- WorldPopular Mechanics
Could a World War II Shipwreck Cause the Next Beirut-Like Explosion?
The SS Richard Montgomery was carrying ammunition when it ran aground and sank in 1944. An American cargo ship that accidentally sank off the coast of London during World War II could cause a major explosion rivaling that of the devastating blast in Beirut earlier this week. In August 1944, the SS Richard Montgomery, a ship ferrying supplies back and forth to Europe after the D-Day invasion, sank at the mouth of the Thames River on the sea approach to London.
- WorldThe Independent
Trump news: President insists Covid 'will go away' in front of sign boasting he is 'the healthcare president' as US coronavirus death toll rises
Donald Trump will 'probably' accept the Republican nomination for its presidential candidate at the White House instead of in North Carolina. This solution was pitched even though federal and government employees can not participate in events relating to a political campaign, which could cause ethical problems within the White House. This comes as a historian, who has correctly predicted the presidential election results since 1984, has said presumptive Democratic candidate Joe Biden will win against Mr Trump.
- PoliticsPolitico
Biden says Harris is 'very much in contention' to be his running mate
Joe Biden said Sen. Kamala Harris is “very much in contention” to be his running mate on the 2020 Democratic ticket, clarifying that he doesn't hold a grudge against the California lawmaker for attacking him in an early primary debate. The presumptive Democratic nominee's conciliatory tone toward Harris comes after senior members of Biden's vetting team had thrown cold water on her vice presidential bid in the final stretch of Biden's search. In late July, POLITICO reported that former Sen. Chris Dodd, who is part of Biden's vice presidential search committee, told a longtime Biden supporter that Harris had “no remorse” when asked about her confrontation with Biden at the first Democratic primary debate.
- U.S.USA TODAY
MS-13 gang members charged with sex trafficking, other charges in abuse of 13-year-old runaway
Federal prosecutors have charged 11 alleged members and associates of the MS-13 street gang with sex trafficking and other charges after they say a 13-year-old runaway was repeatedly beaten with a baseball bat and forced into prostitution in northern Virginia. A child trafficking task force found the 13-year-old girl nearly two months later at an apartment in Mount Rainier, Maryland. The girl, initially reluctant to talk to police, eventually told authorities she was twice beaten on her backside and legs 26 times on two separate occasions with a baseball bat – once as an initiation to the gang, and once as a punishment for talking to rival gang members and allegedly stealing from fellow gang members.
- WorldReuters
Joshua Wong and other Hong Kong activists charged over banned June 4 vigil
Two dozen people in Hong Kong, including pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong, have been charged with participating in an illegal assembly at a vigil on June 4 commemorating the crackdown on protesters in and around Beijing's Tiananmen square in 1989. It was the first time the vigil had been banned in semiautonomous Hong Kong, with police citing coronavirus restrictions on group gatherings in refusing permission for it to take place. The anniversary struck an especially sensitive nerve in the former British colony this year, falling just as China prepared to introduce national security legislation later that month in response to last year's often violent pro-democracy demonstrations.
- U.S.INSIDER
Portland's Black police chief says violent protesters have 'taken away from' the Black Lives Matter movement
Chuck Lovell, the police chief of Portland, Oregon, called for violent protesters to stop their actions at a Wednesday press conference. While protests in downtown Portland have been peaceful since the presence of federal agents was scaled back last week, there have been violent offshoot protests in other parts of the city. Wednesday marked the 70th consecutive day of demonstrations in the city, which started after George Floyd's death in late May.
- PoliticsThe Daily Beast
Fox News Host Sandra Smith Grills Kellyanne Conway on Trump’s COVID ‘Misinformation’
On Wednesday, Facebook finally took the long overdue step of removing a piece of Trump campaign content from its platform that pushed misinformation about COVID-19. The claim in question came during the president's appearance on Fox & Friends that morning, where he falsely stated, “If you look at children, children are almost—and I would almost say definitely—but almost immune from this disease.” “Of course there is a debate happening about whether Facebook and Twitter should be arbiters of truth and decide what is fact and fiction,” Fox host Sandra Smith began, before sharing the actual facts about confirmed coronavirus cases in children.
- U.S.Associated Press
Army secretary: Fort Hood has high rates of murder, assault
Fort Hood has one of the highest rates of murder, sexual assault and harassment in the Army, Secretary Ryan McCarthy said Thursday during a visit to the Texas base. “We are getting an outside look to help us to get to those root causes and understand them so we can make those changes,” McCarthy said during a news conference that was shown on Facebook Live. McCarthy visited the base weeks after he ordered an independent review of the command climate at Fort Hood following the slaying of Spc.
