New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced Wednesday the government will deploy about 500 troops at quarantine facilities and border areas to help stop the spread of COVID-19 into the nation from those who might be infected with it.
A government statement says the 500 hundred troops will bring the total number of military personnel supporting the COVID-19 response to 1,200, the largest New Zealand deployment force since the country sent troops on peace-keeping mission to Timor-Leste on a peace keeping mission in the early 2000s.
Trump’s Comments on Coronavirus ‘Patently Wrong’, New Zealand PM Says US president asserted New Zealand was experiencing a huge surge in cases; Jacinda Ardern countered that country has seen nine cases in a dayArdern announced the move at a Wellington news conference, saying one of the main tasks of the troops will be to replace private security guards at the highest risk facilities, “such as entry and exit points in public areas and replace them with defense force staff.”
New Zealand Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield reported six new COVID-19 in the country Wednesday, one of which, he said, was an imported case — a woman in who arrived August 14 from Qatar. He said she has been in managed isolation at a hotel but will be moved to a quarantine facility in Auckland.
Bloomfield said the other five cases have all been linked to the current Auckland outbreak. He said there now are 125 people cases, which have been moved into the Auckland quarantine facility, including 61 people who have tested positive along with their household contacts.
New Zealand Postpones General Election After Spike in Coronavirus CasesThe election had been scheduled for Sept. 19 but will now be held on Oct. 17New Zealand has fared far better than most countries during the pandemic, but the abrupt resurgence of COVID-19 last week in Auckland prompted the government to enforce an alert level 3 lockdown on the city’s 1.7 million residents until August 26, while social distancing rules are in place in other towns and cities.
The country has had just 1,299 cases and 22 deaths.
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Month: August 2020
Mali Coup Leaders Promise Elections in ‘Reasonable’ Time
Soldiers who toppled Mali’s president in a coup Tuesday have appeared on state television and pledged to hold elections within what they call a “reasonable” time. The coup leaders spoke Wednesday as calls mounted abroad for a restoration of constitutional order in Mali. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo condemned the coup in a statement, as did U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the West African bloc ECOWAS and the African Union. A spokesman for the coup leaders, who call themselves the National Committee for the Salvation of the People, said they took action to avoid further anarchy and insecurity in Mali. Colonel Ismael Wague said the soldiers are eager for stability rather than power and plan to organize general elections in a timeframe that Wague did not specify. FILE – Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita appears on state television to announce his resignation, Aug. 18, 2020.President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita resigned late Tuesday, hours after he was arrested by mutinous soldiers following months of political turmoil in the West African nation. Wearing a surgical mask in recognition of the coronavirus pandemic, a weary-looking Keita appeared on state television to announce he was stepping down in order to avoid any bloodshed. The 75-year-old deposed leader said if “certain elements” of the military wanted to end his presidency, with “their intervention, do I really have a choice?” Keita also announced that his government and the National Assembly would be dissolved. Keita’s resignation capped a day of turmoil that began when soldiers seized weapons from an army base in the town of Kati and advanced on the capital of Bamako. A reporter in Mali told VOA’s English to Africa service that the soldiers ““went on the rampage, got to the arsenals, got the guns, started shooting in the air, went out and cut off access to the camp.” Scores of anti-government protesters gathered in Bamako’s central square to cheer on the soldiers as they made their way to Keita’s house to arrest him. FILE – Malian soldiers celebrate as they arrive at Independence Square in Bamako, Aug. 18, 2020.The soldiers arrested Keita and Prime Minister Boubou Cisse at Keita’s house and drove them back to Kati, the same camp where the 2012 coup that overthrew President Amadou Toumani Toure began. The overthrow of Toure allowed Islamist militants to temporarily seize the northern half of Mali until a French-led military intervention drove them from power. Mali has been mired in months of protests led by the opposition June 5 Movement over an economic crisis, corruption and Keita’s failure to quell the eight-year-old Islamic insurgency. Anger also brewed over the results of 31 legislative races, held in April, that remain in dispute.Violent clashes between anti-government protesters and security forces last month left at least 14 protesters dead and another 154 injured. The Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWAS, sealed its member states’ borders with Mali after Keita’s and Cisse’s arrests and suspended all financial transactions between Mali and its 14 other members. For now, ECOWAS is removing Mali from its decision-making bodies. FILE – A man wears a national flag as he celebrates with others in the streets in the capital Bamako, Mali, Aug. 18, 2020.ECOWAS officials have called for sanctions on those it calls “putschists and their partners and collaborators.” J. Peter Pham, the U.S. envoy to the Sahel region, issued a statement saying Washington is opposed to any “extra-constitutional change.” Pompeo called for “peaceful dialogue” to resolve the Malian crisis and said the freedom and safety of detained government officials and their families must be ensured. Keita apparently remained in the soldiers’ custody on Wednesday. At the United Nations, France and Niger called for a closed-door meeting of the Security Council on Wednesday.Dan Joseph and Richard Green contributed to this report.
