U.S. offers $5 million reward
The U.S. State Department offers a $5 million reward for information leading to the capture of Guzman. The tip line is being managed by the DEA’s San Diego field office.
Rosenberg, acting head of the DEA, says Guzman is most likely in Mexico, hiding in his home state of Sinaloa, Mexico. But Rosenberg acknowledged that the elusive Guzman could be anywhere.
I think he is still in Mexico. Do I know that? No. It’s an educated guess.
Debris confirmed from MH370
French investigators confirm the airplane part found on Reunion is a piece of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, saying there are “very strong presumptions” that the part belonged to Flight 370, though additional checks would be carried out. He also said that “technical documentation” provided by Malaysia Airlines enabled experts to establish “common technical characteristics” between the debris and the flaperons on Flight 370. Malaysian PM Razak:
Today, 515 days since the plane disappeared, it is with a very heavy heart that I must tell you that an international team of experts have conclusively confirmed that the aircraft debris found on Réunion Island is indeed from MH370.
New Yorker profile
The New Yorker runs a profile of Wilson, covering his early life, training as a police officer, the events surrounding Brown’s death, and his current situation. On the night after the shooting, he talks about being home with his wife:
Neither one of us knew what the reaction was going to be the next day. You know, a typical police shooting is: you get about a week to a week and a half off, you see a shrink, you go through your Internal Affairs interviews. And then you come back…We stayed up all night watching, like, ‘Oh, my God—what’s going on? What are they doing?’
When his wife’s six-year-old son asks him what is happening:
I said, ‘Well, I had to shoot somebody.’ And he goes, ‘Well, why did you shoot him? Was he a bad guy?’ I said, ‘Yeah, he was a bad guy.’
Redirects released tel number
After Gawker publishes Trump’s phone number, Trump changes the message to his campaign message.
Hi, this is Donald Trump and I’m running for the Presidency of the United States of America. With your help and support, together, we can make America truly great again. Visit me at Twitter @RealDonaldTrump and check out my campaign website www.donaldjtrump.com. Hope to see you on the campaign trail, we’re going to do it.
Thank you @gawker! Call me on my cellphone 917.756.8000 and listen to my campaign message.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 4, 2015
VF interview: Talks about girlfriends
Swift talks about her relationship with her friends (Lena Dunham, Selena Gomez and Karlie Kloss):
We even have girls in our group who have dated the same people. It’s almost like the sisterhood has such a higher place on the list of priorities for us. It’s so much more important than some guy that it didn’t work out with. When you’ve got this group of girls who need each other as much as we need each other, in this climate, when it’s so hard for women to be understood and portrayed the right way in the media.
VF interview: Healing Kanye rift
Swift talks to Vanity Fair about how Jay-Z helped her heal the relationship with West.
I feel like I wasn’t ready to be friends with [West] until I felt like he had some sort of respect for me, and he wasn’t ready to be friends with me until he had some sort of respect for me—so it was the same issue, and we both reached the same place at the same time,” Swift says. “I became friends with Jay Z, and I think it was important, for Jay Z, for Kanye and I to get along. . . . And then Kanye and I both reached a place where he would say really nice things about my music and what I’ve accomplished, and I could ask him how his kid’s doing.
VF interview: Talks about Apple letter
Swift talks about her Apple letter in an interview with Vanity Fair.
I wrote the letter at around four A.M. Sometimes I’ll wake up in the middle of the night and I’ll write a song and I can’t sleep until I finish it, and it was like that with the letter.
She says she was nervous to post the letter online, after receiving negative feedback for her Wall Street Journal op-ed that had also advocated for fair compensation in the music industry. She says didn’t tell Borchetta, and the only person she ran it through before publishing was her mother
She’s always going to be the one. I just said, ‘I’m really scared of this letter, but I had to write it. I might not post it, but I had to say it.’
She compares Apples’ response with Spotify’s:
Apple treated me like I was a voice of a creative community that they actually cared about. I found it really ironic that the multi-billion-dollar company reacted to criticism with humility, and the start-up with no cash flow reacted to criticism like a corporate machine.
US considers lifting Leahy Law
Congressman Issa tells military authorities in the Nigerian capital Abuja that the US is considering whether to relax or completely lift the ban to improve Nigeria’s fight against Boko Haram.
This is because of the trust in the new regime which has begun the process of ensuring that the military’s professionalism in the battle field is made in a way that we all can be confident that the rule of law is followed. Following this development, we have begun the process of lifting restrictions under the Leahy Law but the vast majority of the support US provides will be given regardless of the restrictions.
Family statement
Bland’s family issues a statement about their suit, saying it was a last resort after being unable to get enough information about the case.
The bottom line is she never should have been inside the jail cell. Period. [She] knew enough about Jesus that she wouldn’t hang herself, and her feelings as a mother say her daughter didn’t. But anything is possible. Now I’m the first one to tell you, if the facts … show without a doubt that that was the case, I’ll have to be prepared to deal with that.
Captures US-trained rebels
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports that Syria’s Al-Qaeda affiliate, Nusra Front, abducts five rebels believed to have been trained by the United States after raiding areas along the Turkish border. The militant group is now holding a total of 13 men from ‘Division 30.’ It is not immediately clear whether the five men abducted overnight had been on the new U.S. military training programme or on an existing, separate CIA-led program. Pentagon spokesperson says the United States remains committed to defending the Syrian fighters, including against the threat from Nusra Front. There is no official reaction from the Syrian government, but a source says:
[The U.S.] relayed a message to Damascus not to worry about these statements. It’s about hitting Al-Nusra hard, not the Syrian army.
Would shut down gov to defund Planned Parenthood
Trump says on Hewitt’s show that he would shut down the government to defund Planned Parenthood.
