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The looming expiration of federal assistance tied to the COVID-19 pandemic threatens to cut a financial lifeline for tens of millions of Americans. With time running out, Republicans and Democrats reportedly remain far apart on a possible extension of benefits. VOA’s Mariama Diallo has the story of a COVID survivor struggling to pay medical bills who desperately needs federal relief to continue.
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Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said Tuesday that more than 3,500 Afghan security forces have been killed since the United States and the Taliban signed a peace agreement in February.The announcement came as the Afghan government and the Taliban on the same day declared a three-day cease-fire coinciding with the Eid al-Adha Muslim holiday on Friday.FILE – Washington peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad attends the inauguration ceremony for Afghan President Ashraf Ghani at the presidential palace in Kabul, Afghanistan, March 9, 2020.“Our hope is this Eid brings all Afghans together in understanding & mutual respect and one step closer to a sustainable peace,” said U.S. envoy Zalmay Khalilzad in a tweet Tuesday.Speaking at the Senior Officials Meeting in Kabul, Ghani said about 3,560 Afghan national defense and security forces (ANDSF) were killed and 6,780 more wounded in Taliban attacks between February 29, when the U.S.-Taliban agreement was signed, and July 21.“The Taliban, however, have carried a full-scale offensive against the ANDSF, the people and the government of Afghanistan,” Ghani said. “What kind of peace dividend is this? What does it say about intentions?”FILE – Afghan President Ashraf Ghani speaks after he was sworn in at an inauguration ceremony at the presidential palace in Kabul, March 9, 2020.He said about 775 civilians were killed and 1,609 were injured during that timeline.The Afghan government in the past has refrained from releasing the exact number of casualties from clashes with the Taliban. Ghani, however, said that in late 2018, more than 28,500 security forces had been killed since 2015.Afghan forces have sustained an increase in the number of casualties since late 2014 when the U.S. and the U.S.-led coalition ended their combat mission in Afghanistan and withdrew most of their troops. The U.S. has since decreased its troops to 9,800, and the coalition focused on advising, training and assisting the Afghan security forces.Civilian casualties According to the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), about 1,280 civilians were killed and 2,176 wounded in violence across Afghanistan during the first six months of 2020.In a report published Monday, UNAMA said that civilian casualties in the country were the lowest since 2012. It added that civilian casualties have dropped by 13% compared with the first six months of 2019.Afghan men carry a wounded person to the hospital after a suicide attack in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, June 13, 2019.Stephanie Case, head of Civilian Protection and Child Protection at UNAMA, told VOA’s Afghanistan service that the decrease in civilian causalities was due to a reduction in NATO forces operations and a fall in Islamic State attacks.“Civilian casualties attributed to the two main parties to the conflict that are supposed to be at the negotiating table — the government of Afghanistan and the Taliban — have not decreased,” Case said. “We’re continuing to see concerning trends coming from those two parties.”The Taliban have rejected the UNAMA report, which attributed 43% of the casualties to the group and 23% to the Afghan government.In a statement on its website, the group questioned the objectivity of the report, saying its findings “were based on information provided by Kabul administration security organs and failed to establish actual cases of civilian casualties.”UNAMA, however, has insisted that the report was impartial.“We have no vested interest in blaming one side over another. Our interest lies squarely with the well-being of the Afghan population and with the victims,” Case told VOA.Cease-fire and talks U.S. and Afghan officials have in the past warned that continued violence by the Taliban remains a major obstacle toward a lasting peace in Afghanistan. The U.S. has called on both sides to refrain from escalating violence, expedite the release of prisoners and start intra-Afghan talks.FILE – U.S. Army General Scott Miller, center, commander of U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan, is seen at the presidential palace in Kabul, Afghanistan, Nov. 6, 2018.“The violence is too high. The UNAMA report talks about civilian casualties. We all know that as long as the violence level goes high, people who are going to pay are civilians. So, the violence needs to come down so we have an opportunity for a sustainable peace pathway,” Scott Miller, commander of NATO’s Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan, told reporters Tuesday.Disagreement on a prisoner swap has been another key obstacle ahead of the intra-Afghan negotiations.In the U.S.-Taliban deal, the Afghan government is expected to release 5,000 Taliban prisoners in exchange for the Taliban freeing 1,000 Afghan forces.The Afghan government previously rejected releasing 600 Taliban, saying they were “too dangerous.”However, Ghani on Tuesday said his government would release the remaining Taliban to facilitate the peace talks.“With this action, we look forward to the start of direct negotiations with the Taliban in a week’s time,” he said.VOA’s Afghanistan service contributed to this report.
