Rudy Giuliani is being investigated by the FBI over a film he was trying to make about the Bidens and Ukraine, report says

The FBI is investigating Rudy Giuliani over a Biden-Ukraine film project, Mother Jones reported. Giuliani is also being probed over his efforts to urge Ukrainian officials to dig up dirt on Biden. Audio from 2019 showed Giuliani pressed Ukrainian officials in exchange for better relations with the US.

Former Polish sprinter demands Christine Mboma take sex-reaffirming test after her Olympic medal win

Namibian sprinter Christine Mboma proudly draped the Namibian flag around her shoulders Tuesday after winning the silver medal in the women's Olympic 200-meter race, just over one month after learning she could not compete in her signature 400m due to elevated testosterone levels. Her dominant performance of 21.81 seconds elicited controversial remarks from retired Polish sprinter Marcin Urbaś, who demanded Mboma take a sex-reaffirming test to confirm she “definitely is a woman. I would like to request a thorough test on Mboma to find out if she definitely is a woman,” Urbaś told Spanish sports news outlet Marca.

18 US Orthodox Jewish girls kicked off a Delta flight following a COVID-19 protocols dispute, reports say

Eighteen Orthodox Jewish girls were barred from a Delta-KLM flight from Amsterdam to New York on Friday because of a dispute about COVID-19 protocols, according to The Jerusalem Post. The girls were part of a group of about 55 Jewish teenagers who had spent two weeks visiting religious sites in Kyiv, Ukraine, their rabbi told Fox News. During the first leg of their journey - a Delta-operated flight, in partnership with KLM, from Kyiv to Amsterdam - flight attendants reportedly disciplined the girls for failing to comply with coronavirus safety measures.

Ben Shapiro Embarrasses Himself on ‘Real Time with Bill Maher’

On Friday night, two of the country's foremost Islamophobes sat across from one another on HBO to debate the issues of the day. In one corner was Bill Maher, a self-professed liberal who spends 90 percent of his Real Time show railing against Muslims, platforming conspiracy theorists and/or white nationalist trolls, and whining about “cancel culture. The other had Ben Shapiro, the Daily Wire co-founder who, when he's not being an outrageous hypocrite or distributing films by producers with a long history of overlooking sexual misconduct, spends 90 percent of his time whining about “cancel culture” or “owning the libs” by saying hateful drivel like this: The last time Shapiro visited Maher's ...

A mother got her teenage kids to help clean up the crime scene after she shot and dismembered their stepdad, reports say

Thessalonica Allen, 34, shot her husband and cut his legs off, according to court documents. Allen also asked her children to help clean up the crime scene, ABC 7 reported. Thessalonica Allen is accused of shooting her husband, Randy Allen, inside an apartment in LaPorte, Indiana, after an altercation broke out over the woman's internet history, WCAX 3 reported.

World is on the brink of catastrophe, warns Government climate chief

The world is getting "dangerously close" to running out of time to avert catastrophic climate change, Cop26 President Alok Sharma has said. Mr Sharma - who is tasked with making a success of the upcoming climate talks in Glasgow - said failing to limit warming to 1.5C would be "catastrophic". In an interview with the Guardian, Mr Sharma said a report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, due to be published on Monday, would be the "starkest warning yet" about what the future could hold.

Black principal calls out racism after he was told to remove photo kissing white wife

A Black principal opened up about his experiences with racism while serving in several administrative capacities at Colleyville District in the Dallas Fort-Worth area. Dr. James Whitfield, who was previously the principal of Colleyville Middle School from 2019-2020 and the assistant principal for the high school from 2018-2019, opened up on Facebook in July about racially motivated attacks he encountered after being called out in a school board meeting. In July, a former school board member called for Whitfield to resign and accused him of teaching critical race theory to the students — which was banned by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in mid-June.

84-year-old man fined $293,000 for possessing a German World War II tank that he kept in his basement

An 84-year-old man from Germany has been convicted of illegal weapons possession. In 2015, an investigation found a WWII Panther tank in his basement, as well as a hoard of ammunition. An 84-year-old man from Germany has been convicted of illegal weapons possession and has been fined €250,000 ($293,972) along with a suspended prison sentence of 14 months.

