
Delta surge drowns out good news as US fights over masks and vaccines
CNN
There's a lot of good news to bring Americans into the weekend; the US hit the key milestone of vaccinating 50% of the total population, and nearly 60% of the eligible population -- those 12 and older -- are fully vaccinated.
The economy added a better-than-expected 943,000 jobs in July and the unemployment rate dipped to 5.4%, more signs the US is determined and desperate to recover from the pandemic, although those numbers precede some of the recent restrictions on public life that have been enacted in response to the Delta variant.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth risked compromising sensitive military information that could have endangered US troops through his use of Signal to discuss attack plans, a Pentagon watchdog said in an unclassified report released Thursday. It also details how Hegseth declined to cooperate with the probe.

Two top House lawmakers emerged divided along party lines after a private briefing with the military official who oversaw September’s attack on an alleged drug vessel that included a so-called double-tap strike that killed surviving crew members, with a top Democrat calling video of the incident that was shared as part of the briefing “one of the most troubling things” he has seen as a lawmaker.

Authorities in Colombia are dealing with increasingly sophisticated criminals, who use advanced tech to produce and conceal the drugs they hope to export around the world. But police and the military are fighting back, using AI to flag suspicious passengers, cargo and mail - alongside more conventional air and sea patrols. CNN’s Isa Soares gets an inside look at Bogotá’s war on drugs.

As lawmakers demand answers over reports that the US military carried out a follow-up strike that killed survivors during an attacked on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean, a career Navy SEAL who has spent most of his 30 years of military experience in special operations will be responsible for providing them.









