In less than a month, more than 5,000 Americans have joined a class-action lawsuit in Florida seeking reparations from the Chinese government for COVID-19 damages. The plaintiffs claim to have suffered huge losses due to Beijing’s negligence in containing the virus. Similar class-action lawsuits also were filed in Nevada and Texas.“Our lawsuit addresses those who have been physically injured from exposure to the virus … it also addresses the commercial activity China has engaged in around the “wet markets” trade,” Berman Law Group, which filed the Florida suit, told VOA. The law firm cited the ‘commercial activity’ and ‘personal injury’ exceptions under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act [FSIA] as legal grounds for suing China.Chimene Keitner, professor at the University of California Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco, disagrees.“If you read any of the cases that have been decided under the statute [FSIA], it is extremely clear that personal injury, the conduct of a Chinese official needs to happen in the territory of the U.S. for that to apply. And there’s no allegation of commercial activity here,” Chimene noted.She added, “you can’t sue foreign states for their policy decisions.”International tribunalsThe Wuhan Huanan Wholesale Seafood Market, where a number of people fell ill with a virus, sits closed in Wuhan, China, Jan. 21, 2020.A potential U.S. lawsuit against China for coronavirus damages could be worth $1.2 trillion, according to British conservative think tank, the Henry Jackson Society. In its new report, the Henry Jackson Society said China is potentially liable for the damages incurred due to its early mishandling of the disease. Specifically, intentionally withholding information from the World Health Organization was cited as a violation of the International Health Regulations. The think tank urged countries to sue China, laying out 10 different legal avenues to pursue, including the WHO, the International Court of Justice, Permanent Court of Arbitration, courts in Hong Kong, and the U.S.“Not simply using one but using a combination of the legal avenues may prove to be the most effective way forward,” said Andrew Foxall, director of research at the Henry Jackson Society and co-author of the report, in an interview with VOA. Countries, including the U.S., are unlikely to come forward, though, and make an official legal challenge against China over the coronavirus, according to David Fidler, visiting professor at the Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, and former legal consultant to the WHO.“Epidemics could break out anywhere … So, there’s this shared interest not to throw what I call the normative boomerang,” said Fidler “Interestingly, countries have very strong common interest not to apply international law in a mechanical way in connection with infectious disease outbreaks.”Transboundary harmThe customary law of ‘International Responsibility’ for damages caused to another nation was first recognized in the Trail Smelter arbitration in the 1920s.A smelter in British Columbia, Canada, emitted toxic fumes and caused damage to the forests and crops in surrounding areas, and also across the Canada-U.S. border in Washington State. A tribunal was set up by Canada and the U.S. to resolve the dispute, and the Canadian government agreed to provide compensation.Legal scholars draw parallels to Chinese responsibility in the spread of the coronavirus.“If Canada had good environmental laws in place, the smelter wouldn’t be polluting and wouldn’t have done harm in the U.S. It looks related here. If China just maintained an adequate food safety regulatory regime, the harm wouldn’t have been spread,” said Russel Miller, professor of law at Washington and Lee University.William Starshak, a finance attorney in Chicago, points out that it will be in China’s interest to assume responsibility, as Canada did.“That actually will help China show itself to be a responsible citizen, but also to bring all of these claims, which are going to be diverse and have all sorts of geopolitical issues, come with a massive bill into one forum. Address them. It’s really the only way for China to move beyond this,” Starshak said.
…
Month: April 2020
Africa Must Not Be ‘Neglected’ in Virus Fight, Officials Say
African officials pushed back Thursday against the global jostling to obtain medical equipment to combat the coronavirus, warning that if the virus is left to spread on the continent the world will remain at risk.
“We cannot be neglected in this effort,” the head of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, John Nkengasong, told reporters. “The world will be terribly unsafe, and it will be completely naive, if countries think they can control COVID-19 in their countries but not in Africa.”
While Africa’s 1.3 billion people had a head start in preparing for the pandemic as the virus spread in China, Europe and the United States, Nkengasong warned that “the very future of the continent will depend on how this matter is handled” as cases, now over 11,000, quickly rise.
“The worst is still to come,” he said, and pointed to the global Spanish flu pandemic of a century ago when cases came in waves.
Africa is competing with the developing world for testing kits that will help give a clear number of cases, as well as ventilators for patients in respiratory distress and protective equipment that front-line health workers desperately require. Already, anxious workers have gone on strike or gone to court in places like Zimbabwe over the lack of gear.
“We may not actually know how big is the size of the problem” without scaling up testing, Nkengasong said.
While 48 of Africa’s 54 countries now have testing capability, that often is limited to countries’ capitals or other major cities, officials with the World Health Organization told reporters in a separate briefing.
There is an “urgent need” to expand testing, the WHO Africa chief, Matshidiso Moeti, said, noting that clusters of community transmission have emerged in at least 16 countries. That means the virus has begun spreading beyond the initial cases imported from abroad.
“Some countries might face a huge peak very soon” in cases, said the WHO’s emergency program manager, Michel Yao.
Even if testing kits and other equipment are found, another challenge is delivering them amid the thicket of travel restrictions. Cargo space is rare because many airlines have stopped flights to African destinations, Yao said.
Close to 20 African countries have closed their borders, and several are now under lockdown to try to prevent the virus’ spread. Millions of people wonder whether nations will follow Rwanda’s lead in extending the period that all but essential workers are confined to their homes.
Lifting the lockdowns will depend on the situation in neighboring countries, Nkengasong said. Otherwise, “what’s the point? If Botswana or Zimbabwe have cases and South Africa opens up, you waste everybody’s time.”
…
Lockdowns Mean Millions of Women Can’t Reach Birth Control
The callers were in tears. One by one, women in homes across rural Zimbabwe had a pleading question: When would family planning services return?Lockdowns imposed to curb the coronavirus’ spread have put millions of women in Africa, Asia and elsewhere out of reach of birth control and other sexual and reproductive health needs. Confined to their homes with their husbands and others, they face unwanted pregnancies and little idea of when they can reach the outside world again.In these uncertain times, women “have to lock down their uterus,” Abebe Shibru, Zimbabwe country director for Marie Stopes International, told The Associated Press. “But there is no way in a rural area.”Eighteen countries in Africa have imposed national lockdowns, according to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. All but essential workers or those seeking food or health care must stay home for weeks, maybe longer. Rwanda, the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to impose a lockdown, has extended it for two weeks, a possible sign of things to come.Even where family planning remains available, providers say many women fear venturing out and being beaten by security forces and accused of defying the new restrictions. Meanwhile, outreach services, the key to reaching rural women, have largely stopped to avoid drawing crowds and the risk of workers spreading the virus from one community to another.The International Planned Parenthood Federation, or IPPF, in a new report Thursday says more than one in five member clinics around the world have closed because of the pandemic and related restrictions. More than 5,000 mobile clinics across 64 countries have closed. Most are in South Asia and Africa, but Latin America and Europe have seen hundreds of closures as well.From Pakistan to Germany to Colombia, IPPF members say they have scaled down HIV testing and gender-based violence response work and face shortages of contraceptives.“They have needs that cannot wait,” IPPF director-general Alvaro Bermejo said of women in a statement, pleading for help from national governments to help provide personal protective equipment to allow for intimate care.For most people, the coronavirus causes mild to moderate symptoms such as fever and cough. But for some, especially older adults and the infirm, it can cause pneumonia and death. In Europe, 100 non-governmental groups on Wednesday called on governments to ensure reproductive health services during the pandemic, saying many facilities have sharply reduced them or shut down.The predicted baby boom in Africa alone, even as birth rates have dropped in many countries as more girls are educated, will add to the growth that already is projected to see the continent of 1.3 billion people double in population by 2050.In Zimbabwe, Marie Stopes provided more than 400,000 women last year with family planning services, Shibru said, including averting nearly 50,000 unsafe abortions. But now the organization’s outreach services, which reach more than 60% of clients, are suspended. Even at clinics that remain open, the number of clients has dropped by 70%.That leaves a country of men, no longer free to work in the fields or elsewhere, and without the distraction of sports, confined with their wives for weeks on end.“Husband and wife, what else can they be doing in that house?” asked Future Gwena, a Marie Stopes outreach worker. “I think we’re going to have a lot of pregnancies and, unfortunately, unintended. And most will result in unsafe abortions, domestic violence. Our community is paternalistic. If something goes wrong in the home, it’s the mother’s fault, even if the man initiated it.”Even in normal times, the average woman seeking contraception must get consent from her husband, Shibru said.Meanwhile, travel restrictions and manufacturing slowdowns in Asia as a result of the pandemic mean that some family planning providers are waiting for shipments of emergency contraceptives and other items as stocks run short at home.“Today I expected a shipment from Asia, but it’s suspended,” Shibru said. “I don’t know how to fill that gap. It was supposed to come today to serve us for the coming six months. So this is one of the tragedies. … We’re expecting a huge shortage of contraceptives in African countries. Absolutely, condoms also.”In Uganda, Marie Stopes country director Carole Sekimpi said they don’t know when a shipment of emergency contraceptives will arrive because India, their source, has also locked down. They’ve been out of stock for a month and need oral contraceptive pills as well, she said.“Yesterday when I heard (neighboring) Kenya talking about a lockdown in Nairobi and (the port of) Mombasa I thought, ‘My god, what’s going to happen to all of our shipments?’” she said. “Overall, there’s definitely going to be a problem.”She worried about the girls and women confined in homes with potential assailants, even uncles or cousins. Her organization has suspended outreach, which provides about 40% of services, and clinics that remain open have seen a drop in client traffic of about 20%.“We don’t see you anymore,” anxious callers say. “What’s happening?”Even the capital, Kampala, has been affected. Sekimpi said she visited a large government-run hospital there on Monday, “but when I got there my heart was broken because the one service suspended was family planning. With good reason, because it’s usually crowded.”She expects not only a baby boom but a rise in unsafe abortions and post-abortion care, along with panicky women seeking to remove their IUD (intrauterine device) or birth control implant earlier than expected as they fear no family planning worker will be around to help them later.Even the U.S. Embassy in Uganda has taken note of the challenges women face, tweeting that “Periods don’t pause for pandemics” and sharing advice on how to make washable sanitary pads at home.The range of issues is similar across Africa, Shibru in Zimbabwe said, citing a daily call with country directors in Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Madagascar and elsewhere.“Look, everything has been diverted to COVID,” he said of the disease caused by the coronavirus. “But after COVID, another catastrophe will be women’s health, unless something is done right now.”
