The coronavirus outbreak has increased preventive measures in airports around the United States. Everyone from travelers, TSA agents and staff members are using all kinds of methods to keep themselves germ-free. VOA’s Celia Mendoza asked passengers about their main concerns while flying.
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Month: March 2020
Cameroon: Separatists Rape, Kill Hostages Before Military Rescue
Cameroon’s military says anglophone separatists killed four hostages, including a local official, after troops attacked their camp in a western part of the country. The military said it freed five others the anglophone rebels had abducted and raped.A young woman recovering at a Cameroon military base in the French-speaking, western town of Bafoussam, confirmed to a reporter that rebel fighters this week abducted and raped her. Cameroon’s military rescued the 17-year-old, whose name is being withheld to prevent stigma, and four other young women on Tuesday and brought them to the base.She said heavily armed anglophone rebels took her on Sunday from a Catholic church in the English-speaking, northwestern town of Mbiame. The separatist fighters took her into the bush, she said, and kept her and several other hostages at a remote camp.”They accused me of communicating with military men and directing them [the troops] how to move about and kill them [separatists],” the woman said. “So, when we reached their camp, we were beaten. When I went there, these my friends were already there. We were badly beaten. We sleep on the floor. They do not give us any food or water.”Ransom demanded by rebelsThe 17-year-old said the rebels demanded the women’s families pay a ransom of $3,000 each for their release or else they would be killed.But Cameroonian troops raided the camp, freeing the five hungry, tired and frayed women, aged 17 to 21.Paul Atanga Nji, Cameroon’s territorial administration minister, said the rebels took the women in revenge after troops last week attacked their hideouts and killed several fighters. “These are children who have been kidnapped by the terrorists, abused sexually, raped by the terrorists and, thanks to the professionalism of our defense forces, these children were released,” Nji said. “The children are under medical control. The defense forces are assisting them.”Seven rebels reportedly killedNji said the women were rescued during fighting that killed seven rebels. He gave no casualty figures for the military and it was not possible to confirm the numbers. Not all those being held hostage came out alive, though.Officials in the English-speaking, northwest region of Ngoketunjia said rebels killed four hostages.Senior government official Quetong Handerson Konge issued a statement that said among the four victims was a deputy mayor. The statement called on the population to continue helping the military find rebels and their hideouts. Rebels in Cameroon have not responded directly to the accusations but have been sharing videos on social media of the killed civilians and warning people against aiding the military.The separatist conflict broke out in 2017 over resentment that Cameroon’s English-speaking minority is treated as second class to the French-speaking majority.Fighting in the western English-speaking regions has left about 3,000 people dead and displaced more than 500,000 to French-speaking regions and neighboring Nigeria.
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Is a Green Wave Coming in France’s Upcoming Municipal Elections?
France is shutting schools nationwide, among other coronavirus measures. But municipal elections taking place over the next two Sundays are going forward. Analyst predict a so-called ‘green wave’ of ecologically minded candidates may surge in the polls – powered by a raft of alarming environmental developments. Lisa Bryant reports from the working-class town of Saint-Denis, outside Paris.
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Chinese Diplomat Accuses US of Spreading Coronavirus
Tensions between the U.S. and China may re-escalate after officials of both countries hurled verbal attacks at each other about the origin of the coronavirus, observers say.In his Thursday tweets, Zhao Lijian, a spokesperson of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), accused the U.S. of spreading the virus to the city of Wuhan in Hubei province, the epicenter of China’s coronavirus outbreak.The Chinese diplomat first posted a video clip in which Robert Redfield, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), told a congressional hearing Wednesday that some deaths from coronavirus have been discovered posthumously in the U.S. Zhao then tweeted, “the U.S. CDC director was caught red-handed. When did patient zero emerge in the U.S.? How many people had he infected? What’s the name of the hospital?”An explanationFILE – Chinese Foreign Ministry new spokesman Zhao Lijian gestures as he speaks during a daily briefing at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs office in Beijing, Feb. 24, 2020.”It’s possible that the U.S. military brought the virus to Wuhan. The U.S. has to be transparent and make public its figures. The U.S. owes us an explanation,” he added.Zhao’s comments echoed a rumored conspiracy, widely circulated in China, that U.S. military personnel had brought the virus to China during their participation of the 2019 Military World Games in Wuhan last October.That conspiracy theory followed suspicion raised by U.S. Senator Tom Cotton and others that the virus had originated from the Wuhan P4 lab, a high-security biochemical lab affiliated with the Chinese Academy of Sciences.Cover-upFILE – National security adviser Robert O’Brien addresses media during a news conference in Berlin, Jan. 20, 2020.Zhao’s comments also came one day after U.S. National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien asserted an initial cover-up of the virus in China “cost the world community two months” and exacerbated the global outbreak. In response to O’Brien’s claim, another MOFA spokesman, Geng Shuang, Thursday called it a “smear on the Chinese government and its people. It is immortal, irresponsible and of little help to the U.S.’s own fight against the outbreak.” No scientists have determined the source of the virus.On Friday, the South China Morning Post newspaper cited China’s government records saying the first person suffering from the disease can be traced to November 17, although “patient zero” in China has yet to be confirmed. The government records cited by the newspaper could help scientists track the spread of the disease and perhaps determine its source, it added.Mixed reactionZhao’s comments drew a whirlwind of mixed reaction on Twitter.Some people, apparently from China, agreed with Zhao’s assessment, while others called him a “shame.””When will the U.S. stop escaping reality? This is outrageous,” Lin Shaojing wrote in response to Zhao’s tweet.Many more, however, disagreed.”A MOFA spokesman made such a conspiracy to confuse the public … Shame on you,” Heatherm Huang tweeted.”Why not look into the Wuhan P4 Lab? It’s possible that the lab leaked the virus to the downtown area. The lab needs to be transparent and make public its figures. The lab owes us an explanation,” he added. Another Twitter user named Cheryl also questioned, “if it were the U.S. which spread the virus, why did you help cover it up, shift the blame to the bat and reprimand whistleblower doctors? Do you also wish the Chinese dead?” The verbal attacks between officials of both governments will do nothing but harm U.S.-China relations, which are already bad, said Jean-Pierre Cabestan, political science professor at Hong Kong Baptist University.The professor said Zhao’s accusation is groundless and doesn’t make sense, although he said he doubted the U.S., caught up in its own fight against the virus, would respond. Shifting blameZhao’s narratives likely suggest China is trying to shift the blame, since public resentment toward the leadership’s mishandling of the outbreak hasn’t subsided, he said.”So, one answer is to … certainly accusing the U.S. of being responsible of everything [so] as to call on the people to point to another threat and enemy for diversion of the people’s resentment,” Cabestan said. Also, the Communist leadership is likely divided over how to ease public anger as state censors have recently eased their controls by having left some media reports critical of the government uncensored for a short period of time, according to the professor. Those include a report about Ai Fen, director of Wuhan Central Hospital’s emergency department, who called herself the one giving out whistles as she is actually the first to sound the alarm by sharing a diagnostic report with colleagues including the deceased whistleblower doctor Li Wenliang.FILE – People attend a vigil for Chinese doctor Li Wenliang, in Hong Kong, Feb. 7, 2020. Li, who got in trouble with authorities for sounding an early warning about the coronavirus outbreak, died Feb. 7, 2020, after being infected.In the report, Ai spoke out against local authorities to detail how she was reprimanded and forced to shut up. But she regretted that she hadn’t been brave enough to speak up. Meanwhile, Shi Yinhong, an international relations professor at Beijing’s Renmin University, downplayed Zhao’s accusation, saying the U.S. government shouldn’t overreact to Zhao’s personal comments.”Up to date, the Chinese government hasn’t made any statements or, in any official occasions, accused the U.S. military of having had brought the disease to China. The Chinese government has never said so,” the professor said.”We’d rather believe that this gentleman made the comments in his personal capacity and through his personal Twitter account. His views thus are of no significance,” he added.Shi urged the U.S. government and its politicians not to be overly concerned, saying both countries should focus their efforts on fighting the disease and bolstering their own economies.
