AP News in Brief at 6:04 p.m. EDT

The Latest: WHO ending hydroxycholorquine trial for COVID

BERLIN — The World Health Organization says it is ending a trial into whether anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine helps patients hospitalized with COVID-19.

WHO said Saturday it has “accepted the recommendation” from the committee overseeing the trial to discontinue testing of hydroxychloroquine and lopinavir/ritonavir, a drug combination used to treat HIV/AIDS. The drugs were being compared with standard care for hospitalized patients.

WHO says a review of the interim results showed hydroxychloroquine and lopinavir/ritonavir “produce little or no reduction in the mortality of hospitalized COVID-19 patients when compared to standard of care.”

The agency adds that while there was no “solid evidence” of increased mortality for hospitalized patients given the drugs, there were “some associated safety signals in the clinical laboratory findings” of an associated trial.

WHO says the decision won’t affect possible trials on patients who aren’t hospitalized, or on those receiving the drugs before potential exposure to the coronavirus or shortly afterward.

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Trump entices masses with capital event as virus cases rise

WASHINGTON (AP) — Officials across the country pleaded with Americans to curb their enthusiasm for large Fourth of July crowds Saturday even as President Donald Trump enticed the masses with a “special evening” of tribute and fireworks staged with new U.S. coronavirus infections on the rise.

Several hours before Trump’s “Salute for America” celebration, people filed to the National Mall in baking heat and took shade under the scattered trees while, not far away, music wafted from a party on the White House South Lawn. To come: Trump's speech from the White House grounds, a military air show and a more ambitious fireworks display than has been seen in years.

The early crowds were noticeably thinner than on the afternoon of last year's jammed celebration on the National Mall. Many who showed up wore masks.

But not Pat Lee of Upper Dublin, Pennsylvania, or the two friends she came with, one a nurse from Fredericksburg, Virginia, whose only head gear was a MAGA hat.

“POTUS said it would go away,” Lee said of the pandemic, using an acronym for president of the United States. “Masks, I think, are like a hoax.” But she said she wore one inside the Trump International Hotel, where she stayed.

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US holiday weekend adds to virus worries as case counts grow

ST. PETE BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Florida reported a record number of coronavirus cases on Saturday, the latest sign that the virus is surging in many parts of the United States, casting a pall over Fourth of July celebrations.

Officials and health authorities warned people to take precautions or simply stay home on Independence Day, as confirmed cases are climbing in dozens of states. The U.S. reported more than 50,000 confirmed cases on Saturday for the third day in a row, according to a tally kept by Johns Hopkins University.

The U.S. has more than 2.8 million confirmed cases — about a quarter of the 11 million worldwide infections, according to the tally, which is widely thought to understate the true toll, partially because of asymptomatic cases and limited testing. More than 525,000 people have died around the globe.

While the rise in cases in the U.S. partly reflects expanded testing, experts say there is evidence that the virus is also spreading more as states reopen their economies.

Deaths have begun to rise in some states that have seen a surge in cases — including Texas, Arizona and Florida — and the coming weeks will be telling. Still, some experts have expressed doubt that deaths will ever return to the peak hit in mid-April because of advances in treatment and because more young adults who are less vulnerable to serious complications are among those diagnosed recently.

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Amid furor over monuments, Trump seeks `garden' of US heroes

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has a vision for his second term, if he wins one, of establishing a “National Garden of American Heroes” that will pay tribute to some of the most prominent figures in U.S. history, a collection of “the greatest Americans to ever live.”

His idea, conveyed in a speech Friday night at Mount Rushmore and expanded on in an executive order, comes as elected officials and institutions are reckoning with whether it is appropriate to continue to honor people, including past presidents, who benefited from slavery or espoused racist views, with monuments or buildings and streets named after them.

The group of 30-plus features Founding Fathers and presidents, civil rights pioneers and aviation innovators, explorers and generals.

Absent from Trump’s initial list are any Native American, Hispanic or Asian-American individuals. The White House and Interior Department declined to comment on how the list was assembled.

To be certain, the monument is far from a done deal and Trump’s plan could be dashed if presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden denies him a second term in November or Congress balks at allocating funding for the project.

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As monuments fall, Confederate carving has size on its side

STONE MOUNTAIN, Ga. (AP) — Some statues of figures from America's slave-owning past have been yanked down by protesters, others dismantled by order of governors or city leaders. But the largest Confederate monument ever crafted — colossal figures carved into the solid rock of a Georgia mountainside — may outlast them all.

Stone Mountain's supersized sculpture depicting Gen. Robert E. Lee, Confederate President Jefferson Davis and Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson mounted on horseback has special protection enshrined in Georgia law.

Even if its demolition were sanctioned, the monument's sheer size poses serious challenges. The carving measures 190 feet (58 meters) across and 90 feet (27 meters) tall. An old photo shows a worker on scaffolding just below Lee's chin barely reaching his nose.

Numerous Confederate statues and monuments to American slave owners have come down across the South amid recent protests against racial injustice. Stone Mountain hasn't escaped notice.

