Fake news about the coronavirus can do real harm. Polygraph.info is spotlighting fact-checks from other reliable sources here​. Daily DebunkClaim: Cat owners may have higher immunity against COVID-19.Verdict: No Proof YetRead the full story at: ​Lead Stories Social Media DisinfoThis undated photo provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Office shows a phony coronavirus cure that a British man tried to smuggle into the United States.”Profiting from panic: the bizarre bogus cures and scams of the coronavirus era,” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, July 24. Factual Reads on CoronavirusCoronavirus: Cracking the secrets of how bats survive viruses
Their codes of life contain genetic clues to their “exceptional immunity”, which protects them against deadly viruses.
— BBC, July 22How to Understand COVID-19 Numbers
Viewed in isolation or presented without context, coronavirus numbers don’t always give an accurate picture of how the pandemic is being handled.
— ProPublica, July 21
…

The Washington Post says it has settled a lawsuit brought by the family of a teenager at the center of a viral video controversy involving the teen’s encounter with a Native American activist in Washington last year.  
 
The Post said Friday it admitted no wrongdoing in the settlement with the family of Nicholas Sandmann. The family sued the Post for $250 million along with other news outlets for defamation over their coverage of Sandmann who traveled to Washington in January 2019 as part of a school trip from Kentucky.  Neither side disclosed the terms of the settlement, which allows both sides to avoid a potentially lengthy trial.   Sandmann celebrated the settlement on Twitter. “Thanks to my family and millions of you who have stood your ground by supporting me,” he wrote. “I still have more to do.”   We have settled with WAPO and CNN. The fight isn’t over. 2 down. 6 to go.Don’t hold your breath @jack.— Nicholas Sandmann (@N1ckSandmann) July 24, 2020The teen was at the center of a national news story last year when his Covington Catholic High School group attended the annual March for Life rally at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. A first video showed only Sandmann, who was wearing a Make America Great Again hat, and his face-to-face encounter with Native American Nathan Phillips, who was attending the Indigenous Peoples March on the same day and was chanting a beating drum. Other students chanted nearby.Philips said the students blocked his path and accused them of ridiculing him.  
 
A later video provided additional context for the encounter that included a group of men from a group called Black Hebrew Israelites who were seen taunting the students from Sandmann’s school.The Post said Sandman’s family accused the paper of casting the episode in political terms, saying it had “targeted and bullied” the teenager to embarrass Trump.   The paper has maintained that its reporting of the incident was accurate and fair. It said it was entitled to report Phillips’ view of the encounter and said it also reported Sandmann’s account once it was available.  Last July, a federal judge in Kentucky dismissed the Sandmanns’ suit against the Post, but later reinstated part of the lawsuit while limiting its scope.
…

Surprise! Taylor Swift’s got an album out.“Folklore” premiered overnight, less than a year after Swift released her “Lover” album. Swift writes on Instagram she wrote and recorded the album in isolation. It features Bon Iver, Aaron Dessner of The National and Jack Antonoff.Swift says before this year, she would have waited to release it at the perfect time, but the current times remind her “nothing is guaranteed.”
…

Indian cities, long a magnet for migrant workers, may be losing their lure for the millions who have joined the exodus back to their villages during the COVID-19 pandemic in the biggest reverse migration witnessed in India.  As cities continue to grapple with rising infections and millions lose jobs, many are opting to start life all over again in the safer environment of their villages. Anjana Pasricha has this report about villages in the northern Himachal Pradesh state.VIDEOGRAPHER:  Rakesh Kumar  
PRODUCER: Jason Godman 
…

