washingtontimes--2020-08-15--The year the music might die: British clubs face closure

LONDON ( AP ) - When Keiron Marshall was 15 , he found his way out of a desperate situation with help from an unexpected source : Eric Clapton .
The guitar great was host at the first gig Marshall ever went to , and he was joined on stage by Gary Brooker of Procol Harum , The Who ’ s Pete Townshend and Beatle Ringo Starr .
Since then , London ’ s music scene has been a life-raft for Marshall , a musician who now runs a group of small concert venues with his wife .
Growing up @ @ @ @ @ @ @ endured racial slurs and regular beatings because of his Pakistani heritage .
His uncle was killed in a racially motivated attack ; his mother was a heroin addict .
“ Music for us is a really personal thing , ” said Hannah White , Marshall ’ s wife .
“ It ’ s been totally life-changing.
” But the music scene they know and love may soon be unrecognizable because of the coronavirus pandemic , which has plunged the U.K. economy into its worst recession on record .
Live music venues have been @ @ @ @ @ @ @ months - and scores are at imminent risk of permanent closure .
According to the charity Music Venue Trust , which represents 670 grassroots venues , more than 400 across the country are in crisis .
One of those is Marshall and White ’ s south London venue group , The Sound Lounge .
The government announced that indoor and socially-distanced live music could resume on Saturday .
But this doesn ’ t mean that the live music scene will be immediately restored .
“ The truth is that actually only 11 % @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in a financially viable manner , ” said Mark Davyd , founder and CEO of the Music Venue Trust .
Less than a third of venues have the physical space to house safe , socially-distanced gigs .
And the majority of those would lose too much money on these reduced-capacity shows for it to be economically feasible .
Clubs have already amassed millions of pounds in debts since March , with more expected in the coming months .
“ In total , these venues are going to be over 60 million pounds ( @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by the end of September , Davyd said .
The government announced on Jul.25 that 2.25 million pounds would be funneled to 150 grassroots venues that would otherwise have been out of cash by the end of September .
The fund was the first slice of a 1.57 billion pound “ culture recovery package ” that was rolled out on Jul .
5 .
Davyd welcomed the emergency fund , but cautioned that this was just a “ short term fix , ” one that was only aimed at helping “ venues identified @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , 500 million pounds of the recovery package has been allocated to cultural institutions that can “ demonstrate their international , national or local significance.
” Grant applications for this scheme opened Monday , and venues have until August 21 to submit .
For a lot of grassroots clubs that have never applied for grants before , the 11-day window is going to be another challenge .
Derek Nash , a veteran saxophonist and member of Jools Holland ’ s Rhythm & Blues Orchestra , worries about who the recipients of the bailout @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s not give it all to opera , ” Nash said , adding that he wants the funds to go to venues like the 606 jazz club , a small but popular venue running shows seven nights a week .
At the moment , 606 Club is surviving off a government loan it qualified for through the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme .
But that has put the club heavily in debt .
“ The smaller venues that you come up through where you kind of learn your trade – those are incredibly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Rubie .
“ If those venues aren ’ t there , those musicians aren ’ t getting a chance to practice and learn their trade .
So it ’ s a really serious issue.
” Meanwhile , the Sound Lounge has stayed afloat with help from friends and crowdfunding .
The owners applied for the government ’ s emergency scheme last week .
“ If we can survive it , I think culture , and especially music , is going to have a massive role to play in our recovery , ” White @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” she added .
“ That ’ s what we all felt in lockdown .
It ’ s not really the stuff or the shopping we missed , it ’ s human contact .
So there ’ s a massive potential , but we need to be able to survive .
”

LONDON (AP) - When Keiron Marshall was 15, he found his way out of a desperate situation with help from an unexpected source: Eric Clapton. The guitar great was host at the first gig Marshall ever went to, and he was joined on stage by Gary Brooker of Procol Harum, The Who’s Pete Townshend and Beatle Ringo Starr.
Since then, London’s music scene has been a liferaft for Marshall, a musician who now runs a group of small concert venues with his wife. Growing up in south London, he’d endured racial slurs and regular beatings because of his Pakistani heritage. His uncle was killed in a racially motivated attack; his mother was a heroin addict.
“Music for us is a really personal thing,” said Hannah White, Marshall’s wife. “It’s been totally life-changing.”
But the music scene they know and love may soon be unrecognizable because of the coronavirus pandemic, which has plunged the U.K. economy into its worst recession on record.
Live music venues have been forced to shut doors for nearly five months - and scores are at imminent risk of permanent closure. According to the charity Music Venue Trust, which represents 670 grassroots venues, more than 400 across the country are in crisis.
One of those is Marshall and White’s south London venue group, The Sound Lounge.
The British government announced that indoor and socially-distanced live music could resume on Saturday. But this doesn’t mean that the country’s vibrant live music scene will be immediately restored.
“The truth is that actually only 11% of venues will be able to open in a financially viable manner,” said Mark Davyd, founder and CEO of the Music Venue Trust.
Less than a third of venues have the physical space to house safe, socially-distanced gigs. And the majority of those would lose too much money on these reduced-capacity shows for it to be economically feasible.
Clubs have already amassed millions of pounds in debts since March, with more expected in the coming months.
“In total, these venues are going to be over 60 million pounds ($78.3 million) in debt” by the end of September, Davyd said.
The government announced in late July that 2.25 million pounds ($266 million) would be funneled to 150 grassroots venues that would otherwise have been out of cash by the end of September. The fund was the first slice of a 1.57 billion-pound ($1.86 billion) “culture recovery package” that was rolled out on Jul. 5.
Davyd welcomed the emergency fund, but cautioned that this was just a “short term fix,” one that was only aimed at helping “venues identified as being in crisis.”
In total, 500 million pounds of the recovery package has been allocated to cultural institutions that can “demonstrate their international, national or local significance.” Grant applications for this scheme opened Monday and venues have until August 21 to submit. For a lot of grassroots clubs that have never applied for grants before, the 11-day window is going to be another challenge.
Derek Nash, a veteran saxophonist and member of Jools Holland’s Rhythm & Blues Orchestra, worries about who the recipients of the bailout will ultimately be.
“Let’s not give it all to opera,” Nash said, adding that he wants the funds to go to venues like the 606 jazz club, a small but popular venue running shows seven nights a week.
At the moment, 606 Club is surviving off a government loan it qualified for through the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme. But that has put the club heavily in debt.
“The smaller venues that you come up through where you kind of learn your trade – those are incredibly important,” said club owner Steve Rubie. “If those venues aren’t there, those musicians aren’t getting a chance to practice and learn their trade. So it’s a really serious issue.”
Meanwhile, the Sound Lounge has stayed afloat with help from friends and crowdfunding. The owners applied for the government’s emergency scheme last week.
“If we can survive it, I think culture, and especially music, is going to have a massive role to play in our recovery,” White said.
“People need experiences,” she added. “That’s what we all felt in lockdown. It’s not really the stuff or the shopping we missed, it’s human contact. So there’s a massive potential, but we need to be able to survive.”
___
Follow AP’s pandemic coverage at http://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak


washingtontimes--2020-08-15--Lakes Region guide released by Stay Work Play nonprofit

MANCHESTER , N.H. ( AP ) - A nonprofit working to attract and keep younger people in New Hampshire has released a digital guide to the Lakes Region for new and prospective employees .
The guide is the third of several regional guides published by Stay Work Play .
Guides for Manchester and Concord were released last year .
The guides are for employers to use as a tool to attract talent and to showcase what makes their respective regions unique - from independent shops , restaurants , breweries , and dog parks to entertainment and recreation options .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ re increasingly having to ‘ sell ’ potential employees on not just the positions they ’ re trying to fill , but also the communities and regions in which the jobs are located , ” Stay Work Play Executive Director Will Stewart said .
“ An Insider ’ s Guide to the Lakes Region ” can be downloaded at stayworkplay.org/insider .
Future guides will be published on greater Nashua , geater Salem , the Monadnock Region , the Seacoast , the Upper Valley , and the White Mountains and the Great North Woods @

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) - A nonprofit working to attract and keep younger people in New Hampshire has released a digital guide to the Lakes Region for new and prospective employees.
The guide is the third of several regional guides published by Stay Work Play. Guides for Manchester and Concord were released last year.
The guides are for employers to use as a tool to attract talent and to showcase what makes their respective regions unique - from independent shops, restaurants, breweries, and dog parks to entertainment and recreation options.
“Human resources professionals tell us they’re increasingly having to ‘sell’ potential employees on not just the positions they’re trying to fill, but also the communities and regions in which the jobs are located,” Stay Work Play Executive Director Will Stewart said.
“An Insider’s Guide to the Lakes Region” can be downloaded at stayworkplay.org/insider.
Future guides will be published on greater Nashua, geater Salem, the Monadnock Region, the Seacoast, the Upper Valley, and the White Mountains and the Great North Woods.


washingtontimes--2020-08-15--Maine medical orgs to step up efforts to stop opioid deaths

SKOWHEGAN , Maine ( AP ) - The federal government is providing $ 4 million to help four medical organizations @ @ @ @ @ ’ s opioid crisis .
Maine is in the midst of a stubborn epidemic of @ @ @ @ @ said 127 people died of drug overdoses in the first quarter of 2020 , an @ @ @ @ @ the previous quarter .
U.S. Sens .
Susan Collins and Angus King said the Health @ @ @ @ @ s Rural Communities Opioid Response Program is providing support to medical organizations in Brewer , @ @ @ @ @ .
Each organization is slated to receive $ 1 million to enhance and expand service @ @ @ @ @ use disorders in rural communities .
The organizations are Northern Light Health in Brewer ; @ @ @ @ @ General Hospital in Skowhegan ; and Wabanaki Health and Wellness in Bangor .

