The U.S. Navy says it has its first Black female fighter pilot.The Naval Air Training Command tweeted that Lt. j.g. Madeline Swegle is the Navy’s “first known Black female [tactical aircraft] pilot.”The 2017 Naval Academy graduate recently completed her Tactical Aircraft training and will receive her “Wings of Gold” insignia later this month.Military.com says that a 2018 investigation it conducted with Navy-provided data revealed that only 1.9 percent of the service’s pilots assigned to fighter jets were Black.   Swegle is assigned to the Redhawks of Training Squadron 21 in Kingsville, Texas.     
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Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro spent his first week in isolation doing the things he’d scoffed at for months: wearing a face mask and practicing social distancing.Bolsonaro, who said Tuesday he had tested positive for the coronavirus, is taking the unproven drug hydroxychloroquine. On Saturday, his wife said her test and those of her two daughters came back negative.Bolsonaro, who said his symptoms are aches, fever and malaise, has a new routine of virtual meetings and Facebook live broadcasts spent in the company of a few aides who had previously tested positive. Not so long ago Bolsonaro was attending rallies and going out to mix and mingle.“I’m sorry I can’t interact with you here. Not even next week will it be possible, because I think I will not yet be completely free of the virus, so I will not have anyone on my side here,” Bolsonaro said on his weekly Facebook broadcast Thursday.Brazil, with 1,071 new deaths Saturday, has a total of nearly 71,500 deaths and 1.9 million confirmed cases. The South American nation trails only the United States in cases and deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data.Worldwide, there are more than 12.6 million confirmed cases and more than 560,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins.In Iran on Saturday, President Hassan Rouhani said the nation’s economy must stay open despite a rise in the number of coronavirus infections. He called for a ban on large gatherings, such as at weddings and wakes, to limit the spread of the virus.Iran reported Saturday that in the previous 24 hours, there had been 2,397 new COVID-19 cases and 188 deaths related to the virus, for a more than 255,000 confirmed cases and a death toll of more than 12,600. The country, which has a population of more than 80 million, ranks ninth globally in the number of cases and deaths due to the coronavirus.“We must ban ceremonies and gatherings all over the country, whether it be wakes, weddings or parties,” Rouhani said, according to a Reuters report. Shortly after he spoke, Tehran police closed all wedding and mourning venues until further notice, the wire service reported.Also Saturday, in India, Biocon, an Indian biopharmaceutical company, told Reuters it had received regulatory approval for its drug Itolizumab to be used in India on coronavirus-infected patients suffering from moderate to severe respiratory distress.Itolizumab also is used to cure the skin disease psoriasis.India, with a population of nearly 1.4 billion people, has recorded 820,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and a death toll of 22,000.In Australia, Victoria’s capital city of Melbourne has begun a six-week lockdown because of a spike in coronavirus cases.“Nobody is enjoying being locked at home. It is frustrating, it is challenging, but the strategy will be successful if we all play our part,” Daniel Andrews, the premier of Victoria state, said Saturday.Victoria reported 216 new cases Saturday, down from 288 Friday.“We will see more and more additional cases,” Andrews said. “This is going to be with us for months and months.”Australia’s seven other states and territories reported 11 new cases Saturday.Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious-disease expert, warned that the pandemic is worsening in the U.S. because the country lacks a coherent strategy to contain the virus.“As a country, when we compare ourselves to other countries, I don’t think you can say we are doing great. I mean, we’re just not,” Fauci said in a recent interview.Fauci suggested earlier this week that states struggling to combat the virus “should seriously look at shutting down,” despite state efforts to reopen in order to revive their economies.Dozens of U.S. Marines have been infected on the Japanese island of Okinawa, officials said. They said the U.S. military asked that the exact figure not be released.“We now have strong doubts that the U.S. military has taken adequate disease prevention measures,” Gov. Denny Tamaki told reporters.On Saturday, the United States reported more than 66,000 new infections, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the latest in a string of record-breaking days.The U.S. remains the hardest-hit country, with about one-quarter of all confirmed infections and fatalities worldwide. As of late Saturday, more than 3.2 million people in the U.S. had contracted the virus and more than 134,000 had died from the disease, according to Johns Hopkins University.On Saturday, Disney World in the Southern U.S. state of Florida opened to tourists after nearly four months, with guidelines in place to help prevent spreading the coronavirus.Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom reopened Saturday; Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios will open next week.Among the many guidelines put in place: a mandatory mask rule, social distancing required; guests will not be allowed to hop between parks; and the popular daily fireworks shows and parades have been suspended to help limit drawing large crowds.  
