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- The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill canceled in-class instruction just one week into the new term on Monday after positive cases of COVID-19 shot up dramatically, becoming the latest U.S. school to reverse course on reopening. The university’s chancellor said in a letter to students posted on the campus website that classes would be held online going forward, along with academic support services. Aug. 11 was the first day of the new academic year. The decision came after the COVID-19 positivity rate - the percentage of those tested who had infections - went from 2.8% to 13.6% at the campus clinic, Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz said in the message. “So far, we have been fortunate that most students who have tested positive have demonstrated mild symptoms,” Guskiewicz said. Other colleges, including the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, began the fall semester on Monday with all classes conducted online. Nationwide, new cases of COVID-19 fell for a fourth wee

ROME - Lebanese President Michel Aoun dismissed as “impossible” the chance that a vast explosion in Beirut’s port this month was caused by a blast from a deposit of Hezbollah arms, but said that all possibilities would be investigated. Lebanese authorities are probing what caused massive amounts of ammonium nitrate warehoused unsafely for years at the port to denotate in a mushroom cloud on Aug. 4, killing 178 people, injuring 6,000 and destroying swathes of the city. Aoun, an ally of the powerful Iran-backed Hezbollah movement, told Italian daily Corriere della Sera in an interview published on Tuesday that the group did not store weapons at the port, echoing comments by Hezbollah’s leader earlier this month. “Impossible, but serious events like these light up spirits and imagination,” Aoun said when asked about people advancing the hypothesis, but added that “even this lead will be investigated”. Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has denied accusations that his heavily arm

BEIJING - China said on Tuesday it firmly opposes U.S. suppression of Huawei Technologies Co, after the Trump administration announced it would further tighten restrictions on the company. Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian, speaking at a daily news briefing, urged the United States to stop discrediting Chinese companies. The Chinese government would continue to take all necessary measures to safeguard the legitimate rights of Chinese companies, said Zhao.

- Epic Games said on Monday it was seeking to block Apple Inc’s removal of “Fortnite” from its app store and has asked a judge to prevent any retaliatory action against its other games in the store. In its filing, Epic Chief Executive Timothy Sweeney said “Fortnite” had 350 million registered users as of June 2020, but that Apple’s move will stop them from getting the updates needed to play the game’s most popular mode - a “Battle Royale” match of up 100 players where the last survivor wins. “Apple’s actions will ‘break’ Fortnite for millions of existing players,” Sweeney wrote, saying Epic updates the game every few weeks. “Because iOS users can no longer update the game, they will be unable to play Fortnite with most other players, who will have the then-current version available on other platforms” such as PCs. The videogame maker also said Apple will terminate all of Epic Games’ developer accounts and cut it off from its development tools starting Aug. 28. In addition to making i

PILANESBERG NATIONAL PARK, South Africa - Wynand du Toit’s safari camp in South Africa’s Pilanesberg National Park lies abandoned, its tents ripped open by baboons and its survival in the balance after his insurer rejected his COVID-19 claim. In the United States, Miami restaurant owner Luis Debayle has laid off two-thirds of his staff and is desperate for an insurance payout that could help avert the prospect of closure. Meanwhile, Munich beer garden boss Christian Vogler is heading to the German courts in an attempt to wrestle about 1 million euros ($1.2 million) from his insurer. Businesses around the world, hamstrung by lockdowns, are facing often-existential showdowns with insurance companies that are reluctant to pay out on business interruption policy claims for a disaster unknown in living memory. The insurers say many such policies exclude pandemics, require physical damage on premises or do not apply to the widespread lockdowns seen globally. Facing pressure from regulators