SKOWHEGAN, Maine (AP) - The federal government is providing $4 million to help four medical organizations in Maine fight the state’s opioid crisis.
Maine is in the midst of a stubborn epidemic of opioid deaths. The state said 127 people died of drug overdoses in the first quarter of 2020, an increase of 23% from the previous quarter.
U.S. Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King said the Health Resources and Services Administration’s Rural Communities Opioid Response Program is providing support to medical organizations in Brewer, Portland, Skowhegan and Bangor. Each organization is slated to receive $1 million to enhance and expand service for substance use and opioid use disorders in rural communities.
The organizations are Northern Light Health in Brewer; MaineHealth in Portland; Reddington-Fairview General Hospital in Skowhegan; and Wabanaki Health and Wellness in Bangor.


washingtontimes--2020-08-15--Vermont Fish and Wildlife reminding of bear hunting rules

MONTPELIER , Vt. ( AP ) - The Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife says the state ’ s bear @ @ @ @ @ the state ’ s bear population , estimated to be about 4,500 .
The early @ @ @ @ @ starts Sept. 1 , requires a special bear tag .
The early season runs through @ @ @ @ @ hunters can not use dogs to hunt bears until Sept. 15 .
The late bear @ @ @ @ @ continues through Nov. 22 .
Details can be found on the department ’ s website @ @ @ @ @ Vermont had less than 1,500 bears , and they were found mostly in the mountains @ @ @ @ @ state , ” Vermont bear biologist Forrest Hammond said in a statement .
Today , @ @ @ @ @ across the state .
Over the years the human population has also increased and there @ @ @ @ @ humans and bears .
“ Carefully regulated hunting helps control the growth of the black @ @ @ @ @ their sustainable use , while decreasing interactions with humans , ” he said .

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) - The Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife says the state’s bear hunting seasons help regulate the state’s bear population, estimated to be about 4,500.
The early bear hunting season, which starts Sept. 1, requires a special bear tag. The early season runs through Nov. 13, but nonresident hunters cannot use dogs to hunt bears until Sept. 15.
The late bear season begins Nov. 14 and continues through Nov. 22. Details can be found on the department’s website.
“Fifty years ago Vermont had less than 1,500 bears, and they were found mostly in the mountains and northeastern quarter of the state,” Vermont bear biologist Forrest Hammond said in a statement. Today, there are about 5,000 spread across the state.
Over the years the human population has also increased and there are now more encounters between humans and bears.
“Carefully regulated hunting helps control the growth of the black bear population and allows for their sustainable use, while decreasing interactions with humans,” he said.


washingtontimes--2020-08-15--Ronan native uses photojournalism to reveal Native stories

MISSOULA , Mont .
( AP ) - When Tailyr Irvine applied for funding to tell a story her community on the Flathead Reservation , and Native communities across the country , had been living with for more than a century , she thought she ’ d maybe get one response to get her project off the ground .
Instead , she heard back from both global media titans she pitched to , National Geographic and the Smithsonian Institute , who wanted her work .
The first installment of Irvine ’ s project on blood quantum requirements for tribal enrollment @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s National Museum of the American Indian through its “ Developing Stories : Native Photographers in the Field ” series , reaching an international audience and garnering attention on social media .
“ Reservation Mathematics : Navigating Love in Native America , ” a photo essay , tells the story of how the blood quantum system affects everything from dating to health care to who you choose to marry and have children with .
A blood quantum is a fraction that Native Americans get assigned at birth showing how much Native blood from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fraction is used to determine enrollment , and many tribes require a certain amount of blood to be a member .
“ This story has been in my brain for a really long time , ” Irvine told the Missoulian in a recent interview in Missoula .
The University of Montana graduate has been working on the project for a year and a half and said she ’ s proud to have a story Native Americans have been grappling with for decades reach a wider audience .
“ It shows the complexities of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ see , and I think that ’ s what I really am excited about with this project , ” she said .
“ It lines up with my goal to show Native Americans in a contemporary sense.
” Irvine grew up in Ronan on the Flathead Reservation surrounded by her extended family .
“ It ’ s a small community , so I really liked growing up the way I did , where everyone knows everyone and everyone kind of raises each other , ” she said .
It wasn ’ t until @ @ @ @ @ @ @ State University that she realized her people were often misrepresented .
“ I was the only Native on my dorm room floor , I was the only Native some people had ever met in their life , and it was just a really big culture shock for me , ” she said .
“ It wasn ’ t until I left for college that I realized , oh wow , no one thinks Natives exist , and that ’ s because no one sees them , and when they do , it ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that ’ s not really what I grew up around , and so it ’ s kind of pushed me to how I cover tribal communities and why I cover them.
” After a tough semester , she returned to the reservation and eventually decided to go to UM .
She applied to the journalism program , where she realized she could actually effect change for her community and fill a gap in storytelling with her real-world perspective .
In September 2016 , after seeing Native friends on social media posting rumblings around @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on the Standing Rock Reservation , she questioned why it wasn ’ t getting more widespread attention outside the Native community .
“ I ’ d been hearing about this thing , and I hadn ’ t seen a lot in the media about it yet , so I just wanted to check it out , ” she said , adding she visited three times to report and photograph , each time the media presence growing .
“ That was the first time I really felt like a journalist I think , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that it mattered maybe more than other journalists there.
” While most of the nation was getting fed reports of violence and protest , Irvine spent her time telling a different story .
“ ( It was ) less about the protest and the dog biting and all the violence that you ’ ve seen a lot , and it was more about , what does life look like in a camp that you ’ ve been staying at for six months ?
What did the schools look like ?
” she said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2018 , Irvine spent time at daily newspapers , including the Flathead Reservation ’ s Char-Koosta News , where she said she was able to “ cut her teeth ” in her own community , The Billings Gazette , the Dallas Morning News and finally the Tampa Bay Times .
Last year , after layoffs decimated the photo staff in Tampa Bay , she decided to take what many would consider a giant leap early in her career and go freelance .
“ Daily jobs at newspapers don ’ t really feel that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ t super hard to leave .
When I started , there were 20-something photographers , and when I left they were in the single digits , ” she said , adding the daily grind also didn ’ t allow her to do the bigger , in-depth projects she got a glimpse of at Standing Rock .
“ I really wanted to tell my own stories.
” It also didn ’ t hurt that ESPN had been in contact with her about taking photos for a story on the Blackfeet Reservation .
Her images @ @ @ @ @ @ @ network ’ s documentary , “ Blackfeet Boxing : Not Invisible , ” which screened at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival .
During the same period , she met Daniella Zalcman , founder of Women Photograph and co-founder of Natives Photograph , organizations that create databases of women , nonbinary and Native American photographers .
“ She really created a pipeline for me to come from Montana and go into the national scene with photography and editors , ” Irvine said .
Zalcman said the Natives Photograph database is an effort to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in their own communities .
It ’ s also a response to editors claiming they want to hire Native photographers , but don ’ t know who or where they are .
“ Photojournalism is a tricky business to get into , it ’ s a tricky business to sustain once you ’ re in it , ” Zalcman said .
“ It ’ s still a very privileged , classist industry where so much of success is predicated on who you know.
” Irvine said Zalcman has since been a mentor , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ freelance career - reading fine print contracts from big-wig corporate lawyers and filing taxes .
Introducing the issue of blood quantum to people outside of Native communities would be difficult without a direct understanding like Irvine has , Zalcman said .
“ It ’ s a complicated thing with roots in colonialism and ramifications that we ’ re seeing still today .
There ’ s so many levels , it requires such a degree of care , nuance and context , ” she said .
“ Tailyr is perfect for it because she @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tackle all aspects , and she ’ s also telling it from such a personal perspective as well.
” With the first chapter published , Irvine is now working on a second chapter with funding from National Geographic .
Her decision to go freelance has paid off .
Her work has been published with HuffPost , Buzzfeed , High Country News , The Washington Post and The New York Times .
She ’ s also currently reporting a Nat Geo-funded project that ’ s taken her across the country , photographing Native Americans @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Powwow , ” and another article about COVID-19 in the national parks is also in the works .
She also loves shooting sports and sprinkles in those assignments when she has time .
She understandably doesn ’ t want to get pigeon-holed into only getting calls for Native assignments , but said she hopes she can continue to cover Native issues and culture so she can start to shift the narrative around her people .
“ How I grew up and what that looked like for me looks really different in the media @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s my story , but it ’ s not really my story .
It ’ s their story .
”

MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) - When Tailyr Irvine applied for funding to tell a story her community on the Flathead Reservation, and Native communities across the country, had been living with for more than a century, she thought she’d maybe get one response to get her project off the ground.
Instead, she heard back from both global media titans she pitched to, National Geographic and the Smithsonian Institute, who wanted her work.
The first installment of Irvine’s project on blood quantum requirements for tribal enrollment was recently published by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian through its “Developing Stories: Native Photographers in the Field” series, reaching an international audience and garnering attention on social media.
“Reservation Mathematics: Navigating Love in Native America,” a photo essay, tells the story of how the blood quantum system affects everything from dating to health care to who you choose to marry and have children with. A blood quantum is a fraction that Native Americans get assigned at birth showing how much Native blood from a specific tribe they have. The fraction is used to determine enrollment, and many tribes require a certain amount of blood to be a member.
“This story has been in my brain for a really long time,” Irvine told the Missoulian in a recent interview in Missoula. The University of Montana graduate has been working on the project for a year and a half and said she’s proud to have a story Native Americans have been grappling with for decades reach a wider audience.
“It shows the complexities of Native life outside of the stereotypes you see, and I think that’s what I really am excited about with this project,” she said. “It lines up with my goal to show Native Americans in a contemporary sense.”
Irvine grew up in Ronan on the Flathead Reservation surrounded by her extended family.
“It’s a small community, so I really liked growing up the way I did, where everyone knows everyone and everyone kind of raises each other,” she said.
It wasn’t until she left the reservation to attend Washington State University that she realized her people were often misrepresented.
“I was the only Native on my dorm room floor, I was the only Native some people had ever met in their life, and it was just a really big culture shock for me,” she said. “It wasn’t until I left for college that I realized, oh wow, no one thinks Natives exist, and that’s because no one sees them, and when they do, it’s like poor and alcohol addicted … that’s not really what I grew up around, and so it’s kind of pushed me to how I cover tribal communities and why I cover them.”
After a tough semester, she returned to the reservation and eventually decided to go to UM.
She applied to the journalism program, where she realized she could actually effect change for her community and fill a gap in storytelling with her real-world perspective.
In September 2016, after seeing Native friends on social media posting rumblings around growing protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline on the Standing Rock Reservation, she questioned why it wasn’t getting more widespread attention outside the Native community.
“I’d been hearing about this thing, and I hadn’t seen a lot in the media about it yet, so I just wanted to check it out,” she said, adding she visited three times to report and photograph, each time the media presence growing.
“That was the first time I really felt like a journalist I think, and I felt like my viewpoint mattered and that it mattered maybe more than other journalists there.”
While most of the nation was getting fed reports of violence and protest, Irvine spent her time telling a different story.
“(It was) less about the protest and the dog biting and all the violence that you’ve seen a lot, and it was more about, what does life look like in a camp that you’ve been staying at for six months? What did the schools look like?” she said.
Through college and after graduating in 2018, Irvine spent time at daily newspapers, including the Flathead Reservation’s Char-Koosta News, where she said she was able to “cut her teeth” in her own community, The Billings Gazette, the Dallas Morning News and finally the Tampa Bay Times.
Last year, after layoffs decimated the photo staff in Tampa Bay, she decided to take what many would consider a giant leap early in her career and go freelance.
“Daily jobs at newspapers don’t really feel that safe anymore, so it wasn’t super hard to leave. When I started, there were 20-something photographers, and when I left they were in the single digits,” she said, adding the daily grind also didn’t allow her to do the bigger, in-depth projects she got a glimpse of at Standing Rock. “I really wanted to tell my own stories.”
It also didn’t hurt that ESPN had been in contact with her about taking photos for a story on the Blackfeet Reservation. Her images appeared in an article about the sports network’s documentary, “Blackfeet Boxing: Not Invisible,” which screened at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival.
During the same period, she met Daniella Zalcman, founder of Women Photograph and co-founder of Natives Photograph, organizations that create databases of women, nonbinary and Native American photographers.
“She really created a pipeline for me to come from Montana and go into the national scene with photography and editors,” Irvine said.
Zalcman said the Natives Photograph database is an effort to help elevate voices of Native storytellers working in their own communities. It’s also a response to editors claiming they want to hire Native photographers, but don’t know who or where they are.
“Photojournalism is a tricky business to get into, it’s a tricky business to sustain once you’re in it,” Zalcman said. “It’s still a very privileged, classist industry where so much of success is predicated on who you know.”
Irvine said Zalcman has since been a mentor, helping her navigate the beginnings of a freelance career - reading fine print contracts from big-wig corporate lawyers and filing taxes.
Introducing the issue of blood quantum to people outside of Native communities would be difficult without a direct understanding like Irvine has, Zalcman said.
“It’s a complicated thing with roots in colonialism and ramifications that we’re seeing still today. There’s so many levels, it requires such a degree of care, nuance and context,” she said. “Tailyr is perfect for it because she deeply understands the system, she can tackle all aspects, and she’s also telling it from such a personal perspective as well.”
With the first chapter published, Irvine is now working on a second chapter with funding from National Geographic.
Her decision to go freelance has paid off. Her work has been published with HuffPost, Buzzfeed, High Country News, The Washington Post and The New York Times.
She’s also currently reporting a Nat Geo-funded project that’s taken her across the country, photographing Native Americans participating in a nationwide “Social Distance Powwow,” and another article about COVID-19 in the national parks is also in the works.
She also loves shooting sports and sprinkles in those assignments when she has time. She understandably doesn’t want to get pigeon-holed into only getting calls for Native assignments, but said she hopes she can continue to cover Native issues and culture so she can start to shift the narrative around her people.
“How I grew up and what that looked like for me looks really different in the media,” she said. “It’s my story, but it’s not really my story. It’s their story.”


washingtontimes--2020-08-15--AP FACT CHECK: Trump skews record on Biden-Harris, economy

