“Fully vaccinated people who get Covid-19 can transmit the virus, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said. Vaccines ‘continue to work well for Delta, with regard to severe illness and death -- they prevent it,’ she told CNN. ‘But what they can't do anymore is prevent transmission.’ Experts have warned that while breakthrough infections of vaccinated people are expected, it is the unvaccinated who are most at risk. ‘The unvaccinated continue to be the big highway of transmission,’ Dr. William Schaffner of Vanderbilt University Medical Center said. Meanwhile, the tit-for-tat and search into the origins of the pandemic continue. No smoking gun has emerged to support any lab leak theory, and many scientists continue to believe the virus is more likely to have jumped naturally from animals to humans.” Read more at CNN
“The FDA is expecting to have a Covid-19 booster shot plan within weeks.
The Food and Drug Administration is hoping to lay out its strategy for when and which vaccinated individuals should get follow-up shots by as soon as September. The Biden administration wants booster shots released swiftly to make sure that people who are most vulnerable to Covid-19 remain protected at a time when cases are surging, particularly among the many Americans who remain unvaccinated. Vaccinated people who are over 65 years old, immunocompromised or received their shots last December or January could need boosters as soon as this month. At the same time, the World Health Organization has urged nations to avoid distributing booster shots before more people in developing countries that have waited months for doses can get vaccinated—meaning the U.S. government’s booster strategy will have to balance competing priorities. Research shows that the authorized vaccines provide protection against the virus for at least six months but that it diminishes over time, with recent data from Pfizer and BioNTech showing the efficacy of their shot declines about 6% every two months.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“As the state sees the number of cases surge due to the delta variant, California's public heath department issued an order that mandates vaccines for all workers in healthcare settings.” Read more at USA Today
“United Airlines will require its U.S. employees to be vaccinated this fall, the first major airline to take this step as the Delta variant drives a nationwide increase in Covid-19 infections.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Virginia will require state employees to be vaccinated or get tested weekly. In New Jersey, public school students will have to wear masks.” Read more at New York Times
“CNN said it had fired three unvaccinated employees who went into the office.” Read more at New York Times
“Universities face student lawsuits over vaccine mandates. More than a dozen university students have brought federal lawsuits challenging the vaccination requirements at major public university systems in Indiana, Connecticut, California and Massachusetts.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Pentagon Chief Lloyd Austin is expected today to announce plans to make the COVID-19 vaccine mandatory for all 1.3 million active-duty personnel.
Vaccination rates vary across the military branches: as of June 30, the U.S. Navy has the highest, with 77 percent receiving at least one shot, while only 58 percent of U.S. Marine Corps servicemembers have had one dose.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“The Biden administration is considering using federal regulatory powers and the threat of withholding federal funds from institutions to push more Americans to get vaccinated — a huge potential shift in the fight against the virus and a far more muscular approach to getting shots into arms, according to four people familiar with the deliberations.
The effort could apply to institutions as varied as long-term-care facilities, cruise ships and universities, potentially impacting millions of Americans, according to the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive conversations.
The conversations are in the early phases and no firm decisions have been made, the people said. One outside lawyer in touch with the Biden administration on the issue is recommending that the president use federal powers sparingly.” Read more at Washington Post
“The pandemic has been a nightmare for world leaders trying to balance individual liberties and safeguard citizens against Covid-19. French President Emmanuel Macron’s carrot-and-stick approach may help to revive his political fortunes.
He won court approval this week to require a vaccine passport to gain access to cherished lifestyle amenities like cafes, restaurants and the movies. The results have been stark.
Macron announced the new measures last month, prompting a massive drive from previous holdouts to get the shot before the rules go into effect on Monday. In the last week alone, France administered 4.9 million doses of the vaccine, compared with 2.9 million for neighboring Germany.
At this point, almost two-thirds of French citizens above the age of 12 are fully vaccinated, according to government data. That’s higher than in Germany, where the inoculation drive seems to be running out of steam.
