Jakarta, Indonesia – Medical experts have linked a surge in coronavirus cases on Bali to the inaccurate, low-cost rapid antibody test kits that are being used to screen domestic visitors to the Indonesian resort island.

Foreign tourists were banned from entering Indonesia on April 2, and while a plan to reopen Bali to international travellers this week has been dropped, domestic air travel resumed on July 31.

Since then, the island has been welcoming an average of 3,000 domestic tourists every day, mostly from the neighbouring island of Java, the country’s most densely populated province, and also the worst-hit by the pandemic.

Throughout July and the first half of August, the number of new confirmed cases in Bali fell as low as 27 cases per day on August 10, with a seven-day average of 4...

Evacuation orders have been expanded to more mountain communities as a huge wildfire churns through California’s Sierra National Forest on Monday, one of dozens of blazes crews battled during a heatwave that shattered records across the most populous state in the United States.

Firefighters working in steep terrain through the night saved the tiny town of Shaver Lake from flames that roared down hillsides toward a marina. To the north, about 30 houses were destroyed in the remote hamlet of Big Creek.

“About half the private homes in town burned down,” Big Creek resident Toby Wait said. “Words cannot even begin to describe the devastation of this community. And it is a very close-knit community.”

An elementary school, church, library, historic general store and a major hydroelectric plant ...

When I first heard of the Beirut blast on August 4 that killed nearly 200 people and injured more than 6,000 others, I immediately messaged climbing friends in Lebanon. “Are you okay?” I asked Charlie Sifri.

“Yes we’re all safe but the climbing gym is destroyed. We’re lucky Flyp was closed or we’d have perished,” Charlie responded.

I had met Charlie and Beirut’s climbing community in January while reporting on anti-government protests. Climbing for me was a respite from long workdays – for them, an escape from a country in turmoil. Making friends is common in the climbing world and I made them at the Flyp gym. 

That week of the blast, the Lebanese government allowed businesses to reopen after months of COVID-19 restrictions. But an electricity blackout and a lack of fuel – on the day of o...

Lawyers for the family of Egypt’s ex-president Mohamed Morsi said they obtained information showing his youngest son was killed by “a lethal substance” and not a heart attack as authorities earlier claimed.

Abdullah Morsi, 25, died a year ago on September 4 in a hospital in Giza, southwest of the Egyptian capital Cairo.

A government report at the time said Abdullah was driving his car when he had sudden spasms, and he was immediately taken to a hospital, but doctors were unable to revive him.

Several local news sites reported the death saying there was no criminal suspicion, while noting Morsi’s son had suffered several previous health scares, and that he was saddened by his father’s recent death.

Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s first democratically elected president, died on June 17, 2019, after...

• Biden is heading to the crucial battleground state of Pennsylvania on Monday, where he plans to speak with union workers.

• Trump will hold a 1pm (17:00 GMT) news conference on economic recovery from the pandemic

• Kamala Harris and Mike Pence are both visiting the key battleground state of Wisconsin, days after Trump and Biden visited the city of Kenosha, a hotspot in the country’s civil and racial unrest. 

• Biden remains ahead nearly seven points in national polling averages; some polls have suggested a tightening race in states considered key to winning the Electoral College. 

• Today is the Labor Day holiday, a date that historically signifies the beginning of the most aggressive stretch of campaigning. There are 56 days until the general election on November 3. 

Here are the lat...

• Biden is heading to the crucial battleground state of Pennsylvania on Monday, where he plans to speak with union workers.

• Trump will hold a 1pm (17:00 GMT) news conference on economic recovery from the pandemic

• Kamala Harris and Mike Pence are both visiting the key battleground state of Wisconsin, days after Trump and Biden visited the city of Kenosha, a hotspot in the country’s civil and racial unrest. 

• Biden remains ahead nearly seven points in national polling averages; some polls have suggested a tightening race in states considered key to winning the Electoral College. 

• Today is the Labor Day holiday, a date that historically signifies the beginning of the most aggressive stretch of campaigning. There are 56 days until the general election on November 3. 

Here are the lat...