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August 01, 2012 | | ELEGANT AND ACERBIC Author Gore Vidal died on Tuesday from pneumonia, his nephew confirmed. In his 86 years, he wrote 8 plays, 26 novels, 14 screenplays, and countless essays. Most of the rest of his time was spent arguing—and, my word, was he expert at it. By Henry Krempels. Plus, read Vidal’s best quotes on sex, politics, and more. BACKLASH In a written statement, the embattled president—whose whereabouts are still unknown—said that the fate of the nation rests on the battle against the rebels. The Syrian government is apparently using fighter jets to shoot down rebels in Aleppo, one day after the opposition fighters took hold of the country's largest city. A spokeswoman for the U.N. mission in Syria also confirmed that the rebels were using their own "heavy weapons, including tanks, helicopters, heavy machine guns, as well as artillery." Rebels reportedly yelled "God is great," as they took a victory drive through Aleppo Tuesday. THE NEXT OBAMA? A nearly unknown minority rising star is picked to deliver the keynote address at the Democratic convention. No, it’s not 2004—this year’s chosen one is Julian Castro, San Antonio’s mayor. Eleanor Clift on how he could mirror Obama. BLAME GAME Electricity has been restored to India, and the country’s power minister is really trying to avoid “a blame game between the state and the center.” An area consisting of around 670 million people, half of India and nearly 10 percent of the world population, was affected by the blackout that began Tuesday, after three power grids went down. Coal miners were trapped, cars were jammed on highways, and commuters were stranded on trains. While the federal government initially pointed its finger at a few northern states for taking more electricity from their grid than allotted, the power secretary from one of those states pointed out that it is the federal government’s job to warn states if they are using too much power. “This hype that states are overdrawing is the reason for the collapse is not right,” he said, insisting it’s still too soon to place blame. THROWING THE GAME Eight Olympic players have been expelled from the Olympic games following an investigation by the Badminton World Federation into accusations that the players had been deliberating losing their matches. Two of those players are from China, prompting the Chinese Olympic sports delegation to launch an investigation. A spokesman for China's Olympic Committee said it was against any behavior going against "sporting spirit and morality," and the committee could take further action against the players based on the results of the investigation. The other players charged with "not using one's best efforts to win" were from South Korea and Indonesia. According to reports, both the Chinese and South Koreans appeared to deliberately play poorly in order to guarantee an easier draw in the finals. When the players were warned by a referee, one Chinese player insisted that they'd simply been trying to save their strength. "We've already qualified, so why would we waste energy?" said Yu Yang. | | 
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