(TOKYO) — Tokyo reported a record number of 3,177 new COVID-19 cases Wednesday as the Olympic games remain underway.
It’s the second day in a row in which Japan’s capital reported record-breaking cases. On Tuesday, the city reported 2,484 COVID-19 cases, which exceeded its previous record of 2,520 cases set on Jan. 7, 2021, according to Kyodo News.
Japan’s National Institute of Infectious Disease (NIID) has estimated that the highly contagious delta variant is responsible for nearly 80% of infections in Tokyo.
Patients who make up the new cases mainly involve people ranging in age from their 20s to 40s, according to the NIID, which reported an increase in hospitalization in people under the age of 50.
As of Wednesday, at least 27% of the country has had at least one dose of the vaccine, according to a government report at the beginning of the month. Tokyo remains under its fourth coronavirus state of emergency.
Last week, the International Olympic Committee reported that nearly 80 people accredited to the games had tested positive for the virus, including more than two dozen athletes.
Although Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga urged people during a press conference Tuesday to avoid non-essential travel, he said there is no reason to consider suspending the Games at this time, saying, “Please watch the Olympic Games on TV at home.”
(WASHINGTON) — A day after its first hearing with emotional testimony from police officers brought the Jan 6. Capitol attack back into the national spotlight, the House select committee investigating the assault will meet this week on possible next steps, including issuing subpoenas.
“I have no reluctance whatsoever in issuing subpoenas for information,” Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., told MSNBC’s Morning Joe Wednesday morning, asserting the committee “absolutely” has the authority. “Nothing is off limits in this investigation.”
His comment comes after the Department of Justice said in letters to former DOJ officials and provided to congressional committees that they can participate in investigations related to the Jan. 6, according to sources and letters reviewed by ABC News Tuesday, which the House Oversight Committee later confirmed. Therefore, if witnesses try to fight subpoenas, they may have to do so on their own dime.
“Members of Congress have already admitted that they talked to the White House while it was going on. Now many of them are trying to walk back the conversation they had,” Thompson said. “We plan to pursue it.”
Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., who sits on the committee, told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos that the committee had not ruled out calling Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, who has criticized the committee and was vetoed from it by House Speaker Pelosi over comments she said would damage its credibility, to testify.
Jordan admitted on Tuesday evening that he — like GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy — spoke to former President Donald Trump on the phone on Jan. 6, and in another interview Wednesday with Ohio Spectrum News reporter Taylor Popielarz, confirmed he spoke to Trump on Jan. 6.
Asked by Popielarz if he spoke to Trump before during or after the attack, Jordan said he didn’t remember.
“I spoke with him that day. After? I think after. I don’t know if I spoke with him in the morning or not. I just don’t know,” he said.
Fox News host Brett Baier also pressed Jordan Tuesday on whether he spoke to Trump that day, and Jordan repeatedly deflected, saying he’s “talked to the former president umpteen times — thousands, countless times.”
Baier followed up, “But I mean on January 6, congressman.”
“Yes,” Jordan said. “I mean, I’ve talked to the president so many — I can’t remember all the days I’ve talked to him, but I’ve certainly talked to the president.”
Conversations in Trump’s orbit, such as the apparent call with Jordan, are key to what the committee is seeking to investigate, with Cheney saying Tuesday that Americans should know what happened “what happened every minute of that day in the White House.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi affirmed the committee’s subpoena power in her weekly news conference on Capitol Hill, but distanced herself from the committee itself as House Republican leaders disparaged the two GOP members who joined the panel as “Pelosi Republicans.”
When asked what will happen if House members don’t comply with subpoenas, Pelosi emphasized she is not involved with the select committee and “has not been a party to any of those decisions, so I cannot tell you what they might decide.”
The speaker also dismissed concerns that there will be political backlash if the committee’s work drags out or loses momentum, asked if she would like to see the committee move more expeditiously.
“They will take the time that they need,” she said. “We were very late in getting to this because we were striving for the bipartisan commission, which we thought was very possible.”
While lawmakers have a seven-week recess coming up, Thompson said Wednesday that the committee will meet again to discuss its next steps this week.
“We’ll have a meeting before we break for the August recess, but in reality, I think you know we’ll be back during that recess doing our work because we have to get to the bottom of it,” he told MSNBC. “Our democracy depends on it.”
