The Top Stories on the Internet Today (Friday August 21)

August 21, 2020

Here are some of today’s major headlines.

Analysis: Kamala Harris defines her role: A prosecutor who will take the fight to Trump ‘for the people’

As Kamala Harris made history Wednesday night, she defined the role she hopes to play as Joe Biden’s running mate: the defender of the voiceless, the vilified and the forgotten Americans who have struggled under four years of President Donald Trump.

Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny hospitalized after suspected poisoning: spokeswoman

Russian opposition leader and outspoken Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny was unconscious and on a ventilator in a hospital Thursday in Siberia after falling ill from suspected poisoning, his spokesperson said.

Kamala Harris officially becomes the first Black woman to be a major party’s vice presidential nominee

California Sen. Kamala Harris made history Wednesday night as the first Black and South Asian woman to accept a major party’s vice presidential nomination, promising to be a champion for the voiceless and forgotten Americans who are struggling in the midst of a pandemic and an economic crisis.

Seven takeaways from the DNC’s third night

The nation’s most prominent Democrats on Wednesday night sought to instill a sense of urgency in voters that was absent four years ago, when Donald Trump was elected President.

US suspends Hong Kong extradition treaty over new security law

The United States government has officially suspended its extradition treaty with Hong Kong over concerns that the Chinese government’s new national security law is eroding the city’s autonomy.

Australia’s Qantas says international flights ‘unlikely’ to resume before July 2021

Australian carrier Qantas Airways announced Thursday that it’s “unlikely” to resume international flights before July 2021, as it suffers heavy losses due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Apple helped the US government build a ‘top secret’ iPod, former engineer says

David Shayer was sitting at his desk in 2005 when his boss’s boss at Apple asked him to take on a “special assignment” for the company: help the US Department of Energy build a “top secret” iPod.

Why the Mali coup could worry Donald Trump and Emmanuel Macron

A coup in Mali, West Africa, could have ramifications far beyond its borders, threatening to further destabilize across the region and jeopardizing counter-insurgency efforts led by France and the United States.

SpaceX is now a $46 billion ‘unicorn’

SpaceX, the Elon Musk-led company that recently became the first business in history to send astronauts into Earth’s orbit, is parlaying its successes into big money.

Trump ‘cancels’ Goodyear tires as he campaigns against ‘cancel culture’

President Donald Trump is calling on his followers to not buy Goodyear tires, despite previously railing against “cancel culture,” after an employee posted a viral photo of a company policy banning “Make America Great Again” and other political attire in the workplace.

UN joins global condemnation of Mali coup

The United Nations has joined global condemnation of the military takeover in Mali, which saw President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta forced to resign. The UN’s Security Council echoed similar calls by regional bodies for the immediate release of all government officials and the restoration of constitutional order.

Obama to blast Trump’s ‘reality show’ presidency

Barack Obama will accuse President Donald Trump of treating the White House like “one more reality show”, in a speech to the Democratic convention. The former US president will say his Republican successor “hasn’t grown into the job because he can’t”.

Coronavirus: Germany record highest cases in months – BBC News

They call it the fifth season: from November through to February, south and western Germany celebrates Carnival. Revellers, decked in bright fancy dress, drink, sing and party in packed halls or crowded streets. But there’s now fierce debate over whether this cherished tradition can go ahead at all as the number of new daily infections continues to rise.

Apple first US company to be valued at $2tn

Tech giant Apple has become the first US company to be valued at $2tn (£1.5tn) on the stock market. It reached the milestone just two years after becoming the world’s first trillion-dollar company in 2018. Its share price hit $467.77 in mid-morning trading in the US on Wednesday to push it over the $2tn mark.

Airbnb puts stock market launch back on the table

Airbnb has announced plans to list on the stock market as concerns over the impact of the coronavirus ease. The short-term letting platform previously planned an initial public offering (IPO) for earlier this year but it appeared to be on hold. Airbnb is now moving forward after filing confidential registration documents with US market regulators.

Trump says QAnon followers ‘love our country’ after Facebook cracks down on violent groups

Trump once again declined to denounce the conspiracy theory group QAnon, which believes he is masterminding a plot to oust pedophiles in the highest reaches of government and politics. Not only that, he side-stepped a question about whether he was indeed taking on such an outlandish mission.

Hackers can now clone your keys just by listening to them with a smartphone

Every time you unlock your front door, your key whispers a small, but audible, secret. Hackers finally learned how to listen. Researchers at the National University of Singapore published a paper earlier this year detailing how, using only a smartphone microphone and a program they designed, a hacker can clone your key.

Facebook announces it’s cracking down on both QAnon and Antifa

One is a conspiratorial pro-Trump movement that believes Hollywood celebrities and the Democratic Party run a global, satanic child-sex-trafficking ring. The other is a protest movement featuring antifacist activists who sometimes get a bit violent when defending communities, like Charlottesville, Virginia, from white supremacists. Facebook is cracking down on both.

Star-studded Disney+ murder mystery ‘Death on the Nile’ gets its first trailer

All products featured here are independently selected by our editors and writers.If you buy something through links on our site, Mashable may earn an affiliate commission. You might not be familiar with Hercule Poirot. The fictional Belgian detective created by Agatha Christie was originally brought to life by actor David Suchet in the long-running British TV series, Poirot.

Watching ‘The Office’ on Netflix? You’re missing a few great scenes.

All products featured here are independently selected by our editors and writers.If you buy something through links on our site, Mashable may earn an affiliate commission. Since Netflix started streaming The Office, fans have had a super convenient way to re-watch the classic workplace comedy.

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