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A wooden sculpture of first lady Melania Trump near her hometown in Slovenia was set on fire the night of July 4, according to the artist who commissioned the piece. Brad Downey, a Berlin-based American artist, told Reuters the wooden sculpture near Trump’s hometown of Sevnica was torched. “I want to know why they did it,” Downey told Reuters. He told the newswire the sculpture was removed as soon as police informed him on July 5 of the incident. Downey reportedly said he filed a police report and that he would like to interview the people behind the incident, if...

Two more drugmakers have recalled their metformin products following an FDA warning that it found unacceptable levels of a carcinogen in the drugs. Lupin Pharmaceuticals, based in Mumbai, India, is recalling all lots of its metformin extended-release tablets after finding certain batches were above the acceptable daily intake level for N-Nitrosodimethylamine, NDMA, a carcinogen. Metformin is the generic name for a type of drug that is used to improve blood glucose control in adults with Type 2 diabetes. Granules Pharmaceuticals, based in Hyderabad, India, is recalling 12 lots of its metformin tablets for the same reason. Neither drugmaker said they...

Immigration Will Go Bust Without $1.2B Bailout By Charles Benavidez - Jul 02, 2020, 6:00 PM CDT United States With the Trump administration on a continued anti-immigration tear as a campaign-hedge for November 2020 elections, and as the COVID-19 pandemic rampages on, the American immigration system—largely funded by visa and green card applications—is basically running out of money. Now, it may have to temporarily lay off thousands of workers, and thus potentially bring immigration to a near halt from its already painfully slow crawl.

Many American colleges and universities are considering virtual or hybrid education models for the upcoming Fall semester, due to the COVID-19 precautions. Enter the Immigration Customs and Enforcement Agency (ICE), which announced Tuesday that, if schools opt to cancel in-person classes, their international students will be forced to leave the U.S. in the midst of a global pandemic. According to statistics from the 2018-2019 school year, over 1 million international students will be impacted by the policy. Students and professors alike immediately denounced the xenophobic, harmful decision — and now, universities are using lawsuits and new learning models to fight...

Two House conservatives are calling on President Trump to “immediately withdraw" all troops from Afghanistan and Iraq, arguing the country needs to stop engaging in “endless wars.” In a letter sent to President Trump on Tuesday, House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) said keeping a military presence in the region could mean a loss of power for the U.S. “Throughout your entire presidency, you have worked tirelessly to Make America Great Again. We are confident you will repeat this feat again after this pandemic. However, the United States will not remain a great power for...

Court rules Steele's firm violated Britain's data privacy law by failing to aggressively check allegations in his dossier ================================================================================ British judge ruled Wednesday that Christopher Steele violated a data privacy law by failing to check the accuracy of information in his infamous dossier, ordering the former spy’s firm to pay damages to two businessmen he wrongly accused of making illicit payments in Russia. Justice Mark Warby of the High Court of England and Wales ordered Steele’s firm, Orbis Business Intelligence, to pay a modest 18,000 English pounds – about $22,596 in American currency – each to Petr Aven and Mikhail...

https://thefederalist.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Screen-Shot-2020-07-07-at-5.03.12-PM-998x665.png> The Navy last week asked my husband to sign his name to a new restriction broadly “prohibiting,” in bold letters, a multitude of activities “to include indoor religious services” and even to discourage “in-person use” of “drive-in spiritual services.” While we maintain a faint hope that the military doesn’t really mean to restrict religious practices, the latest restrictions preclude nearly all indoor religious services — even those adhering to COVID-19 guidelines. The Catholic Masses my husband and I attend are vastly better spaced than the grocery or liquor stores where he can shop, or even the authorized Chick-fil-A drive-through...

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is opening a new China-related counterintelligence case about once every 10 hours as it pushes back against Beijing’s expansive campaign to steal American intellectual property (IP) and influence policymakers, FBI director Christopher Wray said in a speech on July 7. Wray warned that Beijing’s counterintelligence and economic espionage operations are the “greatest long-term threat” to the United States’ economic and national security. Its stealing of U.S. technology and trade secrets is on a scale “so massive that it represents one of the largest transfers of wealth in human history,” he said in a speech...

Ho-hum, another day in Tehran, another incident of careless explosive-tank handling. Or so the Iranians want everyone to think, for now. Officials claim that “careless handling” of oxygen tanks triggered an explosion south of Tehran that killed two people in Baghershahr late yesterday. “Human error,” the Iranian regime called it: Two men have been killed in yet another Iran explosion, as officials blamed ‘human error’ for the blast.The explosion rocked the Sepahan Boresh factory in the city of Baqershahr, south of Tehran, in the early hours of Tuesday morning, according to state media.It was caused by ‘workers being negligent...

