AP News in Brief at 6:04 a.m. EDT
US response to the virus is met with incredulity abroad
ROME (AP) — The United States’ failure to contain the spread of the coronavirus has been met with astonishment and alarm in Europe, as the world’s most powerful country edges closer to a global record of 5 million confirmed infections.
Perhaps nowhere outside the U.S. is America’s bungled virus response viewed with more consternation than in Italy, which was ground zero of Europe's epidemic. Italians were unprepared when the outbreak exploded in February and the country still has one of the world’s highest official death tolls at 35,000.
But after a strict nationwide 10-week lockdown, vigilant tracing of new clusters and general acceptance of mask mandates and social distancing, Italy has become a model of virus containment.
“Don’t they care about their health?” a mask-clad Patrizia Antonini asked about people in the United States as she walked with friends along the banks of Lake Bracciano, north of Rome. “They need to take our precautions ... They need a real lockdown."
Much of the incredulity in Europe stems from the fact that America had the benefit of time, European experience and medical know-how to treat the virus that the continent itself didn’t have when the first COVID-19 patients started filling intensive care units. Yet, more than four months into a sustained outbreak, the U.S. is about to hit an astonishing milestone of 5 million confirmed infections, easily the highest in the world. Health officials believe the actual number is closer to 50 million, given testing limitations and the fact that as many as 40% of all cases are asymptomatic.
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Trump order allows some unemployment pay, defers payroll tax
BEDMINSTER, N.J. (AP) — President Donald Trump has bypassed the nation's lawmakers as he claimed the authority to defer payroll taxes and replace an expired unemployment benefit with a lower amount after negotiations with Congress on a new coronavirus rescue package collapsed.
Trump's orders on Saturday encroached on Congress' control of federal spending and seemed likely to be met with legal challenges. The president cast his actions as necessary given that lawmakers have been unable to reach an agreement to plunge more money into the stumbling economy, which has imperiled his November reelection.
Trump moved to continue paying a supplemental federal unemployment benefit for millions of Americans out of work during the outbreak. However, his order called for up to $400 payments each week, one-third less than the $600 people had been receiving. How many people would receive the benefit and how long it might take to arrive were open questions.
The previous unemployment benefit, which expired on Aug. 1, was fully funded by Washington, but Trump is asking states to now cover 25%. He is seeking to set aside $44 billion in previously approved disaster aid to help states, but said it would be up to states to determine how much, if any of it, to fund, so the benefits could be smaller still.
Many states already faced budget shortfalls due to the coronavirus pandemic and would have difficulty assuming the new obligation.
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Masks in class? Many questions as Germans go back to school
BERLIN (AP) — Masks during class, masks only in the halls, no masks at all. Distance when possible, no distance within same-grade groups, no distance at all.
As Germany’s 16 states start sending millions of children back to school in the middle of the global coronavirus pandemic, the country’s famous sense of “Ordnung” has given way to uncertainty, with a hodgepodge of regional regulations that officials acknowledge may or may not work.
“There can’t, and never will be 100% certainty,” said Torsten Kuehne, the official in charge of schools in Pankow, Berlin’s most populous district where 45,000 students go back to school Monday. “We are trying to minimize the risk as much as possible.”
Germany has won plaudits for managing to slow the spread of the coronavirus quickly, efficiently and early, but the opening of schools is proving a new challenge as the country struggles to balance the concerns of anxious parents and children, skeptical scientists, worried teachers and overtaxed administrators.
With U.S. President Donald Trump pushing for American schools to reopen in person and on time even as the country nears 5 million confirmed coronavirus cases, and other countries moving ahead with plans to resume classes despite rising infections, many eyes are on the real-life experiment offered in Germany to see what works and what doesn't.
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Nagasaki urges nuke ban on 75th anniversary of US A-bombing
TOKYO (AP) — The Japanese city of Nagasaki on Sunday marked its 75th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing, with the mayor and dwindling survivors urging world leaders including their own to do more for a nuclear weapons ban.
At 11:02 a.m., the moment the B-29 bomber Bockscar dropped a 4.5-ton (10,000-pound) plutonium bomb dubbed “Fat Man,” Nagasaki survivors and other participants stood in a minute of silence to honor more than 70,000 dead.
The Aug. 9, 1945, bombing came three days after the United States dropped its first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, the world’s first ever nuclear attack that killed 140,000. On Aug. 15, Japan surrendered, ending World War II.
At the event at Nagasaki Peace Park, scaled down because of the coronavirus pandemic, Mayor Tomihisa Taue read a peace declaration in which he raised concern that nuclear states had in recent years retreated from disarmament efforts.
Instead, they are upgrading and miniaturizing nuclear weapons for easier use, he said. Taue singled out the U.S. and Russia for increasing risks by scrapping the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.
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Belarus strongman president faces strong election challenge
MINSK, Belarus (AP) — Belarusians are voting on whether to grant their authoritarian president a sixth term in office, following a campaign marked by unusually strong demonstrations by opposition supporters frustrated with the country’s stumbling economy, political repression and weak response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Incumbent Alexander Lukashenko, in office for 26 years, has made it clear he won’t hesitate to quash any attempt by his opponents to protest the results of Sunday’s election.
But some voters were defiant.
