At least five women and children died Saturday in a stampede when cash and clothes were handed out to thousands of displaced people in northeastern Nigeria, militia and local people told AFP.A large crowd surged forward for the government aid distribution and people were trampled under foot in the town of Gamboru, near the Cameroon border, a region hit by jihadist violence.”Five dead bodies, four women and a little girl, were brought to the hospital along with seven injured,” a medical source said at the hospital.”We learned that [other] bodies were identified and claimed by relations from the scene,” the source added without specifying how many.However, Umar Kachalla, who heads a local anti-jihadist militia force, said: “There was a crush, which led to the death of 12 women and children and left seven with severe injuries.”Some of the dead were taken to hospital and others were claimed at the site of the stampede, he added.Handouts at schoolThousands of women had gathered at a primary school for handouts of $13 and clothing supplied by Borno state Governor Babagana Umara Zulum.”There was a stampede as the distribution was about to start” in the morning, said local resident Yahaya Bukar, who also counted 12 dead.Gamboru, a border trading hub, has been repeatedly targeted by Boko Haram insurgents since August 2014, when the jihadists seized the town along with nearby Ngala.Nigerian soldiers retook both places a year later with the help of Chadian troops after a series of offensives that lasted months.Residents returned to both towns but 70,000 live in squalid camps at Gamboru and rely on food aid from international charities.Fourteen people died Friday and 15 were badly hurt in a blaze in the town’s main camp.The insurrection has killed 36,000 people and displaced 1.8 million from their homes in the northeast. The violence has spread to neighboring Niger, Chad and Cameroon.
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Month: April 2020
Myanmar Clashes Take Heavy Toll on Ethnic Groups in Rakhine, Chin States
The U.N. human rights office is calling for an end to escalating clashes between Myanmar’s army and the ethnic armed group known as the Arakan Army in Rakhine and Chin states as civilian casualties rise.The conflict is playing out against the backdrop of the recent deaths of dozens of Rohingya refugees and hundreds of others stranded at sea for two months after fleeing persecution in Myanmar.The fatalities at sea are not specifically related to the fighting between the Myanmar army and Arakan Army armed group. But observers say it is symptomatic of the persecution and discrimination against ethnic minorities that have provoked armed rebellion against the government for years.U.N. human rights spokesman Rupert Colville said Friday that the current spike in violence between the government and rebels was affecting civilians of all ethnic groups living in Rakhine and neighboring Chin state, including Rohingya, Chin, Mro, Daignet and others.“Myanmar’s military has been carrying out almost daily airstrikes and shelling in populated areas resulting in at least 32 deaths and 71 injuries since the 23rd of March, and the majority of those were women and children,” he said. “They have also been destroying and burning schools and homes.”Colville said the warring parties had ignored U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ call for a global cease-fire during the COVID-19 pandemic. He said the current dire situation was further complicated by the government’s internet blackout since June 2019, the longest in the world, in nine townships across Rakhine and Chin states.”This blackout has greatly hampered the availability of reliable public information on hygiene, physical distancing precautions and other preventative measures,” Colville said. “Internet restrictions have also been applied by the Bangladesh authorities to the Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar.”The U.N. human rights office is calling on the Myanmar government to immediately lift the internet ban and grant humanitarian access to all conflict-affected areas. U.N. officials warn failure to do so will worsen the suffering of civilians and hamper efforts to fight the deadly COVID-19 pandemic.
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Zimbabwe Marks Independence Anniversary Amid COVID-19 Lockdown
Zimbabwe on Saturday marked the 40th anniversary of its independence from Britain, but unlike years past, there were no celebrations. Zimbabwe is on lockdown and battling the spread of COVID-19 amid shortages of resources.Some citizens say that even if there were no coronavirus pandemic, they would be in no mood to party. Their reasons vary.President Emmerson Mnangagwa delivered a televised address Saturday from the State House instead of the traditional way – in person in a football stadium.“This year, we had planned to celebrate this grand occasion, in Bulawayo province,” he said. “However, the reality of the COVID-19 pandemic is seeing us endure a necessary lockdown in our homes. Although we are physically separated, we are united in spirit.”The time to celebrate together shall come. … Today, our task, in relation to COVID-19, is to stay at home, keep our distance and wash our hands. We celebrate our milestone 40th independence anniversary in the context of unprecedented times, that of the threat brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.”UncertaintyTo date, Zimbabwe has recorded 24 cases and three deaths. Some citizens, like computer science student Raphael Maramba, 23, say the pandemic has led to uncertainty about the future.“I am feeling independent but just stressed over the corona[virus] thing,” he said. “We do know what happens after Independence [Day]. We will go back to school or lockdown extension. If there was no corona[virus] I would be happy. This corona[virus] thing is affecting my studies. If I do not go back to school this year, it means I will have a year extension. So, it will not [be] good for me.”A 33-year-old woman who wished to be identified only as Rutendo cited financial challenges and a lack of upward mobility for not wanting to celebrate the anniversary.“Personally, I am not independent and I am not happy, because it has been a struggle since my adulthood until now,” she said. “We talk about financial freedom, but it is happening to a few elite. Most of us are still struggling. So, independence is just a word. If you are not connected, then you continue with the struggle. Hard work does not matter if you are not connected.”FILE – Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa speaks in Minsk, Belarus, Jan. 17, 2019.Mnangagwa took power in November 2017, succeeding the late, long-serving leader Robert Mugabe. Mnangagwa promised to address corruption, human rights abuses and economic problems that his predecessor had been accused of ignoring. Some critics say Mnangagwa has failed to deliver on his promises.Tabani Moyo, head of the Media Institute of Southern Africa in Zimbabwe, says the Mnangagwa government, like the previous one, has not respected press freedoms.Too much ‘entitlement’“We have gone for a good decade without alternative means of expression,” Moyo said. “Even if there was no lockdown, chances are that we were going to be mourning as we commemorate this day. Unfortunately, and sadly, there is too much level of entitlement among the generation that brought independence. That sense of entitlement erodes the cornerstones of the freedom of expression and access to information that the country yearns for.”Ahead of the anniversary, police told the High Court that the state broadcaster was the only news medium to be considered an essential service during the lockdown, which ends Sunday after 21 days.
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Hong Kong Police Arrest 15 Veteran Pro-Democracy Figures
Hong Kong police Saturday arrested 15 prominent democracy activists on charges of illegal assembly in the biggest crackdown on the semiautonomous city’s pro-democracy movement since mass, sometimes violent anti-government protests rocked the former British colony in June.
The move came just hours after China’s top representative office in the semiautonomous city declared it is not bound by restrictions in Hong Kong’s constitution, the Basic Law, that bar Chinese government from interfering in local affairs. Earlier this week, Chinese officials urged Hong Kong to enact national security legislation, amid accusations of Chinese overreach into the city’s legislative council and judiciary.
Police arrested media tycoon Jimmy Lai, the 81-year-old founder of Democratic Party and senior barrister Martin Lee, lawyer Albert Ho, barrister Margaret Ng, labor rights activist Lee Cheuk-yan, former legislators Cyd Ho and Leung Kwok-hung as well as Figo Chan, the vice-convener of the group Civil Human Rights Front, which has organized several mass protests approved by police last year.
The 15 arrested allegedly organized and took part in unlawful assemblies, and police “do not rule out that more will be arrested,” superintendent Lam Wing-Ho warned. They were accused of joining three unapproved protests on August 18, October 1 and October 20 last year, local media reported.
Hong Kong authorities have arrested more than 7,800 people for involvement in the anti-government protests, including many on rioting charges that can carry jail terms of up to 10 years.
Pro-democracy lawmakers say the arrests are an attempt to silence them ahead of the legislative council election in September, which makes the authorities nervous as they may claim a majority in the same way that they won a landslide victory in district council elections last November.
Pro-democracy lawmaker Claudia Mo said, “Beijing now calls itself above the Basic Law and is choreographing legal and judicial means, however twisted, to try to terrorize Hong Kong opposition.”She said Beijing’s promise in the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration of the “one country two systems” principle for at least 50 years after China resumed control in 1997 has become “One country 1.01 systems.”
Democratic Party leader Wu Chi-wai said the arrests were the government’s attempt to silence the pro-democracy camp after mainland and Hong Kong officials this week stressed the need for Hong Kong to enact national security legislation.