…
Germany Flies in Seasonal Farm Workers Amid Virus Measures
Two planeloads of Eastern European farmhands arrived Thursday in Berlin and Duesseldorf amid strict precautions to protect the country from the new coronavirus, as an ambitious German program to import thousands of seasonal agricultural workers got underway.Seasonal workers had been caught up in the country’s ban on travel after the outbreak of the coronavirus. That left a massive deficit in personnel available to pick asparagus, which has already sprouted, and plant other crops in German fields, where some 300,000 such workers were employed last year.Most came from Eastern European countries such as Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine, and Hungary, where wages are much lower than in Germany, which is Europe’s largest economy.Under the new program, workers need to fly to the country in controlled groups — to prevent the possible infection of others en route — and are subject to medical checks upon arrival. They then must live and work separately from other farmhands for two weeks, and wear protective gear.Announcing the program, Agriculture Minister Julia Kloecker said it was a “pragmatic and goal-oriented solution” that would allow up to 40,000 seasonal workers into the country in April, and another 40,000 in May. She said the hope was to find an additional 20,000 over the two months among Germany’s own unemployed, students or resident asylum seekers.”This is important and good news for our farmers,” she said. “Because the harvest doesn’t wait and you can’t delay sowing the fields.”Ahead of time, interested workers have to register online and have their information checked by federal police. Farmers needing help register online with Eurowings, the airline contracted to bring the workers in, saying when they’re needed and where.So far, 9,900 people had registered for April and another 4,300 for May.Flights are then organized to bring in groups, and the first group of workers, 530 people from Romania, arrived on Thursday in Duesseldorf and Berlin, Eurowings said. Further flights were already planned to Duesseldorf, Karlsruhe, Leipzig, Nuremberg and Frankfurt.
…
Whales Filmed Having Whale of a Time During Lockdown
With humans away, the whales will play.In another sign that wild animals are roaming more freely while locked-down people are sheltering indoors from the coronavirus, a maritime patrol has filmed remarkable images of whales powering through Mediterranean waters off the coast of southern France.The graceful pair of fin whales was filmed Tuesday in waters off the Calanques national park, a protected reserve of outstanding natural beauty next to the usually bustling but now locked-down Mediterranean port city of Marseille.Didier Reault, who heads the park board, told France Info radio on Thursday that it is “very, very rare” for fin whales to be spotted and filmed at such close quarters in the reserve’s waters. He said the whales usually stay further out in deeper Mediterranean waters.Fin whales are among the largest of the species, weighing as much as 70 tons and growing past 20 meters (65 feet) in length.Wild animals venturing into places vacated by humans have also been spotted elsewhere around the world, as hundreds of millions of people are locked down and limited in their movements to try to slow the coronavirus pandemic.For most people, the coronavirus causes mild to moderate symptoms such as fever and cough. But for some, especially older adults and the infirm, it can cause pneumonia and death.Other places where animals have taken advantage of the peace of less human activity include Llandudno, a town in North Wales. There, mountain goats have been filmed roaming in frisky clumps through the streets and chomping on plants in people’s front yards.
…
US Congress Weighs How to Legislate From Afar
“Congress” literally means to gather together. But the coronavirus pandemic and election year politics are forcing lawmakers to consider ways of legislating from afar, some for the first time in U.S. history.The virus’ continuing spread is raising doubts among lawmakers and aides that the House will reconvene in Washington as scheduled after April 20. Democrats are increasingly annoyed that President Donald Trump gets a daily platform to rebut unflattering stories and update Americans on his administration’s response to the crisis. Like millions of people around the world, homebound members of Congress have time on their hands for suggestions, and they’re making them with rising urgency — from virtual congressional hearings to remote voting and the more likely buddy system by which votes are cast by proxy.”There are consistent recommendations and pressure on what remote voting would look like, and I think there are ongoing conversations looking at how you could, in a very secure manner, have remote hearings,” said Rep. Ami Bera, D-Calif. “That is one way that the public can see what Congress is doing while they are watching the daily press briefings from the administration.”Politics aside, there are life-and-death matters to legislate. After passing the nation’s largest stimulus bill, Congress is now considering follow-up policy that gives more support for small businesses, medical personnel, unemployed Americans and efforts to slow the virus’ spread. But before more dollars are dedicated, the tradition-bound Congress must untangle questions about its own operations, given that the average age of members is right around 60, and many of its leaders are more than a decade older. Several members of Congress have tested positive for the virus. The last time Congress met, the Senate slowed down its roll call to thin out the number of members sharing the chamber at any one time. The House on March 27 spread its members from the floor into the empty visitors gallery overhead, filling every other seat, to pass the $2.2 trillion bill. The scene was poignant, but also awkward and risky. When it was over, members bolted the building, leaving red tags about cleaning dangling from office doorknobs.Lawmakers aren’t eager to gather there again anytime soon. But they’re abuzz with proposals on how to govern — deliberate, oversee how the $2.2 trillion is spent and vote — without 535 representatives and senators meeting in person. But discussions are still tentative, given concerns about hacking and the efficacy of dozens of garrulous politicians sharing a Zoom-like platform. Several House committees are looking to somehow hold hearings, for example, on the inspectors general Trump has ousted or prevented from taking office. “At this point we’re trying to figure out logistics of doing hearings, and we’re looking into whether we can do virtual or Zoom hearings,” House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., told The Associated Press on Tuesday. “But we’ve reached no conclusion on that.” Wednesday evening, the Committee on House Administration sent members guidance on how to use remote conferencing. As for floor votes, House Democrats said in a report last month that it’s best to follow the current practice of unanimous consent or, in its absence, roll call votes. The House also could reset the minimum number of members who must be present under a rule changed in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Other options would require changing the House rules, which would likely result in an unwanted trip to Washington, anyway. Proxy voting, or the practice of an absent member giving a present member authority to cast both votes, has precedent in Congress. Proxy voting in House committees was permitted until 1995. And it’s still allowed in Senate committees. But remote voting, wrote Rules Committee Democrats, presents a universe of security and other challenges. It has no precedent, which means parties could file legal challenges against any legislation they don’t like. And it’s vulnerable to hackers at a time when other countries have shown great interest in meddling in the U.S. political processes. “Creating a secure, reliable, and user-friendly system while in the midst of a crisis is not realistic,” the report found.Yet remote voting has its fans. Dozens of Republicans and Democrats that make up the Problem Solvers Caucus on Tuesday urged House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., to consider allowing voting by video or having voting machines moved to local offices.”We’re working on a system where we can vote remotely so that we don’t have to go back in times of emergency,” Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., one of the bipartisan caucus members, told reporters on Wednesday. “Might it be better to caucus and be able to vote from your kitchen knowing that it’s only (for) a temporary time?”And Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Rob Portman, R-Ohio, wrote last month in a column for The Washington Post that the country has debated governing from elsewhere in times of crisis for centuries, from the British burning of the Capitol in the 19th century to the Cold War in the 20th century and the wake of Sept. 11, 2001.”This time, it is not the Senate’s meeting space that is at risk,” they wrote, proposing remote voting for up to 30 days. “It is the senators themselves.” Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., on Wednesday dismissed concerns about the risk of hacking for remote voting, saying that if anyone’s vote is recorded incorrectly, “we’d know immediately.” As for Congress’ cherished tradition of in-person voting, he noted:”Traditionally, Congress didn’t have any women. Traditionally, Congress didn’t recognize the right of Black Americans to vote,” Khanna tweeted. “Traditions change, and so should Congress.”
