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The House of Representatives is holding a rare emergency session Saturday, with Democrats seeking to pass emergency funding for the Postal Service as the country ramps up preparations for larger numbers of mail-in votes during the November election amid the coronavirus pandemic.
 
Democrats are seeking $25 billion in additional funding for the Postal Service as well as to roll back recent changes at the agency that include removing high-speed mail sorting machines and the blue curbside collection boxes in public places, as well as cutting overtime pay for employees.  
 
“These changes are causing huge delays, reported all across the country, threatening the effectiveness of the Postal Service and undermining our democracy,” Democratic Representative Carolyn Maloney, the bill’s author said.
 
The changes were put in place by Louis DeJoy, the postmaster general who assumed the position in June. DeJoy – who is a Republican fundraiser and donor to the Trump campaign – said he instituted the measures to reduce costs at the post office, which has faced revenue losses in recent years.
 
DeJoy told senators Friday that election mail would be prioritized for delivery, saying it’s his “sacred duty” to ensure such mail is delivered. However, he said that blue collection boxes and sorting equipment that have been removed are “not needed.”Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 1 MB480p | 2 MB540p | 2 MB1080p | 7 MBOriginal | 12 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioEarlier this week, DeJoy suspended “long-standing operational initiatives” at the post office until after the election “to avoid even the appearance of any impact on election mail.” He said no more mail processing equipment or collection boxes would be removed until then and that “overtime has, and will continue to be, approved as needed.”
 
The White House Office of Management and Budget on Friday criticized the proposed Democratic bill, saying it is an “overreaction to sensationalized media reports that have made evidence-free accusations that USPS has undertaken reforms to achieve political rather than operational objectives.” It said it would recommend President Donald Trump veto the bill if it were to pass.
 
The bill, which is being proposed in the Democratic-controlled House, is unlikely to be taken up in the Republican-controlled Senate.
 
Trump has repeatedly said, without evidence, that the November election could be rigged because of mail-in votes, claiming that Russia and China could forge U.S. paper ballots.
 
“This is going to be the greatest election disaster in history,” Trump told reporters at the White House last month.FILE – A worker processes mail-in ballots at the Bucks County Board of Elections office prior to a primary election in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, May 27, 2020.Trump has also said he does not want to wait “weeks, months or even years” for the results of the election because of problems he predicts will occur with mailed-in ballots.
 
Representatives for the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) and the National Association of State Election Directors (NASED) told VOA in July that if there is any evidence to support Trump’s claims of potential mail-in ballot fraud, the administration has yet to share it with them.
 
Last week, Trump said he opposes emergency funding for the Postal Service to make voting by mail easier. However, he told reporters the following day that he would agree to additional funding for the Postal Service if Democrats made concessions as part of a larger coronavirus aid bill. Talks on a new stimulus bill have largely broken down between Republicans and Democrats over sharp policy differences.
 
Most states already offer some form of mail-in voting in the form of “absentee” ballots, but because of the coronavirus pandemic, some states have moved to expand the use of mail-in ballots for the November election.  
 
According to a New York Times analysis, about three-quarters of Americans will be eligible to vote by mail in the presidential election, leading to an estimated 80 million mail-in votes.   
 
