Row over face masks in France, bus driver left brain dead after crowd attack

The Supreme Court ruled on Monday that presidential electors can be required by states to cast their votes for the candidate of their party who won the state’s popular vote. The ruling upholds state laws which purportedly punish ’faithless electors’. Justice Elena Kagan said that the Constitution allows a state to enforce an elector’s pledge to support his party’s nominee for president.’

After surpassing Toyota Motor as the world’s most valuable automaker and surprisingly beating delivery forecast, Tesla has poked fun at the company’s critics by announcing sales of red satin shorts. CEO Elon Musk tweeted on Sunday about the ’Limited edition short shorts now available’. In a similar move, Musk in 2018 had sent a box of shorts to hedge fund owner and Tesla short-seller Einhorn.

Chinese authorities have detained a law professor who published essays criticizing President Xi Jinping over the COVID-19 pandemic. Xu Zhangrun was taken from his home in Beijing. Xu published an essay in Feb. blaming the culture of deception and censorship fostered by Xi for the spread of COVID-19 in China. China’s ’leader system is itself destroying the structure of governance’, Xu wrote.

A statue of Frederick Douglass was ripped from its base in Rochester on Sunday, the anniversary of one of his most famous speeches delivered in 1852. The statue was taken on Sunday from Maplewood Park, a site along the Underground Railroad where Douglass and Harriet Tubman helped shuttle slaves to freedom. The statue was found at the brink of the Genesee River gorge, 50 feet from its pedestal.

The plans to commence mining the Moon by 2025 have became more attractive this week after NASA team found evidence that the Earth’s natural satellite may, underneath its surface, be richer in metals than previously assumed. Using data from the Mini-RF instrument onboard NASA’s LRO, a team of researchers concluded that the lunar subsurface contains a higher concentration of iron & titanium.

A forthcoming memoir by Mary Trump, the niece of President Donald Trump, is set to be published two weeks prior to its initial release date, with the publisher citing ’a high demand and extraordinary interest’ in the tell-all. The book, named ’Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man,’ will be available for purchase from July 14 onwards.

US District Judge James Boasberg has ordered the shutdown of the Dakota Access Pipeline and has ruled for it to be emptied. The court found that the US Army Corps of Engineers had violated the National Environmental Policy Act by granting an easement for the construction of the pipeline and operation of crude-oil running below Lake Oahe.

China’s ambassador to UK accused it of gross interference and making irresponsible remarks over Beijing’s imposition of new security legislation in HK that he said could damage future Chinese investment. UK has described the law as a ’clear & serious’ violation of the 1984 Joint Declaration under which it handed back its colony to China 13 years later. UK has offered 3mn residents UK citizenship.

President Trump launched an attack on NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace over an incident in which a noose was found in his team garage last month. Trump asked if Wallace ’apologized to all of those great NASCAR drivers & officials who came to his aid’. Trump also pointed to NASCAR’s ratings alleging the incident and ’Flag decision has caused lowest ratings EVER’.

Andrew Cuomo, the Governor of New York hit out against President Donald Trump and accused him of ’enabling the virus’ with his messaging on the COVID-19 pandemic. During the 4th of July address to the nation, the President had claimed that 99 percent of COVID cases are ’harmless’, and Gov. Cuomo said that Mr. Trump ’makes up facts’ in order to ’deny’ the existence of the virus.

A prominent Israeli journalist known for his critical coverage of PM Netanyahu received a notice Sunday that he was being dismissed from his job. Barak Ravid, Channel 13 TV’s diplomatic correspondent, was among 40 others who were sacked. Ravid has gained a reputation for breaking stories about Israel’s relations with the US, and other partners. Netanyahu has publicly rebuked Ravid in the past.

Joe Biden took to Twitter on Sunday and said that his administration would ’transform’ the nation if voted to power. While Mr. Biden did not give any further details, his critics on the left have accused him of not doing enough during his 40 years of service to the nation, whereas those on the right claim he will take orders from the progressive wing of the Democratic Party.

Germany’s Ifo institute said on Monday, about one fifth (21%) of the German companies see their survival threatened by the coronavirus crisis, with travel agents, hotels and restaurants particularly concerned. ’We could see a wave of insolvencies in the coming months,’ Ifo researcher Stefan Sauer said.