PoliticsYahoo NewsExclusive: Jan. 6 select committee will include former CIA inspector general found to have retaliated against whistleblower
As the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot prepares to get underway next week, it will include former CIA Inspector General David Buckley in the role of staff director. The selection of Buckley to serve in that capacity, however, could come back to haunt the Democrats on the committee who selected him. Yahoo News has obtained a previously unpublished 2019 report compiled by the Department of Homeland Security's watchdog office showing that investigators urged the CIA to take action against Buckley for his alleged retaliation against a whistleblower, a conclusion that would likely be troubling to potential witnesses who might testify in the Jan. 6 inquiry.
PoliticsAssociated PressTrump inaugural committee chair to be released on $250M bail
The chair of former President Donald Trump's inaugural committee was ordered freed Friday on $250 million bail to face charges he secretly worked as an agent for the the United Arab Emirates to influence Trump's foreign policy. Tom Barrack, 74, will be subject to electronic monitoring and largely confined to his residence after he is arraigned Monday in a New York courtroom. Barrack is expected to plead not guilty to conspiring to influence U.S. policy on the UAE's behalf during Trump's 2016 campaign and while Trump was president.
ScienceBBCLas Vegas murder case cracked with smallest ever amount of DNA
The 1989 murder of a 14-year-old girl in Las Vegas has been solved by using what experts say is the smallest-ever amount of human DNA to crack a case. Stephanie Isaacson's murder case had gone cold until new technology made it possible to test what little remained of the suspect's DNA: the equivalent of just 15 human cells. Police on Wednesday said they had identified the suspect by using genome sequencing and public genealogy data.
WorldReutersChina's Sinovac evaluates vaccine plant in Chile
Chilean authorities said on Friday that China's Sinovac had begun evaluating potential sites for the construction of a vaccine plant in Chile that could begin producing doses of the Chinese shot as early as the first half of 2022. Chile, a global leader in vaccinating its citizens against the coronavirus, has leaned heavily on the Sinovac vaccine in its fast-paced mass vaccination program. A delegation of executives from Sinovac this week visited potential sites for the factory near the capital Santiago and in Chile's northern desert.
- WorldAssociated Press
Poland a step closer to adopting controversial property law
Poland's Senate on Friday approved with some amendments much-disputed changes to property restitution rules, moving them a step closer to adoption. The draft regulations have drawn strong criticism from Israel and from Jewish organizations who say the new administrative law would prevent Jewish claims for compensation or property seized during the Holocaust and communist times. Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said the legislation will “severely damage our relations with Poland.
U.S.The WeekA 'significant and far-reaching' heat wave is coming to the U.S. next week
A "significant and far-reaching" heat wave is expected to bake the U.S. coast to coast over the next few weeks, toppling temperature records and aggravating wildfires and drought conditions on the West coast in particular, Axios and The Washington Post report. When combined with humidity, temperatures will feel "well into the triple digits" for millions of Americans, per the Post, as the heat dome — or an area of high pressure aloft that helps to lock in place hot, dry weather, per Axios — forms this weekend over the West then migrates across the Central Plains. Although heat domes are expected this time of year, climate change is exacerbating their "intensity, duration, and frequency," writes Axios.
U.S.Fort Worth Star-TelegramBody of Arlington firefighter was found in bathroom window, Mexican authorities say
An investigation is underway into how Arlington firefighter Elijah Snow died Monday while vacationing in Cancun, according to Mexican authorities. On Twitter, Mexican authorities said an “investigation folder” has been started in the death of a man from Texas in the municipality of Benito Juárez in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. “The circumstances in which the events occurred are being investigated,” according to the social media post from Fiscalía General Quintana Roo, which is the State Attorney General's Office for Quintana Roo.
PoliticsReutersExclusive-Democrats may scrap matching funds from infrastructure bill over wage issue
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Democrats are threatening to scrap plans to create an infrastructure bank in the $1.2 trillion bipartisan spending bill after Republicans opposed a provision intended to lift workers' wages, according to three people familiar with the discussions. A decision to remove funding for the bank would be aimed at resolving a logjam over U.S. President Joe Biden's top legislative initiative, as lawmakers scramble to finalize key details of the plan ahead of the Senate's typical August recess. The group of bipartisan lawmakers seeking to hammer out Biden's infrastructure bill want to include $20 billion for a newly created infrastructure bank that would attract investment through private-public partnerships.
