New York City police officials are defending their decision to initially keep quiet about a potentially dangerous accident that happened as officers cleared pro-Palestinian protesters from Columbia University this week when a sergeant accidentally fired his gun into a dark office.

In Costa Rica, election officials are encouraging those infected with the coronavirus to skip voting in upcoming national elections.

The coronavirus’ omicron variant is barreling across South America and pressuring hospitals whose employees are getting infected and taking sick leave, leaving facilities understaffed to cope with COVID-19′s third wave.

Bolivia’s past interim government came to power by sidestepping constitutional rules for presidential succession and relied on systematic torture to persecute opponents in the tumultuous aftermath of Evo Morales’ resignation in 2019.

Bolivia's former interim President Jeanine Anez is escorted into a police station after giving her statement at the prosectors's office, in La Paz, Bolivia, Saturday, March 13, 2021. “This is not justice,” said former President Carlos Mesa, who has finished second to Morales in several elections. Áñez, a legislator who had been several rungs down the ladder of presidential succession, was vaulted into the interim presidency. It won last year's elections with 55% of the vote under Morales' chosen candidate Luis Arce, who took the presidency in November. New Justice Minister Iván Lima said that Áñez, 53, faces charges related to her actions as an opposition senator, not as former president.

FILE - In this Nov. 15, 2019 file photo, Bolivia's interim President Jeanine Anez speaks during a press conference in La Paz, Bolivia. Anez said on Friday, March 12, 2021, that the new government has issued a warrant for her arrest. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko, File)LA PAZ – Bolivia's former interim president said Friday that authorities are seeking her arrest as they move against officials who backed the ouster of former leader Evo Morales, which his party — now back in power — considers a coup. “The political persecution has begun,” Jeanine Añez, who headed a conservative administration that took power after Morales resigned in November 2019, said on her Twitter account. But Morales' party won election again under his chosen successor, Luis Arce, and the former leader has returned home.

Luis Arce, presidential candidate for the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) party, speaks during an interview at his campaign headquarters in La Paz, Bolivia, Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2020, two days after elections. Officials have not released a formal quick count of results from Sundays vote, but the MAS party claimed victory in the presidential election as rival candidates conceded defeat. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)LA PAZ – A final official vote count released Friday gave leftist Luis Arce a smashing victory in Bolivia's presidential election, a vindication for the Movement Toward Socialism party of ousted President Evo Morales, who was barred from running. Last year's presidential election was annulled after protests broke out over alleged fraud by Morales, who had claimed a narrow first-round victory. Morales, who faces a series of charges lodged by the interim administration, was barred from seeking office.

The leading rival of Morales's handpicked successor, Luis Arce, conceded defeat as did interim President Jeanine Áñez, a bitter foe of Morales. Áñez's government tried to overturn many of Morales' policies and wrench the country away from its leftist alliances. “Arce is not Morales, but the question is, who is going to govern Bolivia facing the approaching crisis," said political science professor Franklin Pareja. He shrugged aside a public vote that had set term limits, and competed in the October 2019 presidential vote, which he claimed to have narrowly won outright. When police and military leaders suggested he leave, Morales resigned and fled the country, along with several key aides.

Adding to intrigue, publication of two exit polls were withheld after private pollsters said they didn’t trust their own survey results. Bolivians have long been accustomed to quick preliminary results in presidential elections. He was barred from running for the presidency or even the Senate by electoral authorities following his ouster. He shrugged aside a public vote that had set term limits, and competed in the October 2019 presidential vote, which he claimed to have narrowly won outright. She dropped out at as a candidate for Sunday’s presidential election while trailing badly in polls.

Across the developing world, two decades of gains against child labor are eroding. Instead of going to school, children in Kenya are grinding rocks in quarries. But children commonly work around school to help their families get by. Under their mother’s watchful eye, the children work through schoolbooks they were given in February at the start of the school year. Samuel is fortunate that his father makes time to help them study, though he himself has only an elementary school education.