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Libya’s U.N.-supported government Friday announced a cease-fire across the oil-rich country and called for demilitarizing the strategic city of Sirte in an initiative supported by the rival parliament in the east.The development could mark a breakthrough following international pressure amid rising fear of a new escalation in the chaotic proxy war as rival sides mobilize for a battle over Sirte. The gateway to Libya’s major oil export terminals has been under the control of forces loyal to military commander Khalifa Hifter since January.Libya was plunged into chaos when a NATO-backed uprising in 2011 toppled longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi, who was later killed. The country has since split between rival east- and west-based administrations, each backed by armed groups and foreign governments.The chaos has worsened in recent months as foreign backers increasingly intervene, despite pledges to the contrary at a high-profile peace summit in Berlin earlier this year. Thousands of mercenaries including Russian, Syrians and Sudanese are fighting on both sides of the conflict.Hifter, who is allied to the parliament in eastern Libya, is supported by Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Russia. Forces loyal to the Government of National Accord based in the capital Tripoli have backing from Turkey, a bitter rival of Egypt and the UAE in a broader regional struggle, as well as from the wealthy Gulf state of Qatar.Hifter’s forces launched an offensive in April 2019 trying to capture Tripoli. But his campaign collapsed in June when the Tripoli-allied militias, with heavy Turkish support, gained the upper hand, driving his forces from the outskirts of the city and other western towns.Fighting has died down in recent weeks, but both sides were preparing for a possible battle over Sirte. Emboldened by Turkey’s support, Tripoli-allied forces vowed to retake Sirte and the Jurfa area, which includes a vital inland military base, from Hifter’s forces, prompting Egypt to threaten to send troops to Libya.Previous efforts have stalledPrevious efforts to secure lasting cease-fires have stalled. But this time could prove different with heavier diplomatic efforts, including by the United States, aiming to avert the of direct military confrontation between Egypt and Turkey, both American allies, over Sirte.“It sounds more like an announcement that tried to tick all the theoretical boxes, with a clear American influence,” said Jalel Harchaoui, a Libya expert at The Netherlands Institute of International Relations. “But is it fully implementable? That will be hard.”Crucially, there was no immediate word from Hifter on the announcements, though he agreed to an Egyptian initiative in June that included a cease-fire.Fayez Sarraj, head of the Government of National Accord in Tripoli, said an effective cease-fire requires “the demilitarization of Sirte and Jurfa areas, and that police forces from the two sides agree on security arrangements there.”Aguila Saleh, speaker of the rival eastern-based House of Representatives, supported Sarraj’s proposal of demilitarization of Sirte — but he did not mention Jurfa. The United States floated the idea of demilitarization earlier this month.“A cease-fire blocks the way for foreign military interventions and ends with the expulsion of mercenaries and dissolving the militias in order to achieve comprehensive national sovereignty,” Saleh said.U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomes the calls for a cease-fire and an end to hostilities in Libya and hopes they “will be respected immediately by armed forces from both sides,” U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.The U.N. chief urged the Joint Military Commission to quickly take up the cease-fire call and called on all parties “to engage constructively in an inclusive political process” based on the outcome of a conference of world leaders in Berlin in January, Dujarric said. World powers and other countries with interests in Libya’s long-running civil war agreed at the meeting to respect a much-violated arms embargo, hold off on military support to the warring parties and push them to reach a full cease-fire.UAE’s Foreign Ministry welcomed Saleh’s cease-fire initiative that did not include the demilitarization of Jurfa area, according the state-run WAM news agency.The powerful interior minister of the Tripoli-based administration, Fathi Bashaga, hailed the cease-fire initiative, saying on Twitter: “We are looking forward to develop cooperation with the U.S., Europe, Turkey, Egypt and the U.N.”Sarraj also called for parliamentary and presidential elections to be held in March according to “a constitutional base to be agreed on by the Libyans.”Saleh, the parliament speaker, called for Sirte to be a temporary seat of the new government.Both Saraj and Saleh said they want an end to an oil blockade imposed by Hifter’s camp since earlier this year. They also called for oil revenues, the country’s main source of revenue, to flow into the bank account of the National Oil Corporation outside Libya.’Full transparency’ requiredThe National Oil Corporation urged for oil revenues to “remain frozen until a comprehensive political agreement is reached.”