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Cases of COVID-19 are increasing daily in the Palestinian West Bank, with the city of Hebron emerging as the virus epicenter. The health and economic crisis have worsened after the Palestinian Authority cut off ties with Israel, in protest of Israeli plans to annex parts of the West Bank. The World Bank this week announced a $30- million grant for emergency aid to the West Bank and to create more jobs. Linda Gradstein reports for VOA from Jerusalem.Camera: Ricki Rosen   Produced by: Rob Raffaele
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U.S. officials say that Americans who are reporting receiving unsolicited packages containing seeds purportedly sent from China could be the victims of a fraudulent internet retail scheme known as a “brushing scam.”  Residents of about a dozen U.S. states have reported receiving mysterious packages containing dozens of seeds that appeared to have been mailed from China. The seeds are of unknown origin, and state agencies are warning recipients not to plant them if they are invasive species.     “At this time, we don’t have any evidence indicating this is something other than a ‘brushing scam’ where people receive unsolicited items from a seller who then posts false customer reviews to boost sales,” the U.S. Department of Agriculture wrote on its website, adding that the agency is investigating the packages from China.  Mystery seeds  In recent days, residents all over the country have been reporting on social media that they received mystery packages containing seeds that they did not order. With either white or yellow packaging, the packages appear to have been shipped via China’s state-run postal agency and contain Chinese characters on the outside. At least 30 states are urging its residents to report these unsolicited packages of seeds, warning they could be harmful.  “Anyone receiving seeds that they did not order should not open the packets or plant the seeds,” Michael Wallace, director of communications at Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, told VOA.  “Residents should be cautious because planting seeds that are non-native to the United States could potentially be an invasive species that would be a detriment to the environment,” warned Louisiana Commissioner of Agriculture and Forestry Mike Strain.He told VOA the state is also concerned about the introduction of seed-borne pathogens into the environment.  USDA Urges Residents to Avoid Planting ‘China Seeds’ Seeds of unknown origin pose serious threats to agriculture and the environment, officials sayDavid Miller, a soybean farmer from Iowa, said farmers like him are taking this seriously.  “Well, if you ordered them, it’s one thing. If they came unsolicited, I think it’s concerning. You don’t know what these seeds are, and from whom, you don’t know if they contain or carry seed diseases, insect and all sorts of things can come in,” Miller told VOA.  Brushing scam?  Although investigators are still looking into the suspicious mailings, the USDA and Better Business Bureau said it appears to bear the hallmarks of an international “brushing scam.”  According to the BBB, a brushing scam starts with a company sending a consumer an unsolicited order or merchandise. The company then uses the consumer’s information and address to write a fake review for the company to boost its online reputation.   “A fake, positive review improves their products’ ratings, which means more sales for them. The payoff is highly profitable from their perspective,” the BBB wrote in a newsletter.  Most of the sellers involved are foreign third-party vendors on Amazon. According to Liz Johnson, an identity protection specialist and owner of Digital Bodyguard Co. LLC, brush scams are the new identity theft scam individuals should be on the lookout for.  “Once a package has been received, the sender gets a notification. This lets the criminal know that not only do you have an Amazon account but that I can easily locate, find and take over your Amazon account by doing a simple search to get your email address,” Johnson said.  She added that the worst part about brushing scams is that the individual receiving the merchandise has no idea or way to verify that they have not been tampered with. Even more so, individuals receiving these packages have no way to stop the services.   BBB says the fact that a scammer was able to send items to a person indicates they have some of that person’s Amazon account information, such as a name, address, and possibly a phone number or password.  According to the consumer protection agency, anyone who receives unsolicited packages should change their Amazon password and monitor their credit report and bank accounts.  Amazon did not respond to VOA’s request for comment.  In a previous statement regarding brushing scams, the internet giant said they investigate every report of customers receiving unsolicited packages and ban all vendors and reviewers who abuse the reviews system.  
 
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As in other countries, India’s hospitality industry is among the worst hit sectors by the COVID-19 pandemic. Cautiously however some restaurants are reopening, prepped up to navigate a post-COVID-19 world with new norms. And although the Indian capital is one of the cities hit hard by the pandemic, four months on people are ready to step out, bringing some hope to an industry that has cost millions their jobs and where many are still shuttered.Temperature checks, menus and orders being placed on apps, waiters with face shields and masks — dining out is a whole new experience in the Indian capital.  As restaurants reopen, customers are arriving to savor a sense of normalcy as COVID-19 cases begin to climb down in a city that has been cloistered indoors.  Some have come for a celebration, others with their families.  “I know how I have survived for four months in lockdown so I am eagerly waiting for my food right now,” New Delhi resident Neha Yadav said. Restaurateurs are optimistic that in a world overtaken by screens, business will eventually bounce back.  “Restaurants are the last bastions of hope for offline social human engagement. Everything can go virtual in this world but restaurants and bars can never go virtual. People always want to meet each other; people want to celebrate,” Zorawar Kalra, Managing Director of Massive Restaurants, said.They are wooing back customers promising contactless dining, vacant tables to ensure social distancing and safe, sanitized kitchens. But it is still a long haul for an industry that has witnessed massive job losses among the seven million people it employed.  This restaurant is one of just two opened by Priyank Sukhija out of the 25 that he owns in India.  “Out of the 1,200 people I employ, each restaurant used to have about 70 to 80 people. Right now this restaurant is operational with 14 people and the second one has 12 people. So I am down to 28 people employing currently,” Sukhija said. In a city where dining out cornered the highest spending among entertainment options, people are supporting their fight for survival.  “We have to anyhow deal with it, we cannot just sit back at home and let the economy die” Yadav said.That is giving hope to the industry even as the pandemic remains a concern.  “They want to start living and accepting the virus as part of their life,” Sukhija said. 
