Some of the millions of American workers laid off because of the coronavirus are beginning to face a tough choice — return to work and risk infection, or stay home and risk losing unemployment payments.
The decision is most pressing in states where governors have started allowing businesses such as restaurants to reopen with social-distancing restrictions.
Tyler Price, 26, was called back to his job at Del Frisco’s Grille in the Nashville suburb of Brentwood. Tennessee allowed restaurants to open dining rooms at 50% capacity, with servers wearing masks and being tested for fever.
But Price, who has yet to receive any unemployment benefits, is wrestling with what do. He said he is “highly susceptible” to respiratory illness and was hospitalized with pneumonia as a child.
“I know what it feels like to be in a hospital, to be drowning in your own lungs,” said Price, who moved in with his mother near St. Louis after getting laid off. “It’s horrifying. It’s terrible. I don’t want to find myself there.”
He said waiting tables “is impossible to do under social distancing guidelines,” and he would prefer to draw unemployment payments.
On Thursday, the Labor Department reported that the business shutdowns and stay-at-home orders caused by the pandemic have led 30 million Americans to file for unemployment insurance, or roughly 1 of every 6 workers.
The design of the unemployment system adds to the pressure. If an employer calls back laid-off workers, they must report to work or are likely to lose their benefits.
That’s because unemployment insurance is designed to tide people over until they can get back to a job, said Michele Evermore, a senior policy analyst with the National Employment Law Project in New York.
“An unemployed worker cannot refuse suitable work and still continue to collect unemployment insurance,” Evermore said. “Presumably, the job you used to have is suitable.”
Fear of getting sick or worries that an employer isn’t providing adequate infection protection are generally not reasons someone can file for benefits. The latter concern is getting more complicated because some businesses are lobbying to keep employees and customers from suing them over coronavirus transmission.
Lacey Ward, a hairstylist in Omaha, Nebraska, filed for unemployment benefits in mid-March and is still waiting for the first payment. She’s been forced to drain her family’s savings and feels increasing pressure to return to work. Still, she is worried that Gov. Pete Ricketts’ decision to let salons reopen Monday could put her, her husband and two young sons at risk.
Ward, 38, said she would prefer to collect unemployment until the risk from the virus subsides and it’s clearer whether she can offer services like shampooing. She co-owns the salon but makes money only off her own clients.
“I would rather be safe than sorry,” Ward said. “We are not an essential field. I haven’t had my hair done in three or four months at this point. But what does it matter? Who are people seeing?”
Ward said she’s so concerned about spreading the virus that she plans to change clothes and wash her hair before she returns home.
“We’re playing with fire, physically touching another person,” she said.
Some workers are ready to go back. Kathryn Marsilli, 33, is a manager and server at The Collins Quarter restaurant in Savannah, Georgia.
She knows she may make less at work because of reduced business and would like a way for those with fears of the virus to stay home. But she said she wants to go back out of loyalty to the owner and because she’s not interested in trying to maximize her unemployment benefits.
“My future where I work is more important to me than trying to get what I can now,” Marsilli said.
Other workers may be tempted to hold on to unemployment. Especially in some low-wage regions, laid-off workers may receive more money with the state benefit and the additional $600 a week provided by Congress than they were on the job. The federal boost ends July 31.
Georgia labor officials are trying to balance the needs of business owners with the genuine concerns of workers. State Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said he’s telling businesses that are easing into reopening and don’t need all their employees to call in those who are willing to work and leave the others to the unemployment system.
Georgia also is allowing people to earn up to $300 a week before it begins to eat into their state unemployment benefit, meaning workers could earn more than $1,200 a week in total.
“It was a way we could get more people back to work at reduced hours,” Butler said. “Otherwise, why would you go back to work at all?”
Jennifer Holliday is a manager at a restaurant in Oklahoma City called Zio’s Italian Kitchen, which plans to reopen its dining room Friday. She said getting furloughed employees to return has been difficult. Many are not returning her phone calls or messages.
“There are some who want to just ride it out (until July) and take the unemployment,” Holliday said. “They don’t even have to apply” for other jobs.
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Month: April 2020
This Time, Pence Wears Mask as He Tours Indiana Plant
This time, he wore a mask. Vice President Mike Pence donned a face covering Thursday as he toured a General Motors/Ventec ventilator production facility in Indiana after coming under fire for failing to wear one earlier this week in violation of Mayo Clinic policy. The facility in Kokomo had been closed because of the coronavirus but was brought back online in mid-April to produce critical care ventilators for hospitals around the country. General Motors requires workers to wear masks in the plant’s production area, according to spokesman Jim Cain. Pence removed the mask, however, for a roundtable with top officials, including General Motors CEO Mary Barra and Ventec CEO Chris Kiple. None of the participants wore face coverings. Pence’s visit to the factory came hours after his wife, Karen Pence, defended her husband’s decision to not wear a mask during a Tuesday visit to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Vice President Mike Pence participates in a round table following a tour of the General Motors/Ventec ventilator production facility with GM CEO Mary Barra and Elaine Chao Secretary of Transportation in Kokomo, Ind., April 30, 2020.Mrs. Pence told Fox News Channel that he had been unaware of the hospital’s coronavirus policy during the visit and that the vice president has been following the advice of medical experts. Pence, like other senior White House staff, is tested for the virus at least once a week. “As our medical experts have told us, wearing a mask prevents you from spreading the disease. And knowing that he doesn’t have COVID-19, he didn’t wear one,” Mrs. Pence said, adding that it “was actually after he left Mayo Clinic that he found out that they had a policy of asking everyone to wear a mask.” “So, you know, someone who’s worked on this whole task force for over two months is not someone who would have done anything to offend anyone or hurt anyone or scare anyone,” she said. The Mayo Clinic had earlier tweeted — then deleted — that it had informed the vice president of its “masking policy prior to his arrival.” “Mayo shared the masking policy with the VP’s office,” the health care system later said. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that Americans wear cloth face coverings in public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain, such as in supermarkets, especially in areas of significant community-based transmission. But President Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed discomfort about mask-wearing, saying he did not intend to wear one when the CDC’s recommendations were unveiled. Most senior staff, who are regularly tested, have followed his lead, at least when they’re in the White House. Pence’s responseFootage of Pence’s tour of the Mayo Clinic showed him bare-faced as he met with an employee who had recovered from the virus, even though everyone else in the room appeared to be wearing one. He also participated in a roundtable discussion in which every participant, from Food and Drug Administration chief Stephen Hahn to the state’s governor, wore a mask except for him. FILE – Vice President Mike Pence, center, visits Dennis Nelson, a patient who survived the coronavirus and was going to give blood, during a tour of the Mayo Clinic, in Rochester, Minn., April 28, 2020.Pence explained his decision that day by stressing that he has been frequently tested for the virus. “As vice president of the United States I’m tested for the coronavirus on a regular basis, and everyone who is around me is tested for the coronavirus,” Pence said. “And since I don’t have the coronavirus, I thought it’d be a good opportunity for me to be here, to be able to speak to these researchers, these incredible health care personnel, and look them in the eye and say ‘thank you.'” But even with a mask, Pence would have been able to look health care workers in the eye because one only covers the nose and mouth. People who enter the White House complex have their temperature taken, and those who will be in close proximity to the president and the vice president are given rapid COVID-19 tests to ensure they’re not infectious. Senior staff also are given tests on a rolling basis so that infections are quickly detected.
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Spokesman: 10 Egyptian Army Members Killed or Wounded in Bomb Attack
Ten Egyptian army members including an officer were killed or wounded on Thursday when a bomb exploded in an armored vehicle south of Bir al-Abd city in the Northern Sinai region, a military spokesman said in a statement.He did not specify how many had been killed in the attack, which not immediately claimed by any group. Militants loyal to Islamic State are active in the strategic border region.Egypt has been fighting Islamist insurgents who have killed hundreds of police and soldiers in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula since the ousting of Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood in 2013 following mass protests against his rule.Militants have also carried out attacks elsewhere in the country.An Egyptian policeman and seven suspected militants were killed on April 14 in an exchange of gunfire after the ministry of interior received information about potential Easter attacks against Coptic Christians, the ministry said, adding that three other policemen had also been wounded.The military and police launched a major campaign against militant groups in 2018, focusing on the Sinai Peninsula as well as southern areas and the border with Libya.
