TRUMP TO GIVE BYTEDANCE 45 DAYS TO DIVEST THE US OPERATIONS OF TIKTOK TO

MICROSOFT

US President Donald Trump told reporters on Friday he planned to sign an

executive order to ban popular short-video app TikTok in the US, where it

has up to 80 million active monthly users. The app - mostly used by people

under 20 - is owned by Chinese company ByteDance.

Several prominent Republican lawmakers in the last two days have backed a

plan by ByteDance to divest the US operations.

US President Donald Trump has agreed to give China's ByteDance 45 days to

negotiate a sale of TikTok to US tech giant Microsoft Corp.

Microsoft said on Sunday that it would continue discussions to acquire

TikTok from Chinese internet giant ByteDance, and that it was aiming to

conclude the negotiations by September 15.

The company made the statement following a conversation between is CEO Satya

Nadella and U.S. President Donald Trump. It said it would ensure that all

private data of TikTok's American users is transferred to and remains in the

United States.

"Microsoft fully appreciates the importance of addressing the President's

concerns. It is committed to acquiring TikTok subject to a complete security

review and providing proper economic benefits to the United States,

including the United States Treasury," Microsoft said in a statement.

The company added that there was no certainty a deal would be reached.

IRAN'S CORONAVIRUS CASE COVER-UP REVEALED IN SHOCKING DATA LEAK

Iran has claimed that 17,190 people have died from COVID-19, according to

Johns Hopkins University which uses government reported data. But a leak has

exposed that the government's actual death toll data is nearly triple what

they have reported. According to the leak, Iran has seen nearly 42,000

deaths.

Iran's government has also been accused of misreporting their case total,

with the actual number being almost double what was reported.

It has seen 451,024 cases of coronavirus, as opposed to the reported

278,827.

Another horrific reveal from the data shows that the first coronavirus death

in Iran was on January 22.

Iran claimed that its first case of the virus on February 19, where 52

people had already died.

The leak contains details of hospital admissions across the country, with

personal information of each patient.

It shows that Tehran, Iran's capital, has seen the highest number of deaths

from COVID-19, with 8,120.

Qom, which was the initial epicentre of the virus, also saw the highest

death rate in the country with 1,419 deaths, equal to one death per 1,000

people.

The health ministry's reported death toll figures for the peak of the

pandemic in mid-March were a shocking five times lower than the official

statistics.

Iranian authorities have been accused of deliberately suppress the

coronavirus deaths because of the data.

The leaked information was sent to the BBC by an anonymous source, but they

could not verify where the source worked or how they obtained the

information.

NASA SPACEX CREW RETURN: DRAGON CAPSULE SPLASHES DOWN

Two American astronauts have splashed down, as the first commercial crewed

mission to the International Space Station returned to Earth.

The SpaceX Dragon Capsule carrying Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken came down in

the Gulf of Mexico just south of Pensacola on Florida's Gulf coast.

A recovery vessel moved in to pick up the vehicle and extricate the men.

The touchdown marks the first crewed US water landing since the final outing

of an Apollo command module 45 years ago.

Hurley's and Behnken's capsule touched the water at about 14:48 EDT (19:48

BST; 18:48 GMT).

"It's truly our honour and privilege," said Hurley as they arrived home.

"On behalf of the SpaceX and Nasa teams, welcome back to Planet Earth.

Thanks for flying SpaceX," SpaceX mission control responded.

President Donald Trump - who attended the capsule's launch two months ago -

hailed its safe return.

"Thank you to all!" he tweeted. "Great to have NASA Astronauts return to

Earth after very successful two month mission."

The successful end to the crew's mission initiates a new era for the

American space agency.

AUSTRALIA'S VICTORIA DECLARES STATE OF DISASTER, SETS CURFEW TO CURB

COVID-19

Australia's second-most populous state of Victoria declared a state of

disaster on Sunday and imposed a nightly curfew for the capital Melbourne as

part of its harshest movement restrictions to date to contain a resurgent

COVID-19.

Melbourne, Australia's second-largest city already under a reimposed

six-week stay-home order, has struggled to rein in the disease, with record

numbers of infections of the new coronavirus reported last week.

On Sunday, Victoria reported 671 infections, one of its highest, and seven

COVID-19 deaths. High numbers of community transmissions and cases of

unknown origins have forced the new restrictions, which will be in place for

six weeks, officials said.

"The current rules have avoided thousands and thousands of cases each day,

and then thousands of people in hospital and many more tragedies than we

have seen. But it is not working fast enough," Victoria Premier Daniel

Andrews told a televised briefing.

A curfew from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. every day will be implemented from Sunday

evening in Melbourne, barring the nearly five million people in the city

from leaving their houses except for work or to receive or give care.