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Islam’s holiest observances began Wednesday as a small group of pilgrims arrived in Mecca to begin the Hajj, which has been dramatically scaled-back due to the coronavirus pandemic.  Instead of the two million-plus people from around the globe that normally make the required once-in-a-lifetime journey to Islam’s holiest site, Saudi Arabia has barred all international travelers from entering the kingdom to perform the Hajj, limiting the attendees to just 1,000 people made up of Saudi nationals and foreign residents who were pre-selected weeks ago. The pilgrims are between the ages of 20 and 50 and have been tested for COVID-19 before traveling to Mecca, where they were required to quarantine in their hotel rooms before the start of the Hajj.  They will also be required to enter quarantine for a week after the end of their five-day pilgrimage.   Muslim pilgrims maintain social distancing as they circle the Kaaba at the Grand mosque during the annual Hajj pilgrimage, in the holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia, July 29, 2020. (Saudi Ministry of Media/via Reuters).The small band of pilgrims will observe social distancing as they walk counterclockwise around the cube-shaped Kaaba placed in the center of the Grand Mosque during the first ritual of the Hajj — a far different scene than usual, with the mosque packed with pilgrims standing shoulder-to-shoulder as they circle the Kaaba.   Saudi Arabia has more than 270,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases and nearly 2,800 deaths.   Australia imposes travel ban
In Australia, authorities in the northeastern state of Queensland have announced that it will ban residents from Greater Sydney effective Saturday to curb the spread of the coronavirus.  The ban was imposed after two women tested positive for COVID-19  after returning to the state capital of Brisbane from a trip to Melbourne via Sydney and without going into self-isolation.   FILE – A person in a protective face mask walks along the Princes Bridge amidst a lockdown in response to an outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Melbourne, Australia, July 17, 2020. (AAP Image/Daniel Pockett via Reuters)Melbourne, the state capital of the southern state of Victoria, is at the halfway mark of a six-week lockdown due to a dramatic spike in new COVID-19 cases, including another 295 new cases reported Wednesday.  Victoria state has also reported 804 coronavirus cases connected to elderly citizens homes.  Sydney, the capital of neighboring New South Wales, posted 19 new COVID-19 cases Wednesday, most of them related to several clusters that have emerged at restaurants, funeral homes and parks.  Vietnam rushes to quell new COVID outbreak
In Vietnam, officials are rushing to control a sudden new outbreak of COVID-19 after reporting one of the world’s most successful control efforts earlier in the year.People walk toward an ambulance to be driven to a hospital for quarantine relating to a suspected COVID-19 case in Hanoi, Vietnam, July 29, 2020.Authorities in the Southeast Asian country sealed off the central coast tourist city Danang Sunday after two people tested positive for the deadly atypical pneumonia, domestic media reports say. The new spike in and near Danang had grown to 30 cases as of early Wednesday, mostly traced to a local hospital.  While Vietnam’s latest figures still hardly match the hundreds of daily cases still being reported in much of the world, the country prides itself on throttling the disease earlier in the year with no deaths to date. Vietnam had gone without transmission for 99 days through Saturday and its domestic economy roared back to life by May.  Can’t smell, can’t taste? Scientists know why
A new report in the journal Science Advances has discovered why COVID-19 patients lose their sense of smell. Researchers at Harvard Medical School say the coronavirus infiltrates the cells that provide major structural support to sensory neurons — the neurons that detect odors and send those messages to the brain.    Since the sense of smell is linked to the sense of taste, the coronavirus also affects the ability to taste food.    The researchers said 90% of recovering COVID-19 patients who lost their sense of smell and taste regained it.    In separate studies, scientists are still trying to conclude whether it is possible to get COVID-19 twice.    They say the particular coronavirus that causes COVID-19 is new and much is still unknown. 
