#URGENT | ZZ Top's bassist Dusty Hill dies aged 72

"We are saddened by the news today that our Compadre, Dusty Hill, has passed away in his sleep at home in Houston, TX," the band stated.

😷 Pentagon to require all service members, federal personnel and visitors to wear masks indoors in installations in COVID-19 hot spots.

Pop singer Shakira may reportedly face trial in Spain for allegations of tax fraud that could land her behind bars.

The Spanish court ended a three-year investigation on Wednesday, finding “sufficient evidence” to bring Shakira to the dock for failing to pay some €14.5 million in personal income and corporate tax from 2011 to 2014.

Maybe hips do lie?

❗️🇺🇸 Republicans on the US Senate Banking Committee have threatened to block President Joe Biden’s nominations for key Treasury Department posts until the administration reverses its position on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project, Bloomberg reported.

Elton John on Dababy's 'homophobic rant' from Rolling Loud last weekend: "HIV mistruths have no place in our society"

During a live performance DaBaby asked the audience to raise their cellphone flashlights if they “didn’t show up today with HIV/AIDS or any of them deadly sexually transmitted diseases that will make you die in two to three weeks,” adding, "Fellas, if you ain’t sucking d**k in the parking lot, put your cellphone lighter up.”

Elton John responded with a Twitter tirade on HIV and AIDS, beginning with a condemnation of the rapper's comments that, according to the British singer, "fueled stigma and discrimination", with DaBaby's statements being the "opposite of what our world needs to fight the AIDS epidemic."

Many celebrities also reacted to the rapper's remarks by unsubscribing from his social media accounts and lambasting him in their posts.

#URGENT | US Senate votes to go forward on hotly contested $1 trillion infrastructure bill

"Better Call Saul" star Bob Odenkirk in stable condition after being hospitalized after "a heart- related incident" on the set of the show, representatives say.

Hard to believe our Senate Republicans are dealing with the Radical Left Democrats in making a so-called bipartisan bill on “infrastructure,” with our negotiators headed up by SUPER RINO Mitt Romney. This will be a victory for the Biden Administration and Democrats, and will be heavily used in the 2022 election. It is a loser for the USA, a terrible deal, and makes the Republicans look weak, foolish, and dumb. It shouldn’t be done. It sets an easy glidepath for Dems to then get beyond what anyone thought was possible in future legislation. It will be a continued destruction of our Country. Our Borders are horrible, crime is at an all time high, taxes and inflation are going way up, the economy is going way down, and now this. Don’t do it Republicans—Patriots will never forget! If this deal happens, lots of primaries will be coming your way!

Joe Biden never lets us get bored with his gaffes.

This time the US president confused former US President Barack Obama for another former US president, Donald Trump, in a Wednesday speech, but swiftly corrected himself, calling the mistake a "Freudian slip".

"Back in 2009, during the so-called Great Recession, the president asked me to be in charge of managing that piece, then-President Trump," Biden said while addressing the public in Pennsylvania. "Excuse me, Freudian slip, that was the last president. He caused the...anyway, President Obama, when I was vice-president."

US weapons manufacturer Raytheon won a contract modification worth more than $482 million to deliver air-to-air missiles for the US Air Force and five allied nations, the Pentagon said in a statement.

"This contract involves unclassified Foreign Military Sales (FMS) to Canada, Hungary, Korea, Netherlands, and Qatar, which accounts for 28 percent of the contract value," the department said in a press release on Wednesday.

#BREAKING | Powerful 7.2-magnitude earthquake hits Perryville, Alaska, USGS reports

❗️#BREAKING | Tsunami warning issued after powerful earthquake strikes Alaska

❗️Tsunami warning system says possible tsunami threat to Guam-CNMI

#BREAKING | USGS revises Alaska earthquake magnitude to 8.2 from 7.2

#BREAKING | US Embassy in Baghdad reportedly targeted by two Katyusha rockets

❗️Tsunami threat remains in Alaska and Aleutian Islands after earthquake

Check out some news you may have missed:

▪️ US gymnast Lee Sunisa has won the Olympic gold medal in the all-around final at the Tokyo Games.

▪️ Senator Ted Cruz has slammed "absurd" new CDC guidelines that direct those fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to once again mask-up indoors.

▪️ US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has welcomed talks between Chinese FM Wang Yi and the Taliban political leadership in Tianjin, describing the meeting as a "positive thing".

▪️ A group named "The Real Facebook Oversight Board" placed body bags in front of Facebook's headquarters in Washington, DC, on Wednesday – in protest against misinformation on coronavirus vaccines that is being spread on social media.

▪️ Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been accused of judging legislation by the skin colour of its supporters.

😳 Whistleblowers from the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have claimed they were instructed to hide the real scale of the COVID-19 outbreak among children held at a facility in Fort Bliss, Texas.

An appeal was submitted to four congressional committees and government watchdogs.

In the document, Arthur Pearlstein and Lauren Reinhold, who were said to be "career federal civil servants", alleged that usually, as they completed their tasks, HHS would give them a paper instructing them to "make everything sound positive about the Fort Bliss experience and to play down anything negative" when asked.

READ MORE: https://sptnkne.ws/GTRR

🤔 Simone Biles’ withdrawal from the Olympics: is it heroic to quit?

British journalist Piers Morgan has been pilloried far and wide after criticised US superstar Simone Biles' decision to pull out from the women's team final at the Tokyo Olympics.

“Are ‘mental health issues’ now the go-to excuse for any poor performance in elite sport? What a joke,” he tweeted on 27 July. In a column in the Daily Mail, Morgan wrote that he doesn’t think “it's remotely courageous, heroic or inspiring to quit.”

Many social media users accused Morgan of being insensitive to black athletes. Others accused him of bias, saying he has been "sympathetic" to white athletes while they've struggled with mental health.

Biles – widely regarded as the greatest gymnast of all time – announced on Tuesday that she'd be withdrawing from the team competition because of her mental health.

"Physically, I feel good, I'm in shape," Biles said after she skipped the final. "Emotionally, that kind of varies on the time and moment."

#URGENT | US First Lady Jill Biden will undergo medical procedure on Thursday, White House says