A vial of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine.Saul Martinez for The New York Times
“The FDA fully approved the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine. The move was quickly followed by announcements from the Pentagon, the New York City school district and others that they would begin requiring vaccinations. The agency’s clearance of the shot for people 16 years and older marks its first full approval of a Covid-19 vaccine, after months of distribution on an emergency-use basis. Pfizer plans to request full approval for younger Americans once it has collected and analyzed recent data.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Booster moratorium? World Health Organization (WHO) Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has called on countries planning to offer third doses of COVID-19 vaccines to implement a two-month moratorium on the boosters to reduce global vaccine inequality. Earlier this month, Hungary became the first country in the European Union to allow people to sign up for third shots, and the United States announced its own plans to distribute boosters last week.
A new Israeli study found that a third dose of the Pfizer vaccine significantly reduces the chance of infection among older people. But the WHO has repeatedly called on wealthy countries to help improve vaccine access in the developing world, to prevent further contagion.
‘The virus will get the chance to circulate in countries with low vaccination coverage, and the delta variant could evolve to become more virulent,’ Tedros said.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“The security situation at Kabul’s international airport continued to deteriorate. The Taliban said they wouldn’t allow any more time for the U.S.-led operation to evacuate foreigners and allies from Afghanistan past the Aug. 31 deadline that President Biden had said his administration would consider extending. The U.K. and other countries have said they need longer to transport tens of thousands of people. On Monday morning, Afghan, American and German soldiers exchanged fire at the airport, leaving one Afghan soldier dead and three wounded.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“CIA Director William J. Burns held a secret meeting in Kabul on Monday with the Taliban’s de facto leader Abdul Ghani Baradar in the highest-level face-to-face encounter between the Taliban and the Biden administration since the militants seized the Afghan capital, according to U.S. officials familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomacy.” Read more at Washington Post
“Afghanistan’s collapsing economy is squeezing the Taliban.
The country’s new rulers are grappling with an economic meltdown that could fuel political challenges and has already put pressure on them to share power. There has been no legitimate government since President Ashraf Ghani and most ministers escaped Kabul on Aug. 15. Banks and money exchanges have remained shut and prices for basic commodities have surged. No nation has recognized the new regime, inflicting economic pain that could lead the Taliban to form a more inclusive, and potentially more moderate, government, though the situation remains fluid.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Shortly before 8 a.m. last Friday, an official at U.S. Central Command sent a searing wake-up call to colleagues:
The sweltering Qatar air base where the Biden administration is housing thousands of Afghan evacuees was awash with loose feces and urine and a rat infestation, according to internal emails shared with Axios' Jonathan Swan, Hans Nichols and Glen Johnson.
Why it matters: The email highlights the despair inside the federal government and some elements of the administration at the handling of the Afghanistan withdrawal.
President Biden faces intense criticism for failing to secure safe passage to the airport in Kabul or guarantee flights out for thousands of Afghans targeted by the Taliban.
But the account of conditions at Al Udeid Air Base in Doha shows how the U.S. was unprepared to receive thousands of desperate Afghans in a safe and sanitary environment.
‘We recognize this is a challenging and difficult situation for these vulnerable individuals and families, and we remain committed to providing a secure, safe and sanitary environment,’ said Navy Capt. William Urban, a spokesperson for U.S. Central Command.
‘It has been challenging to keep up with the flow, but we have made progress in caring for and safeguarding these vulnerable individuals and in getting them moving onward, ‘Urban told Axios.
The email by supervisory special agent Colin Sullivan — with subject line ‘Dire conditions at Doha’ — went to officials at the State Department and the Pentagon. It described a’ life-threatening humanitarian disaster … that I want to make sure all of you are fully tracking.’
‘While not in any way downplaying the conditions in Kabul nor the conditions the Afghanis [sic] are escaping from, the current conditions in Doha are of our own doing.’
The Pentagon told Axios it has taken concrete steps to improve conditions on the ground, including installing more than 100 toilets and offering 7,000 traditional Afghan meals, three times a day.
A State Department spokesperson said: ‘We are working quickly to alleviate bottlenecks and are surging consular personnel in Qatar, in addition to expediting manifesting, to alleviate current conditions.’
