Flooding damage in Schuld, Germany. Western Europe is seeing some of the most severe flooding in decades. Germany is most affected.Sascha Steinbach/EPA, via Shutterstock
The Ahr River floats past destroyed houses yesterday in Insul, Germany
“Dozens are dead and more than 1,000 people are assumed missing after flash floods ripped through parts of Western Europe. Rescue and recovery efforts are underway in Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, where rivers swelled and swept through towns, dragging entire structures away in the flow. These photos show the stunning scale of destruction. The floods were caused by the heaviest rainfall there in more than a century. Across the Atlantic, an opposite threat looms: About 71 large wildfires are now scorching 1 million acres across the US, and their smoke can be seen from California all the way to New York. Also in the New York City area, millions are under a heat advisory as the heat index (the ‘feels like’ temp) could hit 103 degrees today.” Read more at CNN
“Paradise, California, was virtually destroyed by the deadliest wildfire in U.S. history less than three years ago. Now, the town is nervously watching the Dixie Fire — 10 miles away. Since igniting Wednesday, the uncontained blaze has swept through more than 3½ square miles of mostly brush and timber. The fire is one of more than 70 in 12 states from California to Minnesota fueled by weeks of heat and drought in a relentless loop this summer. The largest blaze is the Bootleg Fire in Oregon, which has burned through more than 330 square miles since igniting July 6. It remains only 7% contained, the Forest Service says, and full containment is expected before October.” Read more at USA Today
“Dr. Vivek Murthy, the surgeon general, called misinformation about the virus and the vaccines an ‘urgent threat to public health.’” Read more at New York Times
“Covid-19 cases are surging in almost every state, and CNN medical analyst Dr. Leana Wen says it’s time to ‘do something dramatic’ to protect the country from a tragic fall season. Hospitals are filling up in places like Arkansas, where only 35% of the population is fully vaccinated. Los Angeles County, the nation's most populous county, will reinstate its mask mandate this weekend, requiring masking indoors regardless of vaccination status. The Delta variant is also fueling huge surges in the Middle East and North Africa. Tunisia has been hit especially hard and is reimposing lockdowns. The North African nation now has the highest Covid-19 mortality rate in the Eastern Mediterranean region and on the African continent. And in Iraq, less than 1% of the population has received a coronavirus vaccine dose.” Read more at CNN
“People living with H.I.V. are more likely to become severely ill with Covid-19 and more likely to die if hospitalized than others infected with the coronavirus, according to a large new study. Nearly half of H.I.V.-infected men older than 65 who are hospitalized for Covid-19 may die, the study found.
The results, released ahead of an AIDS conference in Berlin, suggest that people with H.I.V. should be first in line for vaccines, along with older adults and others with weak immune systems, scientists said.
The data is especially pressing because many countries with high numbers of people with H.I.V. are battling surges of the coronavirus, fueled by the contagious Delta variant and a dearth of vaccines. About 95 percent of the people with H.I.V. included in the analysis were from sub-Saharan Africa, which is home to two-thirds of H.I.V. cases worldwide.” Read more at New York Times
“About 23 million children worldwide — many of them poor — missed out on routine vaccinations last year.” Read more at New York Times
“Myanmar’s military junta has taken control of the country’s oxygen supply, firing at people who try to buy their own.” Read more at New York Times
“The M.L.B. postponed a Yankees-Red Sox game after three Yankees pitchers tested positive.” Read more at New York Times
“The bipartisan infrastructure bill and the Democratic-backed $3.5 trillion budget resolution germinating in the Senate could provide Democrats with a last chance to tackle immigration reform in this Congress. Lawmakers are looking to set aside $120 billion for a pathway to citizenship for DACA recipients, farm workers, essential workers and people with Temporary Protected Status. But it’s not clear yet how they will decide who qualifies for these protections. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer set a deadline for next week to force his caucus to agree on both the budget package and the infrastructure bill. It’s essentially an attempt to strong-arm negotiations and is further frustrating Republicans already put off by the rapid pace and high price tags of these measures.” Read more at CNN
“President Joe Biden, his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and Russian President Vladimir Putin are among the Pacific Rim leaders gathering virtually Friday to discuss strategies to help economies rebound from a resurgent COVID-19 pandemic. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will chair the meeting of the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum. Biden, who is expected to address several topics, will discuss his administration's efforts to serve "as an arsenal of vaccines to the world" and how alliance members can collaborate to bolster the global economy, the Associated Press reports.” Read more at USA Today
“WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Donald Trump insisted Thursday that he wouldn’t have used the military to illegally seize control of the government after his election loss. But he suggested that if he had tried to carry out a coup, it wouldn’t have been with his top military adviser.