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Former special counsel Robert Mueller sharply defended his investigation into ties between Russia and Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, writing in a newspaper opinion piece Saturday that the probe was of “paramount importance” and asserting that Trump ally Roger Stone “remains a convicted felon” despite the president’s decision to commute his sentence.The op-ed in The Washington Post marked Mueller’s first public statement on his investigation since his congressional appearance last July. It represented his firmest defense of the two-year probe, whose results have come under attack and even been partially undone by the Trump administration, including the president’s extraordinary move Friday evening to grant clemency to Stone just days before he was to report to prison.Mueller said that though he had intended for his 448-page report on the investigation to speak for itself, he felt compelled to “respond both to broad claims that our investigation was illegitimate and our motives were improper, and to specific claims that Roger Stone was a victim of our office.  “The Russia investigation was of paramount importance. Stone was prosecuted and convicted because he committed federal crimes. He remains a convicted felon, and rightly so,” Mueller wrote.Mueller did not specify who was making the claims, but it appeared to be an obvious reference to Trump, who as recently as Saturday derided the investigation as this “whole political witch hunt and the Mueller scam.”The mere publication of the op-ed was striking in itself for the former FBI director, who was tight-lipped during the investigation, refusing to respond to attacks by the president or his allies or to even make public appearances explaining or justifying his work.In his first public appearance after the conclusion of his investigation, Mueller had said that he had hoped his report would speak for itself. When he later testified to House lawmakers, he was similarly careful not to stray beyond the report’s findings or offer new evidence.But that buttoned-up approach created a void for others, including at the Justice Department, to place their own stamp on his work. Even before the report was released Attorney General William Barr issued a four-page summary document that Mueller said did not adequately capture the gravity of his team’s findings.
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U.S. President Donald Trump put on a face mask Saturday for his visit with American service members at a military hospital outside Washington.Trump, who has mostly avoided wearing a mask in public, said he would wear one during his visit to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, telling Fox News “it’s a very appropriate thing” to do in a hospital setting.The president said that in addition to meeting with wounded soldiers, he would meet with workers tasked with containing the spread of the new coronavirus.Trump has been criticized for not wearing a mask or promoting the use of them, even within his Republican Party in recent weeks.His visit with the troops and employees comes amid surges of COVID-19 cases in the U.S., which continues to lead the world in both infections and fatalities.More than 3.2 million people in the U.S. were infected with the virus as of Saturday, about one-quarter of the almost 12.6 million cases worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University statistics.The more than 134,000 deaths in the U.S. represent over one-fourth of the nearly 562,000 COVID-19 fatalities throughout the world.Trump last visited Walter Reed in November 2019. The visit was unscheduled and secretive, and was described by the White House as an “interim checkup” nine months after his previous medical examination.The White House dismissed speculation about any “urgent or acute” issues involving Trump’s health.
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The U.S. State Department warned American citizens on Saturday to “exercise increased caution” in China due to heightened risk of arbitrary law enforcement including detention and a ban from exiting the country.”U.S. citizens may be detained without access to U.S. consular services or information about their alleged crime,” the State Department said in a security alert issued to its citizens in China, adding that U.S. citizens may face “prolonged interrogations and extended detention” for reasons related to state security.”Security personnel may detain and/or deport U.S. citizens for sending private electronic messages critical of the Chinese government,” it added, without citing specific examples. The state department also did not say what prompted the security alert.The security alert comes as bilateral tensions intensify over issues ranging from the COVID-19 pandemic, trade, the new Hong Kong security law and allegations of human rights violations against Uighurs in the Xinjiang region.Washington and Beijing recently exchanged visa bans against each other’s officials, underscoring the deteriorating relations.The Chinese foreign ministry could not be immediately reached for comment outside of business hours on Saturday. Beijing called on Wednesday a similar warning issued by Australia about the risk of arbitrary detention in China “completely ridiculous and disinformation.”
