UK SUSPENDS EXTRADITION TREATY WITH HONG KONG

The UK will suspend its extradition treaty with Hong Kong "immediately and

indefinitely" due to the controversial national security law implemented in

the city by mainland China.

Addressing lawmakers, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab expressed his concerns

over the lack of legal and judicial safeguards for citizens living under the

new national security legislation, warning Beijing that "the United Kingdom

is watching. And the whole world is watching."

"The imposition of this new national security legislation has significantly

changed key assumptions underpinning our extradition treaty arrangements

with Hong Kong," Raab said in the UK Parliament Monday.

"We will not consider reactivating those arrangements unless and until there

are clear and robust safeguards which are able to prevent extradition from

the UK being misused under the new national security legislation," Raab told

the House of Commons.

Raab said the UK sought a "positive, constructive" and reciprocal

relationship with China, but that the new security law was "a clear and

serious violation of the UK-China Joint Declaration and with it a violation

of China's freely assumed international obligations."

He said he was "particularly concerned" about articles 55 to 59 of the law,

which he said gave Chinese authorities the ability to assume jurisdiction

over certain cases, and to try those cases in mainland Chinese courts

without legal or judicial safeguards.

The UK has already said it will provide a path to citizenship for up to 3

million Hong Kongers following China's imposition of the new law, and Raab

said the bespoke immigration route would be ready by early next year, with

details to be announced before Parliament's summer recess begins on

Thursday.

He said he welcomed the fact that Australia, Canada and the US have taken a

range of measures with respect to Hong Kong, including variously export

controls and extradition, as well as measures proposed by the EU on July 13.

China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs accused the UK of a "grave violation of

international law" and "grossly interfering Chinese internal affairs,"

during its regular press briefing on Monday.

NSA HEAD VOWS TO HIT BACK AT NATIONS MEDDLING WITH U.S. VOTE

One of America's top spy chiefs vowed that the US will hit back at foreign

nations attempting to interfere in the 2020 presidential election, a warning

delivered days after fresh charges of Russian hacking against the West.

"We're going to act when we see adversaries attempting to interfere in our

elections," General Paul Nakasone, director of the National Security Agency

and head of US Cyber Command, said Monday during a virtual event hosted by

the Association of the US Army.

NSA efforts to secure the November election include broadening the agency's

interagency partnerships and studying the techniques of US adversaries,

Nakasone added.

"We're going to know our adversaries better than they know themselves," he

said.

Nakasone's comments come after reports of Russian hacking once again

surfaced last week, with the U.K., U.S. and Canada accusing Russia of

attempting to steal international research to develop a Covid-19 vaccine.

Britain also accused Russia of attempting to interfere in the country's

general election last year by disseminating documents relating to trade

talks with the US Russia rejected the charges.

"If any foreign power recklessly chooses to interfere in our democracy, I

will not hesitate to respond as president to impose substantial and lasting

costs," Biden said.

RUSSIA REPORT: LONG-AWAITED PROBE DUE INTO INTERFERENCE IN UK

It has been a long time coming but the British public are finally about to

see the details of the "Russia report".

Nearly a year-and-a-half after it was completed, the report will be

published by Parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee on Tuesday

morning.

It is expected to provide an overview of the threat Russia poses to the UK

and what has been done to counter it.

It comes after allegations of Russian interference in last year's election,

which the Kremlin has said are false.

The report, due to be published at 10:30 BST, is based on secret

intelligence material from the UK's spy agencies as well as contributions

from independent experts.

It is expected to detail the scale of Russian espionage and subversion

against the UK and its allies.

As well as traditional spying and cyber-espionage, it is also expected to

explore Russia's willingness to pursue its enemies abroad, including by

killing them.

The poisoning with nerve agent of Sergei Skripal in Salisbury in 2018 is one

of only a number of recent cases in the UK and across Europe linked to

Moscow.

The report's analysis of Russian interference in the UK political process is

likely to be the most closely read aspect.

PORTLAND PROTESTS: TRUMP THREATENS TO SEND OFFICERS TO MORE US CITIES

President Donald Trump has threatened to send more federal law enforcement

officers to major US cities to control ongoing protests.

Mr Trump on Monday criticised a number of cities run by "liberal Democrats",

including Chicago and New York, saying their leaders were afraid to act.

He said officers sent to Oregon had done a "fantastic job" restoring order

amid days of protests in Portland.

Local officials say the federal officers are making matters worse.

State leaders have demanded Mr Trump remove the personnel from Portland,

accusing him of escalating the situation as a political stunt in an election

year.

Speaking at the White House on Monday, Mr Trump reiterated his call for law

and order.

"We're sending law enforcement," he told reporters. "We can't let this

happen to the cities."

He specifically named New York City, Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit,

Baltimore and Oakland in discussing problems with violence.

