BIDEN VP PICK: KAMALA HARRIS CHOSEN AS RUNNING MATE

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has named Senator Kamala Harris

as his running mate - the first black woman and Asian American in the role.

Once a rival for the top job, the California senator of Indian-Jamaican

heritage had long been considered the front-runner for the number two slot.

The former California attorney general has been urging police reform amid

nationwide anti-racism protests.

Mr Biden will face President Donald Trump in the election on 3 November.

At a White House news conference on Tuesday, Mr Trump, a Republican,

described Ms Harris as "my number one draft pick".

Ms. Harris, a 55-year-old first-term senator, born in Oakland to a Jamaican

father and Indian mother,

will debate Mr Trump's running mate, Vice-President Mike Pence, on 7 October

in Salt Lake City, Utah.

A woman of colour has never been appointed to a presidential ticket by

either of the two main American political parties. No woman has won the US

presidency either.

Mr Biden tweeted that he had "the great honour" to name Ms Harris as his

number two.

He described her as "a fearless fighter for the little guy, and one of the

country's finest public servants".

Meanwhile, President Trump on Tuesday speculated that men could be

"insulted" by presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden's

promise to pick a woman to be his running mate.

Speaking with Clay Travis on Fox Sports Radio, the president said Biden had

"roped himself into a certain group of people" with his debate stage promise

to pick a woman to share the ticket.

"I would be inclined to go a different route than what he's done," he told

Travis.

RUSSIA'S FAST-TRACK CORONAVIRUS VACCINE DRAWS OUTRAGE OVER SAFETY

Russia's president Vladimir Putin announced on 11 August that the country's

health regulator had become the world's first to approve a coronavirus

vaccine for widespread use - but scientists worldwide have condemned the

decision as dangerously rushed. Russia hasn't completed large trials to test

its safety and efficacy, and rolling out an inadequately vetted vaccine

could put at risk people who receive it, researchers say. It could also

impede global efforts to develop quality COVID-19 immunizations, they

suggest.

"This is a reckless and foolish decision. Mass vaccination with an

improperly tested vaccine is unethical. Any problem with the Russian

vaccination campaign would be disastrous both through its negative effects

on health, but also because it would further set back the acceptance of

vaccines in the population," Francois Balloux, a geneticist at University

College London, said in a statement distributed by the UK Science Media

Centre.

Speaking at a government meeting on Tuesday, Mr. Putin emphasized that the

vaccine has undergone proper testing and proven safe to use.

The Russian leader added that one of his two daughters has received two

shots of the vaccine and is feeling well. "She has taken part in the

experiment," Mr. Putin said.

Russian health-care minister Mikhail Murashko said that the vaccine would be

gradually introduced to citizens, and given to health workers and teachers

first.

Mr, Putin emphasized that the vaccination will be voluntary.

Russian officials have said that large-scale production of the vaccine will

start in September, and mass vaccination may begin as early as October.

"Fast-tracked approval will not make Russia the leader in the race, it will

just expose consumers of the vaccine to unnecessary danger," said Russia's

Association of Clinical Trials Organizations, in urging government officials

to postpone approving the vaccine without completed advanced trials.

LEBANON GOVERNMENT WARNED OF EXPLOSIVES

Lebanese security officials warned the Prime Minister and President last

month that 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate stored in Beirut's port posed a

security risk and could destroy the capital if it exploded, according to

documents seen by Reuters and senior security sources.

Just over two weeks later, the industrial chemicals went up in a massive

blast that obliterated most of the port and swathes of the capital, killed

at least 163 people, injured 6,000 and destroyed 6,000 buildings, according

to municipal authorities.

A report by the General Directorate of State Security on events leading up

to the explosion included a reference to a private letter sent to President

Michel Aoun and Prime Minister Hassan Diab on July 20.

While the content of the letter was not in the report seen by Reuters, a

senior security official said it summed up the findings of a judicial

investigation launched in January which concluded the chemicals needed to be

secured immediately.

The state security report, which confirmed the correspondence to the

President and the Prime Minister, has not previously been reported.

"There was a danger that this material, if stolen, could be used in a

terrorist attack," the official told Reuters.

"At the end of the investigation, Prosecutor General (Ghassan) Oweidat

prepared a final report which was sent to the authorities," he said,

referring to the letter sent to the prime minister and president by the

General Directorate of State Security, which oversees port security.

"I warned them that this could destroy Beirut if it exploded," said the

official, who was involved in writing the letter and declined to be named.

CHINA SEEKS TO TURN IT INTO NEXT HONG KONG, SAYS TAIWAN FOREIGN MINISTER

Taiwan faces an increasingly difficult position as China pressures the

democratic island to accept conditions that would turn it into the next Hong

Kong, its top diplomat told visiting U.S. Health Secretary Alex Azar on

Tuesday.

