Uniquely Nelson

The US government has filed charges against Google, accusing the company of abusing its dominance to preserve a monopoly over internet searches and online advertising. Photo: 123RF / Anthony Brown The lawsuit marks the biggest challenge brought by US regulators against a major tech company in years. It follows more than a year of investigation and comes as the biggest tech firms face intense scrutiny of their practices at home and abroad. Google called the case "deeply flawed". The company has maintained that its sector remains intensely competitive and that its practices put customers first. "People use Google because they choose to - not because they're forced to or because they can't find alternatives," it said. Monopoly concerns The charges, filed in federal court, were brought by the US Department of Justice and 11 other states. The lawsuit focuses on the billions of dollars Google pays each year to ensure its search engine is installed as the default option on browsers and devices such as mobile phones. Officials said those deals have helped secure Google's placeas the "gatekeeper" to the internet, owning or controlling the channels for about 80 percent of search queries in the US. "Google has thus foreclosed competition for internet search," the lawsuit said. "General search engine competitors are denied vital distribution, scale, and product recognition - ensuring they have no real chance to challenge Google." It added: "Google is so dominant that 'Google' is not only a noun to identify the company and the Google search engine but also a verb that means to search the internet." The case could be the first of many in the US that challenge the dominance of big tech firms and potentially lead to their break-up. Coming just a few weeks before the US presidential election, it has also been viewed as a move by the Trump administration to prove its willingness to challenge the influence of the sector if it gains a second term. Officials said they had not rushed the investigation to ensure it was filed before the election. "We're acting when the facts and the law warranted," deputy attorney general Jeffrey Rosen said, adding that the department's review of competition practices in the technology sector is continuing. Google has faced similar claims in the European Union. It is already appealing against €8.2bn ($NZ14.73bn) in fines demanded by the European Commission which include: in 2017, a €2.4bn ($NZ4.3bn) fine over shopping results in 2018, a €4.3bn (4NZ7.7bn) fine over claims it used Android software to unfairly promote its own apps in 2019, a €1.5bn ($NZ2.7bn) fine for blocking adverts from rival search engines. - BBC

A Samoan author who wrote a book during a week of New Zealand's Covid-19 national lockdown, hopes her new project will show the value of Pacific women of all ages. Dahlia Malaeulu Photo: RNZ Pacific / Koro Vaka'uta The paperback version of Teine Sāmoa, or Samoan girl, was launched this month following on from a popular e-book of the same name. Dahlia Malaeulu is a teacher, turned author, who wrote the e-book while in lockdown this year. Since then, she has spent time gathering the stories of how seven students and seven educators, all Teine Samoa, navigate the challenging world of two cultures in New Zealand. Malaeulu added these stories to the original material with other additional features including discussion points designed to be used in the classroom. "As Tagata Sāmoa, as Tagata Pasifika, only we can see the world the way we do so it really should be up to [us to] share our stories so our stories reflect us and help others to understand us better and connect with us," she said. Malaeulu said that connection was something that could help bridge gaps within the education system. "You hear about the 'brown tail' that we were labelled once and how Māori and Pasifika tamaiti really dominate underachievement so when you are Pasifika yourself and you actually have the insight into this world, you actually understand how rich and how knowledgeable our tamaiti are and also what our cultures are and that no learning can actually happen without culture." Vaia'ua'u Pilitati Photo: RNZ Pacific / Koro Vaka'uta Vaia'ua'u Pilitati has been a teacher for more than 35 years and said she had seen a gradual change. "People in the community, in the schools, parents are more aware of celebrating not only Samoan, but all our Pasifika sisters and brothers, so yes [there's] definitely a growing awareness and also not just thinking about it and hearing about it but also putting into action that celebration - whatever it looks like." Pilitati, who arrived in New Zealand as a child without being able to speak English, said she loved sharing her story and reading everyone else's. "There was definitely connection in each and every one of us. We have a lot to say but I loved reading about how we did connect. We connected through our culture, through our identity, through our family, through our friends and community. It it just amazing to be able to experience that connection." Niusila Faamanatu-Eteuati, a lecturer at Wellington's Victoria University, contributed to the project and agreed that sharing stories was valuable. "Most of the time we tend to think that we are inferior, I mean in the world that we are living