Malaysia's total coronavirus infections rise above 1 million

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Malaysia’s total coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic surpasssed 1 million on Sunday after the country’s health ministry reported a record 17,045 new coronavirus cases.

The total number of infections in the country stood at 1,013,438.

The Enduring Whimsy and Wonderment of Eric Carle

By Jonathan Kozol

I’ve been looking at a letter from Eric Carle, written in a frail script in 2019, in which he told me that his health was failing. It was the last of many letters, some typed, others handwritten, he had sent me through the years.

Putin says Russian navy can carry out 'unpreventable strike' if needed

• Putin's words follow an incident in the Black Sea in June when Russia said it had fired warning shots and dropped bombs in the path of a British warship to chase it out of Crimea waters.

The Russian navy can detect any enemy and launch an "unpreventable strike" if needed, President Vladimir Putin said on Sunday, weeks after a UK warship angered Moscow by passing the Crimea peninsula.

"We are capable of detecting any underwater, above-water, airborne enemy and, if required, carry out an unpreventable strike against it," Putin said speaking at a navy day parade in St Petersburg.

Putin's words follow an incident in the Black Sea in June when Russia said it had fired warning shots and dropped bombs in the path of a British warship to chase it out of Crimea waters.

Britain rejected Russia's account of the incident, saying it believed any shots fired were a pre-announced Russian "gunnery exercise", and that no bombs had been dropped.

Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 but Britain and most of the world recognise the Black Sea peninsula as part of Ukraine, not Russia.

Putin said last month Russia could have sunk the British warship HMS Defender, that it accused of illegally entering its territorial waters, without starting World War Three and said the United States played a role in the "provocation".

Nancy Pelosi Says She Plans To Appoint Adam Kinzinger To Jan. 6 House Committee

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said she plans to appoint GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger to serve on the select panel investigating the Jan. 6 attack at the U.S. Capitol while considering adding additional Republicans.

“That would be my plan,” she said in an interview Sunday with ABC News’ “This Week.” “He and other Republicans have expressed an interest to serve on this select committee.”

Pelosi said she still needs to speak with the Illinois congressman before formally announcing any additions to what is expected to be a 13-member panel.

Kinzinger, if officially selected to join the House committee, would join fellow Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, who is also an outspoken critic of former President Donald Trump.

Pelosi said she wanted to appoint three of the five Republicans that Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) put forward to join the committee, but he withdrew all five of them after she declined to appoint two of them.

“The two that I would not appoint are people who would jeopardize the integrity of the investigation and there’s no way I would tolerate their antics as we seek the truth,” she said of Republican Reps. Jim Banks of Indiana and Jim Jordan of Ohio.

McCarthy said on Wednesday that because of Pelosi’s decision, Republicans will boycott the select committee investigation and instead conduct their own.

“Pelosi has broken this institution,” McCarthy said. “This panel has lost all legitimacy and credibility.” 

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For U.S. Lifters, It’s Fly, Then Clean and Jerk

Weight lifting officials in the United States are hoping an unusual pre-Olympic camp in Hawaii, capped by last-minute trips to Japan, will pay off in medals.

Credit…

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By Ken Belson

Photographs by Michelle Mishina Kunz

TOKYO — It is the travel version of a weight lifting attempt: months of preparation, a few moments to set oneself, a brief burst of all-out effort and, hopefully, a winning result.

Cars, pavements washed away as Belgian town hit by worst floods in decades

• Dinant was spared the deadly floods 10 days ago that killed 37 people in southeast Belgium and many more in Germany, but the violence of Saturday's storm surprised many.

The southern Belgian town of Dinant was hit by the heaviest floods in decades on Saturday after a two-hour thunderstorm turned streets into torrential streams that washed away cars and pavements but did not kill anyone.

Dinant was spared the deadly floods 10 days ago that killed 37 people in southeast Belgium and many more in Germany, but the violence of Saturday's storm surprised many.

"I have been living in Dinant for 57 years, and I've never seen anything like that," Richard Fournaux, the former mayor of the town on the Meuse river and birthplace of the 19th century inventor of the saxophone, Adolphe Sax, said on social media.

Rainwater gushing down steep streets swept away dozens of cars, piling them in a heap at a crossing, and washed away cobbles stones, pavements and whole sections of tarmac as inhabitants watched in horror from windows.

There was no precise estimate of the damage, with town authorities predicting only that it would be "significant", according to Belgian RTL TV.

The storm wreaked similar havoc, also with no loss of life, in the small town of Anhee a few kilometres north of Dinant.