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Reuters

Image caption

Mr Navalny was flying to Moscow from Tomsk and was diverted to Omsk after he fell ill

Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny is unconscious in hospital suffering from suspected poisoning, his spokeswoman has said.

The anti-corruption campaigner fell ill during a flight and the plane made an emergency landing in Omsk, Kira Yarmysh said, adding that they suspected something had been mixed into his tea.

The Kremlin said that it wished Mr Navalny a “speedy recovery”.

Mr Navalny, 44, has been a staunch critic of President Vladimir Putin.

In June he described a vote on constitutional reforms as a “coup” and a “violation of the constitution”. The reforms allow Mr Putin to serve another two terms in office.

What has the spokeswoman said?

Kira Yarmysh, the press secretary for the Anti-Corruption Foundation, which Mr Navalny founded in 2011, tweeted: “This morning Navalny was returning to Moscow from Tomsk.

“During the flight, he felt ill. The plane made an urgent landing in Omsk. Alexei has toxic poisoning.”

She added: “We suspect that Alexei was poisoned by something mixed into [his] tea. It was the only thing he drank since morning.

“Doctors are saying that the toxic agent absorbed faster through the hot liquid. Right now Alexei is unconscious.”

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Reuters

Image caption

The emergency hospital in Omsk where Mr Navalny is being treated

Ms Yarmysh later tweeted that Mr Navalny was on a ventilator and in a coma, and that the hospital was now full of police officers. She said they had later asked to search his belongings.

She also said that doctors were initially ready to share any information but then they later claimed the toxicology tests had been delayed and were “clearly playing for time, and not saying what they know”.

She said in a tweet at 14:58 local time (08:58 GMT) that Mr Navalny’s condition had not changed and he was still unconscious.

She was told the diagnosis would be “towards evening”.

What are the other reports from the scene?

The Tass news agency quoted one source at the Omsk Emergency Hospital as saying: “Alexei Anatolyevich Navalny, born in 1976. Poisoning intensive care.”

However, the deputy head physician of the hospital later told media that it was not certain Mr Navalny had been poisoned, although “natural poisoning” was one of the diagnoses being considered.

Anatoly Kalinichenko said that doctors were “genuinely trying to save [Mr Navalny’s] life”.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov later said it wished the critic a speedy recovery – as it would all citizens in such circumstances – and that the authorities would consider approving treatment abroad if it were requested.

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EPA

Image caption

A man in Moscow watches social media footage of Mr Navalny being stretchered to an ambulance

Video footage on social media shows Mr Navalny being taken on a stretcher to an ambulance on the airport runway.

Other disturbing video appears to show a stricken Mr Navalny in pain on the flight.

Passenger Pavel Lebedev said: “At the start of the flight he went to the toilet and didn’t come back. He started feeling really sick. They struggled to bring him round and he was screaming in pain.”

Another photograph on social media purports to show Mr Navalny drinking from a cup at a Tomsk airport cafe.

The Interfax agency said the cafe owners were checking CCTV to see if it could provide any evidence.

Who is Alexei Navalny?

He made a name for himself by exposing official corruption, labelling Mr Putin’s United Russia as “the party of crooks and thieves”, and has served several jail terms.

Media captionPower tools are used to raid Navalny’s foundation in December 2019

In 2011 he was arrested and imprisoned for 15 days following protests over vote-rigging by Mr Putin’s United Russia party in parliamentary elections.

Mr Navalny was briefly jailed in July 2013 on embezzlement charges but denounced the sentence as political.

He attempted to stand in the 2018 presidential race but was barred because of previous fraud convictions in a case he again said was politically motivated.

Mr Navalny was also given a 30-day jail term in July 2019 after calling for unauthorised protests.

He was taken ill during that jail sentence. Doctors diagnosed him with “contact dermatitis” but he said he had never had any acute allergic reactions and his own doctor suggested he might have been exposed to “some toxic agent”. Mr Navalny also said he thought he may have been poisoned.

Mr Navalny also suffered a serious chemical burn to his right eye in 2017 after he was assaulted with antiseptic dye.

Last year his Anti-Corruption Foundation was officially declared a “foreign agent”, enabling the authorities to subject it to more checks.

If this is confirmed as a poisoning, previous attacks on high-profile critics of President Putin would again be thrown into the spotlight.

They include politician Boris Nemtsov and journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who were shot dead, and intelligence officer Alexander Litvinenko, who died of poisoning in the UK.

Another journalist, Vladimir Kara-Murza, is still alive but has alleged he was poisoned twice by Russian security services.

Media captionVladimir Kara-Murza on the dangers to President Putin’s critics

Source Article from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-53844958

White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany on Wednesday refused to say that President Donald Trump will accept the election results if he loses in November.

At a White House briefing, McEnany was asked about Trump’s recent remarks claiming that the only way he can lose the election is if it is “rigged.”

“Does the president believe there is any circumstance under which he could lose the election fairly?” one reporter asked the press secretary.

“The president believes that he’s done a great job for the American people and he believes that will show in November,” McEnany insisted. “He believes that voter fraud is real, in line with what we see all across the country, particularly with mail-in ballots, which are prone to fraud.”

“Is the president saying that if he doesn’t win this election that he will not accept the results?” a second reporter wondered.

“The president has always said he’ll see what happens,” McEnany admitted, “and make a determination in the aftermath. It’s the same thing he said last November. He wants a free election, a fair election and he wants confidence in the results of the election, particularly when you have states like Nevada doing mass mail-out voting to their voting rolls.”

You can watch the video below via YouTube

Source Article from https://www.salon.com/2020/08/19/kayleigh-mcenany-refuses-to-say-whether-trump-will-accept-election-results-hell-see-what-happens_partner/

“Vote by mail really works well here in Utah,” said Justin Lee, director of elections in Utah, where the Republican administration sends ballots to every voter in the state. “We do feel it’s safe and secure. We don’t feel there are any real instances of either widespread fraud or voter disenfranchisement.”