Veteran China watcher Johnny Lau said the Hong Kong government and police are on an “all-out attack” on the pro-democracy camp by making an example of its leading figures in the hope of intimidating other critical voices in the run-up to the legislative council election. He said the authorities also hope to speed up the enactment of the national security law, which has been shelved since 2003 after a mass protest, possibly before the September vote.
“[Chinese President] Xi Jinping has lost his patience with the Basic Law and ‘one country two systems,’ so they are blatantly twisting and trampling it according to their own needs,” he said.
He said while the world is busy fighting against COVID-19, “in Xi’s eyes this is an opportunity to shuffle the cards and to assert its narrative.”
“If the foreign countries turn a blind eye and fail to rein in [China’s power], they would also be impacted,” Lau said.
Sophie Richardson, China director at U.S.-based Human Rights Watch, said “today’s arrests of pro-democracy figures in Hong Kong is another nail in the coffin of ‘one country, two systems.’”
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Pro-Trump Protesters Push Back on Stay-at-Home Orders
A growing number of protests are being staged across the U.S. to oppose stay-at-home orders amid the coronavirus pandemic. In places like Oklahoma, Texas and Virginia, small-government groups, supporters of President Donald Trump, anti-vaccine advocates and others have united behind a deep suspicion of efforts to shut down daily life to slow the spread of the coronavirus. As their frustration grows, they’ve started to openly defy the social distancing rules to put pressure on governors to ease them. Some of the protests have been small events, promoted via recently created Facebook groups. Others are backed by groups with ties to Trump.While many Americans are filled with fear, Melissa Ackison says the coronavirus pandemic has filled her with anger. The stay-at home orders are government overreach, the conservative Ohio state Senate candidate says, and the labeling of some workers as “essential” arbitrary.“It enrages something inside of you,” said Ackison, who was among those who protested Republican Gov. Mike DeWine’s orders at the statehouse in Columbus with her 10-year-old son. She has “no fear whatsoever” of contracting the virus, she said Thursday, dismissing it as hype.The Ohio protest was among a growing number staged outside governors’ mansions and state Capitols across the country. In places like Oklahoma, Texas and Virginia, small-government groups, supporters of President Donald Trump, anti-vaccine advocates, gun rights backers and supporters of right-wing causes have united behind a deep suspicion of efforts to shut down daily life to slow the spread of the coronavirus. As their frustration with life under lockdown grows, they’ve started to openly defy the social distancing rules in an effort to put pressure on governors to ease them.Some of the protests have been small events, promoted via Facebook groups that have popped up in recent days and whose organizers are sometimes difficult to identify. Others are backed by groups funded by prominent Republicans donors, some with ties to Trump. The largest so far, a rally of thousands that jammed the streets of Lansing, Michigan, on Wednesday, looked much like one of the president’s rallies — complete with MAGA hats or Trump flags — or one of the tea party rallies from a decade ago.A truck supporting protesters demanding Florida businesses and government reopen, honks at a gathering in downtown Orlando, Florida, April 17, 2020.The signs of frustration come as Trump has pushed for easing stay-at-home orders and tried to look ahead to restarting the economy. He unveiled a framework for governors to follow on Thursday, but acknowledged the governors will have the final say on when their state is ready. Health experts have warned that lifting restrictions too quickly could result in a surge of new cases of the virus.But the president and some of his supporters are impatient. Thousands of people in their cars packed the streets of Lansing to protest Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s stay-at-home order and other restrictions. Outside the Capitol, some chanted “Lock her up,” a throwback to Trump’s calls during the 2016 election about his rival Hillary Clinton. One woman held a sign reading “Heil Whitmer.”Asked about the protesters, Trump on Thursday expressed sympathy with their frustration — “They’re suffering … they want to get back” — and dismissed concerns about the health risks of ignoring state orders and potentially exposing themselves to the virus.“I think they’re listening. I think they listen to me,” he said. “They seem to be protesters that like me and respect this opinion, and my opinion’s the same as just about all of the governors. Nobody wants to stay shut.”Polls show the protesters’ views are not widely held. An AP-NORC survey earlier this month found large majorities of Americans support a long list of government restrictions, including closing schools, limiting gatherings and shuttering bars and restaurants. Three-quarters of Americans backed requiring people to stay in their homes. And majorities of both Democrats and Republicans gave high marks for the state and city governments.But the protests expose resilient partisan divisions, particularly in battleground Michigan. The protest there was organized by the Michigan Conservative Coalition, a group founded by a pro-Trump state representative and his wife, Meshawn Maddock, who is on the advisory board for an official Trump campaign group called “Women for Trump” and is also the co-founder of Michigan Trump Republicans. Their daughter is a field organizer for the Michigan Republican Party.Another group that promoted the event, the Michigan Freedom Fund, is run by Greg McNeilly, a longtime political adviser to the DeVos family, who are prolific Republican donors and have funded conservative causes across the state for decades. McNeilly was campaign manager for Dick DeVos, the husband of current U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, during his failed bid for governor in 2006. The group, which does not have to disclose its donors, raised over $4 million in 2018, according to its most recent tax statements.Protesters demonstrate against stay-at-home orders that were put in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in Huntington Beach, California, April 17, 2020.Whitmer was among the governors who expressed concern about the gatherings, saying it put people at risk and could have prolonged the shutdown. Michigan had recorded over 2,000 deaths from COVID-19 as of Thursday, and close to 30,000 confirmed cases of people infected with the virus. Roughly one-quarter of the state’s workforce has filed for unemployment.But it’s not just Democratic governors feeling the heat. A procession of cars swarmed around the Republican-dominated statehouse in Oklahoma City on Wednesday, with messages written on windows or signs that said “stop killing our economy,” “we need our church” and “time 2 work.”The event was promoted by the Oklahoma Conservative Political Action Committee, though the group’s president, Bob Linn, said prominent conservative activist Carol Hefner was a major organizer of the event. Hefner, whose husband is part of the Hefner Energy empire and currently operates a company that makes Argentinian meat sauce, previously served as an Oklahoma co-chair of Trump’s 2016 campaign.In a Facebook post, Hefner boasted of thousands of people who turned out to deliver a message to Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt “to open this state up for business.” She did not respond to a request for comment.Other gatherings have links to fringe groups. A protest Thursday in the Texas capital of Austin, where protesters chanted “Free Texas” and “Make America Free Again,” was broadcast live by InfoWars TV, part of a company owned by conspiracy theorist and radio host Alex Jones.The Ohio event earlier this week brought together a collection of anti-vaccine advocates, Second Amendment supporters, tea party activists and other anti-government activists. A Columbus Dispatch photo of Ackison and other protesters yelling through glass doors of the statehouse rocketed around the internet.Ackison said that while she views DeWine’s efforts as constitutional overreach, she would be fine if Trump were to act with similar authority to force governors to bring the states back on line.“As patriots, we put President Trump in office for a reason,” she said. “If he’s not able to give a convincing enough argument to these governors that they need to open up, then he needs to do something to take action.”The protests were advertised on Facebook by groups such as Reopen Virginia and End the Lockdown PA. A protest in Richmond, Virginia, on Thursday grew out of a conversation in the Facebook group Virginians for Medical Freedom, organizer Gary Golden said. The group often turns out at the Capitol in Richmond to oppose vaccine-related measures.Kelly Mullin, who stood near a “don’t tread on me” flag spread on the grass near the governor’s mansion, said she brought her sons to the event to teach them a lesson about liberty.Mullin said that she thought the risk posed by the coronavirus depends on an individual’s health and that people can take basic steps to protect themselves, including getting enough sleep, eating organic produce and getting outside.“I mean, that’s where our tax dollars should be going. Eat broccoli,” she said.Infectious-disease specialists say there is no evidence that eating specific foods can prevent or kill the virus. Most people with the coronavirus experience mild or moderate symptoms, and people with health issues such as asthma and older people are at greater risk of death from COVID-19.
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Florida Dog Kennel Emptied for 1st Time as COVID-19 Pet Adoptions Soar
For the first time, an animal shelter in the U.S. state of Florida has seen every dog in one of its kennels adopted. The shelter credits extra time people have to take care of pets because of the coronavirus pandemic.Employees and volunteers could be seen cheering and clapping in a video shared at the sight of the empty kennel at Friends of Palm Beach County Animal Care and Control in the city of West Palm Beach.Empty KennelAn incredible and joyful thing happened today….For the first time in the history of Palm Beach County Animal Care and Control, we have completely emptied one of our three dog kennels!