"We're not going to let this happen in our country, all run by liberal

Democrats."

TRUMP TRAILS BIDEN; COVID HANDLING TO BE POLL DECIDER

US President Donald Trump faces an uphill task in his re-election bid in

November with his approval rating hitting a record low and Democratic

nominee Joe Biden taking a double-digit lead in key indicators, according to

a survey conducted by the Washington Post and ABC News.

The opinion poll, conducted between July 12 and 15, shows how the Covid

outbreak has adversely affected Trump's prospects. Now, the president's

hopes of winning are pinned on his enthusiastic core base of supporters and

showing the electorate that the pandemic is being dealt with effectively,

The Washington Post said in its report on the ABC News-Post poll.

Among registered voters, Biden, 77, leads Trump, 74, 55 per cent to 40 per

cent. In the same category, Biden led Trump by just two points in March and

by 10 points in May. The survey found that traditional Republican and

Democratic voters are treating the November poll as a referendum on Trump

and not on whether Biden is a more suitable candidate, the report said.

Seventy-two per cent of Trump voters say re-electing the president is

important, while 62 per cent of Biden voters say defeating Trump is the

goal.

The Washington Post-ABC News poll was conducted by phone among a random

American citizens sample of 1,006 adults. Results may have error margin of

plus/minus 3.5 percentage points.

The survey said 54 per cent of Americans believe Biden would handle the

outbreak better than Trump. Only 34 per cent felt Trump was doing well

tackling the pandemic.

In handling of the economy, Biden has made giant strides and is nearly on a

par with Trump in the opinion poll, the ABC News reported. Notably, 48 per

cent of the surveyed 'strongly disapprove' Trump's way of doing his job,

according to the Washington Post's article.

U.S. ADDS 11 COMPANIES TO ECONOMIC BLACKLIST OVER CHINA'S TREATMENT OF

UIGHURS

The U.S. Commerce Department on Monday added 11 Chinese companies implicated

in what it called human rights violations in connection with China's

treatment of its Uighurs in Xinjiang in western China to the U.S. economic

blacklist.

The department said the companies were involved in using forced labor by

Uighurs and other Muslim minority groups. They include numerous textile

companies and two firms the government said were conducting genetic analyses

used to further the repression of Uighurs and other Muslim minorities.

Blacklisted firms cannot buy components from U.S. companies without U.S.

government approval.

It was the third group of companies and institutions in China added to the

U.S. blacklist, after two rounds in which the Trump administration cited 37

entities it said were involved in China's repression in Xinjiang.

DONALD TRUMP TWEETS IMAGE OF HIMSELF WEARING MASK, CALLS IT 'PATRIOTIC'

US President Donald Trump on Monday took to social media to post an image of

himself wearing a face mask and indirectly called the act "patriotic" -- a

clear pivot away from his earlier reluctance to wear a facial covering in

public.

"We are United in our effort to defeat the Invisible China Virus, and many

people say that it is Patriotic to wear a face mask when you can't socially

distance," the President wrote on Twitter with a photo of himself wearing a

Covid mask-- nearly three months after the US Centres for Disease Control

and Prevention (CDC) recommended wearing masks in public.

"There is nobody more Patriotic than me, your favourite President!" he

added.

The image shows Trump wearing a mask with a presidential seal during his

visit to Walter Reed National Military Medical Centre earlier this month --

his first and only time so far donning a facial covering in public after

months of refusing to be seen doing so in public amid the coronavirus

pandemic.

The shift to encouraging mask-wearing was primarily motivated by floundering

poll numbers, a source close to the President told CNN.

DON'T REDEEM THE TALIBAN, URGE AFGHANS

Thousands of Afghans have joined an online campaign to denounce the Taliban,

posting accounts of brutal activity by the insurgents ahead of expected

peace talks.

The United States is hoping to draw down its military involvement in

Afghanistan and draw a close to its longest war after Washington signed a

deal with the Taliban earlier this year.

Stalled talks between the insurgents and the Afghan government are expected

to begin soon, and American soldiers are slated to leave by May 2021 in

exchange for security guarantees.

But many Afghans fear that too many concessions have been granted to secure

the participation of the Taliban. "Giving into terror and appeasing the

Taliban is not the solution," Aziz Hakimi, an Afghan journalist and civil

rights activist wrote on Twitter. The online campaign has generated

thousands of posts condemning human rights abuses committed by the

insurgents, accompanied by a hashtag that translates as "do not redeem the

Taliban".

Kabul-based Twitter user Ejaz Malikzada, 26, said the message had gained

traction as Afghan social media users sought to remind foreign powers not to

sacrifice achievements on human rights made in the last few decades. "By

participating in this hashtag I want to tell those foreigners who insist on

starting peace talks in Afghanistan, they have ignored or forgotten the

crimes and violence committed by the Taliban against Afghan people," he

said.