Afghanistan curfew imposed as Taliban militants advance

The Afghan government imposed a curfew across almost all of the country on Saturday in an attempt to stop the Taliban from invading cities. Fighting between the Taliban and Afghan government forces has escalated over the past two months as international troops withdraw from the country. The Taliban - a fundamentalist Islamist militia who were pushed out of power by the US invasion nearly 20 years ago - has also seized key roads as it seeks to cut off supply routes.

Vietnam reports record 7,968 coronavirus cases on Saturday

Vietnam's health ministry reported 7,968 coronavirus infections on Saturday, a record daily increase and up from Friday's record of 7,307. More than two-thirds of the cases are in Ho Chi Minh City, the ministry said in a statement. After successfully containing the virus for much of the pandemic, the Southeast Asian country has been facing a renewed outbreak of the virus, with southern business hub Ho Chi Minh City and surrounding provinces accounting for most new infections.

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  Vietnam's biggest cities tighten restrictions as COVID-19 cases surge

  Reuters
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  Vietnam says more U.S. vaccine donations expected after first 5 million doses

  Reuters

Sale of semiconductor factory to Chinese-owned firm presents bigger UK risk than Huawei

The sale of the country's largest microchip factory to a Chinese-owned firm poses a bigger risk to Britain's strategic interests than Huawei's involvement in the 5G network, the UK's former cybersecurity chief warns. Ciaran Martin, the former head of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), said the takeover of Wafer Fab, a semiconductor manufacturer in Newport, was both “puzzling” and “inconsistent” with the Government's wider stance on Beijing. In an interview with The Telegraph, Mr Martin said the acquisition of the plant formed part of China's wider strategy to achieve “clear technological superiority” over the West.

Arlington firefighter accidentally asphyxiated in Cancun window, authorities conclude

An Arlington firefighter on vacation in Mexico was accidentally asphyxiated last week when he was trapped in a window as he tried to enter a bathroom, law enforcement authorities have concluded. No signs of violence were found at the scene of Elijah Snow's death on Monday at a hotel in Cancun, according to the State Attorney General's Office for Quintana Roo. Snow's relatives have said that Snow's death was criminal.

California's largest fire torches homes as blazes lash West

Flames racing through rugged terrain in Northern California destroyed multiple homes Saturday as the state's largest wildfire intensified and numerous other blazes battered the U.S. West. The Dixie fire, which started July 14, had already leveled over a dozen houses and other structures when it tore through the tiny community of Indian Falls after dark. An updated damage estimate was not immediately available, though fire officials said the blaze has charred more than 181,000 acres (73,200 hectares) in Plumas and Butte counties and was 20% contained.

Russia excludes senior Communist candidate from parliamentary vote

Russian electoral authorities on Saturday barred a well-known Communist Party candidate from running in September's parliamentary election, the latest high-profile opposition figure to be disqualified from the vote. Pavel Grudinin, who won 12% of votes when he challenged Vladimir Putin in a 2018 presidential election, was excluded from a candidate list because the Prosecutor's Office had found he held shares in a foreign company, news agencies reported. Grudinin, a wealthy farm boss, denied having any foreign assets and linked his disqualification by the central election commission to the potential for opposition parties to post a strong result in September, Interfax reported.

One person fatally shot and two others injured in Belton Saturday morning, police say

One person was killed and two others were injured in a shooting Saturday morning in Belton, police said. The shooting occurred on Maggie Court. People involved in the shooting arrived at Research Belton Medical Center and the QuikTrip near Missouri 58 and Bel-Ray Boulevard, according to the Belton Police Department.

A man found with guns and ammunition in his Chicago hotel room told police it was a 'mistake' and he 'didn't mean to startle anyone'

An man caught by police with guns in his Chicago hotel room said it was "an honest to God accident." Footage viewed by media outlets showed that police had worried "it could've been a Las Vegas thing." Keegan Casteel, 32, was arrested and charged with two felony counts.

