Some stories we’re covering tonight:
- Sheikh Jarrah: Palestinians offered way out from evictions
- Anthony Barajas: US TikToker dies after 'unprovoked' cinema shooting
- MagSafe Battery Pack: Hands-on with Apple's new iPhone 12 accessory
- Pixel 6 and 6 Pro unveiled: Google's new phones sport chip designed in-house
- ‘A one-man scam Pac’: Trump’s money hustling tricks prompt fresh scrutiny
- Princess Latifa campaigner had ‘phone compromised by Pegasus spyware’
- US, UK accuse Taliban of ‘war crimes’ in south Afghan town
- COVID-19: France makes life difficult for unvaccinated
- China floods: Officials put death toll at 302
- CDC adds 16 destinations to 'very high' Covid-19 travel risk list
- U.S. South braces for record numbers of hospitalized COVID patients
- CDC rebuffs Biden bid to reinstate COVID-19 eviction moratorium
- Amazon Alabama Warehouse Workers May Get To Vote Again On Union
- Dolly Invested Royalties From Whitney's 'I Will Always Love You' In A Black Community
- Americans Suffer Pandemic Whiplash as Leaders Struggle With Changing Virus
This is an open thread where everyone is welcome, especially night owls and early birds, to share and discuss the happenings of the day. Please feel free to share your articles and stories in the comments.
BBC
Israel's top court has proposed a plan to enable Palestinians threatened with eviction in East Jerusalem to stay, in a closely-watched and divisive case.
The Supreme Court was expected to issue a ruling to end a long legal battle but urged the sides to compromise instead.
It proposed the four families could stay in their homes in Sheikh Jarrah if they recognised the land was owned by a Jewish settlement company.
The issue has fuelled Israel-Palestinian tensions in recent months.
The threat of evictions stoked some of the worst violence between Israeli police and Palestinians in Jerusalem in years, culminating in an 11-day conflict with Gaza after its militant Hamas rulers fired rockets at the city in what it said was partly a response to Israeli "harassment" in Sheikh Jarrah.
BBC
A TikTok star has died after he and a friend were shot at a southern California cinema, according to police and his family.
Anthony Barajas, 19, was at a cinema in Corona with Rylee Goodrich, 18, on Monday 26 July when they were both shot in the head.
Rylee was pronounced dead at the scene, and Anthony had been on life support after the shooting.
On Saturday 31 July, Anthony's family confirmed his death.
Corona police said the attack was "completely unprovoked".
The suspected shooter, Joseph Jimenez, 20, appeared in Riverside County Superior Court on Friday.
He was charged with the murder of Rylee Goodrich and attempted murder of Barajas. He didn't enter a plea, and the trial was postponed.
C/NET
Last week, Apple released the MagSafe Battery Pack which, next to the MagSafe wallet, is one of my favorite accessories for the iPhone 12 family. When the iPhone 12 launched in October, MagSafe charging was the most surprising and curious addition. Apple took Qi wireless charging, which is used by current iPhone models and most Android phones, and added magnets. MagSafe ensures that your iPhone 12 is perfectly positioned to charge as efficiently as possible. It also allows for a number of new accessories like wallets, tripod mounts and PopSockets.
The MagSafe Battery Pack costs $99 (£99, AU$139). That's double the price of other magnetic battery packs from third-party companies like Anker and Mophie. Apple does add a neat bit of iOS integration, like the ability to monitor how much battery charge the MagSafe Battery Pack has from the iOS battery widget.
C/NET
Google unveiled on Monday the newest generation of its flagship phone line, the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro, to compete in a crowded field dominated by Apple and Samsung. The 5G phones, which will launch in the fall, are powered by a new system-on-chip that Google designed in-house.
Like most Android phone makers, Google has long relied on Qualcomm's SOCs to power its devices. But designing its own processor to serve as the brains of the device allows Google to better customize the chip for the features it deems most important. The new chip, called Tensor, can punch up computing power and bolster the video capabilities of Pixel phones, juicing features that lagged behind those of rivals in previous Pixel models.
The Guardian
Donald Trump’s penchant for turning his political and legal troubles into fundraising schemes has long been recognized, but the former US president’s money hustling tricks seem to have expanded since his defeat by Joe Biden, prompting new scrutiny and criticism from campaign finance watchdogs and legal analysts.
The Guardian
A British human rights campaigner and lawyer who was fighting to free Dubai’s Princess Latifa had his mobile phone compromised by Pegasus spyware on 3 and 4 August 2020, according to a forensic analysis carried out by Amnesty International.
