theguardian

Opponents view the controversial act as part of a growing trend across Brazil to further restrict abortion access

A new law has just come into force inRio de Janeirorequiring all public hospitals and clinics run by the municipal government to displayanti-abortion signsbearing messages such as: “Did you know that the unborn child is discarded as hospital waste?”

Reproductive rights activists view the act as the latest example of a growing trend acrossBrazilto further restrict access to abortion in a country that already has some of the world’s most restrictive laws.

In Latin America’s largest country, abortion is only legal in cases of rape, when the pregnant person’s life is at risk, or if the foetus has anencephaly, a fatal brain disorder.

In recent years, however, politicians, doctors and even judges have taken steps to prevent abortions even in those circumstances.

Brazil’s main hospital for such procedures, in São Paulo,stopped offering terminationsafter a decision by the city’s mayor, a staunch supporter of former president Jair Bolsonaro, a strident anti-abortion advocate.

A congressman from his party proposed a bill punishing abortions after 22 weeks – even in cases of rape or risk to life –with up to 20 years in prison.

The federal medical council, which isreportedly dominated by Bolsonaro loyalists, last year banned doctors from usingthe safest method recommended by the World Health Organizationfor pregnancies over 22 weeks – a measure later deemed illegal by Brazil’s supreme court.

“This is a direct result of the Bolsonaro years in power,” said anthropologist Debora Diniz, a professor at the University of Brasília and one of the country’s leading reproductive rights researchers and activists.

She acknowledges that the dispute between pro- and anti-abortion positions is not new.

Diniz herself had toleave the country in 2018 after receiving death threatsfor her involvement in a campaign to push the supreme court to discuss decriminalising abortion up to the 12th week of pregnancy – a reform that ultimately stalled.

What has changed now, she says, is that the issue, once confined to the federal level, has become “scattered” across local and regional authorities.

“Authoritarian governments in Latin America have a particular trait: they don’t just disappear when their leader leaves office. Bolsonaro may be gone, but forces aligned with him and his ideas have occupied bodies like the medical council,” said Diniz.

Such attempts are even more harmful given that legal abortion is not widely available across Brazil –only 4% of Brazilian cities have facilities and trained professionals to carry out the procedure, and that does not include even all state capitals.

In the state of Goiás, a 13-year-old girl who had been raped turned to the courts after she was denied a legal abortion at a hospital, but a judge prohibited any method that would induce the death of the foetus. Ahigher court eventually authorised the abortion.

In that state, the governor – also a Bolsonaro loyalist – signed a law requiring women seeking a legal abortion to firstlisten to the foetal heartbeat.

Rio’s anti-abortion signs law was approved last Friday by Mayor Eduardo Paes – who is not a Bolsonaro supporter and is aligned with the current leftwing president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

The mayor’s decision not to veto the law – which was proposed by three far-right city councillors – is being seen as a political move, as he is expected to run for state governor next year.

Under the law, hospitals providing abortions must also display signs saying: “You have the right to give your baby up for adoption anonymously … Give life a chance!” and “Abortion can lead to consequences such as infertility, psychological problems, infections and even death.”

Diniz said the second sign was even more problematic as there is no scientific evidence that abortion, when carried out safely and with medical support, causes any of those effects.

“This law is perverse because it is based on a false narrative of ‘care’ for women and girls, when in fact it is persecuting them,” said Diniz.

On Tuesday, a public prosecutor filed a lawsuit arguing that the law is unconstitutional and requesting that the city government be barred from putting up the signs. The case is yet to be reviewed by a judge.

Exploration of Bahamas seabed will be first time notorious New Providence hideout has been searched

Pirates of theCaribbeanis a $4.5bn swashbuckling film franchise and Blackbeard and Calico Jack Rackham are among marauding buccaneers who have captured imaginations over the centuries.

But almost nothing is known about the life and times of actual pirates.

Now a leading British marine archaeologist is co-directing an expedition that has been allowed for the first time to search for pirate ships off Nassau on the island of New Providence, a notorious pirate hideout 300 years ago.

No one had until now explored the seabed for their ships and treasure, let alone everyday belongings that could be as valuable to historical research as a stash of emeralds, Dr Sean Kingsley said.

