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Hefei Inundated by Floodwater: The ‘Sponge City’ Is Now an ‘Ocean City’

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Two Swedes Jailed for Bombing Danish Tax Office

COPENHAGEN—A Copenhagen court on Thursday found two Swedes guilty of bombing the Danish tax agency and sentenced them to five and four years’ jail respectively. Zacharias Tamer Hamzi, 24, and Nurettin Nuray Syuleyman, 23, were convicted of transporting a bomb via the Oresund Bridge, known from the TV crime series “The Bridge”, and detonating the device in August 2019. The explosion in Copenhagen shattered glass doors and windows and scorched metal cladding at the main entrance of the building in Nordhavn, just north of the city center. One person was slightly wounded. The motive for the bombing remained unclear, but the court dismissed terrorism charges. The prosecutor had sought lifetime sentences for the childhood friends, neither of whom had been convicted of a serious crime before. “I’m pleased that my…

In southern China, disastrous floods continue to affect tens of millions of people. Hefei, one of the cities spearheading the so-called “sponge city” project—designed to have cities soak up water and release it later—has become an “ocean city” during the flood. Starting in 2016, Hefei city planned to create a “sponge city” area measuring 2,661 square kilometers. The China Meteorological Administration has been issuing yellow warnings for heavy rain. On June 27, the Ministry of Water Resources of the PRC claimed that floods above the alarm level occurred in 13 rivers in Sichuan, Chongqing, and Guangxi provinces. After five rounds of torrential rain in southern China, the leader of the Chinese Communist Party, Xi Jinping, admitted for the first time that the regional flood situation was serious. On the 28th, Xi Jinping issued flood control instructions.

Focus News: Hefei Inundated by Floodwater: The ‘Sponge City’ Is Now an ‘Ocean City’

US Treasury Chief Supports More Direct Payments in Next Coronavirus Aid Bill

WASHINGTON—U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Thursday that he supports another round of direct payments to individuals as part of the next coronavirus legislation and is working to get it passed by Congress by the end of July. Mnuchin also told CNBC in an interview that not all of the airlines that signed Treasury loan agreements will need to access those loans, as they may be able to meet their financing needs in private financial markets. Despite United Airlines’ decision on Wednesday to notify 36,000 employees of potential furloughs, Mnuchin said he believed most airlines wanted to keep as many staff as possible, and healthy airlines were needed to aid the U.S. economic recovery. Regarding the future of the $660 billion Paycheck Protection Program, Mnuchin said any extension of…