David Haigh is the first confirmed British victim of infiltration by Pegasus software, an attack suspected to have been ordered by Dubai, because of his connection with the 35-year-old princess, a daughter of the emirate’s ruler, Sheikh Mohammed, and the Free Latifa campaign of which he was part.
At the time his phone was compromised, Haigh had been helping the legal team of Princess Haya, a wife of the sheikh, who is embroiled in a battle with the ruler of Dubai in the English courts over the custody of their young children.
Al Jazeera
Belarusian Olympian Krystsina Tsimanouskaya has been granted a humanitarian visa by Poland, the country’s deputy foreign minister confirmed on Monday.
The move came after the 24-year-old sprinter refused to fly home from Tokyo on Sunday, claiming that her team was trying to force her on board the plane against her wishes.
She subsequently sought the protection of Japanese police and on Monday travelled to Poland’s embassy in the Japanese capital.
She arrived at the building in an unmarked silver van at about 5pm local time (08:00 GMT), Reuters news agency reported. She stepped out with her official team luggage and was greeted by two officials before entering the premises.
Deputy Foreign Minister Marcin Przydacz said Tsimanouskaya was in “direct contact” with Polish diplomats in Tokyo.
“She has received a humanitarian visa,” he tweeted. “Poland will do whatever is necessary to help her to continue her sporting career.”
Al Jazeera
The United States and the United Kingdom have accused the Taliban of “war crimes” in the southern town of Spin Boldak in Kandahar province, alleging that dozens of civilians were “massacred”.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has presented a security plan to challenge the Taliban onslaught before the country’s parliament, but its details have not been made public.
The Afghan army has said three provinces in southern and western Afghanistan are facing “critical” security situations as fighting intensifies between the Taliban and Afghan forces.
Fighting in the war-torn South Asian country has escalated as US and NATO troops plan to complete their withdrawal by August 31 after 20 years of war.
The Taliban is trying to seize provincial capitals after already taking smaller administrative districts in recent months.
DW News
With France facing a fourth COVID wave, the government is making it harder for unvaccinated people to access certain public places. Over the weekend, protesters once again came out in force to show their opposition.
Business has been difficult for restaurateur Sylvain Belaud ever since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, with turnover plummeting by 60% last year.
And now the director of the Cafe Francoeur in the Montmartre area in northern Paris will have to face what feels like yet another obstacle on the way back to business as usual.
A "health pass" will soon be required on trains, domestic flights and in long-distance buses, as well as in restaurants and cafes. The pass consists of a QR code on a smartphone or on a piece of paper, and shows that people have been fully vaccinated, hold a recent negative PCR test result or have recently recovered from a COVID-19 infection.
DW News
At least 302 people died in recent flooding in central China and 50 were still missing, officials said Monday.
Record downpours had dumped a year's worth of rain on the central Henan province in just three days, causing destruction and trapping residents in subway trains, underground car parks, and tunnels.
The figures mark a threefold increase compared to the previously announced death toll, 99.
At least 302 people died in recent flooding in central China and 50 were still missing, officials said Monday.
Record downpours had dumped a year's worth of rain on the central Henan province in just three days, causing destruction and trapping residents in subway trains, underground car parks, and tunnels.
The figures mark a threefold increase compared to the previously announced death toll, 99.
CNN
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention added 16 destinations to its "very high" Covid-19 risk level on Monday, including Greece, Ireland and the US Virgin Islands.
According to the CDC, a risk designation of "Level 4: Covid-19 Very High" means people should avoid travel to these locations. Those who must travel should be fully vaccinated first.
In its overarching guidance, the CDC recommends against all international travel until you are fully vaccinated.
"Fully vaccinated travelers are less likely to get and spread Covid-19. However, international travel poses additional risks, and even fully vaccinated travelers might be at increased risk for getting and possibly spreading some Covid-19 variants," the agency says.
Destinations that fall into the "very high" risk category have had more than 500 cases per 100,000 residents in the past 28 days, according to CDC parameters.
Reuters
Aug 2 (Reuters) - COVID hospitalizations in Louisiana and Florida have surged to their highest points of the pandemic, leading overwhelmed doctors on Monday to plead with the unvaccinated to get inoculated against the Delta variant.