in, and we think our story and our gagana and our experiences are not that important so having this project is a way to share those stories and inspire young people ... to use their own knowledge and their own experiences of their culture as sources of empowerment with the work they do." Victoria University lecturer, Niusila Faamanatu-Eteuati Photo: RNZ Pacific / Koro Vaka'uta The youngest contributor, 13-year-old Telesia Tanoai, was doing some inspiring of her own. Born in Taiwan but schooled in New Zealand, Telesia said she had struggled with her identity and being accepted. During lockdown she created a short film based on her journey, during which a young girl holds a conversation with a spirit version of herself. "She's basically explaining, I don't feel Samoan, I feel like a foreigner to my family, I feel like I'm not accepted and Telesa [the spirit] says 'it doesn't matter how much Samoan blood runs through your body or if you speak the language or if you live on Samoan land. You are Samoan and no-one can tell you otherwise.'" Sacred Heart College studen Rebecca Sa'u said she wanted to explore the aspects of teine Samoa. "I wanted to incorporate the ideas of a teine Samoa from Samoa and raised in Samoa and a teine Samoa raised in New Zealand, because there are differences and similarities that I think a lot of people should know because we are not all the same. "For Pasifika people in general, I just want them to feel confident in embracing who they are." Wainuiomata High Head Student, Sarah McLeod-Venu Photo: RNZ Pacific / Koro Vaka'uta Wainuiomata High School Head Girl Sarah McLeod-Venu also contributed to the project. The up and coming representative netballer is of both Samoan and Scottish heritage and wanted to share what being Afakasi was like. "I wanted to share how my experiences are different to say full-Samoan, Teine Sāmoa, and I wanted to share how it's perfectly fine to have different experiences and how being different is good and you should embrace it and that you can find strengths and opportunities to use your cultural experiences to help others." Telesia agreed. Telesia Tanoai Photo: RNZ Pacific / Koro Vaka'uta "It doesn't matter how I am or my personality or how different I am. I know I am Samoan and I just have to believe that I am and I am proud to be a Teine Samoa and I love my culture. "I am different, I was raised differently from most of my family and peers but that's what makes me different, that's what makes me unique. I'm proud to say that." Dahlia Malaeulu said although the 14 stories contained common threads, they also displayed how there was diversity. "Within our culture, our Samoan culture, as well as many of other Pasifika cultures, there is diversity within it. So that many years ago you had this idea going around or this stereotype of what a Samoan is; that they typically go to church, that they typically all speak the language." She said that was definitely not the case today. "There is so much diversity. There are families who have Afakasi children. There are families who have been brought here, scholarship children who have to be raised in a foreign country. There are teine Samoa who struggle with the dual worlds, our tagata Samoa who struggle with the dual worlds of pālangi and then their home life." Teine Sāmoa contributors Photo: RNZ Pacific / Koro Vaka'uta But whatever the case she hoped the project would do at least one thing. "It would enable us all to better support our tamaiti to succeed as themselves. So succeeding as Samoan, succeeding as Pasifika, because our language, our culture, who we are, is worth it." Malaeulu said schools across the region were already inquiring about the book. Photo: RNZ Pacific / Koro Vaka'uta

South Australia is joining New South Wales and Northern Territory in opening its borders to New Zealanders. Adelaide Airport. Photo: 123RF The state's Police Commissioner, Grant Stevens, has announced the move with immediate effect. The decision was made at a meeting of the state's Transition Committee this morning. It was revealed yesterday that five New Zealand travellers arrived unexpectedly at Adelaide Airport on Sunday and were put into hotel quarantine at their own expense. Commissioner Stevens has since revealed there were in fact 12 recent arrivals from New Zealand who were already in hotel quarantine in South Australia, and all would be let out. Stevens said the state was now happy to receive direct flights from New Zealand. He said the South Australian authorities had been in direct contact with New Zealand authorities and there was now a "level of comfort" that allowed the Transition Committee to make its decision. He said it was unfortunate that some travellers had been inconvenienced for a short period of time. - ABC