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US Intel: Coronavirus Not Manmade, Still Studying Lab Theory
U.S. intelligence agencies are debunking a conspiracy theory, saying they have concluded that the new coronavirus was “not manmade or genetically modified” but say they are still examining a notion put forward by the president and aides that the pandemic may have resulted from an accident at a Chinese lab. The statement from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the clearinghouse for the web of U.S. spy agencies, comes as President Donald Trump and his allies have touted the as-yet-unproven theory that an infectious disease lab in Wuhan, the epicenter of the Chinese outbreak, was the source of the global pandemic, which has killed more than 220,000 people worldwide.In recent days the Trump administration has sharpened its rhetoric on China, accusing the geopolitical foe and vital trading partner of failing to act swiftly enough to sound the alarm to the world about the outbreak or to stop the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19. U.S. officials have said the Chinese government should “pay a price” for its handling of the pandemic.The new statement says, “The Intelligence Community also concurs with the wide scientific consensus that the COVID-19 virus was not manmade or genetically modified.” “The IC will continue to rigorously examine emerging information and intelligence to determine whether the outbreak began through contact with infected animals or if it was the result of an accident at a laboratory in Wuhan.” President Donald Trump speaks about the coronavirus in the Rose Garden of the White House, April 27, 2020, in Washington.Trump on Thursday again blamed China for not doing enough to contain the coronavirus. “We just got hit by a vicious virus that should never have been allowed to escape China,” he said during an Oval Office meeting with New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy. Earlier this month, Trump addressed the lab theory saying, “More and more, we’re hearing the story.” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo added at the time, “The mere fact that we don’t know the answers — that China hasn’t shared the answers — I think is very, very telling.” Pompeo also pressed China to let outside experts into the lab “so that we can determine precisely where this virus began.” While Trump and Pompeo have made public statements speculating about the lab, a U.S. intelligence official disputed the notion that there was any pressure on agencies to bolster a particular theory. The intelligence official was not authorized to publicly discuss the issue and spoke only on condition of anonymity. Scientists say the virus arose naturally in bats. Even so, Pompeo and others have pointed fingers at an institute that is run by the Chinese Academy of Sciences. It has done groundbreaking research tracing the likely origins of the SARS virus, finding new bat viruses and discovering how they could jump to people. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo addresses a news conference at the State Department in Washington, April 7, 2020.”We know that there is the Wuhan Institute of Virology just a handful of miles away from where the wet market was,” Pompeo said two weeks ago. The institute has an address 8 miles, or 13 kilometers, from the market that is considered a possible source. U.S. officials say the American Embassy in Beijing flagged concerns about potential safety issues at the lab in Wuhan in 2018, but they have yet to find any evidence the virus originated there nearly two years later. The Chinese government said Thursday that any claims that the coronavirus was released from a laboratory are “unfounded and purely fabricated out of nothing.” Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang cited the institute’s director, Yuan Zhiming, as saying the lab strictly implements bio-security procedures that would prevent the release of any pathogen. “I would like to point out again that the origin of the virus is a complex scientific issue, and it should be studied by scientists and professionals,” Geng said. The U.S. was providing funding to the Wuhan lab for its research on coronaviruses, Michael Morell, former acting director and deputy director of the CIA, said Thursday. He said State Department cables indicate that there have been concerns in past years among U.S. officials about the safety protocols at that lab. If the virus did escape from a Chinese lab, it not only reflects negatively on China but also on the United States for providing research funding to a lab that has safety concerns, Morell said during an online forum hosted by the Michael V. Hayden Center for Intelligence, Policy and International Security at George Mason University. “So if it did escape, we’re all in this together,” Morell said. “This is not a gotcha for China. This is a gotcha for both of us.” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng also criticized U.S. politicians who have suggested China should be held accountable for the global pandemic, saying they should spend their time on “better controlling the epidemic situation at home.” But another government spokesman, Zhao Lijian, demonstrated that China was not above sowing confusion in the face of the pandemic. He tweeted in March the falsehood that the virus might have come from the U.S. Army. Trump, whose early response to the outbreak has been questioned, also pushed back on news reports that he was repeatedly warned about the virus by intelligence agencies. Trump said he was given the first intelligence briefing in “later January.” Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar also briefed Trump on the threat by phone on Jan. 18.
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NASA Awards US Companies Contracts for Human Moon Landing
The U.S. space agency NASA has awarded contracts to three American companies to develop spacecraft to land humans on the moon by 2024. In a remote news conference Thursday, NASA announced it had selected Blue Origin, the space exploration company owned by Jeff Bezos, owner of The Washington Post, and owner and founder of Amazon; Dynetics, a subsidiary of research company Leidos that is based in the city of Huntsville, Alabama; and SpaceX, based in Hawthorne, California, and owned by businessman Elon Musk. NASA says the companies will compete to design and develop systems for the agency’s Artemis program, which has the goal of landing men and women on the surface of the moon for the first time since the 1970s. The project would also develop systems by 2028 that could be used for people to explore the solar system. NASA’s statement says the three commercial partners will refine their moon lander concepts through February 2021. The agency will evaluate which of the contractors will perform initial demonstration missions, and from those missions, NASA will select the final lunar lander. The Washington Post reports both NASA and the White House must still convince Congress to fund the program, which is projected to cost $35 billion through 2024.
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China Plans to Hold Long-Delayed Leadership Meetings in Late May
China has decided to convene its much-delayed Two Sessions — the annual meetings of the national legislature and the top political advisory body — in late May amid signs that the ruling Communist Party believes it has made strides to contain the COVID-19 outbreak.
Both meetings will be halved to last only one week, with the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) opening on May 21, and the National People’s Congress (NPC) on May 22, state-run Xinhua News Thursday reported.
It remains unclear if some 3,000 lawmakers and 2,000 political advisers from across the country will attend the meetings in person or virtually.
Convening the meetings sends a political signal that China, the country where the pandemic began, has brought the coronavirus under control, observers say.
Challenges ahead
But challenges remain for the top leadership to address the economic fallout from the global pandemic and growing confrontations with foreign powers, including the United States, observers add.
The meetings will set out programs for the continued containment of the pandemic and its economic and social fallout, Steve Tsang, director of SOAS China Institute at the University of London, said in an email to VOA.
Tsang believes there will not be any political fallout to address since President Xi Jinping will be presented as having triumphed and done well against the public health crisis.
That is because both meetings often work as rubber stamps to endorse the top leadership’s policies and thus leave little room to challenge its authority or for free flow of ideas, said Fan Shih-Ping, a professor of political science at National Taiwan Normal University in Taipei.FILE – Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives for the closing session of the National People’s Congress in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, March 15, 2019.Focus on the economy
According to Xinhua News, the Two Sessions will roll out a series of policies and measures to spur development at home and help reactivate the global supply chains and economy.
China will also reconfirm its goal to achieve the building of a moderately prosperous society as slated by 2020, despite the epidemic, Xinhua reported.
The country will further transform external pressure into motivation for deeper reform and opening up and focusing on running China’s affairs well, it added.
Drew Thompson, a visiting senior research fellow at Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore, said the annual meetings are often inward-looking when discussing China’s domestic affairs.
This year, restarting the economy is no doubt the primary focus, in addition to public health issues.
Thompson expects key issues on the agenda will include setting a new economic growth target, down from its previously earmarked 6%; giving a clear guidance of economic priorities; and appropriating resources efficiently without creating any morale hazard while building more infrastructure to improve both consumption and productivity.
He says the goal to build a moderately prosperous society by 2020 will be in doubt and will require adjustments.
Political undercurrents
While the inward-looking meetings provide a venue for Chinese officials to fine-tune their top domestic policies, it is also a time when political undercurrents and key concerns surface, for example, criticism over Xi’s role in China’s initial cover-up of the virus outbreak.
However, as Xi still has firm control of China’s propaganda apparatus, and those who were affected during the outbreak have been marginalized, it looks like “there is no organized opposition to Xi” this year, Thompson said.
“If there’s one weak spot that Xi Jinping has it is that he has not managed foreign relations well. He’s antagonized relationships between China and many other countries, particularly critically important countries. Those relationships have deteriorated, and rivals to Xi Jinping can hold that against him,” he said.FILE – Delegates leave the Great Hall of the People after the closing session of China’s National People’s Congress (NPC) in Beijing, March 15, 2019.Such criticism is echoed within party circles, but not repeated loudly, Thompson noted.
