Saturday,  Aug 22nd, 2020

Postmaster general says USPS can handle universal mail-in voting  Postmaster General Louis DeJoy testified before Congress on Friday to face questions about controversial changes at the United States Postal Service ahead of the 2020 presidential election. DeJoy spoke with the Senate Homeland Security Committee after he vowed to suspend USPS operational changes until after the election. He said “there have been no changes in any policies in regards to election mail for the 2020 election.” He said USPS “is fully fully capable and committed to delivering the nation’s election mail securely and on time.” Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said DeJoy “frankly admitted” that some removed mail infrastructure will not be replaced. DeJoy says the idea that these changes are “designed to harm the ability of voters to use the mail to vote” is a “false narrative.” Source:  ABC News

At least 5 dead as California wildfires continue  The death toll from wildfires raging across California has risen to at least five after a flurry of lightning strikes ignited new fires in the northern part of the state. Tens of thousands of people had to evacuate their homes and go to shelters despite the risk of coronavirus infections after California recorded 600,000 confirmed infections. “Not only are we dealing with COVID, but with also the heat and now the fires,” said Cheryl Jarvis, who evacuated to a community center in Vacaville but refused to go inside, sleeping in her Toyota Prius instead. Statewide, there have been more than 360 fires, with 22 major blazes still burning. “We are experiencing fires, the likes of which we haven’t seen in many, many years,” Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said. Source: CNN

Students in Massachusetts will be required to take a flu vaccine in order to attend schools. (CBS News)

Friday,  Aug 21st, 2020

Vice Chancellor and Federal Finance Minister Olaf Scholz announces a plan to loan around €218 billion ($258bn) for a bailout to mitigate the impact of the country’s recession caused by the pandemic, thereby suspending the debt brake. (CGTN)

The UK’s national debt exceeds £2 trillion ($2.61tn) for the first time, according to data from the Office for National Statistics. (AFP via New Straits Times)

Chief Executive Carrie Lam announces mass COVID-19 testing for residents starting on September 1, with the assistance of a 60-person team from the mainland, which is the first time Chinese health officials have assisted the special administrative region in its battle to control the epidemic. (CNA)

Israel surpasses 100,000 cases as the government struggles with a resurgence of infections. The death tally stands at 809. (Al Arabiya)

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán announces on state radio that he will tighten border crossing rules in Hungary on September 1 to prevent the spread of COVID-19 as the number of new infections rises in neighbouring countries. (Reuters)

‘Golden State Killer’ sentenced to life in prison  Joseph James DeAngelo, the former police officer known as the Golden State Killer, on Friday was sentenced to life without parole after pleading guilty to a series of murders and rapes in California during the 1970s and 1980s. He was arrested in 2018 thanks to the use of “innovative DNA technology.” Contra Costa County District Attorney Diana Becton described DeAngelo as a “man whose horrific unspeakable crimes devastated the lives of so many people, lives that will never be the same, lives forever changed, moments, hours of terror that can never be erased or forgotten.” He spoke in the courtroom on Friday and said he is “truly sorry to everyone I’ve hurt.” DeAngelo pleaded guilty to 13 murders and more than 50 rapes. Source: Los Angeles Times

Russian anti-corruption activist and opposition leader Alexei Navalny falls ill on a flight from Tomsk to Moscow, and is rushed to a hospital in Omsk after an emergency landing. His spokesperson, Kira Yarmysh, says it was suspected that he was poisoned by something mixed into his tea, with Navalny’s team suspecting that it was in the airport café shortly before his flight. He is reported to be in a coma. French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have offered Navalny medical assistance and unspecified protection in their countries. (BBC)

Doctors treating Russian anti-corruption activist and opposition leader Alexei Navalny in Omsk refute claims that Navalny was poisoned before his flight from Tomsk to Moscow the previous day, citing that tests had shown no trace of any poison in his body. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has offered to transfer Navalny to Berlin for further treatment by sending an air ambulance to Omsk, but doctors have refused to discharge him, saying Navalny is in an “unstable” condition. Navalny’s spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh claim the refusal is a ploy to hide the poisoning and “put his life at risk”. (AFP via NDTV)

 

 

The End