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Myanmar Military Suing Lawmaker, Reuters Under Telecommunications Law
Lawmakers around Southeast Asia are coming to the defense of one of their counterparts in Myanmar, who faces legal action after he told the Reuters news agency that military shelling had left two Rohingya Muslim women dead.The military, which rules Myanmar in a quasi-junta, is suing lawmaker U Maung Kyaw Zan for blaming it for the fatal attack in January. The military, which is also suing Reuters for publishing the story that quotes Maung Kyaw, argues that blame for the attack belongs to the Arakan Army, an insurgent group. Both sides have a history of blaming each other for attacks.Malaysian lawmaker Charles Santiago defended Maung Kyaw’s right to free speech, saying that it was “totally disproportionate” for the military to sue him, which Santiago called an act of reprisal.”Such reprisals not only intensify the current climate of fear and censorship amongst those critical of the government,” he said, “but also cripple the work of lawmakers and independent media who play a crucial role in promoting accountability and good governance.”Reuters as well as Maung Kyaw, who is a member of the Upper House of Myanmar’s parliament, are both being sued under a part of a law that criminalizes defamation committed through a telecommunications network. That measure is known as the Telecommunications Law.Santiago sees the law as part of a bad trend of censorship across Southeast Asia. In 2019, Singapore and Vietnam both enacted new laws that let authorities demand websites remove information they say is false. Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia are all threatening citizens with jail time over their online posts about the coronavirus.
“Reporters and parliamentarians have unique responsibilities that serve the wider public interests and they must be allowed to conduct their work without fear or favor,” said Eva Sundari, a former member of parliament in Indonesia.She agreed with Santiago that Myanmar is trying to suppress information unfairly, saying its “draconian” Telecommunications Law can be abused. For his part, Maung Kyaw has stood firm, saying he was merely stating what was happening on the ground in Rakhine state, the restive region where minorities, including Rohingya Muslims, are seeking greater autonomy from the Myanmar government. Violence has forced thousands to seek refuge in neighboring Bangladesh.”As a representative of the people, I listened to what the people told me and I spoke about it,” he told Reuters. “I will just have to face the lawsuit and receive the judgment from the court.”Reuters also defended itself against the military’s lawsuit, saying there was no basis for a criminal action against the news agency.”Reuters stands by the reporting that is of concern to the military and is the subject of an ongoing discussion with Myanmar’s Press Council,” a Reuters spokesperson said, referring to the organization that adjudicates media disputes.Both defendants in the pending lawsuit have received a show of support from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Parliamentarians for Human Rights. The non-profit organization said merely making statements that the government considers defamatory should not be a crime in Myanmar.The Telecommunications Law “has continued to be frequently used against government critics,” the organization said in an email.It said the real target that should be investigated is the national army of Myanmar for its history of violence against the Rohingya and other minorities. Philippine politician Teddy Baguilat agrees that “international crimes” may have been committed against minorities and that foreign powers should stand up for the victims. “The international community” has “responsibilities to ensure justice for all in Myanmar,” said Baguilat, a former member of the Philippines’ House of Representatives.
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Thriving ‘Mega’-llennials Leave Struggling Millennials Behind
There’s a millennial divide in the generation of young people that is often stereotyped as entitled, unemployed and more likely to still be living with their parents. The Great Recession and student loan debt created strong challenges for the generation of young people who today are roughly in their mid-20s to late 30s. Many had a hard time finding jobs in their field. Some accepted lower-paying jobs than they were qualified for. Today, those early setbacks continue to impact millions of millennials.However, while many in the generation stagnated professionally, the so-called “mega-llennials” managed to flourish and succeed.“That’s the portion of the generation that kept working and creating traction and pulling themselves forward in spite of these really crummy economic times,” says says Jason Dorsey, president and lead millennial researcher at the Thirty-year-old Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, 35, are among the millennial generation’s high-achieving “mega”-llennials.There’s a sharp contrast between the mega-llennials and the so-called “me-llennials,” the part of the generation that has struggled to find professional traction and is still working on finding their place in life.“What we think is fascinating is that the group of people that are most offended at work by millennials acting entitled are actually other millennials who do not feel entitled,” Dorsey says. “They think the rest of the generation is giving them a bad reputation.”So why did mega-llennials flourish while other people in their age group floundered?“What we found is they were more resilient oftentimes in their career. That could have been by luck or by intention,” Dorsey says. “They also managed to keep working and building their networks and did whatever they could to keep pushing themselves forward.”While there’s no clear definition in terms of one group versus the other, Dorsey says millennials tend to sort themselves into one group or the other. And although they are of the same generation and share many experiences, mega-llennials and me-llennials don’t tend to see themselves in each other.
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African Union Strongly Denies Allegations of Cronyism, Corruption
A spokesperson for African Union chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat has rejected allegations that the organization is run like a “mafia-style” cartel, a term used in a leaked internal memo from AU staff accusing their boss of corruption and cronyism.VOA has since obtained a copy of the March 6 document, which was signed by Sabelo Mbokazi, the president of the AU Staff Association. The memo, first reported in South Africa’s Mail & Guardian, gives several examples of allegedly illegal appointments of staff, and calls for the “restoration of sound administrative management and leadership.”At a meeting on Sept. 28, 2019, staff complained about the recruitment process for the AU’s new head of human resources, Hamza Sahel. Staffers said his hiring was the “manifestation of glaring cronyism and total collapse of leadership” inside the AU.But Ebba Kalondo, the chief spokesperson for Faki, said the AU chairman and new human resources chief have “no direct relationship.”She encouraged Sabelo to come forward and substantiate his allegations.”They’re obviously very serious allegations,” Kalondo said. “[On] Mr. Sabelo, it’s regrettable of course that he wanted to speak to the entire staff complement about this when he has direct access to the chairperson to be able to make these allegations. But, seeing that he wanted to be able to communicate in this way, we certainly hope that he will be able to give us or at least share some of the proof of these extremely serious allegations of which of course everybody wants to get to the bottom of.”The allegations come during a period when many staff inside the AU are threatened with losing their jobs as the institution goes through deep structural reforms started under the Rwandan presidency in 2018.Faki, a Chadian politician, is currently in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo, to hold talks with African heads of state over the ongoing crisis in Libya. A spokeswoman said when Faki returns, he will respond to Sabelo internally about each point raised in the memo.
