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

Russia is hacking virus vaccine trials, US, UK, Canada say

WASHINGTON (AP) — Western governments accused hackers believed to be part of Russian intelligence of trying to steal valuable private information about a coronavirus vaccine on Thursday, calling out the Kremlin in an unusually detailed public warning to scientists and medical companies.

The alleged culprit is a familiar foe. Intelligence agencies in the United States, United Kingdom and Canada alleged that the hacking group APT29, also known as Cozy Bear and blamed for American election interference four years ago, is attacking academic and pharmaceutical research institutions involved in COVID-19 vaccine development.

It was unclear whether any useful information was stolen. But British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said, “It is completely unacceptable that the Russian Intelligence Services are targeting those working to combat the coronavirus pandemic.”

He accused Moscow of pursuing “selfish interests with reckless behavior.”

Sticking to more general language, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said, “We worked very closely with our allies to ensure that we would take measures to keep that information safe and we continue do so so."

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Rising coronavirus infections threaten US economic recovery

BALTIMORE (AP) — Rising coronavirus infections across dozens of states are threatening the U.S. economic recovery, forcing businesses and consumers to freeze spending and keeping the unemployment rate stubbornly high.

The government reported Thursday that retail sales rose a sharp 7.5% in June, but the positive trend was undercut by more recent data showing that credit card spending has stalled. A separate report showed that more than a million Americans sought unemployment benefits last week – a sign that companies continue to cut jobs as the virus slashes through the heavily populated Sunbelt.

Economists fear that any positive momentum could come to a halt later this summer if infections and deaths rise and more businesses close.

“Conditions in the labor market remain weak and the risk of mounting permanent job losses is high, especially if activity continues to be disrupted by repeated virus-related shutdowns,” said Rubeela Farooqi, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics.

It was the 17th consecutive week that jobless claims surpassed 1 million. Prior to the pandemic, just 200,000 people sought unemployment assistance in a typical week.

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Brazil nears 2 million coronavirus cases, with 75,000 dead

SAO PAULO (AP) — A thousand deaths a day.

Since late May, three months after Brazil's first reported case of the coronavirus, it has recorded more than 1,000 daily deaths on average in a gruesome plateau that has yet to tilt downward.

The country hit at least 75,000 confirmed deaths Wednesday and is expected to report 2 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 by Thursday evening.

Even as cases wane somewhat in the biggest and hardest-hit Brazilian cities, the virus is peaking in new locations across the largest country in Latin America.

Experts blame denial of the virus' deadly potential by President Jair Bolsonaro and lack of national coordination combined with scattershot responses by city and state governments, with some reopening earlier than health experts recommended.

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Baseless Wayfair child-trafficking theory spreads online

CHICAGO (AP) — The baseless conspiracy theory took off after an anonymous user posed a bizarre question in an internet chatroom: What if retail giant Wayfair is using pricey storage cabinets to traffic children?

Self-proclaimed internet sleuths quickly responded by matching up the names of Wayfair products to those of missing children, producing social media posts that have since overrun Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

The result: A national human trafficking hotline suddenly began taking a number of calls about the imagined Wayfair scheme, stretching its resources. A woman said she posted a video of herself on Facebook to counter false claims that she was missing. One mother's pleas to Facebook and YouTube to remove a video of her young daughter that was being used to suggest she was a Wayfair victim went unanswered for days.

Wayfair was forced to respond to the accusations in a recent statement: “There is, of course, no truth to these claims.”

Yet internet users continue to weave a complex web around Wayfair’s furniture and decor, spun from falsehoods and conjecture. Social media influencers, fringe online communities and even political candidates have also now seized on the conspiracy theory as evidence of an even grander one, known as QAnon, that centers on the baseless belief that President Donald Trump is waging a secret campaign against enemies in the “deep state” and a child sex trafficking ring.

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Mosquitoes flying free as health departments focus on virus

Bug spray, swollen welts, citronella. It’s mosquito season.

And in a normal year, the health department serving Ohio’s Delaware County would be setting out more than 90 mosquito traps a week — black tubs of stagnant water with nets designed to ensnare the little buggers.

But this year, because of COVID-19, the mosquitoes will fly free.

The coronavirus has pulled the staffers away, so they haven’t set a single trap yet this year, according to Dustin Kent, the program manager of the residential services unit. Even if they had the time, the state lab that normally would test the insects for viruses that infect humans isn’t able to take the samples because it also is too busy with COVID-19.

That means the surrounding community, just north of Columbus, Ohio, has to wait until potentially deadly mosquito-borne illnesses such as West Nile sicken humans to find out if the insects are carrying disease.

