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'Swift boat' redux, Ukraine incursion and Taylor Swift cancelation

 
Today's Politics story

Vance launches 'Swift boat' attack on Walz's service

What happened
Sen. J.D. Vance (Ohio), the Republican vice-presidential nominee, attacked his Democratic counterpart Tim Walz's military record on Wednesday, claiming the Minnesota governor "abandoned" his Army National Guard unit before it deployed to Iraq in 2006 and lied about serving in combat. The claims, recycled from Walz's 2018 gubernatorial run, appear to be false or based on subjective interpretation.

Walz filed to run for Congress in February 2005 then retired from the National Guard in May, two months before his unit was told it was being sent to Iraq. Vance served four years in the Marine Corps, including six months in Iraq in a noncombat public affairs role.

Who said what
"There is no evidence that Walz retired to avoid a wartime deployment" and he "never claimed he was a combat veteran," Politico said. Vance's attacks are "reminiscent of the 2004 campaign to discredit the distinguished war record of Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry." Those 2004 "'Swift boat' attacks," The New York Times said, were orchestrated by Chris LaCivita, now a "senior strategist for the Trump campaign."

The attacks on Walz's 24-year military career were "part of the race from both parties to define the relatively unknown governor" after his selection as Kamala Harris' running mate, CNN said. They also "appeared aimed at disrupting what has been a run of positive news coverage of the Democratic ticket," The Washington Post said.

What next?
It "remains to be seen" if Swift-boating "will be as successful 20 years later," Politico said, especially given the record of Vance's running mate. "Anyone who tries to criticize [Walz's] record but looks the other way at Donald Trump's six deferments to Vietnam is beyond the pale," former Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-Pa.), a retired Army captain who served in Iraq, told the Times.

 
 
Today's INTERNATIOnal story

Ukraine launches surprise attack inside Russia

What happened
Ukraine has launched an assault on Russia's Kursk region, across the border from Ukraine's northeastern Sumy and Kharkiv provinces, military analysts and Russian officials said Wednesday. The attack, launched early Tuesday, appears to have taken Russia by surprise. Russian military bloggers, contradicting the Kremlin, said Ukrainian forces have pushed a few miles into Russia and captured several settlements.

Who said what
Russian President Vladimir Putin, meeting with top defense officials, called the incursion a "large-scale provocation." Squads of pro-Ukraine Russian fighters have raided Russia several times since Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine, but "it's clear this is something completely new," Ruslan Pukhov, director of the Moscow think tank CAST, told The Wall Street Journal. "This is a full-scale army operation."

The main "question from some military experts was: 'Why?'" the BBC said. "One of Ukraine's biggest battlefield issues is manpower," and its overstretched military is slowly losing ground to Russia's larger and better-armed forces in eastern Donetsk province. Ukrainian officials declined to comment on the operation.

What next?
"There are more questions than answers from events in the Kursk region," military analyst Mykhaylo Zhyrokhov told the BBC, but if the operation slows Russian attacks or saps Moscow's momentum, Kyiv will see it as worthwhile.

 
 
Today's Culture Story

Taylor Swift shows canceled over attack threat

What happened
Three upcoming Taylor Swift concerts in Vienna were canceled Wednesday over an apparent terrorist plot. Authorities said two suspected extremists had been arrested, at least one of whom was believed to be planning attacks on large-scale events in the Austrian capital, including Swift's sold-out stadium shows.

Who said what
"We have no choice but to cancel the three scheduled shows for everyone's safety," event organizer Barracuda Music said on Instagram. Some 170,000 people had been expected to attend the three concerts, starting Thursday. Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer called the cancelation a "bitter disappointment for all fans in Austria," but also a potential "tragedy prevented."

Earlier Wednesday, Austria's Director General for Public Security Franz Ruf said police arrested a 19-year-old Austrian citizen who had made "an oath of allegiance" to the Islamic State terrorist group in July and was focused "on the Taylor Swift concerts in Vienna." Police searching his home found undisclosed chemical substances.

