washingtontimes--2020-08-22--Delaware police arrest man with gun at Planned Parenthood

DOVER , Del .
( AP ) - Police in Delaware arrested a man on gun charges after he allegedly @ @ @ @ @ group of anti-abortionists in the parking lot of Planned Parenthood , authorities said Saturday .
@ @ @ @ @ 31-year-old Jerome Aniska , of Wilmington , Delaware .
Police say it happened Friday morning @ @ @ @ @ that were on a public sidewalk in Dover .
Police say during an argument , @ @ @ @ @ handgun and made a threatening statement to the group .
Aniska has been charged with @ @ @ @ @ and possession of a firearm during commission of a felony .
He was released on @ @ @ @

DOVER, Del. (AP) - Police in Delaware arrested a man on gun charges after he allegedly pulled a handgun on a group of anti-abortion protesters in the parking lot of Planned Parenthood, authorities said Saturday.
Dover police said they arrested 31-year-old Jerome Aniska of Wilmington, Delaware.
Police say it happened Friday morning after Aniska engaged with demonstrators that were on a public sidewalk in Dover. Police say during an argument, Aniska pulled out a black handgun and made a threatening statement to the group.
Aniska has been charged with aggravated menacing, terroristic threatening and possession of a firearm during commission of a felony. He was released on $26,000 bond.


washingtontimes--2020-08-23--13 die in Peru disco stampede after police lockdown raid

LIMA , Peru ( AP ) - Thirteen people died in a stampede at a disco in Peru after a police raid to enforce the country ’ s lockdown during the coronavirus pandemic , officials said Sunday .
The stampede happened at the Thomas disco in Lima , where about 120 people had gathered for a party on Saturday night , the Interior Ministry said .
People tried to escape through the only door of the second-floor disco , trampling one another and becoming trapped in the confined space , according to authorities .
After the stampede , police had @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Asensios , one of those who attended the party , told local radio RPP that the police raid started at 9 p.m. and that authorities told the party-goers to let the women exit first .
“ People got excited and started to go down , and then they said that the people in front were suffocating , ” he said .
Police have detained 23 people .
Police chief Gen. Orlando Velasco said no firearms or tear gas were used during the raid .
Night clubs have been prohibited from operating since March @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lifting quarantine restrictions on June 30 in an effort to get the economy moving again , and the daily reported number of virus infections has doubled to more than 9,000 in recent weeks .
Peru has reported about 27,500 deaths from the new coronavirus .

LIMA, Peru (AP) — Thirteen people died in a stampede at a disco in Peru after a police raid to enforce the country’s lockdown during the coronavirus pandemic, officials said Sunday.
The stampede happened at the Thomas disco in Lima, where about 120 people had gathered for a party on Saturday night, the Interior Ministry said.
People tried to escape through the only door of the second-floor disco, trampling one another and becoming trapped in the confined space, according to authorities.
After the stampede, police had to force open the door.
Franco Asensios, one of those who attended the party, told local radio RPP that the police raid started at 9 p.m. and that authorities told the party-goers to let the women exit first.
“People got excited and started to go down, and then they said that the people in front were suffocating,” he said.
Police have detained 23 people. Police chief Gen. Orlando Velasco said no firearms or tear gas were used during the raid.
Night clubs have been prohibited from operating since March because of the pandemic. Peru started lifting quarantine restrictions on June 30 in an effort to get the economy moving again, and the daily reported number of virus infections has doubled to more than 9,000 in recent weeks.
Peru has reported about 27,500 deaths from the new coronavirus.


washingtontimes--2020-08-23--Scuba diver cleans trash from hot spring at risk of closing

MISSOULA , Mont .
( AP ) - A treasured local hot spring and swimming hole near Missoula has been increasingly trashed and abused lately , leading the longtime local owner to finally contemplate the unthinkable .
However , a scuba diver volunteered his time to clean the place up and help keep it open to the public .
Nimrod Hot Springs , located next to Interstate 90 about a half-hour east of Missoula , has been owned by Andrew Czorny ’ s family for four decades .
“ It ’ s kind of a special place , ” explained @ @ @ @ @ @ @ financial officer .
“ The water comes out of the ground with some force and cascades into a waterfall with a temperature of 82 degrees year-round .
It ’ s a place where families go .
I would meet people out there that swam in the hot springs for three generations and most recently the fourth generation , teaching the next generation to swim.
” They ’ ve always kept the place unfenced without “ no trespassing ” signs and have allowed people to come and go as they please .
“ My @ @ @ @ @ @ @ resource and just because we own it doesn ’ t mean we shouldn ’ t share it , ” Czorny told the Missoulian newspaper .
“ In Montana , too many beautiful places like Nimrod Hot Springs have been purchased , fenced in , and public access has been taken away .
We want to share this natural resource with generations of Montanans who have enjoyed it as much as we have and pack out what they pack in .
As long as we ’ re able to safely share this Montana gem @ @ @ @ @ @ @ two years , Czorny and others have noticed an uptick in people abusing the place .
“ The trash has been just , it ’ s unbelievable what ’ s gone on there , ” Czorny said .
“ It ’ s turned into a party zone .
People kept throwing underwater diving lights into the lagoon .
We find broken bottles , cans , all sorts of trash and we ’ ve overloaded trucks taking it to the dump .
I got really fed up this year and considered fencing it off @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his daughter Elizabeth and son Andrew Jr. discussed the situation with him .
It was Elizabeth ’ s idea to post about the family ’ s frustration with the garbage on Facebook .
“ My family and I spent six hours cleaning the place up and diving into the water trying to get trash out , ” the post read .
“ We just went up there a day ago and people have littered all over again .
It ’ s really sad considering we are in Montana where usually people are more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” That post was shared on the Montana Hot Springs page , run by an administrator who wants to share useful discussion about all of the state ’ s pools .
“ It got like 500 comments almost overnight and 3,400 shares , ” Czorny said .
“ People were really supportive .
Then the diver , Seth , went out there and out of the goodness of his heart started diving and brought up broken glass out of the lagoon and got some help from local kids.
” The diver is Seth @ @ @ @ @ @ @ scuba diving when he was 12 years old in Helena , learning how dams had flooded old communities and wanted to explore lost worlds .
He saw the post about the garbage , and said it was heartbreaking to know such a beautiful place was getting trashed .
“ So I just took the initiative and went out there , ” he said .
Liston put on his air tanks and suited up , diving for many weekends in a row .
He documented all kinds of nasty things , including broken beer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the many young kids who use the place in the daytime .
On Aug. 13 , several families were swimming at Nimrod and the place looked pristine , except for tiny shards of broken glass .
Elizabeth Wallace and her young children were having a picnic .
She said her mother used to take her as a kid and now she ’ s letting her young ones splash around the the emerald-green pool .
“ This place is like a fairyland , ” she said .
“ I ’ m so glad they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he couldn ’ t be more thankful for people like Liston .
“ Like I say , when I see a parents with grandma and grandpa teaching the kids to swim , it just tugs at my heartstrings , ” he said .
“ Seth really cleaned it up nicely.
” The pool - “ it ’ s kind of a special place , ” Czorny said - has been in the family for 42 years .
” “ My father purchased it in 1978 , ” Czorny said .
“ He was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from the old country , Czechoslovakia , and married my mom after medical school in Germany .
They have big bath houses in Europe and he believed in the healing powers of hot water and was always fascinated with hot springs.
” There used to be a general store at the pool in the 1930s , according to Montanahotsprings.net , but everything was demolished after the freeway went in .
Czorny said he hopes people will just respect the place in the future .
“ Now people are posting photos of the garbage @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ True Montanans , we take out what we take in .
It ’ s just common sense .
Don ’ t be a slob .
I ’ m sure it ’ s just a minority of people but it ’ s just irritating .
It really got to me this year.
” But after being thanked by a family who has been using the place for generations , Czorny said he ’ s optimistic .
“ It makes me feel so good and makes me think that we ’ re continuing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ our hot springs .
”

MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) - A treasured local hot spring and swimming hole near Missoula has been increasingly trashed and abused lately, leading the longtime local owner to finally contemplate the unthinkable. However, a scuba diver volunteered his time to clean the place up and help keep it open to the public.
Nimrod Hot Springs, located next to Interstate 90 about a half-hour east of Missoula, has been owned by Andrew Czorny’s family for four decades.
“It’s kind of a special place,” explained Czorny, Missoula County’s chief financial officer. “The water comes out of the ground with some force and cascades into a waterfall with a temperature of 82 degrees year-round. It’s a place where families go. I would meet people out there that swam in the hot springs for three generations and most recently the fourth generation, teaching the next generation to swim.”
They’ve always kept the place unfenced without “no trespassing” signs and have allowed people to come and go as they please.
“My family believes we own a precious natural resource and just because we own it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t share it,” Czorny told the Missoulian newspaper. “In Montana, too many beautiful places like Nimrod Hot Springs have been purchased, fenced in, and public access has been taken away. We want to share this natural resource with generations of Montanans who have enjoyed it as much as we have and pack out what they pack in. As long as we’re able to safely share this Montana gem, we will.”
But the last two years, Czorny and others have noticed an uptick in people abusing the place.
“The trash has been just, it’s unbelievable what’s gone on there,” Czorny said. “It’s turned into a party zone. People kept throwing underwater diving lights into the lagoon. We find broken bottles, cans, all sorts of trash and we’ve overloaded trucks taking it to the dump. I got really fed up this year and considered fencing it off and enforcing no trespassing.”
Czorny said his daughter Elizabeth and son Andrew Jr. discussed the situation with him. It was Elizabeth’s idea to post about the family’s frustration with the garbage on Facebook.
“My family and I spent six hours cleaning the place up and diving into the water trying to get trash out,” the post read. “We just went up there a day ago and people have littered all over again. It’s really sad considering we are in Montana where usually people are more consciously aware about the environment and littering.”
That post was shared on the Montana Hot Springs page, run by an administrator who wants to share useful discussion about all of the state’s pools.
“It got like 500 comments almost overnight and 3,400 shares,” Czorny said. “People were really supportive. Then the diver, Seth, went out there and out of the goodness of his heart started diving and brought up broken glass out of the lagoon and got some help from local kids.”
The diver is Seth Liston of Missoula. He got into scuba diving when he was 12 years old in Helena, learning how dams had flooded old communities and wanted to explore lost worlds.
He saw the post about the garbage, and said it was heartbreaking to know such a beautiful place was getting trashed.
“So I just took the initiative and went out there,” he said.
Liston put on his air tanks and suited up, diving for many weekends in a row. He documented all kinds of nasty things, including broken beer bottles that pose a safety hazard for the many young kids who use the place in the daytime.
“It’s a beautiful place,” Liston said.
On Aug. 13, several families were swimming at Nimrod and the place looked pristine, except for tiny shards of broken glass.
Elizabeth Wallace and her young children were having a picnic. She said her mother used to take her as a kid and now she’s letting her young ones splash around the the emerald-green pool.
“This place is like a fairyland,” she said. “I’m so glad they let people use it.”
Czorny said he couldn’t be more thankful for people like Liston.
“Like I say, when I see a parents with grandma and grandpa teaching the kids to swim, it just tugs at my heartstrings,” he said. “Seth really cleaned it up nicely.”
The pool - “it’s kind of a special place,” Czorny said - has been in the family for 42 years.
”“My father purchased it in 1978,” Czorny said. “He was an anesthesiologist here in town and immigrated from the old country, Czechoslovakia, and married my mom after medical school in Germany. They have big bath houses in Europe and he believed in the healing powers of hot water and was always fascinated with hot springs.”
There used to be a general store at the pool in the 1930s, according to Montanahotsprings.net, but everything was demolished after the freeway went in.
Czorny said he hopes people will just respect the place in the future.
“Now people are posting photos of the garbage they take out,” he said. “True Montanans, we take out what we take in. It’s just common sense. Don’t be a slob. I’m sure it’s just a minority of people but it’s just irritating. It really got to me this year.”
But after being thanked by a family who has been using the place for generations, Czorny said he’s optimistic.
“It makes me feel so good and makes me think that we’re continuing to do the right thing by sharing our hot springs.”


washingtontimes--2020-08-23--Trump delivered on some big 2016 promises, but others unmet

WASHINGTON ( AP ) - He ’ s broken his pledge never to take a vacation or play golf for pleasure .
His plan to update the nation ’ s infrastructure has become a running punchline and he ’ s dropped his threat to throw Army deserter Bowe Bergdahl out of a plane without a parachute .
But behind the drama , chaos and tumult that has defined President Donald Trump ’ s administration , the president has fulfilled a wide range of promises he made during his 2016 campaign .
It ’ s a theme that will play a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Convention , as the president tries to convince a weary nation that he deserves a second term , even when millions of Americans have been infected by the coronavirus , the economy is in tatters and racial tensions are boiling over .
“ I ’ m the only candidate that gave you more than I promised in the campaign .
It ’ s true .
I ’ m the only one ever , maybe ever , ” Trump said at a rally in battleground Arizona last week .
Back in 2016 , Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ policy plans akin to those of his rival , Hillary Clinton .
What Trump did do was lay out a vision for a new America - one driven by a nationalist self-interest and disregard for Democratic norms .
In the years since , Trump has acted on that vision , making good on his nativist immigration rhetoric , tearing back regulations on business and transforming America ’ s role in the world by abandoning multilateral agreements and upending decades-old alliances , cheered on by many of his most loyal supporters and generating great @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that matter when more than 175,000 Americans have died and more than 5.5 million have been infected by a virus that has hit the U.S. far harder than other industrialized nations ?
“ I think the golden egg of Trump ’ s reelection effort is going to be the promises kept , such as getting two Supreme Court justices in power and keeping America out of foreign wars like Afghanistan and Iraq , ” said Douglas Brinkley , presidential historian at Rice University .
“ The problem he has is that his COVID @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in 2016 and he ’ s gotten poor marks on how he ’ s handled the pandemic .
So that ’ s put a wrinkle in his promises kept talking points.
” Arguably Trump ’ s biggest impact has been on immigration .
While Mexico never did pay for the “ big , beautiful wall ” Trump pledged to build along the 2,000-mile southern border - the signature promise of his 2016 campaign - the project is now underway , with 450 miles expected to be completed by the end of December .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ however , has been built along stretches where no barrier stood before . )
And Trump has succeeded in fundamentally transforming the nation ’ s immigration system , despite resistance from the courts and little cooperation from Congress .
Using more than 400 executive actions , according to a recent analysis by the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute , Trump has effectively shut down the asylum system at the southwest border and slashed refugee admissions .
At the same time , Trump has imposed a slew of new restrictions on legal immigration , with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ so few visas being processed and immigration fees collected , the U.S .
Citizenship and Immigration Services has all but run out of money and is about to furlough large swaths of its workforce .
Some specific promises on immigration went unfulfilled : Trump failed to create a new “ deportation force , ” never met his pledge to deport millions , didn ’ t end funding for sanctuary cities that don ’ t cooperate with immigration authorities and didn ’ t move to end the constitutional right to birthright citizenship .
But @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and release ” of immigrants in the country illegally , enhance background screening of migrants and move to suspend immigration from a host of majority-Muslim nations - an evolution of the Muslin ban he floated during his campaign .
“ They have used the tools that the executive branch has on immigration really to their ultimate extent .
And they ’ ve been successful , ” said Doris Meissner , the director of the Migration Policy Institute ’ s U.S. Immigration Policy Program and a former commissioner of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in many ways remarkably so because there ’ s been very stiff resistance all the way.
” In other areas , Trump ’ s record has been more mixed .
On health care , Republicans in Congress did repeal the Obama-era individual mandate forcing people to buy health insurance , but he failed to replace the Affordable Care Act with an alternative , despite frequent promises to present his own plan .
On the economy , Trump and congressional Republicans pushed through a promised tax cut early in his term that dramatically slashed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ had promised - and doubled the estate tax threshold , but did not eliminate it .
He also did not meet his pledge to reduce the number of individual income tax brackets from seven to three to simplify the tax code , and efforts to bolster manufacturing jobs began to stall by his third year in office .
Trump had promised to boost economic growth to 3.5 % per year on average .
But he never surpassed 3 % growth in any year , and progress on lowering unemployment has been annihilated by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the worst recession since the Great Depression .
Some of Trump ’ s more controversial promises have fallen by the wayside , such as his pledge to eliminate gun-free zones at schools and on military bases and to establish a national right to carry concealed weapons that would trump local restrictions .
He has all but ignored the spiraling cost of college education and the plans he had proposed to make student loan repayment more affordable .
He never made good on his pledge to push a constitutional amendment to impose term limits @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pledge to embark on a massive $ 1 trillion effort to rebuild the nation ’ s infrastructure , including airports , roads and bridges , has become a running punchline .
He also quickly abandoned his promise never to take a vacation while president , making frequent trips to his properties in Florida and New Jersey .
And while he claimed he would only play golf with those who might help him govern and never with friends , he has now paid more than 270 visits to golf clubs since his inauguration , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his visits .
He is often photographed playing with pros .
But he delivered on other fronts .
He immediately enacted a federal hiring freeze , as he had promised , and mandated that for every new federal regulation enacted , two be eliminated .
He launched an aggressive campaign to roll back environmental protections passed by the Obama administration , including those that protected waterways , encouraged cleaner energy , reduced auto emissions and restricted offshore drilling and oil exploration on federal land .
At the same time , he has prioritized @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and natural gas and coal reserves .
However , courts are undoing many of Trump ’ s environmental rollbacks , calling them poorly reasoned and illegal .
On trade , Trump renegotiated the North American Free Trade Agreement and withdrew the U.S. from the Trans-Pacific Partnership , but failed to decrease the U.S.-China trade imbalance while starting a trade war with the country .
On the international front , the impact has been enormous as he has put his “ America First ” policy into practice , fundamentally redefining America ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ funding for the military , joined the race to weaponize space , all but abandoned efforts to curb nuclear proliferation , and has threatened U.S. membership in the landmark alliances of the 20th century , including NATO .
At the same time , he has pulled the U.S. from participation in a host of landmark accords , including the Paris Climate Agreement and the Iran nuclear deal ( though he failed to bring Iran back to the negotiating table to broker a replacement deal , as he had pledged . )
At international @ @ @ @ @ @ @ authoritarian leaders , including Russia ’ s Vladimir Putin , while picking fights with longstanding allies like the U.K. and Canada .
In a sign of just how far he has broken from the global community , he stopped funding the World Health Organization in the midst of the pandemic earlier this year .
Jeremy Shapiro , a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution , said Trump has altered U.S. foreign policy in ways that go beyond what he outlined before taking office .
“ I don ’ t think he was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ revolution .
He didn ’ t say , ‘ I don ’ t care about human rights ’ on the campaign trail .
He didn ’ t say , ‘ I don ’ t care about democracy.
’ He didn ’ t say , ‘ I don ’ t care about alliances , ’ ” Shapiro said .
While Trump complained the U.S. had gotten a raw deal in so many areas , he has failed , Shapiro argued , to negotiate improvements , aside from perhaps the new NAFTA .
“ It @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
It ’ s much harder to create a better one .
And he hasn ’ t done that , ” Shapiro said .

