TRUMP TURNS FAUCI INTO CAMPAIGN PAWN, ASSAILING HIM AS 'IDIOT'

US President Donald Trump, during a call with his re-election campaign

staff, slammed America's top infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci and

called him "a disaster". Trump suggested that the largely respected and

popular doctor was an 'idiot'.

"People are tired of hearing Fauci and all these idiots," Trump said. He

even made fun of his Democratic challenger Joe Biden who said he will listen

to the scientists.

As Fauci criticises the president on his response to the pandemic, Trump

said, "People are tired of Covid." He also said, "Fauci, if we listened to

him, we'd have 700,000 800,000 deaths." Trump added that it would be

counterproductive to fire Fauci before the elections on November 3. The

president's latest attack garnered a defence for the doctor from Republican

Senator Lamar Alexander.

"Fauci is one of our country's most distinguished public servants." Trump's

remarks come a week after Fauci expressed displeasure at the use of a clip

of him in a Trump campaign video about the coronavirus.

Fauci, at various points during the pandemic response, has clarified or

corrected Trump's public comments on the development of Covid-19 treatments

and vaccines.

"Tony Fauci has been the most clear, consistent proponent of the measures

the United States needs to protect itself from a deadly disease," William

Haseltine, a renowned public health expert and former professor at Harvard

Medical School, told CNN.

Trump has implied that if he wins the re-election, he might embrace herd

immunity advocated by his new favourite expert, Dr Scott Atlas. Trump, by

attacking Fauci is arguing that Americans no longer want to listen to

scientists who recommend social distancing and other preventative measures.

Biden in a response to Trump's swipes said, "They're (people) tired of your

lies about this virus. They're tired of watching more Americans die and more

people lose their jobs because you refuse to take this pandemic seriously."

SWEDEN BANS HUAWEI, ZTE FROM UPCOMING 5G NETWORKS ON SECURITY GROUNDS

Sweden on Tuesday banned on security grounds the use of telecom equipment

from China's Huawei and ZTE in its 5G network ahead of a spectrum auction

scheduled for next month, joining other European nations that have

restricted the role of Chinese suppliers.

The Swedish Post and Telecom Authority (PTS) said the setting of the licence

conditions followed assessments by the Swedish Armed Forces and security

service, which called China "one of the biggest threats against Sweden".

European governments have been tightening controls on Chinese companies

building 5G networks, following diplomatic pressure from Washington, which

alleges Huawei equipment could be used by Beijing for spying. Huawei has

repeatedly denied being a national security risk.

The United Kingdom in July ordered Huawei equipment to be purged completely

from Britain's 5G network by 2027, becoming one of the first European

countries to do so.

"The ban leaves network operators with less options and risks slowing the

rollout of 5G in markets where competition is reduced," said Ben Wood, chief

of research at CCS Insight.

AFTER GUJRANWALA, PAKISTAN'S OPPOSITION HOLDS MASS GATHERING AGAINST PM

IMRAN KHAN IN KARACHI

Pakistan Democratic Movement, a coalition of 11 opposition parties, held its

second massive gathering at Bagh-i-Jinnah in Karachi on Sunday. This came

days after the opposition alliance staged a show of power at a public

meeting in Gujranwala against the Pakistan government led by Prime Minister

Imran Khan.

The much-talked-about event in Karachi was attended by Pakistan Peoples

Party (PPP) chief Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz)

vice president Maryam Nawaz. Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party chief Mehmood

Achakzai and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman also

addressed the gathering.

Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari accused Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan and his

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government's decisions, including an Island

Development Authority. "This incapable and clueless prime minister [Imran

Khan] will have to go home," Pakistani news agency Dawn quoted Zardari as

saying at the Karachi event.

Maryam brought up the Kashmir issue, mocking at Imran Khan for the

international humiliation he faced on the matter. She also blamed his

administration of alienating the nation from all the world powers with whom

Pakistan previously had great relations.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was also dragged into the political

debate after Imran Khan alleged that Nawaz Sharif was speaking Modi's

language. This was following a rally by the senior Sharif, currently in

London, where he launched an attack on Pakistan's army chief Qamar Javed

Bajwa.

Maryam retaliated by targeting Imran Khan for presenting Kashmir to India on

a platter, highlighting his desperation to talk to Modi and Khan passing an

overnight ordinance for Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav, all while audaciously

comparing her father with the Indian PM.

The event was a large affair with leaders including Pakistan People's Party

(PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and former prime Minister Shahid

Khaqan Abbasi in attendance.

Following the Karachi rally on Sunday, Maryam's husband Safdar Awan was

arrested by the Karachi police from his hotel room.

