WorldWashington ExaminerTaliban fighters strike airport in southern Afghanistan
Taliban forces attacked the Kandahar airport in southern Afghanistan with at least three rockets overnight, a spokesman for the insurgent group said Sunday. The goal of the rocket strike was to obstruct airstrikes stemming from Afghan government forces, the Taliban said. "Kandahar airport was targeted by us because the enemy were using it as a center to conduct airstrikes against us," said Zabiullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, according to Reuters.
U.S.Associated PressFlood watches in US West as mudslides close major interstate
Mudslides from heavy rains caused "extreme damage” to a major interstate and left it blocked with piles of boulders and logs, Colorado transportation officials said Sunday, as forecasters warned of more flash floods in the coming days across the Rocky Mountain and Great Basin regions. The flood risk was elevated for many areas of the West where recent wildfires burned away vegetation and left hillsides more susceptible to erosion, the National Weather Service said. Interstate 70 in Glenwood Canyon, Colorado, was closed with no word on when it might re-open after being pounded by flash floods over a three-day period.
PoliticsWashington ExaminerSenators reveal bill text and introduce $1.2 trillion infrastructure deal after rare weekend session
It's no longer a framework: Senators on Sunday evening revealed and introduced legislative text for a bipartisan infrastructure deal crafted after months of negotiations among a bipartisan group of lawmakers. "This legislation represents the most significant investment in our infrastructure since the construction of the Interstate Highway System," Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins said on the Senate floor on Sunday. Finalized during a rare weekend session, the legislation, which is called the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, clocks in at 2,702 pages.
HealthThe WeekFauci: 'I don't think we're going to see lockdowns' with the Delta variant surge, but more 'pain and suffering' is likely
COVID-19 cases are rising sharply in the U.S., thanks to the more easily transmissible Delta variant, but while many Americans may have to mask up again, "I don't think we're going to see lockdowns," Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top federal infectious disease expert, said on Sunday's ABC This Week. "We're looking, not, I believe, to lockdown, but we're looking to some pain and suffering in the future because we're seeing the cases go up, which is the reason why we keep saying over and over again, the solution to this is get vaccinated and this would not be happening." Fauci, the chief medical adviser to President Biden, said "we are seeing an outbreak of the unvaccinated" now, adding that "from the standpoint of illness, hospitalization, suffering, and death, the unvaccinated are much more vulnerable."
- PoliticsWLS – Chicago
EXCLUSIVE: Ex-Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich says new lawsuit would open door to run for office
Nearly a year and a half after the former Illinois governor was freed from federal prison after serving eight years for corruption he wants the door re-opened to run for statewide office again.
PoliticsWashington ExaminerMcCarthy faces calls to resign over alleged joke about hitting Pelosi with gavel
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is facing several calls by Democrats to resign after reports surfaced that he joked about hitting Speaker Nancy Pelosi with a gavel. On Saturday night, McCarthy was reportedly gifted a large gavel by members of Tennessee's Republican congressional delegation during a dinner event. The gavel had the words "Fire Pelosi" inscribed on it, referencing the minority leader's repeated optimistic stance that the GOP will retake the House following the 2022 midterm elections.
WorldBBCNigerian student shocked to see friend's body in anatomy class
In our series of letters from African writers, Nigerian journalist and novelist Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani writes about the disturbing reality behind some of the "unclaimed" bodies sent to the country's medical schools. Medical student Enya Egbe fled his anatomy class crying after being disturbed by the corpse he was asked to work on. The 26-year-old still vividly recalls that Thursday afternoon seven years ago at Nigeria's University of Calabar, converging with fellow students around three tables with a cadaver laid out on each.
PoliticsThe Guardian‘A one-man scam Pac’: Trump’s money hustling tricks prompt fresh scrutiny
Donald Trump's penchant for turning his political and legal troubles into fundraising schemes has long been recognized, but the former US president's money hustling tricks seem to have expanded since his defeat by Joe Biden, prompting new scrutiny and criticism from campaign finance watchdogs and legal analysts. Critics note Trump has built an arsenal of political committees and nonprofit groups, staffed with dozens of ex-administration officials and loyalists, which seem aimed at sustaining his political hopes for a comeback, and exacting revenge on Republican congressional critics. Just days after his defeat last November, Trump launched a new political action committee, dubbed Save America, that together with his campaign and the Republican National Committee quickly raked in tens of millions of dollars through text and email appeals for a Trump “election defense fund”, ostensibly to fight the results with baseless lawsuits alleging fraud.