…
Another 6.6 Million US Workers Claim Jobless Benefits
Another 6.6 million U.S. workers filed for unemployment compensation last week as the coronavirus pandemic continues to wreak havoc on the American economy, the A block of closed restaurants on a deserted street ends at Faneuil Hall, right, Saturday, April 4, 2020, in Boston. The area is usually busy with tourists, but tourism is nearly non-existent during the coronavirus outbreak.With federal authorities recommending that Americans maintain at least a two-meter physical distance with other people through the end of April, businesses have been forced to curtail work or shutter operations. They then have laid off workers. The rapid pace of layoffs is virtually unprecedented in recent U.S. history, although the extent of the economic damage is not precisely known. It took two years during the Great Recession in the 2008-2009 period for 8.6 million people to lose their jobs. Numerous economic forecasters say the U.S. economy has already plunged into a recession. The U.S. unemployment rate in March was 4.4% but that figure was mostly derived from employment surveys in the early part of the month before most of the layoffs occurred. The survey for April covering the current layoffs will not be released until early May. FILE – Visitors to the Department of Labor are turned away at the door by personnel due to closures over coronavirus concerns in New York, March 18, 2020.Last week’s employment report said the U.S. economy, the world’s largest, shed 701,000 jobs in March. By comparison, 2.6 million jobs were lost in 2008 in the steep recession more than a decade ago and the unemployment rate topped out at 10.2% in October 2009. Some U.S. economists are predicting that 25 million to 40 million workers out of the U.S. labor force of nearly 165 million could be laid off by July. The wave of claims by the newly unemployed has overwhelmed some state agencies that handle the paperwork, with the jobless workers forced to wait hours in line at offices or online if they were filing electronically. Jobless claim websites in some states, including New York and Oregon, have crashed in the wave of claims. Retail stores, restaurants, gyms and the travel industry have been especially slammed by the coronavirus, but layoffs are also increasing in manufacturing, warehousing, transportation and some white-collar professions. FILE – The Macy’s store at the popular Tyson’s Corner Center sits closed Monday, March 30, 2020, in McLean, Va., a Washington, D.C., suburb.An estimated 190,000 stores have closed, about half of the country’s retail space. Such major retailers as Macy’s, Kohl’s and Gap have collectively laid off 290,000 workers. Other retailers have furloughed thousands more. Investment banker Goldman Sachs Group has predicted that the U.S. gross domestic product, it output of goods and services will plunge by an annualized 34% in the April-to-June period, compared to its earlier estimate of 24%. Goldman Sachs economists said the U.S. jobless rate would soar to 15% by mid-year, an estimate that would leave 25 million workers unemployed. James Bullard, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Missouri, predicted the unemployment rate may climb to 30% in the second quarter because of the business shutdowns, with a steep 50% drop in the gross domestic product. Normally, laid-off workers claiming unemployment compensation are paid a fraction of their regular salaries, a sort of stop-gap personal funding. But the massive $2 trillion coronavirus rescue package that Trump signed into law two weeks ago includes $250 billion for bigger jobless payments that will benefit the newly unemployed at a time when the U.S. economy is facing unparalleled challenges. The law extends jobless insurance from 26 to 39 weeks and increases the payouts to the jobless by $600 a week for four months above what states would normally pay the unemployed. In addition, for the first time, freelancers and gig workers, such as Uber drivers, will be eligible.
…
Australian Police Seize Evidence from Country’s Biggest Source of Coronavirus Infections
Police in Australia have removed items from a cruise ship that arrived in Sydney last month carrying hundreds of passengers infected with the novel coronavirus. Investigators wearing protective gear from head to toe boarded the Ruby Princess late Wednesday night at Port Kembla and confiscated the ship’s “black box,” which holds a digital record of its movements similar to those installed on passenger jets. The authorities also questioned all of the ship’s 1,040 crew members who have remained on board since it docked on March 19. About 15 of the hundreds of infected passengers who disembarked the ship without undergoing health checks have died, making it the largest source of Australia’s 6,000 total COVID-19 infections and 51 deaths. About 200 crew members have shown symptoms of the virus, with 18 testing positive. The ship is expected to remain at Port Kembla for 10 days while the crew undergoes treatment. Health Minister Greg Hunt announced 96 new cases of coronavirus infections on Thursday, the lowest number of new infections in more than three weeks.
…
Burundi Football Team Plays Through Coronavirus Threat
Burundi’s national football club is continuing its pursuit of a championship, despite the deadly risk posed by the global spread of the coronavirus.Just this week, the East African nation announced the discovery of the first three confirmed cases of COVID-19.However, the few cases in Burundi have not yet swayed authorities to take proactive steps to get ahead of the virus by shutting down large public gatherings.Jean Gilbert Kanyenkore, coach of the Vital’O FC football team, said the players were taking precautions such as washing their hands and avoiding handshakes.However, given the contact nature of football, it won’t be easy for players to maintain a safe distance from one another in order to avoid potential person-to-person transmission of the virus.Off the field, spectators arriving to the stadiums will have their temperatures checked to determine if they have a fever, a symptom associated with carriers of the virus.
…
Coronavirus Threatens Greek Tourism
After a brutal 10-year financial crisis, Greece was on course to a promising rebound. Businesses and exports were slowly but consistently growing, and tourism was booming. With the coronavirus, however, the biggest money-making industry for Europe’s poorest economy, is in peril.This was supposed to be a record year, with this tiny, sun-kissed nation and its idyllic islands expecting three times as many travelers as its population of 11 million.Now, not even a single tourist with a hat and camera can be seen.Lyssandros Tsilidis, the president of the Federation of Hellenic Associations of Travel and Tourist Agencies, described a devastated tourism industry.From inexpensive hostels to five-star resorts, he said, no one has been spared. All trips have been canceled. All flights have been grounded. It’s impossible to predict how and when it could all start up again, he said.For a country for which tourism accounts for 25 percent of gross domestic product and where 1 in 5 jobs is linked to the trade, COVID-19 is exacting huge financial losses.The Greek economy is the European Union’s second-most reliant on tourism, after Cyprus, which makes it much more vulnerable and adds more hardship to a nation still reeling from a brutal 10-year recession.To offset some of the pain, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ government has stepped in, affording billions of euros to businesses while subsidizing employees’ salaries to prevent massive layoffs.On the popular island of Rhodes, though, where more than 2 million mainly British, German and American tourists flock each summer, resort owners are now considering staying shut beyond the mandatory lockdown that ends later this month, through the summer.The super moon rises in the sky in front of the Apollo’s temple about 80 kilometers southwest of Athens on Tuesday, April 7, 2020.Manolis Markopoulos, the head of the island’s hotel owners, said resorts may have no other option than to shut down entirely for the season. He said cancelations are running at nearly 100 percent for May, and operating costs are too high to maintain in a crisis that has no clear end date.Early and rigorous actions taken by the Greek government have helped contain the spread of the coronavirus here.However, for travel to resume and tourism to kick off again, all countries must be free of the coronavirus, Tsilidis said.Quarantines and travel just don’t mix, he said. What British national, or German or American is going to travel halfway around the globe for a week’s vacation in Greece, knowing he’ll be quarantined for at least 14 days? he asked.To head off a complete collapse of the country’s multibillion-dollar industry, officials said they will target domestic tourism more than ever — encouraging Greeks to rediscover their country once the virus is brought under control and travel regulations ease.Tsilidis said, though, it may take as much as 18 months for foreign travelers to set foot here again in organized forms of travel.Normality, he said, can only resume when people feel it is safe to travel again. That, he said, can only come from health experts and the World Health Organization when they announce a cure or vaccine for the coronavirus.