This amazing milestone was made possible by the help and support of our entire community! Thank you to the shelter staff and volunteers who work tirelessly to care for, find homes for, and advocate for the pets who come through these doors; thank you to our incredible foster parents who open their heart and homes to thousands of pets each year; thank you to everyone who has opted to adopt a shelter pet – whether it be here or from any of the other amazing organizations out there; thank you to our placement partner organizations far and wide – without them, this would not be possible.
Let’s keep the momentum going and good vibes flowing! We still have dogs available for adoption or foster in our main kennel, along with a few adoptable cats, two adoptable horses, and Charlotte the adoptable pig. If you are interested in fostering or adopting, please visit our website to view our available pets and submit an application online: www.pbcgov.com/snap.
Pictured in this video: Shelter staff celebrating in Kennel Two, the shelter’s stray housing kennel and adoption overflow kennel. There are 48 double-sided in runs in each of the three kennel buildings at the shelter.
#C2Z #shelterdogs #adopt #foster #PBCACC #RescueProud #GetYourRescueOnPosted by Friends of Palm Beach County Animal Care and Control on Tuesday, April 14, 2020The shelter’s community outreach manager, Elizabeth Harfmann, told CNN the kennel, which often holds around 100 dogs, was emptied through collaborative community efforts.“It’s definitely been a combined effort from the community. The animals went to foster homes, adopters and to our partner rescue organizations,” she said. While many shelters throughout the U.S. are receiving more adoption applications, experts warn the pandemic could also force people to surrender their pets — as is typical during national crises. The Humane Society is addressing that issue with the establishment of a fund to support shelters nationwide that become overcrowded due to the abandonment of pets.
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Coronavirus, Conflict Threaten Millions Across West and Central Africa
The U.N. refugee agency warns millions of people across 21 countries in West and Central Africa are facing a potential humanitarian catastrophe because of armed conflict and the impact of coronavirus as the pandemic spreads throughout the region.
West and Central Africa have one of the largest displaced populations in Africa. More than nine million people have been forcibly displaced by conflict and extreme weather events related to climate change.
The U.N. refugee agency warns the growing spread of the coronavirus will worsen the already acute humanitarian crisis throughout this volatile region. So far, more than 5,000 cases of COVID-19, including more than 100 deaths have been reported to the World Health Organization from all 21 countries.
UNHCR spokesman Babar Baloch says all cases and deaths have occurred within the host populations. So far, no cases have been reported among the displaced. But he warns this could change rapidly as the virus does not discriminate among people.
He told VOA aid agencies fear this deadly outbreak could spread wildly unless steps are taken to prepare and prevent this.
“As violence continues, as displacement continues, as people are forced to be in crowded situations without any access to water or sanitation, so economies being affected, this could be really a lethal mix with COVID,” he said.
Baloch said the UNHCR is stepping up efforts across West and Central Africa to protect the millions of vulnerable refugees and internally displaced people. But implementing preventive measures is a race against time.
“Resources are needed for sure and joint efforts as well. That is why our appeal that no set of population can be left out in this fight against the virus because even leaving one group could have deadly consequences for all of us,” he said.
Baloch said aid operations in the region face numerous obstacles as armed conflict in West Africa’s Sahel region is creating insecurity and limiting access to people in need.
He said limits on international movements from complete to partial border closures and other restrictions related to COVID-19 also are hindering humanitarian efforts.
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Greece Relocates 50 Migrant Minors to Germany Amid Coronavirus
Fifty unaccompanied minors have been transferred from Greece to Germany. They are the second group of relocations in a week and hundreds more are expected to follow as Greece moves ahead with a plan to ease overcrowded conditions at camps on the front line of Europe’s lingering refugee crisis.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis was at the airport in Athens to see the minors off.
The 50 are among the first of at least 350 young refugees who Germany has agreed to resettle from Greece, helping them re-unite with their families after months of separation.
Earlier this week, a batch of about a dozen minors aged between 11 and 15 were transferred to Luxembourg, the European Union’s tiniest member state. Eight other EU nations, along with Switzerland, have also agreed to accept youths, resettling a total of 1,600 young migrants.
But with Greece hosting more than 100,000 migrants and refugees, can this make a difference? Deputy Migration Minister George Koumoutsakos expressed hope for more such relocations to come.The number of transfers, he said, may seem small. But the expectation, he explained, is that they will pave the way for more resettlements to happen, allowing other EU member states to shoulder the burden of the refugee crisis.
A third of the 100,000 migrants and refugees in Greece are children. And of them, more than 5,000 are unaccompanied, left to fend for themselves, living in the rough in abysmal and overcrowded camps on a host of Aegean islands.
Most of the 50 young migrants who left Saturday for Germany were relocated from Lesbos’ dreaded refugee camp of Moria, a facility built for some 2,000 people which now is hosting more than 20,000 in appalling conditions.
Most of the unaccompanied migrants are from Syria and Afghanistan. separated from their families and left behind in a bid to make the crossing to Europe
Koumoutsakos said the transfers will help ease overcrowded conditions in Aegean islands like Lesbos, something required so much more now during the coronavirus outbreak, when social distancing is critical to containing the pandemic.
Earlier this week, Human Rights Watch called on Greece to release all unaccompanied minors. It said keeping them in unhygienic detention centers increased the risk of the virus spreading.
While cases of COVID-19 have been documented in refugee camps here, officials insist they have managed to keep the virus from spreading to other communities because of draconian lockdown orders.
Because of the coronavirus outbreak, the 50 children transferred to Germany on Saturday will need to spend their first two weeks there in quarantine.
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Hong Kong Police Arrest 14 Veteran Pro-Democracy Figures
Hong Kong police Saturday arrested 14 prominent democracy activists on charges of illegal assembly in the biggest crackdown on the semiautonomous city’s pro-democracy movement since mass, sometimes violent anti-government protests rocked the former British colony in June.
The move came just hours after China’s top representative office in the semiautonomous city declared it is not bound by restrictions in Hong Kong’s constitution, the Basic Law, that bar Chinese government from interfering in local affairs. Earlier this week, Chinese officials urged Hong Kong to enact national security legislation, amid accusations of Chinese overreach into the city’s legislative council and judiciary.
Police arrested media tycoon Jimmy Lai, the 81-year-old founder of Democratic Party and senior barrister Martin Lee, lawyer Albert Ho, barrister Margaret Ng, labor rights activist Lee Cheuk-yan, former legislators Cyd Ho and Leung Kwok-hung as well as Figo Chan, the vice-convener of the group Civil Human Rights Front, which has organized several mass protests approved by police last year.
The 14 arrested allegedly organized and took part in unlawful assemblies, and police “do not rule out that more will be arrested,” superintendent Lam Wing-Ho warned. They were accused of joining three unapproved protests on August 18, October 1 and October 20 last year, local media reported.
Hong Kong authorities have arrested more than 7,800 people for involvement in the anti-government protests, including many on rioting charges that can carry jail terms of up to 10 years.
Pro-democracy lawmakers say the arrests are an attempt to silence them ahead of the legislative council election in September, which makes the authorities nervous as they may claim a majority in the same way that they won a landslide victory in district council elections last November.
Pro-democracy lawmaker Claudia Mo said, “Beijing now calls itself above the Basic Law and is choreographing legal and judicial means, however twisted, to try to terrorize Hong Kong opposition.”She said Beijing’s promise in the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration of the “one country two systems” principle for at least 50 years after China resumed control in 1997 has become “One country 1.01 systems.”
Democratic Party leader Wu Chi-wai said the arrests were the government’s attempt to silence the pro-democracy camp after mainland and Hong Kong officials this week stressed the need for Hong Kong to enact national security legislation.
Veteran China watcher Johnny Lau said the Hong Kong government and police are on an “all-out attack” on the pro-democracy camp by making an example of its leading figures in the hope of intimidating other critical voices in the run-up to the legislative council election. He said the authorities also hope to speed up the enactment of the national security law, which has been shelved since 2003 after a mass protest, possibly before the September vote.
“[Chinese President] Xi Jinping has lost his patience with the Basic Law and ‘one country two systems,’ so they are blatantly twisting and trampling it according to their own needs,” he said.