After organizing a protest where thousands marched in neighboring Atlanta, 19-year-old Zoe Bambara held a demonstration June 4 with a much smaller group — her permit allowed no more than 25 — inside the state park where the sculpture has drawn millions of tourists for decades.

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'People aren’t stupid': Pence's virus spin tests credibility

WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Mike Pence has long played the straight man to Donald Trump, translating the president's bombast into more measured, calming language.

His job has become even more difficult. As coronavirus cases spike across large parts of the country despite months of lockdown, Pence has spent the past week trying to convince the American public that things are going very well, even though they're not.

“Make no mistake about it, what you see today is that America is going back to work and the American people are finding a way every day to put this coronavirus farther in the past," he told CNBC the same day the country reported more than 55,000 new virus cases, a daily record.

For public health experts, the optimism has been unmoored from reality.

“It’s almost laughable because it doesn’t pass any test of credibility when we’re seeing spikes in cases, spikes in hospitalizations," said Larry Gostin, who specializes in public health at Georgetown University Law School. “The American people aren’t stupid. They can see spin when there is spin."

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Trump's `strong wall' to block COVID-19 from China had holes

President Donald Trump has repeatedly credited his February ban on travelers from mainland China as his signature move against the advance of the coronavirus pandemic -- a “strong wall” that allowed only U.S. citizens inside, he boasted in May.

But Trump’s wall was more like a sieve.

Exempted were thousands of residents of the Chinese territories of Hong Kong and Macau. Efforts to track U.S. residents returning from mainland China were riddled with errors and broken communications.

An analysis of Commerce Department travel entry records and private aviation data obtained by The Associated Press shows that nearly 8,000 Chinese nationals and foreign residents of Hong Kong and Macao entered the U.S. on more than 600 commercial and private flights in the first three months after the ban was imposed.

When U.S. residents flying from mainland China arrived at U.S. airports, the system meant to flag and monitor them for the development of symptoms lost track of at least 1,600 people in just the first few days the ban went into effect, according to internal state government emails obtained by the AP.

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Police: 2 women hit by car on Seattle highway amid protest

SEATTLE (AP) — A 27-year-old man drove a car onto a closed freeway in Seattle early Saturday and barreled through a panicked crowd of protesters, critically injuring two women, officials said.

Dawit Kelete of Seattle drove the car around vehicles that were blocking Interstate 5 and sped into the crowd at about 1:40 a.m., according to a police report released by the Washington State Patrol. Video taken at the scene by protesters showed people shouting “Car! Car!” before fleeing the roadway.

Summer Taylor, 24, of Seattle, was in critical condition while Diaz Love, 32, of Portland, Oregon, was upgraded to serious condition in the intensive care unit, according to Harborview Medical Center spokeswoman Susan Gregg.

Love was filming the protest in a nearly two-hour-long Facebook livestream captioned “Black Femme March takes I-5” when the video ended abruptly; with about 15 seconds left, shouts of “Car!” can be heard as the camera starts to shake before screeching tires and the sound of impact are heard.

A graphic video posted on social media showed the white Jaguar racing toward a group of protesters who are standing behind several parked cars, set up for protection. The car swerves around the other vehicles and slams into the two women, sending them flying into the air.

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AP FACT CHECK: Trump's empty assurance on controlling virus

WASHINGTON (AP) — “We have it totally under control,” President Donald Trump said in late January. A month later: “The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA."

April and May brought the deadliest stretch of COVID-19 to date. And this past week, the number of new coronavirus cases per day hit an all-time high of 50,000.

Trump persisted in his empty assurances. The virus is “getting under control," he said Wednesday. His press secretary described the surge in many parts of the country as “embers.” The president acknowledged “flames” here and there.

They cast word confetti over a pandemic that has killed more than 128,000 people in the U.S., while the president talked up a July Fourth fireworks celebration on the National Mall and told those who come Saturday to wear masks if it makes them feel good.

A sampling of recent statements and how it compares with reality:

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Hot dog champs repeat as July 4 gluttony fest moves indoors

NEW YORK (AP) — The coronavirus outbreak moved the Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest from the Coney Island boardwalk to an undisclosed indoor location but the results were familiar: Joey Chestnut and Miki Sudo repeated as men's and women's champions of the annual gluttony fest on Saturday.

Chestnut downed 75 wieners and buns in 10 minutes and Sudo downed 48 1/2 in the same span, setting new world records for both the men's and women's events. “I’m always pushing for a record,” Chestnut said before the contest started. “I know that’s what the fans want.”

The annual Fourth of July hot dog contest normally takes place outside Nathan’s flagship shop in Brooklyn but was held indoors without in-person spectators on Saturday. Just five women and five men competed, and clear plastic barriers separated them as they chowed down.

“Minute six is where I really missed the crowd,” Chestnut said on ESPN, which broadcast the competition, “and I hit a wall, and it took me a little bit more work to get through it.”

It was Chestnut's 13th Nathan's Famous win and Sudo's seventh. They will each take home $10,000.