“Full transparency and effective governance are required as well as the return of security management of oil facilities to NOC’s exclusive control,” it said in a statement.Powerful tribes in eastern Libya loyal to Hifter closed oil export terminals and choked off major pipelines at the start of the year to pressure the Tripoli-based government, which is accused of using oil revenues to fund militias and mercenaries.Last month, Hifter set conditions for ending the oil blockade, including that revenues flow into a bank account in a foreign country with a “clear mechanism” to distribute funds fairly among Libya’s regions. He also demanded an audit of Libya’s Central Bank in Tripoli to review the spending in the past years. The audit was approved late in July after months of international pressure.Earlier this week, Hifter’s army said it would allow partial reopening of oil terminals to export stored oil to provide required gas amid power shortages in the east.The U.N. support mission in Libya welcomed both statements and called for the expulsion of all foreign forces and mercenaries in Libya.“The two initiatives have created hope for forging a peaceful political solution to the longstanding Libyan crisis, a solution that will affirm the desire of the Libyan people to live in peace and dignity,” said Stephanie Williams, acting head of the U.N. mission.Retweeting the U.N. mission statement, the U.S. Embassy in Libya also welcomed the two statements as “important steps to all Libyans.” Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi on Twitter welcomed both statements as “an important step on the path of achieving the political settlement.”German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas — who visited Tripoli on Monday to talk with the government there before heading to the United Arab Emirates to encourage it to urge Hifter to negotiate — welcomed the development. He called it a “solid basis for a permanent ceasefire” and urged a lifting of the oil blockade.Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte said in a tweet that the cease-fire announcement was an “important step toward restarting a political process that favors stability in the country and well-being among its people.”
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As more than 12,000 firefighters in California are battling 560 fires, Gov. Gavin Newsom says he has asked for resources and support not only from other U.S. states but also Canada and Australia.  The governor said Australia is home to “the world’s best wildfire fighters.”Newsom said Friday the fires have “disproportionately impacted” Northern California, where tens of thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes and where hundreds of homes and other buildings have been destroyed.”We simply haven’t seen anything like this in many, many years,” Newsom said. “These fires are stretching our resources, our personnel.”At least five people have been killed and 43 injured, including firefighters, in the blazes that have burned through 2,020 square kilometers during an historic heat wave.Hank Hanson, 81, gestures to the kitchen of his home, destroyed by the LNU Lightning Complex fires, in Vacaville, Calif., on Aug. 21, 2020.Redwood trees that are thousands of years old are being threatened by the fires. Buildings in Big Basin Redwoods State Park have already been damaged.U.S. President Donald Trump has blamed California for the fires and seemed bewildered that state officials have not followed his suggestion to prevent them. On Thursday, in Pennsylvania, Trump said he told California authorities, “You gotta clean your floors, you gotta clean your forests — there are many, many years of leaves and broken trees and they’re like, like, so flammable, you touch them and it goes up.”  
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President Donald Trump sought to cast a more positive light on his presidency Friday after four days of bashing at the Democratic National Convention, saying that where Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden sees “American darkness,” he sees “American greatness.”The four-day Democratic National Convention culminated with Biden describing “a perfect storm” hitting the nation under Trump’s watch as a result of the pandemic, the jolt to the economy that it delivered and racial unrest after the death of George Floyd. It comes as Republicans are still finalizing plans for Trump’s four-night show next week — in part in response to the virtual Democratic event.”Over the last week, the Democrats held the darkest and angriest and gloomiest convention in American history,” Trump said in a speech to the GOP-aligned Council for National Policy in Arlington. “They spent four straight days attacking America as racist, a horrible country that must be redeemed.”Biden, in his nomination acceptance speech, portrayed Trump as someone who tries to divide Americans. “United we can and will overcome this season of darkness in America,” he said.Trump, in recent speeches, has referenced unrest and violence in American cities and positioned himself as a defender of law and order. He did so again Friday, saying that if he loses, “no one will be safe in our country and no one will be spared.”Trump and the Democrats agreed on one thing, however. Just as the Democrats had repeatedly contended Thursday night, Trump declared, “The future of our country and indeed our civilization is at stake on Nov. 3.”He chided the Democrats, saying their convention did not address the threat that China posed to the U.S. or bringing safety to