BIDEN-HARRIS ADMIN WILL MAKE US A SOCIALIST COUNTRY: TOP REPUBLCIAN LEADERS

Making a passionate plea to re-elect Republican Donald Trump at the 2020

Republican National Convention, Top Indian-American politician, Nikki Haley

said that the United States President has a "record of strength and

success", while his Democratic rival Joe Biden has a "record of weakness and

failure."

Haley, who was the former US Ambassador to the United Nations, on the first

day of the Republican National Convention warned Americans that a

Biden-(Kamala) Harris administration would lead the country on the path of

socialism, which has failed everywhere in the world.

Joe Biden is good for Iran and ISIS. great for Communist China... and he's a

godsend to everyone who wants America to apologise, abstain, and abandon our

values. Donald Trump takes a different approach. He's tough on China, and he

took on ISIS and won. And he tells the world what it needs to hear," Haley

said.

"A Biden-Harris administration would be much, much worse. Last time, Joe's

boss was Obama. this time, it would be Pelosi, Sanders, and the Squad. Their

vision for America is socialism. And we know that socialism has failed

everywhere.

Haley, the two-term Governor of South Carolina, is the only Indian-American

leader to be featured in the list of RNC speakers released by the Trump

campaign on Sunday.

This is probably for the first time that Haley criticised Harris after she

was picked by Biden early this month as the vice presidential candidate.

Trump's son Donald Trump Jr alleged that Biden's radical leftwing policies

would stop US economic recovery cold. "He's already talking about shutting

the country down -again. It's madness," he said. "Joe Biden and the radical

left are also now coming for our freedom of speech and want to bully us into

submission. If they get their way, it will no longer be the Silent Majority,

it will be the Silenced Majority," Trump Jr said.

The Biden-Harris duo was also criticised by Senator Tim Scott.

"Joe Biden's radical Democrats are trying to permanently transform what it

means to be an American. Make no mistake: Joe Biden and Kamala Harris want a

cultural revolution. A fundamentally different America," Senator Scott said.

AFGHANISTAN ASKS PAKISTAN TO CARRY OUT UN SANCTIONS ON TALIBAN

Afghanistan asked Pakistan on Tuesday to fully implement UN Security Council

sanctions on terrorist groups and individuals even as foreign minister Shah

Mahmood Qureshi held talks with a Taliban delegation that included several

sanctioned leaders.

On August 18, Pakistan's Foreign Office issued a statutory regulatory order

to enforce UN sanctions, which include a freeze on assets, a travel ban and

denying access to weapons, against scores of operatives of the Taliban and

Haqqani Network.

Less than a week later, a Taliban delegation led by Mullah Abdul Ghani

Baradar, the deputy political chief of the group, arrived in Islamabad on

Monday at the Pakistan government's invitation for talks on the Afghan peace

process.

A statement issued by Afghanistan's foreign ministry said the notification

issued by Pakistan on implementing the UN Security Council sanctions had

been "carefully considered and thoroughly reviewed..Afghanistan "urges the

government of...Pakistan to abide by its obligations and its international

responsibilities to implement the above-mentioned resolutions and to be

committed to their full implementation."

IRAN WON'T ACCEPT ANY DEMANDS BEYOND 2015 NUCLEAR DEAL

Iran won't accept any additional demands beyond its commitments under the

2015 nuclear deal, the country's top nuclear official declared Tuesday as

the chief of the UN nuclear watchdog was visiting Iran, the official IRNA

news agency reported.

Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency arrived in

Iran on Monday to press for access to sites where authorities are thought to

have stored or used undeclared nuclear material.

The visit comes as the U.S. is pushing to snapback UN sanctions on Iran for

allegedly violating the nuclear deal with world powers, which the Trump

administration unilaterally withdrew from two years ago.

The IAEA repeatedly found Iran in compliance with the agreement until last

year, when Tehran started openly exceeding some of the deal's limits on

nuclear enrichment in response to heavy U.S. sanctions.

Ali Akbar Salehi spoke during a joint press conference in Tehran with

Grossi.

Definitely Iran will not accept demands beyond (its) nuclear commitments. We

do act based on our own national interests, Mr. Salehi said. The report by

IRNA did not elaborate.

In a tweet, Mr. Grossi acknowledged his meeting with Mr. Salehi on Tuesday.

We are working on reaching an agreement on (IAEA)'s safeguards verification

activities in Iran, Mr. Grossi wrote, without elaborating.

ANTIBODY THAT MAY PROTECT AGAINST VIRUS IDENTIFIED

Scientists have identified a human antibody that they say may potentially

prevent or limit SARS-CoV-2 infection that causes Covid-19 disease.

The researchers from the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS)

in the US discovered and characterised a cross-reactive human monoclonal

antibody (MAB) to SARS-CoV-2 spike proteins which blocks ACE2 receptor

binding on the mucosal tissue of the respiratory tract.

The origins of this rapid and important discovery go back 16 years, when the

researchers at UMMS developed an IgG monoclonal antibody that was effective

against a similar virus, SARS, according to the study published in the

journal Nature Communications.

