- PoliticsYahoo News
'Antifa' website cited in conservative media attack on Biden is linked to — wait for it — Russia
At his press briefing Wednesday, President Trump, as he usually does, called for a question from Chanel Rion, the chief White House correspondent for the conservative One America News network, which has at times replaced Fox News as the president's favorite news outlet. Rion's question had nothing to do with COVID-19 or the economic recovery Trump had been boasting about, but instead brought up an obscure website, antifa.com. I wanted to highlight a kind of odd situation.
- WorldYahoo News
Russia is moving too fast with COVID-19 vaccine, U.S. experts warn
American infectious diseases specialists and vaccinologists raised alarms about Russia's announcement that it would begin vaccinating its population against the coronavirus, rushing a relatively untested vaccine into mass production. On Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the government had approved a COVID-19 vaccine for use, the first nation to do so. “What have [the Russians] done?” Paul Offit, chief of the division of infectious diseases at Children's Hospital Philadelphia and a co-inventor of the rotavirus vaccine, said in an interview with Yahoo News.
- EntertainmentINSIDER
This is what it looks like in Sturgis, South Dakota, where hundreds of thousands of unmasked bikers are partying like the coronavirus isn't real
The small city of Sturgis, South Dakota, welcomes more than 700,000 bikers each year for its annual motorcycle rally. This year, the 10-day event fell in the middle of a pandemic. While 60% of locals responded to a government survey indicating they didn't want the event to take place, health and city officials believed there was no way to keep visitors out.
- WorldAssociated Press
US says Iran briefly seizes oil tanker near Strait of Hormuz
The Iranian navy boarded and briefly seized a Liberian-flagged oil tanker near the strategic Strait of Hormuz amid heightened tensions between Tehran and the U.S., the American military said Thursday. The U.S. military's Central Command published a black-and-white video showing what appeared to be special forces fast-roping down from a helicopter onto the MT Wila, whose last position appeared to be off the eastern coast of the United Arab Emirates near the city of Khorfakkan. The Iranian navy held the vessel for some five hours before releasing it Wednesday, said a U.S. military official who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss details not yet made public.
- U.S.The Independent
Police officers set dog on black man and say ‘good boy, good boy’ as it bites his leg
A police dog in Salt Lake City was ordered to attack an African American man who was on his knees with his hands in the air. Police officers arrived at Jeffery Ryans's house in April in Salt Lake City, Utah, after they responded to a call made by someone who said they had heard him arguing with his wife, according to the Daily Mail. Mr Ryans is facing charges of domestic violence, as his wife filed a protective order against him in December 2019, but the 36-year-old said he had been staying at the house for weeks after his wife had asked for the order to be lifted.
- WorldReuters
North Korea nuclear reactor site threatened by recent flooding, U.S. think-tank says
Satellite imagery suggests recent flooding in North Korea may have damaged pump houses connected to the country's main nuclear facility, a U.S.-based think-tank said on Thursday. Analysts at 38 North, a website that monitors North Korea, said commercial satellite imagery from August 6-11 showed how vulnerable the Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center's nuclear reactor cooling systems are to extreme weather events. The Korean peninsula has been hammered by one of the longest rainy spells in recent history, with floods and landslides causing damage and deaths in both North and South Korea.
- U.S.Miami Herald
Air Force helicopter shot at from ground while flying over Virginia, crew injured
An Air Force helicopter was forced to make an emergency landing at a Virginia airport Monday after someone shot at it, injuring a member of the crew, local and military officials told McClatchy. The UH-1N Huey helicopter is assigned to the 1st Helicopter Squadron at Joint Base Andrews. It was flying about 1,000 feet off the ground, about 10 miles northwest of Manassas Regional Airport when the incident occurred, the Air Force said in a statement.
- WorldAFP
China warns US against 'playing with fire' over Taiwan visit
China warned Washington not to "play with fire" on Wednesday as a US delegation wrapped up a historic trip to the self-ruled island of Taiwan. Beijing has been infuriated by the highest-profile visit in decades to Taiwan, which it sees as part of its territory, as US-China relations plunge to a record low over a range of issues from trade to military and the coronavirus pandemic. Health chief Alex Azar finished a three-day visit to Taiwan, during which he criticised China's handling of the pandemic and visited the shrine of a former Taiwan president hated by the Communist Party leadership.