Many Republicans are outwardly careful not to address Trump’s remarks, but privately they worry his escalating accusations of fraud could scare reliable supporters from voting remotely. New polling has fueled these concerns and Democrats are outpacing Republican requests for absentee ballots in some swing states.

Trump frequently attempts to distinguish between mail-in ballots and absentee ballots, saying the latter has additional safeguards and go only to those who request them (election officials say the ballots look identical). He requested an absentee ballot himself to vote in this week’s Florida primary, and his own campaign has been targeting counties in battleground states where absentee ballots made a difference in 2016, urging supporters through a website to request ballots and running Facebook ads that state “Absentee ballots are GOOD. I need you to get your application and send in your absentee ballot IMMEDIATELY.”

But across the country, the distinction between mail-in ballots and absentee ballots appears negligible.

Some states use the words interchangeably or use a single term for all mail-in ballots. In Florida voters can request a mail-in ballot without providing a reason, but in Texas, voters must list a reason for remote voting. Yet in both states, all remote ballots are referred to as “mail-in ballots.” Over in Vermont, ballots are sent to everyone, while in Wisconsin, only ballot applications are sent to everyone. Still, all mail-in voting in both states is nonetheless called “absentee ballots.”

“The president is making a false distinction and no, there are not more safeguards with absentee ballots,” said Sean Morales-Doyle, the deputy director of voting rights, elections and democracy at the Brennan Center for Justice. “The safeguards available and in use to protect the integrity of elections are the same in either system.”

Trump’s full-fledged assault on voting by mail began in the spring when he started talking about massive fraud with little evidence. In recent weeks, he has expanded his criticism to USPS, which he says can’t handle the millions of extra ballots expected this year.

Democrats are sounding the alarm, accusing Trump of trying to undermine confidence in the election while curbing mail-in voting because of sinking poll numbers against Joe Biden.

The House will return Saturday to vote to give USPS an additional $25 billion and to ask Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, a longtime Republican donor, about accusations he is trying to prevent mail-in voting by cutting employee hours and removing sorting machines. Trump initially threatened to withhold money from the post office in an effort to stymie mail-in voting. But in recent days, he said he would agree to $10 billion of the request, perhaps more. DeJoy has also pledged to pause planned changes to the Postal Service until after the election.

“Democrats denied a $10 billion offer for the U.S. Postal Service by this president before they went on recess,” White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Wednesday. “But now they’re back to pursue the latest Democrat-manufactured crisis. It’s sad, but it’s clear where Democrats’ priorities stand.”

More than two dozen states, run by both Democrats and Republicans, have already made voting changes to facilitate mail-in voting ahead of November’s election. In the past, researchers have found universal mail-in voting doesn’t privilege Republicans or Democrats, and election officials say it’s unclear whether either party might benefit in 2020. Yet some Republicans said Democrats have traditionally been more proficient at enrolling their supporters for absentee voting — and they’re trying to change that fact this year.

“Democrats did a much better job than us to get voters to use absentee ballots,” said Dave Millage, chairman of the Scott County Republican Party in Iowa. Millage said he is pushing voters this year to vote absentee in nightly meetings and on social media. But, he added, the state’s decision to send out applications has caused some confusion among voters, with some wondering why they received an application and others telling him they don’t trust the Postal Service.

In 2020, four states — California, Vermont, New Jersey, Nevada — and Washington, D.C., plan to send ballots to all registered voters. Seven others, including Arizona, Wisconsin and Iowa, will send ballot applications. Some states will allow coronavirus as a reason to vote by mail, though voters in most other states can request a mail-in ballot without providing a reason.

Even before the pandemic, five states — Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Utah and Washington — conducted elections entirely by mail with few problems.

Terry Lathan, chairman of the Republican Party in Alabama, plans to urge absentee voting ahead of November, even more than she usually does. Her state added coronavirus to the reasons voters can request an absentee ballot this year. But Lathan said she agreed with Trump that universal mail-in voting creates security risks, likening it to” throwing ballots out the window of an airplane and letting everyone grab one.”

While Trump has mostly criticized Democratic states for their voting policies, states with Republican governors and election officials have also expanded vote-by-mail programs.

Two weeks ago, during a visit to the White House, Republican Gov. Doug Ducey of Arizona pushed back when Trump suggested mail-in voting was riddled with fraud.

“In Arizona, we’re going to do it right,” Ducey said. “It will be free and fair. It will be difficult, if not impossible, to cheat. And it will be easy to vote.”

Nearly 80 percent of voters in Arizona generally cast ballots through the mail. This year, the state will mail applications to all voters.

Trump responded by switching the conversation to Nevada, led by a Democratic governor.

Experts say states scrutinize remote ballots before they are counted.

“Each state has a process for verifying the voter’s eligibility and registration status, for matching the signature on the ballot’s envelope to the voter’s signature on file, verifying any identification requirement in state law,” said Ned Foley, director of election law at the Moritz College of Law at the Ohio State University. “No envelope can be opened and no ballot inside removed to be counted unless these eligibility-verification steps are complete. That would be true for all mailed ballots.”

Critics say the potential problems with mail-in voting are varied. Voters may have their ballot tossed out for not following directions, for not having a proper signature or for having a name that doesn’t exactly match the information on file. Separately, they say, the voting rolls that determine who receives a ballot could be inaccurate, or ballots could be sent to the wrong address or lost in the mail.

But supporters of mail-in voting say these concerns can be addressed through funding, tweaks to the rules and voter education. In Utah, officials said sending ballots to voters has helped the state clean up its voter rolls because if a ballot is returned, the state can then take that person off the list.