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Trump's grand GOP convention plans shrink as virus surges

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's plans for a grand convention keep shrinking.

The Republican National Committee announced Thursday that it is sharply restricting attendance on three of the four nights of its convention in Jacksonville, Florida, next month.

As the GOP looks for ways to move forward while coronavirus cases are spiking in the state, party leader Ronna McDaniel said in a letter to RNC members that only the roughly 2,500 regular delegates to the convention would be permitted to attend the first three nights. Delegates, their guests and alternate delegates would be allowed for the final night, Aug. 27, when Trump is set to deliver his acceptance speech.

The GOP had already moved most of the convention from Charlotte, North Carolina, after local officials ruled out a full-capacity crowd during the pandemic.

“When we made these changes, we had hoped to be able to plan a traditional convention celebration to which we are all accustomed," McDaniel said. “However, adjustments must be made to comply with state and local health guidelines.”

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Chairs but no people: Glimpses of California virus reclosing

LOS ANGELES (AP) — When restaurants and bars began reopening in California after a stay-at-home order, employees took down caution tape, hung “Welcome Back” signs and placed chairs neatly around tables in preparation for customers.

Hair salons and stores also started to open their doors, as people began to claw back some normalcy.

Then the virus surged again. The yellow tape went back up. The signs came down. And the chairs were again stacked up.

All those chairs — piled up, roped off, flipped on top of tables — are a symbol of the return to anti-virus restrictions in the state.

California, which imposed the nation's first statewide stay-at-home order in March, initially successfully managed the virus. Gov. Gavin Newsom moved quickly to reopen the economy in May. But then confirmed cases and hospitalizations began skyrocketing, and restrictions began mounting again.

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Chinese executives get 'pre-test' injections in vaccine race

BEIJING (AP) — In the global race to make a coronavirus vaccine, a state-owned Chinese company is boasting that its employees, including top executives, received experimental shots even before the government approved testing in people.

“Giving a helping hand in forging the sword of victory,” reads an online post from SinoPharm with pictures of company leaders it says helped “pre-test” its vaccine.

Whether it’s viewed as heroic sacrifice or a violation of international ethical norms, the claim underscores the enormous stakes as China competes with U.S. and British companies to be the first with a vaccine to help end the pandemic — a feat that would be both a scientific and political triumph.

“Getting a COVID-19 vaccine is the new Holy Grail,” said Lawrence Gostin, a global public health law expert at Georgetown University. “The political competition to be the first is no less consequential than the race for the moon between the United States and Russia.”

China has positioned itself to be a strong contender. Eight of the nearly two dozen potential vaccines in various stages of human testing worldwide are from China, the most of any country. And SinoPharm and another Chinese company already have announced they're entering final testing.

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Q&A: What's behind the Twitter Bitcoin hack?

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Hackers broke into the Twitter accounts of world leaders, celebrities and tech moguls on Wednesday in one of the most high-profile security breaches in recent years, highlighting a major flaw with the service millions of people have come to rely on as an essential communications tool.

The intent of the hack appeared to be to steal money from unsuspecting cryptocurrency enthusiasts — in particular, by using the compromised high-follower accounts to scam people out of Bitcoin. But it also raises questions about Twitter's ability to secure its service against election interference and misinformation ahead of the U.S. presidential election.

Here are some questions and answers about the breach:

WHAT HAPPENED — AND HOW?

On Wednesday afternoon, the Twitter accounts of famous figures began tweeting similar messages saying they were “feeling generous” and would double any Bitcoin payments sent to an address in the tweet. Among the individual accounts affected were former President Barack Obama, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, tech billionaires like Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Tesla CEO Elon Musk and celebrities such as Kanye West and his wife, Kim Kardashian West.

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Fox's Harris Faulkner is used to people making presumptions

NEW YORK (AP) — As a Black journalist who works at Fox News Channel, Harris Faulkner is accustomed to people who presume to know where she stands on issues.

She's motivated more than bothered by that.

“When anybody looks at you and looks at your position and think they know who you are, you have the advantage of being able to surprise them,” said Faulkner, centerpiece of two weekday hours at Fox and host of a special on America's racial reckoning that airs at 10 p.m. Eastern on Sunday.

Faulkner is the most prominent Black personality at Fox as moderator on “Outnumbered" at noon each weekday, reaching an audience that is overwhelmingly white and conservative during a season of racial unrest over police brutality and calls for a more equitable society.

She sees it as an opportunity to involve them in a conversation they're not often part of.