Alexandria

'Unconstitutional slop': Democrats blast Trump's executive actions on coronavirus relief

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the "kindest thing I could say" after looking at President Trump's executive orders was that he "doesn't know what he's talking about."

Man says he wasn’t allowed into an Arkansas casino because ‘men do not carry purses’

The casino has since apologized.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine tested positive, then negative for COVID-19: 7 questions you might have about testing

Not all tests work the same way, nor do they always provide identical results. Even the same test — taken twice — can show contradictory outcomes.

Louisville police said protesters, who have been marching against Breonna Taylor's death for more than 70 days, can no longer use public roads

A handful of people have been arrested and charged with disorderly conduct and blocking a roadway since the ban started, local media reported.

Race in Mauritius to empty oil tanker before it breaks up

Urgent efforts increased in Mauritius on Monday to empty a stranded Japanese ship of an estimated 2,500 tons of oil before the vessel breaks up and increases the contamination of the island's once-pristine coastline. Already more than 1,000 tons of the fuel has washed up on the eastern coast of Mauritius, polluting its coral reefs, protected lagoons and shoreline. High winds and waves are pounding the Japanese bulk carrier MV Wakashio, which ran aground on a coral reef two weeks ago and is showing signs of breaking up and dumping its remaining cargo of oil into the Indian Ocean waters surrounding Mauritius.

Macron pledges to continue fight against terrorism after seven aid workers murdered in Sahel

Emmanuel Macron has pledged to continue France’s fight against terror in the Sahel after seven aid workers — six French and one Nigerien — were murdered and set on fire by gunmen on Sunday in a wildlife reserve in the west African nation of Niger. “Several of our compatriots and Nigeriens were cowardly murdered yesterday in Niger in a deadly attack,” the French president said on Twitter. “I share the pain of their families and loved ones. Some were hired for the most altruistic of missions: to help people.” The aid workers were killed on Sunday morning while driving through the southwestern area of Kouré, an area famed for being home to the last remaining population of west African giraffes, about an hours drive from the capital Niamey. The French humanitarian group ACTED issued a statement on Monday confirming the deaths of seven of their aid workers. The group said that they were ‘horrified’ by the ‘senseless and barbaric killing’. “This heinous crime must not go unpunished, nor will it distract us from our commitment to support the people of Niger,” it said. Kadri Abdou, the president of the Association of Kouré’s Giraffe Guides was also killed in the attack. The area is popular with expatriates living in Niamey, as it one of the few places NGO staff are allowed to visit on days off. It is understood that Nigerien and French forces have been combing through the reserve, searching for the gunmen. Local media reported that the US was also helping with drone surveillance and that one of the gunmen had already been found by Nigerien commandoes. No group has claimed responsibility for the killing but groups allied to both Al Qaeda and Islamic State have both been active in the surrounding Tillaberi region. Some 5,100 French soldiers are battling jihadist groups across the Sahel region which runs underneath the Sahara desert.

Biden teases VP pick: 'Are you ready?'

Presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden is expected to announce his running mate this week, teasing a reporter on Sunday by asking, "Are you ready?"Biden has said he will choose a woman as his vice presidential pick, with Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) and former National Security Adviser Susan Rice having emerged as frontrunners. Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, and California Rep. Karen Bass have also been floated by analysts as potential picks."[Biden] has a very difficult decision to make … but it's almost an embarrassment of riches," Howard University political science professor Niambi Carter told USA Today, while others have worried that Biden's delay has made his choice "messier than it should be" and pitted "women, especially Black women, against one another." Check out the seven candidates The Week's Matthew Walther believes have the best chance here.More stories from theweek.com Donald Trump's impotent tyranny QAnon goes mainstream 5 scathing cartoons about Trump's 'it is what it is' COVID response

Riot declared as fire burns in Portland police union offices

A fire inside a police union building led authorities in Portland, Ore., to declare a riot and turn protesters away from the offices as demonstrations continue in the city after federal agents withdrew more than a week ago.

Venezuela: Former American soldiers jailed over failed coup

Luke Denman and Airan Berry were arrested in May while entering Venezuela by sea from Colombia.

