U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Monday the Trump administration would review a bid this week by Oracle Corp. to buy the Chinese-owned short video app TikTok to make it a U.S.-headquartered company. FILE – Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin testifies before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, during a hybrid hearing, Sept. 1, 2020, on Capitol Hill in Washington.Mnuchin told CNBC that the U.S. government has “a lot of confidence in both Microsoft and Oracle,” the two firms TikTok had been considering selling to.  But after ByteDance, the owner of TikTok, chose Oracle, Mnuchin said, “We’ll be reviewing it with their technical teams and our technical teams to see if they can make the representations” to keep data on American phones safe.  The Trump administration has given ByteDance until September 20 to make a deal or stop operating inside the U.S.  On Sunday, the New York Times reported that Microsoft’s bid was rejected by ByteDance and that the Chinese company said that Oracle would be its “technology partner.” It’s unclear the terms of the deal being discussed. In a statement, Microsoft said its proposal “would have been good for TikTok’s users, while protecting national security interests. To do this, we would have made significant changes to ensure the service met the highest standards for security, privacy, online safety, and combatting disinformation.” The fate of TikTok in the U.S. hangs in the balance as it approaches the Trump administration deadline. In recent months, the video app has become a focus of U.S.-China tensions with the administration accusing the company of being answerable to the Chinese government, a claim that TikTok has denied.  In August, President Donald Trump issued an executive order banning TikTok and WeChat, the Chinese messaging app.  But even with security concerns about TikTok, Americans have continued to download the app. By end of last March, TikTok saw more than 300 million downloads in the U.S., according to Go.Verizon’s data.   Microsoft, together with Walmart, pursued a deal with ByteDance. A second group of investors led by Oracle emerged as a possible bidder. Oracle is one of the few Silicon Valley firms with top executives who have held political fundraisers for Trump ahead of his November 3 re-election contest against former Vice President Joe Biden.  As the negotiations progressed, the Chinese government changed its export rules stopping TikTok from selling its valuable recommendation algorithm, dubbed “For You,” which queued up the next video for a user to watch. It’s unclear if any deal with Oracle would involve the algorithm.  
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A deputy sheriff in the southern U.S. state of Georgia has been fired after he was seen in cell phone video posted on several social media sites pummeling a Black man who was on the ground.    Clayton County Sheriff Victor Hill said in a statement Sunday the deputy “who repeatedly struck Roderick Walker” was terminated “for excessive use of force.” The deputy’s name was not released.  The video, shot by bystanders at the incident Friday near Atlanta, shows two white deputies lying on top of Walker. The one on top is the one who throws the punches.  Shean Williams, Walker’s attorney, said at a news conference his client was a passenger in a car stopped by the deputies because it had a broken taillight.  The deputies asked the 26-year-old Walker for his identification. Williams said the deputies “became upset” when his client “inquired — like every American citizen has the right to inquire — ‘Why are you asking me for my ID? I’m not driving, and I have not done anything wrong.’”Louisville, Kentucky Metro police patrol during Black Lives Matter protest.“The next thing you know . . . he’s attacked, beaten in his face and throughout his body to the point he goes unconscious,” Williams said.  “He is choked . . .unable to breathe.” Williams added, “There’s no reason that a traffic violation should end up with someone being beaten in the manner that Mr. Walker was beaten.” Walker was arrested and remains in jail where he received medical attention.   Sheriff Hill’s statement said Walker was denied bond because he has a felony probation warrant out for cruelty to children, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and a failure to appear warrant.  “Mr. Walker’s legal counsel will have to resolve these issues to secure his release,” the sheriff said.  Protests have erupted recently across the U.S. and around the world following the death in Minneapolis of George Floyd, who was African American, after a white police officer pressed his knee on Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes. 
