Religious services in California will look much different under rules unveiled Monday that limit attendance to 100 people and recommend worshippers wear masks, limit singing, and refrain from shaking hands or hugging. The state released guidance under which county health departments can approve the reopening of churches, mosques, synagogues and other houses of worship. They have been closed since Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a stay-at-home order in March to slow the spread of the coronavirus. It’s not immediately known how soon in-person services will resume. Counties that are having success controlling the virus are likely to move quickly. Others with outbreaks — such as Los Angeles County, which has about 60% of California’s roughly 3,800 deaths — may choose to delay. The guidelines ask worshippers to wear masks, avoid sharing prayer books or prayer rugs and skip the collection plate. They also say to avoid large gatherings for holidays, weddings and funerals, and warn that activities such as singing or group recitation “negate” the benefits of social distancing. The guidelines say even with physical distancing, in-person worship carries a higher risk of transmitting the virus and increasing the numbers of hospitalizations and deaths, and they recommend houses of worship shorten services.FILE – A woman and child sit in a circle designed to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus by encouraging social distancing at Washington Square park in front of Saints Peter and Paul Church in San Francisco, May 23, 2020.Each county will have to adopt rules for services to resume within their jurisdictions and then the guidelines will be reviewed by state health officials after 21 days. The guidelines include limiting gatherings to 25% of building capacity or 100 people, whichever is lower. In Los Angeles County, Rabbi Shalom Rubanowitz of the Shul on the Beach in Venice Beach said he hopes his congregation can meet for this week’s Shavuot holiday, to celebrate when Jews received the Torah. The congregation will have to figure out how to provide temperature checks and provide a place for individual prayer books and shawls. Orthodox Jews do not use technology during the Sabbath and may not carry most personal items. Some church leaders aren’t eager to reopen. The Rev. Amos Brown, pastor of Third Baptist Church in San Francisco and head of the local NAACP chapter, led a protest Monday against reopening. FILE – The Rev. Dr. Amos Brown, senior pastor of Third Baptist Church, San Francisco, California, speaks during an African American clergy announcement of support for the civil marriage of gay and lesbian couples, Sept. 21, 2012.”We are not going to be rushing back to church,” he said by phone, noting that many leaders of his denomination have been sickened or died nationwide. Freedom of religion is “not the freedom to kill folks, not the freedom to put people in harm’s way. That’s insane,” he said. Many have been eagerly awaiting an announcement on religious services after Newsom began relaxing constraints on stores and other secular outlets as part of a four-phase plan to reopen the economy. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange announced last week that it is phasing in public Masses beginning June 14, starting with restricted numbers of worshippers. At first, choirs will be banned, fonts won’t contain holy water, and parishioners won’t perform rituals where they must touch each other. “We know that God is with us, but at the same time we have to be careful and make sure that we protect each other in this challenging time,” Bishop Kevin Vann said Friday. Some 47 of the state’s 58 counties have received permission to move deeper into the reopening by meeting standards for controlling the virus. The state on Monday cleared the way for in-store shopping to resume statewide with social distancing restrictions, although counties get to decide whether to permit it. Some places of worship around the country opened over the weekend after President Donald Trump declared them essential and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released guidelines for reopening faith organizations. In California, most houses of worship have complied with social distancing, making do with online, remote and a few drive-in services. In the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, Archbishop Jose Gomez called on parishes to celebrate Pentecost — a major religious day for many Christians — next Sunday by holding food and blood drives. FILE – Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez leads Catholics in prayer during a National Moment of Prayer at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles, April 10, 2020. The church has been livestreaming services during the pandemic lockdown.”I think it is important for all us of to be aware that this is a very dangerous illness, and we are making sure that everything is OK when we come back and celebrate the Eucharist together,” he said. But several thousand churches have vowed to defy the current stay-at-home order on Pentecost, arguing they can do so safely. Two church services that already were held without authorization have been sources of outbreaks; one in Mendocino County and the other in Butte County. Newsom’s cautious approach to reopening has angered opponents who claim the rules violate religious freedoms. A Pentecostal church in San Diego County lost a federal appeal Friday in its quest to reopen immediately. The South Bay United Pentacostal Church of Chula Vista immediately filed an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court. The nonprofit Center for American Liberty, which has filed several lawsuits over church restrictions, said the guidelines don’t go far enough. Newsom “lacks authority to dictate to California’s faithful, how they may worship,” said Harmeet Dhillon, a San Francisco lawyer and the group’s CEO. “Let people who wish to worship safely and together, do so.” 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. As of Monday, California had at least 94,558 confirmed cases of COVID-19, more than 3,000 hospitalizations and 3,795 deaths. The state is still seeing troubling COVID-19 flare-ups. More than 150 employees at a Farmer John meatpacking plant in Vernon, an industrial city south of Los Angeles, contracted the coronavirus. Imperial County, across the border from Mexico, has seen a surge. Two inmates from the California Institution for Men in San Bernardino County died Sunday from what appear to be complications related to COVID-19.
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Month: May 2020
China Plans to Lift Economy by Boosting Consumption
China said Monday it boasts $182 trillion in total national assets, which it hopes will provide enough support to lift its economy out of contraction by boosting domestic consumption after the coronavirus outbreak is contained.But analysts say local consumers, who have been holding out because of lockdown policies and concerns about finances, are unlikely to go on a shopping spree to make up for lost time.Declining income?“To some extent, everyone’s wealth [income] would be affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. So, as a whole, it is almost impossible to have a wealth effect to bolster [China’s] domestic consumption,” Liang Kuo-yuan, president of Polaris Research Institute in Taipei, told VOA.China is the world’s second-biggest economy.Ning Jizhe is vice chairman of China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). He said at a news conference Monday that domestic consumption has recovered and has seen an 8.3% increase in April from March, although it still posted a 7.5% decline compared with the same period last year.Ning said he expects the improvement to be stronger in May although no catch-up spending is in sight. He added that the Chinese government has kicked off measures to boost spending in the commodity and service sectors.China has also pledged to build up 5G networks and internet connections as a way to encourage both e-commerce and spending on organic agricultural products, the official said.Economic stimulusAccording to Ning, China plans to raise $140 billion through the issuance of national treasury bills and $526 billion in local government bonds to stimulate the economy.FILE – A man wearing a face mask walks past a store of French luxury brand Louis Vuitton at a shopping mall in Wuhan, the epicenter of the novel coronavirus outbreak, Hubei province, China, February 25, 2020.Calling China’s statistics opaque, Liang said that household spending on daily necessities will provide a bit of a boost to domestic consumption.But any major spending by consumers, even among those with substantial resources, likely will not be aggressive, he argued.Given its heavy debt burden, especially those hidden in its shadow banking system, China won’t be able to substantially increase government expenditure to revive its economy as it did during the 2008 financial crisis, according to Liang.Liao Qun, chief economist at Hong Kong-based China CITIC Bank International Ltd, said he did not agree with the premise that China has a high debt burden.But he agreed that, despite their high rate of savings, consumers will not increase their spending before lockdown policies are completely lifted. He said China’s debt ratio is under 60% of its gross domestic product, or GDP.Consumption growthLiao said domestic consumption accounts for about 55% of China’s GDP with private consumption accounting for 40% and government expenditures making up the balance.Liao said the potential exists for consumption to increase if incomes from China’s manufacturing-oriented economy remain stable.Economists are divided over whether the Chinese economy will weather the virus-inflicted downturn. Questions arose after Chinese Premier Li Keqiang failed to set an economic growth target for 2020 when he addressed the much-delayed National People’s Congress on Friday. The last time China failed to set a target was in 2002.Before China’s economy contracted 6.8% in the first quarter from a year ago, the Communist leadership, which often relies on economic growth for its ruling legitimacy, had projected a 5.6% growth goal for this year.Liang said that China’s economic outlook is unclear with authorities giving mixed signals.FILE – Volunteers in protective suits disinfect a shopping complex in Wuhan, Hubei province, the epicenter of China’s coronavirus disease outbreak, March 31, 2020.W-shaped recoveryEven if the Chinese economy rebounds, at best, it will be a W-shaped recovery, Liang said, referring to cycles in which the economy goes into recession ahead of full recovery. And challenges remain for China to address the economic fallout from the global pandemic. China watchers say growing anti-China sentiment and other issues may prompt some governments to reduce their economic dependence on Beijing and accelerate their exit from the Chinese market.But Liao said he doubts the business migration trend will hurt the fundamentals of the Chinese economy. He said the trend began a decade ago when foreign businesses moved their assembly lines to neighboring Asian countries for cheaper labor and land.During the same period, China’s exports continued to grow. He said they accounted for 13% of the world’s total exports in 2019, up from 9% a decade ago.“If it is a political calculation, everyone will suffer from the economic point of view. No one knows for sure if such a [political] move will be made. But in terms of economic [competitiveness], industries in China are still the cheapest, the most efficient and attractive” to foreign investors, Liao said.
