- WorldThe Daily Beast
Hong Kong’s Delayed Elections Are a Warning to America
HONG KONG—July has been a month of constant struggle for this city in recent years, but especially since the protests last summer, which raised the stakes in the quest for universal suffrage. This year is even more chaotic: A third wave of COVID-19 infections has revived worries that Hong Kong, one of the densest cities in the world, may soon see an overwhelmed hospital system. Meanwhile, some of the pro-democracy movement's organizers, still in their teens, have been targeted by the newly formed secret police, taken away in the night.
- U.S.INSIDER
A Chicago Dunkin' worker was arrested on suspicion of spitting in a state trooper's coffee
AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki A worker at a Chicago Dunkin' was arrested Saturday on suspicion of spitting in a state trooper's coffee. According to the state police, the trooper ordered a large black coffee Thursday night and removed the lid because the beverage was hot. "The Trooper observed a large, thick piece of mucus which was later confirmed to be saliva, floating inside it," the state police told NBC News.
- WorldThe Telegraph
South Africa's coronavirus case toll soars while Lagos continues phased reopening
South Africa has become the fifth nation to pass the grim milestone of half a million confirmed coronavirus cases, which account for more than 50 per cent of all Covid-19 infections on the continent of Africa. Zwelini Mkhezi, the health minister, announced a further 10,107 new cases on Saturday, meaning that the Rainbow Nation now only tails the USA, Brazil, Russia and India by number of infections, despite having a significantly smaller population. Despite the dizzying numbers, Cyril Ramaphosa, the president of South Africa, said he sees “promising signs” that the alarming growth of cases is stabilising and the health care system in his country is coping in most areas.
- U.S.Associated Press
Annual Sturgis rally expecting 250K, stirring virus concerns
Sturgis is on. The message has been broadcast across social media as South Dakota, which has seen an uptick in coronavirus infections in recent weeks, braces to host hundreds of thousands of bikers for the 80th edition of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. More than 250,000 people are expected to rumble through western South Dakota, seeking the freedom of cruising the boundless landscapes in a state that has skipped lockdowns.
- WorldLos Angeles Times Opinion
Editorial: No to a U.S.-China cold war
The announcement Friday that Hong Kong's legislative elections, originally scheduled for September, would be delayed a year because of the COVID-19 pandemic is the latest example of the increasing authoritarianism in China. Amid a cultural purge and increased censorship, the freedoms that China had pledged to uphold following the 1997 handover of the region from Britain have been seriously eroded. It has been a terrible year for the cause of freedom in China.
- PoliticsThe Week
Democratic congressman calls out maskless GOP colleagues after positive coronavirus test
Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) on Saturday announced he is the latest member of Congress to test positive for COVID-19. The 72-year-old congressman, who said he currently has no symptoms and feels fine, had been isolating after coming into contact with Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas), who tested positive for the coronavirus earlier this week. Grijalva did not call Gohmert out by name, but said that this week has revealed the consequences of the actions of Republican lawmakers who have gone to work at the Capitol without wearing a mask and taking the virus seriously, something which Gohmert has been accused of throughout the pandemic.
- BusinessUSA TODAY
Gym owners defy pandemic orders, break into own business closed by state and reopen it
The defiant owners of Atilis Gym kicked in plywood panels that had sealed the entrance to their business since July 27, drawing cheers from a group of flag-waving supporters. "What really upsets me is it had to come to this," said Ian Smith, a partner in the gym who said a long-running dispute with the state over pandemic restrictions had become "personal." The state Attorney General's Office, which has repeatedly obtained court orders for the gym's closing, could not be reached for immediate comment.
- WorldNBC News
Scientists and environmental groups 'alarmed' by huge rise in Amazon wildfires
Scientists and environmental groups have expressed alarm after new data revealed there were 28 percent more fires in Brazil's Amazon rainforest this July compared with the same time last year. Satellite images released by Brazil's space research agency INPE on Saturday revealed 6,803 fires in the Amazon last month. “I am super concerned," Erika Berenguer, an Amazon ecologist and a senior research associate at Britain's University of Oxford, told NBC News Sunday.
- WorldBBC
Greenback returns: How dollar stores came back to Cuba
Benito Morejón arrived at the supermarket before dawn to claim a spot near the front of the queue. The supermarket in Havana is one of a number of shops opened by the Cuban government on the island in which basic food and hygiene products can be paid for with the currency of its ideological enemy: the US dollar. When the police eventually opened the gates several hours later, he was fourth in a line that stretched back hundreds of metres along Third Avenue in Havana's Playa district.
- PoliticsBusiness Insider
The former head of the FDA warned that the Northeast will likely get hit with another wave of coronavirus cases, saying the virus continues to 'rotate through different parts of the country'
Dr. Scott Gottlieb, the former head of the Food and Drug Administration, warned that the Northeast could see another wave of coronavirus cases as the virus continues to "rotate through different parts of the country." "I think we're likely to see this continue where there is going to be these epidemics in different parts of the country and, in compensatory action, to get it under control," the former FDA commissioner said in an interview on CBS News' "Face the Nation." Gottlieb said he thinks while states in the Northeast and New York were "experiencing really a travesty," "a lot of parts of the country were shut down but were largely unaffected" by the coronavirus, causing a disparity in how some states might respond to surges in infections.
- WorldLA Times
Mexico arrests 'El Marro,' gang leader at the center of a bloody cartel war
Mexican authorities on Sunday arrested the leader of the Santa Rosa de Lima cartel, a gang known for stealing millions of dollars in fuel from government pipelines and for turning once-peaceful Guanajuato state into one of the most dangerous regions in the country. Videos show the predawn capture by federal and state authorities of José Antonio Yépez Ortiz, who is known by the alias "El Marro," which means "the Sledgehammer." The capture of Yépez Ortiz, one of the most high-profile arrests by the Mexican government in years, highlights the contradictory nature of the security policies pushed by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
- U.S.INSIDER
Dr. Deborah Birx says the US is in a new, 'more widespread' phase of the coronavirus pandemic
Dr. Deborah Birx said Sunday that the US was in a new, "more widespread" phase of the coronavirus pandemic. "What we are seeing today is different from March and April," the White House coronavirus response coordinator said on CNN. Birx emphasized the importance of wearing a mask and social distancing.
- The American Cancer Society Campaign Aims to Increase HPV Vaccination During PandemicPR Newswire
- The Coronavirus Pandemic and a Story Of Survival: How Planet Fitness, Ulta Beauty, And Kohl’s Changed Their Business Models To Successfully Whether The Storm Of The Coronavirus and Surge Forward Towards Profitability.Insider Monkey
- PoliticsAssociated Press
Omar, seeking 2nd term, is targeted for her celebrity
As Democrat Antone Melton-Meaux meandered through racks of headscarves and clouds of spice and pepper, he carried a pointed message to the voters he courted at the city's largest Somali market: I want to focus on the work, not being famous. Omar, a liberal Democrat, made history two years ago as the first Somali-American elected to Congress and went on to make countless headlines for making controversial statements on Israel, for tangling with President Donald Trump and for a personal life that became tabloid fodder. All the attention has helped make Omar a progressive star, but it's also drawn criticism and a surprisingly strong primary challenger in Melton-Meaux.
- PoliticsThe Guardian
Is Trump's top cop, attorney general William Barr, a danger to democracy?
Democrat Joe Biden, Trump's election opponent, tweeted on Thursday: “Bill Barr is the Attorney General of the United States – not the president's private attorney. Barr, a devout Catholic and keen bagpiper, previously served as attorney general under President George HW Bush from 1991 to 1993. This raised hopes that he would be an establishment Republican who could check Trump's impulses, maintain the department's independence and offer normality in an era that is anything but.
- PoliticsThe Week
Coronavirus testing czar calls for widespread mask compliance, but suggests mandate could be risky
Assistant Secretary for Health Brett Giroir, the White House's coronavirus testing coordinator, is not shy about urging people to wear masks. He told NBC's Chuck Todd on Sunday that, especially in locations experiencing more intense coronavirus outbreaks, "you really need to have mask-wearing at a very high degree" to drive infections down. He does not, however, feel comfortable recommending a national mask mandate to President Trump.
- U.S.USA TODAY
Florida man once bitten by alligator is chomped by 8-foot shark while on vacation
Justin Stuller was looking forward to relaxing in the Florida Keys — fishing, lobstering and swimming with his wife, kids, extended family and friends. Stuller, 38, now sports two dozen stitches and a small limp after he tangled with an eight-foot lemon shark Wednesday. Stuller said he has encountered sharks before on similar trips.