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Wildfires burning across the U.S. region known as the Pacific Northwest, including northern California, Oregon, and Washington, have consumed thousands of homes, businesses and towns. More than a million hectares of land have been destroyed. The fires have killed at least 35 people across the region.  The smoke and flames of the blazes have combined to envelope the cities of San Francisco, Seattle, and Portland with some of the worst air quality in the world.  An Associated Press description of the conditions said, “The smoke filled the air with an acrid metallic smell like pennies.” The massive clouds of smoke enveloping the region have endangered the health of millions of residents.Evacuees from the Riverside Fire stay in tents at the Milwaukie-Portland Elks Lodge, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2020, in Oak Grove, Ore.Air quality across the Pacific Northwest state of Oregon was characterized by state environmental officials as “hazardous” or “very unhealthy.” Tens of thousands of people have had to flee their homes. Visibility was less than a half kilometer in some places, according to the National Weather Service, making it dangerous to drive.  U.S. President Donald Trump has largely avoided commenting on the wildfires, but he plans to visit California Monday for an update on the blazes, some of the worst in years.  In the past, he has blamed the region’s wildfires on poor forest management.  Oregon Governor Kate Brown disagrees. She said on Sunday on Face the Nation on CBS that the fires are “a wake-up call for us that we’ve got to do everything in our power to tackle climate change.” The governors of California and Washington agree with her.  
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Tropical Storm Sally slowed down Sunday as it churned northward toward the U.S. Gulf Coast, increasing the risk of heavy rain and dangerous storm surge before an expected strike as a Category 2 hurricane in southern Louisiana. “I know for a lot of people this storm seemed to come out of nowhere,” said Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards. “We need everybody to pay attention to this storm. Let’s take this one seriously.” Forecasters from the National Hurricane Center in Miami said Sally is expected to become a hurricane Monday and reach shore by early Tuesday, bringing dangerous weather conditions, including risk of flooding, to a region stretching from Morgan City, Louisiana, to Ocean Springs, Mississippi.  Edwards urged people to prepare for the storm immediately. He also said there are still many from southwestern Louisiana who evacuated from Hurricane Laura into New Orleans — exactly the area that could be hit by Sally. “Based on all of the available information, we have every reason to believe this storm represents a significant threat,” he said, adding that the coronavirus adds a layer of complexity to storm preparations. There are still about 5,400 members of the state’s National Guard mobilized from Laura, and they will assist with Sally. In Mandeville, a city about 56 Kilometers north of New Orleans, resident Chris Yandle has purchased a week’s worth of groceries and moved all his patio furniture into his family’s house and shed in preparation for the storm. “I’m mostly trying to stay calm — especially with a family of four and a dog to worry about,” Yandle said. “I’ve lived through many hurricanes growing up in Louisiana, but I haven’t felt this anxious about a hurricane in my life.” Mississippi officials warned that the storm was expected to coincide with high tide, leading to significant storm surge. “It needs to be understood by all of our friends in the coastal region and in south Mississippi that if you live in low-lying areas, the time to get out is early tomorrow morning,” Gov. Tate Reeves said late Sunday. In Waveland, Mississippi, Joey Chauvin used rope to tie down a tall wooden post topped with a statue of a pelican serving as a marker at the driveway leading to his weekend camp. He said a matching pelican marker on the opposite side of the driveway was washed away in Tropical Storm Cristobal earlier this summer. That storm pushed more than 3 feet of water into the area.  “If this one hits the coast as a Cat 2, I’m thinking we’re gonna have at least 6 to 7 feet (1.8 to 2.1 meters)of water where we’re standing at,” Chauvin said. “So, yeah, we’re definitely not going to stay.” The system was moving west-northwest at 15 kph on Sunday evening. It was centered 265 kilometers south of Panama City, Florida, and 315 kilometers east-southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River. On Sunday, Florida’s Gulf Coast was battered with windy, wet weather. Pensacola, on Florida’s Panhandle, was bracing for 25 to 38 centimeters of rain. Sally could produce rain totals up to 51 centimeters by the middle of the week, forecasters said. Its maximum sustained winds Sunday evening were 95 kph. “That system is forecast to bring not only damaging winds but a dangerous storm surge,” said Daniel Brown of the Hurricane Center. “Because it’s slowing down, it could produce a tremendous amount of rainfall over the coming days.” This isn’t the only storm in the Atlantic basin. Paulette gained hurricane status late Saturday and was expected to bring storm surge, coastal flooding and high winds to Bermuda, according to a U.S. National Hurricane Center advisory. On Sunday evening, it was about 195 kilometers southeast of Bermuda. Its maximum sustained winds were 137 kph. Once a tropical storm, Rene was forecast to become a remnant low Monday. Tropical Depression Twenty was expected to strengthen this week and become a tropical storm by Tuesday, forecasters said. “This week is essentially the peak of the hurricane season,” said Brown. “It is quite active across the tropics today.” 