…
Asian Markets Back on Upswing Thursday
Market shares were on the upswing in Asia on Thursday as investors once again expressed hope that the novel coronavirus pandemic was nearing its peak.Australia’s S&P/ASX index gained nearly 3.5 percent at the end of its trading session, with Hong Kong, Seoul, Shanghai and Mumbai also posting positive gains.Japan’s Nikkei index lost a fraction of 1 percent as the country faces an increasing number of confirmed COVID-19 infections.The rising numbers in Asia mirrored Wednesday’s closing numbers on Wall Street, with the Dow Jones and the S&P 500 all gaining 3.4 percent, while the Nasdaq finished 2.6 percent higher.Oil markets also improved Thursday, with U.S. crude oil gaining 3 percent to finish over $25 per barrel, while Brent crude oil, the international standard, rose nearly 2 percent, to settle at over $33 per barrel. Investors are hopeful that Thursday’s meeting between OPEC members and Russia will lead to a deal to curb production, which has created a glut of supplies as demand has plunged due to the pandemic.
…
Taiwan Denies Accusations of Racism by Head of World Health Organization
Taiwan is pushing back against accusations by the director-general of the World Health Organization that racist attacks aimed at him came from the island.Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Wednesday accused Taiwan’s foreign ministry of being linked to a months-long campaign against him amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The Ethiopian-born microbiologist and researcher is the first African to head the United Nations global health agency.Taiwan’s foreign ministry expressed its “strong dissatisfaction” with Ghebreyesus’ accusations in a statement Thursday, calling them “groundless.””We are a mature and highly accomplished advanced democratic country, and have absolutely not instigated our people to personally attack the WHO’s Director General, and have absolutely not made any racist comments,” the statement said.Taiwan has been praised among the international community for its early measures to combat the pandemic, reporting just 379 cases and five deaths despite its close proximity to China. But the democratic self-ruled island has been barred from membership in the World Health Organization due to pressure from China, which considers Taiwan a renegade province.
…
China President Pledges Help to South Africa in Coronavirus Fight
Chinese President Xi Jinping is offering support and resources to African countries, especially South Africa, in their fight to control the COVID-19 epidemic. China state media said Xi recounted during a Wednesday phone call with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa how South Africa reached out to Beijing to offer support in the early stages of China’s coronavirus battle. Xi said China will share its experience in trying to prevent and control the coronavirus and strengthen the cooperation with South Africa in healthcare. Xi is also urging Chinese nationals in South Africa to lend their support to the country’s anti-epidemic initiatives. South Africa has more than 1,800 coronavirus cases, the most of any country on the continent. So far, the deaths of 18 people have been linked to the virus.
…
South Sudan’s Porous Borders Reduce COVID-19 Protective Measures
Community leaders in South Sudan’s Central Equatoria state say the government is undermining its own coronavirus prevention measures by allowing people to freely enter the country from Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.Locals in Yei River County, which borders both countries, say there are at least 15 porous entry points at Busia, Tamania Teletin, Bazi, Ondako, Esebi, Lasu, Kirigwa and other towns.Uganda and the DRC have small but growing numbers of COVID-19 cases, while South Sudan confirmed its first case on Sunday, a United Nations staffer who entered the country legally in February.Justoson Victor, who works for the nonprofit organization Yamora in the Yei River area, said South Sudan authorities and health officials are making no effort to trace people who enter illegally.“We are not having a well-oriented team that is doing testing and tracking movement of people, and I would like through the government to inform the local chiefs to refer anybody coming new into the country should be checked by health authorities,” Victor told VOA’s South Sudan in Focus.Victor said another problem is that some security forces accept bribes from travelers and allow them to cross into South Sudan despite a clear directive from President Salva Kiir to shut down all border crossing points.A member of a medical team wearing protective suits sanitizes cargo that arrived inside a plane at the airfield to prevent the spread of COVID-19 at the Juba International Airport in Juba, South Sudan, April 5, 2020.Dr. James Wani, director general of the now-defunct Yei River State Health Ministry, said state officials don’t have the funding to screen all travelers making their way into Yei.“As a ministry, any person coming from outside into Yei town, he or she must undergo health screening and we are calling on the community leaders to inform us on the movement of people from the shortcut routes,” Wani told South Sudan In Focus.Member of Parliament Bidali Moses, who represents Yei River County in South Sudan’s legislative assembly, urged the national COVID-19 task force to ramp up preventative measures in Yei.“I am calling on the national government task force to do more intervention in Yei than Juba because I have seen the risk here. We need people to be deployed to monitor the situation, and we need testing equipment installed at each checkpoint,” Moses told South Sudan in Focus.Amule Felix, former administrator for the Yei River state government, said he asked the army and other forces to stop the illegal entry of people.“We have urged the SSPDF [South Sudan People’s Defense Forces] and other security organs at the borders to ensure that this movement is stopped,” Felix told South Sudan In Focus.
…
Trump Optimistic on COVID-19 Recovery
Hours after the United States saw the deadliest day in the fight against the coronavirus, U.S. President Donald Trump came out with a prediction of better days to come. At a news conference Wednesday evening, the president said the expected number of COVID-19 deaths in the United States is now about 61,000 – down from a recent estimate of 82,000 and down even further from an estimate earlier this month predicting a death toll of at least 100,000 and as many as 240,000.On Wednesday, close to 2,000 COVID-19 U.S. patients died within a 24-hour period, bringing the death toll from the virus to more than 14,500. Trump said the figures would be higher if he had not closed the U.S. borders early in the outbreak, contrary to the World Health Organization advisory. He said new projections could be even more optimistic depending on continued patience and discipline by the American people, many of whom are confined to their homes.In the U.S., African Americans are the group hardest hit by the coronavirus. Officials say that is because that population group also suffers from other health problems, such as asthma and diabetes, that weaken the immune system. Elderly populations everywhere are more likely to succumb to the virus.Spanish officials say that most of the 4,750 people in Madrid’s nursing homes who have died during the outbreak had the COVID-19 disease or its symptoms. Most of those deaths are not showing up in the city’s COVID-19 death count because most of the ill weren’t tested and therefore aren’t counted in the national toll.A man wears a protective mask while waiting for a bus in Detroit, Michigan, U.S., on April 8, 2020.Countries around the world are in different stages of the coronavirus trajectory. The number of deaths and new cases are decreasing in countries where the outbreak started earlier: China, South Korea and even Italy and Spain. Austria, Denmark and Norway are planning to reopen schools later this month and loosen other restrictions.But Turkey reported an increase of 4,117 new cases in one day. France and Britain appear to be peaking this week, as is the United States. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been hospitalized since Sunday. His condition is said to be improving after two days in intensive care.The small Mediterranean island nation of Malta has recorded its first death linked to the coronavirus. The victim was a 92-year-old woman who suffered from renal and cardiac complications and was also diabetic.In Serbia, the 22-year-old son of President Aleksandar Vučić has contracted the virus and has been admitted to the country’s Infectious Diseases Clinic. As of Wednesday, Serbia had 2,666 COVID-19 cases with 65 deaths. Neighboring Croatia had fewer than 1,400 cases and 19 deaths despite its proximity to Italy – and a recent earthquake – due to strictly imposed social distancing and lockdowns, especially for elderly residents.Protective measures such as restriction of movement are applied differently throughout the United States. The White House COVID-19 task force Wednesday urged Americans to adhere to their local recommendations and continue acting with utmost caution. They said social distancing will be crucial in the coming weeks and after the number of new infections declines because relaxing too early could lead to a second wave of infections.
