South Asia battles torrential monsoon rains

Commuters move through a water-logged street after heavy rain in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on July 21. Deadly flooding will persist in Bangladesh for the next 10 days, officials warned on July 21, as South Asia battles torrential monsoon rains, which have already pounded the region for weeks.Xinhua

Police and protesters clash across US

Protests took a violent turn in several U.S. cities over the weekend with demonstrators squaring off against federal agents outside a courthouse in Portland, Oregon, forcing police in Seattle to retreat into a station house and setting fire to vehicles in California and Virginia.

A protest against police violence in Austin, Texas, turned deadly when police said a protester was shot and killed by a person who drove through a crowd of marchers. And someone was shot and wounded in Aurora, Colorado, after a car drove through a protest there, authorities said.

The unrest on Saturday and early Sunday stemmed from the weeks of protests over racial injustice and the police treatment of people of color.

Brazil leader says he tested negative for coronavirus

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said on Saturday that he had tested negative for the new coronavirus, based on a fourth test since he said on July 7 that he had the virus. He later went for a ride on a motorcycle, mingling with wellwishers as he has often done since the beginning of the pandemic.

“Good morning everyone,” Bolsonaro wrote on Facebook after reporting that the test was “negative.”

The 65-year-old leader, who for months had downplayed COVID-19 and flouted social distancing recommendations, didn’t say when he did the new test.

Singapore PM Lee announces new Cabinet

Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Saturday announced his new Cabinet, 15 days after his ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) bagged 61.24 percent of the votes in the 2020 general election.

The swearing-in ceremony for the Cabinet and other office holders took place on Monday at the Istana — the official residence and office of the president of Singapore — and Parliament House. Lee’s PAP party has retained power with a “clear mandate” in the general election held on July 10 amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

The PAP, in power since 1965, won 83 of the 93 parliamentary seats or 61.24 percent of the vote.

The election was widely seen as a referendum on the prime minister’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak.

UK imposes quarantine on travelers from Spain

Britain abruptly imposed a two-week quarantine on all travelers arriving from Spain after a surge of coronavirus cases, a dramatic and sudden reversal on Saturday to the opening of the European continent to tourism after months of lockdown.

The British foreign ministry also advised against all but essential travel to mainland Spain, a move likely to prompt tour operators to cancel package holidays and trigger claims against insurers.

N. Korea declares emergency over suspected case

North Korean authorities have imposed a lockdown on the border city of Kaesong after discovering what they say is the country’s first suspected coronavirus case, state media reported on Sunday.

Leader Kim Jong Un convened an emergency politburo meeting on Saturday to implement a “maximum emergency system and issue a top-class alert” to contain the virus, the official Korean Central News Agency said.

If confirmed, it would be the first officially recognized case of COVID-19 in North Korea, where medical infrastructure is seen as woefully inadequate to deal with any epidemic. (SD-Agencies)