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200,000 dead as Trump vilifies science, prioritizes politics

Israel Budz

NEW YORK (AP) — “I did the best I could,” President Donald Trump said.

Huddled with aides in the West Wing last week, his eyes fixed on Fox News, Trump wasn’t talking about how he had led the nation through the deadliest pandemic in a century. In a conversation overheard by an Associated Press reporter, Trump was describing how he’d just publicly rebuked one of his top scientists — Dr. Robert Redfield, a virologist and head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Redfield had angered the president by asserting that a COVID-19 vaccine wouldn’t be widely available until late 2021. So hours later, with no supporting evidence, Trump called a news conference to say Redfield was “confused.” A vaccine, Trump insisted, could be ready before November’s election.

Mission accomplished: Fox was headlining Trump’s latest foray in his administration’s ongoing war against its own scientists.

It is a

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Indian couple run street-side classes for poor students

Israel Budz

NEW DELHI (AP) — On a quiet road in India’s capital, tucked away on a wide, red-bricked sidewalk, kids set adrift by the country’s COVID-19 lockdown are being tutored.

The children, ages 4 to 14, carry book bags more than 2 kilometers (a mile) from their thatched-roof huts on the banks of the Yamuna River to this impromptu, roadside classroom. There, they receive free lessons in math, science, English and physical education, taught by a former Indian diplomat and his wife.

It all began when Veena Gupta’s maid, who lives on bank of the river, complained that with schools shut, children in her impoverished community were running amok and wasting time.

“If they stayed at home doing nothing, they’d become drifters,” said Dolly Sharma, who works at Veena’s high-rise apartment, which overlooks the lush riverbank.

Veena, a singer and grandmother of three, and her husband, Virendra Gupta, decided to

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How To Get Your Family And Friends To Vote In This Election

Israel Budz

Voter turnout in the U.S. is typically much lower than you might expect, lagging behind that of other developed democratic countries around the world. 

A 2018 Pew Research Center study looked at the percentage of the voting-age population who participated in the most recent national election in 32 countries. The U.S. came in at No. 26, with only 56% of voting-age Americans casting ballots in the 2016 election. (The percentage of the voting-eligible population who participated was higher at 60%, according to the United States Election Project. The voting-eligible metric excludes voting-age people who can’t cast a ballot because they’re not citizens or they have a felony conviction.)

Regardless of which metric you look at, it’s clear that a very large swath of the country that could vote doesn’t. You can make a difference, however small, by encouraging your friends and family to cast ballots this year and beyond.

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Rationed Covid tests for select few

Israel Budz
An almost empty test facility in Guildford, Surrey, yesterday lunchtime - CHRIS GORMAN/BIG LADDER
An almost empty test facility in Guildford, Surrey, yesterday lunchtime – CHRIS GORMAN/BIG LADDER

Even those with symptoms may miss out on Covid tests

A coronavirus testing priority list has been drawn up. The Telegraph can disclose that people will be refused tests – even if they have symptoms – under rationing plans if the crisis deepens. Routine testing could be restricted to hospitals, care homes, certain key workers and schools. As the UK recorded nearly 4,000 new Covid-19 cases for the first time since May, ministers were poised to announce further lockdown measures – with pub curfews and a ban on household mixing covering two million people in the North East. Read more about the new rules from midnight. Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned a further national curfew may be necessary and schools have plans to go part-time if the testing chaos continues. Matt imagines the rise of

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