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 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.
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.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.
PoliticsAssociated PressHouse passes bill to reverse changes blamed for mail delays
With heated debate over mail delays, the House approved legislation in a rare Saturday session that would reverse recent changes in U.S. Postal Service operations and send $25 billion to shore up the agency ahead of the November election. Speaker Nancy Pelosi recalled lawmakers to Washington over objections from Republicans dismissing the action as a stunt. President Donald Trump urged a no vote, including in a Saturday tweet, railing against mail-in ballots expected to surge in the COVID-19 crisis.
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.
WorldReutersAfter Hagia Sophia, Turkey's historic Chora church also switched to mosque
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan reconverted the historic Chora church, one of Istanbul's most celebrated Byzantine buildings, into a mosque on Friday, a month after opening the famed Hagia Sophia to Muslim worship. The mediaeval Church of the Holy Saviour in Chora, built near the ancient city walls of Constantinople, contains 14th century Byzantine mosaics and frescoes showing scenes from biblical stories. They were plastered over after the city was conquered by the Muslim Ottomans in 1453, but brought to light again when - like Hagia Sophia - the building was converted to a museum by Turkey's secular republic more than 70 years ago.
BusinessBusiness InsiderTesla employees heading to Austin for the upcoming Cybertruck factory are in for a red-hot real estate market
In July, Tesla in July picked Austin, Texas, as the site for its eventual Cybertruck factory. The company's broken ground on the project, and one real-estate agent said employees are already looking for homes in the city. Unlike San Francisco or New York, home prices haven't dipped much in Texas.
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.
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.
WorldThe TelegraphUS lawmakers introduce bill seeking to change how government refers to Chinese leader Xi Jinping
US lawmakers have introduced a bill that seeks to change how the government refers to Xi Jinping, the leader of China, and would prohibit calling him “president”, instead refering to him by his official titles. The bill would specifically block the use of federal funds to create or disseminate official government documents or communications that refer to Mr Xi as “president”, as that would confer unwarranted legitimacy to a leader who is not democratically elected. While the bill is unlikely to progress very far, it does reflect a shift already occurring in the US government in how officials refer to Mr Xi.
PoliticsUSA TODAYFormer Navy SEAL from Bin Laden raid banned by Delta for not complying with mask rule
Airlines have tightened mask policies, again: Here's what you need to know O'Neill confirmed he's no longer welcome on Delta flights in a Twitter post Thursday, though he says it was because he posted a now-deleted tweet of him posing maskless in his seat and insinuating that people who wear them are wimps (though his word choice was coarser). Mask ban: American Airlines temporarily bans passenger who refused to wear a face mask on flight O'Neill also claimed the post was made in jest: I had my mask in my lap. Everyone has gone crazy," he wrote in a later tweet linking to a Washington Times story about the Delta incident."
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.
BusinessBusiness InsiderTikTok employees have started referring to Trump's deadline to ban the app as 'D-Day' over fears of catastrophic job losses
TikTok's future in the US is unclear as it faces off against the Trump administration's executive orders attempting to ban the app nationwide. Bloomberg reports that TikTok employees are scared about the status of their employment, and are regularly asking executives about layoffs and job security. Employees are reportedly referring the deadline Trump has set for a TikTok ban as "D-Day" in preparation of job losses.
WorldReutersPhilippines protests China's 'illicit' warnings, coast guard conduct
The Philippines has lodged a diplomatic protest over what it said was China's illegal confiscation of fish aggregating devices from Filipino fisherman in a disputed lagoon held by Beijing in the South China Sea. The Philippine foreign ministry said the incident happened three months ago at the Scarborough Shoal, a prime fishing site seized by Beijing in 2012 after a standoff that prompted an unprecedented international legal challenge by Manila. In a statement late on Thursday, it gave no other details about that incident, but it also protested China's "continuing illicit issuances of radio challenges (to) Philippine aircraft conducting legitimate regular maritime patrols."
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.
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Donald Trump Jr.: Americans aren't inspired by Joe Biden because his long, swampy career isn't inspiring
Donald Trump Jr., executive vice president of the Trump Organization, joins Laura Ingraham with reaction to the final night of the 2020 Democratic National Convention.
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 InsiderApple helped build a top secret iPod for the government that only 4 people at the company even knew existed, former engineer says
Apple helped the US Department of Energy develop a special iPod that only four people within the company knew about, a former engineer revealed. The DOE was looking to add custom hardware to an iPod and covertly record data from that hardware to the iPod's disk. It's unclear what the secret iPod was intended for, but Nest founder and iPod co-inventor Tony Fadell confirmed the project in a series of tweets.
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.
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.
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Trump impersonator Sarah Cooper slams president's attacks on mail-in voting at DNC
Comedian Sarah Cooper delivers a message on voting to the Democratic National Convention.
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.
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.
PoliticsUSA TODAY2nd Circuit appeals court declines – for now – to block ruling requiring disclosure of Trump's tax returns
WASHINGTON – A federal appeals court on Friday refused to immediately block a judge's decision requiring the disclosure of President Donald Trump's tax returns to a Manhattan prosecutor. On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero rejected the president's latest efforts to block a grand jury subpoena for his tax returns – a major loss for Trump, who has dismissed the investigation as a political "witch hunt" and has fought all the way to the Supreme Court to keep his financial records private.
“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.”