On top of that, China has often looked at foreign affairs as a secondary priority unless they are for the benefit of improving domestic development, which suggests the Xi administration may not need a strong international relationship, according to Thompson.
Fan, of National Taiwan Normal University, agreed that Xi looks set to continue to tighten his grip, as his rivals inside the party’s top echelon have been weakened and are leaderless. And Xi’s firm control of the military helps boost his power.
Desinicization
Fan says the global trend of desinicization is solid and that deteriorating foreign relations will hurt China’s chance of getting international cooperation.
Fan defines the trend as growing anti-China sentiments, a lack of trust in the Communist leadership and negative views toward China’s propaganda campaign.
“I doubt that it will substantially hurt China’s diplomatic relations. But with mutual trust being weakened, there will be limited opportunities for (international) cooperation. Take his One Belt, One Road initiatives as an example. There’s a big challenge ahead, as some African countries may be quitting,” Fan said.
Yuan Nansheng, who formerly served as a Chinese diplomat in India and the United States, warned in an interview with a Beijing-based magazine that the coronavirus pandemic would change the world order and that China, which has enjoyed decades of strategic opportunities, would next experience a certain degree of desinicization.
He said that some Chinese have shown “misguided national pride” in viewing the spread of the virus overseas with a condescending attitude.
Yuan expects the trend of globalization to reverse to a certain degree, further straining U.S.-China relations, although he thinks it is impossible for both economies to decouple.
He also warned that the World Trade Organization, the World Health Organization and other international organizations were likely to weaken and falter, which will allow the U.S. and its allies to establish new global agencies as they distance themselves from China.
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Top Russian Diplomat Dismisses Czech Claims of Poison Plot
Russia’s top diplomat on Thursday angrily dismissed media reports alleging a Russian plot to poison the mayor of Prague and another official in the Czech capital. Prague’s mayor Zdenek Hrib and Zhanna Nemtsova, daughter of Russian opposition figure Boris Nemtsov smile after unveiling a sign renaming the square where the Russian Embassy is located in Prague, Feb. 27, 2020.Respekt weekly said in its latest edition published on Monday that Czech intelligence services suspected a Russian agent was sent to Prague three weeks ago to poison Prague Mayor Zdenek Hrib and Prague 6 mayor Ondrej Kolar. The story was based on anonymous sources. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov ridiculed the claims, saying that the notion that Czech authorities spotted a Russian man with powerful poison ricin and let him through doesn’t make any sense. Czech officials didn’t comment, but Kolar said in a television interview Tuesday that he has been under police protection because of “some facts that have been found, the fact that there’s a Russian here whose goal is to liquidate me.” He added that the alleged assassin was also targeting Hrib and Pavel Novotny, Prague’s Reporyje district mayor. Lavrov scoffed at the allegations. “They found a deadly poison and let him into the country?” he said at Thursday’s briefing. “Would any sound person believe in these fabrications.” Moscow and Prague have been at loggerheads for weeks after Kolar’s district removed the statue of Soviet World War II commander Ivan Konev whose armies liberated Prague from Nazi occupation. Officials in Prague 6 said the statue will be moved to a museum and a new monument honoring the city’s liberation will be installed in its place. The statue’s removal caused outrage in Russia, which has angrily lashed out at any attempts to diminish the nation’s decisive role in defeating the Nazis. Lavrov charged Thursday that the Prague authorities’ action violated a 1993 friendship treaty that carried a Czech pledge to protect memorials to Russian World War II heroes.
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‘Box It In’ — A Plan to Contain COVID-19
New York City’s health department is one of the best in the world. Yet it was overwhelmed by the number of cases of COVID-19. Dr. Tom Frieden, a former NY health commissioner, later the head of the CDC, and now the president of a global program based in New York spoke to VOA’s Carol Pearson.
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19 Uganda LGBT Members Denied Bail After Public Gathering Arrest
A court in Uganda this week rejected bail for 19 members of the LGBT community who were arrested for gathering in public in violation of the coronavirus lockdown. Police arrested the men last month at a shelter for sexual minorities. Their lawyer argues the men, who range in age from 19 to 32, were targeted because of their sexual orientation. Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender activists in Uganda have expressed concern over what they say is a deliberate violation of their community members’ rights. On March 29, police arrested 23 members of an LGBT shelter, the Children of the Sun Foundation, in the town of Kyengera, 10 kilometers southwest of Kampala. Four of the men were released on medical grounds, while the others were presented to court and remanded to prison. On the day of the arrest, the local mayor was videotaped asking the men who their parents were and hitting one of them on the hands with a huge cane. The men were also made to face the camera to reveal their faces.
On Tuesday, Adrian Juuko, a lawyer for activist group Sexual Minorities Uganda, petitioned the High Court in Kampala for an emergency bail application, as the lower court that would hear the case was not operating.
“COVID-19 was used as an excuse to get them remanded to prison. And COVID is still being used as an excuse not to bring them to court. If you look at the letter that was given to us by the prison authorities, they said that, we cannot allow lawyers to access the prison because of the current lockdown due to COVID-19. Now, no one was demanding for physical access; they could have given us access through the telephone. So, that was just an excuse. They are not doing what they are supposed to do, and in the process, they are violating rights,” Juuko said.The defendants have been charged with conducting an act likely to cause the spread of an infectious disease, namely COVID-19, which is caused by the coronavirus.Patrick Onyango, the deputy spokesperson for the Kampala police, said officers made the arrests after local residents complained about the gathering. “They were not being targeted because they are gay. It was the community that saw that these people are violating the presidential directives, and informed police. And these were more than 10; they were 23 in number. So, police had to act according to the directive and according to the law,” Onyango said.Ugandan authorities have outlawed any gathering of more than five people in an effort to stop the spread of the coronavirus, and police have been enforcing the rules, arresting more than 400 people last week for alleged violations.On Monday, the U.N. human rights office said in a statement that any emergency response linked to COVID-19 must be proportionate, necessary and non-discriminatory. They said that in Uganda, authorities are using their emergency powers to act arbitrarily.Frank Mugisha, executive director of Sexual Minorities Uganda, said many LGBT shelters have had to change their policies because of the crackdowns. The shelters sometimes house youths who have been kicked out of their homes by their families. “We’ve only had violations towards LGBT persons especially towards the shelters from local councils and law enforcers in those areas. People have had even to shift or reduce the number of people who were staying in certain shelters because of the law enforcers,” Mugisha said.The 19 men will remain in jail until a court hearing on May 12, unless the High Court grants them bail before then.
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Europe’s Employment Aid Keeps Jobs from Vanishing — for Now
Christian Etchebest’s Parisian bistro is a shadow of its usual bustling self. Five lunch specials sit in neat paper bags on the bar awaiting takeout customers — a tiny fraction of his normal midday business before the coronavirus. A skeleton staff rotates in daily at La Cantine du Troquet near the banks of the Seine River, just blocks from the Eiffel Tower. One day they packaged a streamlined version of his Basque menu: sausages with a celery and beetroot remoulade, mashed potatoes and a dessert of strawberries with lemon sauce. Yet Etchebest isn’t facing bankruptcy — not yet anyway — thanks to a French government program that lets him put staff on reduced hours and makes up most of their lost salary, on the condition they are not fired. That is giving him a chance to keep his team together, awaiting the day when restrictions are lifted and sit-down meals are again allowed at this restaurant and his six others across Paris. Similar programs are keeping hard-hit businesses across Europe afloat, preventing millions of workers from losing their jobs and income for now, and thousands of bosses from seeing their trained staff scatter. Some 11.3 million workers in France are getting up to 84% of net salary. The government estimates the cost at 24 billion euros ($26 billion), with half of all private sector employees expected to take part. FILE – Femke Zimmerman, manager of Brasserie Berlage, a cafe and restaurant nestled in the manicured gardens of The Hague’s historic art deco Kunstmuseum, poses for a portrait as she prepares the restaurant for reopening, April 24, 2020.Femke Zimmermann, manager of Brasserie Berlage in The Hague in the Netherlands, has her eye on re-opening even as she spends most days at home looking after her 1-year-old and 5-year-old sons while the restaurant’s owners pay her with government help. For now, she is not overly worried about losing her job. She stays in contact with her team and asked them to come in to give the restaurant a two-day spring clean. “They hate sitting at home. They want to do something for the business,” she said. Athens waiter George Sakkas, 26, is getting by on a Greek government program that lets businesses suspend workers’ contracts and replaces their pay with a flat stipend of 800 euros ($870). Businesses that take the help cannot fire staff. “The stipend definitely helped,” he said, noting the amount was roughly what he would make anyway. “In the beginning we didn’t know about the stipend, so [the closing] hit us very badly,” he said. “When the stipend arrived it gave us some breathing space.”