HONG KONG - Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said on Tuesday she was not too bothered about U.S. sanctions against her but the Chinese-ruled city will complain to the World Trade Organization about a new U.S. requirement on Hong Kong-made products. The United States this month imposed sanctions on Lam and other current and former Hong Kong and mainland officials whom Washington accuses of curtailing political freedom in the financial hub. “Despite some inconvenience in my personal affairs, it is nothing I would take to heart,” Lam told a weekly news conference. “We will continue to do what is right for the country and for Hong Kong.” The sanctions came in response to China’s imposition of a sweeping national security law on the semi-autonomous city after prolonged anti-China, pro-democracy protests last year. The legislation punishes anything China considers secession, subversion, terrorism or collusion with foreign forces with up to life in prison and has drawn criticism from Western cou

CHICAGO/NEW YORK - The top U.S. infectious diseases expert is warning that distributing a COVID-19 vaccine under special emergency use guidelines before it has been proved safe and effective in large trials is a bad idea that could have a chilling effect on the testing of other vaccines. Scientists and health experts have expressed concern that President Donald Trump will apply pressure on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to deliver a vaccine before November to boost his chances of re-election. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, declined to comment on the president, but said there are risks in rushing out a vaccine despite the urgent need. “The one thing that you would not want to see with a vaccine is getting an EUA (emergency use authorization) before you have a signal of efficacy,” Fauci told Reuters in a phone interview. “One of the potential dangers if you prematurely let a vaccine out is that it would make it difficult, i

NEW YORK - The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq reached new record closing highs on Monday as optimism over potential medical advances in the war against the coronavirus pandemic pushed all three major U.S. stock indexes higher. The benchmark S&P 500 reclaimed its February closing high last week, confirming a bull market and the fastest recovery from a bear market trough on record. The blue-chip Dow, while leading Monday’s gains, remains nearly 4.2% below its all-time high, and down 0.8% year-to-date. The Nasdaq and the S&P have gained 26.8% and 6.2%, respectively, since the final closing bell of 2019. Of note, the Dow Transports index, often considered a barometer of U.S. economic health, handily outperformed the broader market. “There’s been a broadening in this rally and that’s what’s reflected in the transports,” said Chuck Carlson, chief executive officer at Horizon Investment Services in Hammond, Indiana. “ volume is accompanying this expanding breadth, and those are all bulli

- Wisconsin’s governor on Monday deployed his state’s National Guard to Kenosha following a night of sometimes-violent unrest that came after police in the lakeside city shot a Black man multiple times in the back. Governor Tony Evers also called a special legislative session to take up a package of bills aimed at addressing problems with law enforcement following the shooting of 29-year-old Jacob Blake late Sunday afternoon. Blake’s three sons saw the shooting, a lawyer for the family said. After being rushed to a hospital, Blake was out of surgery and in stable condition, his father told news media on Monday. In a video taken by a bystander across the street from the shooting, Blake can be seen walking toward the driver’s side of a gray SUV followed by two officers with their guns drawn at his back. Seven gunshot sounds can be heard as Blake, who appears to be unarmed, opens the car door, and a woman nearby jumps up and down in disbelief. It was unknown whether the officers saw so

CHICAGO - Delta Air Lines ( DAL.N ) has doubled its staffing to handle revamped pre-flight “pit stops” for deeper cleaning and wants to ensure that tray tables and restroom door handles are germ-free with a new testing process, an executive told Reuters. Airlines’ efforts to reassure travelers of their safety during the pandemic have spurred a behind-the-scenes scramble to complete the enhanced cleaning that they are promising without sacrificing turnaround times, a cornerstone of profitability, once more passengers take to the skies. “We’ve done quite a lot of change to our turn process,” the head of Delta’s new Global Cleanliness division Mike Medeiros said in an interview detailing the airline’s strategy for “turns” — the time a plane spends on the ground between flights. Depending on the aircraft’s size, Delta is deploying at least eight pre-flight cabin cleaners, up from three to five previously, and has adopted a new “pit stop mentality” based on industrial engineering studies i

