What's causing record rates of STDs?

The combined number of cases of syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia in the U.S. reached an all-time high in 2018, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than 2.4 million cases of the three sexually transmitted diseases were reported last year, an increase of more than 100,000 from the previous year. Congenital syphilis led to 94 newborn deaths in 2018, the CDC said.

• 
  The Spread of Chlamydia, Gonorrhea, and Syphilis Is at an All-Time High, According to the CDC

  PopSugar
• Increased number of STDs in Hawaii linked to online dating

  Associated Press

The Latest: Australia says Turkey to blame for IS escapes

Turkey's official Anadolu news agency says Turkey-backed Syrian forces have advanced into the center of a Syrian border town, Tal Abyad, on the fifth day of the Turkey's military offensive against Kurdish fighters in Syria. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor, also said Sunday that the Turkey-backed forces had "near full control" of the town. Sporadic gunfire and an occasional mortar round could still be heard hitting Tal Abyad from just across the border in the Turkish town of Akcakale.

• 
  10 Things to Know for Today

  Associated Press
• 
  U.S. ‘Withdraws’ as Kurds Strike Deal to Let Assad’s Forces Into Region

  The Daily Beast

Disney Skyliner reopens with modified hours after stranding passengers last week

Disney's Skyliner is up and running again with modified service after the new aerial cable car system stranded passengers for hours the night of Oct. 5. "Beginning today, guests may travel aboard Disney Skyliner from 8 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.," reads an update on Walt Disney World Resort's Skyliner landing page. "Following a complete review with the manufacturer, we've made adjustments to our processes and training, and we are improving how we communicate with guests during their flight with Disney Skyliner," Thomas Smith, editorial content director at Disney Parks, wrote in a blog post on Monday.

Assad troops enter north-east Syria after Russia-backed deal with Kurds

Fears were also rising over an Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) resurgence as it emerged that US forces had failed to secure dozens of the most hardened jihadist fighters and the first known British member of Isil escaped Kurdish custody. Forces loyal to the Syrian regime have started arriving in the Kurdish-held province of Hasakah and Assad's fighters are expected to start moving into key cities along the Syrian-Turkish border over the next 48 hours. The regime's black-and-red flag was raised over government buildings in Hasakah and the nearby city of Qamishli for the first time in seven years, according to Syrian state media.

• 
  Syrian Fight Heats Up With U.S. on Sidelines

  Bloomberg
• 
  Islamic State supporters escape in Syria as US pulls back

  USA TODAY

This New Submarine Could Be a Real Killer (And No, Its Not American)

Key point: Submarines are very useful for power projection and deterrence. On July 12, 2019, French president Emmanuel Macron celebrated the imminent launch of France's first new nuclear-powered submarine in over a decade—the Barracuda-class vessel Suffren. A few weeks later on August 1, the Suffren finally took to the water as its drydock in Cherbourg, France, was flooded.

• 
  French Finance Minister: not candidate to be Macron's new choice for EU post

  Reuters
• Macron Seeks to Slow EU Expansion in Blow to Balkan Aspirations

  Bloomberg

View Photos of Our Sports Sedan Battle Between the Dodge Charger and Kia Stinger GT

America's leading (and only) V-8 muscle sedan takes on Korea's upstart rear-drive hatchback in a battle of power versus poise. From Car and Driver

Caravan of 2,000 migrants detained in southern Mexico

TAPACHULA, Mexico (AP) — Mexican officials broke up a caravan of around 2,000 migrants that had set out from southern Mexico Saturday in the hopes of reaching the United States, amid increasing difficulty obtaining permission to pass through Mexico. Many of the migrants who departed from Tapachula, Chiapas early in the morning had been held up in this city just north of Guatemala for weeks or months, awaiting residency or transit papers from Mexican authorities. "I want to pass through Mexico, I don't want to live here," said Amado Ramirez, a migrant from Honduras who said he had been living on the streets of Tapachula with his young children and wife, hoping for a transit visa from Mexican officials.

