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Overnight News Digest August 14, 2022 [1]

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Date: 2022-08-14

BBC

Marshall Islands: Covid-19 cases surge

Covid-19 infection numbers have surged in the Marshall Islands, just days after the Pacific nation recorded its first local spread of the virus. In the capital city of Majuro, total cases have nearly doubled since Friday. These latest figures mean one in ten of the city's residents have been infected in recent days. On Sunday, Health Secretary Jack Niedenthal said about 75% of tests across the country were returning positive results. A number of Pacific islands had success with keeping coronavirus at bay early in the pandemic through stringent restrictions. The Marshall Islands, which has a population of 59,000, was one of the last nations in the world to be untouched by Covid-19, before two cases were identified in October 2020. The pair had arrived from the US and were isolated from others. As recently as one week ago, it had seen no community transmission of the virus - meaning that Covid had not been detected passing from person to person.

NPR

A spate of horrific attacks in New York has people fearful of returning to work

New York City desperately needs it workers to return to the office. Its economy depends on it. But it's facing a particularly tricky problem: After several horrific attacks in the city's subway system this year, workers are telling their employers they are afraid to come back to work. In two meetings this year, some of the city's most powerful CEOs confronted Mayor Eric Adams, demanding answers, according to Kathryn Wylde, the president and CEO of the Partnership for New York City, who arranged the meetings. "The executives came out very strong, saying, 'We can't in conscience bring our people back to work, encourage them to ride the subways, unless we see tangible evidence that you are doing something about this,'" she recalls. The CEOs mobilized after a series of high-profile attacks on commuters.

NPR

Brazil's firearm ownership booms, and gun laws loosen, under President Bolsonaro

RIO BONITO, Brazil — At a shooting range a man applying for a gun permit points a pistol and fires 10 shots at a human-shaped target 20 feet away. Nearly all the bullets hit the target's sweet spot in the middle of the torso. The shooter, Wagner Carneiro, is a former Brazilian army sergeant. He explains that a man in a car asking for directions suddenly pointed a gun to his head and demanded his mobile phone. Now, the 40-year-old Carneiro wants a gun for himself. "I need it to protect my family," he says, speaking from the range in the town of Rio Bonito, about 40 miles west of Rio de Janeiro. Thanks to President Jair Bolsonaro, a right-wing populist whose hero is former President Donald Trump, it's become a lot easier for Brazilians like Carneiro to get guns. Since taking office in 2019, Bolsonaro has issued more than a dozen decrees loosening restrictions on gun ownership for civilians.

The Guardian

Tropical storm Meari unleashes heavy rains on Japan

Tropical storm Meari unleashed heavy rains on Japan’s main Honshu island as it headed northward towards the capital, Tokyo, according to Japanese weather officials. The national meteorological agency said Meari made landfall in Shizuoka prefecture south-west of Tokyo on Saturday afternoon, bringing sudden heavy rains and blasting winds to a widespread area and prompting warnings about mudslides and flooding. More than 72,000 people in the area’s main city of Shizuoka were told to evacuate due to possible landslides. Meari, which brought sustained winds of up to 45 mph, passed over Shizuoka and was travelling at a speed of about 12 mph. The storm is expected to continue northward before veering to the east, swinging over the Pacific Ocean by early Sunday. The Tokyo area was hammered by periodic downpours starting in the late morning.

The Guardian

Salman Rushdie attack: Iranians react with mixture of praise and concern

Iran has reacted cautiously to the attack on Salman Rushdie, with some citizens offering praise for the brutal stabbing, others claiming it harmed free speech, and several senior officials claiming it was a conspiracy to damage Iran’s global image. Nuclear talks between the US and Iran were cited as a reason for the assault, which has left the acclaimed author on a ventilator in a New York hospital. Several state-aligned news organisations, meanwhile, linked the fatwa issued by late Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Khomeini to the violent attack 33 years later. Senior government figures remained largely mute as outrage surrounding the attempt to kill Rushdie continued to grow. However, many pro-regime outlets in Iraq and neighbouring Iran welcomed the attack, which has been blamed on an American man of Lebanese origin, Hadi Matar.

Deutsche Welle

Europe set for record wildfire destruction in 2022

Europe is on course for record land destruction from wildfires in 2022, the AFP news agency reported Sunday, citing data from the European Union. The warning comes as the continent experiences a severe summer heat wave and drought, which scientists say is a result of climate change caused by human activity. Nearly 660,000 hectares (1,630,000 acres) of land have been ravaged by the blazes between January 1 and August 13, figures from the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS) showed. That's 56% higher than the previous record set over the same period in 2017, when 420,913 hectares burned. If 2022 follows a similar trajectory as 2017, Europe is on course to see more than a million hectares of land destroyed. In 2017, it reached 988,087. The scale of the destruction would be the worst since records began in 2006. "The situation in terms of drought and extremely high temperatures has affected all of Europe this year and the overall situation in the region is worrying, while we are still in the middle of the fire season.

Deutsche Welle

Spain: About 1,500 evacuated from towns near Zaragoza due to fires

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