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Supporters of former US First Lady Michelle Obama want her as the vice president to former Vice President Joe Biden. In an open letter Tuesday, the Draft Michelle Obama for VP Committee called on the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee to pick her as his running mate. “As a candidate, she …

Trump’s ‘Axios on HBO’ interview proves how much he relies on marketing to counter reality The power of positive thinking can’t make the coronavirus crisis disappear — and neither can the president’s preferred charts or willful ignorance. In Donald Trump’s book “The Art of the Deal,” he offered readers a …

Libya’s Deputy Parliament Speaker Jalal Saleh Shuwaidi has warned Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi against plans to send troops to assist militias loyal to putschist Gen. Khalifa Haftar, saying that the Libyan desert would swallow Egypt if it proceeded. Noting that the Egyptian military has no power to enter another …

The United States announced Wednesday its highest-level visit to Taiwan since it switched diplomatic recognition to China in 1979, a move Beijing blasted as a threat to “peace and stability”. The visit, headed by health chief Alex Azar, comes as relations between the world’s two biggest powers plunge to historic …

The World Health Organization has warned the coronavirus pandemic could overwhelm strained public health systems in Africa. On Wednesday, the continent was approaching a million infections and around 21,000 deaths, according to a Reuters tally. Here are measures some countries are taking to curb the virus. SOUTH AFRICA With more …

Sri Lankans shrugged off fears of the novel coronavirus and streamed into polling centres on Wednesday to elect a new parliament that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa hopes will clear the way for him to boost his powers. The tourism-dependent island nation of 21 million people has been struggling since deadly Islamist …

Authorities on Wednesday enforced security restrictions in many parts of Indian-controlled Kashmir, a year after New Delhi revoked the disputed region’s semi-autonomy in a decision that set off anger and economic ruin amid a harsh security clampdown. Officials lifted a curfew in the restive region’s main city of Srinagar late …

Residents of Beirut awoke to a scene of utter devastation on Wednesday, a day after a massive explosion at the port sent shock waves across the Lebanese capital, killing at least 100 people and wounding thousands. Smoke was still rising from the port, where huge mounds of grain gushed from …

The Jordanian Seismological Observatory recorded, on Tuesday, the explosion that occurred in Beirut Port with a seismic capacity equivalent to 4.5 on the Richter scale. This was stated, according to a statement by the head of the observatory, Mahmoud al-Qaryouti, which was reported by the Al-mamlaka TV on its website. …

China says it will retaliate the United States’ potential expulsion of Chinese journalists, following a move by Washington to decline to renew their visas. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told reporters at a daily briefing in Beijing on Tuesday that the Chinese government would retaliate if the US persisted …

Amnesty International has condemned the excessive use of force by US police in its recent crackdown on demonstrators protesting against racial discrimination and police brutality in the aftermath of the police killing of George Floyd. According to reports, in a report published on Tuesday, the rights group said the police …

Democrats, Republicans differ over priorities in new round of coronavirus aid between $1 trillion and $3.3 trillion. Negotiators on a huge coronavirus relief bill reported slight progress after talks between congressional Democrats and the White House resumed in the United States Capitol, with issues like food for the poor and …

A massive explosion rocked Beirut on Tuesday, flattening much of the port, damaging buildings across the capital, and sending a giant mushroom cloud into the sky. More than 78 people were killed and more than 4000 injured, with bodies buried in the rubble, officials said. Hours later, ambulances still carried …

United States President Donald Trump, in a wide-ranging interview, has contended the coronavirus outbreak in the country was under control, downplaying the legacy of recently deceased congressman and civil rights icon John Lewis, and again calling into question the use of mail-in voting in the upcoming election. In the interview, …

US President Donald Trump encouraged all Floridians to vote by mail Tuesday, just a week after he told Axios interviewer Jonathan Swan that mail-in voting on a large scale results in “massive cheating.” “There is no way you can go through a mail-in vote without massive cheating,” Trump said during …

The State Department’s top official on Venezuela said Tuesday that the Trump administration will continue recognizing lawmaker Juan Guaidó as the nation’s interim president even if President Nicolás Maduro’s government ousts the opposition from the control of congress — its last major stronghold. “He will not change the legal status …

President Donald Trump’s demand that the U.S. government get a cut from a potential Microsoft purchase of TikTok is the latest unprecedented scenario in an unprecedented situation. Microsoft is in talks to buy parts of TikTok, a forced sale after Trump threatened to ban the Chinese-owned video app, which claims …

A huge blaze has erupted at a construction site in downtown St. Paul, the capital of Minnesota. The flames can be seen for miles and have been recorded by onlookers from all over the city center. The city’s fire department tweeted that the crews on-site had to spray the building …

The state epidemiologist of Denmark said on Tuesday he could not recommend proceeding to the next phase of reopening society during the coronavirus outbreak, Ingenioeren media reported. “It is not something that I can recommend from a healthcare perspective that you go ahead with,” Kare Molbak, director of the state’s …

Tropical Storm Isaias raced up the Atlantic seaboard on Tuesday, generating powerful winds that put New York City and other parts of the U.S. Northeast under a rare tornado warning, after a twister killed at least two people in North Carolina. The fast-moving storm knocked out power for 1.4 million …