WASHINGTON (AP) - He’s broken his pledge never to take a vacation or play golf for pleasure. His plan to update the nation’s infrastructure has become a running punchline and he’s dropped his threat to throw Army deserter Bowe Bergdahl out of a plane without a parachute. But behind the drama, chaos and tumult that has defined President Donald Trump’s administration, the president has fulfilled a wide range of promises he made during his 2016 campaign.
It’s a theme that will play a major role in the upcoming Republican National Convention, as the president tries to convince a weary nation that he deserves a second term, even when millions of Americans have been infected by the coronavirus, the economy is in tatters and racial tensions are boiling over.
“I’m the only candidate that gave you more than I promised in the campaign. It’s true. I’m the only one ever, maybe ever,” Trump said at a rally in battleground Arizona last week.
Back in 2016, Trump was criticized for failing to release detailed policy plans akin to those of his rival, Hillary Clinton. What Trump did do was lay out a vision for a new America - one driven by a nationalist self-interest and disregard for Democratic norms.
In the years since, Trump has acted on that vision, making good on his nativist immigration rhetoric, tearing back regulations on business and transforming America’s role in the world by abandoning multilateral agreements and upending decades-old alliances, cheered on by many of his most loyal supporters and generating great alarm among his critics.
But will that matter when more than 175,000 Americans have died and more than 5.5 million have been infected by a virus that has hit the U.S. far harder than other industrialized nations?
“I think the golden egg of Trump’s reelection effort is going to be the promises kept, such as getting two Supreme Court justices in power and keeping America out of foreign wars like Afghanistan and Iraq,” said Douglas Brinkley, presidential historian at Rice University. “The problem he has is that his COVID response wasn’t on the ballot in 2016 and he’s gotten poor marks on how he’s handled the pandemic. So that’s put a wrinkle in his promises kept talking points.”
Arguably Trump’s biggest impact has been on immigration.
While Mexico never did pay for the “big, beautiful wall” Trump pledged to build along the 2,000-mile southern border - the signature promise of his 2016 campaign - the project is now underway, with 450 miles expected to be completed by the end of December. (Only a sliver of that, however - just 4 miles - has been built along stretches where no barrier stood before.) And Trump has succeeded in fundamentally transforming the nation’s immigration system, despite resistance from the courts and little cooperation from Congress.
Using more than 400 executive actions, according to a recent analysis by the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute, Trump has effectively shut down the asylum system at the southwest border and slashed refugee admissions. At the same time, Trump has imposed a slew of new restrictions on legal immigration, with the pandemic spurring many more. With so few visas being processed and immigration fees collected, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has all but run out of money and is about to furlough large swaths of its workforce.
Some specific promises on immigration went unfulfilled: Trump failed to create a new “deportation force,” never met his pledge to deport millions, didn’t end funding for sanctuary cities that don’t cooperate with immigration authorities and didn’t move to end the constitutional right to birthright citizenship. But he did clamp down on “catch and release” of immigrants in the country illegally, enhance background screening of migrants and move to suspend immigration from a host of majority-Muslim nations - an evolution of the Muslin ban he floated during his campaign.
“They have used the tools that the executive branch has on immigration really to their ultimate extent. And they’ve been successful,” said Doris Meissner, the director of the Migration Policy Institute’s U.S. Immigration Policy Program and a former commissioner of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. “And you know, in many ways remarkably so because there’s been very stiff resistance all the way.”
In other areas, Trump’s record has been more mixed. On health care, Republicans in Congress did repeal the Obama-era individual mandate forcing people to buy health insurance, but he failed to replace the Affordable Care Act with an alternative, despite frequent promises to present his own plan.
On the economy, Trump and congressional Republicans pushed through a promised tax cut early in his term that dramatically slashed the corporate tax rate - as he had promised - and doubled the estate tax threshold, but did not eliminate it. He also did not meet his pledge to reduce the number of individual income tax brackets from seven to three to simplify the tax code, and efforts to bolster manufacturing jobs began to stall by his third year in office.
Trump had promised to boost economic growth to 3.5% per year on average. But he never surpassed 3% growth in any year, and progress on lowering unemployment has been annihilated by the pandemic, which has ushered in the worst recession since the Great Depression.
Some of Trump’s more controversial promises have fallen by the wayside, such as his pledge to eliminate gun-free zones at schools and on military bases and to establish a national right to carry concealed weapons that would trump local restrictions. He has all but ignored the spiraling cost of college education and the plans he had proposed to make student loan repayment more affordable. He never made good on his pledge to push a constitutional amendment to impose term limits on members of Congress. And his pledge to embark on a massive $1 trillion effort to rebuild the nation’s infrastructure, including airports, roads and bridges, has become a running punchline.
He also quickly abandoned his promise never to take a vacation while president, making frequent trips to his properties in Florida and New Jersey. And while he claimed he would only play golf with those who might help him govern and never with friends, he has now paid more than 270 visits to golf clubs since his inauguration, according to a website dedicated to tracking his visits. He is often photographed playing with pros.
But he delivered on other fronts. He immediately enacted a federal hiring freeze, as he had promised, and mandated that for every new federal regulation enacted, two be eliminated. He launched an aggressive campaign to roll back environmental protections passed by the Obama administration, including those that protected waterways, encouraged cleaner energy, reduced auto emissions and restricted offshore drilling and oil exploration on federal land. At the same time, he has prioritized tapping the country’s shale oil, and natural gas and coal reserves.
However, courts are undoing many of Trump’s environmental rollbacks, calling them poorly reasoned and illegal.
On trade, Trump renegotiated the North American Free Trade Agreement and withdrew the U.S. from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, but failed to decrease the U.S.-China trade imbalance while starting a trade war with the country.
On the international front, the impact has been enormous as he has put his “America First” policy into practice, fundamentally redefining America’s place in the world. He increased funding for the military, joined the race to weaponize space, all but abandoned efforts to curb nuclear proliferation, and has threatened U.S. membership in the landmark alliances of the 20th century, including NATO.
At the same time, he has pulled the U.S. from participation in a host of landmark accords, including the Paris Climate Agreement and the Iran nuclear deal (though he failed to bring Iran back to the negotiating table to broker a replacement deal, as he had pledged.) At international summits, he has cozied up to authoritarian leaders, including Russia’s Vladimir Putin, while picking fights with longstanding allies like the U.K. and Canada.
In a sign of just how far he has broken from the global community, he stopped funding the World Health Organization in the midst of the pandemic earlier this year.
Jeremy Shapiro, a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said Trump has altered U.S. foreign policy in ways that go beyond what he outlined before taking office.
“I don’t think he was really preparing people for the degree of revolution. He didn’t say, ‘I don’t care about human rights’ on the campaign trail. He didn’t say, ‘I don’t care about democracy.’ He didn’t say, ‘I don’t care about alliances,’” Shapiro said.
While Trump complained the U.S. had gotten a raw deal in so many areas, he has failed, Shapiro argued, to negotiate improvements, aside from perhaps the new NAFTA.
“It’s easy to destroy a deal. It’s much harder to create a better one. And he hasn’t done that,” Shapiro said.
____
Follow Colvin on Twitter at https://twitter.com/colvinj


washingtontimes--2020-08-23--Afghan official: Bomb kills 7 civilians in eastern province

KABUL , Afghanistan ( AP ) — A roadside bombing on Sunday in eastern Afghanistan killed seven civilians , a provincial official said , the latest in relentless deadly violence in the country amid new uncertainties over the start of talks between the Taliban and the Kabul government .
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing in Ghazni province ’ s Jaghatu district .
Three women , two children and two men died when their vehicle struck the roadside bomb , said Wahidullah Jumazada , a spokesman for the provincial governor .
Afghan civilians continue to bear the brunt @ @ @ @ @ @ @ efforts to launch peace talks and find a road map for post-war Afghanistan .
According to a United Nations report released in July , 1,282 people were killed in violence in Afghanistan in the first six months of 2020 and hundreds more were wounded .
Women and children continue to be disproportionately affected by the direct and indirect impacts of the armed conflict , comprising more than 40 % of the total civilian casualties , meaning both the killed and the wounded , the U.N. had said .
The expected start of talks @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has stalled after Kabul said it would not release the last 320 Taliban prisoners it holds until the insurgents free more captured Afghan soldiers .

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A roadside bombing on Sunday in eastern Afghanistan killed seven civilians, a provincial official said, the latest in relentless deadly violence in the country amid new uncertainties over the start of talks between the Taliban and the Kabul government.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing in Ghazni province’s Jaghatu district. Three women, two children and two men died when their vehicle struck the roadside bomb, said Wahidullah Jumazada, a spokesman for the provincial governor.
Afghan civilians continue to bear the brunt of the war across their country despite efforts to launch peace talks and find a road map for post-war Afghanistan.
According to a United Nations report released in July, 1,282 people were killed in violence in Afghanistan in the first six months of 2020 and hundreds more were wounded.
Women and children continue to be disproportionately affected by the direct and indirect impacts of the armed conflict, comprising more than 40% of the total civilian casualties, meaning both the killed and the wounded, the U.N. had said.
The expected start of talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban has stalled after Kabul said it would not release the last 320 Taliban prisoners it holds until the insurgents free more captured Afghan soldiers.


washingtontimes--2020-08-23--Iran: UN nuclear chief's visit to Tehran no link to US push

TEHRAN , Iran ( AP ) - Iran said Sunday that an upcoming visit this week by the head of the U.N. ’ s atomic watchdog agency to Tehran has nothing to do with a U.S. push to impose so-called “ snapback ” sanctions on Iran .
The Trump administration last week dismissed near-universal opposition to its demand to restore all U.N. sanctions on Iran , declaring that a 30-day countdown for the “ snapback ” of penalties eased under the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers had begun .
U.S. allies and foes have joined forces to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ failure .
The U.S. argues that Iran has violated the restrictions imposed on its nuclear program under the 2015 deal , a charge Tehran has dismissed .
Iran ’ s official IRNA news agency quoted on Sunday Iran ’ s envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency IAEA , Kazem Gharibadadi , as saying that the visit this week is “ neither related to the snapback mechanism nor the U.S. demand.
” Gharibabadi said the visit by the IAEA chief Rafael Grossi comes within “ the framework of Iran ’ s invitation.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ manage Iran , ” he said , adding that Iran ’ s trust in the IAEA has been “ damaged in recent months.
” He expressed hope Grossi ’ s visit will lead to building trust .
“ It is important to assure Tehran that the agency will move based on impartiality , independence and professionalism , ” said Gharibabadi .
The IAEA said on Saturday that Grossi will head to Tehran to press Iranian authorities for access to sites where the country is thought to have stored or used undeclared nuclear material @ @ @ @ @ @ @ meet with Iranian officials on both Tuesday and Wednesday .
The landmark 2015 nuclear deal was endorsed by a U.N. Security Council resolution and includes the snapback provision .
President Donald Trump pulled America out of the accord in 2018 and imposed severe U.S. sanctions on Iran .
Last week , Iran ’ s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in a letter to the U.N. Security Council said the U.S. has no right to demand the restoration of U.N. sanctions , arguing that the U.S. lost the right to make demands when it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ countries now in dispute with the U.S. administration - Russia , China , Britain , France and Germany - remain supporters of the nuclear deal to rein in Iran ’ s nuclear program and prevent its development of nuclear weapons .
The five nations and Iran will meet in Vienna on Sept. 1 .