Vaccine-resistant lambda variant is in the US

A new coronavirus mutation known as the lambda variant that is thought to have increased resistance to vaccines has appeared in the United States. Also known as C.37, the lambda variant was first discovered in Peru in November 2020. The lambda variant has since spread to eight countries in South America and 41 countries around the world, according to global science initiative GISAID.

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  Expert discusses COVID-19's Lambda variant and uptick in child infections

  CBS News Videos
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  Tokyo Covered Up Arrival of Deadly New COVID Variant Just Before the Olympics

  The Daily Beast

American Medical Association recommends removing sex markers from public portions of birth certificates

Individuals whose gender identity does not match their birth certificate can experience discrimination, harassment, and violence. Birth certificates were previously used to enforce segregation and prevent interracial marriage. Many modern birth certificates only have male and female options for sex designations.

Woman sues McDonald's after complaining that a cheeseburger advert was so irresistible it caused her to break her fast during Lent

The Russian is seeking $14 as compensation for sustained moral damage, Fox News reported. See more stories on Insider's business page. A woman from Omsk, Russia, is reportedly suing McDonald's over an advert featuring cheeseburgers and chicken nuggets, which she said caused her to break her fast during Lent.

Zach LaVine wins gold at the Olympics with Team USA. His next challenge: Winning with a revamped Bulls team.

Behind Kevin Durant's 29 points, the U.S. men's basketball team won its fourth consecutive gold medal with an 87-82 victory against France on Friday night in Saitama, Japan. The victory offered some redemption for Team USA, which had dropped back-to-back games against France in the Olympics opener in Tokyo and at the 2019 World Cup. Chicago Bulls star Zach LaVine will bring home a gold medal, making him the fourth player in team history to do so, joining Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Jimmy Butler.

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  U.S. Men's Basketball Wins Gold

  Yahoo Sports Videos
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  For the gold: It's the US and France, again, for Tokyo title

  Associated Press

Video film of mutiny by passengers at the unfair removal of two Black men from a flight

EasyJet tried to remove two Black men from a flight for refusing to put on their shoes for take-off. The men were ultimately allowed to stay on the flight, and the cabin crew was changed instead. Passengers on an EasyJet flight reportedly staged a mutiny to stop the airline from unfairly removing two Black men from the flight.

A North Carolina man built a 13-foot skeleton in his front yard warning his unvaccinated neighbors: 'Not vaccinated, see you soon, idiots!'

Raleigh homeowner Jesse Jones put up a 13-foot-tall skeleton in his front yard to show what happens to the unvaccinated. Jones' skeleton bears a sign reading "Not vaccinated, see you soon idiots!" slung around its pelvis. Jones told the Raleigh News and Observer that he got the skeleton at Home Depot.

Cholesterol drug cuts coronavirus infection by 70%, researchers find

A drug meant to treat cholesterol was found to reduce coronavirus infection by 70% in lab studies, with researchers calling for additional clinical trials among hospitalized COVID-19 patients. A team of researchers from the U.K. and Italy published findings in the Frontiers in Pharmacology journal Friday, finding that fenofibrate and fenofibric acid resulted in a significant reduction in coronavirus infection in human cells when the drug was used in safe and approved concentrations, according to a news release posted Friday. "Our data indicates that fenofibrate may have the potential to reduce the severity of COVID-19 symptoms and also virus spread," Dr. Elisa Vicenzi of the San Raffaele Scientific Institute in Milan and co-author, said in the release.

5 people missing as California's historic Dixie Fire threatens communities

Several people were missing as the Dixie Fire, the biggest wildfire in the U.S., tore through Northern California communities, authorities said Saturday. Details: Evacuation orders were in effect for several Sierra Nevada mountain communities, as the third-largest blaze in California's history continued to threaten homes. But Greg Hagwood, a Plumas County supervisor, said law enforcement said some residents "who have guns" told them "'Get off my property and you are not telling me to leave,'" per the Los Angeles Times.