China confirms ban on for-profit tutoring in core school subjects - Xinhua

SHANGHAI (Reuters) -China is barring tutoring for profit in core school subjects to ease financial pressures on families that have contributed to low birth rates, a report in the official Xinhua news agency said on Saturday. The news confirmed a measure contained in a government document widely circulated on Friday and confirmed by Reuters that sent shockwaves through China's vast private education sector, hitting providers' share prices. Foreign investment in the sector will be prohibited under the rules set out by the State Council, Xinhua said.

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  China bars for-profit tutoring in core school subjects -document

  Reuters
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  Beijing tutoring crackdown slams U.S.-listed Chinese stocks

  Reuters

Why it may be a 'grave mistake' for FDA to wait much longer for full COVID-19 vaccine approval

Zeynep Tufecki, a sociologist who has written extensively on COVID-19 throughout the pandemic, is a proponent of broadening vaccine mandates in the United States, citing precedent in the health-care sector, the military, and schools. Kentucky, she notes in a piece published Saturday in The New York Times, requires anyone working in a long-term care facility to be vaccinated against the flu and pneumococcal disease unless they have a medical or religious exemption (Brown University's Dr. Ashish Jha, another prominent voice during the pandemic, also pointed to flu vaccine mandates in nursing homes as a reason to implement them for the coronavirus). Both Pfizer and Moderna, which were granted emergency use late last year, have submitted their applications for full approval, and the former is apparently set to receive the green light no later than January 2022.

Fauci: 'There's no way' the coronavirus was made with U.S. research funds. Here's why

From the pandemic's earliest days, Dr. Anthony Fauci has drawn political fire from COVID-19 skeptics. As director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), Fauci is steeped in the scientific disciplines of virology, immunology and vaccine design. The latest example occurred this week on Capitol Hill, when Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) effectively accused Fauci of sending U.S. tax dollars to China so scientists there could soup up coronaviruses culled from bats and make them more dangerous to people.

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  Rand Paul sends criminal referral to DOJ saying Fauci lied about gain-of-function research funding

  Washington Examiner
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  Sen. Rand Paul Told To 'Get F**ked' During Virtual Town Hall

  HuffPost

As Spain swelters and COVID cases grow, pool renting app thrives

A cooling dip in the mid-July swelter of central Spain no longer requires owning a private pool, or risking COVID-19 contagion at crowded public swimming facilities, Aura Cenet discovered. The 21-year-old waitress from Madrid and her three friends hired a private pool in the garden of a house in Arroyomolinos, a town 28 km (18 miles) southwest of the capital city, using the Swimmy app. The pandemic has buoyed businesses such as pool manufacturing and maintenance across the world, as more people chose to avoid community pools and beaches.

Nigeria's hipster herders - the funky Fulanis

Bling earrings, shaved eyebrows and funky hairstyles are not what many would normally associate with Nigeria's Fulani herders, who spend most of their time in the forests herding cattle. But on occasions such as last week's Eid al-Kabir, as Eid al-Adha is known locally, when they head out to the city centres in northern Nigeria to celebrate with other Muslims, their colourful outfits really stand out. And unlike many Muslims in this conservative part of the country, they choose not to wear traditional gowns, or kaftans, but trendy clothes inspired by hip-hop and Afrobeats stars.

Army Ranger Savagely Killed Female Security Guard in Drunken Rampage: Police

Patrick Byrne, stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, was arraigned by video conference from his jail cell on Friday and a court-appointed attorney pleaded not guilty on his behalf. Court documents obtained by local outlets show that Pierce County prosecutors have accused Byrne of first-degree murder for killing 41-year-old Denise Smith as she was on duty at a downtown Tacoma office building on Sunday. U.S. Army Ranger Patrick Byrne, 26, is charged with murdering Denise Smith, 42, as she worked as a security guard at a Tacoma office building.

A United Airlines flight was evacuated after a teenager AirDropped a photo of an airsoft gun to other passengers, report says

A teen caused a United Airlines flight to be evacuated after he AirDropped an image of a gun to other passengers. Passengers were removed from the plane and rescreened, NBC Bay Area reported. A United Airlines flight from San Francisco to Orlando was evacuated on Thursday after a teenager sent a photo of an airsoft gun to other passengers on the plane, according to NBC Bay Area.