ScienceWashington ExaminerGOP report says evidence 'proves' COVID emerged from Wuhan lab
House Foreign Affairs Committee Republicans released their report on COVID-19's origins, pointing to evidence of a lab leak, genetic modification, and a cover-up, making the case the virus accidentally emerged from the Wuhan lab in the fall of 2019. The report concluded that “the preponderance of evidence suggests SARS-CoV-2 was accidentally released from a Wuhan Institute of Virology laboratory sometime prior to September 12, 2019,” and “the virus, or the viral sequence that was genetically manipulated, was likely collected in a cave in Yunnan province, PRC, between 2012 and 2015." The report said Wuhan lab researchers, CCP officials, and “potentially American citizens” all “directly engaged in efforts to obfuscate information related to the origins of the virus and to suppress public debate of a possible lab leak.”
WorldLA TimesAs water table lowers, Tehran and much of Iran are slowly sinking
Officials and outside experts have long linked subsidence in Tehran to over-extraction of groundwater, with the falling water levels causing the soil to shift and settle in many neighborhoods and at the airport. "The disaster is rooted in the fact that 4 billion cubic meters of water are annually extracted from 50,000 wells, a third of which are illegal," Mohsen Tabatabei, an official with the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development, told local reporters in June. We're seeing it [subsidence] in 30 out of the 31 provinces.
PoliticsThe GuardianWant to make Jim Jordan sing about the Capitol attack? Ask Jefferson Davis
The House select committee on the 6 January insurrection at the Capitol, according to chairman Bennie Thompson, should “not be reluctant” to include on its witness list Republicans including the minority leader, Kevin McCarthy, Jim Jordan and others who have knowledge of or may have been implicated in the attack.
U.S.Business InsiderA Trump supporter was arrested after a church prayer group member sent texts to the FBI that showed him inside the Capitol Building on Jan. 6
Glenn Allen Brooks was arrested Friday for his alleged involvement with the Capitol riot on January 6. One of the group members then tipped off the FBI. The FBI arrested a California man after receiving a tip of his involvement in the January 6 Capitol riot from a church prayer group member.
U.S.The GuardianSharks fleeing toxic red tide take refuge in Florida canal
Hundreds of coastal sharks have taken refuge in a Florida canal, apparently to escape the effects of a toxic red tide outbreak killing hundreds of tons of marine animals. Residents of Buttonwood Harbor, on Longboat Key, recorded unusual footage of bonnethead, blacktip, nurse and lemon sharks swimming close to their homes. Florida has been battling outbreaks of red tide, caused by the algae Karenia brevis, for several years.
PoliticsAssociated Press'Vote them out': Willie Nelson headlines Texas protest rally
Country music legend Willie Nelson led more than a thousand spectators in singing “vote them out” Saturday from the steps of the Texas Capitol during a rally wrapping up a four-day march in support of Democratic state legislators who bolted for Washington two weeks ago to block GOP-backed voting restrictions. Families with lawn chairs spread out across the sprawling Capitol greens in Austin. Clergy, politicians, constituents and musicians all spoke out about the proposals to impose voter ID requirements, limit ballot drop boxes and mail voting, and strip local officials of their election authority.
U.S.Washington ExaminerUS considering ‘next steps’ as it warns Iran it will respond to deadly attack on oil tanker in international waters
The new categories include: Afghans who work or worked as employees of contractors, locally employed staff, interpreters/translators for the U.S. government, U.S. Forces Afghanistan, International Security Assistance Force or Resolute Support; Afghans who work or worked for a U.S. government-funded program or project in Afghanistan supported through a U.S. government grant or cooperative agreement; Afghans who are or were employed in Afghanistan by a U.S.-based media organization or nongovernmental organization.
