U.S. military officials are planning for additional battles against the coronavirus, even after the current pandemic subsides, pointing to evidence that suggests the virus will be cyclical.For weeks, infectious disease experts have been warning that COVID-19 could resurge in the United States in September and October as the weather begins to cool ahead of the winter months. It is a threat that has resonated with some of the military’s most senior officials.“We are all talking about it,” U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff, Gen. Dave Goldfein, told defense reporters Wednesday.”The potential for it to come back in some cyclical way is likely,” he said. “All the projections are no vaccine for upwards of a year, so that means we’ve got to refine our ability to survive and operate.”Top military officials say despite the rapid spread of the virus, U.S. forces remain ready to defend the nation and its interests. As of Wednesday, more than 56,000 active and part-time troops have been deployed to assist with relief efforts across the country.But the pandemic has also taken a toll.Key military exercises with partner forces in Africa, Asia and Europe have been downsized, canceled or postponed.JUST IN: US cancels Exercise #AfricanLion2020 “Out of an abundance of caution…to minimize the risk of exposure to US & partner nation service members” to #COVID19#coronavirus, per @USAfricaCommandExercise was to run March 23-April 4 in #Morocco#Tunisia#Senegalpic.twitter.com/8AvarK6Crl— Jeff Seldin (@jseldin) March 16, 2020The U.S. military footprint in places like Iraq and Syria, where U.S. troops are working with local forces against the Islamic State terror group, has been downsized.”Looking ahead, we anticipate the Coalition supporting the #Iraq|i Security Forces from fewer bases w/fewer people” per @CJTFOIR on moving forces out of some “a few smaller bases”re fight vs #ISIS, #coronavirus— Jeff Seldin (@jseldin) March 20, 2020And while military commanders note that U.S. troops are generally younger and healthier than the rest of the population, they have not been immune.To date, more than 3,500 active duty U.S. military personnel have tested positive for COVID-19, according to Pentagon figures. Eighty-five have been hospitalized. Two have died, including a sailor assigned to the USS Theodore Roosevelt, a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.When civilian employees, contractors and military dependents, like spouses and children, are included, the number of total coronavirus cases jumps to more than 5,700, with 25 deaths.Pentagon officials have taken measures to slow the spread, shifting 970,000 active duty and civilian employees to telework, while mandating the use of face masks, requiring physical (social) distancing and cleaning workspaces constantly for those who cannot work from home.The Air Force has taken additional measures to ensure there is no disruption to critical capabilities, isolating some bomber crews and nuclear missile crews.“The procedures in place, knock on wood, are working,” Goldfein said, adding that so far, neither group has recorded a positive COVID-19 test.Still, senior military officials on the Defense Department’s coronavirus task force are not taking such successes for granted.“It’s the job of the military to prepare for worst-case scenarios,” Gen. John Hyten, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Wednesday. “We will plan for something worse to happen in the fall.”Part of that is aimed at making sure the military is ready in case it needs to deal with more conventional threats.To that end, the Pentagon is planning to ramp up testing, starting with those working on the most critical mission sets, such as nuclear capability and deterrence, followed by forces stationed around the world, and finally, those stationed in the U.S.Officials said they expect testing for the first group to be completed by the end of the month, though testing all U.S. forces for COVID-19 likely will not be completed until July or August.The other part is to make sure troops can continue to help at home.“You will see us continue with fiscal prudence, not wanting to overstate it, to be ready if something happens, there is the capacity to handle it,” said Deputy Defense Secretary David Norquist.“We need to be prepared to have the masks and the facilities and the beds to be able to mitigate that risk,” he said.
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Month: April 2020
US ‘Strongly Opposes China’s Bullying’ in the South China Sea
The United States is accusing China of taking advantage of the COVID-19 outbreak and increasing its military activities near Taiwan and in the South China Sea. “The United States strongly opposes China’s bullying,” U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday, ahead of a virtual meeting between the U.S. and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) foreign ministers later in the day. “We’ve also seen that the Chinese Communist Party is exerting military pressure on Taiwan and coercing its neighbors in the South China Sea, even going so far as to sink a Vietnamese fishing vessel. We hope other nations will hold them to account,” added Pompeo during a press briefing, hours before his videoconference with ASEAN ministers. The U.S. and ASEAN had been eyeing a summit to boost ties, at a time when China continues to expand its influence in Southeast Asia. The dialogue was Chinese officials have said that an attempt of any form to “deny China’s sovereignty and interests in the South China Sea,” and “enforce illegal claims” will be invalid and “doomed to fail.” China is stepping up patrols in the disputed South China Sea, with multiple news reports saying the Chinese Haiyang Dizhi 8 fleet passed through disputed tracts of the South China Sea last week. Taiwan’s defense ministry says a Chinese aircraft carrier and five accompanying warships were spotted prowling the waters near Taiwan’s east coast and then into seas to the south of Taiwan around April 11 and 12, carrying out exercises. Analysts say China may be sending a deterrent message to the U.S. that its military is not weakened by the coronavirus outbreak. “China’s People’s Liberation Army is again quite active in the midst of this coronavirus, and it shows no signs of slowing down its operations,” said Drew Thompson, a former U.S. defense official and now a senior research fellow at National University of Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. As nations continue to battle the spread of COVID-19, the United States is also renewing its criticism that China’s ruling Communist Party failed to report the outbreak in a timely manner to the World Health Organization (WHO). Citing the International Health Regulations (IHR) adopted by the WHO, Pompeo told reporters Wednesday that “the world set very clear expectations for how every country must disclose data to protect global health. For example, Article 6 of the IHR says that “each state party shall notify the World Health Organization within 24 hours of all events which may constitute a public health emergency of international concern within its territory.” China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology is believed to have completed the mapping of the coronavirus genome, but that data has not been made public by Chinese authorities. “We still do not have a sample of the virus, nor has the world had access to the facilities or other locations where this virus may have originated inside of Wuhan,” Pompeo said, urging China to allow U.S. scientists and medical professionals into the Wuhan Institute of Virology and other labs. China has rejected charges that it mishandled the outbreak, saying it has been transparent and open about the spread of the virus.