Democratic-run cities. He also jabbed at former President Barack Obama, saying, “You can’t be a great president when much of what he has done we have undone.”President Donald Trump speaks to the 2020 Council for National Policy Meeting, Aug. 21, 2020, in Arlington, Va.As preparations for Trump’s unprecedented acceptance speech were underway on the South Lawn of the White House, Republican Party planners were still finalizing the sequencing of next week’s Republican National Convention. Organizers and Trump himself were said to be closely monitoring the Democratic event for what worked and what didn’t, hoping that will provide them an advantage in putting together the Republican convention.While most of the program has yet to be announced, some details were emerging. First lady Melania Trump is to speak on Tuesday evening from the White House Rose Garden, while Vice President Mike Pence will speak Wednesday from Baltimore’s Fort McHenry. Other speakers include Trump-allied GOP lawmakers, as well as the St. Louis couple who waved firearms at Black Lives Matter protesters outside their home in June.Patricia and Mark McCloskey, who are white, have claimed they were protecting themselves from protesters marching on their private street, but they were each charged by a local prosecutor with one felony count of unlawful use of a weapon. Trump has been critical of their treatment and has spoken out in defense of the couple.Trump, a former reality television host, has high production standards, though meeting them will be a challenge for the GOP. Trump resisted efforts to move to a virtual convention, going so far as to shift venues in an effort to carry on with an in-person gathering, so Republicans have had less time to plan than the Democrats did.Trump repeatedly criticized Democrats’ reliance on pretaped videos, rather than live addresses, and GOP organizers were adjusting their plans to accommodate. “Live, by the way, is always much more exciting,” he said Tuesday.Vice President Mike Pence listens to a reporter’s question during a meeting with President Donald Trump and Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi in the Oval Office of the White House, Aug. 20, 2020.Pence said in an interview Friday that the RNC next week will focus on what Trump has accomplished, including on the economy and with his coronavirus response.Pence promised a heavy focus on GOP support for law and order and said the Democrats had failed to acknowledge violence plaguing some U.S. cities.”We’re going to make sure that the American people see the choice here,” Pence said.Both Trump and Pence have blamed outbreaks of violence on a radical left, which they have sought to associate with Biden and his running mate, California Sen. Kamala Harris.Trump made clear after the death of Floyd, a Black man who died while in police custody in Minneapolis, and the protests that called for changes to policing that he sides with law enforcement. He said there are always going to be “bad apples.””We’re with them and they’re with us, and they’ve done a fantastic job,” Trump said.Trump also gave his starkest warnings yet about the impact that mail-in voting could have on the election, saying the final results may not be known for an extended period.”I don’t think you’ll know two weeks later. I don’t think you’ll know four weeks later,” Trump said.Pence appeared on morning TV talk shows to counter Democrats and promote the Republican viewpoint hours after Democrats wrapped their virtual four-day convention. He promised a “great lineup of leaders” next week, along with a “great number of voices from all across the country to talk about what this president has done.”The Democrats argued at their convention that Trump is unfit to lead the country for another four years. Obama, a frequent target of Trump’s broadsides, warned that democracy itself is at risk under Trump. 
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Former Vice President Joe Biden officially accepted the Democratic party presidential nomination Thursday night, concluding a four-day virtual convention –  the first of its kind due to the coronavirus pandemic. In a mix of taped and live events, a wide range of Democrats emphasized unity and an overriding goal of defeating President Donald Trump in November. VOA’s Congressional Correspondent Katherine Gypson looks at the presidential race as Democrats finish their week in the spotlight and the focus shifts to the Republican party.
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Police on Friday questioned former Malta Prime Minister Joseph Muscat about testimony given to officers by businessman Yorgen Fenech, the suspected mastermind of the death of anti-corruption journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.Muscat resigned after it was revealed he was friends with and had received expensive gifts from Fenech, who is awaiting trial for alleged complicity in Caruana Galizia’s death. Fenech denies the charges.The former premier was at police headquarters just outside Valletta for about an hour Friday. He told journalists as he walked out that he had been questioned in relation to Fenech’s statement to police, details of which were reported by the Sunday Times of Malta.”I replied to all their questions, and the police confirmed again that I am not considered a suspect,” Muscat told reporters. Police have not commented.FILE – A person holds a placard depicting Daphne Caruana