- BusinessMiami Herald
There are more problems with onions. Another brand pulls products at Walmart and Kroger
A nationwide onion recall has grown to include products from Taylor Farms Texas, a Dallas company that is voluntarily recalling products containing onions from its supplier. An onion recall was initiated by Thomson International last week. These onion products are sold at Walmart and Kroger groceries in 11 states: Colorado, Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Texas.
- WorldThe Telegraph
Japan denies claims that prime minister Shinzo Abe is seriously ill
Officials in Tokyo have played down suggestions that Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe is seriously ill after a news magazine reported that he vomited blood at his office on July 6 and cancelled his engagements for the rest of the day. Mr Abe, 65, attended the memorial ceremony marking the 75th anniversary of the atomic bomb attack on Hiroshima on Thursday and gave a brief address in which he called for the abolition of nuclear weapons, although it has been pointed out that he has not given any press conferences or attended parliamentary sessions for more than one month. The latest edition of the weekly news magazine Flash reported on the concerns about Mr Abe's health, with the Mainichi newspaper also quoting people who had met with the prime minister in recent weeks as saying that he appeared pale and tired.
- PoliticsFOX News Videos
Sen. Susan Collins says House COVID relief bill is dead on arrival, urges Democrats to be more realistic
Maine Sen. Susan Collins, Republican member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, joins Guy Benson on 'The Guy Benson Show.
- BusinessThe Independent
One American is dying every 80 seconds from coronavirus as Trump shrugs off death toll: ‘It is what it is’
At least one person in the United States has died every 80 seconds on average over the last seven days, according to new research, as President Donald Trump said the nation's soaring death toll “is what it is” in a recent interview. The grim figures were first reported by NBC News on Wednesday, which noted its own tally revealed 7,486 people died in the last seven days due to Covid-19. Whereas the rate of deaths was somewhat slower in July, with one American dying every 102 seconds on average throughout the month, the latest figures appeared to show an acceleration in pace, as NBC News reported.
- WorldCBS News
Pope Francis appoints 6 women to senior roles
Pope Francis appointed new members to the Vatican's Council for the Economy on Thursday, and in addition to several cardinals, he also added seven new laypeople to the committee. The historic move means there are more senior female officials serving the Vatican than ever before. The six female appointees are: Charlotte Kreuter-Kirchhof, of Germany; Eva Castillo Sanz, of Spain; Leslie Jane Ferrar, of Great Britain; Marija Kolak, of Germany; María Concepción Osákar Garaicoechea, of Spain; and Ruth Maria Kelly, of Great Britain.
- WorldReuters
Children rapidly deported from the United States strain Guatemalan shelters
Hundreds of migrant children rapidly expelled from the United States under a coronavirus immigration policy are returning to shelters in Guatemala where virus testing and bed capacity are regularly stretched to their limits. Shelter operators, government officials in the Central American nation and international organizations said they are seeing rising numbers of children being sent back to Guatemala alone, with some unable to return to their homes because of domestic abuse or gang violence. "Child protection services, which were already overstretched and under-resourced have now been further compromised by COVID-19," said United Nations children's agency UNICEF spokesman Christopher Tidey.
- BusinessUSA TODAY
Norwegian CEO: Relaunch will take six months; fleet will 'return in earnest' in spring 2021
In the] last two months of 2020 [we] could see return of sailing with a very limited number of vessels, Frank Del Rio, CEO of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd., said on the company's second quarter earnings call. And he expects those ships to begin sailing at lower capacity and ramp up as more vessels re-enter service. Del Rio said he doesn't think that Norwegian will return to full capacity for quite some time.
- U.S.The Daily Beast
Seattle City Council Won’t Slash Police Budget, but OKs Cop Layoffs
A majority of Seattle's City Council on Wednesday voted down a proposal to slash the police department's remaining 2020 budget by 50 percent. The vote by the budget committee—which came one day after the city's mayor and police chief held a press conference to criticize the proposal—signaled some progress for Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality advocates who've pushed to defund departments across the U.S. and reallocate funds to community services, including housing and youth programs. The budget-cut plan, proposed by council member Kshama Sawant, would have cut $54 million from the Seattle PD immediately through layoffs and reallocated it to programs, including $34 million for affordable housing.
