Sunday, Aug. 16th, 2020
Antifa militants, far-right groups, and pro-Confederacy groups clash at Stone Mountain, near the city of Stone Mountain, Georgia. (The Daily Beast) (CBS News)
Right-wing group members of the Proud Boys clash with counter-protesters in Kalamazoo, Michigan, with police carrying out several arrests. (AP)
Russia announces the production of the first batch of its Sputnik V vaccine. (Hindustan Times)
President Cyril Ramaphosa announces a plan to ease nearly all restrictions on the economy from Monday, August 17, including lifting a controversial ban on the sale of alcohol and tobacco that had been imposed since July, as infections “reaches the peak”. (BBC)
The number of daily new COVID-19 cases in South Korea tops 200 for the first time in five months, with 279 new cases reported in the last 24 hours. The cases are linked to clusters traced to several conservative churches in the Seoul Capital Area. (Reuters)
Russia says it is “ready to assist Belarus in accordance with a collective military pact if necessary” as opposition leader in-exile Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya calls for a massive march. (Reuters)
Extreme heat, fires continue to plague California
Searing heat and wildfires continued to plague California on Saturday, with the former prompting another round of rolling blackouts in parts of the state to help relieve the larger grid. The heat wave that is expected to affect most western states through next week is one of the most intense in years. Meanwhile, the explosive Loyalton Fire north of Lake Tahoe has burned through about 20,000 acres and is only 5 percent contained. On Saturday, it formed into a rare phenomenon known as a fire tornado, which the National Weather Service called “extremely dangerous fire behavior.” Mandatory evacuations are in place for three counties in the surrounding area as the blaze continues to burn. Source: Fox News
FDA authorizes potentially pandemic-changing saliva test The Food and Drug Administration on Saturday issued an emergency use authorization for the SalivaDirect COVID-19 diagnostic test developed by the Yale School of Public Health in partnership with the National Basketball Association. The test processes saliva to rapidly determine whether a person has been infected with the coronavirus and does not require any type of swab or specific collection device. Andy Slavitt, a former acting administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services under the Obama administration, said the test has a chance to become one of the first “major game changers in fighting the pandemic.” He praised the physical comfort level of the test, as well its affordability, turnaround time, and accuracy, noting that it could come in handy for schools, universities, and office buildings. Source: The Week
The End
artificial stupid 