U.S.The StateRowland trial live updates: Josephson’s DNA on suspected murder weapon, witness says
The trial of Nathaniel Rowland, a man accused of killing University of South Carolina student Samantha Josephson, entered its fifth day Friday. Josephson's case gained nation attention after it was reported that she was killed after mistakenly getting into a car that was not her Uber while out celebrating in Five Points, the entertainment district in Columbia most frequented by USC students. 5:00 p.m — During the cross examination of prosecutors' expert DNA witness, defense attorney Tracy Pinnock focused on DNA found by investigators from people who went unidentified.
WorldAssociated PressSlovenia PM accuses EU official of lying over rule of law
Slovenia Prime Minister Janez Janša on Friday accused a European Union official of being a liar in the wake of the publication this week of an annual report on adherence to the rule of law in the bloc that highlighted democratic challenges in the Balkan nation. The European Commission's report said media freedom and pluralism have been deteriorating and pointed out online harassment and threats against journalists. The EU's executive arm was also concerned by the government's refusal to finance the state-run Slovenian Press Agency, or STA, for 2021.
U.S.Fort Worth Star-TelegramWant to know what crimes happened near you? The Star-Telegram crime map can help.
Fort Worth police recorded 881 crimes in the city between July 11 and July 17, according to data gathered by the city and compiled by the Star-Telegram. That compiled data is processed and used to create a crime map showing every recorded crime released by Fort Worth police during that time period. Thefts were, as in most weeks, the top crime committed at 125.
- WorldReuters
Venezuela says U.S. military plane violated its airspace
Venezuela's armed forces said on Friday that a U.S. military plane violated its airspace along the South American country's border with Colombia in what it said was a "flagrant provocation." Venezuela, whose socialist government is under heavy sanctions from Washington, has on several occasions in recent years reported alleged airspace violations. It said that on Thursday evening, a C-17 plane from the U.S. Air Force flew over the Perija mountains in western Zulia state for three minutes.
U.S.Miami HeraldFire rescue crews leave site of Surfside condo collapse after month-long response
Miami-Dade County announced on Friday that fire rescue crews who have been at the site of the Surfside condo collapse since the night of the tragedy will be handing over the remainder of the recovery effort to Miami-Dade Police. Search and rescue workers from multiple departments across South Florida have been mobilized for a month since Champlain Towers South partially collapsed in the early morning hours of June 24. Two South Florida urban search and rescue teams are being sent home, according to Miami Herald news partner CBS4.
WorldThe TelegraphTokyo 2020 'axed opening ceremony musician for being black'
A musician claims he was cut from the Olympic opening ceremony because he was black, as organisers face a third staffing row in a week. Latyr Sy, a Senagalese percussionist based in Japan for 20 years, accused organisers of racism after he was booked and then cancelled for inclusion at the curtain-raiser. Tokyo 2020 failed to respond to requests for comment from the Telegraph on the allegations on Friday.
PoliticsAssociated PressUnlikely partners Pelosi and Cheney team up for Jan. 6 probe
When Nancy Pelosi raised a glass to Liz Cheney, it was the most unlikely of toasts. Democratic lawmakers and the Republican congresswoman were gathered in the House speaker's office as the group prepared for the first session of the committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol. Pelosi spoke of the “solemn responsibility” before them and raised her water glass to Cheney, a daughter of the former vice president and the sole Republican in the room.
- NewsYahoo News Video
CDC says ‘superbug’ fungus has spread in Washington, D.C., and Dallas
U.S. health officials said Thursday they have evidence of an untreatable fungus spreading in two hospitals and a nursing home.
CelebrityTheGrioCalifornia man who said he had ’99 problems but a vax ain’t one’ dies from COVID-19
Tributes are pouring in on social media for Stephen Harmon, a 34-year-old congregant of Hillsong Church who died of COVID-19 after he posted jokes about the pandemic. Harmon, a graduate of Hillsong College, died Wednesday after a month-long bout with the coronavirus, The Daily Beast reports. Prior to his death, he shared several social media posts in which he appeared to not take the pandemic too seriously.
