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 Student suspensions coronavirus, Northeastern University Dismisses 11 Students. More than 20 New York University students have been suspended for breaking the school’s new coronavirus policies as colleges around the country grapple with how to keep young adults from spreading COVID-19. NYU said in a Twitter post Saturday that more than 20 students had been suspended. The school did not provide details on the student suspensions, but tweeted the update after less than a week of in-person instruction. “Please don't be the next. Avoid parties and bars,” the school said. “Wear a mask. Keep your distance.” The announcement from NYU came as hundreds of young people partied on Saturday night in Washington Square Park — near the school's Manhattan campus — many of them not wearing masks,  NBC New York reports . Students of the prestigious private university were required to get tested for COVID-19 before moving into the dorms, where they then were told to quarantine for 14 days ...

 Coronavirus vaccine safety pledge, trying to allay the public's fears. Several American drug companies are trying to allay the public's fears about the mad dash for a coronavirus vaccine,  The Wall Street Journal  reports . In a draft of a joint statement reviewed by the  Journal , multiple companies developing and testing COVID-19 vaccines — including Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, and Moderna —  pledged  not to seek government approval for their products until they have been proven safe and effective. The statement is still being finalized, but could reportedly be made public as soon as next week. The  Journal   notes  the pledge is "an unusual joint move among rivals," which comes amid concerns that the companies and the U.S. government may be rushing to approve a vaccine. President Trump, for instance, has (as recently as Friday night)  said  a vaccine is right around the corner, perhaps even by October. In turn, some of h...

China US media credentials, new visa restrictions targeting US media. In the latest round of  tit-for-tat  between Beijing and Washington targeting each other's media outlets, Chinese authorities have imposed new  visa restrictions  on foreign journalists working for US news organizations in China amid growing bilateral tensions.. In the past week, during the routine renewal of their press credentials -- which are normally valid for a year -- several journalists were handed a letter that said their applications were being processed, instead of a new press card. They were advised to carry the letter along with their expired press cards as proof of journalistic identity. Since their  Chinese visas  are tied to their press cards, these journalists were issued a new visa valid for only about two months, much shorter than the usual one year. Chinese authorities have made clear that the temporary press credentials -- and the visas linked to them -- can be re...

 LA paintball wars, warning from authorities. Escalating paintball wars have led to injuries and prompted a warning from authorities. The Los Angeles Police Department has reported 90 paintball shootings this year,  KCAL reported . “Paintball guns can look like real assault rifles and have the capacity to shoot bullets at a speed of 300 feet per second,’' officials said in a statement. “Paintball guns can cause serious soft tissue damage even if the person is wearing clothing over the area.’' Police have made several arrests and seized multiple paintball guns. The shootings are felonies. The number of paintball related incidents for previous years was not available. However, police said the incidents have increased 30% over last year,  KCAL reported . Officials said the shooters record the paintball attacks then share the videos on social media,  KABC reported . Authorities are concerned that because the paintball guns look like real firearms, someone could be k...

 Campers airlifted California, Dramatic nighttime airlift rescues hundreds trapped. Around 150 campers were trapped as wildfires surrounded them in a forest in north California. The people took shelter at the campground in the Mammoth Pool Reservoir, a popular recreational spot,  in the Sierra National Forest. The Madera County Sheriff's Office posted an update on the shelter-in-place situation on their  Facebook page  on Saturday, and clarified that "all are safe at this time" on their  Twitter account. "We understand the swell of concern for Mammoth Pool Reservoir today, but we have to stress the importance of avoiding the area. Emergency crews from multiple agencies need to focus on the critical task at hand — rescue of the approximately 150 people sheltering-in-place at Mammoth Pool Boat Launch," the Facebook post said. On Saturday night, the  Sierra National Forest Twitter account  tweeted that 53 campers were rescued from the boat launch are...