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran said Sunday that an upcoming visit this week by the head of the U.N.’s atomic watchdog agency to Tehran has nothing to do with a U.S. push to impose so-called “snapback” sanctions on Iran - even as Tehran acknowledged a recent explosion at a major uranium enrichment site was “sabotage.”
The Trump administration last week dismissed near-universal opposition to its demand to restore all U.N. sanctions on Iran, declaring that a 30-day countdown for the “snapback” of penalties eased under the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers had begun.
Both U.S. allies and foes have joined forces to declare the action illegal and doomed to failure. The U.S. argues that Iran has violated the restrictions imposed on its nuclear program under the 2015 deal, a charge Tehran has dismissed.
Iran’s official IRNA news agency quoted on Sunday Iran’s envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency IAEA, Kazem Gharibadadi, as saying that the visit this week is “neither related to the snapback mechanism nor the U.S. demand.”
Gharibabadi said the visit by the IAEA chief Rafael Grossi comes within “the framework of Iran’s invitation.”
“We do not allow others to manage Iran,” he said, adding that Iran’s trust in the IAEA has been “damaged in recent months.”
He expressed hope Grossi’s visit will lead to building trust. “It is important to assure Tehran that the agency will move based on impartiality, independence and professionalism,” said Gharibabadi.
The IAEA said on Saturday that Grossi will head to Tehran to press Iranian authorities for access to sites where the country is thought to have stored or used undeclared nuclear material. Gharibabadi said Grossi was due to meet with Iranian officials on both Tuesday and Wednesday.
Later Sunday, Iran’s semiofficial Fars news agency quoted the spokesman of the country’s atomic agency, Behrouz Kamalvandi, as saying that “security investigations confirm sabotage” in the July 2 blast at the Natanz nuclear facility. He said details would be released later at the proper time.
Iranian officials had initially downplayed the fire, first raising the possibility of sabotage days later, but have been careful not to directly blame the U.S. or Israel, whose officials heavily hinted they had a hand in the fire.
Kamalvandi also said the IAEA was seeking access and inspection at two “places” near the capital Tehran and central Iranian city of Isfahan.
The landmark 2015 nuclear deal was endorsed by a U.N. Security Council resolution and includes the snapback provision. President Donald Trump pulled America out of the accord in 2018 and imposed severe U.S. sanctions on Iran.
Last week, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in a letter to the U.N. Security Council said the U.S. has no right to demand the restoration of U.N. sanctions, arguing that the U.S. lost the right to make demands when it withdrew from the accord.
The five countries now in dispute with the U.S. administration - Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany - remain supporters of the nuclear deal to rein in Iran’s nuclear program and prevent its development of nuclear weapons. The five nations and Iran will meet in Vienna on Sept. 1.


washingtontimes--2020-08-23--Comatose Russian dissident visited by wife, aide in Germany

BERLIN ( AP ) — Alexi Navalny ’ s wife and a top aide visited him Sunday in a Berlin hospital where the comatose Russian dissident is being treated by German doctors after a suspected poisoning .
Navalny was flown to Germany on Saturday from Siberia after doctors determined he was stable enough to be brought to the capital ’ s Charité hospital for treatment .
After his arrival , hospital spokeswoman Manuela Zingl said the 44-year-old would be undergoing extensive diagnostic tests and that doctors wouldn ’ t comment on his illness or treatment until they were able to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Navalny ’ s wife , Yulia Navalnaya , and aide Leonid Volkov visited the Russian opposition leader in the hospital , making no comments to reporters .
Navalny , a politician and corruption investigato r who is one of Russian President Vladimir Putin ’ s fiercest critics , was admitted to an intensive care unit in the Siberian city of Omsk on Thursday .
His supporters believe that tea he drank was laced with poison — and that the Kremlin is behind both his illness and a delay in transferring him to Germany @ @ @ @ @ @ @ back to Moscow from Sibe ria on Thursday and was taken to the hospital after the plane made an emergency landing .
While his supporters and family members insist that Navalny was poisoned , doctors in Omsk have denied that , theorizing a metabolic disorder was the most likely diagnosis and that a drop in blood sugar may have caused Navalny to lose consciousness .
Russian health authorities on Saturday said that tests done so far haven ’ t shown any poisons in his system .
When German specialists arrived aboard a plane @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at his family ’ s behest , Navalny ’ s physicians in Omsk initially said he was too unstable to move .
The dissident ’ s supporters suggested that was just a ploy to delay his departure until the poison was out of his system .
The Kremlin denied that resistance to the transfer was political , with spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying that it was purely a medical decision .
However , the reversal to allow him to leave came as international pressure on Russia ’ s leadership mounted .
Navalny ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has treated him since 2013 , said the politician has always been in good health , regularly went for medical checkups and didn ’ t have any underlying illnesses that could have triggered his condition .
Like many other opposition politicians in Russia , Navalny has been frequently detained by law enforcement and harassed by pro-Kremlin groups .
In 2017 , he was attacked by several men who threw antiseptic in his face , damaging an eye .
Last year , Navalny was rushed to a hospital from jail where he was serving @ @ @ @ @ @ @ regulations .
His team also suspected poisoning then .
Doctors said he had a severe allergic reaction and sent him back to detention the following day .
If he was poisoned , it would not be the first time a prominent , outspoken Russian was targeted in such a way — or the first time the Kremlin was accused of being behind it .

BERLIN (AP) — Alexi Navalny’s wife and a top aide visited him Sunday in a Berlin hospital where the comatose Russian dissident is being treated by German doctors after a suspected poisoning.
Navalny was flown to Germany on Saturday from Siberia after doctors determined he was stable enough to be brought to the capital’s Charité hospital for treatment.
After his arrival, hospital spokeswoman Manuela Zingl said the 44-year-old would be undergoing extensive diagnostic tests and that doctors wouldn’t comment on his illness or treatment until they were able to evaluate the results.
On Sunday, Navalny’s wife, Yulia Navalnaya, and aide Leonid Volkov visited the Russian opposition leader in the hospital, making no comments to reporters.
Navalny, a politician and corruption investigato r who is one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest critics, was admitted to an intensive care unit in the Siberian city of Omsk on Thursday. His supporters believe that tea he drank was laced with poison — and that the Kremlin is behind both his illness and a delay in transferring him to Germany.
Navalny fell ill on a flight back to Moscow from Sibe ria on Thursday and was taken to the hospital after the plane made an emergency landing.
While his supporters and family members insist that Navalny was poisoned, doctors in Omsk have denied that, theorizing a metabolic disorder was the most likely diagnosis and that a drop in blood sugar may have caused Navalny to lose consciousness.
Russian health authorities on Saturday said that tests done so far haven’t shown any poisons in his system.
When German specialists arrived aboard a plane equipped with advanced medical equipment Friday morning at his family’s behest, Navalny’s physicians in Omsk initially said he was too unstable to move. The dissident’s supporters suggested that was just a ploy to delay his departure until the poison was out of his system.
The Kremlin denied that resistance to the transfer was political, with spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying that it was purely a medical decision. However, the reversal to allow him to leave came as international pressure on Russia’s leadership mounted.
Navalny’s own doctor, Yaroslav Ashikhmin, who has treated him since 2013, said the politician has always been in good health, regularly went for medical checkups and didn’t have any underlying illnesses that could have triggered his condition.
Like many other opposition politicians in Russia, Navalny has been frequently detained by law enforcement and harassed by pro-Kremlin groups. In 2017, he was attacked by several men who threw antiseptic in his face, damaging an eye.
Last year, Navalny was rushed to a hospital from jail where he was serving a sentence on charges of violating protest regulations. His team also suspected poisoning then. Doctors said he had a severe allergic reaction and sent him back to detention the following day.
If he was poisoned, it would not be the first time a prominent, outspoken Russian was targeted in such a way — or the first time the Kremlin was accused of being behind it.


washingtontimes--2020-08-23--Officer wounded in drive-by shooting at Arkansas home

LITTLE ROCK , Ark .
( AP ) - A police officer was shot twice in the leg in a @ @ @ @ @ following up on a drive-by shooting case at the same Arkansas home from the night @ @ @ @ @ taken to a hospital where he was listed as stable , Little Rock police spokesperson @ @ @ @ @ .
The officer ’ s name would not be released until family members could be @ @ @ @ @ suspects fired shots from a vehicle , striking the officer , and then drove away @ @ @ @ @ officer did not return fire .
There were multiple people inside the home but no @ @ @ @ @ It ’ s unclear whether the officer was targeted .
Clark said the home had @ @ @ @ @ “ terroristic acts , ” including drive-by shootings , in the past year .