The policy hasn’t been without its pitfalls. Protests have erupted across France with demonstrators opposing the plan to impose the vaccine passport as oppressive and potentially open to government misuse.
Yet if the policy succeeds, it will give a major boost to Macron as he prepares to seek re-election next spring.
With German Chancellor Angela Merkel leaving office soon, there’s a prospect for Macron to be the European Union’s senior leader on the international stage, a role he appeared to test out at talks with U.S. President Joe Biden during June’s Group of Seven summit.
Macron’s far-right nemesis at the election, Marine Le Pen, previously described the vaccination drive as his ‘Waterloo.’
Now it appears like a battle Macron may be looking forward to.” Read more at Bloomberg
“New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D) will cooperate with the state Assembly’s impeachment probe, a spokesman for the governor said Thursday, days after a report by the state attorney general found that Cuomo sexually harassed 11 women in violation of state and federal law.
News of Cuomo’s cooperation came hours after Davis Polk & Wardwell, the law firm serving as the judiciary committee’s independent counsel, said the panel’s investigation is ‘nearing completion’ and that the Assembly ‘will soon consider potential articles of impeachment.’ The governor’s office must submit any additional evidence it would like state lawmakers to consider by 5 p.m. Aug. 13, the firm said.” Read more at Washington Post
“The U.S. wants Amazon, Google, Microsoft and others to help fight cyber threats.
After a series of high-profile attacks, the government is asking tech companies to help bolster the nation’s critical infrastructure defenses against cyber threats. A new initiative from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, called the Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative, will initially focus on combating ransomware and cyberattacks on cloud-computing providers, with a longer-term focus on improving defense planning and information sharing between government and the private sector. Ransomware attacks in the past year have diverted ambulances, led to long gas lines and disrupted the production of meat products. The $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill currently working its way through Congress includes additional funding for CISA, in part to boost cyber defenses for state and local authorities. Jen Easterly, director of the agency, said that partnering with private companies would improve the nation’s ability to spot and combat major threats, such as the SolarWinds hack that gave hackers allegedly from Russia access into more than 100 company networks and some government systems.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Weekend vote | The U.S. Senate is scheduled to convene tomorrow to hold a key vote on a bipartisan $550 billion infrastructure bill. Disputes over the final wording of the legislation that numbers some 2,702 pages thwarted a bid by Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to move to passage late yesterday. He blamed Republicans for stalling.” Read more at Bloomberg
“CBO says infrastructure bill would widen deficit. Congress’s nonpartisan scorekeeper found that the roughly $1 trillion infrastructure bill would widen the federal budget deficit by $256 billion over 10 years, countering negotiators’ claims that the price tag would be covered.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“President Biden unveiled another piece of his administration's plan to fight the climate crisis, announcing a new target that half of vehicles sold in the US by 2030 will be battery electric, fuel-cell electric or plug-in hybrid. Biden said the future of American car manufacturing ‘is electric and there's no turning back.’ While reps of Ford, GM and Stellantis joined Biden at the White House for the announcement, Tesla was snubbed. The news comes as the climate crisis makes destructive wildfires increasingly common. The Dixie wildfire just wiped out much of the Greenville community in Northern California. Meantime, the coming months could be a wild ride for many if NOAA's fresh prediction of a more active Atlantic hurricane season proves true.” Read more at CNN
“WASHINGTON — Only one day after the Biden administration issued a new policy protecting renters from eviction, a series of real estate and landlord groups is trying to invalidate it, setting up another legal showdown over a moratorium that Democrats say is essential to keeping Americans in their homes.