"Our life has become increasingly difficult as China continues to pressure

Taiwan into accepting its political conditions, conditions that will turn

Taiwan into the next Hong Kong," Foreign Minister Joseph Wu said at a joint

media appearance with Mr. Azar in Taipei.

China has proposed a "one country, two systems" model of autonomy to get

Taiwan to accept its rule, much as it uses in Hong Kong. The proposal has

been rejected in Taiwan by all major parties and the government.

Mr. Wu said Taiwan was lucky to have friends like Mr. Azar in the United

States to help fight for Taiwan's international space.

'Democracy should prevail'

"We know this is not just about Taiwan's status, but about sustaining

democracy in the face of authoritarian aggression. Taiwan must win these

battles so democracy prevails."

The Trump administration has made strengthening its support for the

democratic island a priority as relations with China sour over issues

including human rights and trade.

Mr. Azar is in Taiwan to offer not just the administration's support for its

democracy, but to learn about its successful fight against the coronavirus

pandemic.

US TO LABEL HK IMPORTS AS 'MADE IN CHINA'

A British court said on Tuesday that a police force's use of facial

recognition to hunt for suspects was unlawful, in a ruling that privacy

campaigners hailed as a "major victory" in their fight against the

surveillance technology. In a case that judges described last year as the

first of its kind globally, the Court of Appeal found that South Wales

Police (SWP) - the first British force to adopt the technology - had

breached privacy, data protection and equality regulations.

The appellant, Ed Bridges, a resident of the Welsh capital of Cardiff, lost

an earlier case in September, when the high court dismissed his claim that

police breached his human rights by scanning his face without consent. "The

court has agreed that this dystopian surveillance tool violates our rights

and threatens our liberties," Megan Goulding, a lawyer for civil rights

group Liberty, which represented Bridges, said in a statement. "It is time

for the government to recognise the serious dangers of this intrusive

technology. Facial recognition is a threat to our freedom - it needs to be

banned."

SWP said it would not appeal the judgment, but remained committed to the

careful development and deployment of the technology. "The whole aim of

facial recognition technology is to keep the public safe and assist us in

identifying offenders and protecting communities from individuals who pose a

risk," deputy chief constable Jeremy Vaughan said in a statement.

PAK MINISTER'S CANCELLED BRIEFING ON SAUDI TIES HINTS THE TIFF JUST GOT

WIDER

Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi is in the eye of a diplomatic

storm for his remarks against Organisation of Islamic Conference for its

inaction on the Kashmir issue, which were seen as an indirect attack on

Saudi Arabia, which leads the group.

On Tuesday, he postponed his press conference for the second time amid

reports that Saudi Arabia, a close ally of Pakistan, reacted strongly to his

statements. He is understood to have called the press conference to explain

his remarks in a bid to placate the kingdom. The postponement suggests

Pakistan would have to do more to rectify the situation.

One observer has said his job is now on the line.

Last week, Qureshi asked OIC to "stop dilly-dallying" on convening a meeting

of its Council of Foreign Ministers on Kashmir. "I am once again

respectfully telling OIC that a meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers

is our expectation. If you cannot convene it, then I'll be compelled to ask

Prime Minister Imran Khan to call a meeting of the Islamic countries that

are ready to stand with us on the issue of Kashmir and support the oppressed

Kashmiris," he had told a TV channel.

He said if OIC fails to summon the council of foreign ministers meeting,

Pakistan would be ready to go for a session outside OIC. Pakistan has been

pushing for the foreign ministers' meeting of the 57-member bloc of Muslim

countries, the second largest intergovernmental body after the United

Nations.

Pakistan's Foreign Office, asked about Qureshi's remarks, had later insisted

that it was not against diplomatic norms.

Qureshi said Pakistan skipped the Kuala Lumpur Summit last December on a

Saudi request and now Pakistani Muslims are demanding Riyadh "show

leadership on the issue".

"We have our own sensitivities. You have to realise this. Gulf countries

should understand this," the foreign minister said, adding that he could no

more indulge in diplomatic niceties.

Qureshi made it clear that he was not being emotional and fully understood

the implications of his statement. "It's right, I'm taking a position

despite our good ties with Saudi Arabia," he said.

TALIBAN WARN AGAINST ATTACKS ON FREED PRISONERS GOING HOME

Ahead of an upcoming release of Taliban detainees held in Afghan prisons,

the insurgent group warned the government in Kabul on Tuesday against any

attacks on those released, saying such incidents would jeopardise the peace

talks.

A Taliban spokesman told The Associated Press there have been at least 11

such attacks in the past several months - instances when freed Taliban

figures were killed, harassed and re-arrested by government forces.

Kabul officials denied unwarranted attacks on freed Taliban. The prisoner

release is part of a deal the insurgents signed with the United States

earlier this year. A final 400 Taliban prisoners remain in government

prisons.