More than 10,000 patients were hospitalized in Florida on Sunday, surpassing that state's record. The surging Delta variant led Louisiana's governor to reinstate a statewide indoor mask mandate, with that state expected to break its record on COVID hospitalizations within 24 hours. Hospitalizations in Arkansas are also soaring and could eventually break records.(Graphic on U.S. outbreak)
Doctors in Louisiana who spoke during a Monday press conference with Governor John Bel Edwards pleaded with citizens to get vaccinated, warning that hospitals were overwhelmed and their ability to treat any patient was hamstrung
Reuters
WASHINGTON, Aug 2 (Reuters) - The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has turned down President Joe Biden's request for a new scaled-down pandemic-related moratorium on residential evictions, citing a lack of legal authority to take the action, the White House said on Monday.
The previous moratorium, which protected millions of Americans behind on their rent from being tossed out of houses and apartments, expired at midnight on Saturday, with Congress failing to renew it as Biden had asked. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi earlier on Monday pressed Biden to have his administration renew the ban without congressional action.
Biden had asked the CDC to target a new moratorium on counties with higher COVID-19 case rates, the White House said.
White House officials said Biden has not given up as he asked officials to look at any potential authority to reinstate
NPR
Amazon warehouse workers in Alabama may get a second chance to vote on whether to form the company's first unionized warehouse in America.
A federal labor official has found that Amazon's anti-union tactics tainted the previous election sufficiently to scrap its results, according the the union that sought to represent workers. The official is recommending a do-over of the unionization vote, the union said in a release.
Amazon is expected to challenge the recommendation, which has not been released publicly yet. Within weeks, a regional NLRB director will rule whether to schedule a new election. NLRB and Amazon representatives did not immediately respond to NPR's inquiry on Monday.
In a high-profile vote tallied in April, workers in Bessemer, Ala., voted more than two-to-one against unionizing, delivering a stinging defeat to the biggest union push among Amazon's U.S. workers. That vote was held by mail due to pandemic concerns; over half of the warehouse staff cast ballots.
NPR
Country music icon Dolly Parton has revealed that she used some of the royalties she earned from Whitney Houston's cover of her song "I Will Always Love You" to invest in an office complex in a Black neighborhood in Nashville, Tenn.
During an appearance on the show Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen, Parton said she thought it was an apt way to honor the Black singer, who boosted the song's popularity with her cover.
"It was mostly just Black families and people that lived around there," Parton said. "It was a whole strip mall. And I thought, 'This is the perfect place for me to be, considering it was Whitney.' "
She went on: "I just thought, 'This was great. I'm going to be down here with her people, who are my people as well.' And so I just love the fact that I spent that money on a complex. And I think, 'This is the house that Whitney built.' "
Behind a paywall:
New York Times
WASHINGTON — A week of public health reversals from the White House and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has left Americans with pandemic whiplash, sowing confusion about coronavirus vaccines and mask-wearing as the Delta variant upends what people thought they knew about how to stay safe.
Vaccines remain effective and highly protective against hospitalization and death, even among those infected with the extremely infectious Delta variant. Mask-wearing prevents transmission of the virus to those most at risk.
But the crisis President Biden once thought he had under control is changing shape faster than the country can adapt. An evolving virus, new scientific discoveries, deep ideological divides and 18 months of ever-changing pandemic messaging have left Americans skeptical of public health advice. So although the White House had promised a “summer of joy,” the nation is instead caught in a summer of confusion.
Washington Post
A Republican senator suggested in a private conversation Saturday, without evidence, that the FBI knew more about the planning before the Jan. 6 Capitol riot than it has revealed so far, according to a video obtained by The Washington Post.
The comments from Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), made after a political event at a Wauwatosa, Wis., hotel, reflect the spread of an unfounded claim that has traveled from far-right commentators to Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show to the highest levels of the GOP.
“I don’t say this publicly, but are you watching what’s happening in Michigan?” Johnson said while discussing the Capitol attack with some of the event’s attendees. “. . . So you think the FBI had fully infiltrated the militias in Michigan, but they don’t know squat about what was happening on January 6th or what was happening with these groups? I’d say there is way more to the story.”
The crew of the Overnight News Digest consists of founder Magnifico, regular editors side pocket, maggiejean, Chitown Kev, eeff, Magnifico, annetteboardman, Rise above the swamp, Besame and jck. Alumni editors include (but not limited to) Interceptor 7, Man Oh Man, wader, Neon Vincent, palantir, Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse (RIP), ek hornbeck (RIP), rfall, ScottyUrb, Doctor RJ, BentLiberal, Oke (RIP) and jlms qkw.