The petition arrived Wednesday from groups including the Alabama Association of Realtors and its counterpart in Georgia, arguing that the latest eviction order issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention exceeds the agency’s authority. The group asked a federal judge in a District of Columbia district court to halt the new protections, citing the court’s prior ruling that found the government’s first eviction ban to be unlawful.” Read more at Boston Globe
“The Justice Department’s inspector general failed to identify F.B.I. officials who leaked information in 2016 to reporters or to Donald J. Trump’s longtime confidant Rudolph W. Giuliani, who had claimed that he had inside information about an investigation into Hillary Clinton just before the inquiry upended the presidential race, a report released on Thursday said.
The office of the independent inspector general, Michael E. Horowitz, said that it identified dozens of officials who were in contact with the news media and struggled amid such a large universe of contacts to determine who had disclosed sensitive information. It also noted that it had no power to subpoena records, witnesses or messages from officials’ personal communication devices.
Mr. Horowitz had examined the issue after several public disclosures during the election about F.B.I. investigations relating to Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Trump’s campaign.
In one of the most glaring episodes, Mr. Giuliani had claimed on television in late October 2016 that a coming ‘surprise’ would help Mr. Trump. Two days later, the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, took the highly unusual move of publicly disclosing that the bureau had reopened its investigation into Mrs. Clinton’s use of a personal email account to conduct government business while secretary of state. The revelation jolted the presidential campaign days before Mr. Trump’s unexpected victory.” Read more at New York Times
“Biden signed a bill to award Congressional Gold Medals to the police forces that responded to the insurrection at the US Capitol on January 6. The award is Congress' ‘highest expression of national appreciation for distinguished achievements and contributions by individuals or institutions.’ Twenty-one House Republicans voted against awarding the medals. Biden thanked the officers ‘for protecting our Capitol, and maybe more importantly, for protecting our Constitution, and saving the lives of duly elected members of the Senate, in the House, and our staffs.’ The awards come as we continue to learn the full picture of ex-President Trump’s lies and further details about his pernicious efforts to poison the US political system from within, writes CNN's Zachary B. Wolf.” Read more at CNN
“The Justice Department announced a civil rights investigation into the Phoenix Police Department.” Read more at New York Times
“Richard Trumka, the longtime labor leader who was an influential voice in Democratic politics, died at 72.” Read more at New York Times
“18 months — The length of time some Hong Kong residents will be allowed to stay in the U.S. instead of returning to the city, where Chinese authorities have cracked down on political freedoms. President Biden signed an executive order on Thursday that would grant work visas to potentially thousands of Hong Kongers, citing Beijing’s campaign to stifle dissent.
3,715 — The number of reports the Federal Aviation Administration has received about unruly passengers since the start of this year. The agency has initiated 628 investigations, compared with fewer than 150 in 2019, and is now asking airports and law enforcement to help tamp down customers’ bad behavior. Flight attendants say they’ve been harassed and threatened by passengers, often over the enforcement of Covid-19 safety rules.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Catastrophically destroyed':The Dixie Fire, the largest wildfire in California this year and now the sixth-largest blaze in the state's modern history, leveled the gold rush town of Greenville Wednesday then forced the closure of a national park on Thursday while also chasing residents from their homes.” Read more at USA Today
Photo: ALERTWildfire Network via US Stormwatch/Twitter
“This was a remote-camera view yesterday from Susanville, Calif., in Lassen County, which faced evacuation orders as the Dixie Fire raged through Northern California.
It's the sixth largest wildfire in California history.
US StormWatch tweets about the image above: ‘[T]he smoke plume of the #DixieFire is so thick, only the red light being produced by the sun can pierce through the smoke particles being produced by the fire.’
