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A color-enhanced satellite image shows Super Typhoon Soudelor spinning in the Pacific on Monday.(Photo: NOAA)
1. 'Earth's most powerful storm' rips across Taiwan
Heavy rain of up to 20 inches and 110-120 mph winds threaten Taiwan on Friday as Typhoon Soudelor makes landfall. Once the most powerful storm of 2015, Soudelor has weakened but is expected to hit with the strength of a Category 3 hurricane Friday night (local time). Storm trackers take Soudelor across central Taiwan, which is mountainous and landslide-prone. Earlier in the week, the U.S. commonwealth Saipan and other islands took a direct hit from what was then a super typhoon, resulting in a "state of disaster."
2. How many jobs were added in July?
The government releases its July employment report Friday, which will likely influence the Federal Reserve's decision on interest rate hikes. Fed Chair Janet Yellen has said they may raise rates later this year to end an economic stimulus in place since late 2008, despite Americans' skeptical view of an economic upturn. Economists expect employers to have also added another 225,000 jobs, slightly higher than the 221,000 average of the past three months.
Job seekers attend a job fair in Sunrise, Fla., in June 2015.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: Alan Diaz, AP)
3. Obama kicks off Martha's Vineyard vacation a day early
A night after trying to tune out the GOP debate, President Barack Obama is returning to his favorite summer vacation spot, the Massachusetts island of Martha's Vineyard, a day earlier than originally planned. Obama has no public events scheduled during the 17 days he will spend on the island with his family. The vacation will be his sixth on the Vineyard since taking office in 2009. He skipped the trip during his 2012 re-election campaign. The Obamas will stay at the same secluded estate they rented last year, a seven-bedroom, nine-bathroom property in Chilmark, on the western part of the island, and valued at $12 million, according to local news reports.
President Barack Obama smiles at the wheel of a golf cart during his vacation on the island of Martha's Vineyard Aug. 20, 2014.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: Steven Senne, AP)
4. Apple Watch now for sale at Best Buy
Best Buy starts selling the Apple Watch on Friday — the first third-party retailer to do so — despite slow sales of the device since its April release. Sales of the smartwatch cast a shadow over Apple's third quarter earnings in July as the company again declined to reveal shipment numbers on the watch. But, app developers continue to advance Apple Watch technology. Since its release, smart home apps have trickled onto the watch, including two big smart home brands: August and Wink.
[h=2]UP NEXT[/h][h=2]03[/h]
Is Apple Watch a bust, or a new emerging category that will grow over time? Analysts have expectations -- perhaps too high, argues Jefferson Graham -- but there's no denying the Watch hasn't taken off like the iPhone and iPad initially did. Jefferson Graham
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