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EU Says It Does Not Recognize Belarus Presidential Election Results
The European Union said Wednesday it does not recognize the results of Belarus’s August 9 election that detractors of President Alexander Lukashenko say was rigged to extend his 26 years in office. The EU also said it would move forward with sanctions on Belarus.
“The EU will impose shortly sanctions on a substantial number of individuals responsible for violence, repression and electoral fraud,” European Council President Charles Michel said after an EU emergency summit to discuss the crisis in Belarus.
Unrest in Belarus further escalated Wednesday when Lukashenko ordered his police to suppress protests in the capital, Minsk, days after a severe crackdown on peaceful protesters that resulted in the deaths of at least two people, the injuring of hundreds of others and the detention of nearly 7,000 people.
“There should no longer be any disorder in Minsk of any kind,” the official Belta news agency reported Lukashenko as saying.Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko chairs a Security Council meeting in Minsk, Belarus, Aug. 18, 2020.Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has offered military assistance to Lukashenko, warned German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron Tuesday not to interfere in Belarusian affairs. Putin’s warning came as he spoke by phone with Merkel, Macron and Michel.
A political opponent of Lukashenko urged EU leaders before the emergency summit not to recognize the presidential election, declaring it was rigged in Lukashenko’s favor. Lukashenko denies the accusation.
Political opponent Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya issued the appeal from exile in neighboring Lithuania. “I call on you not to recognize these fraudulent elections,” Tsikhanouskaya said. “Mr. Lukashenko has lost all legitimacy in the eyes of our nation and the world.”
Tsikhanouskaya says she is the winner of the vote and has called for new elections under international supervision.Belarusian Opposition Leader Flees to Lithuania Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya tells supporters she feared for her children’s safety on 3rd straight night of violent anti-government protestsWorkers in Belarus began striking in recent days as part of a campaign to oust the authoritarian president.
Unrest began to escalate after Lukashenko dismissed demands to resign following a severe police clampdown on peaceful protesters.
Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde has offered to visit Belarus as the incoming head of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which frequently mediates disputes on the continent. Western nations and former states of the Soviet Union are members of the OSCE.
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Cameroon Women Protest Insecurity, Gruesome Murder of Civilians
Dozens of women in Cameroon’s English-speaking southwest are protesting today against recent violence by suspected rebels. Women in the town of Buea say they are increasingly victims of the region’s four-year separatist conflict. About 70 women all wearing dark dresses sing as they march through the streets of the southwestern town of Buea on Tuesday. In the songs, they say they are tired of burying their children, husbands and recently, their sisters. The Cameroon Womens Peace Movement organized the peaceful protest. Its spokesperson Agbor Magdalene says they were outraged by the recent slaughter of a 32-year old woman in the southwestern town of Muyuka on August 11. “The women of the southwest express unreserved indignation at this murder which is one too many in the long list of senseless killings perpetrated by suspected separatist fighters,” Magdalene said. “We call on the government to track down the killers of Tumasang Comfort Aferi while inviting the population to give full collaboration to the security forces{military} in their investigations.”FILE – A woman walks past Cameroonian elite Rapid Intervention Battalion (BIR) members as they sit on their military vehicle during their patrol in the city of Buea in the anglophone southwest region, Cameroon, Oct. 4, 2018.Comfort, a mother of two, was gruesomely murdered in Muyuka and a video of her beheading went viral on social media, provoking widespread condemnation. The government of Cameroon, rights groups, the United Nations and embassies in Yaounde blamed separatists and asked for investigations to be carried out and Comfort’s killers punished. Cameroon said it was the 11th case of attacks reported on women and social workers in August.43-year old Precious Mbuwel says she joined the women in the peaceful protest because she also lost her aunt in the northwestern town of Bamenda.”I asked myself what is going on? Why are women being the target? I cried and I decided to come out to say enough is enough. Women should not be the target,” Mbuwel said. “Our hearts are bleeding. They {separatists} are killing our children, killing our husbands, killing even us the women who gave