• 
  Across the Pond: Mexico stops migrant caravan

  ABC News Videos
• 
  Hundreds of migrants corralled at detention center in Mexico

  Associated Press

Mobile phones back in Indian Kashmir, but internet still down

Mobile phone networks were restored in Indian Kashmir on Monday after a 72-day blackout, authorities said, but the internet remains off-limits to the region's seven million-plus people. India cut access to mobile networks in the restive Kashmir Valley in early August citing security concerns as it scrapped the region's semi-autonomous status and imposed a lockdown. The easing on Monday covers around four million post-paid mobile phone contracts, but only for calls and text messages.

• 
  India restores post-paid cellphone services in Kashmir

  Associated Press
• 
  Amid lockdown, India's Modi assures Kashmir situation will normalize in four months

  Reuters

Hong Kong Police Officer Slashed in Neck as Violence Continues

Police said the officer suffered a neck wound after being attacked with a “sharp-edged” object in a subway station. Due to “serious vandalism,” the city's rail operator MTR Corp. said on Monday all main subway lines, MTR buses and light rail would shut down early at 10 p.m. The Airport Express route was not affected, the company said, adding that it made the decision after reviewing ongoing repairs and conducting a “joint risk assessment” with the government. Several events later this week could add fuel to the protests: Lam is due to give her annual economic-policy address, and U.S. lawmakers in the House of Representatives may vote on a bill that would require annual reviews of Hong Kong's special trading status and potentially sanction some Chinese officials.

• 
  Police called in as Hong Kong and China tensions spread to UK universities

  The Telegraph
• 
  Hong Kong riot police clear barricade as tensions remain high in another weekend of protests

  Newsflare

Gunman opens fire at church wedding ceremony, 2 people shot

A gunman opened fire at a wedding ceremony inside a New Hampshire church Saturday, shooting two people including the presiding bishop before guests tackled the shooter and pinned him to the ground until police arrived, authorities said. Dale Holloway, 37, has been charged with first degree assault for shooting Stanley Choate, 75, in the chest at the New England Pentecostal church, according to the state's attorney general office. A third person, Mark Castiglione, 60, was struck in the head by an object.

• 
  Police respond to New Hampshire church shooting

  Yahoo News Video
• 
  New Hampshire wedding shooter may have been avenging late stepfather's murder, authorities say

  ABC News

'It's got to stop': Superintendent condemns teacher's racist rant in school parking lot

A teacher at a Pennsylvania middle school has been placed on administrative leave after a viral Facebook video showed her calling a black man the N-word and using other derogatory language in the school's parking lot. In the video, a teacher at Drexel Hill Middle School in Pennsylvania, is seen scrubbing at the rear bumper of a red pickup truck with her sleeve after a car crash in the school's parking lot. The school confirmed reports that the teacher's name is Renee Greeley.

British Isil 'matchmaker' feared to have escaped after mass prisoner breakout

Northern Syria was collapsing into chaos last night as hundreds of Islamic State (Isil) family members escaped from prison and Kurdish forces prepared to surrender key cities to the Assad regime after the US announced it was evacuating all troops from the area. A notorious British Isil female recruiter was feared to be among nearly 800 wives and children of jihadist fighters who burst out of a Kurdish camp in the biggest prison break since Turkey launched its offensive last week. The US also said it was pulling out all 1,000 of its soldiers in northern Syria, an abrupt reversal of policy that came just days after the Trump administration insisted it was only moving a few dozen commandos.

• 
  British orphans missing in northern Syria after mass escape of Islamic State families

  The Telegraph
• 
  Syrian army pushes north as US prepares to withdraw troops

  Associated Press

Meet the Massive Ordnance Penetrator: The Air Force's Newest Bunker Buster Bomb

Key point: The MOP bomb will increase the firepower and options of the Air Force. EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. The U.S. Air Force is asking the Boeing Co.to build additional Massive Ordnance Penetrator bunker-busting super bombs under terms of a $70 million contract announced last week.

Family of a missing Utah tech executive has called off search after body found

The family of a missing Utah tech executive has called off a search for her after police reported that a body was found inside a parked car in the San Francisco Bay Area.

