“Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is set to go to space Tuesday after his company, Blue Origin, received government approval to launch a rocket. Bezos will board the rocket in Texas with his brother Mark; Wally Funk , an 82-year-old aviator who pushed for female inclusion in NASA's astronaut training programs; and Oliver Daemen, an 18-year-old man who will replace a mystery bidder who decided to postpone taking part in the historic trip. The crew covers two age-related records: both the oldest (Funk) and youngest (Daemen) to fly to space. Bezos' trek into space comes after billionaire Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic launched on July 11.”
The side of a building in Van Horn, Texas, is adorned with a mural of Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos on Saturday, July 17, 2021.Sean Murphy, AP
“BERLIN — European authorities have revised down the number of people missing as waters receded after devastating flooding in Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerland last week, even as the death toll continues to rise.
More than 700 people who were considered missing after the heavy floods ripped buildings from their foundations, overturned cars, and inundated homes and streets have been identified as safe after days of uncertainty, police in Cologne, Germany, said late Sunday.
But at least 150 people remain missing in that area alone, and the total still unaccounted for across the broader region hit by the catastrophic flooding is unclear. During the height of the inundation, some 1,300 people were considered missing in just one German district, Ahrweiler.” Read more at Boston Globe
“Ominous signs of a coronavirus backslide are piling up in the US. The American Academy of Pediatrics released new guidance yesterday recommending everyone over the age of 2 wear a mask while in school, regardless of vaccination status. That’s a stricter position than the one the CDC took earlier this month. One reason for the tighter precaution? Many school-aged children are not eligible for a Covid-19 vaccination yet, and recent virus surges have overwhelmingly affected unvaccinated people. The average of new daily cases in the US this week is up 66% from last week and 145% from two weeks ago. The Dow also fell about 725 points yesterday in the biggest drop of the year as Delta variant fears spread to investors.” Read more at CNN
“Canada will open its border to fully vaccinated Americans next month.” Read more at New York Times
“NEW DELHI (AP) — India’s excess deaths during the pandemic could be a staggering 10 times the official COVID-19 toll, likely making it modern India’s worst human tragedy, according to the most comprehensive research yet on the ravages of the virus in the south Asian country.
Most experts believe India’s official toll of more than 414,000 dead is a vast undercount, but the government has dismissed those concerns as exaggerated and misleading.
The report released Tuesday estimated excess deaths — the gap between those recorded and those that would have been expected — to be between 3 million to 4.7 million between January 2020 and June 2021. It said an accurate figure may ‘prove elusive’ but the true death toll ‘is likely to be an order of magnitude greater than the official count.’
The report, published by Arvind Subramanian, the Indian government’s former chief economic adviser, and two other researchers at the Center for Global Development and Harvard University, said the count could have missed deaths occurring in overwhelmed hospitals or while health care was delayed or disrupted, especially during the devastating peak surge earlier this year.” Read more at AP News
“A federal judge — appointed by Donald Trump — upheld Indiana University’s vaccine requirement for students and staff members.” Read more at New York Times
“A new YouGov poll found that 20 percent of American adults believe the government has put microchips in coronavirus vaccines.” [The Hill / Jenna Romaine]
“House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) announced Monday that he will recommend five Republicans to serve on the select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob.
The lawmakers are Reps. Jim Jordan (Ohio), Jim Banks (Ind.), Rodney Davis (Ill.), Kelly Armstrong (N.D.) and Troy E. Nehls (Tex.).
The lawmakers met with McCarthy in his office at the Capitol on Monday evening. Afterward, Banks said in a statement that he has accepted McCarthy’s invitation to serve as the top Republican on the panel, ‘because we need leaders who will force the Democrats and the media to answer questions so far ignored.’
McCarthy traveled to Bedminster, N.J., last week to talk about the midterm elections with former president Donald Trump. But he told reporters at the Capitol on Monday night that his picks for the committee were not a point of discussion.
‘I’ve never talked to Donald Trump about this, ‘McCarthy said.
McCarthy’s choices will need to be approved by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) before they can sit on the 13-member panel, according to the legislation passed by the House to establish the committee.A Pelosi aide said Monday night that the speaker had just received the names.” Read more at Washington Post
“The first person to have pleaded guilty to storming the Capitol on Jan. 6 with the intention of stopping the certification of the Electoral College vote was sentenced Monday to eight months in prison in what could serve as an indicator for scores of similar cases.