birth to all of them.”Mbuwel said she wants all killers of women and children to be brought to justice.Bernard Okalia Bilai, governor of Cameroon’s south west region where Buea is found, says he is delighted that women are increasingly rising up to denounce violence in spite of threats from separatists. He says the women should help the military to conquer the separatists by denouncing all fighters in their localities.Buea and Yaounde, Cameroon”I want you to go back to your various villages and quarters to tell the other women to go out and call those whose sons are killing our children, call them to stop it,” Bilai said.Bilai said women should consider the military as their partners and should not believe in what he called propaganda by separatists that the troops commit atrocities.The women said they will continue their protests in other English speaking towns, but did not say when.The four year separatist crisis in Cameroon’s English speaking North West and South West Regions began with lawyers and teachers protests over the overbearing use of the French language in the minority English speaking country. The military responded with a crackdown and separatists took weapons saying that they were protecting their communities from military brutality.Over 3,000 people have been killed and 500,000 displaced according to the U.N. 50,000 others escaped to neighboring Nigeria.
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US Warship Arrives in Crete as Greece-Turkey Standoff Escalates
The massive American warship, the USS Hershel Woody Williams, has arrived in the Greek island of Crete, on a mission to keep an eye on escalating tensions between NATO allies Greece and Turkey over energy rights in the eastern Mediterranean. The US vessel joins others from the European Union and Russia, raising concerns among some in Greece about what a military buildup could mean.Military experts describe the USS Hershel Woody Williams as a floating base, the second of a new class of massive ships the US Navy is now using as fast transport and support centers for military operations.The 230-meter-long ship, about the size of some skyscrapers, was earlier in Naples, Italy, for a routine logistics stop before it was sent to Crete where it is on standby as Greece and Turkey remain locked in a standoff. Greek and Turkish battleships have been gathering in the region since President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ordered a research vessel to the eastern Mediterranean to survey for gas and oil.Greek foreign minister Nikos Dendias, left, and Cyprus’ foreign minister Nikos Christodoulides talk during a press conference after their meeting at the Cyprus’ foreign ministry in capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Aug. 18, 2020.Cyprus Foreign Minister Nikos Christodoulidis says forces from other EU nations and countries in the region are likely to arrive and join the effort. He says it is something Greek officials are expecting to build up as we they try to find a diplomatic solution, he says. He praised the buildup as vivid proof of the West’s resolve to block what he said is Turkey’s growing influence in the region.Analyst Kostas Ifandis, a professor of military studies and diplomatic relations, doubts the show of force will change things very much.He says that if the situation gets dicey, we may see other countries like Egypt mobilizing. But from the EU’s standpoint, he says, it is unlikely that this buildup will impact Turkey because its biggest trading partner and closest ally, Germany, is unlikely to join in such a maneuver.German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrives for a press conference at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Aug. 19, 2020 following a video meeting of the european council.Currently chairing the EU’s rotating presidency, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been trying to convince Athens and Ankara to enter into negotiations over the conflicting claims each side has to air and sea rights in the region.Germany has been reluctant to support stiff sanctions against Turkey, but it has advised the government in Ankara to pull back its survey vessel from the disputed waters.Turkey has said it will continue to survey the contested region through next week.But the buildup of vessels, submarines and even combat aircraft in the region, has experts fearing an accident that could spark a bigger confrontation between Greece and Turkey.In a recent incident, Greek Defense Ministry officials said a Greek frigate collided with the rear of a Turkish ship as the Greek vessel moved to intercept it. There was no damage to either vessel but the incident prompted armed forces on both sides to be on heightened alert.
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Abbott Proposes Punishing Texas Cities That ‘Defund’ Police
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday proposed punishing cities that cut police funding by freezing property tax revenue, the main funding source for local government services including schools, roads and law enforcement.