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - A police officer was shot twice in the leg in a drive-by shooting late Saturday while following up on a drive-by shooting case at the same Arkansas home from the night before.
The officer was taken to a hospital where he was listed as stable, Little Rock police spokesperson Lt. Casey Clark told reporters. The officer’s name would not be released until family members could be notified.
The suspect or suspects fired shots from a vehicle, striking the officer, and then drove away, Clark said. The officer did not return fire. There were multiple people inside the home but no one else was injured.
It’s unclear whether the officer was targeted. Clark said the home had been the scene of several “terroristic acts,” including drive-by shootings, in the past year.


washingtontimes--2020-08-23--The Latest: Pakistan reports fewest virus deaths since March

LONDON - The EU ’ s trade commissioner is coming under intense pressure to step down after attending a golf event despite a ban on public gatherings during the pandemic .
The job of Phil Hogan , an Irishman who is expected to play a key role in trade talks with the U.K. , is under threat amid a growing crisis stemming from a golf society dinner in the west of Ireland that was attended by more than 80 people .
A surge in coronavirus cases recently prompted Ireland to reimpose restrictions on public gatherings that were eased in early @ @ @ @ @ @ @ speaker of the Senate resigned last week after confirming they were at the event .
Hogan offered a “ fulsome and profound apology ” over the incident .
The deputy head of government , Leo Varadkar , said he shared the public ’ s anger at the golf event , but said the apology helps .
He told RTE that Hogan may not have been as familiar with the coronavirus situation in Ireland because he was not based in the country .
Varadkar said that “ he also needs to account for himself @ @ @ @ @ @ @ might arise , not just in relation to the dinner but also his movements around the country.
” “ If he can not do that , he needs to consider his position , ” he said .
HERE ’ S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE VIRUS OUTBREAK : - Miami ICU nurse : I have never in my life seen so many deaths - India ’ s use of cheaper , faster but less accurate tests for the coronavirus highlights some of the inherent pitfalls of a strategy that the U.S. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
- Germany held a pop concert Saturday to see how those attending could spread coronavirus if they had it .
Researchers studying COVID-19 packed part of a Leipzig arena with volunteers , collecting data in a “ real life ” simulation of a pop concert but one with strict health and safety controls .
- Several dozen aging U.S. veterans will gather on a ship in Pearl Harbor next month to mark the 75th anniversary of Japan ’ s surrender , even if it means the vulnerable group may be risking their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ HERE ’ S WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING : LONDON - Britain ’ s top medical officers say children are more likely to be harmed by staying away from school than from being exposed to the coronavirus .
England ’ s chief medical officer on Sunday joined his counterparts in Scotland , Northern Ireland and Wales in saying that children are less likely to contract the virus than adults and have “ an exceptionally low risk ” of dying from COVID-19 .
By contrast , they said studies show that not going to school @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in life and may worsen physical and mental health problems .
“ Very few , if any , children or teenagers will come to long-term harm from COVID-19 due solely to attending school , ” they said in a statement .
“ This has to be set against a certainty of long-term harm to many children and young people from not attending school.
” The statement comes as parents and teachers express concern about reopening schools next month amid fears that social distancing measures won ’ t keep children safe .
ISLAMABAD - @ @ @ @ @ @ @ new COVID-19 fatalities in the past 24 hours , the fewest deaths since March .
The announcement raises hopes that Pakistan is on the right path to fully containing the coronavirus despite having a fragile health system .
The National Command and Control Center also reported 591 new cases , increasing the country ’ s caseload to 275,836 , including 6,275 deaths .
Pakistan witnessed a sudden spike in infections and deaths in June , but confirmed cases and fatalities have gradually declined since then .
The latest development comes days after Pakistan @ @ @ @ @ @ @ testing of a Chinese-made coronavirus vaccine .
Pakistan hopes it will get the vaccine on priority from neighboring China if its clinical trials show success .
ROME - Sicily ’ s governor is ordering all migrants who reach the island by sea be transferred from the Mediterranean island as part of measures to combat the spread of COVID-19 .
The ordinance , signed by Gov .
Nello Musumeci , went into effect Sunday and stipulates that all centers housing migrants awaiting processing of asylum applications be shut down by the end of Monday @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 10 , also forbids any boat , including charity vessels , to bring migrants to the island .
While in past years the great majority of migrants reaching Italy were rescued at sea by humanitarian groups , cargo ships or military vessels , this year , nearly 80 % of arrivals reached Italian shores autonomously , most setting sail from Tunisia instead of Libya , where human traffickers are based .
Many come ashore on tiny Lampedusa island , but its migrant center is dangerously overcrowded .
So Italy has taken to quarantining @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Sicily .
On Saturday , one-third of Sicily ’ s 48 one-day total of new confirmed coronavirus infections occurred in migrants .
MOSCOW - Yulia Tymoshenko , the former Ukrainian prime minister and a key figure in the 2004 Orange Revolution protests , has contracted COVID-19 .
Her spokeswoman Marina Soroka said in a Sunday post on Facebook that Tymoshenko is in serious condition with a fever of 39 C ( 102 F ) , but did not specify if she has been hospitalized .
Tymoshenko captured attention worldwide for her speeches to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ demonstrations that forced the rerun of a disputed presidential election .
After Viktor Yushchenko won the election rerun , Tymoshenko became prime minister , but was dismissed amid quarrels and then returned to the office .
Under subsequent President Viktor Yanukovych , she was imprisoned for three years on a conviction of abuse of power .
BEIJING - China on Sunday reported 12 new confirmed coronavirus cases and no additional deaths .
The National Health Commission said 422 patients were being treated , including 16 in critical condition .
The death toll in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ December , stands at 4,634 .
SEOUL , South Korea - South Korea has added 397 new coronavirus cases , counting its tenth straight day of triple-digit increases as the speed of viral spread nears the levels the country saw during the worst of its outbreak in spring .
The resurgence , which began in the densely populated capital area before spreading to practically every major city and provincial town over the past week , is a major setback for the country that had been eager to tout its hard-won gains against the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ measures because of concerns over a fragile economy , officials have now banned large gatherings , closed nightspots , beaches and churches and removed fans from professional sports in a desperate effort to stem transmissions .
Sunday ’ s daily jump in infections marked the third-consecutive day of over 300 and the highest since the 483 cases reported on March 7 , when the country was dealing with a spike of transmissions in its southeastern region .
The KCDC linked 297 of the new cases to the Seoul metropolitan area , home to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ million population , where health workers have struggled to track infections tied to various sources , including churches , schools , restaurants and workplaces .
Cases were also reported in other major cities such as Busan .
Gwangju , Daejeon and Daegu , the epicenter of the country ’ s previous major outbreak in late February and March .
TUSCALOOSA , Ala. - The University of Alabama has issued a temporary prohibition on student events , including off-campus parties and fraternity and sorority gatherings .
The university says its issuing a 14-day moratorium @ @ @ @ @ @ @ classroom instruction .
Social gatherings are prohibited both on and off campus and the common areas of dormitories and fraternity and sorority houses are closed , according to the new guidelines .
The announcement came less than a week after city and school officials raised the alarm about large crowds waiting outside bars .
Alabama has confirmed nearly 2,000 deaths in the state , according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University .
BOSTON - More cases of coronavirus have been traced to a recent wedding reception in Maine .
Health officials say @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Aug. 7 reception in Millinocket .
A hospital says one person associated with the outbreak has died .
The reception at the Big Moose Inn exceeded the state ’ s indoor gathering limit , among other violations of state rules .
About 65 people attended the event .
The limit was 50 .
Thirty-two new cases and one additional death was announced Saturday by the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention .
Maine has reached nearly 4,320 cases and 131 deaths .
MIDDLETON , Wis. - A Middleton coffee shop has lost @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s mask mandate .
The Wisconsin State Journal reports that Helbachs Coffee Roasters and Kitchen will close on Aug. 31 .
The shop says in an Instagram post Thursday its landlord has refused to renew its lease and the decision to close comes on the heels of “ enforcement action , negative public statements and continued vindictive and hostile behavior ” by county health officials toward the shop .
Public Health Madison and Dane County issued the shop three citations for violating the order .
The shop was facing revocation of its food @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to abide by the order .
The shop responded with a lawsuit , declaring itself “ a mask-free zone.
” TALLAHASSEE , Fla - Florida recorded 4,300 new cases and 106 coronavirus deaths on Saturday .
The state is registering an average of 156 coronavirus deaths per day this month , which likely makes COVID-19 the state ’ s No .
1 killer during that period .
Cancer and heart disease each average about 125 deaths per day , according to the Florida Department of Health .
The number of new cases continues @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cases per day a month ago .
During the past week , the state ’ s positivity rate on tests has been 10.8 % .
Hospitalizations due to COVID-19 have been declining .
On Saturday , 4,773 patients were treated for the disease in Florida hospitals compared to Friday ’ s 4,909 and Thursday ’ s 5,340 .
That number has fallen from a peak above 9,500 on July 23 .
Overall , the state has nearly 600,000 confirmed cases since March 1 and 10,410 deaths .
PHOENIX - The Arizona Department of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 68 confirmed coronavirus deaths on Saturday .
That increased the state ’ s totals to 197,895 cases and 4,756 deaths , as reports of infections and deaths continued to slow .
The coronavirus hospitalization numbers from the health department showed a downward trend , posting levels from late May and early June before Arizona became a national hot spot .
New case and death reports have dropped since mid-July .
The seven-day rolling average of new daily cases dropped from 1,578 on Aug. 7 to 740 on Aug. 21 .
The rolling average @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to 38 .
ROME - Vacationers returning to the Italian mainland from Sardinia helped push Italy ’ s daily new coronavirus caseload far past 1,000 on Saturday , reaching the high for the first time since early May .
Confirmed cases increased from 947 on Friday to 1,071 on Saturday , with many infections confirmed in travelers who were tested as they disembarked from airplanes or ferries .
Authorities in Lazio , the south-central region including Rome , say 45 percent of its 215 new cases Saturday were from people returning from Sardinia @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to discos or private parties on the posh Emerald Coast resort area .
While the average age of infection early in the outbreak hovered near 70 , it ’ s now 30 .
Italy has more than 258,000 confirmed cases .
With three more deaths , the known total has reached 35,400 .
NEW YORK - The world hit a grim coronavirus milestone Saturday with 800,000 confirmed deaths and close to 23 million confirmed cases .
That ’ s according to a tally kept by Johns Hopkins University .
Governments have been attempting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Officials believe the true numbers are far higher because of a lack of testing and reporting .
In the U.S. , the nation with the most infections , health officials believe there may be 10 times more cases than the confirmed 5.6 million .
The U.S. also leads the world in deaths , with more than 175,000 .
The news comes as South Korea , once considered a coronavirus success story , banned large gatherings , shut nightspots and churches and banned fans from professional sports to slow a viral resurgence .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ virus , reported a four-month high of more than 2,000 cases on Saturday .
Schools there reopened two weeks ago , and at least 41 schools this week reported students or teachers were infected .
In the U.S. , schools have begun to reopen , with coronavirus outbreaks triggering sudden closings , quarantines and anxiety among parents .