He said while the world is busy fighting against COVID-19, “in Xi’s eyes this is an opportunity to shuffle the cards and to assert its narrative.”
“If the foreign countries turn a blind eye and fail to rein in [China’s power], they would also be impacted,” Lau said.
Sophie Richardson, China director at U.S.-based Human Rights Watch, said “today’s arrests of pro-democracy figures in Hong Kong is another nail in the coffin of ‘one country, two systems.’”
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Germany Staggers World With Low COVID-19 Death Rate
BREMEN, GERMANY — While countries around the world struggle with a lack of hospital beds and equipment for coronavirus patients, German cities such as Bremen have taken in patients from neighboring countries.
On a recent Saturday, Bremen received its first two French coronavirus patients from Strasbourg as Germany’s neighbor France struggles with hospitals at their limits.
The city could theoretically take more patients from abroad, hospital group Gesundheit Nord spokeswoman Karen Matiszick told local news outlet Buten un Binnen – although the situation could rapidly change. Bremen currently has had 567 cases and 24 deaths, according to official statistics.
The capacity to take in patients has been attributed to the lower number of cases that need intensive care, and Germany’s comparatively low death rate has caught the world’s attention.
Of the more than 130,000 diagnosed cases in Germany, about 3,900 people have died as of Friday. In contrast, the U.S., Italy, Spain and France have each recorded more than 10,000 deaths linked to the disease. In Italy alone, more than 20,000 deaths have been registered – among 160,000 cases.
Susanne Glasmacher, a spokesperson for government’s Robert Koch Institute, pointed to multiple factors.
“At the beginning, the majority of affected people in Germany didn’t belong to a risk group, as many of the transmission paths happened during ski holidays, on international travels, carnival, and other festivities,” she told VOA.
The median age of diagnosed cases is comparatively low in Germany at 49, compared to Italy’s 62.
The average age of those who have died from the virus in Germany is about 80, and 87% of the deceased patients were older than 70. Similarly, 83.7% of those in Italy who died were older than 70, according to the Italian National Institute of Health.
In recent weeks, though, an increasing number of cases in German nursing homes have raised concern. Forty-one people have died in a single nursing home in the north German city of Wolfsburg as of Thursday. Hundreds of nursing homes across the country have found their first cases.
“If more transmissions take place in homes for elderly people or hospitals, it’s to be feared that the rate increases,” Glasmacher said.
The current low median age of German cases can to an extent be explained because of the number of tests conducted. Glasmacher said that Germany had tested on a much larger scale than other countries.
“Infections get recognized in more people with mild symptoms than in other countries where sometimes only severely ill people in hospitals are tested,” she said.
With a current weekly capacity of about 500,000 tests, Germany is also testing those only showing mild symptoms and those who have not been in known contact with coronavirus cases.FILE – Benches and tables are taped to ensure social distancing protocols, in a courtroom in Bremen, Germany, March 20, 2020.Last month, Germany ordered closure of all nonessential shops to prevent the spread of the disease. Groups of more than two people who don’t live in the same household are not allowed in public.
However, the number of deaths has also depended on how strained the health system is, Glasmacher said.
“If the hospitals become overcrowded, the ratio of those who cannot be helped will increase,” she said. “The number of deaths can, therefore, change dramatically in the future.”
Making similar assessments, Dietrich Rothenbacher, director of the Institute of Epidemiology and Medical Biometry at Ulm University, said the number of deaths depends on how many hospital beds are available for intensive care.
He said a 2012 study found that the number of intensive care beds per 100,000 inhabitants was 29.2 in Germany, 12.5 in Italy, 11.6 in France, and 6.6 in England.
“This has a positive effect on the treatment options for severe cases and the lethality,” he said.
Yet, he, cautioned against comparing death rates among countries, as he said the numbers in different countries were highly distorted and not representative of the true picture.
“Based on representative numbers, the Covid-19 pandemic would look less deadly also in Italy,” he said.
However, all experts warned that death rates would rise in coming weeks as Germany is still at the beginning of the epidemic. Severe cases often lead to death only after a prolonged period of illness.
“In two to three weeks (or in later phases of the pandemic) the numbers might look differently in Germany,” Rothenbacher said.
Bremen itself has a lower infection rate than the German average. The national average is about 161 cases per 100,000 inhabitants; Bremen has only 81 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, according to the Robert Koch Institute.
While Andreas Dotzauer, a University of Bremen virologist, said that reasons for this difference were still unclear, he speculated that the character of the city’s population – known for being reserved – might play a role.
“In general … it seems that the population [in Bremen] has implemented all rules and restrictions in a very disciplined manner,” he said.
“Perhaps the typically more distanced, northern German, Bremen character also contributes to this.”
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Media and Rights Groups Call for Immediate Release of Missing Journalist in Mozambique
Media and rights groups are calling on Mozambican authorities to locate and immediately release a community radio journalist missing since April 7.Ibraimo Abu Mbaruco, a reporter of Rádio Comunitária de Palma, or Palma Community Radio, disappeared while on his way home shortly after he left the radio station. His family and his colleagues have not heard from him since.“The information gathered so far indicates that soldiers witnessed this journalist’s disappearance and may have been involved,” Arnaud Froger, the head of the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Africa desk, said in a statement Friday.The government of Mozambique has not commented on the disappearance of Mbaruco.“The silence coming from the highest authorities is extremely worrying and we fear that he could suffer the same fate as other journalists, who were held incommunicado for months last year for covering the violence in northern Mozambique,” the statement said, adding “turning this violence-torn province into a black hole for news and information will not help to end the insurrection.”In a text message, sent to a colleague on April 7, Mbaruco said he was “surrounded by military,” according to RSF, which said it has contacted the person.“Mozambican authorities must be thorough and transparent in their investigation into Ibraimo Abú Mbaruco’s whereabouts and ensure accountability, given that Cabo Delgado has become a no-go area for the press and human rights defenders,” said Africa program coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists Angela Quintal in a statement. “It is unacceptable that 10 days after he disappeared, his family and colleagues remain in the dark about his whereabouts.”“Ibraimo Mbaruco’s apparent forced disappearance is of grave concern, particularly given the Mozambican security forces’ alarming record of wrongfully detaining journalists,” said southern Africa director at Human Rights Watch Dewa Mavhinga. “The Mozambican government should urgently take all necessary steps to locate Mbaruco and ensure his safe release.”Amnesty International also called on Mozambique government, if Mbaruco is in state custody, to ensure his safety and release him immediately.The organization demanded that the practice of enforced disappearances in Mozambique come to an end and that the government ensure that the right to freedom of expression and media freedom are “fully respected, protected, promoted and fulfilled and that journalists are able to freely carry out their work without fear of attacks, intimidation, harassment and censorship.”Mbaruco’s disappearance comes as evidence is growing that Mozambican security forces have continued to harass, intimidate, and arbitrarily detain journalists covering fighting between government forces and Islamist militants seeking to establish a caliphate in the country’s northern region.