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Suriname’s Strongman Seeks 3rd Term
Suriname’s president Desi Bouterse is looking to win a third term despite being convicted of murder last year and a separate drug smuggling conviction from the Netherlands. Voters went to the polls in the former South American Dutch colony Monday to elect the national assembly. Bouterse’s National Democratic Party must win a plurality in an assembly session in August for him to win another five-year term. Observers say Bouterse has a good chance of staying in power because of the fractured opposition and the coronavirus which has kept campaigning for Monday’s election to a minimum. A court in Suriname sentenced Bouterse in absentia to 20 years in prison in November for ordering the executions of political opponents after he seized power in a 1980 military coup. He is appealing the sentence. A Dutch court also sentenced him to 11 years in prison in 1999 on drug charges, but no country with an extradition treaty with the Netherlands has attempted to make an arrest. Suriname’s economy is a wreck, but Bouterse hopes the recent discovery of oil off the country’s Atlantic Coast can lead to a revival. The 79-year-old Bouterse ruled from 1980 until 1987 and returned to power in a 2010 election.
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Botswana’s COVID Border Checks Rile Truck Drivers
Botswana’s strict COVID-19 border checks have riled truck drivers, who say they spend days waiting to be cleared. Botswana has so far confirmed only 35 COVID-19 cases and one death but began requiring the border testing amid rising concerns about imported infections.
Truck drivers are growing frustrated with long delays at Botswana’s borders due to required COVID-19 testing. The truckers say they wait for up to five days before being cleared to deliver goods in Botswana, or transit through the country. Zambian truck driver Amon Phiri complains there are no washing facilities at the border check post, and they run out of food while waiting for test results.
“We are frustrated with the situation going on. We have been kept in Botswana for about five days now, no results. And we are all truck drivers gathered in one place,” he said. “We are being kept here with a single toilet, no water and no food. We are using the bush to answer the call of nature.”
Phiri urged Botswana authorities to speed up the testing.
“We were told the results will be out in 72 hours, but up to now nothing has come out. We are appealing to authorities to take action,” he said.
South African truck driver Malusi Dlamini says the delays have led to tensions across the border in South Africa. He says some South African truckers are threatening to block trucks entering from Botswana if the situation is not resolved.
“It is a frustrating situation. We hope it is addressed soon before tensions boil over. There are long queues of up to 10 kilometers of trucks waiting to be cleared,” he said. Truck drivers have to exercise patience at entry points in Botswana due to COVID-19 tests. (Mqondisi Dube/VOA).Botswana truck drivers are also subjected to COVID-19 tests when they re-enter the country.
Landlocked Botswana imports about two-thirds of its goods from South Africa. Botswana’s COVID-19 taskforce team head Dr. Kereng Masupu acknowledged the challenges faced by truck drivers. But he says remedial action cannot be taken overnight. Steps will be taken to improve the lives of drivers while awaiting their results, says Masupu, and their welfare should be taken seriously as they provide an essential service. Botswana introduced COVID-19 testing for truck drivers after confirming several imported cases of the coronavirus from truckers in the past week.
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Ruling Party Candidate Wins Burundi Presidential Election
Ruling party candidate Evariste Ndayishimiye has won Burundi’s presidential election by a landslide, preliminary results show, while the main opposition party cries fraud.The independent election commission (CENI) announced partial results Monday, giving Ndayishimiye 69% of the vote and his chief competitor Agathon Rwasa of the opposition CNL party 24%.Current First Vice President Gaston Sindimwo of the nationalist party Uprona finished far behind with just 2%.CNL immediately cried foul. Party spokesman Terence Manirambona tells VOA’s Central Africa service that CNL has its own numbers to prove that Rwasa won.“We are going to go through the appropriate channels to demand that the vote be recounted. We have a lot of facts that undeniably demonstrate that the results announced by CENI do not reflect the will of the people,” he said.He said the party was “stunned” to hear what he says are false numbers and accuses the election commission of colluding with the ruling party to keep opposition election observers away from the polls.There has been no response so far from the government or would-be president-elect Ndayishimiye.But in another interview with VOA, First Vice President Sindomwo downplayed allegations that the election was rigged and congratulated the apparent winner.“Elections are over now. We urge president-elect Evarisate Ndayishimiye to be the leader for all Burundians,” he said.The ruling party also won 72 seats in the parliament while CNL took 27 seats and the Uprona party won one seat.Final results are expected Tuesday and all parties have 10 days to challenge the outcome before the constitutional court.Ndayishimiye is longtime president Pierre Nkurunziza’s hand-picked successor. He decided not to run again after 15 years in power.
