Scott

Last week, economists eagerly awaited the July monthly jobs report from the Labor Department. This would be the first real test of the Federal Reserve’s anti-inflation monetary policy, following back-to-back 75 basis point hikes in interest rates designed to slow the economy by crimping demand and cooling off the labor market. Already, the second quarter gross domestic product had recorded a second consecutive contraction in output, a common though unofficial measure of a recession. https://www.usnews.com/news/economy/articles/2022-08-08/the-u-s-economy-continues-to-surprise-the-experts-with-a-major-reading-on-inflation-due-this-week-to-add-to-the-noise

HAVANA (Reuters) -A third crude tank caught fire and collapsed at Cuba's main oil terminal Matanzas, a local governor said on Monday, as an oil spill spread flames from a second tank that caught fire two days earlier in the island's biggest oil industry accident in decades. Cuba had made progress fighting off the raging flames during the weekend after drawing on help from Mexico and Venezuela, but late on Sunday the fire began spreading from the second tank, which collapsed, said Mario Sabines, governor of the Matanzas province, about 60 miles (130 klms) from Havana. Matanzas is Cuba's largest port for receiving crude oil and fuel imports. https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2022-08-08/third-oil-storage-tank-collapses-in-cuba-terminal-following-fire-spill-governor

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"The heavy rain that caused the devastating flooding at Death Valley was an extremely rare, 1000-year event, says Daniel Berc, meteorologist with the National Weather Service Las Vegas. “A 1000-year event doesn't mean it happens once per 1000 years, rather that there is a 0.1% chance of occurring in any given year." https://www.nps.gov/deva/learn/news/death-valley-experiences-1-000-year-rain-event.htm

LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) - Cars buried in debris, flooded buildings and roughly 1,000 people trapped. The National Park Service (NPS) says that rainfall has caused “substantial flooding” in Death Valley National Park, leading to the closure of all roads leading in and out of the park on Friday. At this time, there are roughly 500 visitors and 500 staff unable to leave the park, according to NPS. No injuries have been reported. According to a release from NPS, the California Department of Transportation says it will take around four to six hours to open a road on Highway 190 to exit from the east side of the park. https://www.fox5vegas.com/2022/08/05/roughly-1000-people-trapped-death-valley-due-severe-flooding/

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WASHINGTON – Senate Democrats approved sweeping legislation on health care, climate and taxes along a party-line vote Sunday, delivering a major win for President Joe Biden and his agenda before the midterm elections. The Senate passed the Inflation Reduction Act, which includes record spending on clean energy initiatives, measures to reduce prescription drug prices and a tax overhaul to ensure large corporations pay income taxes. Every Democrat voted in support and every Republican against the measure. It heads to a vote in the Democratic-controlled House, where it's likely to pass as early as Friday. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2022/08/07/senate-climate-inflation-vote/10238641002/

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said Saturday she will send additional state police to Albuquerque after the fourth murder of a Muslim man in the city in recent months, ABC News reported. "I am angered and saddened that this is happening in New Mexico, a place that prides itself on diversity of culture and thought. This is not who we are," said Lujan Grisham in a press statement. The governor's office said additional state police will be on patrol in the city and they are working in close coordination with the Albuquerque Police Department and the FBI to provide necessary support. https://abc13.com/albuquerque-nm-muslim-men-killed-islamic-center-of-new-mexico/12107620/

A German diplomat in Rio de Janeiro, Uwe Herbert Hahn, was arrested on Saturday night in connection with the death of his Belgian husband, police said. Hahn said that his husband, Walter Biot, had died on Friday when he fell from their apartment in the Ipanema neighborhood after suffering a sudden illness. But police arrested him on suspicion of murder after their forensics found bloodstains in the apartment and the autopsy of Biot's body showed multiple wounds. https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2022-08-07/german-consul-arrested-in-brazil-over-husbands-death

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PARIS -- French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne warned that France is facing its “most severe drought” ever recorded and announced the activation of a government crisis unit. Borne said in a written statement on Friday that many areas in France are going through a “historic situation” as the country endures its third heatwave this summer. “The exceptional drought we are currently experiencing is depriving many municipalities of water and is a tragedy for our farmers, our ecosystems and biodiversity,” the statement said. https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/frances-severe-drought-pm-87989941

