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The resolution opens the possibility for the Department of Justice (DOJ) to consider filing charges against Fauci.

On Thursday, the Senate Homeland Security Committee passed a resolution to hold Dr. Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), in contempt of court for refusing to answer questions about his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Republican Senator Rand Paul pushed for the vote after the hearing in which the former official invoked the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution more than 100 times.

The resolution opens the possibility for the DOJ to consider filing charges against Fauci. Paul announced that he will send the committee’s decision directly to the DOJ without a full Senate vote.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance, in his capacity as President of the Senate, must approve sending the resolution to the DOJ, giving his office a key role in this process.

If the DOJ were to file charges, a complex legal battle would ensue, as Fauci received a preemptive pardon from former President Joe Biden covering his actions from 2014 through January 2025.

Dr. Anthony Fauci on Wednesday repeatedly invoked the Fifth Amendment and declined to answer dozens of questions from senators in a Republican-led committee hearing about his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. The scientist, who helped lead the nation’s COVID-19 response, was… pic.twitter.com/JFkYa3KeDO

— The Associated Press (@AP) July 29, 2026

Fauci justified his silence by stating that Paul had summoned him to “justify his repeated public promises that I will end up behind bars,” which reinforced his decision to invoke the Fifth Amendment.

During the hearing, Fauci repeatedly stated, “On the advice of my counsel, I respectfully decline to answer under my Fifth Amendment rights.”

Paul maintains that Fauci should be in prison because he holds him responsible for funding research in China that, according to him, triggered the pandemic.

The conflict escalated when Paul released more than 1,000 pages of Fauci’s journal. In response, more than one hundred scientists signed a letter defending the former official against what they consider attacks from President Donald Trump’s administration.

#UnitedStates | The United States has made its visa bond policy permanent, requiring applicants from dozens of countries to pay bonds of up to US$20,000 before obtaining certain nonimmigrant visas.
Washington argues the measure is intended to reduce visa overstays. Critics,… pic.twitter.com/C0qKY5bBn3

— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) August 5, 2026

teleSUR: JP

Source: EFE


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Palestinians attend the funeral of 112 members of the Hassayna and Abu Sharia clans, who were killed in an Israeli strike in November 2023 during the beginning of the Gaza genocide. They were laid to rest on August 4, 2026, after their remains were recovered from underneath the rubble, nearly three years later. (Photo: Bilal Osama/APA Images)Nearly three years after a November 2023 Israeli airstrike buried them in the rubble, Gaza families recovered 112 of their dead and laid them to rest, including a mother still embracing her three children.


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Photo: Ryan Robinson

Summary

  • Indigenous culture camps are happening across Canada this summer. Revitalizing cultural practices, spending time on the land, and participating in ceremonies is the focus of most camps.
  • Despite dozens of wildfires across B.C., organizers are fulfilling their commitments, highlighting the importance of hosting communities and organizations.
  • Some culture camps have been happening for decades, while other communities hosted their first camp this year.

For 10 days in July, Qaqaqam Chris Wells spent time on the land camping with Líl̓wat youth, teaching Lil̓wat7úl cultural protocols, songs and stories. The Kwáozán̓tsut cultural summer camps have been “a long time coming,” he said.

“Bringing our children back onto the land is teaching them land based healing and learning,” Wells told the Narwhal. “It was really awesome to bring back our culture.”

Hosted at Klháka7min, previously known as the Coast Mountain Outdoor School, two separate age groups camped for five days each between July 6th and July 17th.

A young girl uses a traditional fan to smudge people at the Kwáozán̓tsut culture camp, instilling cultural leadership and spiritually cleansing those who participated. Photo: Ryan Robinson

Though the youth were a bit shy at first, Wells and fellow camp leaders Ánwasúlmec Brett Wallace and Sík Sík Joshua Anderson say that by the end of each cohort, seeing how the participants had come out of their shells was a highlight.

“It was extra special for me: I had two of my daughters there, one in each age group,” Anderson said. “It was an opportunity to spend more time with them during the busy summer.”

During this year’s culture camp, a wildfire prompted evacuations in Pemberton, located approximately 25 kilometres down the road. Despite the nearby fire, the culture camp was a success — connecting youth with tradition, the land and culture.