(AP Photo/Juan Karita, File)LA PAZ – Even in exile, Evo Morales looms over Bolivia’s election next month. Morales, a 60-year-old former coca farmer and union leader, faces terrorism and other charges in Bolivia and is not an election candidate this year. Its presidential candidate, Luis Arce, is a former economy minister who oversaw a nationalization program when Morales was president. Morales' detractors fear a MAS election victory could open the way to the former president's return to Bolivia and his political rehabilitation. ___Associated Press writer Carlos Valdez reported this story in La Paz, Bolivia, and AP writer Christopher Torchia reported from Mexico City.

MAS is the party of former President Evo Morales who was ousted on 10 November 2019, after 21 days of civil protests amid allegations of electoral fraud. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)LA PAZ – Terrorism charges against former Bolivian President Evo Morales appear to be politically motivated and are part of a wider campaign by Bolivia’s interim government to use the justice system against political opponents, Human Rights Watch said Friday. A similar pattern of judicial abuses occurred during the administration of Morales, the group said. Officials in Bolivia’s interim government alleged that Morales, during continuing upheaval after his resignation, gave an instruction in a telephone call that followers should surround cities to prevent food supplies reaching the inhabitants. The interim government denied it was using the justice system against opponents and said Bolivia’s judicial authorities were selected by Morales supporters when he was in power.

A nurse attends to a newborn baby in the intensive care unit of the Women's Hospital maternity ward in La Paz, Bolivia, Thursday, Aug. 13, 2020. Bolivia's political and social crisis is coinciding with the continued spread of the new coronavirus across one of Latin America's poorest countries. Bolivia's political crisis adds to the burden on its health care system, which was already grappling with the coronavirus as it continues to spread across one of Latin America's poorest countries. Now, after about 10 days of blockades, supplies are threatened in some hospitals that are also dealing with an escalating number of COVID-19 patients, according to officials. Hospitals filled up with patients, and funeral homes were besieged by grieving relatives looking to bury their dead.

Bolivia's Institute of Forensic Investigations said that nationally from April 1 through July 19, its workers had recovered 3,016 bodies of people in possible COVID-19 cases. Police said they have recovered 420 bodies from streets, vehicles and homes in the capital of La Paz, and in Bolivias biggest city, Santa Cruz, in the span of five days. Between 80% and 90% of them are believed to have had the virus. Bolivia has reported nearly 2,300 confirmed deaths from COVID-10, although the real number is believed to be higher. Arce has alleged the government of interim President Jeanine ez is using the pandemic as a pretext to extend itself.Six of the eight parties in Bolivias election race have said they favor a postponement.

FILE - In this May 25, 2020, file photo, Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro, wearing a face mask amid the coronavirus pandemic, stands among supporters as he leaves his official residence of Alvorada palace in Brasilia, Brazil. Bolsonaro said Tuesday, July 7, he tested positive for COVID-19 after months of downplaying the virus's severity while deaths mounted rapidly inside the country. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres, File)

Bolsonaro said Tuesday, July 7, he tested positive for COVID-19 after months of downplaying the virus's severity while deaths mounted rapidly inside the country. And in Venezuela, 57-year-old socialist party chief Diosdado Cabello said Thursday on Twitter that he, too, had tested positive, at least temporarily sidelining a larger-than-life figure considered the second-most-powerful person in the country. An Associated Press review of official statements from public officials across Latin America found at least 49 confirmed cases of new coronavirus in leaders ranging from presidents to mayors of large cities, along with dozens, likely hundreds, of officials from smaller cities and towns. Many leaders have used their diagnoses to call on the public to heighten precautions like social distancing and mask wearing. They have to be responsible.Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei placed his entire Cabinet and their staff in quarantine Thursday after one of his ministers tested positive.

(AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)RIO DE JANEIRO South American countries on Monday began easing COVID-19 restrictions even as the region hurtles toward its viral peak, disregarding the example set by European nations that were battered earlier by the virus. Even European nations that lifted restrictions earliest in their respective outbreaks the U.K. and Russia - did so only after clearing their initial peaks. Amazonas registered 818 new COVID-19 cases Sunday, bringing the total number of cases above 40,000. But in the nations second city, Medellin, malls cautiously began opening their doors on Monday, though checking customers' temperatures upon entry. The nation is dialing down restrictions because it has reported relatively low COVID-19 impact: 1,510 cases and 14 deaths.