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One of the most frustrating symptoms of COVID-19 coronavirus is the loss of the sense of smell and scientists now say they think they understand why it happens. The experts writing in the journal Science Advances said the coronavirus infiltrates the cells that provide major structural support to sensory neurons — the neurons that detect odors and send those messages to the brain. Since the sense of smell is linked to the sense of taste, the coronavirus also affects the ability to taste food. Harvard Medical School researchers said 90% of recovering COVID-19 patients who lost their sense of smell and taste regained it.   “Once the infection clears, olfactory neurons don’t appear to need to be replaced or rebuilt from scratch,” neurobiology professor Dr. Sandeep Robert Datta writes in the Science Advances study. “But we need more data and a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms to confirm this conclusion.”  In separate studies, scientists are still trying to conclude whether it is possible to get COVID-19 twice. They say the particular coronavirus that causes COVID-19 is new and much is still unknown.Health-care workers prepare to test people with COVID-19 symptoms near the beach in Saint Jean de Luz, southwestern France, Monday, July 27, 2020.U.S. officials told The Associated Press that Russian military intelligence is using three different English language websites to spread disinformation about the coronavirus. Among the headlines that Russian agents spread, according to the officials, is one that suggests Russia has given the United States substantial amounts of aid to fight the coronavirus, and another saying Chinese authorities believe the coronavirus is a biological weapon. The U.S. officials told AP that about 150 different articles were published on the websites that both praise the U.S. response and tear it down as inadequate. It is unclear exactly why the Russian operatives may be spreading disinformation, but the U.S. officials said it may be an attempt to stir up confusion ahead of the November presidential election, although the stories do not appear to give an advantage to one candidate over the other.  McDonalds said Tuesday that it had missed its profit expectations because of a nearly 25% drop in same-store sales because of the coronavirus pandemic.  Nearly every McDonald’s dining room is closed, and the restaurants are open for drive-thru or curbside delivery service only.  McDonald’s shares lost more than 2.5% on Wall Street Tuesday. But the company said it expect July sales figures to be up, saying it has adjusted to a different way of doing business.  Elsewhere, Malta’s health ministry said Tuesday that 65 people out of a group of 94 migrants rescued at sea a day earlier tested positive for COVID-19. “Migrants arriving by boat are immediately quarantined for 14 days and tested. The migrants who are positive will continue to be isolated and the rest will remain in quarantine and followed up,” the ministry said. The nationalities of the migrants were not disclosed, but authorities believe their overcrowded boat had taken off from Libya.  And starting Saturday, the North Atlantic island of Madeira will become the first Portuguese territory to make it mandatory to wear face masks in public. Authorities on Madeira have reported only 105 COVID-19 cases and no new ones since last week.   “The use of the mask is exactly to show those who visit us the reason why we have these results,” the region’s general health secretary, Pedro Ramos, said. Masks on Madeira are already required in stores and on buses.  Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who has resisted measures such as lockdowns and social distancing, said Tuesday that he had been diagnosed with COVID-19 and recovered “on his feet.” “As I said, 97% of our population carry this infection asymptomatically,” he said.  Belarus has confirmed more than 67,000 cases and 543 deaths related to the coronavirus.  Lukashenko’s apparent indifference to the virus has been a part of recent protests against his authoritarian rule ahead of next month’s presidential election. Belarus’ refusal to put two major opposition leaders on the ballot all but assures him of another term. 
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Saudi Arabia has presented a resolution to implement the stalled Riyadh agreement, the Saudi state news agency said in a statement, but there was no announcement of a deal to end a standoff between nominal allies under a Saudi-led coalition. Under the resolution, Yemen’s Southern Transitional Council (STC) would rescind self rule, implement the Riyadh agreement and appoint a governor for Aden, said the statement on Wednesday. Yemen’s prime minister would form a government within 30 days from both northern and southern Yemen, it said. Shortly after the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) report, STC spokesman Nizar Haitham tweeted that his group would abandon self-administration. “The consent of the Yemeni parties to accelerate the implementation of the agreement reflects the serious desire for dialog…and supporting paths of a comprehensive pol. solution to end the crisis,” Saudi Arabia’s vice minister of defenses Khalid bin Salman tweeted. A Saudi-brokered deal last November, called the “Riyadh agreement,” was negotiated in response to a southern separatist takeover of Aden city, the de facto headquarters of the internationally recognized Yemeni government. The “Riyadh agreement,” which aimed to centralize all military factions and form a government made up equally between the north and south, was never implemented. Yemen has been mired in conflict since the Iran-allied Houthi group ousted the government from the capital Sanaa in 2014. A Saudi-led military coalition in 2015 intervened in a bid to restore the government. The U.N. has been holding virtual talks between the warring parties to agree to a permanent ceasefire and confidence-building steps to restart peace negotiations last held in December 2018. The U.N.’s Yemen envoy Martin Griffiths on Tuesday said that after four months of negotiations, no final text has been agreed and warned that the window of opportunity was not indefinite. “I don’t want today to sugar coat things. There is a real risk that these negotiations will slip away, and that Yemen will enter a new phase of prolonged escalation, of the uncontrolled spread of COVID-19, and of severe and threatening economic decline,” he told the U.N. security council. 