‘A scene that looks like something you'd see on Mars.’” Read more at Axios
“Apple plans iPhone software to detect child pornography. The system, which faces privacy concerns, will use new techniques in cryptography and artificial intelligence to identify child sexual abuse material.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Strikes set to begin at Canadian airports, land borders and commercial shipping ports on Friday could cause long lines and delays when Canada's border with the U.S. reopens next week . Nearly 9,000 Canada Border Services Agency employees are set to begin strikes, arguing that unionized employees have worked without a contract for over three years and should get ‘greater parity with other law enforcement agencies across Canada.’ Two labor unions, the Public Service Alliance of Canada and the Customs and Immigration Union, warned that the strikes could have a ‘dramatic impact’ for U.S. travelers on Aug. 9 and could affect Canada's supply chain by slowing down commercial travel.” Read more at USA Today
“The U.S. women have been golden Friday at the Tokyo Olympics. Americans April Ross and Alix Klineman, known as the "A Team," cruised to the women's beach volleyball gold medal, beating Australia's Mariafe Artacho del Solar and Taliqua Clancy in straight sets. They became the first American women to win gold in the event since Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings in 2012. The dominance in volleyball wasn't limited to the beach either as the U.S. women won their indoor volleyball semifinal,grabbing a victory over Serbia in straight sets. The U.S. will to try to win the gold medal Sunday. On the basketball court, the U.S. women jumped out to a big lead early and never looked back, defeating Serbia 79-59. They will play for the gold medal in their seventh consecutive Olympics. Later today, track and field fans will get to see the finals of some key events, including the women's 400-meter, 1500-meter, and 4x400-meter relay.” Read more at USA Today
“TOKYO (AP) — Two Belarus team coaches have been removed from the Olympics, four days after they were involved in trying to send sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya back to their country.
The International Olympic Committee said Friday it has canceled and removed the credentials of Artur Shimak and Yury Maisevich.” Read more at AP News
“Saying, ‘This is not our proudest moment and we know that,’ Spirit Airlines CEO Ted Christie publicly addressed this week's operational meltdown for the first time Thursday, blaming the more than 1,700 flight cancellations on a variety of factors that left it short on staff as August began. Bad weather at the end of July, a time when flight crews start to run out of eligible hours to work, caused cancellations and ‘tipped us over,’ Christie said. Pilots and flight attendants timed out, leaving the airline with no slack in its system and forcing cancellations. Things began falling apart on Sunday, Aug. 1, and have gotten worse as the week's dragged on. Spirit has canceled more than half of its flights for three consecutive days. The bad news for Spirit passengers: the mess isn't over. As of 7 a.m. ET, the airline has already canceled 255 Friday flights, or one in three flights, according to FlightAware.” Read more at USA Today
“The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, a massive annual gathering of bikers in South Dakota, is back on Friday with the highly infectious delta variant threatening to turn the event into a superspreader of huge proportions. About 700,000 people are expected to attend the weeklong event, which has become a haven for people eager to escape coronavirus precautions. Those hardly deterred participants last August, when roughly 460,000 attended. Masks were mostly ditched as bikers crowded into bars, tattoo parlors and rock shows. Contact tracers reported 649 infections from every corner of the country linked to the 2020 rally, including one death. A team from the CDC concluded in a published study that the gathering ‘had many characteristics of a superspreading event.’” Read more at USA Today
“ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Thousands of people fled wildfires burning out of control in Greece and Turkey on Friday, as a protracted heat wave turned forests into tinderboxes and flames threatened populated areas, electricity installations and historic sites.
On the Greek island of Evia, the coast guard mounted a major operation to evacuate hundreds of people by sea, using patrol boats as well as fishing and private vessels to rescue residents and vacationers from encroaching flames overnight and into Friday. Dozens of other villages and neighborhoods were emptied in the southern Peloponnese region and just north of the Greek capital as blazes raced through pine forests.
‘We’re talking about the apocalypse, I don’t know how to describe it,’ Sotiris Danikas, head of the coast guard in the town of Aidipsos on Evia, told state broadcaster ERT, describing the sea evacuation.
Coast guard spokesman Nikos Kokkalas told ERT that 653 people had been evacuated from beaches in northeast Evia after all other means of escape were cut off by the fires.