At its first hearing, the committee heard from four officers who recounted they feared for their lives on Jan. 6 as they were brutally beaten and outnumbered by a pro-Trump mob. One officer described fearing he would be “torn apart” and chants of “kill him with his own gun.” Another said he was taunted with racial slurs in uniform for the first time in his career.
They all criticized lawmakers who have downplayed the attack and pleaded with the panel to uncover if those in power aided and abetted rioters, including the former president.
“There was an attack on Jan. 6, and a hit man sent them,” said Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn. “I want you to get to the bottom of that.”
Democrats are already coming to the defense of the officers after right-leaning cable news hosts attacked the testimonies as performative Tuesday night.
“Stupidity has no reach. It can go anywhere. It’s unfortunate that people would interpret the brave people who defended the Capitol as somehow disingenuous in their presentations,” Thompson said Wednesday.
While Capitol police officers watched the hearing on TVs and phones in the hallways of the building that was attacked, Republican leaders who blocked efforts to investigate the day dismissed the hearing as a political play and said they didn’t watch.
Senate GOP Mitch McConnell, who said after the attack that the “mob was fed lies” and “provoked by the president and other powerful people,” said he was “busy doing work” during the hearing.
“I don’t see how I could have expressed myself more forthrightly than I did on that occasion, and I stand by everything I said,” he said.
McCarthy, who held an event outside the Capitol ahead of the hearing as a preemptive strike to the officers’ testimony, told a Politico reporter he wasn’t able to because he was stuck in “back-to-back meetings.”
Notably, McCarthy has suggested Pelosi didn’t do enough to secure the Capitol that day, but McConnell, as leader of the Senate, has not faced the same criticism. Security at the Capitol is controlled by the Capitol Police Board.
GOP Rep. Matthew Rosendale of Montana told ABC News he only watched the opening statement from Cheney, who was ousted as the No. 3 House Republican earlier this year following her criticism of Trump’s role on Jan. 6.
“I was quite disappointed,” he said, before launching into a series of questions he wanted to be answered.
But because Republicans gave up their ability to participate in the hearing, with McCarthy withdrawing all of his members, they couldn’t lead the discussion in their preferred direction.
Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif, who sits on the committee, blasted Republicans to ABC News who chose not to hear from the officers who helped protect them.
“For Kevin McCarthy and for my colleague from Montana to just say, ‘Oh I didn’t have the time to watch this hearing,’ you know, is just unfortunate and sad, and they just want to play politics with this,” he said. “That’s all this is.”
Aguilar added the public can expect more public hearings to come, though the date for the committee’s next hearing has not yet been announced.
ABC News’ Alex Mallin, Katherine Faulders and Ben Siegel contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — The Justice Department on Wednesday released guidance intended to caution states embarking on so-called post-election ‘audits’ of vote counts for the 2020 presidential election that they must not run afoul of federal voting laws.
The guidance, previously previewed last month by Attorney General Merrick Garland in his policy address on voting rights, outlines federal statutes that the department says elections officials must adhere to during such “audits,” such as preserving all federal elections materials and making sure they’re not tampered with.
“This document sets down a marker that says the Justice Department is concerned about this, and we will be following this closely,” a DOJ official told reporters on a media conference call Wednesday.
The guidance echoes a warning sent by the department back in May to the Republican-run audit in Arizona, warning officials there that all election records must be preserved and expressing concern about the state handing over election materials to the private contractor group Cyber Ninjas.
After the department’s letter, Arizona officials backed off of a plan to send contractors from the group to visit homes in the state’s largest county of Maricopa to ask voters whether or not they had cast ballots. The Wednesday guidance includes a warning that officials who seek to embark on such “audits” can’t do so in a way that will intimidate voters.
DOJ officials on Wednesday declined to provide any update on the department’s review of the Arizona “audit.” But the guidance comes as Republicans in several other states have expressed interest or are already moving forward with similarly partisan reviews of the 2020 vote count in certain jurisdictions — despite lacking any evidence of widespread fraud.
The department also issued separate guidance Wednesday that outlines the range of federal laws protecting voting by different methods.
“It’s responsive to the fact that more Americans than ever are voting, not on Election Day in person in a polling place, but that are voting at voting centers or voting early or voting by mail,” one official said.
An official said that the second set of guidance should be a note of caution to states that might be looking to roll back policies that expanded access to voting during the COVID-19 pandemic. The official gave the example of the election bill passed this year by Republicans in Georgia that implemented voting restrictions the department is now suing over, alleging it unlawfully targets minority communities.