China, still grappling with the CCP virus pandemic, has been hit with wave after wave of natural disasters across the country. Weeks of torrential rainfall caused some of the worst floodings in decades, wreaking havoc in 26 provinces across central and southern China and disrupting the lives of more than 19 million, according to authorities. In recent weeks, hailstorms and earthquakes also struck parts of the country. Swarming locusts and animal-borne diseases were but the latest of the country’s woes. Close to 50 million Chinese have suffered from some form of natural catastrophe in the first half of 2020, according...

Israel request to buy 990 million gallons of diesel, gasoline and jet fuel from United States The Government of Israel has requested to buy approximately 990 million gallons of diesel, gasoline and jet fuel, the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency said on Monday in an official notification to Congress. According to a recent service notification, the State Department has made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale to the Government of Israel of approximately 990 million gallons of Petroleum-based products for an estimated cost of $3 billion. ”The proposed sale of the JP-8 aviation fuel will enable Israel to...

The withdrawal takes effect July 2021. The Trump administration submitted a notice of withdrawal from the World Health Organization to the United Nations secretary-general, a senior administration official told Fox News on Tuesday, after President Trump for weeks had blasted the WHO’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic and what he called its pro-China bias. The White House also notified congressional lawmakers Tuesday of the official removal, effective July 2021. "Congress received notification that POTUS officially withdrew the U.S. from the @WHO in the midst of a pandemic," Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., tweeted. Menendez argued, "To call Trump’s response to COVID...

Report: In Devastating Blow, Israel Sets Back Iran's Nuke Program Two YearsThe last couple of weeks have seen a string of apparent sabotage incidents in Iran. Questions about them abound. Possible answers are intriguing to say the least. Probably the most significant attack came early Thursday morning at Natanz, when, as the New York Times reported:...A Middle Eastern intelligence official…said the blast was caused by an explosive device planted inside the facility. The explosion, he said, destroyed much of the aboveground parts of the facility where new centrifuges…are balanced before they are put into operation…. ... ... Instead, Iran appears...

BREAKING: The United States Has Officially Withdrawn From The World Health Organization

FBI Director Christopher Wray on Tuesday warned Americans that the Chinese government’s theft of American information is taking place on so large a scale, suspected incidents make up nearly half of his bureau’s counterintelligence cases. Speaking at an event hosted by the Hudson Institute in Washington, Wray said that Chinese thefts amount to “one of the largest transfers of wealth in human history,” and that the American people are the victims.

International students will be forced to leave the U.S. or transfer to another college if their schools offer classes entirely online this fall, under new guidelines issued Monday by federal immigration authorities. The guidelines, issued by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, provide additional pressure for universities to reopen even amid growing concerns about the recent spread of COVID-19 among young adults. Colleges received the guidance the same day that some institutions, including Harvard University, announced that all instruction will be offered remotely. President Trump has insisted that schools and colleges return to in-person instruction as soon as possible. Soon after...

The Eurozone economy will fall into a deeper recession this year than initially thought, and the recovery in 2021 will be less robust, according to an updated economic forecast released by the European Commission on Tuesday. The revised forecast predicts the economy of the 19 nations that use the euro will shrink 8.7% in 2020 before recovering by 6.1% next year. For the 27 countries that comprise the EU, a downturn of 8.3% is expected in 2020, before growing 5.8% in 2021. This means that in 2021 Europe will still be worse off than before the global outbreak of COVID-19...

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro tested positive for the coronavirus Tuesday, hours after telling supporters he felt fine. "It just turned out positive," Bolsonaro said Tuesday, according to CNN Brasil. Bolsonaro underwent a coronavirus test Monday and told supporters he was exhibiting symptoms of infection, including running a fever of 100.4 degrees. Representatives for the presidential palace said Bolsonaro was at home and “in good health.” "I've came back from the hospital now, I've done a lung screening, my lung is clean, OK? I went to do a COVID exam a while ago, but everything is OK," he said Monday, according...

*Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro Says He Tested Positive for Coronavirus *Brazil’s Bolsonaro Has Minimized Severity of Pandemic

First coronavirus, then murder hornets, now bubonic plague?! Authorities in China have responded to one confirmed case of the black death and another suspected case. Both cases emerged in the semi-autonomous region of Inner Mongolia. According to Chinese Communist Party reports, a herdsman in Bayannur contracted bubonic plague and is in quarantine and in stable condition, the BBC reported. Officials also said they were investigating a second case.That case involves a 15-year-old patient who came down with a fever after close contact with a marmot hunted by a dog. #Mongolia discovered another suspected patient infected with the bubonic plague. The...