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Joe Biden stood in a Pennsylvania metal works shop, just miles from his boyhood home, and pledged to define his presidency by a sweeping economic agenda beyond anything Americans have seen since the Great Depression and the industrial mobilization for World War II.The prospective Democratic presidential nominee promised the effort would not just answer a pandemic-induced recession, but address centuries of racism and systemic inequalities with “a new American economy” that “finally and fully (lives) up to the words and the values enshrined in the founding documents of this nation — that we’re all created equal.”  It was a striking call coming from Biden, a 77-year-old establishment figure known more as a back-slapping deal-maker than visionary reformer. But it made plain his intention to test the reach of liberal populism as he tries to create a coalition that can defeat President Donald Trump in November.  Presidential Polls Give Biden Wide Lead on Trump Even with the US presidential election still four months away, polls can tell us a lot about the direction of a campaign and what it needs to do to win more votesTrump and his Republican allies argue that Biden’s positioning, especially his ongoing work with progressives, proves he’s captive to a “radical” left wing. Conversely, activists who backed Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren in the Democratic primary were encouraged, yet cautious, about Biden’s ability to follow through while conceding that his plans on issues including climate action and criminal justice still fall short of their ideals.  Biden’s inner circle insists his approach in 2020 is the same it’s been since he was elected to the Senate in 1972: Meet the moment.”He’s always evolved,” said Ted Kaufman, Biden’s longest-serving adviser. “The thing that’s been consistent for his entire career, almost 50 years, is he never promises things that he doesn’t think he can do.”Kaufman, who succeeded Biden in the Senate when he ascended to the vice presidency, said Biden’s core identity hasn’t changed: “progressive Democrat,” friendly to labor and business, consistent supporter of civil rights, believer in government and the private sector. What’s different in 2020, he said, are the country’s circumstances — a public health crisis, near-Depression level unemployment, a national reckoning on racism — and the office Biden now seeks.  “If you want to get something done, encourage it,” Kaufman said. “What he learned over history watching campaigns is that you put forth a program, and then you come into office, and everybody involved knows that’s the program you’re offering.”Biden’s evolution has been on display from the start of his campaign as he’s tacked left both in substance and style while trying to preserve his pragmatist brand.  At the start of the Democratic primary, Biden was positioned as offering a moderate alternative to Sanders’ call for a “political revolution” and Warren’s push for “big structural change.”  The former vice president countered their proposed universal government-funded health insurance with a government insurance plan that would compete alongside private insurance. Progressives wanted tuition-free public higher education; Biden offered tuition subsidies for two-year schools. Biden called the climate crisis an “existential threat” and offered a clean energy plan with a trillion-dollar price tag, but resisted the full version of progressives’ Green New Deal. He promised hefty tax hikes for corporations and the investor class but opposed a “wealth tax” on individuals’ net worth.  Biden noted that his health care platform put him to the left of 2016 nominee Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama, who had jettisoned a “public option” from his 2010 health care law, angering liberal Democrats.  And on race, even before the recent national uprising against police violence, Biden spoke often of the nation’s systemic failure “to live up to” the Declaration of Independence. “Thomas Jefferson didn’t,” he said often in early speeches, alluding to the fact that the Declaration’s author and the third U.S. president owned slaves.  Still, Biden isn’t immune from the kind of internal party tensions that cost Clinton progressive support in 2016, and he’s spent the last three months shoring up his left flank.  Biden and Sanders created policy groups to write recommendations for Democrats’ 2020 platform. Those committees unveiled 110 pages of policy plans Wednesday, ahead of Biden’s speech in Pennsylvania. They left Biden short of endorsing single-payer health insurance and the most aggressive timelines to achieve a carbon-neutral economy, but ratified his claims of a more progressive slate than his predecessors’.Further, Biden already had moved toward Sanders’ tuition position, endorsing four years of full subsidies for most middle-class households. He adopted Warren’s proposed bankruptcy law overhaul and her ideas for a government procurement campaign to benefit U.S. companies.  Progressives promise continued pressure.  “I think our job is really to sometimes push him,” Washington Rep. Pramila Jayapal said. Jayapal, who helped lead the Biden-Sanders health care task force, said that means being “alongside him, of course, and then sometimes be out in front.”Likewise, Varshini Prakash of the Sunrise Movement, a leading environmental advocacy group, said her group won’t abandon the Green New Deal. But she credited Biden for embracing a level of public investment that would remake the energy economy during the pandemic recession.  Biden has managed party unity that wasn’t present four years ago.”I don’t consider Biden’s proposals a political hat tip to progressives as much as rising to the moment we’re living in,” said Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee and a Warren ally.  The former vice president also has amassed an impressive slate of endorsements and built a stable of regular campaign surrogates, including all his major primary rivals. Many of them held events in the hours and days following his speech Thursday in a show of force that Trump, even with his intense online presence and fervent base, would be hard-pressed to match.For his part, Trump accused Biden of “plagiarizing” his economic populism but also tarred Biden as a leftist who can’t win.”It’s a plan that is very radical left, but he said the right things because he’s copying what I’ve done,” Trump said Friday before departing the White House for Florida.  Kaufman said Biden will continue campaigning as a nominee unconcerned about such labels. “What’s allowed him to survive all these years,” Kaufman said, “is that he’s not into any of those characterizations.” 
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