by Lowell
Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Friday, August 18.
- Wealthy oil nation lays groundwork for ‘eye-popping’ climate fund (“The fund could amount to tens of billions of dollars, with a sizable slice of the money coming from the UAE’s sovereign wealth reserves, according to seven people with knowledge of the discussions. A G-7 government official said envoys from the oil-rich Mideast nation had privately mentioned the idea of a fund of at least $25 billion.”)
- Space race 2.0: Russia, India, China and the U.S. are heading for the lunar south pole (“Roughly six decades after the Soviet Union and the U.S. raced each other to get to the moon, a new competition has emerged. This time around, the focus is on the lunar south pole, where scientists have detected traces of water ice.”)
- Russia recruited operatives online to target weapons crossing Poland (“Russian intelligence recruited Ukrainian refugees in Poland to sabotage weapons shipments to Kyiv, but the effort become another embarassment for the Kremlin.”)
- U.S. intelligence says Ukraine will fail to meet offensive’s key goal (“Thwarted by minefields, Ukrainian forces won’t reach the southeastern city of Melitopol, a vital Russian transit hub, according to a U.S. intelligence assessment”)
- US approves sending F-16s to Ukraine from Denmark and Netherlands
- Ukrainian drone damages building in Moscow disrupting air traffic, Russia says
- The Ghost Fleet Helping Russia Evade Sanctions (“Turkish companies have bought dozens of tankers that ship Russian oil, playing a critical role in Moscow’s efforts to fund its war in Ukraine”)
- Investors Fear China’s ‘Lehman Moment’ Looms
- China’s Hidden Financial Dangers Erupt With Shadow Bank Crisis
- China’s Xi calls for measures to mitigate disastrous flooding amid economic slowdown
- What May Be Holding Back India’s Economic Ambitions (“Women often pile into the labor force as countries develop, fueling economic growth. In India, just 24% of women are working or looking for work”)
- US, Japan and South Korea agree on new security pledge ahead of Camp David summit
- Biden turns to Camp David diplomacy for first-ever trilateral summit with Japan and South Korea
- North Korean missile capable of striking the U.S. likely a result of cooperation with Russia, think tank says
- World chess body bars trans women from competing in women’s events (“LGBTQ advocates have denounced the guidelines, and some critics said the new rules suggest that cisgender men and transgender women are smarter than cisgender women.”)
- Leading politician says victory for Niger’s coup leaders would be ‘the end of democracy’ in Africa
- West African militaries meet to finalise possible Niger intervention
- Race to evacuate northern city as fires rage across Canada
- Besieged by Wildfires, Canada’s Northwest Territories Declare a State of Emergency
- Murdered Candidate’s Best Friend Urges Ecuador to Vote for a Dead Man (“Wearing a bulletproof vest, Christian Zurita is asking the people of Ecuador to vote for a dead man.”)
- Economists Lift US Growth Forecasts, See Fed Higher for Longer
- Mortgage rates just hit their highest since 2002
- Covid cases are ticking up. But it’s not time to panic, experts say. (“I think we’re the most prepared that we’ve ever been…the U.S. is nowhere near the level of severe Covid cases it has seen since the beginning of the pandemic.”)
- Biden and America’s Big Green Push
- As abortion pills near Supreme Court, advocates are once burned, twice shy
- 40 percent of US climate emissions attributed to richest households: study
- Electric cars face ‘punitive’ fees, new restrictions in many states (That’s f’ed up.)
- GOP lawmakers opposed Biden’s climate measure but it’s helping their constituents
- Trump judge’s actual argument for abortion bans: Doctors are harmed without cute sonograms (“Judge James Ho argues women must be forced into pregnancy so others can ‘cheer at the sight of an unborn child'”)
- Democratic Group Plans $10 Million Push to Protect Election Officials
- Abused and stalked, US election workers are bracing for 2024
- Trump’s Getting Special Treatment (“The court system is already granting special privileges to the former president that no other defendant gets.”)
- Our collective malady: Donald Trump’s mental health crisis is America’s problem (“Experts: Trump’s ‘denial of reality’ and ‘primitive projections’ are imploding. He’s even more dangerous”)
- The identities behind the 30 unindicted co-conspirators in Trump’s Georgia case
- Trump Discovers That Some Things Are Actually Illegal (“The cases against the former president aren’t criminalizing politics. They’re criminalizing, well, crimes.”)
- Fact-Checking the Breadth of Trump’s Election Lies
- Fani Willis puts violence front and center
- Trump team seeks to delay federal election interference trial until 2026 (Trump is contemptuous and mocking of our justice system.)
- Trump plots counterprogramming for GOP primary debate, sources say
- Trump’s most racist supporters are coming to his defense
- Donald Trump, Mob Boss—Then and Now (“Now that Trump has been indicted under RICO, let’s look at his past Mafia ties.”)