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China Threatens US Counter Measures if Punished for Hong Kong Law
China on Monday threatened counter measures against the United States if it is punished for plans to impose on Hong Kong a sedition law, which the business hub’s security chief hailed as a new tool to defeat “terrorism.”Beijing plans to pass the new security law for Hong Kong that bans treason, subversion and sedition after months of massive, often-violent pro-democracy protests last year.But many Hong Kongers, business groups and Western nations fear the proposal could be a death blow to the city’s treasured freedoms, and thousands took to the streets on Sunday despite a ban on mass gatherings introduced to combat coronavirus.As police dispersed the crowds with tear gas and water cannon, Washington’s national security adviser Robert O’Brien warned the new law could cost the city its preferential U.S. trading status.A woman reacts after riot police fired tear gas to disperse protesters taking part in a pro-democracy rally against a proposed new security law in Hong Kong, May 24, 2020.But China’s foreign ministry said Beijing would react to any sanctions from Washington.”If the U.S. insists on hurting China’s interests, China will have to take every necessary measure to counter and oppose this,” foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told reporters on Monday.Hong Kong has become the latest flashpoint in soaring tensions between the world’s two superpowers which China has likened to “the brink of a new Cold War.”The refusal to grant Hong Kongers democracy has sparked rare bipartisan support in an otherwise bitterly divided Washington during the Trump administration.Beijing portrays the city’s protests as a foreign-backed plot to destabilize the motherland and says other nations have no right to interfere in how the international business hub is run.Mainland agents?Protesters, who have hit the streets in the millions, say they are motivated by years of Beijing chipping away at the city’s freedoms since it was handed back to China by Britain in 1997.Hong Kong enjoys liberties unseen on the mainland, as well as its own legal system and trade status.Campaigners view the security law proposal as the most brazen move yet by Beijing to end free speech and the city’s ability to make its own laws.Of particular concern is a provision allowing Chinese security agents to operate in Hong Kong, with fears it could spark a crackdown on those voicing dissent against China’s communist rulers.On the mainland, subversion laws are routinely wielded against critics.Riot police clear up debris left by protesters attending a pro-democracy rally against a proposed new security law in Hong Kong, May 24, 2020.The proposed law, which China’s rubber-stamp legislature is expected to act on quickly, will also bypass Hong Kong’s own legislature.The city’s influential Bar Association on Monday described the proposed motion as “worrying and problematic” — and warned it may even breach the territory’s mini-constitution.The proposal has spooked investors, with Hong Kong’s stock exchange suffering its largest drop in five years on Friday. On Monday it had yet to recover, closing just 0.10 percent up.’Restore social order’Hong Kong’s unpopular pro-Beijing government has welcomed the law.”Terrorism is growing in the city and activities which harm national security, such as ‘Hong Kong independence,’ become more rampant,” security minister John Lee said in a statement welcoming the planned legislation.Police chief Chris Tang cited 14 recent cases where explosives had been seized and said the new law would “help combat the force of ‘Hong Kong independence’ and restore social order.”Last year’s protests were initially sparked by plans to allow extraditions to the mainland but soon snowballed into a popular revolt against Beijing and the city’s police force.Beijing has dismissed protester demands for an inquiry into the police, amnesty for the 8,500 people arrested and universal suffrage.The demonstrations fizzled at the start of the year as mass arrests and the coronavirus took their toll.But they have rekindled in recent weeks, with Sunday’s rally producing the most intense clashes for months and police making at least 120 arrests.During last year’s huge pro-democracy rallies, mob attacks were common on both sides of the political divide and a video of protesters beating a lawyer at Sunday’s rally was seized on by China’s state media.Hu Xijin, editor-in-chief of the nationalist tabloid Global Times, posted the video on Twitter — a platform banned in mainland China.”Let’s see what the Washington-backed Hong Kong democracy really looks like,” he wrote.
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Kazakhstan Adopts Controversial Law on Protests
Kazakhstan on Monday eased some restrictions on tightly-controlled public demonstrations but rights groups said they still fell short of international standards.Until now, protesters in the energy-rich country needed to apply for permission to hold a rally, and permits for political demonstrations were almost never granted.According to the legislation signed into law by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on Monday, demonstrators should notify authorities in advance of a rally taking place in one or more of the areas designated by the authorities for holding protests.FILE – Then-acting President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev delivers a speech in Astana, Kazakhstan, March 20, 2019.It also barred foreigners from joining protests or organizing them.Shortly after taking office last year, Tokayev pledged to reform the post-Soviet country’s restrictive legislation on public assembly.Yevgeniy Zhovtis, director of the Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law, criticized the new law.”There is nothing in international conventions on freedom of assembly about some sort of ‘designated places’,” he told AFP.”There is either freedom to assemble or its lack,” he said after parliament passed the bill last week.Clement Nyaletsossi Voule, a U.N. envoy on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly, said in April that parts of the new law “do not seem to be in line with international standards.”He called the notification process in the draft legislation “a de-facto approval procedure.”The draft law was also panned in late April by international rights groups in an open letter to the president.It was repeatedly criticized by local civil society activists, who said a national emergency imposed over the coronavirus pandemic had further limited space to debate the legislation.Tokayev, 67, has tried to position himself as a moderate reformer against the background of his predecessor Nursultan Nazarbayev’s reign of three decades that saw regular crackdowns on opposition and the free press.Nazarbayev, 79, hand-picked Tokayev as his successor after retiring from the presidency in March 2019 but retained key posts — notably the powerful chairmanships of the country’s security council and ruling party.
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Syrian Refugees in Turkey Gripped by Fear, Hunger
The family’s two-room apartment slants downhill, and there is no running water.Three-year-old Zaineb is crying from hunger. The girl hasn’t eaten all day, says her mother, Ismahan, as she rolls rice into grape leaves for what will be the family’s evening meal.By afternoon, Zaineb, 3, cries because she hasn’t eaten any food and she is hungry, on May 20, 2020 in Istanbul. (Heather Murdock/VOA)They plucked the leaves from trees, she explains, because they can’t afford to buy them.Like many Syrian refugee families living in Turkey during the pandemic, they also cannot pay their rent.Eight people including Ismahan’s two children are crowded into the tiny apartment and an abandoned shelter nearby. The rent is only $30, very cheap for Istanbul, but they haven’t paid in two months.“The landlord says he will kick us out if we don’t pay,” says Ismahan. “He doesn’t like Syrians.”Across the country, families like hers have moved from poor to destitute as they are increasingly isolated by the pandemic lockdown.Most Syrian refugees rely on incomes from the country’s informal sector, in jobs such as cleaning, textiles, shop work and street sales. Most of these jobs have been wiped out since the onset of COVID-19.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
Syrian refugee Mohammed, 45, says since the pandemic began, he can no longer sleep because he’s worried about money, on May 20, 2020 in Istanbul. (Heather Murdock/VOA)Hostility and neglectA few kilometers away from Ismahan’s home, Mohammed, his wife Marwa and their five children live in a slightly more spacious apartment, paid for by a local charity.In early March, the family lived in another Turkish city, and Mohammed made money painting houses and fixing motorcycles. But when the government announced it was opening its border with Greece, Mohammed sold his furniture, and they headed for the border.Like tens of thousands of others, he thought this meant they could move to Europe.
However, Greece never opened its side of the border. After nearly two weeks camping in a petrol station, the family boarded a bus to Istanbul, homeless and broke. Aid groups met them at the bus station and helped them resettle.“But they told me they won’t pay our rent again,” says Mohammed, as his older children push his infant daughter around in an empty box that once contained food aid. “Now, I stay up all night, every night, worrying about how to keep my children off the streets.”Like in many places, the pandemic is straining Turkey’s economy, with the poorest people suffering the most, on May 20, 2020 in Istanbul. (Heather Murdock/VOA)Turkey hosts over 3.5 million Syrian refugees, more than any other country in the world. But as the country grows poorer, public resentment toward the refugees deepens.“People here tell us all the time, ‘Go back to your country,’” explains Mohammed. But as a former rebel fighter in Syria, he doesn’t have that option. “They think we are taking food from their mouths, but we are not. We are just trying to work to feed our families.”Marwa and four of her five children in a home paid for by charity for this month, in Istanbul, May 20, 2020. They don’t know how they can pay next month. (Heather Murdock/VOA)Mental strainIsolation from the pandemic has also brought back memories of the war, says Marwa, Mohammed’s wife, making her feel like she is reliving the worst moments of her life.“It is the same fear,” she continues. “In Syria, we were stuck in the house afraid of being killed by the bombs. Now, we are afraid of going out and getting the virus.”More than 5 million people have fled Syria in nine years of war, and nearly all of them have suffered some kind of mental trauma, says Dr. Mohammed Khaled Hamza, a neuropsychologist and mental health professor with Lamar University in Texas, after thousands of interviews with Syrian refugees.The impact of the war on Syrian families’ mental health is so great that Hamza and the Syrian American Medical Society call it “Human Devastation Syndrome.”Ismahan says these grape leaves rolled with rice and some yogurt is all they can afford for a day, on May 20, 2020 in Istanbul. (Heather Murdock/VOA)And for many Syrian refugees stuck in camps and on the fringes of society, the pandemic is making it worse.“It’s bad when you have health problems,” says Hamza. “But it’s much worse when you have health problems and don’t have enough money or the finances to treat yourself.”At his apartment in Istanbul, Mohammed describes increasing anxiety and feelings of depression caused by the financial strain.“When your children come to you and ask for food because they are hungry,” he says, “the hardest thing in the world is to say, ‘No, we don’t have any.’”
