🗣 Kissinger: "European leaders have lost continent’s sense of direction"

Speaking with Bloomberg, ex-US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger has criticized French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, stressing that unlike their predecessors Charles de Gaulle and Konrad Adenauer, they have no "sense of direction and mission."

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❄️ 🗣"We need to prepare for a winter without Russian gas": The European Commission has proposed to set a target for all EU countries to reduce their gas demand by 15% from August 2022.

🔫🗣 Survivor of 2018 Parkland High School shooting David Hogg interrupted a US House Judiciary Committee markup of gun control legislation.

“Those guns are coming from the United States of America, they aren’t coming from Mexico … You are reiterating the points of a mass shooter, sir. Sir, you are perpetuating violence,” Hogg said.

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❗️Mercosur trade bloc turns down Zelensky’s request to deliver a message to member countries during the summit

💨 Wind farms could join oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico

The Biden administration is eyeing chunks of the Gulf of Mexico as new areas to expand its growing offshore wind ambitions. Today, President Joe Biden proposed opening up 700,000 acres off the coasts of Galveston, Texas, and Lake Charles, Louisiana, to future wind development. The administration is now looking for public input on developing those locations, after its Wednesday proposal to make them official “wind energy areas” where lease sales could be held in the future.

Biden has tried to kickstart offshore wind development along other shorelines outside the East Coast. The administration created two new wind energy areas off of California, and is also looking into locations off the Oregon coast.

Wind turbines in the Gulf of Mexico could generate up to 508 gigawatts of electricity. Last year, Biden set a goal of deploying 30 gigawatts of offshore wind generation by 2030, which says could power 10 million homes.

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🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 England shocks Spain in extra time to reach semifinals of Women's Euros

The Lionesses fell behind in the second half after a low strike from Esther Gonzalez, but struck back with a goal from Ella Toone to take the match into extra time. The team had everything their own way in the group stage as they plundered 14 goals without reply against Austria, Norway and Northern Ireland.

La Roja had been pre-tournament favourites before injuries to reigning Ballon d'Or winner Alexia Putellas and all-time top goalscorer Jennifer Hermoso rocked their preparation. Spain's ability to keep the ball off the hosts frustrated England and another sell out crowd of 29,000 in Brighton for the vast majority of the first 90 minutes. But they again struggled to turn their possession into goals.

The win secured England's spot in the final four of the European Championships. They will face either Sweden or Belgium in the semi-finals.

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🚛 US Postal Service to boost purchases of electric vehicles

The US Postal Service plans to substantially increase the number of electric-powered vehicles it’s buying to replace its fleet of aging delivery trucks, officials said Wednesday.

The Postal Service anticipates boosting electric vehicles from 20% to 50% in its initial purchase of 50,000 vehicles — with the first of them rolling onto delivery routes next year. It also proposes buying an additional 34,500 commercially-available vehicles over two years, officials said.

The proposal, to be posted in the Federal Register on Thursday, came after 16 states, environmental groups and a labor union sued to halt purchases of next-generation delivery vehicles under the initial plan that was skewed heavily toward gas-powered trucks.

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🚀 NASA aiming for late August test flight of giant moon rocket

On the 53rd anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing, NASA announced Wednesday it’s shooting for a late August launch of its giant, new moon rocket.

NASA will attempt the more than monthlong lunar test flight with three mannequins, but no astronauts, as early as Aug. 29. There are also two launch dates in early September, before NASA would have to stand down for two weeks

The 30-story Space Launch System rocket and attached Orion capsule are currently in the hangar at Kennedy Space Center, following repairs stemming from last month’s countdown test. NASA officials assured reporters Wednesday the problems have been resolved, and that testing is almost complete.

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🗳 Trump-backed legislator wins Maryland governor primary

Dan Cox, a far-right state legislator endorsed by former President Donald Trump, won the Republican primary for Maryland governor on Tuesday, defeating a moderate rival backed by outgoing Gov. Larry Hogan.

Despite being a win for Trump, Cox’s victory over former Hogan Cabinet member Kelly Schulz could be a blow to Republican chances to hold on to the governor’s mansion in November. Hogan, who was prohibited from running for a third consecutive term, was a rare two-term Republican governor in a heavily Democratic state, and he had endorsed Schulz as the successor to his bipartisan style of leadership.

In Maryland, it could potentially take days to determine the winners in the most closely-contested races, including the Democratic primary for governor. Maryland law prohibits counties from opening mail ballots until the Thursday after election day.

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🐉 Dracarys! New trailer for HBO’s House of the Dragon is full of action

HBO finally dropped a newer and longer trailer for its "Game of Thrones" prequel, "House of the Dragon," and you will not be shocked to learn the trailer is full of dragons - and also plenty of Targaryens with their tell-tale white blond tresses.

The new show premieres on August 21 on HBO (streaming on HBO Max), and is a prequel set immediately before a civil war spun out of competing heirs in House Targaryen. The series is based on "The Dying of the Dragons," a novella found in George R.R. Martin’s 2018 novel, "Fire & Blood."

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⚡️ 1 soldier dead, 9 injured by lightning strike at Georgia Army base

One soldier was killed and nine others were injured in a lightning strike on Wednesday at the Fort Gordon Army base in Georgia, spokesperson Anne H. Bowman said.

The soldier's identity will not be released until the next of kin is notified, Bowman said. Fort Gordon has not released the condition of the nine injured soldiers.

Fort Gordon’s Department of Emergency Services and Emergency Medical Services responded to the scene immediately. The soldiers were taken to Dwight D. Eisenhower Medical Center, which is on the base.

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Coronavirus continues to spread in the United States: at present, the BA.5 Omicron strain is dominant, accounting for almost 80 percent of new infections in the country each week.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, another strain of BA.4 is behind almost 13 percent of new diseases.

Thus, two variants of the virus constitute more than 90 percent of new and more contagious cases of infection in the United States

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⚡️ UK to impose new sanctions on coal and oil imports from Russia - government document

⚡️ Gas deliveries via Nord Stream resumed from 04.00 GMT on Monday and are now about 30 percent of capacity. It will take several hours to reach 2.66 million cubic meters per hour