TL;DR: Here’s What's Happening In The News Right Now

Experts share three ways monkeypox spreads, Remain in Mexico winds down for a second time, and Serena Williams announces her retirement.

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Monkeypox can spread in three ways. Here's how to avoid infection.

mural of monkeypox lesions and illustrations underscoring what monkeypox rashes look like

There are three ways you can catch monkeypox: Direct skin-to-skin contact with an infected person; touching contaminated surfaces, objects, or fabrics; and contact with respiratory secretions like mucus. So far, the majority of people who have contracted the virus in the US are men who reported having sex with other men, though it’s unclear if transmission is occurring in these communities during other activities, too, like hugging, partying, etc.

The infection is primarily spread through prolonged rubbing against an infected person who has rashes, scabs, or lesions on their skin, which can resemble a tiny pimple or a pus-filled bump that can be as big as a marble. Infection can be avoided by washing body parts that have briefly come into contact with the infection before touching your face, mouth, nose, or genitals.

There isn’t enough data to know for sure the likelihood of contracting monkeypox by touching contaminated surfaces or materials. It's possible to get sick this way if you’re living with an infected person, sharing the same surfaces and materials for hours or days at a time. But for now, experts say not to worry about getting sick from activities like touching groceries, using public transit, or going to the gym, where surface contact is brief and infrequent.

The CDC says you can catch monkeypox by coming in contact with respiratory secretions, which could mean physically touching mucus from a sneeze, for example, or inhaling them when sharing space with a sick person. However, epidemiologists emphasized that the most dominant way people can catch monkeypox is from direct skin contact.

BuzzFeed News reporter Katie Camero did a full breakdown on monkeypox risk. Read more about it here.

Another $1 billion to Ukraine in military aid

  • Ukraine gathers evidence about possible Russian war crimes that killed at least 50 prisoners of war, the New York Times reports. Senior officials say there's evidence suggesting Russian troops prepared mass graves ahead of a deadly July 29 explosion.

  • The Biden administration pledges another $1 billion to Ukraine in military aid. Ukraine military officials told CBS News that US-sponsored weapons are essential for defending the eastern front from Russia's superior artillery.

SNAPSHOTS

People trapped on top of cars and shops full of water: Photos on social media reveal the devastating Seoul floods. The floods have killed at least nine people after the city saw its worst rainfall in over a century.

How one Florida journalist scooped every reporter in the country on the FBI raid at Mar-a-Lago. "Let's not be coy. This was 100% the biggest scoop that I probably will ever get."

Serena Williams announced she will retire from tennis soon to focus on her family. In a vulnerable first-person essay for Vogue, the 23-time Grand Slam champion opened up about how personally difficult this transition is for her, but said she's "ready for what’s next."

The US has started to wind down the Remain in Mexico policy

An immigrant child stands amid tents at an improvised camp near a screen reading "May the wait not bore you" in Tijuana, Mexico.

Immigration officials announced they've started to wind down a Trump-era program that forced thousands of immigrants to wait in Mexico while their US immigration cases were completed.

This is the second time the Biden administration has started to end the policy. Last year, a district judge issued an injunction that required the Biden administration to restart Remain in Mexico. Eventually, the Supreme Court disagreed with the district verdict and ruled that the federal government has the discretion to decide whether to send asylum-seekers back to Mexico.

Since Remain in Mexico was relaunched in December, the Biden administration has enrolled more than 5,000 immigrants into the program. That number pales in comparison with the thousands of immigrants and asylum-seekers who have been quickly expelled to Mexico since March 2020 under a pandemic Trump-era policy — known as Title 42 — without the opportunity to seek protection.

The US has expelled immigrants at the border under Title 42 more than 2.1 million times. Eventually, the Biden administration announced plans to end Title 42 in May, but a judge blocked the government from winding it down.

Stop everything you’re doing right now and look at these dog surfing photos

a wide shot of the ocean featuring a little dog on a surfboard

This past weekend at Linda Mar Beach in Pacifica, California, a variety of dogs and their owners gathered for the World Dog Surfing Championships. The competition has been gathering on the West Coast since 2016, and it is one of several such contests that have been established around the world.

The dogs are judged on some of the same proficiency categories as a human surfing competition, from technique to the length of the ride. Awards are handed out based on dog size (Small, Medium, Large/XL) as well as other categories, including Human/Dog Tandem. A 10-year-old rescue dog named Faith grabbed the top spot in the Large/XL group, while Skyler, an Australian cattle dog, nabbed first place as the Top Dog Final Overall Champ.

a fluffy dog in a yellow jacket surfs a white foamy wave
two dogs in the ocean, the one in the background has sunglasses and a blue mohawk
a surfing dog in a blue jacket howls joyfully

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