| |  |  | The Reuters Daily Briefing | Monday, July 26, 2021 by Robert MacMillan | Hello Here's what you need to know. Tunisia falls into turmoil, fires and floods add urgency to climate-change research and NBC gets low Olympics viewership as well as a complaint from China. | | | | | Today's biggest stories  Crowds gather on the street in La Marsa, near Tunis, July 26, 2021. Layli Foroudi via REUTERS WORLD Tunisia, birthplace of the “Arab Spring” in 2010, faced its biggest crisis in a decade of democracy after President Kais Saied ousted the government and froze parliament, prompting celebrations from his supporters. Parliament Speaker Rached Ghannouchi decried the move as an assault on democracy and called on people to take to the streets in opposition.
Summer has brought devastating floods and fires in Asia, Europe and the U.S. as scientists gather to finalize a long-awaited update on global climate research. In China, Reuters spoke with a farmer named Cheng who lost 100 pigs to drowning. Chinese migrant workers are trapped in cities, living in deprivation and with no access to their families back home. A flood in Dinant, a town in Belgium, brought torrents of water, the likes of which haven’t been seen in decades. And in India, monsoon rains and landslides have claimed more than 160 lives in four days.
“It was a poor choice of word and I sincerely apologize.” Britain’s new health minister Sajid Javid walked back a tweet urging people not to “cower” before the coronavirus pandemic.
A man accused of trying to assassinate the president of Mali while he prayed at a Bamako mosque died in custody. “During the investigations… his state of health deteriorated,” the government said.
Guatemala’s anti-corruption fighter Juan Francisco Sandoval fled to El Salvador in fear of his life after the government stripped him of his post, prompting protests outside the presidential palace.
|  Firefighters hinder the Dixie Fire from crossing the North Fork of the Feather River in Plumas National Forest, California, July 17, 2021. REUTERS/David Swanson U.S. Crews and officials have been battling a large fire that has incinerated more than 190,000 acres in northern California. They are bracing for the possibility that smoke columns could spawn lightning storms capable of igniting more blazes. And smoke, meanwhile, turns out to be helpful to firefighters by creating cooler, more stable surface conditions.
Federal lawmakers will try again to reach a deal on President Biden’s infrastructure plan. Mass transit remains the point of open contention, though a Democratic source said other unresolved issues include ensuring safe drinking water, expanding broadband Internet access and using unspent COVID-19 relief money to pay for highway and bridge repairs.
President Biden said it “remains to be seen” whether Dreamer immigrants will get their bid for legal standing into Congress’ $3.5 trillion budget-reconciliation measure. And Republicans will get another Congress member on the committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by supporters of former President Trump.
A chicken plant in northern Georgia and associated companies face $1 million in fines and scores of citations from the Biden administration after six workers died and dozens were injured in a nitrogen accident in January.
Americans with compromised immune systems might need COVID-19 booster shots at some point, said top infectious-diseases official Anthony Fauci. In a CNN interview, he included transplant patients, people with auto-immune diseases and people in chemotherapy and on immunosuppressant regimens.
The Miami-Dade fire and rescue department ended its search for human remains in the collapsed Florida condominium, and the U.S. government will not investigate nursing-home deaths during the pandemic in New York and other states. |  Beachgoers sit under an umbrella on the shores of Pass-A-Grille Beach, Florida, July 5, 2021. REUTERS/Octavio Jones BUSINESS No calls, no emails, no meetings. Private-equity firm Aquiline Capital Partners told its staff to take the week off. It’s an unusual move intended to recognize employees and avoid burnout from the physical and mental pressure of the pandemic as well as the frenetic pace of dealmaking.
NBC’s broadcast of the Tokyo Olympics drew the smallest U.S. audience for the event in 33 years. China complained about the network too, saying a map that it broadcast during the opening ceremonies failed to include Taiwan and the South China Sea as part of its territory.
“Everybody involved has agreed to settle and this matter is now closed.” Credit Suisse reached an out-of-court settlement with former star banker Iqbal Khan over allegations of spying that led to the resignation of Chief Executive Tidjane Thiam.
SpaceX received a $178 million launch-services contract for NASA’s first mission focusing on Jupiter’s icy moon Europa and whether it might host conditions suitable for life. The Europa Clipper mission is scheduled to blast off in October 2024. | | | | | | | | | Video of the day  New Yorkers return to the chapel to say "I do" In-person weddings resumed at the Manhattan Marriage Bureau after a 16-month shutdown. | | | | And finally… U.S. men's basketball team falls to France  The U.S. men's basketball team suffered a shock 83-76 defeat at the hands of France, losing at the Olympics for the first time since 2004 and for just the sixth time in the history of the tournament. | | | Thanks for spending part of your day with us. | | | | | |
