Presidential candidate bitten by bat 

The Libertarian Party’s candidate in the US election was forced to cancel an appearance at a rally in Louisiana on Saturday after she was bitten by a bat. 

Jo Jorgensen, who is a psychologist and university lecturer, announced the news on Twitter on Friday. 

“I will not be able to attend the campaign rally tomorrow morning. I will be getting a rabies vaccine as a precaution after having been bitten by a bat near the start of this campaign tour!” she tweeted. 

It is unclear where the incident took place.

Ms Jorgensen’s predecessor, Gary Johnson, won just 4 million votes across the country in the 2016 election.

Iran asks UN to hold US accountable for fighter jet incident 

Iran has urged the United Nations to hold the United States accountable for an incident in which two US fighter jets almost collided with a Iranian passenger plane over Syria last month.

In two identical letters sent to the UN secretary general and the UN Security Council on Friday, Majid Takht Ravanchi, the Iranian ambassador to the UN, expressed his country’s strong objection to the near-miss.

He wrote that Iran “expresses its strongest objections against this violation of international law and will pursue the issue through relevant international bodies.”

The Mahan Airlines aircraft “was aggressively and unexpectedly intercepted” by the two US jets on 23 July and had to suddenly change altitude to avoid a crash, according to Mr Ravanchi.

Last month, a spokesperson for the US’ Central Command said that its aircraft were at a “safe distance” of 1,000 metres from the passenger plane.

Hong Kong regulators see limited impact of US sanctions 

Financial regulators in Hong Kong are attempting to downplay market fears on Saturday, after the US imposed sanctions on leading officials in the city on Friday. 

Washington brought the measures against Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam and 10 other politicians for the role it claims they have played in reducing political freedoms in the territory, after the introduction of a controversial new national security law in June. 

Under the sanctions, US companies cannot have dealings with these 11 people, with the Hong Kong government describing the move as “shameless and despicable”. 

Global firms in the city are considering whether to sever ties with local clients as a result of the US’ action. 

Although the restrictions do not directly apply to non-US companies, they could still fall foul of the sanctions. 

Nick Turner, a lawyer who works in sanctions and anti-money laundering, said that “those companies would breach the rules if they dealt with a sanctioned person while also interacting with a U.S. person or the U.S. financial system, for example a bank processing a wire transaction via a U.S. correspondent bank.”

California county to pay residents with coronavirus to stay home

A California country will pay residents who test positive for Covid-19 a stipend to stay at home. 

Alameda County’s $10m (£7.6m) programme will enable 7,500 people to receive $1,250 (£957) each. 

The county’s board took the decision amid worries that people would be unable to pay for food, rent and other bills if they contracted coronavirus and were unable to work. 

Read more here:

Former national security adviser Brent Scowcroft dies at 95 

Brent Scowcroft, the only person ever to have been national security adviser on two separate occasions, has died at the age of 95. 

Lieutenant General Scowcroft, who worked as NSA for Gerald Ford and George HW Bush, was a widely respected figure, who oversaw the evacuation of Saigon and was in charge of strategy during the Gulf War in 1991. 

He was later a leading Republican critic of the US’ policy on Iraq, both before and after its invasion. 

In 2016, he endorsed Hillary Clinton for president. 

Susan Rice, the former NSA to President Obama, was among those who paid tribute to him.

“Brent Scowcroft was kind, wise, generous, and brilliant. The gold standard for national security advisers, a valued mentor and peerless public servant,” she tweeted.

Biden meets with Gov. Whitmer ahead of VP decision

Gretchen Whitmer, the governor of Michigan, travelled to Delaware last weekend to see Joe Biden, according to two high-ranking Democrats in the state. 

The meeting is Mr Biden’s first known in-person session with a potential running partner and comes shortly before he announces his decision.

Gov Whitmer is contention to be Joe Biden’s choice for vice president. Other contenders include senators Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren.

The governor’s office declined to confirm or deny the visit, with a spokesperson adding: “We don’t discuss her personal schedule.”

US postal service incurs heavy losses ahead of November elections

The US postal service has lost $2.2bn from April to June this year, writes Louise Hall. 

Postmaster general Louis DeJoy said the losses came from a decline in the use of mail services and the increased costs incurred by PPE and staff changes. 