- LifestyleArchitectural Digest
A Sampling of Work From Mexico City’s Top Talents
A look at some of the design coming out of the cultural capital Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
- WorldAssociated Press
China sentences fourth Canadian to death on drug charges
China has sentenced a fourth Canadian citizen to death on drug charges in less than two years following a sharp downturn in ties over the arrest of an executive of Chinese tech giant Huawei. Ye Jianhui was sentenced Friday by the Foshan Municipal Intermediate Court in the southern province of Guangdong. Ye had been found guilty of manufacturing and transporting illegal drugs, the court said in a brief statement.
- WorldThe Telegraph
Former Saudi official accuses Mohammad bin Salman of 'sending hit squad' to kill him
A former senior Saudi intelligence official has claimed that Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman sent a hit squad to Canada in an attempt to kill him. In a 107-page complaint, filed in a Washington DC court, Saad Aljabri claimed the assassins were intercepted by Canadian authorities. The incident was alleged to have happened less than two weeks after Jamal Khashoggi, the Washington Post columnist and Saudi dissident, was killed in the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul.
- PoliticsDefense News
Germany floats a new NATO spending yardstick: 10 percent
COLOGNE, Germany – German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer is pushing for a new yardstick to measure Berlin's contributions to NATO, suggesting the country could shoulder 10 percent of alliance requirements. The figure is meant to reflect the share of NATO's total “planning targets,” which are tabulated periodically, a defense ministry spokesman told Defense News. Such math would be able to more accurately capture Germany's efforts across the categories “cash, capabilities and commitments” than the current defense-spending objective of 2 percent of GDP, according to the spokesman.
- BusinessBusiness Insider
Trump falsely said NASA 'was closed and dead' before he was president and appeared to take credit for a private SpaceX launch
Reuters/Carlos Barria SpaceX on Tuesday launched and landed a vehicle called SN5, which is a full-scale prototype of a planned Mars rocket ship called Starship. On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump wrongfully appeared to take credit for the privately developed vehicle's creation or launch. Trump also shared falsehoods about NASA, which spaceflight experts — including an astronaut — pointed out and corrected.
- U.S.Miami Herald
County official uses racial slur, blames Black people for COVID-19 spread in Michigan
A Michigan county commissioner is facing calls for his resignation after using a racial slur to describe Black residents in Detroit, who he blamed for spreading COVID-19 across the state. Leelanau County road commissioner Tom Eckerle made the remarks before the start of a public board meeting Tuesday, sparking swift backlash, the Leelanau Enterprise reported. A colleague asked Eckerle why he wasn't wearing a face mask, to which he replied: “Well, this whole thing is because of them (racial slur) down in Detroit,” according to the newspaper.
- U.S.The Independent
Mississippi: More than 100 children and teachers in quarantine due to coronavirus outbreak two weeks after schools reopened
More than 100 people in a Mississippi school district have been instructed to self-isolate, due to an outbreak of coronavirus less than two weeks after they reopened. At least 116 people in Corinth, a city in Mississippi, have been told to quarantine for two weeks, after six students and one staff member tested positive for Covid-19 over the past week. Taylor Coombs, spokeswoman for the Corinth School District, told NBC News that any person who was considered to have been in close contact with the people who tested positive for Covid-19, have been instructed to self-isolate.
- BusinessINSIDER
The difference between vitamin D2 and D3 and which one you should choose as a supplement
Kathleen Finlay/Getty Images The difference between vitamin D2 and vitamin D3 is that whereas animals produce vitamin D3, plants produce vitamin D2. When choosing a supplement, opt for vitamin D3 since it is better absorbed by your body. Vitamin D can boost your immune system, help your body absorb calcium, and may even help prevent cancer.
- WorldThe Daily Beast
Putin’s Got Big Problems in Russia’s Provinces
MOSCOW—The city of Khabarovsk, a sprawling, industrial metropolis about 5,000 miles east of the capital—the Bolsheviks turned it into a hub for serving Siberian prison camps, in the middle of nowhere by design—is about as far from the seat of Russian power as geographically possible. Despite the Kremlin's best efforts to hide them, problems have been bubbling up in Russia's provinces, transforming local issues into the most dynamic arena for dissent, protest, and opposition in the country's political system and fueling Russia's version of post-lockdown unrest. The arrest of Khabarovsk's popular regional governor sparked the anti-Putin uprising that has drawn up to 60,000 people into the streets in this usually sleepy backwater.
“He’s not a radical. But he is running on the most liberal policy platform of any Democratic candidate in modern history.”
“Public opinion has been shifting leftward, and Biden’s thinking has shifted with it.”
“Biden shows that he’s more moderate than some in his party.”
“Biden has always been a creature of his time, and the COVID-19 crisis could force him to veer further left.”
“Liberal activists have lauded the campaign’s outreach to progressives.”