In a lengthy statement, Trump responded to revelations in a new book detailing fears from Gen. Mark Milley that the outgoing president would stage a coup during his final weeks in office. Trump said he’s ‘not into coups’ and ‘never threatened, or spoke about, to anyone, a coup of our Government.’ At the same time, Trump said that ‘if I was going to do a coup, one of the last people I would want to do it with is’ Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The mere mention of a coup was a stunning remark from a former president, especially one who left office under the cloud of a violent insurrection he helped incite at the U.S. Capitol in January in an effort to impede the peaceful transfer of power to Democrat Joe Biden. Since then, the FBI has warned of a rapidly growing threat of homegrown violent extremism.
Despite such concerns, Trump is maintaining his grip on the Republican Party. He was meeting on Thursday with House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy and has stepped up his public schedule, holding a series of rallies for his supporters across the country in which he continues to spread the lie that last year’s election was stolen from him.
His comment about a coup was in response to new reporting from ‘I Alone Can Fix It: Donald J. Trump’s Catastrophic Final Year’ by Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post reporters Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker. The book reports that Milley was shaken by Trump’s refusal to concede in the weeks after the election.” Read more at AP News
“The scores of Texas Democrats who fled Austin this week to block passage of a Republican election law and implore Congress for the passage of new federal voting rights protections arrived on Capitol Hill and quickly earned effusive praise from fellow Democrats.
‘They are brave, they are bold, they are courageous,’ said Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.). Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) called the runaway lawmakers ‘defenders of the Constitution,’ while Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) hailed them as ‘freedom fighters.’
But the accolades have not, so far, translated into real progress for the Texas state legislators, who arrived in Washington just as the congressional Democrats they are trying to prod into action on voting legislation have turned their full attention toward a trillion-dollar infrastructure deal and a potentially historic $3.5 trillion expansion of federal social and climate programs.” Read more at Washington Post
“The Capitol Police arrested Representative Joyce Beatty, the chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, during a voting rights protest.” Read more at New York Times
“Justice Stephen Breyer, 82, told CNN that he had not decided when to retire from the Supreme Court.” Read more at New York Times
“Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) signed an executive order significantly restricting the use of conversion therapy in the state. Go deeper.” [Axios]
“America’s demographic revolution — increasing diversity, fast-growing cities and extreme partisan sorting — is changing how the parties fight for advantage as they draw district lines, Axios' Stef Kight reports.
Why it matters: Democrats have the demographics, but Republicans have the political power — putting Dems at a disadvantage on their new home turf.
What's happening: The growth of big, diverse cities in the Sun Belt should benefit Democrats. But because they’re so far out of power in important states, gerrymandering New York and Illinois may be Democrats' only shot at preserving a House majority.
And the sunbelt is diversifying. Texas, Florida, Georgia and North Carolina saw the biggest increase in Black population over the past 10 years, while Texas, Florida and Arizona gained the most Hispanics, Brookings demographer William Frey said.
Cities are booming. Of the 20 fastest-growing major metro areas over the past decade, 16 voted for President Biden in 2020, according to Frey.
But nine of those metro areas are blue cities in red states, including several in Texas. Republicans could use their control over the redistricting process in those places to pack Democrats into a small number of districts.