- LifestyleNBC News
Staples customer who told woman to wear mask is thrown to ground, has broken leg
A 54-year-old New Jersey woman suffered a broken leg after she was thrown to the ground in a Staples by another customer whom she had told to wear a mask, authorities said. Police have released surveillance video from the incident that occurred at about 3:19 p.m. Wednesday at a Staples in Hackensack. Margot Kagan, of Teaneck, told police she was using a fax machine at the store when a woman with a mask pulled down below her mouth approached a machine next to her.
PoliticsYahoo News VideoWho is Karen Bass?
Karen Bass, D-Calif. has been mentioned as a potential running mate for former VP Joe Biden, who has vowed to pick a woman as his vice president.
- U.S.BBC
Esther Salas case: Judge Salas calls for protecting judges' privacy
A female judge whose son was killed by an "anti-feminist" lawyer has called for protecting the privacy of federal judges in her first public comments. Roy Den Hollander, dressed as a FedEx delivery man, shot Judge Esther Salas' son and husband in New Jersey last month before taking his own life. Authorities believe he targeted Judge Salas over her role as a federal judge.
WorldAFPVerdict looms in killing of Lebanon ex-PM Hariri
A UN-backed tribunal will give its verdict Friday on the 2005 murder of former Lebanese premier Rafic Hariri, but questions will remain over a long and costly trial whose suspects remain at large. Four alleged members of the Shiite Muslim fundamentalist group Hezbollah are on trial in absentia at the court in the Netherlands over the huge Beirut suicide bombing that killed Sunni billionaire Hariri and 21 other people. The judgment harks back to an event that changed the face of the Middle East, with Hariri's assassination triggering a wave of demonstrations that pushed Syrian forces out of Lebanon after 30 years.
- BusinessBusiness Insider
These 43-square-foot pods were originally for travelers to take a nap at the airport, but now the company is selling them for $50,000 each
NapCity started out smalling private pods travelers could rent to take a rest in airports. NapCity makes tiny pods mostly used in airports, where travelers can take a quick nap on a layover. The COVID-19 pandemic completely upended the travel industry, and the company has pivoted to selling what president Stephen Rosenfeld calls "private space as a service."
- WorldAssociated Press
Israel's Netanyahu rails at media over protests against him
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday railed at swelling protests against his rule, saying they were egged on by a biased media that distorts facts and cheers on the demonstrators. Netanyahu has faced a wave of protests in recent weeks, with demonstrators calling for the resignation of the long-serving leader, who is on trial for corruption charges. Netanyahu has painted the protests as dens of “anarchists” and “leftists" out to topple “a strong right-wing leader.”
- WorldThe Telegraph
Man detained after taking hostage, threatening to detonate bomb in Kiev
A man has been detained after taking one hostage and threatening to detonate an explosive device in a business centre in the Ukrainian capital Kiev on Monday, the interior ministry said. The man carrying a backpack entered a bank in the Leonardo business centre in central Kiev claiming he had a bomb, deputy interior minister Anton Gerashchenko wrote on Facebook. The man demanded to phone the police but let the bank employees leave the building, Gerashchenko said.
- PoliticsLos Angeles Times Opinion
Letters to the Editor: The cult of Trump is starting to inflict casualties. Just ask Louie Gohmert
To the editor: Virginia Heffernan is too kind to Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) and other Republicans who refuse to wear masks, for their stupidity is just another manifestation of their cultish belief in President Trump. If Trump calls the virus the "China Virus," so must his followers. If he says mail-in voting leads to fraud and that there is no Russian interference in our elections, or that he is the greatest of all presidents, then so say the faithful.
- U.S.INSIDER
Texas will now allow people taking the bar exam to bring their own menstrual products
The state of Texas will now allow people to take the days-long state bar exam to bring their own menstrual products, The Texas Tribune reported. The previous policy, which prohibited test-takers from being their own menstrual products to the exam for security concerns, was the subject of a critical July letter signed by hundreds of Texas lawyers, students, and professors. The Texas Board of Law Examiners previously provided the products in the women's restroom, according to the report.