An American spacecraft is about to attempt the audacious task of grabbing rock samples from an asteroid. Artwork: Osiris-Rex approaching the surface of Asteroid Bennu. Photo: NASA/GODDARD/UOA The Osiris-Rex probe will lower itself on to the 500m-wide object known as Bennu - a carbonaceous asteroid - to make a contact that lasts no more than a few seconds. But in the course of this "high-five" manoeuvre, the spacecraft will deliver a squirt of gas to stir up the surface. And with luck, Osiris-Rex will catch a couple of handfuls of dust and grit it can bring back to Earth. The aim is to capture at least 60g, but the scientists and engineers working on the Nasa-led mission are confident the probe can secure a kilo or more. If that happens, it would represent the biggest extraterrestrial sample-return cache since the Apollo astronauts picked up rocks from the Moon 50 years ago. Contact with Bennu is timed to occur just before 10.15pm GMT on Wednesday (10.15am Thursday NZT) when the asteroid and Osiris-Rex are about 330 million km from Earth. The whole procedure will be automated. It has to be. Radio signals take 18 minutes to traverse the expanse of intervening space, making it impossible for controllers to intervene. Bennu is a fascinating object. About the size of the Empire State Building, it looks somewhat like a spinning-top toy. Researchers understand it to be what they call a carbonaceous asteroid, meaning its rocks still retain a lot of the chemistry that was present when the Sun and the planets came into being more than 4.5 billion years ago. Hence the desire to bring some of its material home for analysis in sophisticated Earth laboratories. Distant telescope and radar observations had suggested the asteroid would have a kind of sandy surface. But the probe's close-up imagery revealed the surface to be littered with imposing boulders instead. Worse still, it was noticed the asteroid would occasionally kick out fragments from its surface as volatile substances vented into space. This environment has challenged the mission team to find a safe place to sample. Months have been spent precisely mapping every lump and bump on Bennu. Bennu contains chemistry preserved from the dawn of the Solar System. Photo: NASA/GODDARD/UOA Extensive investigations have identified two locations Osiris-Rex should be able to get in and out reasonably comfortably. The primary site, called Nightingale, is 8m across - a little under the width of a singles tennis court, or a few car parking spaces. The probe will approach this constrained zone very slowly, using its automated visualisation system to avoid nearby hazards, including a two-story boulder that's been dubbed Mount Doom. "For some perspective: the next time you park your car in front of your house or in front of a coffee shop, and walk inside - think about the challenge of navigating Osiris Rex-into one of these spots from 200 million miles away," remarked Mike Moreau, Nasa's deputy project manager on the mission. With its sampling arm outstretched, Osiris-Rex will press a ring-shaped device into the asteroid's surface that works like a kind of "reverse vacuum cleaner". When the ring touches down, a charge of pressurised nitrogen will be released to kick up small chunks of rock and "soil". If a good contact is made, a decent amount of this elevated debris should get trapped inside the sampling head. "We estimate that our time on the surface will be between five and 10 seconds before the spacecraft backs away with the sample safely inside of the sampler head," explained Sandra Freund, the mission operations manager from Lockheed Martin Space, the company that made Osiris-Rex. The probe will be taking pictures throughout, to enable the mission team to gauge the success or otherwise of the sampling bid. However, it could be some days before Nasa is able to make a definitive statement on how much of Bennu's surface material has been retrieved. "I'm confident that we're going to have abundant material based on the nature of the Nightingale site and the extensive testing that we did with our Touch-and-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (Tag-Sam)," said principal investigator Dante Lauretta from the University of Arizona, Tucson. "And in the best-case scenario where the Tag-Sam filter is filled up, we might have a kilogram of sample or more. So, I can't tell you how excited I am." Should a second attempt be needed, Osiris Rex would target the back-up site nicknamed Osprey. Any samples will be packaged for return in a capsule that's expected to land back on Earth in September 2023. Nasa is working closely with the Japanese space agency whose Hayabusa-2 probe sampled a different type of asteroid called Ryugu last year. That mission's cache, weighing perhaps 100 milligrams, is coming home in December. Numerous scientists, including in the UK, are hoping to get the chance to analyse the materials from both endeavours - among them Sara Russell from London's Natural History Museum. "We can learn a lot about the early formation of the Solar System from meteorites. But as soon as those rocks come through the atmosphere to fall to Earth, they're immediately contaminated in some way or another," she told BBC News. "So, this is our chance to get a truly pristine sample, to understand what the primordial chemistry in the Solar System was really like." - BBC