“The potential is enormous,” he added. “We are expecting to find some really cool stuff because this is the real home of the pirates of the Caribbean. Pirates didn’t keep journals listing their lawlessness. What happened in Nassau stayed in Nassau. If we want to discover the truth, we’re going to have to dive for it.”

TheBahamaswas a major crossroads for trade and more than 500 ships have been wrecked off New Providence since the 1680s, according to historical sources. But there may be dozens more, with pirate ships among them.

In 1718, when Woodes Rogers sailed to Nassau to become its governor, he noted 40 seized ships on the shore that had been “either burned or sunk” to destroy evidence and “about 700 pirates”.

In 1696, the privateer Henry Avery sailed to Nassau in his ship, the Fancy, laden with loot. He used some of the treasure to bribe the governor of the Bahamas, establishing Nassau as a base for fellow pirates.

Top of the most-wanted hitlist of shipwrecks is the Fancy, a 46-gun flagship.

Kingsley said: “Avery of Plymouth lit the fuse and threw the grenade that started the golden age of piracy after looting a Mughal treasure ship of $108m off India. He then sailed to Nassau in 1696 to lie low, party and for the crew to break up with their cut of the booty.

“Avery scuttled the Fancy in Nassau. It’s the crown jewels of pirate ships. If we were to find anything associated with it, it would be spectacular. Its plunder was the greatest and most successful pirate heist on the high seas.”

TheNew Providence Pirates Expedition– which is dedicated to science, education, entertainment and tourism in the Bahamas – is drawing on historical and archaeological evidence to conduct the first underwater survey, which begins in September.

The project has secured the first-ever agreement with the Antiquities, Monuments and Museums Corporation of the Bahamas, a partner collaborator.

Kingsley has explored more than 350 shipwrecks in the last 30 years and is the founding editor ofWreckwatch, the world’s only magazine dedicated to the sunken past.

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The affiliatedWreckwatch TVis collaborating with the New Providence Pirates Expedition to bring “the history, ruined landscape and sea dogs of the golden age of piracy between 1696 and 1730 back to life” through a documentary,The Mystery of the Pirate King’s Treasure.

The film’s co-director, Chris Atkins, said: “The Bahamas, with its azure waters and crystal-clear underwater visibility, is a film-maker’s dream. For the first time in history, viewers are going to see with their own eyes the places where Blackbeard and gang terrorised theAmericas.

“Somewhere out there are the wine bottles they partied with, the tobacco pipes they smoked, the pieces of eight carelessly lost and so much more. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to get up close and personal with the real pirates of the Caribbean.”

Asked how they will identify pirate shipwrecks, Kingsley said: “Generally, if you find a Dutch, English or French shipwreck, it has a very specific type of material culture on it. If it’s Spanish, it will have olive jars, a good marker. If it’s British, it may have Bristol or London tobacco pipes, for instance.

“On a pirate wreck, you will find French, English and Dutch ceramics and a mix of coins, anything from Arabian to British, and weapons such as stinkpots, explosive weapons used by pirates.”

Dr Michael Pateman, the expedition’s co-director and the ambassador for history, culture and museology in the Bahamas, said: “This is the first project to reconstruct the port and landscape where Blackbeard, Calico Jack Rackham, Anne Bonny and the rest of the notorious Flying Gang were based. Anything could still be down there.”

Tropical Storm Dalila brings flooding to Acapulco, while Hurricane Erick causes disruption in Oaxaca state

While the western Atlantic has experienced a quiet start to the hurricane season, the eastern Pacific has recently become fairly active, producing a tropical storm and a category 4 hurricane within a few days.

The first and weaker of these systems, Tropical Storm Dalila, developed into a tropical storm late last week. Although this storm stayed off the coast ofMexicoand was relatively weak to other storms that have developed in this region, Dalila brought flooding and mudslides to the resort town of Acapulco, in western Mexico.