Arizona secretary of state tells Trump to ‘take your loss and accept it and move on’

Republicans in Arizona's State Senate are currently conducting a months-long audit of the 2020 election in Maricopa County, which Joe Biden won by about 11,000 votes. No evidence has indicated that the results were fraudulent, but Mr Trump insists that Democrats somehow stole the election – a falsehood that he's likely to repeat at Saturday's rally. On CNN, reporter Jim Acosta asked Ms Hobbs how dangerous Mr Trump's false claim is.

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  Arizona secretary of state tells Trump to "accept" his election loss ahead of Phoenix rally

  Axios
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  Arizona secretary of state tells Trump to 'accept' his election loss and 'move on' ahead of Phoenix rally

  Business Insider

‘Avenge Her Murder’: The Grisly Killing of an Ex-Diplomat’s Daughter Ignites a Wave of Fury Worldwide

Four days after the headless body of a former Pakistani diplomat's young daughter was discovered in Islamabad, her death has ignited a wave of fury across the globe and sparked calls for stronger protections for women in Pakistan. Near the Toronto waterfront, writer and activist Zahra Haider—who grew up with both the 27-year-old victim, Noor Mukadam, and her alleged killer, Zahir Jaffer—hosted a vigil in Queen's Park on Friday night. Haider opened the vigil with a quote from writer Mohammed Hanif: “There was not a single day—when she didn't see a woman shot or hacked, strangled or suffocated, poisoned or burnt, hanged or buried alive... Most of life's arguments, it seemed, got settled by doing various things to a woman's body.”

California family say they were treated like criminals on a Southwest flight because their toddler wouldn't keep his mask on

A California family said Southwest Airlines "just wanted them off the plane" when their 3-year-old son refused to keep his face mask on. After the experience, the family is vowing to never fly on the airline again. Eric Hansen, his wife, and their toddler were all ready to fly from Las Vegas to San Jose on Friday 23 July, KRON4 reported.

First images of Derek Chauvin in prison are released

The first images of Derek Chauvin in prison have been released after he was sentenced for the murder of George Floyd for 22 years and six months last month. In April, the former Minneapolis police officer was found guilty of second-degree murder, third-degree murder and manslaughter. Mr Floyd died in May 2020 after Chauvin kneeled on his neck for more than nine minutes.

Tunisian teen wins surprise Olympic swimming gold

Nobody was watching Ahmed Hafnaoui in lane eight of the Olympic pool. Hafnaoui was the stunning winner of the 400-meter freestyle at the Tokyo Games on Sunday, beating a field of faster and older swimmers. Australia's Jack McLoughlin earned silver and American Kieran Smith took bronze.

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  Longshot Tunisian swimmer Ahmed Hafnaoui shocks world by winning Olympic gold

  Yahoo Sports Canada
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  Long shot wins gold, and was just as shocked as everyone else

  Yahoo Sports

We need COVID-19 mandates to reach herd immunity. Start by requiring vaccine proof to fly.

For the first time since the highly effective vaccines became widely available in the spring, the new case rate is back on the rise due to the spread of the more contagious delta variant and the stalled effort to vaccinate people in many parts of the country. According to medical experts, reaching herd immunity will require that 70% to 90% of the U.S. population be fully vaccinated. Worse, at the current vaccination rate of roughly 500,000 per day, it will take nine more months to cover just 75% of the population.

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  California bars start demanding proof of vaccinations as Delta surges. Will vax requirements spread?

  Yahoo News
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  Moderna COVID-19 vaccine gets EU regulator endorsement for teens

  Reuters

Marjorie Taylor Greene said she would deport Chinese people who are 'loyal' to the Chinese Communist Party

Marjorie Taylor Greene wants to "kick out every single Chinese in this country that is loyal to the CCP". Greene made the comments while speaking to Steve Bannon on his show. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said that if she was in charge she would deport every Chinese person that was loyal to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).