“We feel very good about the ballots getting to the right people,” Lee said.

Still, Trump’s campaign and the Republican National Committee have already taken to the courts dozens of times as part of a $20 million effort to challenge voting rules, including filing their own lawsuits in several battleground states, including Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Nevada.

Trump aides and outside advisers have also pondered possible executive actions he could take to curb mail-in voting. But Trump’s options are severely limited by the Constitution, which gave states the authority to oversee elections.

“IF YOU CAN PROTEST IN PERSON, YOU CAN VOTE IN PERSON!” Trump tweeted Wednesday. Despite the focus on in-person voting, a White House official said the president still supports “safe in-person voting and absentee ballots.”

Trump has noted that Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert, said there is “no reason” Americans can’t vote in person as long as they follow social-distancing guidelines.

Still, there could be problems. Election officials are worried about long lines and a shortage of workers at in-person polling stations during the pandemic.

Some local and state officials say older voters or those who live in more rural areas — who tend to vote Republican — prefer voting by mail, which means they don’t have to worry about replacing as many voting machines or finding as many poll workers.

Critics argue that states that want to switch to voting by mail need years to build up the infrastructure necessary to handle both the outgoing and incoming ballots.

“To successfully implement it the way it should be implemented takes a five-year period,” said Alabama’s Republican Secretary of State John Merrill. ”Not five months, five years.”

Source Article from https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/19/republicans-mail-in-voting-trump-398774

“Hey, everybody, it’s me, Kamala.” “Tonight we are going to hear from so many phenomenal women who are working to help us build that more perfect union.” “Tonight I’m thinking of the girls and boys who see themselves in America’s future because of Kamala Harris — a black woman, the daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants, and our nominee for vice president. This is our country’s story: breaking down barriers and expanding the circle of possibility.” ♫ “I’m in love with my future, and you don’t know …” ♫ “Donald Trump’s ignorance and incompetence have always been a danger to our country. Covid-19 was Trump’s biggest test. He failed miserably. Today America has the most Covid deaths in the world and an economic collapse.” “My mom worked hard and paid taxes, and the Obama administration told her she could stay. My dad thought you would protect military families. So he voted for you in 2016, Mr. President. He says he won’t vote for you again after what you did to our family.” “The wife of a U.S. Marine veteran was deported to Mexico.” “Instead of protecting us, you tore our world apart.” “My mom is a good person, and she’s not a criminal.” “Donald Trump hasn’t grown into the job, because he can’t. And the consequences of that failure are severe: 170,000 Americans dead. Millions of jobs gone, while those at the top take in more than ever. Our worst impulses unleashed, our proud reputation around the world badly diminished, and our democratic institutions threatened like never before. But more than anything, what I know about Joe, what I know about Kamala, is that they actually care about every American, and that they care deeply about this democracy. They believe that in a democracy, the right to vote is sacred, and we should be making it easier for people to cast their ballots, not harder. They understand that in this democracy, the commander in chief does not use the men and women of our military, who are willing to risk everything to protect our nation, as political props to deploy against peaceful protesters on our own soil. This president and those in power, those who benefit from keeping things the way they are, they are counting on your cynicism. They know they can’t win you over with their policies. So they’re hoping to make it as hard as possible for you to vote, and to convince you that your vote does not matter.” “With only one nomination received and pursuant to our rules, I hereby declare that Kamala Harris is elected as the Democratic candidate for vice president.” “She is the first black woman, first South Asian woman to be named on the Democratic ticket.” “This is a historic pick.” “Someone who looks like us on a presidential ticket, that’s crazy.” “That I am here tonight is a testament to the dedication of generations before me: women and men who believed so fiercely in the promise of equality, liberty and justice for all. This week marks the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment. And we celebrate the women who fought for that right. Yet so many of the Black women who helped secure that victory were still prohibited from voting long after its ratification. But they were undeterred. Without fanfare or recognition, they organized and testified and rallied and marched and fought, not just for their vote, but for a seat at the table. My mother taught me that service to others gives life purpose and meaning. And oh, how I wish she were here tonight, but I know she’s looking down on me from above. I keep thinking about that 25-year-old Indian woman, all of five feet tall, who gave birth to me at Kaiser Hospital in Oakland, Calif. On that day she probably could have never imagined that I would be standing before you now and speaking these words: I accept your nomination for vice president of the United States of America. Make no mistake: The road ahead is not easy. We may stumble. We may fall short. But I pledge to you that we will act boldly and deal with our challenges honestly. We will speak truths, and we will act with the same faith in you that we ask you to place in us. God bless you, and God bless the United States of America.” [music and applause]

Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/19/us/politics/democratic-national-convention-recap.html

Embers burn along a hillside as the LNU Lightning Complex fires tear through unincorporated Napa County, Calif., on Tuesday. Fire crews across the region scrambled to contain dozens of wildfires sparked by lightning strikes as a statewide heat wave continues.

Noah Berger/AP


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Noah Berger/AP

Embers burn along a hillside as the LNU Lightning Complex fires tear through unincorporated Napa County, Calif., on Tuesday. Fire crews across the region scrambled to contain dozens of wildfires sparked by lightning strikes as a statewide heat wave continues.

Noah Berger/AP

The onslaught of fires raging across California has turned deadly, claiming the first casualty as thousands of firefighting personnel battle to contain 23 major complex blazes across the state.

A helicopter pilot who was battling one of the state’s smaller fires in central California has died when the craft crashed, according to Cal Fire officials.

“This morning a Call When Needed helicopter crashed while fighting a wildfire in Western Fresno County,” the agency said.

The Bell UH-IH helicopter was on a water dropping mission on the Hills Fire at the time of the accident.

“The pilot was the only person aboard the helicopter and did not survive the incident.”

