3 election, while 38% would vote for Republican Trump. The remaining 16% are either undecided, plan to support a third-party candidate or may not vote.

Brussels, Jul 21 (AP/PTI) Weary European Union leaders finally clinched an unprecedented 1.82 trillion euro (USD 2.1 trillion) budget and coronavirus recovery fund early Tuesday, somehow finding unity after four days and as many nights of fighting and wrangling over money and power in one of their longest summits ever.

To confront the biggest recession in its history, officials said the EU had a consensus on a 750 billion euro coronavirus fund to be sent as loans and grants to the countries hit hardest by the virus.

WASHINGTON, July 21 (Xinhua) -- The resurgence of COVID-19 cases across the United States is raising the risk of a double-dip recession if the country is unable to reign in the pandemic, economists have warned.

A total of 34 U.S. states have seen increasing rates of COVID-19 infection since the Memorial Day weekend in late May, with the majority of new infections occurring in the south and southwest, said Joseph Brusuelas, chief economist at accounting and consulting firm RSM US LLP.

Kolkata, Jul 20 (PTI) With several weddings and religious functions being put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many Hindu priests in Kolkata and its vicinity are in dire straits, some even looking for an alternative source of income to make ends meet.

Sushanta Chakraborty, a priest in Agarpara on the northern outskirts of the city, is selling vegetables in his locality, something that he said his "ancestors couldn't have thought of, no matter what the circumstances".

New Delhi, Jul 20 (PTI) IndiGo has decided to lay off 10 per cent of its workforce due to the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic, its CEO Ronojoy Dutta said on Monday.

"From where things stand currently, it is impossible for our company to fly through this economic storm without making some sacrifices, in order to sustain our business operations," Dutta said in a statement.

New Delhi, Jul 20 (PTI) The free trade agreements (FTAs) that India entered into over the years have not been able to largely serve the country's economy well in terms of building its capacities, though all such pacts are not the same, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Monday.

The external affairs minister said there are ways of engaging the world which do not necessarily have to be "FTA-centric".

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A year ago, Cijay Brightman was doing sound and lighting for a Madonna performance in Israel. Now, after the coronavirus wiped out live events, he’s making sandwiches, slicing cheese and serving customers at a Tel Aviv deli.

Brightman spent the last 15 years perfecting his craft and doing what he loves as a stage technician. But in the wake of the pandemic, he has been forced to abandon his passion and profession — like thousands of others in Israel — and find any job that will pay the bills.