Hewitt: The only way to get rid of Planned Parenthood money for selling off baby parts, is to shut the government down in September would you support that?
Trump: I can tell you this, I would.
Breitbart interview
Trump talks to Breitbart about the upcoming GOP debate:
I look forward to it. It will be very exciting. I’m looking to treat everybody with great respect which they deserve. I hope we can talk about the issues…I hope we can keep it on a high level. If that doesn’t happen, I’m willing to go to the other route. But I will say the two people who hit me really hard both went down in the polls. And I find that really interesting,and I find it a great honor that that would happen, because in all fairness Lindsey Graham and Perry were really hitting me hard, and they went down in the polls. I am greatly honored by that. I was surprised, to be honest with you.
Unlimited maternity/paternity leave
Netflix announces that it is allowing employees to take unlimited maternity or paternity leave during the first year after their child’s birth or adoption. They can return on a full- or part-time basis, and even take subsequent time off later in the year if needed. Netflix will “keep paying them normally,” eliminating the hassle of having to switch to disability leave.
Netflix’s continued success hinges on us competing for and keeping the most talented individuals in their field. Experience shows people perform better at work when they’re not worrying about home. This new policy, combined with our unlimited time off, allows employees to be supported during the changes in their lives and return to work more focused and dedicated.
Not chosen for GOP debate
Perry, Santorum, Jindal, Fiorina, Graham, Pataki and Gilmore will not appear in the GOP presidential debate in Cleveland, OH. They are below the threshold set by the average of of five recent national polls to calculate the top 10 candidates.
Vanity Fair cover
Swift appears on the cover of Vanity Fair, photographed by Testino. In the interview she talks about using her celebrity for good outside music:
If you look at Oprah, she’s made so many people happy over the years. She’s made so much money, but she’s given so much of it away. . . . Same thing with Angelina Jolie. She’s been so productive, but she’s used that position to better other people’s lives, and I think that’s where I’d want to be.
On dating:
That was the way that I decided to go on with my life. Not looking for anything, not necessarily being open to anything, and only being open to the idea that, if I found someone who would never try to change me, that would be the only person I could fall in love with. Because, you know, I was in love with my life.
On being a style icon:
I think I know how to put together a good outfit. . . . But any day you’re going to admit to being a style icon is a day you need to look in the mirror and really check yourself.
Zuma impeachment motion notice
The Democratic Alliance gives the National Assembly notice of a motion to be debated on August 18 for the impeachment against President Zuma. DA leader Maimane:
The events that led to the escape of Bashir represent a clear violation of the president’s oath to ‘obey, observe, uphold and maintain the Constitution and all other law of the Republic’ and serve as nothing less than grounds for his removal from office in terms of section 89[1][a] of the Constitution. In blatant disregard of their legal obligations, however, Cabinet granted Bashir immunity while attending the summit of the African Union [AU] in June, and subsequently allowed him to escape the country. President Zuma, as the head of the Cabinet, bears ultimate responsibility for this decision.
The ANC says the proposed motion is a publicity stunt by the DA:
Section 89 of the Constitution states amongst others that the president may only be removed from office for a serious violation of the Constitution or the law. No court of law has ever found the president guilty of violation of the law or the Constitution. In the absence of any constitutional or legal basis, Mmusi Maimane’s motion amounts to political posturing and is not worth the paper it is written on. As we have repeatedly stated, all heads of states and delegates that attended the African Union summit in Sandton were granted diplomatic immunity by the government in line with international standards and practices related to events such as the one held recently in our country.
Surveillance video shows attack
A surveillance video shows the attack on hitchBOT. The camera footage shows a man beating the robot with a baseball bat and stomping on it before walking away. Zeller:
Sadly, sadly it’s come to an end. I’m surprised by how upset I actually am. I didn’t expect it. I think that image that’s circulated now on social media of vandalized HitchBOT is quite upsetting.
Ends trophy shipments
American, Delta, and United ban the transport of lion, leopard, elephant, rhino or buffalo, animals known in Africa as the “big five”, because they are the hardest to kill on foot. Delta, the only American airline to fly directly between the United States and Johannesburg, will also review policies on accepting other hunting trophies with government agencies and other organizations that support legal shipments.
Cosmopolitan cover
Lovato poses for the cover of Cosmopolitan‘s September 2015 issue. In the interview
There are a lot of girls in pop. They have badass lyrics, but I feel like I’m the only person other than Rihanna and Nicki Minaj who isn’t afraid to say, ‘Try something on me and I’ll f–king beat your ass.’ There are people who can dress up and play the part, but their music doesn’t say it.
On her boyfriend, Wilmer Valderrama:
The only times we ever broke up were when I was relapsing, whether it was drugs or in a bad place and rebelling against everybody, not just him… People say that relapses happen before you use. Your mind starts setting up the relapse before you take that drink or that first hit. The times we’d broken up, I had already gone to that place of, Yeah, this is what’s happening. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I just wanted to sabotage everything around me so that I could sabotage myself.
$1 billion for clean energy
Gates explains why he is investing $1 billion of his own money into clean energy research:
I believe that the next half-decade will bring many breakthroughs that will help solve climate change. As I argued in this 2010 TED talk, we need to be able to power all sectors of the economy with sources that do not emit any carbon dioxide. But when it comes to preventing the worst effects of climate change, the investments I make will matter much less than the choices that governments make…of all the people who will be affected by climate change, those in poor countries will suffer the most. Higher temperatures and less-predictable weather would hurt poor farmers, most of whom live on the edge and can be devastated by a single bad crop. Food supplies could decline. Hunger and malnutrition could rise. It would be a terrible injustice to let climate change undo any of the past half-century’s progress against poverty and disease—and doubly unfair because the people who will be hurt the most are the ones doing the least to cause the problem.