10 things you need to know today: August 4, 2016

A police officer guards the scene of a stabbing in London

(Image credit: REUTERS/Neil Hall)

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1. Donald Trump makes fundraising gains, nearly catching Hillary Clinton
2. 1 killed, 5 injured in London mass stabbing
3. Top Republicans plot Trump campaign intervention
4. Obama commutes 214 inmates' sentences, most in one day since 1900
5. Supreme Court temporarily blocks ruling on transgender bathroom choice
6. Study: Veteran suicides have risen by nearly a third since 2001
7. Washington, D.C., transit officer accused of aiding ISIS
8. Fed fines Goldman Sachs $36 million over leak
9. 33 U.S. service members infected with Zika abroad
10. U.S. women's soccer team wins first Olympic match

published 4 August 2016

1. Donald Trump makes fundraising gains, nearly catching Hillary Clinton

Donald Trump made big fundraising gains over the last two months thanks to a flood of small donations, according to figures released by the Republican presidential nominee's campaign on Wednesday. Trump and the Republican National Committee raised a total of $82 million last month, nearly erasing Democratic rival Hillary Clinton's big fundraising lead. Clinton raised $90 million. In polls, however, Trump lost ground. Clinton extended her lead in a new Fox News poll to 10 percentage points, up from six points a month ago. In a two-candidate matchup, she leads Trump 49 percent to 39 percent.

An American woman was killed and five other people were injured in a stabbing spree at London's Russell Square on Wednesday. Police arrested a 19-year-old suspect, using a Taser stun gun to subdue him. London Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley said that "early indications suggest that mental health was a factor" in the attack. Police said earlier that they also were investigating the possibility of ties to terrorism, but they found no immediate evidence of such a link. The elegant park where the stabbings occurred is near the site of a 2005 suicide bombing.

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Some top Republicans close to Donald Trump's orbit are reportedly plotting an intervention with the GOP presidential nominee after two days of increasing controversy and dissatisfaction with his campaign. Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, and ex-New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani are among the leaders who want to urge him to reboot his campaign. Trump's running mate, Mike Pence, on Wednesday endorsed House Speaker Paul Ryan in his reelection bid — apparent damage control after Trump said he was "not quite" ready to back Ryan in the primary.

President Obama on Wednesday granted clemency to 214 inmates in an ongoing push to free prisoners serving sentences deemed to be overly harsh. Obama has commuted the sentences of 562 inmates in all, but 214 far surpassed his previous single day record. White House Counsel Neil Eggleston said the number represented "the most commutations in a single day since at least 1900." Administration officials said Obama would continue releasing selected inmates through the last months of his final term.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday temporarily blocked a lower court order to let a transgender boy use high school restrooms corresponding to his gender identity. It was the first time the high court had gotten involved in recent controversies about transgender rights. A Virginia school board has challenged the bathroom ruling, it says, to "protect the basic expectations of bodily privacy of Gloucester County students." Justice Stephen Breyer joined the court's conservative wing in the 5-3 ruling as a "courtesy" to put the case on hold until the justices can review the case when they return in the fall.

The suicide rate among U.S. veterans has jumped by 32 percent since 2001, according to a Department of Veterans Affairs study released Wednesday. In the same period, civilian suicides increased by 23 percent. Among male veterans who used VA health care services, the suicide rate increased by 11 percent, while it jumped by 35 percent among those who did not. The contrast was even sharper for female vets. An average of 20 veterans died from suicide per day in 2014.

A Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority officer was arrested Wednesday on charges of providing material support to the Islamic State. The suspect, Nicholas Young, is the first American police officer to face such a charge. There was no evidence that Washington, D.C.'s subway and commuter rail system was ever endangered. Law enforcement had been watching Young since 2010. He was friends with a man, Zachary Chesser, who pleaded guilty to supporting foreign terrorists, and met several times with Amine El Khalifi, who was later arrested in 2012 for plotting a suicide bombing attack on the U.S. Capitol.

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday fined Goldman Sachs $36 million over a 2014 leak of confidential government information. A junior Goldman banker, since fired, received information from a New York Fed employee. Both of the men pleaded guilty to stealing government property, and Goldman already has paid a $50 million penalty to New York state regulators over its failure to properly supervise the employee. Goldman uncovered the leak.

The Pentagon announced Wednesday that 33 service members, including one pregnant woman, have contracted the mosquito-borne Zika virus. All were infected outside the continental U.S. Six relatives of the service members also have contracted the virus. Zika can cause microcephaly and other birth defects. The Pentagon said it has been taking "proactive steps for months to help mitigate the threat of Zika," and urged service members to wear insect repellent and to stay away from areas with mosquitos.

The Rio Olympics Opening Ceremony officially gets the Games underway on Friday, but competition began Wednesday with several preliminary women's soccer matches. Sweden beat South Africa in the first game. Brazil beat China, 3-0. The U.S., reigning Olympic champions, defeated New Zealand 2-0. The U.S. team plays world No. 3 France next. The Olympic torch arrived in Rio de Janeiro on Wednesday on its last leg before the Opening Ceremony. Hundreds of demonstrators greeted torch bearers in the streets, protesting the high cost of staging the Olympics.

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Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.