PoliticsBusiness Insider'Is this a joke?' North Carolina voters are being mailed absentee ballot request forms with Trump's face on them
The mailout by the North Carolina Republican Party asks for "immediate action" to "ensure your right to securely vote Absentee." Trump has previously also said that using mail-in voting is less secure than absentee voting, even though the two terms refer to the same method of using the mail to deliver ballots. Voters in North Carolina are receiving absentee ballot request forms that feature President Trump's face on them even though the president has continuously criticized mail-in voting in the run-up to the November election.
WorldINSIDERThe $15 billion hit from the devastating Beirut explosion will be a gut-punch to Lebanon's hobbled economy
Officials in Lebanon estimated it would cost $15 billion to fix the damage from the Beirut explosion on August 4, The Washington Post reported. The explosion killed more than 180 people and wounded over 6,000 people. The damage from the explosion comes as Lebanon is reeling from a terrible economic crisis that has significantly devalued its currency.
PoliticsThe WeekIt turns out Mitch McConnell will appear at the RNC after all
After some back and forth, it's been confirmed that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) will make an appearance at next week's Republican National Convention. McConnell is up for re-election in November, and his campaign spokeswoman, Katharine Cooksey, said in a statement on Thursday that he would not be part of the convention. A few hours later, Cooksey changed course, saying there was a "miscommunication" and McConnell will be recording a message for the convention, The Hill reports.
PoliticsBusiness InsiderAll the top Republicans who say they won't vote for Trump in 2020
Several Republican leaders have publicly voiced their opposition to Trump and signaled they will not support his 2020 reelection. The list includes ex-officials and those currently in office, such as former President George W. Bush and Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, the GOP presidential nominee in 2012. Throughout his presidency, Donald Trump has stoked tensions within the Republican Party he leads, bashing party loyalists and even previous presidential nominees who dared to defy him with names like "loser" and "RINO," for Republican in name only.
PoliticsThe IndependentQAnon: Senior Republican says there is 'no place' for right-wing conspiracy theory in GOP
House minority leader Kevin McCarthy has condemned the QAnon, saying there is “no room” for the conspiracy theory in the Republican party. In an interview with Fox News on Thursday, Mr McCarthy, Republican representative for California's 23rd district, was asked whether he was worried about candidates who have won primaries who were affiliated with groups like QAnon. “Let me be very clear,” Mr McCarthy said.
U.S.Associated PressFormer sailor details misconduct by SEALs pulled from Iraq
Grace heard the corpsman say that a sailor who attended a Fourth of July barbecue had just been raped by a Navy SEAL on base. The corpsman asked the colonel what to do because the victim was afraid that if she reported the incident, retribution would follow. Grace looked down at her phone to check the time and saw a missed text from a friend asking her to come over.
U.S.Business InsiderHealth officials in 3 states have traced new COVID-19 cases to the Sturgis motorcycle rally where hundreds of thousands of bikers gathered
Health officials in South Dakota, Nebraska, and Minnesota have now traced multiple new COVID-19 cases back to a motorcycle rally held in Sturgis, South Dakota between August 7 and 16. The rally, which drew hundreds of thousands of bikers to the 6,900-person city, has been tied to 15 new coronavirus cases in Nebraska, seven in Minnesota, and multiple incidences in South Dakota, according to CNN. The event was one of the largest public gatherings in the US since the coronavirus pandemic began.
- ScienceReuters Videos
California battles hundreds of wildfires
As California faces some of the largest fires in state history, tens of thousands of people are under mass-evacuation orders, including in and around the San Francisco Bay area. Firefighting forces are stretched thin. Satellite images show thick white smoke covering a wide area across Sonoma County - adding to health risks faced by residents already struggling to stay safe amid the coronavirus pandemic.
PoliticsThe Daily BeastJudges Keep Buying the GOP’s Bogus Mail-In Voting Fraud Claims
In a parallel suit, Wisconsin Republicans secured an opinion from the U.S. Supreme Court, which held that all mail-in ballots had to be postmarked by primary election day. Dissenting, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg stated: “The Court's order, I fear, will result in massive disenfranchisement. In Texas, Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton argued in multiple lawsuits that voting by mail should be available only to actual COVID-19 victims, and not to voters who feared being infected at polling sites.
