Chinese state media dismisses attacks on Wuhan's huge pool party as 'sour grapes' Chinese state media has defended Wuhan residents after photos and video of a huge pool party went viral this week, saying complaints by foreigners were “sour grapes” . Thousands of people celebrated at a water park music festival in Wuhan this week, crowded in front of the stage, shoulder to shoulder. An AFP photo of the dance party drew some negative responses at Wuhan’s apparent return to normal life. A newspaper front page in Australia headlined the story as “China’s big party”, and “life’s a beach in Wuhan as world pays virus price”.
Biden: Trump has 'no conception' of national security In an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper, the former vice president said Trump's comments to Woodward -- made in a series of 18 interviews for the journalist's upcoming book "Rage" -- were "not a surprise." "You wonder why people in the intelligence community wondered from the very beginning whether you could share data with him, 'cause they don't trust him. They don't trust what he'll say or do," Biden said. "He seems to have no conception of what constitutes national security, no conception of anything other than, what can he do to promote himself?" Biden cited an Axios report that Trump asked whether nuclear bombs could be dropped in the middle of hurricanes to dissipate them before landfall, which Trump has denied.
California wildfires torch area bigger than Rhode Island as resources stretched thin Wildfires in California have killed at least six people and forced tens of thousands from their homes, with few signs of reprieve in sight, as firefighting resources strain under the vastness of dozens of infernos raging across the state. More than 771,000 acres have burned so far, an area greater than the state of Rhode Island, California’s governor Gavin Newsom said at a press conference Friday. He said the scope and ferocity of the fires has stretched thin the state’s capacity to respond in an “unprecedented moment” in California’s history, adding that he anticipated mutual aid support coming from Arizona, Oregon, Washington state, Texas, Nevada and elsewhere.
The best stock in the S&P 500 is 105-years old Carrier is up a stunning 143% on the year, easily making it the top stock in the S&P 500, according to a tally by Refinitiv. The next-closest company, red-hot chipmaker Nvidia(NVDA), is well behind with a 119% gain. The blockbuster returns for Carrier, a leading manufacturer of heating, ventilating, air conditioning (HVAC) systems, are linked to the pandemic. Americans stuck working from home have rushed to upgrade their aging HVAC systems, especially during the sizzling summer months. And schools, office buildings and malls hoping to lure nervous Americans out of their homes are doing the same. Carrier is even selling school districts portable air scrubbers designed to limit the spread of coronavirus.
RNC 2020: Trump warns Republican convention of ‘rigged election’ Media playback is unsupported on your device US President Donald Trump has warned his fellow Republicans their opponents may "steal" November's election, as his party anointed him as their candidate. "They're using Covid to defraud the American people," Mr Trump told delegates on the first day of the party convention in North Carolina. Mr Trump repeated his much-disputed claims that mail-in ballots could lead to voter fraud. Opinion polls suggest he is lagging behind Democratic challenger Joe Biden.
AT&T thinks you might watch ads in exchange for a cheaper phone plan "I believe there's a segment of our customer base where given a choice, they would take some load of advertising for a $5 or $10 reduction in their mobile bill," Stankey told Reuters. AT&T confirmed those comments to CNN Business. (The phone carrier owns CNN's parent company, WarnerMedia.) The new plan could come as early as "in a year or two," he told Reuters. While advertising-supported phones haven't taken off in the past, despite efforts from Virgin Mobile and Sprint, AT&T(T) said it has the advantage of better ad targeting.
Republicans shatter norms by using government roles during political convention Allies of Donald Trump shattered political norms, stirred controversy and issued misleading claims against Democrats during the second night of the Republican party’s national convention on Tuesday. In speech after speech, a collection of Trump’s family members, allies, rightwing campaigners and swing-state farmers portrayed the president as the best hope for America’s future. A spokesperson for Democratic presidential rival Joe Biden said Tuesday’s event presented an “alternate reality” that failed to acknowledge the severity of the coronavirus pandemic or its economic fallout. In his speech on Tuesday, Larry Kudlow, who leads the White House’s council of economic advisers, described the coronavirus pandemic in the past tense, apparently ignoring that hundreds continue to die each day. More than 175,000 people have died and more than 5.7 million have been infected in the US, far more than any other country in the world.
