Good morning. It's Monday, Aug. 11, and we're covering President Donald Trump's meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the attack on CDC headquarters, and much more. First time reading? Join over 4.5 million intellectually curious readers. Sign up here.
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President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are scheduled to meet in Alaska on Friday. The invitation marks the first time since 2007 that Putin has been invited to the US outside of UN-related functions. It will also be the first meeting between Trump and Putin since 2018.
The two leaders will discuss an end to Russia’s three-year war with Ukraine, which has killed hundreds of thousands of people, most of them Russian soldiers. Russia controls roughly one-fifth of Ukrainian territory, over half of which was captured in the first weeks of the war. Putin is widely expected to require territorial concessions in exchange for a ceasefire. The meeting does not currently include Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has vowed not to concede territory. See latest updates here.
The meeting’s location is notable as Alaska was part of the former Russian Empire. The US purchased the state in 1867 for $7.2M—2 cents per acre. |
Authorities identified the suspect behind Friday’s shooting at the Atlanta headquarters for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The suspect, 30-year-old Patrick Joseph White from nearby Kennesaw, reportedly claimed to have suffered physical ailments as a result of the COVID-19 vaccine. His father reported him as suicidal to law enforcement hours before the attack.
The gunman was allegedly refused entry to CDC buildings before he posted up at a CVS facing the buildings shortly before 5 pm. He killed a police officer, 33-year-old David Rose, and struck at least four CDC buildings, damaging windows and exterior walls but not injuring employees. The suspect was found dead with a gunshot wound on the pharmacy’s second floor. It is not clear if he was killed by officers or died from a self-inflicted wound. Authorities found five guns at the scene of the crime, including at least one long gun.
The employees’ union called on senior leadership to publicly denounce misinformation and to increase security at the facility. |
'Ultramassive' Black Hole Discovered |
A black hole roughly 36 billion times the mass of the sun has been discovered in the distant Cosmic Horseshoe galaxy, according to a new study. Astronomers said it is likely the largest black hole ever discovered and is almost 10,000 times bigger than Sagittarius A* at the center of the Milky Way.
Every galaxy in the universe is believed to be anchored by at least one massive black hole—the bigger the galaxy, the larger its black hole. The newly discovered object is dormant, no longer sucking in new material, and was detected by its effect on nearby stars and gravitational lensing, which occurs from warped spacetime (see 101).
The discovery was made by accident while the team was studying dark matter distribution in the galaxy. Researchers hope it will shed light on the behavior of large galaxies in their final stages of evolution.
PS—Love learning about space? Tomorrow's 1440 Science & Technology newsletter explores Jupiter, the solar system's gas giant (join here for free). |
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Sports, Entertainment, & Culture |
> Seventeen-year-old Olympic gold medalist Hezly Rivera wins US women's gymnastics all-around championship (More) | ... and Asher Hong wins his second US men's title by a record margin (More) |
> Bobby Whitlock, keyboardist and cofounder of Derek and the Dominos, dies of cancer at age 77 (More) | Two Japanese boxers die of brain injuries at same boxing event, but separate fights, in Tokyo (More) |
> Pennsylvania tops Indiana 1-0 to win the 2025 Little League Softball World Series (More) |
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> Health official Vinay Prasad reinstated as top vaccine regulator for the Food and Drug Administration; reversal comes two weeks after being dismissed from the role following criticism from right-wing activist Laura Loomer (More) |
> SpaceX's Crew-10 astronauts return to Earth after five months aboard the International Space Station; mission was NASA's first Pacific Ocean splashdown in 50 years (More) | The evolution of SpaceX rockets (1440 Topics) |
> Scientists develop platform allowing proteins to evolve thousands of times faster than in nature; approach expected to accelerate new drug discovery for a wide variety of diseases (More) |
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> US stock markets close higher Friday (S&P 500 +0.8%, Dow +0.5%, Nasdaq +1.0%), with Nasdaq closing at a record high (More) | How stock markets work (1440 Topics) |
> Trump administration weighs public offering of government-controlled mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac later this year; aims to sell 5% to 15% of shares, raising upward of $30B (More) | A history of US homeownership (1440 Topics) |
> HeartFlow, AI-driven company focused on diagnosing coronary artery disease, closes first day of trading up 51.3% Friday, raising $316.7M (More) |
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> California's Gifford Fire along the central coast becomes state's largest wildfire in 2025, consuming over 114,000 acres; is roughly 20% contained as of this writing (More) |
> President Donald Trump nominates State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce as deputy representative of the United States to the United Nations (More) |
> William H. Webster, former head of the CIA and FBI, dies at age 101; Webster is the only person to spearhead both US agencies, leading the FBI for most of the 1980s before heading to the CIA for four years (More) |
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