The defendant, Paul A. Hodgkins, pleaded guilty last month to a single felony count — obstruction of an official proceeding before Congress — and admitted to breaching the Senate floor with a Trump flag and a backpack filled with items like goggles, rope, and a pair of latex gloves.
Hodgkins was one of about 50 people who made it to the Senate floor, prosecutors say. His acknowledgment that he went deep into the Capitol intending to disrupt the peaceful transition of power set him apart in the eyes of prosecutors from scores of other members of the mob who had merely walked into the building.” Read more at Boston Globe
“US Attorney General Merrick Garland on Monday issued a broad ban on using subpoenas, warrants or court orders to seize reporters’ records from their employers or from communications firms in an effort to uncover their confidential sources in leak investigations, outlining sharp new limits on the practice.” Read more at Boston Globe
“WASHINGTON — The Biden administration on Monday transferred its first detainee out of Guantánamo Bay, repatriating a Moroccan man who had been recommended for discharge from the wartime prison starting in 2016 but nevertheless remained there during the Trump years.
The transfer of the man, Abdul Latif Nasser, 56, was the first sign of a renewed effort under President Biden to winnow the population of prisoners by sending them to other countries that promise to ensure the men remain under security measures. Nasser was never charged with a crime.
The transfer process, which was pursued by the George W. Bush and Obama administrations, had atrophied under former president Trump. With Nasser’s departure, there are now 39 prisoners at Guantánamo, 11 of whom have been charged with war crimes. At its peak in the years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and the invasion of Afghanistan, the prison complex at the US naval base held about 675 men.
Far more complex policy decisions about transfers await the Biden team, including whether to transfer a mentally ill Saudi man, Mohammed al-Qahtani, who was tortured at Guantánamo and is considered to have been one of several candidates to be a potential 20th hijacker on 9/11.” Read more at Boston Globe
“ATLANTA — Senate Democrats took their campaign for far-reaching federal voting rights legislation on the road to Georgia on Monday, convening a rare hearing in a state at the center of a national fight over elections.
At a field hearing in Atlanta, state lawmakers and voters decried the restrictive new voting law signed this spring by Governor Brian Kemp, a Republican, as an attempt to disenfranchise Black and young voters and consolidate Republicans’ tenuous grip on power.” Read more at Boston Globe
“The US and its allies in Europe and Asia have accused China of widespread malfeasance in cyberspace, including through a massive hack of Microsoft's email system and other ransomware attacks. That’s a significant escalation of the White House’s fight against cyberattacks, but the Biden administration hasn’t yet decided how, or if, it will punish Beijing for these alleged hacks. China called the accusations ‘politically motivated smears.’ Meanwhile, a major law firm with an array of high-profile corporate clients announced it was hit by ransomware in February. Campbell Conroy & O'Neil said the hack may have leaked critical information like Social Security numbers, health insurance information and even biometric data (which can be things like fingerprints).” Read more at CNN
“President Biden’s much-touted bipartisan infrastructure bill is in peril as Democrats try to muster a united front to pass it in the Senate and Republicans grow impatient with the process. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has set up a test vote tomorrow for the bill. But Senate GOP leaders are threatening to block that vote unless negotiators writing the bill can strike a deal. In June, the White House and a bipartisan Senate group agreed to a $579 billion framework to build roads, bridges, railroads and airports, along with water, power and broadband infrastructure projects. But lawmakers have squabbled over how to pay for it, and the plan has been pared down several times.” Read more at CNN
“Thousands of opioid-crisis lawsuits filed against major drugmakers and distributors are nearing a conclusion, with the outlines of a $26 billion deal between states and four companies expected to be announced this week and a $1 billion settlement to resolve some of New York’s claims likely on Tuesday, people familiar with the matter said.
Drug distributors AmerisourceBergen Corp. , Cardinal Health Inc. and McKesson Corp. and manufacturer Johnson & Johnson have been negotiating the $26 billion settlement for more than two years as a way to resolve thousands of lawsuits filed by state and local governments blaming them for helping fuel the nation’s opioid epidemic. From 1999 to 2019, the nation lost nearly half a million people to overdoses of prescription and illegal opioids, according to federal data.
Under the contours of the deal, states and municipalities still have several months to sign on, and the amount ultimately paid will depend on how many participate, the people familiar with the talks said. The companies can also still walk away if they aren’t satisfied with the number of states and governments that join, the people said.