Taliban political spokesman Suhail Shaheen warned that attacks on newly

freed prisoners will drive them back to the battlefield despite orders from

their leaders "to stay at home, with their families".

Attacks on their homes will "make it impossible for them to stay in their

homes," Shaheen said.

"Such incidents have happened that they have been re-arrested and also

killed."

Shaheen said the Taliban would be ready "within one week to sit at the

negotiating table" with Kabul's political leadership to first negotiate a

cease-fire and then start the complex talks to decide the road map of a

post-war Afghanistan.

But he said the moment is critical.

CORONAVIRUS BREAKS OUT AGAIN IN NEW ZEALAND AFTER 102 DAYS

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Tuesday said authorities have

found four cases of the coronavirus in one Auckland household from an

unknown source, the first reported cases of local transmission in the

country in 102 days.

Ms. Ardern said Auckland, the nation's largest city, will be moved to Alert

Level 3 from midday Wednesday through midnight Friday, meaning that people

will be asked to stay at home, while bars and many other businesses will be

closed.

These three days will give us time to assess the situation, gather

information, make sure we have widespread contact tracing so we can find out

more about how this case arose and make decisions about how to respond to it

once we have further information, Ms. Ardern said at a hastily called news

conference late Tuesday.

I know that this information will be very difficult to receive, Ms. Ardern

said. We had all hoped not to find ourselves in this position again. But we

had also prepared for it. And as a team, we have also been here before.

She said that traveling into Auckland will be banned unless people live

there and are traveling home.

She said the rest of the country will be raised to Level 2 through Friday,

meaning that mass gatherings will be limited to 100 attendees and people

would need to socially distance themselves from each other.

HONG KONGERS RUSH TO BUY LAI'S PAPER, STOCKS IN HIS COMPANY

Hong Kong's markets watchdog had to urge investors to "exercise extreme

caution" after shares of Next Digital Ltd rose more than 2,000% to a 12-year

high, spurred by an online campaign for its detained owner media tycoon

Jimmy Lai.

Lai was released on bail in the early hours of Wednesday morning, flanked by

his lawyers, and greeted by a throng of supporters who chanted "fight till

the end" and "support apple, have an apple a day", referring to the

pro-democracy tabloid.

Readers had queued from the early hours of Tuesday to get copies of the

newspaper, a day after police raided its offices and took Lai into

detention, the highest-profile arrest under the national law. "Apple Daily

must fight on," the front-page headline read, amid fears the new law is

eroding media freedoms guaranteed when the former British colony returned to

Chinese rule in 1997.

"The prayers and encouragement of many readers and writers make us believe

that as long as there are readers, there will be writers, and that Apple

Daily shall certainly fight on." More than 500,000 copies were printed,

compared with the usual 100,000, the paper said on its website.

Mainland-born Lai, who was smuggled into Hong Kong on a fishing boat when he

was a penniless 12-year-old, is one of the most prominent democracy

activists in the city and an ardent critic of Communist Party rule in

Beijing.

The Beijing-backed China Daily newspaper said in an editorial Lai's arrest

showed "the cost of dancing with the enemy".

Shares in Next Digital, which publishes Apple Daily, surged for a second

day, gaining more than 2,078% from Friday's close, after online

pro-democracy forums called on investors to show support.

Its market value rose as high as HK$5.17 billion ($666.7 million) from some

HK$200 million.

TURKEY SAYS IT WILL LICENSE NEW MEDITERRANEAN AREAS THIS MONTH

Turkey will issue seismic exploration and drilling licenses in new areas of

the eastern Mediterranean by the end of August and continue its operations

in the region, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Tuesday, amid

tensions with Greece.

NATO allies Turkey and Greece at odds over overlapping claims for

hydrocarbon resources in the eastern Mediterranean. Turkey sent a vessel on

Monday to conduct a seismic survey in a disputed area in the region, a move

which Greece said was illegal and stoked tensions.

Speaking at a news conference in Ankara, Cavusoglu said Turkey would issue

new licenses for operations near the western borders of its continental

shelf and continue "all sorts of seismic and drilling operations" in the

area.

BELARUSIAN OPPOSITION LEADER FLEES ABROAD AFTER CLASHES

Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanouskaya said on Tuesday she had

fled abroad for the sake of her children, after two nights of clashes

following the contested re-election of strongman President Alexander

Lukashenko.

Ms. Tikhanouskaya, a 37-year-old former English teacher, emerged from

obscurity to mount the biggest challenge in years to Mr. Lukashenko, taking

her husband's place in the campaign after he was jailed.

"You know, I thought that this whole campaign really had hardened me and

given me so much strength that I could handle anything," she said,

explaining her decision in a sombre video released on her husband's YouTube

channel.

"But, probably, I'm still the weak woman I was in the first place. I have

made a very difficult decision for myself."

Both she and the Belarusian authorities said she had not been forced to

leave.