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Polio in Gaza, Harris on CNN and listeria at deli meat plant

 
Today's INTERNATIONAL story

Israel, UN agree to Gaza pauses for polio vaccinations

What happened
Israel has agreed to a series of staggered "humanitarian pauses" in Gaza to allow United Nations workers to administer polio vaccines to about 640,000 Palestinian children 9 and under, World Health Organization (WHO) official Rik Peeperkorn said Thursday. The first three-day pause in fighting is scheduled to begin Sunday in central Gaza.

Who said what
Gaza's first case of polio in 25 years was confirmed last week in a 10-month-old boy who is now partially paralyzed. The infant "was born during wartime and never vaccinated," WHO Deputy Director Michael Ryan said Thursday. Poliovirus was discovered in Gaza wastewater in July. Israel's military said that month it had started vaccinating its soldiers against polio, the BBC said. The Israeli government initially balked at pausing the fighting to allow vaccinating Gaza's children, The New York Times said, but U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken emphasized during a visit there last week that "without the vaccinations, the poliovirus now spreading in Gaza could expand throughout the region, including to Israel itself."

"I'm not going to say this is the ideal way forward, but this is a workable way forward," Peeperkorn said. "Not doing anything would be really bad." Hamas official Basem Naim said the militant group is "ready to cooperate with international organizations to secure this campaign." Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said "this is not a cease-fire."

What next?
The second three-day pause is set for southern Gaza, followed by a third respite in the north. The U.N. said the required second dose of polio vaccine will be administered four weeks after the first.

 
 
Today's POLITICS story

Harris claims steadfast values in CNN interview

What happened
Vice President Kamala Harris sat down Thursday for her first major television interview since she became the Democratic presidential nominee following President Joe Biden's exit from the race on July 21. CNN's Dana Bash interviewed Harris and her running mate, Tim Walz, at a cafe in Savannah, Georgia. The wide-ranging 27-minute conversation was broadcast Thursday night.

Who said what
Harris said her positions on some issues may have shifted since her 2019 presidential run, but "my values have not changed." She pledged she "will not ban fracking" but would appoint a Republican in her Cabinet. And she brushed off Donald Trump's comments about her racial identity, telling Bash: "Same old tired playbook. Next question please."

Harris was "methodical and risk-averse," parrying Bash's questions "without causing herself political harm or providing herself a significant boost," Reid Epstein said at The New York Times. Like a "top seed in the early rounds of the U.S. Open," Harris performed to "survive and advance to the next round — in this case, her Sept. 10 debate" with Trump. On social media, Trump called the inverview "BORING!!!"

What next?
Harris told a packed arena in Savannah later Thursday that it will be a "tight race to the end," and she's the underdog. The first mail ballots go out in two weeks.

 
 
Today's HEALTH Story

Mold, bugs at listeria-linked Boar's Head plant

What happened
Government food safety inspectors reported 69 "noncompliances" with federal safety standards at a Boar's Head deli meat plant in Jarratt, Virginia, in the year before it was identified as the source of a listeria outbreak that has left at least nine people dead and dozens hospitalized, U.S. Department of Agriculture records released Thursday show. Boar's Head recalled more than 7 million pounds of pork and other meat products on July 29.

Who said what
The problems, flagged on 57 separate days between August 2023 and July 27, included insects, "black patches of mold," a "rancid smell in the cooler," mildew, "blood in puddles on the floor," liquids dripping from the ceiling, "heavy discolored meat buildup” and "meat overspray on walls." Boar's Head told CBS News that food safety is the company's "absolute priority" and the Jarratt team immediately addressed "each and every issue raised by USDA in this report."

Food safety experts questioned why Boar's Head didn't clean up the repeated problems and the safety regulators didn't make them. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention called this the "largest listeriosis outbreak" since 2011, when cantaloupe was the source. About 260 people die from listeria in the U.S. each year.

What next?
The Jarratt plant will remain closed until Boar's Head can "demonstrate it can produce safe product" there, the USDA said Thursday. It can take up to 10 weeks to develop listeria symptoms, so "federal health official anticipate seeing additional cases," The Washington Post said.

 
 

It's not all bad

The Australian government has approved plans for a giant solar farm that could deliver up to 6 gigawatts of green electricity to Singapore annually by the early 2030s. The electricity would be transmitted 500 miles via overhead transmission line from a remote area of northern Australia to Darwin, before traveling to Singapore through 2,600 miles of submarine cable. "This massive project is a generation-defining piece of infrastructure," Australian Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek said, and will "help turn Australia into a renewable energy superpower."

 
 
Under the radar

A study published in the journal Nutrients found that 60% of foods in the U.S. marketed toward infants and toddlers failed to meet nutritional standards set by the World Health Organization (WHO). Almost all the 651 foods studied also failed to meet the WHO's advertising standards, which require the product labels to be clear about ingredients and nutrition facts. "Time-poor parents are increasingly choosing convenience foods, unaware that many of these products lack key nutrients needed for their child's development," Elizabeth Dunford, one of the study authors, said in a press release.

More than 99% of the tested products had some form of misleading advertising. "We saw this not only in the use of misleading claims but also in the use of misleading names" said Daisy Coyle, a coauthor of the study. "For example, snack and finger foods often referred to fruit or vegetables in the product name, despite primarily being made of flour or other starches."

Introducing processed foods and high levels of sugar at a young age can lead to negative health outcomes in the future. In the U.S., one in five children is affected by obesity, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "These findings highlight that urgent work is needed to improve the nutritional quality of commercially produced infant and toddler foods in the United States," the study in Nutrients said.

 
 
On this day

August 30, 1963

The first hotline between the Kremlin in Moscow and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., became operational. The hotline became known in popular culture as the "red telephone," but in reality it used fax machines, teleprinters and secure email to maintain contact. The hotline has reportedly never been used, but Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Joe Biden are known to have spoken on the phone several times.

 
 
TODAY'S newspaperS

Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris "gains slim lead in poll," The Wall Street Journal says on Friday's front page, beating Donald Trump by just one point in a national matchup but topping him for the first time in this survey since 2023. "Harris surges ahead in new poll," USA Today says, noting a sizable "shift with Black, Hispanic youth voters." Trump spent the past 24 hours displaying a "messy medley" including a "QAnon tribute, crude attacks, false claims and GOP anxiety," The Washington Post says, deeming that "vintage Trump." Is there "method to his madness?" the Philadelphia Daily News asks. 

► See the newspaper front pages

 
 
Tall tale

Cold beauty

TikTok users are posting videos of their decorated refrigerators as part of a new "fridgescaping" trend, showing picture frames, sculptures and vases next to the eggs and cheese. Lifestyle blogger Lynzi Judish gives her fridge a refresh every two weeks, spending about three hours adding candles to the shelves, pouring milk into fancy pitchers and placing fruit in glass bowls. "I thought it was just so beautiful, such a fun way to romanticize your kitchen," she told "Inside Edition."

 
 

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: Eyad Baba / AFP via Getty Images; Elijah Nouvelage / Bloomberg via Getty Images; Lindsey Nicholson / UCG / Universal Images Group via Getty Images; Image Source / Getty Images