There’s never been a worse time in the pandemic for US kids.
| 'We are in the hands of the US'  There's never been a worse time in the pandemic for US kids. And things could get worse quickly.
As millions of kids flock back to school, child hospitalizations for Covid-19 are at record levels. Some schools have already opened and then closed in the South, where infections are raging due to a comparatively low vaccine rate and the extra-infectious Delta variant. Thousands of children are quarantined.
President Joe Biden, who declared the pandemic partially over just last month, is promising to talk to Americans soon about how kids can safely return to in-person classes — for many for the first time in 17 months. But since the day-to-day running of schools is largely a state matter, there is not much he can do, apart from stress the need for masks, and to urge states to spend billions of dollars he budgeted to Covid-proof schools.
Biden is also feuding with Republican governors like Ron DeSantis of Florida, who banned local school districts from issuing mask mandates. DeSantis says only parents should be able to decide on face coverings -- putting individual rights above more altruistic public health guidelines. The fact that DeSantis is clearly plotting a future presidential campaign and wants to please conservative grass roots voters surely has nothing to do with his behavior.
Children will likely pay the price, either missing school because they are sick or quarantined, or in going back to online lessons at home — a scenario that has already damaged academic standards and taken a toll on mental health.
It would be easier if children could be vaccinated. But emergency authorization for shots for Under 12s is several months away at least. And the long cherished idea that this autumn would represent a return to normal was just dashed by Dr. Anthony Fauci: The government's top infectious disease expert said on Monday that if most vaccine skeptics decide to take the jab, the pandemic could be brought under control … by spring 2022. And that's already a huge "if."
Children now face a third blemished school year. The world and America The Taliban said they will not let Afghans continue to evacuate.
A data leak exposed tens of millions of corporate and government records.
 'We are in the hands of the US' US President Joe Biden is sticking to his deadline for the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, but requested contingency plans in case it slips past August 31. "The sooner we can finish the better. Each day of the operations brings added risk to our troops, but the completion by August 31 depends upon the Taliban continuing to cooperate and allow access to the airport for those we're transporting out, and no disruptions to our operations," he said.
He faces growing pressure from top US allies, including the UK and France, to extend the withdrawal deadline. An Elysee spokesperson said Tuesday that the length of France's military evacuation operation depended entirely on when the United States pulls its soldiers out of Kabul's airport: "We are in the hands of the United States," the spokesperson said during a press briefing. "What we are telling the Americans is naturally to give us the maximum time to pursue the operations." 'Anomalous health incident' Did the VP just have a near miss with Havana syndrome?
Kamala Harris' flight from Singapore to Vietnam on the second leg of her Southeast Asia trip was mysteriously delayed for several hours after her office warned of a possible "anomalous health incident" in Hanoi.
The term is the one usually used by officials to refer to a mysterious syndrome that causes odd and unpleasant physical and sensory symptoms including nausea, headache, dizziness and head pressure. Hundreds of US officials, including diplomats, soldiers and spies have fallen sick in recent years.
But the source of the problem, detected in Russia, Cuba, China and in Europe, has so far evaded US government scientists and intelligence agencies.
One theory is that some kind of mystery weapon is being used to debilitate diplomatic officials in an elaborate campaign of harassment and intimidation by a foreign espionage agency. An oft-cited notion is that some kind of targeted radio-frequency energy is being used.
Another possibility is that those afflicted are collateral damage from some kind of sophisticated technique that is being used to surveil their phones and steal their data. But it's all conjecture and based on an analysis of symptoms rather than evidence, since no smoking gun — or microwave machine — has ever been found.
When it comes to the vice president -- who is one heartbeat away from the presidency itself -- the Secret Service takes no chances. So it's likely that her flight was delayed out of an abundance of caution more than any real danger. She eventually made it to Hanoi on Tuesday evening, for talks expected to be dominated by the US-China rivalry. Thanks for reading. On Wednesday, Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi kicks off a tour of fellow countries bordering Afghanistan: Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Iran. Russian FM Sergey Lavrov visits Vienna. Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett meets top US officials in Washington.
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