On the other hand, GOP-controlled legislatures are considering ‘cracking’ cities like Louisville and Omaha — diluting Democratic votes by spreading them out, as Politico reported.” Read more at Axios
“EU sues Hungary and Poland. The European Commission has launched legal actions against EU member states Hungary and Poland over recent laws and resolutions adopted by the two countries attacking LGBT people. The EU accuses Hungary of violating the bloc’s rules on non-discrimination over a new law banning content that portrays homosexuality for those under 18. Poland stands accused of breaking EU rules due to a number of regions and municipalities adopting resolutions on ‘LGBT-ideology free zones.’ Both countries have two months to respond to the EU’s arguments.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“AMSTERDAM — A Dutch crime reporter who was shot in the head in a brazen attack in central Amsterdam last week as he was leaving a television studio died of his wounds Thursday, his family said in a statement. The reporter, Peter R. de Vries, was 64.” Read more at Boston Globe
“Taliban cease-fire. The Taliban has reportedly offered the Afghan government a three-month cease-fire in return for a new prisoner exchange, a government spokesman said on Thursday. ‘The Taliban has offered a plan for a three-month cease-fire, but in exchange they have asked for the release of 7,000 of their prisoners and the removal of their leaders from the UN blacklist,’ Nader Nadery a spokesman for the Afghan government’s negotiating team in Doha said. A Taliban spokesman has denied making the overture.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“Ethiopia’s war widens. Reinforcements from the Ethiopian regions of Sidama, Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples’ Region (SNNPR), and Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s home region of Oromia are set to join the war in Tigray, state media reported on Thursday. The move comes after Abiy effectively annulled his cease-fire declaration of June 28, saying government forces would repel any enemy attacks. The new regional forces join Amhara regional troops, who on Wednesday said they were shifting to ‘attack’ mode to push back Tigrayan forces.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“Cuba is temporarily lifting restrictions on travelers bringing food, medicine and hygiene products into the country in an apparent response to rare anti-government protests that have rattled the island nation since last weekend. Thousands have gathered to protest chronic shortages of basic goods, curbs on civil liberties and the government's handling of the pandemic. These desperate conditions have led to rising migration and economic toil. President Biden expressed support for Cuban citizens and railed against the Cuban government, calling it a ‘failed state.’ He also said the US is looking into ways to reinstate internet access in Cuba. Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel says US trade sanctions are to blame for his country’s economic conditions.” Read more at CNN
“Lebanon's Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri has stepped down just nine months after he was tasked with forming the country’s next government. Hariri says he removed himself because President Michel Aoun didn't accept his latest Cabinet lineup. Lebanon hasn't had a government since its caretaker Prime Minister stepped down after the deadly Beirut port explosion in August 2020. The power vacuum has exacerbated a financial tailspin and a rapid decay of the country's infrastructure, with power outages that sometimes exceed 22 hours a day. Really, problems have been brewing since an uprising against Lebanon's ruling elite in October 2019. Protests erupted after Hariri’s announcement this week as people expressed their despair and frustration with the political infighting.” Read more at CNN
“WASHINGTON (AP) — Welcoming Angela Merkel to the White House for a final time, President Joe Biden renewed his concerns to the German chancellor Thursday about a major, nearly complete Russia-to-Germany gas pipeline but said they agreed Russia must not be allowed to use energy as a weapon.
The two discussed — though made no apparent headway — on differences over the Nord Stream 2 pipeline during a largely friendly farewell visit for Merkel as she nears the end of a political career that has spanned four American presidencies.
‘On a personal note, I must tell you I will miss seeing you at our summits,’ Biden said as he stood by Merkel, the second-longest serving chancellor in Germany’s history, at a late afternoon White House press conference. ‘I truly will.’
Merkel, who had a famously difficult relationship with former President Donald Trump, showed her ease and familiarity with Biden, who has long been a fixture in international politics, repeatedly referring to him as ‘Dear Joe.’” Read more at AP News
“Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee, visited Hiroshima in Japan on Friday and his vice president John Coates visited Nagasaki, ahead of the start of the Tokyo Olympics next week. A group of 11 anti-Olympic and pacifists groups submitted a letter to Tokyo opposing Bach's visit. The Games are happening despite a state of emergency in Tokyo and persistent opposition in Japan from the general public and the medical community due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Bach and Coates are using the backdrop of the cities, hit with atomic bombs by the United States in 1945, to promote the first day of the so-called Olympic Truce — a tradition from ancient Greece that was revived by a United Nations resolution in 1993.” Read more at USA Today
“It’s been a week from hell for South Africa.
Riots and widespread looting have claimed at least 117 lives, cost billions of rand in damages, and left some areas facing food and medicine shortages, Antony Sguazzin and S’thembile Cele report. Soldiers are on the streets and business confidence in an economy already weakened by the Covid-19 pandemic is shot.
What lit the fuse was the imprisonment of former President Jacob Zuma for defying a court order to testify before a graft inquiry. He was due to respond to allegations he’d facilitated and been party to endemic corruption.
Zuma’s supporters, particularly in his home province of KwaZulu-Natal, cry victimization; his critics say it’s a case of justice finally being served. The jury is still out on whether Zuma and his backers stirred up the unrest as political payback.
The carnage has undermined the authority of President Cyril Ramaphosa, whose government’s response was lethargic. It’s also highlighted the faction-fighting that’s called into question the capacity of the African National Congress to govern after ruling for a quarter-century.
