A judge has issued a restraining order against federal agents deployed in Portland, Oregon, who U.S. President Donald Trump said he sent to protect federal property against anti-police and anti-racism protesters.Responding to a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, U.S. District Judge Michael Simon blocked agents from dispersing, arresting, threatening to arrest, or using force against legal observers and journalists.“This order is a victory for the rule of law,” the interim director of the ACLU’s Oregon office, Jann Carson, said. “Federal agents from Trump’s departments of Homeland Security and Justice are terrorizing the community, threatening lives, and relentlessly attacking journalists and legal observers documenting protests. These are the actions of a tyrant, and they have no place anywhere in America.”There has been no reaction so far from Trump the administration.Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler was tear-gassed early Thursday morning when federal agents tried to break up a protest the U.S. federal courthouse in Portland.Wheeler coughed and was dazed, telling others he had never been tear-gassed before, but was otherwise unhurt.Some demonstrators who did not want the mayor there, yelled at him, chanting “Shame on you,” believing he could be doing a better job to protect the city from federal forces.But Wheeler has said he wants the agents to leave, calling their presence an abuse of federal authority and an incitement for violence.Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz announced Thursday an investigation into the use of force by federal agents in Portland and Washington, where tear gas was used to clear an area across from the White House last month before Trump crossed the street to stand in front of a church.Also on Thursday, Department of Homeland Security Inspector General Joseph Cuffari announced an investigation into allegations of improper behavior by DHS law enforcement in Portland last week.Demonstrators have marched in Portland every day for nearly two months responding to the May 25 death of George Floyd, a Black man, while in custody of white police in Minneapolis. Although the protests have been mostly peaceful, there have been instances of violence, arson and vandalism.Federal law enforcement agents are being dispatched as part of Operation Legend to Chicago after a surge in gang violence that has left about 100 dead in the last several weeks. Agents are also being sent to Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Kansas City, Missouri.The mayors of these three cities and 12 others have sent a letter to federal authorities calling for the immediate withdrawal of their forces and to “agree to no further unilateral deployments in U.S. cities.”David Chipman, a senior policy adviser at the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, told VOA that when he was an agent for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, “I was proud to work with local leaders when they needed help righting wrongs.”Chipman said Trump’s recent actions in Portland and his statements about problems in other cities “make clear he thinks federal law enforcement are his personal chess pieces for partisan power grabs.”
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Month: July 2020
After Britain, Germany Emerges as Next 5G Battleground
Following Britain’s decision to ban Chinese tech firm Huawei from its 5G telecom network, Germany is emerging as the next potential battleground to check China’s expansion of influence in world affairs, which is increasingly seen as a serious challenge to democratic institutions worldwide.Germany’s decision on whether to include Huawei equipment in its own network “is still up for grabs,” said Reinhard Buetikofer, a member of Germany’s opposition Green Party who chairs the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations with the People’s Republic of China.Britain’s decision “may very well have an impact on the decision Germany is about to make,” Buetikofer said in a phone interview from Berlin.Buetikofer said Britain’s plan to include Huawei in its next-generation network – which was abruptly reversed in a dramatic announcement last week – had been held out as a model by German supporters of the Chinese telecom giant.“In the past, supporters of having Huawei construct Germany’s 5G network often pointed out: ‘Look, the Brits knew that much more about Huawei than we do, if the Brits are not doing anything about it, why should we?’” But Britain’s July 14 decision has pulled out the rug from under that argument.Buetikofer, a strong advocate for decoupling his country from Huawei, greeted the British announcement with a challenge to German Chancellor Angela Merkel.FILE – Huawei headquarters building is pictured in Reading, Britain, July 14, 2020.“Now it’s Berlin’s turn to move!” he tweeted. “Does the chancellor really want to be the stumbling block preventing a united EU + transatlantic + 5Eyes stance?”The Five Eyes is a nickname for an intelligence-sharing alliance comprising the United States, Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.A German decision to exclude Huawei from its network would be a diplomatic win for the United States, which lobbied hard for the British reversal and is bringing pressure on other countries to follow suit. The Americans warn that Huawei equipment may contain “back doors” that will allow China to spy on sensitive communications.“We hope we can build out a coalition that understands the threat and will work collectively,” U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said during a trip to Britain and Denmark this week.But Buetikofer said his objections to the Chinese company are not influenced by the pressure from Washington. “I oppose Huawei’s playing a part in the German 5G network not because I want to do the U.S. a favor, but because I think it is a threat to German national security,” he said.As in other countries, the German argument over Huawei is rooted in a larger debate about the best way to deal with China’s rising power.Merkel emphasizes the importance of “dialogue” with Beijing, unswayed by the fierce international reaction to its new security law restricting long-established rights in Hong Kong. But others, including a significant number of German lawmakers, believe Beijing is not only an economic rival, but one that is doing all it can to replace democratic norms around the world with its own style of authoritarian rule.German Free Democratic Party legislator Johannes Vogel has argued that Beijing has been explicit in stating that goal. “It would be naive if we didn’t take their assessment at face value,” wrote Vogel, the deputy chair of the German-Chinese Parliamentary Friendship Group.Merkel has also argued in favor of Huawei on the basis of a “no-spying pact” her government secured from the company.But Buetikofer points out that Huawei founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei is a member of China’s ruling Communist Party.“Don’t take us for idiots,” he remarked during a recent podcast.Analysts have warned that China could retaliate against an unfavorable decision on Huawei by targeting Germany’s auto industry, and Buetikofer acknowledged to VOA that the industry plays a significant part in his country’s economy.Nevertheless, he said, “Germany’s national interest is not synonymous with the interests of Volkswagen, just as the U.S.’s national interest is not synonymous with the interests of GM.”