- Officials Investigate Threats Against Trump Grand Jurors in Georgia
- Ex-Trump Aide Says Trump’s Use Of Word ‘Riggers’ Is A Racist Dog Whistle
- Prosecutors seek 27 to 33 years in prison for Proud Boys guilty of seditious conspiracy
- Judge dismisses Hunter Biden misdemeanor tax charges
- How Republicans overhype the findings of their Hunter Biden probe (And by “overhype,” Glen Kessler means “lie about”)
- Pentagon study calls for reforms at US military academies to combat wave of sexual assaults
- Rudy Giuliani Hasn’t Changed One Bit
- Awkward Americans see themselves in Ron DeSantis (I’m just linking to this to point out that it’s perfect for the “NY Times Pitchbot” Twitter account that mocks media idiocy.)
- Ron DeSantis Is So Painfully Awkward That People Who Despise the Guy Feel Sorry for Him: Report (“Like Ron DeSantis, I spend every day trying to act like a human.”)
- Who’s In, Who’s Out And Who Might Bail On The First Republican Debate?
- Defend Trump and ‘Hammer’ Ramaswamy: DeSantis Allies Reveal Debate Strategy
- Ramaswamy’s Faith Singled Out in DeSantis Super PAC Memo
- Why Vivek Ramaswamy Could Crush It at the First Republican Debate (“The astute entrepreneur (though something of an RFK Jr.–level wack job) has a scary secret weapon: extreme self-confidence.”)
- DeSantis Advisers Urge Him to Stick With Losing Strategy in Debate
- Read the key DeSantis debate memo
- Pro-DeSantis super PAC debate memo stirs anger and confusion from fundraisers and donors (“The memo was originally posted to the website of Axiom, a firm owned by Never Back Down consultant and veteran Republican strategist Jeff Roe, along with internal polling from New Hampshire, an assessment of the Iowa electorate and dossiers on how each candidate might attack DeSantis.”)
- Ron DeSantis debate memo urges him to defend Trump and take ‘a sledge-hammer’ to Vivek Ramaswamy
- Editorial: Police raid on Kansas newspaper necessitates stronger media protections
- Jon Tester faces another tough Senate campaign in Montana as the GOP braces for a possible primary
- Major Hurricane Hilary reaches Category 4 intensity (“It is forecast to approach the Baja Peninsula of California on Saturday, bringing flooding rains into southern California, Nevada and Arizona from this weekend into early next week.”)
- Wisconsin Republicans threaten to impeach liberal justice over redistricting comments (These people are authoritarians at best, fascists at the worst.)
- Why the right suddenly loves viral country singer Oliver Anthony (“The GOP has seized on ‘Rich Men North of Richmond’ for very bad reasons.”)
- Maui Sued Big Oil in 2020, Citing Fire Risks and More
- Hawaiian Electric Knew of Wildfire Threat, but Waited Years to Act
- Maui emergency chief abruptly resigns amid Hawai’i fires response
- Audio: On Far-Right Podcast, Former DeSantis Staffer Now Running for U.S. Senate From VA Says He Wouldn’t Let His Daughter Get COVID Vacccine, Says He’s “deeply skeptical of free and fair elections in America”
- Audio: Sam Shirazi Argues, “I think people don’t realize how important this election in Virginia is this year” (Dems must “understand that this isn’t just some random election in a random year. With the overturning of Roe like this is really an election that will decide a lot.”)
- Pope & Schapiro: Budget impasse, transgender students, and the latest Trump indictment
- Commentary: As the budget stalemate drags on, Va.’s children get left behind
- Virginia can help keep the global internet free, open and accessible
- Youngkin to make high-dollar pitch to Hispanic voters in legislative races
- FOIA Friday: Mass shooting commission and a call to unseal Loudoun report
- CASA in Action Announces 2023 Virginia General Election Endorsements
- One state Senate race could decide what happens to reproductive rights in Virginia (“Republican nominee Juan Pablo Segura in the 31st Senate District could be the deciding vote for Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s abortion ban proposal.”)
- Chesapeake OKs plan to cut 2 early voting locations, despite concerns about impact on minority communities (“Chesapeake City Council members voted 8-1 Tuesday to approve an early voting plan that includes five early voting sites and no Sunday voting.”)
- Senator Dick Saslaw: The Past, Present, and Future of the General Assembly
- Virginia increases training requirements for students in tattoo schools
- Prince William Co. latest school district to opt against Youngkin’s transgender model policies
- An Experiment to Fight Pandemic-Era Learning Loss Launches in Richmond (“After intense opposition and skepticism, two elementary schools opened 20 days early to help students make up for what they missed during the time of remote learning. The first question: Would kids show up in the middle of summer for extra schooling?”)
- After bashing GOP rival’s doughnut dropoffs, Democrat sent political email to school staff
- Two communities in Southwest Virginia are using funding from opioid settlements to expand recovery resources
- D.C.-area forecast: Pleasant today and tomorrow before heat comes back
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