Friday, August 23, 2024
It is Friday, August 23, 2024. Here are today's top stories.
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Kamala Harris accepts Democratic nomination for presidency
Kamala Harris formally accepted the Democratic Party’s nomination for the presidency on the final night of the DNC in Chicago and gave a speech.
She said she had an unlikely path that led her here and said her parents also had unlikely journeys. She said her late mother, Shyamala, was 19 when she moved from India to California with a dream of being a scientist who would cure breast cancer. She met her father, Donald, a student from Jamaica. They got married and gave birth to her and her sister, Maya. They divorced when Kamala was in elementary school.
Kamala said she grew up in the East Bay Area in California and that her mother taught her to never complain about injustice but to do something about it. She felt inspired to become a lawyer at a young age. She said in her career as a prosecutor, she always viewed her client as “the people.”
Kamala said as a prosecutor, she fought against predators who abused women and children, big banks who exploited families, scammers, drug cartels, and human traffickers.
Kamala reminded the audience that when Donald Trump lost the last election, he tried to throw away your votes and sent a mob to the U.S. Capitol. He said Trump was found guilty of fraud and separately found liable for committing sexual abuse. She said Trump only likes to serve one client: himself.
Kamala closed her speech by saying she is ready for the next step in the incredible journey that is America, to fight for this country we love, and to get out there and vote for it.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/23/us/politics/kamala-harris-speech-transcript.html
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Two children die in hot car incidents in Texas
Two children tragically died in separate hot car incidents only a day apart in Texas.
On Tuesday in Corpus Christi, a child just under 2 years old died after being left in a vehicle outside a middle school from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. The child’s mother said she forgot to drop off her daughter at daycare that morning before going to work at the middle school. Temperatures were about 102 F that day. The mother was arrested and charged with injury to a child and other, related charges.
The second incident on Wednesday was in Beeville, Texas. Police said a 9-month-old child died after being left in a car by the child’s grandmother for almost 9 hours. The grandmother may be charged with criminally negligent homicide but she was herself admitted to a hospital with heart issues.
It is extremely tragic to see these incidents. An organization , Kids and Car Safety, said there have been at least 25 other cases in the U.S. where children died in hot cars this year.
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Taliban bans women’s voice in public settings
The Taliban government in Afghanistan issued new strict laws that focused on women. One of them is a ban on any woman's voice in public settings, whether it be singing, reciting, or reading aloud. The laws say women must veil her body at all times in public, wear a face covering, and never look at men that they are not related to by blood or marriage. The Taliban said they are doing this to promote virtue and prevent vice. Those who do not follow the laws may be warned or arrested.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/22/middleeast/taliban-law-women-voices-intl-latam/index.html
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Huge diamond unearthed in Botswana
In Botswana, the country just above South Africa, a huge diamond that is believed to be the second biggest ever found was unearthed this week. It is a rough 2,492-carat diamond. The diamond was recovered by a Canadian mining company called Lucara Diamond Corp. The company said it has a specialized X-ray technology that can identify and preserve large, high-value diamonds.
The largest diamond ever found is the Cullinan Diamond, a 3,106-carat stone that was unearthed in South Africa.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/22/style/diamond-botswana-scli-intl/index.html
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That is all the top stories for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light.