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Fauci Throws First Pitch to Open Pandemic-Shortened Baseball Season
It was low and outside and failed to reach home plate, but the (pre-recorded) hometown crowd roared as Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, threw the ceremonial first pitch of a coronavirus-shortened Major League Baseball season Thursday eveningThe world champion Washington Nationals described Fauci as a “super fan” as they announced he would do the honors when the team hosted the New York Yankees before an empty stadium. Fauci is often seen wearing a Nationals face mask as he helps set public health policy for the U.S. during the pandemic.A statement from the Washington Nationals regarding Opening Day. pic.twitter.com/iejxXeAA4V
— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) New York Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole pauses and looks down at the “Black Lives Matter,” stenciled on the pitchers mound during the fourth inning of a game against the host Nationals, July 23, 2020.No spitting, no high-fivesThis year’s baseball season began four months late because of the coronavirus, while team owners and players worked out how the shortened season would be played during a global pandemic.Instead of 162 games, the 30 major league teams will play 60 games.Players will be tested for the coronavirus every two days. They’ll undergo temperature checks twice a day.No fans will be allowed in the stands, but some parks will pipe in crowd noises to make the stadium feel as normal as possible.Several other baseball traditions are being suspended – no spitting on the field, no celebrating a win with high-fives and hugs, and no sitting in the dugout for players not in the day’s lineup. Instead, they will sit in the empty stands.The shortened schedule calls for most games to be played within a team’s division, with the rest scheduled to take place in its geographic region to avoid a lot of travel. For example, Fauci’s beloved Nats will play all of their road games in Eastern cities – Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, Tampa and wherever the Toronto Blue Jays end up playing.Canadian authorities say the team cannot play in its home park because of COVID-19 cross-border travel restrictions with the United States.As of Thursday night, the Blue Jays were still looking for a home park with the minor league stadium in Buffalo, New York, the most likely spot.
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Young Nigerians Take on Coronavirus Through Innovation
A UNICEF-sponsored COVID-19 Innovation Challenge saw some 80,000 young Nigerians submit community-based solutions to the coronavirus pandemic. The award-winning entries, from Nigerians aged 14 to 35, included one man who pitched the use of solar panels to create a sustainable water supply system to help combat the virus. Timothy Obiezu reports from Abuja.Camera: Simpa Samson
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EU Agrees on Germany’s Coronavirus Proposal for Air Travel
The European Union agreed Thursday on Germany’s proposal for coronavirus-preventative common hygiene standards at airports and on aircraft. “I am pleased that the German proposal was accepted by my colleagues at the European level and that we could agree on these uniform standards,” Andreas Scheuer, minister of transport and digital infrastructure, said at a European aviation conference. The agreement reached by officials will have to be formally approved by ministers. The proposal includes social distancing and the wearing of face masks at security checks and check-ins for those older than 6. It does not require the middle seats on airplanes to be empty. It is not clear how much the proposal will differ from the Safety Directive (SD) issued by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), which went into effect July 1. The most recent SD and EASA’s COVID-19 Aviation Healthy Safety Protocol states that the use of medical face masks should be “recommended” to everyone at the airport and on aircraft. Current guidelines also state that passengers should not be kept onboard an aircraft without proper ventilation for longer than 30 minutes. The SD, however, requires airplanes to be cleaned and disinfected only before and after long-haul flights, and has operators take a “risk assessment” for shorter flights. But airplanes are still cleaned at least once every 24 hours. Meanwhile, the United States, Russia and Brazil remain excluded from the EU’s 14-country “safe travel list” from which the bloc allows nonessential travel.
