Earth is warming faster than previously thought, scientists say, and the window is closing to avoid catastrophic outcomes  —  (CNN)As the world battles historic droughts, landscape-altering wildfires and deadly floods, a landmark report from global scientists says the window is rapidly closing …

Cuomo's Top Aide, Melissa DeRosa, Resigns as He Fights to Survive  —  The governor's confidante helped lead efforts to retaliate against one of the women who accused him of sexual harassment, the attorney general's report found.  —  ALBANY, N.Y. — Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's top aide …

Trump's coup attempt grows even more worrisome as new details emerge  —  What happened on Jan. 6 was horrifying: an attempted coup, inflamed by social media, incited by the defeated president and televised in real time.  What happened before Jan. 6, we are coming to learn, was equally horrifying …

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. Is Granted Preliminary Injunction Allowing it to Sail from Florida with 100% Vaccination of Guests and Crew  —  Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd.  —  Company Goes to Great Lengths to Prioritize Health and Safety of its Guests, Crew and the Communities Visited

‘This Is Really Scary’: Kids Struggle With Long Covid  —  Lingering physical, mental and neurological symptoms are affecting children as well as adults, including many who had mild reactions to the initial coronavirus infection.  —  Will Grogan stared blankly at his ninth-grade biology classwork.

As Taliban Capture Cities, U.S. Says Afghan Forces Must Fend for Themselves  —  The muted American response to the Taliban siege shows in no uncertain terms that the U.S. war in Afghanistan is over.  —  WASHINGTON — If the Taliban had seized three provincial capitals in northern Afghanistan a year ago …

For first time, average pay for supermarket and restaurant workers tops $15 an hour  —  $15 an hour is suddenly the rule, not the exception, for U.S. workers.  It's a major shift from pre-pandemic norms.  —  The U.S. labor market hit a new milestone recently: For the first time …

COVID-19 cases among kids overwhelming Florida hospitals: doc  —  Pediatric hospitals in Florida have become “completely overwhelmed” with young patients battling COVID-19 amid the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant, a doctor says.  —  The grim development comes as Florida …

POLITICO Playbook: What Biden, Schumer, McConnell, Sinema and Portman learned from BIF  —  DRIVING THE DAY  —  BREAKING: Treasury Secretary JANET YELLEN weighs in on Congress' handling of the debt ceiling.  —  “In recent years Congress has addressed the debt limit through regular order …

Latvia warns of risk of ‘incident’ between Nato and Russia  —  Belarus ‘border crisis’ and military exercise could cause ‘misunderstanding’, says foreign minister  —  The “weaponisation” of migration by Belarus on its border with Lithuania and an imminent military exercise involving Russian …

Off the Wall  —  Here's a delightful headline, followed by a charming article, written by a guy named Jonathan V. Last.  I don't think he likes me.  Strap in.  It's a doozy.  —  MIKE ROWE'S DIRTY LIES  —  The voice of the working class goes anti-anti-anti-vaxx.

The world is nowhere near the end of the pandemic, says famed epidemiologist Larry Brilliant  — The pandemic is not coming to an end soon — given that only a small proportion of the world's population has been vaccinated, said Larry Brilliant, a well-known epidemiologist.

Big Tech call center workers face pressure to accept home surveillance  —  Colombia-based call center workers who provide outsourced customer service to some of the nation's largest companies are being pressured to sign a contract that lets their employer install cameras in their homes …

Has the pandemic put property rights in the crosshairs?  —  On Aug. 3, amid pressure from members of the Democratic Party's progressive wing, President Joe Biden announced a new moratorium on evictions after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)'s previous ban expired on July 31.

Criminal-Justice Reformers Chose the Wrong Slogan  —  After George Floyd's murder, when sweeping criminal-justice reforms seemed more possible than ever, many Black Lives Matter activists and their allies settled on a rallying cry: “Defund the Police.”  —  That choice was a disaster.

Too many people are dying right now.  —  A few weeks ago, in a back-of-the-envelope calculation during an interview with Eric Topol of Scripps, I suggested that because of widespread vaccination of the most vulnerable elderly, we may have reduced overall mortality risk in the country by 90 percent.