The World

China, Russia and other actors that don’t have America’s best interest in mind may seek to take advantage of the US in this precarious moment, as President Donald Trump has been sidelined by the coronavirus. And, nothing about the president’s coronavirus infection is normal — from the combination of experimental treatments he is receiving all at once to the way the outbreak is unfolding in his inner circle. Plus, Venice finally managed to stay dry after all 78 floodgates successfully barricaded the Venetian lagoon during high tide.

Since the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, doctors have learned a lot more about the disease. That might be good news for President Donald Trump. And, the British fashion label Fred Perry announced last week that it stopped selling their black and yellow polo shirt in Canada and the US. The shirt has become part of the de facto uniform of the Proud Boys, a white supremacist group. Also, the Great North Air Ambulance Service in northern England is considering a new transport device for its medics: Jet suits.

Falsehoods involving the pandemic are ricocheting around the globe with alarming speed. A new study from Cornell University finds President Donald Trump is the biggest offender of spreading misinformation. And, in the last decade, Danish energy company Ørsted did what few other energy utilities in the world have been able to do: They went from being almost entirely reliant on oil, gas and coal, to being the biggest producer of offshore wind in the world. Also, Ireland's Supreme Court has ruled that the bread used by the fast-food chain Subway contains too much sugar to legally qualify as bread.

Viewers across the globe tuned into the 2020 presidential debate between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden Tuesday night and witnessed an often chaotic and unruly spectacle. And, members of the US House Intelligence Committee are increasingly worried that China is shaping geopolitics and global technology, while the US intelligence community lacks the resources or the mindset to challenge Beijing. Also, around the world, the coronavirus is causing spaces to be reused in new ways. In Salford, England, The Lowry performance theater has been converted by the Ministry of Justice to help tackle a backlog of nearly 50,000 legal cases.

It’s been hard to keep up with the devastating human toll of the coronavirus pandemic. This week, we passed yet another grim milestone — 1 million deaths worldwide. And, how who wins the White House in November could impact people and policies across the world. China will almost certainly come up in tonight's first presidential debate and many Chinese are paying close attention. Also, heading to college this fall was never going to be straightforward. But in Manchester, England, over 1,700 college students have found themselves locked into their residence halls because of a COVID-19 outbreak.

US President Donald Trump owes hundreds of millions of dollars to a foreign bank, The New York Times reports, and he regularly pays taxes to several foreign governments — while paying little to no tax to the US government. His foreign financial entanglements might pose issues for US national security. And, Southeast Asian nations seeing large investments from China. But opening the door to investment from China also comes with risks. Plus, two years ago, scientists were shocked to find a large, watery lake beneath the icy south pole on Mars. Now, the same scientists are getting clearer answers on the potential for life on the Red Planet.

This past week, President Donald Trump declined to commit to a peaceful transfer of power — the foundation of democracy in the US — in the aftermath of the November election. And, Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of atonement, will be different in Israel this year. As COVID-19 cases continue to spike, the Israeli government imposed further restrictions on its people already in a nationwide lockdown. Plus, Britain’s Royal Festival Hall reopens with a new season inspired by this past summer’s Black Lives Matters protests.

With fall underway, millions of students and teachers in the US are adjusting to the new normal of remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. For college students, living on campus has also brought new challenges.

School communities are divided by questions of how safe is “safe enough,” and administrators are struggling to balance the benefits of in-person instruction with the risks of the coronavirus — as state and federal guidance changes rapidly.

At the same time, many American workers continue to face uncertainty and concerns about returning to their physical workplaces — or remaining in them.

As part of our regular series of conversations on the pandemic, The World's global health reporter Elana Gordon moderated a discussion with Joseph Allen, director of the Healthy Buildings program at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

This conversation is presented jointly with The Forum at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Find more of The World's Coronavirus Conversation series here.

Thursday's announcement that the police officers involved in the March killing of Breonna Taylor would not face homicide charges is yet another low for activists and supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement around the world. And, protesters in Belarus have been in the streets since early August calling for the resignation of President Alexander Lukashenko. The World's host Marco Werman speaks with Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya. Plus, 94-year-old veteran broadcaster Sir David Attenborough is now on Instagram, gaining a million followers in a matter of hours. His goal is to spread the word about environmental destruction and to share ideas on how to save the planet.

After nearly 20 years of violence and war, representatives from the Afghan government are meeting with Taliban officials, including two women who are sitting across the table from the Taliban. And, it's getting colder in Boston and other parts of the Northern Hemisphere. That means more time indoors. What are the additional steps people can take to prevent the transmission of the coronavirus inside? Plus, has President Donald Trump's popularity with Europe's far-right made an impact on the populist movement there? And, China has just announced an aggressive new climate target: carbon neutrality within 40 years.