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Trump Signs Order Restricting Immigration
U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday FILE – Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.He said he meant to explain that a season of COVID-19 combined with influenza “was going to be complicated, or difficult.”Trump initially said Redfield was misquoted and then took issue with the newspaper’s headline about its interview with the CDC director.The president repeatedly insisted Wednesday that any second wave of the coronavirus would not be as bad.“If it comes back, though, it won’t be coming back in the form that it was. It will come back in smaller doses we can contain,” Trump said. “But in my opinion from everything that I have seen it can never be like anything we witnessed right now. … It might not come back at all.”However, when Dr. Deborah Birx, a member of the White House coronavirus task force, was asked by the president if there is a good chance COVID-19 will not return, she replied: “We don’t know.”Asked by a reporter about the top official of the government’s key vaccine agency being shuffled to another job for reportedly resisting the promotion of unproven treatments promoted by the president, Trump said, “I’ve never heard of him. I don’t know who he is.”Immunologist Rick Bright, who was leading a government effort to help develop a COVID-19 vaccine, has filed a whistleblower complaint, contending he was transferred from two key posts this week for questioning Trump’s desire to make chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine widely available before such drugs are scientifically tested for efficacy with the coronavirus.“I believe this transfer was in response to my insistence that the government invest the billions of dollars allocated by Congress to address the COVID-19 pandemic into safe and scientifically vetted solutions, and not in drugs, vaccines and other technologies that lack scientific merit,” Bright said in a statement released Wednesday by a law firm. “I am speaking out because to combat this deadly virus, science — not politics or cronyism — has to lead the way.”The career official said he had also resisted “efforts to fund potentially dangerous drugs promoted by those with political connections.”Bright was the director of the Department of Health and Human Services’ Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) and the deputy assistant secretary for preparedness and response.The coronavirus has killed more than 46,000 people in the United States, the most reported by any country. In total, more than 840,000 COVID-19 infections have been confirmed in the country.Patsy Widakuswara contributed to this story.
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US Condemns Fatal Shooting of WHO Driver in Myanmar
The U.S. State Department on Wednesday condemned the fatal attack on a marked U.N. vehicle in Myanmar’s Rakhine state.The attack on the World Health Organization vehicle that killed the driver and injured another person occurred Monday as they were transporting swab samples from people possibly infected with the coronavirus to the National Health Laboratory in Yangon, the capital of Myanmar.“We understand these Burmese nationals were working to fight the COVID-19 pandemic when they came under attack,” State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said in a statement. “This egregious act undermines efforts to protect vulnerable populations in Burma and again highlights the urgent need for a cessation of fighting in Rakhine state. It also hinders global efforts to stop the spread of the virus.”We urge Burmese authorities to investigate the incident and bring the perpetrators to justice. Health and humanitarian workers across the globe must be able to work without threat of violence — now more than ever.”The WHO driver, Pyae Sone Win Maung, died early Tuesday in Minbya, according to a Myanmar government statement. The township is in a region marked by fighting between the Burmese military and the Arakan Army (AA), which the Myanmar government designated as a terrorist group in March.Founded in 2009 by Rakhine Buddhists seeking self-governance, AA has been fighting government forces in sporadic skirmishes that began escalating in late 2018 and intensified recently.A military spokesperson on Tuesday told VOA Burmese that there was no comment on the Monday incident, but the military was in line with the government statement. It blamed AA.Also on Tuesday, the Myanmar military released a press statement saying a second driver had died and a passenger had been injured when AA fighters attacked a CPS-Private Pesticides Company delivery truck near Ramaung Bridge in Minbya Township, Rakhine state.Khine Thukha, the AA spokesman, told VOA Burmese on that the AA rejected the military’s accusation that it had been involved in killing the WHO driver. He said that incident took place in an area where the military controlled security.The military “security checkpoint stationed at Ramaung Bridge allowed the WHO vehicle to pass across the bridge,” he said. “Security soldiers fired at the WHO vehicle while it was driving and it reeled to the roadside. About an hour later, AA troops got some information and found the WHO vehicle to rescue the injured driver and a passenger. Later, they took the injured driver and a passenger to Minbya hospital with the help of villagers.”The AA spokesman also rejected the military’s accusation of involvement in the death of the pesticide truck driver.Call for UN probeU Oo Hla Saw, an Upper House Rakhine lawmaker, told VOA Burmese that he would welcome an investigation by the United Nations of the first killing. He added he would like to see an independent investigation in Rakhine state “as soon as possible to find the culprit in this conflict.”He said that it was pointless to listen to accusations from both sides. “Instead let an independent investigation be allowed with transparency to find the solution,” he said.As of Wednesday, Myanmar has 121 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and five recorded deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University COVID-19 figures.
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As People Stay Home, Earth Turns Wilder and Cleaner
As people across the globe stay home to stop the spread of the new coronavirus, the air has cleaned up, albeit temporarily. Smog stopped choking New Delhi, one of the most polluted cities in the world, and India’s getting views of sights not visible in decades. Nitrogen dioxide pollution in the northeastern United States is down 30%. Rome air pollution levels from mid-March to mid-April were down 49% from a year ago. Stars seem more visible at night.
People are also noticing animals in places and at times they don’t usually. Coyotes have meandered along downtown Chicago’s Michigan Avenue and near San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge. A puma roamed the streets of Santiago, Chile. Goats took over a town in Wales. In India, already daring wildlife has become bolder with hungry monkeys entering homes and opening refrigerators to look for food.
When people stay home, Earth becomes cleaner and wilder.
“It is giving us this quite extraordinary insight into just how much of a mess we humans are making of our beautiful planet,” says conservation scientist Stuart Pimm of Duke University. “This is giving us an opportunity to magically see how much better it can be.”
Chris Field, director of the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, assembled scientists to assess the ecological changes happening with so much of humanity housebound. Scientists, stuck at home like the rest of us, say they are eager to explore unexpected changes in weeds, insects, weather patterns, noise and light pollution. Italy’s government is working on an ocean expedition to explore sea changes from the lack of people.
“In many ways we kind of whacked the Earth system with a sledgehammer and now we see what Earth’s response is,” Field says.
Researchers are tracking dramatic drops in traditional air pollutants, such as nitrogen dioxide, smog and tiny particles. These types of pollution kill up to 7 million people a year worldwide, according to Health Effects Institute president Dan Greenbaum.
The air from Boston to Washington is its cleanest since a NASA satellite started measuring nitrogen dioxide,in 2005, says NASA atmospheric scientist Barry Lefer. Largely caused by burning of fossil fuels, this pollution is short-lived, so the air gets cleaner quickly.
Compared to the previous five years, March air pollution is down 46% in Paris, 35% in Bengaluru, India, 38% in Sydney, 29% in Los Angeles, 26% in Rio de Janeiro and 9% in Durban, South Africa, NASA measurements show.
“We’re getting a glimpse of what might happen if we start switching to non-polluting cars,” Lefer says.