SEOUL, South Korea - South Korea counted its 11th straight day of triple-digit daily jumps in coronavirus cases as officials tighten social distancing restrictions nationwide to combat what they describe as the biggest crisis since the emergence of COVID-19.
The 266 cases reported by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Monday came after three consecutive days of over-300 increases, although infection numbers tend to be lower at the start of the week due to the lesser number of tests in weekends.
The KCDC said 202 of the new cases came from the densely populated Seoul metropolitan area, home to half of the country’s 51 million population, where health workers have struggled to track transmissions linked to various sources, including churches, restaurants, schools and workers.
Infections were also reported in major cities throughout the country, including Busan, Daejeon and Sejong.
KCDC director Jeong Eun-kyeong said it’s likely the country will continue to report huge infection numbers in coming days as health workers scramble to trace and test contacts of virus carriers.
The country since Sunday has banned larger gatherings, shut down nightspots and churches and removed fans from professional sports nationwide.
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HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:
- Emails show businesses held sway over state reopening plans
- As shoppers stay away, small stores seek refuge online
- Returning vacationers drive Italy’s surge in COVID cases
- Pushing for breakthroughs in treatments for the coronavirus, White House officials are suggesting there are politically motivated delays by the Food and Drug Administration in approving a vaccine and therapeutics for the disease.
- Florida slashed local health department staffing as its population grew over the last decade. Now it’s a microcosm and a cautionary tale for America.
- India’s use of cheaper, faster but less accurate tests for the coronavirus highlights some of the inherent pitfalls of a strategy that the U.S. is now considering to scale up testing.
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- Follow AP’s pandemic coverage at http://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak
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HERE’S WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:
IOWA CITY, Iowa - A young child died due to complications from coronavirus in June, the first confirmed death of a minor in Iowa during the pandemic, the state health department belatedly announced Sunday evening.
The Iowa Department of Public Health said the state medical examiner’s office concluded its case investigation Aug. 6 into the death of the child, who was under the age of 5. But the death wasn’t reported in the state’s statistics until Saturday, more than two weeks later.
“The child’s death was publicly reported this weekend after ensuring the individual’s identity would remain protected and notifying the family,” the department said in a statement. “We have made every effort to protect the identity of this child, while the family grieves this devastating loss. Again, we send our sincerest condolences.”
The confirmation of the state’s first child death comes one day before dozens of school districts are prepared to begin the school year on Monday - a development that has many educators and parents already on edge.
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds has ordered schools to reopen for at least 50 percent in-person instruction, despite a pandemic that has already killed 1,036 people and seen infections soar in recent days.
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MELBOURNE, Australia - Australia’s hard-hit Victoria state on Monday recorded its lowest tally of new coronavirus cases in eight weeks with the state capital Melbourne half way through a six-week lockdown.
Victoria reported 116 new cases and 15 deaths. That is the lowest daily tall of new cases since 87 were reported on July 5. The daily count has been as high as 725 news cases in early August.
The state recorded 208 new cases on Sunday and 182 on Saturday.
Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton had predicted on Sunday that numbers could dip below 150 this week.
He added although the daily case numbers had been “jumping around,” he expected they were on a downward trajectory.
But health authorities have warned that the daily tally would need to fall to single digits or low double digits before the Melbourne lockdown was relaxed.
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WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump says the Food and Drug Administration has issued an emergency use authorization for convalescent plasma to treat COVID-19 patients.
Trump, announcing the decision Sunday at the White House, called convalescent plasma a “powerful therapy.” He says the FDA’s action will expand access to the treatment, which is already being used. The treatment involves transferring antibodies from recovered COVID-19 patients to patients suffering from the disease.
The announcement follows days of suggestions by White House officials of politically motivated delays by the FDA in approving a vaccine and treatments for the disease caused by the coronavirus.
Trump made the announcement on the eve of the Republican National Convention that will nominate him to run against Democrat Joe Biden.
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PESHAWAR, Pakistan - Pakistani authorities have closed about two dozen hotels in a scenic tourist destination in the country’s northwest after dozens of hotel employees tested positive for the coronavirus.
According to Maqbool Hussain, a district government official, Sunday’s move to place high-risk areas of Shogran, Naran and Kaghan under lockdown was aimed at containing the spread of the virus.
He said as many as 47 hotel employees who tested positive for COVID-19 were quarantined at the hotels where they worked.
The measures came hours after Pakistan reported only four new COVID-19 fatalities in the past 24 hours, the fewest deaths reported in a day since March. That announcement raised hopes that Pakistan is on the right path to fully containing the new virus despite having a fragile health system.
Pakistan has confirmed more than 275,000 coronavirus infections and nearly 6,300 deaths since reporting its first case in February.
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ATHENS, Greece - Greek health authorities announced a daily record 284 new coronavirus cases Sunday. There were also two new deaths.
The total number of confirmed cases is now 8,664, with 242 deaths. The average age of people getting sick from the virus is 39, while the average age of people dying of the disease is 77.
The government, alarmed by the fact that half of all coronavirus cases have been confirmed in the first three weeks of August, has imposed restrictions on social gatherings and the opening hours of restaurants, cafes and bars in 20 localities, including the capital Athens, until the end of the month.
It is also monitoring for violations more closely, and imposing fines. In the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki, Greece’s second largest, a groom was fined 3,000 euros ($3,540) Saturday for having 80 guests at his wedding reception instead of the maximum of 50 allowed at social gatherings. A 52-year-old Bulgarian citizen was fined 5,000 euros ($5,900) for leaving a designated quarantine hotel in the same city, after testing positive for the virus. He was arrested while engaging in contraband trade of toys, police said.
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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Florida broke the 600,000 mark for confirmed coronavirus cases Sunday but reported one of its lowest daily totals in two months, continuing a downward trend that began five weeks ago.
Florida reported 2,974 new cases on Sunday, only the second time since June 22 that fewer than 3,000 new cases have been tallied in a day. The other time was Monday, when 2,678 cases were reported. Sundays and Mondays often have a low number of reports as not all hospitals report on the weekend.
The daily total peaked July 15 when more than 15,000 cases were reported, but has been declining since.
Hospitalizations due to COVID-19 have also been declining. Late Sunday morning, 4,578 patients were being treated for the disease in Florida hospitals compared to Saturday’s 4,773. It is a drop of almost 800 since Thursday. Hospitalizations peaked at above 9,500 on July 23.
Overall, the state has now reported 600,571 confirmed cases.
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ROME - The day-to-day number of new coronavirus cases in Italy climbed for a seventh straight day, when 1,210 confirmed infections were registered on Sunday, the highest daily increase since May 12.
With airports testing many arriving travelers, two regions with busy airports – Lombardy, which includes Milan, and Lazio which includes Rome - led the day’s new caseload numbers, according to Health Ministry figures.
Lombardy, where some 40% of the nation’s known cases have occurred in the pandemic, registered 239 new infections since Saturday, while Lazio counted 184.
Italy has tallied 259,345 COVID-19 infections, including 35,437 deaths.
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LONDON - The EU’s trade commissioner is coming under intense pressure to step down after attending a golf event despite a ban on public gatherings during the pandemic.
The job of Phil Hogan, an Irishman who is expected to play a key role in trade talks with the U.K., is under threat amid a growing crisis stemming from a golf society dinner in the west of Ireland that was attended by more than 80 people. A surge in coronavirus cases recently prompted Ireland to reimpose restrictions on public gatherings that were eased in early summer.
The agriculture minister and deputy speaker of the Senate resigned last week after confirming they were at the event.
Hogan offered a “fulsome and profound apology” over the incident.
The deputy head of government, Leo Varadkar, said he shared the public’s anger at the golf event, but said the apology helps. He told RTE that Hogan may not have been as familiar with the coronavirus situation in Ireland because he was not based in the country.
Varadkar said that “he also needs to account for himself and explain and answer any questions that might arise, not just in relation to the dinner but also his movements around the country.”
“If he cannot do that, he needs to consider his position,” he said.
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LONDON - Britain’s top medical officers say children are more likely to be harmed by staying away from school than from being exposed to the coronavirus.
England’s chief medical officer on Sunday joined his counterparts in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales in saying that children are less likely to contract the virus than adults and have “an exceptionally low risk” of dying from COVID-19.
By contrast, they said studies show that not going to school limits children’s ability to succeed in life and may worsen physical and mental health problems.
“Very few, if any, children or teenagers will come to long-term harm from COVID-19 due solely to attending school,” they said in a statement. “This has to be set against a certainty of long-term harm to many children and young people from not attending school.”
The statement comes as parents and teachers express concern about reopening schools next month amid fears that social distancing measures won’t keep children safe.
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ISLAMABAD - Pakistani authorities on Sunday reported only four new COVID-19 fatalities in the past 24 hours, the fewest deaths since March.
The announcement raises hopes that Pakistan is on the right path to fully containing the coronavirus despite having a fragile health system.
The National Command and Control Center also reported 591 new cases, increasing the country’s caseload to 275,836, including 6,275 deaths.
Pakistan witnessed a sudden spike in infections and deaths in June, but confirmed cases and fatalities have gradually declined since then. The latest development comes days after Pakistan’s drug regulatory agency approved final-phase testing of a Chinese-made coronavirus vaccine.
Pakistan hopes it will get the vaccine on priority from neighboring China if its clinical trials show success.
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ROME - Sicily’s governor is ordering all migrants who reach the island by sea be transferred from the Mediterranean island as part of measures to combat the spread of COVID-19.
The ordinance, signed by Gov. Nello Musumeci, went into effect Sunday and stipulates that all centers housing migrants awaiting processing of asylum applications be shut down by the end of Monday.
His order, effective through Sept. 10, also forbids any boat, including charity vessels, to bring migrants to the island.
While in past years the great majority of migrants reaching Italy were rescued at sea by humanitarian groups, cargo ships or military vessels, this year, nearly 80% of arrivals reached Italian shores autonomously, most setting sail from Tunisia instead of Libya, where human traffickers are based.
Many come ashore on tiny Lampedusa island, but its migrant center is dangerously overcrowded. So Italy has taken to quarantining the latest arrivals aboard chartered ferries offshore Sicily. On Saturday, one-third of Sicily’s 48 one-day total of new confirmed coronavirus infections occurred in migrants.
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MOSCOW - Yulia Tymoshenko, the former Ukrainian prime minister and a key figure in the 2004 Orange Revolution protests, has contracted COVID-19.
Her spokeswoman Marina Soroka said in a Sunday post on Facebook that Tymoshenko is in serious condition with a fever of 39 C (102 F), but did not specify if she has been hospitalized.
Tymoshenko captured attention worldwide for her speeches to huge crowds of protesters in the 2004 demonstrations that forced the rerun of a disputed presidential election.
After Viktor Yushchenko won the election rerun, Tymoshenko became prime minister, but was dismissed amid quarrels and then returned to the office. Under subsequent President Viktor Yanukovych, she was imprisoned for three years on a conviction of abuse of power.


