Latest virus wave shows signs of abating in the Northeast
The latest coronavirus wave that has affected most of the United States is showing signs of improvement in the Northeast. More than 29,000 people are hospitalized with COVID-19 across the country, an increase of 16% over the past two weeks, and more than 3,000 of those patients are in intensive care. But in northeastern states, hospitalizations have been declining. In Vermont, numbers have dropped by more than 40% over the past two weeks. They declined over 20% in Massachusetts and roughly 10% in Maine, Connecticut and New York. Every other region is seeing a rise in hospitalizations, particularly so in the Southern states of Alabama and Louisiana.
A broken redistricting process winds down
The Republican and Democratic parties each claimed that redistricting — the once-a-decade process of drawing new boundaries for the nation’s 435 congressional districts — went its way. But some frustrated Democrats in states such as Texas, Florida and Ohio sounded unconvinced as Republicans, who have controlled the House in 10 of the past 15 elections despite losing the popular vote in seven of them, seemed to fare better at tilting political maps in their direction in key states they controlled. The vanishing number of truly contested House races indicated that whoever won, the voters lost.
Surviving vote, Johnson faces bleak outlook
Prime Minister Boris Johnson survived a dramatic vote of no confidence Monday, fending off a mutiny that nevertheless leaves him reeling and presages a volatile period in British politics, as he fights to stay in power and lead a divided Conservative Party. The vote, 211-148, fell short of the majority of Tory lawmakers needed to oust Johnson. But it laid bare how badly his support has eroded since last year, when a scandal erupted over revelations that he and his senior aides threw parties at 10 Downing St. that violated the government’s lockdown rules. More than 40% of Conservative lawmakers voted against him in an unexpectedly large rebellion.
Potent weapons reach Ukraine faster than the know-how to use them
Since Russia invaded, NATO nations have upgraded Ukraine’s arsenal with increasingly sophisticated tools, with more promised. But training soldiers how to use the equipment has become a significant and growing obstacle. Ukraine’s leaders frequently call for high-end Western weapons and equipment, pinning their hopes for victory to requests for new anti-tank guided missiles, howitzers and satellite-guided rockets. But atop the need for the tools of war, Ukrainian troops need to know how to use them. Analysts say that could echo the United States’ failed approach of supplying the Afghan military with equipment that couldn’t be maintained absent massive logistical support.
Israel’s government teeters again, losing vote on law that supports West Bank
The Israeli parliament voted Monday against applying Israeli civilian law to Israelis in the occupied West Bank, a decision that edged the fragile coalition government closer to collapse and undermined the two-tier legal system that distinguishes between Israeli settlers and Palestinians in most of the territory. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett was unable to keep his tenuous coalition in line to pass the legislation, which allows Israeli settlers to live according to civilian law in the 61% of the West Bank that falls under direct Israeli control, instead of the military law by which Israel generally governs Palestinians living in the same area. The effort failed 58-52.
British tourist gets 15 years in Iraqi jail for taking shards from archaeology site
A British tourist who took pottery shards from an archaeological site was sentenced Monday to 15 years in an Iraqi prison after a Baghdad court convicted him of trying to smuggle the artifacts out of the country. The court found James Fitton, a 66-year-old retired geologist, guilty under a 2002 law that carries a sentence of seven to 15 years in prison for stealing artifacts or antiquities. The harshness of the punishment has raised questions in a country where antiquities looting is rampant but few Iraqis are known to have faced such severe sentences in recent years.
By wire sources