Cleaner air has been most noticeable in India and China. On April 3, residents of Jalandhar, a city in north India’s Punjab, woke up to a view not seen for decades: snow-capped Himalayan peaks more than 100 miles away.
Cleaner air means stronger lungs for asthmatics, especially children, says Dr. Mary Prunicki, director of air pollution and health research at the Stanford University School of Medicine. And she notes early studies also link coronavirus severity to people with bad lungs and those in more polluted areas, though it’s too early to tell which factor is stronger.
The greenhouse gases that trap heat and cause climate change stay in the atmosphere for 100 years or more, so the pandemic shutdown is unlikely to affect global warming, says Breakthrough Institute climate scientist Zeke Hausfather. Carbon dioxide levels are still rising, but not as fast as last year.
Aerosol pollution, which doesn’t stay airborne long, is also dropping. But aerosols cool the planet so NASA climate scientist Gavin Schmidt is investigating whether their falling levels may be warming local temperatures for now.
Stanford’s Field says he’s most intrigued by increased urban sightings of coyotes, pumas and other wildlife that are becoming video social media staples. Boar-like javelinas congregated outside of a Arizona shopping center. Even New York City birds seem hungrier and bolder.
In Adelaide, Australia, police shared a video of a kangaroo hopping around a mostly empty downtown, and a pack of jackals occupied an urban park in Tel Aviv, Israel.
We’re not being invaded. The wildlife has always been there, but many animals are shy, Duke’s Pimm says. They come out when humans stay home.
For sea turtles across the globe, humans have made it difficult to nest on sandy beaches. The turtles need to be undisturbed and emerging hatchlings get confused by beachfront lights, says David Godfrey, executive director of the Sea Turtle Conservancy.
But with lights and people away, this year’s sea turtle nesting so far seems much better from India to Costa Rica to Florida, Godfrey says.
“There’s some silver lining for wildlife in what otherwise is a fairly catastrophic time for humans,” he says.
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New York to Launch Massive COVID-19 Tracing Program
Billionaire Michael Bloomberg will help the state of New York design and fund a program to trace coronavirus infections as part of its strategy to contain the spread of the virus. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the initiative Wednesday, saying it would be done in unison with the neighboring states of New Jersey and Connecticut, and would launch in weeks. FILE – Billionaire and former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg speaks at the Greenwood Cultural Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Jan. 19, 2020.“Mayor Bloomberg will design the program, design the training, he is going to make a financial contribution also,” Cuomo said of Bloomberg, who was the city’s mayor from 2002 to 2013. “He’s going to put together an organization that can help hire the people.” Other partners include Johns Hopkins University and global health organization Vital Strategies. Bloomberg, who spent over a billion dollars of his own fortune earlier this year on a failed bid to become the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee, is a well-known philanthropist. He has given away over $8 billion of his wealth to fund causes including climate action and gun control. The governor’s office said Bloomberg is making an investment of “upwards of $10 million” in the coronavirus tracing initiative. There is an additional $1.3 billion in federal funds available to New York for tracing. In this April 18, 2020, photo, provided by the Office of New York State’s Governor, Governor Andrew Cuomo, speaks at a coronavirus press conference in the Red Room at the State Capitol in Albany.“He has tremendous insight both governmentally and from a private sector business perspective on this,” Cuomo said, pointing to Bloomberg’s offices in China and Europe having gone through coronavirus-related shutdowns and reopenings. New York state has confirmed more than a quarter million COVID-19 infections. More than 15,000 people have died, but the governor said Wednesday that deaths have stopped rising and are on a “gentle decline.” Cuomo said that the state’s effort to double its testing capacity from 20,000 to 40,000 tests per day, plus the launch of a massive tracing operation, will help New York move into the low-level transmission phase and ultimately, be a key part of how it reopens its economy. Bloomberg plans to start with the state’s current corps of about 225 tracers and build it into the thousands. Cuomo said that the state and New York City’s public universities have about 35,000 medical students who will be an important resource for recruiting tracers. “We are going to have to hire many, many more tracers — the capacity is going to have to expand,” Cuomo said. He said the concentration of tracers would be in proportion to where infection rates are.Currently, the northern part of the state has only about 7% of the total infections, while New York City and its immediate suburbs account for 93%.
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Philippines Protests China’s Sea Claim, Weapon Pointing
The Philippines has protested China’s declaration that a Manila-claimed region in the disputed South China Sea is Chinese territory, and its aiming of weapons control radar at a Philippine navy ship, the country’s top diplomat said Wednesday. China’s recent assertive moves in the disputed waterway as the world battles the coronavirus pandemic have been criticized by rival Southeast Asian claimant nations and the United States. Philippine Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. said on Twitter that two diplomatic protests were received by the Chinese Embassy in Manila late Wednesday. China has declared a section of Philippine-claimed territory to be part of its southernmost province of Hainan, Locsin said, adding that a “radar gun” was pointed at a Philippine navy ship in Philippine waters. The actions were “both violations of international law and Philippine sovereignty,” Locsin said. FILE – Philippine-claimed Thitu island, part of the Spratlys group of islands, is shown April 21, 2017.China recently announced the establishment of two districts to administer two disputed groups of islands and reefs in the South China Sea to fortify its claim to virtually the entire waterway, among the world’s busiest. One district reportedly covers the Paracel islands and the other has jurisdiction over the Spratlys, the most hotly contested territory in the strategic waters. The Philippines has a presence on at least nine islands and islets in the Spratlys, an offshore region where China has turned seven disputed reefs into military-fortified islands, including three with runways. Several governments led by the U.S. have condemned the island-building in recent years as dangerously provocative, but Beijing insists it has a right to build on what it claims as its territory since ancient times. A Philippine government official told The Associated Press that a Chinese navy ship pointed its “fire control radar” at a Philippine navy ship off Commodore Reef in the Spratlys in mid-February. The radar locks weapons on a target prior to an actual attack, the official said. Another official said that although the Chinese ship did not fire at the Philippine ship, its action was “very hostile” and “unprovoked.” The two officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the delicate incident publicly. There was no immediate comment from Chinese officials. VietnamIn addition to China and the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei have been locked in long-simmering territorial disputes in the South China Sea. Two weeks ago, the Philippines expressed solidarity with Vietnam after Hanoi protested what it said was the ramming and sinking of a Vietnamese fishing boat carrying eight fishermen by a Chinese coast guard ship in disputed waters near the Paracels. The Philippine foreign office recalled that a Chinese vessel rammed and sank a Philippine fishing boat last June, leaving 22 Filipino fishermen floating in the high seas. They were rescued by a Vietnamese fishing vessel. Washington also expressed serious concern over the Vietnamese vessel’s sinking and called on China to remain focused on supporting efforts to combat the pandemic and “stop exploiting the distraction or vulnerability of other states to expand its unlawful claims in the South China Sea.”