New York, meanwhile, has struck a more than $1 billion deal with AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal and McKesson midway through a trial against those companies and four other pharmaceutical firms, some of the people said. That deal, which is expected to be announced Tuesday, would remove the three distributors from the trial and represents New York’s portion of the broader settlement.
Johnson & Johnson already settled with New York for $263 million ahead of the trial.
The larger settlement, if finalized, would remove an albatross for companies that for years have faced allegations from plaintiffs’ lawyers, families and governments that they played a role in sparking and expanding opioid addiction. Uncertainty over the litigation has weighed down some companies’ stocks. Questions about resolving the lawsuits have dogged executives on earnings calls and at investor conferences and resulted in chief executives testifying before Congress.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Voting laws passed in the wake of the 2020 election are facing a wave of court challenges, setting up a series of legal battles this year that could help reshape the rules around voting for years to come.
At least two dozen states have passed laws this year that either expand voting rules or tighten them, according to New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice, a public-policy think tank. At least 30 lawsuits are aimed at laws in 11 states that opponents say restrict voting access with measures such as shortening the time period for mail-in and early voting, increasing verification requirements and placing limits on providing food or water to people waiting in line to vote.
Mostly liberal groups have challenged these new bills on grounds that they violate aspects of the Voting Rights Act, the First and 14th Amendments and the Americans with Disabilities Act. In Georgia, which has become the epicenter of the fight, groups have filed nine lawsuits over legislation that was passed in late March, according to the Brennan Center. A lawsuit filed by the Justice Department last month against Georgia added firepower to the legal battle over the new voting laws.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Haiti’s acting Prime Minister Claude Joseph has agreed to step down amid a power struggle that has gripped the nation since the shocking July 7 assassination of President Jovenel Moise. Joseph has been negotiating with his political rival Ariel Henry over who should lead. Now, Henry will become prime minister, Joseph will retain his original role as Haiti's foreign minister and work begins to reform Haiti’s hollowed-out governing bodies. Henry has promised Haitians a new coalition government and is being urged to set up elections as soon as possible. But some activists and civil groups worry that in the current political environment, free and fair elections just aren’t possible.” Read more at CNN
“President Joe Biden on Monday softened his criticism of Facebook, days after he said the platform is ‘killing people’ because of vaccine misinformation the social media giant allows to circulate on its platform. He shifted the blame from Facebook to a dozen people he said are circulating most of the misleading claims.” Read more at USA Today
“On Tuesday, millions of Muslims worldwide celebrate Eid al-Adha, a religious festival commemorating Prophet Abraham's faithfulness to God after being tested with the unfulfilled command to sacrifice his son. The holiday also marks the end of the annual Holy Pilgrimage of Hajj, in which thousands of Muslims travel to the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia to worship in the Ka'bah, the most sacred site in Islam. Although many people in the United States observed the holiday for one day on Monday, Eid-al-Adha is a three-day celebration in Muslim-majority countries.” Read more at USA Today
“Ben & Jerry’s announced Monday it will no longer allow its ice cream to be sold in ‘occupied Palestinian territory’ following a wave of online criticism from activists who said the company’s sales in the West Bank and East Jerusalem run afoul of its social justice mission.
The announcement broke about two months of social media silence by the Vermont company, which has long supported progressive causes but came under mounting pressure to stop ice cream sales in the settlements following Israel’s intense response to Palestinian rocket attacks in May.
The decision was a significant win for pro-Palestinian groups who have pushed companies to divest their business and financial dealings with Israel, but was sharply condemned by Israeli government officials and some Jewish groups in the United States. The company said it would not renew a long-standing agreement with its factory in Israel after next year but would ‘stay in Israel through a different arrangement.’” Read more at Boston Globe
“Search crews are reaching the bottom of the wreckage of the collapsed condo building in Surfside, Florida, but they say they won’t stop until every victim is located. As the community mourns, investigators and structural engineers are preparing to take a hard look at the collapse, which won’t be fully possible until search efforts conclude. Experts say there are several possible theories for how the collapse occurred. The disaster has ignited new fears among other residents in the area -- and the roughly 30 million condo residents across the country -- about the structural integrity of their buildings.” Read more at CNN
“‘Do not travel’: The CDC raised the travel advisory for the U.K. to a level 4, meaning "avoid travel,'' citing "very high'' levels of coronavirus cases.” Read more at USA Today
“NEW YORK (AP) — Prince Harry is writing what his publisher is calling an ‘intimate and heartfelt memoir.’