Fires have raged in many parts of Greece as the country has been baked by a prolonged heat wave that sent temperatures soaring to 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit). Thousands of people have fled their homes or holiday accommodation, while at least 20 people, including four firefighters, have been treated for injuries. Two of the firefighters were in intensive care in Athens, while another two were hospitalized with light burns, the Health Ministry said.” Read more at AP News
“SYDNEY — Eileen Cummings was 4½ years old when a man pulled up in a truck at the cattle ranch where she lived in Australia’s remote Northern Territory, offering her a ride.
It was 1948, and it would be 15 years before she saw her mother again.
Between 1910 and 1970, government officials here rounded up children, especially those of mixed White and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children ethnicity, and sent them to boarding schools and church-run missions. An official inquiry has estimated that as many as one in three Indigenous children were forcibly removed from their families nationwide.
Cummings, now 78, is one of thousands of survivors of what Australia calls the ‘stolen generations.’ ‘They didn’t say anything to my mom, they just took me,’ she recalled over the phone from Australia’s remote northeast Thursday.
On Thursday, Australia’s federal government agreed to pay about $280 million in reparations to survivors who were removed from their families in federally-controlled areas including the Northern Territory and Australian Capital Territory. It follows similar moves by state governments including New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia in recent years.” Read more at Boston Globe
“It’s been a whirlwind few days in the world of soccer. British police have arrested 11 people across the UK in connection with episodes of racist abuse of England football players on social media following the team's Euro 2020 final loss. The barrage was aimed at England players Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka after they missed penalties in the shootout against Italy. Meanwhile, one of the greatest players ever, Lionel Messi, is leaving Barcelona ‘because of financial and structural obstacles,’ the club said. And English Premier League champion Manchester City completed the signing of England international Jack Grealish on a six-year contract. British media outlets have reported that City had made an offer worth $139 million.” Read more at CNN
“As the generation that experienced the world’s first atomic attack fades away, the city of Hiroshima is training younger volunteers to share the experiences of nuclear survivors. These memory keepers, called denshosha in Japanese, spend three years learning to tell the story as the survivor wants it told. As inheritors of their subjects’ personal experiences, they’re charged with telling their stories in public appearances and in museum presentations.” Read more at Bloomberg
“TOKYO (AP) — Hiroshima on Friday marked the 76th anniversary of the world’s first atomic bombing, as the mayor of the Japanese city urged global leaders to unite to eliminate nuclear weapons, just as they are united against the coronavirus.
Mayor Kazumi Matsui urged world leaders to commit to nuclear disarmament as seriously as they tackle a pandemic that the international community recognizes as ‘threat to humanity.’
‘Nuclear weapons, developed to win wars, are a threat of total annihilation that we can certainly end, if all nations work together,’ Matsui said.
The United States dropped the world’s first atomic bomb on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, destroying the city and killing 140,000 people. It dropped a second bomb three days later on Nagasaki, killing another 70,000. Japan surrendered Aug. 15, ending World War II and its nearly half-century of aggression in Asia.” Read more at AP News
“After a long, pandemic-induced wedding drought, the industry is busier than it has been in decades — and venues, vendors and planners are feeling the squeeze, Erica Pandey writes in Axios What's Next.
An estimated 2.5 million weddings are planned for 2022 — the most the U.S. has seen since 1984, according to a forecast by The Wedding Report, a market research firm.
There were about 2.1 million weddings per year before the pandemic, and just 1.2 million weddings in 2020.
Venues are booked up through 2022 — and even into 2023. Florists, photographers and planners are working overtime.
Laine Palm, a wedding planner in Minneapolis, says she's increasingly seeing weddings spill onto Thursdays and Sundays as venues run out of Fridays and Saturdays.
She even did a Monday wedding this summer.
What we're watching: The number of weddings had been trending down in the U.S., as more and more couples choose not to get married, or avoid pricey celebrations. That trend is likely to resume post-pandemic.” Read more at Axios