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China Top Office in Hong Kong Declares Itself Not Bound by Basic Law
China’s top representative office in Hong Kong said Friday it is entitled to get involved in Hong Kong affairs and is not subject to the semi-autonomous city’s constitutional restrictions that bar the Chinese government from interfering in local affairs.The 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration promised Hong Kong “a high degree of autonomy” under the “one country, two systems” principle for at least 50 years after China resumed sovereignty in 1997. The Basic Law, the city’s post-handover mini-constitution, mandates that the mainland Chinese government cannot interfere in its affairs.However, the China liaison office said in a strongly worded statement issued late Friday that “a high degree of autonomy is not complete autonomy.” It said Hong Kong’s right to self-govern is “authorized by the central government” and “the authorizer has supervisory powers over the authorized.”Both the liaison office and the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office — China’s top bodies overseeing the city’s affairs — are “authorized by the central authorities to handle Hong Kong affairs,” it said. It added that it is entitled to supervise affairs in Hong Kong and make statements on issues on Hong Kong’s relationship with Beijing, ranging from the “correct” implementation of the Basic Law to matters pertaining to the overall interests of society.“This is not just responsibilities but authority granted by the [Chinese] constitution and Basic Law,” the statement said. “How else can these two bodies promote the implementation of ‘one country two systems’ in Hong Kong? The legitimacy and legality are beyond doubts.”“They are not what is referred to in Article 22 of the Basic Law, or what is commonly understood to be ‘departments under the Central People’s Government,’” the statement said.Article 22 states that “no department” of the Chinese central and local governments “may interfere in the affairs which the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region administers on its own in accordance with this Law.”The statement from the liaison office came a couple of days after its new chief, Luo Huining, appointed in January, told Hong Kong to urgently enact national security legislation to tackle what he called radical violence, foreign interference and pro-independence forces in the city, apparently referring to the monthslong, sometimes violent anti-government demonstrations sparked by a controversial extradition bill in June last year.FILE – Newly-appointed head of China’s liaison office in Hong Kong, Luo Huining, right, waves as he arrives for a media briefing at China’s liaison office in Hong Kong, Jan. 6, 2020.Both the liaison office and the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office had changed heads early this year, with political analysts saying the gesture indicated China’s tighter control over Hong Kong.This week, pro-democracy lawmakers accused the Chinese government of “blatant intervention” and violation of Article 22 of the Basic Law after the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office said some of them committed “misconduct in public office” for delaying bills, failing to appoint a House committee chairman and paralyzing the legislature by filibustering.The lawmakers who made such allegations were “deliberately distorting the Basic Law” and “intentionally misleading public opinion,” the liaison office said.The office said lawmakers pledged allegiance to the Chinese and Hong Kong governments when they took their oaths of office, so their “loyalty to the country is a necessary requirement.”China law expert Professor Jerome Cohen at New York University said China’s statement is “astounding and incendiary” and “collapses the whole one country two systems edifice that was constructed over so many years since the Joint Declaration.”Alvin Cheung, a legal scholar specializing in Hong Kong issues at New York University’s U.S.-Asia Law Institute, said the move shows that “Beijing sees itself being in a position of such strength that it can abandon even the pretense of abiding by the Basic Law,” even though China has already been interfering with Hong Kong affairs for years.“It suggests repression will intensify further — expect a concerted attempt to railroad national security legislation through the legislature before the [September legislative] elections, as well as continued systematic attempts to remove politicians and activists from civic life,” he said.Michael Davis, a Global Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center and former law professor at the University of Hong Kong, said, “This sort of aggressive language is totally inappropriate and will just result in further pushback from civil society in Hong Kong.”He said “it is not news” that the liaison office comments on Hong Kong politics, and it is widely known that they work behind the scenes to promote pro-China politicians they want to win in legislative and local council elections and also try to direct the Hong Kong leadership on critical decisions, as well as influence the courts.“This fear that Hong Kong’s autonomy will be lost, along with it the rule of law, is what has driven the many protests in Hong Kong and international concern,” he said.
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WHO: COVID-19 Cases and Deaths in Africa Soar
The World Health Organization reported Friday that COVID-19 cases in Africa have increased 51 percent and deaths have jumped 60 percent.Speaking at a conference in Geneva, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO’s director-general, said the figures could be even higher if testing were adequate.As of Friday, according to official figures, Algeria, with more than 360 deaths so far, is the African country with the highest number of fatalities. Egypt comes in second with more than 200. Morocco has reported 135 deaths and South Africa 50.African countries have confirmed a total of 19,334 infections since the virus emerged in China in late December.Although, so far, Africa has suffered less than other regions from COVID-19, health officials fear the situation is deteriorating.Tedros also addressed the issue of reopening so-called wet markets, open-air marketplaces almost everywhere in the world where vendors sell fresh meat, fish, produce and other perishable goods.”Wet markets, as you know, are an important source of affordable food and livelihood for millions of people all over the world,” he said. “But in many places, they have been poorly regulated and poorly maintained. WHO’s position is that when these markets are allowed to reopen, it should only be on the condition that they conform to stringent food safety and hygiene standards. Governments must rigorously enforce bans on the sale and trade of wildlife for food.”Although the origin of COVID-19 is yet to be determined, some scientists suspect the virus was transmitted to humans from animals at a wet market in Wuhan, China.
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Lockdown Weighs Heavily on Orthodox Christians During Easter
For Orthodox Christians, this is normally a time of reflection and mourning followed by joyful release, of centuries-old ceremonies steeped in symbolism and tradition.But this year, Easter — by far the most significant religious holiday for the world’s roughly 300 million Orthodox — has essentially been canceled.There will be no Good Friday processions behind the flower-bedecked symbolic bier of Christ, to the haunting hymn of the Virgin Mary’s lament for the death of her son. No hugs and kisses, or joyous proclamations of “Christ is risen!” as church bells ring at midnight on Holy Saturday. No family gatherings over lamb roasted whole on a spit for an Easter lunch stretching into the soft spring evening.As the coronavirus rampages around the globe, claiming tens of thousands of lives, governments have imposed lockdowns in a desperate bid to halt the pandemic. Businesses have been closed and church doors shut to prevent the virus’s insidious spread.For some, the restrictions during Easter are particularly tough.”When there was freedom and you didn’t go somewhere, it didn’t bother you,” said Christina Fenesaki, while shopping in Athens’ main meat market for lamb — to cook in the oven at home in the Greek capital instead of on a spit in her ancestral village. “But now that we have the restrictions, it bothers you a lot. It’s heavy.”In Greece, where more than 90 percent of the population is baptized into the Orthodox Church, the government has been at pains to stress that this year’s Easter cannot be normal.Greek Orthodox priests hold aloft the bier depicting Christ’s preparation for burial during the Good Friday procession of the Epitaphios, held without worshippers in an empty church in Thessaloniki, Greece, during a lockdown April 17, 2020.It imposed a lockdown early on, and so far has managed to keep the number of deaths and critically ill people low — 108 and 71 respectively as of Friday, among a population of nearly 11 million.But officials fear any slippage in social distancing could have dire consequences, particularly during a holiday that normally sees people cram into churches and flock to the countryside. Roadblocks have been set up, and fines doubled to 300 euros ($325), for anyone found driving without justification during the holiday.”This Easter is different. We will not go to our villages, we will not roast in our yards, we will not go to our churches. And of course, we will not gather in the homes of relatives and friends,” government spokesman Stelios Petsas said. “For us to continue being together, this year we stay apart.”Easter services will be held behind closed doors with only the priest and essential staff. They will be broadcast live on television and streamed on the internet.One particularly complex issue is how to handle the “Holy Light,” the flame distributed throughout the Orthodox world each year from the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem to mark the resurrection of Christ.Greek and Russian authorities have arranged to pick the flame up from Israel but won’t distribute it. Cyprus won’t even pick it up; there is “no need,” the island nation’s Archbishop Chrysostomos said.”Today, faith is not at risk but the faithful are,” Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades said.Patriarch Bartholomew I, spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox, has urged the faithful to adhere to government measures and World Health Organization guidelines. But keeping people out of churches hasn’t proved easy.In Serbia and North Macedonia, authorities imposed nationwide curfews from Good Friday through Easter Monday. Ethiopia, with the largest Orthodox population outside Europe, also restricted access to liturgies and deployed security outside churches. Liturgies are broadcast live, although several churches outside the capital, Addis Ababa, were violating restrictions, alarming authorities.But in some Orthodox countries, such as Georgia and Bulgaria, limited church services will go ahead.In Greece, after days of delicate diplomacy with the country’s powerful Orthodox Church, the government banned the public from all services after the church’s governing body imposed restrictions but not a full shutdown. Authorities also quickly scotched a Greek mayor’s plans to distribute the “Holy Light” door-to-door throughout his municipality just after midnight on Saturday.The church of Prophet Ilias is illuminated during the Good Friday procession of the Epitaphios, held without worshippers near the port town of Lavrio about 75 kilometers south of Athens on April 17, 2020.Some priests have defied the shutdown. One recently offered communion — where the faithful sip from the same spoon — through an Athens church’s back door. On Good Friday, a handful of churches opened briefly, allowing people in.Russia’s Orthodox Church initially seemed similarly reluctant to impose restrictions. When authorities in St. Petersburg, Russia’s second-largest city, banned church visits on March 26, the Moscow Patriarchate condemned the move as an infringement on religious freedom. Only three days later did Patriarch Kirill publicly urge believers to “strictly obey the regulations imposed by the health authorities” and “refrain from church visits.”On Friday, Russian Orthodox Church spokesman Vladimir Legoida said churches would stay open in some regions, even though the Church urged people to stay home.”The epidemiological situation varies in different regions, and so do rules for attending churches,” he said.Closing churches during Easter has been hard on Russians used to attending services. Many have turned to the internet and video conference prayers.”At first it was just a shock,” said believer Andrei Vasenev. “How is that possible — not go to church? But then we realized it was a matter of finding a way.”Vasenev, two dozen others and a priest from his Moscow parish have started praying via Zoom and plan to do the same during Easter. For him, going to church is about community, and Zoom prayers keep this community together.For Anna Sytina, another participant of the online prayers, the hardest part is being away from people and the warmth of human contact. “There’s a moment in a liturgy when you kiss each other three times,” Sytina said. “Now we see each other on monitors and displays.”Greek Orthodox priests hold aloft the bier depicting Christ’s preparation for burial during the Good Friday procession of the Epitaphios, held in an empty church in Thessaloniki, Greece, April 17, 2020.Both are prepared to pray at home for as long as it takes. “It is a sacrifice in the life of every believer, but it is necessary,” Sytina said.It is a sentiment echoed in Greece.”Each person has the church inside of them,” said Kleanthis Tsironis, who heads Athens’ main meat market. He will spend Easter at home with his wife and two daughters and will miss the resurrection liturgy. But churches will eventually open, he said, and Easter traditions will return.”Souls are being lost,” he said of the virus deaths across the world. “And we’re going to sit and cry because we didn’t roast on a spit? We’ll do that later, when the measures are over.”