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UN: Worsening Violence in Burkina Faso Forcing Thousands to Flee
The United Nations refugee agency says escalating violence in Burkina Faso is forcing thousands to flee their homes and prompting an increasing number of refugees from Mali to return to their home country. Attacks by extremists linked to Islamic State and al-Qaida terror groups and violent action by traffickers and criminal gangs are adding to the instability of the already beleaguered African country. The United Nations refugee agency reports some 14,000 people have fled their homes in Burkina Faso in the last 17 days, bringing the total number of people displaced within the country to 780,000. During the same period, it says more than 2,000 people have fled as refugees to neighboring Mali. UNHCR spokesman Babar Baloch said a worrying number of Malian refugees are also choosing to return to their home country, believing it is safer there than in Burkina Faso.”The insecurity also makes life much harder for Malian refugees who had sought protection in Burkina Faso, and it threatens to bring to a halt efforts to help them rebuild their lives,” Baloch said. “Burkina Faso hosts over 25,000 refugees from Mali, but many are choosing to return despite facing insecurity.” Baloch said nearly 700 Malian refugees have left by truck toward the Gao Region in northern Mali. Refugees who want to return are given a document that enables them to travel, he said, adding that they also receive a one-time payment to cover transportation costs and urgently needed items.The UNHCR is strengthening its presence in Mali to deal with the increasing number of refugees from Burkina Faso and returning refugees of Malian origin, Baloch said, with UNHCR staff and local authorities in Mali registering the new arrivals and providing them with essential needs.
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Coronavirus Fears in Turkey Lead to Empty Store Shelves, Soaring Prices
Since the Turkish Health Ministry recently confirmed the country’s first coronavirus case, people have been flocking to pharmacies, grocery stores, and other outlets to prepare for a potential nationwide pandemic. VOA’s Umut Colak in Istanbul, in collaboration with Murat Karabulut in Ankara, filed this report on the shortage of supplies like face masks and sanitizers, and the sudden price hikes on such items. Bezhan Hamdard narrates.
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EU Seeks Unified Action Against Virus as Case Count Mounts
European Union interior ministers on Friday were trying to coordinate their response to the novel coronavirus as cases spread throughout the 27-nation bloc and countries took individual measures to slow the disease down.
With Italy at the epicenter of Europe’s outbreak, some of its neighbors, like Austria and Slovenia, have begun taking steps to restrict traffic at their borders, raising questions about the movement of food and medical equipment. But other nations, like the Czech Republic and Poland, are taking action too.
“The problem is on different levels in different countries,” Swedish Interior Minister Mikael Damberg told reporters in Brussels, but he said “we hope that all countries that take new measures also inform other European countries.”
“The transportation system must work when it comes to food and to health care materials and these kinds of things that are important to all European countries so that we don’t make problems for each other handling the crisis,” Damberg said.
The coronavirus is now present in all 27 EU countries. More than 22,000 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed across Europe, and more than 1,000 people have died on the continent.
Individual EU member countries are responsible for health and public safety, and the bloc’s institutions have a very limited role to play in halting the spread of the disease.
Croatian Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic, who is chairing the talks because his country currently holds the EU’s rotating presidency, said “this crisis shows that as a European Union we need to have models to act in a more coordinated way.”
“If we are acting in one way it would be much better for all of us,” he said.
“A lot of people are of course concerned now, and the responsibility for us is to limit contagion and protect capacity,” said EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson. “All measures should be coordinated, operational, proportionate and effective.”
Many EU meetings have been canceled due to the virus, with these talks being among the rare exceptions. Two ministerial sessions, between health and interior ministers, were held via video-conference this week.
The ministers were also expected to discuss the 30-day travel ban imposed by President Donald Trump on Europeans leaving the 26-nation ID check-free zone, known as the Schengen Area, to the United States. EU leaders have lamented that the move was taken without consultation involving a disease that knows no borders.
The Schengen area includes many EU members but also other countries including Switzerland, Norway and Iceland.
The measures announced by Trump don’t apply to the United Kingdom, Ireland or any of the Balkan countries. He has branded COVID-19 a “foreign virus” and claimed that European travelers “seeded” infection clusters in the United States.
“I hope Mr Trump understands that you can’t make a deal with a virus,” said Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn.
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Pelosi, White House Near Agreement on Coronavirus Aid Bill
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Trump administration hoped to announce agreement Friday on a coronavirus aid package to reassure anxious Americans by providing sick pay, free testing and other resources in an effort to calm teetering financial markets and the mounting crisis.
Final details were being worked out, but the top House Democrat, who held daylong talks with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, expected an announcement Friday. The House could then swiftly vote.
“We have – are near – to an agreement,” Pelosi said, emerging from her office at the Capitol shortly before 9 p.m. Thursday. She said a deal was “subject to an exchange of paper and we hope to have an announcement tomorrow.”
The potential deal between Congress and the White House would cap a tumultuous week in which Washington strained for a comprehensive response to the outbreak that is testing the nation’s political, financial and health care systems.
President Donald Trump has struggled to show he’s on top of the crisis, after delivering conflicting descriptions of what the U.S. is doing to combat the virus. Classes, sports events, concerts and conferences have been canceled across the nation and the financial markets are cratering.
Democrat Joe Biden, Trump’s chief 2020 presidential rival, criticized Trump for playing down the threat for weeks and promised if he becomes president to “always tell you the truth.”
The House aid package builds on an emergency $8.3 billion measure approved last week and is aimed at providing additional health and financial resources to arrest the sudden spread of the pandemic and the kind of economic fallout unseen in a generation. Pelosi promised in a letter to colleagues that a third package was yet to come.
The new sick leave benefit would require businesses to provide up to 14 days of paid leave to workers who are home quarantined with the virus, with the federal government reimbursing them through tax credits. The bill enhances unemployment benefits for the jobless and boosts food and nutrition programs for working families, students and seniors.
“We felt that putting together something that the American people can see cooperation on between the two parties in this difficult moment would be a confidence builder,” said Rep. Richard Neal, D-N.J., the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, joining Pelosi at the Capitol, “and I think that we approached it that way.”
Meanwhile, disruptions from the virus spread throughout the Washington metropolitan area, as the Capitol, White House and Supreme Court all declared themselves off limits to the public for now, symbols of a nation hunkering down. And schools in the District of Columbia announced they would close, starting Monday, until April 1.
The storied Smithsonian said it was canceling all public events and will temporarily close its network of museums and the National Zoo, starting Saturday. And Trump proposed postponing this summer’s Olympics in Japan for a year, too.
Trump said he will halt his signature campaign rallies, telling reporters he needs a “little separation until such time as this goes away.” Biden and rival Sen. Bernie Sanders said they would no longer hold large political gatherings and their staffs would work from home as the race for the presidency moved online.