When SARS-CoV-2 was recognised and began to spread, the researchers realised

that the first MAB might help with this new infection. They launched the

process of resurrecting the old SARS programme, retrieving frozen cells that

had been developed 16 years earlier, thawing them and determining if what

worked for one novel coronavirus would work for another. Although there was

90 per cent similarity between the two coronaviruses, the monoclonal

antibody exhibited no binding to the current coronavirus, the researchers

said.

POMPEO ARRIVES IN BAHRAIN, URGES SEIZING MOMENTUM OF UAE-ISRAEL DEAL

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in the Gulf state of Bahrain on

Tuesday as part of a Middle East tour following an accord between Israel and

the United Arab Emirates to normalise relations.

Israel and the United States have said they are pushing more Arab countries

to follow suit. Israel's intelligence minister has mentioned Bahrain as a

possible candidate.

"Glad to arrive in the Gulf today ... We need Gulf unity now more than ever

to counter Iran and to build lasting peace and prosperity," Mr. Pompeo said

on Twitter.

'SABOTAGE EFFORT TO EXIT GREY LIST': IMRAN KHAN STINGS OPPN FOR DEFEATING

FATF-LINKED BILLS

Prime Minister Imran Khan, who has lately gone on an overdrive to dodge the

global dirty money watchdog's blacklist, on Tuesday suffered a huge setback

when Pakistan's Senate defeated two legislations that were seen to be

critical to efforts to get his country off the hook at the next Financial

Action Task Force review.

Khan announced the defeat of the two legislations on Twitter, delivering his

sharpest takedown of opposition leaders who he tweeted, were trying to save

their "corrupt money" and "sabotage Pak efforts to exit FATF grey list".

"Opposition tries to hide behind facade of democracy to protect their loot &

plunder. To blackmail for NRO (National Reconciliation Ordinance) by

defanging NAB (National Accountability Bureau, they would even have Pak put

on FATF black list to destroy nation's economy & increase poverty," Imran

Khan said.

Over the last one week, Khan has enacted laws and designated over 100 people

as terrorists to evade the blacklist at the next FATF?review expected in

October.

Khan's government had been able to get the two legislations - Anti-Money

Laundering (Second Amendment) Bill and the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT)

Waqf Properties Bill - cleared by Pakistan's lower house after a heated

debate that mostly centered around the role of the National Accountability

Bureau.

But the twin legislations appeared to have hit a roadblock in the Senate.

An upset Khan turned to Twitter, venting against the opposition leaders.

Khan said the opposition leaders were looking for an immunity deal like the

one offered by ex-President Pervez Musharraf back in 2007.

GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER HEADS TO GREECE, TURKEY AS REGIONAL TENSION MOUNTS

Germany's Foreign Minister Heiko Maas was heading to Greece and Turkey on

Tuesday in an effort to ease increasing tension between the two neighbours,

which are at loggerheads over prospecting rights in the eastern

Mediterranean.

In response to the vessel Oruc Reis's operations, Greece put its armed

forces on alert and sent warships to shadow the Turkish vessels.

"Turkey and Greece are our NATO allies. There can only be solutions for the

disputed questions surrounding the gas deposits in the eastern Mediterranean

on the basis of international law and in sincere dialogue," Mr. Maas said

before his visit to the two countries.

"The tensions are not just weighing on the relationship between the EU and

Turkey. A further escalation can only damage all sides, but above all those

immediately involved on the spot."

Greece says the area in which the Oruc Reis has been operating overlaps its

own continental shelf and has demanded Turkey withdraw the ship. Ankara

responded by extending its notification to shipping, known as a Navtex,

about the research vessel's operations to Aug. 27.

Athens retorted by declaring it will carry out a three-day military exercise

in the area. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned that "as of now,

Greece will be the only one responsible for any negative development in the

region," and said the military exercise "endangers the coastal and

navigational safety of all ships in the region."

The escalating tension has raised concerns of potential conflict between the

two regional rivals, which have come to the brink of war three times since

the mid-1970s, including once over prospecting rights in the Aegean Sea.

MORE THAN HALF A MILLION PEOPLE ORDERED TO FLEE U.S. COAST AHEAD OF

HURRICANE LAURA

In the largest U.S. evacuation of the pandemic, more than half a million

people were ordered to flee the Gulf Coast on Tuesday as Laura strengthened

into a hurricane that forecasters said could slam Texas and Louisiana with

ferocious winds, heavy flooding and the power to push seawater miles inland.

More than 385,000 residents were told to flee the Texas cities of Beaumont,

Galveston and Port Arthur, and another 200,000 were ordered to leave

low-lying Calcasieu Parish in southwestern Louisiana, where forecasters said

as much as 13 feet of storm surge topped by waves could submerge whole

communities.

The National Hurricane Center projected that Laura would draw energy from

warm Gulf waters and become a Category 3 hurricane before making landfall

late Wednesday or early Thursday, with winds of around 185 kmph. The

strengthening may slow or stop just before landfall, forecasters said.

"The waters are warm enough everywhere there to support a major hurricane,

Category 3 or even higher. The waters are very warm where the storm is now

and will be for the entire path up until the Gulf Coast," National Hurricane

Center Deputy Director Ed Rappaport said.