Arrest made in shooting that injured an 11-year-old and a woman in Fort Lauderdale, police say

A 60-year-old man with a history of felony convictions has been arrested for his connection to a weekend shooting in Fort Lauderdale that sent an 11-year-old boy and a woman to the hospital, police said.

Fact check: Quarantine 'camps' are real, but COVID-19 camp claim stretches truth

An Instagram post is correct about expansion of quarantine sites during the pandemic, but falsely claims personal information will be accessed there.

Women who use marijuana during pregnancy are 1.5 times more likely to have a child with autism, according to the largest study of its kind

In the largest study of its kind, marijuana use in pregnancy was linked to a 50% higher risk of having a child with autism.

Kim Jong-un sends aid to North Korean border city in lockdown

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has ordered the distribution of aid to the border city of Kaesong after the area was locked down last month to fight the coronavirus, state media said on Sunday. Authorities raised the state of emergency to the maximum level for the city in July, saying they had discovered the country's first suspected virus case. A train carrying goods arrived in the "totally blocked" city of Kaesong on Friday, the official KCNA news agency reported. "The Supreme Leader has made sure that emergency measures were taken for supplying food and medicines right after the city was totally blocked and this time he saw to it that lots of rice and subsidy were sent to the city," it said. Mr Kim had been concerned "day and night" about people in Kaesong as they continue their "campaign for checking the spread of the malignant virus", the report added. Last month, Pyongyang said a defector who had left for South Korea three years ago returned on July 19 by "illegally crossing" the heavily fortified border dividing the two countries. The man showed symptoms of coronavirus and was put under "strict quarantine", authorities said, but the North has yet to confirm whether he tested positive. If confirmed, it would be the first officially recognised case of Covid-19 in North Korea, where medical infrastructure is seen as woefully inadequate to deal with any epidemic. The nuclear-armed North closed its borders in late January as the virus spread in neighbouring China. It imposed tough restrictions that put thousands of people into isolation, but analysts say the country is unlikely to have avoided the contagion.

Belarus poll challenger asks strongman Lukashenko to cede power

The main challenger in Belarus's disputed election on Monday called on President Alexander Lukashenko to cede power but said she would not join demonstrations that have been brutally broken up by police, attracting widespread condemnation in Europe. Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, whose surprise candidacy posed the biggest challenge to the veteran leader in years, said Sunday's presidential vote had been rigged and accused authorities of resorting to force to cling to power. "The voters made their choice but the authorities did not hear us," Tikhanovskaya told a press conference after police used stun grenades, water cannon and rubber bullets to disperse crowds in Minsk and other cities.

Chicago's Montrose Harbor blocked by police, fence after Mayor Lori Lightfoot shuts down large beach party: 'It's being addressed'

CHICAGO - For months, memes have appeared to show Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot watching for crowds and threatening to close parts of the city if residents don't abide by orders and closures during the coronavirus pandemic. But on Saturday, Lightfoot herself - not just an edited photo of her, like those used in such memes - apparently had a hand in breaking up a large gathering at Montrose ...

Catholic bishop rejects idea Trump is ‘pro-life’, saying president is ‘only concerned about himself’

A Kentucky bishop has claimed Donald Trump cannot be pro-life, because he is “only concerned about himself”.Reverend John Stowe, the Lexington Diocese Bishop in Kentucky, questioned the president’s stance on abortion during a Facebook Live panel with Catholic organisation Pax Ramona.

Lindsey Graham Claims Declassified Docs Show FBI ‘Misled’ Congress on Steele Dossier

