As per Brazil’s space research center, wildfires in the Amazon rainforest have hit a record number this year, with 72,843 fires detected so far. This marks an 83 per cent increase over the same period of 2018 and is the highest since records began in 2013. Smoke from the fires, more than 2,700 km (1,700 miles) away, caused a blackout in the city of Sao Paulo on Monday.

China said Wednesday a staffer at the British consulate in Hong Kong has been given 15 days of administrative detention for violating a law on public order. This comes a day after the British foreign ministry said it was ’extremely concerned’ about its staff member, identified as Simon Cheng Man-kit, who attended a business event in Shenzhen on Aug. 8 but never returned.

A South African court has ruled that displaying the country’s apartheid-era flag in public constitutes hate speech and violates equality laws. The case relates to a 2017 demonstration against attacks and killings of farmers where the Apartheid Flag was displayed. In the ruling, the judge said the order did not ban display of the flag outright, but confined it to artistic and journalistic displays.

The Danish royal household has expressed surprise at US President Trump’s decision to pull out of a planned trip to Denmark next month. Trump attributed canceling his trip to the Danish PM Mette Frederiksen’s comments that she would have no interest in discussing the purchase of Greenland. Former PM Helle Thorning-Schmidt called Trump’s move ’deeply insulting’.

Italy’s League leader Matteo Salvini said on Tuesday he was ready to keep the coalition government alive to approve a 2020 budget. Salvini, who serves as deputy prime minister, presented a motion of no confidence in the government. However, Salvini said he would be willing to hold back a while to let key legislation pass.

A pathologist fired from an Arkansas veterans hospital was charged Tuesday with involuntary manslaughter in the deaths of three patients. Authorities say Dr. Robert Morris Levy misdiagnosed them and altered their records to try to conceal his mistakes. Veterans Affairs officials said in January that outside pathologists reviewed nearly 34,000 cases handled by Levy and found more than 3,000 errors.

Shark-sightings have become a regular occurrence this summer on the beaches that dot Cape Cod, a popular vacation hub of New England. Between July and early August, some 60 beaches have been closed because of shark sightings around Cape Cod with at least 300 Great Whites having been spotted.

Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing, Germany, have developed a blood test that could predict, with more than 80 per cent accuracy, if the taker will die in the next decade. Using blood samples from 44,168 people, scientists analyzed 14 factors that appear to affect the risk of death, including immunity, glucose control, and circulating fat.

Google and Mozilla have moved to block the Kazakhstan government from intercepting internet traffic. This comes after reports that ISP’s (internet services providers) in the country have required people to install a government-issued certificate on all devices and in every browser. The government has called the software a security measure.

The Trump administration on Wednesday unveiled a plan to detain migrant families and children for longer periods of time than currently allowed. For more than two decades, the Flores Agreement has governed the care of migrant children in U.S. custody. Under the administration’s rule, there would not be a limit to the number of days families and children could be detained.

As per reports, union workers at a Royal Dutch Shell’s manufacturing facility in western Pennsylvania were given an option to either attend President Trump’s speech or take the day off without pay. Shell said it did not write the memo but confirmed that workers were told they would miss out on some overtime pay if they skipped the event. Workers were also instructed not to protest the President.

Trump said on Tuesday that US already has ’very strong background checks’ for gun purchasers and that officials need to be wary of the prospect of a ’slippery slope’ where ’everything gets taken away.’ After the mass shootings Trump expressed support for enhanced background checks and is now seen to be backtracking. His comments mirrored the National Rifle Association’s (NRA) long-held argument.

Apple announced the official launch of its new Apple card on Tuesday. An iPhone-integrated credit card partnered with Goldman Sachs and Mastercard, it doesn’t come with a 16-digit number and the company encourages users not to swipe for transactions. The president of Mastercard’s North American operations said it is a ’digital first’ credit card, bringing enhanced security to users.

The SEC has charged ICO Rating Website icorating.com for failing to disclose the revenue from ’paid for ICO reviews’. The SEC pursued a cease and desist order against the Russian owners of the website. According to the filings, the SEC finds the website in violation of the ’anti-touting’ policy.

INX, a crypto exchange startup, has announced plans to raise up to $130 million through an IPO. INX has developed a regulated platform for crypto trading and an alternative trading system for security tokens. On Monday, the company filed a draft prospectus with the US SEC to sell 130 million of its tokens, which are based on Ethereum’s ERC-20-standard.