CelebrityReutersDutch teen on space flight told Bezos he had never ordered from Amazon
The Dutch teenager who became the world's youngest space traveller this week surprised billionaire Jeff Bezos on the flight by telling him he'd never ordered anything on Amazon.com. Oliver Daemen, an 18-year-old physics student, accompanied Bezos, his brother Mark Bezos and 82-year-old female aviator Wally Funk - the oldest person to go to space - on a 10-minute trip beyond Earth's atmosphere. Bezos funded exploration company Blue Origin by selling billions of dollars' worth of stock in his online delivery business Amazon.
PoliticsMiami HeraldRecords show web of payments involving players in probe into sham Senate candidate
A young Republican political operative who is also the subject of a public corruption investigation into former Republican state Sen. Frank Artiles made an offer to a recent college graduate last September: He would pay her $1,500 to chair a political committee and in exchange, she would have to do nothing. At the time, 25-year-old Hailey DeFilippis, of Palm Harbor, had just found out she was pregnant and was “freaking out about money.”
WorldBusiness InsiderNew drone footage shows deadly floods devastating China's 'iPhone city'
Floods devastated China's Henan province this week after eight months' worth of rain fell in just 24 hours during a storm publications are calling a "once-in-a-thousand-years event" that left "scientists stunned." The extreme flooding in China killed at least 33 people and displaced hundreds of thousands more as residents were evacuated by rescue teams across the region, The Washington Post reported, citing local officials. Historic floods also damaged several communities in Europe, with more than 200 people killed, The Associated Press reported.
HealthKansas City Star‘Mask up’: COVID patient load is ‘way too big,’ KU health official sounds the alarm
On Thursday Stites reported that local hospital leaders are prepared to call for mask mandates and social distancing to be reinstated across the region because the hospitals are filing up. He described the situation as “being under siege. You heard us say yesterday that it may be time to think about masking up again,” Stites said.
WorldLA TimesLebanon's people line up in 'queues of humiliation' as their country unravels
This is life in Lebanon these days, where a 21-month-long, government-engineered economic implosion — the World Bank calls it “a deliberate depression” — has transformed everyday tasks into a gantlet of fuel, power, water, medicine and basic goods shortages that residents dub tawabeer al-thul, or “queues of humiliation.” With the Lebanese lira's street value down to less than 10% of its official value against the dollar, it's a ritual few can afford. “Every month it's getting worse, so long as the dollar [rate] gets worse,” said Abbass Ismail, a 37-year-old computer repairman trudging home from Beirut's Sabra market on the eve of Eid.
PoliticsBusiness Insider6 million renters face eviction in 8 days when a Trump-era ban expires. Biden is poised to let it happen.
Both a federal eviction ban and a moratorium on foreclosures expire in eight days. The Biden administration is poised to allow both relief programs to expire on July 31. On July 31, a set of pandemic-relief measures for renters and homeowners enacted under President Trump will end - and the Biden administration doesn't appear interested in renewing them.
ScienceBBCJeff Bezos and Sir Richard Branson not yet astronauts, US says
New Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) rules say astronaut hopefuls must be part of the flight crew and make contributions to space flight safety. The Commercial Astronaut Wings programme updates were announced on Tuesday - the same day that Amazon's Mr Bezos flew aboard a Blue Origin rocket to the edge of space. To qualify as commercial astronauts, space-goers must travel 50 miles (80km) above the Earth's surface, which both Mr Bezos and Mr Branson accomplished.
HealthMiami HeraldAre COVID symptoms different with the delta variant? Here’s what experts say
The delta coronavirus variant continues to surge in the United States, now accounting for 83% of COVID-19 cases in the United States. A common sign you may have COVID-19 is a loss of smell and taste, but you may not have that with the highly contagious delta variant. “It seems like cough and loss of smell are less common,” said Dr. Inci Yildirim, a Yale Medicine pediatric infectious diseases specialist.
“Thankfully, children are at lower risk for complications from COVID-19, but low risk is not no risk.”
“Guidelines that mandate the masking of children are based on an assessment of risk that is not justified.”
“Masks are easy to use, inexpensive and effective.”
“We’re now 16 months into the pandemic and children remain victims of the Covid political theater.”
“If a community or school isn’t sufficiently vaccinated, it remains at risk of the coronavirus coming back.”