Random House expects to release the book, currently untitled, late in 2022.” Read more at AP News
“Lives Lived: In the 1970s, the specialized field of health care known as wilderness medicine was in its infancy. Then Dr. Paul Auerbach showed up. He died at 70.” Read more at New York Times
“As more COVID-19 cases emerge in Tokyo’s Olympic village, public doubts about the safety of the athletes and the public threaten to upend the competition before its official launch on Friday.
The Olympics will take place in a city under a state of emergency, as new daily coronavirus cases in Tokyo have already surpassed a spike recorded in May.
Tokyo’s decision to host the Games has been met with public derision for months. A recent Asahi Shimbun poll found that 68 percent of respondents doubted organizers could control coronavirus infections, while 55 percent said they didn’t want the Games to go ahead.
Public apathy has spooked major business partners, too. On Monday, car giant Toyota announced it was scrapping its aptly named ‘Start your impossible’ Olympic-branded ad campaign in Japan for the duration of the Games. ‘It is turning into an Olympics that cannot get understanding (from the public) in various ways,’ Toyota’s operating officer Jun Nagata told reporters.
Budget problems. While Tokyo’s Olympic organizers can still hope that such apathy evaporates once the festivities begin, they also face more tangible public concerns: The price tag. Originally budgeted at $7.3 billion, the final bill is now roughly $30 billion. The overrun brings it in line with every Olympics since 1960.
Suga low. With spectators banned from attending events, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga is unlikely to receive the goodwill boost he sorely needs ahead of an election to be held on or before Oct. 22. A monthly poll gave his cabinet its lowest ever approval rating last Friday—garnering only 29.3 percent support. As Kazuhiro Maeshima wrote in Foreign Policy in June, the Olympics were always a gamble for Suga.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“Gallup's Negative Experience Index, which tracks feelings of worry, stress, physical pain, sadness and anger in 115 countries, hit a 15-year high in 2020 as the world collectively struggled under the weight of the pandemic.
It was the most stressful year in recent history: ‘The five-point jump from 35% in 2019 to 40% in 2020 represents nearly 190 million more people globally who experienced stress during a lot of the previous day, ‘Gallup writes.” Read more at Axios
“Violation of policy: Twitter said it suspended the account of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., for 12 hours after she posted misleading tweets about COVID-19.” Read more at USA Today
“Proud Boys leader Henry ‘Enrique’ Tarrio pleaded guilty to two charges, including one related to the burning of a Black Lives Matter banner.” Read more at USA Today
“Businesses based in Columbus, Ohio, are the most friendly to fully remote positions, followed by San Diego, Phoenix, St. Louis and San Francisco, Axios' Kim Hart writes from an analysis by Telstra Ventures of 371,000 jobs posted between April 1 and June 30.
Nationally, an average of 14% of businesses are offering permanent remote positions.” Read more at Axios
“‘Stood up for my rights’: Britt McHenry's sexual harassment lawsuit against Fox News and George ‘Tyrus’ Murdoch has been voluntarily dismissed by the parties involved.” Read more at USA Today
“A first for Major League Baseball: A team of five women will make history as the MLB's first all-female on-air crew when they call the Tampa Bay Rays' game against the Baltimore Orioles.” Read more at USA Today
“Game 6 of the NBA Finals will see the Milwaukee Bucks attempt to win their first championship since 1971 as they take on the Phoenix Suns on their home floor Tuesday night (9 p.m. ET, ABC). The Bucks grabbed the pivotal victory in Game 5 thanks to another stunning play at an important time from two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo and a brilliant night from guard Jrue Holiday. On the other side, the Suns relied too much on their own star player, Devin Booker, USA TODAY's Mark Medina writes . The Suns, the best road team during the regular season, will need to continue their solid play away from home if they want to force a Game 7 back in Phoenix.” Read more at USA Today
“‘No longer scared to hide who I am’: Nashville Predators prospect Luke Prokop has become the first openly gay player in NHL history.”
“‘Instead of discontinuing, we'll maintain’: Costco reversed course and announced it will keep some senior hours as COVID-19 cases increase nationwide.” Read more at USA Today
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