US ELECTIONS 2020: TRUMP FACES HEADWINDS WITH POLLS 100 DAYS AWAY

With the November election 100 days away, more Americans say the country is

heading in the wrong direction than at any previous point in Donald Trump's

presidency, putting the incumbent in a perilous position as his re-election

bid against Democrat Joe Biden enters a pivotal stretch.

A new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research

also finds Trump's approval for his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic

falling to a new low, with just 32% of Americans supportive of his approach.

Trump's abrupt about-face underscores the reality of the situation he faces

just over three months from Election Day.

The 74-year-old Republican has struggled with setbacks on numerous fronts,

facing mounting criticism over his handling of the coronavirus outbreak and

the resulting economic pain, and failing to land punches on his opponent,

Joe Biden.

In the latest blow to his hopes to be returned to the White House on

November 3, polls released Sunday showed his support cratering in three

critical battleground states.

"The Silent Majority will speak on NOVEMBER THIRD!!! Fake Suppression Polls

& Fake News will not save the Radical Left", Trump thundered on Twitter.

Trump's 77-year-old Democratic rival Biden, who says he is fighting for "the

soul of America," implored voters to make Trump a one-term President.

"In 100 days, we have the chance to set our nation on a new path. One where

we finally live up to our highest ideals and everyone has a fair shot at

success," he tweeted.

Biden's campaign is eager to keep the final months of the campaign focused

squarely on Trump, confident that the former vice president can emerge

victorious if the contest is a referendum on whether the current commander

in chief has succeeded during his four years in office.

Biden has also benefited from Trump landing on the wrong side of the public

in his initial reactions to the pandemic. For example, 3 in 4 Americans back

requiring people to wear masks in public, which Trump initially dismissed.

The president has also lost support over his handling of historic uprisings

against racism and police brutality, angering local communities with

incendiary rhetoric and a pledge to "surge" federal agents into numerous

major US cities.

Another pandemic test for the president lies ahead in August and September,

as Trump and his administration aggressively try to sell a skeptical public

on reopening schools.

One of the most concrete signs that Trump recognized he had gone off course

came this month, when he demoted longtime campaign manager Brad Parscale,

replacing him with experienced GOP operative Bill Stepien.

Privately, Trump's political aides and allies have spent months trying to

sound the alarm bells for the president, warning that he could lose the

Midwestern battlegrounds he carried in 2016, as well as some reliably red

states, if the trajectory - both of his campaign and the virus - continues.

UK TO PAUSE REPORTING COVID-19 DEATHS, REVIEW METHODOLOGY

The UK said it would pause reporting on coronavirus deaths while it reviews

how they are calculated.

Last week, the government said deaths in England were counted as due to

coronavirus if the deceased person had the disease at any time. Scotland,

Wales and Northern Ireland would only record deaths as related to the virus

if they had had a positive test within 28 days.

In updated figures posted Sunday, the total number of Covid-19-associated

deaths in the UK is now 45,752.

WUHAN LAB CREATING ANTHRAX-LIKE PATHOGENS IN PAKISTAN: REPORT

Pakistan and China have concluded a secret deal to expand potential

biowarfare capabilities, including running research projects related to the

deadly anthrax, an Australian media report has alleged, prompting Pakistan

to dismiss it as a "politically motivated and fake story".

In an article published on July 23, investigative newspaper Klaxon said

China's Wuhan Institute of Virology has signed a covert three-year deal with

Pakistan military's Defense Science and Technology Organization to

collaborate research in "emerging infectious diseases". Pakistan's foreign

office (FO), on Sunday, described the article as a "politically motivated

and fake story" and said it was composed of "distortion of facts and

fabrications that quote anonymous sources". "There is nothing secret about

the Bio-Safety Level-3 (BSL-3) Laboratory of Pakistan referred to in the

report. Pakistan has been sharing information about the facility with the

States Parties to the Biological and Toxins Weapons Convention (BTWC) in its

submission of Confidence Building Measures," the FO said.

Quoting anonymous intelligence sources, Klaxon said the China-funded project

has conducted "successful soil sampling tests" to isolate Bacillus

Thuringiensis, which has a "striking similarity" to Bacillus Anthracis - or

anthrax, a classified bio-warfare agent. "Considering the striking

similarity between BT and Bacillus Anthracis, (Pakistan's) improved know-how

in handling the bacteria could enrich a potential offensive biological

programme," one source said. The Wuhan lab was providing "extensive training

on manipulation of pathogens and bio-informatics" to Pakistani scientists

"to help Pakistan develop its own virus collection database", the report

said.