The helicopter was one of six fighting to contain the fire in Fresno County, which has been difficult to reach because of steep terrain and limited access, according to Cal Fire.

The tragedy comes as a blitz of lightning strikes amid a blistering heat wave have sparked hundreds of simultaneous fires across California, stretching the state’s resources to the limit.

As of Wednesday afternoon roughly 6,900 fire personnel from federal, state and local agencies have been called in to battle the flames as they engulf rural and residential areas alike, Cal Fire officials reported.

The lightning and thunderstorms that began on Sunday, combined with extremely high temperatures and dangerous air quality have exacerbated the ferocity of the blazes and speed with which they are spreading. That has prompted the evacuations of thousands of people as crews attempt to prevent the fires from ravaging entire neighborhoods.

“Over the last 72 hours the state has been besieged by a historic lightning siege that has resulted in approximately 10,849 lightning strikes across the state, causing more than 367 new fires,” Cal Fire’s Public Information Officer for the LNU Lightning Complex fire Jeremy Rahn, said in a Wednesday press conference.

“Fire fighting resources are depleted,” Rahn said, adding that “the size and complexity at which these incidents are burning is challenging all aspects of emergency response.”

So far, California has requested 375 fire engines from neighboring states and it has hired “nearly all available private firefighting call-when-needed aircraft in the western United States,” he said.

In all, fire officials have identified 23 major complex fires — those are separate, disconnected fires that are burning within a specific geographic area in close proximity to one another.

Gov. Gavin Newsom remarked on the unique crisis the state faces under the current extreme weather conditions during his own news briefing a few hours later.

“We are experiencing fires, the likes of which we have never seen in many many years,” Newsom said.

The governor declared a state of emergency on Tuesday clearing a path to more easily secure federal grants and firefighting help from other states.

While several fires have been tearing through Southern California for more than a week, Northern California has been particularly hard hit in recent days.

The LNU Lightning Complex fire consists of several blazes throughout Napa and Sonoma counties. Together the fast-moving flames have burned more than 46,000 acres as of Wednesday mid-day and destroyed or damaged about 100 structures, Cal Fire reported. The fires were at zero percent containment.

A mobile home and car burn at Spanish Flat Mobile Villa as the LNU Lightning Complex fires tear through unincorporated Napa County, Calif., on Tuesday.

Noah Berger/AP


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A mobile home and car burn at Spanish Flat Mobile Villa as the LNU Lightning Complex fires tear through unincorporated Napa County, Calif., on Tuesday.

Noah Berger/AP

“A wall of flames roared through the Spanish Flat Mobile Villa … reducing homes to ashes and vehicles to piles of melted metal,” reported KPIX, the CBS affiliate in the Bay Area.

Not far from the wine region, the CSU Lightning Complex fires have consumed more than 85,000 acres across five counties. The burning, which is believed to have been ignited by dry lightning, began on Tuesday morning and has now spread through Santa Clara County, Alameda County, Contra Costa County, San Joaquin County, and Stanislaus County.

It is about 5% contained.

The CZU August Lightning Complex fire is yet another raging blaze. This one is along the coast in San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties. “High night-time temperatures and limited resources” have expanded the fire, which has now reached 10,000 acres, Cal Fire said.

Meanwhile, Southern California is contending with three massive fires that have scorched roughly 73,200 acres and threaten the existence of hundreds of communities.

The Lake Fire has spread across 26,000 acres, the Dome Fire has charred more than 20,000 acres within the Mojave National Preserve, and the Ranch 2 fire has swallowed 4,300 acres. Not one is more than 40% contained.

Although Newsom conceded that firefighting personnel “are stretched in ways that we haven’t seen in many years,” on Wednesday he rejected criticism that the state was unprepared for the onslaught of wildfires.

He noted extensive collaboration with FEMA and other states, including Arizona and Texas, that have been put in place over the years to address such calamities.

“We prepared for it,” Newsom said.

An additional Cal Fire budget boost of $85.6 million “to bring on permanent firefighting forces” was approved by the state legislature earlier this year, despite the economic belt tightening caused by the coronavirus pandemic, Newsom said.

The governor reported 830 additional seasonal fighters have been hired in the last few weeks to combat the active wildfires. And more help is expected to arrive from Texas

The fires are also smothering huge swaths of the state with harmful smoke and ash forcing many who can to remain indoors. But that is also putting stress on the state’s energy infrastructure which is under tremendous strain as the heat wave has triggered rolling blackouts.

And there is little reprieve expected for at least a few days. High temperatures are expected to continue through the end of the week, the National Weather Service said.

Another, unexpected complication that has arisen as a result of the coronavirus pandemic is where to send people who have been evacuated from their homes. Statewide health and safety guidelines require that evacuees not be crammed together in enclosed spaces are they usually when people wait out emergencies.

Source Article from https://www.npr.org/2020/08/19/904086804/1-dead-in-california-fire-as-lightning-strike-fires-push-resources-to-limit

London (CNN)In the months since Covid-19 swept the globe, leaders the world over have been accused of exploiting the pandemic for political gain while laying waste to democratic norms. Few, if any, have gone as far as to reveal those plans publicly.

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    Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/20/politics/trump-assault-on-democracy-intl/index.html

    Image copyright
    Reuters

    Image caption

    Mr Navalny fell ill during a flight, a spokeswoman said

    Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny is unconscious in hospital with suspected poisoning, his spokeswoman has said.

    The anti-corruption campaigner fell ill during a flight and the plane made an emergency landing in Omsk, Kira Yarmysh said, adding that they suspected something had been mixed into his tea.

    The hospital said Mr Navalny was in a stable but serious condition.

    Mr Navalny, 44, is a staunch critic of President Vladimir Putin.

