REPUBLICAN CONVENTION TOUTS TRUMP, STOKES FEARS IF HE LOSES

On Monday, Mr Trump was officially nominated as a formality to be the

Republican nominee at his party's convention in the city of Charlotte.

Supporters cheered him, chanting: "Four more years!"

The president is due to give a speech to the party jamboree on Thursday. It

is unusual for candidates to address the convention before their formal

acceptance speech.

Mr Trump has repeatedly asserted that expanded mail-in voting - which is

expected to be more prevalent this year amid the coronavirus pandemic - will

lead to "the most corrupt election" in US history.

Mr Trump warned his fellow Republicans their opponents may "steal"

November's election, as his party anointed him as their candidate.

"They're using Covid to defraud the American people," Mr Trump told

delegates on the first day of the party convention in North Carolina.

Mr Trump repeated his much-disputed claims that mail-in ballots could lead

to voter fraud.

"The only way they can take this election away from us is if this is a

rigged election," he said. "We're going to win."

Mr Trump also warned of a "rigged" election in 2016, as he trailed Hillary

Clinton in the polls.

Mr Trump is expected to make more live television appearances on each of the

four days of the convention ahead of his acceptance speech at the White

House.

FIRST DOCUMENTED CORONAVIRUS REINFECTION REPORTED IN HONG KONG

Researchers in Hong Kong on Monday reported what appears to be the first

confirmed case of Covid-19 reinfection, a 33-year-old man who was first

infected by SARS-CoV-2 in late March and then, four and a half months later,

seemingly contracted the virus again while traveling in Europe.

The case raises questions about the durability of immune protection from the

coronavirus. But it was also met with caution by other scientists, who

questioned the extent to which the case pointed to broader concerns about

reinfection.

There have been scattered reports of cases of Covid-19 reinfection. Those

reports, though, have been based on anecdotal evidence and largely

attributed to flaws in testing.

But in this case, researchers at the University of Hong Kong sequenced the

virus from the patient's two infections and found that they did not match,

indicating the second infection was not tied to the first. There was a

difference of 24 nucleotides - the "letters" that make up the virus' RNA -

between the two infections.

"This is the world's first documentation of a patient who recovered from

Covid-19 but got another episode of Covid-19 afterwards," the researchers

said in a statement.

Experts cautioned that this patient's case could be an outlier among the

tens of millions of cases around the world and that immune protection may

generally last longer than just a few months.

World Health Organisation (WHO) epidemiologist Maria Van Kerkhove said on

Monday that there was no need to jump to any conclusions in response to the

Hong Kong case.

"What we are learning about infection is that people do develop an immune

response, and what is not completely clear yet is how strong that immune

response is and for how long that immune response lasts," Van Kerkhove said.

She added she was still reviewing the Hong Kong case.

TIKTOK SAYS IT HAS 'NO CHOICE' BUT TO SUE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION OVER

THREATENED US BAN

TikTok said on Monday that "we simply have no choice" but to sue the Trump

administration over US President Donald Trump's executive order banning

transactions in the United States with the popular short-form video-sharing

app.

In a blog post, TikTok said it strongly disagreed with the White House's

position that the company was a national security threat, saying it had

"taken extraordinary measures to protect the privacy and security of

TikTok's US user data."

It also said the administration has ignored its "extensive efforts" to

address its concerns, and accused Trump of politicizing the dispute by

calling for a ban on TikTok in an Aug. 6 executive order.

"We do not take suing the government lightly," TikTok said. "But with the

Executive Order threatening to bring a ban on our US operations ... we

simply have no choice."

TikTok's complaint was expected to be filed later on Monday.

XI STRESSES CHINA NEEDS INDEPENDENT INNOVATION AS WORLD CHANGES

China must "vigorously enhance the capability to conduct innovation

independently," President Xi Jinping told a meeting of experts in Beijing,

in the latest emphasis on using technological self-reliance to counter a

more hostile external environment.

"The world is undergoing profound changes unseen in a century, which are

being accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic," Xi said at a symposium on

economic and social work on Monday, calling for "breakthroughs in key and

core technologies as soon as possible."

The president reiterated the need to develop the so-called

"dual-circulation" economic model, which positions the domestic market as

the mainstay of the economy. However, Xi stressed that this is not about

"isolated domestic circulation," but rather an open structure that will

involve greater connection with the global system.

China should actively cooperate with "all nations, regions and enterprises

who are willing to work with us, including U.S. states, local areas and

companies," the president said.

Separately, Sing Tao Daily reported Monday that Xi may visit the innovation

hub of Shenzhen in September to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the

establishment of the special economic zone bordering Hong Kong.

If it happens, the visit would be closely watched for any indication on

China's stance on economic opening up and also relations with the U.S.,

which have continued to worsen due to the coronavirus and other issues

including technology and Hong Kong.