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U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr told U.S. lawmakers Tuesday federal intervention was needed to calm ongoing protests in the Northwestern U.S. city of Portland, Oregon. Barr pushed back against congressional Democrats’ accusations he has placed loyalty to President Donald Trump ahead of upholding the rule of law in the United States. VOA’s congressional correspondent Katherine Gypson has more from Capitol Hill.Produced by: Katherine Gypson
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An Iranian internet activist sentenced to prison last year by a U.S.-sanctioned judge known for harsh treatment of dissidents has started serving a five-year jail term recently upheld by an appellate court.  In a Monday phone call with VOA Persian, an Iran-based source familiar with the case said activist Ataollah Rezaei surrendered himself the day before to Iranian judicial authorities who had summoned him to their Tehran office. The source said the authorities transferred him on Monday to Langerud prison near the city of Qom where he lived, 150 kilometers south of the Iranian capital, to serve the prison sentence.  The source said a Tehran appellate court upheld Rezaei’s five-year prison sentence last week, clearing the way for authorities to summon the activist to start the jail term. He was arrested in Qom in May 2019 by Iranian cyberpolice and released on bail in August of that year, pending trial. The nature of the online activities that prompted Rezaei’s arrest has remained unclear.  A lower Revolutionary Court had convicted the activist last December on three charges of “gathering and colluding to commit crimes against national security,” insulting Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and spreading anti-government propaganda, according to Iranian rights activists. The court imposed sentences of five years, two years and one year for the charges, respectively.  Rezaei’s effective jail term is five years rather than eight because under Article 134 of Iran’s penal code, defendants serve the longest prison sentence in cases involving convictions on multiple charges.  The source told VOA that Rezaei’s lawyer plans to appeal the upholding of the activist’s jail term to Iran’s Supreme Court in the hope of lessening the sentence.  The Iranian Revolutionary Court judge who issued the verdict was Abolghassem Salavati, whom the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned in December for delivering harsh sentences, including death sentences, to political prisoners, human rights activists and peaceful demonstrators.  The informed source said one basis for appealing Rezaei’s five-year jail term is Salavati’s refusal to give the activist access to a lawyer for the December 2019 trial. The source said Rezaei was able to choose a lawyer to work on his defense after Salavati convicted him.  In a December statement explaining its rationale for sanctioning Salavati, the Treasury Department said Iranian Revolutionary Court judges, including Salavati, have acted as “both judge and prosecutor, deprived prisoners of access to lawyers, and intimidated defendants.” Access to legal counsel is guaranteed in Iran’s constitution adopted after its 1979 Islamic Revolution. But in a 2016 report on Iran’s latest criminal code that took effect the year before, the rights group Amnesty International said “various laws including the 2013 Islamic Penal Code … undermine … fair trial guarantees by including restrictive and vaguely worded provisions.”  “Combined with major flaws in the structure and administration of the (Iranian) criminal justice system, the result is a continued proliferation of harsh and unjust sentences following grossly unfair trials,” Amnesty wrote.  This article originated in VOA’s Persian Service. Click here for the original Persian version of the story. 
 
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Years of conflict in Syria created millions of refugees in one of the world’s worst ongoing humanitarian crises.  Refugees live in crowded camps with limited access to food or land to grow crops.  VOA’s Arash Arabasadi reports on a camp in Jordan where experts teach Syrian refugees how to farm in tight spaces.Produced by: Arash Arabasadi