"This could help Pakistan enhance its capability of genetic identification

of viruses, access to dangerous microorganisms, and use of genomic tools for

research and infectious diseases," an intelligence source said.

UK PLANS TO FIGHT OBESITY WITH AD BANS, MORE CALORIE LABELS

The UK imposed strict new limits on junk food advertising as ministers seek

to control the country's growing obesity problem, which has also been

identified as a factor in coronavirus deaths.

Plans include banning the advertising of foods high in fat, sugar or salt on

television and online before 9pm, the country's health and social care

department said Monday. The government will also end buy-one-get-one-free

promotions on sugary treats and require calorie labels on more products in

stores as well as in restaurants. It's starting a consultation on putting

calorie counts on alcoholic beverages.

"Losing weight is hard, but with some small changes we can all feel fitter

and healthier," Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in a statement. "If we all

do our bit, we can reduce our health risks."

The curbs pile more pressure on food, retail, advertising and media

industries already suffering from the economic lockdown imposed to control

the coronavirus pandemic, with thousands of jobs under threat. They're also

a change of tack for Johnson, who's previously complained about "nanny

state" meddling in the lives of ordinary people. But the pandemic and his

own brush with death in April persuaded him of the need to act on obesity.

Almost two-thirds of British adults are overweight and one in three children

leave primary school weighing too much, the health department said. Being

too heavy also puts people at greater risk from coronavirus and places

additional strain on the National Health Service.

AFGHAN FORCES ARE RE-ARRESTING FREED PRISONERS, SAYS TALIBAN

The Taliban accused Afghan security forces on Sunday of re-arresting

insurgents who had been released as part of a crucial prisoner swap meant to

kick-start peace talks. It said the National Directorate of Security (NDS)

had detained an unspecified number of insurgents released under the exchange

programme, warning Kabul would "bear responsibility for the consequences".

"They are incessantly raided, detained and put behind the bar by NDS of the

Kabul (administration)," Taliban political spokesman Suhail Shaheen said on

Twitter. Javid Faisal, the spokesman for Afghanistan's National Security

Council, said the claim was "incorrect". "It is their way of sabotaging the

peace efforts and the peace talks that should start," he said.

The prisoner swap has been a major stumbling block in getting Kabul and the

Taliban to start peace talks. Under a deal between the U.S. and the Taliban,

the Afghan government is supposed to release 5,000 insurgent prisoners while

the Taliban free 1,000 government inmates.

Kabul has released most of the 5,000 but the NDS has said some of the

Taliban inmates are returning to the battlefield. Peace talks were

originally supposed to begin March 10 but the deadline passed amid political

disarray in Kabul and as the prisoner swap stalled. In the months since,

violence levels have soared across Afghanistan, with the Taliban carrying

out near-daily attacks against security forces.

TROPICAL STORM HANNA FLATTENS COVID-HIT TEXAS COAST

Hurricane Hanna's trail of devastation on the south Texas coast on Sunday

was marked by overturned tractor-trailer trucks, downed powerlines and

roofless houses still threatened by flash flooding in an area already badly

hit by COVID-19 infections.

Eventually downgraded to a tropical storm, Hanna came ashore on Padre Island

on Saturday afternoon as a Category 1 hurricane on the five-step

Saffir-Simpson scale and later made a second landfall in Kenedy County,

Texas.

Powerful winds smacked down at least three 18-wheeler trucks and a

recreational vehicle, with tow trucks trying to right the toppled vehicles

on Sunday, shutting down a 2-mile stretch of U.S. Route 77 in Sarita, Texas,

near the Mexican border.

In Port Mansfield, winds flattened sugarcane fields and levelled trees. Deer

roamed streets, stopping to nibble downed branches in the yards of modest

homes, some that lost their roofs.

At one point more than 283,000 homes and businesses were without electricity

but the figure fell to 230,000 by Sunday afternoon, according to

poweroutage.us. But some locals took advantage of the wild weather, with

Alejandero Carcano, 16, and Jesse Garewal, 18, both residents of Galveston,

surfing the high swells whipped up by Hanna.

Weakening as it headed west over land, Hanna's center on Sunday was about 40

miles (65 km) from McAllen, Texas and about 65 miles (105 km) from

Monterrey, Mexico, the U.S. National Hurricane Centre (NHC) said.

At 4 a.m. CDT (0900 GMT), the storm's top sustained winds were around 60

miles per hour (95 km per hour), the center said. The White House approved

an emergency disaster declaration for Texas.