| | | | | Rabbit, rabbit! It's a new month AND a long weekend. Have a safe and relaxing Labor Day, and we'll see you back here Tuesday. Here's what you need to know to Get Up to Speed and Out the Door. | | While normalcy is still a long way away for Hurricane Harvey survivors, Houston's mayor says his city is "open for business." Homes are still underwater and rescues still underway, but small changes -- fewer people in shelters, bus lines resuming, traffic and the restoration of power -- may be the first hints of recovery. Still, Harvey's death toll now stands at 47 people, and other Texas cities -- Beaumont, where tap water is out to 135,000 residents, and Crosby, where a chemical plant caught fire amid the flood -- are still suffering. So far, 72,000 rescues have been carried out.
This summer has been terrible for floods, not just for south Texas but the whole world. Parts of South Asia were pounded by historic rainfall during the height of monsoon season. More than 1,200 people have been killed in India and Bangladesh, with some 41 million affected by flooding since June. A massive mudslide sparked by heavy rains and flooding in an area of Freetown, Sierra Leone, has killed around 500 people and left hundreds more missing.
And, unfortunately, a new threat is looming: Hurricane Irma has been rapidly intensifying in the Atlantic. It's now a Category 3 storm and could pose a major threat to the Caribbean and potentially the United States next week. | | After North Korea performed another missile test this week and directly threatened Guam, the United States and South Korea staged their own show of force with state-of-the-art stealth fighters. They conducted a mock bombing drill, which simulated a surgical strike of key enemy facilities. In a statement, US Pacific Command said the flyover was a "direct response to North Korea's intermediate range ballistic missile launch."
The display of power was denounced by Pyongyang as a "rash act." Russian President Vladimir Putin also weighed in on the once-again-burgeoning crisis, saying the escalation was a "dead-end road." "Russia believes that the policy of putting pressure on Pyongyang to stop its nuclear missile program is misguided and futile," Putin said in an article released by the Kremlin. | | | Kenya's Supreme Court has ordered a rerun of the country's contentious presidential election, after a legal challenge by the opposition. One of the country's chief justices said the election was "not conducted in accordance with the constitution, rendering the declared results invalid, null and void." New elections were ordered to be conducted within 60 days. Kenya is one of Africa's largest economies and a buffer of stability near Somalia, Sudan and South Sudan. But the election has caused deep unrest, with at least 24 people killed in post-election protests. | | | The US announced Thursday it will close the Russian consulate in San Francisco, as well as annexes in Washington and New York, in response to mandated staff cuts at the US mission in Russia. If you recall, in July, the Russian Foreign Ministry ordered the United States to cut its diplomatic staff in Russia by nearly half in response to expanded sanctions by Congress. The latest announcement came right before Moscow's deadline for US personnel to leave their positions. The decision was made "in the spirit of parity," a State Department spokeswoman said. | | | David Clarke, the controversial Milwaukee sheriff with the cowboy hat and the authoritative facial hair, has resigned. Known for his often jaw-dropping rhetoric and incendiary conservative commentary, Clarke had served as one of the country's more well-known sheriffs since 2002, but he raised his national profile as a regular surrogate for the Trump campaign. So far, Clarke has not given a reason for his abrupt resignation. | | | People are talking about these. Read up. Join in. | | A GA police officer told a woman at traffic stop, 'We only kill black black'
In a shocking turn of events, he is most likely going to lose his job. | | Prince's sister says purple wasn't his favorite color. It was orange.
But "Orange Rain" just sounds so, so wrong. | | Mysterious, eight-legged metallic object washes up in Rhode Island
Finally, the age of the robot spiders is here! | | | Did you know today is "Force Friday?" It's when all of the new "Star Wars" toys are revealed. Godspeed, parents. | | A Chick-fil-A regular called his Houston store ... for a rescue boat
Yes, the story behind this heartwarming Harvey rescue pic has it all. | | | Here's what's happening later. | | | The August jobs report is set to drop at 8:30 a.m. ET | | | | | | |
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