The coronavirus crisis also got personal for Trump and some members of Congress.
Australian Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton was in isolation at a hospital after testing positive for the coronavirus. He returned to Australia on Sunday from Washington, where he met Attorney General William Barr and Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, last week.
Just days after meeting Trump and Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., the communications chief for Brazil’s president, Fabio Wajngarten, tested positive for coronavirus. A photo of the president, the senator and Wajngarten shows the trio shoulder-to-shoulder at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort last weekend.
It was the first time someone infected with the virus was known to have been so near the president.
Scott said he was isolating himself. Trump, 73, said he was unworried.
“We had dinner in Florida at Mar-a-Lago with the entire delegation,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “But we did nothing very unusual. We sat next to each other for a period of time.” Asked whether he should be tested, Trump replied, I am not concerned.'' said Rep. Susie Lee, D-Nev.
White House spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham said "the White House is aware of public reports that a member of the Brazilian delegation`s visit to Mar-a-Lago last weekend tested positive for COVID-19'' though; confirmatory testing is pending. She said: "Both the President and Vice President had almost no interactions with the individual who tested positive and do not require being tested at this time.'' GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham, who was also at Trump's club on the weekend, joined a growing list of lawmakers who have chosen to isolate themselves as a precaution.
Lawmakers from both parties expressed alarm at the U.S. response, and especially over the fact few patients have been tested.
"We're basically, in my opinion, flying blind,
Dr. Anthony Fauci, infectious disease chief at the National Institutes of Health, in several television interviews Friday, said more tests would be available over the next week, but that officials should not wait before trying to mitigate the virus’ effects.
“We will have considerably more testing in the future, but you don’t wait for testing,” Fauci said on ”CBS This Morning.” He said school closings and similar measures are “generally an appropriate approach.”
“We’re at a critical point now as we seek to blunt the rise in cases to make sure it’s a hill, not a mountain,” Fauci said.
For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia.
The vast majority of people recover. According to the World Health Organization, people with mild illness recover in about two weeks, while those with more severe illness may take three to six weeks to be over it.
Trump’s Wednesday announcement of travel restrictions prompted clarifications and criticisms. While Trump said all European travel except from Britain would be cut off, Homeland Security officials clarified that the new travel restrictions would apply only to most foreign nationals who have been in the Schengen Area at any point in the 14 days prior to their scheduled arrival to the United States. The area encompasses most European countries, among them France, Italy, German, Greece, Austria and Belgium.
The restrictions don’t apply to legal permanent residents, immediate family of U.S. citizens or others identified in the proclamation signed by Trump. Vice President Mike Pence said the administration is also asking travelers returning to the U.S. from Europe to voluntarily quarantine for 14 days.
Trump claimed falsely Thursday that the U.S. is currently screening all Americans and foreigners who are entering the country, saying, “people coming in have to be tested.” And he claimed that those who return are being forced to isolate themselves, adding: “It’s going to be a pretty strong enforcement of quarantine.” No widespread quarantine orders have been announced.
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Trump Says Coronavirus Testing Will ‘Happen Soon’ on Large Scale , ‘Red Tape’ Cut
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Twitter Friday morning that there will soon be COVID testing “on a very large scale basis.” He added that “All the Red Tape has been cut,” but he did not give any details or indication about when or how the testing would begin.He said the Centers for Disease Control had “looked at, and studied, its testing system, but did nothing about It.” He added that “President Obama made changes that only complicated things further.” Trump did not provide any evidence about the changes he attributed to his predecessor. Fewer infections in China
Earlier Friday, China reported just eight new COVID-19 infections Friday.It is an astonishing turnaround for China where thousands of new infections have been recorded in one day.The virus first emerged in China’s Wuhan province late last year.The single-digit increase of new cases does not mean, however, that the virus is on its way out of the Asian nation. There are still thousands of Chinese who remain infected with the virus that has spread across the world.China state media reported that Chinese President Xi Jinping told U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in a telephone conversation Thursday that China will “carry on its prevention and control efforts in an unrelenting, solid and meticulous fashion.” In addition, Xinhua reported the president said China is ready to share its experiences with the virus with other countries and conduct joint drug and vaccine research and development.Life upside down
There are now more than 134,000 coronavirus cases in 127 countries and territories – a tiny number out of a global population of 7 billion.But the pandemic is turning life upside down and inside out for nearly every man, woman, and child.Shoppers wait in a line stretching outside of a Trader Joe’s supermarket, March 12, 2020, in the Brooklyn borough of New York.U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi late Thursday emerged from a meeting with lawmakers about coronavirus response legislation. She said she expected the politicians would make an announcement Friday about measures they had agreed upon that would help Americans deal with the upheaval the virus has caused in their daily lives.Few in the United States have avoided being affected by the coronavirus outbreak in some way, including the president.Brazilian communication secretary Fabio Wajngarten tested positive for the virus, days after he met with President Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate. The White House said the president has not been tested, and Trump said Thursday he is “not concerned” even though he sat next to Wajngarten for a some time.Brazilian officials say doctors there have tested and are keeping a close watch on President Jair Bolsonaro.The wife of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has tested positive for the virus, Canada announced late Thursday. The couple went into isolation Wednesday after she showed mild symptoms after returning from a speaking engagement in London.NY state of emergency
The largest city in the United States declared a state of emergency Thursday over what its mayor calls “striking and troubling” developments in the coronavirus pandemic.New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said there were 95 confirmed cases in the city Thursday, but said there could be up to 1,000 next week.”Going to this level is not done lightly, but it has reached the point where it is necessary,” de Blasio said. He warned New Yorkers to be prepared for major job losses, evictions, business closings, and food shortages. Broadway theaters and Lincoln Center have already announced closures, some extending into April.The mayor said the state of emergency gives city authorities the power to close subways and buses, tell people to get off the streets, set curfews, and ration supplies.But de Blasio was annoyed by rumors flying across social media that he was planning to shut down New York City and order a quarantine.”If it’s not coming from my mouth, don’t believe it,” he stressed.Maryland State Superintendent Karen Salmon announces the closing of Maryland public schools in response to the coronavirus during a news conference in Annapolis, Md.,on March 12, 2020.Maryland, Ohio close schools
Maryland and Ohio are the first states to close down all public schools, forcing parents to scramble to find day care or a way to work from home.California’s Disneyland calls itself “The Happiest Place on Earth.” It will soon look like the loneliest place on Earth. The theme park will be closed for the rest of the month starting Saturday. Disney World in Florida is also closing through March.Congress is closing the Capitol and all House and Senate offices to the public, at least until April.The acting secretary of Homeland Security praised two cruise lines late Thursday for ceasing operations for several weeks in the wake of the virus outbreak. “I commend Princess Cruises and Viking Cruises for initiating a voluntary pause in their operations to protect the health and safety of their passengers, crew, and countries they visit,” Chad Wolf said in a statement. “I encourage others in the industry to follow their lead until appropriate safety measure are put in place.” Viking has suspended operations until May 1, while Princess is pausing until May 10.FILE – Major U.S. sports leagues are closing access to locker rooms and clubhouses to all non-essential personnel.Sporting events canceled
Major league basketball, soccer and hockey seasons are halted indefinitely, frustrating millions of fans with tickets to the big games. Baseball is postponing its March 26 opening day for two weeks. The remainder of baseball’s spring training schedule has been called off.College basketball’s highly-anticipated annual tournament has also been canceled with many campuses shutting down and students taking classes remotely.Belgium, France, Honduras, Ireland, Portugal, and Canada’s Ontario province are the latest national governments to shut down all schools.Travel bans
India has ordered some of the toughest travel restrictions so far, suspending visas for all tourists and foreigners for one month starting Friday.El Salvador has banned entry to all foreigners, while neighboring Guatemala issued its own ban on those traveling from Europe, Iran, China, and the Koreas.U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said Thursday that Americans returning from Europe must self-quarantine for 14 days to help prevent more cases.Economic woes
Iran is asking for a $5 billion emergency loan from the International Monetary Fund. Officials report more than 10,000 confirmed cases with 429 deaths Thursday.Iranian global health scholar Kamair Alaei tells VOA Persian he believes the actual number is 40,000.Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif has appealed to U.N. Secretary-General Gutteres to demand international support for an end to U.S. sanctions, saying they are hurting Iranian efforts to fight the disease.Zarif calls the sanctions “economic terrorism.””We are stymied in our efforts to identify and treat our [patients in combating the spread of the virus and ultimately in defeating it,” Zarif wrote in a letter to Guterres. He called, Iranian doctors and nurses “among the very finest in the world.”UN correspondent Margaret Besheer in New York, VOA Persian’s Farhad Pouladi and Arian Risbaf contributed to this report.
