Trump’s America First Agenda Shapes GOP Foreign Policy

The Republican Party’s foreign policy agenda has been almost entirely shaped in the past four years by President Donald Trump’s approach to international relations, including new trade deals, skepticism of international organizations, and calls to reduce U.S. troop deployments overseas.   Because of the coronavirus pandemic and social distancing protocols, the Republican Party this year did not…

read more

Praise for Health Care Workers, Barbs for Biden as GOP Convention Opens

U.S. President Donald Trump took center stage at the Republican National Convention Monday night and immediately signaled that defending his handling of the coronavirus pandemic and the ensuing economic crisis is paramount in winning a second term. On the first night of the nationally televised Republican convention, Trump was shown greeting health care workers at the White House who – against the views of many Americans — praised his handling…

read more

Kenya Sees Spike in Sexual Abuse Cases During Pandemic    

Kenyan authorities and aid agencies say rape and sexual abuse cases against girls have increased since the start of pandemic restrictions, and they say in most cases relatives are the offenders. Some safe shelters in Nairobi are overwhelmed by girls who need an escape from people meant to care for them.  Kenyan children have extra time off these days since schools closed in March because of the coronavirus pandemic. That is making…

read more

Trump Fires Up Party Delegates with Warnings of ‘Rigged’ Election

Just minutes after delegates to the Republican National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, formally awarded him the party’s nomination on Monday, President Donald Trump told them the only way the Democrats can defeat him at the polls in November is through a rigged election using mail-in-ballots. “They’re trying to steal the election,” Trump declared without evidence…

read more

Zoom Suffers Worldwide Outages

Videoconferencing platform Zoom experienced worldwide outages Monday morning, coinciding with the first day of remote classes for many schools and universities. On its status page, Zoom reported partial outages for its website, meetings and webinars. By Monday afternoon, all systems were reported as operational. Downdetector recorded a spike in issue reports, mostly from North America and western…

read more

US Postmaster General Tells Congress Mail-In Voting is ‘Number One Priority’

U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy assured lawmakers Monday that attempts to reform the beleaguered United States Postal Service (USPS) will not interfere with an anticipated surge in mail-in voting in this year’s presidential election due to the coronavirus pandemic.  “This sacred duty is my number one priority,” DeJoy told the House Committee on Oversight and…

read more

Over 24 GOP Former Members of Congress Join ‘Republicans for Biden’

As the Republican National Convention got under way Monday, Former Arizona Senator Jeff Flake, alongside more than two dozen former Republican members of Congress, endorsed Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.The Biden campaign announced that the former lawmakers joined its new “Republicans for Biden” program, also launched Monday, part of the campaign’s efforts to engage with…

read more

COVAX Program is Evaluating 9 Potential Coronavirus Vaccines, WHO Says

The World Health Organization (WHO) said Monday nine vaccines are being evaluated by its cooperative COVAX facility which now has 172 nations as contributing partners. The FILE – World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus attends a news conference at the WHO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, July 3, 2020.Speaking at his usual briefing at the agency’s…

read more

Biden: Trump ‘Walked Away’ from COVID Crisis

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden says he isn’t blaming President Donald Trump for the coronavirus outbreak, but he does blame him for “walking away” from the crisis.  “The idea of saying that this is going to go away, that some miracle is going to happen is unrealistic,” Biden said, adding that Trump has repeatedly promoted “crazy” treatments and “hasn’t listened to the scientists.”  Biden and his vice presidential running mate, California Senator Kamala Harris, spoke to ABC News television in an interview broadcast Sunday night.…

read more