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SEALs Tried to Locate US Citizen Taken by Afghan Militants
In the days following the capture of an American contractor in Afghanistan earlier this year, Navy commandos raided a village and detained suspected members of the Taliban-linked Haqqani network while the U.S. intelligence community tried to track the cellphones of the man and his captors, The Associated Press has learned.While the circumstances surrounding the abduction remain unclear, the previously unreported operation described by multiple American officials over the past month shed new light on early efforts to locate Mark R. Frerichs, a contractor from Illinois whose disappearance has been shrouded in mystery and whose case has been the subject of minimal public discussion by the U.S. government.The new details emerge as violence and political infighting in Kabul threaten to scuttle a Taliban peace deal with the U.S. Last month, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo voiced frustrations after a failed attempt to mediate a power struggle between Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and political rival Dr. Abdullah Abdullah. The Trump administration said it would cut $1 billion in aid to Afghanistan.Washington has urged Kabul to release Taliban prisoners, which is part of the peace agreement, arguing the detainees were at risk of spreading the coronavirus.But there are no public indications that Frerichs, a Navy veteran, has been part of negotiations between the U.S. and Taliban leadership or that his release is part of any peace deal.”The Taliban kidnapped my brother in January. In February, the U.S. signed a peace deal with the Taliban. My brother wasn’t part of the deal. Now we are arranging for the Taliban and Afghan government to exchange thousands of prisoners,” Charlene Cakora, one of Frerichs’ sisters, said in a statement provided to the AP. “Why can’t we make an American hostage be one of them?”Frerichs’ father, Art, said in a statement that though he has faith in President Donald Trump and Pompeo, “I just need them to tell their people negotiating with the Taliban that America won’t lift a finger until my son comes home. He’s a veteran. This is America. We don’t leave people behind.”The Pentagon and U.S. Special Operations Command declined to comment on the SEALs’ raid. The rescue effort is being coordinated through the FBI-led, multiagency Hostage Recovery Fusion Cell, which said in a statement that it was working with its partners to ensure “that Mark Frerichs and all Americans held hostage abroad are returned home.” It encouraged anyone with information about the case to come forward.The State Department said it was aware of an American who’d been abducted in Afghanistan.”The welfare, safety and security of Americans is the Trump Administration’s highest priority,” the department said. “The United States will continue to push for the safe return of this and all other U.S citizens through all relevant channels.”A former U.S. national security official who is advising the Frerichs family called on Washington peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad to resolve the situation, saying “he needs to understand from the top that getting an American hostage home is also part of his job. He is aware of Mark’s presence, but it does not appear yet that he understands that he needs to get him home.” The former official insisted on anonymity to speak candidly since the official sometimes works with the Trump administration.U.S. officials believe Frerichs, 57, of Lombard, Illinois, was held for at least some time in Khost, an eastern province along the border with Pakistan and its so-called tribal regions, a mountainous area that has historically been a haven for Taliban and al-Qaeda militants.The former national security official said that Frerichs has been in Afghanistan for about a decade working on commercial projects and was not a U.S. government contractor.”The first 96 hours is crucial,” a senior U.S. government official briefed on the case told the AP on the condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. “If they’re not recovered in the first few days, it becomes harder every minute after.”Though no formal demands are known to have been made, U.S. intelligence officials believe Frerichs was captured by members of the Haqqani network, a militant group aligned with the Taliban in Afghanistan. The Haqqanis have strong links to North Waziristan, a tribal region in Pakistan, south of Afghanistan’s Khost province.The Obama administration designated the Haqqani network as a foreign terrorist organization in 2012 for its ties with the Taliban and the group’s attacks on U.S. military and civilian personnel. Though the Haqqanis are known to carry out assassinations and kidnappings for ransom, Taliban leadership has not acknowledged Frerichs’ capture.”I have not received any information about him,” said a Taliban source who asked not to be named. “There has been no clue despite my contacts with every side to get information.”In November, the Afghan government released three prominent members of the Haqqani network in exchange for an American citizen and an Australian professor abducted in 2016. Pompeo characterized the prisoner swap as a “goodwill gesture.”Rep. Michael Waltz, a Florida Republican and Army veteran who led the teams that searched for Bowe Bergdahl after the Army soldier abandoned his post in 2009 and wound up captured by the Taliban, said the Taliban frequently hides American hostages until they can move them over the border into Pakistan.He said peace deal negotiations should have stopped as soon as the U.S. government learned that Frerichs was missing.”I have real concerns about suggestions that the Taliban are serious about peace, that the Taliban are upholding their end of the deal when — as we speak today — they are holding a former Navy veteran and American citizen hostage that they took, again, during the peace negotiations,” Waltz said in an interview.The search area for Frerichs began in Khost and extended south to the province of Kandahar, according to the senior U.S. government official and a second official at the Defense Department.Members of the elite Naval Special Warfare Development Group, more familiarly known as SEAL Team Six, who were involved in the Frerichs effort had spent late January working to recover the bodies of two American service members who died when their aircraft crash-landed in Ghazni in central Afghanistan, according to the two U.S. officials.The bitter winter weather that limited overhead surveillance of the airplane wreckage by U.S. military drones also worked against officials during the later SEAL operation on the night of Feb. 3. Periods of poor-to-nonexistent visibility ultimately delayed a planned intelligence-gathering operation on a known Taliban location, said the senior U.S. government official, who has direct knowledge of the raid.Once the weather cleared, the SEALs loaded onto helicopters and flew to the undisclosed location. The senior official declined to disclose the exact location of the province for operational security reasons.The senior U.S. government official and the Defense Department source with knowledge of the raid, who also requested anonymity, said the SEAL platoon was not met with any Taliban resistance and that once at the compound, they detained several alleged Haqqani militants and uncovered a weapons cache. It’s not known if the weapons cache was destroyed at the scene or given to Afghan security forces.The suspected Haqqani members were questioned about Frerichs’ whereabouts and ultimately turned over to the Afghan government, according to the senior U.S. government official.On Feb. 4, American intelligence officials received a report that Frerichs had possibly been moved to Quetta, Pakistan, a historical haven for the Taliban, the two officials said. But the information was deemed not credible enough to warrant a special operations mission, according to the senior U.S. government official.The report also conflicted with signals intelligence U.S. officials had at the time. Signals intelligence is information gathered from the electronic signals that are broadcast from devices like portable radios and cellphones. The information can be used to track the movements of individuals or eavesdrop on conversations, known in the spy business as low-level voice intercepts.U.S. intelligence officials continued to receive location pings from the suspected cellphones of Frerichs and his captors, but the trail went cold on Feb. 5, according to the senior U.S. government and Defense Department officials.While the senior U.S. government official would not say where exactly the last location ping for Frerichs came from, the official said it was near where he was captured. The AP was not able to determine how the U.S. intelligence community knew to target these specific cellphones to monitor.”Operationally, the reason why time is critical in a kidnapping is because you can close the distance quicker, ideally immediately or by utilizing sources,” said the senior U.S. government official. “This is not the case right now. He could be two houses down from where he was taken and we would not know.”
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Kim Jong Un’s Absence: What We Know and Why It Matters
North Korea remains silent on the whereabouts and condition of its leader, Kim Jong Un, more than two weeks after he failed to appear at a major celebration in Pyongyang. The silence has helped fuel global rumors that Kim is sick or even dead. VOA’s Bill Gallo explains what we know about Kim’s status and why it matters. Yass Monem and Park Chin contributed.