    In June he described a vote on constitutional reforms as a “coup” and a “violation of the constitution”. The reforms allow Mr Putin to serve another two terms in office.

    What has the spokeswoman said?

    Kira Yarmysh, the press secretary for the Anti-Corruption Foundation, which Mr Navalny founded in 2011, tweeted: “This morning Navalny was returning to Moscow from Tomsk.

    “During the flight, he felt ill. The plane made an urgent landing in Omsk. Alexei has toxic poisoning. Right now we are going to hospital.”

    She added: “We suspect that Alexei was poisoned by something mixed into [his] tea. It was the only thing he drank since morning.

    “Doctors are saying that the toxic agent absorbed faster through the hot liquid. Right now Alexei is unconscious.”

    Image copyright
    Reuters

    Image caption

    The emergency hospital in Omsk where Mr Navalny is being treated

    Ms Yarmysh later tweeted that Mr Navalny was in intensive care, on a ventilator and in a coma.

    She said doctors were initially ready to share any information but were now saying the toxicology tests were delayed and were “clearly playing for time, and not saying what they know”.

    The hospital was now full of police officers, she said.

    What are the other reports from the scene?

    The Tass news agency quoted one source at the Omsk Emergency Hospital as saying: “Alexei Anatolyevich Navalny, born in 1976. Poisoning intensive care.”

    However, the deputy head physician of the hospital later told media that it was not certain Mr Navalny had been poisoned, although “natural poisoning” was one of the diagnoses being considered.

    Anatoly Kalinichenko said Mr Navalny was in a stable and serious condition, but did not comment on the threat to his life.

    Video footage on social media shows Mr Navalny being taken on a stretcher to an ambulance on the airport runway.

    Image copyright
    EPA

    Image caption

    A man in Moscow watches social media footage of Mr Navalny being stretchered to an ambulance

    Other disturbing video appears to show a stricken Mr Navalny in pain on the flight.

    Passenger Pavel Lebedev said: “At the start of the flight he went to the toilet and didn’t come back. He started feeling really sick. They struggled to bring him round and he was screaming in pain.”

    Another photograph on social media purports to show Mr Navalny drinking from a cup at a Tomsk airport cafe.

    The Interfax agency said the cafe owners were checking CCTV to see if it could provide any evidence.

    Who is Alexei Navalny?

    He made a name for himself by exposing official corruption, labelling Mr Putin’s United Russia as “the party of crooks and thieves”, and has served several jail terms.

    Media captionPower tools are used to raid Navalny’s foundation in December 2019

    In 2011 he was arrested and imprisoned for 15 days following protests over vote-rigging by Mr Putin’s United Russia party in parliamentary elections.

    Mr Navalny was briefly jailed in July 2013 on embezzlement charges but denounced the sentence as political.

    He attempted to stand in the 2018 presidential race but was barred because of previous fraud convictions in a case he again said was politically motivated.

    Mr Navalny was also given a 30-day jail term in July 2019 after calling for unauthorised protests.

    He was taken ill during that jail sentence. Doctors diagnosed him with “contact dermatitis” but he said he had never had any acute allergic reactions and his own doctor suggested he might have been exposed to “some toxic agent”. Mr Navalny also said he thought he may have been poisoned.

    Mr Navalny also suffered a serious chemical burn to his right eye in 2017 after he was assaulted with antiseptic dye.

    Last year his Anti-Corruption Foundation was officially declared a “foreign agent”, enabling the authorities to subject it to more checks.

    Source Article from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-53844958

    The Democratic Party’s platform was adopted on Tuesday at the Democratic National Convention.

    While it’s described as the most progressive platform in the Democratic Party’s history and pushes the party to left on many issues including health care reform, combating climate change, trade deals, and fighting racial injustice, the 92-page document doesn’t specifically endorse Medicare-for-all or the Green New Deal, two of the top proposals pushed by the party’s progressive wing.

    DEMOCRATS FORMALLY NOMINATE JOE BIDEN FOR PRESIDENT

    And while the platform calls for major police reforms and for removing Confederate symbols from public spaces – in reaction to the mass protests over police brutality against minorities and systemic racism sparked by the death in May of Black man George Floyd while in police custody – it doesn’t call for the defunding of the police. There’s also no language in the document to ban fracking for oil, abolishing ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement), free college tuition for all students, or support for the nationwide legalization of marijuana.

    The 2020 platform had its genesis in the six policy task forces set up this spring by Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and progressive champion Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who was Biden’s last remaining Democratic nomination rival before suspending his campaign and endorsing the former vice president in April.

    While Sanders has said would support the final platform document, hundreds of his convention delegates decided to vote against the platform as part of a symbolic protest.

    Two of them included high profile members of Congress.

    Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, a member of the quartet of first-term progressive congresswomen of color known as The Squad, touted on Saturday that she voted against the party platform, tweeting that “as a party, we must push for a future where every resident has the ability to thrive. That means we need a platform that works to rid our society of oppression and greed. Unfortunately, in my view this platform does not do enough.”

    And progressive Rep. Ro Khanna of California also voted against the platform.

    “The premise of our nation is every person has dignity,” Khanna told Fox News on Tuesday. “Our health care should not depend on what job you have or whether you are employed. During this pandemic, we need to commit to extending Medicare to every American. This has been part of our platform since 1980 and should be part of it again.”

    Democratic Party officials didn’t release the delegate vote totals on the platform – and would only confirm to Fox News that the document was adopted.

    Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/politics/amid-some-dissent-democrats-adopt-party-platform

    Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris delivered her acceptance speech Wednesday night in a room filled with the spirits of generations of women who had gone before her, former Democratic National Committee interim chairwoman Donna Brazile said.

