World
- Associated Press
Syria says Israeli strikes kill 3 soldiers, wounds others
Israel launched a missile attack on western and central Syria Sunday night, killing three soldiers and wounding three others, the Syrian military said in a statement. The Syrian army said Israel’s military targeted several positions in the coastal province of Tartus and suburbs of the capital Damascus. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, said the Israeli strike targeted a Syrian army air defense base in the area of Abu Afsa.
Fox NewsBiden admin continues negotiating with Iran despite plans to kill high-level American politicians
Critics are questioning the Biden administration's continued nuclear talks with Iran amid the regime being behind recent assassination plots targeting Americans.
AFPIran's top automaker sets sights on Russian market
Iran's leading automaker is seeking to prioritise exports to Russia, its CEO said Sunday, as both countries reel under Western economic sanctions.
LA TimesShip carrying grain for hungry Ethiopia leaves Ukraine
A United Nations-chartered ship loaded with 23,000 metric tons of Ukrainian grain destined for Ethiopia has set sail from a Black Sea port.
BBCKenya elections 2022: Raila Odinga and William Ruto in tight presidential race
Raila Odinga and William Ruto are running neck and neck with almost half of the results confirmed.
Associated PressSchool shooter's brain exams to be subject of court hearing
A defense mental health expert in the penalty trial of Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz can pinpoint when he realized the 23-year-old mass murderer still has “irrational thoughts” — the two were making small talk when Cruz began describing plans for an eventual life outside prison. Wesley Center, a Texas counselor, said that happened last year at the Broward County jail as he fitted Cruz's scalp with probes for a scan to map his brain. The defense at hearings this week will try to convince Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer that Center and other experts should be allowed to testify at Cruz's ongoing trial about what their tests showed, something the prosecution wants barred.
Associated PressNew York restricts families from sending packages to inmates
As part of an effort to keep illegal drugs and other contraband out of state prisons, New York is taking away one of the few pleasures of life behind bars: It will no longer let people send inmates care packages from home. Under the new policy, which the state began phasing in last month, friends and family aren't allowed to deliver packages in person during prison visits. While the rule won't stop prisoners from getting items that can be ordered online, like a Snickers bar or a bag of Doritos, they will lose access to foods like home-cooked meals or grandma's cookies.
Associated PressEXPLAINER: Tension between Nicaragua and the Catholic Church
Earlier this month Nicaragua shuttered seven radio stations belonging to the Catholic Church and launched an investigation into the bishop of Matagalpa, Monsignor Rolando Álvarez, accusing him of inciting violent actors “to carry out acts of hate against the population.” This is not the first time President Daniel Ortega has moved aggressively to silence critics of his administration. In 2018 the government raided the headquarters of the newspaper Confidencial, led by journalist Carlos Fernando Chamorro, who is considered one of the most prominent critics of Ortega.
Associated PressMajor wildfire in Spain forces the evacuation of 1,500
A large wildfire in northeast Spain grew rapidly overnight and was burning out of control Sunday, forcing the evacuation of eight villages and 1,500 people in Zaragoza province, firefighters said. The head of the local Aragon government, Javier Lamban, said Sunday that the situation was critical in the town of Añon de Moncayo and the priority for the 300 firefighters fighting the blaze was to protect human lives and villages. The wildfire, which began Saturday, developed a 50-kilometer (31-mile) perimeter in less than 24 hours, the local forest chief said.
Associated PressMore US lawmakers visit Taiwan 12 days after Pelosi trip
A delegation of American lawmakers arrived in Taiwan on Sunday, just 12 days after a visit by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that prompted China to launch days of threatening military drills around the self-governing island that Beijing says must come under its control. The five-member delegation, led by Democratic Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts, will meet President Tsai Ing-wen and other officials, as well as members of the private sector, to discuss shared interests including reducing tensions in the Taiwan Strait and investments in semiconductors. A Taiwanese broadcaster showed video of a U.S. government plane landing about 7 p.m. Sunday at Songshan Airport in Taipei, the Taiwanese capital.
Associated PressIraqi judiciary says it has no powers to dissolve parliament
Iraq’s top judicial body said Sunday it doesn't have the authority to dissolve the country’s parliament, days after an influential Shiite cleric gave it one week to dismiss the legislature so that new elections can be held. The decision by the Supreme Judicial Council is likely to increase tensions between followers of cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and members of Iran-backed groups as Iraq sinks deeper into its political impasse, now in its 10th month. The Supreme Judicial Council said in a statement after a meeting Sunday that political groups in the country should not get the judiciary involved in their “rivalries and political competition.”
Associated PressIn Ukraine, rebuilding starts with neighbors' help
As battles raged around Kyiv, one Russian advance was stopped in front of Maria Metla’s home. The salvaged material is reused to help rebuild homes destroyed along the perimeter of Russia’s failed attempt during the initial stages of the war to surround and capture Ukraine's capital. The village of Novoselivka, 140 kilometers (nearly 90 miles) north of Kyiv, was a scene of intense fighting during the 36-day attack on the capital.
BBCLessons in heartbreak: I coach women to get over their ex
A shocking moment in a divorce court prompted Aronke Omame to switch careers and become a break-up coach.
The New Voice of UkraineTime to question Russia’s imperial innocence
President Vladimir Putin has successfully mobilized a sense of militant patriotism in the Russian public to wage war in Ukraine.