 Chloe Grace Moretz Mother/Android, which will be Tomlin's feature directorial debut. Mattson Tomlin — the writer behind Netflix's splashy sci-fi feature  Project Power — has set his feature directorial debut with sci-fi thriller  Mother/ Android . Chloe Grace Moretz is set to star in the Miramax project as Georgia who, with her boyfriend Sam, goes on a treacherous journey to escape their country, which is caught in an unexpected war with artificial intelligence. Days away from the arrival of their first child, the couple must face No Man’s Land— a stronghold of the android uprising, in hopes of reaching safety before giving birth. Tomlin penned the story, which is loosely based on Tomlin's birth parents, a young couple who were determined to save their child amid the dangers of the Romanian Revolution. Matt Reeves, who worked with Tomlin on  The Batman , will produce  Mother/ Android  under his 6th & Idaho banner, along with Adam Ka...

 Sri Lanka tanker, Rescuers extinguish fire on oil tanker in Sri Lanka after 3 days. Salvage of MT New Diamond, an oil tanker that caught fire off the coast of Sri Lanka is to begin with its Greek owners appointing SMIT International Singapore (Pte) Ltd for the task while a joint effort is carried out to keep down a blaze and cool crude tanks, the island’s Navy said. A team of 10 British and Dutch experts are due to land in Sri Lanka on Sunday who will be ferried to the tanker by the island’s Navy. SMIT International Singapore, appointed by New Shipping Limited the owners of vessel is also sending equipment and experts in crude oil disaster management to MT New Diamond to commence the salvage operation, the Sri Lanka Navy said. TTT One, a fire fighting vessel which has been helping with disaster management already has a team including a salvage chief who can deal with such disasters, the Navy said. A joint effort involving three Sri Lanka navy capital ships, five Indian Coast ...

 Four tropical disturbances, depression this week. We’re almost to the peak of hurricane season, and right on cue, we’re watching four new disturbances in the Atlantic Basin. Two of which have a high chance of becoming a depression this week. The front-runner is INVEST-92L, which is producing a disorganized cluster of storms this morning. 92L is expected to push off to the west-northwest in the central Atlantic over the next several days, where conditions will be favorable for it to become a tropical depression or storm. The  National Hurricane Center gives this disturbance a high 90% chance of development over the next 5 days. Behind 92L, a vigorous tropical wave is forecast to push off the west African Coast today. A tropical depression is likely to form by the middle of next week as it pushes westward across the eastern tropical Atlantic. Right now, the National Hurricane Center is giving it a high 80% chance of development over the next 5 days. Computer models are bul...

 Mike Trout 300 home runs, Former Salt Lake Bees Star Mike Trout Hits 300th Career MLB. Los Angeles Angels  outfielder  Mike Trout  added another line to his Baseball Hall of Fame resume when he became the fastest player in Major League Baseball history to hit 300 home runs and steal 200 bases on Saturday during the first game of a home doubleheader against the  Houston Astros . Per Elias Sports Bureau (h/t ESPN's  Aiden Gonzalez ), Trout pulled off the 300-homer, 200-stolen base feat in his 1,235th game. Legendary outfielder Willie Mays previously held the record by hitting those marks in 1,295 contests. Trout stole his 200th base on  Aug. 31, 2019  against the  Boston Red Sox . He has 201 for his career.

 Navid Afkari confession, Iran airs wrestler's confession after Trump tweet. Iran has broadcast the purported confession of a wrestler whose execution sentence has been condemned by rights groups and criticized by U.S. President Donald Trump. State television on September 6 broadcast video of Navid Afkari saying he stabbed a man, and showed confessions purportedly written by the 27-year-old wrestler. However, in a recording circulating on social media, Afkari has said his confession was coerced. Afkari was sentenced to death for committing a murder during mass anti-government protests in 2018, and the airing of his purported confession came just days after Trump intervened on the wrestler's behalf. In a September 3 tweet, Trump called for Iran to reverse the death sentence imposed after Afkari's conviction of murdering a man in the southern city of Shiraz amid the protests was upheld. Human rights activists at home and abroad have denied that Afkari committed the crime...