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Britain Honors Fundraising WWII Vet on 100th Birthday
Britain Thursday went all out to honor the 100th birthday of a World War II veteran who has become a national hero for his $37 million fundraising effort for the nation’s health service.A retired engineer and captain in the British Army during World War II, Tom Moore wanted to do something nice for the National Health Service for the treatment he received after breaking his hip.Earlier this month he started an online campaign, pledging to do 100 laps – using his walker- around his 25-meter yard in exchange for donations. He had hoped to raise about $1,200. Instead, within days, he had raised millions.Since then his effort made “Captain Tom” a British celebrity, and the nation showed its appreciation Thursday.The Royal Air Force sent two World War II-era planes over his home. Congratulatory massages poured in from, among others, Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Prince Charles and England football captain Harry Kane. About 125,000 birthday cards came in from around the world, enough to fill a hall in his grandson’s school.Birthday cards are seen on display at Bedford School ahead of Captain Tom Moore’s 100th birthday in Bedford, Britain, April 28, 2020.And the British Army – with the approval of Queen Elizabeth – gave him an honorary promotion to colonel and replaced a medal he had received for his service but had lost.The Guiness Book of World Records says Moore set a record for most money raised by an individual charity walk.Moore said Thursday he was very moved by the outpouring of gratitude, and for being made an honorary colonel. He said “I’m still Captain Tom, that’s who I really am. But if people choose to call me ‘colonel’, well, thank you very much.”
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Cambodia Rural Clinics Adopt Travel-based COVID-19 Test Strategy
The Samraung Health Center in the Bati district of Takeo province is tucked behind an Acleda Bank branch and opposite the local school. Sitting alone in one of the rooms, Yeu Chhengly is busy on his phone. He runs the health center where to be tested for COVID-19, a person with symptoms must also have a travel history suggesting the likelihood of exposure to the highly contagious and potentially deadly virus believed to have originated in Wuhan, China, late last year. This approach is being applied to the nearly 90,000 Cambodian migrant workers who have returned from Thailand, South Korea and Malaysia since March to celebrate the three-day Cambodian New Year that began April 14 or to avoid COVID-19 travel restrictions. All of these workers were placed in isolation at home, with the Ministry of Health reporting that only 410 returnees were tested for the virus, all returning negative. Unlike many other countries, Cambodia has enough test kits to last until September, according to officials who anticipate availability will increase as global production ramps up. Provincial travel by about 30,000 local garment workers is also being used to flag potential COVID-19 cases. The government canceled the annual Khmer New Year holidays in mid-April because of concerns garment workers from Phnom Penh would travel to the provinces, potentially spreading the virus. This includes travel to hotspots like Sihanoukville, where 31 French tourists and two Cambodian tour guides tested positive for the novel coronavirus in late March. Yeu Chhengly, the health center’s director, is eager to talk about the coronavirus pandemic. As of Monday, Cambodia had 122 confirmed cases and 119 recoveries. The government has recorded no deaths from the coronavirus, and it has been 15 days since a new case was reported. He described 11 Cambodian migrant workers who had returned from Thailand to his commune and how eight of them had finished their 14-day quarantine period. “We educate people that within 14 days if they have coughs, fevers or sore throats they should go to see a doctor, and we will report them to the health department,” Yeu Chhengly said. Yeu Chhengly said the basic health screening, including temperature checks, were limited to those who had returned from abroad, or as the Ministry of Health puts it, “individuals with a recent travel history.” The Roveang Health Center in Takeo province’s Bati district has seen patients with flu-like symptoms but if there was no recent travel history, they were treated as the “normal flu.” (Ananth Baliga/VOA) District residents who had walked in over the past few weeks with coughs and other flulike symptoms, but with no recent travel history, were being treated as having “the normal flu,” Yeu Chhengly said. “Some people are locals living here,” he said. “They cannot be infected because they are local, they just have the normal flu. We only report based on the patients’ [travel] history.” Yeu Chhengly says that while it is hard to make an assessment of which cases were the flu and which were COVID-19, he emphasized to VOA Khmer reporters that these procedures were working effectively. Takeo province had no confirmed positive cases, he said. His assertion ties in with the government’s narrative that cases in Cambodia have been linked to foreigners or citizens returning from overseas, which lets officials dismiss claims that there could be local clusters or community transmissions involving Cambodian citizens. Worldwide, as countries contemplate emerging from lockdowns to restart their economies, experts see widespread testing for COVID-19 as a crucial steppingstone because knowing where the virus is spreading is key to relaxing social distancing and returning to a more normal life. “I’ve mentioned many times the very important thing is testing, testing, testing,” the World Health Organization’s director in Cambodia, Dr. Ai Lilan, said April 13. She praised Cambodia’s efforts in dealing with the 122 positive cases recorded so far but said Cambodia needed to create its own testing strategy. The Cambodian Health Ministry has not been very clear about the country’s testing strategy. FILE – A member of the non-profit Cambodian Children’s Fund sprays disinfectant to help curb the spread of the new coronavirus in the slum neighborhood of Stung Meanchey in southern Phnom Penh, Cambodia, March 24, 2020.On April 27, the Ministry of Health said it had conducted 11,576 tests since Cambodia’s first confirmed case was identified on January 27, with some 7,500 people having been tested so far. In the seven-day period preceding April 27, Cambodia conducted 1,784 tests, officials said. Cambodia has the capacity to perform 600 tests a day in facilities at the Institute Pasteur du Cambodge and National Institute of Public Health. Early on, the ministry believed that most cases in Cambodia were imported and tested only people with a history of travel outside the country, as well as those identified through contact tracing. FILE – Students line up to sanitize their hands to avoid the contact of coronavirus before their morning class at a high school in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Jan. 28, 2020.After a few recent cases emerged in Phnom Penh, Health Minister Mam Bunheng suggested that it was likely there was small-scale community transmission in the capital. Even with provincial travel, only the 30,000 workers are being screened for COVID-19 symptoms, though movement between the provinces has resumed after the holidays. Cambodia could soon have no confirmed, active cases, according to Health Ministry statistics, which could prompt the authorities to consider removing restrictions placed on businesses, educational activities and the general public. However, there is skepticism over the government’s COVID-19 case tally and testing strategies, according to comments posted on social media. Back in Takeo’s Bati district, Chea Sreng has roped off access to his office at the Roveang Health Center where he is the director. Much like his colleague at the Samraung Health Center, Chea Sreng is focused on the Ministry of Health guidelines, saying it was unwise to diverge from them. When people come to his health center with flulike symptoms, he recommends COVID-19 testing merely for those with travel histories. For now, he is focused on returning migrant workers. If there is no recent travel history, he said, doctors will check for other respiratory diseases, like tuberculosis, but not for the novel coronavirus. “Those who are without travel histories but are having such symptoms, they have the normal flu,” he said. “Only if migrant workers are having suspected symptoms should that, then, be tested.”
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Australia-China Tensions Over Call for Global COVID-19 Probe
An extraordinary diplomatic dispute is intensifying between Australia and China over the new coronavirus. Canberra wants an international investigation into the source of COVID-19 and its spread, a move that has infuriated Beijing.China has rejected criticism from other governments about how it handled the outbreak of COVID-19. The highly contagious and deadly new coronavirus is thought to have originated at an animal market in Wuhan, a large city in China’s Hubei province.Australia is pushing for an international investigation into the origins of the disease, and how and why it became a global pandemic.While the idea is likely to have support from U.S. President Donald Trump, France and Britain have said now is the time to fight the virus, not to look for who to blame.Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, though, says the world deserves answers on the deadly COVID-19 outbreak.“Australia will continue to, of course, pursue what is a very reasonable and sensible course of action,” he said. “It has shut down the global economy. It would seem entirely reasonable and sensible that the world would want to have an independent assessment of how this all occurred so we can learn the lessons and prevent it from happening again.”China sees the inquiry as a political witch hunt, orchestrated by the U.S. and designed to humiliate Beijing. Its ambassador to Canberra has hinted at retaliation and a boycott of Australian products and universities, described by a senior Australian government minister as “threats of economic coercion.”However, Long Zhou, China’s consul general in the state of Victoria, said Beijing has acted in good faith over the COVID-19 pandemic.“China has attached great importance to international health cooperation,” he said. “The Chinese government has released information related to the COVID-19 in (an) open, transparent and responsible manner.”Some experts believe Australia’s relationship with China, already strained with allegations of political meddling and cyber espionage, is now at its lowest point since diplomatic ties were established in 1972.Australia has much to lose. China is its biggest trading partner, and its demand for natural resources has helped to underpin its recent prosperity. Before Australia closed its borders because of the COVID-19 outbreak, Chinese travelers and students were also important to the success of its tourism and higher education sectors.
