Beirut, Hong Kong, Climate Change: Your Friday Briefing
(Want to get this briefing by email? Heres the .) Good morning. Were covering after the Beirut explosion, a and the from climate change. International rescue teams arrived in Beirut on Thursday, as the nation entered a period of official mourning over the huge explosion that has brought the Lebanese capital to its knees. over evidence that government negligence allowed more than 2,000 tons of highly explosive ammonium nitrate seized from a ship to be stored in the port for years. The port, a crucial economic hub, has been destroyed, and with it, the nations grain supply, raising concerns about food security in a country of 6.8 million people. President Emmanuel Macron of France, but no major Lebanese politicians, visited the area. In the Gemmayzeh neighborhood, which was especially hard hit, he was surrounded by a crowd that denounced the government. There were calls for protests, and volunteers cleaning up the streets chanted, The people demand the fall of the regime. The death toll rose to 137, with more than 5,000 injured and 250,000 displaced. The Lebanese are in the streets, showing great solidarity, and the authorities are just absent, said Rima Tarabay, a Beirut resident. Its impressive on the one hand, desolating on the other. Israa Seblani was posing for her wedding video when the camera captured tore through the city. France reported 1,695 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, and Germany on Thursday reported more than 1,000 than either had seen in months. Other Western European countries, including Spain and Belgium, are also facing surges. Some health experts said Germans were becoming lax about upholding the social-distancing and mask-wearing requirements, and a French scientific panel warned that a second wave of infections by the fall was highly possible, urging cities to prepare for new lockdowns. Still, the European surges are not on the level of U.S. spikes. These days, every cough, sneeze or headache makes you wonder: Could it be Covid-19? Heres a guide to help you and this interactive graphic illustrates from head to toe and everywhere in between. Here are the and of the pandemic. In other developments: Some Hong Kong residents worry that will enable further encroachments by the Chinese Communist Party. A South Korean study without symptoms carry just as much virus in their nose, throat and lungs as those with symptoms, and for almost as long. U.S. health authorities have issued a formal warning about and alerted poison control centers after four people died and nearly a dozen became ill from drinking alcohol-based hand sanitizer. Two dozen democracy advocates in Hong Kong were charged on Thursday for taking part in the annual June 4 vigil for the victims of the , which was banned for the first time this year, officially because of the coronavirus. Its the latest sign of Chinas aggressive clampdown on dissent in the territory. Among those charged were Lee Cheuk-yan, a veteran organizer of the vigils; Joshua Wong, a prominent activist; and Gwyneth Ho, a former journalist. They were accused of knowingly taking part in an unauthorized assembly. Mr. Lee, a former lawmaker, faced an additional charge of holding an unauthorized assembly after he and several other leaders urged others to join the commemoration. Mr. Wong and Ms. Ho were among a dozen pro-democracy candidates, including sitting lawmakers, who had been disqualified from running in legislative elections recently moved from September to next year. I feel the pressure. I am overloaded with charges, Mr. Lee said in an interview. Even if youre peaceful and nonviolent, theyd still want to stifle and suppress peaceful assemblies. Setsuko Thurlow was 13 years old and in Hiroshima when the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb there. She has fought for the abolition of nuclear weapons ever since, sharing a Nobel Peace Prize for the work in 2017. But Japan and other countries that have not signed onto a treaty banning the weapons have generally disregarded her, and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has given her the cold shoulder. Our Tokyo bureau chiefs now 88, is part of The Timess coverage of the 75th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing, and serves as a reminder of the urgency of hearing the stories of a dwindling number of survivors. U.S. intelligence agencies are scrutinizing to build up the kingdoms ability to produce nuclear fuel for signs that the Saudis real hope is to process uranium and move toward developing a nuclear weapon. In a first, posted by President Trumps campaign in which he claimed children were virtually immune to the coronavirus, a violation of the social networks rules against virus misinformation. Twitter froze the presidents campaign account until it removed a post linking to the video. A court in the eastern province of Jiangxi has who spent more than 26 years in prison for the murder of two boys. The case has grabbed headlines and highlighted new, if halting, efforts at reform but also the deep flaws in the countrys criminal justice system. Above, Giuseppe Paterno, 96, fulfilling his lifelong dream of at the University of Palermo after being sidetracked by poverty, World War II and family commitments. This on the story of Bruces Beach. This look at what happened to a beach popular with Black residents back in the day in one of the whitest towns in Los Angeles tells so much about the struggle for Black people to even enjoy themselves, writes Randy Archibold, our Sports editor. Lift your familys spirits with this , a showstopping treat adorned with a jewel-toned glaze. We asked artists including Ivo van Hove, Justin Peck, Du Yun and others to share their favorite works from music of the past 20 years. Here are their . Seeds are in high demand these days, so gardeners may want to plan ahead for the next growing season. Here are . I have seen over the last couple of years the impact of what is truly a global problem. Global warming is not equal the problem of warming and extreme heat is really felt by people who are already the most vulnerable, not just because it gets super hot where they live but because theyre already vulnerable in other ways: They may be in poor health, they may be farmers who depend entirely on the rains and so a little change in rainfall or extremely hot dry periods affect them, and because they may not be able to afford the most basic luxury to cope with the heat, like having enough water or electricity around the clock so they can turn on a fan, let alone having access to air-conditioning. I wanted to show whats happening now. Its certainly projected to get worse in the future, but people are dealing with unbearably hot and humid conditions right now. One study said episodes of extreme heat and levels the human body cannot tolerate have more than doubled in frequency since 1979. South Asia and the southeastern coast of the U.S. have been hardest hit by this already. Draw down the combustion of fossil fuels. The world is capable of getting off coal in many instances, capable of vastly reducing the burning of oil and gas. The world also has to adjust to the extreme heat were seeing already. It means expanding access to ways to cool down, whether thats access to air-conditioners or fans or more trees to bring down temperatures in the city, access to water. It could also mean adjusting things you might not immediately think of, like labor laws so people dont have to work for hours under the blistering sun, agricultural changes in farming methods, or what is grown in what place to adapt to higher temperatures and longer dry seasons. In short, it requires doing everything pretty differently. Thats it for this briefing. See you next time. Carole To Melissa Clark for the recipe, and to Theodore Kim and Jahaan Singh for the rest of the break from the news. Sanam Yar wrote todays Back Story. You can reach the team at . Were listening to . Our latest episode is a conversation with one of our correspondents in Beirut, who was injured in the huge explosion at the citys port on Tuesday. Heres our , and a clue: The Fox and the Grapes storyteller (five letters). . a new Times documentary on the making of a pop star, premieres today on FX and Hulu. is a writer and editor for the Briefings Team at The New York Times. Before coming to The Times, she covered the United Nations in New York for Agence France-Presse. She has reported on diplomacy, wars, politics and culture on three continents from postings in Moscow, Washington, Johannesburg and Paris, where she was based for 15 years and raised her family. She speaks French, Russian and Spanish.