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Number of reported cases ‘represents only a fraction of the estimated total number of infections’

In 2011 a repressive, authoritarian government collapsed because it proved unable to meet people’s demands. Why would its return solve anything?In 2011 Tunisia was the first Arab nation to topple its dictator, and the only one where genuine democracy survives. But events in the capital, Tunis, suggest that the country is experiencing a counter-revolution. On Sunday the president, Kais Saied, fired the country’s prime minister, dismissed the government and froze parliament. Mr Saied has suspended lawmakers’ parliamentary immunity, a pointed warning to political opponents. It is never a good sign when security forces storm television stations. Demonstrations have broken out – with protesters taking to the streets both in support for the president, and against him. The warmth of the Arab spring has definitely turned into the chill of winter.The opposition – led principally by Ennahda, the moderate Islamist party with the most seats in parliament – called his actions “a coup”. It’s hard to disagree with that description. But many in Tunisia either shrug their shoulders or, even worse, are drawn to demagogues, religious hardliners and those who praise the country’s former dictatorship. The reason that sections of the population are receptive to either apathy or illiberal notions is that freedom and democracy in Tunisia have not delivered political stability and a prosperous economy. Instead corruption, inflation and unemployment persist. For the past few years Tunisians have taken to the streets to express their dissatisfaction, sometimes violently. Continue reading...

The era when American players could win gold at the Games just by showing up is over. The rest of the world has simply become too goodIt’s too easy to make excuses for the Team USA men’s basketball team as it stumbles, and stumbles again, on the court.It’s too easy to point out that this is international play, and these are international referees and rules, that this isn’t the NBA, that the points and fouls aren’t coming the way they do at home. Continue reading...

Stories of the Mexican revolutionary, preserved in family lore, are unlikely to feature in Texas’s whitewashed 1836 ProjectMy maternal grandmother was a head nurse in a hospital in the northern state of Chihuahua during the Mexican Revolution – an epic event that affected both sides of the border and caused my family to permanently move to the United States to escape the violence.Grandmother worked at the hospital, family lore goes, when the infamous general Pancho Villa seized the facility and left his wounded troops to the hospital’s care. Mama, as we called her, took it upon herself to watch out for the female nurses amid all the soldiers, some of whom made unwanted sexual advances to them. She reported them to Villa’s officers. That’s when Villa showed up and asked Mama to point out the offending soldiers. When she did, he drew his pistol and summarily executed the men, astonishing the witnesses and delivering the message to his army that this behavior would not be tolerated. Continue reading...

Individual who contracted the disease caused by a virus similar to smallpox returned to Texas from Nigeria in JulyUS health officials are monitoring more than 200 people for potential exposure to monkeypox, after an individual who contracted the disease in Nigeria returned to Texas in July.Monkeypox is a rare disease caused by a virus similar to smallpox. According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), it was discovered in 1958 when two outbreaks occurred in colonies of monkeys kept for research. Continue reading...

Coast Capital also demands two board members step down over sell-off of US businessesFirstGroup’s biggest shareholder has demanded the resignation of the transport firm’s chief executive and two board members, after failing to prevent the sell-off of its American businesses.Coast Capital, the New York-based hedge fund which owns about 15% of the group, had opposed the $3.1bn sale of the FirstStudent and FirstTransit businesses to Swedish group EQT, arguing the price was too low for the school and city bus services. Continue reading...

Reza Baluchi told the coast guard he was headed 1,000 miles north in a running wheel contraption but ended up 30 miles southA Florida man startled beachgoers when he washed ashore inside a hybrid bubble-running wheel device.The man, identified by a local news channel as Reza Baluchi, washed ashore in Flagler county on the east coast of Florida on Saturday. Continue reading...