On Tuesday, Hurricane Erick formed in the eastern Pacific, marking the fifth named storm in the region. Erick rapidly strengthened off the west coast of Mexico into a category 2 hurricane on Wednesday, before transitioning into a category 4 hurricane on Thursday, with maximum sustained winds of about 140mph. Despite having been downgraded to category 3 by the time it made landfall over the state of Oaxaca, sustained wind speeds still reached almost 130mph, causing major disruption. Large waves were produced by Erick, with the popular surfing spot Puerto Escondido seeing waves breaking at over 20ft (about 6 metres).

Up to 400mm of rain is expected to fall through the course of the hurricane’s passing, bringing further flooding and landslides to areas that were already affected by Dalila late last week and earlier this week. Forecasts indicate the hurricanewill deintensify as it pushes north-westwards across mountainous terrain in Mexico.

The tropical eastern Pacific is expected to continue to be active through the rest of June, with potential development areas being watched by the National Hurricane Center. In contrast, the Atlantic is expected to remain quiet for a time, but is still forecast to produce an above-average number of storms and hurricanes.

Typhoon Wutip, which developed in the SouthChinaSea last week as the first typhoon of the season, moved north-eastwards through south-east China last Sunday and Monday, resulting in the death of seven people. Although the system weakened to a remnant low soon after making landfall with China, it continued to bring flooding, with 70,000 people evacuated as Huaiji county was placed on its highest level of flood alert.

Emmanuel MwambaandFiona Mulaishorespond to an editorial on US aid cuts to Zambia and huge sums taken out of the country by multinationals

Your editorial (The Guardian view on Zambia’s Trumpian predicament: US aid cuts are dwarfed by a far bigger heist, 10 January) highlights research by Prof Andrew Fischer, and the exploitation of Zambia’s commodity resources via illicit financial schemes. Many Zambians have raised the issue of this looting for years, but have met coordinated resistance. Consequently, Zambia’s treasury loses billions of dollars in revenue. These losses are driven by well-known multinationals working in concert with certain insiders close to the Zambian state.

Your editorial also says: “The US decision to cut $50m a year in aid toZambia… is dreadful, and the reason given, corruption, rings hollow.” Alas, I disagree and wish to place this in context.

The aid cut followed large-scale theft of US-donated medical supplies by individuals connected to and within the Zambian state. Even before Donald Trump assumed office, Michael Gonzales, the US ambassador, confronted Zambian authorities about this. US officials engaged in33 meetingswith senior members of the Zambian government and officers from the Zambia police service and other law enforcement agencies. US officials urged the Zambians to take action to ensure medicines reached the country’s poorest citizens. The president’s inner circle ignored the warnings, ultimately leading to the aid cut. The Zambian government’s reaction was to dismiss these legitimate concerns, saying diplomatsshould stay out of Zambia’s internal affairs.

This response is inadequate, as the issues go beyond mere bureaucratic inefficiency and touch on profound state corruption.

The government’s refusal to confront this reality is disappointing and has led to more suffering, where ordinary people who benefited from this aid will be most affected.Emmanuel MwambaZambia’s high commissioner to SouthAfrica(2015-19)

As a Zambian and UK citizen, I am both enraged and heartbroken by Prof Andrew Fischer’s research exposing the systematic plunder of my country’s wealth. WhileDonald Trumpcuts our aid, citing “corruption”, the real thieves operate with complete impunity under the guise of legitimate business.

The figures are devastating:$5bn extractedin 2021 alone. This isn’t corruption in the traditional sense, it’s legalised theft orchestrated by multinational corporations that exploit our resources while leaving us in poverty. How can we be called corrupt when the very system designed to “help” us facilitates our exploitation?

I think of my fellow Zambians struggling to access basic healthcare, education and clean water while billions flow to Swiss bank accounts. We sit on some of the world’s most valuable mineral deposits, yet we’re drowning in debt. This isn’t coincidence – it’s by design.

Foreign direct investment is often foreign direct extraction in disguise. Companies like Glencore and First Quantum Minerals have treated Zambia like a cash machine, using complex financial structures to strip our wealth while paying minimal taxes. When confronted, they simply leave or settle for pennies in the pound.

This global economic architecture, which enables legal plunder, must be challenged. African countries need new models of resource governance that prioritise our people over foreign shareholders. We need transparency requirements exposing these shadowy financial flows, progressive taxation capturing fair value from our resources, and regional cooperation preventing companies from playing us against each other.