United Kingdom sees spike in coronavirus cases, second lockdown may be looming The United Kingdom’s top health official told reporters on Friday that he was unable to say if the country will mandate a second coronavirus lockdown due to a recent surge in cases. “I can’t give you that answer,” Matt Hancock, the health secretary, said, according to Reuters. He pointed out that the number of people in the hospital “is doubling every eight days” so he said it is imperative that health officials take the proper precaution. Hurricane Laura makes landfall as Category 4 early Thursday: Live updates and path tracker Isobel van Hagen and Natalie Obregon 2m ago / 1:22 PM CEST 'Absolutely catastrophic': American Red Cross volunteers on hand to help As Hurricane Laura made landfall on the Gulf Coast and tore inland Thursday morning, hundreds of American Red Cross volunteers stood ready to help, the organization's spokesperson said. The Red Cross has more than 600 volunteers deployed up and down the Gulf Coast.
Congress is getting ready for a fight over who will fill RBG's seat as McConnell vows to have a vote on Trump nominee "President Trump's nominee will receive a vote on the floor of the United States Senate," McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, said in a statement Friday evening that sets GOP lawmakers on a collision path with Democrats, though the exact timing of such a fight -- in particular how much of it would happen ahead of or after Election Day -- was not immediately clear. Senate Majority Whip John Thune, the number two GOP senator, backed McConnell, saying in a statement of his own, "I believe Americans sent a Republican president and a Republican Senate to Washington to ensure we have an impartial judiciary that upholds the Constitution and the rule of law. We will fulfill our obligation to them. As Leader McConnell has said, President Trump's Supreme Court nominee will receive a vote on the floor of the U.S.
RNC: Trump paints Biden as a 'radical' candidate and a danger to America Against a backdrop of a global pandemic, heightened racial tensions, and widespread unemployment, Donald Trump framed his Democratic rival Joe Biden as the real danger to the country’s safety and economic welfare in his address to the Republican convention on Thursday. Accepting the party’s presidential nomination ahead of November’s elections, Trump argued for more than an hour that his administration had accomplished everything it had set out to do and warned that a Biden presidency could be ruinous. “This is the most important election in the history of our country,” Trump told an audience of around 1,500 supporters and officials on the South Lawn of the White House, raising concerns over the ethics of holding a political rally at the site, and over the apparent lack of social distancing measures. “At no time before have voters faced a clearer choice between two parties, two visions, two philosophies, or two agendas.”
Louisville protesters grab signs, shields other supplies from U-Haul truck: video Protesters in Louisville, Ky., grabbed signs, shields, water and other supplies from a U-Haul truck that pulled up near Breonna Taylor protests Wednesday, according to video and reports. Some of the signs had anti-police slogans like “Abolish the police” “Abolition now” and “F12," acccording to video shot by a TownHall reporter. After a Kentucky grand jury opted to indict only one of the three Louisville police officers Wednesday in the raid that led to Breonna Taylor's death earlier this year, protests erupted in the city and other around the country Wednesday night. At least two police officers were shot in Louisville, police confirmed. Both officers suffered non-life-threatening injuries. Chadwick Boseman, 'Black Panther' star, has died The actor has been battling colon cancer since 2016 and died at home with his family and wife by his side, according to a statement posted on his Twitter account. He was 43, his publicist Nicki Fioravante said in a statement. "A true fighter, Chadwick persevered through it all, and brought you so many of the films you have come to love so much," the statement said. "From Marshall to Da 5 Bloods, August Wilson's Ma Rainey's Black Bottom and several more, all were filmed during and between countless surgeries and chemotherapy."
Buffalo Police no longer requires officers to wear names on their uniform Officers will wear an identifying number instead of their names per a police department policy change, Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown told CNN affiliate WKBW. The policy went into effect last week to protect officers from threat incidents, Brown said Thursday. CNN has reached out to the Buffalo Police Department for more information. The debate over police name tags has popped up across the country amid recent demonstrations after police-involved deaths like George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, when protestors encountered law enforcement agents with no identification. Mayor Brown told WKBW there was a concern over police officers' personally identifying information being published online in a malicious manner, known as "doxing."