Yesterday, ‘more than 3,700 individuals were transported to follow-on destinations in the United States, Germany and Italy,’ said the spokesperson. ‘Our goal is to process them for onward destinations within a few days of arrival.’” Read more at Axios
“Capitol Police cleared the officer who shot Ashli Babbitt on Jan. 6. An internal investigation determined the officer had acted lawfully and adhered to policy during the encounter, in which he fired at Babbitt inside the Capitol after rioters smashed through a door to the Speaker’s Lobby. She had entered the building as part of a pro-Trump mob aiming to disrupt certification of President Biden’s victory in the 2020 election.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D) on Monday derided a report on allegations that he sexually harassed 11 women as a ‘political firecracker,’ delivering a defiant farewell address on his final day in office before his resignation takes effect.
‘The attorney general’s report was designed to be a political firecracker on an explosive topic, and it worked,’ Cuomo said, reiterating that his initial instinct was to fight what he characterized as an ‘unfair and unjust ‘investigation of his actions.
But, he said, ‘prolonging this situation could only cause governmental paralysis, and that is not an option for you and not an option for the state, especially now.’
The governor’s taped valedictory, congratulatory speech did not specifically mention the women who have accused him of sexual harassment and the various county prosecutors now probing his conduct. He also did not address a variety of other federal and state investigations — including probes into how his administration handled nursing homes during the pandemic, whether state resources were used in the writing of his book about the crisis and how his administration provided preferential coronavirus tests for his relatives when they were scarce.” Read more at Washington Post
“ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Kathy Hochul became the first female governor of New York on Tuesday, inheriting immense challenges as she takes over an administration facing criticism for inaction during Andrew Cuomo’s distracted final months in office.
Hochul, a Democrat and former member of Congress from Western New York, took the oath of office just after midnight in a brief, private event overseen by the state’s chief judge, Janet DiFiore.
A ceremonial swearing-in was planned Tuesday morning at the New York State Capitol, with more pomp than the brief, legally required event during the night. Hochul planned a public address at 3 p.m.” Read more at AP News
“ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Florida’s power struggle over wearing masks in school to guard against coronavirus infections landed Monday before a judge considering a lawsuit that challenges Governor Ron DeSantis’s order reserving the mask decision for parents.
The three-day hearing before Leon County Circuit Judge John C. Cooper pits promask parents against the Republican governor and state education officials who say parents, not schools, should choose whether their children cover up inside schools.
The hearings come as the highly contagious Delta variant causes a surge in cases, hospitalizations, and deaths across Florida, where the school year is already being disrupted.
Some districts belatedly began requiring masks, as recommended by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and numerous medical organizations, after classroom exposures forced them to send thousands of students and hundreds of teachers and staff into isolation or quarantine.” Read more at Boston Globe
“Hawaii Gov. David Ige is urging tourists not to visit the state through October due to a surge in COVID-19 cases that has the state's hospitals at capacity.” Read more at USA Today
NASA Earth Observatory / AFP
“For the first time in 30 years, a hurricane has made landfall in New England. Tropical Storm Henri brought storm winds and heavy rain to Rhode Island Saturday.” [Vox] Read more at AccuWeather / Mary Gilbert
“Henri brought a record for rain in one hour in New York City and dumped heavy rain into central New Jersey, leaving more than 120,000 homes without power on Sunday afternoon.” [Vox] Read more at Washington Post / Aaron Gregg, Jason Samenow, and Julianne McShane
“The House made a not-so-triumphant return to business Monday night as Democratic leaders and a breakaway group of centrist Democrats were unable to strike a deal to pass key parts of President Biden’s domestic agenda.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) sent House lawmakers home shortly after midnight after failing to persuade a small but determined band of moderates in her caucus, delaying a key procedural vote on spending initiatives she told them could be ‘transformative’ (The Hill).
Pelosi and her leadership team are trying to find sufficient votes for a rule that would procedurally ‘deem’ the budget resolution as adopted, a step toward what the majority of her caucus hope would be approval of $3.5 trillion in proposed spending that could also clear the Senate later this year.
The process the Speaker envisions would allow the House to debate the mammoth budget resolution, a $1 trillion Senate-passed bipartisan infrastructure bill House Democratic centrists favor and a measure to restore part of the Voting Rights Act, which was struck down by the Supreme Court in 2013.
However, those plans were scuttled as talks between Pelosi, Democratic leaders and the centrist members, led by Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), extended into the wee hours and stalled. Republicans are expected to oppose the pending legislation in lockstep, which means Pelosi can lose just three Democrats on any given floor vote.
According to Politico, at least five centrist members are objecting to a proposed compromise that would commit the Speaker to bring the bipartisan infrastructure bill to the floor by Oct. 1. The House centrists, wary of midterm election pressures in their districts, say they want to approve the infrastructure bill and its $550 billion in new spending immediately before turning to the budget favored by progressives in the House and Senate.