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US Federal Coronavirus Guidelines ‘Fading Out’ as Focus Turns to Reopening
The Trump administration is not planning to extend federal coronavirus social distancing guidelines that expire Thursday, instead focusing on working with states to reopen the country.Individual state governors are deciding when and at what pace to relax restrictions on non-essential businesses and group gatherings and calls for people to stay home.Trump said Wednesday that the federal guidelines first issued in mid-March will be “fading out,” while his administration consults with governors on their plans.Health officials have cautioned about moving too quickly toward Trump’s desired “return to normal,” saying that doing so risks new waves of infections.Many states are either already starting to allow more businesses to operate with social distancing guidelines such as extra space between restaurant tables, while others have announced plans to begin easing lockdown orders in the coming weeks.California Governor Gavin Newsom is set to order his state’s beaches and parks to close on Friday after tens of thousands of people defied stay-at-home orders last weekend.Newsom has said he will only consider relaxing statewide restrictions when a number of milestones are met, such as declining case numbers for two weeks and the widespread availability of testing so officials can quickly isolate the infected and test those who have been in close contact.Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said Wednesday that the city is expanding its testing sites to welcome anyone who wants a test.”If you think you might have COVID-19, want the reassurance that you don’t, you’ve been around people that you have seen with symptoms, get a test. We can do it,” Garcetti said.Trouble in SyriaDiscussions about relaxing lockdown orders are taking place in many other countries, including Japan, where Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Thursday his government is consulting experts about whether to extend a state of emergency that is set to expire next week.Japan has about 14,000 confirmed cases, and Abe said the situation remains “severe.”Finland is the latest European country to announce plans to reopen schools. Beginning May 14, students will return with new rules that include fewer students in a classroom and avoiding groups in communal areas.While parts of the world focus on emerging from the worst of their coronavirus outbreaks, there remains great concern about parts of the world that are just beginning to see worse effects, especially those already hampered by conflict.U.N. humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock told the Security Council there are 44 confirmed cases and four deaths in Syria, a country he said cannot be expected “to cope with a crisis that is challenging even the wealthiest nations.”In Yemen, health officials reported the country’s first two coronavirus deaths as well as a cluster of new cases in the southern port city of Aden that has been a focal point in a five-year civil war.The number of COVID-19 cases worldwide stood at 3.2 million Thursday with more than 227,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University statistics.
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Lesotho Prime Minister Loses Bid to Get Immunity from Prosecution in Ex-Wife’s Killing
The head of Lesotho’s ruling party turned down Prime Minister Thomas Thabane’s demands for immunity from prosecution in connection with the shooting death of his former wife in the southern African kingdom.The decision by the leader of the All Basotho Convention (ABC) party is the latest in a week of setbacks for the 80-year-old embattled leader, who is facing pressure to resign before the end of July, as he promised.Earlier this week, a magistrate ruled that Lesotho’s high court will decide if Thabane can claim immunity from a charge that he murdered his former wife.Also this week, the Senate modified the constitution, limiting the prime minister’s powers to dissolve parliament and call fresh elections.A leader of the opposition party, the Democratic Congress (DC), Motlalentoa Letsosa, told the French News Agency (AFP ) that Thabane has run out of options and the only thing that’s left for him is to leave.Thabane recently rejected an offer by Lesotho’s coalition government and South African mediators to step down with a dignified retirement.Police charged Thabane’s wife, first lady Maesaiah Thabane, with the murder of his previous wife, Lipolelo Thabane, outside her home in Maseru, Lesotho’s capital, just before his June 2017 inauguration.
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US Defunding of WHO Could Lead to Increase in Disabilities, Experts Say
Millions could face increased risk of acquiring debilitating and life-threatening diseases if the United States permanently withdraws from the World Health Organization, experts contacted by VOA said.U.S. President Donald Trump’s said this month he was suspending U.S. payments to the WHO, accusing it of FILE – A girl shows her ink-marked finger after having a polio vaccine in Lahore, Pakistan, Dec. 16, 2019.The WHO reports that new polio cases worldwide have dropped 99 percent since 1988, but it warns that endemic viral transmissions in Afghanistan and Pakistan still could infect around 200,000 people each year without preventative measures.Jerome Kim, director general of the Seoul-based International Vaccine Institute, which collaborates with the WHO on some disease prevention programs, said a U.S. withdrawal from the WHO would create shortfalls across the board, including projects to mitigate infectious diseases that could cause disability.“One of the reasons you use vaccines is to prevent these problems,” Kim said.Kim said that, as a coordinating body, the WHO works with member nations to implement vaccination projects and offers technical expertise that is essential for many small developing countries without adequate health care systems.The organization also advises on treatment for congenital or chronic conditions that cause disability and provides guidance on technology and rehabilitation services.In the case of a U.S. withdrawal, the WHO might need to “prioritize what they can and cannot fund,” which could “increase difficulties for people with disabilities,” Kim said.He added that COVID-19 also has the potential to cause lasting impairments brought on from strokes and lung damage.U.S. President Donald Trump speaks about the coronavirus in the Rose Garden of the White House, on April 27, 2020, in Washington, D.C.The Trump administration accuses the WHO of enabling China to cover up the initial outbreak of the new coronavirus, which is believed to have first appeared late last year in Wuhan.The White House says it will suspend funding for up to 90 days while a review of American support for the WHO is underway.According to data available on the WHO’s budget web portal, the U.S. assessed contribution was nearly $237,000 in 2019, the largest membership fee paid of any country. Washington also pledged an additional $73 million to fund projects, including polio eradication, access to health services, and vaccine-preventable diseases.The WHO did not respond to VOA’s request for comment on this story.Adam Kamradt-Scott a global health security expert at the University of Sydney, said that “China will have to answer” for why it waited several weeks to notify the WHO about the first reported coronavirus infections in Wuhan instead of the mandated 24-hour period.“That’s not to say there aren’t problems with the WHO,” he adds.He said because member countries compete for influence and resources within the organization, the WHO is “inherently political” but said that based on its structure, it acted “appropriately and (in a) timely (fashion)” in addressing the emergence of COVID-19.“President Trump’s attacks on the WHO are an attempt to divert attention away from his own administration’s failure to contain the outbreak,” he said.Kamradt-Scott said that if the U.S. withdraws from the WHO, it could lead to the “rapid deescalation and demobilization of several major global health programs.”Without other members stepping in to “fill the gap” left by the United States, he said the deficit could cause an increase in preventable disabilities as well as cost lives mainly in the “most poor and vulnerable” communities.
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Trump says China Wants Him to Lose Reelection Bid
President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he believes China’s handling of the coronavirus is proof that Beijing “will do anything they can” to make him lose his re-election bid in November.In an interview with Reuters in the Oval Office, Trump talked tough on China and said he was looking at different options in terms of consequences for Beijing over the virus. “I can do a lot,” he said.Trump has been heaping blame on China for a global pandemic that has killed at least 60,000 people in the United States according to a Reuters tally, and thrown the U.S. economy into a deep recession, putting in jeopardy his hopes for another four-year term.The Republican president, often accused of not acting early enough to prepare the United States for the spread of the virus, said he believed China should have been more active in letting the world know about the coronavirus much sooner.Asked whether he was considering the use of tariffs or even debt write-offs for China, Trump would not offer specifics. “There are many things I can do,” he said. “We’re looking for what happened.””China will do anything they can to have me lose this race,” said Trump. He said he believes Beijing wants his Democratic opponent, Joe Biden, to win the race to ease the pressure Trump has placed on China over trade and other issues.”They’re constantly using public relations to try to make it like they’re innocent parties,” he said of Chinese officials.’I don’t believe the polls’Trump went on to say during the interview Wednesday that he does not believe opinion polls that show Biden leading in the 2020 race for the White House.He said he did not expect the election to be a referendum on his handling of the coronavirus pandemic and added he was surprised the former vice president was doing well.”I don’t believe the polls,” Trump said. “I believe the people of this country are smart. And I don’t think that they will put a man in who’s incompetent.”He said the trade deal that he concluded with Chinese President Xi Jinping aimed at reducing chronic U.S. trade deficits with China had been “upset very badly” by the economic fallout from the virus.A senior Trump administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said on Wednesday that an informal “truce” in the war of words that Trump and Xi essentially agreed to in a phone call in late March now appeared to be over.The two leaders had promised that their governments would do everything possible to cooperate to contain the coronavirus. In recent days, Washington and Beijing have traded increasingly bitter recriminations over the origin of the virus and the response to it.However, Trump and his top aides, while stepping up their anti-China rhetoric, have stopped short of directly criticizing Xi, who the U.S. president has repeatedly called his “friend.”’We had the greatest economy in history’Trump also said South Korea has agreed to pay the United States more money for a defense cooperation agreement but would not be drawn out on how much.”We can make a deal. They want to make a deal,” Trump said. “They’ve agreed to pay a lot of money. They’re paying a lot more money than they did when I got here” in January 2017.The United States stations roughly 28,500 troops in South Korea, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War that ended in an armistice, rather than a peace treaty.Trump is leading a triage effort to try to keep the U.S. economy afloat through stimulus payments to individuals and companies while nudging state governors to carefully reopen their states as new infections decline.Trump sounded wistful about the strong economy that he had enjoyed compared with now, when millions of people have lost their jobs and GDP is faltering.”We were rocking before this happened. We had the greatest economy in history,” he said.He said he is happy with the way many governors are operating under the strain of the virus but said some need to improve. He would not name names.Trump’s handling of the virus has come under scrutiny. Forty-three percent of Americans approved of Trump’s handling of the coronavirus, according to the Reuters/Ipsos poll from April 27-28.But there was some good coronavirus news, as Gilead Sciences Inc said its experimental antiviral drug remdesivir was showing progress in treating virus victims.Trump has also seeking an accelerated timetable on development of a vaccine.”I think things are moving along very nicely,” he said.At the end of the half-hour interview, Trump offered lighthearted remarks about a newly released Navy video purportedly showing an unidentified flying object. “I just wonder if it’s real,” he said. “That’s a hell of a video.”
