NEW CLIMATE announcements are coming thick and fast. In recent weeks dozens of countries, including Nigeria and Malaysia, updated the mitigation plans known as “nationally determined contributions” (NDCs) required under the Paris climate agreement of 2015. The deal obliges its signatories to increase the ambition of their NDCs every five years. The original deadline for the first round of updates was COP26, the UN climate summit in Glasgow in 2020. However, because of the covid-19 pandemic, the shindig’s start was delayed until October this year. So far, 58% of the 191 signatories have submitted new NDCs.

NEW CLIMATE announcements are coming thick and fast. In recent weeks dozens of countries, including Nigeria and Malaysia, updated the mitigation plans known as “nationally determined contributions” (NDCs) required under the Paris climate agreement of 2015. The deal obliges its signatories to increase the ambition of their NDCs every five years. The original deadline for the first round of updates was COP26, the UN climate summit in Glasgow in 2020. However, because of the covid-19 pandemic, the shindig’s start was delayed until October this year. So far, 58% of the 191 signatories have submitted new NDCs.

NEW CLIMATE announcements are coming thick and fast. In recent weeks dozens of countries, including Nigeria and Malaysia, updated the mitigation plans known as “nationally determined contributions” (NDCs) required under the Paris climate agreement of 2015. The deal obliges its signatories to increase the ambition of their NDCs every five years. The original deadline for the first round of updates was COP26, the UN climate summit in Glasgow in 2020. However, because of the covid-19 pandemic, the shindig’s start was delayed until October this year. So far, 58% of the 191 signatories have submitted new NDCs.

ALONGSIDE THE visible sporting contest in Tokyo sits a hidden, pharmacological one. Away from the TV cameras, in laboratories and huts and cubicles, anti-doping officials scour samples from the 11,482 athletes at the games, looking for evidence of any one of the hundreds of banned performance-enhancing drugs. Even before the games, athletes will have been visited by officials conducting surprise out-of-competition tests.

THE CORONAVIRUS is upending daily life in America once again. Cases have risen in all states over the past 14 days owing to the spread of the Delta variant. In Florida, where the rate of new infections is second highest, hospitals have more covid-19 patients than ever. Deaths have risen in 30 states over the past two weeks, typically in places with the lowest rates of fully vaccinated people. Although the country has met President Joe Biden’s target of giving at least one dose to 70% of its adult population, it did so a month late.

ALONGSIDE THE visible sporting contest in Tokyo sits a hidden, pharmacological one. Away from the TV cameras, in laboratories and huts and cubicles, anti-doping officials scour samples from the 11,482 athletes at the games, looking for evidence of any one of the hundreds of banned performance-enhancing drugs. Even before the games, athletes will have been visited by officials conducting surprise out-of-competition tests.

THE CORONAVIRUS is upending daily life in America once again. Cases have risen in all states over the past 14 days owing to the spread of the Delta variant. In Florida, where the rate of new infections is second highest, hospitals have more covid-19 patients than ever. Deaths have risen in 30 states over the past two weeks, typically in places with the lowest rates of fully vaccinated people. Although the country has met President Joe Biden’s target of giving at least one dose to 70% of its adult population, it did so a month late.

ALONGSIDE THE visible sporting contest in Tokyo sits a hidden, pharmacological one. Away from the TV cameras, in laboratories and huts and cubicles, anti-doping officials scour samples from the 11,482 athletes at the games, looking for evidence of any one of the hundreds of banned performance-enhancing drugs. Even before the games, athletes will have been visited by officials conducting surprise out-of-competition tests.

ALONGSIDE THE visible sporting contest in Tokyo sits a hidden, pharmacological one. Away from the TV cameras, in laboratories and huts and cubicles, anti-doping officials scour samples from the 11,482 athletes at the games, looking for evidence of any one of the hundreds of banned performance-enhancing drugs. Even before the games, athletes will have been visited by officials conducting surprise out-of-competition tests.

THE CORONAVIRUS is upending daily life in America once again. Cases have risen in all states over the past 14 days owing to the spread of the Delta variant. In Florida, where the rate of new infections is second highest, hospitals have more covid-19 patients than ever. Deaths have risen in 30 states over the past two weeks, typically in places with the lowest rates of fully vaccinated people. Although the country has met President Joe Biden’s target of giving at least one dose to 70% of its adult population, it did so a month late.