The west’s moralising about corruption while facilitating this systematic theft is breathtaking hypocrisy. Until the international community addresses the structural violence of this extractive system, their aid will remain what it truly is – a drop in the ocean compared with the torrent of wealth flowing out of Africa.Fiona MulaishoLondon

Residents of Bille and Ogale in Niger delta are suing Shell and subsidiary, but company denies liability

Residents of two Nigerian communities who are taking legal action against Shell over oil pollution are set to take their cases to trial at the high court in 2027.

Members of the Bille and Ogale communities in the Niger delta, which have a combined population of about 50,000, are suing Shell and a Nigerian-based subsidiary of the company, the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria, which is now the RenaissanceAfricaEnergy Company.

The two communities began the legal action in 2015, claiming they had suffered systemic and ongoing oil pollution for years due to the companies’ operations in the African country, including the pollution of drinking water.

They are seeking compensation and asking for the companies to clean up damage caused by the spills.

The companies are defending the claims, saying that the majority of spills are caused by the criminal acts of third parties or illegal oil refining, for which they are not liable.

On Friday, Mrs Justice May ruled on more than 20 preliminary issues in the claims after a hearing held in London over four weeks in February and March.

She said that “some 85 spills have, so far, been identified”, but added that the case was “still at a very early stage”.

Her findings included thatShellcould be sued for damage from pipeline spills caused by third parties, such as vandals, in efforts to steal oil, a process known as bunkering.

She also said that, while there was a five-year limitation period on bringing legal claims, a “new cause of action will arise each day that oil remains” on land affected by the spills.

The cases are due to be tried over four months, starting in March 2027.

Reacting to the ruling, the leader of the Ogale community, King Bebe Okpabi, said: “It has been 10 years now since we started this case. We hope that now Shell will stop these shenanigans and sit down with us to sort this out. People in Ogale are dying; Shell need to bring a remedy. We thank the judicial system of the UK for this judgment.”

A Shell spokesperson said that the company also welcomed the judgment. They said: “For many years, the vast majority of spills in the Niger Delta have been caused by third parties acting unlawfully, such as oil thieves who drill holes in pipelines or saboteurs.

“This criminality is the cause of the majority of spills in the Bille and Ogale claims, and we maintain that Shell is not liable for the criminal acts of third parties or illegal refining. These challenges are managed by a joint-venture, which Shell’s former subsidiary operated, using its expertise in spill response and clean-up.”

Department of Veterans Affairs says the changes come in response to a Trump executive order ‘defending women’

The Department of Veterans Affairs has imposed new guidelines on VA hospitals nationwide that remove language that explicitly prohibited doctors from discriminating against patients based on their political beliefs or marital status.

The new rules, obtained by the Guardian, also apply to psychologists, dentists and a host of other occupations. They have already gone into effect in at least some VA medical centers.

Under federal law, eligible veterans must be given hospital care and services, and the revised VA hospital rules still instruct medical staff that they cannot discriminate against veterans on the basis of race, color, religion and sex. But language within VA hospital bylaws requiring healthcare professionals to care for veterans regardless of their politics and marital status has been explicitly eliminated from these bylaws, raising questions about whether individual workers could now be free to decline to care for patients based on personal characteristics not expressly protected by federal law.

Explicit protections for VA doctors and other medical staff based on their marital status, political party affiliation or union activity have also been removed, documents reviewed by the Guardian show.

The changes also affect chiropractors, certified nurse practitioners, optometrists, podiatrists, licensed clinical social workers and speech therapists.

In making the changes, VA officials citeDonald Trump’s 30 January executive order titled “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government”. The primary purpose of the executive order was to strip most government protections from transgender people. The VA has since ceased providing most gender-affirming care and forbidden a long list of words, including “gender affirming” and “transgender”, from clinical settings.

The Department of Veterans Affairs is the nation’s largest integrated hospital system, with more than 170 hospitals and more than 1,000 clinics. It employs 26,000 doctors and serves 9 million patients annually.