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US Closure of Chinese Consulate Expected to Bring Retaliation
Analysts say China is likely to soon order the closure of a U.S. consulate in China — possibly in the cities of Shenyang or Wuhan — in retaliation for the U.S. decision to close China’s consulate in Houston, Texas, by Friday. There are also calls in Chinese media and in a Twitter poll for Beijing to “punch harder” by shutting the U.S. Consulate in Hong Kong as U.S. President Donald Trump hints at closing more Chinese consulates in the U.S. Two analysts who spoke to VOA said that if the reciprocal closings escalate, the U.S.-China relationship will be on a downward spiral, with the worst yet to come. A new cold war “It is an escalation [of diplomatic tensions]. And it is a new cold war that’s been launched step by step by the U.S. and China,” said Sang Pu, a political commentator in Hong Kong. The Chinese Consulate is shown in Houston, July 23, 2020.”U.S.-China relations have been hitting all-time lows since the [coronavirus] pandemic started or, in particular, Hong Kong’s national security law took effect,” Shi Yinhong, an international relations professor at Beijing’s Renmin University, told VOA. “There are still four months ahead of the U.S. presidential election and six months before the next administration takes office in the White House. During that period of time, Trump will no doubt make many other moves to worsen the relationship between both countries,” the professor projected. Election gambit Shi believes the Houston consulate shutdown is not only designed to provoke China but is also a gambit by Trump to turn around his polling decline. He said China finds accusations made by the U.S. State Department groundless — although the Trump administration said the closure of the Houston consulate was fully justifiable. People remove bags from inside the Chinese Consulate to load into a van in Houston, July 23, 2020.David Stilwell, who oversees policy for East Asia and the Pacific at the State Department, told The New York Times on Wednesday that the Houston consulate had a history of engaging in “subversive behavior” and was the epicenter of research theft in the U.S. He said Consul General Cai Wei and two other Chinese diplomats were caught using false identification to escort Chinese travelers on May 31 to the gate area of a charter flight from a Houston airport.Stilwell added that some of China’s attempted scientific thefts in the U.S. had accelerated in the past six months and could be related to efforts to develop a vaccine for the coronavirus, according to the Times. In response, Cai denied the claim in an interview with KTRK-TV in Houston. “Where is the evidence?” he asked. He called the U.S. official a liar. Cold war-style confrontations The U.S. has repeatedly clashed with China over trade and intellectual property issues, which Sang in Hong Kong said will not easily end because cold war-style confrontations between the two countries keep emerging. There is speculation the U.S. may next shut down China’s consulate in San Francisco, California, because a Chinese researcher, charged by the FBI for concealing her ties with the Chinese military, has taken refuge inside the facility. China’s foreign ministry didn’t announce any retaliatory measures on Thursday. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin gestures for questions during the daily briefing in Beijing, July 23, 2020.Its spokesperson, Wang Wenbin, told a regular media briefing that China’s Houston consulate has done positive work in the past 40 years, saying “the U.S. claimed that China’s consulate in Houston was engaged in activities incompatible with its status, which is completely malicious slander.” He added the consulate shutdown “severely damages the U.S.-China relations and is breaking down the friendship bridge between both sides.” CCP’s dissolution Investors in China and Hong Kong are worried the consulate shutdowns could lead to the U.S. cutting official ties with Beijing or an eventual disconnect between the U.S. and Chinese economies, according to Liao Qun, chief economist at China CITIC Bank International Ltd. The level of uncertainty is spelling bad news for investment, he said. If tensions escalate, “capitals may exit Hong Kong and China. In addition, the global trade will be hugely affected. If the U.S. cuts ties with China, their phase-one trade pact will be nullified, which will destabilize the [global] trade dynamics. So, it all depends on what comes next,” Liao said.
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Young Nigerians Take on Coronavirus Through Innovation
A UNICEF-sponsored competition has sparked ideas from some 80,000 Nigerians on community-based solutions to the coronavirus pandemic.Twenty-eight-year-old Chukwuma Nwachukwu, who was among the winning entrants, pitched the use of solar panels to create a sustainable water supply system to help combat the virus.”I started developing the idea as soon as I saw the problem,” he said. “I also did a couple of researches to also understand how this innovation will be beneficial to the community. One thing that really stood out for me is the fact that this solution is reliable. It is cost-effective.” The COVID-19 Innovation Challenge, for Nigerians ages 14 to 35, was launched in May and continued for six weeks. Each week, there was a new winner for the best idea or innovation to combat the impact of the new coronavirus in Nigeria’s communities. Nwachukwu’s solar pump idea was the winner in the first week of the challenge. “Imagine if a community with a population of over 2,000 people has access to clean water,” he said. “This will go a long way in ensuring that people in these communities can easily wash their hands and not transmit the virus.” Other young innovators, such as medical student Habiba Erinfolami, created an online community market for buyers and sellers to carry out transactions while limiting exposure to the virus. “The reason we are allowing people to only shop from their communities is … we do not want dispatchers to go far away to other communities, thereby exposing themselves,” Erinfolami said. The innovations show how young people can contribute positively in difficult times, UNICEF said. “Many of us have underestimated the power of the youths in Nigeria. This is evidence that the youth are ready to work and cause a positive change in their families, communities and Nigeria, as well,” said UNICEF’s Kolawole Ladejobi, project coordinator.An estimated 60 million Nigerians, or about one-third of the country’s population, do not have access to clean and safe water, according to the nonprofit Water Aid. At a time when proper handwashing and social distancing measures are key to stopping the spread of COVID-19, the UNICEF effort to foster innovations by people like Nwachukwu and Erinfolami can bring hope to Nigeria’s communities.
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Kenya’s Indigenous Complain of Forceful Eviction From Forests
The Ogiek and Sengwer ethnic groups in Kenya say authorities have forcefully evicted them from the Mau and Embobut forests, burning hundreds of homes and leaving families homeless in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Kenyan government began the evictions last year, saying communities living in the forests were damaging the environment. Rights groups say the ethnic groups were protecting the forests from illegal logging and poaching.