CHINA LAUNCHES WARSHIP FOR PAKISTAN NAVY

China has launched first of the four advanced naval warships it is building

for Pakistan, amid deepening defence ties between the two all-weather

allies.

The launching ceremony for the first warship was held at the Hudong Zhonghua

Shipyard in Shanghai on Sunday.

Pakistan-China defence ties turn a new chapter with the launch of the first

ship of Type-054 class frigate, Pakistan's state-run APP news agency

reported.

The Type-054 class, equipped with the latest surface, subsurface, anti-air

weapons, combat management system, and sensors, will be one of the

technologically advanced surface platforms of the Pakistan Navy fleet, the

report said.

Pakistan signed a contract with the China Shipbuilding Trading Company Ltd.

(CSTC) for the delivery of two Type-054 A/P frigates in 2017. Last year, the

Chinese official media reported thatChina would build four advanced frigates

for Pakistan Navy.

The launching of the ship coincided with the second strategic dialogue

between Foreign Minister of China Wang Yi and his Pakistani counterpart Shah

Mahmood Qureshi at the Chinese holiday resort of Hainan on August 21.

ANGELA MERKEL DASHES IMRAN KHAN HOPES TO MAKE PAK SUBS MORE LETHAL, SAYS

WON'T HELP

A top German security panel headed by Chancellor Angela Merkel has turned

down Pakistan's request for supply of air independent propulsion

(AIP)?systems for its submarines that would allow them to stay underwater

for weeks, people familiar with the matter said.

The decision taken by the German Federal Security Council headed by

Chancellor Merkel was conveyed to the Pakistan embassy on August 6, people

cited above said on conditions of anonymity.

Pakistan had made the request for access to the air independent propulsion

system that can recharge submarine batteries without having to surface for

longer periods. Pakistan had proposed the upgrade for submarines in its

inventory and the Yuan class submarines being manufactured under joint

China-Pakistan project in China.

The AIP system would have enhanced the combat capabilities of its submarines

by allowing the diesel engines to run without atmospheric air for a week or

more.

Conventional submarines have to surface almost every second day to run their

air-breathing diesel engines, running the risk of detection.

An Indian official said Germany's refusal to help Prime Minister Imran

Khan's government with this technology would "adversely impact its lethality

and vulnerability".

Pakistan watchers in Delhi said the primary reason for Germany to take a

hard stance on Pakistan's request was being attributed to its role in

promoting terror, particularly Pakistan's failure to cooperate in

identifying the perpetrators of the truck bomb attack on the Germany Embassy

in Kabul in May 2017.

15 KILLED, 75 INJURED IN BOMB ATTACKS IN SOUTH PHILIPPINES

Twin blasts, including a suicide bombing, killed 15 people and injured 75

others on a restive southern Philippine island on Monday, among them

security forces and civilians, with Islamist militants suspected of being

behind the attack.

The bombs went off within an hour of each other in the main town on Jolo

island, a stronghold of Abu Sayyaf, an Islamic State-linked group that has

intensified its campaign in recent years through the use of suicide bombers.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for what was the biggest

attack of its kind in the southern Philippines since January 2019, when a

double suicide bombing at a Jolo church killed more than 20 people and

wounded over 100.

The military said the first blast happened around noon on Monday, when a

homemade bomb in a motorcycle was triggered close to two parked army trucks,

killing soldiers and civilians..

In total, eight members of the security forces, six civilians and the bomber

were killed and 27 security personnel and 48 civilians were wounded in the

attacks on Jolo, one of a chain of mainly Muslim islands in the southwest of

the majority Roman Catholic country.

"We condemn in the strongest possible terms the explosion incidents in

Jolo," presidential spokesman Harry Roque said.

"Authorities are now conducting an investigation, which includes identifying

individuals or groups behind these dastardly attacks."

POMPEO ADDRESS TO REPUBLICANS AT ODDS WITH INSTRUCTION TO HIS OWN DIPLOMATS

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will speak to the Republican National

Convention this week despite having told U.S. diplomats that presidential

appointees may not take part in any such partisan political activity.

The instruction is in an unclassified July 24 cable reviewed by Reuters and

sent to all U.S. diplomatic and consular posts abroad to ensure that State

Department employees comply with U.S. restrictions on their political

activities "even on personal time and outside of the federal workplace."

Mr. Pompeo, an appointee of Republican President Donald Trump widely

believed to harbor presidential aspirations, was scheduled to speak from

Jerusalem to the convention on Tuesday, drawing criticism that he is

violating modern norms on the behaviour of U.S. secretaries of state.

The cable, like all State Department cables, went out under the secretary of

state's name.

"Presidential and political appointees ... may not engage in any partisan

political activity in concert with a partisan campaign, political party, or

partisan political group, even on personal time and outside of the federal

workplace," said the cable, entitled, "2020 Hatch Act/Political Activities."