Top Stories this AM: Dominion's suit against My Pillow guy goes forward; NK punishes COVID rule breakers with hard labor; guy buys 40-year-old slice of cake for $2,500

Good morning and welcome to your weekday morning roundup of the top stories you need to know.

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What's going on today:

• Mike Lindell exits stage left (literally). My Pillow guy Mike Lindell fled the stage at his cyber symposium at the same time news broke that Dominion's billion-dollar defamation lawsuit against him would proceed. Lindell is holding a 72-hour marathon online event in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and said on August 11 that he would stay on-stage for all three days. Then again, he may have run off stage because his cyber expert admitted that his "evidence" of a Chinese election hack was bogus.
• Gaetz-gate, part 2,342. Matt Gaetz associate Joel Greenberg used a private state database to access confidential information about celebrities like Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake, report finds. The database contained private information including Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses, and medical information.
• Abbott asks for help. Texas governor announces deployment of 2,500 healthcare workers to help the state as the Delta variant surges. Texas faces a surge of COVID-19 cases. Gov. Abbott has sought to ban face-mask requirements, but that hasn't gone over well in parts of the state.
• It's about time. The Indonesian army ends its '2-finger' test, in which doctors checked female recruits' hymens to determine if they were virgins. The military had said previously the test was necessary to determine recruits' morality.
• Hard labor for COVID rule breakers in North Korea. North Korea will impose hard labor on COVID rulebreakers who gather in groups of 3 or more. The hermit kingdom has yet to officially report a single COVID-19 case, although its leader Kim Jong Un in June blasted officials for their handling of the pandemic.
• When you realize you have too much money. A collector paid a whopping $2,500 for the 40-year-old frosting on top of Charles and Diana's wedding cake. A royal fan from Leeds, England, bought the cake slice and said he might add it to his collection or use it to raise money for charity.
• That's all for now. See you tomorrow.