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NASA Announces First SpaceX Crewed Flight for May 27
NASA announced on Friday that a SpaceX rocket would send two American astronauts to the International Space Station on May 27, the first crewed spaceflight from the U.S. in nearly a decade.”On May 27, @NASA will once again launch American astronauts on American rockets from American soil!” NASA chief Jim Bridenstine said in a tweet.The astronauts will be sent to the ISS on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.Astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley will be launched to the ISS aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft. They will lift off at 4:32 p.m. (2032 GMT) from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, NASA said.Since July 2011, the United States has relied on Russian Soyuz rockets to send U.S. astronauts to the ISS.
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Judge in Malawi Blocks Government Lockdown, at Least Temporarily
A High Court judge in Malawi blocked the government from implementing a nationwide lockdown for at least seven days. The ruling late Friday came after police used tear gas to disperse hundreds of market vendors protesting a 21-day lockdown that was to start Sunday. The lockdown would shut down all non-essential businesses and services for three weeks, including large markets where street vendors make a living. Smaller markets would be allowed to stay open between 6 a.m. and 2 p.m.The restrictions aim to slow the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, which has infected 16 people in Malawi and killed two.Maltida Ligowe, a vegetable seller at the main Limbe market in Blantyre, says without a place to sell her goods, she will only get poorer.While she says a lockdown may be a good idea, she believes President Peter Mutharika could have appreciated the poverty in their country. Ligowe says the poor cannot withstand a 21-day lockdown.Malawi’s protesters have petitioned city authorities to give them food and money to sustain them until the markets reopen.Health rights activist Dorothy Ngoma says the lockdown is likely to create food shortages and child malnutrition among poor families. A nurse weighs a child at a health clinic in Malawi’s capital, Lilongwe. Heath experts fear a coronavirus lockdown would intensify hunger among the country’s poor. (Lameck Masina/VOA)”Much as I would really love to see this lockdown materialize, but as we do that, the children are going to die,” she said. “What are we going to do? We have few cases yes, but the government hasn’t put any packages to make sure that they don’t die. I am not surprised and if they were in the street protesting, I would definitely join them to protest.”Political analyst Vincent Kondowe said the protests could have been avoided if authorities had consulted with the public.”They could have taken an effort to reach out to the people and could have taken a participatory and consultative process, maybe through the chiefs, and explore locally-based solutions,” Kondowe said.Malawi government spokesperson Mark Bottom told a local radio station Friday that authorities would engage with the vendors to help them understand the importance of the move in preventing the spread of the coronavirus.Malawi’s government was due Friday to announce support measures for the poor during the lockdown.
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Coronavirus Could Complicate Trump’s Path to Reelection
The coronavirus is poised to reshape the political map, pummeling battleground states and alarming Republicans who see early signs of an election that could be a referendum on President Donald Trump’s management of the crisis.The pandemic, which has killed more than 30,000 Americans and left millions out of work, has eviscerated Trump’s hope to run for reelection on a strong economy. A series of states he won in 2016 could tilt toward Democrats.In Florida, a Republican governor closely aligned with Trump has come under scrutiny for being slow to close the state. In Wisconsin, the Democratic victor in last week’s Supreme Court race captured 28 counties, up from the 12 that Hillary Clinton won four years ago. In Michigan, a Democratic governor has seen her approval rating rise against the backdrop of a fight with Trump. And in Arizona, low marks for Trump could be enough to turn the formerly Republican stronghold into a tossup.”It makes me wonder if there’s something brewing in the weaker elements of the Trump base,” said Paul Maslin, a Wisconsin-based Democratic pollster. “Is the pandemic fight the final straw that’s going to cause some of this small slice of votes he needs to win these states to back away?”Trump’s public approval rating has remained consistent nationally throughout his presidency, and some polls even suggested an uptick at the onset of the pandemic. And his unique brand of politics rooted in cultural grievances could once again overcome hurdles that would sink other presidents seeking reelection, especially if the pandemic wanes or the economy rebounds.But Trump’s campaign is concerned about losing support in several key swing states, particularly Florida and Wisconsin, according to five current and former campaign staffers who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about internal strategy. There are also growing worries about Arizona and Pennsylvania. There is no better example of the altered map confronting Trump than Michigan, which he captured in 2016 by fewer than 11,000 votes.The mounting deaths in heavily African American Detroit and the politically dynamic suburban counties have been the backdrop for the tiff between Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Trump. Though her handling of the virus outbreak has prompted some public protests, Whitmer’s poll numbers have gone up and her criticism of the federal response prompted Trump to obliquely dismiss the governor, telling virus task force members “Don’t call the woman in Michigan.”In a sign of enthusiasm, participation in Democrats’ March primary was up 32% over 2016 as the party rallied around its likely nominee, former Vice President Joe Biden. The Trump campaign already had a light footprint in Michigan — it does not have a single field office — and advisers privately concede it could be the toughest battleground state to hold.Many pollsters believe Wisconsin could be the tipping point this November for either candidate to reach the needed 270 electoral votes. The state has long been considered the Rust Belt prize Trump was likeliest to keep, but poignant images of mask-wearing voters lining up outside Milwaukee’s few open polling places last week signaled Democratic enthusiasm. “We are starting to see more evidence that suburban voters disapprove of the way Trump is handling the coronavirus pandemic,” said Democratic strategist Adrienne Elrod, who notes that counties outside Philadelphia and Phoenix “have a similar electorate to the suburban areas that delivered a huge win for Democrats in Wisconsin.”Although the state Supreme Court race received national attention, Republicans were quick to dismiss it since only Democrats held a competitive presidential primary, boosting that party’s turnout. Wisconsin’s spring Supreme Court contests have been a shaky predictor of presidential elections, which usually feature twice as many voters.”President Trump has been clear — through actions and words — that what matters most is the health and safety of every American. This crisis is hitting Americans — not Democrats or Republicans,” said Trump campaign spokeswoman Erin Perrine. “To try and politicize this crisis in terms of the election is ludicrous.”Although Arizona hasn’t yet seen a spike in infections, Biden’s promise of pragmatic, experienced management may play well in a state that has turned purple. A Biden victory there would build pressure on Trump to hold two of the trio of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania.The pandemic has hamstrung the Trump campaign’s effort to build momentum. Though its digital outreach has ramped up, the campaign has been unable to wield its financial advantage over Biden and can’t hold its signature rallies to bolster enthusiasm and collect valuable voter data.