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Wildfires continued to rage across large swaths of the Western U.S. on Sunday, with massive clouds of smoke enveloping the region and endangering the health of millions of residents.Air quality across the Pacific Northwest state of Oregon was characterized by state environmental officials as “hazardous” or “very unhealthy.” Dense smoke warnings were posted in Oregon and the neighboring state of Washington by the National Weather Service.In all, throughout the Western U.S., there were 24 fires in California, 15 in Washington, 14 in Oregon, 12 in Idaho and others in Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.The blazes have killed at least 10 people in Oregon, with emergency workers expecting the death toll to increase. Some people in Portland, the state’s largest city, and elsewhere were fighting for breath as smoke filled the air. The fires have ravaged more than 400,000 hectares of land in the state.The San Francisco Bay Bridge and city skyline are obscured in orange smoke and haze as seen from Treasure Island in San Francisco, California, Sep. 9, 2020.In California, where the fires started sooner, at least 22 have died and about 1.3 million hectares charred. In the state of Washington, 269,000 hectares of land have burned.Officials throughout the region urged residents to stay indoors unless necessary.   Visibility was less than a half kilometer in some places, according to the National Weather Service, making it dangerous to drive.U.S. President Doanld Trump has largely avoided commenting on the wildfires, but he plans on visiting California on Monday for an update on the blazes, some of the worst in years.After days of hot, windy weather, on Saturday the winds calmed and shifted to the west, bringing cooler, more moist weather from the ocean to help firefighters. But the air quality remained hazardous.In Salem, the state capital of Oregon, the air quality index reading was 512 on Saturday morning, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s AirNow site. The scale tops out at 500. Anything above 200 is considered “very unhealthy,” and anything above 300 is deemed “hazardous.”In Paradise, California, a city devasted by wildfire in 2018, the reading was 592, according to the PurpleAir monitoring site.”Above 500 is literally off the charts,” said Laura Gleim, a spokesperson for the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality.
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Authorities were searching Sunday for a gunman who shot and wounded two Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies who were sitting in their squad car — an apparent ambush that drew an angry response from the president and sparked an anti-police protest outside the hospital where the deputies were being treated. The 31-year-old female deputy and 24-year-old male deputy underwent surgery Saturday evening, Sheriff Alex Villanueva said in a late-night news conference. Both graduated from the academy 14 months ago, he said.  The deputies were shot while sitting in their patrol car at a Metro rail station and were able to radio for help, the sheriff said. Villanueva, whose department has come under fire during recent protests over racial unrest, expressed frustration over anti-police sentiment as he urged people to pray for the deputies. “It pisses me off. It dismays me at the same time,” he said. The department tweeted video of the shooting that shows a person open fire through the passenger-side window of the patrol car. “The gunman walked up on the deputies and opened fire without warning or provocation,” the department stated. The video sparked thousands of reactions, including from President Donald Trump, who responded, “Animals that must be hit hard!” Protesters gathered outside the the hospital where the injured deputies were being treated. “To the protesters blocking the entrance & exit of the HOSPITAL EMERGENCY ROOM yelling “We hope they die” referring to 2 LA Sheriff’s ambushed today in #Compton: DO NOT BLOCK EMERGENCY ENTRIES & EXITS TO THE HOSPITAL,” the sheriff’s department tweeted. “People’s lives are at stake when ambulances can’t get through.” A radio reporter who was near the protest scene was taken into custody, KABC-TV reported. The sheriff’s department later tweeted that the reporter interfered with the arrest of a male protester. “The female adult, who was later identified as a member of the press, did not identify herself as press and later admitted she did not have proper press credentials on her person,” the department stated. After being released, Josie Huang, a reporter for radio station KPCC, tweeted that she had seen the statements from sheriff’s officials and had “thoughts and videos to share soon after a little rest.” The executive editor of the station, Megan Garvey, expressed outrage over the arrest and said her reporter appeared to be wearing her credentials and had shouted her KPCC affiliation. Meanwhile, the search for the gunman continued. Capt. Kent Wegener said officers were blanketing the area in search of the suspect seen on the video opening fire with a pistol.  “We have a very, very generic description,” he said. The incident happened around 7 p.m. a short distance from the Compton sheriff’s station.  
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