LifestyleMiami HeraldRefrigerators full of food are popping up on streets around Miami. Here’s why
Very simply, these community fridges are set up in public areas where anyone from the neighborhood can take food or donate food. Hers is one of two community fridges set up in Miami-Dade County in the last two weeks and they aim not to be the last as locals look for ways to address hunger made worse in their communities by joblessness as COVID-19 sweeps across the country. Both of the fridges sit near food deserts — low-income areas, where the closest source of fresh food, like a grocery store, is at least half a mile away.
HealthBusiness InsiderThe coronavirus pandemic could be over within the next two years, WHO chief hopes
The COVID-19 pandemic could be over within the next two years, according to the head of the World Health Organization (WHO). Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a press conference on Friday that current advances in technology could help the world gain fight the virus "in a shorter time." Tedros compared the current pandemic to the 1918 Spanish flu, which took two years to overcome.
WorldBBCCoronavirus: Is the US the worst-hit country for deaths?
And making comparisons is tricky as countries record deaths in different ways. But experts say one of the most telling measures is how many extra deaths a country experiences above the number who would have been expected to die. This "excess" death data captures some potentially unrecorded coronavirus deaths, and other deaths that might be the result of strain on healthcare systems and other indirect effects of the epidemic.
WorldReutersLukashenko says he will close Belarus factories that are seeing protests: RIA
Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said on Saturday he would close factories that have seen worker protests, the Russian RIA news agency reported, his latest attempt to quell a wave of opposition rallies since contested elections this month. Lukashenko also suggested he would fire the workers concerned. "If a factory is not working then let's put a lock on its gate from Monday, let's stop it," RIA cited Lukashenko as saying in the town of Grodno near the border with Poland.
WorldAssociated PressPolitical parties vow to fight removal of Kashmir's autonomy
Half a dozen political parties vowed Saturday to fight for restoration of the special status that was stripped last year from Indian-administered Kashmir, setting off widespread anger and economic ruin amid a harsh security clampdown. Four pro-India Kashmiri political parties and two Indian political parties, including the main opposition Congress Party, said in a joint statement that India's move “unrecognizably changed the relationship” between the region and New Delhi. “We want to assure the people that all our political activities will be subservient to the sacred goal of reverting to the status of J&K as it existed on 4th August 2019,” the statement said.
PoliticsBusiness Insider'They're not needed, sir': Postmaster General Louis DeJoy says USPS won't replace removed mail-sorting machines
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said in a testimony to the Senate on Friday that these machines will not be replaced. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. Related video: The rise and fall of USPS The US Postal Service will not replace the mail-sorting machines it has removed, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy told the Senate's Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on Friday.
PoliticsThe Independent‘The worst president’: 95-year-old Republican World War II veteran says he regrets voting for Trump and now backs Biden
A 95-year-old World War II veteran and longtime Republican, called Donald Trump the “worst” president the US has ever had and praised Democratic candidate Joe Biden, ahead of November's presidential election. On Thursday, Edward Good spoke at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) and praised Mr Biden, after multiple other Republicans endorsed the Democratic presidential candidate earlier in the week. Mr Good revealed that he voted for Mr Trump in 2016, but told those watching the virtual convention that he regretted voting for the president and revealed that he is now backing Mr Biden, according to the Daily Mail.
WorldThe TelegraphSweden stands firm on face masks as Anders Tegnell refuses to copy other countries' strategy
With face masks mandatory on public transport in Denmark from Saturday morning, Sweden is now in the position it has been in so often during the coronavirus pandemic - alone. The country, which chose not to close lower secondary schools, pubs, restaurants, and sports facilities at the peak in April, is again an outlier in not recommending the general public wear face masks. Dr Anders Tegnell, the country's state epidemiologist, told the Daily Telegraph that he did not expect the Public Health Agency of Sweden to follow Norway, Finland and Denmark and drop its opposition to masks when it recommends new measures to Sweden's government at the start of next month.
PoliticsBusiness InsiderRats reported feeding on packages of rotted fruit and meat as postmaster general's cutbacks unleash chaos at California's mail centers
Chaos has ensued at mail sorting facilities across California as employees struggle with the recent cutbacks in staffing and equipment. At one mail-sorting facility in South Los Angeles, employees reported seeing gnats and rodents picking apart containers of fruit and meat that had been left to rot, according to the Los Angeles Times. The reports come after recently-appointed Postmaster General Louis DeJoy made a series of sweeping changes to the postal service.