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Official says it’s agreed the US won’t be able to scupper deal by withdrawing in the future, claims world powers looking to finalize text soon. VIENNA — A senior EU official said progress was made after world powers reconvened in Vienna for a fresh round of talks to salvage the Iran nuclear deal. Negotiators were meeting in the Austrian capital for the first time since March, when negotiations, which began in 2021 to reintegrate the United States into the agreement, stalled. The senior EU official said the progress included guarantees that the United States would not scupper the deal by going back on its word in the future. https://www.timesofisrael.com/top-eu-official-notes-progress-in-renewed-iran-talks-after-securing-us-assurances/

The authoritarian Hungarian leader was embraced as a kindred spirit by Trump fans at the CPAC event in Dallas. “The globalists can all go to hell,” declared Viktor Orbán. “I have come to Texas!” The crowd roared, whooped and gave a standing ovation as if at a campaign rally for former US president Donald Trump. It was evident they saw in Orbán a kindred spirit – a blunt weapon to wield against liberal foes. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/aug/06/viktor-orban-cpac-far-right-us-trump

WASHINGTON - DC Police have confirmed three people have died after four people were struck by lightning Thursday evening near the White House. James Mueller, 76, and Donna Mueller, 75, of Janesville, Wisconsin, died of their injuries after the lightning strike in Lafayette Park, located directly outside the White House complex, the Metropolitan Police Department said. MPD announced Friday afternoon that a 29-year-old man also died from his injuries related to the lightning strike. A fourth victim, a woman, remains in critical condition. https://www.fox5dc.com/news/elderly-couple-killed-in-white-house-lightning-strike-video-captures-lightning-strike-near-white-house-that-injured-2

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A powerful bomb exploded Friday near a Shiite Muslim religious gathering in Kabul, Afghanistan, killing at least eight civilians and wounding 18 others. The regional branch of the self-proclaimed Islamic State terrorist group took responsibility for the attack. Eyewitnesses said members of the minority group, including women and children, were busy with annual mourning rituals in a Shiite-dominated western neighborhood of the Afghan capital when the blast struck. https://www.voanews.com/a/taliban-bombing-hits-shiite-area-of-kabul/6688865.html

Minneapolis (CNN Business)The US economy has now regained all jobs lost during the pandemic, after a blowout July jobs report that showed a gain of 528,000 jobs, according to data released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The massive monthly gain was more than double the 250,000 that economists were expecting, according to Refinitiv. The unemployment rate ticked down to 3.5% after holding at 3.6% for the past four months. The July jobless rate matched the half-century low last seen in February 2020. https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/04/economy/monthly-jobs-report-preview-july/index.html

Alex Jones jury was asked to decide on punitive damages. What does that mean? The Texas jury tasked this week with deciding how much Alex Jones should pay in damages to the parents of a 6-year-old killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was asked to come up with two separate award amounts. On Thursday, the jury ordered Jones to pay $4.1 million in compensatory damages to Scarlett Lewis and Neil Heslin, whose son Jesse died in the shooting alongside 19 of his classmates and six educators, for the emotional distress and reputational damage caused by Jones' false claim that the 2012 massacre was a hoax. On Friday, the jury awarded the couple an additional $45.2 million in punitive damages. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/alex-jones-jury-was-asked-decide-punitive-damages-mean-rcna41805

The Biden administration has reunited 400 children with their parents after they were separated as migrants crossing the southern border under the Trump administration, said Michelle Brané, the executive director of the Family Reunification Task Force. More than 5,000 families were separated under Trump’s 2018 “zero tolerance” policy and a 2017 pilot program and advocates estimate over 1,000 remain separated. Because the Trump administration did not keep records of which children were separated and where they were sent, the task force and lawyers working on behalf of separated families have had a difficult time identifying families to offer them the chance of reunification. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/biden-administration-task-force-reunites-400-migrant-families-separate-rcna41013?fbclid=IwAR1Tz3VPHGhPCo5S5QFaIgzBt850-0O7boqxwYsGntCgq5Ff8Rq6OIBeyfI