The Republican leadership’s decision to boycott the inquiry leaves the ex-president without defenders on the committee

White House press secretary says network is ‘still a platform for us to communicate with the public’

In a confrontation that swiftly went viral, a Montana man told the Fox News host Tucker Carlson: 'You are the worst human being known to mankind.' The man, identified on Instagram as Dan Bailey, posted the video of the encounter in a sporting goods store on 23 July. Carlson, the US channel’s most-watched host, is a key influence on rightwing politics and invective and has recently come under fire for questioning the effectiveness and safety of Covid-19 vaccines while refusing to say if he has had one, and for stoking racial division

Amber English won the third gold of the Games for the US shooting team, who back home have joined forces with an ultra-conservative collegeIt was a rough winter for the US shooting team, with some members sent to practise in an abandoned Macy’s department store when the pandemic closed their training centre. At least in Tokyo they have acquired some high-end baubles.Amber English won the women’s skeet gold medal on Monday and Vincent Hancock triumphed in the men’s event, a day after Will Shaner was victorious in the men’s 10-metre air rifle. All set Olympic record scores. Continue reading...

As the Delta variant of coronavirus surges among unvaccinated communities, complex reasons lie behind the slowdown of some vaccination rates

The UK government has decided to let the virus spread among young people. Paediatricians are split over how much harm it will causeFew issues seem to provoke such a range of opinions among experts as Covid-19 and children. When the WHO-China Joint Mission first reported on the virus in February 2020, one of the nuggets of good news was that children seemed to be relatively unaffected by it. This was surprising; like other acute respiratory infections, coronaviruses usually spread among and infect younger children. China’s strong suppression of the virus meant cases remained extremely low, preventing the virus spreading into other age groups. At the time, Covid appeared to be a disease of elderly and overweight people and those with underlying health conditions.One year into the pandemic, richer countries embarked on a mass vaccination programme to protect not only older age groups but entire adult populations. The success of vaccines in weakening the link between hospitalisations and deaths is clear (although the link is not completely broken). With vaccinated adults now largely protected from the severe consequences of Covid-19, the questions for children have changed. In the UK, there has been a surge of infections among children and adolescents. These will only increase when the school year starts again in the autumn. Continue reading...

The differing treatment of a black female athlete and a white male in the run-up to the Olympics show the double standards that permeate sportIn seemingly less time than Sha’Carri Richardson’s world-stopping, 100m triumph at the US trials, the matter of her Olympic-disqualifying suspension for a positive marijuana test has transformed routine sports talk fodder into a full-blown ethical debate for a divided nation.In her defense marijuana is legal in a host of states across America, including Oregon, where Richardson went full That Girl while stamping her ticket to Tokyo. But on the flip side this is still America, the puritanical-feigning, War on Drugs-waging nation that’s been championing for marijuana’s inclusion on Wada’s banned substance list ever since Cheech & Chong started lampooning weed as the palliative of choice for the chronically lazy. Continue reading...

The Australian drew first blood but there is plenty more water to be covered in the box office Olympic series with her US rivalAfter losing to Australia’s Ariarne Titmus in the women’s 400m freestyle, American Katie Ledecky departed the press conference tent at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre with a message: “See you in a few hours.” The five-time Olympic gold medallist was speaking to the gathered media, but she might as well have been talking to Titmus. This isn’t over yet.The Ledecky v Titmus rivalry will define the Olympic swim meet. Only “rivalry” is not quite the right word. Over the past two years, ever since Titmus beat Ledecky at the 2019 world championships and the American failed to shake her opponent’s hand, the duel between them has been given much oxygen. In the pool, it is certainly box office – one of the best swimmers in history, the reigning queen of the pool, and a young prodigy eager to take the crown. Continue reading...

Across the US, in Republican-controlled states Democrats are being forced to get creative to oppose a conservative agendaWhen a group of Texas Democratic legislators fled their state this month to prevent Republicans from enacting controversial voting restrictions, the incident became somewhat of a Rorschach test for lawmakers in Washington.Related: Can Pelosi’s power play on Capitol attack panel thwart wrecking tactics? Continue reading...