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Here’s How US Ban Will Affect Travelers
The Trump administration will be suspending travel from 26 European countries for 30 days, beginning Friday at midnight, in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Vice President Mike Pence said Americans returning from Europe would Why was Britain left out of the ban?U.S. President Donald Trump said in a speech Wednesday that he excluded Britain from his travel restrictions because it was doing a “good job” in fighting the coronavirus.However, he blamed some European Union countries and said they failed to take the same precautions and restrict travel from China and other hot spots.“As a result, a large number of new clusters in the United States were seeded by travelers from Europe,” Trump said.Who is exempted under the ban?It does not apply to U.S. citizens, legal permanent residents, (generally) immediate family members of U.S. citizens, people invited to the U.S. for specific purposes, air and sea crew members, foreign diplomats, and those who do not pose a significant risk and should be let in for reasons of public interest.How effective will this ban be?Sarah Pierce, a policy analyst with the Migration Policy Institute in Washington, told VOA the country is in the community spread stage of the pandemic. Pouring resources into executing a travel ban right now “is misguided at best,” she said.“Even if we were at more of a containment stage, we live in a globalized world. It’s unfeasible for us to execute real travel bans because we have U.S. citizens who are constantly traveling all over the globe. And we legally have to let them back into the United States, no matter where they’ve been,” Pierce said.In a statement, though, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Acting Secretary Chad F. Wolf said, “The actions President Trump is taking to deny entry to foreign nationals who have been in affected areas will keep Americans safe and save American lives.”
“While these new travel restrictions will be disruptive to some travelers, this decisive action is needed to protect the American public from further exposure to the potentially deadly coronavirus,” Wolf said.What happened in the outbreak’s early days?In the early days of the coronavirus outbreak, the United States imposed restrictions on other places. Noncitizens coming from China and Iran were not allowed to enter the country. U.S. citizens who had been in China could enter the country, but their flights were directed to specific U.S. airports and they were required to undergo enhanced screening. They were subject to quarantine if they showed signs of the virus.
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No Mask, No Mistake for North Korea’s Kim
As he watches his troops firing rockets and artillery shells, one of the many things that marks North Korean leader Kim Jong Un out from the officers alongside him is his coronavirus mask: it isn’t there.Kim has overseen multiple military drills in recent weeks as Pyongyang mounts an all-out drive to prevent an outbreak of the disease that has swept around the world from neighboring China.Thousands have been quarantined and hundreds of foreigners, including diplomats, confined to their residences.State media constantly exhort citizens to obey health directives and publish images showing universal facemask use — except by the supreme leader.The Rodong Sinmun newspaper, mouthpiece of the ruling party, and official news agency KCNA have shown Kim supervising firing exercises from a trench, tent or shelter four times in the last two weeks.Every time he has had his face uncovered under a black fur hat, while all the officers next to him have worn black masks.The North carefully controls and calibrates imagery of Kim, and analysts said his uncovered features send an intended message.”He may want to show people that he is not afraid of the virus, that he is above infection,” said Rachel Minyoung Lee, senior analyst with specialist site NK News.”It is consistent with the crux of North Korea’s leadership propaganda: that the Kim leadership is exceptional in every way.”There would be no sense he was contradicting the official virus guidance, she added: “North Koreans know that he is in an altogether different league.”Koh Yu-hwan, a professor of North Korean studies at Dongguk University, said an image of Kim wearing a mask could risk “undermining his charisma… as if he is some sort of a coward, afraid of catching the virus for his own sake.”They aimed to project an image of Kim impervious to the coronavirus as the leader of the Paektu bloodline.”The “Paektu bloodline” is a term for the Kim family who have ruled the North for three generations.It references the sacred mountain seen as the spiritual birthplace of the Korean people, where the North’s founder Kim Il Sung is said to have fought Japanese occupiers during World War II.Kim was twice last year pictured riding a white horse up Mount Paektu in what was seen as a symbolic appropriation of his grandfather’s leadership image.The North often plays up physical and other similarities between the two men, and the fur hat Kim has been wearing in recent photos recalls old images of Kim Il Sung, including one reproduced on a stamp in 2013.”It looks like he is going for his grandpa’s fashion again,” said Lee.
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COVID-19 Fears Prompt Cancellation of Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix
The Australian Formula One Grand Prix has been canceled because of concerns over the coronavirus. Other sporting events will be played in empty stadiums. In a rare address to the nation, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has sought to reassure and calm Australians.The Australian Grand Prix was to have been the first race of the new Formula One season. There were concerns about whether it would go ahead when a member of the McLaren Racing team tested positive for the COVID-19 virus. After lengthy deliberations, officials say the event in the Australian city of Melbourne will be canceled, but could perhaps proceed “at some later stage.”The decision throws into doubt the rest of the Formula One schedule. An international one-day cricket match between Australia and New Zealand in Sydney Friday will be played behind closed doors. Experts are calling on the government to follow other countries, including the United States and Italy, and ban all large-scale sporting fixtures to try to stop the spread of the coronavirus.Australia has announced a $11 billion stimulus package to try to stave off recession as the economic impact of the disease intensifies.FILE – Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison makes a joint statement with Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo at Parliament House, Feb. 10, 2020.In a rare televised address to the nation, Morrison said his government is taking a responsible approach to the crisis.“I want to assure you and your family tonight that while Australia cannot and is not immune from this virus, we are well-prepared and are well-equipped to deal with it, and we do have a clear plan to see Australia through. Our plan has three goals: One, protect Australians’ health; two, secure Australians’ jobs and livelihoods; and, three, set Australia up to bounce back stronger when the crisis is over.”The Australian share market fell about 7% in the first 10 minutes of trade Friday.The Oscar-winning actor Tom Hanks has said that he and wife Rita Wilson have tested positive for the new coronavirus in Australia. The couple is in the hospital on the Gold Coast, where Hanks was working on a film about the life of Elvis Presley.The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Australia has reportedly passed 160.