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Biden Makes First In-Person Appearance in More Than 2 Months
NEW CASTLE, DELAWARE — Joe Biden made his first in-person appearance in more than two months on Monday as he marked Memorial Day by laying a wreath at a veterans park near his Delaware home. Since abruptly canceling a March 10 rally in Cleveland at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee has waged much of his campaign from his home in Wilmington. When Biden emerged on Monday, he wore a face mask, in contrast to President Donald Trump, who has refused to cover his face in public as health officials suggest.Biden and his wife, Jill, laid a wreath of white flowers tied with a white bow, and bowed their heads in silence at the park.The appearance was a milestone in a presidential campaign that has largely been frozen by the coronavirus outbreak. While the feasibility of traditional events such as rallies and the presidential conventions are in doubt, Biden’s emergence suggests he won’t spend the nearly five months that remain until the election entirely at home.The coronavirus has upended virtually all aspects of American life and changed the terms of the election. Trump’s argument that he deserves another term in office because of the strong economy has evaporated as unemployment rises to levels not seen since the Great Depression. As a longtime senator and former vice president, Biden is trying to position himself as someone with the experience and empathy to lead the country out of a crisis. Biden has adjusted to the coronavirus era by building a television studio in his home, which he’s used to make appearances on news programs, late-night shows and virtual campaign events. Some of those efforts have been marred by technical glitches and other awkward moments.Some Democratic strategists have openly worried that Biden is ceding too much ground to Trump by staying home. The president himself has knocked Biden for essentially campaigning from his basement.Biden’s advisers say they plan to return to normal campaign activities at some point, including travel to battleground states But they’re in no hurry, preferring to defer to the advice of health experts and authorities’ stay-at-home and social distancing recommendations.At 77, Biden is among the nation’s senior population thought to be especially vulnerable to the effects of the coronavirus — though so is Trump, who turns 74 next month. “We will never make any choices that put our staff or voters in harm’s way,” Biden campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon said recently, adding that the campaign would resume more traditional activities “when safety allows, and we will not do that a day sooner.”Trump has not resumed the large rallies that were the hallmark of his 2016 campaign and presidency but has begun traveling outside Washington in recent weeks. He visited a facility producing face masks in Arizona and a Ford plant in Michigan that has been converted to produce medical and protective equipment.Trump even played golf at his club in Virginia on the weekend, hoping that others will follow his lead and return to some semblance of normal life and gradually help revive an economy in free fall. It was the president’s first trip to one of his money-making properties since March 8, when he visited his private golf club in West Palm Beach. The World Health Organization declared the coronavirus a pandemic on March 11, and Trump followed with the national emergency declaration two days later.Biden’s campaign wasted little time producing an online video offering blurry, faraway footage of Trump on the golf course, imposed over images evoking the virus ravaging the nation as the number of Americans dead from the pandemic approached 100,000. The video concluded by proclaiming: “The death toll is still rising. The president is playing golf.” Trump was spending Memorial Day visiting Arlington National Cemetery and the Fort McHenry national monument in Baltimore, to be followed by a trip to Florida’s coast on Wednesday to watch to U.S. astronauts blast into orbit.
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Malawi Learners Get School Meals at Home
Elementary school children in Malawi, one of Africa’s poorest countries, normally get free meals at school; but, when the coronavirus pandemic forced schools to close in March, families were left with the added cost burden. The international charity Mary’s Meals, which runs the feeding program in one-third of Malawi’s elementary schools, has started distributing food to poor communities to help them cope.Mary’s Meals has been feeding thousands of children in the schools for the past 18 years.The young learners receive hot porridge made from maize or soya bean flour mixed with salt and sugar.The aim is to increase enrollment for children who might fail to attend classes because of hunger in their families, and to meet the nutrition needs of the students.Bart Rombaut is the country director for Mary’s Meals in Malawi. He spoke to VOA by telephone.“We normally work in around 1,116 primary schools in Malawi. And we have a focus on some special schools like children who are suffering from HIV/AIDS, and also disabled children, so those children receive special attention…So, approximately one million children in Malawi are covered by this action,” he said.The closure of schools in March because of COVID- 19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, deprived students of this source of nutrition, posing a threat to their health.Rombaut saif this has forced the charity to find new ways of feeding the children in compliance with COVID-19 preventive measures.“We decided to make ready-made food packages that the parents collect at schools and take home. We want to limit interactions between human beings and at the same time make sure that the individual child receives our nutritious meal.”Lizinet Kanamule said her two children are benefiting from the school feeding program.She told VOA via telephone that although the meals are meant for her children, the whole family is benefiting.She said, “This is helping us a lot, and because of this pandemic, things are not working. We are facing food shortages in our homes. So as a family the food stuffs we are receiving for our children are helping us because we are cooking porridge to cater to the whole family.”Rombaut said the new program is expected to run through July when the Malawian school year normally ends.He said prospects are high the initiative will resume should the schools remain closed at the start of the new school year in September.
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Burundi: Ruling Party Candidate Named Winner in Presidential Vote
Burundi’s election commission declared ruling party candidate Evariste Ndayishimiye the winner of the country’s presidential election.
The retired general won just under 69% of the vote, according to results released Monday. Opposition party leader Agathon Rwasa received about 24%, with five other candidates splitting the rest.
Voting last Wednesday was peaceful, but speaking to VOA, Rwasa accused the ruling party of “mischief” and said police and security officers were kicking opposition members out of polling places.
The ruling CNDD-FDD picked Ndayishimiye to succeed outgoing President Pierre Nkurunziza, whose decision to run for a third term in the 2015 election triggered mass protests and a crisis that forced more than 250,000 Burundians to flee the country.
Nkurunziza chose not to run for a fourth term this year but was named a “supreme guide for patriotism” by Parliament and still holds a prominent position in the ruling party.
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Western Australia Lashed by ‘Once-in-a-Decade’ Storm
What is being described as a “once in a decade” storm has left tens of thousands without power in Western Australia.
No casualties have yet been reported.
Strong winds and heavy rainfall on Sunday and Monday battered buildings and downed trees in and around the Australian city of Perth.
Wind speeds as high as 132 kilometers per hour were recorded in parts of the state – the fastest recorded in the month of May since 2005.
The severe weather warning was being lifted in some parts of the state Monday afternoon, and residents of Perth were told no more severe winds (above 90 km/h) were expected, according to the state’s Bureau of Meteorology.While strong wind gusts may still be felt in the #Perth metro area, they are no longer expected to be severe (above 90 km/h). The Severe Weather Warning has just been updated for areas south of #Mandurah to #Hyden. Latest warning: https://t.co/8DMY8xQwMLpic.twitter.com/YTjgtiHmE4— Bureau of Meteorology, Western Australia (@BOM_WA) May 25, 2020Up to 65,000 homes and businesses were without power at the height of the storm.