The head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said he expects the coronavirus will have a huge impact on migration for years to come.Jagan Chapagain told the French news agency AFP ”people will feel compelled to move” when borders open because of lost livelihoods and food insecurity.There are more than 15.5 million global coronavirus infections, according to Johns Hopkins University, and more than 633,000 deaths.On Friday, India reported its largest one-day surge of cases in a 24-hour period – 49,310 cases with 740 deaths.The U.S. continues to lead the world COVID cases with more than 4 million, Brazil follows with more than 2 million, followed by India with more than 1 million, according the Johns Hopkins University.As the surge in new coronavirus infections forced many businesses to close or cut back, there was also a sharp spike in the number of U.S. workers who applied for jobless benefits last week. The U.S. Labor Department reported Thursday that some 1.4 million workers adversely affected by a variety of lockdown measures filed for unemployment benefits, ending 15 consecutive weeks of declines in new filings.The unemployment figures were released as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell prepared to unveil a $1 trillion COVID-19 rescue package. The Democratic-led House passed a $3.5 trillion rescue bill more than two months ago and is calling for much more funding to assist state and local governments staggering under pandemic-related shortfalls as tax and fee revenues fall.The Republican-led Senate insists on limiting the funding to about $1 trillion and using some of that funding on new legal protections for schools, businesses and charities that are set on reopening.President Donald Trump wants $105 billion in education funding in the next COVID relief bill, saying he wants schools to have the money as an incentive to reopen in the fall and for families to have school choice.Residents fill their buckets with water provided by the local water utility from a tanker truck, amid the new coronavirus pandemic at the Rocinha slum, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, July 23, 2020.Nearly every public and private school has been closed since March and students have been learning remotely.“I would like to see the schools open – open 100 percent. And we’ll do it safely, we’ll do it carefully,” Trump said Thursday at the daily coronavirus briefing. Scientists and educators continue to debate the safety of reopening schools.The United Nations Development Program released a report Thursday recommending that nearly 3 billion of the world’s most impoverished people get a temporary income to help contain the spread of the coronavirus.The report said $199 billion per month would give 2.7 billion people living below or just above the poverty line in 132 developing countries a basic income and the “means to buy food and pay for health and education expenses.”The COVID pandemic has affected the way the U.S. Congress is paying its respects to the late civil rights icon and Representative John Lewis who died last week. A small, invitation-only ceremony will be held in the Capitol Rotunda. Under normal circumstances, the public would be able to pass by his coffin in the Rotunda, but because of coronavirus concerns, his body will be taken to the east front of the Capitol for public viewing, keeping the public outside of the building.In Australia, a mandatory face mask order officially took effect Thursday in the country’s second-largest city, Melbourne, which has become the epicenter of the country’s rising number of novel coronavirus cases.The mandate is the latest order imposed on Melbourne’s 5 million residents in an attempt to control the spike in COVID-19 cases. Anyone over the age of 12 caught in public without any kind of face mask or covering could be fined up to $143, while employers who discourage their workers from wearing a mask face a potential fine of more than $7,000.Premier David Andrews of Victoria state, of which Melbourne is the capital, said the face mask mandate was imposed due to the increase of confirmed COVID-19 cases, and a refusal by residents who tested positive for the virus to isolate themselves.On Thursday, Australia had 423 new cases, 403 of them in Victoria, which posted a single-day record of 484 new COVID-19 cases the day before. The city is in the second week of a six-week lockdown that bans all residents from leaving home unless going to work, school, medical appointments or food shopping. 
…

New Zealand has granted refugee status to a Kurdish-Iranian writer who was held for about six years in an Australian-run offshore detention camp, authorities said Friday.Behrouz Boochani arrived in New Zealand about eight months ago for a literary festival as a guest speaker and stayed on after his visitor visa expired.”So, I’m very happy,” he said. “You know for years we look at Australia, New Zealand as hope. But this hope was sometimes was very close but never, we couldn’t touch it, you know. So, I think it’s very interesting that finally I touch New Zealand, you know, after years. Hopefully, there will be hope for others who are stuck in Port Moresby.”Immigration New Zealand (INZ) general manager for refugee and migrant services,  Fiona Whiteridge, said in an email sent to the Reuters news agency that New Zealand has recognized Boochani as a refugee under the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugee and its 1967 Protocol.Boochani was detained on Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island after he was picked up and handcuffed on a refugee boat on its way to Australia in 2013.    
…

A judge has issued a restraining order against federal agents deployed in Portland, Oregon, who U.S. President Donald Trump said he sent to protect federal property against anti-police and anti-racism protesters.Responding to a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, U.S. District Judge Michael Simon blocked agents from dispersing, arresting, threatening to arrest, or using force against legal observers and journalists.“This order is a victory for the rule of law,” the interim director of the ACLU’s Oregon office, Jann Carson, said. “Federal agents from Trump’s departments of Homeland Security and Justice are terrorizing the community, threatening lives, and relentlessly attacking journalists and legal observers documenting protests. These are the actions of a tyrant, and they have no place anywhere in America.”There has been no reaction so far from Trump the administration.Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler was tear-gassed early Thursday morning when federal agents tried to break up a protest the U.S. federal courthouse in Portland.Wheeler coughed and was dazed, telling others he had never been tear-gassed before, but was otherwise unhurt.Some demonstrators who did not want the mayor there, yelled at him, chanting “Shame on you,” believing he could be doing a better job to protect the city from federal forces.But Wheeler has said he wants the agents to leave, calling their presence an abuse of federal authority and an incitement for violence.Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz announced Thursday an investigation into the use of force by federal agents in Portland and Washington, where tear gas was used to clear an area across from the White House last month before Trump crossed the street to stand in front of a church.Also on Thursday, Department of Homeland Security Inspector General Joseph Cuffari announced an investigation into allegations of improper behavior by DHS law enforcement in Portland last week.Demonstrators have marched in Portland every day for nearly two months responding to the May 25 death of George Floyd, a Black man, while in custody of white police in Minneapolis. Although the protests have been mostly peaceful, there have been instances of violence, arson and vandalism.Federal law enforcement agents are being dispatched as part of Operation Legend to Chicago after a surge in gang violence that has left about 100 dead in the last several weeks. Agents are also being sent to Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Kansas City, Missouri.The mayors of these three cities and 12 others have sent a letter to federal authorities calling for the immediate withdrawal of their forces and to “agree to no further unilateral deployments in U.S. cities.”David Chipman, a senior policy adviser at the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, told VOA that when he was an agent for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, “I was proud to work with local leaders when they needed help righting wrongs.”Chipman said Trump’s recent actions in Portland and his statements about problems in other cities “make clear he thinks federal law enforcement are his personal chess pieces for partisan power grabs.” 
…