Hillbilly Elegy author singles out Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, Cory Booker and AOC as he praises far-right president of HungaryThe author turned Ohio Senate candidate JD Vance has blamed America’s woes on “the childless left”, singling out Vice-President Kamala Harris, transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg, Senator Cory Booker and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for their own share of the blame.Related: ‘You are the worst human being’: man confronts Fox News host Tucker Carlson Continue reading...

California’s biggest fire destroys multiple homes while other blazes batter the American westAs California’s biggest wildfire destroyed multiple homes, flames racing through rugged terrain, and as numerous other blazes battered the American west, the governor of Oregon said the climate crisis was “like a hammer hitting us in the head”.Related: ‘Smoke shading’ from other fires helps fight against Oregon Bootleg blaze Continue reading...

Man pleads guilty to conspiracy after British caller sent heavily armed police to the house of Mark Herring, 60A 60-year-old man in Tennessee had a heart attack and died after being “Swatted” over control of a Twitter handle.Related: The terror of swatting: how the law is tracking down high-tech prank callers Continue reading...

Democrat Katie Hobbs says ‘this is nothing more than being a sore loser’ before ex-president repeats debunked fraud claims

Impatient customers tired of waiting for service are taking out their frustrations on the workers. That’s where owners can helpWe’ve been reading about the airline industry’s troubles with unruly passengers. Most of these problems are due to frustrations with wearing masks. But unfortunately, it’s not just the airlines that are experiencing rude customers. Small businesses around the country are also having this problem, and it has nothing to do with masks.Related: Most small business owners are middle-aged, not ‘cool kids’ the media loves Continue reading...

The retirement of big stars have some speculating whether the American era is over. But Katie Ledecky and Caeleb Dressel are still powerhousesSuccess at Olympic trials is an invitation to look ahead, but the new star of American men’s swimming sounded nostalgic when he confirmed his trip to Tokyo.Caeleb Dressel may well win gold in three individual events in Japan, but he reflected on what the US team has lost as well as what the coming days may bring. Continue reading...

It was by focusing on his silenced victims, says the dogged Miami Herald reporter, that she was able to help bring the billionaire sex offender to justice after police and prosecutors had failedThe town of Palm Beach in Florida, the crime writer Carl Hiaasen has observed, “is one of the few places left in America where you can still drive around in a Rolls-Royce convertible and not get laughed at.” It’s an unironic island, filled with the super-rich and famous, plastic surgeons and, of course, the former US president, Donald Trump, who holds court at his ostentatious Mar-a-Lago resort.A satellite of Miami, the island prides itself on its many flamboyant charity balls, but no amount of good-cause fundraising can remove the whiff of corruption that hangs heavy in the subtropical air. If money talks in most places, in Palm Beach it speaks with a confident authority that’s seldom questioned. Never has that understanding been more egregiously demonstrated than in the case of the inscrutable financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Continue reading...

State accounts for almost a quarter of new US infections as frustration grows at what experts say is governor’s mixed messagingThe week began with Florida’s high-flying governor, Ron DeSantis, in Texas, bashing Joe Biden over immigration at the southern border. But with the highly contagious Delta variant pushing new cases of Covid-19 in his home state to their highest level since January, DeSantis’s road trip was looking increasingly deaf in tone and timing.By week’s end, Florida was accounting for almost a quarter of new infections nationally, with the US surgeon general, Vivek Murthy, warning of an “alarming” rise in deaths and hospitalizations. Continue reading...

Multibillion-dollar settlements specifically exclude admission of wrongdoing over a crisis that has claimed 600,000 livesThere is growing anger among families bereaved by the US opioid epidemic at pharmaceutical companies “buying their way out of accountability” with multibillion-dollar settlements that specifically exclude any admission of wrongdoing.Related: Enough fentanyl to kill San Francisco: the new wave of the opioid crisis sweeping California Continue reading...