“We can’t wait to get back out there and do things the old-fashioned way,” said Lara Trump, a senior campaign official and the president’s daughter-in-law.Employment has cratered in many of the states key to Trump’s reelection.The economy shed 22 million jobs in the past four weeks, according to requests for unemployment benefits. And while some of those jobs will return as the lockdown gets lifted, it’s unclear how quickly workers will be needed at hotels in Florida, auto plants in Michigan and stores and offices that fill Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Arizona.Both Michigan and Pennsylvania have lost more than 1 million jobs since the outbreak, which implies unemployment rates of more than 20% in both states, according to Labor Department figures. Unemployment filings suggest Florida employers have let go of roughly 6% of its jobs, but declines there could worsen as applicants have struggled to access unemployment benefits.Without Florida, Trump’s path to victory becomes nearly impossible. Its Trump-friendly governor, Ron DeSantis, took heat for allowing beaches to stay open despite the risk of spread to his state’s massive population of vulnerable senior citizens.”They thought they were going to be running for reelection with a very popular governor, but DeSantis has taken some real hits over his handling of this,” said Republican strategist Alex Conant, who worked for Marco Rubio’s presidential campaign. “The image of spring breakers spreading coronavirus is going to be replayed in October.”
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Virtual Pharmacies Aim to Ease South Africa’s HIV Burden, COVID-19 Threat
South Africa’s 21-day coronavirus lockdown presents an unusual challenge for a nation with the world’s highest burden of HIV. In order to remain healthy, those on antiretrovirals need to venture out of their homes for their lifesaving medication — a move that puts them at greater risk of contracting the highly infectious coronavirus.Therefore, some health care advocates are seeking broader use of an existing workaround in the form of automatic pharmaceutical dispensaries, much like ATMs, where patients can get their pills without making human contact.
Already, South African hospitals are busy preparing for a coming storm of coronavirus cases, which officials expect to peak in September.
But as they stare down this pandemic, they’re also dealing with at least 7.7 million HIV patients, already supported by one of the world’s largest free government-sponsored antiretroviral programs.
So how, in this age of lockdowns and strict social distancing, can these vulnerable patients stay safe from a new viral threat?
Enter the pharmacy ATM.
South African non-profit Right to Care rolled out the innovative program in 2018 to give patients with chronic illnesses a quick virtual consultation with a pharmacist, followed by dispensation of their medication — all in under three minutes. In normal times, the program saves patients the inconvenience of waiting in long lines at government clinics.
But during this new pandemic, it could save lives, says pharmacist Taffy Chinamhora.
“The interaction between the patient and health care professional is minimized, is very minimal; it’s more or less virtual from the patient point of view, because it’s via an audiovisual link. So interaction, so the spread of the virus is limited because there is no person-to-person interaction because we’re using audiovisual link, we’re using an ATM pharmacy to dispense medication to patients,” Chinamhora said.The program’s managing director, Fanie Hendriksz, says it could also lift a burden off the nation’s hospitals. Patients can get two months of medication at a time.
“In a time like this it’s important that we decant our chronic, stable patients from our overburdened facilities to make way for the side effects of the pandemic,” Hendriksz said.
The program has five locations in South Africa, most of them in high-density urban areas in Johannesburg and the city of Bloemfontein. Most are inside shopping malls, which, under South Africa’s strict lockdown conditions that only allow essential trips outside of the home, also minimizes the number of trips patients have to make. Hendriksz says there has already been a spike in the usage of these locations.
“We’ve seen a rapid increase in patient numbers at our ATM pharmacies. One of the main reasons for this is just remember that these ATM pharmacies are situated in community shopping centers. So, in a period of lockdown, patients can easily align the collection of their medication with their monthly or weekly shopping. And also, the ATM pharmacy is open seven days a week, and already we are open 80 hours a month more than the public health care facilities,” Hendriksz said.
The program is busy collecting data on how many new patients have entered the program. But, they say, every single patient they can help contributes to the larger fight against the coronavirus pandemic.
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Japan Supports WHO During COVID-19 Pandemic
Japanese President Shinzo Abe said Friday he absolutely would not think of reducing funding for the World Health Organization (WHO) at a time when it is leading the global fight against the COVID-19 virus. Abe made the comments to reporters during a news briefing in Tokyo. He had been asked about U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision earlier this week to temporarily halt U.S. funding for the WHO. Trump alleges there are failures in the organization’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Japanese president said the WHO is the only organization designed to lead an international fight against a pandemic such as the one the world is currently facing. He said politics should be set aside so they can focus on protecting the health of all people. Abe did add, however, that he recognized there were some issues within the WHO that should be addressed, and once the pandemic is over, he would support a “proper review” of the organization.
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In Virus Battle, China’s Economy in Worst Downturn Since ’60s
China faces a drawn-out struggle to revive an economy that suffered its biggest contraction since possibly the mid-1960s after millions of people were told to stay home to fight the coronavirus.
The world’s second-largest economy shrank by 6.8% from a year earlier in the quarter ending in March after factories, offices and shopping malls were closed to contain the outbreak, official data showed Friday. Consumer spending, which supplied 80% of last year’s growth, and factory activity were weaker than expected.
China, where the pandemic began in December, is the first major economy to start to recover after the ruling Communist Party declared the virus under control. Factories were allowed to reopen last month, but cinemas and other businesses that employ millions of people still are closed.
There are signs that after an “initial bounce” as controls ended, “the recovery in activity has since slowed to a crawl,” said Julian Evans-Pritchard of Capital Economics in a report. “China is in for a drawn-out recovery,” he said.
The last contraction this big was 5.8% in 1967 during the upheavals of the ultra-radical 1965-75 Cultural Revolution, according to Iris Pang of ING.
Forecasters earlier said China might rebound as early as this month. But they say a sharp, “V-shaped” recovery looks increasingly unlikely as negative export, retail sales and other data pile up.
Instead, they expect a gradual crawl back to growth in low single digits in the coming quarters. For the full year, forecasters including UBS, Nomura and Oxford Economics expect little to no growth.
In total, China has reported 4,632 deaths after the total for Wuhan, the city of 11 million people at the center of the outbreak, was revised upward Friday. The mainland has announced 82,367 cases.
Retail sales fell 19% from a year earlier in the first quarter. That improved in March, the final month of the quarter, to a decline of 15.8%. But consumers, jittery about possible job losses, are reluctant to spend despite government efforts to lure them back to shopping malls and auto showrooms. That is a blow to automakers and other companies that hope China will power the world economy out of its most painful slump since the 1930s. Job-hunter Ni Hong’s challenge highlights the problem. Ni, 32, quit her job in Beijing in January to find a new one, but the virus disrupted those plans. Ni is paying her mortgage out of her savings and avoiding other spending while she looks in a market flooded with newly laid-off workers.”In the past, there were maybe two or three candidates for a post,” Ni said. “Now, I have eight to 10 competitors, so the chance for me to be eliminated is much higher.”That is a political challenge for the ruling party, which bases its claim to power on China’s economic success. The party appealed to companies to keep paying employees and avoid layoffs during the shutdown. But an unknown number have failed, adding to public anxiety. The economy already was squeezed by a tariff war with President Donald Trump over Beijing’s technology ambitions and trade surplus. Last year’s growth sank to a multi-decade low of 6.1%.
Exports fell 6.6% in March from a year earlier, an improvement over the double-digit plunge in January and February. But forecasters say demand is bound to slump in America and Europe as anti-virus controls keep shoppers at home. “Lingering consumption weakness and sliding foreign demand will weigh on the upturn,” said Louis Kuijs of Oxford Economics in a report.Growth was stronger than some forecasts that called for a contraction of up to 16% but this is the biggest contraction since market-style reforms started in 1979. “The numbers were even uglier than most anticipated, which is good!” said Andy Rothman of Matthews Asia in a report. “These ugly numbers indicate that the leadership didn’t fudge the data to hide the seriousness of the situation.”Investment in factories, real estate and other fixed assets, the other major growth driver, sank 16.1%.
Auto sales sank 48.4% from a year earlier in March. That was better than February’s record 81.7% plunge but is on top of a 2-year-old decline that is squeezing global and Chinese automakers in the industry’s biggest global market. Asian stock markets rose following the announcement, which was in line with investor expectations. By mid-afternoon, Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index was up 3% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was 2.4% higher. The ruling party has yet to announce this year’s official growth target. It has been at least 6% in previous years. Beijing looks likely to miss its target of doubling incomes from 2010 levels by this year.