Galizia, prepared by the Committee to Protect Journalists, as people gather at the site where the journalist was assassinated a year earlier, in Bidnija, Malta, Oct. 16, 2018.A car bomb killed Caruana Galizia in October 2017. Three other men are accused of setting off the bomb and are awaiting trial.Fenech, one of Malta’s top businessmen, was arrested in November.Muscat announced his resignation immediately after Fenech’s arraignment and stepped down in January. Fenech also had links with Muscat’s then chief of staff, Keith Schembri.Media have reported Fenech told investigators that Muscat asked him if Schembri featured in secret recordings made by Melvin Theuma, the self-confessed middleman in the murder plot who is cooperating with police and has turned state’s evidence. Fenech reportedly replied that he was doing his best to protect Schembri.Muscat has denied the claims.A Fenech company won a contract from Muscat’s government to build a power station in 2014, and a Dubai-based company owned by Fenech was identified in a Reuters investigation as a vehicle to funnel funds to secret Panama companies owned by Schembri and former Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi.Both resigned shortly before Muscat. Both deny wrongdoing and no evidence has emerged that money was exchanged.
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Fake news about the coronavirus can do real harm. Polygraph.info is spotlighting fact-checks from other reliable sources here​.Daily DebunkClaim: Putin’s daughter died after being administered the second dose of COVID-19 vaccine.Verdict: FalseRead the full story at: The Logical Indian​ Social Media DisinfoCirculating on social media: Claim that inventor of method used to test for COVID-19 said it can’t be used in virus detection.Verdict: FalseRead the full story at: Reuters
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A Virginia teenager is inspired to help other children get artificial limbs, and uses her 3D printer to make prosthetics, as well as other useful kit.Reporter/Camera: June Soh
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The massive American warship, the USS Hershel Woody Williams, has arrived at the Greek island of Crete as tensions escalate between NATO allies Greece and Turkey over energy rights in the eastern Mediterranean.The ship’s presence comes days after a Turkish frigate, protecting an exploration ship that Ankara sent to the region to hunt for undersea oil and gas, collided with a Greek battleship on August 12, raising the stakes of the brewing maritime crisis.  It also follows France’s deployment of military forces to the region, providing military assistance to Greece in the crisis – an active engagement that the US 6th Fleet says it is avoiding for now. “We are not taking part in this standoff and the USS Hershel Woody Williams has not been sent to intervene,” Commander Kyle Raines, press attaché for the US Sixth Fleet, told VOA.He said the ship’s arrival at Souda Bay, in Crete was “scheduled.” Still, should the situation between the two feuding NATO allies deteriorate and decision-makers in Washington decide to act, the ship could intervene. “USS Hershel Woody Williams is highly flexible and may be used across a broad range of military operations in support of national tasking,” Raines said.Military experts describe the USS Hershel Woody Williams as a floating base, the second of a new class of massive ships the US Navy is using as fast transport and support centers for military operations.The 230-meter-long ship, about the size of some skyscrapers, was earlier in Naples, Italy, for a routine logistics stop before it sailed to Crete.Since the August 12 maritime incident, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has threatened to use force against any Greek attempt to block the Turkish exploratory ship, Oruc Reis, and five other battleships guiding its course. “If this goes on,” he warned recently, “we will retaliate. We shall not leave either the dead or the living of our kin alone.” The Greek government of Kyriakos Mitsotakis has been scrambling for weeks to convince its European Union partners to slap sanctions on Turkey. It has also complained to NATO about its maintaining equal distance from the regional antagonists.What is more, the growing number of warships gathering in the eastern Mediterranean, including, the arrival of a Russian warship, has experts in Greece concerned.  The build-up comes weeks after Erdogan ordered the Oruc Reis to the eastern Mediterranean to survey for gas and oil.Greece says the seabed off the coast of Crete and other islands in the region are its own to exploit – a claim Turkey has repeatedly refused, saying islands are not entitled to what is known as an exclusive economic zone.U.S. officials have not given details on how long it will remain in Crete’s Souda Bay.  Cyprus Foreign Minister Nikos Christodoulidis says forces from other EU nations and countries in the region are likely to arrive and join the effort.    