Diplomatic tensions between China and Australia are set to be reignited after the latter was formally invited to take part in large scale military exercises next month involving the United States, Japan and India. The US, Japanese and Indian navy carrying out an exercise as part of Exercise Malabar in 2015. Photo: AFP / HANDOUT / US NAVY / MCS CHAD M. TRUDEAU The Australian Defence Force (ADF) last took part in Exercise Malabar in 2007, before the Australian government withdrew from the naval drills the following year because of concerns over relations with Beijing. Defence Minister Linda Reynolds has confirmed Australia will participate in Exercise Malabar 2020, which she described as a "milestone activity". "High-end military exercises like Malabar are key to enhancing Australia's maritime capabilities, building interoperability with our close partners, and demonstrating our collective resolve to support an open and prosperous Indo-Pacific," Senator Reynolds said. "Exercise Malabar also showcases the deep trust between four major Indo-Pacific democracies and their shared will to work together on common security interests." Japan and the United States have been pushing diplomatically for Australia's return to the Quadrilateral exercises, which China views as threatening and an effort to contain its military reach. India had been reluctant to allow the ADF to rejoin the powerful military grouping, but the country's Defence Ministry confirmed a long-anticipated invitation had finally been made. "As India seeks to increase cooperation with other countries in the maritime security domain and in the light of increased defence cooperation with Australia, Malabar 2020 will see the participation of the Australian Navy," the ministry said. "The participants of Exercise Malabar 2020 are engaging to enhance safety and security in the maritime domain. "They collectively support free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific and remain committed to a rules-based international order." Decision makes Quad 'very formidable' Australia is yet to announce which naval assets will deploy to Exercise Malabar in the Indian Ocean, but defence sources have suggested a warship such as HMAS Hobart or HMAS Brisbane would be likely to go. The HMAS Hobart. Photo: AFP The Malabar invitation follows a Quad foreign ministers' meeting in Tokyo earlier this month, attended by Foreign Minister Marise Payne. "It will bolster the ability of India, Australia, Japan and the United States to work together to uphold peace and stability across our region," Senator Payne said. "This builds on the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, to which Prime Minister Morrison and Prime Minister Modi agreed on 4 June 2020, and which I progressed with my counterpart, Minister of External Affairs Jaishankar, this month when we met in Tokyo." India's former Naval spokesman DK Sharma, who has long advocated for Australia's return to the Malabar exercises, said having all four nations taking part made the Quad a more formal security alliance. "It makes it very, very formidable," DK Sharma told the ABC. "The way [China] is moving out, the first island chain and the second island chain, now you have Japan on top, you have the Pacific more or less under the control of the US, then we have Australia which will have a good look towards either the Pacific or Indian Ocean Pacific, and then we have India. "None of us are behaving in a way China is behaving - there is a difference, we are all talking security, prosperity, peace, tranquillity … Those guys are only talking about grabbing the nations, making their ports, militarising them, grabbing the islands." - ABC

A US appeals court on Monday local time dealt Ghislaine Maxwell a blow by refusing to block the release of a deposition she gave concerning her relationship with the late financier and registered sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein. Photo: AFP The Second US Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan said there was a presumption the public had a right to see Maxwell's 418-page deposition, which was taken in April 2016 for a now-settled civil defamation lawsuit against her. In an unsigned order, the court also said US District Judge Loretta Preska in Manhattan did not abuse her discretion in rejecting Maxwell's "meritless arguments" that her interests superseded that presumption. Lawyers for Maxwell did not immediately respond to requests for comment, including whether they plan a further appeal. The order upheld Preska's decision in July to release the deposition and hundreds of other documents from the 2015 defamation lawsuit by Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein's accusers. That case was settled in 2017, and many of the documents have been made public. But Maxwell's lawyers said bad publicity from disclosing "intimate, sensitive, and personal details" from the deposition could undermine her ability to defend against criminal charges that she enabled Epstein's sexual abuses. They said the British socialite thought her deposition would remain confidential, and that releasing it would violate her constitutional right against self-incrimination, and imperil a fair trial because jurors might hold its contents against her. The appeals court separately rejected Maxwell's request to modify a protective order in her criminal case, so she could access confidential materials she hoped would persuade Preska to keep the deposition under wraps. Maxwell, 58, has pleaded not guilty to helping Epstein recruit and groom underage girls as young as 14 to engage in illegal sexual acts in the mid-1990s, and not guilty to perjury for having denied involvement in the deposition. A trial is scheduled for next July. Giuffre said she was a teenager