• Rob Ford, the Toronto mayor who spent two months in rehab for drugs and alcohol, said he didn't consult with police before going public with an emailed bomb threat that said City Hall will be blown up if he does not resign in 24 hours.
• Garry Kasparov, 51, the Russian former world chess champion and a critic of President Vladimir Putin, failed in his effort to unseat Kirsan Ilyumzhinov as president of the World Chess Federation, the game's governing body.
• Mark Fuller, 55, a federal judge in Alabama appointed by President George W. Bush, is charged with misdemeanor battery in Fulton County, Ga., accused of hitting his wife when she accused him of infidelity.
• Amal Alamuddin, a British-Lebanese lawyer who is engaged to George Clooney, pulled out of an appointment to serve on a United Nations commission on possible violations of the rules of war in Gaza, citing existing commitments.
• Mikey Dickerson, an engineer who oversaw fixes to the healthcare.gov site, will lead a team of digital experts tasked with upgrading the government's technology infrastructure and making its websites more consumer-friendly, the White House announced.
• John Roberts, the chief justice of the United States, said at the American Bar Association's annual meeting in Boston that lawyers should play a key role in mitigating the "sharp partisan divides" that have shaken public faith in government.
• James Comey, the FBI director, said at the bureau's field office in Dallas that he doesn't know how many Americans have tried to join Islamic insurgents fighting in Syria but that they represented an urgent threat to the United States.
• "Big Ed" Beckley, a motorcycle daredevil, called off plans to attempt a jump over the Snake River Canyon in Idaho that Evel Knievel failed to complete 40 years ago and said he won't attempt it unless a network pays him several million dollars so he can recoup his costs.
• Bob Cooper announced he will seek another eight-year term as Tennessee's attorney general after three fellow Democrats fended off conservative challenges and held onto their spots on the state Supreme Court, which appoints the state's top attorney.
A Section on 08/12/2014