…
How Trump Amassed Power in Battling the Coronavirus Pandemic
In a matter of weeks, U.S. President Donald Trump has assumed extraordinary power and influence at a time of national crisis. In the fight against COVID-19, Trump has declared a national emergency that has enabled him to deploy military hospital ships to New York and Los Angeles, force carmakers to manufacture ventilators and relax vaccination and treatment regulations. These and other steps have been hailed as critical public health measures, but they have come with a cost to civil liberties and democratic governance. After years of frustration in blocking illegal immigration from Mexico and Central America, the administration now has the power to arrest and immediately deport undocumented immigrants based on the need to protect public health. And in a signal that his administration can spend trillions of dollars as it sees fit to respond to the coronavirus crisis with diminished oversight from Congress or government watchdogs, Trump is waging an assault on a network of federal inspectors general to weaken their investigative clout and mandate. From left, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Vice President Mike Pence and Rep. Kevin Brady applaud President Trump during the signing of the CARES Act, March 27, 2020.Kimberly Wehle, a visiting professor of law at American University in Washington, D.C., said Trump’s recent firings of two inspectors general appear to be an attempt to “consolidate power” during a national emergency. “This is a serious affront to the rule of law and an accountable government,” Wehle said. “The IGs exist to protect the public from fraud, waste and abuse.” Conservative constitutional scholars say Trump has carefully avoided invoking any inherent constitutional authority in confronting the pandemic. Saikrishna Prakash, a constitutional law professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, said Trump has taken “a very traditional conception” of executive power, relying largely on powers given to him by Congress. “He’s not stretching and straining, as far as I can tell, to read the Constitution as if it granted him a whole host of authorities,” Prakash said. To be sure, as extraordinary as they are, the Trump administration’s actions pale by comparison to the draconian steps taken by some governments around the world. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban replies during a question-and-answer session of the Parliament in Budapest, Hungary, March 30, 2020.In Hungary, nominally a European democracy, the prime minister now rules by decree, thanks to a recent act of Parliament passed recently in the name of combating the lethal virus. In Britain, the government has been given the power to shut down the borders and detain people suspected of being infected with the virus. While Trump has thus far resisted calls for a national lockdown and other extreme measures, he has invoked virtually every emergency tool provided by Congress. Among them, the National Emergencies Act of 1976, which allows the president to declare a national emergency and make use of an additional 136 laws. While these actions, along with measures taken by states, amount to a major expansion of executive power and have raised concerns about civil liberties, they have hardly been met with any resistance. During a time of war or national peril, Americans traditionally have rallied round their president and allowed him to invoke extraordinary powers, such as President Abraham Lincoln suspending habeas corpus during the Civil War, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt sending Japanese Americans to internment camps during World War II. Still, some warn that the president is using a moment of crisis to expand his power and advance controversial policies. “COVID-19 is a significant threat to public health, but it should not be a significant threat to civil liberties or democratic government,” said Nick Robinson, a researcher with the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law, which tracks civil liberties violations around the world. Fear that the new powers might outlast the crisis are not unfounded. After the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States, the George W. Bush administration assumed sweeping surveillance and other national security powers. It took Congress and the courts more than a decade to roll them back. Digital signs signal closed at an international bridge checkpoint at the U.S-Mexico border that joins Ciudad Juarez and El Paso, March 21, 2020.ImmigrationNowhere has the effect of the administration’s newly assumed emergency powers revealed itself more directly than immigration. Last month, the administration restricted all nonessential traffic across the border with Mexico and Canada in the name of public health safety. “Our nation’s top health care officials are extremely concerned about the grave public health consequences of mass uncontrolled cross-border movement,” Trump said. FILE – Personnel at the the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention work at the Emergency Operations Center in response to the 2019 novel coronavirus, Feb. 13, 2020, in Atlanta.While Congress rejected an administration proposal to end protections for asylum-seekers, the administration found another way to restrict asylum applications: a designation by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that unauthorized immigrants pose a “public health threat.” The designation has enabled the administration to abandon a long-standing policy of not returning asylum-seekers to countries where they might face persecution, according to Sarah Pierce of the Migration Policy Institute. Now, virtually all Central American immigrants caught at the U.S. border are quickly “expelled” from the country without seeing an immigration officer, while growing numbers of unaccompanied children are turned away, where once they were handed over to a guardian or family member. Pierce said the COVID-related border restrictions will be hard to roll back, even after the crisis is over. “This is something that the administration has been working toward for so long,” Pierce said. “I don’t expect them to walk it back willingly.”
John Malcolm of the conservative Heritage Foundation dismissed the notion that Trump’s actions are politically motivated. “I think there’s no question that the president and every governor are trying to react to a very, very difficult circumstance,” he said. FILE – In this March 16, 2011, file photo, a security fence surrounds inmate housing on the Rikers Island correctional facility in New York.Indefinite detention power
In the lead-up to the enactment of a $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief package last month, the Justice Department asked Congress for emergency powers that alarmed many rights advocates.One proposal would allow judges to halt court proceedings during an emergency. Another would allow the Bureau of Prisons to hold detainees indefinitely during an emergency. Robinson said what made the proposed measure to hold detainees “dangerous” was its potential use in the future. “That’s extreme. It’s dangerous. It’s unnecessary,” he said. A Justice Department spokesperson said the proposed measure was part of “draft suggestions” made in response to a congressional request and that it did not “confer new powers upon the executive branch.” Challenging inspectors general Long a critic of government watchdogs, Trump has used the crisis to exert authority over independent inspectors general appointed to ensure government transparency. Last month, Trump vowed that his administration would not cooperate with a key transparency provision of a $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief package he signed into law. “I do not understand, and my administration will not treat this provision, as permitting the (new coronavirus inspector general) to issue reports to Congress without the presidential supervision required by the Take Care Clause,” Trump wrote in a signing document. The U.S. Constitution’s Take Care Clause states that the president “shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed.” Then in the span of four days, Trump ousted two inspectors general and publicly berated a third. FILE – In this Oct. 4, 2019, photo, Michael Atkinson, the inspector general of the intelligence community, arrives at the Capitol in Washington for closed-door questioning about a whistleblower complaint.The first casualty was Michael Atkinson, the intelligence community watchdog who notified Congress about a whistleblower complaint that led to Trump’s impeachment last year. Trump fired him last week. This week, Trump sidelined Glenn Fine, the acting Pentagon inspector general tapped to chair a new coronavirus pandemic accountability committee. Trump twice criticized the Department of Health and Human Services watchdog over a report that disclosed testing delays and shortages at many hospitals. He called the report a “fake dossier” and questioned the inspector general’s impartiality.
…
Rebuilding of Paris’ Notre Dame Stalled as Pandemic Rages
A year after a fire that shocked the world and destroyed the roof of Paris’ ancient cathedral of Notre Dame, France is marking the first anniversary amid the coronavirus pandemic. Workers who were removing lead contamination ahead of reconstruction were sent home as part of efforts to contain the spread of the virus.It has been a year since the iconic towers of Notre Dame were engulfed in flames and smoke, its ceiling collapsing and leaving the ancient building weakened.It has also been a year since French President Emmanuel Macron promised to rebuild the Paris landmark quickly. In an address last year, Macron said French people are made of builders and that Notre Dame would be rebuilt even more beautifully, within five years. He assured the French it could be done.A year later, Parisians, tourists and Christian pilgrims are still mourning the loss of one of France’s best-loved monuments, which attracted 12 million visitors in 2018.Cedric Burgun is priest and a vice dean at the Paris Catholic Institute. He remembers the dramatic scene a year ago.FILE – The steeple and spire of the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral collapses as the cathedral is engulfed in flames in central Paris on April 15, 2019.He said the memories of the fire are still vivid when walking around Notre Dame. He sees many people next to the building to see it or pray outside to remember that shocking event for French people.The scaffolding is still visible from outside the building. It was present on the building prior to the April 15th fire due to restoration work – the heat of the blaze welded it together.There are an estimated 551 tons of metal are still on top of the cathedral.The issue has become an important hazmat concern after last spring’s huge fire which released thousands of kilograms of toxic lead dust into the atmosphere.Decontamination efforts took months to make sure the neighborhood around Notre-Dame was safe and workers have to wear protective equipment to operate on the site.Lately, the site has been silent. The removal of the melted scaffolding on the cathedral’s roof – originally scheduled to begin March 23 – cannot take place under the country’s coronavirus measures.Father Benoist de Sinety, oversees the constructions efforts for the Paris diocese.He explains to VOA that the work is ongoing to conceive the cathedral’s future and what will happen around the building during the reconstruction to welcome visitors, pilgrims.No sooner had firefighters extinguished the flames when pledges of donations for restoration poured in. French authorities say that by November, donors had pledged more than $1 billion.FILE – A hole is seen in the dome inside Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, France, April 16, 2019.The Fondation Notre-Dame already spent nearly $23 million on efforts to secure the building. Christophe Rousselot is the president of the institution.He explains to VOA these are large amounts of money but they are a necessity to ensure the building does not collapse.According to him there is no way currently to build a frame and put a roof on top of it without being absolutely sure of that the building is solidThere is a debate on the types of materials that will be used to rebuild the 900-year-old structure.Christophe Rousselot said it is more than likely that a spire will be built but its shape remains unclear. In his view, architects will not go crazy. New materials will be used for a modern cathedral, he said, in a sense that it will stand better against potential fires, which is good news, he thinks.To mark the first anniversary, the clergy planned a small religious ceremony with only seven people inside the damaged cathedral.The Archbishop of Paris was to display the relic of Christ’s crown of thorns for veneration during a Good Friday broadcast.However, the bells were to remain silent on Easter Monday.