washingtontimes--2020-08-23--New Austrian coronavirus measures snarl traffic at border

BERLIN ( AP ) - Traffic was backed up for as much as 12 hours on Austria ’ s southern @ @ @ @ @ measures were imposed on all travelers entering the country , authorities said Sunday .
Police @ @ @ @ @ that cars were backed up for up to 12 hours at the Karawanks Tunnel and @ @ @ @ @ Pass into Austria as vacationers returning from Croatia and Slovenia tried to enter the country @ @ @ @ @ coronavirus cases attributed in a large part to returning tourists , Austria imposed new rules @ @ @ @ @ personal details of all travelers be recorded at the border , even if just passing @ @ @ @ @ traffic jams consisted primarily of German and Dutch tourists on their way home , APA @ @ @ @ @ , Austrian officials were forced to relax the new restrictions to get the traffic moving @ @ @ @ @ checks of random vehicles , Austria ’ s ORF broadcaster reported .
Waiting times at @ @ @ @ @ hours , however .

BERLIN (AP) - Traffic was backed up for as much as 12 hours on Austria’s southern border after new coronavirus safety measures were imposed on all travelers entering the country, authorities said Sunday.
Police told the Austria Press Agency that cars were backed up for up to 12 hours at the Karawanks Tunnel and seven hours at the Loibl Pass into Austria as vacationers returning from Croatia and Slovenia tried to enter the country.
Amid a rise in coronavirus cases attributed in a large part to returning tourists, Austria imposed new rules this weekend requiring that the personal details of all travelers be recorded at the border, even if just passing through Austria.
The border traffic jams consisted primarily of German and Dutch tourists on their way home, APA reported.
By Sunday morning, Austrian officials were forced to relax the new restrictions to get the traffic moving again, performing only spot checks of random vehicles, Austria’s ORF broadcaster reported. Waiting times at the border were still several hours, however.


washingtontimes--2020-08-23--Israeli lawmakers negotiate ahead of looming budget deadline

JERUSALEM ( AP ) - Israeli lawmakers were trying to negotiate a last minute deal on Sunday to push back a looming budget deadline and avoid sending the country to its fourth parliamentary elections in less than two years .
The current political crisis pitting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against rival-turned-partner Defense Minister Benny Gantz is ostensibly over the country ’ s national budget .
By law , if the government does not pass a national budget by 90 days after it is formed , the Knesset automatically dissolves .
That deadline expires on Monday night .
But the crisis @ @ @ @ @ @ @ between Netanyahu and Gantz , economic troubles stemming from the country ’ s coronavirus outbreak and the prime minister ’ s ongoing corruption trial .
Critics accuse Netanyahu of using the budget battle to force a new election in hopes of securing a friendlier parliament that could help solve his legal troubles .
After three deadlocked elections , Netanyahu and Gantz reached a power-sharing agreement in April to form a government to address the virus crisis .
As part of their coalition deal , Netanyahu ’ s Likud party and Gantz ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ two-year budget .
But Netanyahu has insisted on passing a budget to cover only the remainder of 2020 , saying it will provide immediate assistance to the economy .
Gantz is adamant that the government honor its agreement and pass one for 2020 and 2021 .
Their disagreement has again brought the country to the brink of political meltdown .
Zeev Elkin , a Likud party minister in Netanyahu ’ s Cabinet , told Army Radio on Sunday that “ there was a dialog between the parties ” and that “ we are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ possible.
” The Knesset ’ s finance committee convened later Sunday to discuss a bill to postpone Monday ’ s deadline by 100 days , until Dec. 3 .
If the committee approves the deferral , it must pass two rounds of voting in parliament before Monday night ’ s deadline .
But pushing back the deadline would only kick the budget crisis down the road .
The two parties are at loggerheads over several key issues - including judicial appointments and the annexation of West Bank settlements - and the government has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ complained that Netanyahu left him and Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi in the dark about the deal announced earlier this month to normalize relations with the United Arab Emirates .
If the budget deadline is not deferred , and new elections are triggered , it would plunge the country into political chaos during a deep economic and public health crisis and while the prime minister is on trial for corruption .
Netanyahu is charged with fraud , breach of trust and accepting bribes in three separate cases .
His criminal trial began in June @ @ @ @ @ @ @ down from office and denies any wrongdoing .
At the same time , Israel has recorded more than 100,000 confirmed coronavirus cases and more than 800 deaths .
Unemployment remains over 20 % despite the government ’ s reopening of the economy in May , following a more than month-long lockdown .
Netanyahu has faced intense criticism over his government ’ s handling of the crisis , and the largest sustained protests against his rule in nearly a decade .
On Saturday , an estimated 10,000 people took part in a weekly protest @ @ @ @ @ @ @ residence in Jerusalem , calling on Netanyahu to resign .
Nonetheless , recent polls indicate Netanyahu would score a sizable victory if snap elections were held .
By dissolving the government , Netanyahu would avoid giving Gantz the premiership in November 2021 as required by the coalition agreement .
Netanyahu appears determined to remain prime minister - and therefore not legally obligated to resign while under indictment - through the duration of his trial , which is expected to last several years .

JERUSALEM (AP) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Sunday that he had accepted a proposal to extend budget negotiations, preventing the government from collapsing and plunging the country into a new election.
In a nationally televised address, Netanyahu said that now was not the time to drag the country into a fourth parliamentary elections in less than two years.
“Now is the time for unity. Not for elections,” he said.
Netanyahu and his rival and coalition partner, Benny Gantz, had faced a Monday night deadline to agree on a budget. Otherwise, the government would have collapsed and automatically triggered a new vote.
Netanyahu said that following a historic agreement to establish official relations with the United Arab Emirates, and with the country struggling with a coronavirus outbreak, he felt it was wrong to to go to elections.
He said he accepted a compromise that would give the sides an additional 100 days to reach a budget deal, and in the meantime direct spending to struggling areas of the economy and society.
His announcement came after Israeli lawmakers spent much of the day unsuccessfully trying to agree on a compromise.
The current political crisis pitting the prime minister against rival-turned-partner Gantz is ostensibly over the country’s national budget.
But the crisis has deeper roots in the troubled partnership between Netanyahu and Gantz, economic troubles stemming from the country’s coronavirus outbreak and the prime minister’s ongoing corruption trial. Critics accuse Netanyahu of using the budget battle to force a new election in hopes of securing a friendlier parliament that could help solve his legal troubles.
After three deadlocked elections, Netanyahu and Gantz reached a power-sharing agreement in April to form a government to address the virus crisis. As part of their coalition deal, Netanyahu’s Likud party and Gantz’s Blue and White agreed to pass a two-year budget.
But Netanyahu has insisted on passing a budget to cover only the remainder of 2020, saying it will provide immediate assistance to the economy. Gantz is adamant that the government honor its agreement and pass one for 2020 and 2021. Their disagreement has again brought the country to the brink of political meltdown.
The Knesset, or parliament, must pass the legislation in two rounds of voting in parliament before Monday night’s deadline.
But pushing back the deadline would only kick the budget crisis down the road. The two parties are at loggerheads over several key issues - including judicial appointments and the annexation of West Bank settlements - and the government has been beset by infighting. Gantz also complained that Netanyahu left him and Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi in the dark about the deal announced earlier this month to normalize relations with the United Arab Emirates.
If the budget deadline is not deferred, and new elections are triggered, it would plunge the country into political chaos during a deep economic and public health crisis and while the prime minister is on trial for corruption.
Netanyahu is charged with fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in three separate cases. His criminal trial began in June, but he has refused to step down from office and denies any wrongdoing.
At the same time, Israel has recorded more than 100,000 confirmed coronavirus cases and more than 800 deaths. Unemployment remains over 20% despite the government’s reopening of the economy in May, following a more than month-long lockdown.
Netanyahu has faced intense criticism over his government’s handling of the crisis, and the largest sustained protests against his rule in nearly a decade. On Saturday, an estimated 10,000 people took part in a weekly protest outside the prime minister’s official residence in Jerusalem, calling on Netanyahu to resign.
Nonetheless, recent polls indicate Netanyahu would score a sizable victory if snap elections were held. By dissolving the government, Netanyahu would avoid giving Gantz the premiership in November 2021 as required by the coalition agreement.
Netanyahu appears determined to remain prime minister - and therefore not legally obligated to resign while under indictment - through the duration of his trial, which is expected to last several years.