‘We’ll see tomorrow, won’t we now?’ the Speaker told reporters when asked if there will be a new commitment today on the timing of a vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill.
The New York Times: Democrats scrounge for votes to pass $3.5 trillion budget plan.
The Associated Press: Moderates bring House to standstill in Biden budget clash.
For weeks, Pelosi has sided with progressives and vowed not to hold a vote on the bipartisan infrastructure proposal without a vote on an eventual gargantuan reconciliation package that most Democrats consider the centerpiece of the Biden agenda.
‘We must not squander our Congressional Democratic Majorities and jeopardize the once-in-a-generation opportunity to create historic change to meet the needs of working families,’ Pelosi wrote in a letter to her Democratic colleagues as they returned for a brief intermission in the lengthy August recess (The Hill).
House Democratic moderates attracted moral support from their like-minded centrists across the Capitol: Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.).
In a statement, Manchin noted the Senate passed infrastructure spending first before planning in the fall to vote on Biden’s $3.5 trillion spending plan, which will need all 50 Democrats to clear the Senate.
‘The House should put politics aside and do the same. With so much uncertainty in the world today, one thing is certain, we must unite and pass a critical priority of the American people—improving our nation's infrastructure,’ Manchin said in a statement (The Hill).
Sinema reiterated that she does support a bill with a $3.5 trillion price tag (Politico).” Read more at The Hill
“The final report detailing the findings of Arizona’s sham ‘audit’ of 2020 election ballots was supposed to be released yesterday but was delayed because three of the five members of the auditing team have tested positive for coronavirus. That includes the CEO of Cyber Ninjas, which was hired by the Republican-led Arizona Senate to audit the 2.1 million votes cast in Maricopa County in the presidential race. Some state leaders have warned the report from the audit, which is highly partisan, will contain ‘unreliable ‘conclusions. Meanwhile, in North Carolina, civil rights groups are cheering a preliminary ruling that could clear the way for some 56,000 state residents who have been convicted of felonies -- but who aren't currently serving prison time -- to register to vote. Advocates challenged a state law that denies felons the right to vote until they have completed all aspects of their sentence, including probation and parole.” Read more at CNN
“The global shipping crisis, which has seen snarled supply chains and shutdowns in the pandemic, is only getting worse. The Delta variant is sparking more critical port closures, like the partial Covid-19-related shutdown of a facility in China that's the world's third-busiest container port. Complications like this create shipping backlogs, which have a ripple effect on jammed warehouses and stretched road and rail capacity. They also increase shipping prices. Some consumer goods producers are taking drastic steps to meet demand, such as changing where products are made and moving them by plane instead of boat. But ultimately, the situation will wear on consumers’ wallets, and shoppers are going to face higher prices and possible shipping disruptions going into the holiday season.” Read more at CNN
“SINGAPORE (AP) — U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris delivered a sharp rebuke to China for its incursions in the South China Sea, warning its actions there amount to ‘coercion’ and ‘intimidation’ and affirming that the U.S. will support its allies in the region against Beijing’s advances.
‘We know that Beijing continues to coerce, to intimidate and to make claims to the vast majority of the South China Sea,’ she said in a major foreign policy speech Tuesday in Singapore in which she laid out the Biden administration’s vision for the Indo-Pacific. ‘Beijing’s actions continue to undermine the rules-based order and threaten the sovereignty of nations.’
Harris, who is on a weeklong swing through Southeast Asia, declared that the U.S. “stands with our allies and our partners” in the face of threats from China.
The speech sought to cement the U.S. commitment to supporting its allies in an area of growing importance to the Biden administration, which has made countering China’s influence globally a centerpiece of its foreign policy. And it came during a critical moment for the United States, as the Biden administration seeks to further solidify its pivot toward Asia while America’s decades-long focus on the Middle East comes to a messy end with the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.” Read more at AP News
“New sanctions over Tigray war. Washington imposed new sanctions on Monday over the conflict in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, which has led to thousands of deaths and left at least 350,000 people threatened by famine. The sanctions targeted Filipos Woldeyohannes, the Eritrean defense forces chief of staff, for leading troops accused of serious human rights abuses and sexual violence in Tigray.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“The Paralympics will take center stage in Tokyo on Tuesday as the Summer Games officially kick off in Japan. As with the Olympics, the Paralympics were postponed a year as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. This year, more than 4,000 athletes representing at least 134 nations will pursue medals across 540 events, including 240 athletes representing the U.S. The 2021 U.S. roster features 129 returning Paralympians and 105 athletes making their Paralympic debut. The delegation holds a combined 233 medals from 51 Paralympic champions. The Games will run through August 4.” Read more at USA Today
Mohammad Abbas Karimi is chasing gold at the Paralympic Games.Getty Images
“Proud Boys leader sentenced: Enrique Tarrio was sentenced to five months in prison for burning a Black Lives Matter banner and bringing two high-capacity firearm magazines into Washington, D.C.” Read more at USA Today
“'Jeopardy!' host: Mayim Bialik will fill in as host of the quiz showafter Mike Richards stepped down following backlash about his previous offensive comments.” Read more at USA Today
“Lives Lived: Anthony Scotto’s polished, soft-spoken manner seemed at odds with the turbulent, often corrupt world of the Brooklyn waterfront. The longshoremen’s union official was also said to be a member of the Mafia and served time for labor racketeering. Scotto died at 87.” Read more at New York Times
“Eighteen midshipmen resigned or were expelled from the United States Naval Academy after an investigation found that students there had cheated on a physics final exam last year, the academy said.