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Kenyans Confined at Quarantine Facilities See It as Sentence
Kenya’s president, Uhuru Kenyatta, has vowed to arrest and punish 50 people who escaped mandatory coronavirus quarantines at an isolation center in Nairobi. Some Kenyans, who were forced to isolate in government facilities, have complained about high fees to stay at the center. Kenya’s health minister, Mutahi Kagwe, called on the public to report individuals who escaped from the Kenya Medical Training College, one of the government quarantine centers in Nairobi.“An individual who you are aware, because they were even videos, you are aware jumped the fence at KMTC, jumped the wall at KMTC, and is now with you that individual is going to cost you very highly,” Kagwe said. “That individual could end up killing your child. Therefore it’s important that you call the police.”A security guard washed her hands at a government designated quarantine facility in Nairobi on March 31, 2020.Last week some people in the quarantine center in Mandera County bribed their way out of the facility.Godfrey Otieno spent 16 days at the KMTC quarantine facility. The father of four said the government quarantine center had its challenges, and he understands why people would want to escape. “So these people don’t understand why they are in quarantine, they see it as punishment,” Otieno said. “Secondly, you are likely to get more infection that you had. Thirdly there is this notion in the government facility that the government should take care of you because if you tell someone from Kibera to pay 2,000 shillings a day. This person earns 10,000 a month. How is he going to pay for that?”Francis Luchivya finished his quarantine this week after a longer than expected stay at a hotel in Nairobi.“The original instruction was we will be placed under forced quarantine for 14 days,” Luchivya said. “On doing the test at quarantine facility two people tested positive, then they used that as a reason to continue to hold us there, saying we are going to hold you for another 14 days because two people tested positive.”Luchivya paid $1,700 for his quarantine, and was ordered to self-isolate another seven days at home after his release. Kenya has banned public gatherings, imposed a nighttime curfew and forced people to wear a mask in public to stop the spread of the virus. Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta speaks during the state funeral of Kenya’s former president Daniel arap Moi, at Nyayo Stadium in the capital Nairobi, Feb. 11, 2020.President Uhuru Kenyatta, speaking on Wednesday, said anyone who does not follow the directives should be taken to a quarantine facility.“We are saying people who do not respect the set laws and regulations, if you are caught breaking the set regulations, I said there is no need of taking that person to the police station, police have other jobs of protecting us,” Kenyatta said. “If they are arrested, they should be taken to the quarantine center and stay there for 11 days. They break the law again, then they should be added another 11 days because we need to do this to return our country to normalcy.”Also Wednesday, the government restricted the movement of people in and out of Mandera County, which borders Ethiopia and Somalia, after eight coronavirus cases were reported there. Mandera is the fifth county where movement is restricted.The Kenyan government has accused some people of not taking the virus seriously.
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Dutch Police Release Video of Van Gogh Painting Theft
Police in the Netherlands have released security camera video showing a thief who stole a prized Vincent van Gogh painting from a Dutch museum late last month.The video of the March 30 theft shows how the perpetrator used a sledgehammer to smash his way through reinforced glass doors at the Singer Laren Museum in Laren, Netherlands, east of Amsterdam.Police hope that publicizing the images will help them track down the thief who stole “The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring 1884” while the museum was shut down due to coronavirus containment measures.Police have made no arrests in connection with the theft of the painting, which was on loan from the Groninger Museum when it was stolen, and it remains missing.The 25-by-57-centimeter oil-on-paper painting shows a person standing in a garden surrounded by trees with a church tower in the background.It dates to a time when Van Gogh had moved back to his family in a rural area of the Netherlands and painted the life he saw there, including his famous work “The Potato Eaters”, in mostly somber tones.The exact value of the missing painting is uncertain, but recent Van Gogh paintings have gone for tens of millions of dollars when sold at auction.
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US Lawmakers Weigh Yet Another Massive Coronavirus Aid Bill
The U.S. Congress is set to pass a $484 billion interim aid bill Thursday, providing stop-gap funding for the $2 trillion CARES Act, the largest relief package in U.S. history. But even six weeks of record spending from the U.S. government has not been enough to contain the damage the coronavirus pandemic has inflicted on the nation’s economy and public health sector.The COVID-19 emergency lockdown has forced millions of Americans into applying for unemployment or waiting in line at food banks, while small business owners question whether they’ll ever reopen their doors. Here’s an overview of what U.S. lawmakers say is needed in the next major aid package intended to restart the economy.Extensive wish listBefore lawmakers had even passed the bill they are referring to as COVID 3, the to-do list for COVID 4 was growing.“COVID 4 will be much more along the lines of COVID 2, big, bold, robust, with new things in it,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Tuesday. “It’s going to have a lot of stuff, but I want to mention a few of the priorities that I have: Election reform, money for housing; there’s three months of rent forbearance but what do people do after that? The postal service, money for a heroes fund, people who are on the front lines, they should get extra money, and at the top of the list is a big, robust state and local plan.”U.S. President Donald Trump has also already begun outlining his wish list for the proposal, tweeting, “We will begin discussions on the next Legislative Initiative with fiscal relief to State/Local Governments for lost revenues from COVID 19, much needed Infrastructure Investments for Bridges, Tunnels, Broadband, Tax Incentives for Restaurants, Entertainment, Sports, and Payroll Tax Cuts to increase Economic Growth.”The broad outlines of that plan have bipartisan support. Many of the initiatives outlined in Trump’s tweet were floated by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in press calls earlier this month. Pelosi called for fixes to underlying problems brought into focus by the crisis, including the need to fix the nation’s crumbling roads and bridges and development of rural broadband technology.Aid for state and local governmentsBut the most immediate need will be one that congressional Democrats tried – and failed – to address in the recent stop-gap measure: aid to state and local governments.Gov. Cuomo provides a coronavirus update during a press conference in the Red Room at the State Capitol in Albany, April 18, 2020, in this photo provided by the Office of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo.New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who has dealt with having the epicenter of the coronavirus crisis in New York city, said funding for state and local governments is a difficult pitch to lawmakers.