India's government announced Friday that the coronavirus pandemic has killed at least 400,312 people in the country and has infected more than 30 million, though experts believe deaths and cases have been undercounted, according to the Washington Post.
The big picture: India has been attempting to manage a spring surge in new cases driven by the Delta variant of the virus, which is rapidly spreading in Africa, Asia and parts of the United States.
Prisoners taken in the years-long conflict in eastern Ukraine have experienced systematic torture, sexual violence and other abuses, the United Nations human rights agency said in a report released Friday.
The big picture: Prisoners' abuse was especially severe during the early stages of the separatist conflict, but abuses persist today, according to the report issued by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
The number of new coronavirus cases in Africa is doubling every three weeks as the continent faces a wave of Delta variant infections, the World Health Organization announced Thursday.
Why it matters: The COVID-19 variant first discovered in India has been reported in 16 African countries and is dominant in South Africa, which accounted for over half of Africa’s cases for the week ending in June 27.
President Biden cut off reporters on Friday after three consecutive questions about the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, where the intelligence community has warned the government could collapse as soon as next year amid a creeping offensive by the Taliban.
Why it matters: News had broken hours earlier that the U.S. military has departed Bagram Airfield, the center of its war to oust the Taliban and search for the al-Qaeda perpetrators of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
The U.S. military has departed Bagram Airfield, the center of its war to oust the Taliban and search for the al-Qaeda perpetrators of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, AP reports, citing two U.S. officials.
The big picture: The airfield was handed over to the Afghan National Security and Defense Force entirely, a clear indication that the remaining U.S. troops have left the region or are planning departure ahead of President Biden’s promise that they would be gone by Sept. 11, per AP.
Donning a gray Mao suit and gazing out onto Tiananmen Square, Xi Jinping pledged Thursday that the Chinese people "will never allow any foreign force to bully, oppress or enslave" them.
Why it matters: On the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party, its most powerful leader in generations was unrepentant about authoritarian China's place in the world.
The State Department said in a report Thursday that historical discriminatory policies in the United States and other countries contribute to current human trafficking.
Why it matters: It's the first time the federal government has linked systemic racism in the U.S. and abroad to global human trafficking, according to Reuters.
Large numbers of COVID-19 hospitalizations and more immunocompromised people in general are fueling a global spread of a different threatening microbe: invasive fungi.
Why it matters: These infections cause more than 1.6 million deaths worldwide every year, and the microorganisms responsible for them are starting to evade the small supply of antifungal drugs.
Mexico’s Supreme Court has ruled that prohibiting the recreational use of marijuana and THC is unconstitutional because it violates the right to a “free development of personality.”
What they’re saying: “Criminal organizations are currently the ones who determine when and how one can have access to the active substance,” drug policy lawyer Frida Ibarra tells Axios. “And that can only be changed if the government builds on the court’s decision and Congress votes to regulate the legal who, when and where.”
Unrest in Nicaragua and Colombia is generating concern from Latino members of Congress who worry about violent crackdowns to curb continuingprotests.
Why it matters: After 20 years of focus on the Middle East, Latino lawmakers are reaching across the aisle and helping shift some of the nation's foreign policy spotlight to Latin America, which continues to battle COVID-19 and pockets ofpolitical turmoil.
130 countries around the world — including, crucially, China and India — have agreed on a 15% minimum corporate tax rate, in a move designed to prevent what Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen called a "self-defeating international tax competition."
Why it matters: Corporations will have to pay tax of at least 15% no matter where they operate in the world. The OECD framework, agreed to Thursday but many years in the making, includes penalties for companies and jurisdictions attempting to bypass the rule.
A Canadian village issued an evacuation order Wednesday due to a wildfire blazing through the village, one day after the town set the all-time national heat record of 121°F.
The big picture: Lytton Mayor Jan Polderman urged all residents to "leave the community and go to a safe location," per the order.
Children are "bearing the brunt" of Lebanon's economic collapse, one of the worst in the world, according to a new UNICEF report.
Why it matters: Lebanon was already struggling with instability when a deadly explosion in Beirut killed more than 211 people, injured 6,000 and left roughly 250,000 homeless last year.
