Six In The Morning Monday 21 September 2020

 

Covid-19: UK could face 50,000 cases a day by October without action - Vallance

The UK could see 50,000 new coronavirus cases a day by mid-October without further action, the government's chief scientific adviser has warned.

Sir Patrick Vallance said that would be expected to lead to about "200-plus deaths per day" a month after that.

It comes as the PM prepares to chair a Cobra emergency committee meeting on Tuesday morning, then make a statement in the House of Commons.

Revealed: evidence shows huge mail slowdowns after Trump ally took over

Louis DeJoy’s policies, which he said were intended to boost efficiency, led to widespread outcry this summer

Sam Levine and Alvin Chang

Mon 21 Sep 2020 10.14 BST

The United States Postal Service (USPS) saw a severe decline in the rate of on-time delivery of first-class mail after Louis DeJoy took over as postmaster general, according to new data obtained by the Guardian that provides some of the most detailed insight yet into widespread mail delays this summer.

Shortly after taking the helm, DeJoy - a major Republican donor with no prior USPS experience - implemented operational changes he said were intended to make the financially beleaguered agency more efficient. Those changes, which included an effort to get postal trucks to run on time, led to severe delays and widespread public outcry this summer.

Coronavirus cases surge among refugees in Middle East as pandemic pushes most vulnerable deeper into poverty

Refugees have no Covid-19 ‘safety net’, Bel Trew reports

T

he number of coronavirus cases among refugees and the displaced is surging across the Middle East, humanitarian agencies and the UN have warned, as the first infections were reported among Syrians living in camps in Jordan.   

The true rate of infection among the 18 million people displaced in the region is unknown because of a chronic lack of testing. But UN data shows that well over a thousand have been confirmed to have Covid-19 in Jordan, Syria, Iraq, the Palestinian Territories and Lebanon.

FinCEN Files: Deutsche Bank tops list of suspicious transactions

Leaked documents shed a light on Deutsche Bank's central role in facilitating financial transactions deemed suspicious. Many of these could have enabled the circumvention of sanctions on Iran and Russia.

Germany's largest bank Deutsche Bank is no stranger to scandals. But the leaked FinCEN files suggest the bank was aware it was facilitating suspicious transactions amounting to over $1 trillion dollars, including for a period after it had promised to clean up its act.

The FinCEN files are a huge cache of secret reports detailing suspicious financial activity, filed by banks to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), a bureau of the US Treasury Department (USTD).

World Alzheimer’s Day: The cost of caring for someone with dementia

Memory loss, confusion and unpredictable mood swings are just a few of the symptoms that characterise Alzheimer’s. To mark World Alzheimer’s Day on Monday, FRANCE 24 spoke with two people each caring for someone with the disease about how it has transformed their lives.

Alzheimer’s is the most common degenerative brain disease and the leading cause of dementia. In France, there are currently 900,000 people living with it. As the country’s population continues to age, an estimated 225,000 new cases are diagnosed each year.

The way Alzheimer’s slows the brain means that it affects not only the patient but also their loved ones. While some diagnosed with the disease decline quickly, others require long-term care and support.

Almost 40 Chinese warplanes breach Taiwan Strait median line; Taiwan President calls it a 'threat of force'

By Brad Lendon, CNN

Updated 1350 GMT (2150 HKT) September 21, 2020

Taiwan's President has accused Beijing of purposefully inflaming tensions in East Asia, after Chinese warplanes crossed the sensitive median line across the narrow strait that separates the mainland and the self-governing island almost 40 times on Friday and Saturday.

Taken together, the repeated incursions, which came from multiple directions and involved a combination of sophisticated fighter jets and heavy bombers, is without modern precedent and marks a significant escalation in cross-strait tensions.

"What we are seeing now is not just a situation across the Taiwan Strait, but a regional situation. China's recent military activities, especially in the past few days, clearly constitute a threat of force, which is part of their verbal attacks and military threats (against Taiwan)," President Tsai Ing-wen told reporters Sunday.