“You should not assume that if you abandon the practices that have made it easier for people to vote, that abandonment is not going to get scrutiny from the Department of Justice,” an official said.
Usher and Tameka Foster in 2007; Moses Robinson/WireImage
Celebrity stylist Tameka Raymond Foster wants to clear up any rumors or misconceptions about her marriage to Usher in her upcoming memoir, Here I Stand… in a Beautiful State.
According to HotNewHipHop, the book will feature stories about the former couple’s relationship, Foster’s life growing up in Oakland, California, and stories about her former clients, such as Lauryn Hill,Jay-Z, Timbaland, Aaliyah, Chris Brown and more. The title is a nod to Usher’s 2008 studio album, Here I Stand.
Usher and Tameka were married from 2007 to 2009 and share two sons, Naviyd Ely and Usher V. During their heated custody battle, Tameka suffered the devastating loss of her 11-year-old son, Kile Glover. He passed away in 2012 after a jet ski accident on Lake Lanier in Georgia.
Now, Usher and Tameka co-parent their blended family, along with the singer’s nine-month-old daughter, Sovereign Bo. Usher is also preparing to welcome his second child with his girlfriend, Jennifer Goicoechea.
“Here I stand to finally tell my side of the story,” says Foster in a trailer for the book. “Unfiltered and unapologetic. A story of survival and perseverance. You think you know a story, but you don’t even know the half.”
Here I Stand… in a Beautiful State will be released on September 15. Autographed copies of the book are available for pre-order at TamekaRaymond.com.
(HELLA, Iceland) — Hotel Rangá in Iceland is looking for a photographer to chase the northern lights, also known as aurora borealis.
This dream job consists of three weeks chasing the lights from September to October.
The hotel is located in the Icelandic countryside, where temperatures typically average 40 to 50 degrees during the fall season.
The photographer chosen for the job will be required to provide high-quality photos and videos in order to receive travel to and from Iceland.
The requirements also include giving the hotel “unlimited license to mutually agreed-upon photographs and videos.”
“In exchange for providing content of the northern lights at the hotel, this seasonal employee will receive free room and board along with access to the hotel‘s stargazing observatory and hot tubs, not to mention the opportunity to explore the photogenic land of fire and ice on their days off,” the hotel wrote on its website.
Tenille Townes is sharing an inspirational message to girls and young women everywhere with the music video for her new single, “Girl Who Didn’t Care.”
The clip, which arrived this week, spotlights three women who are at the top of traditionally male-dominated fields. They are space enthusiast and future Mars One ambassador Alyssa Carson, soccer goalie Sarah Fuller and Nashville firefighter Shannon Wells. Also included in the video are three young girls who play the part of the women’s younger selves, dreaming about accomplishing big goals one day.
“Seeing this idea come to life and telling real stories about what it looks like to go get a crazy dream and make it happen was the coolest thing,” Tenille says of the video on social media.
“I wouldn’t be here without the heroes I had to look up to…There’s something so powerful about seeing somebody actually living out their dream,” she continues. “It makes it all seem possible. I hope you see that and believe that about your own dream when you watch this.”
“Girl Who Didn’t Care” is Tenille’s first new song off an upcoming project.
Jack White is collecting all of his non-musical endeavors in one online space.
The project, dubbed Jack White Art & Design, showcases everything from the rocker’s industrial and interior design work to photography and film. There’s even a section on furniture and upholstery, which you may recall was White’s job prior to The White Stripes taking off.
You can check out all Jack White Art & Design has to offer at JackWhiteArtandDesign.com. The site also includes a subsection titled “Exhibitions” that states “No shows currently,” suggesting that White may be displaying some of his work on the road at some point.
White’s most recent music release is the 2019 Raconteurs album, Help Us Stranger.
The Country Music Association’s CMA Summer Jam kicked off the first night of a two-day country music party on Tuesday, with acts like Carly Pearce, Cole Swindell, Blake Shelton, Gwen Stefani and Luke Bryan taking the stage at Nashville’s Ascend Amphitheater.
But fans got a special treat during Carrie Underwood’s closing set: The singer invited country mainstay Dwight Yoakam to join her onstage. Together, Dwight and Carrie powered through an exciting selection of some of his biggest hits, including a honky-tonkin’ duet version of “A Thousand Miles from Nowhere.”