“When they can do funding, where they can go hand it out to individuals and call them up and say, ‘I got you money, here it is that is more politically appealing.’ You give funding to a state, who do you call to say thanks, who even knows? Nobody. It’s just giving money to another government,” Cuomo said Tuesday.House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told reporters Tuesday that this aid would be “a very, very high priority item” this time around, adding, “We don’t want to see any critical personnel laid off because the states run out of resources, and local governments run out of resources.”This funding – which Democratic lawmakers are referring to as the heroes bill or heroes fund – would aid essential personnel that include medical workers and local police and fire departments. A proposal floated by Senate Democrats earlier this month would also provide a $25,000 premium pay increase for those essential workers as well as a $15,000 recruitment incentive for jobs in essential services.Medics and firefighters bring a patient to the ambulance in the rain amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak at the West Revere Health Center in Revere, Massachusetts, April 21, 2020.“The public very much cares about the health and well-being of our heroes: our health care workers and first responders, who risk their lives to save other people’s lives and now could lose their jobs,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Tuesday.A $500 billion bipartisan proposal put forward by Republican Senator Bill Cassidy and Democratic Senator Bob Menendez is modeled on the requests from the National Governors’ Association and could be used to meet the current demand for essential services. The two senators say their proposal would also help “communities transition toward reopening by expanding testing and contact tracing, providing additional resources to residents, local hospitals, small businesses and schools.”More direct aidPeople wait outside a WIN job center in Pearl, Mississippi, April 21, 2020. WIN lobbies are closed statewide during the COVID-19 pandemic, but some staff continue to work with clients by providing unemployment benefits applications.Essential workers would not be the only Americans to receive aid under this next round of proposals. Many lawmakers have also noted that the round of direct stimulus payments to most lower- and middle-class Americans will not be enough to get the economy up and running again.“Does anyone truly think that a one-time $1,200 stimulus check is enough when 22 million Americans lost their jobs and we are nowhere near the economy being back to normal?” Democratic Representative Ro Khanna tweeted on April 18. Khanna said his proposal, co-sponsored with Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan, would give $2,000 “to those who need our help the most.”Majority Leader Hoyer told reporters Tuesday the unemployment benefits addressing the 22 million Americans who have lost their jobs in just the last month may also have to be extended. He said nutritional assistance would be key in helping many out-of-work Americans.“They’re very concerning to us in terms of people who are trying to get food assistance at food banks and soup kitchens and other facilities. We’re trying to keep people afloat from the standpoint of having something to eat,” Hoyer added.Spiraling costsSenate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., speaks with reporters after the Senate approved a nearly $500 billion coronavirus aid bill, April 21, 2020, on Capitol Hill in Washington.All of these initiatives would add to the unprecedented amount of money already spent by the U.S. government to contain the pandemic. Since March, U.S. lawmakers have passed four major pieces of legislation running into the trillions of dollars.Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has cautioned against unrestrained spending to contain the economic damage, noting the two latest spending packages have been approved through fast-track procedures with only a handful of lawmakers actually in Washington for the passage.“We ought to bring everybody back, have full participation, begin to think about the implications for this country’s future for this level of national debt; begin to see some evidence of the economy beginning to get back to normal, hopefully in states that are less impacted,” McConnell warned Tuesday.
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Cameroon Admits Military Massacred Civilians
Cameroon’s President Paul Biya acknowledged that soldiers killed three women and 10 children in a February massacre that they then tried to cover up by torching houses and blaming rebels.Biya’s office released a statement Tuesday saying three troops were arrested for the killings in the northwestern village of Ngarr-buh. Several other troops were expected to face disciplinary hearings for the killings, which led at least 600 of the villagers to flee to the capital, Yaoundé.A spokesman for the Ngarr-buh villagers in Yaounde, Innocent Laban, welcomed Biya’s admission that the military was responsible.FILE – Cameroon President Paul Biya, Nov. 12, 2019.”This declaration comes to confirm the fact that the Cameroonian military is so unprofessional. A military that is killing the people rather than protecting them,” Laban said. “This comes to show us that human rights activists are doing a good job. I think the government should tender a serious apology to these human rights groups for soiling their dignity, and those unscrupulous fellows in the military should be given maximum sanctions.”Ngarr-buh villagers say that Cameroonian troops raided their village and killed dozens of people the night of February 14. Rights groups and the United Nations condemned the attack, which they say left at least 21 people dead, 14 of them children.Officials initially denied that the military committed any atrocity, calling it propaganda from anglophone rebels and supporters to discredit their troops. Authorities had said rebels attacked a military scouting mission in the village and that the counterattack accidentally caused fuel containers to burn nearby houses.Ilaria Allegrozzi, a senior researcher for central Africa with Human Rights Watch, said punishing the military for the massacre marks a step in the right direction, but added that investigations are needed into other crimes committed during Cameroon’s conflicts.”It is very good first step because there are other abuses and crimes that have been committed in the anglophone regions and beyond by both the security forces and armed groups and these crimes deserve the same level of attention and inquiry that we saw with the Ngarr-buh massacre,” Allegrozzi said via a messaging application from London. “We also welcome president Biya’s call for increased collaboration with human rights groups and we wish that this represents a change in the way government views human rights organizations.”Cameroon’s Ministry of Defense says Biya’s admission of the military’s blame for the massacre shows that abusers will always face justice.”The resilience of the Cameroon defense and security forces is intact. There is no perfect army in the world. Cameroonian defense and security forces, if they commit deviant acts during operations, they are tried in military courts and they do not go unpunished,” said Human Resources Director Colonel Joseph Ajang Sone.It is not the first time Cameroon has admitted its troops committed atrocities in its fight against anglophone rebels and the Islamist militant group Boko Haram.Cameroon arrested seven soldiers in 2018 suspected of executing two women and two children two years earlier while fighting Boko Haram. The arrests followed the circulation online of two videos that appeared to show Cameroonian troops carrying out the killings, and ongoing pressure from rights groups for justice.