    “There were a lot of people in that room tonight,” Brazile said during Fox News special coverage of the Democratic National Convention. “We didn’t see them, but they were there, their spirits. The love that they have for justice and equality, the love they have for their country. The women who picked cotton, the women who broke their backs just trying to get ahead, she spoke to all of them and many, many more.”

    HARRIS ACCEPTS HISTORIC VP NOMINATION, SAYS ‘THERE IS NO VACCINE FOR RACISM’

    Harris, 55, is the first Black woman on a major party’s presidential ticket. She paid special tribute to her Indian immigrant mother for raising Harris and her sister to be “proud strong Black women” and called out systemic racism that persists in America.

    “The women who picked cotton, the women who broke their backs just trying to get ahead, she spoke to all of them and many many more.”

    — Donna Brazile, Fox News

    At one point, Harris said her vision of American is one “where all are welcome, no matter what we look like, where we come from, or who we love” and a country where “we look out for one another.”

    “She called out their names,” Brazile said. “She gave them a part of this moment. She told their stories, that have never been told, [of] women who were despised simply because of what they look like.”

    Brazile praised Harris for the passion and sincerity with which she conveyed her personal story and commitment to voters, despite the lack of a physical audience due to the coronavirus pandemic.

    DNC EMCEE KERRY WASHINGTON PRAISES ‘HUGELY DIVERSE’ BLACK COMMUNITY FOLLOWING BIDEN GAFFE

    “Tonight, there are so many people who are crying, so many people who are screaming, so many people saying, ‘Now, finally, someone who looks like me can aspire to the highest office in the land,” Brazile said. “And yes, someone who dared to go to a Black college [Harris received her undergraduate degree from Howard University] can now say that ‘I am going to the White House one day.'”

    “I was in the room,” Brazile added. “Let the church say, I was in the room.”

    CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

    “The Five” co-host Juan Williams highlighted Harris’ reminder that “there is no vaccine for racism,” which he said represents her political shift.

    “She was very clear in speaking out the names of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and speaking to the kind of energy and enthusiasm that we’ve seen with that Black Lives Matter movement as it’s hit the streets and really changed the political environment in the country today.”

    “She spoke about family first, about her mother, her dad, her aunts, cousins, nieces, and godchildren, the way she spoke about her sorority and historically Black colleges, suggested that she now understands and is part of the movement of today,” Williams added. “She is buying into the energy, the energy of the Democratic Party as it comes to the table for this election. “

    Fox News’ Marisa Schultz contributed to this report.

    Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/politics/donna-brazile-kamala-dnc-vice-presidential-nominee

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    Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/19/politics/elizabeth-warren-speech-transcript/index.html

    “Things already are hotter and drier earlier in the season,” Mr. Ghilarducci said. “Looming in the background are the public safety power shutoffs that were infamous last year. And if that’s not bad enough, now we have to deal with a worldwide pandemic. In a fire season. With the power off. What else do you want from us?”

    Mr. Ghilarducci’s remarks came as he was helping plan fire precautions that would be announced in July by Gov. Gavin Newsom. Among them: Protocols to beef up fire crews and to prevent the virus from spreading in evacuation centers.

    The new evacuation rules include health screenings upon entry to a shelter, extra cleaning, prepackaged meals, separating evacuees with Covid-19 symptoms, and the repurposing of college dorms, Airbnb houses, campgrounds and hotels into evacuation shelters.

    “We have to think differently,” he said. “We know sticking everybody into a big room at a fairground isn’t going to work this year.”

    But, he added, “there’s no silver bullet.”

    “We’re going to do our damnedest to keep people safe,” Mr. Ghilarducci said in May. “But this is like MacGyver on steroids. And failure is not an option. We have to find a pathway.”

    Reporting was contributed by Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs, Kellen Browning, Thomas Fuller, Shawn Hubler, Christina Morales, Azi Paybarah, Ivan Penn, Derrick Bryson Taylor, Lucy Tompkins, Will Wright and Alan Yuhas.

    Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/19/us/ca-fires.html

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    Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/19/tech/amazon-removes-anti-biden-products/index.html

    This article has been updated.

    Congress is in recess after failing to reach a compromise on a new stimulus package. But Republicans are trying to cobble together a narrow stimulus proposal for when lawmakers return to Washington in September.

    The draft proposal includes reduced unemployment benefits of $300 per week (a reduction from the $600 per week in the CARES Act), and no direct stimulus payments to Americans. The proposal also includes no student loan relief.

    Earlier in August, President Trump signed an executive memorandum that purports to temporarily extend student loan relief for millions of Americans to December 31, 2020. A suspension of student loan payments, interest, and collections provided by the CARES Act was set to expire on September 30.

    But key questions about the President’s memorandum remain, including whether borrowers in default on their student loans are covered by the suspension, whether the extension is automatic or universal, and whether borrowers on track for loan forgiveness programs such as Public Service Loan Forgiveness can continue to make progress during the extended suspension period. The U.S. Department of Education has not issued updated guidance for borrowers.

    Consumer advocacy groups have criticized the President’s executive memorandum as insufficient. “The President’s action on student debt falls short of what Americans need to stay afloat through this unprecedented health and economic crisis,” said the Student Borrower Protection Center in a statement.

    House Democrats passed the HEROES Act in May, which would extend the CARES Act’s student loan payment and interest suspension for an additional 12 months. The HEROES Act would also expand the CARES Act’s protections to include commercially-issued FFEL-program federal student loans, as well as federal Perkins loans, and would provide $10,000 in federal and private student loan forgiveness to borrowers experiencing economic distress. The HEROES Act would also continue enhanced unemployment benefits of $600 per week, and would provide additional relief to states, cities, and hospitals. House Democrats recently passed a separate bill that would also suspend private student loan payments for 12 months.

