| |  |  | The Reuters Daily Briefing | Tuesday, July 20, 2021 by Linda Noakes | Hello Here's what you need to know. The U.S. issues a 'Do Not Travel' advisory for the UK, Peru socialist Castillo is confirmed as president, and Ben & Jerry's angers Israel | | | | | Today's biggest stories  Protesters scuffle with police during a 'Freedom day' demonstration, on the day when most COVID-19 restrictions were lifted, in London, Britain July 19, 2021. REUTERS/Beresford Hodge
COVID-19
Swiftly rising coronavirus cases across the United States and abroad have fueled fears of a pandemic resurgence and sent shockwaves through stock markets as the highly contagious Delta variant appears to be taking hold.
The U.S. State Department and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention both issued their highest warnings against travel to the United Kingdom because of a rising number of COVID-19 cases there.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was not prepared to impose lockdown restrictions to stop the spread of COVID-19 to save the elderly and denied the National Health Service would be overwhelmed, his former top adviser said in a TV interview.
The so-called bubble to control COVID-19 infections at the Olympic athletes' village in Tokyo is already "broken" and poses a risk of spreading infections to the general populace, a prominent public health expert said.
More than half of Australia's 25 million population is under lockdown after a third state imposed movement restrictions to contain the spread of the Delta variant.
|  A man gets ready to leave after hearing the sounds of rocket explosions landing near the presidential palace, during an outdoor gathering for Eid al-Adha prayers attended by President Ashraf Ghani (front row), in the palace compound in Kabul, Afghanistan, July 20, 2021
WORLD
Rockets hit the Afghan capital, landing near the presidential palace during prayers for the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha, but President Ashraf Ghani and many others calmly continued praying at an outdoor gathering. Following the end of America's military mission, we interviewed U.S. veterans who say blood spilled in Afghanistan was wasted.
Asia is sliding into a dangerous arms race as smaller nations that once stayed on the sidelines build arsenals of advanced long-range missiles, following in the footsteps of powerhouses China and the United States. Before the decade is out, Asia will be bristling with conventional missiles that fly farther and faster, hit harder, and are more sophisticated than ever before.
As the U.S. and its allies accuse China of a global hacking spree, we look at how Beijing's move to create a domestic marketplace for the country's vast troves of big data could also ratchet up tensions with Washington.
Peru's electoral authority named socialist Pedro Castillo as the country's next president. Castillo officially won the June 6 runoff against right-wing candidate Keiko Fujimori, who accepted the result but said she had been cheated.
U.S.
A federal judge dealt an eight-month prison sentence to Paul Hodgkins for the Florida man's role in the January 6 U.S. Capitol attack, making him the first among more than 500 people facing criminal charges in the riot to be incarcerated.
House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy nominated five members of his party, including staunch Trump ally Jim Jordan, to serve on a special congressional panel probing the riot.
Enrique Tarrio, a leader of the right-wing extremist group the Proud Boys, pleaded guilty to burning a Black Lives Matter flag and possessing a large-capacity ammunition feeding device.
A watchdog agency found that former Commerce Department Secretary Wilbur Ross misrepresented the reasons for wanting to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census, and the Trump administration declined to prosecute him, a probe showed.
Twitter temporarily suspended Republican U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene's account for tweets which violated the social media company's misinformation policy on COVID-19.
| BUSINESS Israel warned consumer goods giant Unilever of "severe consequences" from a decision by subsidiary Ben & Jerry's to stop selling ice cream in Israeli-occupied territories, and urged U.S. states to invoke anti-boycott laws.
The U.S. recession touched off by the coronavirus lasted only two months, ending with a low point reached in April 2020 after the start of a sharp drop in economic activity in March of that year, the U.S. Business Cycle Dating Committee announced.
U.S. state attorneys general are expected this week to unveil a $26 billion settlement resolving claims that three major drug distributors and drugmaker Johnson & Johnson helped fuel a nationwide opioid epidemic, people familiar with the matter said.
UBS posted a 63% jump in second-quarter net profit, easily beating expectations as buoyant markets continued to help the world's largest wealth manager generate higher earnings from managing money for the rich.
| | | | | | | Video of the day  Haj pilgrims perform 'stoning of the devil' ritual Saudi Arabia, home to Islam's holiest sites in Mecca and Medina, has barred worshippers from abroad for a second year running and restricted entry from within the kingdom. | | | Thanks for spending part of your day with us. | | | | | |