In a media briefing held over Zoom Thursday, Kenya’s indigenous communities complain of harassment and constant evictions from forests they have called home for centuries. FILE – People from the Sengwer community protest their eviction from their ancestral lands, Embobut Forest, by the government for forest conservation in western Kenya, April 19, 2016.Milka Chepkorir represents the Sengwer community. She says the COVID-19 pandemic has not stopped Kenyan authorities from evicting her people.“This is one of the evictions that have really hit us differently because it’s an eviction during COVID times. It’s evictions when children are not in school and from nowhere they are just being rendered homeless and it’s during the coldest season of the year up in the mountains,” she said.Last week Ogiek community families were evicted from their forest homes. Daniel Kobei says he and 50,000 Ogiek people have known evictions all their lives. “We want to be very clear that the Ogiek has become a subject of eviction,” he said. “The recent one, 300 families, are now homeless they are being housed by their neighbors… One of the issues is that the Ogiek community, with people refusing to honor their ancestral ownership of Mau, have let them every time being said they have become a subject of eviction.” According to Human Rights Watch, 50,000 families in all have been evicted from the Mau forest, and 6,000 families have been removed in recent months. The rights group also notes that in some instances, security officers used force to push people out of the forest. It says several people were injured in beatings and homes were burned down. Kenyan government spokesman Cyrus Oguna dismissed the Human Rights Watch allegations, saying via text message that their concerns “are emotionally driven by certain acts of activism and not research.” He also said the government will protect Kenyan forests for the good of the country, but in a humane manner. Peter Kitelo, the chairman of Community Land Action Now (CLAN), a network representing pastoral and forest communities, said evictions have been going on for decades in the name of conservation. “Most of the lands that we were evicted from were the ones where we had the best forests,” he said. “At the moment for the Ogiek community of Mount Elgon the community is pushed up and the real forest is on the lower side. What has happened with those forests? Over the years there has been logging, and today there is no forest. The only natural forest is only found where the community is at the moment.” The government wants Kenya to have 10 percent forest cover by 2022, up from 7 percent now. FILE – Members of Sengwer community living in Embobut forest, Elgeyo Marakwet, present a petition seeking to stop eviction from the forest and be recognized as a distinct tribe, in Nairobi, Oct. 7, 2019.Chepkorir of the Sengwer community says the best way forward is for the government to recognize the rights of the Ogiek and Sengwer communities to live in the forests and work with them to achieve conservation.
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Senate Passes $740 Billion Defense Bill, Bucking Trump on Confederate Names
The U.S. Senate on Thursday passed its version of the National Defense Authorization Act, a $740 billion bill setting policy for the Pentagon that President Donald Trump has threatened to veto over a provision removing Confederate names from military bases.The vote was 86-14, one of the few times the Republican-led Senate has broken from the president, and could pave the way for a fight later this year with the White House.The Senate and Democratic-led House of Representatives each passed versions of the bill, known as the NDAA, with far more than the two-thirds majorities needed to override a veto.The House bill also voted to include a provision to change the names of military facilities named after generals who fought on the pro-slavery side during the Civil War 155 years ago.Tributes to the Confederacy, and slave owners — like base names and statues — have come under increasing scrutiny amid widespread protests over racial injustice sparked by police killings of Black Americans.Now that the House and Senate have both passed versions of the bill, congressional negotiators will spend several weeks negotiating on a final, compromise NDAA, reconciling differences between the two versions.That compromise must pass both chambers before it can be sent for Trump’s signature or veto.The requirement to change the base names is likely to survive the process because it was passed by both chambers. Senate Republicans, who rarely break from Trump and have never overridden one of his vetoes, have urged the president to back off his veto threat.One difference is that the Senate bill does not include an amendment — offered by Republican Senator Mitt Romney — that would have restrained Trump’s plan to move troops from Germany to other parts of Europe.The House bill includes such a provision.
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Луцький захоплювач автобусів, як інструмент для підняття падаючого рейтингу зе-влади
Луцький захоплювач автобусів, як інструмент для підняття падаючого рейтингу зе-влади.
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Для кого знімали кіно в Луцьку, і кого наступного врятує зелений карлик? І головне – чому ж на справжньому фронті він не врятував пораненого українського Героя?
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Обиженного карлика пукина порвало! Всё оказалось ложью…
Обиженного карлика пукина порвало! Всё оказалось ложью…
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Рукописи не горят! А в эру интернета – и подавно …
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Копай окопы карлик-пу: Турция применит в Ливии новейшие ударные дроны Songar
Копай окопы карлик-пу: Турция применит в Ливии новейшие ударные дроны Songar.
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Ударный дрон Songar может быть поднят в воздух в течение нескольких минут. Для этого понадобится лишь пара солдат
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Цікаві деталі історії з заручниками в Луцьку. Кого відбілювали та про що забув зе-карлик
Цікаві деталі історії з заручниками в Луцьку. Кого відбілювали та про що забув зе-карлик.
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По історії із захопленням заручників в Луцьку дуже важливо зробити правильні висновки та не забувати що вся наша країна вже понад 6 років є заручником пукінських окупантів.
Блог про українську політику та актуальні події в нашій країні
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Обиженный карлик пукин паникует: Турция начала добывать нефть и газ в Чёрном море
Обиженный карлик пукин паникует: Турция начала добывать нефть и газ в Чёрном море.
