
5 things to know for Aug. 28: Trump indictment, AT&T outage, Hostage rescue, SpaceX launch delay, climate pollution
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The 2024 Paralympic Games will begin today in Paris with a grand opening ceremony in the center of the French capital. It marks the return of boccia, a fan-favorite event described as the “fastest-growing sport within the Paralympic movement.” Here’s what else you need to know to Get Up to Speed and On with Your Day. Former President Donald Trump will once again need to enter an official plea in court after special counsel prosecutors reworked the indictment against him in the federal election interference case. The Republican presidential nominee previously pleaded not guilty to the charges, which stem from his attempts to overturn the 2020 election after he lost to President Joe Biden — resulting in the January 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol. Although Trump was charged with the same offenses as the original case, prosecutors have strategically narrowed the allegations and altered the language to try to comply with the Supreme Court’s latest ruling on presidential immunity. This is one of several cases Trump is facing while running again for president, though there will be no trial before Election Day. AT&T says it has resolved a software issue that caused an outage for some wireless customers on Tuesday. The issue temporarily “disrupted the ability of a limited number of our customers to connect to our wireless network,” an AT&T spokesperson said. Details about the number of impacted customers and the length of the outage weren’t immediately released, but the digital-service tracking website Down Detector showed a surge in reported AT&T outages starting around 5 p.m. ET on Tuesday and peaking around 7 p.m ET. At the time, several government entities issued warnings that the outage might be preventing AT&T wireless customers from calling 911 in their area. Israel’s military said Tuesday it had rescued a 52-year-old hostage held by Hamas since October 7 in a “complex operation” in southern Gaza. Farhan Al-Qadi, a Bedouin Israeli citizen from Rahat is “in a stable medical condition,” an Israeli military spokesman told CNN. He is the first Israeli hostage to have been reclaimed alive from inside Hamas’ sprawling tunnel network underneath Gaza. Al-Qadi’s family hailed his rescue as “unbelievable,” adding that they had not expected him to come back alive. There are now 104 hostages being held from the October 7 attack, according to the Israeli prime minister’s office and the Hostages and Missing Families Forum. Of those, dozens are presumed dead. This comes as negotiators are still working on a ceasefire-for-hostages deal, and have met with increasing intensity in recent weeks. SpaceX has once again delayed the launch of its daring excursion into Earth’s radiation belts. The mission, dubbed Polaris Dawn, was set to take off as soon as 3:38 a.m. ET today — but the company opted to delay takeoff because of unfavorable weather conditions for the crew’s return to Earth. The mission aims to carry a four-person crew of civilians to record-setting heights for a regular orbit around Earth — and to conduct the first commercial spacewalk. This latest delay comes after a planned Tuesday morning launch attempt from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida was scrubbed because of issues with ground equipment at the launchpad. The crew of civilians has been in quarantine awaiting their launch. A new date has not yet been set.