WASHINGTON ( AP ) - President Donald Trump greeted the Democratic presidential ticket of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris this past week with a litany of distortion and falsehoods , raging against cases of voting fraud where they didn ’ t exist and declining to quash conspiracy theories about Harris ’ eligibility for office .
Trump also misrepresented Biden ’ s position on taxes , again minimized the coronavirus threat and exaggerated his own record on the economy .
A look at some of the past week ’ s rhetoric and the facts : TRUMP : “ If Biden would @ @ @ @ @ @ @ double and triple everybody ’ s taxes.
” - news conference Wednesday .
THE FACTS : Trump is exaggerating .
Wildly so .
Biden would raise taxes , primarily on the wealthy .
But a July estimate by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget finds that the increase is a small fraction of what Trump claimed .
The former vice president ’ s plan would raise “ taxes for the top 1 percent of earners by 13 to 18 % of after-tax income , while indirectly increasing taxes for most other groups @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the nonpartisan group said .
To put that in perspective , tax collections would increase by $ 3.4 trillion to $ 3.7 trillion over the next decade .
That is a lot of money .
But it ’ s not a doubling or tripling .
The government is on pace to collect $ 47 trillion over the next decade , so the Biden plan would be roughly be a 7.8 % increase in revenues .
TRUMP , asked about social media claims that Harris is not eligible to run for vice president because @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : “ I heard it today that she doesn ’ t meet the requirements .
… I have no idea if that ’ s right .
I would have assumed that the Democrats would have checked that out.
” - news conference Thursday .
THE FACTS : Harris , a senator from California , is without question eligible .
Harris , 55 , was born in Oakland , California , making her a natural-born U.S. citizen and eligible to be president if Biden were unable to serve a full term .
Her father @ @ @ @ @ @ @ her mother , a cancer researcher from India , met at the University of California , Berkeley , as graduate students .
The Constitution requires a vice president to meet the eligibility requirements to be president .
That includes being a natural-born U.S. citizen , at least 35 years old and a resident in the U.S. for at least 14 years .
“ I can ’ t believe people are making this idiotic comment , ” Laurence Tribe , a Harvard University professor of constitutional law , told The Associated Press in 2019 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Harris during her presidential run .
“ She is a natural born citizen and there is no question about her eligibility to run , ” Tribe said .
Harris is the first Black woman and Asian American to compete on a major party ’ s presidential ticket .
Trump in past years indulged in the false conspiracy theory that President Barack Obama was born abroad .
TRUMP CAMPAIGN : “ Not long ago , Kamala Harris called Joe Biden a racist and asked for an apology she never received.
” — statement Tuesday @ @ @ @ @ @ @ adviser .
THE FACTS : She never called Biden a racist .
Pierson appears to be referring to Harris ’ remarks during a Democratic primary debate in Miami in June 2019 when the California senator challenged Biden ’ s record of opposing busing as a way to integrate schools in the 1970s .
Harris prefaced her criticism by telling Biden at that time , “ I do not believe you are a racist .
I agree with you when you commit yourself to the importance of finding common ground.
” She then went @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to hear you talk about the reputations of two United States senators who built their reputations and career on the segregation of race in this country .
It was not only that but you also worked with them to oppose busing .
“ There was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public schools , ” Harris said .
“ She was bused to school every day .
That little girl was me.
” It was a breakthrough moment for Harris at the candidates ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ responded that “ he did not praise racists ” and provided a hairsplitting defense of his position on busing .
But she did not accuse him of being racist .
TRUMP : “ At the end of the year , the assumption that I win , I ’ m going to terminate the payroll tax … We ’ ll be paying into Social Security through the general fund.
” - news conference Wednesday .
THE FACTS : Under Trump ’ s proposal , Social Security would lose its dedicated funding source .
Payroll @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for Social Security , and the president was unconcerned about the loss of those revenues .
Trump campaign officials stressed that the general fund consists of assets and liabilities that finance government operations and could do so for Social Security .
The general fund is nicknamed “ America ’ s Checkbook ” on the Treasury Department ’ s website .
The risk is that the loss of a dedicated funding source could destabilize an anti-poverty program that provides payments to roughly 65 million Americans .
It also could force people to cut back @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they can save for their own retirement and health care needs if they believe the government backstop is in jeopardy .
A 12.4 % payroll tax split between employers and workers funds Social Security , while a 2.9 % payroll tax finances Medicare .
The Social Security tax raised roughly $ 1 trillion last year , according to government figures .
Over a 10-year period , Trump ’ s idea would blow a $ 13 trillion hole in a U.S. budget that is already laden with rising debt loads .
Trump announced a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the year , part of a series of moves to bypass Congress after talks on a broader coronavirus relief bill that has stalled .
He says he will make it a permanent tax cut with the help of Congress .
Democrats have described that idea as a nonstarter .
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany on Thursday suggested to reporters that Trump misspoke when he said he would eliminate the payroll tax if reelected .
She said the president would only push to make the payroll tax deferrals permanent .
But Trump clearly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tax four times at his Wednesday press briefing and even answered a question about “ permanently ” rescinding it .
TRUMP , asked how the general fund can sustain the payments : “ We ’ re going to have tremendous growth .
… You will see growth like you have not seen in a long time.
” - news conference Wednesday .
THE FACTS : It is highly unlikely that economic growth would be enough to offset the loss of the payroll tax .
Trump has a record of making wildly improbable growth @ @ @ @ @ @ @ income tax cuts would propel economic growth as high as 6 % annually .
That never happened .
Growth reached 3 % in 2018 , then slumped to 2.2 % and the U.S. economy crumbled into recession this year because of the coronavirus .
TRUMP , on COVID-19 : “ Nobody understood it because nobody has ever seen anything like this .
The closest thing is , in 1917 , they say - right ?
The great - the great pandemic certainly was a terrible thing , where they lost , anywhere from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ended the Second World War ; all the soldiers were sick.
” - news briefing Monday .
THE FACTS : He got the year wrong for the Spanish flu , as he routinely does , and may have overstated deaths from it .
The pandemic spread from early 1918 to late 1920 .
It killed an estimated 50 million worldwide , with about 675,000 of the deaths in the U.S. , according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention .
That pandemic did not end World War II , which came two @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ re still in the pandemic , which will be going away , as I say , it will be going away .
And they scream , how you can you say that ?
I said , because it ’ s going to be going away.
” - interview Thursday on Fox Business Network .
THE FACTS : No matter how many times he says it , the virus is not going to just magically disappear .
The virus is now blamed for more than 166,000 deaths and more than 5.2 million confirmed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ highest totals in the world .
In the past week , the average number of new cases per day was on the rise in eight states , and deaths per day were climbing in 26 , according to an Associated Press analysis .
Dr. Anthony Fauci , the government ’ s top infectious diseases official , has warned that increased cases across the South and West in particular put “ the entire country at risk.
” On Thursday , for instance , the rate of positive virus cases in Texas soared to the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ nearly 1 in every 4 coronavirus tests coming back positive .
Nevada had its biggest daily jump in coronavirus fatalities to date .
In February , Trump asserted coronavirus cases were going “ very substantially down , not up , ” and said it will be fine because “ in April , supposedly , it dies with the hotter weather.
” Fauci says there “ certainly ” will be coronavirus infections in the fall and winter .
TRUMP , on whether he still thinks kids are essentially immune from COVID-19 : “ Yeah @ @ @ @ @ @ @ most part , they do very well .
I mean , they - they don ’ t get very sick .
They don ’ t catch it easily.
” - news briefing Tuesday .
THE FACTS : They aren ’ t immune , and he ignores racial disparities among those kids who get infected .
Although it ’ s true that children are less likely than adults to develop COVID-19 , the CDC has nevertheless counted more than 250,000 infections by the virus in Americans younger than 18 , or roughly 7 % @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the U.S. outbreak also extend to children , with Hispanic and Black children with COVID-19 more likely to be hospitalized than white kids .
The total number of kids who have been infected but not confirmed is almost certainly far higher than the CDC figures , experts say , because those with mild or no symptoms are less likely to get tested .
Trump also glosses over the fact that kids can spread disease without showing symptoms themselves .
The CDC in May also warned doctors to be on the lookout for a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ children who ’ ve had the coronavirus .
The condition had been reported in more than 100 children in New York , and in some kids in several other states and in Europe , with some deaths .
One of the CDC reports looked at children with COVID-19 who needed hospitalization .
Hispanic children were hospitalized at a rate eight times higher than white kids , and Black children were hospitalized at a rate five times higher , it found .
The second report examined cases of the rare virus-associated syndrome in kids @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the children with the syndrome were either Hispanic or Black , well above their representation in the general population .
TRUMP : “ The manufacturing sector is booming and the production index is at the highest reading since October of ‘ 18 , which was an extraordinary period of time.
” - news conference Wednesday .
THE FACTS : The pandemic crushed U.S. factories and the damage persists .
There is no boom .
Even after three months of job gains , the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows the manufacturing sector has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
All the factory hiring gains under Trump have disappeared .
There were 257,000 more manufacturing jobs on the day Trump became president than now .
More important , the jobs recovery has shown signs of stalling .
Just 26,000 factory jobs were added in July , down from 357,000 added jobs in June .
The sector has been recovering .
Yet after increases in production in June , the Federal Reserve said U.S. factory output was running 11.1 % below pre-pandemic levels .
Trump cited one component of an index composed by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ factory production grew in July as well .
It was the best reading since August of 2018 , not October as claimed by the president .
But that same report showed that manufacturers are also cutting back on employment , suggesting that a boom has yet to begin .
TRUMP , on tariffs on China : “ We ’ ve taken in tens of billions of dollars from China .
We never took 10 cents from China , never — not even 10 cents.
” - news conference Monday .
THE FACTS : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ U.S. never collected a dime in tariffs on Chinese goods before he took action .
They are simply higher in some cases than they were before .
It ’ s also wrong to suggest that the tariffs are being paid by China .
Tariff money coming into the treasury is mainly from U.S. businesses and consumers , not from China .
Tariffs are primarily if not entirely a tax paid domestically .
TRUMP : Universal mail-in voting is “ a system riddled by fraud and corruption.
” - news conference Wednesday .
THE @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rare .
The Brennan Center for Justice in 2017 ranked the risk of ballot fraud at 0.00004 % to 0.0009 % , based on studies of past elections .
Five states relied on mail-in ballots even before the coronavirus pandemic raised concerns about voting in person .
“ Trump is simply wrong about mail-in balloting raising a ‘ tremendous ’ potential for fraud , ” Richard L. Hasen , an elections expert at the University of California , Irvine , School of Law , wrote recently .
“ While certain pockets of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ scandals , problems are extremely rare in the five states that rely primarily on vote-by-mail , including the heavily Republican state of Utah.
” TRUMP : “ You just look at what happened with the Carolyn Maloney race .
They should do that race over , by the way .
… When you look at the ballot , the ballots that are missing , and the ballot frauds - nobody knows what ’ s going on with that race , and yet they declared her a winner.
” - news conference Wednesday .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ evidence of fraud in the Democratic congressional primary in New York City that was won by Democratic Rep. Carolyn Maloney .
Nor did Trump offer any proof of fraud .
New York State decided to allow anyone to vote by mail in the June primary because of the pandemic .
More than 400,000 people voted by absentee ballot in New York City , a figure that was 10 times the number of absentee ballots cast in the 2016 primary .
Opening and counting those ballots by elections officials took weeks , leading to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ such as missing postmarks .
Candidates observing the count say that thousands of ballots were disqualified because of technical errors voters wouldn ’ t have encountered if they had voted in person , like problems with their signature .
New York City ’ s Board of Elections ultimately certified the results six weeks after the election .
Associated Press writers Amanda Seitz in Chicago , and Lauran Neergaard , Aamer Madhani and Darlene Superville in Washington contributed to this report .
EDITOR ’ S NOTE - A look at the veracity of claims @ @ @ @