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Недаром Турция дает дрозда путляндии по всем направлениям. Вот и новая затея Турции снова бьет по амбициям мордора лишая его дополнительных квот на продажу энергоресурсов в мире
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German Court Convicts 93-Year-Old Man for Nazi Crimes
A Hamburg court convicted a 93-year old German man of helping to murder 5,232 prisoners, many of them Jewish, at a Nazi concentration camp during World War II and gave him a suspended two-year sentence in one of the last cases against Nazi-era crimes.Rolled into the courtroom in a wheelchair and hiding his face behind a blue folder, Bruno D. acknowledged he had been an SS guard in the Stutthof concentration camp near Gdansk in what was then occupied Poland, but he said his presence did not amount to guilt.This did not convince the court in Hamburg, which found him guilty Thursday of being involved in the killings from August 1944 to April 1945.”How could you get used to the horror?” asked Judge Anne Meier-Goering as she read the verdict.About 65,000 people, including many Jews, were murdered or died at Stutthof, the museum’s website says. Prosecutors argued that many were shot in the back of the head or gassed.As Bruno D. was only 17 or 18 years old at the time of the crimes, he was tried in a youth court and sessions were limited to two to three hours per day because of his frail health.Prosecutors had called for a prison sentence of three years. In his final testimony to the court, he apologized for the suffering of victims but stopped short of taking responsibility.”I would like to apologize to all the people who have gone through this hell of insanity and to their relatives and survivors,” he told the court on Monday, broadcaster NDR and other media outlets reported.Some 75 years after the Holocaust, the number of suspects is dwindling but prosecutors are still trying to bring individuals to justice. A landmark conviction in 2011 cleared the way to more prosecutions, as working in a camp was for the first time found to be ground for culpability with no proof of a specific crime.
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As COVID Infections Soar, Spain Reimposes Restrictions
Spain was the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic in April but after imposing one of Europe’s strictest lockdowns, the infection and death rates dropped. However, that trend is taking a turn for the worse. As Alfonso Beato reports from Barcelona, the cases have risen threefold in July and now restrictions are being re-imposed. Ihar Tsikhanenka narrates the story.PRODUCER: Rob Raffaele
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US Diplomats Head to China Despite Row Over Houston Consulate
A flight bound for Shanghai carrying U.S. diplomats has left the United States as Washington presses ahead with its plan to restaff its mission in China a day after a U.S. order to close the Chinese Consulate in Houston sharply escalated tensions.A person familiar with the matter told Reuters the flight, carrying an unspecified number of U.S. diplomats, left Washington on Wednesday evening. The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.An internal State Department email dated July 17, seen by Reuters, said the department was working to arrange a charter flight to Shanghai from Washington’s Dulles International Airport departing on Thursday. The source said this flight had departed earlier than initially planned.The email said a tentative July 29 flight to Tianjin and Beijing was in the initial planning stages and a target date for another flight, to Guangzhou, was still to be determined.The memo said priority was being given to reuniting separated families and returning section/agency heads. The U.S. is working to fully restaff its mission in China, one of its largest in the world, which was evacuated in February because of COVID-19, the illness caused by the new coronavirus.Thursday’s flight went ahead despite a dramatic move by Washington to close China’s consulate in Houston amid sweeping espionage allegations.Response pledgedChina warned Thursday that it would be forced to respond to the U.S. move, which had “severely harmed” relations. It gave no details, but the South China Morning Post reported that China might close the U.S. Consulate in Chengdu, while a source told Reuters on Wednesday it was considering shutting the consulate in Wuhan, where the United States withdrew staff at the start of the coronavirus outbreak.Two flights have so far taken place to return some of the more than 1,200 U.S. diplomats with their families to China since negotiations for the returns hit an impasse in early July over conditions China wanted to impose on the Americans. The impasse caused the State Department to postpone flights tentatively scheduled for the first 10 days of July.U.S.-China relations have deteriorated this year over a wide range of issues, including China’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, bilateral trade and a new security law for Hong Kong.Washington and Beijing have been negotiating for weeks over the terms of how to send U.S. diplomats back amid disagreement over COVID-19 testing and quarantine procedures, as well as frequency of flights and how many each can carry.
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WHO Director-General Criticizes Pompeo Over Comments
Warning against the “politicization” of the coronavirus pandemic, the World Health Organization’s director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Thursday rejected comments, by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, alleging Tedros had been “bought” by China.The Times of London reported Wednesday Pompeo met behind closed doors with members of British parliament during a visit to London earlier this week. The report said Pompeo told the lawmakers he had intelligence suggesting Tedros had been “bought” by China’s government and that his election as WHO chief in 2017 had led to the death of British nationals.Speaking at the WHO’s Thursday COVID briefing, Tedros said the comments were “untrue and unacceptable and without any foundation.” He said one of the greatest threats “we face is the politicization of the pandemic.” Tedros said the sole focus of the entire WHO organization was saving lives, and it will not be distracted by the comments. COVID-19 is the disease caused by the coronavirus.WHO COVID-19 Technical Lead Maria Van Kerkhove also reacted to the comments, saying it was her honor and privilege to have worked with Tedros since the beginning of this pandemic. Van Kerkhove, an American, said she has worked for the WHO for more than 10 years and has never been prouder of the work it has done.Pompeo, who was in Denmark earlier Thursday, was not asked about the comments when he spoke with reporters.The Trump administration has repeatedly criticized the WHO for its alleged deference to Beijing during the early stage of the pandemic.President Donald Trump has ordered the United States to withdraw next year from the agency it has supported financially and politically for decades.