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Partial list of nominees for the annual prime-time Emmy Awards, announced Tuesday by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. For the complete list, visit Emmys.com: Comedy series: “Curb Your Enthusiasm”; Dead to Me”; “The Good Place”; “Insecure”; “The Kominsky Method”; “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”; “Schitt’s Creek”: “What We Do in the Shadows.” Actor, comedy series: Anthony Anderson, “black-ish”; Don Cheadle, “Black Monday”; Ted Danson, “The Good Place”; Michael Douglas, “The Kominsky Method”; Eugene Levy, “Schitt’s Creek”; Ramy Youssef, “Ramy.” Actress, comedy series: Christina Applegate, “Dead to Me;” Rachel Brosnahan, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel;” Linda Cardellini, “Dead to Me;” Catherine O’Hara, “Schitt’s Creek;” Issa Rae, “Insecure;” Tracee Ellis Ross, “black-ish.” Supporting actress, comedy: Yvonne Orji, “Insecure”; Alex Borstein, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”; Betty Gilpin, “GLOW”; Marin Hinkle, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”; Kate McKinnon, “Saturday Night Live”; Cecily Strong, “Saturday Night Live”; D’Arcy Carden, “The Good Place;” Annie Murphy, “Schitt’s Creek.” Supporting actor, comedy: Mahershala Ali, “Ramy”; Alan Arkin, “The Kominsky Method”; Sterling K. Brown, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”; Daniel Levy, “Schitt’s Creek”; Tony Shalhoub, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”; Kenan Thompson, “Saturday Night Live”; William Jackson, “The Good Place”; Andre Braugher, “Brooklyn Nine-Nine.” Drama series: “Better Call Saul”; “The Crown”; “Killing Eve”; “The Handmaid’s Tale”; “The Mandalorian”; “Ozark”; “Stranger Things”; “Succession.” Actor, drama series: Jason Bateman, “Ozark”; Sterling K. Brown, “This is Us”; Billy Porter, “Pose”; Jeremy Strong, “Succession”; Brian Cox, “Succession”; Steve Carell, “The Morning Show.” Actress, drama series: Jennifer Aniston, “The Morning Show”; Olivia Colman, “The Crown”; Jodie Comer, “Killing Eve”; Laura Linney, “Ozark”; Sandra Oh, “Killing Eve”; Zendaya, “Euphoria.” Supporting actor, drama series: Kieran Culkin, “Succession”; Billy Crudup, “The Morning Show”; Giancarlo Esposito, “Better Call Saul”; Bradley Whitford, “The Handmaid’s Tale”; Mark Duplass, “The Morning Show”; Nicholas Braun, “Succession”; Matthew Macfadyen, “Succession”; Jeffery Wright, “Westworld.” Supporting actress, drama series: Helena Bonham Carter, “The Crown”; Laura Dern, “Big Little Lies”; Julia Garner, “Ozark”; Thandie Newton, “Westworld”; Fiona Shaw, “Killing Eve”; Sarah Snook, “Succession”; Meryl Streep, “Big Little Lies”; Samira Wiley, “The Handmaid’s Tale.” Limited series: “Little Fires Everywhere”; “Mrs. America”; “Unbelievable”; “Unorthodox”; “Watchmen.” 
 
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Everyone attending the Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee next month will have to wear a face mask, consent to daily testing for COVID-19, fill out questionnaires and maintain a physical distance from others.Organizers of the convention released details of the coronavirus safety plan Monday, three weeks before the Aug. 17 start of the four-day event. The convention has been scaled down from original plans and now will be mostly online with only a few hundred people gathered at the Wisconsin Center in downtown Milwaukee.Attendees will have to self-isolate for a minimum of 72 hours before departing for Milwaukee or when first entering the convention’s main venue if they’re already in the city. Once at the convention, attendees must fill out a daily questionnaire indicating that they are not experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 and have not had contact with anyone who is infected.All convention guests, law enforcement, media, and staff must agree to daily COVID-19 testing, either at the Wisconsin Center or another offsite location. They must also agree to follow any other “reasonable restrictions that convention organizers may impose based on changing health conditions.”While presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and everyone else will be required to wear a mask once inside, anyone making a speech will be allowed to remove theirs. The podium will be 20 feet from other people. Organizers are also encouraging attendees to wear a face shield or goggles to protect their eyes.Organizers are also recommending that attendees “avoid bars, restaurants, and other locations where social distancing is not possible or not practiced.””Ensuring the safety and well-being of everyone involved with the convention is our top priority,” said convention spokeswoman Katie Peters. “After consultation with public health officials, the Democratic National Convention Committee will implement robust health and safety protocols that will govern the convention’s in-person activities and keep attendees safe before and during the convention.”Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, a Democrat, called the safety protocols “thoughtful and thorough.””While it is important to protect every person attending the convention, it is also important to protect the entire Milwaukee community,” Barrett said. “These protocols establish reasonable requirements in order to prevent additional COVID-19 infections in Milwaukee.”Confirmed cases of COVID-19 have spiked in Wisconsin since mid-June, with roughly a third of the state’s 49,417 cases in Milwaukee County and nearly half of the state’s 893 deaths there. A city ordinance requires masks to be worn when in a building that is open to the public or outside in a public space and within 6 feet of any other person who is not a household or family member. 