In an emailed response to questions, the VA press secretary, Peter Kasperowicz, did not dispute that language requiring medical staff to treat patients without discriminating on the basis of politics and marital status had been removed from the bylaws , but he said “all eligible veterans will always be welcome at VA and will always receive the benefits and services they’ve earned under the law”.

He said the rule changes were nothing more than “a formality”, but confirmed that they were made to comply with Trump’s executive order. Kasperowicz also said the revisions were necessary to “ensure VA policy comports with federal law”. He did not say which federal law or laws required these changes.

The VA said federal laws and a 2013 policy directive that prohibits discrimination on the basis of marital status or political affiliation would not allow patients within the categories removed from its bylaws to be excluded from treatment or allow discrimination against medical professionals.

“Under no circumstances whatsoever would VA ever deny appropriate care to any eligible veterans or appropriate employment to any qualified potential employees,” a VA representative said.

Until the recent changes, VA hospitals’ bylaws said that medical staff could not discriminate against patients “on the basis of race, age, color, sex, religion, national origin, politics, marital status or disability in any employment matter”. Now, several of those items – including “national origin,” “politics” and “marital status” – have been removed from that list.

Similarly, the bylaw on “decisions regarding medical staff membership” no longer forbids VA hospitals from discriminating against candidates for staff positions based on national origin, sexual orientation, marital status, membership in a labor organization or “lawful political party affiliation”.

Medical experts said the implications of rule changes uncovered by the Guardian could be far-reaching.

They “seem to open the door to discrimination on the basis of anything that is not legally protected”, said Dr Kenneth Kizer, the VA’s top healthcare official during the Clinton administration. He said the changes open up the possibility that doctors could refuse to treat veterans based on their “reason for seeking care – including allegations of rape and sexual assault – current or past political party affiliation or political activity, and personal behavior such as alcohol or marijuana use”.

Dr Arthur Caplan, founding head of the division of medical ethics at New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine, called the new rules “extremely disturbing and unethical”.

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“It seems on its face an effort to exert political control over the VA medical staff,” he said. “What we typically tell people in healthcare is: ‘You keep your politics at home and take care of your patients.’” Caplan said the rules opened the door to doctors questioning patients about whether they attended a Trump rally or declining to provide healthcare to a veteran because they wore a button critical of JD Vance or voiced support for gay rights.

“Those views aren’t relevant to caring for patients. So why would we put anyone at risk of losing care that way?” Caplan said.

During the 2024 presidential campaign and throughout the early months of his second term, Trump repeatedly made threats against a host of people whom he saw as his political antagonists, including senators,judgesand then president Joe Biden. He calledjournalistsandDemocrats“the enemy within”.

In interviews, veterans said the impact of the new policy would probably fall hardest on female veterans, LGBTQ+ veterans and those who live in rural areas where there are fewer doctors overall. “I’m lucky. I have my choice of three clinics,” said Tia Christopher, a navy veteran who reported being raped in service in 2000.

Based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Christopher advocates on behalf of military sexual trauma survivors throughout the country. Under the new policy, some may have to register at a hospital in another region and travel more than a hundred miles to see a doctor. It “could have a huge ripple effect”, she said.

As concerned as they were about the new policies themselves, medical experts were equally worried about the way they came about. Sources at multiple VA hospitals, speaking on condition of anonymity because of fear of retaliation, told the Guardian that the rule changes were imposed without consultation with the system’s doctors – a characterization the VA’s Kasperowicz did not dispute.

Such a move would run counter to standards established by the Joint Commission, a non-profit organization that accredits hospitals. Kasperowicz said the agency worked with the Joint Commission “to ensure these changes would have no impact on VA’s accreditation”.

At its annual convention in Chicago this week, the American Medical Association’s 733-member policymaking body passed a resolution reaffirming “its commitment to medical staff self-governance … and urges all healthcare institutions, including the US Department of Veterans Affairs, to ensure that any amendments to medical staff bylaws are subject to approval by medical staff in accordance with Joint Commission standards”.

The changes are part of a larger attack on the independence of medicine and science by the Trump administration, Caplan said, which has included restrictions and cuts at the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F Kennedy Jr, last week fired every member of a key panel that advises the government on vaccines. The Guardian has earlierreportedon a VA edict forbidding agency researchers from publishing in scientific journals without clearance from the agency’s political appointees.