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Tokyo Sets Record for New Daily COVID-19 Cases
Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike said the city confirmed a new single-day high of 366 COVID-19 cases on Thursday, surpassing 300 for the first time as Japan begins a four-day weekend. COVID-19 is the disease caused by the coronavirus. At a news briefing, Koike said the city conducted a record 4,926 tests this week, which she said accounts for some of the increase. There are also indications the infections are spreading. The recent surge in cases was thought to be almost exclusively among young people going to nightlife areas in the city. Experts at a Tokyo task force meeting on Wednesday said infections have also spread to older people and regular homes, workplaces and restaurants. Tokyo’s new record comes after Japan saw a single-day record of 795 new coronavirus infections nationwide Wednesday, exceeding the previous high set in April. The previous record in Tokyo alone was 293 last Friday. Daily cases in the city had fallen to just several in late May, promoting the government to end a national state of emergency; but, daily cases began rising again last month. Tokyo now has a total of 10,420 confirmed cases, including 327 deaths. Koike asked residents to stay home as much as possible during the long weekend, even though Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government has gone ahead with a campaign promoting tourism to help the economy. The campaign excludes Tokyo for now. Tokyo hospitals are also on the brink of running out of space. The city, which earlier allocated 1,000 beds for coronavirus patients, has asked hospitals to secure up to 2,800 beds, but preparations are taking time and beds are filling up quickly. Koike said the city is also in the process of securing hotel rooms for less sick patients.
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UN Agencies Push to Reopen South Sudan Schools
Two United Nations agencies are calling on South Sudanese authorities to immediately reopen schools across the country, saying the damage being done to children forced to stay home outweighs the risk of catching the novel coronavirus.In a joint editorial released on Tuesday, children’s agency UNICEF and UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) argued that while it is important to protect children from COVID-19, children and schools are not the main drivers of the epidemic. COVID-19 is the disease brought on by the coronavirus.An estimated 2.2 million South Sudanese children are not attending school, and the longer schools stay closed, the less likely it is that children will return to the classroom, according to Tap Raj Pant, UNESCO’s education chief in South Sudan.“If the schools are not reopened timely, there is a big risk of not having enrolled children again back to school, which will increase the number of out-of-school children in South Sudan,” Pant told VOA’s South Sudan in Focus program.Research indicates children are less likely to contract the coronavirus than adults, and less likely to become seriously ill, although they are capable of passing the infection to older people.Dr. Mohamed Ayoya, UNICEF’s representative in South Sudan, said that if South Sudanese children are kept out of school for long periods of time, their lives are more likely to be tarnished by poverty and violence.“We have seen this during the Ebola time in West Africa, that their exposure to physical, emotional, and sexual violence increases, their mental health deteriorates and they become more vulnerable to child labor and they are less likely to break out of the cycle of poverty,” Dr. Ayoya told VOA.Even more worrisome, said Ayoya, is that girls who stay away from school for long periods of time often never return.Most projects aimed at helping strengthen the country’s educational system have been put on hold since schools were closed due to COVID-19 in March.FILE – Displaced South Sudanese children attend class inside a tent set up by UNICEF in Mingkaman, in Lakes State, May 6, 2019.Vulnerable children, especially those in rural areas, depend on school feeding programs to have daily meals, which means more children in South Sudan will be malnourished, said Ayoya.“We have no other interest in South Sudan other than the interest of children, so reopening the schools is for the interest of the children and to make sure that tomorrow’s leaders of South Sudan are actually being provided with opportunity to train, to take forward the leadership of this country,” Ayoya told VOA.No one knows when the virus will be under control and children can safely return to school, said Health Ministry spokesman Dr. Thuoi Loi.“It is not yet a decision but there is a technical team actually comprised of the ministries of health and higher education to keep monitoring the trend of infection in the country, and at the same time see what can be done to resume with classes within the context of COVID-19 and adhering to the preventive measures,” Dr. Loi told South Sudan in Focus.While school is out, Juba parent Philip Lokudu said many children in his Gudele neighborhood have turned to illegal activities like joining outlawed groups that attack each other with machetes and knives.“I am seeing a lot of students really getting a lot of difficulties in staying at home and they are joining other groups which might turn them away from school. So, opening the schools will be of an advantage to both the students and the teachers because it will keep them busy,” Lokudu told VOA.
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Kenya’s Indigenous Communities Complain of Forceful Eviction from Forests
The Ogiek and Sengwer ethnic groups in Kenya say authorities have forcefully evicted them from the Mau and Embobut forests, burning hundreds of homes and leaving families homeless in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Kenyan government began the evictions last year, saying communities living in the forests were damaging the environment. Rights groups say the ethnic groups were protecting the forests from illegal logging and poaching.