U.S.Associated PressLawyers: Autopsy suggests inmate suffered during execution
An inmate suffered “extreme pain" as he received a dose of pentobarbital during just the second federal execution following a 17-year lag, according to court filings by lawyers representing one of the inmates scheduled to be executed next. The claim Wesley Purkey may have felt a sensation akin to drowning while immobilized but conscious is disputed by Department of Justice attorneys. This month's filings were part of motions to halt the execution of Keith Nelson, convicted in the 1999 rape and strangulation of 10-year-old Pamela Butler.
PoliticsThe WeekBiden's polling remains steady after DNC, but favorability gets a boost
Former Vice President Joe Biden, the 2020 Democratic presidential nominee, didn't see his general election polling numbers rise in the immediate aftermath of this week's Democratic National Convention, a new Morning Consult poll shows. The poll, which was conducted Friday (one day after Biden gave his acceptance speech completing the four-day DNC) and released Saturday, has Biden up nine points on President Trump, compared to the eight point advantage he enjoyed Monday. The lack of convention bump so far doesn't appear to be too concerning for the Biden campaign, however.
HealthThe Daily BeastMost Russians Say ‘Hell, No!’ They're Not Taking Putin’s COVID-19 Vaccine
MOSCOW— Vladimir Putin has registered the world's first state-approved vaccine against the coronavirus and probably expected congratulations—at least at home—for winning the global race for a vaccine, but even Russians aren't so sure this is a good idea. Epidemiologists, pharmacologists, and doctors in Russia have responded to the alleged breakthrough with skepticism, and they certainly aren't lining up to be injected first. Russian scientists plan to start the final stage of the trials on Monday, planning to begin the mass vaccination in October.
WorldThe TelegraphIran agrees inspection deal with UN nuclear watchdog at two nuclear sites
Iran has offered to allow UN nuclear inspectors to visit two controversial nuclear sites as part of its diplomatic charm offensive to have the international arms embargo against Tehran lifted, The Daily Telegraph can reveal. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN-sponsored body responsible for monitoring Iran's nuclear activities, has been highly critical of the Iranian regime over its refusal to cooperate with inspectors over claims that it has undertaken illicit activities at two nuclear facilities. The IAEA took the unprecedented step earlier this year of issuing a special report publicly rebuking Iran for its non-cooperation on a number of key nuclear issues, and denying inspectors access to two key Iranian nuclear installations at Marivan and Amad, which inspectors believe have been used for developing and storing nuclear material and form part of Iran's clandestine nuclear weapons programme.
HealthBusiness InsiderDoctors are finding striking similarities between chronic fatigue syndrome and long-term coronavirus symptoms
Researchers are just beginning the understand the link between the coronavirus and chronic fatigue. "I basically relapsed upon arrival," Oliver, a 36-year-old manager for an arts organization in New York City, told Business Insider. It reminds them of another condition that's also still somewhat mysterious: chronic fatigue syndrome.
WorldAssociated PressGaza militants fire 12 rockets, Israel strikes Hamas targets
Palestinian militants fired 12 rockets at Israel from the Gaza Strip overnight, nine of which were intercepted, and Israel responded with three airstrikes on targets linked to the territory's militant Hamas rulers, the Israeli military said early Friday. It was the most serious exchange of fire along the Gaza frontier in months, but there were no reports of casualties. Police said buildings and vehicles in Israel were damaged, and that bomb-disposal units had been dispatched to pick up shrapnel and rocket parts.
BusinessBusiness InsiderA Trump win in November helps Tesla's competitors — but it doesn't make life any easier for Big Auto in the long run
The major automakers have benefitted from Trump's policies and tax cuts. But Big Auto has also had to deal with Trump's constant provocations and chaotic approach to global business and trade. A Biden win in November could restore policies that support Tesla.
“Harris brings an unusual blend of social justice progressiveness and law-and-order conservatism.”
“It's hard to imagine Trump-skeptical independents now aching to pull the trigger for Biden with Kamala on the ticket.”
“If Biden wishes, he can delegate the daily barrage of rebukes against his opponent to her. Biden now can rise above the fray.”
“Voters viewed her as among the most qualified to be president on Day 1 — a key positive.”
“Here’s a reality check: Running mates have very little direct effect on voters.”