…
US Army Hard-Pressed to Build Temporary Hospitals Before COVID-19 Peak
The head of the Army Corps of Engineers is warning that his team is “beginning to run out of time” to build new temporary hospitals to expand capacity to combat the coronavirus across the country. Army Corps of Engineers Lt. Gen. Todd Semonite told reporters Wednesday that the military needed to start construction of temporary hospital sites “probably in a week” in order to complete them ahead of when the number of coronavirus cases peak. The Army Corps of Engineers is converting 17 sites nationwide into hospitals, with a total of about 15,000 beds. More than 20 other facilities are pending, which could provide about 8,500 more beds if completed. Semonite said that the Federal Emergency Management Agency, as well as local and state governments, must eventually decide what to do with the temporary hospitals built by the Army Corps of Engineers after the COVID-19 peaks have ended. The U.S. military could either help break down the temporary hospitals or leave them up to prepare for a potential coronavirus outbreak recurrence in fall. “We’re in this for the short game — this is the ability to get through these curves in the next couple of weeks,” Semonite said. “We’ve got to sit down sometime in the middle of June and July and really figure out … what does America need with respect to excess facilities in the event of a pandemic virus?” Members of the military assemble some of the beds, April 1, 2020, for use at TCF Center in Detroit to accommodate an overflow of patients with the coronavirus.The chief of the National Guard Bureau, Gen. Joseph Lengyel, said there are now roughly the same number of Guardsmen across the U.S. battling COVID-19 as are deployed overseas in the Middle East and Asia-Pacific regions. More than 28,000 Guardsmen are supporting the response to the coronavirus by manning local testing sites and distributing medical supplies and food. Lengyel said an additional 10,000 will likely be added to the coronavirus response effort in the coming days. As of early Wednesday, 2,928 coronavirus cases around the globe were related to the U.S. military — 1,975 service members, 422 civilians, 347 dependents and 184 contractors — the Pentagon said. There have been eight DOD-related COVID-19 deaths, including one service member.
…
Renowned Somali Musician Dies of COVID-19 Complications
A renowned Somali musician and oud player, Mohamud Ismail Hussein, commonly known as Hudeydi, died on Tuesday night in London, as a result of complications of COVID-19.The 92-year-old musician had been popular among Somalis in the Horn of Africa and around the world since the 1950s, when he started performing in theaters and at concerts throughout the region.“He was a musician, poet and songwriter in his nearly six-decade-long career. I cannot sum up his rich music history,” said veteran Somali artist Abdi Dhuh. “I can say he immensely contributed to the Somali arts scene.”He becomes the second high-profile Somali claimed by COVID-19 in London. A week ago, former Somali prime minister Nur Hassan Hussein died of coronavirus at a London hospital.Hudeydi was born in 1928 in Berbera, North West Somalia. In a recent interview with VOA Somalia’s Qubanaha TV show, he said that he started playing oud, when he was 18 years old. “If there’s an oud lying near me, I couldn’t resist it but grab and play it,” he said.
He made a name for himself in Somalia during the 1950s and 1960s, performing in Somalia’s theaters.Another Somali artist, Mohamed Hassan Barrow, said “Hudeydi was a Somali music and national icon, patriot, and I remember him with the love songs he wrote and how he played oud.” Somali artist Fadum Ali Nakruma, who performed some of the songs Hudeydi wrote, described him as a “father” for many Somali artists.“He was like a father for us, and we remember his love for oud playing. We really [will miss] a legend,” she said.Hudeydi moved to Britain in 1974, where he continued to create music and perform. In 2018, the International Somali Awards honored him with a Lifetime Achievement Award in London.Seynab Abukar contributed to this report.
…
In Global Life-Death Struggle, Democracy Changes Course
Outside wartime nothing like it as ever been seen before in modern Western history. The lockdowns by democratic states with their draconian constraints on civil liberties and private enterprise fly in the face of an historical progression that’s seen the size and roles of governments shrunk and individual liberty boosted.As governments mobilize resources and coerce people in a life-and-death struggle to contain the coronavirus and mitigate its impact, the state has been unbound. People have been confined indoors, police powers have been expanded, data-surveillance increased and businesses shuttered. All with little debate.The size and scope of the state’s role in the economy prompted by the coronavirus dwarfs anything mounted to handle the 2008 financial crash. Britain, France and other European countries have offered so far loans and subsidies worth around 15% of their GDPs. America’s stimulus package is at around 10% of GDP. The U.S. fiscal stimulus package was dubbed by Larry Kudlow, President Donald Trump’s economic adviser, “the single largest Main Street assistance program in the history of the United States.”Municipal police officers check documents as they patrol in a street of Sceaux, south of Paris, France, during nationwide confinement measures to counter the Covid-19, April 8, 2020.In France, President Emmanuel Macron’s government not only passed legislation giving it the legal right to control the movement of people, it also seized the power to manage prices and requisition goods. In the United States, President Trump has used the Defense Production Act to prevent the export of surgical masks and gloves.State power is now at its most intrusive since the Second World War. For die-hard advocates of free markets and limited government the abrupt change in direction is horrifying. For others it is less so, even something to be embraced, a harbinger of the future, a turning point that will end up re-reordering their countries.For those on the progressive left, the reemergence of state power is a vindication of long-held beliefs that market-based models for social organization fail the majority of people. They hope the crisis will provide the opportunity to refashion along less market-oriented and more socialist lines. In the United States, supporters of Bernie Sanders say the crisis has exposed for all to see America’s threadbare social-safety net and the need for a government-run single-payer health care system.Last week, Britain’s former Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, said that the government’s massive and unprecedented underwriting of the British economy and labor market vindicated his pre-coronavirus election manifesto, the most left-wing program ever presented by the modern Labour Party.On Europe’s far right, too, there is self-preening as well as hope that the eventual political outcome from the coronavirus will be along lines more to their liking. A future of strong nation states and powerful central governments far less hedged in by Brussels is what they hope the coronavirus will lead to.Europe’s nationalist populists have long demanded more border controls and have advocated for a break with the Schengen system of passport-free travel. They hope the imposition of temporary border controls, in the face of the disapproval of Brussels, will lead to the break-up of Schengen permanently. Luca Zaia, governor of Italy’s hard-hit Veneto region and a member of Matteo Salvini’s populist Lega party, told reporters last month that “Schengen no longer exists” and forecast, “it will be remembered only in the history books.”Some are not waiting for history to reward them. FILE – Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban replies to an oppositional MP during a question and answer session of the Parliament in Budapest, Hungary, March 30, 2020.Hungary’s firebrand populist Viktor Orbán, a proponent of what he dubs ‘illiberal democracy,’ has seized the moment to accrue more power. Since his reelection in 2010 civil libertarians have denounced him for initiating a concerted erosion of democratic checks and balances, including the curbing of judicial independence, the politicization of the civil service and state interference in media and civil society. Last week, the country’s parliament, which is controlled by his right-wing nationalist party, gave Orbán the power to rule by decree indefinitely, shrugging off opposition demands for at least an end-date to his one-man-rule in the heart of the European Union. “The Hungarian situation offers us a glimpse of how world politics may function during and after the coronavirus crisis unless we give it careful thought,” frets Umut Korkut, a politics professor at Scotland’s Glasgow Caledonian University. Tom Palmer, a vice president at the Atlas Network, a non-profit which advocates for free-market economic policies and limited government, agrees. The Hungarian example — as well as the unbinding of the state elsewhere