WASHINGTON - Five months after the novel coronavirus was first detected in the United States, a record surge in new cases is the clearest sign yet of the country's historic failure to control the virus - exposing a crisis in governance extending from the Oval Office to state capitals to city councils.

The Netherlands' only euthanasia clinic says it has received a surge in calls from overseas from people who want to end their lives, after a flurry of incorrect reports that it had helped a troubled teenager to die.