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump greeted the Democratic presidential ticket of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris this past week with a litany of distortion and falsehoods, raging against cases of voting fraud where they didn’t exist and declining to quash conspiracy theories about Harris’ eligibility for office.
Trump also misrepresented Biden’s position on taxes, again minimized the coronavirus threat and exaggerated his own record on the economy.
A look at some of the past week’s rhetoric and the facts:
ON BIDEN-HARRIS
TRUMP: “If Biden would win … he’s going to double and triple everybody’s taxes.” - news conference Wednesday.
THE FACTS: Trump is exaggerating. Wildly so.
Biden would raise taxes, primarily on the wealthy. But a July estimate by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget finds that the increase is a small fraction of what Trump claimed. The former vice president’s plan would raise “taxes for the top 1 percent of earners by 13 to 18% of after-tax income, while indirectly increasing taxes for most other groups by 0.2 to 0.6%,” the nonpartisan group said.
To put that in perspective, tax collections would increase by $3.4 trillion to $3.7 trillion over the next decade. That is a lot of money. But it’s not a doubling or tripling. The government is on pace to collect $47 trillion over the next decade, so the Biden plan would be roughly be a 7.8% increase in revenues.
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TRUMP, asked about social media claims that Harris is not eligible to run for vice president because her parents were immigrants to the U.S.: “I heard it today that she doesn’t meet the requirements. … I have no idea if that’s right. I would have assumed that the Democrats would have checked that out.” - news conference Thursday.
TRUMP, asked about the subject again: “I have nothing to do with it. I read something about it,” Trump said Saturday during a news conference. He added: “It’s not something that bothers me. … It’s not something that we will be pursuing.” Asked point blank if Harris is eligible, Trump replied: “I just told you. I have not got into it in great detail.” - news conference Saturday.
THE FACTS: Harris, a senator from California, is without question eligible.
Harris, 55, was born in Oakland, California, making her a natural-born U.S. citizen and eligible to be president if Biden were unable to serve a full term. Her father, an economist from Jamaica, and her mother, a cancer researcher from India, met at the University of California, Berkeley, as graduate students.
The Constitution requires a vice president to meet the eligibility requirements to be president. That includes being a natural-born U.S. citizen, at least 35 years old and a resident in the U.S. for at least 14 years.
“I can’t believe people are making this idiotic comment,” Laurence Tribe, a Harvard University professor of constitutional law, told The Associated Press in 2019, when similar false claims emerged about Harris during her presidential run.
“She is a natural born citizen and there is no question about her eligibility to run,” Tribe said.
Harris is the first Black woman and Asian American to compete on a major party’s presidential ticket. Trump in past years indulged in the false conspiracy theory that President Barack Obama was born abroad.
___
TRUMP CAMPAIGN: “Not long ago, Kamala Harris called Joe Biden a racist and asked for an apology she never received.” — statement Tuesday from Katrina Pierson, Trump 2020 senior adviser.
THE FACTS: She never called Biden a racist.
Pierson appears to be referring to Harris’ remarks during a Democratic primary debate in Miami in June 2019 when the California senator challenged Biden’s record of opposing busing as a way to integrate schools in the 1970s.
Harris prefaced her criticism by telling Biden at that time, “I do not believe you are a racist. I agree with you when you commit yourself to the importance of finding common ground.”
She then went on: “It was actually hurtful to hear you talk about the reputations of two United States senators who built their reputations and career on the segregation of race in this country. It was not only that but you also worked with them to oppose busing.
“There was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public schools,” Harris said. “She was bused to school every day. That little girl was me.”
It was a breakthrough moment for Harris at the candidates’ first debate, stunning Biden, who responded that “he did not praise racists” and provided a hairsplitting defense of his position on busing. But she did not accuse him of being racist.
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SOCIAL SECURITY
TRUMP: “At the end of the year, the assumption that I win, I’m going to terminate the payroll tax … We’ll be paying into Social Security through the general fund.” - news conference Wednesday.
THE FACTS: Under Trump’s proposal, Social Security would lose its dedicated funding source.
Payroll taxes raise about $1 trillion annually for Social Security, and the president was unconcerned about the loss of those revenues. Trump campaign officials stressed that the general fund consists of assets and liabilities that finance government operations and could do so for Social Security. The general fund is nicknamed “America’s Checkbook” on the Treasury Department’s website.
The risk is that the loss of a dedicated funding source could destabilize an anti-poverty program that provides payments to roughly 65 million Americans. It also could force people to cut back on the spending that drives growth so they can save for their own retirement and health care needs if they believe the government backstop is in jeopardy.
A 12.4% payroll tax split between employers and workers funds Social Security, while a 2.9% payroll tax finances Medicare. The Social Security tax raised roughly $1 trillion last year, according to government figures. Over a 10-year period, Trump’s idea would blow a $13 trillion hole in a U.S. budget that is already laden with rising debt loads.
Trump announced a payroll tax deferral through the end of the year, part of a series of moves to bypass Congress after talks on a broader coronavirus relief bill that has stalled. He says he will make it a permanent tax cut with the help of Congress. Democrats have described that idea as a nonstarter.
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany on Thursday suggested to reporters that Trump misspoke when he said he would eliminate the payroll tax if reelected. She said the president would only push to make the payroll tax deferrals permanent. But Trump clearly said that he would eliminate the payroll tax four times at his Wednesday press briefing and even answered a question about “permanently” rescinding it.
___
TRUMP, asked how the general fund can sustain the payments: “We’re going to have tremendous growth. … You will see growth like you have not seen in a long time.” - news conference Wednesday.
THE FACTS: It is highly unlikely that economic growth would be enough to offset the loss of the payroll tax. Trump has a record of making wildly improbable growth projections. He suggested that his 2017 income tax cuts would propel economic growth as high as 6% annually. That never happened. Growth reached 3% in 2018, then slumped to 2.2% and the U.S. economy crumbled into recession this year because of the coronavirus.
___
VIRUS THREAT
TRUMP, on COVID-19: “Nobody understood it because nobody has ever seen anything like this. The closest thing is, in 1917, they say - right? The great - the great pandemic certainly was a terrible thing, where they lost, anywhere from 50 to 100 million people. Probably ended the Second World War; all the soldiers were sick.” - news briefing Monday.
THE FACTS: He got the year wrong for the Spanish flu, as he routinely does, and may have overstated deaths from it. The pandemic spread from early 1918 to late 1920. It killed an estimated 50 million worldwide, with about 675,000 of the deaths in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
That pandemic did not end World War II, which came two decades later.
___
TRUMP: “We’re still in the pandemic, which will be going away, as I say, it will be going away. And they scream, how you can you say that? I said, because it’s going to be going away.” - interview Thursday on Fox Business Network.
THE FACTS: No matter how many times he says it, the virus is not going to just magically disappear.
The virus is now blamed for more than 166,000 deaths and more than 5.2 million confirmed infections in the U.S. - easily the highest totals in the world. In the past week, the average number of new cases per day was on the rise in eight states, and deaths per day were climbing in 26, according to an Associated Press analysis.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious diseases official, has warned that increased cases across the South and West in particular put “the entire country at risk.” On Thursday, for instance, the rate of positive virus cases in Texas soared to the highest levels of the pandemic, with nearly 1 in every 4 coronavirus tests coming back positive. Nevada had its biggest daily jump in coronavirus fatalities to date.
In February, Trump asserted coronavirus cases were going “very substantially down, not up,” and said it will be fine because “in April, supposedly, it dies with the hotter weather.”
Fauci says there “certainly” will be coronavirus infections in the fall and winter.
___
TRUMP, on whether he still thinks kids are essentially immune from COVID-19: “Yeah, I think that, for the most part, they do very well. I mean, they - they don’t get very sick. They don’t catch it easily.” - news briefing Tuesday.
THE FACTS: They aren’t immune, and he ignores racial disparities among those kids who get infected.
Although it’s true that children are less likely than adults to develop COVID-19, the CDC has nevertheless counted more than 250,000 infections by the virus in Americans younger than 18, or roughly 7% of all cases. Racial disparities in the U.S. outbreak also extend to children, with Hispanic and Black children with COVID-19 more likely to be hospitalized than white kids.
The total number of kids who have been infected but not confirmed is almost certainly far higher than the CDC figures, experts say, because those with mild or no symptoms are less likely to get tested. Trump also glosses over the fact that kids can spread disease without showing symptoms themselves.
The CDC in May also warned doctors to be on the lookout for a rare but life-threatening inflammatory reaction in some children who’ve had the coronavirus. The condition had been reported in more than 100 children in New York, and in some kids in several other states and in Europe, with some deaths.
Two recent government reports laid bare the racial disparities.
One of the CDC reports looked at children with COVID-19 who needed hospitalization. Hispanic children were hospitalized at a rate eight times higher than white kids, and Black children were hospitalized at a rate five times higher, it found.
The second report examined cases of the rare virus-associated syndrome in kids. It found that nearly three-quarters of the children with the syndrome were either Hispanic or Black, well above their representation in the general population.
___
ECONOMY
TRUMP: “The manufacturing sector is booming and the production index is at the highest reading since October of ‘18, which was an extraordinary period of time.” - news conference Wednesday.
THE FACTS: The pandemic crushed U.S. factories and the damage persists. There is no boom.
Even after three months of job gains, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows the manufacturing sector has 740,000 fewer jobs than before the outbreak. All the factory hiring gains under Trump have disappeared. There were 257,000 more manufacturing jobs on the day Trump became president than now. More important, the jobs recovery has shown signs of stalling. Just 26,000 factory jobs were added in July, down from 357,000 added jobs in June.
The sector has been recovering. Yet after increases in production in June, the Federal Reserve said U.S. factory output was running 11.1% below pre-pandemic levels. Trump cited one component of an index composed by the Institute for Supply Management that indicates factory production grew in July as well. It was the best reading since August of 2018, not October as claimed by the president. But that same report showed that manufacturers are also cutting back on employment, suggesting that a boom has yet to begin.
___
TRUMP, on tariffs on China: “We’ve taken in tens of billions of dollars from China. We never took 10 cents from China, never — not even 10 cents.” - news conference Monday.
THE FACTS: It’s false to say the U.S. never collected a dime in tariffs on Chinese goods before he took action. They are simply higher in some cases than they were before. It’s also wrong to suggest that the tariffs are being paid by China. Tariff money coming into the treasury is mainly from U.S. businesses and consumers, not from China. Tariffs are primarily if not entirely a tax paid domestically.
___
MAIL VOTING
TRUMP: Universal mail-in voting is “a system riddled by fraud and corruption.” - news conference Wednesday.
THE FACTS: Voting fraud actually is very rare.
The Brennan Center for Justice in 2017 ranked the risk of ballot fraud at 0.00004% to 0.0009%, based on studies of past elections.
Five states relied on mail-in ballots even before the coronavirus pandemic raised concerns about voting in person.
“Trump is simply wrong about mail-in balloting raising a ‘tremendous’ potential for fraud,” Richard L. Hasen, an elections expert at the University of California, Irvine, School of Law, wrote recently. “While certain pockets of the country have seen their share of absentee-ballot scandals, problems are extremely rare in the five states that rely primarily on vote-by-mail, including the heavily Republican state of Utah.”
___
NEW YORK VOTING
TRUMP: “You just look at what happened with the Carolyn Maloney race. They should do that race over, by the way. … When you look at the ballot, the ballots that are missing, and the ballot frauds - nobody knows what’s going on with that race, and yet they declared her a winner.” - news conference Wednesday.
THE FACTS: There’s no evidence of fraud in the Democratic congressional primary in New York City that was won by Democratic Rep. Carolyn Maloney. Nor did Trump offer any proof of fraud.
New York State decided to allow anyone to vote by mail in the June primary because of the pandemic. More than 400,000 people voted by absentee ballot in New York City, a figure that was 10 times the number of absentee ballots cast in the 2016 primary.
Opening and counting those ballots by elections officials took weeks, leading to a legal dispute over nonfraud issues, such as missing postmarks. Candidates observing the count say that thousands of ballots were disqualified because of technical errors voters wouldn’t have encountered if they had voted in person, like problems with their signature.
New York City’s Board of Elections ultimately certified the results six weeks after the election.
___
Associated Press writers Amanda Seitz in Chicago, and Lauran Neergaard, Aamer Madhani and Darlene Superville in Washington contributed to this report.
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EDITOR’S NOTE - A look at the veracity of claims by political figures.
___
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washingtontimes--2020-08-15--Partner  of dead Belarus protester believes police shot him

MINSK , Belarus ( AP ) - The partner of a man who died in the protests engulfing Belarus says she does not believe the official account that Alexander Taraikovsky was killed when an explosive device that he intended to throw at police blew up in his hand .
Elena German told The Associated Press on Saturday that she is sure her 34-year-old partner was shot by police .
German spoke a few hours before Taraikovsky ’ s funeral and burial , an event that could reinforce the anger of demonstrators who have protested what they consider a sham presidential @ @ @ @ @ @ @ opposition .
Taraikovsky died Monday as protests roiled the streets of the capital Minsk , denouncing official figures showing that authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko , in power since 1994 , had won a sixth term in office .
German was able to visit the morgue and see his body on Friday , four days after he died .
She said she did not believe he had been holding an explosive .
“ There is a seam in the chest area - the hole was sewn up , but there is a black bruise @ @ @ @ @ @ @ noticed .
His hands and feet are completely intact , there are not even bruises , ” she said .
“ Obviously , it was a shot right in the chest , ” she said .
Belarus ’ Interior Ministry has declined to comment on the situation , beyond its initial claim that a protester died because of a hand-held explosive .
German said she intends to seek a full investigation .
She has called on a Belarusian human rights organization for help , and wants international experts to take part in a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
I ’ m angry .
That is why I want to achieve justice , ” she said .
“ In fact , I am very scared , ” she added .
“ I was left alone , without support .
I feel empty.
” German said Taraikovsky had worked hard at his automobile repair business and that neither of them had been interested in politics until the last presidential election .
The family ’ s views began to change after she and her husband attended a 60,000-strong campaign rally of main opposition @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to support the post-election protests .
“ He was very indignant at the illegal detentions and was proud of the people .
He said - finally , finally !
We discussed all the news every evening , ” she said .
“ No matter how hard they try to put up some kind of barriers , turn off the Internet , disperse these rallies , we are not fools - everyone understands everything , ” German said .
Jim Heintz in Moscow contributed to this story .