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Trump Threatens to Move Republican Convention from North Carolina
U.S. President Donald Trump threatened Monday to move his August renomination convention for a second term in the White House from Charlotte, North Carolina if the state’s Democratic governor doesn’t give the Republican party an immediate assurance that it will be able to fully occupy a basketball arena in the midst of the coronavirus crisis.“Unfortunately, Democrat Governor, Roy Cooper is still in Shutdown mood & unable to guarantee that by August we will be allowed full attendance in the Arena,” Trump said on Twitter.I love the Great State of North Carolina, so much so that I insisted on having the Republican National Convention in Charlotte at the end of August. Unfortunately, Democrat Governor, Cooper, like the other 49 U.S. state governors, has begun to ease coronavirus restrictions in his Atlantic coastal state. But restrictions remain and will be in effect yet for weeks.Charlotte, North Carolina’s biggest city, has had more confirmed coronavirus cases and more deaths from the virus than anywhere else in the state.Cooper last Friday lifted his earlier stay-at-home order, but instituted a “Safer At Home” directive.”Just because you can go more places, doesn’t mean you should,” Cooper said. Restaurants were opened in time for the Memorial Day holiday weekend, as were public pools at 50% capacity.National political conventions to nominate presidential candidates are a quadrennial tradition in the U.S. The national Democratic party is planning its convention in the midwestern city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin from Aug. 17-20, a week before the Republican conclave in Charlotte.Democrats, however, are laying the groundwork for a possible virtual convention to give their presidential nod to their presumptive nominee, former Vice President Joe Biden, with sharply scaled-back festivities in Milwaukee.Trump, however, has voiced his determination for a full-blown, four-day Republican convention, with thousands of delegates in Charlotte’s Spectrum Center cheering speeches attacking Biden and Democrats and culminating with the traditional drop of thousands of red, white and blue balloons from the arena rafters.
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Memorial Day Weekend Draws Crowds, Triggers Warnings
The Memorial Day weekend marking the unofficial start of summer in the U.S. meant big crowds at beaches and warnings from authorities Sunday about people disregarding the coronavirus social-distancing rules and risking a resurgence of the scourge that has killed nearly 100,000 Americans.Meanwhile, the White House broadened its travel ban against countries hard hit by the virus by saying it would deny admission to foreigners who have recently been in Brazil. Sheriff’s deputies and beach patrols tried to make sure people kept their distance from others as they soaked up the rays on the sand and at parks and other recreation sites around the country.In the Tampa area along Florida’s Gulf Coast, the crowds were so big that authorities took the extraordinary step of closing parking lots because they were full. On the Sunday talk shows, Dr. Deborah Birx, coordinator of the White House coronavirus task force, said she was “very concerned” about scenes of people crowding together over the weekend.”We really want to be clear all the time that social distancing is absolutely critical. And if you can’t social distance and you’re outside, you must wear a mask,” she said on ABC’s “This Week.”In Missouri, people packed bars and restaurants at the Lake of the Ozarks, a vacation spot popular with Chicagoans, over the weekend. One video showed a crammed pool where vacationers lounged close together without masks, St. Louis station KMOV-TV reported.In Daytona Beach, Florida, gunfire erupted Saturday night along a beachside road where more than 200 people had gathered and were seen partying and dancing despite the restrictions. Several people were wounded and taken to the hospital, authorities said.”Disney is closed, Universal is closed. Everything is closed so where did everybody come with the first warm day with 50% opening? Everybody came to the beach,” Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood said at a Sunday news conference, referring to crowds in the Daytona Beach area.On Georgia’s Tybee Island, the beach was filled with families, bicyclists, beach chairs, games, swimmers and more. On a main drag, people lined the sidewalk at Wet Willie’s, a chain bar that sells frozen cocktails. Most stood close together — not nearly 6 feet (2 meters) apart — and none wore masks.But at a nearby grocery store, staff members handed customers gloves and a number to keep track of how many people were inside at a time. Shoppers had their own masks.Officials in California said most people were covering their faces and keep their distance even as they ventured to beaches and parks. Many Southern California beaches were open only for swimming, running and other activities. At New York’s Orchard Beach in the Bronx, kids played with toys, and people sat in folding chairs. Some wore winter coats on a cool and breezy day, and many wore masks and sat apart from others.”Good to be outside. Fresh air. Just good to enjoy the outdoors,” said Danovan Clacken, whose face was covered.A couple lie on an American flag towel at Coney Island beach in New York during the coronavirus pandemic, May 24, 2020, during the Memorial Day holiday weekend.The U.S. is on track to surpass 100,000 coronavirus deaths in the next few days, while Europe has seen over 169,000 dead, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University that almost certainly understates the toll. Worldwide, more than 5.4 million people have been infected and nearly 345,000 have died.The New York Times marked the horror by devoting Sunday’s entire front page to a long list of names of those who have died in the United States. The headline: “An Incalculable Loss.”Meanwhile, President Donald Trump, who went golfing for the second day in a row after not playing for weeks, said on the syndicated Sunday program “Full Measure With Sharyl Attkisson” that he is feeling fine after a two-week course of the unproven drug hydroxychloroquine and a zinc supplement.The president has spent weeks pushing the drug against the advice of many of his administration’s top medical professionals. Hydroxychloroquine can have deadly side effects.The issue of wearing masks in public and staying several feet apart has become fraught politically, with some Americans arguing such rules violate their rights.Republican Gov. Mike DeWine of Ohio, who has been targeted by such demonstrations, insisted the precautions should not be a partisan issue.”This is not about whether you are liberal or conservative, left or right, Republican or Democrat,” DeWine said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “Its been very clear what the studies have shown, you wear the mask not to protect yourself so much as to protect others.”Critics chided Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam, who has repeatedly urged Virginians to cover their faces in public, for not heeding his own words when he posed mask-less for photographs with residents this weekend. A spokeswoman for the governor’s office said that Northam should have brought a mask out with him — but that he hadn’t been expecting to be near anyone. On Sunday, the Trump administration added Brazil to the list of countries it has banned travel from. Brazil is second only to the U.S. in reported coronavirus cases. The ban, which takes effect Thursday, applies to foreign nationals who have been in Brazil in the 14 days before they hoped to enter the United States. It does not apply to U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents or some of their relatives. Across Europe, meanwhile, a mishmash of travel restrictions appears to be on the horizon, often depending on what passports visitors carry. Beginning Monday, France is relaxing its border restrictions, allowing in migrant workers and family visitors from other European countries. Italy, which plans to open regional and international borders on June 3 in a bid to boost tourism, is only now allowing locals back to beaches in their own regions with restrictions.For the first time in months, the faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square for the traditional Sunday papal blessing, but they kept their distance from one another. Some 2,000 Muslims gathered for Eid al-Fitr prayers at a sports complex in a Paris suburb, spaced 3 feet (1 meter) apart and wearing masks.Beachside communities in England urged Londoners and others to stay away after rules were eased to allow people to drive any distance for exercise or recreation. The southern coastal city of Brighton said: “Wish you were here — but not just yet.” Wales kept up its “Later” tourism campaign, reminding people that its hotels, restaurants and tourist sites are still closed.
