NEWS SUMMARY-INTELLIGENCE REPORT SUNDAY 7/26/2020

(THIS POST LAUNCHED LATE SATURDAY EVENING PACIFIC TIME, EARLY SUNDAY MORNING EASTERN TIME WILL CONTINUE THROUGH LATE SUNDAY)

THERE'S BEEN LARGE EXPLOSIONS AT AN IRAQI MILITIA  (POPULAR MOBILIZATION UNITS) BASE IN SOUTHERN BAGHDAD TODAY.  A US DRONE STRIKE AGAINST THE PRO-IRANIAN GROUP IS SUSPECTED ACCORDING TO SOUTHFRONT......SOUTHFRONT STORY (WITH VIDEO)....HOWEVER THE IRAQI JOINT OPERATIONS COMMAND  ISSUED A STATEMENT SAYING THAT HIGH TEMPERATURES AND POOR STORAGE OF AMMUNITION CAUSED THE BLASTS....

THE ISRAELI MILITARY SAYS THAT ONE OF ITS DRONES WENT DOWN IN SOUTHERN LEBANON AS ISRAELI FORCES MAINTAIN A HIGH ALERT ALONG THE NORTHERN BORDER CONCERNED ABOUT A HEZBOLLAH ATTACK.    (ISRAEL NATIONAL NEWS)........ISRAEL NATIONAL NEWS

The protests in Portland Saturday night with a crowd of thousands massed at the federal courthouse by 1030 pm local time with supporting walls of "Moms" and "Vets".   Federal law enforcement issuing warnings and then firing their first rounds of pepper shots.   Fireworks being shot over the fence around the courthouse with federal law enforcement positioned inside it.....

The federal estimate of the crowd by 1130 pm at five thousand with federal law enforcement announcing the demonstration was unlawful a number of times.     A breaching of the fence achieved outside the courthouse soon followed by a Portland Police Bureau declaration that the gathering was a riot.      The crowd began to move away.     A reporter for OregonLive hit by a rubber bullet.    Federal law enforcement and Portland police both on the streets in the area of the courthouse..

This video stream up live at 530 am Eastern US Time.......VIDEO STREAM FROM PORTLAND FEDERAL COURTHOUSE AREA EARLY SUNDAY.....

RUSSIA TODAY STORY

AFTERMATH VIDEO JUST AFTER 6AM PORTLAND TIME 7/26/20

OREGONLIVE STORY

Other incidents across the US yesterday with a protest that included arson and vandalism with arrests in Seattle.....BBC NEWS... and a fatal shooting incident at a Black Lives Matter rally in Austin, Texas with the shooter in custody.    That incident involved a man who drove through the crowd protesting then was approached by armed protester.    The driver then pointed his gun, shot the protester and sped away......AUSTIN STATESMAN

In Aurora Colroado Saturday a protest on behalf of a man who died after being arrested by police last year, Elijah McClain, included an incident where at least one driver plowed through the protesters and protester shooting and ending up injuring other protesters.    Later there were attempts to set fires at the Aurora courthouse......DENVER POST

North Korea placing a city near the border with South Korea into a total lockdown after a suspected case of Covid-19.      North Korean media saying "the vicious virus" may have entered the country...ASSOCIATED PRESS-BRISBANE AUSTRALIA TIMES

Protests reported to be continuing in the eastern Russian city of Khabarovsk after President Vladmir Putin fired the regional governor from an opposition political party.     Sergei Furgal removed from his post after criminal charges were brought against him that supporters say were politically motivated.......VOICE OF AMERICA

The US reported to be threatening European contractors assisting with construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline to bring Russian natural gas to Germany.     The threats being made via video conferences involving contractors and representatives from the State, Treasury and Energy departments.   Sources telling German newspaper "Die Welt" that the threats are "very serious".

Legislation passed by the House and pending in the Senate would force tougher sanctions and is said to imply that would mean sanctions on individuals who help provide vessels that build the pipeline.....TASS STORY

Russian President Vladimir Putin among those on hand for Russia's Navy Day in St. Petersburg.    Putin inspecting a line of warships in a motorboat at Kronstadt.......TASS STORY

Iranian sources say US warplanes harassed an Iranian passenger plane twice over Syria last Thursday in what they are calling a "terrorist incident".      They say the first incident was over the Al-Tanf region of southern Syria and the second at the Syrian-Lebanese border.

The Iranians are also saying the two F-15 aircraft took off from an airbase in Jordan which they presume to be the location that the drone used to assassinate General Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad last January took off from.....PRESS TV

In France a Rwandan immigrant has confessed to setting fire to the Nantes Cathedral a week ago Saturday.     The unnamed man charged and imprisoned after his confession......(BFM-TV France Google Translation)

Coronavirus stats for the USA today from Worldometers showing some 56,130 new cases with Florida adding 9,344, California 6,074 and Texas 4,309.    Other states numbers include Louisiana at 3,840, Tennessee at 3,140 and Georgia at 2,765.

Israel's "coronavirus cabinet" shook up today and controversy over who was left out of it.......YNET NEWS ISRAEL

The coronavirus story around the world as reported by BBC News on its daily blog.......BBC NEWS CORONAVIRUS BLOG 7/26/2020

In other news.......

The third ethics scandal for Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau over a contract awarded to the WE charity for student jobs this summer.    Its been revealed that WE paid Trudeau's mother and brother money to speak at its events.

Two daughters of Canada's Finance Minister Bill Morneau are involved with WE including one who is an employee and Morneau admitted this week that WE had paid 41,000 Canadian dollars for humanitarian trips he took to Kenya and Ecuador.    Morneau reimbursing WE after revealing the paid trips.....BBC NEWS

Iconic Hollywood star Olivia de Haviland is dead at age of 104.    She was one of the stars to the 1939 classic motion picture "Gone With The Wind".......

That's the way it really is Sunday July 26th, 2020 another day in the Dictatorship of Covid-19.