- U.S. President Donald Trump kicked off the four-day Republican National Convention on Monday with comments to Republicans formally backing his bid for a second term, ahead of the main event that will feature speeches by “everyday Americans.” The following includes Trump’s speech in Charlotte, North Carolina, as well as prepared remarks selected and provided by the Republican Party in advance of the night’s events. “The only way they can take this election away from us is if this is a rigged election. We’re going to win.” “What they’re doing is using COVID to steal an election. They’re using COVID to defraud the American people - all of our people - of a fair and free election.” TANYA WEINREIS, WHO OWNS A CHAIN OF COFFEE SHOPS IN MONTANA (in prepared remarks): “I am so grateful that we have leaders like President Trump standing up for us who understand the good local business do in our neighborhoods and are not afraid to fight for us every day.” HERSCHEL WALKER, FORMER HEISMAN TROPHY

WASHINGTON - In a claim likely to intensify the controversy surrounding one of the most influential figures in the American Christian conservative movement, a business partner of Jerry Falwell Jr has come forward to say he had a years-long sexual relationship involving Falwell’s wife and the evangelical leader. Giancarlo Granda says he was 20 when he met Jerry and Becki Falwell while working as a pool attendant at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach hotel in March 2012. Starting that month and continuing into 2018, Granda told Reuters that the relationship involved him having sex with Becki Falwell while Jerry Falwell looked on. Granda showed Reuters emails, text messages and other evidence that he says demonstrate the sexual nature of his relationship with the couple, who have been married since 1987. “Becki and I developed an intimate relationship and Jerry enjoyed watching from the corner of the room,” Granda said in an interview. Now 29, he described the liaisons as frequent – “multiple

- More dry-lightning storms hit California on Monday after sparking 625 fires last week as authorities warned the state was trapped in a “megafire era” triggered by climate change. The worst of the wildfires, including the second and third largest in California history, burned in the San Francisco Bay Area with roughly 240,000 people under evacuation orders or warnings across the state. Much of Northern California, including the Sierra Nevada Mountains and coast, was under a “red flag” alert for dry lightning and high winds, but the Bay Area got a reprieve as storms skipped the region of around 8 million, the National Weather Service reported. Close to 300 lightning strikes sparked 10 blazes overnight and more “sleeper fires” were likely burning undiscovered in areas shrouded by dense smoke, Governor Gavin Newsom said. One huge blaze blackened ancient coastal redwood forests south of San Francisco that have never seen fire due to usually high relative humidity levels, Newsom said.

- A federal judge on Monday said she was “inclined” to grant Epic Games’ request to block Apple Inc’s ( AAPL.O ) move to terminate the “Fortnite” creator’s developer accounts and said she saw “no competition” to Apple’s App Store on the iPhone. Epic’s antitrust lawsuit filed against Apple earlier this month and an accompanying social media campaign have become the highest profile challenge to Apple’s App Store business. The maker of the popular “Fortnite” battle game alleges that Apple has engaged in anticompetitive behavior by abusing its dominance in the market for iPhone apps. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers said during a hearing that she viewed Epic’s request through “two lenses.” One was with the harm that would come to Epic’s own games, which have been taken out of the App Store. The other was what harm would come to the hundreds of other games that would be hurt if Epic was unable to maintain its Unreal Engine software because Apple terminated all of the company’s Apple develo

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - President Donald Trump warned Republicans who officially backed his bid for a second term on Monday that November’s election could be “rigged” despite offering no evidence, as the party began outlining its vision for the future on the first night of its national convention. Trump spoke on the first day of the sharply scaled-back Republican National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, after receiving enough votes to win the nomination to take on his Democratic rival, former Vice President Joe Biden, in the Nov. 3 election. The president repeated his assertion that voting by mail, a long-standing feature of American elections that is expected to be far more common during the coronavirus pandemic, will lead to widespread fraud. Independent election security experts say voter fraud is extraordinarily rare in the United States. “The only way they can take this election away from us is if this is a rigged election,” Trump said. “We’re going to win.” The four-day conve

BEDMINSTER, N.J. - U.S. President Donald Trump will hold a news conference on Saturday at 3:30 ET (1930) GMT at his golf resort in Bedminster, New Jersey, the White House said. Trump on Friday vowed to unilaterally suspend payroll taxes and extend enhanced coronavirus unemployment benefits after negotiations with congressional Democrats on a broad pandemic aid package collapsed.