MINSK, Belarus (AP) - The partner of a man who died in the protests engulfing Belarus says she does not believe the official account that Alexander Taraikovsky was killed when an explosive device that he intended to throw at police blew up in his hand.
Elena German told The Associated Press on Saturday that she is sure her 34-year-old partner was shot by police.
German spoke a few hours before Taraikovsky’s funeral and burial, an event that could reinforce the anger of demonstrators who have protested what they consider a sham presidential election and the violent police crackdown on opposition.
Taraikovsky died Monday as protests roiled the streets of the capital Minsk, denouncing official figures showing that authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko, in power since 1994, had won a sixth term in office.
German was able to visit the morgue and see his body on Friday, four days after he died. She said she did not believe he had been holding an explosive.
“There is a seam in the chest area - the hole was sewn up, but there is a black bruise; it’s small but we noticed. His hands and feet are completely intact, there are not even bruises, ”she said.
“Obviously, it was a shot right in the chest,” she said.
Belarus’ Interior Ministry has declined to comment on the situation, beyond its initial claim that a protester died because of a hand-held explosive.
German said she intends to seek a full investigation. She has called on a Belarusian human rights organization for help, and wants international experts to take part in a probe.
“I am feeling outraged. I’m angry. That is why I want to achieve justice, ”she said.
“In fact, I am very scared,” she added. “I was left alone, without support. I feel empty.”
About 500 people came to pay last respects to Taraikovsky, who lay in an open casket. As the coffin was carried out, many dropped to one knee, weeping and exclaiming “ Long live Belarus.”
German said Taraikovsky had worked hard at his automobile repair business and that neither of them had been interested in politics until the last presidential election.
The family’s views began to change after she and her husband attended a 60,000-strong campaign rally of main opposition candidate Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. Then they decided to support the post-election protests.
“He was very indignant at the illegal detentions and was proud of the people. He said - finally, finally! We discussed all the news every evening,” she said.
“No matter how hard they try to put up some kind of barriers, turn off the Internet, disperse these rallies, we are not fools - everyone understands everything,” German said.
—=
Jim Heintz in Moscow contributed to this story.


washingtontimes--2020-08-15--FBI team arrives this weekend to take part in Beirut probe

BEIRUT ( AP ) - A team of FBI investigators is due to arrive in Lebanon this weekend to take part in the probe of Beirut ’ s massive explosion , a senior U.S official said on Saturday after visiting the location of the blast .
David Hale , U.S. undersecretary of state for political affairs , called for a thorough and transparent investigation .
He said the FBI team is taking part at the invitation of Lebanese authorities in order to find answers about what caused the Aug. 4 explosion which killed nearly 180 people and wounded thousands .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ nearly 3,000 tons of ammonium nitrate at Beirut ’ s port remains unclear .
Documents have emerged showing the country ’ s top leadership and security officials were aware of the chemicals stored at the port .
French investigators are also taking part in the Lebanese-led probe .
“ We really need to make sure that there is a thorough , a transparent and credible investigation .
I know that is what everyone is demanding , ” Hale said .
Search and rescue crews flew in from around the world in the immediate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the blast with Lebanese army officers .
Many Lebanese want the probe taken out of the hands of their government , fearing that bickering among the long-entrenched political factions , notorious for corruption , won ’ t allow any results to come to light that are damaging to their leadership .
Top Lebanese officials , including President Michel Aoun , have rejected calls for an independent probe , describing it as “ a waste of time ” that would be politicized .
Late Friday , the leader of the powerful Hezbollah group said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ investigation , in a clear reference to the FBI assistance .
Hassan Nasrallah said the cause of the explosion is still unclear , adding that any international probe would also have to clear Israel of any responsibility in the port explosion .
Nasrallah added that Israel will be met “ with an equally devastating response ” if the investigation points to its involvement .
Israel has denied involvement and so far no evidence has emerged suggesting otherwise .
However , Aoun , who is supported by Hezbollah , has said it ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ On Saturday , French investigators were seen in boats and on the ground near the scene of the blast .
A French helicopter carrier was docked at the port as French troops were unloading equipment .
French troops on foot and in vehicles were moving around the port .
At a commercial part of the port that was not damaged by the blast , workers were unloading wheat .
The U.N says 30 % of the port remains operational .
Hale also stressed the need for full state control over ports and borders @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that Hezbollah holds influence over both in Lebanon .
“ We can never go back to an era in which anything goes at the port or borders of Lebanon , ” he said .
Under pressure , Lebanon ’ s government resigned on Aug.10 .
For now , there are no formal consultations underway on who will replace Hassan Diab as prime minister and no likely candidate has emerged .
But the flurry of diplomatic visits appeared designed to influence the forming of the new government .
Popular anger has swelled over the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and political uncertainty .
Western leaders have said they will send aid directly to the Lebanese people and that billions of dollars will not be pumped into the country before major reforms take place .
On Friday , the United Nations launched a $ 565 million appeal for Lebanon with immediate humanitarian assistance and initial recovery efforts .
Washington and its allies consider Hezbollah a terrorist organization , and have accused the Iran-backed group of abusing government funds .
Local media have speculated that Hale would be pushing for a government that excludes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and friends buried Ralph Malahi , a 23-year old firefighter who was among 10 firefighters killed in the explosion .
Malahi was given a hero ’ s funeral , starting from the firefighter center .
Lifting Malahi ’ s coffin , thousands paraded through different parts of the city , shooting in the air in commemoration .
His body finally arrived at a church in Furn el-Chebak neighborhood in Beirut where prayers were held for Malahi .
Malahi is the seventh firefighter to be retrieved from under the debris in the port at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ remain missing .
Malahi ’ s mother , weeping , blamed the government for her son ’ s death .
“ Why did you not evacuate the port ?
” she said , in reference to the government ’ s knowledge that highly explosive material was stored at the port .

BEIRUT (AP) - There can be no financial bailout for Lebanon, a senior U.S. official said Saturday, calling on the country’s political leaders to heed popular calls for change, real reform and an end to endemic corruption.
David Hale, U.S. undersecretary of state for political affairs, said the U.S. and its allies will respond to “systemic reforms with sustained financial support.” He also called for a thorough and transparent investigation into the Aug. 4 blast that killed nearly 180 people and wounded thousands.
He said an FBI team is arriving this weekend to take part in the probe at the invitation of Lebanese authorities.
Hale arrived in Beirut on Thursday, where he met with volunteers helping out at the site of the blast, as well as the country’s top political and religious leadership.
“America calls on Lebanon’s political leaders to finally respond to the people’s longstanding and legitimate demands and create a credible plan – accepted by the Lebanese people – for good governance, sound economic and financial reform, and an end to the endemic corruption that has stifled Lebanon’s tremendous potential,” he said.
“But as the dozens of young activists and volunteers I met so bluntly demanded, there can be no bailout,” Hale said in a recorded message posted on the U.S. Embassy website Saturday.
Hale’s comments were in line with Washington’s message before the visit. But he didn’t detail whether the U.S. and Western allies are ready to support a government in which Lebanon’s powerful Iran-backed Hezbollah group has clout.
After visiting the site of the blast, Hale called for the state to exercise control over its borders and ports, in a clear reference to claims Hezbollah group controls them.
“We can never go back to an era in which anything goes at the port or borders of Lebanon,” Hale said.
Washington and its allies consider the Iran-backed group Hezbollah a terrorist organization, and have accused it of abusing government funds and undermining state authority. There was speculation in the local media that Hale would be pushing for a government that excludes the group.
In a clear message, Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah said his group is pushing for a national unity government that has wide political representation and backing. Seeking a “neutral government,” he said, would be “a waste of time.”
Popular anger has been building up in Lebanon against the ruling elite’s corruption, mismanagement and political uncertainty many blame for pushing the country toward bankruptcy and poverty.
The blast only increased the public’s rage. The cause of the fire that ignited nearly 3,000 tons of ammonium nitrate at Beirut’s port remains unclear. Documents have emerged showing the country’s top leadership and security officials were aware of the chemicals stored at the port.
Many Lebanese are calling for an independent international probe, saying they don’t trust the long-entrenched political factions to allow any results to come to light that are damaging to their leadership.
Under pressure, Lebanon’s government resigned Aug. 10 and is serving in a caretaker capacity. So far, there are no formal consultations underway on who will replace Hassan Diab as prime minister and no likely candidate has emerged.
But the flurry of diplomatic visits appeared designed to influence the forming of the new government.
Western leaders have said they will send aid directly to the Lebanese people and that billions of dollars will not be pumped into the country before major reforms take place.
Hale said the United States has so far donated $18 million to the Lebanese people in terms of food and other essential and is preparing to work with Congress for an additional $30 million to ensure the flow of grains after the capital’s silos were destroyed in the blast. The aid, he said, will be handled directly by the World Food Program.
“This is a moment for Lebanon to define a Lebanese - not a foreign - vision of Lebanon,” Hale said. “What kind of Lebanon do you have and what kind of Lebanon do you want? Only Lebanese can answer that question.”
Coinciding with Hale’s visit was that of the Iranian Foreign Minister Jawad Zarif who said Western nations are exploiting Lebanon’s disaster to push their political dictates. Iran is Hezbollah’s main foreign backer and has provided the group with financial and technical support throughout the years.
On Friday, the United Nations launched a $565 million appeal for Lebanon with immediate humanitarian assistance and initial recovery efforts. Last week, international donors pledged nearly $300 million of emergency assistance to Lebanon.
Najat Rochdi, U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Lebanon, called for more funds to cover the critical needs of shelter, food, health and education.
Rochdi said most donors have asked that aid be channeled through the U.N., which she said would be coordinated with Lebanon’s armed forces to ensure access.
“We will be very strict about the use of humanitarian assistance. We will be monitoring closely every single delivery of our humanitarian assistance,” she said. “We will be accountable not only to donors because our accountability goes also to the affected population.”
Also on Saturday, families and friends buried Ralph Malahi, a 23-year old firefighter who was among 10 firefighters killed in the explosion.
Malahi was given a hero’s funeral in Beirut. Lifting Malahi’s coffin, thousands paraded through different parts of the city, firing weapons into the air in commemoration.
Malahi is the seventh firefighter to be retrieved from under the debris in the port at the scene of the blast. Three remain missing.
Malahi’s mother, weeping, blamed the government for her son’s death. “Why did you not evacuate the port?” she said, in reference to the government’s knowledge that highly explosive material was stored at the port.
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Associated Press writer Sarah El Deeb in Beirut contributed to this report.