Newly declassified documents show that the FBI misled Congress regarding the reliability of the Steele dossier, Senator Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) said on Sunday.The Senate Intelligence Committee, which Graham chairs, is currently conducting an investigation into the origins of the FBI's Crossfire Hurricane probe, whose stated aim was to uncover alleged collusion between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russian operatives.One document released by the committee on Sunday is an FBI draft of talking points for a February 2018 Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on the Russia investigation. The talking points, uncovered by Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz, seek to give the impression that the Steele dossier's "Primary Sub-Source" for intelligence was reliable.The Primary Sub-Source "did not cite any significant concerns with the way his reporting was characterized in the dossier to the extent he could identify it," according to the talking points.However, the FBI knew in early 2017 that the Primary Sub-Source had cast doubt on the dossier's claims that Trump-campaign officials and Russian operatives were working together. The Primary Sub-Source in fact told FBI agents in 2017 that there was "zero" corroboration for some of the allegations in the dossier.The 2018 memo "clearly shows that the FBI was continuing to mislead regarding the reliability of the Steele dossier. The FBI did to the Senate Intelligence Committee what the Department of Justice and FBI had previously done to the FISA Court: mischaracterize, mislead and lie," Graham said in a press release. "What does this mean? That Congress as well as the FISA Court was lied to about the reliability of the Russian sub-source. I will be asking FBI Director Wray to provide me all the details possible about how the briefing was arranged and who provided it."IG Horowitz's report on the FBI's attempts to obtain FISA warrants for former Trump-campaign adviser Carter Page revealed "at least 17 significant errors or omissions" in those applications.

Royal Caribbean floats testing passengers for COVID-19 when cruising resumes

For likely the first time in Royal Caribbean Group’s 52-year history, the company has gone nearly four months without a passenger cruise. It’s no surprise then, that the company’s second quarter earnings were the worst on record as the COVID-19 pandemic keeps the industry largely paralyzed.

How to stop the COVID-19 pandemic? Harvard doc says cheap tests are the answer.

Harvard infectious disease expert Dr. Michael Mina says use of frequent, cheap tests could quell COVID-19 outbreaks in a matter of weeks.

Coronavirus: New Zealand marks 100 days without community spread

The prime minister hails the milestone as "significant", but warns against complacency.

Appeals of Nazi camp guard conviction in Germany dropped

All appeals against the conviction of a 93-year-old Nazi concentration camp guard have been dropped, a Hamburg court said Monday, making the decision legally binding and easing the way for possible future prosecutions. Bruno Dey was convicted last month of 5,232 counts of accessory to murder in Hamburg state court — equal to the number of people believed to have been killed at Stutthof during his service there in 1944 and 1945. Because he was 17 and 18 at the time of his alleged crimes, Dey’s case was heard in juvenile court and he was given a two-year suspended sentence.

Quarter of a million bikers defy Covid fears to hold South Dakota rally

An estimated quarter of a million bikers descended on the small South Dakota town of Sturgis in the largest mass gathering in the US since the start of the coronavirus outbreak. They pressed ahead with the rally, which has been an annual event since 1938, despite fears that the gathering could trigger a Covid-19 outbreak not only among the bikers but also among the town’s population of just under 7,000. Social distancing and masks were largely noticeable by their absence as the bikers started arriving en masse over the weekend. Even Donald Trump’s description of mask-wearing as patriotic failed to convince the majority attending the rally. Many made a point of bragging about their defiance of the guidelines issued by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, the US government health watchdog.

Protests broke out over the Belarusan presidential election and the country's internet went down

Opponents have accused the president of rigging votes as he sought reelection after 26 years of rule

100 arrested, 13 officers injured after Chicago crowds clash with police

Hundreds smashed windows, stole from stores and clashed with police in Chicago’s Magnificent Mile shopping district and other parts of downtown.

New 'threat' against former Saudi spy in Canada: media

A former senior Saudi intelligence official who has accused Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of trying to have him assassinated in 2018 has been placed under heightened security after a new threat on his life, a Canadian newspaper reported. The Globe and Mail said Canadian security services had been informed of a new attempted attack on Saad Aljabri, who lives at an undisclosed location in the Toronto region. Aljabri served as a counterespionage chief under a rival prince, Mohammed bin Nayef, who was ousted in 2017 by Prince Mohammed.

U.S. Attorney General Barr says the left wants to tear down system

Barr also told a Fox News TV host he was worried that an increase in mail-in voting could lead to a contested presidential election in November, sounding in on an issue often raised by U.S. President Donald Trump. In an interview with conservative pundit Mark Levin, Barr said Democrats had pulled away from classic liberal values and now were akin to the "Rousseauian Revolutionary Party" aimed at destroying the institutions upon which the country was built.

Injured cruise ship worker ‘forgotten’ after seven months in South Florida hotels

From behind the locked window of his 10th-floor hotel room, Paúl Córdova watches dozens of airplanes take off and land each day at Miami International Airport.