This article and its headline were amended on 18 June 2025. An earlier version said that under the new rules, medical staff could refuse to treat veterans based on their beliefs or marital status, and that candidates for hospital positions could face discrimination on grounds of further characteristics removed from the bylaws. After publication, the VA contacted the Guardian citing a 2013 policy directive that it says will continue to protect patients from discrimination despite the redactions in its bylaws; the VA also cited federal law protecting staff from discrimination. The VA further emphasized that federal law gives all eligible veterans access to hospital services. The VA’s comments on this were added.

Read, who was found guilty of drunk driving, was accused of fatally striking her boyfriend, Boston officer John O’Keefe

A jury has foundKaren Readnot guilty of second-degree murder, but guilty of drunk driving in the death of her police officer boyfriend in a divisive and high-profile case that dueling lawyers presented as either a tragic love story or a sinister cover-up.

Read, 45, was accused of fatally striking her boyfriend,Bostonpolice officer John O’Keefe, 46, with her SUV and leaving him to die in the snow outside a house party where other local police and a federal agent were closing out a night of drinking in 2022.

She was charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter and leaving the scene, but jurors – who had begun deliberating on 13 June – dismissed the main charges that would have landed her with a hefty jail term.

Cheers from the crowd outside could be heard in the courtroom as the verdict was read. With cheering supporters, Read departed the courthouse with her attorneys and family.

“No one has fought harder for justice for John O’Keefe than I have,” Read said.

It was a huge victory for Read’s lawyers, who have long asserted she was framed by police after dropping O’Keefe off at a party at the home of a fellow officer. Prosecutors argued the 45-year-old Read hit O’Keefe, 46, with her SUV before driving away, but the defense maintained O’Keefe was killed inside the home and later dragged outside in a conspiracy orchestrated by police that included planting evidence.

Meanwhile, prosecutors described Read as a scorned lover who chose to leave O’Keefe dying in the snow after striking him with her SUV outside the house party.

It was the state’s second attempt to convict Read. The first Read trial ended on 1 July 2024 in a mistrial due to a hung jury.

Describing O’Keefe as a “good man” who “helped people”, special prosecutor Hank Brennan told jurors during closing arguments that O’Keefe needed help the night he died and the only person who could provide it was Read. Instead, she drove away in her SUV.

“She was drunk. She hit him and she left him to die,” he said.

Defense attorney Alan Jackson rejected the idea that there was ever a collision at all. He and the defense called forward expert witnesses who agreed.

“There is no evidence that John was hit by a car. None. This case should be over right now, done, because there was no collision,” Jackson said during closing arguments.

Read’s father, Bill Read, told reporters outside the courthouse he felt relief and “tremendous thanks” to God when the verdict was read.

“We need to get our life back together, and we will,” he said.

Asked why he thought the second trial’s outcome was different, he said: “Another year of information circulating in the public, and people are aware of what’s happened.”

Diplomats to look for ‘indications of hostility towards citizens, culture or founding principles of United States’

Foreign students will be required to unlock their social media profiles to allow US diplomats to review their online activity before receiving educational and exchange visas, the state department has announced. Those who fail to do so will be suspected of hiding that activity from US officials.

The new guidance, unveiled by the state department on Wednesday, directs US diplomats to conduct an online presence review to look for “any indications of hostility toward the citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles of the United States”.

A cable separately obtained by Politico also instructs diplomats to flag any “advocacy for, aid or support for foreign terrorists and other threats to US national security” and “support for unlawful antisemitic harassment or violence”.

The screening for “antisemitic” activity matches similar guidance given at US Citizenship and Immigration Services under the Department of Homeland Security and has been criticised as an effort to crack down on opposition to the conduct of Israel’s war in Gaza.

The new state department checks are directed at students and other applicants for visas in the F, M and J categories, which refer to academic and vocational education, as well as cultural exchanges.

“It is an expectation from American citizens that their government will make every effort to make our country safer, and that is exactly what theTrump administrationis doing every single day,” said a senior state department official, adding that Marco Rubio was “helping to make America and its universities safer while bringing the state Department into the 21st century”.