• 
  Body found in San Jose neighborhood where Utah-based CEO went missing

  KGO – San Francisco
• 
  Family ends search for missing CEO after a body is found

  Associated Press

Pope's bodyguard resigns over new financial leaks scandal

The Vatican's latest leaks scandal claimed its first victim Monday, as Pope Francis' chief bodyguard resigned over the leak of a Vatican police flyer identifying five employees who were suspended as part of a financial investigation. The Vatican said its police chief, 57-year-old Domenico Giani, bore no responsibility for the leaked flyer but resigned to avoid disrupting the investigation and "out of love for the church and faithfulness" to the pope. Giani, a 20-year veteran of the Vatican's security services, has stood by Francis' side and jogged alongside his popemobile during hundreds of public appearances and foreign trips.

• 
  Pope Francis's main bodyguard resigns over a leak

  Yahoo News Video
• 
  Vatican security chief, papal bodyguard, steps down over leak

  Reuters

Hungary opposition wins Budapest in blow for PM Orban

Hungary's opposition scored a shock win in the Budapest mayoralty election Sunday, the first electoral blow for nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban since he came to power in 2010. The win was "historic" said the pro-European centre-left challenger Gergely Karacsony, 44, who was backed by a wide range of opposition parties from across the political spectrum. The mild-mannered former political scientist led by 51 percent of the vote ahead of the incumbent Istvan Tarlos on around 44 percent, with 82 percent of votes counted.

• 
  Hungary: Blow for Orban as liberal opposition wins Budapest mayoral race

  The Independent
• 
  Yacht orgy is testing Orbán’s iron grip on Hungary

  Yahoo News Video

Portland antifa activist killed in hit and run, police say

A Portland antifascist activist was killed in the early hours of Saturday in an apparent hit-and-run near Cider Riot, a cidery and taproom popular with the city's anarchist left that has been the scene of conflict with rightwing groups. According to the Portland police bureau, the car involved was fired upon and crashed into a nearby building. Police said in a statement that the 23-year-old victim, Sean D Kealiher, was taken to a local hospital by associates.

Power returns to Northern California; firefighters gain on wildfires in SoCal

The lights were back on for more than 2 million Northern Californians on Sunday after strong winds fueling wildfire concerns prompted the state's biggest power utility to darken hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses. In Southern California, a few dozen customers were without power as firefighters slowly gained control over fires that killed two people, destroyed dozens of homes and forced 100,000 to evacuate. "Aggressive suppression efforts and favorable weather conditions (have) provided opportunities to make gains in obtaining full containment," the Los Angeles County Fire Department said in a statement.

• 
  California officials update wildfire containment, evacuation maps

  ABC News
• 
  All evacuation orders lifted as containment increases for deadly Saddleridge Fire

  KABC – Los Angeles

China’s Xi warns efforts to divide China will end with ‘crushed bodies and shattered bones'

China's president Xi Jinping has warned efforts to divide or destabilise China will end with “shattered bones,” as international pressure mounts over the government's handling of protests in Hong Kong and a widespread crackdown on Muslim minority groups. Anyone attempting to split China in any part of the country will end in crushed bodies and shattered bones,” Mr Xi said, according to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV. And any external forces backing such attempts dividing China will be deemed by the Chinese people as pipe-dreaming!

• 
  China's Xi promises aid, development in Nepal visit

  AFP
• 
  Attempts to split China risk 'smashed' bodies: Xi

  AFP

Can The U.S. Army's Latest Air Defense System Handle 21st Century Warfare?

Key point: Drones and short-range rockets are a prevalent threat. After enjoying years of the Air Force dominating the skies in the fight against the Islamic militants in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria, the Army is beefing up its short-range missile-defense capabilities to counter the rockets, missiles, and weaponized drones that are increasingly becoming staples of foreign arsenals. And while the return of active-duty maneuver SHORAD battalions for the first time since the end of the Cold War is part of Chief of Staff Gen. Mark A. Milley's strategic emphasis on a “combined arms, multi-domain capable” Army, the tactical implications are far more appealing: a bunch of new, explosive toys to pla...