Barr says China engaged in ‘economic blitzkrieg’

The United States has become overly reliant on Chinese goods and services, including face masks, medical gowns and other protective equipment designed to curb the spread of the coronavirus, Attorney General William Barr said Thursday.

He also accused hackers linked to the Chinese government of targeting American universities and businesses to steal research related to vaccine development, leveling the allegation hours after Western agencies made similar claims against Russia.

Barr’s address at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan, is part of a full-court press by the Trump administration to denounce China. President Donald Trump is trying to fend off criticism of his handling of the coronavirus and the U.S. economic downturn by shifting the blame back onto Beijing and asserting that he is tougher on China than Democratic rival Joe Biden.

“The People’s Republic of China is now engaged in an economic blitzkrieg — an aggressive, orchestrated, wholeof-government (indeed, whole-of-society) campaign to seize the commanding heights of the global economy and to surpass the United States as the world’s preeminent superpower,” Barr said.

Spacewalkers make quick work of battery installation at station

Spacewalking astronauts completed their part of a three-year power upgrade to the International Space Station on Thursday, replacing six more outdated batteries with powerful new ones.

It was the third spacewalk in as many weeks involving battery work by NASA’S Bob Behnken and Chris Cassidy.

They managed to complete the battery swaps in a single spacewalk rather than two. Their fourth spacewalk next week will now focus on other chores.

Behnken and Cassidy removed six of the remaining old nickel-hydrogen batteries and plugged in three new lithium-ion units. The effort to replace all of the space station’s 48 aging batteries began in January 2017, requiring 11 spacewalks to date.

West qualifies for ballot in Oklahoma amid questions

Rap superstar Kanye West has qualified to appear on Oklahoma’s presidential ballot, the first state where he met the requirements before the filing deadline.

But confusion remains over whether he’s actually running.

A representative for West filed the necessary paperwork and paid the $35,000 filing Wednesday afternoon, which was the deadline for a spot on the state’s Nov. 3 presidential ballot, said Oklahoma Board of Elections spokeswoman Misha Mohr.

The filing came a day after New York Magazine’s “Intelligencer” quoted West adviser Steve Kramer saying “he’s out” of the race. However, TMZ reported that the West campaign had filed a “Statement of Organization” Wednesday with the Federal Election Commission, stating that a Kanye 2020 committee would serve as the principal campaign committee for a West candidacy.

West has already missed the deadline to qualify for the ballot in several states.

Fire out aboard Navy ship; salvage evaluation next

The Navy announced Thursday that the fire on the USS Bonhomme Richard docked in San Diego has been extinguished, ending one of the worst infernos to rip through a U.S. warship outside of combat in recent years.

Now the attention is turning to the fate of the 840-foot amphibious assault ship, whose forward mast collapsed. Once the scene is safe, officials plan to go compartment by compartment to examine the ship’s charred bowels and determine if it is salvageable.

After burning for days, the massive ship shifted in the night Wednesday and listed toward the pier, prompting the Navy to pull off firefighting sailors searching the bowels of the U.S. warship for remaining hot spots.

The withdrawal of the roughly 30 sailors on board late Wednesday was out of an abundance of caution, and there was no threat of the vessel capsizing, said Lt. Cmdr. Patricia Kreuzberger.

They were back on the ship within an hour.

The Navy was keeping a close eye on any movements as the ship settles.

Pompeo not optimistic about another Nkorea summit

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo downplayed the possibility of another summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un before the U.S. presidential election, saying Trump would only want to engage if there were real prospects of progress.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who has called for another Trump-kim meeting ahead of the election in November, acknowledged Thursday that U.S. and South Korean relations with North Korea were still like “walking on ice” after two years of high-stakes summitry.

Pompeo’s comments during a forum in Washington on Wednesday followed repeated North Korean statements insisting it would no longer agree to highprofile meetings with Trump if it’s not being substantially rewarded in return.

Ex-officer sent to prison for making man lick urinal

A U.S. judge sentenced a former Honolulu police officer Wednesday to four years in prison for forcing a homeless man to lick a public urinal, telling him to imagine someone doing that to his two young daughters.

“You took from him his only possession: his dignity as a human being,” U.S. District Judge Leslie Kobayashi told defendant John Rabago.

Rabago, 44, and another officer had responded to a nuisance complaint in 2018 when they found the homeless man in a stall in a public restroom. Rabago threatened to beat the man and stuff his face in a toilet if he didn’t lick the urinal, Kobayashi said. He then grabbed the man’s shoulder, held him down and stepped on his legs to keep him on his knees until he licked the urinal, the judge said.

Reginald Ramones, the other officer, has also left the department and is scheduled to be sentenced next week.