“We were pretty safe from all the fires happening around us,” Wells said. He’s stewarded the territory since he was a youth.

Land-based learning, education and connection

Between the two age groups — 9 to 12-year-olds, and teens — 30 youth attended the camps.

Líl̓wat Elders took youth out onto the land, teaching them about edible berries and teas that grow in the area during that time of year.

“Every evening we had singing and drumming, and talked about cultural protocols. We talked about the origin of the songs. We talked about our ceremonies,” Wells said.

Singing traditional music is a skill. Learning how to drum, the language for the songs and to perform in front of others all takes time, patience and confidence. Learning traditional songs was a large focus at the Kwáozán̓tsut camp this year. Photo: Ryan Robinson

Archery, axe throwing and rifle shooting with the older age group all took place with laughter and storytelling throughout.

Youth had the opportunity to make traditional rattles and smudge bowls, ceremonial items that can be hard to access for a young person. Anderson said numerous parents reached out to him after the camp, sharing how their child went home wanting to practice their culture more through smudging.

The youth even made a swimming hole to jump into cold glacier water, adding some casual fun into the mix, and relief from the hot summer days.

“You can’t forget the fun part of it. We had the opportunity to play bone game in the evening time,” Anderson said, which showed the youth “how disputes were settled in a traditional manner.”

The bone game is a traditional game used historically as an alternative to war by nations along the Salish Sea, and has other names such as “stick game” or “hand game” in other regions of Western Canada.

Youth were also split into three groups and tasked with helping in the kitchen. Local Lil̓wat7úl chef Casey Gabriel taught them how to cook for the group and clean up afterwards.

Qaqaqam Chris Wells is generous with his cultural knowledge, eager to share with the next generation of Líl̓wat and St’át’imc leaders. Photo: Ryan Robinson

The Kwáozán̓tsut Cultural Summer Camps were championed by the organizing trio of Anderson, Wells and Wallace, who are no strangers to hosting culture camps. But despite hosting camps in St’át’imc Nation communities for years, it took some time to prepare and build the trust required to host youth camps in their own nation.

Now the Líl̓wat Nation wants to host another culture camp this fall. Wells, Wallace and Anderson are all looking forward to sharing their knowledge and helping out.

Now in its 15th year, Nlha’7kapmx annual culture camp is a ‘safe haven’

Excitement for future camps is a sentiment shared by Michelle Isaac, who always lends a helping hand at an annual Nlaka’pamux culture camp hosted at Pasulko Lake, located in B.C.’s Southern Interior.

“My stepmom at the time, Amy Chapman, brought me up to what used to be called the healing gathering. All I remember from there was how much of a difference it made in my life,” Isaac told the Narwhal.

She attended the healing gathering after surviving a severe car accident, but over the years, the annual gathering lost volunteers and resources.

Nlha’7kapmx annual culture camp was a success this year, bringing the nation together for days of cultural celebrations and learning. Photo: Lasha McIntyre

Having experienced the healing energy of gathering herself, and meeting with the service agency about how to support community members, Isaac and a group of ladies working for Nlha’7kapmx Child and Family Services decided to spearhead a community based culture camp.

Now in its 15th year, people in the area look forward to gathering at Pasulko Lake each summer, practicing culture and being together on the land.

This year, a mix of cultural activities, including drum making, cedar weaving and language friendship bracelet making took place, along with activities such as a tug-of-war game between youth and the local firefighting group, the Lytton Rattlers, and a performance by local band Ritchie and the Fenderman.

Isaac attends camp each year with her children, who are part of the Lower Nicola Indian Band community. While Isaac is not Indigenous herself, she still attends with an open heart and mind, supporting in any way she can. When wildfires are burning, she sees the camps as an especially important place for youth.

Youth playing “freeze dance” on a warm summer day at Nlha’7kapmx culture camp. Photo: Shelanne Justice

“They’re able to come up there and do the activities, do the crafts, I find it takes a lot of stress and fear from the fire away from them,” Isaac said. This year, it’s also been an important refuge for her as well, after she was evacuated in July due to the nearby Brunswick Creek wildfire.

“Fire-wise, for me it was a safe haven. My one daughter came up as well, who was also evacuated, and hung out all week there. It gave me a safe place,” she said.