In her solo set, Carrie certainly wasn’t short on hits, either: CMT reports that her CMA Jam performance included fan favorites like “Before He Cheats,” “Two Black Cadillacs” and “Blown Away.”
If you weren’t in the crowd to catch Dwight and Carrie’s performance, have no fear: The CMA Summer Jam is being filmed as part of a three-hour primetime TV special, which will air later this summer on ABC.
The fun returns on Wednesday night, when acts like Dierks Bentley, Luke Combs, Florida Georgia Line, Thomas Rhett, Miranda Lambert and more take the CMA Summer Jam stage.
Whitney Houston: Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images; Jon Bon Jovi: Debra L Rothenberg/Getty Images
Sure, getting inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is nice, but now New Jersey’s own Jon Bon Jovi and Whitney Houston are getting a real honor: rest stops named after them on the Garden State Parkway.
The neighboring New Jersey Turnpike has rest stops named after historical New Jerseyites, like Thomas Edison, but the Parkway is going for star power, reports NorthJersey.com. The rest stop formerly known as — no joke — Cheesequake will now be known as the Jon Bon Jovi Service Area, while the one formerly known as Vauxhall will be renamed the Whitney Houston Service Area.
Other famed New Jerseyites who are getting the rest stop treatment include Frank Sinatra, Toni Morrison, James Gandolfini, salsa legend Celia Cruz and author Judy Blume. It’s all part of a campaign by the New Jersey Hall of Fame, which is installing displays about each rest stop’s famous namesake.
But wait, you ask — where’s the Bruce Springsteen Service Area?
“Bruce Springsteen respectfully declined to have a service area named after him,” a New Jersey Hall of Fame spokeswoman told NorthJersey.com. “It should be noted, though, that Bruce has been very supportive of the New Jersey Hall of Fame over the years, and is very much a part of the fabric of the Hall.”
The FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit concluded that the shooter who killed eight at a FedEx facility in April carried out the shooting as “an act of suicidal murder.”
“The shooter decided to commit suicide in a way which he believed would demonstrate his masculinity and capability of fulfilling a final desire to experience killing people,” FBI Indianapolis Special Agent in Charge Paul Keenan said at a press conference announcing the results of the investigation Wednesday.
In April, Brandon Scott Hole allegedly opened fire outside the building and in a locker room area of the FedEx facility just outside of Indianapolis.
Hole was “indiscriminate” at who he shot at both inside and outside of the facility, adding that he was outside for a total of three minutes before walking back into the locker room and taking his own life, Craig McCartt, deputy chief of investigations for the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, said.
He was stopped from entering the facility by the physical security barriers put in place.
“It certainty could’ve been much worse had he gotten access to the back part of that facility where there was a lot of other employees,” McCartt said.
Acting U.S. Attorney John Childress said Hole was “exacerbated by mental health issues.”
The Behavioral Analysis Unit concluded that shooter “did not appear” to be motivated by the need to address any injustices, nor did the shooter “appear to have been motivated by bias, or desire to advance any ideology.” Four of the victims of the shooting came from the area’s Sikh community.
The FBI said that after examining over 175,000 files on his computer they found 200 files of “mainly German military, German Nazi things.”
“But there was no indication that there was any animosity towards the Sikh community or any other group for that matter,” Keenan said.
The FBI said there wasn’t any evidence to suggest he targeted the FedEx facility other than that is a location he knew well. Also, the FBI said 73% of mass shooters carry out an attack at a place with which they are familiar. Hole had worked at the facility from August to October 2020.
“He also incorrectly believed he had identified a vulnerability which would have given him unobscured access to many potential victims,” Keenan said.
McCartt also said that Hole’s mother reported him to the IMPD in March 2020, saying he might want to carry out suicide by cop after which the department confiscated a shotgun belonging to Hole. A police report from that incident showed that officers also observed white supremacist material on Hole’s computer.
“He never got that gun back in his possession, but then some months later he was able to buy more firearms,” McCartt explained.
The FBI said Hole started acquiring guns that were used in the eventual shooting in July 2020.
The shooter simply just stopped showing up for work and that is why he lost his job, McCartt explained, adding Hole acted alone in his efforts.
“In talking with other employees and FedEx personnel, he had never had any kind of issue there,” McCartt added.