US president is being much tougher than expected on Beijing, but a lack of solidarity will undermine his policy’s successIt’s generally accepted in Washington that once-buoyant hopes for the emergence of a free, democratic China, initially sparked by Richard Nixon’s groundbreaking 1972 visit, have sunk without trace. President Xi Jinping’s regime is now described as a “systemic rival”, “strategic competitor” or outright “threat”. The EU, Nato, the UK, and regional allies broadly agree: the era of engagement is over.What’s lacking is agreement over what comes next. The hole where common policy and joint action should be gapes ever more dangerously amid almost daily collisions on multiple fronts with Xi’s aggressive, authoritarian one-party state. If it’s not about human rights abuses, cyberhacking, or trade, it’s Taiwan, visas, spying, maritime disputes, the Indian border, or alleged hostage-taking. Continue reading...

Both parties are beholden to an anti-democratic coalition. This is stopping real changeYou’d think Biden and the Democratic party leadership would do everything in their power to stop Republicans from undermining democracy.Related: Why are Frito-Lays workers working suicide shifts on the job? | Indigo Olivier Continue reading...

Nate Mercereau, a guitarist and songwriter, released four instrumental duets that feature the bridge’s dinFor more than a year, the Golden Gate Bridge has been making an ethereal humming sound on windy days that has aggravated neighbors, charmed fans and sparked countless jokes.Now the strange noise, which has been described as akin to both a wheezing kazoo and a ghostly chant, has inspired its own album. Continue reading...

William Darby, who was convicted of shooting dead a suicidal man in May, has now resigned from Huntsville policeAn Alabama police officer who remained on his city’s payroll for two months after being convicted of murder has resigned from the Huntsville police department.Officer William Darby left of his own accord, the city told WAAY-TV on Friday. He had been on paid leave since his 7 May conviction for shooting a suicidal man who was holding a gun to his own head. Continue reading...

Boris Johnson’s alleged comparison was inappropriate, mixes different averages and ignores rising life expectancy as we ageAccording to the BBC, on 15 October, the prime minister allegedly sent a WhatsApp message: “I must say I have been rocked by some of the data on Covid fatalities. The median age is 82 – 81 for men, 85 for women. That is above life expectancy. So get Covid and live longer.” Presumably, this was a joke, but why is the reasoning so wrong?First, more technically, the message confuses two types of averages. As children learn at school, the median means that if you lined up the women according to the age they had died of Covid-19, the woman in the middle would be 85. But life expectancy is a mean-average – you work out how long, say, 100,000 newborns are likely to live assuming that current mortality rates continue, add them up and divide by 100,000. Using data from the UK for 2017-19, life expectancy at birth is 79 for men and 83 for women, but the median age at death is slightly higher: 81 for men and 85 for women, the same as that quoted for Covid-19. Continue reading...

Richard Jessee, who was searching for gold, said: ‘There was no doubt about it: the bear was trying to get into my cabin’An Alaska gold prospector rescued from a sustained attack by a grizzly bear some compared to a famous scene in the movie The Revenant told a local newspaper: “The bear came out of nowhere.“It rolled my bike and the trailer over like it was a toy car. I was in shock and hypothermic.” Continue reading...

As the variant tears its way through the US and vaccination rates plateau in the state, hospitals are experiencing a new wave of casesNurse Matt Robinson braced himself before pushing the heavy doors to the recently reopened Covid-19 ward at Methodist University hospital in downtown Memphis, Tennessee.This hadn’t been in the script. After over a year of continuous work with Covid-19 patients throughout the pandemic, the burnout brought on by constant exposure to death and trauma, Robinson had hoped his job might return to normal. Continue reading...

Republicans sense an opportunity to inflict a political wound upon the DemocratsJoe Biden and his fellow Democrats have been eager to celebrate America’s economic rebound as pandemic-related restrictions are relaxed and more businesses reopen. But there has been one sore spot in recent economic reports that Democrats have been less enthusiastic about: inflation.Related: Republican governor says ‘time to start blaming unvaccinated’ for rise in cases Continue reading...