RENOMINATION OF TRUMP TO BE HELD IN PRIVATE: GOP

The vote to renominate President Donald Trump is set to be conducted in

private later this month, without members of the press present, a

spokeswoman for the Republican National Convention said, citing the

coronavirus.

While Trump called off the public components of the convention in Florida

last month, citing spiking cases of the virus across the country, 336

delegates are scheduled to gather in Charlotte, North Carolina, on August 24

to renominate him.

Deaths in the US from coronavirus exceeded 1,000 for a fifth consecutive

day. Texas reported 9,539 daily new cases on Saturday, boosting the state's

total to 430,485 confirmed cases. Reported deaths slowed in Florida, where a

hurricane threat is disrupting efforts to contain the pandemic.

"We are planning for all of the Charlotte activities to be closed press:

Friday, August 21-Monday, 24th given the health restrictions and limitations

in place in the state," the Republican convention spokesperson had told the

Arkansas Democrat Gazette.

"We are working within the parameters set before us by state and local

guidelines regarding the number of people who can attend events."

"We are happy to let you know if this changes, but we are working within the

parameters set before us by state and local guidelines regarding the number

of people who can attend events."

The vote to formally nominate Trump will be livestreamed, according to CNN.

300 TALIBAN PRISONERS FREED DURING CEASEFIRE

A rare ceasefire between the Taliban and Afghan government appeared to hold

for the third and final day on Sunday, with hundreds of militant prisoners

released in a bid to bring peace talks closer.

Calm prevailed across much of Afghanistan, with officials not reporting any

major clashes between the two foes since the truce began on Friday to mark

the Muslim festival of Id al-Adha.

President Ashraf Ghani and the Taliban have both indicated that long-delayed

negotiations could begin straight after Id. In restive Zabul province,

several residents recited poems calling for the ceasefire - only the third

official halt in fighting in nearly two decades of conflict - to be made

permanent. The National Security Council said on Sunday that 300 Taliban

prisoners had been released since Friday, taking the total number of

insurgents freed so far to just over 4,900.

Authorities however have refused to free hundreds of inmates accused of

serious crimes that the insurgents had requested for release.

The Taliban said it has already fulfilled its side of the exchange.

U.K. TO ISSUE COIN TO HONOUR GANDHIJI

Britain is considering minting a coin to commemorate Mahatma Gandhi, amid

growing interest in recognising the contributions of people from the Black,

Asian and other minority ethnic communities.

British Finance Minister Rishi Sunak asked the Royal Mint Advisory Committee

(RMAC) in a letter to pursue recognition of individuals from those

communities, the U.K. Treasury said in an emailed statement late on

Saturday. "RMAC is currently considering a coin to commemorate Gandhi", the

Treasury said. Gandhiji's birthday, October 2, is observed as the

International Day of Non-Violence. As part of a global reassessment of

history, colonialism and racism triggered by the death in May of a Black

man, George Floyd, in the United States after a Minneapolis police officer

knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes, some British institutions have

begun re-examining their past.

Many organisations have taken initiatives to make investments to help the

Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities and to support racial

diversity. Floyd's death has led to global protests against racism,

colonialism and police brutality.

In his letter to the RMAC, Mr. Sunak said members of the BAME communities

have made a "profound contribution" and that the committee should consider

recognising it on the U.K.'s coinage.

THOUSANDS FLEE CALIFORNIA FIRES; STORM ISAIAS LASHES FLORIDA COAST

Nearly 8,000 residents of Riverside County in Southern California were

forced to evacuate their homes on Saturday as a wildfire spread uncontained

across more than 4,000 acres, the County fire department said even as a

tropical storm hit the state of Florida on the other side of the United

States on Sunday.

The fire, dubbed the Apple Fire by local firefighters was reported on Friday

in Cherry Valley, a community about 75 miles east of Los Angeles and had

destroyed at least one family home as of Saturday.

Residents of 2,586 homes, totaling around 7,800 people, had been told to

evacuate, the department said. The fire had grown from 700 acres on Friday

evening to 4,125 acres by Saturday evening and was 0% contained, according

to the County fire department and the California Department of Forestry and

Fire Protection.

Meanwhile, bands of heavy rain from Isaias lashed Florida's east coast on

Sunday while officials dealing with surging cases of the coronavirus kept a

close watch on the weakened tropical storm.

Isaias was downgraded from a hurricane to a tropical storm on Saturday, but

was still expected to bring heavy rain and flooding as it crawled just off

Florida's Atlantic coast. "Don't be fooled by the downgrade," Florida Gov

Ron DeSantis warnedat a news conference.