USA

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The chair of former President Donald Trump’s 2017 inaugural committee was arrested Tuesday on charges alleging he secretly conspired to influence U.S. policy to benefit the United Arab Emirates, even while he was seeking a position as an American diplomat.

Tom Barrack, 74, of Santa Monica, California, was among three men charged in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, with acting as unregistered foreign agents as they tried to influence U.S. policy on the UAE’s behalf while Trump was running in 2016 and later while he was president.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden just can’t quit Ohio — even if it rejected him in last year’s election.

The president travels to Cincinnati on Wednesday to push his economic policies. It’s the third visit of his presidency to Ohio, the only state Biden lost that he has visited multiple times.

Ohio was once an electoral prize that could decide who occupied the White House, but its embrace of Republicans has tightened over the past decade. The visit is a testament to Biden’s belief that going straight to voters will help cross a barbed political divide.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Wildfires in the American West, including one burning in Oregon that’s currently the largest in the U.S., are creating hazy skies as far away as New York as the massive infernos spew smoke and ash into the air in columns up to six miles high.

Skies over New York City were hazy Tuesday as strong winds blew smoke east from California, Oregon, Montana and other states. Oregon’s Bootleg Fire grew to 606 square miles (1,569 square kilometers) — half the size of Rhode Island.

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. life expectancy fell by a year and a half in 2020, the largest one-year decline since World War II, public health officials said Wednesday. The decrease for both Black Americans and Hispanic Americans was even worse: three years.

UNITED NATIONS, Jul 20 (APP): UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is “encouraged” by the agreement between the Afghan government and the Taliban to expedite peace talks, according yo his Deputy Spokesman Farhan Aziz Haq.

“The secretary-general is encouraged by the joint declaration issued in Doha, Qatar, on Sunday, under which the two sides agreed to accelerate their high-level engagements in order to find a ‘timely and just solution’ to the conflict,” the spokesman said in response to a question.

WASHINGTON, Jul 20 (NNN-PETRA) – U.S. President, Joe Biden, discussed bilateral cooperation and regional issues with visiting King Abdullah II of Jordan yesterday.

Before their bilateral meeting, Biden expressed gratitude to King Abdullah II, for his “enduring and strategic relationship with the United States” and “vital leadership in the Middle East.”

“We’re going to continue to strengthen our bilateral cooperation,” he added.

20 July 2021; MEMO: US President Joe Biden hosted Jordan's King Abdullah at the White House on Monday in a meeting that spanned a range of issues, including the coronavirus pandemic and the Middle East, reports Anadolu Agency.

Biden "was proud to announce the delivery of over" half a-million coronavirus vaccine doses, "underscoring the US commitment to bringing the same urgency to international vaccination efforts that we have demonstrated at home," the White House said in a statement issued after the meeting concluded.

CHICAGO, July 20 (Reuters) - Scientists are working on a benchmark for COVID-19 vaccine efficacy that would allow drugmakers to conduct smaller, speedier human trials to get them to market and address a huge global vaccine shortage.

Researchers are trying to determine just what level of COVID-19 antibodies a vaccine must produce to provide protection against the illness. Regulators already use such benchmarks - known as correlates of protection - to evaluate flu vaccines without requiring large, lengthy clinical trials.

20 July 2021; MEMO: Amazon.com Inc's cloud service, Amazon Web Services, has shut down infrastructure and accounts linked to Israeli surveillance vendor NSO Group, US media group Vice reported, says Reuters.

GARDEN GROVE, Calif., July 20 (Reuters) - Jason Lilley was a special operations forces Marine Raider who fought in multiple battles in Iraq and Afghanistan during America's longest war.

As Lilley, 41, reflects on President Joe Biden's decision to end America's military mission in Afghanistan on Aug. 31, he expresses love for his country, but disgust at its politicians and dismay at the blood and money squandered. Comrades were killed and maimed in wars he says were unwinnable, making him rethink his country and his life.