    Republicans have so far rejected those proposals. House Democrats agreed to compromise on a new stimulus bill earlier in August, reducing the price tag of the HEROES Act from over $3 trillion to approximately $2 trillion, hoping Republicans could meet them halfway (Republicans had previously offered a new stimulus package costing around $1 trillion). But lawmakers could not reach an agreement.

    Even if the latest narrow stimulus proposal could garner enough votes to pass the Republican-controlled Senate, the bill would have to pass the Democratic-controlled House. Democratic congressional leaders have, so far, opposed a narrow stimulus bill.

    Correction: An earlier version of this article referenced unemployment benefits on a per-month basis, rather than a per-week basis.

    Further Reading

    Analysis: Trump’s Vague Student Loan Order Leaves Many Questions Unanswered

    Student Loan Stimulus: Multi-State Coalition Tells DeVos To Take Action As Compromise Hopes Dim

    Second Student Loan Stimulus: Five Possible Scenarios

    Here’s what to do if Congress doesn’t extend student loan relief.

    Trump: “We’re Looking” At Extending Student Loan Payment Suspension

    GOP To Include $1,200 Checks, But No New Student Loan Relief, In Stimulus Bill

    Democrats: Freeze All Student Loan Payments, Interest For 12 Months

    Over 100 Civil Rights Groups Tell Congress: Cancel Student Debt In Next Stimulus Bill

    Rep. Ayanna Pressley: Cancel Student Loan Debt Now

    GOP Concerns Over Costs Could Limit Student Loan Relief In Next Stimulus

    Source Article from https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamminsky/2020/08/19/republicans-propose-new-stimulus-bill-with-no-student-loan-relief-reduced-unemployment-benefits/

    What would you do if you were stuck in an elevator with the potential future president for five minutes?

    Security guard Jacquelyn Brittany, 31, (whose last name has been obscured at her request) almost lost her chance to say something when she escorted Joe Biden up an elevator last year. Brittany, who works as a security guard for the New York Times, remained silent for most of the journey, but when prompted by an aide she blurted out: “I love you, I do. You’re like my favorite!”

    Biden had been on his way to a New York Times editorial board meeting trying to secure the paper’s endorsement. The paper did not endorse him, but Brittany’s endorsement soon eclipsed that fact: the moment was captured on an episode of The Weekly and quickly went viral.

    On Tuesday, Brittany got to endorse Biden again: she was the first person to nominate him for president during the Democratic national convention.

    “I take powerful people up on my elevator all the time,” Brittany said in a prerecorded statement for the convention, which was held online this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

    “When they get off, they go to their important meetings. Me? I just head back to the lobby. But in the short time I spent with Joe Biden, I could tell he really saw me, that he actually cared, that my life meant something to him,” she continued.

    Her nomination appeared to nod at some of the major issues this election: the concerns of middle- and working-class America, the Black Lives Matter movement and the coronavirus pandemic.

    “I knew even when he went into his important meeting, that he’d take my story in there with him. That’s because Joe Biden has room in his heart for more than just himself,” she said.

    She finished by calling Biden her friend: “We’ve been through a lot and have tough days ahead. But nominating someone like that to be in the White House is a good place to start. Thats why I nominate my friend Joe Biden as the next president of the United States,” she said.

    Source Article from https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/aug/19/jacquelyn-brittany-security-guard-nominates-joe-biden

    Former President Barack Obama will sharply criticize his successor on the third night of the virtual Democratic National Convention Wednesday as self-absorbed and self-serving, with “no interest in treating the presidency as anything but one more reality show that he can use to get the attention he craves.”

    On a night that will also see Joe Biden’s running mate Kamala Harris make history as she formally accepts her party’s nomination for vice president, Obama will say that Trump has proven himself of incapable of doing the job he himself held for eight years, a failure with “severe” and deadly consequences.

    “I did hope, for the sake of our country, that Donald Trump might show some interest in taking the job seriously; that he might come to feel the weight of the office and discover some reverence for the democracy that had been placed in his care,” Obama will say, according to excerpts released by organizers.

    “But he never did. He’s shown no interest in putting in the work; no interest in finding common ground; no interest in using the awesome power of his office to help anyone but himself and his friends; no interest in treating the presidency as anything but one more reality show that he can use to get the attention he craves,” Obama will say.

    “Donald Trump hasn’t grown into the job because he can’t. And the consequences of that failure are severe,” Obama will say. “170,000 Americans dead. Millions of jobs gone. Our worst impulses unleashed, our proud reputation around the world badly diminished, and our democratic institutions threatened like never before.”

    Obama will also offer a firsthand account of what is like to work with Biden, who served as his vice president, according to the excerpts.

    Follow the latest from the Democratic National Convention in our DNC live blog.

    Obama will make his speech live at the Museum of the American Revolution, in Philadelphia. The location is intended to underscore that “our very democracy is on the line” in this election, according to a statement from convention organizers released alongside the excerpts of Obama’s remarks.

    The former president will be just one of several big names within the Democratic Party to speak Wednesday night. The evening’s speakers also include Harris, the first woman of color nominated to the presidential ticket of a major political party. She will accept the nomination to be Biden’s running mate in a speech just before Obama’s in which she, too, will take direct aim at Trump.

    “We’re at an inflection point. The constant chaos leaves us adrift. The incompetence makes us feel afraid. The callousness makes us feel alone. It’s a lot,” Harris will say, according to excerpts released by DNC organizers. “We can do better and deserve so much more,” she’ll add, slamming Trump’s “failure of leadership” as something that “has cost lives and livelihoods.”

    “We must elect a president who will bring something different, something better, and do the important work. A president who will bring all of us together — Black, White, Latino, Asian, Indigenous — to achieve the future we collectively want,” she’ll say, according to the excerpts. “We must elect Joe Biden.”

