PoliticsYahoo News'Pelosi Republicans': McCarthy and Cheney trade barbs ahead of Jan. 6 committee hearing
A day before the U.S. House's new select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection holds its first public hearing, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy called Reps. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., and Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill. — who agreed to sit on the panel after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi rejected two of McCarthy's picks — “Pelosi Republicans.” Speaking to reporters in the Rose Garden at a White House ceremony commemorating the anniversary of the Americans With Disabilities Act, McCarthy was asked whether he planned to punish Cheney and Kinzinger for agreeing to participate in the select probe.
PoliticsYahoo News 360Making sense of conservatives’ sudden vaccine endorsements
Over the course of the past week, a number of prominent Republican lawmakers and conservative media figures have made strong statements in support of getting vaccinated against COVID-19. “These shots need to get in everybody's arms as rapidly as possible,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said during a press conference Tuesday. House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, the No. 2 House Republican, emphasized the importance of the vaccines after receiving his first dose.
U.S.Fort Worth Star-TelegramGunman kills 1, injures 3 before he is stoned to death in Fort Worth, police say
A gunman opened fire on a group of people in a Como neighborhood, killing one and injuring three others before he was stoned to death, authorities said. The gunman and the other person were pronounced dead at the scene. Their names have not been released by authorities.
WorldReutersChina's new private tutoring rules put billions of dollars at stake
HONG KONG (Reuters) -China's sweeping new rules in private tutoring has left private education firms facing a significant business impact as Beijing steps up regulatory oversight of a $120 billion industry that investors had bet billions of dollars on in recent years. The rule changes, which are much tougher than previously expected, have put at risk billions of dollars of public and private capital ploughed into the sector over the last few years on hopes for continued demand in the world's most populous country. The move triggered a massive fall on Friday in the Hong Kong and New York-listed shares of Chinese private education companies, and the selloff continued on Monday with some of the stock plummeting between 30% and 40%.
PoliticsThe WeekRepublicans blame liberals while finally urging vaccines
The good news is that Sarah Huckabee Sanders has come out firmly in favor of COVID-19 vaccines. Huckabee, who served as Donald Trump's White House spokesperson and is now running for governor of Arkansas, urged the state's residents to get vaccinated in a Sunday op-ed for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Along the way, she attacked snooty liberal leaders and institutions like President Biden and The New York Times for planting the seeds of vaccine hesitancy.
WorldBBCNigeria school kidnappers abduct man delivering ransom
Kidnappers in Nigeria have seized a man who was sent to deliver a ransom payment to secure the release of dozens of abducted school children. The elderly man was sent by the children's parents after they managed to raise 30m naira ($73,000; £53,000) by selling land and other possessions. But they have been left feeling hopeless following his kidnapping.
- WorldAssociated Press
Strong undersea quake shakes Indonesia; no tsunami warning
A strong, shallow underwater earthquake shook central Indonesia on Monday but no serious damage was immediately reported and no tsunami warning was issued. The U.S. Geological Survey said the magnitude-6.2 quake was centered at a depth of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) about 98 kilometers (60 miles) west-northwest of Luwuk, a town in Central Sulawesi province. Indonesian Meteorology and Geophysics Agency official Taufan Maulana said the quake was felt in many parts of the province but there was no danger of a tsunami.
WorldReutersChinese parents fret after government bans for-profit tutoring firms
Anxious Chinese parents were rushing to hire private tutors to help their children navigate a fiercely competitive education system after the government moved last week to rein in companies in the massive tutoring services industry. China's for-profit education sector has been under scrutiny as part of Beijing's push to ease pressure on school children and reduce a cost burden on parents that has contributed to a drop in birth rates. But though many parents welcomed an effort to reduce the long hours their children spend studying, others said the ban would only add to parents' financial burdens and increase inequality.
- NewsWABC – NY
Search intensifies for suspect behind violent Brooklyn mugging
The search is intensifying for a suspect behind a violent mugging in Brooklyn.
PoliticsReutersRepublican lawmaker says public transit dispute holding up U.S. infrastructure bill
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The lead U.S. Republican negotiator on an infrastructure plan said on Sunday he hoped for a detailed agreement sometime this week despite a dispute over spending on mass transit, but a Democratic source said several other issues were also unresolved. Lawmakers are hoping to hold a procedural vote in the Senate as soon as Monday on whether to start debate on the bipartisan plan, and negotiators are trying to nail down final details. A bipartisan framework brokered with President Joe Biden and announced over a month ago provides for $1.2 trillion in funding over five years, including about $579 billion in new spending on roads, bridges, ports and other public works projects.
