The Indonesian government has issued a dengue fever alert with the number of infections this year approaching 70,000 — higher than the number of recorded Covid-19 cases.Battling two deadly diseases, it also said dengue patients were at much greater risk of death if they were unfortunate enough to contract the coronavirus. MORE

Charlie Daniels, a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame who sang “The Devil Went Down to Georgia,” recorded with Bob Dylan and was a vocal supporter of U.S. veterans, died Monday morning after suffering a hemorrhagic stroke. He was 83. MORE

Famous secret agreement signed between Beijing and the Holy See. Pope Francis decided at the last minute to pull a section of his weekly Angelus address dealing with Hong Kong freedoms Sunday.

As Vatican observers have noted, the pope has avoided criticizing China over its human rights abuses, preferring to lavish praise on the Communist dictatorship and its leaders. MORE

“By February, March of next year they’ll be laying eggs in Kenya again,” he said. The next generation could be up to 20 times the size of the previous one. (Somalia – Pirates)
NAIROBI, Kenya  — The crunch of young locusts comes with nearly every step. The worst outbreak of the voracious insects in Kenya in 70 years is far from over, and their newest generation is now finding its wings for proper flight. MORE

Japan is still reeling from one of its worst flooding disasters in decades, which has killed at least 179 people and left 70 missing. MORE

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Shares in the electric carmaker touched $1,134 on Wednesday morning before falling back, leaving it with a market value of $209.47bn (£165bn). MORE

The crime in these six Democrat-led cities has exploded this year: New York, Chicago, LA, Washington, D.C., Baltimore and Philadelphia.  McCullough concludes:

The single most important threat to our nation at this moment are Democrats who are voting in favor of eliminating law enforcement and who are by extension responsible for the greater and greater increase in the loss of life. MORE

A statue of abolitionist legend Frederick Douglass was torn down overnight over the Fourth of July holiday in Rochester, New York, local media reported. MORE