The Trump administration paused the issuance of new education visas late last month as it mulled new social media vetting strategies. The US had also targeted Chinese students for special scrutiny amid a tense negotiation over tariffs and the supply of rare-earth metals and minerals to the United States.

The state department directive allowed diplomatic posts to resume the scheduling of interviews for educational and exchange visas, but added that consular officers would conduct a “comprehensive and thorough vetting” of all applicants applying for F, M and J visas.

“To facilitate this vetting, all applicants for F, M and J non-immigrant visas will be asked to adjust the privacy settings on all their social media profiles to ‘public’”, the official said. “The enhanced social media vetting will ensure we are properly screening every single person attempting to visit our country.”

Midwest set to experience temperatures in the 90s (30s celsius) and east coast also to be affected

Summer will make a dramatic entrance in the US this week with a heat dome that will bring stifling temperatures and uncomfortable humidity to millions.

The heat will be particularly worrisome this weekend across wide stretches of Nebraska, Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa, where forecasters are warning of extreme temperature impacts.

This will be the first stretch of true summertime weather for many from the midwest to the east coast, said Tom Kines, a meteorologist at the private weather company AccuWeather.

“A lot of those folks have been saying, where’s summer? Well, buckle up, because it’s coming,” said Kines. The humid conditions will make places that exceed 90F (30C) feel as much as 20F hotter, said Kines.

A heat dome occurs when a large area of high pressure in the upper atmosphere acts as a reservoir that traps heat and humidity, said Ricky Castro, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Illinois.

According to the NWS Weather Prediction Center, daytime temperatures will be in the 90s and overnight temperatures will only drop to the mid-70s from the Great Lakes to the east coast during the heatwave that’s expected to last into next week.

Moisture blown north from the Gulf of Mexico is fueling the muggy weather, said Jacob Asherman, a Weather Prediction Center meteorologist. This influx of Gulf moisture is fairly typical during late spring and summer, he said.

The heat will be widespread into next week. On Friday, Denver could reach 100F, according to the weather service. Chicago temperatures could reach 96F on Sunday. On Tuesday, Washington DC could see a high of 99F and New York City could reach 96F.

Several states in the midwest could see dangerous temperature impacts over the weekend, according to a weather service measure that rates the risk from zero to four. Parts of Nebraska and Kansas will be in the highest category on the scale on Saturday, meaning that anyone without effective cooling or sufficient hydration could face health risks. On Sunday, Iowa, Wisconsin, Missouri and Illinois also see a category 4 rating.

Humidity is the amount of water vapor in the air, and the heat index is what the temperature feels like when the humidity outside is factored in, according to the weather service.

When humans sweat, it cools the body down because it absorbs and removes heat as it evaporates off the skin. The air is saturated with water on humid days, which makes it harder for sweat to evaporate. Hot and humid days can be dangerous when the body is unable to cool itself off and can exacerbate pre-existing health conditions and even lead to heatstroke.

Minimizing direct sun exposure, wearing loose and light-colored clothing, staying hydrated and spending time in air-conditioned spaces are ways to cool down during extreme heat, according to the NWS.

Some parts of the US, such as Phoenix, Arizona, are famously hot without the mugginess. Phoenix and nearby desert regions experience this so-called “dry heat” due to being located far away from large water bodies, mountains that block moist air masses and weather patterns that bring scarce precipitation.

Sweat evaporates faster in dry climates compared with humid ones. This can be dangerous because it is easy to underestimate how dehydrated you are, according to Johns Hopkins University and Johns Hopkins Health System.

In places such as Iowa, crops can affect the humidity in summer months. Plants feel the effects of hot weather and some people in the midwest are familiar with “corn sweat”, which is when crops move water to their leaves and other surfaces so it can evaporate, according to the Ohio State University.

Iowa, farmer Ryan Marquardt said corn sweat was “not as bad as a sauna, but it definitely would have a sauna effect. It’s humid in there [the cornfield], so you’re gonna sweat.”

Cornfield contributions to the overall humidity are much lower compared with the humidity winds carry from the Gulf of Mexico, according to OSU.