U.S. FILES LANDMARK ANTITRUST CASE AGAINST GOOGLE

The Justice Department on Tuesday sued Google for abusing its dominance in

online search and advertising - the government's most significant attempt to

protect competition since its groundbreaking case against Microsoft more

than 20 years ago.

And it could just be an opening salvo. Other major tech companies including

Apple, Amazon and Facebook are under investigation at both the Justice

Department and the Federal Trade Commission.

"Google is the gateway to the internet and a search advertising behemoth,"

US Deputy Attorney General Jeff Rosen told reporters. "It has maintained its

monopoly power through exclusionary practices that are harmful to

competition."

Lawmakers and consumer advocates have long accused Google of abusing its

dominance in online search and advertising.

The case filed in federal court in Washington, DC, alleges that Google uses

billions of dollars collected from advertisers to pay phone manufacturers to

ensure Google is the default search engine on browsers.

That stifles competition and innovation from smaller upstart rivals to

Google and harms consumers by reducing the quality of search and limiting

privacy protections and alternative search options, the government alleges.

NATO TO SET UP NEW SPACE CENTRE AMID CHINA, RUSSIA CONCERNS

This week, the Kester Satellite Ground Station in Belgium is set to fall

under a new orbit, when NATO announces that it is creating a space centre to

help manage satellite communications and key parts of its military

operations around the world.

In December, NATO leaders declared space to be the alliance's "fifth domain"

of operations, after land, sea, air and cyberspace. Over two days of talks

starting on Thursday, NATO defence ministers will greenlight a new space

centre at the alliance's Air Command in Ramstein, Germany.

"This will be a focal point for ensuring space support to NATO operations,

sharing information and coordinating our activities," NATO Secretary-General

Jens Stoltenberg said before the meeting.

It's part of the alliance's efforts to keep ahead in a fast moving and

hi-tech sector, particularly amid concern about what member countries say is

increasingly aggressive behaviour in space by China and Russia.

"Some nations - including Russia and China - are developing anti-satellite

systems, which could blind, disable or shoot down satellites and create

dangerous debris in orbit. We must increase our understanding of the

challenges in space and our ability to address them," Stoltenberg said.

CHINA, RUSSIA USING THEIR GROWING STRENGTH TO VIOLATE SOVEREIGNTY OF SMALLER

STATES: US

US Defence Secretary Mark Esper on Tuesday said China and Russia, by rapidly

modernising their militaries, are using their growing strength to "ignore"

international law, "violate" the sovereignty of smaller states and shift the

balance of power in their favour.

In his address to the Atlantic Council think-tank, Esper also targeted the

One Belt One Road Initiative of China, saying Beijing is using the project

to expand its financial ties across Asia, Europe, Africa and the Americas

with the "ulterior" motive of gaining strategic influence, access to key

resources and military footholds around the world.

"Our primary competitors, China and Russia, are rapidly modernizing their

armed forces and using their growing strength to ignore international law,

violate the sovereignty of smaller states and shift the balance of power in

their favour," said Esper.

"China's militarization of land features in the South China Sea and Russia's

attempted annexation of Crimea and incursion into Eastern Ukraine

demonstrate their brazen attempts to chip away at the autonomy of others and

undermine the resilience and cohesion of countries and institutions critical

to US security, including NATO," he alleged.

Beijing and Moscow are also using broader, yet more subtle means to exert

economic leverage over such nations and institutions and coerce them into

suboptimal security decisions, he said.

"In fact, the smaller the nation and the greater its needs, the heavier the

pressure from Beijing. For example, Belt and Road investments have created

unhealthy economic dependencies in Burma, and they have pushed Laos into an

unsustainable debt burden.

"In Cambodia, China has received generous land entitlements to construct

ports, airfields and associated infrastructure that could be used for

military purposes to extend Beijing's strategic reach," the Defence

Secretary said.

"Helping other nations resist aggressive military posturing, financial

entrapments and other forms of coercion will require them to break from

business as usual. It will require the US to align the department's efforts

and resources for maximum impact and influence, and it will require it to

think and act more strategically and competitively," he said.

FAMILY OF SLAIN SAUDI JOURNALIST SUES SAUDI CROWN PRINCE

The family of slain Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi has filed a federal

lawsuit accusing Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of personally

ordering Khashoggi's brutal execution in order to silence the high-profile

government critic.

The lawsuit was filed on Tuesday in Washington, D.C., on behalf of

Khashoggi's fiancee Hatice Cengiz and Democracy for the Arab World Now or

DAWN, the human rights organization that Khashoggi founded shortly before

his death.

It names Prince Mohammed and a host of Saudi Ministry of Interior officials,

accusing them of a brutal and brazen crime that was the result of weeks of

planning" and premeditation.

Jamal believed anything was possible in America and I place my trust in the

American civil justice system to obtain a measure of justice and

accountability," Ms. Cengiz said in a statement Tuesday.