- U.S.NBC News
South Dakota Gov. Noem to build security fence around residence
South Dakota officials said Wednesday they plan to build a security fence budgeted for $400,000 around the official governor's residence to protect Gov. Kristi Noem. Noem's office did not give specifics on any threats, but her spokeswoman Maggie Seidel said her security team recommended the fence. The South Dakota Republican has championed a hands-off approach to managing the coronavirus crisis.
- PoliticsYahoo News
Trump says fear of 'low income housing' will bring 'the suburban housewife' to his side
President Trump turned again to racist attacks on Joe Biden's housing policy Wednesday, with an appeal to “the suburban housewife” that sounds a jarringly out-of-touch note in 2020. Last month Trump announced he was repealing the Obama-era Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule, which was intended to fight housing discrimination by strengthening implementation of the 1968 Fair Housing Act.
- U.S.Business Insider
A broken cable smashed a hole 100 feet wide in the Arecibo Observatory, which searches for aliens and tracks dangerous asteroids
Arecibo Observatory One of the world's most prominent astronomical observatories has a hole. On Monday, a 3-inch-thick cable at the Arecibo Observatory broke, tearing a gash 100 feet long in the reflector dish of the 20-acre radio telescope in Puerto Rico. The observatory had just reopened after a temporary closure due to Tropical Storm Isaias when the cable, which helped support a metal platform, snapped at about 2:45 a.m.
- LifestyleArchitectural Digest
In These Uncertain Hours, the Classic Cool of a Gentleman’s Watch Endures
Shop watches for every occasion Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
- WorldReuters Videos
Three killed in India over reported Facebook post
Vehicles torched and at least three people were killed in India's Bangalore -- all reporteldy sparked by a Facebook post. Violence erupted between police and protesters in the southern Indian city late on Tuesday (August 11), after a derogatory Facebook post, reportedly about the Prophet Mohammed, was written by a nephew of a congressman. Thousands then took to the streets outside a police station and clashed with officers.
- WorldAssociated Press
Israel successfully tests advanced missile defense system
Israel's Defense Ministry said Thursday it conducted a successful test of the country's advanced missile defense system against long-range ballistic attacks. Defense Minister Benny Gantz said the successful flight test of the Arrow-2 interceptor was part of Israel's technological effort that "ensures that we will always be one step ahead of our enemies.” The test was conducted overnight in central Israel, jointly with the U.S. Missile Defense Agency.
- U.S.Reuters
Georgia governor to drop mask lawsuit against Atlanta Mayor and city
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp announced on Thursday that he plans to drop the mask ordinance lawsuit against Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and the city, possibly ending a months-long feud over an order for people to wear masks to stop the spread of COVID-19. Kemp had sued Bottoms and the city of Atlanta to stop enforcement of a local mask mandate aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus. The governor argued that the city lacks the authority to override his order encouraging but not requiring face coverings.
- U.S.Miami Herald
Customers attack Chili’s hostess over socially distant seating, Louisiana police say
A teenage hostess at a Chili's restaurant at in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, went to a hospital with minor injuries after an alleged attack by a group of customers upset over COVID-19 seating restrictions. Kelsy Wallace, 17, says she was attacked Sunday when she tried to enforce the restaurant's social-distancing polices and informed the group of women they wouldn't be able to sit together, WAFB reported. My general manager and my other managers tell us we cannot sit a table bigger than six because of the corona[virus],” she told the news station.
- U.S.INSIDER
Father-and-son doctors died of the coronavirus within weeks of each other in Florida hospitals
A Florida father and his son — both doctors — died within weeks of each other after they were hospitalized with the coronavirus on Father's Day, the Miami Herald reported on Tuesday. The son, Dr. Carlos Vallejo, had been caring for nearly 80 COVID-19 patients — many at a nursing home — before he fell ill with the virus in June. As of Wednesday, Florida had at least 550,901 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 8,765 deaths, according to the Florida Department of Health.
- PoliticsThe Independent
AOC responds to apparent Democratic party convention speech snub: 'Eternity is in it'
Firebrand lawmaker Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has hit back at an alleged snub by the Democratic party after being given just 60 seconds to deliver a speech a next week's convention. AOC responded on Twitter by posting the poem 'I have only just a minute', written by the late Dr Benjamin E. Mays, an American Baptist minister and civil rights leader. AOC's message appears to be that she intends to make full use of her convention speech – regardless of long she has been given.
