DONALD TRUMP PRESSES FOR NEW JUSTICE TO REPLACE RUTH BADER GINSBURG AMID

LOOMING ELECTION

President Donald Trump is expected to ignore the dying wish of late Supreme

Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and nominate her replacement in the coming

days in a rush to hurry through a conservative judge before the election.

Ginsburg had hoped that the selection of the next Justice was held after

November's election, stating her 'most fervent wish is that I will not be

replaced until a new president is installed'

But Republican Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell has already pledged a

vote on a Trump nominee.

Trump's attempts to hurry through his own pick, the third Supreme Court

Justice he would have nominated, has already been met with backlash from his

rival, Democratic nominee Joe Biden.

Biden demanded that Trump waits until after the election so the winner can

put forward the nomination.

Trump is expected to whittle down his nomination list from the 20 names he

announced last week to one nominee that will then go through the Senate

vetting process.

Among the current front runners is U.S. Circuit Judge Amy Coney Barrett, 48,

a devout Catholic who holds a strong pro-life stance.

Liberals fear her appointment would result in the removal of the Roe v Wade

judgement that legalizes abortion nationwide.

Once a nominee is named and vetted by the Senate, lengthy confirmation

hearings in the Senate Judiciary normally follow, culminating with a

recommendation on whether the nominee should be confirmed and placed onto

the court.

The decision on the nomination lies solely with the Senate although the Vice

President breaks a tie in the event of a 50/50 split.

The long-term direction of the nation's highest court is at stake as the

closely divided court had five justices with conservative bents and four

liberals, before Ginsburg's death.

If Trump were to choose a conservative judge to replace the liberal

Ginsburg, as expected, the court's conservatives would have more heft with a

6-3 majority.

The president repeatedly touts his success in already nominating two

conservative Supreme Court Justices as one of the biggest achievements of

his term but wishes to extend his influence further.

IRAN DISMISSES US EFFORTS FOR UN SANCTIONS AS CURRENCY DROPS

IranÂ’s president dismissed US efforts to restore all UN sanctions on the

country as mounting economic pressure from Washington pushed the local

currency down to its lowest level ever on Sunday.

IranÂ’s currency dropped to 272,500 to the US dollar at money exchange shops

across Tehran.

The rial has lost more than 30 per cent of its value to the dollar since

June as sweeping US sanctions on Iran continue to crush its ability to sell

oil globally.

IranÂ’s currency was at 32,000 rials to the dollar at the time of TehranÂ’s

2015 nuclear deal with world powers, which was signed by the Obama

administration but which the Trump administration pulled the US out of.

As the currency plummeted, IranÂ’s President Hassan Rouhani slammed the Trump

administrationÂ’s declaration Saturday that all UN sanctions against Iran

have been reimposed because Tehran is not complying with the nuclear deal.

“If America uses its bullying ... and does something in practice, it will

have to face our decisive response,” Rouhani said in a Cabinet meeting

Sunday.

Rouhani said that, if the dealÂ’s remaining signatories fully carry out their

obligations under the agreement, Iran will walk back its steps away from the

deal.

The White House plans to issue an executive order on Monday spelling out how

the US will enforce the restored sanctions, and the State and Treasury

departments are expected to outline how foreign individuals and businesses

will be penalized for violations.

FINCEN FILES: HSBC MOVED PONZI SCHEME MILLIONS DESPITE WARNING

HSBC allowed fraudsters to transfer millions of dollars around the world

even after it had learned of their scam, leaked secret files show.

Britain's biggest bank moved the money through its US business to HSBC

accounts in Hong Kong in 2013 and 2014.

Its role in the $80m (£62m) fraud is detailed in a leak of documents -

banks' "suspicious activity reports" - that have been called the FinCEN

Files.

HSBC says it has always met its legal duties on reporting such activity.

The files show the investment scam, known as a Ponzi scheme, started soon

after the bank was fined $1.9bn (£1.4bn) in the US over money laundering. It

had promised to clamp down on these sorts of practices.

Lawyers for duped investors say the bank should have acted sooner to close

the fraudsters' accounts.

The documents leak includes a series of other revelations - such as the

suggestion one of the biggest banks in the US may have helped a notorious

mobster to move more than $1bn.

The FinCEN Files are a leak of 2,657 documents, at the heart of which are

2,100 suspicious activity reports, or SARs.

HEFTY FINES FOR COVID-19 QUARANTINE BREACHES IN ENGLAND

The U.K. government on Sunday announced new rules, which make it a legal

requirement for people with coronavirus to quarantine, with fines of up to

10,000 pounds imposed on repeat breaches of the stipulated 14-day

self-isolation period to control the spread of the virus.

