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US President Donald Trump has denied downplaying the seriousness of Covid-19, despite admitting in a recorded interview to having done that. At a televised event with voters, Mr Trump said he had “up-played” it. The claim contradicts comments Mr Trump made to journalist Bob Woodward earlier this year, when he said he minimized the virus’s severity to avoid panic.
The foreign ministers of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain have signed historic diplomatic normalization deals with Israel at a ceremony at the White House. The agreements, details of which are still being negotiated, represent the first time in a quarter of a century that any Arab country has given diplomatic recognition to the Jewish State.
The city of Louisville, Kentucky, has agreed to pay $12 million to the family of Breonna Taylor and institute sweeping police reforms in a historic settlement of the family’s wrongful death lawsuit. As part of the settlement, the city agreed to establish a housing credit program as an incentive for officers to live in the areas they serve; and require commanders to review and approve search warrants before seeking judicial approval, among other changes.
Japan’s Yoshihide Suga was voted prime minister by parliament on Wednesday to become the country’s first new leader in nearly eight years, appointing a new cabinet that kept about half of the familiar faces from predecessor Shinzo Abe’s lineup. Suga, 71, Abe’s longtime right-hand man, has pledged to pursue many of Abe’s programs, including his “Abenomics” economic strategy, and to forge ahead with structural reforms.
Barbados will remove Queen Elizabeth II as its head of state and declare a republic by November next year, its prime minister has said. It was “time to fully leave our colonial past behind”, Mia Mottley said in a written address. Ms Mottley quoted the Caribbean island nation’s first premier Errol Barrow, who warned against “loitering on colonial premises”.