Across B.C. and Canada, wildfires disproportionately impact First Nations communities. Though they represent only five per cent of the population, it’s estimated that First Nations make up 42 per cent of all wildfire evacuations.

As wildfires blaze all around the Interior, the camp offered a break from smoke for those in attendance. On event posters this year, air quality warnings were addressed, with evacuation routes marked along the way to camp as a precaution.

People who attended camp were asked to register at the sign in desk daily, to track who was there, and were informed about a muster point in the event of evacuation.

The decision to continue on with both culture camps was deliberated by organizers carefully, with designated people monitoring surrounding wildfires.

Indigenous youth shooting rifles at culture camp.

Indigenous youth shot rifles at culture camp, supervised and guided by community members. Today, rifle shooting is how most people hunt traditional foods such as deer. Photo: Shelanne Justice

Renegerating the land through fire

B.C. was the first province or territory in Canada to ban cultural burning in 1874, prohibiting generations of Indigenous people from stewarding their territories with fire. In 2024, 150 years later, the province officially amended wildfire regulations to support cultural burns. Today, many nations are in the process of reclaiming this practice, including Líl̓wat.

“We can’t look at fire as dangerous all of the time. We gotta look at it as an element that helps us regenerate, and help us repurpose the land,” Wallace added.

An example of fire regenerating the land was visible to those at Líl̓wat’s culture camp through an abundance of berries, following a cultural burn several years before.

“That specific area was culturally burnt seven or eight years ago and now finally it’s starting to reproduce huckleberries,” Wallace said. “It’s not just a small piece of land, it’s a really big area, and the whole area was covered in huckleberries and raspberries because of these cultural burns that happened.”

Youth were able to harvest these berries, and surrounding wildlife have a tasty treat.

And in the era of technology, culture camps give youth the opportunity to disconnect from the internet, and to connect with the natural world.

“Back in our time, we didn’t have technology to hold us back from being out on the land,” Wells said. “It’s important to return to land-based healing … to be St’át’imc, and to do St’át’imc things.”

The Narwhal’s reporters are telling environment stories you won’t read about anywhere else. Stay in the loop by signing up for our free weekly dose of independent journalism.


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Cells are enclosed by a cell membrane, a sophisticated structure mainly made of lipids that is vital for fundamental biological processes. Artificial lipid membranes have many practical applications, such as drug delivery, but engineering their properties is a huge challenge. Now, a team in Japan has found a new way to control membrane structure.


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Weather scientists have long known that typhoons even hundreds of kilometers away from the Philippines can interact with the southwest monsoon, resulting in multiday heavy rains. But the exact dynamics of this relationship remained largely unknown until recently.


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Politicians from both sides of the aisle have come to realize in recent years that "affordability" and "cost of living" are key issues voters want to hear about on the campaign trail, with nearly all respondents to a Harris Poll last month reporting they believe the US is currently in an affordability crisis.

But on Wednesday, before 1,300 Texans in the city of Arlington, state Rep. James Talarico (D-50), the Democratic US Senate candidate, contextualized the crisis for voters.

Talarico provided a history lesson that explained how—while his opponent, Attorney General Ken Paxton, has blamed the Biden administration for rising costs and the struggles of working Texans—"this affordability crisis isn't something that happened over the last five years. This affordability crisis has been 50 years in the making."

While introducing his economic platform, "The New American Dream," Talarico held the audience's attention as he explained the Powell Memo—a document formally titled “Attack on American Free Enterprise System,” which Virginia-based corporate lawyer Lewis Powell wrote in 1971 for his client, the US Chamber of Commerce.

The memo, said Talarico, provided "a blueprint for how corporations could amass political power, reverse the gains of the Great Society and the New Deal, and rig the system for themselves."

"The Powell memo outlined a strategy. Unite corporate special interests, privilege corporate perspectives in the media, appoint sympathetic judges to the court, and buy politicians in both political parties," continued Talarico. "And it worked. Republicans and some Democrats sold the false gospel of trickle-down economics."

.@JamesTalarico: 50 years ago, a corporate lawyer named Lewis Powell circulated a memo around DC — a blueprint for how corporations could amass political power, reverse the gains of the Great Society and the New Deal, and rig the system for themselves.