washingtontimes--2020-08-15--Hague police arrest 27 amid third night of rioting

THE HAGUE , Netherlands ( AP ) - Police in The Hague arrested 27 people as rioting broke out in a low-income neighborhood for the third night , with youths torching a storage building and throwing stones and fireworks at police Friday night and into the early hours of Saturday .
Unrest also spread to a second city , with arrests in a neighborhood of the central city of Utrecht , local media reported .
Both areas affected are home to many families of Moroccan and Turkish descent .
Hague police said arrests were made for offenses including public violence @ @ @ @ @ @ @ followed more than 20 arrests for similar offenses on Thursday night .
Riot police guarded firefighters as they put out a blaze in a storage shed for sports equipment and games in The Hague .
The unrest began earlier this week amid a stifling heatwave in the Netherlands and moves by water authorities in The Hague to prevent children opening fire hydrants to cool off .
Populist , anti-immigration lawmakers are seizing on the unrest as evidence of failed policies to promote integration and call for those who refuse to integrate to be @ @

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) - Police in The Hague arrested 27 people as rioting broke out in a low-income neighborhood for the third night, with youths torching a storage building and throwing stones and fireworks at police Friday night and into the early hours of Saturday.
Unrest also spread to a second city, with arrests in a neighborhood of the central city of Utrecht, local media reported. Both areas affected are home to many families of Moroccan and Turkish descent.
Hague police said arrests were made for offenses including public violence, incitement and threatening behavior. They followed more than 20 arrests for similar offenses on Thursday night.
Riot police guarded firefighters as they put out a blaze in a storage shed for sports equipment and games in The Hague.
The unrest began earlier this week amid a stifling heatwave in the Netherlands and moves by water authorities in The Hague to prevent children opening fire hydrants to cool off.
Populist, anti-immigration lawmakers are seizing on the unrest as evidence of failed policies to promote integration and call for those who refuse to integrate to be deported.


washingtontimes--2020-08-15--Thousands of Britons return from France to avoid quarantine

LONDON ( AP ) - Thousands of British tourists beat a hasty retreat from France , packing out planes , trains and ferries to return to the U.K. by the early hours of Saturday morning to avoid a mandatory 14-day quarantine at home .
On Friday , many British travelers in the country opted to cut short their vacations to meet the 4 a.m. Saturday deadline that had only been announced the night before .
Anyone arriving back from France from Saturday must stay at home for two weeks to make sure they can not spread the coronavirus beyond their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The exodus was prompted late Thursday when the British government took France off a list of nations exempt from traveler quarantine requirements because of a sharp rise in new coronavirus infections there .
A spokesman for the Le Shuttle car-carrying carrying rail service linking Britain and France under the English Channel said 12,000 people tried to book tickets in the hour after the new rules were announced , compared with just hundreds normally .
Some air fares were selling for significantly inflated prices compared to normal rates .
British Airways was selling tickets @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on Friday night costing 452 pounds ( $ 590 ) .
The same journey on Saturday could be made for just 66 pounds .
Ferry companies put on extra services but they sold out fast too .
For those who can not work from home on their return , the mandatory self-quarantine could see them penalized further .
Others just couldn ’ t face the prospect of having to stay at home for two weeks , unable to do even basic chores , go for a run or even to walk the dog @ @ @ @ @ @ @ get on on one of the last flights Friday out of Nice , in the south of France , said it would have been “ incredibly inconvenient ” for him to face another two-week period cooped up at home .
″It ’ s not like during lockdown , where you can go for a run , go to the shops , come back , ” he said .
“ None of that , we have to stay in , for two weeks.
” As well as complicating the return home for the hundreds @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the U.K. move has the potential to upend the plans of those planning trips in the days ahead , particularly of families during the run-up to schools reopening in September .
French businesses running campsites in Brittany , wine-tasting tours in the Loire Valley or mountain treks in the Alps also have reason to worry .
The French government has indicated that it will respond in kind , a move that is set to further hobble travel and tourism between the two countries .
The British government insists it had to make @ @ @ @ @ @ @ % spike in confirmed coronavirus cases in France in the past week .
The Netherlands , Malta , Monaco and the Caribbean islands of Aruba and Turks & Caicos were also added to the U.K. ’ s quarantine list for the same reason .
In France , there ’ s a growing fear of a second spike of the outbreak .
Health authorities on Friday reported 2,846 new virus cases in 24 hours , bringing the total for the week to over 12,900 .
Paris extended the areas of the city where pedestrians @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Saturday morning after health officials said the coronavirus is “ active ” in the French capital and the Mediterranean city of Marseille .
Last month , Spain , the number one summer holiday destination for British tourists , was taken off the exempt list .
Elaine Ganley in Paris contributed to this report .
Follow AP coverage of the virus outbreak at https : //apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https : //apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak

LONDON (AP) - Thousands of British tourists beat a hasty retreat from France, packing out planes, trains and ferries to return to the U.K. by the early hours of Saturday morning to avoid a mandatory 14-day quarantine at home.
On Friday, many British travelers in the country opted to cut short their vacations to meet the 4 a.m. Saturday deadline that had only been announced the night before. Anyone arriving back from France from Saturday must stay at home for two weeks to make sure they cannot spread the coronavirus beyond their households if they have become infected.
The exodus was prompted late Thursday when the British government took France off a list of nations exempt from traveler quarantine requirements because of a sharp rise in new coronavirus infections there.
A spokesman for the Le Shuttle car-carrying carrying rail service linking Britain and France under the English Channel said 12,000 people tried to book tickets in the hour after the new rules were announced, compared with just hundreds normally.
Some air fares were selling for significantly inflated prices compared to normal rates. British Airways was selling tickets for a flight from Paris to London on Friday night costing 452 pounds ($590). The same journey on Saturday could be made for just 66 pounds.
Ferry companies put on extra services but they sold out fast too.
For those who cannot work from home on their return, the mandatory self-quarantine could see them penalized further. Others just couldn’t face the prospect of having to stay at home for two weeks, unable to do even basic chores, go for a run or even to walk the dog.
Peter Norris, who managed to get on on one of the last flights Friday out of Nice, in the south of France, said it would have been “incredibly inconvenient” for him to face another two-week period cooped up at home.
″It’s not like during lockdown, where you can go for a run, go to the shops, come back,” he said. “None of that, we have to stay in, for two weeks.”
As well as complicating the return home for the hundreds of thousands of British tourists in France, the U.K. move has the potential to upend the plans of those planning trips in the days ahead, particularly of families during the run-up to schools reopening in September. French businesses running campsites in Brittany, wine-tasting tours in the Loire Valley or mountain treks in the Alps also have reason to worry.
The French government has indicated that it will respond in kind, a move that is set to further hobble travel and tourism between the two countries.
The British government insists it had to make the decision in light of a 66% spike in confirmed coronavirus cases in France in the past week. The Netherlands, Malta, Monaco and the Caribbean islands of Aruba and Turks & Caicos were also added to the U.K.’s quarantine list for the same reason.
In France, there’s a growing fear of a second spike of the outbreak. Health authorities on Friday reported 2,846 new virus cases in 24 hours, bringing the total for the week to over 12,900. Paris extended the areas of the city where pedestrians will be obliged to wear masks starting Saturday morning after health officials said the coronavirus is “active” in the French capital and the Mediterranean city of Marseille.
Last month, Spain, the number one summer holiday destination for British tourists, was taken off the exempt list.
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Elaine Ganley in Paris contributed to this report.
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Follow AP coverage of the virus outbreak at https://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak


washingtontimes--2020-08-15--Pompeo inks deal for US troop move from Germany to Poland