- PoliticsYahoo News
What the Kavanaugh confirmation hearings reveal about Kamala Harris
Kamala Harris's unsparing questioning of Brett Kavanaugh, when the then D.C. Circuit Court judge was nominated to the Supreme Court by President Trump, won the senator praise for her prosecutorial skill. Critics at the time, however, said Harris' treatment of Kavanaugh was an obvious and out-of-line attempt to raise her political profile. “She was extraordinarily nasty to Kavanaugh — Judge Kavanaugh then, now Justice Kavanaugh,” Trump told reporters on Tuesday during a briefing at the White House, not long after Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, announced Harris as his running mate.
CelebrityUSA TODAYFact check: Tom Hanks is now a Greek citizen, but pedophilia has nothing to do with it
The claim: Tom Hanks became a Greek citizen because pedophilia there is considered a disability. A QAnon conspiracy theory making the rounds on social media falsely claims Tom Hanks became a citizen of Greece because it classifies pedophilia as a disability. A July 28 Facebook post that was shared more than 2,300 times said, “while everyone was distracted by coronavirus Tom Hanks became a citizen of Greece … a place that recognizes pedophilia as a disability,” with a side eye emoji.
- WorldAssociated Press
France seeks cooperation from Iran, Russia on Lebanon
French President Emmanuel Macron spoke Wednesday to the leaders of Russia and Iran and urged them to cooperate with the rest of the international community to restore stability in Lebanon. While Iran and Russia are important power players in the region and have offered Lebanon aid since last week's devastating explosion, neither participated in an international donors' conference Sunday organized by France and the U.N. to help rebuild Beirut. Macron visited Beirut in the wake of the blast and offered broad support for the former French protectorate.
- U.S.Chicago Tribune
In wake of Englewood shooting, Chicago mayor says all police officers dealing with public need body cameras
Mayor Lori Lightfoot said the city shouldn't be sending police officers out on the street without body-worn cameras but defended the department's account of a shooting in the Englewood neighborhood that allegedly touched off looting and civil unrest over the weekend. On a conference call with reporters Tuesday afternoon, Lightfoot acknowledged the Chicago police officer who shot 20-year-old Latrell Allen in Englewood did not have a body camera and blamed it on an issue with the city's contract for camera purchases as well as the Police Department's recent reorganization.
- WorldAFP
Israel strikes Hamas positions in Gaza over fire balloons
The Israeli military said Wednesday it carried out overnight strikes on Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip after incendiary balloons were launched across the border from the Palestinian enclave. The army said the strikes were "retaliation" for the launching of multiple balloons from the Hamas-run enclave in recent days. Jets, attack helicopters and tanks struck a number of Hamas targets including "underground infrastructure and observation posts," a statement said.
- WorldReuters
Indian villagers tire of coronavirus rules just as rural cases surge
Harmahan Deka doesn't wear a mask anymore to avoid the novel coronavirus nor does he try to keep a safe distance from others. For the 25 men and women he works with in his construction materials business near the small town of Baihata Chariali in India's Assam state, life is more or less as it used to be, Deka says. In two dozen small towns and villages visited by Reuters reporters in recent weeks, people have largely given up on social distancing and masks after months of sticking to the rules, believing the virus is not such a serious threat.
- WorldBBC
Why the Mauritius oil spill is so serious
The amount of oil spilled from the Japanese-owned ship nearby the lagoons and coastal areas of south-east Mauritius is relatively low compared to the big oil spills the world has seen in the past, but the damage it will do is going to be huge and long-lasting, experts say. Unlike most previous offshore spills, this has taken place near two environmentally protected marine ecosystems and the Blue Bay Marine Park reserve, which is a wetland of international importance. The stunning turquoise waters of the blue lagoon outside the coastal village of Mahébourg in Mauritius, the backdrop for numerous Bollywood movies, are now stained black and brown.
“It may be a campaign tactic, but older workers, be forewarned. Ageism runs deep in our culture.”
“Genuine concerns about the capacities of people who want the world’s most powerful job mingle bizarrely with insults.”
“Joe Biden and Donald Trump are both old. But the media should not be making mental illness a campaign issue, on either side.”
“The Trump campaign is now betting his reelection’s already slim chances on Biden proving Trump’s diagnosis is right.”
“The nightmare scenario for Democrats is that, at a pivotal moment, Biden will struggle to put together a coherent thought.”