In a media briefing held over Zoom Thursday, Kenya’s indigenous communities complain of harassment and constant evictions from forests they have called home for centuries. FILE – People from the Sengwer community protest their eviction from their ancestral lands, Embobut Forest, by the government for forest conservation in western Kenya, April 19, 2016.Milka Chepkorir represents the Sengwer community. She says the COVID-19 pandemic has not stopped Kenyan authorities from evicting her people.“This is one of the evictions that have really hit us differently because it’s an eviction during COVID times. It’s evictions when children are not in school and from nowhere they are just being rendered homeless and it’s during the coldest season of the year up in the mountains,” she said.Last week Ogiek community families were evicted from their forest homes. Daniel Kobei says he and 50,000 Ogiek people have known evictions all their lives. “We want to be very clear that the Ogiek has become a subject of eviction,” he said. “The recent one, 300 families, are now homeless they are being housed by their neighbors… One of the issues is that the Ogiek community, with people refusing to honor their ancestral ownership of Mau, have let them every time being said they have become a subject of eviction.” According to Human Rights Watch, 50,000 families in all have been evicted from the Mau forest, and 6,000 families have been removed in recent months. The rights group also notes that in some instances, security officers used force to push people out of the forest. It says several people were injured in beatings and homes were burned down. Kenyan government spokesman Cyrus Oguna dismissed the Human Rights Watch allegations, saying via text message that their concerns “are emotionally driven by certain acts of activism and not research.” He also said the government will protect Kenyan forests for the good of the country, but in a humane manner. Peter Kitelo, the chairman of Community Land Action Now (CLAN), a network representing pastoral and forest communities, said evictions have been going on for decades in the name of conservation. “Most of the lands that we were evicted from were the ones where we had the best forests,” he said. “At the moment for the Ogiek community of Mount Elgon the community is pushed up and the real forest is on the lower side. What has happened with those forests? Over the years there has been logging, and today there is no forest. The only natural forest is only found where the community is at the moment.” The government wants Kenya to have 10 percent forest cover by 2022, up from 7 percent now. FILE – Members of Sengwer community living in Embobut forest, Elgeyo Marakwet, present a petition seeking to stop eviction from the forest and be recognized as a distinct tribe, in Nairobi, Oct. 7, 2019.Chepkorir of the Sengwer community says the best way forward is for the government to recognize the rights of the Ogiek and Sengwer communities to live in the forests and work with them to achieve conservation.
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US COVID-19 Infections Rapidly Approach 4 Million
COVID-19 infections in the U.S. are quickly approaching 4 million as hundreds of thousands of more American workers affected by the pandemic sought federal aid while lawmakers consider another rescue package. The U.S. continues to lead the world in COVID-19 infections with more than 3.97 million of the world’s 15.2 million confirmed cases, according to Johns Hopkins University statistics. The U.S. also remains the world leader in COVID-19 deaths with nearly 143,200, far greater than the 82,771 deaths in second-ranked Brazil. Unemployment spike
Amid the surge in coronavirus infections, there was also a sharp spike in the number of U.S. workers who applied for jobless benefits last week. The U.S. Labor Department reported Thursday that some 1.4 million workers adversely affected by business closures and other lockdown measures filed for unemployment benefits, ending 15 consecutive weeks of declines in new filings. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., listens as President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House, July 20, 2020, in Washington.The disappointing unemployment figures were released as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell prepares to unveil Thursday a $1 trillion COVID-19 rescue package. The Democratic-led House passed a $3.5 trillion rescue bill over two months ago and is calling for much more funding to assist state and local governments. The Republican-led Senate insists on limiting the funding to about $1 trillion and using that funding on new legal protections for schools, businesses and charities that are set on reopening. Record-breaking death toll
Meanwhile, the U.S. reached another grim milestone on Wednesday by recording more than 1,000 deaths for the second consecutive day.California reached its own milestone on Wednesday when it surpassed New York with the most confirmed coronavirus cases. The western state has over 422,000 cases, including more than 12,100 on Wednesday, a one-day record, while New York has more than 413,000. Healthcare workers take information and samples from people waiting to be tested for Covid-19, July 21, 2020, in Pleasanton, Calif. President Donald Trump announced Wednesday the U.S. government will provide an additional $5 billion in aid, equipment and training to the nation’s nursing homes, many of which are hotspots in the coronavirus pandemic. FILE – A health worker disinfects the area next to a coffin with the remains of a recently deceased resident of the San Jose nursing home in Cochabamba, Bolivia, July 16, 2020.According to federal estimates, nursing home residents accounted for roughly 37,000 COVID-19-related deaths. Nursing homes received nearly $5 billion in pandemic relief funds approved by Congress earlier this year. Progress on vaccine
Earlier Wednesday, the U.S. government announced it will pay $1.95 billion to American drugmaker Pfizer and German biotech company BioNTech SE for 100 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, if it proves to be safe and effective. The United Nations Development Program released a report Thursday recommending that nearly 3 billion of the world’s most impoverished people should get a temporary income to help contain the spread of the coronavirus. The report said $199 per month would give 2.7 billion people a basic income and the “means to buy food and pay for health and education expenses.” Australia mandates masks
In Australia, a mandatory face mask order officially took effect Thursday in the country’s second-largest city, Melbourne, which has become the epicenter of the country’s rising number of novel coronavirus cases. The mandate is the latest order imposed on Melbourne’s five million residents in an attempt to control the spike in COVID-19 infections. Anyone over the age of 12 caught in public without any kind of face mask or covering could be fined up to $143, while employers who discourage their workers from wearing a mask face a potential fine of more than $7,000. A member of the public is seen getting a test for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at the Crossroads Hotel testing centre following a cluster of infections in Sydney, Australia, July 16, 2020. (AAP Image/Bianca De Marchi via Reuters)Premier David Andrews of Victoria state, of which Melbourne is the capital, said the face mask mandate was imposed due to the increase of confirmed COVID-19 infections, and a refusal by residents who tested positive for the virus to isolate themselves. Victoria state posted a single-day record of 484 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday. The city is in the second of a six-week lockdown that bans all residents from leaving home unless going to work, school, medical appointments or shopping for food.