WASHINGTON/BEDMINSTER, N.J. - The top U.S. counterintelligence official on Friday warned that Russia, China and Iran will all try to interfere in the 2020 presidential election, with Russia already trying to undercut Democratic candidate Joe Biden. In an unusual public statement, William Evanina, director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, said the three countries were using online disinformation and other means to try to influence voters, stir up disorder and undermine American voters’ confidence in the democratic process. President Donald Trump, asked at a news conference in New Jersey how he would respond to interference in the Nov. 3 vote, said: “We’re going to watch all of them, we have to be very careful.” He added that he believed Russia, China and Iran all wanted him to lose the election. Foreign adversaries also may try to interfere with U.S. election systems by trying to sabotage the voting process, stealing election data, or calling into question the v

- U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday he is signing an executive order providing a payroll tax holiday for Americans earning less than $100,000 a year. Speaking to reporters in Bedminster, New Jersey, Trump said the tax holiday would be effective as of Aug. 1, “most likely.”

NEW YORK - U.S. President Donald Trump is seeking the dismissal of a lawsuit challenging his directive to exclude undocumented immigrants from representation, rejecting the accusation it was motivated by racial animus. In a Wednesday night filing in Manhattan federal court, Trump’s lawyers said the U.S. president has longstanding discretion to decide who can be counted when apportioning Congressional seats, and opponents failed to plausibly argue his policy was “merely a pretext” to discriminate against Hispanics. The lawyers also called it “speculative” to suggest the policy could cause irreparable harm, including by reducing immigrants’ participation in the census. That data is used to allocate hundreds of billions of dollars in federal funds. Trump’s lawyers were responding to lawsuits by New York and 37 other U.S. states, cities and counties, as well as by several nonprofit organizations, over the president’s July 21 directive that seeks to prevent migrants who are in the United S

BEIRUT - Beirut’s catastrophic port explosion has demolished Rita Faraj Oghlo’s house, left her family stranded and may cost her husband Adel his leg. Like many Lebanese, they have endured multi-layered suffering since the Aug. 4 blast, which killed 179 people, injured 6,000 and triggered protests against an elite blamed for political turmoil and economic collapse. Homes and businesses were razed in the country’s commercial heart, uprooting nearly a quarter of a million people. Many of them are now crammed into relatives’ tiny apartments, unable to imagine how they will ever be able to afford their own. “It’s very difficult for us right now,” said Rita, who, along with her injured husband Adel and their children Christy, 2 and Saymen, 8, has moved in with her mother, stepfather and sister. The cost of the operation Adel needs looms large. When the blast sent a mushroom cloud over Beirut, he lay on a road pleading for help in the chaos. One person used a belt as tourniquet. Another, a

MOSCOW - The Kremlin said on Thursday that doctors were doing all they could to help opposition politician Alexei Navalny, who is in a serious condition in hospital, and wished him a speedy recovery as it would any other Russian citizen. Navalny, a staunch critic of President Vladimir Putin, was in a coma in a Siberian hospital on Thursday morning after drinking a cup of tea that his spokeswoman said she believed was laced with poison. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said any poisoning would need to be confirmed by laboratory tests. He said the authorities would be ready to consider a request for Navalny to be treated abroad should one be made.

WASHINGTON - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday he would likely appeal a court ruling validating a subpoena for eight years of his tax returns all the way to the Supreme Court if needed. Speaking to reporters at the White House during a meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, Trump characterized the pursuit of his taxes as a “witch hunt” that would likely end up in the nation’s top court.

- Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious diseases expert, had surgery on Thursday to remove a polyp on his vocal cord, according to a spokeswoman from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Fauci, who is the director of the NIAID, is at home and resting, the spokeswoman added.

ZURICH - Food giant Nestle ( NESN.S ) is launching a new plant-based tuna alternative in Switzerland this month ahead of a global rollout, hoping that consumers eating at home during the COVID-19 pandemic will stay eager to try new products. Known for Maggi soups and bouillon cubes, Nestle has been investing in plant-based food to make its prepared dishes unit trendier and more appealing to consumers wishing to lower their meat intake. The new “Garden Gourmet” tuna made with pea protein will be available in glass jars in the chilled aisle of Swiss supermarkets and can be used in salads, sandwiches and pizzas. Ready-to-eat sandwiches will also be sold in some stores, Nestle said. Developed within nine months by Nestle’s Swiss research facilities, the tuna is the group’s first plant-based seafood product to hit the market. Soy-based burgers, mince meat, sausages and chicken nuggets are already available. Nestle said last month that increased at-home consumption during the COVID-19 pa

- Americans made tentative moves back to restaurants and gyms over the past week, hiring advanced across a sample of industries and a rise in job postings suggested it may continue, signs the U.S. recovery grinds along, albeit not without some setbacks. High-frequency data estimating retail stores visits and employment across industries as well as broader indexes of the recovery, after largely plateauing during a summertime surge in coronavirus cases, mostly moved higher through early and mid-August. Graphic - Retail in real time: here Graphic - Employment in real time: here Defying worries, at least so far, that the expiration of extra unemployment insurance benefits in July would lead to an immediate collapse of spending, August opened “on the right foot,” Oxford Economics chief U.S. economist Gregory Daco wrote after the company’s recovery index jumped 1.3 percentage points for the week ended Aug. 7. Graphic - Oxford Economics Recovery Index: here The June and July rise in daily d

PARIS - France is ready to welcome Russian Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny on its territory, French daily Le Monde reported on Thursday. Navalny is fighting for his life in a Siberian hospital after drinking tea that allies said they believe was laced with poison. Le Monde said France is ready to host Navalny so that he can receive the appropriate medical care.

- The number of Americans filing a new claim for unemployment benefits rose unexpectedly back above the 1 million mark last week, a setback for a struggling U.S. job market crippled by the coronavirus pandemic. Still, in a sign some rehiring is underway, the rolls of those continuing to receive jobless benefits is slowly declining, the Labor Department reported on Thursday, and other data indicated a recovery from the recession triggered by COVID-19 continues, though at a more fitful pace than earlier. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits rose to a seasonally adjusted 1.106 million for the week ended Aug. 15, from an upwardly revised 971,000 in the prior week. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 925,000 applications in the latest week. The previous week’s level had marked the first time since March that new claims had registered below 1 million, and had fueled some optimism that the pace of layoffs would slow further. Last week’s reversal soured that, and new weekly cl

WARSAW - International pressure will help Belarusians secure new elections faster, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Thursday. “I think their fight will last a while, but that it will be shorter, that they will be able to count on victory much faster ... the stronger the international pressure,” he told a news conference. He made the comment as he announced that the head of the Polish national health fund, Adam Niedzielski, had been appointed health minister. Zbigniew Rau, head of the parliamentary commission on foreign affairs, will become foreign minister, Morawiecki said.