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  Eight missing as massive Dixie fire rages in northern California

  Reuters
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  Dixie Fire 3rd largest in California history -reports

  Reuters Videos

Japan to douse Olympic flame of Games transformed by pandemic and drama

Japan will douse its more than year-old Olympic flame on Sunday, closing out a Tokyo Games that were upended by the pandemic and transformed by the drama of politics, dazzling sport and deeply personal turmoil. For the host nation, the Olympics fell short of the global triumph and financial blockbuster it once sought. Still, organisers appear to have prevented https://www.reuters.com/article/olympics-2020-coronavirus/update-2-olympics-tokyo-feared-games-would-spread-covid-numbers-suggest-that-didnt-happen-idUSL8N2PE08S the Games from spiralling into a COVID-19 superspreader event, a remarkable achievement given that some 50,000 people came together amid the pandemic.

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  Olympic medal count still counts even amid pandemic Games

  Associated Press
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  Olympics-Tokyo feared Games would spread COVID; numbers suggest that didn't happen

  Reuters

A Russian influencer who drove a Bentley with his girlfriend tied to the roof in a viral video is under investigation, agency says

Influencer Sergey Kosenko is reportedly under investigation by the Moscow Traffic Inspectorate. In an Instagram video, he drove a car while handcuffed to a woman who was tied to the roof. A Russian influencer who tied his girlfriend to the roof of a Bentley for a video is reportedly under investigation by the Moscow State Traffic Inspectorate.

Tucker Carlson did PR for Hungary's authoritarian leader, presenting the country as 'freer' than the US

Tucker Carlson gave Hungary's authoritarian leader a platform to spread his xenophobic views. Carlson presented Hungary as "freer" than the United States. Carlson did not mention how Orbán has shored up control of the country's elections, media, and courts.

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  Conservative Fellow Travelers: Tucker Carlson Drops In On Viktor Orban

  The New York Times
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  Tucker Carlson Hates Biden, Loves Antigay Dictators

  The Advocate

White extremism, Cuomo's guilt, Matt Damon, abortion laws and other top Opinion reads

1. White extremism is winning in my Vermont town. This upset one of his daughters, and when Damon defended himself by saying he had used the word in a 2003 movie, suggesting that if it was in a movie it was OK, his daughter was having none of it.

Walmart gives warehouse workers bonuses and pay raises to keep them from quitting

Walmart will offer warehouse employees bonuses and temporary pay raises ahead of its peak holiday shopping season. Bonuses include $1,000 for attending all of their scheduled shifts or a temporary pay raise. Walmart is the biggest employer in the US with over 1.6 million workers.

Tokyo Covered Up Arrival of Deadly New COVID Variant Just Before the Olympics

TOKYO—Three days before the Olympics began, on July 20, Japan's National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID) reported to an international organization that the highly infectious Lambda variant had been detected in an airport test in Japan for the first time, but did not announce it widely to the public. The report was submitted to an international COVID-19 and other influenza virus database known as GISAID. According to preliminary reports from South American and Japanese scientists, the Lambda variant may possess an increased resistance to vaccines.

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  Vaccine-resistant lambda variant is in the US

  Washington Examiner
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  Expert discusses COVID-19's Lambda variant and uptick in child infections

  CBS News Videos

Former commander of the Colombian army to be charged with murder

The former commander of the Colombian army will be charged with murder this week, per prosecutors, making him the highest-ranking military officer to face a possible prison sentence over extrajudicial killings. Details: U.S.-trained Gen. Mario Montoya is accused of overseeing 104 cases in which civilians, five of them children, were kidnapped, killed and disguised as “guerrilla casualties” by armed forces between 2007 and 2008. Montoya was already under investigation by the Special Jurisdiction for Peace, a transitional justice court for reparations that offers lower prison times if the accused pleads guilty.

Libya's wildlife treasure island at risk of ruin

Once famed for its exceptional wildlife, Libya's Farwa island risks becoming just another victim of lawlessness in the war-ravaged North African nation, activists struggling to save it warn. An uninhabited 13-kilometre-long (eight mile) sandbar cut off at high tide in far western Libya, Farwa appears picture-postcard idyllic, with scattered date palms on white sandy beaches and ringed by the sparkling Mediterranean Sea. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has said Farwa is potentially the "most important coastal and marine site in western Libya, in terms of its high marine and coastal biodiversity".