Controls on Beijing, the capital, and some other cities have been tightened to prevent a resurgence of the disease. Most foreigners are barred from entering the country.Beijing is boosting spending on a “New Infrastructure” Plan that includes next-generation telecom networks, artificial intelligence, electric vehicle charging and data centers. But leaders don’t want to pump too much money into the economy with full fledged stimulus for fear of adding to debt or pushing up inflation that is near a seven-year high. Carrying out that infrastructure investment “will take a much longer time than it would do without social distancing in place,” said Pang of ING. “Recovery will be a long road.”
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New Information Adds to Questions About Russia Probe Dossier
Newly released material raises the possibility that Russian disinformation made its way into a dossier of opposition research that the FBI relied on when applying for warrants to eavesdrop on a former campaign adviser to President Donald Trump.The new material, contained in footnotes to a Justice Department watchdog report that were recently declassified by the Trump administration, indicates the FBI was advised even as it sought the warrants that some of the information included in the dossier was not accurate or was potentially influenced by Russian disinformation.It may add to accusations that the FBI did not take seriously enough concerns that were raised about the dossier’s reliability as it investigated ties between the Trump campaign and Russia. A Justice Department inspector general report from December that included the blacked-out footnotes faulted the FBI for failing to reassess the credibility of the dossier after receiving information that called into question some of its reporting.The FBI did not rely on the dossier when it opened the Russia investigation in July 2016, instead using other information about possible Trump campaign links to Russia. But it did rely in part on the document a couple months later when it applied for a warrant to monitor the communications of former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. The fact that the dossier was used at all is one of the main points of contention Trump supporters cite in challenging the legitimacy of the probe. The footnotes were released by two Republican senators, Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, who said in a joint statement that the information makes clear that the FBI’s justification in targeting Page “was riddled with significant flaws.”On Thursday, the senators asked FBI Director Christopher Wray to provide all intelligence records received and reviewed by the FBI team that conducted the Russia investigation.”These recently declassified footnotes raise another issue of significant concern: what other parts of the FBI’s investigation were infected by Russian disinformation?” they wrote.One of the footnotes says the FBI was alerted in 2017 that a particular allegation included in the dossier was “part of a Russian disinformation campaign to denigrate U.S. foreign relations.” It also cites a February 2017 U.S. intelligence report saying that an individual with reported ties to Trump and Russia had cautioned that certain allegations related to Trump’s behavior during a trip to Moscow four years earlier were false and the product of Russian intelligence “infiltrate(ing) a source into the network.”An FBI spokeswoman declined to comment Thursday. The FBI has acknowledged problems during the Russia investigation and has instituted a series of changes designed to make its surveillance applications more accurate and thorough.The dossier of information was compiled during the course of the 2016 presidential campaign by Christopher Steele, a former British spy whose research into ties between Trump and Russia was financed by Democrats.The FBI relied in part on information from the dossier during multiple applications to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court in 2016 and 2017 to monitor the communications of Page on suspicion that he was an agent of a foreign power. Page has denied any wrongdoing and was never charged.Inspector General Michael Horowitz said in his report that, though there was no evidence that the FBI was motivated by political bias during the investigation, the bureau made serious errors during the application process, including by omitting information that called into question the reliability of certain reporting included in the dossier.The inspector general report said the FBI had contemplated the possibility “that Russia was funneling disinformation to Steele, and the possibility that disinformation was included in his election reports.” But, Horowitz said, more should have been done by the FBI to determine if that was the case.One footnote says a January 2017 report identified an inaccuracy in the dossier’s reporting on Michael Cohen, Trump’s former personal lawyer. It does not detail the inaccuracy, but it could be a reference to a claim in the document that Cohen met with Kremlin representatives in Prague in the summer of 2016. Cohen has long denied that.The footnotes also say a June 2017 intelligence report indicated that two people affiliated with Russian intelligence “were aware of Steele’s election investigation in early July 2016.” That assertion raises the prospect that Steele’s reporting could have been influenced by disinformation from the Kremlin.”The Supervisory Intel Analyst told us he was aware of these reports, but that he had no information as of June 2017 that Steele’s election reporting source network had been penetrated or compromised,” the footnote states.
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2 NASA Astronauts, Russian Cosmonaut Return to Earth From ISS
Two U.S. space agency NASA astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut landed Friday in Kazakhstan after months on board the International Space Station.
NASA astronauts Andrew Morgan and Jessica Meir and Russian space agency Roscosmos Cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka undocked from the ISS in the Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft early Friday.
Just over three hours later, the trio parachuted to Earth in the steppe of Kazakhstan, outside the remote town of Dzhezkazgan. Following post-landing checks, the three were taken by helicopter to the Russian-owned spaceport in Baikonur.
Morgan’s 272-day mission began on July 20, 2019, while Meir and Skripochka left Earth Sept. 25 last year.
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Health Expert: Britain Responded Too Slowly to Virus Outbreak
A public health professor said Friday the British government responded too slowly to the COVID-19 outbreak, and the nation could see as many as 40,000 deaths before the pandemic is over.Speaking remotely, University College London Global Health Professor Anthony Costello told a parliamentary committee the government needs to identify the “system errors” that slowed Britain’s response.Britain imposed a lockdown on business and daily life March 23, about a week after other European countries, and Thursday announced a three-week extension on those measures.Costello told the committee he expects a second wave of the virus to hit the country and urged the government to have a system in place to rapidly test people in the community and get the results back quickly.Costello did say that an Oxford University researcher is 80 percent certain she could have a vaccine to treat the virus as early as September.As of Thursday, Britain reported 13,729 people had died from the virus.
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Testing Held Near North Dakota Plant While Virus Cases Climb
Health officials and National Guard members spent Thursday afternoon screening people for the coronavirus after eight positive tests were confirmed among workers at a North Dakota wind turbine plant that employs a large number of immigrants from African countries.The drive-thru screenings outside the LM Wind Power in Grand Forks took place on a day when state officials reported a record number of new coronavirus cases for the second consecutive day. A total of 52 cases were confirmed in the last two days, including 28 on Thursday.Cars were lined up in four lanes outside the LM plant, where officials administered 424 tests in five hours to people who may have come in close contact with the infected workers, said John Bernstrom, spokesman for the city of Grand Forks.”It’s stressful. It’s scary,” Bernstrom said. “You come up to a location and the people are in full personal protection equipment with masks and shields on their faces, among other stuff. Investigators have been really good working through different cultures and, for some, different languages.”Shirley Dykshoorn, vice president at Lutheran Social Services in Fargo, the state’s refugee resettlement agency, said many of the employees are immigrants or former refugees who have worked at the plant for some time.”Most of them have good English skills,” Dykshoorn said. “Maybe not as many in their family understand everything so we’ve tried to support them and help them with what they need going forward.”Dr. Paul Carson, a public health and infectious disease specialist at North Dakota State University and adviser to the governor’s COVID-19 team, said he’s not surprised to see several cases pop up in a large plant. He said it’s important to aggressively pursue people who came in close contact with those who are infected.”We’re going to find these little flare-ups and I think we should accept them. What we need to able to do is jump on them and try to prevent them from going any further,” Carson said. “We want to avoid what happened with the meat packing plant down in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.”Over half of the more than 1,300 cases in South Dakota have been tied to an outbreak at a Smithfield pork processing plant in Sioux Falls. The plant is one of the largest known clusters of COVID-19 cases in the country. A total of 598 employees have confirmed infections, plus 135 of their close contacts.Carson and Grand Forks Public Health Director Debbie Swanson said Thursday’s testing at the LM plant is the start of what will likely be an extended process. Any positive tests will lead to further rounds of testing of people identified to have had close contact with anyone infected.”It’s a process that works somewhat in concentric circles with each person who tests positive,” Swanson said.Grand Forks Mayor Michael R. Brown and Altru Health System’s president, Dr. Steven Weiser, released a video Thursday urging residents to follow recommendations to stay home and practice physical distancing to slow the spread of COVID-19.”If we don’t continue practicing basic prevention measures to slow community spread, we could overwhelm our health care system. The responsibility to ensure that does not happen falls on each and every one of us,” Brown said.The state has tested 1,704 people, with 387 coming back positive. North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum said the state is on track to double its capacity of testing to 1,100 tests daily soon, and aims to double that number next month, and again in June.Federal officials announced Thursday they are prohibiting recreational use of Theodore Roosevelt National Park in western North Dakota to help slow the spread of the coronavirus. The park is the state’s top tourist attraction, drawing more than 700,000 visitors annually.
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