Trump orders transactions ban on WeChat, stoking tension with Beijing

Beijing, China: U.S. President Donald Trump has unveiled a sweeping ban on U.S. transactions with the Chinese messaging app giant WeChat, escalating a high-stakes confrontation with Beijing over the future of the global tech industry.

The executive orders announced Thursday and effective in 45 days come after the Trump administration this week flagged increased effort to purge "untrusted" Chinese apps from U.S. digital networks, calling Tencent Holdings Ltd's WeChat and Bytedance's popular TikTok "significant threats.

"The ban on U.S. transactions with Tencent, one of the world's biggest internet companies, portends further fracturing of the global internet and severing of long-standing ties between the tech industries in the United States and China.

WeChat has been downloaded a relatively small 19 million times in the United States, according to data from Sensor Tower. In China, however, the app is ubiquitous as a medium for services as varied as games and payment. It is also a common platform to communicate with individuals and businesses outside of China.

Trump's order sent Asian stock markets lower on Friday (August 7), with Tencent shares falling as far as 10.1% before recouping some of its losses in afternoon trade.

US will give substantial aid to Lebanon, but declines to give a dollar figure, said Trump

New Jersey: U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday said the U.S. will give "substantial" aid to Lebanon, although he did not specify how much the United States would provide.

An emergency donor conference on Sunday for blast-stricken Lebanon raised pledges worth nearly 253 million euros ($298 million) for immediate humanitarian relief, the French presidency said. World powers promised not to fail the Lebanese people as the capital, Beirut, recovers from the massive explosion that killed 158 people and destroyed swathes of the city last Tuesday. Lebanon was already mired in political and financial crisis before the blast.

But foreign countries demanded transparency over how the aid is used, wary of writing blank checks to a government viewed by its own people as deeply corrupt. Some are concerned about the influence of Iran through the Shi'ite group Hezbollah. 

The explosion gutted entire neighborhoods, leaving 250,000 people homeless, razing businesses and destroying critical grain supplies. Rebuilding Beirut will likely run into the billions of dollars. Economists forecast the blast could wipe up to 25 percent off of the country's GDP.

Washington mass shooting: 21 injured in Southeast DC, teenage boy died

Washington DC, US: At least 21 people were shot in Washington DC overnight on Sunday including a teenage boy who died after gunfire broke out during a neighborhood street party where hundreds of people had gathered, the city's police chief said.

"There were certainly way too many people out here, you know, with the COVID-19. It was a huge gathering," Police Chief Peter Newsham told reporters during a Sunday morning news conference at the scene of the shooting in Southeast Washington.

Police reported to a shooting around 12:20 am local time at what some local media described as an annual block party 'cook-out'.

Washington DC is under limited COVID stay-at-home measures during its phased reopening including a ban on public groups larger than 50 people. "When we say that we can't have large events, is to keep the entire community safe," Mayor Muriel Bowser said at the news conference. An off duty female police officer was among the injured and was facing grave life threatening injuries, Newsham said.

The dead 17-year-old's mother was at the scene on Sunday morning and told reporters she was numb with shock and grief.

"I really don't understand how my child's life is just gone," Artecka Brown told reporters.

The United States response to the virus is met with incredulity abroad

Rome, Italy: 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 US 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 US 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.

We Italians always saw America as a model," said Massimo Franco, columnist with daily Corriere della Sera. But with this virus we've discovered a country that is very fragile, with bad infrastructure and a public health system that is nonexistent."

Italian Health Minister Roberto Speranza hasn't shied away from criticising the US, officially condemning as wrong Washington's decision to withhold funding from the World Health Organization and marveling personally at President Donald Trump's virus response.

After Trump finally donned a protective mask last month, Speranza told La7 television: I'm not surprised by Trump's behavior now; I'm profoundly surprised by his behavior before."

With America's list-leading 160,000 dead, politicized resistance to masks and rising caseload, European nations have barred American tourists and visitors from other countries with growing cases from freely traveling to the bloc.

France and Germany are now imposing tests on arrival for travelers from at risk countries, the US included.

I am very well aware that this impinges on individual freedoms, but I believe that this is a justifiable intervention, German Health Minister Jens Spahn said in announcing the tests last week.

Mistakes were made in Europe, too, from delayed lockdowns to insufficient protections for nursing home elderly and critical shortages of tests and protective equipment for medical personnel.

The virus is still raging in some Balkan countries and thousands of maskless protesters demanded an end to virus restrictions in Berlin earlier this month. Hard-hit Spain, France and Germany have seen infection rebounds with new cases topping 1,000 a day, and Italy's cases inched up over 500 on Friday.

The UK is still seeing an estimated 3,700 new infections daily, and some scientists say the country's beloved pubs might have to close again if schools are to reopen in September without causing a new wave.

In the US, new cases run at about 54,000 a day an immensely higher number even when taking into account its larger population. And while that's down from a peak of well over 70,000 last month, cases are rising in nearly 20 states, and deaths are climbing in most.