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Russian Prosecutors Seek Long Jail Term for Ex-US Marine on Spying Charges
Russian prosecutors have asked a Moscow court to find former Marine Paul Whelan guilty of espionage — a charge Whelan and U.S. officials vehemently deny — and sentence him to 18 years in prison.Whelan’s lawyer, Vladimir Zherebenkov, said on May 25 that the Moscow City Court set June 15 as the date to hand down its verdict after a high-profile trial that has strained ties with Washington.”Frankly speaking, we are all in shock,” Zherebenkov said outside the Moscow City Court, where the trial was held.According to Zherebenkov, his client reacted “with dignity” to the prosecutor’s demand, adding that, in all, 15 witnesses had testified at the trial.”The prosecutor questioned its four witnesses, who were mainly operatives of the secret service, while defense questioned its 11 witnesses, who are people Whelan was in touch with while in Russia. All of them testified that Paul had not ‘recruited’ anyone and had never collected any secret information,” Zherebenkov said.The 50-year-old Whelan, who also holds British, Canadian, and Irish citizenships, again told the court in his final statement that he was not guilty.Whelan was arrested in Moscow in December 2018 and in March of this year went on trial, despite the coronavirus pandemic and diplomatic protests.Prosecutors claim that a flash drive found in his possession contained classified information.He says he was framed when he took a USB drive from an acquaintance thinking it contained holiday photos and that the allegations of spying against him are politically motivated. He has also accused his prison guards of mistreatment.The trial was held behind closed doors because the evidence includes classified materials, as well as because of measures taken to slow the spread of the coronavirus.Whelan was head of global security at a U.S. auto-parts supplier at the time of his arrest. He and his relatives insist he visited Russia to attend a wedding.U.S. officials have urged Moscow to release Whelan and criticized the Russian authorities for their “shameful treatment” of him.
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In Race for Tourism, Greece Reopens Cafes, Island Ferries
Greece restarted regular ferry services to its islands Monday, and cafes and restaurants were also back open for business as the country accelerated efforts to salvage its tourism season.
Travel to the islands had been generally off-limits since a lockdown was imposed in late March to halt the spread of the coronavirus, with only goods suppliers and permanent residents allowed access.
But the country’s low infection rate in the COVID-19 pandemic prompted the government to start the holiday season three weeks earlier than the expected June 15 date, as other Mediterranean countries — including Italy, Spain and Turkey — are grappling with deadlier outbreaks.
At Bairaktaris restaurant on central Monastiraki Square in Athens, waiters and staff wearing purple face masks and some with plastic visors, sliced meat from the revolving gyros grill, arranged flowers on widely spaced tables and waited for customers, who remained cautious Monday.
Spiros Bairaktaris, the exuberant owner, is carrying on a family business running for 140 years and has framed pictures on the wall of himself sitting next to supermodel Naomi Campbell, singer Cesaria Evora, and other past celebrity customers. He says he’s optimistic about the season despite the slow start.
“This has never happened before,” he told the AP. “We normally sit 100 in the inside area, now it’ll be just 30. … There won’t be any bouzouki music or dancing until we get the all-clear from the doctors.
“But I think people from all over Europe will come here because we have a low death toll, thank God.”
Greece has had nearly 2,900 infections and 171 deaths from the virus. Italy has seen nearly 33,000 coronavirus patients die, Spain has had nearly 29,000 dead and Turkey has had 4,340 deaths, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.
Social distancing regulations and passenger limits have been imposed on ferries and at restaurants to ward off new infections.
State-run health services to combat the coronavirus are being expanded to the islands, with intensive care units being placed on five islands: Lesbos, Samos, Rhodes, Zakynthos, and Corfu, along with existing ICU facilities on the island of Crete.
Tourism is a vital part of the Greek economy, directly contributing more than 10% of the country’s GDP as Greece struggles to emerge from years of financial crisis. More than 34 million visitors traveled to Greece last year, spending 18.2 billion euros ($19.5 billion), according to government data.
With a view of the Acropolis and padded lounge seating, it’s usually hard for cafe goers to find a spot at Kayak, but midday Monday it was still largely empty.
“Eighty percent of our business is from tourism, and people in Greece are cautious, they fear they will lose their job,” owner Liza Meneretzi said. “I’ve been running the cafe for 30 years, and I’ve never seen anything like this. But I was born an optimist, so we’ll see how things go.”
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Japan to Lift Coronavirus State of Emergency for Tokyo
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has lifted the state of emergency for Tokyo and four neighboring prefectures imposed last month at the height of the coronavirus outbreak. The move ends nationwide restrictions as businesses begin to reopen their doors.
The prime minister announced the move Monday during a televised speech, hours after a special coronavirus panel approved a plan to lift the decree for the Japanese capital and its surrounding areas. The decision was made after the number of new infections began trending downward. Men, wearing face masks, walk at a park in Yokohama, near Tokyo, May 14, 2020, after Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced the lifting of a coronavirus state of emergency in most of the country except for several high-risk areas.The prime minister initially declared a 30-day state of emergency on April 7 for Tokyo and six other prefectures, including the central port city of Osaka, as the number of COVID-19 infections began to rise. Prime Minister Abe extended the measure nationwide just a few days before it was set to expire, then gradually lifted it as the outbreak appeared to ease. The decree was set to expire on May 31. The COVID-19 disease is caused by the coronavirus.
The emergency declaration stopped short of imposing a legally binding nationwide lockdown, due to Japan’s post-World War II constitution, which weighs heavily in favor of civil liberties.
Japan currently has more than 16,500 confirmed cases of COVID-19 infections with 820 deaths, a relatively low figure compared with other nations. Abe said Monday that the country’s success in containing the coronavirus in such a short period of time showed the strength of the “Japan model.”
A masked woman walks past an electronic stock board showing Japan’s Nikkei 225 index at a securities firm in Tokyo, May 21, 2020.The outbreak, however, has pushed the Japanese economy into a recession and forced postponement of the Tokyo Summer Olympic Games for a year. Abe’s approval ratings have also plunged to record lows due to his apparent slow response to the pandemic.
Also Monday, Japan’s professional baseball league announced that its season will begin on June 19 after a delay of nearly three months because of the outbreak. Commissioner Atsushi Saito said no fans will be allowed into the stadiums when the league begins play, becoming the first major professional sport in Japan to return to action since the start of the pandemic.
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Lockdown Dampens Eid Celebrations in Kenya’s Eastleigh Neighborhood
In Nairobi, the residents of Eastleigh, a predominantly Somali neighborhood, will celebrate Eid al-Fitr, the end of Ramadan, in lockdown after the government extended the movement in and out of the area for another two weeks. Some families say they have never experienced an Islamic celebration like this one. Mohammed Yusuf reports.
Camera: Amos Wangwa, Producer: Jason God
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Children Return to Australian Schools After Weeks of Lockdowns
Schools in Australia’s most populous state have reopened Monday after weeks of a COVID-19 lockdown. Students in New South Wales, along with those in Queensland, have headed back to class in one of the most significant easing of coronavirus restrictions. More than one million students are back in class Monday, as state and private schools in New South Wales resume full-time learning after two months of lockdown. Authorities in the neighboring Australian state of Queensland have also reopened schools. Many children in Tasmania are also returning to class. Victoria will begin a phased return to on-site schooling Tuesday. Social distancing measures are in place, and parents and carers are not allowed onto school premises. New South Wales Minister for Education Sarah Mitchell says the return to school has started well. “It is an exciting day for lots of parents and teachers and students right across New South Wales as we see our children return to the classroom,” she said. “Again, we are so grateful to our school communities for all the preparation work that they have done to have our students back, the additional cleaning and the hygiene supplies, and by all accounts this morning things are going very well. I think there is a lot of excitement in classrooms. It is exciting to have them back in the classroom and we are looking forward to being back into some kind of normal when it comes to education in New South Wales.” Schools have been one of the most controversial parts of Australia’s response to the pandemic. The federal government has always insisted all pupils should be in schools, while state leaders have insisted it was safer for them to be at home. Reopening schools is a significant step in Australia’s winding back of COVID-19 controls. Further relaxations will come into effect at the start of June, with many cafes, bars and restaurants allowed to reopen with strict limits on the number of patrons. However, many state borders remain closed, and Australia continues to ban all foreign nationals from entering the country. Australia has had more than 7,100 confirmed coronavirus cases. 102 people have died with the virus.