 California heat outages, Stage 2 Power Emergency Ends for Saturday. Thousands of people across Los Angeles County were without electricity today amid a record-breaking heat wave, as both Southern California Edison and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power reported scattered outages, and the California Independent System Operator called a Stage 2 Emergency. The action, expected to last through 11 p.m. was terminated at 8:35 p.m., according to Southern California Edison spokesman Ron Gales. ``No rotating outages tonight.,'' he said.. SCE was experiencing most of the larger problems as of 4:30 p.m., with 122 total outages affecting more than 21,200 customers, Gales said. That included 1,752 customers in Alhambra, 1,429 customers in an unincorporated area near Calabasas, 833 customers in Long Beach, 4,413 in Monterey Park and about 2,300 in unincorporated Los Angeles County, according to Edison. The DWP reported about 14,000 customers were without power in its service...

 Rihanna scooter accident, smacked her in the face. Rihanna was left with a nasty black eye and a severely bruised face as she became the latest big star to be involved in an e-scooter incident. She was "smashed in the forehead" as the vehicle flipped over and hit her directly in the head. The singer's reps have confirmed RiRi is nursing her injuries after the worrying accident. It came after YouTube sensation Emily Hartridge died when she lost control due to an under-inflated tyre. A coroner last week concluded the presenter, 35, died instantly from multiple traumatic injuries when she was thrown under a lorry in Battersea, London, last July. Last month, Simon Cowell required back surgery after falling off an e-bike at his mansion. Nine-time Grammy winner Rihanna is recovering after her nasty accident. The 32-year-old was pictured in LA with a number of dark markings on her face as she drove in a car to her favourite restaurant Giorgio Baldi. Her representative told...

 Trump parade boats sink, reports of several boats in distress on Lake Travis. Travis County emergency crews responded to reports of several boats in distress on Lake Travis, near Austin, Texas. The boats were part of a parade that was underway to show support for the reelection of President Donald Trump. “We responded to multiple calls of boats in distress, several of them sank,” but there are no reports of fatalities or injuries and investigators have not determined how many boats sank on the lake near Austin, according to sheriff’s spokesperson Kristen Dark. Dark said the cause was under investigation, but there was no indication of an intentional act. “We have no reason to suspect foul play in any of these,” sinkings, Dark said. State Senator Dawn Buckingham posted the video below earlier in the day. According to the Travis County Sheriff’s Office, there were many emergency calls Saturday for boats in distress and several had sunk. Lake Travis Trump boat parade....  p...

  'World's loneliest elephant' OK'd to quit zoo for new life (Details). An elephant who has become a cause celebre for animal rights activists around the world will be allowed to leave his Pakistani zoo and transferred to better conditions, the animal welfare group helping with the case said Saturday. Dubbed the ‘world’s loneliest elephant' by his supporters, Kaavan has languished at a zoo in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad for more than 35 years. Martin Bauer, a spokesman for Four Paws, said the elephant has been finally given medical approval to travel, most likely to Cambodia, where he will find companionship and better conditions. The overweight elephant Kaavan underwent a full medical examination at the zoo on Friday, said Bauer. In May, Pakistan’s High Court ordered the Marghazar Zoo closed because of its abysmal conditions blamed on systemic negligence. Rescuing Kaavan from the zoo's dire conditions attracted the attention of animal activists arou...

 Colorado September snow, Record Heat To Record Cold. The first snow to accumulate in September in 20 years is expected Tuesday in Denver. Until then, record heat is expected Saturday and Sunday and it will be among the hottest Labor Day weekend’s on record in Colorado. Temperatures will reach the lower 90s along the Front Range on Friday which will be the 70th day in 2020 with a high temperature of at least 90 degrees. The record is 73 days from 2012 which will likely be tied on Monday. Meanwhile, the current record high for Saturday (Sept. 5) is 98 degrees from 2019 and that record should be at least tied. A few locations on the Eastern Plains will be even hotter with 100 degrees possible. Sunday should be the hottest day of the holiday weekend with high temperatures near 100 degrees in Denver. The record for Sept. 6 is 97 from 2013 and that record is almost guaranteed to be broken. (source: CBS) Labor Day on Monday will also be warm but temperatures will move away from reco...