In contrast, at least for now Europe appears to have the virus somewhat under control.

Had the medical professionals been allowed to operate in the States, you would have belatedly gotten to a point of getting to grips with this back in March, said Scott Lucas, professor of international studies at the University of Birmingham, England.

But of course, the medical and public health professionals were not allowed to proceed unchecked, he said, referring to Trump's frequent undercutting of his own experts.

When the virus first appeared in the United States, Trump and his supporters quickly dismissed it as either a hoax or a virus that would quickly disappear once warmer weather arrived. At one point, Trump suggested that ultraviolet light or injecting disinfectants would eradicate the virus. (He later said he was being facetious).

Trump's frequent complaints about Dr. Anthony Fauci have regularly made headlines in Europe, where the U.S. infectious diseases expert is a respected eminence grise. Italy's leading COVID-19 hospital offered Fauci a job if Trump fired him.

Trump has defended the U.S. response, blaming China, where the virus was first detected, for America's problems and saying the U.S. numbers are so high because there is so much testing. Trump supporters and Americans who have refused to wear masks against all medical advice back that line.

There's no reason to fear any sickness that's out there, said Julia Ferjo, a mother of three in Alpine, Texas, who says she is vehemently against wearing a mask. Ferjo, 35, teaches fitness classes in a large gym with open doors, where she doesn't allow participants to wear masks.

US President Trump walks out of his press conference after reporter presses him on his false claim

Bedminster: US President Donald Trump has abruptly walked out of a press conference after a reporter fact-checked him on his dubious claim about signing a 'Veteran's Choice' bill.

Trump, speaking at his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club, had claimed again that he is the one who got the Veterans Choice program passed- adding, "They've been trying to get that passed for decades and decades and decades and no president's ever been able to do it, and we got it done." In fact, former President Barack Obama signed the Choice program into law in 2014. The law, which allowed eligible veterans to be covered by the government for care provided by doctors outside the VA system, was a bipartisan initiative spearheaded by two senators Trump has repeatedly criticized, Bernie Sanders of Vermont and the late John McCain of Arizona.

What Trump signed was a 2018 law, the VA MISSION Act, that modified and expanded the eligibility criteria from the Choice program. Rather than tout that bill, Trump has claimed over and over that he created Veterans Choice itself -- after others had failed for "50 years."

"Why do you keep saying that you passed Veterans Choice?" CBS News White House correspondent Paula Reid asked Trump at the Saturday news conference, during which Trump announced executive actions on coronavirus relief. As Trump tried to call on another reporter instead, Reid continued, "You said that you passed Veterans Choice. It was passed in 2014...it was a false statement, sir."

Trump paused, then responded: "OK. Thank you very much, everybody." He then walked away as the song "YMCA" played. Trump had either never or almost never been challenged on the Veterans Choice claim before Reid did so.

Russia supported China, Russian foreign ministry said- "US TikTok move unfair"

Russia: U.S. efforts to clamp down on popular short video-sharing app TikTok are an "egregious" example of unfair economic competition for U.S. dominance in the international information space, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said Saturday.

"The actions of the U.S. authorities run counter to the basic principles of a free market economy and violate rules of the World Trade Organization," Zakharova said in a commentary posted on the foreign ministry's website. U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday issued an executive order banning any U.S. transactions with Chinese tech firm ByteDance, owner of TikTok, starting 45 days from then.

Washington has also threatened to ban TikTok's business in the United States if it is not sold to a U.S. company before Sept. 15.

These restrictions have violated a wide range of Washington's international obligations to ensure the free and wide distribution of information, the free choice of its sources, and to encourage cooperation in this area, Zakharova said.

She said that Moscow is calling on Washington to reconsider its methods to preserve the monopoly of U.S. IT giants in international social networks and ensure they meet generally accepted values and international legal norms.

"We hope that specialized international structures and human rights organizations will react appropriately and give an impartial assessment of these actions," she added.

Shocking: US officials uncover 'sophisticated' smuggling tunnel on Mexican border

San Luis: U.S. authorities have discovered an unfinished 1,300-foot (400-meter) tunnel under the U.S.-Mexico border, calling it an unusually sophisticated smuggling route complete with ventilation and a rail system.

The tunnel was found on Tuesday (August 4) in the desert near San Luis, Arizona by federal agents led by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's investigative (ICE) arm, the agency said on Friday. Authorities have located hundreds of tunnels over the years under the Southwest border, saying they are used by drug cartels and criminal organizations to smuggle narcotics, people and weapons back and forth between the two countries.

The tunnel found this week measured 3 feet by 4 feet (91 cm by 1.22 meters) and included a ventilation system, water lines, electrical wiring, rail system, extensive reinforcement authorities said. Federal agents drilled and used underground cameras to investigate the tunnel after discovering a sinkhole near cross-border fencing in mid-July, ICE said.

Vinny Dulesky, a Public Affairs agent for Yuma Sector U.S. Border Patrol, said the tunnel appeared to be one of the most sophisticated tunnels ever seen in U.S. history. In January this year, CBP announced federal agents had discovered the longest cross-border smuggling tunnel ever found along the Southwest border, originating in Baja California, Mexico. It measured 4,309 feet (1,300 meters).