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Asian Markets Mixed at Start of Shortened Trading Week
Asian markets are in mixed territory Monday. Tokyo’s Nikkei index closed 1.7% higher on news that the government was set to lift the coronavirus state of emergency on Tokyo, while the Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index is 0.15% lower as the financial hub was rocked by new protests over China’s proposed national security law critics say will bring an end to the city’s semi-autonomous status. Shanghai’s index closed slightly (0.15%) higher, while Sydney’s S&P/ASX is up over 2%. Seoul’s KOSPI is up 1.2%, while Taiwan’s TSEC index finished the trading day 0.5% higher. In oil trading, U.S. crude oil is $33.60 per barrel, up 1%, while the international standard, Brent crude, is $35.27 per barrel, up 0.4%. All three U.S. stock exchanges will be closed in observance of Monday’s Memorial Day holiday.
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Vietnam to Vote on EU Trade Deal as Economy Emerges from Virus
Vietnam has one of the only economies in the world that will grow in 2020, a distinction to be boosted as it heads into a final vote on its trade deal with Europe this week. The National Assembly of Vietnam scheduled a vote on the long-awaited deal for Thursday. The European Union Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) is seen as one tool for the economy to recover from COVID-19, as well as a catalyst for labor and environmental reforms. Businesses shut down for weeks, but reopening before most nations helped Vietnam lure foreign investment, like Apple’s first-ever decision to make an entirely new product in Vietnam, its latest headphones. The Southeast Asian nation reported no deaths from the virus and 325 cases, sparing it from the worst of the crisis, particularly as many neighbors brace for recession. The deal, which is the EU’s first with a developing nation, is expected to sail through Vietnam’s rubberstamp parliament and incentivize businesses to improve their product standards for export. Parliamentarian Hoang Van Cuong said the state should support businesses in making use of the deal. “The government must make a list of exported goods to the EU market,” Hoang Van Cuong, a Member of Parliament representing Hanoi, said last week in a discussion to tee up the vote. “These goods are required to meet EU standards.” A cobblestone street is seen in Brussels, the seat of the European Union, which Vietnam is awaiting to finalize a trade agreement. (VOA/Ha Nguyen)Officials on both sides call the trade deal ambitious because of its social and eco-friendly goals. Besides ultimately scrapping 99% of tariffs between the European Union and Vietnam, the deal requires the latter nation to legalize labor unions independent of the ruling communist party and strengthen environmental rules, such as those against illegal logging. And there are other “major legal gaps” Vietnam will have to fill to enact the deal, the World Bank said. These relate to animal and plant sanitary standards, investor-state disputes, and rules of origin. “If Vietnam can act in a decisive manner to close legal and implementation capacity gaps, it can capitalize a trade deal whose direct benefits are estimated to be largest in the country’s history,” Ousmane Dione, World Bank country director for Vietnam, said. “With COVID-19 acting as a reset button and EVFTA as an accelerator, now is the perfect time to embrace deeper domestic reforms.” Vietnam’s major exports to the European Union include garments, footwear and other textiles, electronics, and agricultural goods, while imports from the bloc include machinery, medicines, vehicle parts and food products. The trade deal should increase Vietnam’s exports to the world’s biggest market, building on the investment gains that were made possible because Vietnam limited the pandemic’s impact, Trinh Nguyen, a senior economist for emerging Asia at Natixis, an investment bank, said. “Zero is certainly the new hero, and Vietnam is a frontier market that can lay claim to the impressive feat of having zero reported [deaths] from COVID-19,” she wrote in an analysis of the trade deal. She added that to reap the full benefit of the EU deal, however, Vietnam would need changes, such as more domestic businesses joining in global supply chains, rather than relying on foreign businesses as investors relocate from China. “Vietnam’s gross export growth is impressive but beneath the strong performance is domestic weakness,” Nguyen said. If that weakness is addressed, “Vietnam’s manufacturing luster will not be diminished and will continue to outshine the region in its higher growth trends.” Should the trade deal take effect by July this year as expected, it would be the EU’s second in Southeast Asia, after one with Singapore.
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China Warns US at Brink of Starting ‘New Cold War’ with Beijing
China says some “political forces” in the United States have taken bilateral relations hostage and are pushing the world’s two biggest economies towards “a new Cold War.” Speaking on the sidelines of the National People’s Congress in Beijing Sunday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Wu said “a political virus is spreading in the United States” which is “using every opportunity to attack and smear China.” Wang said China has no intention to either change or replace the U.S., and that the U.S. should abandon its “wishful thinking of changing China and stopping 1.4 billion people in their historic march toward modernization.”Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi speaks to reporters via video link at a news conference held on the sidelines of the National People’s Congress (NPC), from the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, May 24, 2020.The Trump administration has clashed with Beijing over a range of issues in recent months, including trade, technology, and the coronavirus pandemic, with President Donald Trump himself alleging the virus escaped from a lab in Wuhan, the central Chinese city where the virus was first detected late last year. China’s proposed security law for Hong Kong is the latest flashpoint between the two sides, which critics say threatens Hong Kong’s semi-autonomous status.