in the West — prompts his alarm. “There is a rising tide of authoritarian statism coming,” he says.Coffins arriving from the Bergamo area are being unloaded from a military truck that transported them in the cemetery of Cinisello Balsamo, near Milan in Northern Italy, March 27, 2020.But some governments appear just to be trying to manage public fear with no aim to prolong intrusive power. Others are exploiting it. In many cases established democracies are giving people enough confidence to accept restrictions in exchange for health security. Positive examples include South Korea and Israel, where the introduction of tough measures reflect a strong public consensus for action. In Britain, an opinion poll this week showed that two-thirds of the public back police enforcement of lockdown measures. Italy’s Prime Minister, Giuseppe Conte, got overwhelming public approval for his nationwide shut-down.But the unbinding of the state does raise serious questions about government overreach and individual rights.Other analysts and commentators remain more sanguine, pointing out that while many Western governments have taken emergency powers during this viral outbreak, no other democracy has given a leader full control as in Hungary. Faced with the prospect of tens of thousands – even hundreds of thousands – of deaths, Western governments have had little option but to expand their authority. People want governments to do whatever is needed to save lives. Once the acute phase of the pandemic is over, everything can revert to how it before, they say. The crisis may even allow for an improvement of democracy — a renewal involving reform of hidebound bureaucracy and a reduction in red tape as well as a greater nimbleness and responsiveness by government. The fight against the Coronavirus has exposed bureaucratic inertia in the West, a leaden-footedness and a failure to act quickly enough. Critics say bureaucracies have become arthritic, adjusting too slowly to the burgeoning crisis and have been reluctant to embrace innovation and flexibility. FILE – A laboratory technician prepares COVID-19 patient samples for semi-automatic testing at Northwell Health Labs, March 11, 2020, in Lake Success, New York.With the exception of Germany, many Western states have bungled virus testing and been sluggish to embrace the greatest strength of advanced democracies — their industries and manufacturers. As in Britain, so in the United States, commercial and university laboratories were blocked for weeks from developing their own tests for the virus. The government-designed testing kits rolled out at first were faulty.Belatedly, Western governments have started to try to be more responsive and to be smarter in the securing the resources needed to fight the insidious virus, cutting back on red tape, opportunistically embracing innovation, trying to reinvent themselves while tossing aside economic orthodoxy, all for the collective good. That all might leave a lasting legacy.But it remains unclear whether the unbound state will relinquish its expanded authority once the crisis is over. “Some will reassure themselves that it is just temporary and that it will leave almost no mark, as with Spanish flu a century ago,” the Economist magazine editorialized last month. “However, the scale of the response makes covid-19 more like a war or the Depression. And here the record suggests that crises lead to a permanently bigger state with many more powers and responsibilities and the taxes to pay for them,” the editors noted. Governments are never good at handing back powers they have seized. Outside of the democratic states of the West, the picture is gloomier. Dictators and strongman are using the crisis to tighten their grip on power. Many are fearful of political and social revolt triggered by scarcity, fear and an uncontrolled spread of the virus. 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.In Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev has cited the threat of the coronavirus to crack down even harder on opposition to his rule. So, too, in Cambodia, where Hun Sen has been arresting dissidents on grounds they’re spreading false information about the virus and he’s scapegoating Muslims for its emergence and introducing the contagion into the country. “In Thailand, Cambodia, Venezuela, Bangladesh, and Turkey, governments are detaining journalists, opposition activists, healthcare workers, and anyone else who dares to criticize the official response to the coronavirus,” says Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch. “For authoritarian-minded leaders, the coronavirus crisis is offering a convenient pretext to silence critics and consolidate power. Censorship in China and elsewhere has fed the pandemic, helping to turn a potentially containable threat into a global calamity. The health crisis will inevitably subside, but autocratic governments’ dangerous expansion of power may be one of the pandemic’s most enduring legacies,” he fears.FILE – Lebanese policemen remove protesters’ tents in Martyrs Square in Beirut, March 28, 2020.The coronavirus has given governments in the Middle East some breathing space from protest movements that have been burgeoning this year. Public demonstrations have been banned on social distancing grounds. But the Virus and food scarcity risks upending regimes. In Beirut, protesters flouted a curfew last week chanting, “We want to eat, we want to live.” In Tripoli, the country’s second-largest city, protesters shouted: “Dying from the coronavirus is better than starving to death.”A precipitous fall in oil prices risks destabilizing even strong central powers. With revenues plunging, Saudi Arabia’s ruling family is also at risk, say analysts. Few, though, believe another a coronavirus-sparked repeat of an Arab spring would give rise to the emergence of democracy in the region — more likely just a swap out of authoritarians.Speaking to the French nation last month, France’s Emmanuel Macron promised his people, “The day after we emerge victorious, will not be like the day before.” His words were meant to reassure the French that the virus would give rise to helpful reform. But they could prove prophetic in quite the opposite way for many countries.
…
Ethiopian Airlines Loses $550 Million, But Believes It Can Survive
Africa’s biggest airline, Ethiopian Airlines, has lost more than half-a-billion dollars since January because of the coronavirus pandemic. Despite the financial loss, the company’s CEO remains confident the airline can keep flying, in part by increasing its cargo business.Ethiopian Airlines CEO Tewolde Gebremariam told reporters on Tuesday the airline had lost $550 million between January and April, as the coronavirus pandemic brought passenger traffic to a near-complete halt.He acknowledged the airline is in a serious financial crisis, and also reported that three airline employees have tested positive for COVID-19. He said the three are in stable condition.But, Tweolde expressed his belief that Ethiopian Airlines will ride out the current storm.He said the company was cushioning the financial blow by finding new streams of income.Ethiopian Airlines CEO Tewolde Gebremariam speaks during a news conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia April 7, 2020.“We are now focusing on cargo. The cargo business is relatively doing well because urgently required medical supplies are needed all over the world from east to west, west to east, north, south and so on. We are also trying to convert some of our passenger aircraft to cargo,” said Tweolde.He also said the company has saved money by cutting back deeply on daily flights and suspending talks with Boeing and Airbus to replace older aircraft in its fleet.Airline industry experts say some of Africa’s air carriers are likely to go out of business during the ongoing crisis.John Grant, a senior analyst at the aviation data firm OAG, told VOA via a messaging app that Ethiopian Airlines was better positioned “than any other African carrier.”“Their management team has done a better job. They have a more diverse network. They are using modern aircraft. They’ve got a good hub in Addis that feeds Europe to South Africa. It feeds West Africa to Asia and the Middle East. It feeds South Africa up to the United States and other points. Of all the African carriers, they are probably regarded and perceived as being the best in class,” he said.Grant also lauded the company’s move into the cargo market.“Cargo capacity at the moment is very, very scare around the world. And by virtue of having both dedicated aircraft and swapping in some passenger aircraft and using them for cargo flights, that in the short term can generate some revenue. It’s never going to generate as much revenue as the passenger flights. But it keeps the cash coming in and at the moment the rates for cargo are anything up to six times what they were three, four months ago because there is this scarcity and this urgency to move items quickly,” said Grant.Before the coronavirus pandemic, Ethiopian Airlines was Africa’s busiest carrier, making more than 350 flights per day to more than 100 destinations.