“There is no more fear. Belarusians will not be silent and will protest loudly," 24-year-old Tatiana Protasevich said at a Minsk polling place Sunday.
The head of staff for main opposition candidate Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya was detained late Saturday for allegedly participating in authorized protests and is likely to be in jail until at least Monday. Tsikhanouskaya herself reportedly was so concerned about her own security that she left her residence to spend the night elsewhere.
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At his New Jersey golf club, Trump finds supportive audience
BEDMINSTER, N.J. (AP) — They hustled down the stairs, the rain dabbing their polo shirts and golf attire, as they dashed inside the clubhouse, drinks in their hands and masks missing from their faces.
It was an unexpected perk of their country club membership: being the audience for President Donald Trump’s hurriedly announced news conference Friday evening at his course in Bedminster, New Jersey.
They were props in a surreal gathering that violated COVID-19 safety guidelines but gave Trump a stage on which to end his week by falsely claiming the coronavirus pandemic ravaging the nation and endangering his reelection campaign was “disappearing.”
As if it were a political rally, the well-heeled crowd offered cheers and jeers as the president delivered broadsides against his political foes. Club members booed when a reporter suggested the news conference violated social distancing regulations put in place by Gov. Phil Murphy, D-N.J.
“You’re wrong about that because it’s a political activity. They have expectations for political activities. And it’s also a peaceful protest,” Trump said. The audience roared when the president suggested that the club’s members “know the news is fake.”
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Riot declared as fire burns in Portland police union offices
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A fire inside a police union building led authorities in Portland, Oregon, to declare a riot and force protesters away from the offices as violent demonstrations continue in the city that had hoped for calm after federal agents withdrew more than a week ago.
A group of demonstrators broke into the Portland Police Association building, set the fire and were adding to it when officers made the riot declaration late Saturday, police tweeted. Video shot by a journalist shows smoke and flames arising from inside the building.
Several hundred people had gathered outside the offices, which are located about 5 miles (8 kilometers) north of the federal courthouse that had been the target of nightly violence earlier this summer. The Portland Police Association is a labor union that represents members of the Portland Police Bureau.
Live video had showed multiple dumpster fires had been set near the building, less than half an hour after police tweeted that “criminal activities including, but not limited to, vandalism, unlawful entry to the building, or fire starting," could be subject to arrest, the use of tear gas and/or crowd-control munitions.
Once the riot was declared — just after 11:30 p.m. — officers formed a line and used flash bangs and smoke canisters to force the crowd away from the area.
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Afghan council frees Taliban prisoners to set up peace talks
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A traditional Afghan council concluded Sunday with hundreds of delegates agreeing to free 400 Taliban members, paving the way for an early start to negotiations between Afghanistan's warring sides.
The declaration read out in both of Afghanistan's official languages of Pashto and Farsi calls for an immediate start to negotiations and cease fire. The move looks to bring the United States a little closer to returning its troops and ending its longest military engagement.
No date has been set but negotiations between Kabul’s political leadership and the Taliban are expected to begin as early as next week and will most likely be held in the middle eastern state of Qatar, where the Taliban maintains a political office.
The Afghan negotiations were laid out in a peace deal signed by the United States and the Taliban in February. At the time of its signing it was touted as Afghanistan’s best chance at ending decades of war.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani praised delegates for their decision, urged the Taliban to stop fighting.
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Saudi Aramco half-year profits plunge 50% from virus impact
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Saudi Aramco's net income plunged by 50% in the first half of the year, according to figures published Sunday, offering a revealing glimpse into the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on one of the world's biggest oil producers.
Profits for the first six months of the year plunged to $23.2 billion, half of last year’s $46.9 billion for the same time period.
The results were announced as Aramco's second quarter earnings dipped to $6.6 billion compared to $24.7 billion during the same time last year, reflecting a staggering 73% drop.
The majority state-owned company's financial health is crucial to Saudi Arabia's stability. Despite massive efforts by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to diversify the economy, Saudi Arabia still depends heavily on oil exports to fuel government spending.
The price of Brent crude hovers just under $45 a barrel, significantly less than before the pandemic but up from a low of around $21 a barrel in April.
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DJ, big hitters atop tight leaderboard for 4th round of PGA
The bad news: The final-round “Battle of the Titans” golf fans have been clamoring for — Brooks “Big Game” Koepka vs. Bryson “The Brain” DeChambeau with a tournament on the line — won’t be coming to a PGA Championship near you. At least not on this Sunday.
The good: If Saturday’s Round 3 at TPC Harding Park is any indication of what’s to come, the first major of this COVID-19 season won’t lack for fireworks.
Koepka, the two-time defending champion, faced a gut check after making three straight bogeys and promptly responded by birdieing two of his last three holes to shoot 69 and stay two shots of the lead. Even gutsier, perhaps, was Koepka’s post-round interview performance, which resembled a major leaguer walking over to the opposing dugout and daring anyone inside to come out and fight.
Koepka nearly yawned when asked to assess the players ahead of him, a group that includes leader and 2016 U.S. Open champion Dustin Johnson (at 9-under 201), rising stars Scottie Scheffler, Cameron Champ (both at 8 under), Collin Morikawa and veteran Paul Casey (both at 7 under).
“A lot of guys on the leaderboard, I don’t think have won. I guess DJ has only won one,” he began. “I don’t know a lot of the others that are up there.”