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Here’s what you want to know.
By Isabella Kwai
(Do you want to get this informational email? Here’s the inscription).
Hello.
We cover the aftermath of Beirut explosions, breathless dating to the British House of Lords and a new lockdown in Australia.
A massive shock wave rocked the center of the Lebanese capital on Tuesday, damaging buildings miles away and sending a giant pink cloud skyward near the port. At least 78 people were killed and 4,000 injured, Lebanon’s health minister said.
As the wounded continue to arrive in hospitals and the ongoing search for people in need, the death toll is expected to increase. The hospitals were so beaten that they sent the wounded back.
There were two explosions moments from the other, the much older moment. Prime Minister Hassan Diab said Wednesday would be a national day of mourning. The photographs show the extent of the devastation.
The cause: some 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate, used in fertilizers and pumps, had been kept in a warehouse at the site of the explosion for six years, senior officials said. “The culprits will pay the value of this disaster,” said Diab, who reported that negligence had led to disaster.
First-person story: Our correspondent Vivian Yee at home when the explosion shook her building, leaving her bloodied and dizzy. The Lebanese who helped her in the hours that followed “had the heartbreaking constancy” that came from the joy of disaster, she writes. “Almost all of them were strangers, but they treated me like a friend.”
One is a baron of the Russian-born British newspaper whose father formerly K.G.B. Official. Another is the prime minister’s younger brother.
They are among the names of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s first list of appointments to the House of Lords. The distribution of noble titles, as lifetime appointments are called, is one of Britain’s most reliable expressions of cronyism, regardless of the prime minister.
But critics say Johnson’s appointments could further undermine the institution’s credibility with so many problems. He created 36 new peers, the number of times in more than two decades, bringing the camera to nearly 800 members. He also appointed Brexit supporters of the opposition Labour Party, which may have unpredictable results.
Why it matters: At its best, the House of Lords serves as a check on the more unruly House of Commons. In recent decades, though, it has become known mainly as a sinecure for well-connected types and wealthy donors.
Australia’s second-largest city has imposed some of the toughest restrictions in the world to beat back a new wave of coronavirus infections. Officials are promising a “shock and awe” attack on the virus that will last at least six weeks.
There are signs that people in Melbourne are getting fed up. Our Sydney bureau chief writes that “the new waves of restrictions feel to many like a bombing raid that just won’t end.” A door-to-door campaign to check in on 3,000 people who had contracted the virus found that 800 of them were not at home.
The police are facing opposition as they enforce the rules. Officers recently smashed the windows of cars and pulled people out after they refused to provide their names and addresses.
The second wave: Melbourne thought it had beat the virus in June. But the city’s hotel quarantine program broke down, with travelers passing the virus to security guards, who carried it to their neighborhoods.
Details: Under the new restrictions, retailers will close, schools will return to school at home, and restaurants will only offer takeaways or deliveries. 8:00 p.m. The curfew is in place. The outbreak in Victoria, capital of Melbourne, reached a peak of 753 new instances on 30 July and has since hovered around 500 per day.
Here are the updates and pandemic maps.
In developments:
Recent studies of patients with severe Cases of Covid-19 have revealed that their immune system has triggered a barrage of misdirected weapons that can wreak havoc on healthy tissue.
After Russia announced a vaccination program set for October, raising concerns that inoculations may begin before tests are complete, the World Health Organization urged it to follow guidelines for producing safe and effective vaccines.
Two preliminary studies of an experimental vaccine in the U.S. have yielded encouraging results, said Novovax, the company developing the vaccine.
At a time when the Tokyo Olympics was held, gymnasts denounced the verbal and physical abuse of the coaches.
Chloe Gilliland, 29, a former member of the Australian national team, said she was contemplating suicide as a teenager after coaches said she was “a bad girl” because she weighed too much. Catherine Lyons, 19, one of Britain’s most sensible junior competitors, said the coaches beat her and harassed her for her weight, and even locked her in a closet to cry as a child. Upstairs, Lisa Mason, a 2000 British Olympic, said many gymnasts “ended the normalization of abuses that we were told were mandatory for champions.”
Gymnast stories are components of a replacement impulse that the movement #MeToo gave him power. National gymnastics federations in Britain, Australia, the Netherlands and Belgium say they must curb abuse.
Pakistan: Hindus in the country are discriminated against in terms of housing, employment and access to government programs. Today, network leaders say economic hardship is leading to a buildup of conversions to Islam.
Disney: The company announced apocalyptic monetary results Tuesday, with theme parks blocked, cruise ships inactive and postponed movie releases, all contributing $4.72 billion in quarterly losses. But with other people at home, his transmission business has grown.
Snapshot: Upstairs, an Australian Army helicopter lands on the micronesian island of Pulap to rescue 3 stranded sailors on Sunday. If you’re ever in place, writing SOS in giant letters in the arena can work.
What We Read: This Article from Harper’s Magazine about using them/them as impartial pronouns. “This superbly written essay, with its profound history of pronouns and their use and soft humor, helped me to settle and perceive the good looks of ‘they’ in their singular form,” writes Melissa Eddy, our correspondent in Berlin. .
Cooking: This tomato and peach salad with beaten goat cheese works as an appetizer, accompaniment or dinner, stacked on toast.
Watch: The new documentary “Creem: The Only American Rock ‘n’ Roll Magazine” describes the fall and fall of the irreverent and revolutionary music publication of the 1970s.
What to do: In-person task interviews disappeared when the pandemic closed so many offices. If you’re looking for a task, here are some tips for an online interview.
At home you have our complete collection of what to read, cook, watch and do.
Americans have been fighting wonderful medical expenses for the coronavirus remedy for almost as long as they fight the virus itself, according to Sarah Kliff, our fitness care research reporter.
So, it’s a task that uses those invoices, sent through readers, to read about the trial and processing charge. We’ll calculate their stories as we explore how the virus epidemic is turning fitness care into the United States. Here’s what she wrote about the assignment.
I’m a reporter who has been writing articles about those bills since mid-February. My first article focused on an American man and his 3-year-old daughter who faced more than $3,900 in bills for care received during a government-mandated quarantine.
“I assumed everything was paid for, ” said the man, Frank Wucinski, at the time. “We had no choice. When the expenses got here, it was just a hole in my stomach, like, “How can I pay for it? “
Since then, my colleagues and I have written about $2,315 coronavirus tests and $401,886 bills for treatment. We’ve discovered that the price of a coronavirus test can vary by 2,700 percent within the same emergency room.
I’ve run similar projects that have inspired legislation and demystified American medical billing. Because health care providers keep their prices secret, bills play a critical role in helping us understand how Americans are grappling with medical costs during the health crisis.
That’s all for this briefing. See you.
— Isabella
Thank youTo Theodore Kim and Jahaan Singh for the break from the news. You can reach the team at [email protected].
P.S.• We’re listening to “The Daily.” Our latest episode is about the lessons that state elections held during the pandemic offer for the U.S. presidential vote in November.• Here’s today’s Mini Crossword puzzle, and a clue: __ Tzu (dog) (four letters). You can find all our puzzles here.• Taylor Lorenz, one of our tech reporters, spoke to “Entertainment Tonight” about whether TikTok could be shut down.
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