Iran sank a replica US aircraft carrier, then left it in the Strait of Hormuz — now it can seriously disrupt ships in a vital oil route worth $878 million a day

Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps sunk the replica during a July 28 and July 29 operation meant to show how it would take on a US carrier.

China imposes sanctions on US senators over Hong Kong

High-profile US officials are sanctioned but China avoids targeting anyone in the Trump administration.

The Federal Government Must Stop the Deadly Abortion Pill

While COVID-19 dominates the news cycle, a battle is being fought over a deadly drug that has killed over 3.7 million children and at least 24 women. The drug is Mifeprex — commonly known as the abortion pill. On July 13, an Obama-appointed federal judge enjoined the Food and Drug Administration requirements governing the prescription of Mifeprex. He ruled that requiring pregnant women to complete an in-clinic appointment to procure the drugs was a “substantial obstacle” to abortion and was to be suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic. This ruling suspends, for the abortion pill, the Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS), the FDA’s rules for “certain medications with serious safety concerns to help ensure the benefits of the medication outweigh its risks.” Women procuring abortion drugs without proper education or evaluation are at greater risk of complications and death due to undiagnosed ectopic pregnancy, hemorrhaging, infection, and more. This dangerous judicial activism should compel elected officials, entrusted with the care of their constituents, to take a stand when federal agencies jeopardize public health and safety.The first drug in the abortion-pill regimen, Mifeprex was approved by the FDA in 2000 after a highly politicized scramble within the Clinton administration. Beverly Winikoff is the founder of one of the abortion pill’s loudest proponents, Gynuity Health Projects. Winikoff claimed that the September 11 terrorist attacks “saved” Mifeprex because the nearly 3,000 Americans killed that day overshadowed news of a woman killed by the abortion pill a day prior. Mifeprex was designed specifically to kill the developing child and is approved for use up to ten weeks, at which point a child has arms, eyelids, toes, fingers, and organs.Since the drug’s approval, over 4,000 adverse maternal reactions have been reported to the FDA. The FDA acknowledges that adverse reactions are notoriously underreported, and most women experiencing hemorrhaging and severe infections will seek follow-up care at emergency rooms instead of returning to the abortion clinic. Yet emergency rooms are not required to report adverse reactions. And as of 2016, the Obama administration changed the requirement so that abortion-pill manufacturers must report only maternal deaths to the FDA. The number of women seeking blood transfusions and emergency intervention is likely much greater than 4,000.The Mifeprex regimen has unleashed horrors on America’s women and children while providing no medical benefit. Killing innocent children, endangering mothers, and abusing the health-care system to do harm is tragic. And as long as this deadly drug remains on the U.S. market, it will pose a serious health risk.Pregnancy is not a disease and abortion is not health care. The abortion pill is not medicine. No child deserves to be killed by a drug, and pregnant women deserve better. FDA commissioner Stephen Hahn should acknowledge the subversion of the abortion industry and its allies, which are using a national pandemic to instigate abortion expansions that could remain long after the pandemic is over. The FDA should protect the public health of Americans and pull this lethal drug, Mifeprex and its approved generics, from the market immediately.Ted Cruz is a U.S. senator from Texas and a member of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary. Lila Rose is the president and founder of Live Action, a nonprofit human-rights organization educating on abortion and the abortion industry.

Court record in Colombia reveals Uribe's mounting legal bind

The frantic voice message to an inmate in Colombia’s notorious La Picota prison came days before powerful former President Álvaro Uribe was up against a court deadline to submit witness testimony in a potentially damaging case against him. “There’s a big man who wants to talk,” Carlos Eduardo López, a tireless Uribe devotee, told the former paramilitary serving a four-decade sentence. Juan Guillermo Monsalve asked for details.

Georgia school moves online after COVID-19 infections reported

A Georgia high school plans to start the week with all classes moving online after nine students and staff tested positive for the coronavirus when the school year opened last week with most students attending classes in-person.

Black male leaders say Biden will lose election if he doesn't choose Black woman as VP

The urgency for Biden to choose a Black woman has gone from something that "SHOULD happen to something that HAS to happen," the letter said.

