Police and health authorities in Minnesota, US are investigating a case of "emotional abuse" at a local nursing home. Teen girls who worked at the facility had been found apparently tormenting a resident with dementia.

Two aides at the Johnson Memorial Hospital and Home in the small town of Dawson, who are said to be around 17 years old, allegedly abused one of the female residents, the local Fox channel reported on Saturday.

One evening back in May, the girls danced in "a sexually provocative manner" in front of the elderly woman with dementia, who sat on a couch in a lounge, according to the now-revealed report from the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH).

A textbook assigned to students at a North Carolina community college states that COVID-19 protocols "saved tens of thousands of lives" while Americans who disagreed with those restrictions caused deaths.

"Most Americans responded to the pandemic by limiting their social contact, covering their faces when going out, and washing their hands thoroughly after they did," the passage begins and then continues with, "yet lives were lost because some Americans held beliefs that were at odds with the facts."

The textbook appeared in the POL 120: American Government course at Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte.

This excerpt is drawn from a textbook titled "We the People: An Introduction to American Government," specifically from a chapter dedicated to critical thinking and detecting misinformation.

BioNTech is set to request approval across the globe to use its Covid-19 vaccine in children as young as five over the next few weeks and preparations for a launch are on track, the biotech firm's two top executives told Der Spiegel.

"Already over the next few weeks we will file the results of our trial in five to 11 year olds with regulators across the world and will request approval of the vaccine in this age group, also here in Europe," Chief Medical Officer Oezlem Tuereci told the news weekly.

The confident statements underscore the lead that BioNTech, which collaborates with Pfizer, holds in the race to win broad approval to vaccinate children below the age of 12 in Western countries.

BioNTech has said it expected to file its regulatory dossier on the five to 11 year olds in September. It has also laid out plans to seek approval in children aged 6 months to 2 years later this year.

Tuereci also told Spiegel that final production steps were being adjusted to bottle a lower-dose pediatric version of its established Comirnaty vaccine. It is currently approved for adults and youngsters at least 12 years of age.

China's market watchdog fined three car chip distributors for driving up prices amid a global semiconductor shortage that has created a supply crunch for carmakers and pushed up costs.

The State Administration of Market Regulation (SAMR) fined Shanghai Cheter, Shanghai Chengsheng Industrial, and Shenzhen Yuchang Technologies a total of 2.5 million yuan (US$387,870), the regulator said in a statement on its website on Friday.

"SAMR will continue to pay close attention to the chip price index, step up our monitoring of prices, and crack down on illegal activities such as hoarding and driving up prices to maintain the sound order of the market," the regulator said.

A former Islamist fighter who went to Afghanistan to fight the Soviets and later got caught up in the US War on Terror - spending 14 years in the Guantanamo prison as a result - spoke to RT as part of the Unheard Voices project.

In the early 1990s, Mohamedou Ould Slahi had a romantic notion of pursuing a noble cause, wanting to risk his life for something greater than himself. He traveled from Germany to Afghanistan with plans to join the Mujahideen. At the time, the Afghan Islamists were hailed as heroic freedom fighters, a 'David' who had defeated the 'Goliath' of the mighty Soviet Union and was on its way to topple the communist government in Kabul. The former fighter spoke to RT in Mauritania:

"Saudi Arabia, the Gulf countries, Germany, where I lived, supported Afghanistan. We used to watch movies. We used to watch news, documentaries about Afghanistan. And I decided to join the Mujahideen."

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) on Friday announced that he is suing six school districts for defying Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's (R) ban on mask mandates.

Paxton said in a statement:

"Not only are superintendents across Texas openly violating state law, but they are using district resources — that ought to be used for teacher merit raises or other educational benefits — to defend their unlawful political maneuvering. If districts choose to spend their money on legal fees, they must do so knowing that my office is ready and willing to litigate these cases. I have full confidence that the courts will side with the law - not acts of political defiance."

The following areas that opted to impose mask wearing requirements that have been hit with legal action are: Richardson, Round Rock, Galveston, Elgin, Spring, and Sherman Independent School Districts.

The Hill notes:

"Last month, the Texas Supreme Court ruled in favor of Abbott and blocked temporary restraining orders from district courts that had allowed local government entities to defy the governor's mask mandate ban."

California Republican gubernatorial candidate Larry Elder claimed Thursday that an incident where a white woman wearing a gorilla mask threw an egg at his head would have been described as a "hate crime" if he were a Democrat. Elder told Fox News' Tucker Carlson Tonight of the episode, which took place while he was touring a homeless encampment in Venice ahead of next week's recall vote:

"It was a very angry, ugly scene. You know, if I were a Democrat, obviously, this would be called systemic racism," he added. "They'd be calling it a hate crime. I don't like to play that game."

Elder, a longtime radio talk show host who is seeking to become California's first black governor, was hustled into an SUV and driven away after the attack. A member of his security team who confronted the woman received a punch for his trouble, as well as a slap from a second woman. There have been no reports of arrests in connection with the incident, which has received little coverage in the mainstream media.

In a separate interview with Fox News Digital, Elder claimed some people who were trailing his entourage yelled "racial epithets" during his visit to Venice. He added that the woman who threw the egg was likely an "outside agitator" and said "homeless advocates in the neighborhood" had told him they had "never seen that person before."

A small Missouri town lost its police chief and all the officers in the department after they abruptly announced their resignations.

Three officers, a sergeant, and the police chief of the Kimberling City Police Department cited several reasons for leaving their posts, including complaints about the pay rate and claiming they did not have the proper tools to perform their job. The town has a population of around 2,400 people, according to the 2010 census.

The Stone County Sheriff's Department will handle calls until city officials can fill the spots left by the former officers. "Until then, we will be answering all the calls in Kimberling City. We can't enforce city ordinances, but any other calls we will be handling at this time," Sheriff Doug Rader told KY3 News.

Kimberling City Police Chief Craig Alexander put in his resignation on Aug. 23 after accepting a new job position, telling the town's mayor, Bob Fritz, that he wanted a change and to better himself.

The search giant may owe more than $100 million in back salaries.

Google on Friday said it'll review its pay and compliance practices, after reports that the tech giant has illegally underpaid temporary staff working in dozens of countries.

The company had been aware for years that it was skirting pay parity laws in some countries that required temp workers to be paid equally to full-time staff, but Google put off correcting the situation because it feared drawing negative attention, according to reports Friday by The New York Times and The Guardian.

CNN anchor Jake Tapper ripped President Joe Biden over what he called a "scolding tone" that the president took in a speech rolling out new measures to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

On Thursday, President Biden delivered a speech in which he announced a six-prong plan of attack against the Delta-fueled coronavirus surge, one which included some very broad vaccine requirements, as well as one section in which he channeled the frustrations of many Americans with their anti-vaccine fellow citizens:

My message to unvaccinated Americans is this: What more is there to wait for? What more do you need to see? We've made vaccinations free, safe, and convenient. The vaccine is FDA approved. Over 200 million Americans have gotten at least one shot. We've been patient but our patience is wearing thin and your refusal has cost all of us. So, please, do the right thing. But just don't take from me. Listen to the voices of unvaccinated Americans who are lying in hospital beds taking their final breath saying, 'If only I had gotten vaccinated, if only. It's a tragedy. Please don't let it become yours.