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US House Panel Delays Proxy Voting, Remote Meetings Proposal
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called off a planned Thursday vote that, if passed, would have allowed the U.S. House of Representatives to vote remotely for the first time in its history. In a leadership conference call with members Wednesday, Pelosi announced that instead, a bi-partisan group of House lawmakers would review a proposal that would allow lawmakers to designate another member to cast their vote, and to allow committees to meet remotely. Pelosi has been reluctant to change centuries-old traditions requiring members to vote in person, arguing technology still cannot guarantee airtight security. But the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic have forced a new reconsideration of the rules. The measure also received opposition from Congressional Republicans, who have increased their calls in recent days to bring the House back into session. The U.S. House has not fully been in session since mid-March. Rep. Tom Cole, the ranking member on the House Rules Committee, said in a statement Wednesday, “I believe we already have existing tools to continue the people’s work without introducing brand-new, constitutionally untested processes that risk erosion of our normal practice. For even a temporary measure to deal with a crisis today becomes the precedent we follow tomorrow.”FILE – A statue of President George Washington looks over an empty Capitol Rotunda, on Capitol Hill in Washington, April 9, 2020.The proposed measure would give the House more flexibility to conduct business in the case of a pandemic like the coronavirus, which has brought warnings against meeting in large groups.The speaker of the House would first have to declare that a pandemic emergency is in effect, and the authorization would last 60 days. During that time, a House member may submit a letter specifying another lawmaker who may cast his or her vote after being given exact instructions. Those designations could be altered or revoked at any time, and a clerk would keep a publicly available list. For committee meetings, the measure would allow both House members and witnesses to appear remotely, and for lawmakers to cast votes. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer backed the proposal in a call with reporters Tuesday, saying that video conferencing technology could help assure the security of remote voting. “This virus has forced us to do things in different ways and become radically different in many respects, for the safety and security of the health of all of our country. And therefore, we have to look at ways that perhaps we can still accomplish our business but do it in a way that is safe and secure for our members and for the public,” Hoyer said.
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France, Europe Mull Controversial Coronavirus Tracing Apps
France’s parliament votes next week on plans to use a controversial tracing app to help fight the coronavirus, as the country eyes easing its lockdown next month.French Digital Affairs Minister Cedric O says the downloadable app would notify smartphone users when they cross people with COVID-19, helping authorities track and reduce the spread of the pandemic.In a video on the ruling party’s Facebook page, O said the so-called “Stop COVID” app will fully respect people’s liberties, and will be completely voluntary and anonymous. It also will be temporary — lasting only as long as the pandemic, he added.A man rides his bike in an empty street during a nationwide confinement to counter the COVID-19 in Paris, April 21, 2020.The government wants to launch the app on May 11, the date it has set to begin easing a two-month lockdown in the country. It initially announced a parliamentary debate on the technology, but that’s been changed to a vote, after major pushback from lawmakers.The app’s critics include ruling party member Guillaume Chiche, who told French TV the app would reveal people’s health status and lead to discrimination and exclusion.He’s not the only one worried.”We think that it is very dangerous for the government to say to French people that the solution will be this kind of application,” said Benoit Piedallu, a member of La Quadrature du Net, an advocacy group defending digital rights and freedoms.The potential problems he sees range from chances the app could infringe on individual liberties, to whether it would actually work effectively.”We think that the digital application is not the correct answer to this problem,” Piedallu said. “The government should buy masks, the government should open new hospitals. … There are a lot of other solutions than an application.”A recent poll showed eight in 10 French respondents said they would be willing to download the app. But Piedallu believes the numbers of those actually using it will likely be much smaller, and many seniors —who are among the most vulnerable to the coronavirus — don’t have smartphones.France isn’t the only European country working on tracing apps and sparking similar rights debates, including in neighboring Germany. Reports say the French government is also pushing Apple to allow the app to work on its iPhones without built-in privacy measures.
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South African Rural Pharmacist on Frontline During Coronavirus Lockdown
South Africa’s pharmacists are often overlooked as frontline healthcare workers in the fight against Africa’s worst outbreak of coronavirus, despite frequently being the first in contact with those showing symptoms. In the rural town of Mokopane, in South Africa’s northern Limpopo Province, pharmacist Bronwyn van Heerden and her colleagues provide medicine to hundreds of patients daily. Reporter Marize de Klerk brings us van Heerden’s story, told in her own words.
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China to Focus on Clusters of Coronavirus Infections in Hospitals
China will pay close attention to clusters of coronavirus infections, especially in hospitals, according to a top level meeting chaired by Premier Li Keqiang on Wednesday.
China’s northeastern city of Harbin has had several clusters of infections in local hospitals.
The government also called for efforts to increase coronavirus testing capability and produce more effective testing equipment, according to a statement on the state council’s website. (Reporting by Colin Qian and Nori Shirouzu; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
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France’s Macron Says Now Not the Time for Pandemic Probe
French President Emmanuel Macron told the Australian prime minister now was not the time for an international investigation into the coronavirus pandemic and that the urgency was to act in unison before looking for who was at fault, an official said.
“He says he agrees that there have been some issues at the start, but that the urgency is for cohesion, that it is no time to talk about this, while reaffirming the need for transparency for all players, not only the WHO,” an Elysee official told Reuters on Wednesday.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has sought support for an international investigation into the pandemic in phone calls with U.S. President Donald Trump and the German and French leaders overnight, the government said on Wednesday.
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Britain’s Zoom Parliament Makes Almost Glitch-Free Debut
British lawmakers upended 700 years of history on Wednesday, grilling stand-in leader Dominic Raab by video link in an unprecedented but largely successful ‘hybrid parliament’ session forced by the coronavirus outbreak.
As Britain endures its fifth week of a national lockdown, with businesses shuttered and citizens ordered to stay at home, parliament has returned from an extended Easter break in a very unfamiliar form.
A maximum of 50 lawmakers are physically allowed in the debating chamber, with another 120 permitted to join in via Zoom video conference beamed onto television screens dotted around the walls of the ornate wood-panelled room.
Raab, deputising for Prime Minister Boris Johnson who is recovering from a spell in intensive care with COVID-19, faced questions from lawmakers – absent the usual jeering in the crowded chamber, replaced by an orderly and largely glitch-free interrogation.
Earlier, speaker Lindsay Hoyle said he had his “fingers crossed” that the new arrangement would work – and it mostly did.
A couple of early questions in the session just before Raab’s question time were partly inaudible, and one questioner was unable to connect, but the overall process was not derailed.
Lawmakers, dressed formally in line with the Commons’ usual dress code, quizzed Raab from their homes, showing off an array of artwork, wallpaper – and even a pair of signed soccer balls.
Raab spoke from the debating chamber, where a handful of other lawmakers sat on the green benches, observing social-distancing markers taped on the carpet. The leader of the opposition Labour Party Keir Starmer also attended in person.
One lengthy question was inadvertently cut short, leaving lawmaker Peter Bone’s face animatedly reaching the climax of his interrogation on screen without audio.
Raab retorted: “I’m pretty sure I got the gist!”
Prior to the session, lawmakers had expressed concerns that the choreographed question session would blunt their ability to skewer ministers with unexpected follow-up questions.