U.S.Kansas City StarMissouri gun dealer charged in Capitol riot competed in shooting contest this month
A central Missouri firearms dealer charged in connection with the U.S. Capitol riot competed in a shooting contest earlier this month, a federal prosecutor told a judge last week. During a hearing in federal court in Washington, D.C., on Friday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Tejpal Chawla said prosecutors had just learned that Matthew Loganbill participated in the competition on July 10. “Based on the information that I have and reviewed from online, Mr. Loganbill posted results of the shooting match on his website and indicated he was one of the participants in that shooting competition,” Chawla told U.S. Magistrate Judge G. Michael Harvey.
WorldThe TelegraphCovid cases fall for sixth day in a row
Covid cases have fallen for a sixth day in a row, with scientists saying a combination of vaccines, the "pingemic", school holidays and good weather may be responsible. The daily reported infections for Monday stood at 24,940 – a drop of 14 per cent since Sunday and down 15,000 since the same time last week. Figures suggest all regions are now seeing declines, with big decreases in previously high areas such as the north east of England, where daily cases have fallen by two thirds since the peak on July 15.
BusinessReutersHeathrow, airlines tell UK to open up travel as hopes rise for U.S. visitors
LONDON (Reuters) -London's Heathrow Airport and Britain's main airlines urged the UK to open up travel to vaccinated passengers or face more job losses, as hopes rose that travellers from the United States could be given the green light this week. Heathrow Chief Executive John Holland-Kaye said Britain could exempt fully vaccinated U.S. citizens from quarantine in the coming days, in what would be a huge boost to the country's aviation industry which continues to be plagued by uncertainty. Strict rules which the government has previously altered with little notice has meant that Britain's travel sector remains in the doldrums while Europe's has partially recovered.
HealthReutersMixed AstraZeneca-Pfizer shot boosts COVID antibody level - study
A mixed vaccination of first AstraZeneca and then a Pfizer COVID-19 shot boosted neutralizing antibody levels by six times compared with two AstraZeneca doses, a study from South Korea showed. The study involved 499 medical workers - 100 receiving mixed doses, 200 taking two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech shot and the remainder getting two AstraZeneca shots. All showed neutralizing antibodies, which prevent the virus from entering cells and replicating, and the result of the mixed schedule of vaccines showed similar amounts of neutralizing antibodies found from the group that received two Pfizer shots.
U.S.Charlotte ObserverNC doctor sought 2 hours of sex a month with nurse in blackmail plot, lawsuit says
Unless the nurse practitioner agreed to have one hour of sex with him two times a month for one full year, according to the woman's new federal lawsuit, Thompson would make sure her husband and other loved ones received tapes of her highly personal conversations with an unidentified third party. Thompson, a well-known surgeon at Wilkes Medical Center in North Wilkesboro, intimated that he had stalked the woman and used sophisticated video- and audio-recording devices to capture her private communications, the lawsuit claims. On June 11, it says, after threatening her marriage, her reputation and her job, the doctor was eager to initiate what he described as “physical alone time.
WorldThe Daily BeastInside the Shocking Airport ‘Abduction’ of a Top Rebel Leader
ABUJA, Nigeria—Witnesses to the shocking public kidnapping of Nigerian and British national Nnamdi Kanu—head of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) group—told The Daily Beast that the separatist leader was stepping out of his car at an airport when a group of heavily armed men forcefully seized him to arrange his transfer to Nigeria. In June, Kanu—who faces multiple charges in Nigeria, including treason—had driven into the underground parking lot at Jomo Kenyatta Airport in Kenya's capital city of Nairobi.
U.S.Charlotte ObserverWill Madison Cawthorn join the belatedly enlightened on COVID?
That's how many people had to die globally from COVID-19 before conservatives such as Sean Hannity, Kayleigh McEnany and Steve Scalise finally stopped sowing doubt about the vaccinations and urged their followers to get them. I didn't see Fox News talking head Hannity say this – I'd rather kiss a snaggle-toothed llama that just ate a package of Oreos without flossing afterward than watch his commentary – but he has been widely quoted as saying recently “Please take COVID seriously, I can't say it enough. Enough people have died.