    Clinton, meanwhile, will warn voters that they’ll have no excuse this election to underestimate “how dangerous” Trump is.

    “For four years, people have said to me, ‘I didn’t realize how dangerous he was.’ ‘I wish I could go back and do it over.’ Or worst, ‘I should have voted,’” Clinton will say, according to excerpts released by organizers.

    “Well, this can’t be another woulda coulda shoulda election,” Clinton will say, in a message that will also urge people to “vote like our lives and livelihoods are on the line, because they are.”

    Clinton’s speech is expected to last five to seven minutes and will be delivered live from her living room in Chappaqua, New York.

    Download the NBC News app for alerts and all the latest on the Democratic convention.

    Trump wasted no time in preemptively hitting Obama and Clinton, calling the former president, at a news conference Wednesday afternoon, “so ineffective” and” so terrible.” He alsotweeted, “Welcome, Barack and Crooked Hillary. See you on the field of battle!”

    The two-hour event Wednesday, with programming tied to the theme of “A More Perfect Union,” will focus on efforts to make the American promise a reality for everyone. It will be emceed by actress Kerry Washington and feature performances by singers Billie Eilish and Jennifer Hudson.

    Other speakers include Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., former 2020 presidential candidate Andrew Yang, and former Arizona Rep. Gabby Giffords, who became a gun control activist after she was shot in 2011.

    Pelosi will speak after Clinton during a segment of the programming that will focus on the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment. The amendment ostensibly gave women the right to vote, but Black women did not see the right guaranteed until decades later.

    Source Article from https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/barack-obama-dnc-shred-trump-treating-presidency-one-more-reality-n1237351

    Election officials in the District of Columbia are boosting the number of ballot drop boxes for this autumn’s general election. And they’re not alone.

    Officials in states across the country – including Arizona, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin — are also making similar moves to give voters a safe socially distanced option to cast their ballots amid the coronavirus pandemic.

    EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT VOTING BY MAIL IN 2020

    But the push for more ballot boxes comes as President Trump continues his relentless assault on voting by mail, which he’s repeatedly claimed will lead to massive voter fraud. And it comes as the president and Democrats in Congress battle over increased funding for the U.S. Postal Service ahead of what’s sure to be a massive surge in voting by mail.

    A poll worker wears personal protective equipment as she monitors a ballot drop box for mail-in ballots outside of a polling station during early voting, Aug. 7, 2020, in Miami Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

    A boost in the number of ballot boxes would let a larger percentage of voters bypass mailing in their ballots. After cutting overtime and late deliveries to deal with its budget woes, the Postal Service last week warned states that it couldn’t guarantee that all mail ballots would be received in time to be counted in the November election.

    Following intense pushback across the country, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy – a strong Trump supporter who was appointed by the president – announced this week that he was suspending a number of the cost-cutting changes that had been implemented but that critics argued would hamper the ability of the Postal Service to handle mailed ballots.

    House Democrats cast doubt about DeJoy’s announcement and say they’ll press forward with a vote Saturday to outlaw disruptions to mail service. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi downplayed DeJoy’s announcement as a “temporary pause” in Trump’s “election sabotage campaign.” She said the House Democrats bill would give $25 billion in funding the USPS board had wanted and would prohibit DeJoy from cutting back on mail service during the coronavirus pandemic.

    REPUBLICANS WARN TRUMP’S VOTING BY MAIL ATTACKS COULD BACKFIRE AS PRESIDENT MODIFIES STANCE

    While the fight in the nation’s capital continues, the push for more ballot boxes is coming under attack from the president.

    “Some states use ‘drop boxes’ for the collection of Universal Mail-In Ballots. So who is going to ‘collect’ the Ballots, and what might be done to them prior to tabulation? A Rigged Election? So bad for our Country. Only Absentee Ballots acceptable!” Trump tweeted on Monday.

    But election experts disagree with the president’s claims. They explain that these ballot boxes are designed with security in mind. They are mostly located in secure places, such as county courthouses or election offices and some come equipped with security cameras. Drop boxes located outside such facilities – which allow for 24/7 access by voters to drop off their ballots – are made of sturdy materials like steel and are usually firmly cemented to the ground. They also note that only election officials handle and process the ballots once they’re dropped into the boxes.

    Those who try to tamper with drop boxes would likely face voter fraud charges – leading to fines up to $10,000 and five years behind bars for conviction of an act of fraud.

    Regardless, the president’s re-election campaign and the Republican National Committee (RNC) filed a federal lawsuit against Pennsylvania over drop boxes after Philadelphia and suburban communities used them in their June primary, when a massive 1.4 million ballots were sent by mail. Democratic state lawmakers have countersued.

    TRUMP CAMPAIGN SUES STATE OVER MAIL-IN VOTING ORDER

    The president on Tuesday suggested that a massive shift to mail-in voting in the presidential election could cause so many problems that officials might have to re-do the vote.

    “It will end up being a rigged election or they will never come out with an outcome,” Trump told reporters. “They’ll have to do it again, and nobody wants that.”

    The re-holding of a national election has never happened in American history. And the president doesn’t have the power to reschedule an election.

    While the president continues to rail against universal mailed in ballots, only nine states are planning to vote nearly entirely by mail this year.

    As the president contemplated a re-doing of the election, his campaign and the RNC on Tuesday filed suit against New Jersey after Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy issued an executive order that would send a ballot to every registered voter, but would also allow for in-person voting where desired.

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    Murphy fired back on Wednesday, tweeting “Let me be clear: Vote-by-mail in the November election will keep people safe. Period. The Trump campaign is embarking on a brazen attempt to sow fear and confusion, and to delegitimize our elections and cast doubt on our democratic process.”

    Fox News’ Lissa Kaplan contributed to this report

    Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/politics/democrats-ballot-drop-boxes-usps-trump-security-concerns