washingtontimes--2020-08-23--Large fire rips through Philadelphia warehouse

More than 200 firefighters were battling the flames , including some on ladder trucks , news outlets reported .
There @ @ @ @ @ the fire .
No injuries were reported .
Images from the scene showed flames shooting @ @ @ @ @ plumes of smoke wafting above .
The fire erupted around 2 a.m. , news outlets @ @

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Several hundred firefighters battled a massive fire at a large warehouse in north Philadelphia early Sunday, and one firefighter was reported injured.
Officials said the fire broke out at about 2 a.m. Sunday in the structure in the Nicetown/Tioga neighborhood. Images from the scene showed flames shooting into the sky with large plumes of smoke wafting above.
Fire Commissioner Adam Thiel told reporters that about 300 fire and emergency personnel and 60 vehicles were called on to battle the blaze, which he said could have taken out the entire block without their efforts. Temple University’s nearby administration building was undamaged, officials said.
One firefighter was injured, but a condition report wasn’t immediately available.
Thiel said the blaze was brought under control shortly before 11:30 a.m. Sunday, but fire crews will likely be on the scene for several days mopping up and extinguishing hot spots.


washingtontimes--2020-08-23--Iran retrieves data, cockpit talk from downed Ukraine plane

TEHRAN , Iran ( AP ) — Iran has retrieved some data , including a portion of cockpit conversations , from the Ukrainian jetliner accidentally downed by the Revolutionary Guard forces in January , killing all 176 people on board , an Iranian official said Sunday .
That ’ s according to a report on the website of Iran ’ s Civil Aviation Organization , which described the official ’ s remarks as part of the final report that Tehran plans to issue on the shootdown of Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 .
The development comes months after the Jan. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ had initially denied responsibility , only changing course days later , after Western nations presented extensive evidence that Iran had shot down the plane .
The shootdown happened the same night Iran launched a ballistic missile attack targeting U.S. soldiers in Iraq , its response to the American drone strike that killed Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad on Jan. 3 .
At the time , Iranian troops were bracing for a U.S. counterstrike and appear to have mistaken the plane for a missile .
Iran , however , has not acknowledges that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ missile attack , its air defense was sufficiently alert and had allowed previously scheduled air traffic to resume - a reference to the Ukrainian plane being allowed to take off from Tehran .
The Ukrainian plane was apparently targeted by two missiles .
The plane had just taken off from Tehran ’ s Imam Khomeini International Airport when the first missile exploded , possibly damaging its radio equipment .
The second missile likely directly struck the aircraft , as videos from that night show the plane exploding into a ball of fire before @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the outskirts of Tehran .
For days after the crash , Iranian investigators combed the site , sifting through the debris of the plane .
The head of Iran ’ s Civil Aviation Organization , Capt .
Touraj Dehghani Zangeneh , said on Sunday that the Ukrainian passenger plane ’ s black boxes have only 19 seconds of conversation following the first explosion , though the second missile reached the plane 25 seconds later .
The report quoting him did not elaborate .
He said the first missile explosion sent shrapnel into the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s recorders .
He did not reveal any details of the cockpit conversation that was retrieved .
Representatives from the U.S. , Ukraine , France , Canada , Britain and Sweden - countries whose citizens were killed in the crash - were present during the process to gather data from the recorders , Zangeneh said .
In the months since the downing of the plane , Iran has struggled with the Middle East ’ s largest and deadliest outbreak of the coronavirus .
The Iranian government is also grappling with both crushing U.S. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Last month , an initial report from the Iranian investigation said that a misaligned missile battery , miscommunication between troops and their commanders and a decision to fire without authorization all led to the fatal downing of the jetliner .
That report said the surface-to-air missile battery that targeted the Boeing 737-800 had been relocated and was not properly reoriented .
Those manning the missile battery could not communicate with their command center , they misidentified the civilian flight as a threat and opened fire twice without getting approval from ranking officials , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ analysts believe Iran shot down the aircraft with a Russian-made Tor system , known to NATO as the SA-15 .
In 2007 , Iran took the delivery of 29 Tor M1 units from Russia under a contract worth an estimated $ 700 million .
The system is mounted on a tracked vehicle and carries a radar and a pack of eight missiles .
The initial report did not say why the Guard moved the air defense system , though that area near the airport is believed to be home to both regular military @ @ @ @ @ @ @ It also noted that the Ukrainian flight had done nothing out of the ordinary up until the missile launch , with its transponder and other data being broadcast .
The aircraft ’ s black box flight recorder was sent to Paris in June , where international investigators have been examining it .
“ Data recovery activity was all done with the aim of safety and preventing similar incidents , ” Zangeneh said , adding an appeal against “ any political use of the process.
” He added that Iran ’ s airspace is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ international flights .

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran has retrieved some data, including a portion of cockpit conversations, from the Ukrainian jetliner accidentally downed by the Revolutionary Guard forces in January, killing all 176 people on board, an Iranian official said Sunday.
That’s according to a report on the website of Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization, which described the official’s remarks as part of the final report that Tehran plans to issue on the shootdown of Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752.
The development comes months after the Jan. 8 crash near Tehran. Iranian authorities had initially denied responsibility, only changing course days later, after Western nations presented extensive evidence that Iran had shot down the plane.
The shootdown happened the same night Iran launched a ballistic missile attack targeting U.S. soldiers in Iraq, its response to the American drone strike that killed Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad on Jan. 3.
At the time, Iranian troops were bracing for a U.S. counterstrike and appear to have mistaken the plane for a missile. Iran, however, has not acknowledges that, only saying that after the ballistic missile attack, its air defense was sufficiently alert and had allowed previously scheduled air traffic to resume - a reference to the Ukrainian plane being allowed to take off from Tehran.
The Ukrainian plane was apparently targeted by two missiles. The plane had just taken off from Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport when the first missile exploded, possibly damaging its radio equipment. The second missile likely directly struck the aircraft, as videos from that night show the plane exploding into a ball of fire before crashing into a playground and farmland on the outskirts of Tehran.
For days after the crash, Iranian investigators combed the site, sifting through the debris of the plane.
The head of Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization, Capt. Touraj Dehghani Zangeneh, said on Sunday that the Ukrainian passenger plane’s black boxes have only 19 seconds of conversation following the first explosion, though the second missile reached the plane 25 seconds later. The report quoting him did not elaborate.
He said the first missile explosion sent shrapnel into the plane, likely disrupting the plane’s recorders. He did not reveal any details of the cockpit conversation that was retrieved.
Representatives from the U.S., Ukraine, France, Canada, Britain and Sweden - countries whose citizens were killed in the crash - were present during the process to gather data from the recorders, Zangeneh said.
In the months since the downing of the plane, Iran has struggled with the Middle East’s largest and deadliest outbreak of the coronavirus. The Iranian government is also grappling with both crushing U.S. sanctions and vast domestic economic problems.
Last month, an initial report from the Iranian investigation said that a misaligned missile battery, miscommunication between troops and their commanders and a decision to fire without authorization all led to the fatal downing of the jetliner.
That report said the surface-to-air missile battery that targeted the Boeing 737-800 had been relocated and was not properly reoriented. Those manning the missile battery could not communicate with their command center, they misidentified the civilian flight as a threat and opened fire twice without getting approval from ranking officials, it said.
Western intelligence officials and analysts believe Iran shot down the aircraft with a Russian-made Tor system, known to NATO as the SA-15. In 2007, Iran took the delivery of 29 Tor M1 units from Russia under a contract worth an estimated $700 million. The system is mounted on a tracked vehicle and carries a radar and a pack of eight missiles.
The initial report did not say why the Guard moved the air defense system, though that area near the airport is believed to be home to both regular military and bases of the paramilitary Guard.
It also noted that the Ukrainian flight had done nothing out of the ordinary up until the missile launch, with its transponder and other data being broadcast. The aircraft’s black box flight recorder was sent to Paris in June, where international investigators have been examining it.
“Data recovery activity was all done with the aim of safety and preventing similar incidents,” Zangeneh said, adding an appeal against “any political use of the process.”
He added that Iran’s airspace is now “safe and ready” for international flights.


washingtontimes--2020-08-23--Iran official says some data, including parts of cockpit conversations, have been retrieved from dow

TEHRAN , Iran ( AP ) - Iran official says some data , including parts of cockpit conversations , have @ @ @ @ @ plane .

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran official says some data, including parts of cockpit conversations, have been retrieved from downed Ukrainian plane.
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