The Powell memo outlined a… pic.twitter.com/ne7f23iXP3
— Team Talarico (@TeamTalaricoHQ) August 6, 2026

In the memo, Powell—who was appointed to the US Supreme Court by President Richard Nixon just months after he delivered the blueprint to the powerful Chamber of Commerce—outlined how the interests of corporate America should be framed as "individual freedom" that the country must protect.

Private companies should use political influence "aggressively and with determination" to stop "the stampedes by politicians to support any legislation related to 'consumerism' or to the 'environment,'" wrote Powell, and should show no "reluctance to penalize politically those who oppose” the corporate effort.

“Strength lies in organization, in careful long-range planning and implementation, in consistency of action over an indefinite period of years, in the scale of financing available only through joint effort, and in the political power available only through united action and national organizations," the memo argued.

"Trickle-down economics is not a theory, it is theft."

The result of that "long-range planning" and "consistency of action over an indefinite period of years," said Talarico, is the current political system—in which corporate interests pour billions of dollars into elections to support favorable candidates, Congress passes massive tax breaks for billionaires, and working families are left struggling to afford healthcare, childcare, and other essentials.

"Trickle-down economics is not a theory, it is theft," he said. "Since the late 1970s, megadonors and corporate special interests have been buying politicians in both political parties. And then those politicians turned around and rigged the economy to benefit their wealthy donors at our expense. We have an affordability crisis because we have a corruption crisis."

He added that five decades after the Powell Memo, "the top 1% put the American Dream behind a paywall"—pointing to the extreme wealth of tech CEOs like Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, while "one in five Texas children live in poverty."

The American Dream has become an American Nightmare.

It’s too expensive to buy a home.
It’s too expensive to get married and have kids.
It’s too expensive to retire comfortably.

The top 1% put the American Dream behind a paywall. pic.twitter.com/gfhM2weVY0
— James Talarico (@jamestalarico) August 6, 2026

David Sirota of The Lever, whose team produced the award-winning 2024 podcast "Master Plan," which details the history and influence of the Powell Memo, applauded Talarico for speaking directly to voters about the long history behind today's "affordability crisis."

"Talarico is recounting—and promising to fight—the master plan that we exposed. And he’s making that promise in one of America’s most high-profile Senate races," said Sirota.

Talarico's event in Arlington marked the beginning of a monthlong tour across Texas in which he plans to roll out his plans to begin reversing the decades of damage done by the Powell Memo and politicians from both major parties who have prioritized corporate interests over working Americans.

The candidate's agenda includes raising the minimum wage; closing billionaire tax loopholes and ending tax breaks for the top 1% of earners in President Donald Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act; passing universal childcare; permanently expanding the child tax credit; passing an anti-corruption package to ban super political action committees; and providing down payment assistance for first-time home buyers.

"People are working hard every day," said Talarico. "They're playing by the rules. But those rules of today weren't written for us. They were written for billionaires."


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Moscow Cites Ukrainian Drone Strikes as Zelensky’s Claims of New Attacks on Oil Refineries.

On Thursday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova described recent statements by President Emmanuel Macron as incitement to encourage terrorist acts against civilians.

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“By calling for greater pressure on Russia, Macron is directly ordering attacks against the civilian population. France must know that its leaders are personally participating in terrorist acts against women and children,” Zakharova said.

Previously, in a message posted on X, the French president reiterated his support for the Zelensky regime and urged allies to further harden their stance against Russia.

“Together with Ukraine, we will not give in to fatigue or intimidation. The European Union and its partners will continue increasing pressure on Russia, particularly through new sanctions, while strengthening military support for Ukraine so it can defend itself and protect its population,” he said.

For the past month, however, Ukraine has been engaged in carrying out terrorist attacks on Russian territory, which have often resulted in numerous civilian casualties.

On Aug. 3, the village of Arkhipo-Ossipovka was the target of one of the deadliest drone attacks ever recorded in the Krasnodar region, killing four adults and three children and injuring 58 people.

On Aug. 4, Rodion Miroshnik, Russia’s ambassador-at-large, reported that 391 Russian civilians had been affected by Ukrainian air attacks during the previous week. The figure included 342 injured people, among them 16 minors, and 49 fatalities, including four children.