when Maxwell pulled her into Epstein's circle, where she was groomed and trafficked for sex with Epstein and other wealthy, powerful men. The push to unseal the deposition came from Giuffre and the Miami Herald newspaper, which had investigated Epstein's conduct and his successful effort in 2007 to avoid federal sex trafficking charges. Lawyers for Giuffre and the newspaper were not immediately available for comment. The U.S. Department of Justice, which opposed modifying the protective order, did not immediately respond to a similar request. Maxwell was arrested on 2 July in New Hampshire, where prosecutors said she had been hiding out. She has been locked up in a Brooklyn jail after US District Judge Alison Nathan, who oversees the criminal case, called her an unacceptable flight risk. Epstein killed himself at age 66 in August 2019 at a Manhattan jail while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges announced the previous month. The cases in the Second US Circuit Court of Appeals are Giuffre v Maxwell, No. 20-2413, and US v Maxwell, No. 20-3061. - Reuters

A second person has been charged with murder over the death of a New Zealand firefighter in the NSW Hunter Valley in Australia. New Zealand helicopter pilot and volunteer firefighter Ian Pullen with his wife Vicki. Photo: Supplied / NSW police The body of Ian Pullen, 43, was found on the side of a road in Glenridding, near Singleton, in September 2018. Pullen was a helicopter pilot who had arrived in the region to assist with firefighting efforts. Detectives arrested a 30-year-old woman at a home in Singleton yesterday morning, and she was charged with murder. Police alleged that after a white ute hit Pullen, the woman and the driver of the vehicle returned to the scene a short time later and struck him in the head with an object. Joshua Knight, 29, was arrested last week and charged with murder, dangerous driving occasioning death and failing to stop and assist after vehicle impact causing death. He was refused bail in Newcastle Local Court. The arrests came three weeks after police made a plea for an anonymous caller to come forward. They asked for the unknown late-night caller to come forward on the second anniversary of the death. A $350,000 reward was offered last year for information on Mr Pullen's death. The 30-year-old woman was refused bail and will face Muswellbrook Local Court today. - ABC

New Zealand agencies have helped US authorities charge six Russian state-sponsored computer hackers over attacks spanning four years. Britain and US say Russia has targeted 2020 Tokyo Games organisers, logistics suppliers and sponsors. Photo: AFP / Yomiuri The US Justice Department said in a media release six Russian GRU intelligence members sought to undermine, retaliate or destabilise foreign companies and political campaigns through computer hacks. "Their computer attacks used some of the world's most destructive malware to date, including KillDisk and Industroyer, which each caused blackouts in Ukraine; NotPetya, which caused nearly $1 billion in losses to the three victims identified in the indictment alone; and Olympic Destroyer, which disrupted thousands of computers used to support the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics," the DoJ said. "The indictment charges the defendants with conspiracy, computer hacking, wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and false registration of a domain name." The statement alleges the hackers operated under a range of names, including Sandworm Team, Telebots, Voodoo Bear and Iron Viking. "No country has weaponised its cyber capabilities as maliciously or irresponsibly as Russia, wantonly causing unprecedented damage to pursue small tactical advantages and to satisfy fits of spite," Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C Demers said. "Today the department has charged these Russian officers with conducting the most disruptive and destructive series of computer attacks ever attributed to a single group, including by unleashing the NotPetya malware." This included thousands of US and international companies and organisations, French President Emmanuel Macron's political campaign, and the 2018 Winter Olympics. The Justice Department said governments agencies, including New Zealand's, provided "significant cooperation" and assistance to the investigation. "We also appreciate the hard work and dedication of our foreign law enforcement or intelligence partners, including in Ukraine, Georgia, South Korea, the United Kingdom and New Zealand, who have also pursued these conspirators after attacks and intrusions within their own countries or otherwise assisted in our investigation. "All of these partnerships send a clear message that responsible nations and the private sector are prepared to work together to defend against and disrupt significant cyber threats." UK, US say Russia on cyber offensive to sabotage Tokyo Olympics Britain and the US have condemned what they said were a litany of malicious cyberattacks orchestrated by Russian military intelligence, including attempts to disrupt next year's Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo. British and US officials said the attacks were conducted by Unit 74455 of Russia's GRU military intelligence agency, also known as the Main