--:-- Tracy Mumford: From the New York Times, it's the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. Today's Monday, August 5th.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Here's what we're covering. Kamala Harris's very accelerated search for a running mate is now in its final countdown. Three leading contenders for the spot were all in D.C. yesterday. Arizona Senator Mark Kelly, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Each met with Harris at her home for what's being described as a chemistry test. Harris's aides say having a good rapport with her team is a priority for her.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: She's expected to announce her pick tomorrow, but the Times has learned that rifts have emerged inside the Democratic Party over her choices. Progressive groups have criticized Shapiro and Kelly as being too conservative on key issues.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: And while Shapiro has emerged as a favorite of the party's pro-Israel donors, some progressive activists have objected to his stance on Israel's military campaign in Gaza.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Meanwhile, a group of progressive donors have been making the push for Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, even though Minnesota is unlikely to play a critical role in Harris's path to the White House.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The contenders will be told either tonight or tomorrow morning whether or not they'll be on the ticket. And Harris's VP pick is expected to be on stage at a rally with Harris tomorrow night in Philadelphia.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: This morning, stock markets tumbled across Asia as news about the U.S. economy has rattled investors. The declines were most dramatic in Japan, where one major index dropped 12 percent, its biggest one-day loss in more than three decades.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Globally, investors are panicking over signs that the American economy, the largest in the world, could be cooling. On Friday, the jobs report showed that hiring slowed significantly in July, and the U.S. unemployment rate hit a three-month high.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The stock declines are expected to continue in Europe and the U.S. as markets open there this morning.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: We are looking at potentially really, really significant flooding that will happen, particularly in north-central Florida, as this storm makes landfall in Florida and then heads northeast.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Hurricane Debbie is expected to make landfall on Florida's Gulf Coast this morning, after rapidly gaining strength and becoming a Category 1 storm.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: It will hit along a stretch of coast that was devastated just a year ago by Hurricane Adalia. Debbie's wind speeds are lower than Adalia, but it's expected to bring much more rain to the region as it moves slowly across Florida and then north into Georgia and South Carolina in the coming days.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The National Hurricane Center warned that rainfall totals could be, quote, historic. Some places could see up to 30 inches of rain.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Today in Bangladesh, the country's prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, resigned just as thousands of protesters descended on her home in the capital city of Dhaka.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: She was spotted at the airport and seemed to be headed out of the country. The country's been engulfed in protests for weeks, and Hasina's government responded with a brutal crackdown.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Nearly 100 people were killed yesterday, 200 were killed last month, and over 10,000 have been arrested.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The protests began as a peaceful demonstration by students, who are frustrated over how civil service jobs are assigned. But they turned into violent clashes.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: This protest movement may have started about a particular issue, the jobs and the civil service, but it became about much more than that.
--:-- Mujib Mishal: It became about what's been sort of an entrenched authoritarianism during the 15 years of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
--:-- Mujib Mishal: In her time in office, particularly in recent years, she has shrunk any space for free speech. She has cracked down on her opposition in a way where she's bogged them down in court cases and sort of every time they've tried to hold protests, she's cracked down on them.
--:-- Mujib Mishal: So it feels that it is as much a more widespread anger over her authoritarian tendencies, but also over her mismanagement of the economy, because the economy is stagnating now and a lot of people are feeling the pinch of it.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Following Hasina's resignation, Bangladesh's army chief said the military will request the formation of an interim government.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: In the Middle East, the wait for major retaliatory strikes is stretching into a new week. Iran and its proxy forces have been planning an attack on Israel after the recent killings of a top Hezbollah commander and the political leader of Hamas.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The threat of an escalating regional war has set off alarm bells. The U.S. urged its citizens to leave Lebanon immediately. France told its citizens to leave Iran as soon as possible.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: And multiple international airlines have suspended flights to and from Israel. Meanwhile, Israel has continued its attacks in Gaza.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: In the last few days, dozens of people have been killed as Israel carried out strikes on three schools that were functioning as shelters. The deadliest came yesterday in Gaza City.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: According to Palestinian authorities, an Israeli F-16 fighter jet targeted a school, killing 30 people, most of them women and children.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: One survivor of the attack said he had just sat down for a meal with his family when the school was hit, saying it felt like we were burning as if a volcano had erupted over us.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The Israeli military said there was a Hamas command center at the school, and that it took steps to mitigate civilian casualties. It's unclear if any of the people killed were militants.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: And finally... Thompson gets a good start. So does Sembini. So does Fred Curley.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: In Paris this weekend, the race for fastest man in the world came down to a photo finish. In the 100-meter dash, the U.S.'s Noah Lyles spent most of the race at the back of the pack before surging in the final moments and crossing the finish line at nearly the same time as Jamaica's Kishane Thompson.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: They're watching. They're looking. Who has got this? Their race took less than 10 seconds, but examining the footage to figure out who won took longer.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Lyles had the momentum and he's got it! Unbelievable! Ultimately, Lyles was declared the winner by five thousandths of a second.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: For fastest woman in the world, all eyes had been on Team USA's Sha'Carri Richardson. In the women's 100 meter, the runners had to compete in driving rain, splashing across the track.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: And Richardson got edged out. She ended up in silver, while Julian Alfred of St. Lucia took gold. Her win marks the island's first-ever Olympic medal.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Those are the headlines. Today on The Daily, a former close friend of Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance shares a first-person account of how Vance's politics have evolved.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: You can listen on the Times audio app or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Tracy Mumford. We'll be back tomorrow.
