⚡️Liz Truss may trigger article 16 of the Northern Ireland protocol if she becomes Prime Minister.

🔹A bomb threat made early Friday (August 26) forced students at Howard University to evacuate two residence halls for the second time during the first week of fall semester classes. According to NBC Washington, D.C. investigators checked out the threat and found nothing. A university spokesperson said police may know where the call originated.

A Howard spokesperson said in a statement that human, animal, and mechanical explosive-finding devices were used in the search of the two residential buildings.

The university notes it’s in contact with federal officials, who have been assigned to investigate similar threats. Late Tuesday, another bomb threat forced students to evacuate Cook Hall. The D.C. police department’s bomb unit responded and gave the all-clear early Wednesday.

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◾️Environmental rights groups have cautiously welcomed a new agreement between the German and Canadian governments to begin shipping hydrogen across the Atlantic as early as 2025, as the two countries shift towards more renewable energy.

The Canada-Germany Hydrogen Alliance, announced this week following meetings in Canada between German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, comes as Europe tries to wean itself off Russian energy amid the war in Ukraine.

“The Hydrogen Alliance between Canada and Germany is a significant milestone as we accelerate the international market rollout of green hydrogen and clear the way for new transatlantic cooperation,” Robert Habeck, Germany’s vice-chancellor, said in a statement on Tuesday.

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📊 A Gallup poll released Thursday and two other polls released earlier in the week show that Biden’s approval rating has been increasing in August but remains below 50%.

The Gallup poll shows that Biden’s approval rating now sits at 44%, with 53% disapproving. While that is still far from where Democrats would want it to be if they hope to hold onto the House and Senate in November’s midterm elections, it is significantly better than last month, when only 38% approved of Biden’s job performance.

A Morning Consult-Politico Poll and a Reuters-Ipsos Poll also reflected growth in Biden’s popularity, sitting at 43% and 41%, respectively.

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🔎A Colorado mother accused of plotting to kidnap her son from foster care after her teen daughter said she started associating with supporters of the QAnon conspiracy theory was found guilty of conspiracy to commit second-degree kidnapping on Friday.

Cynthia Abcug, 53, denied she was involved in planning a raid on the foster home where her then 7-year-old son lived in the fall of 2019. She had lost custody of him earlier that year after being accused of medical child abuse — lying about him having seizures and other health problems to trick doctors into providing unnecessary care.

Jurors also found Abcug guilty of a misdemeanor count of child abuse. She is scheduled to be sentenced in October. Her son, now 10, is still in foster care and has not had serious health problems since being removed from Abcug, according to prosecutors.

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🚓After finding "rainbow fentanyl" during two recent busts in the Portland area, federal authorities are warning Oregonians to keep an eye out for the brightly-colored and highly-toxic synthetic opioid that resembles sidewalk chalk.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Oregon joined the Drug Enforcement Administration on Friday to warn over the rainbow fentanyl. Officials say the new colorful-powdery form has a higher potency than other forms of fentanyl.

They say the DEA’s Portland Office has seized record amounts of fentanyl, adding that the drug’s availability has led to a huge rise in overdose deaths in Oregon. “Fentanyl is the deadliest drug threat we face today,” said DEA Acting Special Agent in Charge Jacob D. Galvan from the Seattle Field Division.

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🎶🔜Elton John and Britney Spears have collaborated for the first time, creating the slinky, the club-ready single “Hold Me Closer” that sees the pop icons take old sounds and fashion something new.

The funky, piano-driven single uses John’s 1971 hit “Tiny Dancer” as the skeleton and adds elements from his songs “The One” and “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart,” all with Spears's voice soaring and fluttering.

While John has been releasing new music in the past few years — including the 16-track 2021 album “The Lockdown Sessions” — the song represents Spear’s first new music since her 2016 album “Glory” and her first offering since the ending of her contentious conservatorship.

“She truly is an icon, one of the all-time great pop stars, and she sounds amazing on this record. I love her dearly and am delighted with what we’ve created together,” John said.

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🤔 The Trump social media platform Truth Social is having a $1.6 million dispute with one of its largest vendors and creditors, RightForge, according to Fox Business.

▪️ RightForge is an internet infrastructure company that provides internet hosting services for Truth Social. According to sources that Fox Business talked to, the two companies are fighting over contractually obligated payments allegedly missed by Truth Social, dating back to March.

▪️ The sources contend that the missed payments show Truth Social has significant financial problems and that RightForge is threatening legal action to recoup the lost payments.

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🥵 US envoy to the Western Balkans Gabriel Escobar told Balkan news outlet N1 on Friday that it was necessary to “move away” from the idea that Kosovo is part of Serbia. The region illegally declared independence from Belgrade in 2008, violating the Serbian Constitution.

🗯 “I think we have to move away from the narrative that Kosovo is Serbia and move towards the narrative that Kosovo and Serbia are Europe,” Escobar said. “You have a common future and that future is rapidly moving away from the problems of the 1990s and quickly to the opportunities of the 21st century.”

▪️ He added that the “21st century will be one of economic opportunity for this region, where the Western Balkans become a driver of growth for the entire continent of Europe,” including in energy production, IT, and shipping. “The reality is that you will be linked eventually through regional economic relations.”


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🇷🇺 🇷🇸 On her Telegram channel the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has commented on the words of the US envoy to the Western Balkans, Gabriel Escobar, who previously called international community to “move away” from the idea that Kosovo is part of Serbia.

❗️The Russian diplomat simply replied, "NEVER".

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📹 “I bought army boots, bullet proof vests, tactical plate carriers”: A Ukrainian serviceman shames his comrades who crowdfund for uniforms on social media, advising them instead to buy all they need with their own money.

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▪️ A Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) Interior Ministry official Vitaly Kiselev tells Sputnik that he has survived an assassination attempt.

🗯"At the end of May of this year, there was an attempt to assassinate me. Until now, we have not disclosed this circumstance and what happened. …search activities and investigative measures are being carried now," Kiselev explained.

▪️ He specified that the assassination attempt occurred in central Lugansk, but refused to provide any further details.

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📌 LIVE UPDATES: Ukraine shells DPR 54 times over past day, Donetsk authorities say

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⚡️ The authorities of the Zaporozhye region reported that at the moment there is an artillery shelling of the Energodar by Ukrainian troops

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📹 Airborne units repelled an attempt to break through Kherson's Russian defenses from the direction of Nikolaev-Krivoy Rog; more than 20 Ukrainian troops were killed, the Russian Defense Ministry reports.

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