Of the more than 650 midshipmen who took the online exam for a general physics course on Dec. 20, 105 were investigated because they appeared to have used ‘unauthorized resources,’ the Naval Academy said in a statement on Friday.
As of last week, 18 of those midshipmen had either been expelled or resigned, and 82 had been placed in a ‘five-month honor remediation program.’ Four were found not to have violated the academy’s honor principles, and one was still awaiting adjudication.
‘Character development is an ongoing process, and midshipmen must make the choice to live honorably each day and earn the trust that comes with a commission in the Navy or Marine Corps,’ Vice Adm. Sean Buck, superintendent of the academy, said in the statement. ‘This incident demonstrates that we must place an increased focus on character and integrity within the entire brigade.’” Read more at New York Times
“Donald Trump booed: The former president was booed at a rally after telling his supporters to ‘take the vaccines.’” Read more at USA Today
“A New York University study of Trump tweets published Tuesday raises new questions about the safeguards used by social media companies to halt the flood of falsehoods in elections. The researchers examined tweets from Nov. 1, 2020 through Jan. 8, 2021 that were flagged by Twitter. Blocking engagement with Trump’s tweets limited their spread on Twitter but not elsewhere, as his tweets were posted more often on other social media platforms, researchers found. And when Twitter added a warning label on Trump’s tweets, they were more popular than those with no label, researchers said.” Read more at USA Today
“A local government in rural Australia fatally shot dogs that were set to go to an animalshelter in another town over concerns that the shelter’s employees could spread the coronavirus by traveling to pick up the animals.
The Bourke Shire Council, a local government in the remote northwestern part of the state of New South Wales, killed the dogs ‘to protect its employees and community, including vulnerable Aboriginal populations,’ from the coronavirus, according to a statement from theNew South Wales Office of Local Government, which oversees the council and other local governments.
There were concerns about ‘the risk of covid-19 transmission if personnel from an animal rehoming organization in Cobar,’ about 125 miles south of Bourke Shire, had to travel to pick up the dogs, the office said.
The office said it is ‘examining the circumstances surrounding the incident,’ including whether the killings may have violated ‘animal and prevention of cruelty laws.’
The Bourke Shire Council did not respond to a request for comment. “Camp dogs” are often re-homed from Australia’s remote, Indigenous communities to more populous ones. But with the resurgence of the coronavirus in Australia, interactions between rural and urban communities come with heightened fears about potentially spreading the virus.
Those fears are especially clear in Indigenous communities, whose populations have higher levels of chronic health issues and where medical resources are more sparse than in urban centers.” Read more at Washington Post
“Tallest man in U.S. dies: Igor Vovkovinskiy, the tallest man in the U.S., died of heart disease on Friday. The 7-foot-8 Ukrainian man was 38.” Read more at USA Today
“Gary B. Nash, a historian who became a reluctant national celebrity in the mid-1990s when his work on a set of national history standards made him a target for Rush Limbaugh, Lynne Cheney and other prominent conservatives, died on July 29 at his home in Los Angeles. He was 88.” Read more at New York Times
“It's unofficially fall. Coffee giant Starbucks is bringing back its Pumpkin Spice Latte on Tuesday, a day earlier than last year. For some, the return of the drink – dubbed ‘PSL’ for short – signals the end of the summer season, despite the heat. Starbucks' Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew also rejoins the seasonal lineup for its third year alongside the fall menu's pumpkin bakery assortment. Starbucks' Pumpkin Spice launch comes after competitor Dunkin' rolled out its seasonal menu last week.” Read more at USA Today
Starbucks' Pumpkin Spice Latte and Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew return Aug. 24, a day earlier than in 2020.Starbucks