Man who was given life sentence for $30 marijuana sale to be freed

A man in Louisiana serving a life sentence for selling less than a gram of marijuana is due to be released from prison, his lawyer has said.Derek Harris, who is a military veteran, was arrested in 2008 for selling 0.69 grams of marijuana — an amount worth less than $30 (£23) — to an undercover officer who came to his door.

Lebanon government resigns amid explosion fallout

Lebanon's government resigned during a cabinet meeting on Monday to discuss early elections following last week's catastrophic explosion in Beirut, the country's health minister has said. "The whole government resigned," Hamad Hassan told reporters at the end of the meeting. Prime Minister Hassan Diab was expected to travel to the presidential palace to "hand over the resignation in the name of all the ministers," Mr Hassan said. Pressure has mounted on the government to step down amid growing anger from a public that holds it accountable for the explosion that damaged half the capital last Tuesday. Three ministers had already offered their resignations ahead of the meeting, while Foreign minister Nassif Hitti resigned the day before blast, warning the country was at risk of becoming a failed state and the government seemed incapable of reform. Finance Minister Ghazi Wazni, a key negotiator with the International Monetary Fund over a rescue plan to help Lebanon exit a financial crisis, prepared his resignation letter and brought it with him to a cabinet meeting, a source close to him said.

Gov. Mike Huckabee weighs in on religious voters, 2020 election

Fox News contributor and former Arkansas Republican Governor Mike Huckabee joins ‘Fox & Friends Weekend.’

A woman claiming to be from the 'Freedom To Breathe Agency' filmed telling a grocery employee that she could face legal action for making people wear face masks

The mask-less woman gave the employee a piece of paper claiming she could go to prison for up to five years for telling customers to wear a face mask.

Wild bear that sniffed woman's hair is caught and castrated

The black bear was captured after he was filmed approaching a visitor at an ecological park.

Sudan rains and floods claim 20 more lives

At least 20 people were killed and 13 others wounded Sunday in torrential rains and flooding, the latest victims of days of flooding in Sudan, the civil defence said. Heavy rains typically hit Sudan between June and October each year, and this week the country has been badly battered by the downpour. "20 people have died and 13 have been injured while 345 houses were destroyed or badly damaged" across the country Sunday, the civil defence said.

Ecuador navy surveils large Chinese fishing fleet near Galapagos

Ecuador's navy is conducting surveillance of a large Chinese fishing fleet that is operating near the protected waters of the Galapagos Islands, amid concerns about the environmental impact of fishing in the area of the ecologically sensitive islands. The fishing fleet has since 2017 been arriving in the summer months and fishing just outside the Galapagos territorial waters, drawn by marine species such as the endangered hammerhead shark. Such fishing is not illegal because it takes place in international waters.

Mexico's coronavirus outbreak is now the third worst in the world

The U.S., by a wide margin, leads the globe in COVID-19 cases. But its neighbor to the south has its own alarming spike, making it the third worst outbreak in the world.Mexico has had 52,000 confirmed coronavirus deaths, The New York Times reported Monday. A widespread distrust of hospitals has made the pandemic even deadlier, as Mexicans are reportedly frequently refusing to seek treatment until their COVID-19 symptoms have worsened past the point of possible recovery, or not at all. Additionally, the tendency to avoid hospitals has made it difficult to confirm the true number of coronavirus deaths — those who die at home often aren't tested, so their deaths aren't counted as part of the official death toll. Mexico's government says there were 71,000 excess deaths this spring, deaths that aren't officially COVID-19-related but likely point to an even deadlier outbreak.Last month, nearly 70 percent of Mexicans said they would feel unsafe taking their loved ones to a hospital for coronavirus treatment, writes the Times. The fear, of course, isn't unfounded. Almost 40 percent of those hospitalized with COVID-19 end up dying, data shows, compared to less than 25 percent in New York City at the peak of the outbreak. Deaths in hospitals also happen quicker in Mexico, though doctors say that's partly because patients wait so long before arriving for treatment.The vicious cycle has many fearing that medical workers are even deliberately infecting patients or allowing them to die, though no evidence suggests that's the case. Read more at The New York Times.More stories from theweek.com Donald Trump's impotent tyranny QAnon goes mainstream 5 scathing cartoons about Trump's 'it is what it is' COVID response

White House aide Peter Navarro said the 'Lord and Founding Fathers created executive orders' so Trump can push orders over 'partisan bickering'

In an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press," Navarro criticized congressional Democrats for differing with "the hardest-working president in history."