WorldNBC NewsJapan shelters Belarusian sprinter who sought to flee at the Olympics
A Belarusian sprinter was under the protection of Japanese authorities Monday, a day after she made a dash for freedom at a Tokyo-area airport, claiming her team was forcing her to return home after she publicly criticized her coaches at the Olympics. The sprinter, Krystsina Tsimanouskaya, sought the protection of Japanese police at Haneda Airport on Sunday after she refused to board a flight to Minsk, the International Olympic Committee and Japanese authorities confirmed. “They are trying to get me out of the country without my permission,” Tsimanouskaya, 24, said in a videotape posted online by the Belarusian Sport Solidarity Foundation, or BSSF, a dissident athletic organization.
U.S.Miami HeraldWanting to test the waters in this red-hot housing market? Be careful of this hidden clause
You may not be forced to sell if you really don't want to, but you could be on the hook for a 5% or 6% sales commission — whether you sell or not. At play here is an often-unnoticed clause in most listing agreements, which essentially says that if the agent brings a legitimate buyer to the table who offers to match your selling requirements, said agent is due his or her commission. According to realty professionals I've spoken with, the clause is rarely, if ever, enforced.
U.S.INSIDERTennessee GOP rep who rejected masks now says COVID-19 is 'real and dangerous' after his 8-month battle with the virus
Tennessee representative David Byrd used to support the idea that the media was sensationalizing the COVID-19 pandemic. In his 8-month battle with the virus, he developed pneumonia, jaundice, and liver failure. Tennessee GOP Rep. David Byrd is urging the public to take COVID-19 seriously and get vaccinated after his 8-month struggle with the virus, which saw him hospitalized and put under a ventilator for 55 days.
PoliticsBusiness InsiderJoe Manchin says he 'can't really guarantee anybody' that the Democratic-led reconciliation package will pass the Senate
Joe Manchin on Sunday said he couldn't guarantee passage of the Senate reconciliation package. AOC said the House could scuttle a bipartisan spending bill absent a reconciliation package with progressive priorities. Sen. Joe Manchin on Sunday said that he "can't really guarantee anybody" that the Democratic-led reconciliation package would be approved by the Senate.
WorldThe Daily BeastHere’s Why China Could Be Sucked Into the ‘Graveyard of Empires’
Of course, the U.S. government is not actually pulling out of Afghanistan to make way for China or to lure it into a trap. Quite the contrary, one U.S. official with whom I spoke said the U.S. would monitor China's involvement closely and that it might someday become a potential source of concern should China's role become “overlarge. When it comes to Afghanistan's history as “the graveyard of empires,” China may think they know better than us how to avoid the country's pitfalls.
- U.S.The Dominion Post, Morgantown, W.Va.
Early morning visit by sheriff's deputies raises questions
Aug. 1—MORGANTOWN — At 4:51 a.m. May 21, Monongalia County resident Chin Orih was awakened by a banging on his front door. As Orih was getting dressed, his wife checked the home's security cameras and saw the house surrounded by sheriff's deputies with their guns drawn. Orih turned on the front porch light and went outside.
HealthBusiness Insider24 vaccinated friends had a blowout vacation on Cape Cod. Though their symptoms were mild, 14 of them caught COVID-19, report says.
24 fully vaccinated friends had a week-long July 4 getaway in Provincetown, Massachusetts. The cases are part of a bigger study that prompted the CDC to change its indoor masking guidance. Fourteen of 24 vaccinated friends who visited the Cape Cod town of Provincetown, Massachusetts in July caught COVID-19, Bloomberg reported on Sunday, an anecdote showing the limits of vaccination.
ScienceBaltimore SunCommentary: Why are so many Republicans refusing vaccination? Because Russia is telling them to
According to a recent Washington Post poll, refusal to get the COVID-19 vaccine has now become completely politicized in the USA. Among Democrats, 93% report that they've already gotten at least one shot or are likely to, compared with only 49% of Republicans. Why so much refusal to vaccinate among the GOP?
- NewsWCVB - Boston
Death, Hazmat investigation under investigation near Boston hotel
Police say there is an active death investigation-- with potentially hazardous materials-- near the Marriott Copley hotel. Emergency crews responded to a parking garage located at 110 Huntington Ave. just after 3:30 a.m.
PoliticsBusiness InsiderTrump lashed out after documents were released showing him pressuring Justice Department officials to overturn the election
Donald Trump lashed out after the release of documents showing him pressuring DoJ officials. The documents show Trump urging them to say last year's election was "corrupt." In a statement on Saturday, Trump repeated the election fraud claims in his bid to overturn the election.
“[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."