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EU Parliament Begins Budget Debate
The European Parliament Thursday is considering the 27-nation bloc’s next long-term budget days after European Union leaders hammered out a massive COVID-19 economic recovery package for the region that included steep budget cuts to help pay for it.The budget, worth $1.2 trillion, was negotiated in tandem with a $868 billion economic recovery package that aims to help EU countries bounce back from the recession caused by the coronavirus pandemic.Hailed as an “historic” moment for Europe by many EU leaders, the deal has however raised concerns among European lawmakers, who slammed its lack of ambition in the context of the economic crisis triggered by the virus.In a speech delivered to European lawmakers, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen admitted that the seven-year budget deal and recovery package adopted this week after a marathon leaders’ summit contains cuts that are “a difficult pill to swallow.” She said there are “regrettable and painful decisions on many programs.”European lawmakers, who have no vote on the recovery package but do have the final say in approving the budget to which it is linked, are expected to vote later Thursday on a resolution that strongly criticizes the conclusions of the summit.A final vote on the budget at the EU Parliament is not expected to take place before the end of the year.Many cuts were agreed to under pressure from a group of wealthier countries known as the “Frugals,” which were also offered large reductions to their contributions to the bloc’s budget to secure a deal.Speaking to reporters Wednesday, European Parliament President David Sassoli pledged to reverse cuts to climate research and to pass measures that would withhold recovery funds from nations not supporting democratic values.
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McConnell Set to Unveil New Virus Aid, Despite GOP Revolt
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is set to unveil a $1 trillion COVID-19 rescue package on Thursday, pushing past a Republican revolt over big spending and differences with the White House as the virus crisis worsens.The package, called CARES II, is made up of separate bills from 10 senators as McConnell seeks to replicate an earlier strategy to launch negotiations with Democrats. But the path will be tougher this time. GOP senators and President Donald Trump are at odds over priorities, and Democrats say it’s not nearly enough to stem the health crisis, reopen schools and extend aid to jobless Americans.The Republican leader is expected to deliver a speech shortly after the Senate opens, and then senators will begin rolling out their separate parts of the package, according to a Republican granted anonymity to discuss the plans.”Very productive meeting,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said while exiting a session late Wednesday at the Capitol.The centerpiece of the GOP effort remains McConnell’s liability shield to protect businesses, schools and others from coronavirus-related lawsuits.The package is not expected to provide any new money for cash-strapped states and cities, which are clamoring for funds, but Republicans propose giving $105 billion to help schools reopen and $15 billion for child care centers to create safe environments for youngsters during the pandemic.The $600 weekly unemployment benefit boost that is expiring Friday will be reduced, likely to $200, and ultimately adjusted according to state jobless benefits rates. Some Republicans say the boost is a disincentive to work, but others prefer a phased approach.”We cannot allow there to be a cliff in unemployment insurance given we’re still at about 11% unemployment,” said Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio.The bill is likely to be silent on the potential housing crisis as a federal eviction moratorium on millions of rental units expires in days.One key holdup in the talks was Trump’s push for a payroll tax cut, according to a Republican granted anonymity to discuss the private talks. Hardly any GOP senators support the idea. Instead, McConnell and some other Republicans prefer another round of direct $1,200 cash payments to Americans.Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said there will be another boost for small business lending in the Paycheck Protection Program. “It’s going to be big,” he said.The bills will also include tax breaks for businesses to hire and retain workers and to help shops and workplaces retool with new safety protocols.The breakthrough on testing money was key after days of debate between Republicans and the White House. Republicans wanted $25 billion, but the Trump administration said the $9 billion in unspent funds from a previous aid deal was sufficient. The two sides settled on adding $16 billion to the unspent funds to reach $25 billion, senators said. There will also be fresh funds for vaccines.Of the $105 billion for education, Republicans want $70 billion to help K-12 schools reopen, $30 billion for colleges and $5 billion for governors to allocate. The Trump administration wanted school money linked to reopenings, but in McConnell’s package the money for K-12 would likely be split between those that have in-person learning and those that don’t.Democrats, who already approved House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s more sweeping $3 trillion package two months ago, said the GOP infighting with Trump was delaying needed relief to Americans during the crisis.”We are just days away from a housing crisis that could be prevented,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.In their package, Democrats are calling for $430 billion to reopen schools, bigger unemployment benefits and direct aid checks and a sweeping $1 trillion for state and local governments. They also want a fresh round of mortgage and rental assistance and new federal health and safety requirements for workers.McConnell calls his proposal a “starting point” in negotiations with Democrats. Congress in March approved the massive $2.2 trillion CARES package, the biggest of its kind in U.S. history.The severity of the prolonged virus outbreak is upending American life. Schools are delaying fall openings, states are clamping down with new stay-home orders and the fallout is rippling through an economy teetering with high unemployment and business uncertainty. A new AP-NORC poll shows very few Americans want full school sessions without restrictions in the fall.Still, some Republicans said they are unlikely to approve any new aid.”I just don’t see the need for it,” Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., told reporters on Wednesday.
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