The hardest-hit areas were the Belgorod region, the Donetsk and Luhansk republics, and the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions. Miroshnik specified that drones were responsible for approximately 95% of the casualties.

On Thursday, Gov. Yegor Kovalchuk confirmed that Ukrainian drone attacks killed two civilians and injured six people in the Bryansk region, which borders Ukraine.

“A kamikaze drone struck a moving vehicle. The driver died at the scene. In addition, the Ukrainian Nazis carried out a drone attack in Novozybkov. One man was killed,” he said.

In the attack on Novozybkov, five people were injured. A third drone struck another vehicle, leaving a sixth person injured in the region.

On Thursday, Russia’s Defense Ministry confirmed that its forces had shot down 605 Ukrainian fixed-wing drones over 18 Russian regions, the Crimean Peninsula, and the Black and Azov seas. Authorities said 155 drones were intercepted over the Bryansk region.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed responsibility for new attacks on oil refineries deep inside Russian territory as part of the campaign to limit the revenue Moscow earns from oil exports.

He said Ukrainian forces successfully struck the Bashneft-Novoil refinery in the Republic of Bashkortostan and the Slavneft-YANOS refinery in the Yaroslavl region.

teleSUR/ JF

Sources: Sputnik – EFE – Tf1Info


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The espionage campaign occurred at a time when Israel was facing a UN inquiry into war crimes committed during the 2014 war on Gaza


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A new Australian study has found that feeding zoo-housed lions whole-animal carcasses on a feast-and-fast schedule encourages behaviors more closely aligned with those seen in the wild.


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Abdul El-Sayed's victory in the Democratic US Senate primary in Michigan this week was just the latest example of an insurgent progressive challenger defeating candidates backed by the Democratic establishment.

The establishment, however, is vowing to not go down without a fight.

In an interview with The New York Times published Thursday, Jonathan Cowan, the president of the corporate-funded group Third Way, revealed plans for a $15 million campaign to counter the influence of organizations such as the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), which he described as a "mortal danger" to the Democratic Party.

"We are preparing for the next war that is coming," said Cowan, who added that "it is deeply troubling to see radical, far-left candidates winning in places that are potentially presidential swing states."

The Times report noted, however, that big moneyed interests, most notably the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), spent tens of millions of dollars attacking El-Sayed, who nonetheless emerged triumphant in the race.

Some critics fired back at Third Way, noting that the group only appeared interested in attacking progressives rather than promoting a positive agenda to improve people's lives.

Maurice Mitchell, the director of the Working Families Party, told the Times that groups such as Third Way are "missing a point of view" and are not seeing the "populist insurgency taking place in this country."

Mitchell was far from alone in criticizing the group's plans.

Jon Favreau, co-host of Pod Save America, remarked in a social media post that Third Way's $15 million investment would be better spent "building a movement and coming up with a vision that actually excites voters."

Favreau's comments were echoed by journalist Nathan Newman.

"Have moderates thought about presenting compelling policies more appealing to voters?" Newman asked. "Instead of going to war against the left, why not attract votes by going to war against insurance companies gouging patients, against employers busting unions, or against polluters?"

Even some critics more in line with Third Way's politics expressed skepticism of its proposed campaign.

Derek Thompson, co-author of Abundance, a book that critiqued progressive governance, argued that Third Way's efforts would only reinforce progressives' narratives about big moneyed interests trying to squash a grassroots rebellion against the status quo.

"People should do what they want with their money but moderate Democrats' deficits relate to candidates, messaging, organizing, and enthusiasm... not money," said Thompson. "Plus, I hope people see the risk in a headline about moderates raising millions of dollars to attack a popular left insurgency that attracts support in part... by representing themselves as a bulwark against moneyed interests."

New York University School of Law professor Chris Sprigman was similarly dismissive of the Third Way campaign, predicting that "centrists [are] likely to be no more effective against their own democratic left than they’ve been against the authoritarian right."

Lindsay Owens, executive director of the Groundwork Collaborative, argued that Third Way and other neoliberal organizations needed to look in the mirror when it comes to placing blame for the current state of US politics.

"The reason we are in this mess is because the biggest risk we face is market fundamentalism," Owens wrote. "That's what broke the country and voters know it. That's why they are turning against Third Way corporate Dem-style candidates. That’s the thing to fix."


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