PoliticsYahoo News 360Pot legalization in the U.S. seems both inevitable and impossible
He said during the 2020 campaign that he supports decriminalizing pot — a change that would remove criminal penalties for possession while keeping the federal ban in place — but opposes outright legalization. When asked this month whether the president would back Schumer's proposal, press secretary Jen Psaki said that “nothing has changed” about Biden's views on marijuana. Why there's debate The disconnect in the pace of change for marijuana laws, with legalization spreading at breakneck speed in the states and all but stalled at the federal level, has raised debate over when — if ever — marijuana might become legal nationwide.
WorldAssociated PressTo reach a peace deal, Taliban say Afghan president must go
The Taliban say they don't want to monopolize power, but they insist there won't be peace in Afghanistan until there is a new negotiated government in Kabul and President Ashraf Ghani is removed. In an interview with The Associated Press, Taliban spokesman, Suhail Shaheen, who is also a member of the group's negotiating team, laid out the insurgents' stance on what should come next in a country on the precipice. The Taliban have swiftly captured territory in recent weeks, seized strategic border crossings and are threatening a number of provincial capitals — advances that come as the last U.S. and NATO soldiers leave Afghanistan.
WorldBBCIndia monsoon: 110 dead after heavy rainfall in Maharashtra
At least 110 people have been killed in landslides and flooding triggered by heavy rains in the western Indian state of Maharashtra. On Friday Indian officials said most of the deaths had been caused by landslides and flooding in two districts. A landslide flattened the small village of Taliye, south-east of India's financial capital Mumbai.
WorldReutersChina 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.
WorldThe TelegraphBoris Johnson talked out of triggering 'nuclear option' over Northern Ireland Brexit stalemate
Boris Johnson was ready to overhaul the Northern Ireland Protocol this week but was talked down by his Brexit minister Lord Frost, The Telegraph has learnt. With the UK now demanding a formal renegotiation of the post-Brexit arrangements for Northern Ireland, The Telegraph has been told Mr Johnson is now convinced of the need to use the so-called “nuclear option” if Brussels refuses. It is understood that the warning was issued to Dublin this week, with UK officials making clear that it is Mr Johnson, rather than Lord Frost, who is most in favour of triggering Article 16 should the EU fail to change course.
WorldAssociated PressVietnam locks down capital Hanoi for 15 days as cases rise
Vietnam announced a 15-day lockdown in the capital Hanoi starting Saturday as a coronavirus surge spread from the southern Mekong Delta region. Earlier in the week, the city had suspended all outdoor activities and ordered non-essential businesses to close following an increase in cases. On Friday, Hanoi reported 70 confirmed infections, the city's highest, part of a record 7,295 cases in the country in the last 24 hours.
U.S.Fort Worth Star-TelegramHusky seen running after car when he’s abandoned is saved – and Texas man is arrested
A husky abandoned along a road in a viral video has found a new family — and now there's been an arrest. The heartbreaking video posted this week captures a Jeep passenger leaving the husky by the side of road in Horizon City, Texas, and riding away as the animal chases after the vehicle. It's been viewed hundreds of thousands of times on social media as law enforcement searched for the suspects.
WorldReutersChina's Sinovac evaluates vaccine plant in Chile
Chilean authorities said on Friday that China's Sinovac had begun evaluating potential sites for the construction of a vaccine plant in Chile that could begin producing doses of the Chinese shot as early as the first half of 2022. Chile, a global leader in vaccinating its citizens against the coronavirus, has leaned heavily on the Sinovac vaccine in its fast-paced mass vaccination program. A delegation of executives from Sinovac this week visited potential sites for the factory near the capital Santiago and in Chile's northern desert.
- NewsYahoo News Video
Report: 'QAnon Shaman' in plea negotiations after mental illness diagnosis
The participant in the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riots nicknamed the "QAnon Shaman" is negotiating a possible plea deal with prosecutors, after prison psychologists found he has a variety of mental illnesses, his attorney said.
- HealthThe Week
What does the Delta variant mean for the fully vaccinated?
What is the Delta variant? The Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 — the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 — was first identified in India in December 2020. After ravaging India and sweeping through Great Britain, the Delta variant is now the dominant strain in the U.S., accounting for more than 83 percent of COVID-19 infections.
WorldBBCAustralia Covid: Arrests at anti-lockdown protests
Demonstrations have taken place in Australian cities against tight restrictions imposed to tackle a rise in Covid cases. People chanted "freedom" as they marched through the centre of Sydney. Australian governments have re-imposed lockdowns across the country amid a surge in new infections.
U.S.Charlotte ObserverYou just got a speeding ticket in Mecklenburg County. How do you fight it?
Drivers hoping to negotiate Mecklenburg County speeding and other traffic violations can once again do so in-person without having to wait for a court date. The prosecutor-staffed duty desk, which Charlotte-Mecklenburg District Attorney Spencer Merriweather announced had reopened on Thursday, allows drivers to reduce or drop many speeding and noncompliance charges. The duty desk is on the second floor of the Mecklenburg County Courthouse.
U.S.Fort Worth Star-TelegramBody of Arlington firefighter was found in bathroom window, Mexican authorities say
An investigation is underway into how Arlington firefighter Elijah Snow died Monday while vacationing in Cancun, according to Mexican authorities. On Twitter, Mexican authorities said an “investigation folder” has been started in the death of a man from Texas in the municipality of Benito Juárez in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. “The circumstances in which the events occurred are being investigated,” according to the social media post from Fiscalía General Quintana Roo, which is the State Attorney General's Office for Quintana Roo.