Centre for Special Technologies. In an indictment unsealed on Monday, the US Justice Department said six members of the unit had played key roles in attacks on targets ranging from the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea to the 2017 French elections. British officials said the GRU hackers had also conducted "cyber reconnaissance" operations against organisers of the 2020 Tokyo Games, which were originally scheduled to be held this year but postponed because of the coronavirus outbreak. Dominic Raab Photo: AFP The officials declined to give specific details about the attacks or whether they were successful, but said they had targeted Games organisers, logistics suppliers and sponsors. British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said: "The GRU's actions against the Olympic and Paralympic Games are cynical and reckless. We condemn them in the strongest possible terms." FBI deputy director David Bowdich said: "The FBI has repeatedly warned that Russia is a highly capable cyber adversary, and the information revealed in this indictment illustrates how pervasive and destructive Russia's cyber activities truly are." Russia was banned from the world's top sporting events for four years in December over widespread doping offences, including the Tokyo Games. The attacks on the Games are the latest in a string of hacking attempts against international sporting organisations that Western officials and cybersecurity experts say have been orchestrated by Russia since its doping scandal erupted five years ago. Moscow has repeatedly denied the allegations. Russia accused of 2018 Games hacking Britain and the United States said those attacks included a hack of the 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in South Korea, which compromised hundreds of computers, took down internet access and disrupted broadcast feeds. Fireworks at the end of the closing ceremony of the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympic Games. Photo: AFP The attack in South Korea had previously been linked to Russia by cybersecurity researchers but was made to look like the work of Chinese or North Korean hackers, Britain's foreign ministry said in a statement. "The attacks on the 2020 Summer Games are the latest in a campaign of Russian malicious activity against the Olympic and Paralympic Games," it said. "The UK is confirming for the first time today the extent of GRU targeting of the 2018 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games in Pyeongchang, Republic of Korea." - RNZ / Reuters

On a call with campaign staff, US President Donald Trump has dismissed Dr Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious disease expert, as a "disaster". Anthony Fauci, front, with US President Donald Trump. (file pic) Photo: AFP Trump and Fauci, a member of his coronavirus task force, have been at odds over how best to handle a pandemic that has killed more than 219,000 people in the United States and weakened the Republican president's 3 November re-election bid. Fauci has openly complained about being cited in a Trump re-election campaign advertisement and said in an interview broadcast on Sunday night (US time) by CBS' 60 Minutes that he was not surprised Trump himself contracted the virus. Speaking from his signature hotel in Las Vegas ahead of two rallies in Arizona, Trump said Americans were fed up with pandemic restrictions. "People are tired of Covid," Trump said. "People are tired of hearing Fauci and all these idiots. "Fauci is a disaster. If I listened to him, we'd have 500,000 deaths," Trump said. "Fauci is a nice guy. He's been here for 500 years." Fauci, 79, is one of the most respected scientists in the United States and has served under Republican and Democratic presidents. He has been director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984. Trump suggested he had avoided firing Fauci because of the negative blowback he would receive. Trump took his frustration out on Fauci midway through a call intended to buck up his national team of campaign workers amid a spate of stories suggesting a campaign in turmoil. With nearly two weeks to go until Election Day, Democrat Joe Biden holds a lead in national opinion polls and in many battleground states where the election is likely to be decided. 70,000 new cases in one day Meanwhile, new coronavirus infections are growing rapidly across the US, experts say, with new hospital admissions also increasing around the country. Nearly 70,000 new cases were recorded on Friday - the highest number of new infections seen in one day since July. Cases have been trending upward for 48 states over the past week. A man is tested for Covid-19 in Long Beach, California. Photo: AFP Only two states, Missouri and Vermont, are recording numbers that are improving. Ten states on Friday hit their all time high for new cases reported in a single day. They include the mid-western and interior states of Colorado, Idaho, Indiana, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming. On Saturday, new cases fell to over 57,000. On Sunday, the daily infection rate fell again to over 48,000. As infections rise, hospital admissions have also risen in 39 states over the past two weeks. Wisconsin, a crucial presidential swing state, is among the hardest hit, with nearly 10 percent of the state's hospital beds currently occupied by Covid-19 patients. The state has now erected a field hospital on the grounds of the Wisconsin State Fair Park to serve as an overflow facility for hospitals. Experts say the death toll is not expected to rise as rapidly as it did in the beginning of the pandemic, as many of the new cases are in young people who are more likely to survive the disease caused by the virus. Health officials warn that infections are likely to get worse during colder months, when people tend to congregate indoors more often. - Reuters / BBC

