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A Saudi Arabian-backed consortium has withdrawn its bid to buy the English Premier League side Newcastle United. Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) had been part of a three-party deal fronted by PCP Capital Partners, a venture capital and private equity company founded and run by British businesswoman Amanda Staveley, …

Nearly two-thirds of Americans disapprove of President Donald Trump’s handling of three major challenges facing the country — the coronavirus pandemic, nationwide unrest over racial inequality and relations with Russia — in a new ABC News/Ipsos poll, a sign of the obstacles that his reelection bid faces just three months …

Cross-border artillery fire by Pakistan killed at least 15 civilians in Afghanistan on Thursday, Afghan officials said, prompting Kabul to put its ground and air forces on alert. The artillery fire came after clashes between Pakistani and Afghan security forces at the closed Chaman-Spin Boldak border crossing, where crowds on …

There is no “zero risk” strategy for countries easing international travel restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic, and essential travel for emergencies should remain the priority, the World Health Organization (WHO) said. In a long-awaited update to its guidance on travel, the United Nations global health agency said cross-border trips for …

Less than a day after Oregon’s governor claimed federal agents would leave Portland and let local officials handle Black Lives Matter protesters, President Donald Trump said they are going nowhere until things are under control. In a Thursday morning tweet, Trump said Governor Kate Brown “isn’t doing her job” and …

The World Health Organization’s chief scientist said on Thursday that any country that supports the COVAX financing initiative has a better chance of getting a successful COVID-19 vaccine. Soumya Swaminathan told a news briefing in Geneva that the more countries that joined COVAX, a scheme designed to guarantee fast and …

The US economy collapsed in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic in the April-to-June period, contracting 32.9 percent in the second quarter, the government reported Thursday. The decline, though slightly less bad than expected, was the worst on record for the world’s largest economy, dating back to 1947. However, the …

Theology may be far from our minds during a pandemic in a seemingly secular age. Our interactions with the non-human world of microbial pathogens appear wholly at odds with our relations with another kind of non-human realm that we designate as divine. Yet, if the past teaches us anything, it …

The Iraqi Ministry of Health and Environment announced that 2963 new confirmed cases, 2085 recovery case and 68 fatalities from COVID-19 have been registered over the past 24 hours. The ministry said in a statement received by AlghdeerTV that 18018 swabs were examined in all the specialized laboratories today, bringing …

In a remarkable move by a sitting president, US President Donald Trump for the first time Thursday morning suggested delaying the presidential election over his persistent false attacks that mail-in voting would lead to the “most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history.” “With Universal Mail-In Voting (not Absentee Voting, which …

More than 1.43 million people filed for unemployment benefits for the first time last week, according to new weekly data from the Department of Labor. It’s the second-straight week that the number has risen. The extent of the economic damage wrought by the coronavirus pandemic was further revealed on Thursday, …

For 99 days, Vietnam seemed to have defeated the coronavirus. There wasn’t a single reported case of community transmission. Not a single death. A handful of cases were caught and isolated at the border, but otherwise, people were returning to their normal lives. The country of 96 million people was …

A $2.7 billion NASA rover, Perseverance, is scheduled to launch from Florida’s Cape Canaveral at 7:50 a.m. Thursday atop an Atlas V rocket. If all goes well, the rover will land Feb. 18 on Mars on a mission to search for signs of ancient Martian life. “Sitting atop that rocket …

Masked pilgrims arrived Thursday at Mount Arafat, a hill near Islam’s holiest site, to pray and repent on the most important day of the hajj, the annual pilgrimage in Mecca in Saudi Arabia. The global coronavirus pandemic has cast a shadow over every aspect of this year’s pilgrimage, which last …

Federal agents in Portland tear-gassed and kettled protesters on Wednesday night, hours after Oregon Gov. Kate Brown said the Trump administration had agreed to withdraw federal forces from the city. Around 500 people arrived in downtown Portland for a 63rd consecutive night of protests after Brown’s announcement, The Oregonian reported. …

More than 100 civilians including children were killed by ground fighting, explosive remnants, and air raids in Libya between April and June, according to the United Nations. The figure is an increase of 65 percent from the first three months of the year, the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) …

Germany’s economy, Europe’s largest, took a massive hit during the pandemic shutdowns, shrinking by 10.1% percent during the April-June period from the previous quarter as exports and business investment collapsed. It was the biggest drop since quarterly growth figures began being compiled in 1970, the official statistics agency said Thursday. …

Four of the United States’ big tech firms, accounting for nearly a fifth of the S&P 500’s total value, report results on Thursday on the heels of a bruising Congressional hearing to look into alleged abuse of their global dominance. It will be the first time Apple Inc, Amazon.com Inc, …

China blamed the United Kingdom on Thursday for deteriorating ties after Prime Minister Boris Johnson slapped a 5G ban on Huawei, accusing London of poisoning the relationship by meddling in Hong Kong’s affairs. “These actions have seriously poisoned the atmosphere of China-UK relationship,” China’s ambassador to London Liu Xiaoming told …

Britain’s AstraZeneca said on Thursday that good data was coming in so far on its vaccine for COVID-19, already in large-scale human trials and widely seen as the front-runner in the race for a shot against the novel coronavirus. The drugmaker, Britain’s most valuable listed company, also announced second-quarter results …