“Our financial position is dire, stemming from substantial declines in mail volume, a broken business model and a management strategy that has not adequately addressed these issues,’’ Mr DeJoy said.

The service has frozen management hiring and is seeking approval to offer early retirement to some workers. 

On Thursday, some senior Democrats criticised some of the changes brought in by the postmaster general, which they think “threaten the timely delivery of mail – including medicines for seniors, paychecks for workers and absentee ballots for voters – that is essential to millions of Americans.’’

This criticism comes amid fears about potential delays to postal voting in November’s election. 

Donald Trump has sought to discredit postal voting in recent months by claiming the process is open to fraud, although there is no evidence that this is the case.

US sanctions hitting Huawei hard, company executive says 

A company executive at Huawei has said that the tech giant is running out of processor chips because of US sanctions, meaning it will have to stop production of its most advanced chips.

The telecommunications firm has faced penalties as part of US-China tension over technology and security.

As a result of the US barring it from its technology sector, Huawei will stop producing Kirin chips from 15 September, according to Richard Yu, president of the firm’s consumer unit.

“This is a very big loss for us,” Mr Yu said on Friday at an industry conference.

Sanders introduces tax on billionaires 

Senator Bernie Sanders has introduced legislation to impose a 60 per cent tax on the wealth gained by US billionaires since 18 March.

Under a proposal called the “Make Billionaires Pay Act”, the money generated would go towards funding Medicare and health care for Americans who were struggling financially.

The legislation would target 467 billionaires in the country, all of whom have significantly increased their wealth during the pandemic, a time in which 42.6m workers have filed for unemployment in the US. 

“The legislation I am introducing today will tax the obscene wealth gains billionaires have made during this extraordinary crisis to guarantee healthcare as a right to all for an entire year,” Mr Sanders said on Friday. 

His comments came the day after Mark Zuckerberg, the co-founder of Facebook, became a centibillionaire, meaning his wealth had risen above $100bn.

Trump ally leaves university post after backlash at social media picture 

Jerry Falwell Jr, a Trump ally and high profile evangelical Christian, has left his roles as president and chancellor of a university following criticism over a picture he posted on social media. 

In the photo, which was later deleted, Mr Falwell could be seen with unzipped trousers, his shirt pulled up over his stomach and his arms around a woman. 

Earlier this week, he apologised for the picture.

However, in a statement on Friday afternoon, Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, said Mr Falwell had accepted the board’s request for him to take indefinite leave from his posts.

The Independent’s Phil Thomas has more here: 

Trump to join conference call on Sunday to discuss aid for Lebanon 

The president said on Friday that he will speak with other world leaders about the international response to the devastating explosion in Lebanon earlier this week. 

In a conference call scheduled for Sunday, they will discuss aid to Lebanon.

Mr Trump, who said he had already spoken to the Lebanese president Michel Aoun and the French president Emmanuel Macron, tweeted on Friday that “everyone wants to help” the country. 

The president also confirmed that three US aircraft were on their way to Lebanon with supplies and personnel.

Tuesday’s blast killed 154 people in Beirut and injured 5,000 others.

Foreign states to interfere in US election, intelligence official says 

A top US counterintelligence official has released a public statement warning about foreign state interference in the US election in November, writes Oliver O’Connell. 

William Evanina, director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Centre, cited China, Iran and Russia as examples of countries that would try to influence the result. 

Mr Evanina added that while China and Iran would attempt to undermine Donald Trump, Russia would target Joe Biden’s presidential campaign. 

However, he said that it would be difficult for other countries to manipulate voting at scale.

Trumps gets cheered at press conference for comments on masks 

Donald Trump was cheered by golf club guests in New Jersey on Friday after telling a journalist that they did not have to wear masks because they were at a “political event”.

After a reporter reminded the president at a press conference that 6,000 Americans had died from coronavirus this week, he asked why members of the audience were not following the state’s law which required face coverings to be worn.

“Because it’s a political activity – they have exceptions for political activity. And it’s also a peaceful protest,” Mr Trump replied.

Members of the audience booed the question from the journalist and then cheered at the president’s response.

Mr Trump’s comments came as the Covid-19 death toll in the US passed 160,000, with the spread of the disease showing no sign of slowing down. 

The Independent’s Andrew Buncombe has more on the story here: