August has been an exciting month so far, with increasing world tensions in the Middle East, an upcoming presidential election in the U.S., a new epidemic that has hit Africa and Europe, a controversial and perhaps fraudulent election in Venezuela, along with a wave of news in pop culture, there’s a lot to cover. However, this article seeks to compile the hits of this month into a more sizable report.
The first story that’s blown up this month is a “new” disease that’s taken a toll on Africa and has spread to Europe, Monkeypox or mpox. Mpox has existed since the 1950s but has been ignored due to it not being very dangerous. Mpox, as you might’ve inferred based on the name, is a relative of smallpox. Mpox is mainly spread through contact with people and objects that carry the germs. The disease has ravaged central Africa and has caused the World Health Organization (WHO) to release a Public Health Emergency of International Concern due to the disease and how contagious it is. There are well over 15,000 documented cases of Monkeypox, however, only ~540 people have died from it. As a matter of fact, the disease kills only 1 in 10 people infected, which is a lot, but not on the scale of something like Covid-19.
The conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas along with other Palestinian fighter groups has been a hot topic for the past few months. Tensions in the region have increased as of late due to an Israeli attack that targeted senior leadership in both Hamas and Hezbollah, an organization similar to Hamas in goals. Iran, a powerhouse in the Middle East, has threatened revenge on Israel for their previously mentioned attacks. This has gotten many Western allies of Israel in a tizzy as they want to avoid any possible conflict with Iran. Iran’s threats have also somewhat expedited the efforts towards achieving a cease-fire in Gaza. U.S., Egyptian, and Qatari officials met in Doha, Qatar to come up with ideas for a cease-fire. The exact outlines of the cease-fire have not been made public. However, the delegates from the three nations (Qatar, Egypt, and the United States) have described the proposal as “serious, constructive, and conducted in a positive atmosphere”.
Talks between Israel and Hamas have not been going nearly as well, however. Hamas has refused to participate in negotiations as of late because the organization believes that Israel is stalling for time with their negotiations. However, the organization has stated that they would participate in negotiations if steps are taken to get closer to peace.
In late July, Venezuela conducted its presidential election, and the results were polarizing to the Venezuelan population. The winner of the election was Nicolás Maduro, who has been criticized in the past due to his harsh leadership. The announcement of his victory led to questions about the validity of the election and protests erupted across the country. The results of this election and Venezuelan’s distaste for Maduro have led to these protests going global. An interesting part of elections in Venezuela is that typically after the election, the new governing body will release the results of the election, however, with this most recent election, the government has refused to release the results. This has only led to more people being skeptical of the government and has resulted in more people protesting. The Venezuelan government has been conducting mass arrests of protestors with Maduro himself encouraging them. The situation is still volatile, and the future of this situation is uncertain.
The 2024 U.S. election is around the corner and the campaigns for both parties, Democrat and Republican, have undergone some changes. Both sides have also faced their fair share of criticisms and controversies. As of right now, the U.S. election is mainly between Kamala Harris (Democrat), and Donald Trump (Republican). It must be noted that there are third parties participating in the election, but most of them are struggling to get any national spotlight. The only third-party candidate that received even a fraction of the main parties’ attention was Robert Kennedy, who had recently dropped out of the race and endorsed Donald Trump. It’s unknown what effect Kennedy’s endorsement will have as many of his voters were only voting for him due to their distaste for the 2 party system in America
Kamala Harris became the Democratic Party’s nominee and official presidential candidate earlier this month but formally accepted the nomination at the Democratic National Convention (DNC). Additionally, Harris’ VP candidate, Tim Walz, formally accepted his VP nomination. Harris and Walz have brought some excitement and interest in the Democrat Party as many people were worried about Joe Biden’s mental state and his capacity to lead America and to run his campaign. But with the new Democrat candidates, many left-leaning voters are feeling more confident about the party.
Such apprehensions are not felt nearly as much on the Republican side of this election. Many conservative and Republican voters have remained confident in their candidate. However, people in the Trump campaign have reported that Trump is suffering from PTSD due to the assassination attempt that occurred in July of this year. People have stated that he’s distant. Even more recently, members of the campaign have stated that the former president is spending a lot of his time playing golf. However, this news hasn’t shaken a lot of Trump’s online supporters.