WARSAW ( AP ) - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Saturday sealed a defense cooperation deal with Polish officials that will pave the way for the redeployment of American troops from Germany to Poland .
In Warsaw at the end of a four-nation tour of central and eastern Europe , Pompeo and Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Błaszczak signed an Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement that sets out the legal framework for the additional troop presence .
“ This is going to be an extended guarantee : a guarantee that in case of a threat our soldiers are going to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ President Andrzej Duda said during the signing ceremony .
“ It will also serve to increase the security of other countries in our part of Europe , ” Duda said .
The deal would also further other aspects of U.S.-Polish cooperation , he added , citing primarily investment and trade ties .
The pact supplements an existing NATO Status of Forces Agreement and allows for the enhancement and modernization of existing capabilities and facilities by allowing U.S. forces to access additional Polish military installations .
It also sets out a formula for sharing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ expanded U.S. presence in the country .
President Donald Trump said in a statement that the pact was the culmination of months of negotiations with Poland .
“ The agreement will enhance our military cooperation and increase the United States ’ military presence in Poland to further strengthen NATO deterrence , bolster European security , and help ensure democracy , freedom , and sovereignty , ” Trump ’ s statement said .
Some 4,500 U.S. troops are currently based in Poland , but about 1,000 more are to be added , under a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ month , in line with Trump ’ s demand to reduce troop numbers in Germany , the Pentagon announced that some 12,000 troops would be withdrawn from Germany with about 5,600 moving to other countries in Europe , including Poland .
In addition , several U.S. military commands will be moved out of Germany , including the U.S. Army V Corps overseas headquarters that will relocate to Poland next year .
Trump has long and loudly complained that Germany does not spend enough on defense and has repeatedly accused Germany of failing to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ misstatement of the issue .
NATO nations have pledged to dedicate 2 % of their gross domestic product .
After the signing ceremony , Pompeo joined Duda and other Polish leaders at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier to mark the centennial of Poland ’ s landmark victory against the Russian Bolsheviks in 1920 during the Polish-Soviet war .
In the Battle of Warsaw , often called the “ Miracle on the Vistula , ” outnumbered Polish troops led by Marshal Jozef Pilsudski defeated an advancing Red Army .
The battle is credited @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and remains a source of huge national pride in Poland .
Saturday ’ s signing came just a day after the Trump administration suffered an embarrassing diplomatic loss at the United Nations when its proposal to indefinitely extend an arms embargo on Iran was soundly defeated in a UN Security Council vote that saw only one country side with the U.S. Pompeo will visit that country , the Dominican Republic , on Sunday for the inauguration of its new president .
Pompeo has used his Europe trip to warn the region ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Russia and China and has received a warm welcome .
In Poland , the reception was particularly kind given the friendship between Trump and conservative Polish President Duda , who was sworn in for a second five-year term earlier this month after a hotly contested election .
Many of Duda ’ s Law and Justice party ’ s policies have put Poland at odds with the European Union , which is concerned that government efforts to reshape the judiciary and other actions have eroded the rule of law and democracy in the EU @ @ @

WARSAW (AP) - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo sealed a defense cooperation deal Saturday with Polish officials that will pave the way to deploy more American troops to Poland.
Pompeo, in Warsaw at the end of a four-nation tour of central and eastern Europe, signed the deal with Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Błaszczak that sets out the legal framework for the additional troops.
“This is going to be an extended guarantee: a guarantee that in case of a threat our soldiers are going to stand arm-in-arm,” Poland’s President Andrzej Duda said during the signing ceremony. “It will also serve to increase the security of other countries in our part of Europe.”
The deal would also further other aspects of U.S.-Polish cooperation, he added, citing primarily investment and trade ties.
Some 4,500 U.S. troops are currently based in Poland, but about 1,000 more are to be added. Last month, in line with President Donald Trump’s demand to reduce troop numbers in Germany, the Pentagon announced that 12,000 troops would be withdrawn from Germany with about 5,600 moving to other countries in Europe, including Poland.
In addition, several U.S. military commands will be moved out of Germany, including the U.S. Army V Corps overseas headquarters that will relocate to Poland next year.
The deal would also further other aspects of U.S.-Polish cooperation, he added, citing primarily investment and trade ties.
The pact signed Saturday supplements a NATO pact and allows for the enhancement and modernization of existing capabilities and facilities by allowing U.S. forces to access additional Polish military installations. It also sets out a formula for sharing the logistical and infrastructure costs of an expanded U.S. presence in the country.
“The opportunities are unlimited, the resources will be available,” Pompeo said later at a news conference alongside Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz.
“Troop levels matter … but the world has moved on too,” Pompeo said, referring to threats posed in space, cyberspace and disinformation campaigns. He said such defense agreements would allow work on those threats too.
Czaputowicz said the presence of American troops “enhances our deterrence potential because we are closer to the potential source of conflict.”
“It is important that they should be deployed here in Poland and not in Germany,” he said.
Trump said the pact was the culmination of months of negotiations.
“The agreement will enhance our military cooperation and increase the United States’ military presence in Poland to further strengthen NATO deterrence, bolster European security, and help ensure democracy, freedom, and sovereignty,” Trump’s statement said.
Trump has long and loudly complained that Germany does not spend enough on defense. NATO nations have pledged to dedicate 2% of their gross domestic product.
After the signing ceremony, Pompeo joined Duda and other Polish leaders at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier to mark the centennial of Poland’s landmark victory against the Russian Bolsheviks in 1920 during the Polish-Soviet war.
In the Battle of Warsaw, often called the “Miracle on the Vistula,” outnumbered Polish troops led by Marshal Józef Piłsudski defeated an advancing Red Army. The battle is credited with stopping the Bolsheviks’ westward march, and remains a source of huge national pride in Poland.
Saturday’s signing came just a day after the Trump administration suffered an embarrassing diplomatic loss at the United Nations when its proposal to indefinitely extend an arms embargo on Iran was soundly defeated in a U.N. Security Council vote that saw only one country side with the U.S. Pompeo will visit that country, the Dominican Republic, on Sunday for the inauguration of its new president.
Pompeo said in Warsaw that it was “unfortunate” that France and the U.K., permanent members of the Security Council, did not support the U.S. position and that Washington would continue to press the issue.
“The United States simply wanted the keep the same rules that have been in place since 2007,” he said. “I think there are a lot of people who understand that it is not in the world’s best interest to allow this arms embargo to expire. I hope they find the courage to say so publicly.”
Pompeo has used his Europe trip to warn the region’s young democracies about threats posed by Russia and China. In Poland, the reception was particularly warm, given the friendship between Trump and conservative Polish President Duda, who was sworn in for a second five-year term earlier this month after a hotly contested election.
Many of the policies pushed by Poland’s ruling conservative government have put Poland at odds with the European Union, which is concerned that government efforts to reshape the judiciary and other actions have eroded the rule of law and democracy in the EU nation.


washingtontimes--2020-08-15--Iran threatens 'dangerous future' for UAE after Israel deal

TEHRAN , Iran ( AP ) - Iran ’ s powerful Revolutionary Guard vowed Saturday there would be dangerous consequences for the United Arab Emirates after it announced a historic deal with Israel to open up diplomatic relations .
The UAE is the first Gulf Arab state to do so and only the third Arab nation to establish normalized relations with Israel , Iran ’ s regional archenemy .
The Iranian Guard called the deal a “ shameful ” agreement and an “ evil action ” that was underwritten by the U.S. , according to the group ’ s statement @ @ @ @ @ @ @ News .
The Guard warned that the deal with Israel will set back American influence in the Middle East , and bring a “ dangerous future ” for the Emirati government .
Iranian president Hassan Rouhani has also condemned the Emirati move .
In a televised speech Saturday , he warned that the United Arab Emirates has made a “ huge mistake ” in reaching a deal toward normalizing ties with Israel .
Rouhani warned the Gulf state against allowing Israel to have a “ foothold in the region.
” Iran ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ called the agreement a painful betrayal of Arab and other countries in the region , during a trip to Lebanon on Friday .
President Donald Trump announced Thursday that the United Arab Emirates and Israel agreed to establish full diplomatic ties as part of a deal to halt the annexation of occupied land sought by the Palestinians for their future state .
The UAE presented its controversial decision as a way of encouraging peace efforts and taking Israel ’ s planned annexation of parts of the occupied West Bank off the table .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ pushed back insisting the pause in annexation was “ temporary.
” Trump has presented the U.S.-brokered agreement as a major diplomatic achievement and said he expects more Arab and Muslim countries to follow suit .
Israel has quietly cultivated ties with the UAE and other Gulf countries for several years as they have confronted a shared enemy in Iran .

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard vowed Saturday there would be dangerous consequences for the United Arab Emirates after it announced a historic deal with Israel to open up diplomatic relations.
The UAE is the first Gulf Arab state to do so and only the third Arab nation to establish normalized relations with Israel, Iran’s regional archenemy. As part of the U.S.-brokered deal, Israel agreed to temporarily put off the annexation of occupied land sought by the Palestinians for their future state.
The Iranian Guard called the deal a “shameful” agreement and an “evil action” that was underwritten by the U.S., according to the group’s statement on a website it runs, Sepah News.
The Guard warned that the deal with Israel will set back American influence in the Middle East and bring a “dangerous future” for the Emirati government.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has also condemned the Emirati move. In a televised speech Saturday, he warned that the United Arab Emirates has made a “huge mistake” in reaching a deal toward normalizing ties with Israel.
Rouhani warned the Gulf state against allowing Israel to have a “foothold in the region.”
Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, called the agreement a painful betrayal of Arab and other countries in the region, during a trip to Lebanon on Friday.
Less than 100 people gathered in front of the Emirates embassy in the capital Tehran on Saturday evening to protest the deal. They chanted “death to Israel” and “death to America” and burned an Israeli flag.
President Donald Trump announced Thursday that the United Arab Emirates and Israel agreed to establish full diplomatic ties as part of a deal to halt the annexation of occupied land sought by the Palestinians for their future state.
The UAE presented its controversial decision as a way of encouraging peace efforts and taking Israel’s planned annexation of parts of the occupied West Bank off the table. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu swiftly pushed back insisting the pause in annexation was “temporary.”
Trump has presented the U.S.-brokered agreement as a major diplomatic achievement and said he expects more Arab and Muslim countries to follow suit. Israel has quietly cultivated ties with the UAE and other Gulf countries for several years as they have confronted a shared enemy in Iran.