This couldn’t have come at a worse time for southern Africa — with Mozambique fighting an Islamic State-linked insurgency, Zimbabwe perennially in economic crisis, and a tense standoff between pro-democracy activists and Africa’s last monarch following weeks of protestsin Eswatini.
South Africa is a fragile state: The ‘rainbow nation’ democracy that emerged when Nelson Mandela took office in 1994 has always struggled to deal with the deep ethnic, racial and class divisions left behind by apartheid.
This week’s violence has stretched the social fabric to breaking point and left the economic powerhouse of the continent on a knife-edge.” Read more at Bloomberg
“Deteriorating security | Biden said his administration will issue an advisory as early as today cautioning U.S. companies about the risks of doing business in Hong Kong as China tightens its control over the territory. It will underscore how swiftly Beijing’s actions have brought an end to the ‘one country, two systems’ approach and proved a death knell for the territory’s independent judiciary, media and protest movements.” Read more at Bloomberg
“News ban | Russia outlawed an investigative media outlet that published a report last year suggesting President Vladimir Putin secretly fathered a daughter outside his marriage. The Prosecutor General yesterday declared Proekt Media an ‘undesirable organization,’ meaning anyone associated with it could face a prison sentence. It was the first use of the law against a news outlet amid a deepening crackdown on dissent.” Read more at Bloomberg
“Jaws no more. Officials in the Australian state of Queensland are working to rebrand shark attacks as ‘interactions’ and ‘negative encounters’ in a bid to change public perceptions of the threatened species and help with conservation efforts. Leonardo Guida of the Australian Marine Conservation Society said the move would ‘help dispel inherent assumptions that sharks are ravenous, mindless man-eating monsters.’
Conservationists point out that sharks rarely kill and negative perceptions are a modern phenomenon. Eight people were killed by sharks in Australia in 2020, while the World Wildlife Fund estimates that 100 million sharks are killed every year by humans, contributing to the rapid decline of the marine species.” Read more at Foreign Policy
Some hospitals are opting not to give a new Alzheimer's drug.
“As the debate intensifies over whether the drug, Aduhelm, is effective and if the Food and Drug Administration lowered its standard when approving it, two leading hospitals say they won't administer the drug. The Cleveland Clinic, citing a review of available scientific evidence by a multidisciplinary panel of experts, said it wouldn’t carry the drug in its pharmacies or provide infusions of it to patients. Mount Sinai Health System in New York said it wouldn’t use the drug while its experts deliberate. Mount Sinai is also waiting for the results of a federal investigation into whether FDA officials improperly communicated with Aduhelm maker Biogen throughout the approval process. The approval of Aduhelm came even as some of the FDA's own statisticians and outside experts objected. The trial data was inconclusive, and the drug was approved using a regulatory mechanism that allows for drugs to be cleared before they are definitively proven effective.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Intel eyes $30 billion purchase of chip company. A deal for GlobalFoundries would be Intel’s largest acquisition, and would come as the semiconductor giant is launching a major push to become a chip manufacturer for other companies.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Some of the nation's most prestigious MBA programs are ruling out hybrid learning this fall, figuring that in-person networking makes the pricey degrees worthwhile, The Wall Street Journal reports(subscription).
Among them: Columbia, Boston, Stanford, NYU (which lured Axios' Kathleen Nisbet away for this fall) and UC Berkeley.
Harvard Business School will spend about $25 million on improved ventilation, hybrid classrooms and other COVID costs this fiscal year.
One big, big problem: Many recruiters aren't ready to fan out to campuses. Jonah Rockoff, Columbia Business School's senior vice dean for curriculum and programs, told The Journal: ‘Many employers are struggling with how to bring people back to the office themselves.’” Read more at Axios
“Teenager to replace auction winner on Blue Origin flight. Jeff Bezos’ space company said that the person who paid roughly $30 million for a seat aboard its rocket next week won’t be on the trip, and that 18-year-old Oliver Daemen would join the launch instead.” Read more at USA Today
“'Jadon & Marcus & Bukayo': "Ted Lasso," star Jason Sudeikis showed his support for the three England soccer players who faced racist abuse in the aftermath of the Euro 2020 finalwith a special shirt.” Read more at USA Today
Jason Sudeikis attends the "Ted Lasso" Season 2 premiere at the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood, California.Amy Sussman, Getty Images