He says it is something Greek officials are expecting to build up as they try to find a diplomatic solution. He praised the buildup as vivid proof of the West’s resolve to block what he said is Turkey’s growing influence in the region.Analyst Kostas Ifandis, a professor of military studies and diplomatic relations, doubts the show of force will change things very much.He says that if the situation gets dicey, we may see other countries like Egypt mobilizing. But from the EU’s standpoint, he says, it is unlikely that this buildup will impact Turkey because its biggest trading partner and closest ally, Germany, is unlikely to join in such a maneuver.Currently chairing the EU’s rotating presidency, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been trying to convince Athens and Ankara to begin negotiations over the conflicting claims each side has to air and sea rights in the region.Germany has been reluctant to support stiff sanctions against Turkey, but it has advised the government in Ankara to pull back its survey vessel from the disputed waters.Turkey has said it will continue to survey the contested region through next week.But the buildup of vessels, submarines and even combat aircraft in the region, has experts fearing an accident like the Aug. 12 maritime collision could spark a bigger confrontation between Greece and Turkey.  
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U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden said he has a plan to help the U.S. fight the coronavirus outbreak.“After all this time the president still does not have a plan,” Biden said. “Well, I do.”Biden said Thursday in his acceptance speech at the virtual Democratic convention that his plan would include a national mask-wearing mandate and immediate rapid testing results. His plan would also call for increased manufacturing of medical supplies in the U.S.Biden added that he would ensure that schools have whatever they need to “open, safe and effective.”The U.S. continues to lead the world in the number of COVID-19 cases and in deaths, with more than 5.5 million infections and more than 174,000 deaths. The U.S. has roughly one-fourth of the world’s more than 22.6 million COVID cases.The Philippines reported 4,786 new infections Friday, bringing its total case count to 182,365. It also recorded 59 deaths, increasing its death tally to 2,940.“The infectiousness has increased because the strain has evolved,” Health Secretary Francisco Duque said Friday.The humanitarian aid group CARE says the coronavirus pandemic is likely to aggravate the world’s food insecurity and hunger crisis.Public officials disinfect as a precaution against the coronavirus at the Yoido Full Gospel Church in Seoul, South Korea, Aug. 21, 2020.CARE says in a new report the number of people around the globe facing severe food insecurity or a food crisis could nearly double to 270 million by the end of the year.The number of people in Latin American facing food shortages has tripled, while the number has doubled in West and Central Africa and exploded by as much as 90% in Southern Africa, according to the report.People in developed countries are facing pandemic-related food insecurity as well. CARE reported that 1 in 4 adults in Britain struggles to gain access to affordable and nutritious food, while at least 6 million Americans have registered for food benefits since the virus began to spread.The number of COVID-19 deaths in Latin America passed the 250,000 mark on Thursday, according a Reuters count.The region is experiencing more than 3,000 deaths a day and the number of new cases reported each day is rising in Argentina, Colombia, and Peru.Brazil still leads Latin America with more than 3.5 million cases and 112,304 deaths, according to the People ride an escalator as they arrive at La Defense business district while wearing a protective face masks as a precaution against the coronavirus, in Paris, Aug. 21, 2020.MSF said it “has strict infection prevention and control protocols that it has successfully applied during its work to combat COVID-19 worldwide.”Indigenous protesters Thursday resumed their blockade of a key Brazilian grain highway in the state of Para, stopping trucks carrying corn, according to federal highway police.The Kayapó tribe says the federal government has failed to protect it from the coronavirus, which has killed four tribal elders.A senior Mexican official says Mexico will get at least 2,000 test doses of the new coronavirus vaccine developed in Russia, which approved it last week without the advanced trials usually required to prove the effectiveness of a vaccine.Medical experts around the world have expressed skepticism over the vaccine dubbed “Sputnik V” by its makers in a nod to a Soviet satellite that was part of an effort to develop a manned space program.Mexico will test it among its population, according to Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard. Russia says it will carry out its tests of the vaccine starting next week and says foreign researchers will help oversee the trials.U.S. medical experts are warning people against consuming the plant extract oleandrin or the plant itself after reports surfaced that U.S. President Donald Trump wants the Food and Drug Administration to approve it as a COVID treatment.”This is very worrisome as consumption of either the plant oleander, or its toxic compound oleandrin, can both cause death,” Emory University expert on plants and medicine Cassandra Quave told Newsweek magazine.Trump supporter Mike Lindell, best known as the manufacturer and TV pitchman of pillows, has told CNN that Trump is apparently enthusiastic about the plant.Oleandrin is one of several toxic compounds from the oleander plant—an evergreen shrub or small tree that is popular with landscapers.  
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