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President Donald Trump’s lawyers filed fresh arguments Monday to try to block a criminal subpoena for his tax records, saying it was issued in bad faith, might have been politically motivated and calling it a harassment of the president. Lawyers filed a rewritten lawsuit in Manhattan federal court to challenge the subpoena by a state prosecutor on grounds they believe conform with how the U.S. Supreme Court said the subpoena can be contested. They asked a judge to declare it “invalid and unenforceable.” FILE – Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., responds to a question during a news conference in New York, May 10, 2018.The high court ruled earlier this month that Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. could subpoena tax records from Trump’s accountant over his objections. But the court said Trump could challenge the subpoena as improper just as anyone else can. Trump’s lawyers had argued that the president could not be criminally investigated while he was in office. In their new court papers, Trump’s lawyers said the subpoena of his tax records was “wildly overbroad” and “amounts to harassment of the President.” They said it was issued in bad faith, copying a Congressional subpoena. “Whether the District Attorney photocopied a congressional subpoena for political reasons, for efficiency reasons, or for both, he knowingly and intentionally issued a wildly overbroad subpoena for the President’s records,” the lawyers said. They said the subpoena seeks detailed information about all of Trump’s assets in the U.S. and abroad for a 10-year period. “Simply put, it asks for everything,” the lawyers wrote. FILE – This combination photo shows, from left, President Donald Trump, attorney Michael Cohen and adult film actress Stormy Daniels.Vance sought the tax records in part for a probe of how Trump’s then-personal lawyer arranged during the 2016 presidential race to keep the porn actress Stormy Daniels and model Karen McDougal from airing claims of extramarital affairs with Trump. Trump has denied the affairs. Vance, a Democrat, has requested eight years of the Republican president’s personal and corporate tax records. Danny Frost, a spokesperson for Vance, declined comment Monday. The Supreme Court had returned the case to a federal judge in Manhattan who has arranged for both sides to finish filing their legal arguments over challenges to the subpoena by mid-August. Last year, the same judge ruled against Trump in a written opinion that was upheld by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court. In their new court filing, Trump’s lawyers said the tax subpoena “demands voluminous documents related to every facet of the business and financial affairs of the President and numerous associated entities — from the banal to the complex, from drafts and memoranda to formal records, from source documents to summaries.” They said it was wrong for Vance to seek records dating to 2011 when he was primarily investigating events that took place in 2016. The lawsuit said the subpoena concerns entities in California, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and the District of Columbia. It said other affected entities are located outside the U.S., including in Canada, the Dominican Republic, Dubai, India, Indonesia, Ireland, the Philippines, Scotland, and Turkey. “Taken together, the subpoena demands an accounting and analysis of every single asset and liability of the President, including each one of the listed entities,” the lawyers wrote, calling the request “an overreaching demand designed to pick apart the President.”  
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The mayors of Portland, Oregon, and five other major U.S. cities appealed Monday to Congress to make it illegal for the federal government to deploy militarized agents to cities that don’t want them.  
“This administration’s egregious use of federal force on cities over the objections of local authorities should never happen,” the mayors of Portland, Seattle, Chicago, Kansas City, Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Washington wrote to leaders of the U.S. House and Senate.
Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler and City Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty late called for a meeting with Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf to discuss a cease-fire and removal of heightened federal forces from Portland.
Earlier in the day, a U.S. official said militarized officers would remain in Portland until attacks on a federal courthouse cease — and more officers may soon be on the way.
“It is not a solution to tell federal officers to leave when there continues to be attacks on federal property and personnel,” U.S. Attorney Billy Williams said. “We are not leaving the building unprotected to be destroyed by people intent on doing so.”  
Local and state officials said the federal officers are unwelcome.  
The city has had nightly protests for two months since the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May. President Donald Trump said he sent federal agents to Portland to halt the unrest, but state and local officials said they are making the situation worse.
Trump’s deployment of the federal officers over the July 4 weekend stoked the Black Lives Matter movement. The number of nightly protesters had dwindled to perhaps less than 100 right before the deployment, and now has swelled to the thousands.Federal officers launch tear gas at a group of demonstrators during a Black Lives Matter protest at the Mark O. Hatfield United States Courthouse in Portland, Oregon, July 26, 2020.Early Monday, U.S. agents repeatedly fired tear gas, flash bangs and pepper balls at protesters outside the federal courthouse in downtown Portland. Some protesters had climbed over the fence surrounding the courthouse, while others shot fireworks, banged on the fence and projected lights on the building.
Trump said on Twitter that federal properties in Portland “wouldn’t last a day” without the presence of the federal agents.
The majority of people participating in the daily demonstrations have been peaceful. But a few have been pelting officers with objects and trying to tear down fencing protecting the Mark O. Hatfield United States Courthouse.
Williams, whose office is inside the courthouse, called on peaceful protesters, community and business leaders and people of faith to not allow violence to occur in their presence and to leave downtown before violence starts. He said federal agents have made 83 arrests.
Demonstrations in support of racial justice and police reform in other cities around the U.S. were marred by violence over the weekend. Protesters set fire to an Oakland, California, courthouse; vehicles were set ablaze in Richmond, Virginia; an armed protester was shot and killed in Austin, Texas; and two people were shot and wounded in Aurora, Colorado, after a car drove through a protest.
The U.S. Marshals Service has lined up about 100 people they could send to hot spots, either to strengthen forces or relieve officers who have been working for weeks, agency spokesperson Drew Wade said.
Kris Cline, principal deputy director of Federal Protective Service, said an incident commander in Portland and teams from the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice discuss what force is needed every night.
Cline refused to discuss the number of officers currently present or if more would be arriving.
