News Headlines - 08 September 2020

India becomes country with second highest number of Covid cases | The Guardian

India has surpassed Brazil to become the country with the second highest number of coronavirus cases, as the virus continues to spread through the country of 1.3 billion at the fastest rate of anywhere in the world.
India recorded more than 90,000 cases overnight, bringing the number of infections in the country past 4.2 million and overtaking Brazil, which with 4.1 million cases had been the second worst-affected country for several months.
India now only lags behind the United States, which has had 6.2 million cases so far... The death toll stands at 71,000, equating to 50 deaths per million, which is relatively low compared with the US and Brazil but is still rising at around 1,000 aday.

Coronavirus in South Africa: Scientists explore surprise theory for low death rate - BBC News

Infection and death rates in many African countries have turned out to be much lower than initially feared. As the number of infections dips sharply in South Africa, experts there are exploring a startling hypothesis, as our Africa correspondent Andrew Harding reports from Johannesburg.

Hong Kong police arrest 289 at protests over election delay : The Asahi Shimbun

About 290 people were arrested Sunday at protests against the government’s decision to postpone elections for Hong Kong’s legislature, police said.
The elections were to have taken place Sunday but Chief Executive Carrie Lam on July 31 postponed them for one year. Lam blamed an upsurge in coronavirus cases, but critics said her government worried the opposition would gain seats if voting went ahead on schedule.
Police said that 289 people had been arrested, mostly for unlawful assembly.

Jessica Krug: George Washington University professor says she lied about being black - BBC News

A US academic whose work focuses on Africa and the African diaspora has said she lied about being black.
Jessica Krug, an associate professor at George Washington University (GWU), admitted that she was in fact a white Jewish woman from Kansas City... Ms Dolezal first made headlines in 2015 when her parents outed her as white.

House expected to vote on marijuana decriminalization bill in September

Congress is expected to vote on a bill this month that would federally decriminalize marijuana.
The Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act, known as the MORE Act, would remove marijuana from the list of scheduled substances under the Controlled Substances Act.
The bill, sponsored by New York Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler, also eliminates criminal penalties for anyone who manufactures, distributes or possesses marijuana.