THE CORONAVIRUS is upending daily life in America once again. Cases have risen in all states over the past 14 days owing to the spread of the Delta variant. In Florida, where the rate of new infections is second highest, hospitals have more covid-19 patients than ever. Deaths have risen in 30 states over the past two weeks, typically in places with the lowest rates of fully vaccinated people. Although the country has met President Joe Biden’s target of giving at least one dose to 70% of its adult population, it did so a month late.

BY TODAY’S standards the first modern Olympics in 1896 were an understated affair. The games in Athens featured 241 men (women weren’t invited) from 14 countries, competing for 43 gold medals across ten sporting disciplines. Like a weightlifter pumped full of steroids, the games have ballooned in the 125 years since. Tokyo will host 11,479 sportspeople from 206 countries who will compete for 339 gold medals in 50 different disciplines.

BY TODAY’S standards the first modern Olympics in 1896 were an understated affair. The games in Athens featured 241 men (women weren’t invited) from 14 countries, competing for 43 gold medals across ten sporting disciplines. Like a weightlifter pumped full of steroids, the games have ballooned in the 125 years since. Tokyo will host 11,479 sportspeople from 206 countries who will compete for 339 gold medals in 50 different disciplines.

FEW TOPICS appear to rile people in the West as much as political correctness and its impact upon free speech. Although some on the left would like to see more laws governing what is, and is not, acceptable to say in public, most people prefer simply to avoid what they consider hurtful language. Conservatives, meanwhile, tend to complain that this tendency has gone too far and endangers the principle of free speech.

THE CORONAVIRUS is upending daily life in America once again. Cases have risen in all states over the past 14 days owing to the spread of the Delta variant. In Florida, where the rate of new infections is second highest, hospitals have more covid-19 patients than ever. Deaths have risen in 30 states over the past two weeks, typically in places with the lowest rates of fully vaccinated people. Although the country has met President Joe Biden’s target of giving at least one dose to 70% of its adult population, it did so a month late.

A FOURTH WAVE of covid-19 infections is washing across America. It is strongest in the heartland and southern states: cases per 100,000 people are highest in Louisiana, Florida and Arkansas; Missouri has the highest hospitalisations. But the rapidly spreading Delta variant threatens other places, too. Since vaccinations have stalled at around 155m adults, or 60% of the population aged 18 or over, few if any parts of the country have reached herd immunity. The new wave is likely to crash everywhere.

BY TODAY’S standards the first modern Olympics in 1896 were an understated affair. The games in Athens featured 241 men (women weren’t invited) from 14 countries, competing for 43 gold medals across ten sporting disciplines. Like a weightlifter pumped full of steroids, the games have ballooned in the 125 years since. Tokyo will host 11,479 sportspeople from 206 countries who will compete for 339 gold medals in 50 different disciplines.

SPAIN’S CONQUEST of the Inca empire in the 16th century was catastrophic for the Incas. Within four decades the native population fell by 75-90%. Old-world diseases were mostly to blame, but forced labour played a part. Missionaries coerced Spain’s new subjects to convert to Catholicism, while viceroys razed Inca buildings.

BY TODAY’S standards the first modern Olympics in 1896 were an understated affair. The games in Athens featured 241 men (women weren’t invited) from 14 countries, competing for 43 gold medals across ten sporting disciplines. Like a weightlifter pumped full of steroids, the games have ballooned in the 125 years since. Tokyo will host 11,479 sportspeople from 206 countries who will compete for 339 gold medals in 50 different disciplines.

A FOURTH WAVE of covid-19 infections is washing across America. It is strongest in the heartland and southern states: cases per 100,000 people are highest in Louisiana, Florida and Arkansas; Missouri has the highest hospitalisations. But the rapidly spreading Delta variant threatens other places, too. Since vaccinations have stalled at around 155m adults, or 60% of the population aged 18 or over, few if any parts of the country have reached herd immunity. The new wave is likely to crash everywhere.