Ivory Coast Prime Minister Dies, Election Uncertain
The prime minister of Ivory Coast has died suddenly, leaving great worry over the country’s upcoming election. Amadou Gon Coulibaly, 61, became ill during a cabinet meeting last Wednesday. He was taken to the hospital, where he later died.
The exact cause of death is not known, but Mr. Gon Coulibaly had had heart trouble in the past. He had only recently returned from France, where he received treatment for a heart condition.
(Source: Sielhey [CC BY-SA], via Wikimedia Commons.)
Mr. Gon Coulibaly’s death has not only caused sadness, it has also spread uncertainty. Mr. Gon Coulibaly was the ruling party’s candidate for president in the country’s election this October.
Mr. Gon Coulibaly had been chosen specially by the country’s current leader, Alassane Ouattara, who shocked the country in March by saying that he would not run for president again. Mr. Ouattara has been president for 10 years.
(Source: US Dept. of State [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.)
Many people believe that now Mr. Ouattara may have to change his mind. Members of his political party are discussing whether they will ask Mr. Ouattara to run for a third term.
Trump Commutes Sentence of Roger Stone
Robert Mueller led an investigation into possible crimes that may have been committed by members of Donald Trump’s campaign when he was running for US president. The investigation led to 34 people being charged with crimes, including five members of Mr. Trump’s campaign.
Roger Stone, a friend of Mr. Trump’s who worked for the campaign, was charged with several crimes, including lying to Congress. In February of this year, Mr. Stone was found guilty and was supposed to go to prison for over 3 years.
On Friday, Mr. Trump commuted Mr. Stone’s sentence, meaning that Mr. Stone will never have to go to jail.
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In February of this year, Roger Stone, a friend of Mr. Trump’s, was found guilty of several crimes, and was supposed to go to prison for over 3 years. On Friday, Mr. Trump commuted Mr. Stone’s sentence, meaning that Mr. Stone will never have to go to jail.
The move is part of a larger pattern of Mr. Trump using his position as president to protect friends and supporters from the US legal system. In May, the Justice Department dismissed its own case against another friend of Mr. Trump’s, Michael Flynn. Mr. Flynn had already admitted that he was guilty.
Faster than Usain Bolt? Umm, Not So Fast!
With most sports canceled or slowly trying to restart, Zurich Weltklasse took a different approach. Since the normal track meet couldn’t be held, instead the group held the “Inspiration Games” – a socially distanced track contest, with athletes competing on their own in different parts of the world.
The contest used special technology to make sure everyone started at the same time and that times were kept accurately. But there was still a very unusual result.
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During a socially distanced track meet, with athletes competing on their own in different parts of the world, American Noah Lyles seemed to have smashed the world record for the 200 meter dash. It later turned out that Lyles hadn’t run far enough.
When American Noah Lyles finished running his 200 meter race in Florida, he looked up to see that he had finished in 18.90 seconds. That’s faster than the world record of 19.19 set by Usain Bolt, and far faster than Lyle’s own best time of 19.50. Even more surprising was that Lyles set the time while running into the wind.
The time just didn’t seem right to anyone – even to Lyles. Soon, the mystery was explained. With no one else on the track, Lyles had accidentally started in the wrong lane. That meant he didn’t run as far as he thought he had. His fantastic time was for 185 meters, not 200.