“The only thing that brings any fear to ministers is the unknown supplementary,” former cabinet minister Liam Fox said on Tuesday in a debate on the new measures.
After Raab finishes, health minister Matt Hancock will make a statement on the government’s response to the coronavirus outbreak.
The new arrangement is so-far limited to questioning ministers, although officials are looking at ways that legislation can be discussed and even voted upon digitally.
“It’s symbolic, isn’t it? 700 years of working, and then suddenly we change to something new,” Hoyle told Sky News. “This is a starting point, this isn’t the end. What we want is a robust system that we build up from this point.”
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Timeline Reset: CDC Confirms Weeks-Earlier California Deaths
Health officials say two people died with the coronavirus in California weeks before the first reported death from the disease.
Santa Clara County officials said Tuesday the people died at home Feb. 6 and Feb. 17. Before this, the first U.S. death from the virus had been reported on Feb. 29 in Kirkland, Washington. The Medical Examiner-Coroner received confirmation Tuesday that tissue samples sent to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tested positive for the virus, officials said.
The announcement came after California Gov. Gavin Newsom promised a “deep dive” update Wednesday of the state’s ability to test for the coronavirus and to track and isolate people who have it, one of the six indicators he says is key to lifting a “stay-at-home” order that has slowed the spread of the disease while forcing millions of people to file for unemployment benefits.
“This will go to the obvious questions and queries that all of us are asking: When? … When do you see a little bit of a release in the valve so that we can let out a little of this pressure,” Newsom said Tuesday, teasing what he says will be the first of regular weekly updates on the state’s progress toward reopening.
Newsom says the state is testing an average of 14,500 people per day, up from just 2,000 tests per day at the beginning of April. Still, in a state of nearly 40 million people, that’s not enough for public health officials to know for sure the reach of the highly contagious virus that is still causing outbreaks across the state in nursing homes and homeless shelters.
Newsom said he wants the state to test at least 25,000 people per day by the end of April.
Over the weekend, the California Department of Public Health issued new testing guidance that, for the first time, recommends testing for people in high-risk settings even if they do not have symptoms. The new advice is aimed at hospitals, jails and homeless shelters — three places where physical distancing is difficult.
California has more than 35,600 confirmed coronavirus cases and 1,300 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death.
California has been under a mandatory, statewide stay-at-home order for more than a month. Last week, Newsom said he won’t consider loosening that order until hospitalizations, particularly those in intensive care units, flatten and start to decline for at least two weeks. Tuesday, Newsom announced intensive care hospitalizations rose 3.8%.
Other indicators Newsom says he is monitoring include whether the state has adequate protective gear for health care workers, better treatment for the disease and expanded testing.
Some local governments are already loosening their stay-at-home orders. Officials in Riverside County, east of Los Angeles, have allowed public and private golf courses to reopen while limiting play to foursomes, requiring physical distancing and face coverings and banning caddies, gatherings and dining in clubhouses.
At Van Buren Golf Center in Riverside, supervisor Angel Zabala said business was steady when the nine-hole course reopened Tuesday.
“A lot of people are happy,” Zabala said. “People have expressed relief as far as we’re finally open.”
Newsom said his administration is getting calls from local governments around the state with questions about how they might gradually loosen their stay-at-home orders.
“Everybody has a different timeline. So that’s the challenge,” Newsom said.
Newsom’s news conference, scheduled for noon Wednesday, will be watched closely by business groups who are clamoring to reopen so they can start paying their workers again.
“We just hope (Wednesday) we might hear of some additional steps from the governor that small businesses will be able to take towards opening their doors and turning their lights on,” said John Kabateck, state director of the National Federation of Independent Business.
Restaurants were some of the first businesses ordered to close because of the virus outbreak, and they have suffered some of the heaviest job losses. A survey of restaurant operators conducted by the National Restaurant Association found more than 1 million workers had either lost their jobs or been furloughed since March — at least 70% of all restaurant employees that were working in February.
But like most industries, restaurant operators are torn between the desire to get back to work and not wanting to rush back too soon and risk setting off another deadly outbreak of the disease, said Jot Condie, CEO of the California Restaurant Association.
“We’re hopeful that we get this right the first time,” he said.
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China Dismisses Missouri Lawsuit as ‘Absurd’
China’s Foreign Ministry Wednesday rejected a lawsuit filed by the U.S. state of Missouri claiming the nation is responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic.Missouri’s attorney general, Eric Schmitt, announced the lawsuit Tuesday, alleging Chinese officials are responsible for the pandemic that has sickened around 2.5 million people worldwide, thrown tens of millions out of work and devastated local economies, including in China.Schmitt said the Chinese government lied about the dangers of the virus and didn’t do enough to slow its spread.At a news briefing Wednesday in Beijing, China Foreign Ministry Spokesman Geng Shuang said the “so-called” lawsuit was “malicious” and “without factual or legal basis.” He maintained that China has been transparent throughout the crisis and informed the World Health Organization (WHO) about the coronavirus situation in a timely fashion. Shuang also said Chinese officials had been in regular contact with the U.S. government regarding the coronavirus since January 3.Missouri’s action is likely to be largely symbolic since lawsuits against other countries typically are dismissed because U.S. law generally prohibits them.
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Indonesia Bans Travel for Ramadan Amid Pandemic
Indonesia will ban people from traveling to celebrate Ramadan, bracing for a possible surge in COVID-19 cases in the largest Muslim-majority nation in the world by population.
Tens of millions of Indonesians who want to leave big cities for the holiday will be barred starting Friday, the government said Tuesday, marking a more aggressive response after it failed to convince people to stay put voluntarily.
Indonesia has been criticized as bungling its initial response to the virus, which at first it denied had spread to the nation.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo said a state survey before the ban found 68% agreed not to travel for Ramadan, but about one-fourth insisted on traveling.
“This means that there is still a very large number, which is 24%,” said the president, according to an announcement on the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology website. FILE – An ultra-Orthodox Jew wears an improvised protective face mask as he pulls a supermarket cart on a mainly deserted street because of the government’s measures to help stop the spread of the coronavirus, in Bnei Brak, a suburb of Tel Aviv.Just as gatherings of Jews for Passover and Christians for Easter threatened to spread COVID-19, Muslim nations now must contend with the risk during Ramadan. Indonesia is the biggest of those nations, with 260 million people. It also has the most deaths linked to the virus of any Asia nation outside of China, at 616, though limited testing means the real figure is likely to be much higher.