They tweeted, retweeted photo of a cop at a Black Lives Matter protest. Then came felonies.

Legal experts say charging Twitter users with felonies over posts of a New Jersey cop during a Black Lives Matter protest is "a bit of a stretch."

Ohio governor's conflicting COVID-19 tests raise backlash

The Ohio governor's positive, then negative, tests for COVID-19 have provided fuel for skeptics of government pandemic mandates and critics of his often-aggressive policies. “I'm sure the internet is lighting up with ‘Well, you can't believe any test,' ” Mike DeWine said in a WCOL radio interview Friday, after a whirlwind of events the day before when the initial positive showing forced the Republican to scrub a planned meeting with President Donald Trump. Instead of seeing Trump at the Cleveland airport, DeWine returned to this state capital for new testing with his wife, Fran, through Ohio State University's medical center They then went to their southwestern Ohio farm in Cedarville, where DeWine said he planned to quarantine for 14 days.

Number of Americans giving up US citizenship skyrocketing in 2020, report says

The number had been in steep decline over the last few years, according to the report.

'We failed': one scientist's despair as Brazil Covid-19 deaths hit 100,000

Natalia Pasternak has waged a tireless media campaign to counter Bolsonaro’s chaotic, anti-science pandemic responseFor months Natalia Pasternak has implored Brazilians to take science and coronavirus seriously, in a marathon of TV appearances, newspaper columns, live streams and podcasts.“I’ve given interviews at 2am,” said the microbiologist and broadcaster who runs a civil society group called the Question of Science Institute.As the epidemic has raged, Pasternak has condemned President Jair Bolsonaro’s chaotic, anti-scientific response; denounced fake news and unproven treatments such as chloroquine and ozone therapy; and urged her country’s 210 million citizens to respect quarantine measures aimed at controlling coronavirus.“Reopening … is a recipe for disaster,” the 43-year-old scientist warned on a recent talkshow, as lockdown efforts withered despite the soaring number of infections and deaths.Yet five months after Brazil’s first confirmed fatality, Pasternak is despondent and fears her work has been in vain.On Saturday the official death toll hit 100,000 – up from 10,000 in early May. A similar number of lives were lost during Sri Lanka’s 26-year civil war or the ongoing conflict in Yemen. Brazil has recorded more than 3m infections – second only to the US.“We failed – as a country, as a government, as a society – to get the message out in a clear, transparent and educative way,” she admitted.Like many Brazilians, Pasternak blames Bolsonaro – a Trump-smitten populist who calls Covid-19 “a bit of a cold”, has lost two health ministers during the crisis and has sabotaged containment measures he claims are too damaging to the economy.“As president, he bears personal responsibility. His behaviour has been deplorable,” the pro-science campaigner said.“It really disgusts me to see my country go through this. To have the worst possible leadership at the worst moment possible … As a scientist and a citizen, I find it so sad to think how this government has wrecked my country,” she added, her voice breaking.Pasternak is part of an outspoken and vibrant community of scientists, journalists and opinion-makers battling to convey the gravity of Brazil’s crisis and identify possible escape routes.Since March she has sounded the alarm – and petitioned the government – by penning more than 50 articles, appearing on 19 podcasts and giving nearly 300 interviews. “My role is to do everything I can to inform the population about how science works and why we need to trust science to guide our decisions … because science is the best tool we have to fight this pandemic.”But with Bolsonaro championing ineffective treatments such as hydroxychloroquine and snubbing social distancing, it has been an uphill struggle.“He’s set an awful example that has confused the population over the true seriousness of the pandemic and the solutions that actually work,” Pasternak complained.“If we had implemented decent quarantine measures, we could have avoided at least half of these 100,000 deaths,” she claimed, remembering how in March an Imperial College projection claimed urgent action could keep Brazil’s death toll down to 44,000.“We’re now at more than double this – and we are still in the middle of the pandemic.”Bolsonaro administration officials and supporters put a more positive spin on his response.“Brazil didn’t do as bad a job as some boast,” the pro-Bolsonaro governor of its second most populous state, Minas Gerais, insisted earlier this month.An Orwellian federal government propaganda campaign called the Placar da Vida (“The Scoreboard of Life”) trumpets the number of people “saved” by its efforts – but skips over the dead.But by most measures Brazil’s reaction has been dire. Latin America’s No 1 economy has the world’s second-highest death toll, second-highest number of infections and 11th-highest number of confirmed deaths per million people. Since late May Brazil’s seven-day rolling average of confirmed deaths has been close to, or above 1,000 a day.Despite this, many regions are reopening, with Rio beaches packing, shoppers flocking to malls and social isolation rates plummeting.“The danger is that we normalize this – that we reach a point where people say: ‘Oh, it’s stabilized. Everything’s OK. It’s over!’” Pasternak warned. “No – it’s not over. It’s not normal for 1,000 people to die each day because of an infectious disease.“Our role as science communicators … is to keep showing the facts and in a way that engages people, moves people and makes them realize that this is still happening.”Pasternak’s institute is one of several groups trying to raise awareness.Since April, an online memorial called Inumeráveis (Countless) has celebrated victims’ lives as a way of emphasizing the epidemic’s human cost.“We are trying to fight this [trivialisation] with love,” said Rayane Urani, the project’s 31-year-old moderator.In recent days it has commemorated 29-year-old Cleyton Barbosa da Silva Souza (“a ladies’ man who couldn’t stay alone for long”), 73-year-old Eduardo Orlando das Neves (“the owner of a moustache which changed colour when he ate açai”) and Helen Dias, 38 (“a dedicated nurse who was a star and saved many lives”).“These aren’t just numbers. They were somebody’s dad. Somebody’s mum. Somebody’s love,” said Urani. “Ultimately, this is all about people.”As Brazil passed its latest cruel milestone, Pasternak said she was disheartened to think things could have been different.“It could have been avoided,” she said. “Not completely, of course. But 100,000 people could have been avoided.”A vast network of national health service community health workers could have been mobilized to educate Brazilians, isolate people based on their symptoms and trace their contacts.A proper quarantine could have been implemented, like in Germany and New Zealand, “and we would now be in the same place as these countries – reopening safely, with a near-normal life.“[But] we don’t have guidelines, we don’t have leadership – we don’t even have a [permanent] health minister. The federal government is being absurdly negligent … and this is one of the biggest reasons Brazil now finds itself in this situation.”