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Florida Could be Knockout Punch for Sanders’ 2020 Campaign
Florida has never been known as a place of stability, especially in its politics.And yet stability is what has been on the minds of many Democrats in the state who say they’ll vote for former Vice President Joe Biden in Tuesday’s presidential primary election instead of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.“I like some of Sanders’ ideas, but he’s a little too extreme for me,” said Jeanne Hilburn, a 76-year-old retired teacher who lives in the suburbs of Tampa. “A lot of Democrats are like me — we want stability.”As the race for the Democratic nomination enters a penultimate phase, with Sanders’ campaign on the brink of collapse and Biden’s ascendant, attention is turning to places like Florida, which is holding its primary Tuesday along with Ohio, Illinois and Arizona. Florida has 219 delegates, the biggest prize of next week’s election.Coveted swing stateFew places hold the electoral cachet of Florida, which has been among the most coveted swing states in the last three decades, including during the contentious, chaotic recount of 2000. It is a vital state for President Donald Trump, who would have almost no path to reelection without it.Biden’s advisers are banking on a decisive Florida victory that sends a clear message that he is much better positioned to win the state and deny Trump a second term.In 2016, Trump defeated Hillary Clinton here by 1.2 percentage points.“Florida, as always, is pivotal in the outcome,” said Nikki Fried, who is the state’s agriculture commissioner and top elected Democrat and who endorsed Biden. “We are the ultimate swing state.”Sanders’ support in Florida has always been tenuous. In the 2016 primary, he lost to Clinton by a nearly 2-to-1 margin. This year, Sanders angered a potentially large voting bloc, Cuban Americans, by praising Fidel Castro for implementing a literacy program in the communist nation.Working for NovemberThat leaves many Florida Democrats looking beyond the primary to November. Several groups have banded together to register people to vote and mobilize for the general election.One of the four groups, Organizing Together 2020, is led by Fried. It will hire employees, register voters, train volunteers and then turn everything over to the party after the July convention. Another of the groups is For Our Future, a super PAC that is made up largely of Mike Bloomberg’s campaign apparatus.A strong turnout in the Florida primary could give hope to Democrats, though it would be difficult to draw any conclusions for November given the state’s high number of independents. And, to be sure, the coronavirus outbreak could keep some voters away from the polls and muffle any message from the turnout.Democrats know it will be a challenge to sway voters here. About 3.6 million of the state’s 13.6 million voters are registered independents, which means they can’t vote in Tuesday’s primary but are eligible to cast ballots in the general election.“Florida is an interesting state. Depending on where you’re at, we can be very conservative, or we can be very progressive,” said St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman, a Democrat. “We also have a strong moderate and independent streak. Biden, I think he’ll do well here with Democrats and independents. And with Republicans who are looking for an alternative to President Trump.”Ashley Walker, of Organizing Together, said a priority is grassroots door-knocking in counties that were close in 2016, like Pinellas, home to St. Petersburg, which Trump won by 5,500 votes, and in Pasco, a suburban county just north of Tampa where voters moved to Republican candidates in the 2018 Senate and gubernatorial races.Walker says the aim is to siphon off votes there.“The margins matter. We’re probably not going to win Pasco County, but we’re going to need to close the margins so we lose less badly,” she said. “And in those counties that go back-and-forth between red and blue, like Pinellas, it’s especially important to get organized early. To build relationships early.”Biden ‘diaspora outreach’Similarly, Biden’s supporters have been paying visits to Spanish-language TV shows and broadening “diaspora outreach” efforts in South Florida. John Kerry, the former secretary of state and the Democratic presidential nominee in 2004, spoke about Latin America policy on behalf of Biden’s campaign at a restaurant in Doral, the hub of Venezuelan exiles.“We feel good about where we are in the state, but we are not taking anything for granted,” said Carmen Torres, of Florida Hispanics for Biden.Democrats don’t have a lock on the Latino vote in Florida, particularly among the nearly 2 million residents who are originally from Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, where authoritarian socialist regimes have soured many exiles toward any left-leaning politicians.A third of Cuban American midterm voters identify as Democrats, according to AP Vote Cast, a wide-ranging survey of the electorate. But the survey said a majority, 56%, of Cuban American midterm voters expressed approval of the way Trump was handling his job as president.Daisy Baez, a former Democratic state lawmaker, is leading a group called “Dominicanos con Biden” to rally her fellow Dominican Americans to support the former vice president. A similar effort to rally Venezuelans will roll out on Sunday.“We wanted to address our message to a specific community,” Baez said. “We needed to piece it down in smaller parts.”Sanders faithfulAs Sanders’ chances diminish, Biden may also need to win over his challenger’s fervent supporters if an endorsement follows. Some may not follow suit.Nick Mora, 24, a Florida International University Student, marched alongside 20 students on a recent afternoon on campus to persuade others to vote early for Sanders. “Let’s just say Joe Biden does not have the same policy proposals as Bernie,” Mora said. “I feel like the progressive movement is being pushed down, and there’s not much we can do about it if we vote for Joe Biden, so we are still trying to fight till the end.”