Millions of Indonesians usually crowd onto buses and trains at this time of year to be with family for the holiday. Researchers said if the government had gone through with plans to allow such mobility, the virus could have spread to hundreds of thousands of people, particularly in rural areas where health care is weaker, local media reported. The Southeast Asian nation so far has reported 7,135 cases of COVID-19.
“The more mobility in the population at this critical point, the graver the outcome,” Belinda Spagnoletti, a research fellow at the University of Melbourne, wrote in the university’s Indonesia at Melbourne blog. She noted that travel during the holiday, known as mudik, is appealing, particularly to lower-income people who can be with their families if they lose their jobs or access to health care in the pandemic.
She said that “mudik provides a safety net for many Indonesians, but it also provides the ideal conditions to exacerbate the COVID-19 public health disaster in Indonesia.”
After months of denying it had a coronavirus problem, authorities in Indonesia eventually moved to close schools and businesses, cancel flights, mobilize medical workers and supplies, and provide government relief packages. Locals wearing protective masks carry plates while queueing for food distributed for free amid the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Bandung, West Java province, Indonesia, April 10, 2920..The president, popularly known as Jokowi, has said the government would distribute food aid starting in Jakarta, and then spreading beyond the capital city.
“Make sure that food stocks are sufficient,” he told his cabinet members Monday. “Make sure that when Ramadan comes, we really have a certainty about food stocks.”
Observers say the nation will need more aid to workers and businesses, as well as more testing, confinement and contact tracing.
“The Indonesian government needs to ramp up testing to know the true extent of the coronavirus outbreak in the country,” Andreas Harsono, senior Indonesia researcher at Human Rights Watch, said. “The authorities should also uphold the right to information and provide accurate statistics to the public.”
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South Africa’s President Announces $26 Billion Coronavirus Rescue Package
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has unveiled a $26.3 billion “extraordinary budget” to help the country recover from the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic. President Ramaphosa said Tuesday in a nationally televised address the budget will address the “hunger and social distress” the pandemic has caused among South Africa’s poorest citizens. He said some 250,000 food parcels will be distributed across the country in the coming days, and the country will increase financial grants for child support and for unemployed citizens. Ramaphosa said the new aid package is equal to 10% of the gross domestic product of South Africa, the continent’s most industrialized nation. The president imposed a strict lockdown on March 26 during the early stages of the outbreak in the country, banning anyone but essential workers from leaving home for the next 21 days. Ramaphosa said the government will follow a “risk-adjusted approach” to reopening the economy, and that he will unveil a phased-in plan on easing the lockdown on Thursday. South Africa has 3,465 confirmed cases of COVID-19 infections, including 58 fatalities.
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Trump Suspends Immigration for 60 Days
The Trump administration is ordering a 60-day suspension of immigration into the United States, specifically for individuals seeking permanent residence, also known as a green card. Trump said the move is necessary to protect American workers already suffering from the coronavirus pandemic. White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has the story.
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Amid Pandemic, Minneapolis Permits Mosque to Broadcast Call to Prayer During Ramadan
For the first time in history, the Muslim community in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood of Minneapolis will hear the sound of “Adhan” — the call to prayer — over outdoor loudspeakers during the month of Ramadan, which is scheduled to begin Thursday night amid Minnesota’s stay-at-home order to fight the coronavirus pandemic.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey announced the decision Tuesday after issuing a permit allowing the Dar Al-Hijrah Mosque to broadcast the daily call to prayer five times throughout the day using four loudspeakers placed outside the mosque.
“In a time when physical distancing requires that we pray apart from one another. It’s incumbent on all of us elected and community leaders to make sure that we can create a sense of togetherness,” Frey told VOA.
The city granted the initiative after the Muslim community and the CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations) made the request to ensure people hear the sound, and they pray at home.
“This will benefit the community and will provide a sense of joy and hope during this difficult time,” the mayor said. He said he hopes the daily broadcast will send a message that his city cares about Muslim communities during this period.
“We love you, you are part of this city, and we want you to be able to get through this hard time with as much comfort and community and family as possible,” the mayor said.
Sheikh Abdirahman Sharif, the imam of the Mdar Al-Hjirah Mosque, welcomed the decision and thanked the mayor of Minneapolis for allowing Muslims to hear the sound of the call prayer and to be connected to their mosque.
“It’s a historic moment that a metropolitan city like Minneapolis offers a permit to a mosque to broadcast the call to prayer,” said Sharif. “The mayor has shown heroism. It’s an honor for us to be the first mosque in the USA to perform this, and we hope other cities should follow suite.”
The broadcasts from dawn to sunset will reach thousands of residents, most of them Muslims who are living near the mosque.
Asked how non-Muslims living near the mosque will react to the Muslim call to prayer, the mayor says many different religions are able to practice in some way that requires sound.
“Pretty much every religion out there celebrates in some form through sound. And we felt strongly and feel strongly that our Muslim community should be no different,” the mayor said.
Iman Sharif said he does not believe the public call to prayer will not ignite any Islamophobic or anti-immigrants from neighborhoods around the mosque.
“The plan was supported by neighboring churches, and plus we believe when non-Muslim residents hear the sound of call to prayer, it will reduce their concern and stress against Muslims,” Sharif said.
The Cedar-Riverside area is home to a large Muslim population from East Africa, who hope the sound of prayer will be a connector for those stuck at home because of COVID-19.
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Trump Agrees to Double COVID Testing for New York
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo says the White House has promised to help the state double its coronavirus testing capacity. Cuomo met with President Donald Trump Tuesday at the White House. New York is the country’s coronavirus epicenter and its governor has been one of Trump’s sharpest critics. But Cuomo and Trump put their bitterness aside Tuesday, meeting face-to-face for the first time since the outbreak. The governor called their talks “effective and functional.” “It ends the whole back-and-forth and the finger-pointing in a very fair and smart way,” he told reporters after returning to Albany.There is little traffic on 125th Street, April 16, 2020, in the Harlem neighborhood of New York during the coronavirus pandemic.“We have a very good understanding,” Trump said, adding that the White House and New York “will work together to help them secure additional tests,” Trump said. “And we hope that this model will work with the other states as well.” Cuomo said the White House committed to make all efforts to double testing in New York from 20,000 to 40,000 a day – something he said would take several weeks. Cuomo and many other governors believe listening to the experts along with enough proper testing for coronavirus are the keys to being able to ease lockdowns and get businesses up and running again – not politics or pressure from street protests. New York has been the hardest hit U.S. state by the pandemic. As of Tuesday, there were more than 250,000 cases. But the number of new deaths dropped to less than 500 for the second straight day.
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