President Donald Trump has pledged to build a wall on the border with Mexico to stop illegal crossings and drug trafficking, but critics point to tunnels as one way people can get around such a barrier.

Backpacks and school supply distribution bring sense of normalcy for kids in Los Angeles

Los Angeles, US: In an effort to start the new school year with some sense of normalcy during the coronavirus pandemic, thousands of backpacks with school supplies were distributed on Friday in Los Angeles to low income families.

"A new backpack for so many kids, that's the tradition, that's the routine they're used to. And one of the challenges in managing our fear and anxiety during a time like this, is to maintain our routines and establish new routines," said Richard Seidman, Chief Medical Officer for L.A. Care Health. 43-year-old Octavia Reyes became emotional when she received the school supplies and a box of fresh fruit. Reyes shares her home with six family members, with only two of them currently holding down jobs.

"We really need this because my husband doesn't have a job. This is a lot of help for us. I'm very grateful for all the people that have helped us, we really need this," said Reyes. The line of cars waiting for a donation extended outside of the large parking lot to the heavily trafficked street near downtown Los Angeles.

Connie Arzate was part of the large car caravan, accompanied by her husband and two children. Since the pandemic started, it has been tough for her family to make ends meet. "There is hardly any work. We're wondering if next month we're going to have enough money to pay our rent, our bills, it's tough," said Arzate.

Most schools in California will start the new school year with remote learning. Michael is a father to two kids and says he can't wait for the day when they can go back to school in person. "I like whatever the normal was. I think the kids need social activity. They need to interact with more people. I mean, just imagine, they're together 24-hours a day. They're on each other's throats."

US Army promises to protect its new cadets at West Point from pandemic

New York, US: The coronavirus pandemic has shut down businesses, schools and many other activities the world over. But the elite West Point Military Academy in upstate New York made clear Friday the business of national security was still very much operational as the school welcomed its new incoming class of cadets.

Inviting the media to look on, West Point was busy hosting firing, obstacle courses and other activities for their new class. Commanders at West Point made clear the pandemic has forced them to both scale back and carry on in compliance with social distancing norms. But according to U.S. Colonel Alan Boyer, West Point's director of military instruction, the school has been able to complete 80 percent of its usual cadet instruction.

"We've put in a number of measures of how we're training, how we're cohorting. And you'll see that today as you get out and about. We're maintaining firebreaks at the platoon level. So I said if we were to have a COVID incident, we could easily go in, isolate, quarantine those folks, treat them, clean them and get the platoon back to training. 

So the first thing we've done is, is implement those measures along with our MPI, or wear masks or social distancing in order to allow us to protect our people," he explained to Reuters. "First and foremost, the number one thing that we want to do out here is protect our people." Speaking in June in West Point, President Donald Trump told West Point's last graduating class their job will be to defend "America's vital interests" and not fight "endless wars" in faraway lands. 

In his commencement address to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Trump told more than 1,000 graduating cadets, arrayed in a social-distancing pattern, that the job of the American soldier is not to rebuild foreign nations but "defend, and defend strongly, our nation from foreign enemies."

As president, Trump has pulled troops from Syria and pushed U.S. allies worldwide to pay more for the commitment of American forces to defend them.

Trump said will conference call with other leaders to support Lebanon on Sunday

Bedminster: U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday that he will join a conference call with Lebanon's president and other world leaders on Sunday to discuss aid to Lebanon in the wake of this week's devastating Beirut port explosion.

Trump said he spoke separately with Lebanese President Michel Aoun and French President Emmanuel Macron, who also will join the call. He said he told Aoun that three large U.S. aircraft were en route to Lebanon to deliver medical supplies, food, water and medical personnel. An explosion in the Lebanese capital's port on Tuesday killed 154 people, injured 5,000 and destroyed a swathe of the city.

France and other countries have rushed emergency aid to Lebanon, including doctors, and tons of health equipment and food. The U.S. Agency for International Development on Friday said it would provide more than $15 million in assistance, including food aid for 50,00 people for three months. It said it had also asked the U.S. military to transport enough medical supplies and pharmaceuticals to support up to 60,000 people for three months.

Senior officials from across the Trump administration have been meeting to hammer out additional assistance, a senior administration source said, adding continued concern about the underlying governance issues plaguing Lebanon. On Thursday, Macron visited Beirut and assured angry crowds that aid to rebuild the city would not go to "corrupt hands". The cause of the blast is being investigated.

Initial Lebanese probes have pointed to an ammonium nitrate cargo, which was abandoned in Beirut, as the source of the blast. President Michel Aoun said on Friday that a Lebanese investigation into the blast would examine whether it was caused by a bomb or other external interference or if it was due to negligence or an accident. U.S. agencies are considering both the possibility that it was a total accident and the possibility that it was somehow deliberately triggered, intelligence sources said.