The News Ensues

Global Protest Update

• Hong Kong protesters returned to the streets to oppose recently postponed elections in one of the biggest demonstrations since China imposed a controversial national security law in June.
• Seventy-four people were arrested in Portland over the weekend as the city’s ongoing demonstrations surpassed 100 straight days.
• More than 300 people were arrested this weekend in London as part of ongoing protests accusing the UK government of inaction against climate change.

More: Jacob Blake made his first public appearance since his shooting in a video from his hospital bed. Watch here.

Trump vs. The Atlantic

A Sept. 3 report from The Atlantic - citing four unnamed sources - claimed that President Trump in 2018 refused to visit a WWI American cemetery in France because he didn’t respect the fallen soldiers, calling them “losers.” President Trump has denied the allegations, saying he canceled the 2018 visit because of transportation difficulties and has questioned the legitimacy of the four unnamed sources.

California Declares State of Emergency

California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in five counties - Fresno, Madera, Mariposa, San Bernardino, and San Diego - on Sunday due to widespread wildfires, which have caused seven deaths so far. On Monday, California set a state record with more than 2 million acres burned this year.

More: A pyrotechnic device used during a gender reveal party sparked the El Dorado fire, which has now spread over 7,000 acres.

Worth Noting: A Saudi Arabian court overturned the death penalty for five hitmen sentenced to death for the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and handed down prison terms to eight other accomplices.

☠️ Wake Me Up When September Begins… Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny awoke from a poison-induced coma in a German hospital on Monday. Germany is reportedly considering sanctions against Russia over the incident.

🥵 It’s Getting Hot In Here! Los Angeles recorded its highest temperature ever in Woodland Hills on Monday (121°F).

Home Box Office

Christopher Nolan’s Tenet earned more than $20M in its first weekend in U.S. theaters. Analysts said Tenet would have been expected to garner between $35M and $55M domestically in pre-COVID times. The film, which opened internationally the week before, has made nearly $150M so far.

More: While Disney has yet to reveal its Disney+ earnings for Mulan, the film brought in a strong $5.9M in international revenue over the weekend.

The Need For Seed

Amazon banned foreign sales of seeds into the U.S. over the weekend. The move comes after thousands of American households reported receiving unsolicited packets of seeds in the mail over the past several months, many postmarked from China. U.S. officials said a leading explanation for the packages is that they are part of a “brushing scam.”

More: Amazon has been increasingly filled with thousands of fake product reviews. How to spot them.

Cloudy With A Chance Of Rule-Breaking

Italy’s competition authority announced investigations on Monday into cloud storage services run by Apple, Dropbox, and Google in response to several complaints. In a press release, the agency said it is investigating whether the three companies failed to properly indicate how their services would collect and use consumer data for commercial purposes.

📶 Tech Talk… Samsung signed a $6.65B contract to provide Verizon with equipment and services for its 5G network.

Sports Roundup: 🎾 Tennis star Novak Djokovic was disqualified from this weekend’s U.S. Open after hitting a ball at a line judge (video) | 🏇 Authentic won the 146th running of the Kentucky Derby on Sunday. (Full results)

🚀 Space Race… according to state-run media outlet Xinhua News, China successfully launched - and landed - an experimental reusable spacecraft on Friday.

Lip Service

Bentley Boyers of Jackson, MI, was born with a cleft lip - a congenital disability that made it difficult for the young boy to eat as a newborn. Now, at two years old, Bentley has already undergone two skin grafts to correct the congenital anomaly, but he will still have to receive another surgery to fix the issue entirely.

Last week, Bentley’s father, Brandon, was looking to adopt some chickens from the nearby Jackson County Animal Shelter when he came across a puppy with a cleft lip. Recognizing that the precious pooch was a perfect match for Bentley, Brandon quickly adopted the dog and introduced her to his son. In an encounter captured on the shelter’s Facebook page, Bentley was immediately enamored by the dog and showered her with joyful kisses (photos).

It’ll All Work Out

Each night for almost a year, LaShenda Williams of Nashville, TN, slept in her car in the parking lot of her local Kroger grocery store as she battled addiction and abuse. Desperate for a place to rest, LaShenda would lean her driver's side seat all the way back to avoid being seen, knowing store policy prohibited overnight stays. However, someone did see LaShenda – Kroger's hiring manager, Jackie Vandal.

Last December, Jackie encouraged LaShenda to attend the community's upcoming job fair and spent hours helping her fill out an application for Kroger. When LaShenda submitted her application, Jackie hired her on the spot. This month, LaShenda celebrated ten months of employment at Kroger and recently saved enough money to move into an apartment furnished by donations from her coworkers.

Stellan & The Sunflower Stalk

At the beginning of the pandemic, Stellan Smith of Stanstead Abbotts, England, asked his father, Douglas, to fulfill a request that seemed to come straight out of a fairytale. The four-year-old, who had previously seen his dad compete in a few vegetable-growing competitions, asked if the two could grow a sunflower as tall as their house. Douglas took the challenge in stride and began searching for hardy sunflower seeds.

Since March, Douglas has worked hard to cultivate his son’s dream, growing a single sunflower that stands a staggering 20-feet-tall, reaching well above the roof of their two-story home. Douglas helped the towering flower reach its impressive height by attaching it to a makeshift flagpole, including hooks to hold the plant up against its own weight.