Nation and world news in brief for August 22
Musk’s Neuralink says second trial implant went well
(Reuters) — Elon Musk’s brain technology startup Neuralink said its implant, designed to allow paralyzed patients to use digital devices by thinking alone, is working well in a second trial patient.
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The company said the patient, identified as Alex, did not face issues of “thread retraction”, unlike Noland Arbaugh, Neuralink’s first patient who received the implant in January.
The tiny wires of the implant retracted post surgery for Arbaugh, resulting in a sharp reduction in the electrodes that could measure brain signals. The threads have stabilized for Arbaugh, Neuralink said.
RFK Jr. wants administration job in return for endorsing Trump, super PAC says
CHICAGO (Reuters) — Independent U.S. presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wants a deal with Donald Trump in which he endorses the Republican rival in exchange for a job in a potential Trump administration, a super PAC supporting Kennedy told Reuters on Wednesday.
Kennedy’s campaign said Wednesday he would address the nation on Friday in Arizona, where he will talk about “the present historical moment and his path forward.”
Kennedy is planning to drop out of the election and endorse Trump, but that hinges on whether the Republican offers Kennedy “and others” a position in the White House if elected, Larry Sharpe, outreach director with American Values 2024, told Reuters.
Trump told CNN this week he would “certainly be open” to Kennedy playing a role in his administration.
Israeli strikes kill dozens in Gaza after Blinken ends visit
CAIRO/JERUSALEM (Reuters) — Israeli airstrikes across Gaza killed at least 50 Palestinians in the past 24 hours, Palestinian health officials said on Wednesday, after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken ended his latest visit to the region with a truce deal still proving elusive.
As last-ditch diplomatic efforts aimed at halting the 10-month-old war between Israel and Hamas continued, the Israeli military said jets hit around 30 targets throughout the Gaza Strip including tunnels, launch sites and an observation post.
It said troops killed dozens of armed fighters and seized weapons including explosives, grenades and automatic rifles.
Later in the day, the Israeli military struck a school and a nearby house in Gaza City, killing at least four people and wounding 15, including several children, the territory’s Civil Emergency Service said.
Trump continues to fall behind Harris in national polls
(TNS) — The newest polling shows former President Donald Trump’s years-old presidential campaign is falling behind the political insurgency represented by Vice President Kamala Harris’ historic and sudden ascent to the top of Democratic politics.
Harris, according to an Economist/YouGov poll of more than 1,300 registered voters released on Wednesday, leads Trump nationally by three points. The VP is up from a two-point lead the same pollsters found in a survey released last week.
Ethics review into Menendez closed after resignation takes effect
WASHINGTON (TNS) — A Senate Ethics Committee adjudicatory review of former New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez’s alleged violations of the Senate rules has been closed after the embattled lawmaker’s resignation took effect on Tuesday.
Menendez, who for months resisted calls for his resignation, was facing a possible expulsion depending on the results of the review. Menendez first indicated that he planned to resign on July 23, just days after he was convicted on 16 counts of public corruption and bribery.
Federal prosecutors brought the charges against Menendez in New York in September 2023, alleging that the senator and his wife accepted bribes from New Jersey businessmen.
They spouted hate online. Then they were arrested
(NYT) — A 53-year-old woman from northwest England was jailed for 15 months after posting on Facebook that a mosque should be blown up. A 45-year-old man was sentenced to 20 months for goading his online followers to torch a hotel that houses refugees. These and other people are accused of being “keyboard warriors,” in the words of one British judge, exploiting social media to stir up the anti-immigrant riots that exploded after a suspect was arrested in the fatal stabbings of three young girls in the town of Southport. Their cases have now become examples in a politically charged debate over the limits of free speech in Britain.
Thailand reports mpox case in traveler who arrived from Africa
(NYT) — Thailand reported Wednesday a case of mpox suspected to be caused by the new and potentially more deadly version of the virus. If confirmed, it would be the first case in Thailand and would come a week after the World Health Organization declared the disease a global emergency. The case involves a 66-year-old European man who works in Africa, health officials said.
