The News

 A new Miss USA has been crowned.

Miss Michigan Alma Cooper took the crown on Sunday during the pageant's 73rd annual ceremony, and comes after the resignation of a previous titleholder caused controversy and spawned shakeups at the Miss USA organization.

Miss Kentucky Connor Perry and Miss Oklahoma Danika Christopherson were first and second runners-up, respectively.

"As the daughter of a migrant worker, a proud Afro-Latina woman, and an officer in the United States Army, I am living the American dream," Cooper, 22, said during the Q&A portion of the pageant, according to CNN and Today.com.

Cooper is a U.S. Army officer, data scientist and master's student at Stanford University researching food insecurity.

"I have wanted to walk the Miss USA stage since I was a little itty bitty girl," she told Stanford in a video profile posted last week. "I found that my skills ... and having this community and this love and support, it all managed to make me a better candidate."

The Miss USA pageant aired on the CW, after the network said it was "evaluating its relationship with both pageants."

Cooper's crowning follows a turbulent year for the Miss USA organization, following the resignations of former Miss USA Noelia Voigt and former Miss Teen USA 2023 UmaSofia Srivastava and the exit of the organization's social media director.

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 unelle Bromfield, born on February 8, 1998, in Black River, Jamaica, is not just an accomplished Olympic-level track-and-field athlete but also the partner of the "fastest man in the world," Noah Lyles.

While Lyles excels in the 100 and 200 meters, Bromfield specializes in the 400 meters and even won a bronze medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics. The couple's story is as dynamic as their athletic careers, showcasing resilience, support, and a shared passion for track and field.

The pair first connected in 2017 through social media, with Bromfield initiating contact. Despite an awkward first date, they decided to stay friends. "Whenever I get in a relationship, I'm very serious," Lyles explained on the Fast Lane Lifestyle podcast.

Their friendship persisted for years, and in 2022, Lyles decided to give romance another shot. Since then, they have been inseparable, now living together in Florida and training side by side for the Olympics.

Their relationship has made them better

Their relationship has been marked by mutual support and understanding. Lyles has been open about his mental health struggles, sharing his use of antidepressants in 2020 and the impact on his training. "Just because I'm struggling doesn't mean that I'm going to quit," he told People magazine.

This openness inspired Bromfield to seek therapy for her own issues. "I started therapy about two years ago because my boyfriend is big on therapy and felt I needed it," Bromfield shared in an interview with The Inside Lane.

Bromfield also expressed gratitude for Lyles' family, particularly his mother, Keisha Caine, who supported her when she moved to Florida. Initially living with Lyles' family, Bromfield was taken to training every day by his mother. "That's a support that I'm extremely grateful for," she said.

On the track, they maintain professionalism, keeping their romantic life separate from their athletic pursuits. "Even before we started dating, we had a very good balance," Lyles noted.

"She won't even let me call her 'baby' at practice," he added with a laugh. Off the track, they enjoy dancing together, a hobby that brings joy and relaxation to their busy lives.

Communication and patience are the key

Their bond has strengthened over time, with Lyles praising their communication and patience. "It has taught me a lot of patience and I believe this is my best relationship ever," he said on the Inside Track podcast. Bromfield's appreciation for Lyles' honesty solidified their relationship.

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 This is a recap of the most recent episode of HBO’s House of the Dragon. It contains spoilers. That’s what a recap is.

Credits! And a pretty sizable amount of thread is newly devoted to the Red Sowing – last week’s dragonrider recruitment drive. (Red Sewing joke goes here.)

On behalf of Team Green, Tyland Lannister meets with representatives of the Triarchy (sing along with me: the Free Cities of Myr, Lys and Tyrosh, which lie on, or just off, the continent of Essos across the Narrow Sea). They agree to give him an armada of 100 warships to break Rhaenyra’s blockade of the bay in exchange for control of the Stepstones – the same place they fought Daemon and Corlys for control over, back in season one. But they will only do so if Tyland can best their admiral, Sharako Lohar, in a mud fight. High stakes diplomacy meets Stripes

On Dragonstone, Jacaerys happens upon Ulf and Hugh. Ulf behaves like the Shakesperian comic character he’s written to be, and gets a little overfamiliar with the Prince, lumping himself in with him overtheir shared ability to ride dragons and have brown hair. Hugh, who’s used to being looked down upon by royals, attempts to smooth things over.