Downing Street said the new requirements, which will be enforced from

September 28, also come with support payments of 500 pounds for those on

lower incomes who cannot work from home, such as construction workers, and

stand to lose income as a result of the mandatory self-isolation.

The rules come in as Prime Minister Boris Johnson considers further tougher

measures after he warned that the U.K. may now be seeing a second wave

coming in of the deadly virus, with the number of cases continuing to rise.

People who choose to ignore the rules will face significant fines. We need

to do all we can to control the spread of this virus, to prevent the most

vulnerable people from becoming infected, and to protect the NHS (National

Health Service) and save lives, said Mr. Johnson.

And while most people are doing their absolute level best to comply with the

rules, I donÂ’t want to see a situation where people donÂ’t feel they are

financially able to self-isolate. ThatÂ’s why weÂ’re also introducing a new

GBP 500 Test and Trace Support payment for those on low incomes who are

required by NHS Test and Trace to remain at home to help stop the spread of

the virus, he said.

SHARIF MAKES POLITICAL COMEBACK; LAUNCHES SCATHING ATTACK ON ARMY, IMRAN

GOVT

PakistanÂ’s deposed premier Nawaz Sharif on Sunday staged a political

comeback by criticising the powerful Army and said the Opposition was not

against Prime Minister Imran Khan but against those who brought an

“inefficient” man to power.

Addressing the All-Parties Conference (APC) hosted by the Pakistan Peoples

Party (PPP) via a video link aimed at launching a protest movement against

the Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government, the three-time

premier launched a scathing attack on the ruling party for its “failure to

address the basic problems of the people”.

Addressing the conference, Sharif criticised the countryÂ’s powerful

establishment for allegedly supporting Khan.

“Our struggle is not against Imran Khan. Today, our struggle is against

those who installed Imran Khan and who manipulated elections (of 2018) to

bring an inefficient man like him into power and thus destroyed the

country,” he said.

Sharif said that the foremost priority should be to remove “this selected

government and this system”, adding that “if the change is not brought, it

will bring irreversible loss to this country”.

He asked the powerful Army to stay away from politics and follow the

Constitution and vision of the country’s father ‘Quaid-e-Azam’ Muhammad Ali

Jinnah.

“It is very important that our armed forces stay away from our governmental

system according to our Constitution and the QuaidÂ’s speech, and not

interfere with the peopleÂ’s choice. We have made this country a joke in our

own eyes and internationally as well,” he said.

Sharif pointed out that former Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani once said

that there was “a state within a state” in Pakistan.

“It is saddening that the situation has escalated to a state above the

state. This parallel government illness is the root-cause of our problems,”

he said.

U.S. JUDGE BLOCKS GOVT. ORDER TO REMOVE WECHAT

A federal judge has approved a request from a group of WeChat users to delay

looming U.S. government restrictions that could effectively make the popular

app nearly impossible to use.

Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler in California said the governmentÂ’s actions

would affect usersÂ’ First Amendment rights as an effective ban on the app

removes their platform for communication.

WeChat is a messaging-focused app popular with many Chinese-speaking

Americans that serves as a lifeline to friends, family, customers and

business contacts in China. ItÂ’s owned by Chinese tech giant Tencent.

A group of WeChat users had made the request after the U.S. Commerce

Department said on Friday it would bar WeChat from U.S. app stores and keep

it from accessing essential internet services in the country, beginning

Sunday night at 11-59 p.m.

WeChat users had argued the moves targeting the all-in-one app with

instant-messaging, social media and other communication tools would restrict

free speech.

In the ruling, the court said that a WeChat ban “eliminates all meaningful

access to communication in the plaintiffs’ community,” and that an

injunction would be in public interest.

CORONAVIRUS | WHO CLEARS PROTOCOL FOR HERBAL MEDICINE TRIALS

The World Health Organization on Saturday endorsed a protocol for testing

African herbal medicines as potential treatments for the coronavirus and

other epidemics.

COVID-19 has raised the issue of using traditional medicines to battle

contemporary diseases, and the endorsement clearly encouraged testing with

criteria similar to those used for molecules developed by labs in Asia,

Europe or the Americas.

It came months after a bid by the President of Madagascar to promote a drink

based on artemisia, a plant with proven efficacy in malaria treatment, was

met with widespread scorn.

On Saturday, WHO experts and colleagues from two other organisations

“endorsed a protocol for phase III clinical trials of herbal medicine for

COVID-19 as well as a charter and terms of reference for the establishment

of a data and safety monitoring board for herbal medicine clinical trials,”

a statement said.

“Phase III clinical trials are pivotal in fully assessing the safety and

efficacy of a new medical product,” it noted.“If a traditional medicine

product is found to be safe, efficacious and quality-assured, WHO will

recommend (it) for a fast-tracked, large-scale local manufacturing,” Prosper

Tumusiime, a regional WHO director, said.