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Experts: N. Korea’s Recent Launches Tested Missiles to Target S. Korea
In recent tests, North Korea has been improving the firepower of its missiles that can target South Korea, making them ready to deploy on a battlefield, experts said.“North Korea has been enhancing its firepower, war-fighting capabilities over the past two years, flight-testing a number of new systems,” including the KN-25 missile and variants such as the KN-23 and KN-24, said Michael Elleman, director of the Non-Proliferation and Nuclear Policy Program at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.Both systems “are capable of threatening targets in South Korea and are likely more accurate and lethal than the systems previously seen in North Korea,” he said.Compared with artillery positioned across the North Korean side of the demilitarized zone, Elleman said, the KN-25 missiles give Pyongyang the ability “to attack the South relentlessly in the opening hours or days of conflict.”North Korea’s launches on March 2 and March 9 included KN-25 missiles that the regime began testing on August 24. FILE – A missile is fired during the test of a multiple rocket launcher in this undated photo released Aug. 25, 2019, by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency.North Korea tested similar missiles on July 31 and August 2, but they were smaller than the KN-25, Elleman said.New for North KoreaThe KN-25 is a long-range artillery rocket with a guidance system to control its flight path. Because it has a guidance system like a ballistic missile, the U.S. classifies the KN-25 as a missile. According to Elleman, the U.S. calls it “a close-range ballistic missile,” a type of short-range ballistic missile. North Korea described both launches earlier this month as “long-range artillery” drills.“The distinction between rockets and ballistic missiles is, really, kind of semantic at this point,” said Ian Williams, deputy director of the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “We’re seeing more and more systems that don’t fit either category perfectly.”Jeffrey Lewis, director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at California’s Middlebury Institute of International Studies, said, “The old distinction used to be between missiles, which were guided, and artillery rockets, which were not. “Most artillery rockets are now guided because electronics are so cheap,” he said.Adding guidance technology to a long-range artillery rocket is relatively new to North Korea, Elleman said.“The U.S. has been doing it for about 20 years,” he said. “But it’s just been in the last five to 10 years that we’ve seen countries like North Korea and Iran adding guidance to what normally would be a large-diameter or long-range artillery rocket.”Although this technology may be new for Pyongyang, it is not a new strategic weapon. The country’s leader, Kim Jong Un, FILE – People watch a TV that shows a file picture of a North Korean missile for a news report on North Korea firing short-range ballistic missiles, in Seoul, South Korea, July 31, 2019.Testing for rapid firepowerIf classic FILE – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un uses binoculars while attending a drill by a unit of the Korean People’s Army, in this image released by the country’s Korean Central News Agency, Feb. 29, 2020.Wartime useElleman said firing the missiles in rapid succession suggests that the regime is testing them to be ready for wartime use.“That would suggest that they’re in the final phase of what they believe they need to do for full development,” Elleman said. “And these more recent launches were probably done under military exercises, and it was likely launched by actual troops as opposed to engineers that would be responsible for developing the system.”The tests were part of North Korea’s military drills during the regular winter training cycle.“They’re kind of firing them the way they would fire them during a wartime, during an operational scenario,” Elleman said. “These are war-fighting tools.”Xu Tianran, an analyst for the Open Nuclear Network program at One Earth Future, said, “This is especially important for North Korea as its armed forces cannot provide enough air cover for its assets on the ground.”Elleman said these missiles could load a warhead weighing from 300 to 400 kilograms.“So it’s a pretty big warhead. It can do quite a bit of damage,” Elleman said. “It will pretty much destroy almost any type of targets out to a distance of 20 meters” of its target.Because North Korea has not developed a technology to miniaturize a nuclear warhead, these missiles cannot be used for nuclear weapons.“I have seen no evidence that they could make a nuclear payload that small,” Elleman said.Williams said the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system would have hard time intercepting these missiles because they fly low and out of its coverage area. The Patriot long-range missile defense system could intercept an incoming KN-25, but there are potential challenges.“The challenge is detecting [the KN-25], seeing it coming with enough time that you can respond, enough time that you can get a fix on it, plan your engagement, and fire your interceptor,” Williams said.
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US Hospitals Get Ready for COVID-19
Despite worldwide efforts to contain the new coronavirus, COVID-19 is now a pandemic. Health experts say community spread is happening in the U.S., and the known cases are just the tip of the iceberg.When COVID-19 first erupted in China, infectious disease experts at hospitals in the U.S. took notice. At Ohio’s Cleveland Clinic, Dr. Robert Wyllie said the focus is on preparing health care workers.“We’re updating the skills and knowledge of the caregivers,” he said. “That includes how to put on personal protective equipment and how to take off personal protective equipment so that you’re not contaminating yourself.”MedStar Washington Hospital Center has been doing the same. The hospital has specialized rooms to treat patients with highly infectious diseases. But can any hospital really prepare for COVID-19?“That’s a very difficult question to answer because it really depends on the demand,” said Dr. Glenn Wortmann, the hospital’s director of infection prevention. “If there’s a few patients, sure. If there’s a gazillion patients, there’s not a hospital in the world that’s ready for that.”Virtual medicineSome hospitals are exploring the idea of virtual visits via Skype or by phone. Dr. Stevan Whitt, the chief medical officer at the University of Missouri Health Care, is a fan.“This is an excellent solution to both normal influenza season, as well as instances like COVID-19,” he said. “Patients can get quickly evaluated, get their questions answered, and we can get the sick patients that need to be in a hospital to a hospital, and we can keep the patients who don’t need to be in a hospital safe.”Wortmann says other ideas include testing in designated areas outside the hospital.“Eighty to 85% of patients who don’t need to be hospitalized can stay at home. So for those patients, that would be a very good idea to be able to test them, but then divert them from actually having to come into the hospital,” he said.Faster testingWortmann says the CDC will soon allow hospitals to do their own testing, which will cut the turnaround time for test results from days to hours.One of Wortmann’s biggest concerns is the safety of patients and staff in the emergency room.“Preventing the spread of this virus within any organization is going to be a challenge,” he said. “It’s going to be in the absence of a vaccine, or in the absence of a treatment. It’s going to be old-school infection prevention.”
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US Imposes Travel Ban on 26 European Countries to Combat Coronavirus
The Trump administration will be suspending travel from 26 European countries for 30 days, beginning Friday at midnight, in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Vice President Mike Pence said Americans returning from Europe would Why was Britain left out of the ban?U.S. President Donald Trump said in a speech Wednesday that he excluded Britain from his travel restrictions because it was doing a “good job” in fighting the coronavirus.However, he blamed some European Union countries and said they failed to take the same precautions and restrict travel from China and other hot spots.“As a result, a large number of new clusters in the United States were seeded by travelers from Europe,” Trump said.Who is exempted under the ban?It does not apply to U.S. citizens, legal permanent residents, (generally) immediate family members of U.S. citizens, people invited to the U.S. for specific purposes, air and sea crew members, foreign diplomats, and those who do not pose a significant risk and should be let in for reasons of public interest.How effective will this ban be?Sarah Pierce, a policy analyst with the Migration Policy Institute in Washington, told VOA the country is in the community spread stage of the pandemic. Pouring resources into executing a travel ban right now “is misguided at best,” she said.“Even if we were at more of a containment stage, we live in a globalized world. It’s unfeasible for us to execute real travel bans because we have U.S. citizens who are constantly traveling all over the globe. And we legally have to let them back into the United States, no matter where they’ve been,” Pierce said.In a statement, though, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Acting Secretary Chad F. Wolf said, “The actions President Trump is taking to deny entry to foreign nationals who have been in affected areas will keep Americans safe and save American lives.”
“While these new travel restrictions will be disruptive to some travelers, this decisive action is needed to protect the American public from further exposure to the potentially deadly coronavirus,” Wolf said.What happened in the outbreak’s early days?In the early days of the coronavirus outbreak, the United States imposed restrictions on other places. Noncitizens coming from China and Iran were not allowed to enter the country. U.S. citizens who had been in China could enter the country, but their flights were directed to specific U.S. airports and they were required to undergo enhanced screening. They were subject to quarantine if they showed signs of the virus.
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African Countries Take Preventive Measures to Keep the Coronavirus Out
The virus that originated in China three months ago has produced crippling outbreaks in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and now the United States. But as countries take drastic measures to slow the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, African countries are taking preventive measure even though the outbreak hasn’t reached the same scale as other regions. VOA correspondent Mariama Diallo reports.