WASHINGTON - Hillary Clinton on Thursday said she hopes Senator Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party’s vice presidential nominee, and women running for political office in the future will receive “less sexist” media coverage than she did in 2016. “I still hope, especially with Kamala on the ticket, that the coverage of women running for president or vice president will be less sexist, less sensationalist and less trivializing,” Clinton, a former U.S. secretary of state, said during an online forum hosted by news organization The 19th. Clinton, a Democrat, lost in the electoral college to U.S. President Donald Trump in 2016 despite receiving more votes than him nationwide. Clinton said she had talked with Harris and Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee who this week named Harris as his running mate, about their campaign. “They are inheriting a mess of historic proportions,” Clinton said, adding that she did not think the coronavirus pandemic would be over by Januar

ATLANTA - Georgia Governor Brian Kemp announced on Thursday that he plans to drop a lawsuit against Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and the city, possibly ending a months-long feud over an order for people to wear masks to stop the spread of COVID-19. Kemp had sued Bottoms and the city of Atlanta to stop enforcement of a local mask mandate aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus. The governor argued that the city lacks the authority to override his order encouraging but not requiring face coverings. While the governor is to drop the lawsuit, filed last month, his office said it may still pursue an executive order to strike down any local mask mandates. The two sides had been in court ordered mediation. In a statement to Reuters, the governor’s office said that some agreements were made between the mayor, a Democrat, and the Republican governor, but no final agreement could be reached. The governor’s office had offered to allow the city to enforce a mask mandate on city

WASHINGTON - The Trump administration on Thursday rolled back regulations aimed at reducing emissions of the potent greenhouse gas methane from oil and gas operations, its latest move to unwind environmental rules ahead of November’s presidential election. During a visit to election swing state Pennsylvania, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler formally rescinded 2016 Obama administration limits on oil and gas industry emissions of methane, a move criticized by environmentalists when initially proposed last August. Wheeler said in Pittsburgh that new rules would save $100 million a year between 2021 and 2030. The rules will “fulfill President Trump’s promise to cut burdensome and ineffective regulations for our domestic energy industry,” he said. Methane is the main component of natural gas. It is a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide but does not remain in the atmosphere as long. Recent scientific reports highlight the major role methane emis

PARIS - Germany and France offered on Thursday to provide medical care on their soil for Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who is gravely ill after aides said he was poisoned. French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel said they were deeply concerned at what was happening to Navalny, one of the fiercest critics of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Macron, who hosted Merkel for talks at his summer residence in a medieval island fortress in the Mediterranean, said he had discussed Navalny’s illness at length with the German leader. “The news we have at this hour is extremely troubling. We will continue to follow the situation very closely,” he told a joint news conference with Merkel after their talks. “We are clearly ready to provide all necessary assistance to ... Navalny and those close to him in terms of healthcare, in terms of asylum, and protection, that is clear,” said Macron. “I hope he can be saved.” Navalny began feeling ill on a plane to Mos

GENEVA - The case of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny is “very worrying” and he must receive all necessary medical treatment, the U.N. human rights office said on Friday. Allies of Navalny accused Russian authorities of thwarting his medical evacuation to Germany on Friday, saying the decision placed his life in mortal danger because the Siberian hospital treating him was under-equipped. U.N. human rights spokesman Liz Throssell, asked at a U.N. briefing in Geneva about reports that Navalny did not have access to his personal physician, said: “Reports of what has happened to Alexei Navalny are very concerning and very worrying ... It is important that he get all adequate care that he needs to be able to make a recovery.”

WASHINGTON - Joe Biden finally got his moment. After a 2020 presidential campaign dominated by President Donald Trump’s words and actions, Biden on Thursday rose to the level of a true adversary as he accepted the Democratic Party’s nomination for the November election. Accused by the Republican Trump of hiding in his basement throughout the coronavirus pandemic, Biden turned his opponent’s narrative to his advantage on the final night of the Democratic National Convention, delivering an austere address in a quiet room that some commentators, both left and right, likened to a speech from the Oval Office, not a convention floor. Biden, 77 and nearing his 50th year in politics, cast himself as the wizened healer of a troubled and divided nation, pushing back at doubters within his party who whispered that he was wrong for the moment. He invoked President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who presided over a nation beset by economic hardship and then war. A day after former President Barack Ob