French police have raided the homes of dozens of suspected Islamic radicals following the beheading of a teacher who showed controversial cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad to his pupils. Imam of Drancy Hassen Chalghoumi, left, and French Jewish writer Marek Halter attend a gathering of imams outside the school where a teacher was murdered. Photo: AFP Some of those being questioned are believed to have posted messages of support for the killer of Samuel Paty. The government also said it was probing 51 French Muslim associations. Paty's suspected killer was shot dead by police on Saturday after the attack close to the teacher's school. The school is located in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, a north-western suburb of Paris. The suspect, an 18-year-old born in Moscow of Chechen origin, had no known connection to Paty or the school. Dozens post messages supporting killer On Monday, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said the latest raids sent a message that there was "no respite for enemies of the republic", and that they were expected to continue all week. He said that not all individuals targeted in the operations were necessarily linked to the investigations into Paty's death. Meanwhile, police will interview about 80 people who are believed to have posted messages in support of Paty's killer, Darmanin added. The government said that if Muslim organisations under investigation were found to promote hatred, they would be closed down. Darmanin labelled one organisation, the Collective Against Islamophobia in France (CCIF), an "enemy of the state", and said he wanted to shut it down. The organisation, which monitors anti-Muslim hate crime in France, has accused Darmanin of slander after he claimed the group was "obviously" involved in the attack, according to AFP news agency. In a statement following news of the attack, the CCIF expressed "our pain and our sadness to the family of this teacher". One of many rallies held in France to pay tribute to Samuel Paty. Photo: AFP What's the latest in the investigation? Anti-terrorism prosecutor Jean-François Ricard said Paty had been the target of threats since he showed the cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad during a class about freedom of speech. As he had done in similar lessons in recent years, Paty, a history and geography teacher, advised Muslim students to look away if they thought they might be offended. Depictions of the Prophet Muhammad can cause serious offence to Muslims because Islamic tradition explicitly forbids images of Muhammad and Allah (God). The issue is particularly sensitive in France because of the famous publishing of cartoons of Prophet Muhammad by satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. A trial is currently underway over the killing of 12 people by Islamist extremists at the magazine offices in 2015. Some French-Muslims say they are frequent targets of racism and discrimination because of their faith - an issue that has long caused tension in the country. Eleven people have been arrested as part of the police investigation into Paty's murder. No more information on the arrests is available. Shock among French citizens The attack has shocked and horrified France. Thousands gathered at weekend rallies to honour Paty with people carrying placards reading "Je suis enseignant" (I am a teacher). Muslim leaders in France have condemned the attack. "A civilisation does not kill an innocent person, barbarism does," Tareq Oubrou, imam of a mosque in Bordeaux, told France Inter. Photo: AFP The Strasbourg-based Assembly of Chechens in Europe said in a statement: "Like all French people, our community is horrified by this incident." President Emmanuel Macron said the attack bore all the hallmarks of an "Islamist terrorist attack" and the teacher had been murdered because he "taught freedom of expression". Islamists would not be allowed to sleep quietly in France, Macron was quoted as saying in a cabinet meeting on Sunday. Ricard said that the suspect, who lived in the Normandy town of Évreux, about 100km from the murder scene, went to Paty's school in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine and asked students to point out the teacher. The suspect followed Paty as he walked home from work. He then used a knife to attack the teacher in the head, and then beheaded him. Witnesses are said to have heard the attacker shout "Allahu Akbar", or "God is Greatest". As police approached him, he fired at them with an airgun. Officers returned fire, hitting him nine times. A 30cm-long blade was found close by. Authorities said the man had been before courts but only on minor misdemeanour charges. - BBC