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Knowledge About North Korea’s Kim is Limited, but Crucial
New rumors about Kim Jong Un pour in daily. The North Korean leader is dead. Or he’s very ill. Or maybe he’s just recuperating in his luxury compound, or isolating himself from the coronavirus.As speculation about his health builds, an underlying question looms for professional spies, policymakers, academics and curious news consumers alike.What do we really know about the man who leads North Korea?The answer is crucial because Kim’s intentions, and the as-yet-unknown state of his health, play an outsized role in the workings of Northeast Asia, an uneasy collection of wary neighbors at the best of times and home to two of the three biggest economies in the world and a huge buildup of American military machinery and manpower.Sandwiched amid goliaths, North Korea is a small, impoverished, extraordinarily proud nation that through sheer force of will — and a relentless cult of personality built around a single family — has been at the center of a half-century security headache for its neighbors.No matter how successful China, South Korea and Japan become — and their transformation from war, poverty and domestic infighting into political and economic might has been spectacular — North Korea and its single-minded pursuit of nuclear-tipped missiles meant to protect the Kim family has made itself impossible to ignore, holding the region and Washington hostage to its narrow ambitions.The disappearanceThere’s not much to go on here despite the building media coverage.Some unconfirmed news reports say Kim is in fragile condition or even a vegetative state following heart surgery.The South Korean government, however, maintains that Kim still appears to be in power and that there have been no signs that something big has happened in North Korea.What’s uncontested is that Kim hasn’t appeared in public since an April 11 meeting focused on the coronavirus. This sort of vanishing act has happened before, but what has set rumors ablaze now is that for the first time as leader he missed the most important holiday of the North Korean year, the April 15 celebration of his grandfather’s birth.There have been no photographs and no videos of the leader in nearly three weeks, only state media reports of him sending written greetings to world leaders or citizens of merit.The manThose looking to understand Kim face a problem. Much of what the outside world sees is filtered through relentless North Korean propaganda meant to build him into an infallible paragon of leadership.Add to that vaguely sourced or misleading outside media reports and the extreme difficulty of cracking North Korea’s ultra-secrecy surrounding anything to do with the leader, and the picture that emerges of Kim is often more mosaic than profile.In South Korea, he is seen as both demon and statesman. He has repeatedly threatened to burn Seoul to the ground. He has also rolled out the red carpet for a visit to Pyongyang, North Korea’s capital, by South Korea’s president and sent his own sister south for the 2018 Olympics.In the West, portrayals of Kim often run to caricature. His broken friendship with Dennis Rodman, the former basketball star he reportedly idolized as a schoolboy; the rumors about his extreme love of cheese and his allegedly creative ways of disposing of officials who displease him.Then there’s the stunning series of summits over the last two years with the leaders of Russia, China, the United States and South Korea.Kim was likely born in 1984 and attended boarding school for several years in Switzerland. Early on, some observers argued that his time in the West would lead him to eventually embrace Chinese-style reforms.That has not happened so far, though he has taken a markedly different approach to leadership than his publicity-shy father, Kim Jong Il, who died in 2011.Outside governments and experts initially questioned the ability of a man then in his 20s to lead, but Kim Jong Un quickly consolidated power. He ordered the 2013 execution of his uncle and mentor, Jang Song Thaek, who was accused of treason. Kim is also suspected of ordering the assassination of his estranged half brother, and potential rival, at a Malaysian airport in 2017.Kim has shown a growing confidence on the world stage, most clearly with the high-stakes diplomacy that followed a run of nuclear and missile tests in 2017 that had many fearing war.The sight of a North Korean leader meeting with his South Korean and U.S. rivals was extraordinary, though it’s not yet clear whether the diplomacy will settle an uneasy region.Kim entered 2020 vowing to bolster his nuclear deterrent in the face of “gangster-like” U.S. economic sanctions, and he supervised a series of weapons launches and military drills in March.Much of what happens now will depend on Kim’s health.North Korea, despite its poverty, has long commanded world attention because of its sustained, belligerent pursuit of what it calls self-defensive measures in response to U.S. hostility — and what critics call an illegal accumulation of nuclear bombs.There’s debate about whether North Korea ever intended to give up its nuclear weapons during the summits with Washington and Seoul. But the diplomacy seems inconceivable without Kim.That raises fears, during a potential moment of massive political instability, of a return to threats and increasingly powerful weapons tests meant to perfect the nuclear weapons seen as the only real guarantee of the Kim family’s power.
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US Asks Mexico for Help to Investigate Oil-for-food Pact with Venezuela
The U.S. State Department, the Treasury Department and the U.S. Embassy in Mexico are investigating at least two Mexican firms involved in an oil-for-food pact signed in 2019 with Venezuela’s government, U.S. officials said on Wednesday. Mexico-based Libre Abordo and an affiliated company, Schlager Business Group, have since late 2019 taken millions of barrels of Venezuelan oil for resale in Asia in exchange for corn and water trucks provided to Venezuela. The deal has thrown a lifeline to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro as Washington tightens punitive measures against his administration as part of a “maximum-pressure” strategy to oust him after critics decried his 2018 re-election as a sham. Because the agreement was signed in mid-2019 after U.S. sanctions were imposed on Venezuela’s state-run oil company, PDVSA, the United States is asking Mexico’s government for help on the probe, according to the officials. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks at a news conference at the State Department, April 29, 2020, in Washington.”We have inquired with the Mexican government. We are hopeful they will work with us,” U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a call with journalists. The content of the call was first reported by Mexico’s Reforma newspaper. In the same call, the U.S. special envoy for Venezuela, Elliott Abrams, said Washington had expressed its worry to the Mexican government over the deal as many firms involved in the trade of Venezuelan oil are fake or phantom companies. Pompeo and Abrams did not disclose the companies’ names. But a senior U.S. official told reporters last week the government was looking closely at a program involving Libre Abordo and affiliated firms. “Those companies are clearly shells. … They are surrounded by a veil of shadiness and secrecy,” he said. Libre Abordo told Reuters in a written response on Wednesday that its oil-for-food pact with Venezuela had been revised and supervised by legal experts to make sure it did not violate U.S. sanctions. “We can totally guarantee that the humanitarian aid contract signed with PDVSA fulfills all requirements to avoid any sanctions by the U.S. government,” it said, adding that no cash or financing for the Venezuelan government was involved. “We are open to verification by authorities,” it said. Managed by Mexican nationals Veronica Esparza and Olga Zepeda, Libre Abordo and Schlager Business Group have so far taken 24 million barrels of crude and fuel, according to PDVSA’s export schedules seen by Reuters, becoming the largest intermediaries of Venezuelan oil. The first shipment of water trucks agreed to as part of the exchange arrived in a Venezuelan port earlier this month.