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A Voice for Justice for Rohingyas, Rwandans and Gambians
Protecting vulnerable people “is a question of our humanity, over and above anything else,” Abubacarr Tambadou says. That belief motivated Tambadou, as attorney general and justice minister of the Gambia since early 2017, to set up an ongoing commission to investigate crimes allegedly linked to former president Yahya Jammeh. It has also led him to spend more than a decade prosecuting atrocities in the 1994 Rwandan genocide. And last November, it prompted him – on behalf of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation – to file a case with the International Court of Justice accusing Buddhist-majority Myanmar of attempting to commit genocide against its ethnic Rohingya Muslim population. The Asian country Friday filed its first court-mandated report on its government’s and military’s efforts to comply with emergency provisional measures to protect Rohingyas, preserve evidence of any crimes against them, and to facilitate their repatriation. The 47-year-old Tambadou, speaking to VOA Sunday from his residence in Gambia’s capital, Banjul, called the filing “a positive development that Myanmar continues to engage with the court on this matter.” He said it demonstrates that the government “is acting as a responsible member of the international community.” History of persecution Excluded from citizenship in 1982, Rohingya Muslims have faced persecution and spasms of violence for decades. But in August 2017, more than 700,000 Rohingya fled from Rakhine state across the border to Bangladesh, bringing with them accounts of massacres, extrajudicial killings, gang rapes and villages set on fire by Burmese military and civilian militants. Myanmar characterized its crackdown as a response to insurgent attacks on security posts. The Gambia’s legal team had sought the emergency measures to protect the estimated 600,000 Rohingya Muslims still in Myanmar, goaded by a September 2019 U.N. report that found “a serious risk that genocidal actions may occur or recur.” In January, the ICJ – the United Nations’ top court – granted the request, requiring Myanmar to file periodic reports on its efforts to comply. The court’s final decision in the case could take years. Tambadou said he and his legal team – led by the Washington firm Foley Hoag – have received a copy of the filing. Myanmar and the ICJ could determine whether to reveal the report’s contents before the genocide case goes to trial, he said. Myanmar’s foreign ministry said the report is confidential, VOA’s Burmese Service reported Sunday. The country has at least overtly suggested new safeguards. In April, the Myanmar government issued presidential directives ordering “all ministries and all regions and state governments” to ensure against acts of genocide and to preserve evidence. Friday, Myanmar Army spokesman Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun said at a news conference that the military was cooperating with the government-formed Independent Commission of Inquiry’s recommendations to share information on investigations and to set up transparent courts martial of security forces alleged to have committed crimes. The commission had found no evidence of genocide. A chance visit Tambadou’s involvement in the Rohingya case was a matter of happenstance. A committee of the OIC, which represents 57 countries with significant Muslim populations, had been contemplating action against Myanmar since 2018. It chose Tambadou as its chair after he had filled in at the last minute for the Gambia’s foreign minister on an OIC delegation visit to Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar district in southeastern Bangladesh. “When I visited the refugee camps in Bangladesh, in talking with witnesses, I was convinced that what I was hearing was genocide,” Tambadou said of his May 2018 trip. Following the U.N. fact-finding report in September 2019, the committee decided the Gambia should file the case. Like Tambadou, Simon Adams, the executive director of the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, told VOA he also saw Myanmar’s filing as “a very positive thing. But we’ve still got a long way to go. Those discriminatory laws and policies are still in place. There’s still 1 million Rohingya refugees sheltering in nearby Bangladesh who want to come home.” Adams praised Tambadou and his country for supporting the Rohingyas. “Look, any state that is a signatory to the [1948] Genocide Convention could have brought this case forward, but they didn’t. It took tiny Gambia, the smallest country in Africa,” he said. “… There’s so few states who actually have the intestinal fortitude, the political vision and the determination to take a case like this forward.” Measures at home Tambadou, who studied law in Britain, also is engaged in a reckoning at home in the Gambia. Its independent Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission began publicly televised hearings last year into alleged crimes committed under Jammeh, president from late 1996 into January 2017. As Human Rights Watch notes, Jammeh is accused of ordering the torture and killing of political opponents, the murders of 56 West African migrants, and the detention of hundreds of women. He also is suspected of raping some women brought to him. Tambadou spoke about the ICJ case on the Rohingyas, the recent arrest of a long-sought fugitive alleged to have financed the Rwandan genocide, the Gambia’s commission – and the human rights issues that tie them together. His comments have been edited for length and clarity. What are you looking for in Myanmar’s report to the ICJ? Three key things. We are looking for a demonstration by Myanmar of action it has taken to prevent the commission of genocide; demonstration that it has refrained from committing genocide; and [an account] of what measures it has taken to preserve evidence. Is the Gambia legal team also monitoring the ground situation in Myanmar? We are doing so through a variety of sources. And hopefully we will have a basis to confirm what Myanmar has just submitted to the court. To what extent is the COVID-19 pandemic an issue in the case? Does it add any urgency? COVID-19 is a serious matter. It has not only impacted our ability to prepare fully for submission within the deadline given to us by the court. [The ICJ has granted three-month extensions to both Myanmar’s and the Gambia’s legal teams.] But we are thinking about the potential devastating consequences it could have on the Rohingyas both in Myanmar and in the refugee camps in Bangladesh. How has your experience as a prosecutor with the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda shaped your understanding of the signs of genocide? I have spent a decade and a half as a prosecutor at the tribunal. I have been involved in the cases of accused persons, including the former chief of staff of the Rwandan Army General Augustin Bizimungu. I have met hundreds if not thousands of witnesses, including perpetrators and victims. The fact that there was a historical dehumanization of the Rohingya, the fact that there was prejudice, there was suspicion, there was mistrust – all of those are signs of genocidal intent. And then when you match that rhetoric with action on the ground, the modus operandi, the collaboration between the military and civilians, the torching of houses, the burning of little children, the sexual violence against women, the execution of unarmed civilian men — all of these point strongly to the fact that the authorities in Myanmar did want to destroy in whole or in part the Rohingya. What does the May 16 arrest of Rwandan fugitive Felicien Kabuga in France mean to you? This is a triumph of international justice and accountability mechanisms that have been put in place by the United Nations. This is good news for both the international community and the victims of the Rwanda genocide. Kabuga will have his day in court. The Gambia’s Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission is in its second year of public hearings on alleged crimes during the military junta. What is your role? The commission was established to first ensure that there is an accurate historical account of events … during former president Jammeh’s rule but also to identify for prosecution those who bear the greatest responsibility for these crimes. This is the first truth commission around the world with such a mandate. The proceedings have also been interrupted by COVID-19. But we’re hoping that this is going to be the final year. … And I’m happy that the victims are finding answers and closure to several questions that they’ve had about the disappearance of their loved ones. I am the minister responsible for the truth commission process. Why do you — and, by extension, the Gambia — care about what’s happening to the Rohingya? Why should anyone else care? This is about our humanity. What is happening to the Rohingya is horrendous. It’s appalling. The international community failed in Rwanda back in 1994, leading to at least 800,000 deaths. We are again failing in today’s world as we see what is going on in Myanmar against the Rohingya and we do nothing to stop it. I think it’s our moral obligation. It’s our human obligation to do something about it. And there’s no better way to condemn what is going on in Myanmar than to go to the world’s highest court. VOA’s Burmese Service and Jason Patinkin of VOA’s English to Africa Service contributed to this report.
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Judge Rules Against Florida on Felons Paying Fines to Vote
A Florida law requiring felons to pay legal fees as part of their sentences before regaining the vote is unconstitutional for those unable to pay, or unable to find out how much they owe, a federal judge ruled Sunday. The 125-page ruling was issued by U.S. District Court Judge Robert Hinkle in Tallahassee. It involves a state law to implement a 2016 ballot measure approved by voters to automatically restore the right to vote for many felons who have completed their sentence. The Republican-led Legislature stipulated that fines and legal fees must be paid as part of the sentence, in addition to serving any prison time. Hinkle has acknowledged he is unlikely to have the last word in the case, expecting the administration of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis to launch an appeal. The case could have deep ramifications in the crucial electoral battleground given that Florida has an estimated 774,000 disenfranchised felons who are barred because of financial obligations. Many of those felons are African Americans and presumably Democrats, though it’s unclear how that group of Floridians overall would lean politically in an election and how many would vote. The judge called the Florida rules a “pay to vote” system that are unconstitutional when applied to felons “who are otherwise eligible to vote but are genuinely unable to pay the required amount.” A further complication is determining the exact amount in fines and other kinds of legal fees owed by felons seeking the vote — by some estimates it would take elections officials several years for those pending now. Hinkle said it’s unconstitutional to bar any voter whose amount owed could not be “determined with diligence.” Hinkle ordered the state to require election officials to allow felons to request an advisory opinion on how much they owe — essentially placing the burden on elections officials to seek that information from court systems. If there’s no response within three weeks, then the applicant should not be barred from registering to vote, the ruling said. Hinkle said the requirement to pay fines and restitution as ordered in a sentence is constitutional for those “who are able to pay” — if the amount can be determined. The case, Kelvin Jones vs Ron DeSantis, consolidates five lawsuits filed by advocates of disenfranchised felons, including the American Civil Liberties Union, the Brennan Center and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. “This is a tremendous victory for voting rights,” Julie Ebenstein, senior staff attorney with ACLU’s Voting Rights Project, said in a statement. “The court recognized that conditioning a person’s right to vote on their ability to pay is unconstitutional. This ruling means hundreds of thousands of Floridians will be able to rejoin the electorate and participate in upcoming elections.” The 2018 ballot measure, known as Amendment 4, does not apply to convicted murderers and rapists, who are permanently barred from voting regardless of financial obligations.
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