…
COVID Canceled His Tour, But Asian Rapper ‘MC Hot Dog’ Still Keeps Collecting Fans
You have to make Yao Chung-jen pose before his face cops the menacing scowl expected of rappers. In normal conversation he bounces between happy casual and sober rational. Yao’s stage name is MC Hot Dog. He’s Taiwanese and raps about everyday concerns in his hometown Taipei.He’s among his hometown’s few superstar rappers. He had sold more than 300,000 CDs as of 2018 and his YouTube videos handily grab 2 million to 20 million apiece. Among his 200 songs written since he took a shine to rap while in high school, a 2019 song called “Giwawa! Hater” (where Giwawa means “chihuaua”) plays to children frustrated by “senseless” acts such as being denied toys at a shopping mall, Yao said in an interview Tuesday. Song lyrics express “hate” for mom, dad and the world. The video fetched 2.1 million YouTube views in nine months. The rough edges of living in a big city feature in most of his music, often motivated by his own experiences, criticisms, reflections or stories he hears, the 42-year-old rap composer and singer said. “I think my music’s biggest unique point or its biggest difference from other people is that I sing about life, and I mean normal life, not a fantasy life, so I think the reason my music can always be something people like is they can understand it,” he said. MC Hot Dog started recording himself on a crude machine while attending a Catholic university in suburban Taipei. He’s been at it since 2001 and has seven albums of his own plus a part in three others. For youth, “whether they’re from the East or the West, they like direct language in lyrics, something they can understand,” said Yang Lian-fu, a Taiwanese publisher of local history books. “They like music that’s fast or that’s a bit more direct.” Yao’s rhythms and beats reflect a Western rap influence, typical of rappers in Taiwan who got into the groove relatively late. But unlike a lot of mainstream rap in the United States, MC Hot Dog’s lyrics omit language that’s self-aggrandizing, racially charged or offensive to women. Among his earlier hits, a tune called “I Love Taimei” turned a shadowy word into a hip one, Yao said. The term “Taimei,” though literally translated as “Taiwanese sister,” used to mean a slutty betel nut seller, he said, but the 2006 song gave it a new glow. “When that song came out it totally overturned that impression and flipped over the old definition of that word,” he said. “In the end, women were starting to think ‘I’m a Taiwanese sister.’” MC Hot Dog said he wrote the song simply because he likes Taiwanese women. Cause for anger? MC Hot Dog hardly mad dogs a visitor to his colorful office full of posters, boxes and suitcases on the 18th floor of a Taipei office tower. He considers questions quietly for two seconds before answering and never goes on for too long on any single point. He’s open to learning from criticism that he gets online, too. But the rapper calls himself a victim. The outbreak of COVID-19 this year forced the cancellation of shows in Taiwan, China, Europe and the United States. He had held out for two months on his U.S. tour but cancelled it on three days’ notice because the respiratory disease had “suddenly exploded” there on its way to becoming the world’s most severe. “I’m actually a very serious victim of this,” he said. “The losses are quite severe, but I’m OK with that because this is a worldwide problem and we’re all victims. This thing will eventually get better.” Pretenses aside, MC Hot Dog doesn’t chafe under fire from older Taiwanese who don’t like lyrics about hating mom and dad. His tunes thrive on “contrast” and “black humor,” he said. “DJs will say when these songs are on the radio ‘a lot of older people are calling into the station opposed to your song,’” Yao said. “But I don’t really care.” Rap is always strengthening its reach among Taiwanese youth anyway, said George Hou, a mass communications instructor at I-Shou University in Taiwan. There are even rapper contests, he said. Rap helps people make sense out of things that are otherwise hard to explain, he said. “When it binds together life and the things that Taiwanese people care about, it’s a good medium and a good weapon,” Hou said.
…
Coronavirus Hitting African American Communities Hardest
In Louisiana, two-thirds of the deaths from coronavirus have been among African Americans, in a state where blacks make up only one-third of the population.”What you see playing out is something that’s very tragic,” said Gov. John Bel Edwards.While data is incomplete, a trend is apparent: COVID-19 is hitting African Americans harder than white populations.Mississippi is about 38% African American, but blacks account for more than half of the COVID-19 deaths. Forty-three percent of coronavirus deaths in Alabama are among African Americans, who account for 27% of the state’s population.The problem is not confined to southern states. Disparities show up in Illinois and Michigan, especially in cities.FILE – A street artist sings to no one along Jackson Square in the French Quarter of New Orleans, normally bustling with tourists, but now nearly deserted due to the new coronavirus pandemic, March 27, 2020.Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said the disparities in Chicago “take your breath away.” African Americans make up 72% of coronavirus deaths in a city that is 30% African American.It’s not that blacks are more likely to become infected.”We don’t want to give the impression that the African American community is more susceptible to the virus,” White House coronavirus task force coordinator Deborah Birx said. “We don’t have any data that suggest that.”But they are dying at higher rates, she said. Experts say the difference results from the unequal status of blacks in American society, from higher rates of chronic illnesses to job opportunities that result in more exposure to the virus.”We have a particularly difficult problem of an exacerbation of a health disparity,” said National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci. “We’ve known literally forever that diseases like diabetes, hypertension, obesity and asthma are disproportionately afflicting the minority populations, particularly the African Americans.”Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, listens during a briefing about the coronavirus in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House, April 7, 2020.These are the same conditions that put patients at higher risk of severe illness and death, he added.”It’s very sad,” Fauci said. “There’s nothing we can do about it right now except to try and give them the best possible care.”The extent of the racial disparities is unclear because not all localities are reporting demographic information and data is incomplete in many of those that are.But what information is available shows that the pandemic is underscoring long-standing, deep-rooted problems of inequality.”It starts out with the disparity that has already existed in health care provision for people of color. We already started out with an unequal system of health care,” Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Monday. “It gets massively exacerbated when you bring on something like COVID-19.”African Americans are less likely than whites to have health insurance. About 11% were uninsured in 2018, compared to 7% of whites, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. A higher percentage lives in poverty: 22% vs. 9% of whites.While officials are ordering people to stay home to prevent the illness from spreading, that puts African Americans at a disadvantage. A smaller percentage have jobs that allow them to work from home. Before the coronavirus crisis, 29.9% of white employees could telework, compared to 19.7% of African Americans, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based research group.The pandemic highlights a persistent problem in American society, noted NIAID’s Fauci.”When all this is over … there will still be health disparities, which we really do need to address in the African American community.”
…
Trump Assails Push for Mail-In Voting
U.S. President Donald Trump is waging a new political fight against the adoption of mail-in voting rights throughout the U.S., claiming it is rife with possible fraud and would significantly benefit opposition Democrats.Trump himself recently requested an absentee ballot to vote in the Republican presidential primary in Florida, the Atlantic coastal state he now claims as his official home after spending his entire life as a New York resident.But he said on Twitter on Wednesday, “Republicans should fight very hard when it comes to state wide mail-in voting.”“Democrats are clamoring for it,” he said. “Tremendous potential for voter fraud, and for whatever reason, doesn’t work out well for Republicans.”Republicans should fight very hard when it comes to state wide mail-in voting. Democrats are clamoring for it. Tremendous potential for voter fraud, and for whatever reason, doesn’t work out well for Republicans. FILE – Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Joe Biden speaks during the 11th Democratic candidates debate, held in CNN’s Washington studios, March 15, 2020.Democrats have long voiced support for expansion of the electorate through mail-in voting, on the theory that given an easier option to vote other than showing up at polling stations on Election Day, more people would cast ballots. It also would likely help more Democrats win office. Some polling over the years has suggested Republican voters are more committed than Democrats to showing up at polling places and thus as a group do not necessarily need the added possibility of voting by mail. Trump claims that if mail-in voting becomes the dominant way to vote, “You’d never have a Republican elected in this country again.”In fact, voting by mail already plays an important role in some U.S. elections, but not nationwide and not just in Democratic-leaning states. The National Vote at Home Institute says that in the western part of the country, 69 percent of ballots are already cast by mail, but only 27 percent nationwide.The western part of the country includes the deeply conservative state of Utah, which votes heavily for Republicans, and has moved almost entirely to vote-by-mail in recent years. The Republican secretary of state in the northwestern state of Washington also champions mail-in voting.Democrats failed in their efforts to include financial assistance for states to adopt mail-in voting as it recently approved a $2 trillion coronavirus rescue package. Republicans in Washington remain adamantly opposed, citing security concerns and objecting to transforming election laws as part of the coronavirus aid measure.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline. Embed” />CopyNow, one Democratic activist, Neera Tanden, president of the Center for American Progress, said, “With the insanity of Wisconsin, Democrats have the proof they need to make this a mandate for November.”She urged Democrats to ensure vote-by-mail becomes a possibility throughout the country as a “fallback” in the event the virus limits people from voting in person.Trump pointedly expressed his opposition to mail-in voting at his Tuesday coronavirus news conference, particularly if some activists collect the votes of many people rather than people mailing in their ballots themselves. “Mail ballots are a very dangerous thing for this country, cause they’re cheaters,” he said. “They go and collect them, they’re fraudulent in many cases. You gotta vote. And they should have voter ID, by the way, you want to really do it right, you have voter ID.”
…