What next?
All ticketholders will receive a full refund, but no replacement concerts have yet been announced. The next scheduled stop on Swift's Eras Tour is England, with shows scheduled next week at Wembley Stadium.

 
 

It's not all bad

Northwestern University researchers have developed "dancing molecules" — synthetic nanofibers that help with cartilage regeneration, something human bodies cannot do in adulthood. The molecules activated gene expression for cartilage regeneration in cells within four hours and produced essential protein components in three days, the team said in a study published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. This breakthrough aims to treat osteoarthritis, which affects 530 million people worldwide, and could lead to radical new regenerative therapies for cartilage tissue in joints.

 
 
Under the radar

The general scientific consensus has been that complex life started on Earth approximately 635 million years ago. However, a new theory suggests animal life may have begun about 2.1 billion years ago. A study published this month in the journal Precambrian Research details how formations in rock samples, thought to be fossils, suggest the conditions required for life appeared much earlier than previously decided. 

The fossil records, found in Gabon, indicate increased phosphorus and oxygen in the seawater, which has "previously been linked to accelerations in evolution," said Science Direct. "We already know that increases in marine phosphorus and seawater oxygen concentrations are linked to an episode of biological evolution around 635 million years ago," Ernest Chi Fru, one of the study authors, said in a statement. "Our study adds another, much earlier episode into the record, 2.1 billion years ago."
  
Not everyone agrees with the findings of the study. "I'm not against the idea that there were higher nutrients 2.1 billion years ago, but I'm not convinced that this could lead to diversification to form complex life," Graham Shields, a professor at University College London, said to the BBC. Others are interested in the findings but say more evidence is needed to make a true claim. "There's nothing to say that complex biological life couldn't have emerged and thrived as far back as 2 billion years ago," said Elias Rugen, a Ph.D. student at London's Natural History Museum.

 
 
On this day

August 8, 1974

President Richard Nixon announced that he was resigning the presidency, effective at noon the following day. He was succeeded in the Oval Office by his vice president, Gerald Ford. Nixon stepped down after evidence of his culpability in the Watergate scandal emerged. He is the only American president to have resigned.

 
 
TODAY'S newspaperS

As the Kamala Harris-Tim Walz ticket tours the Midwest, drawing big crowds, Donald Trump is "agitated by shift in race," The Washington Post says on Thursday's front page. "Walz's unveiling caps full shake-up of the 2024 race," USA Today says. His "path to prominence" was "extraordinarily ordinary," The New York Times says. Walz and Trump's running mate J.D. Vance are trading barbs but they do agree on one thing, The Wall Street Journal notes: "Diet Mountain Dew rules." In other election news, "Squad" member Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) "warns pro-Israel lobby 'to be afraid'" after it spent millions of dollars to unseat her in Tuesday's Democratic primary, The Guardian says.

► See the newspaper front pages

 
 
Tall tale

Name of Thrones

The U.K. Passport Office initially rejected a 6-year-old girl's application because she was named after Khaleesi, a character in HBO's "Game of Thrones." The girl's "devastated" mother, Lucy Holloway, received a letter stating she needed permission from Warner Bros. because "Khaleesi" was trademarked by the company, the BBC said. But her lawyers quickly determined the trademark covered goods and services, not people's names. The Passport Office has since apologized.

 
 

Morning Report was written and edited by Theara Coleman, Nadia Croes, Catherine Garcia, Scott Hocker, Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, Justin Klawans, Devika Rao, Rafi Schwartz and Peter Weber, with illustrations by Stephen Kelly and Julia Wytrazek.

Image credits, from top: Emily Elconin / Getty Images; Gavriil Grigorov / Pool / AFP via Getty Images; Thomas Niedermueller / TAS24 / Getty Images for TAS Rights Management; Surasak Suwanmake / Getty Images