PoliticsMiami HeraldRecords show web of payments involving players in probe into sham Senate candidate
A young Republican political operative who is also the subject of a public corruption investigation into former Republican state Sen. Frank Artiles made an offer to a recent college graduate last September: He would pay her $1,500 to chair a political committee and in exchange, she would have to do nothing. At the time, 25-year-old Hailey DeFilippis, of Palm Harbor, had just found out she was pregnant and was “freaking out about money.”
WorldThe TelegraphTokyo 2020 'axed opening ceremony musician for being black'
A musician claims he was cut from the Olympic opening ceremony because he was black, as organisers face a third staffing row in a week. Latyr Sy, a Senagalese percussionist based in Japan for 20 years, accused organisers of racism after he was booked and then cancelled for inclusion at the curtain-raiser. Tokyo 2020 failed to respond to requests for comment from the Telegraph on the allegations on Friday.
SportsAssociated PressBauer appears in court to fight sexual assault allegations
Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer appeared in court Friday to fight the extension of a protective order sought by a woman who says he choked her to the point where she lost consciousness and punched her during two sexual encounters earlier this year. Attorneys for Bauer and for the woman revealed during a short court session that they intend to call several witnesses, including Bauer, and argue over the order in what amounts to a trial that is expected to last three days. Judge Dianna Gould-Saltman delayed the beginning of that hearing until Aug. 2 because Bauer's attorney, Shawn Holley, said she was given the woman's witness list late and had insufficient time to prepare.
HealthMiami HeraldAre COVID symptoms different with the delta variant? Here’s what experts say
The delta coronavirus variant continues to surge in the United States, now accounting for 83% of COVID-19 cases in the United States. A common sign you may have COVID-19 is a loss of smell and taste, but you may not have that with the highly contagious delta variant. “It seems like cough and loss of smell are less common,” said Dr. Inci Yildirim, a Yale Medicine pediatric infectious diseases specialist.
PoliticsThe IndependentHouse Democrat arrested at Black Voters Matter demonstration
US Capitol police arrested US Rep Hank Johnson during a voting rights demonstration on 22 July, marking the second arrest of a member of Congress on Capitol grounds amid protests demanding federal action on voting rights protections. US Capitol Police said officers arrested 10 people for “unlawfully demonstrating outside of the Hart Senate Office Building” and charged them with “crowding, obstructing or incommoding”.
PoliticsBusiness Insider6 million renters face eviction in 8 days when a Trump-era ban expires. Biden is poised to let it happen.
Both a federal eviction ban and a moratorium on foreclosures expire in eight days. The Biden administration is poised to allow both relief programs to expire on July 31. On July 31, a set of pandemic-relief measures for renters and homeowners enacted under President Trump will end - and the Biden administration doesn't appear interested in renewing them.
ScienceBBCJeff Bezos and Sir Richard Branson not yet astronauts, US says
New Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) rules say astronaut hopefuls must be part of the flight crew and make contributions to space flight safety. The Commercial Astronaut Wings programme updates were announced on Tuesday - the same day that Amazon's Mr Bezos flew aboard a Blue Origin rocket to the edge of space. To qualify as commercial astronauts, space-goers must travel 50 miles (80km) above the Earth's surface, which both Mr Bezos and Mr Branson accomplished.
HealthKansas City Star‘Mask up’: COVID patient load is ‘way too big,’ KU health official sounds the alarm
On Thursday Stites reported that local hospital leaders are prepared to call for mask mandates and social distancing to be reinstated across the region because the hospitals are filing up. He described the situation as “being under siege. You heard us say yesterday that it may be time to think about masking up again,” Stites said.
U.S.INSIDERAnti-fascist teens fooled a Kansas school board candidate into exposing his racist and white nationalist posts
A group of anti-fascist teens tricked a man running for a local school board in Kansas to share his racist and white-supremacist beliefs with them - and then later made them public, according to media reports. Teenage members of the Midwest Youth Liberation Front told the Kansas Reflector that they contacted Josh Wells, who's running for school board in Haven, Kansas, through Signal after seeing his posts in a White Lives Matter forum. The group later shared Wells' messages and posts publicly on Twitter.
- EntertainmentYahoo News Video
Indian court extends custody of husband of Bollywood star in porn film case
An Indian court on Friday extended the custody of Raj Kundra, a businessman married to popular Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty, police said, in a pornography case that has stunned the country's film industry.
WorldBusiness InsiderGunfire prompts Biden's UN ambassador to abruptly leave Haitian president's funeral
Biden's UN ambassador abruptly left the funeral for Haiti's president amid unrest surrounding the ceremony. The assassination of Jovenel Moïse has pushed Haiti into a deeper crisis after years of struggles. The US ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, abruptly departed a funeral for Haitian President Jovenel Moïse on Friday after gunfire was reportedly heard.
SportsAssociated PressAlgerian judoka refuses potential Olympic bout with Israeli
An Algerian judo athlete will be sent home from the Tokyo Olympics after he withdrew from the competition to avoid potentially facing an Israeli opponent. Fethi Nourine and his coach, Amar Benikhlef, told Algerian media they were withdrawing to avoid a possible second-round matchup with Israel's Tohar Butbul in the men's 73 kg division on Monday. Nourine was drawn to face Sudan's Mohamed Abdalrasool in the opening round, with the winner facing Butbul, the fifth seed.
“Thankfully, children are at lower risk for complications from COVID-19, but low risk is not no risk.”
“Guidelines that mandate the masking of children are based on an assessment of risk that is not justified.”
“Masks are easy to use, inexpensive and effective.”
“We’re now 16 months into the pandemic and children remain victims of the Covid political theater.”
“If a community or school isn’t sufficiently vaccinated, it remains at risk of the coronavirus coming back.”