Some protesters have accused Wheeler of hypocrisy for speaking out against the federal presence because, under his watch, Portland police have used tear gas and other riot-control weapons on protesters, including peaceful ones.
Cline said Portland police should take over the job of dispersing protesters from the courthouse area from the federal officers.
“If the Portland Police Bureau were able to do what they typically do, they would be able to clear this out for this disturbance and we would leave our officers inside the building and not be visible,” Cline said.
He said relations between the federal officers, some of whom live in Portland, and city police were good.
Portland police responded Sunday evening to a shooting at a park close to the site of the protests. Two people were detained and later released, police said. The person who was shot went to the hospital in a private vehicle and was treated for a non-life-threatening wound.
Also late Sunday, police said someone pointed out a bag in the same park, where officers found loaded rifle magazines and Molotov cocktails. The shooting was not related to the items, police said. 
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The coronavirus pandemic has forced small businesses around the world to come up with new ways to cope with the new reality – including using technology to stay afloat.   VOA Correspondent Mariama Diallo reports.
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U.S. Attorney General William Barr is set to testify Tuesday before the House Judiciary Committee where lawmakers are expected to ask him about a range of topics involving the Trump administration, including the deployment of federal officers in response to protests in the northwestern city of Portland, Oregon. Text of Barr’s opening statement released ahead of the hearing says the late May death of George Floyd in police custody was a “horrible” event that sparked a necessary examination of the relationship between law enforcement and African Americans in the United States. But Barr says the ongoing protests in Portland and elsewhere have become disconnected from Floyd’s death. “Largely absent from these scenes of destruction are even superficial attempts by the rioters to connect their actions to George Floyd’s death or any legitimate call for reform,” Barr says. He reiterates Trump administration criticisms of local leaders, many of whom have offered their own rejections of the federal government’s responses and called for Congress to block deployments of federal forces in their cities.A bloodied demonstrator is arrested by federal police during a Black Lives Matter protest at the Mark O. Hatfield United States Courthouse, July 27, 2020, in Portland, Ore.“As elected officials of the federal government, every Member of this Committee – regardless of your political views or your feelings about the Trump Administration – should condemn violence against federal officers and destruction of federal property,” Barr says. “So should state and local leaders who have a responsibility to keep their communities safe. To tacitly condone destruction and anarchy is to abandon the basic rule-of-law principles that should unite us even in a politically divisive time.” There have been clashes between protesters and federal forces in Portland, with the situation there escalating in the days following accusations the federal officers were hauling people away from the demonstration area without probable cause.  Federal officials have defended the deployments as necessary to defend federal property such as the courthouse in the city. Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler said Monday in sharing a letter from a group of mayors asking Congress to act to restrain the use of federal forces that “the actions taken in recent weeks have no place in this nation.” “We demand that federal troops be removed from our cities and encourage Congress’ continued vigilance and action to pass legislation in both chambers to end this dangerous overreach,” Wheeler tweeted.  “This Administration has shown no hesitation or remorse in playing the most toxic and damaging form of politics with the lives and livelihoods of the American people. We say no more. We say unequivocally Black Lives Matter.” Lawmakers could also ask Barr about another instance of clashes between federal officers and protesters that took place June 1 in Lafayette Square, just across from the White House.  The officers drove the protesters from the park with smoke bombs and pepper balls, shortly before Trump, accompanied by Barr and others, walked to a nearby church to pose in front of cameras. That incident is the subject of another hearing Tuesday on Capitol Hill in front of the House Natural Resources Committee. Adam DeMarco, a major in the District of Columbia National Guard, says in his prepared opening remarks to the committee that what he witnessed at the site was “deeply disturbing” to both himself and fellow National Guard members. “Having served in a combat zone, and understanding how to  assess threat environments, at no time did I feel threatened by the protestors or assess them to be violent,” DeMarco says.  “In addition, considering the principles of proportionality of force and the fundamental strategy of graduated responses specific to civil disturbance operations, it was my observation that the use of force against demonstrators in the clearing operation was an unnecessary escalation of the use of force.” DeMarco further says those protesting were fellow Americans peacefully expressing their rights, and that they were subject to “an unprovoked escalation and excessive use of force.” Acting U.S. Park Police Chief Gregory Monahan is set to give a different perspective of the events, saying in his prepared testimony that during demonstrations at the park from May 29 to June 1, protesters threw “bricks, rocks, caustic liquids, water bottles, lit flares, fireworks” and pieces of wood at law enforcement officers. “The unprecedented and sustained nature of the violence and destruction associated with some of the activities in Lafayette Park and surrounding park areas immediate and adjacent to the White House required de-escalation,” Monahan says.  “On the whole, the United States Park Police acted with tremendous restraint in the face of severe violence from a large group of bad actors who caused 50 of my officers to seek medical attention. Our actions as an agency on June 1 centered around public safety and the safety of my officers.” 
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