Associated PressBrief scuffles slow tallying in Kenya's close election
Kenya’s peaceful presidential election saw a brief disruption late Saturday when riot police responded to scuffles at the national tallying center amid tensions over the close results. An agent for longtime opposition leader and candidate Raila Odinga announced from the lectern that the tallying center was the “scene of a crime” before calm was restored. The agent, Saitabao Ole Kanchory, offered no evidence in the latest example of the unverified claims that both top campaigns have made as Kenya waits for official results.
Associated PressAP PHOTOS: Fermented horse milk season on in Kyrgyzstan
High up in the Tian Shan mountains of Kyrgyzstan, the season for making the fermented drink known as kumis is in full swing. Connoisseurs of kumis, an important part of nomadic tribes’ diets for untold centuries, say the Suusamyr valley is home to the best version of the drink. The milk then is left to ferment, or sometimes churned to promote fermentation, until it becomes mildly alcoholic.
- Associated Press
1 dead, 17 hurt in crash during fundraiser for fire victims
One person was killed and another 17 people injured when a vehicle struck a crowd gathered at a Pennsylvania bar for a fundraiser for victims of a house fire that killed 10 earlier this month; the man police say was the driver was arrested shortly afterward in the beating death of his mother nearby. The crash occurred at about 6:15 p.m. Saturday outside the Intoxicology Department bar in Berwick, which had been scheduled to hold an all-day fundraising event to benefit victims of the Aug. 5 blaze, that killed seven adults and three children in Nescopeck. Pennsylvania State Police identified the driver as 24-year-old Adrian Oswaldo Sura Reyes of Nescopeck.
The Daily BeastWhat to Make of North Korea’s Twisted COVID ‘Revenge’ Threat
Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/GettySEOUL—North Korea leader Kim Jong Un’s kid sister Kim Yo Jong is brandishing the threat of germ warfare in retaliation for balloon launches from South Korea that she blames for spreading COVID-19 in the North.Kim Yo Jong, in a speech carried on North Korean state TV, said, after having considered “various counteraction plans, our countermeasure must be a deadly retaliatory one.”Her remark suggests she and her brother are not only fed up
- Fox News
Critics call for Biden to 'immediately end' Iran nuclear talks following attempted murder of Salman Rushdie
Sen. Marco Rubio and others on social media slammed the Biden administration for working on a nuclear deal with Iran following the stabbing of author Salman Rushdie.
The TelegraphRishi Sunak: We must sanction Iran over Salman Rushdie stabbing
Britain should designate Iran’s Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organisation following the brutal attack on Sir Salman Rushdie, Rishi Sunak has said, as he warned that the stabbing should be a “wake-up call for the West”.
- Associated Press
Official: Over 50 deaths from seasonal floods in Sudan
Floods triggered by seasonal torrential rains in Sudan have killed more than 50 people and inundated over 8,170 homes since the rainy season started, a senior police official said Saturday. Nineteen fatalities have been recorded in North Kordofan province, followed by Nile River province, which reported seven deaths, said Brig. Gen. Abdul-Jalil Abdul-Rahim, spokesman for Sudan’s National Council for Civil Defense. Sudan's rainy season usually starts in June and lasts until September, with floods peaking in August and September.
The Clarion Ledger'Foolishly sticking with failed system': Mississippi leads the world in mass incarceration
Mississippi has more inmates per capita than any state or nation, including China, Russia and Iran, according to the World Population Review.
The Daily BeastIranian Newspaper Praises Salman Rushdie’s Attacker
Sean ZanniIranian newspapers have celebrated the attack on Salman Rushdie with the Kayhan newspaper—whose editor-in-chief is appointed by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei—sending his assailant “a thousand bravos.”Rushdie, who has been the subject of a fatwa by Iran since 1989 following the publication of his novel The Satanic Verses, is on a ventilator and at risk of losing an eye after he was stabbed at a literary event in western New York. Iran’s government is yet to comment on the attack bu
Associated PressRussian shelling heavy in east; Ukraine strikes key bridge
Russia's military pounded residential areas across Ukraine overnight, claiming gains, as Ukrainian forces pressed a counteroffensive to try to take back an occupied southern region, striking the last working bridge over a river in the Russian-occupied Kherson region, Ukrainian authorities said Saturday. A Russian rocket attack on the city of Kramatorsk killed three people and wounded 13 others Friday night, according to the mayor. Kramatorsk is the headquarters for Ukrainian forces in the country's war-torn east.
Associated PressMonkeypox? Climate? Deciding what's a national emergency
In November 1979, a little over a week after student militants seized control of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and took 52 American citizens hostage, President Jimmy Carter issued Executive Order 12170 declaring a national emergency against Iran. The Biden administration's declaration Aug. 4 of a public health emergency on monkeypox frees up federal money and resources to fight a virus that has already infected more than 10,000 people in the United States.
“The media has anointed men who have sex with men as the biggest threat to our survival from monkeypox.”
“Rich countries have ignored endemic monkeypox in West and Central Africa for far too long, despite having effective vaccines.”
“The biggest worry for Americans is not the disease: It’s that our response to it shows how little we have learned from COVID-19.”
“Monkeypox should be a relatively easier virus to control, but only if the United States takes the needed steps now.”
“Global health officials must advocate for and enact a unified, coherent approach to fighting the monkeypox pandemic.”