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US Hits Back in Iraq, Targeting Militia Behind Deadly Rocket Attack
U.S. warplanes soaring through the skies of Iraq hit a series of sites belonging to an Iranian-backed militia, exacting revenge for a deadly attack on American and coalition troops just 24 hours earlier.The airstrikes late Thursday and early Friday targeted five weapon storage facilities belonging to Kataib Hezbollah, blamed for a rocket attack on an Iraqi military base north of Baghdad late Wednesday that killed two U.S. service members and a British soldier, while wounding 14 others.In a statement, the Pentagon described the strikes as “defensive, proportional, and in direct response to the threat,” adding that some of the weapon depots had been used to store the Katyusha rockets used in the attack on Camp Taji.The U.S. statement also said the strikes against Kataib Hezbollah were designed to “significantly degrade their ability to conduct future attacks against Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR) coalition forces.” The Iraqi military confirmed the strikes, saying some of the targeted locations also doubled as headquarters for the militia.في تمام الساعة الواحدة والربع فجر هذا اليوم حصل اعتداء امريكي من خلال قصف جوي على مناطق (جرف النصر، المسيب، النجف، الاسكندرية) على مقرات تابعة للحشد الشعبي وأفواج الطوارئ ومغاوير الفرقة التاسعة عشر جيش.وسنوافيكم بالتفاصيل من خلال بيان يصدر من قيادة العمليات المشتركة لاحقًا.— خلية الإعلام الأمني🇮🇶 (@SecMedCell) Despite U.S. assertions that it was behind the attack on Camp Taji, Kataib Hezbollah on Thursday denied it was responsible, urging those who were to come forward.”Bless those who implemented the precision jihadi operation,” the group said, according to a translation by the SITE Intelligence Group.”We hold their hands,” it added, saying, “now is the most appropriate time for the national and popular forces to resume their jihadi operations to drive out the wicked ones and aggressors from the land of the sanctities.”FILE – Iraqi Shi’ite Muslim men from the Iranian-backed group Kataib Hezbollah wave the party’s flags as they walk along a street in Baghdad, July 25, 2014.Militias like Kataib Hezbollah sometimes operate under the auspices of the Iraqi government, and the Pentagon said senior Iraqi officials were consulted ahead of the airstrikes.Earlier Thursday, Iraq’s presidency condemned what it called a “terrorist attack” on Camp Taji and stressed the need to find those responsible.After the last round of U.S. retaliatory strikes this past January, Iran responded by firing more than a dozen ballistic missiles at Iraq’s al-Asad air base, causing more than 100 U.S. troops to suffer from traumatic brain injuries.Testifying before U.S. lawmakers this week, McKenzie warned the threat from Tehran had not diminished.”Ample intelligence indicates the [Iranian] regime’s desire to continue malign activities,” he said. “Going forward it is CENTCOM’s objective to posture forces in the region with the operational depth to achieve a consistent state of deterrence against Iran.”McKenzie also said the U.S. was “in the process of bringing in” a missile defense system.The Pentagon has been negotiating with the Iraqi government to send in Patriot missile defense batteries since mid-January.
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South Africa Sees First Local Coronavirus Transmission
South Africa has seen its first locally transmitted case of novel coronavirus, a week after the nation reported its first case on March 5. That brings the country’s total number of confirmed cases to 17, with cases in at least five of the country’s nine provinces. Meanwhile, South Africa’s military is preparing to bring home 122 COVID-negative citizens from Wuhan, the Chinese city where the virus originated.Within a week of landing in South Africa, the novel coronavirus has spread, with cases now in the double digits — and the first confirmed case of local transmission.That case, health authorities said Thursday, is a 32-year-old man in Free State province who came into contact with a Chinese businessman. All other reported cases in South Africa had traveled overseas before testing positive.The nation’s Cabinet met this week to discuss the threat posed by the virus, which has now infected more than 118,000 people worldwide and was declared an pandemic this week by the World Health Organization.On Wednesday, President Donald Trump announced that he is sharply restricting travel to the United States from more than two dozen European countries where the virus has spread.Jackson Mthembu, a minister in the South African presidency, said South African officials have stopped short of measures like a ban on international travel.“Cabinet has not expressed any travel bans. It would have been in the statement if there were any,” Mthembu said. “And again, we can assure you that after this very important meeting of Sunday, we will be able to answer some of the questions that we not have been able to answer here on this matter.”Officials have said they are concerned about high volumes of internal travel during the Easter holiday weekend in April, an issue that is likely to be discussed during the Sunday meeting.Mthembu also said that 122 South African nationals would return home on Friday as part of a military-led operation to repatriate them from Wuhan, the viral epicenter.Mthembu stressed that no members of this group have tested positive for the virus, and that officials will take precautions. “Upon their return, all of them, the crew, everybody on the flight and those repatriated will be quarantined for a minimum of 14 days to a maximum of 21 days,” Mthembu said. “During this period, the movement of people and goods in and out of the quarantine zone will be restricted. We strongly caution people against attempting to make any physical contact or attempting to visit the quarantine zone or area. Once the quarantine period ends and tests confirm no underlying COVID-19 virus infection of our compatriots, they will be released back into their respective families and communities.”Mthembu also echoed the health minister to continue to take basic hygiene measures — such as regular hand-washing, social distancing and vigilance — to avoid exposure to the respiratory illness.
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Proposal to Eliminate Term Limits Signals Putin Could Be Here to Stay
Speculation about the political future of Russian President Vladimir Putin became somewhat clearer this week. He threw his weight behind proposals to amend Russia’s current constitutional cap on presidential term limits — a move that would allow him to stay in power beyond the end of his current term in 2024. Charles Maynes reports.
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French Travel Industry Blasts Trump’s Travel Ban on Europeans
French airlines expect to lose business as a result of U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to suspend travel from Europe to the United States for a month because of the coronavirus outbreak. Transatlantic flights are among the most profitable parts of Air France-KLM’s business.Air France alone serves more than 20 American cities and operates more than 200 flights to the United States per week. The alliance between Air France-KLM, Delta and Virgin Atlantic produces combined annual revenue of $13 billion. With the U.S. decision, hope vanishes for tourism officials who wanted to see a reverse in the travel decline from Asia and Europe to North America.About 100,000 French nationals were set to travel to the U.S. in March and April.Shocking developmentValerie Boned, the secretary-general of Enterprises de Voyage, an advocacy group representing travel agencies in France, told VOA the U.S. move was a disaster.She said professionals were quite shocked by the announcement because the United States is one of the main destinations for French people. According to Boned, 1.8 million French citizens travel to the U.S. each year, for leisure or business. It is the No. 1 long-haul destination for the French. Others fear the travel ban for EU citizens to the United States will affect employment, as the travel sector has been fragile for weeks because of the outbreak. René-Marc Chikli, president of SETO, the French union for tour-operating companies, said he was expecting America’s decision to implement a travel ban on EU citizens, because the virus has no boundaries. But it’s still an economic shock. Tour operators represent 3,000 companies and 35,000 employees in France. He indicated that more 10% of the companies might not survive if the crisis lasts for months. Tourism industry leaders will be meeting Friday with French government officials to try to find ways to get relief to the travel sector.
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