Trump has gotten into controversy with a number of musical artists. The first on the list, and the biggest, is Taylor Swift. Trump posted A.I.-generated images of Swift and her fans endorsing Trump on Truth Social. The former president made a comment later on that someone else had generated those images. Many people on the internet have been asking why he would share those images if he hadn’t generated them himself. He followed up with a comment of how dangerous A.I. generated images could be and how he feels scared of the possibilities of A.I..Trump has gotten into trouble with Celine Dion after using her song, “My Heart Will Go On”, at one of his rallies. Foo Fighters, a popular rock band, have also faced a similar debacle, as Trump used their song, “My Hero”, to introduce Robert Kennedy at one of his rallies. The band threatened a cease and desist, and stated that royalties made from the song will be donated to Kamala Harris’ campaign. Beyoncé has also issued a cease and desist to the Trump campaign after her song, “Freedom”, was used in a campaign video. On the 29th, ABBA formally requested that the Trump campaign stop using the group’s music and videos at Trump’s rallies. Universal Music, a massive record label, also requested that the campaign take down all footage from events that used ABBA’s music.
There’s been a lot of news in the pop culture world. The first and most curious bit of news is that Chick-fil-A, the fast food chain, is planning on releasing a streaming service. How this service would work or what it would contain has not been revealed. Taylor Swift has released 2 new versions of her most recent album, Tortured Poet’s Department. Additionally, she has released a music video for her song, “I Can Do It With A Broken Heart”. While we’re on the topic of music, Sabrina Carpenter released a new album, Short N’ Sweet along with music videos for the songs “Taste” and “Dumb And Poetic”. Kanye West released a new album earlier this month, VULTURES 2 to less than stellar feedback from fans. To continue with West, the artist has faced some controversy due to internet sleuths finding out that the artist has been abusing nitrous oxide recreationally. Nitrous oxide (NOS) is a drug that’s used a lot in dentistry- but in very light amounts, as NOS can cause severe amounts of brain damage to anyone who abuses the drug. West has previously mentioned his use of NOS in the past, but people never paid it much attention. However, people have speculated that the artist’s decline in musical quality can be traced to his abuse of NOS.
To move on from music into the film industry, Ariana Grande was revealed to be playing Glinda in the new Disney film Wicked, which will be released on November 22, 2024. A trailer for a new Lord Of The Rings Film was revealed; Lord Of The Rings: War Of Rohirrm will be released on December 13, 2024. Disney revealed numerous new projects, additionally, they’ve faced some controversy surrounding their online store. A documentary about John Williams, the composer of the Star Wars films, was announced and will be released on Disney+ on November 1, 2024. Sneak peaks for a new Daredevil TV show and a Thunderbolts movie were revealed and the Daredevil TV show is scheduled to release in March 2025. The previously mentioned Thunderbolts movie is slated for release on May 2, 2025. A trailer for Lego Pixar Bricktoons, which appears to have Lego versions of Pixar’s greatest hits. Bricktoons will feature Coco, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Brave, and Cars, and it will be released on Disney+ on September 4, 2024. Disney faced some controversy recently, as fans noticed that products for The Acolyte and other Star Wars properties were delisted on Disney’s official merchandise website. This Friday, August 29, a Terminator anime will be released on Netflix. A trailer for Secret Level, a TV show themed around various video game properties was announced and is slated for release on December 10, 2024, on Amazon Prime Video. Additional news related to Matt Reaves’ sequel to The Batman was announced. Crew members stated that the film is going to begin production and should be released sometime in late 2025.
The video games industry also has had a lot of news due to Gamescom, a gaming convention, happening this month. Trailers for Little Nightmare 3, a Squid Game video game, Mafia: The Old Country, and Borderlands 4 were all released. Little Nightmares will be released sometime next year. The Squid Game video game will follow the same premise as the TV show, however, it appears to be taking a lighter tone as opposed to the grim themes seen in the show. More about the Mafia game will be revealed in December. No gameplay for Borderlands 4 was revealed at the event, but the game is slated for release sometime in 2025. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle had its release date announced. The game will be released on December 9th, 2024 for Xbox series consoles and PC. The game will also be released on PS5 sometime in the spring of 2025, but no exact date was revealed. A Dune MMO, Dune: Awakening, will be released in early 2025 for both consoles and PC. Black Myth: Wukong was released earlier this month to critical acclaim. Additionally, it became the most played single-player game on Steam of all time. Marvel Rivals, a third-person hero shooter, had its release date announced on December 6, 2024.
With that, the highlights of August are concluded. There are many situations that have been left unresolved as this month comes to a close, but many of the issues/stories mentioned take weeks, and sometimes months to conclude. If any of the stories mentioned in this article seem interesting, we encourage you to stay connected with modern, reliable news sources. It’s important to be knowledgeable about current events as things can change with the drop of a hat in today’s world.
Donna Willits • Sep 5, 2024 at 12:56 pm
Jason Verde, we are so proud of you. An amazing Grandson. Grandma Willits