Sturgeon sorry for exams fiasco and admits student outrage a 'bigger problem' than grade inflation

Nicola Sturgeon has issued an apology to teenagers hit by this year’s results day fiasco and promised to fix the "unfair" system. After spending much of last week defending the arbitrary downgrading of 124,000 qualifications, under a “moderation” process put in place following the cancellation of this year's exams, the First Minister on Monday confirmed a government u-turn over results. Opposition parties said the First Minister’s apology did not go far enough, and claimed the reversal was motivated by a desire to keep her under-fire Education Secretary and deputy, John Swinney, in his job. The furious row over school qualifications threatened to overshadow the reopening of Scottish schools, for the first time in almost five months, from Tuesday. Many are welcoming pupils back on a “phased” basis over the coming days ahead of a full-time return next week. The EIS, the country’s largest teaching union, said a major survey of almost 30,000 members showed that only one in five were confident that schools are currently safe, with two thirds believing face coverings should be made mandatory among older pupils. However, on school qualifications, Ms Sturgeon admitted: “We did not get this right and I'm sorry for that.” Details of an overhauled system will be unveiled on Tuesday at Holyrood. It is likely that many, if not all, of the 124,000 downgrades will now be reversed. Ms Sturgeon said she had come to the conclusion that the injustice and disillusionment felt by teenagers was a “bigger problem” that the impact widespread grade inflation would have on the credibility of this year’s results.

North Carolina earthquake: Locals 'scared' after state hit by strongest tremor for 104 years

North Carolina has been hit by its biggest earthquake in more than a century.The 5.1-magnitude quake struck at 8.07am on Sunday, 100 miles north of Charlotte near the town of Sparta, on the border with Virginia.