The death toll from Hurricane Ida in the US states of New York and New Jersey has reached 22, media reported on Thursday.

At least eight people died in floodwaters in New York City, including a two-year-old boy; another 14 people were reportedly found dead in the state of New Jersey.

🇺🇸🇷🇺 US-Russia discussions on cybersecurity are ongoing, Deputy National Security Advisor for Cyber and Emerging Technology Anne Neuberger told reporters, with President Biden “is looking for action with regard to addressing cyber activity.”

She added that the US has seen a notable decrease in ransomware attacks, which could be for “a host of reasons,” and hoped that the trend continues.

😒 Democrats in San Francisco have come up with a "groundbreaking" idea that they hope will reduce gun violence in the city. They will pay high-risk individuals to not shoot anyone.

The Fellowship of Dream Keepers will pay 10 people at high risk of being in gunfights each month $300 to keep them from being involved in such crimes.

🔫 Great, now the Democrats are going to pay criminals in the hope that they won't commit crimes, but it looks like they will end up sponsoring the violence.

🇺🇸💲🇺🇦 The US is providing Ukraine with more than $45 million in additional humanitarian assistance for about 3.4 million people in need.

"This assistance from the United States enables our international humanitarian partners to further support many of the estimated 3.4 million people in need in Ukraine, including those displaced by the Russia-led conflict in eastern Ukraine," Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday. 🇺🇸💲🇺🇦

🇺🇸🇦🇫 The US staged a covert operation in Afghanistan last month to evacuate hundreds of American nationals and at least 1,000 allied Afghan commandos from Afghanistan via a secret Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) compound outside Kabul, a New York Times probe has revealed. 🇦🇫🇺🇸

🌀 Hurricane Ida, now reduced to cyclone level, hit New York City on Wednesday and inundated some areas with heavy rainfall.

🚇 The downpour gained such an intensity that subway stations were forced to be suspended.The number of victims of the devastating effects of Ida hitting New York and New Jersey has now reached 29. ⛈

🇺🇸🇦🇫 The last remaining US forces in Afghanistan could only describe the scenes surrounding their departure as “apocalyptic.”

The final US Air Force crew in Afghanistan contended with a rapidly approaching Taliban and a lack of the technological and logistical support that usually defines the US military. ✈🇺🇸

🎙🗣 Joe Rogan says he tested positive for COVID-19.

💊 The unvaccinated celebrity says he used other treatments to fight the virus and now feels 'great', adding that he only had 'one bad day'. 😷

🇺🇸 A Defense Department spokesperson told Sputnik that the reports of US troops leaving some of its military posts in Syria are not true, adding that the US military's mission there has not changed. 🇸🇾

🇺🇸 ⚖ GOP Representative Liz Cheney (Wyoming) has been selected as vice chair for the investigation into the January 6th Capitol insurrection 🔥

😷 The newly-identified COVID-19 Mu strain poses no immediate threat to the US, the Biden administration's chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci said at a news briefing on Thursday.

🥼 Mu, also officially named B.1.621 by scientists, was added to the World Health Organization's list of variants "of interest" on Monday, the agency's weekly COVID-19 epidemiology report revealed on Tuesday.

🧪 "This variant has a constellation of mutations that suggests that it would evade certain antibodies, not only monoclonal antibodies, but vaccine- and convalescent serum-induced antibodies," the US COVID-19 czar added. "But there isn’t a lot of clinical data to suggest that, it is mostly laboratory in-vitro data."

✈ The FAA has grounded all future Virgin Galactic flights until it finishes an investigation in a mishap on the company's much-publicized July 11th flight. The spacecraft went off trajectory and out of its designated airspace for nearly two minutes as pilots ignored warnings. 🚀

❗Florida Governor Ron DeSantis appeals ruling that schools can require student face masks, says it’s important to let parents opt out. 😷

⚖ The Supreme Court has allowed the Texas anti-abortion law to stand in a 5-4 decision.🤰

🖋 Signed into law in May by Texas Governor Greg Abbott but tangled up in legal fights since then, the so-called “heartbeat” law bans pregnant people from getting abortions if a series of electrical impulses where the fetus’ heart would form is detectable. ♥️👶

❗A grand jury has indicted a former Georgia district attorney, alleging that she showed "favor and affection" to Gregory McMichael and his son Travis McMichael, the men suspected of killing Ahmaud Arbery last year. ⚖

⚖🚨 The US Marshals Service announced on Thursday the arrest of Benjamin Dagley, a 54-year-old Ohio man who was identified as the individual filmed harassing an MSNBC reporter in Gulfport, Mississippi, during national coverage of Hurricane Ida. 🎤🌀📺

🏥 At least 10 National Guard service members headed to Louisiana to assist with Hurricane Ida 🌀 relief efforts were involved in a multi-car wreck in Mississippi after their vehicle was cut off. 

🚛 The military convoy was traveling southbound on Interstate 55 near where it splits with Interstate 220 in Ridgeland when a civilian vehicle "darted out" in front, causing the lead vehicle to slam on the brakes.

💥 That resulted in six military vehicles crashing into each other. The driver of the civilian car left the scene.❗

❗️A number of people have reportedly been trapped after an entire building collapsed in Philadelphia.

According to the media, at least two elderly people have been injured in the incident, which took place at about 22:00 along the 2200 block of North Front Street in Philadelphia's Kensington district. Authorities are now investigating what caused the building's collapse.

President Joe Biden is heading to Louisiana on Friday to survey damage done by Hurricane Ida.

According to the White House, Biden will survey storm damage and meet state and local officials. He will begin his tour of the state in New Orleans and is expected to meet John Bel Edwards, the Democrat Governor of Louisiana.

"I think getting eyes on the damage in person - rather than reading about it, rather than hearing about it, rather than seeing it on TV - is really important. Because this is going to be a marathon, and we’re going to need a lot of help from our federal partners for a long time to come. And we need some of that help immediately," Edwards said at a briefing on Wednesday.

🇺🇸🇮🇳India and the US have signed a project agreement to co-develop air-launched unmanned vehicles for their air forces.

According to India's defence ministry, the agreement was signed on 30 July as part of the Defence Technology and Trade Initiative which has been described as "a significant step towards deepening defence technology cooperation between India and the US".

📱After a wave of criticism, Apple has delayed its plans to introduce a “child safety feature” on iPhones.

Last month Apple announced the CSAM scanning feature that would check the iPhones and personal computers of customers in the United States to flag up images popular with paedophiles.

However, critics said the tool could be used as a tool of censorship for searching for content related to political activism or to dissent. Apple had insisted it would allow security researchers to verify its claims but on Friday the company finally backed down and put its plans on hold.