U.S.Miami HeraldFlorida’s state of COVID, Artiles case snags GOP operative, unemployment site gets hacked, FPL draws new adversary
According to federal officials,After ranking in the top 10 among states in the early days of COVID vaccinations, Florida's vaccination rates have lagged and the state ranks just 22nd now as COVID surges. As of Friday, 67.1 percent of Floridians 18 and over have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and 57.9 percent of those 18 and over in the state have been fully vaccinated, according to The New York Times vaccination tracker. WHAT WE'RE WATCHING Miami-Dade steps up prevention: What's been the reaction from government officials?
U.S.Business InsiderThe 'QAnon Shaman' is in plea negotiations after being diagnosed with mental illnesses, including schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, report says
The Capitol-riot suspect known as "QAnon Shaman" is in plea negotiations, his lawyer told Reuters. The negotiations come after Jacob Chansley was diagnosed with mental illnesses while in prison. The Capitol-riot suspect known as the "QAnon Shaman" is in plea negotiations after being diagnosed with mental illnesses while in prison, his attorney told Reuters on Thursday.
SportsAssociated PressAll a blur as Canada's MacNeil claims 2 medals at Olympics
Races often end in a blur for Canada's Maggie MacNeil, who wears glasses outside the pool but doesn't use contacts or prescription goggles when swimming. MacNeil made the turn nearly last — in seventh place — in the 100-meter butterfly final, then put in a huge second lap. On realizing she'd won her first Olympic gold, MacNeil mouthed "oh my God" and got a big hug from defending champion Sarah Sjoestroem.
TechnologyLA TimesAI deepfakes of Anthony Bourdain's voice are only a taste of what's coming
The most important thing about a documentary deepfaking Anthony Bourdain's voice isn't that it happened, but that it happened and almost nobody noticed. Director Morgan Neville faced skepticism and outright revulsion on social media this month when it was revealed he used artificial intelligence to create a model of Bourdain's voice for 45 seconds of narration in the new documentary "Roadrunner," about the life and 2018 death by suicide of the beloved chef and journalist. Bourdain's voice was one of his trademarks, known to fans the world over from his TV travelogues "Parts Unknown" and "No Reservations."
PoliticsThe Independent‘Let’s call him Mohammed’: Trump fails to remember name of Taliban leader during wild speech
Donald Trump pleased thousands of his political supporters on Saturday night when he returned to Arizona for a rally, delivering a near two-hour speech focused on bashing the Democrats and stirring up trouble with the Taliban. Referring to the organisation's leader, Mawlawi Hibatullah Akhundzada, the former US president appeared to forget his name – instead telling the 5,000-strong crowd he would just “call him Mohammed”. Mr Trump characteristically used the Turning Point Action gathering to blast the “disgraceful” 2020 election, repeating previous and already debunked claims about votes being “stolen” from him.
U.S.Charlotte ObserverRadio host skeptical of COVID vaccine is fighting for his life with virus, family says
A talk radio host in Tennessee is expressing regrets about his stance on the coronavirus vaccine after falling seriously ill with the virus, his family says. Two weeks after Phil Valentine's positive COVID-19 test result, relatives of the Nashville SuperTalk 99.7 WTN host say he's “fighting for his life.” In a Facebook post dated June 24, Valentine blasted Facebook, Twitter and YouTube as “public health nuisances” for censoring COVID misinformation and, in a follow up comment, said giving the vaccine to kids was “tantamount to child abuse.”
ScienceBusiness InsiderJeff Bezos is offering to cover billions in costs if NASA remedies its 'mistake' and gives Blue Origin the chance to compete with SpaceX again for a moon-lander contract
Bezos sent an open letter to NASA offering to cover $2 billion for the Human Landing System program. Blue Origin's offer would help it compete with SpaceX for a $2.9 billion NASA contract. In the letter, Bezos criticizes NASA's original decision to select SpaceX as the sole winner.
SportsAssociated PressOlympic broadcasters curb sexual images of female athletes
At an Olympics aiming to set the highest level of television standards, the head of broadcasting at the Tokyo Games is trying to banish overly sexualized images of female athletes. “Sport appeal, not sex appeal” is one mantra Olympic officials push in an effort to reach gender equity on the field of play and on screen. “You will not see in our coverage some things that we have been seeing in the past, with details and close-up on parts of the body,” Olympic Broadcasting Services chief executive Yiannis Exarchos said Monday.
“[The program] stands likely to leave millions of families — disproportionately the poorest and most fragile ones — behind.”
“[Paying] families monthly, instead of one lump sum ... will provide parents with more stability knowing when cash is coming.”
“More parents will disappear from the workforce, and more children will be locked into dependency.”
“Poverty is a political choice, not an inevitability.”
“Time is running out. There are only six months until monthly payments of the credit cease."