We’re all born naked; the rest is dragon

Over on Driftmark, Rhaenyra asks Corlys for any intel on Addam, but he’s not forthcoming. “I’ve had little to do with him,” he says, speaking truthfully. We get a helpful new dragoncount, if you need to update your Dance of the Dragons Scorecard. Rhaenyra’s got six. Aemond has only Vhagar, and two others: The dragon Tessarion, belonging to the oft-mentioned-but-not-yet-seen Daeron Targaryen off in Oldtown, on the other side of the continent. But Tessarion is very young and untested. There’s also Dreamfyre – she’s fierce, and almost 100 years old. But she belongs to Queen Helaena, who doesn’t ride her often.

Rhaenyra makes some noises about hoping her dragon advantage will act as a deterrent, so she won’t have to go to war. Still, she says this. After everything that’s happened, if you can believe it. Because I’m not certain I can.

Over at Harrenhal, the Riverlords armies are mustering, and Daemon is doing a West(eros) Wing walk-and-talk with Ser Alfred Broome. You remember him – he was the pouty jamoke on Rhaenyra’s Small Council who was always second-guessing her, so she sent him off to check in on Daemon.

In the weirwood courtyard, Ser Alfred tells Daemon that he has the support he needs to overthrow Rhaenyra and declare himself king. Which, if you haven’t been following SIX! EPISODES! worth of frustratingly repetitive dream-visions, is something that Daemon wants. Or does he? Daemon’s reaction is unreadable. This whole exchange was witnessed, Polonius-behind-the-arras-like, by a lurking Ser Simon Strong.

Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) and Alicent (Olivia Cooke) don't see eye to eye.

Theo Whiteman/HBO
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 Cryptocurrencies tumbled amid a global market sell-off spurred by recession fears.

Bitcoin has lost nearly 18% since Saturday. A week ago, on July 20, it climbed as high as $69,982.

“Thirty percent slumps, as scary as they are, are par for the course during bull markets and it’s encouraging bitcoin bounced back above $50,000,” said Nexo co-founder Antoni Trenchev. “But make no mistake, we are in a choppy, volatile market environment ... the moment to turn bullish will be when bitcoin retakes its 200-day moving average, which typically tells us if we are in a bull or bear market, at $61,500.”

The moves follow a broader market sell-off that began last week, when a weaker-than-anticipated July jobs report renewed investor fears of a recession. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite entered a correction. Japan stocks entered a bear market Monday after plunging more than 12% overnight — its worst one-day sell-off since 1987.

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RT Quote | USD

50,353.53-8,869.76 (-14.98%)

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Bitcoin has tumbled more than 15% since Saturday

“Until last Wednesday, everybody was thinking that inflation was going down gradually and the economy was relatively strong, so the Fed would start cutting rates with successful soft landing of the economy,” Yuya Hasegawa, crypto market analyst at Japanese bitcoin exchange Bitbank. “However, July’s U.S. manufacturing PMI and jobs report came in way weaker than the market expected – and now [investors] are worrying about the possibility of recession and dumping risk assets.”

“That said … the market’s reaction has been a tad excessive, given there is no absolute evidence that the economy is in recession yet,” he continued. “We will likely see some recoil this week.”

On top of economic and geopolitical concerns, crypto investors have been contending with sell pressure from Mt. Gox distributions and decreasing odds of a second Donald Trump presidency in the U.S. Polls on Polymarket, an Ethereum-based prediction market platform, show the gap between Trump and Kamala Harris has narrowed significantly since President Joe Biden dropped out of the race on July 21.

Bitcoin is already down about 22% for the month of August, a typically sluggish month for risk assets, and below the $55,000 floor that has supported it for much of the year. If it fails to recover it could be its worst month since June 2022, when it lost about 37%

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