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International Students Say Recent Immigration Executive Order Adds to Anxiety
The U.S. government’s recent executive order to suspend the issuance of Lawful Permanent Resident permits (green cards) has left international students at U.S. colleges and universities uncertain about their enrollment and future plans.Though the decision does not directly affect student visas, it left open the option to review nonimmigrant programs “within 30 days of the effective date of this proclamation” and could recommend “other measures to stimulate the United States economy” (during the COVID-19 crisis).Student visas are under the nonimmigrant visa category issued to foreign nationals seeking to enter the United States on a temporary basis.Athiyah Azum, a journalism student at the University of Maryland who graduates in May, said she applied for Optional Practical Training (OPT) but is worried her paperwork will not be processed before her visa expires.“When I apply for jobs, it’s very much like putting on my cover letter, ‘You don’t have to sponsor me.’ I have work authorization that should be kicking [in] by June 1, just because I’m banking on it,” she told VOA.OPT legally allows college graduates with student visas to stay in the United States and work in their field of study for up to three years.Azum, a former intern at VOA, explained that though the executive order does not affect students like her, it adds to the anxiety.“I get the news alert that [President Donald] Trump is going to come up with an executive order to temporarily ban immigration, I’m just, like, ‘What do I do? … Can I stay? What’s going to happen?’ ” she said.According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the agency responsible for administering the nation’s legal immigration system, offices will reopen on June 4, but the USCIS staff has continued to perform duties that do not involve face-to-face contact with the public.’Absolute unmitigated disaster’For more than a month, the U.S. government has stopped processing all nonimmigrant visas, flights have been canceled, immigration offices are closed and schools are hosting their classes online.Rebecca Hamlin, graduate admissions chair at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, said concerns have been ongoing about international students since no one can apply to enter the country, even students already accepted at U.S. institutions.“We’ve been having calls about this and conversations about this for the past month, about whether or not the students that we had admitted for fall 2020 are going to be able to come. And so far, we just don’t know the answer,” she said.Hamlin said having an executive order covering nonimmigrant visas is an “absolute unmitigated disaster for higher education in this country.”The higher education industry in the U.S. faced documented evidence of daunting competition from other countries in 2018 that offer lower tuition, immigration pathways and less controversy for international students.Online publication Inside Higher Ed reports an estimated 15 percent drop in overall student enrollment in the next academic year, including a 25 percent decline in international student enrollment. The findings could mean a loss of $23 billion in revenue.TheChronicle of Higher Education reports that even though colleges are taking steps to offset deep revenue losses, universities have furloughed hundreds of employees and announced revenue hits of more than $100 million. Small campuses may suffer the most or not recover at all from the financial challenges of COVID-19.According to the Institute of International Education’s (IIE) annual Open Doors report, there were 1.1 million international students (5.5 percent of all students) among 19.8 million total students in institutions of higher education in the U.S. for the 2018-19 school year.China sent the most students — 369,548, or 33.7 percent of all foreign students. India sent 202,014, the second-largest number, or 18.4 percent of all foreign students.“One of the unfortunate aspects of this is that we can’t even offer a remote option for students whose student visa has not been processed in time,” Hamlin said. “Because even though they would not be physically trying to enter the United States, if they were taking classes remotely from their home country, they can’t be an officially enrolled student and take classes for a grade until their student visa has been processed.”After OPTAzum hopes the work the USCIS staff is doing during the COVID-19 crisis means her OPT application will be finalized by June.“After OPT, I’m really hoping I will work as much as I can to make sure that I am continually employed under OPT. Then, after gaining work experience, I’m able to apply for an H-1B next year,” she said.An H-1B visa allows for temporary employment among nonimmigrants. Immigration lawyers say becoming an H-1B holder is a natural progression for international students.Rosanna Berardi, an immigration lawyer from Buffalo, New York, said most of her clients who applied for H-1B visas were international students.“They are really going to be shut out, because if you’re not able to get an H-1B after your student status expires, you have to return to your home country,” she said.According to the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), students who are not able to keep their visa status have 60 days to return to their home country.“Some have been here for six years,” Berardi said. “They did their bachelor’s degree and then a master’s program. … These are people that I love being in immigration because they’re just chasing the American dream. They’re doing it lawfully, respectfully. They’re paying the government their fees. They’re paying their taxes.”
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Taiwan Pro-Independence Group Calls for Drafting of New Constitution
A pro-independence group in Taiwan is calling for a referendum on a controversial topic, the drafting of a new constitution. The group, which was founded by former presidential adviser Koo Kwang-ming, a longtime advocate of Taiwan’s independence, calls for the referendum to be held in August. Beijing claims democratically ruled Taiwan is part of its territory and has already voiced its objection to the proposal, warning that such “separatist activities” were a “dead end.” The call for a new constitution was also met by a backlash online in China, and Taiwan’s opposition Nationalist Party or Kuomintang also voiced its objection to any push toward independence. According to Koo Kwang-ming’s Taiwan New Constitution Foundation (TNC), the referendum has already gathered more than 3,000 signatures for the two proposals, surpassing the threshold of 1,931 required by law. The group says the proposed referendum will ask voters two questions: “Do you support the president in initiating a constitutional reform process for Taiwan?” And “Do you support the president in pushing for the establishment of a new constitution that reflects the current realities of Taiwan?” Time for change?Lin Yi-cheng, the executive director of the Taiwan New Constitution Foundation, told VOA that after 30 years of democratization, it is time to resolve Taiwan’s national identity and shift its position on the world stage. “Thirty years ago, only 13% of people regarded themselves as Taiwanese and non-Chinese. In 2020, that number has climbed to 83%,“ he said. Lin noted that the current constitution of the Republic of China (Taiwan’s official name), was adopted before Kuomintang leader Chiang Kai-shek fled China to Taiwan. The KMT lost a civil war to the Communist Party of China and relocated to Taiwan in 1949. Drawn up in 1946, the constitution puts China and Taiwan under the jurisdiction of the Republic of China, while in reality the two sides have been separately ruled for more than 60 years, he said. Under Taiwan’s Referendum Act, the process for holding a referendum involves three stages: a proposal, endorsement and voting. The endorsement stage requires a minimum of 290,000 signatures in less than six months. And if the referendum is held, 50% turnout of qualified voters is required for the referendum to be valid. That means at least a quarter of the population (5 million voters) have to cast “yes” votes for the referendum to be adopted. Strong responseThe proposals have attracted a strong response from China’s Taiwan Affairs Office. Taiwan Affairs Office spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian called efforts to push for “Taiwan independence” a historical backflow and a dead end. “The separatist activities will only push Taiwan into an extremely dangerous abyss and bring profound disaster to the vast number of Taiwan people,” Zhu said. On China’s tightly controlled social media networks netizens left threatening messages, with some urging China to use the opportunity to take military action. One said: “This is forcing us to unite the country by force!” Another read: “I hope they can push for the referendum so we have a reason to accelerate the unification process.” In Taiwan, the opposition KMT voiced its objections as well. A spokesperson for the party told VOA that while the party respects the public’s right to hold referendums, on the issue of establishing a new constitution, it has long supported the peaceful development of relations with China and opposition to Taiwan independence. Request for respect Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council issued a written statement, pointing out that “the referendum is a manifestation of the political rights and direct public opinion that Taiwan citizens deserve,” and urged Communist authorities in China to respect such rights. Wong Ming-hsien, an international relations professor with Taiwan’s Tamkang University, told VOA that since President Tsai Ing-wen emphasizes maintaining the status quo of the cross-strait relations, it’s unlikely that she will publicly support the hardline camp move. In addition, Wong said, the majority of Taiwan people do not want to trigger a war with China, which will likely reduce the momentum for the constitutional referendum.
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Guinea-Bissau PM, Three in Cabinet Test Positive for COVID-19
Guinea-Bissau’s Prime Minister Nuno Gomes Nabiam has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, as have three members of his cabinet, the health ministry said Wednesday.Nabiam, Interior Minister Botche Cande and two other ministers were diagnosed Tuesday and have been quarantined at a hotel in the capital, Bissau, Health Minister Antonio Deuna told journalists.He did not provide details of the officials’ condition or treatment, but warned the country’s rate of infection could rise.The West African nation has so far confirmed more than 70 cases and one death, that of a senior police commissioner.
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