Friday, August 6 top stories
Friday, August 6 top stories
It is Friday, August 6. Here are today’s top stories.
Allyson Felix tied for most track medals
Allyson Felix is now tied with Carl Lewis for the most medals by a U.S. athlete in track and field. Felix, who is 35 years old and a mother, won the bronze medal in the 400 meters event today.
Felix said this was her final individual race in her final Olympics Games. She has a total of six golds, three silvers, and one bronze dating back to the 2004 Athens Games.
White House working on third vaccine
The White House’s chief medical advisor Dr. Fauci said the government is working quickly to authorize a third Covid-19 vaccine for Americans who have weakened immune systems such as cancer and HIV patients or those who received organ transplants.
Fauci said data shows that “immunosuppressed populations” make up about 44% of hospitalized Covid breakthrough cases. A breakthrough case is when a fully vaccinated person still becomes infected with Covid-19.
Fauci said studies show that two doses of the vaccine does not adequately give vulnerable people protections from the coronavirus and that a third shot may be helpful.
Israel and France are already giving out booster shots to immunosuppressed people.
Canada, Quinn makes history with soccer gold
The Canadian women’s soccer team won the gold medal in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics by defeating Sweden in penalty kicks. It is the first time Canada has ever won a major international soccer competition in either men or female sports.
One of Canada’s players is Quinn, who made history as the first openly transgender athlete to win an Olympics gold medal. She identifies as non-binary and use they/their pronouns. Quinn said they are proud, but feels sad at former Olympians who were unable to live their truth because of the world.
A feature in BBC explained that Quinn was assigned female at birth, but after many years of questioning themselves, realized their own gender identity did not match with their sex. BBC said they are eligible to compete in women’s sports because gender identity differs from a person’s sex, which is their physical biology.
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Aide files criminal complaint against Cuomo
The Albany County Sheriff’s Department said a woman has filed a criminal complaint against Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), accusing him of groping her breast in the Executive Mansion last year. She is an executive assistant and said she did not immediately report the incident because she was afraid she would lose her job. This means that Cuomo could face criminal charges of forcible touching, which is a misdemeanor with a penalty of up to one year in prison.
Concerns about NYC vaccine apps
Fox 5 News in New York ran a news story with the headline, “How secure are New York’s vaccine passport apps?” They conducted an interview with a man named Albert Fox Cahn, who is a tech expert and a privacy activist. Cahn said the apps will document one’s IP address every time one opens it. He showed that the process for verifying a vaccine card was ineffective because he uploaded an image of Mickey Mouse and got three green checkmarks, which would allow him to enter restaurants and indoor venues.
Fox 5 explained that the state of New York already has its own vaccination pass app called Excelsior, so there is some frustration with multiple vaccination apps.
New York City will launch the vaccine requirement program on August 16 and enforce it on September 13. People can use the app or show their physical vaccine card to venues.
Fox 5 said an organization that represents restaurants and bars in the city said it will be challenging, but they prefer this over reduced occupancy and shutdown orders, which could happen if we do nothing now.
About 40% of New York City residents have not received a dose of the vaccine.
Taliban captures major city
The New York Times reported that the Taliban have captured Zaranji, which is the capital city of one of Afghanistan’s western provinces. It is the first provincial (equivalent to a state) capital to fall to the Taliban ever since the Biden administration began withdrawing American troops. There are about 160,000 residents in Zaranj and the city was captured without any fighting.
In separate news, the Taliban reportedly shot and killed the head of the Afghan government’s information media center in Kabul, the country’s capital city.
A person from Afghanistan said people are hiding in their houses in fear of the Taliban and that the situation is very worrying and people are scared.
CNN fires three for working while unvaccinated
BBC reported that CNN fired three employees for showing up to work without getting vaccinations against Covid-19. BBC said an internal memo from CNN chief Jeff Zucker explained that CNN has a zero-tolerance policy on vaccinations. It is legal in the U.S. for businesses or organizations to require employees attending the workplace to be vaccinated. Many major U.S. businesses have imposed vaccination requirements, but CNN is one of the first to have fired employees over vaccinations.
That is all the news for this week. Check out our other videos. Have a good weekend and stay with the light.
https://www.fox5ny.com/news/ny-vaccine-passport-apps-security
https://www.fox5ny.com/news/new-york-city-launches-vaccine-passport
https://time.com/6087984/allyson-felix-tokyo-olympics-400-m/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=editorial&utm_term=sports_olympics&linkId=126756481
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/05/fauci-third-covid-shot-weak-immune-system-high-priority.html
https://www.nbcolympics.com/news/canada-wins-landmark-womens-soccer-gold-medal-penalty-kicks
https://www.espn.com/soccer/canada-canw/story/4445109/quinn-becomes-first-openly-transgender-athlete-to-medal-at-olympic-games-as-canada-win-gold
https://www.bbc.com/sport/olympics/58061475
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/06/world/asia/taliban-afghanistan-capital-zaranj.html
https://nypost.com/2021/08/06/afghan-taliban-kill-head-of-government-media-department/amp/
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-58112125
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/06/nyregion/andrew-cuomo-criminal-complaint.html