Other top Texas Republicans joined Abbott in announcing what they promised would be a priority during the 2021 legislative session. The announcement came days after the Austin City Council voted to slash its police budget over the next fiscal year as the U.S. continues reckoning with racial injustice in law enforcement.
Details of the proposal were thin, including what would constitute a city “defunding” its police department, and the legislation is far from a done deal.
The proposal by the state’s top Republicans also comes less than three months before an Election Day that is expected to be the closest in decades in America’s biggest red state. President Donald Trump has zeroed in on a law and order message to boost his own reelection prospects, and on Monday called former Vice President Joe Biden a “puppet of left-wing extremists” who are out to “eliminate our police.”
Democrats need to win only nine seats in November to take control of the Texas House for the first time since 2002, a scenario that would all but extinguish Abbott’s proposal even before the Legislature returns in January. Abbott, Patrick and Bonnen blasted the announcement as an attempt shift attention away from the governor’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic that on Monday surpassed 10,000 deaths in Texas.
“When crime is on the rise, the last thing we should do is defund law enforcement,” Abbott said during a press conference in Fort Worth, adding that he hopes Austin leaders will reverse their decision if his proposal becomes law. “We will ensure that these communities continue to be protected. ”
In his own press conference, Austin Mayor Steve Adler countered that Abbot should focus on protecting Texans from COVID-19, and he held a moment of silence for the dead.
Even with a recent increase in homicides, Adler said, Austin is a safe city. Budget changes, he said, were reflective of community conversations.
In a unanimous vote Thursday, the City Council shifted about $150 million, or one-third, of next year’s $434 million police budget in favor of spending more money on social services, following moves of other cities in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd.
Adler reiterated that the changes would affect unfilled police positions. Some duties will be shifted to mental health, first responder and social worker jobs.
The mayor himself responded to some community pushback and referred only to $21 million as a cut, saying the other $129 million would be used to “move certain functions to civilian control.”
Sherri Greenberg, a former Texas representative and public policy professor at the University of Texas, said the state Constitution requires bills addressing taxes originate in the House, where it will be sent to a committee for review.
This kind of proposal is not unusual, Greenberg said, pointing to a bill from the 2019 legislative session that was approved and lowered the amount cities are allowed to collect from property tax.
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Political Foe of Belarus President Urges EU to Reject Election Results
A political opponent of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko urged European Union leaders Wednesday not to recognize the country’s recent presidential election, declaring it was rigged in favor of Lukashenko.Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya issued the appeal from exile in neighboring Lithuania before European Union leaders hold an emergency summit to discuss the Belarus crisis. “I call on you not to recognize these fraudulent elections,” Tsikhanouskaya said. “Mr. Lukashenko has lost all legitimacy in the eyes of our nation and the world.”Tsikhanouskaya says she is the winner of the election and has called for new elections under international supervision.Workers in Belarus began striking in recent days as part of a campaign to oust the authoritarian president after he extended his 26-year term in an election detractors contend was rigged. Lukashenko denies manipulating the election.Lukashenko Declared Winner in Belarus Election for 6th Straight Term Protests erupted challenging the results; rights groups say one person was killed, dozens injured, and several hundred arrests were made Unrest in the country began to escalate after Lukashenko dismissed demands to resign following a severe police crackdown on peaceful protesters days after the August 9 election.EU members have suggested they would place sanctions on Belarusian officials they consider responsible for election fraud and a crackdown on protests that resulted in the deaths of at least two people, the injuring of hundreds of others and the detention of nearly 7,000 people.Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered military assistance to Lukashenko, a close ally. Putin spoke by phone Tuesday with European Council President Charles Michel, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron.Putin warned Merkel and Macron not to interfere in Belarusian affairs.Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde has offered to visit Belarus as the incoming head of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which frequently mediates disputes on the continent. Western nations and former states of the Soviet Union are members of the OSCE.
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Democrats Hope Unconventional Travelogue Entices Viewers
An unexpected travelogue connected as a television event during the second night of the Democrats’ virtual convention, livening up a show that so far is struggling in the ratings.
The roll call vote that formally sealed Joe Biden’s nomination as the Democratic candidate for president Tuesday came from sites in the 50 states and territories. Biden received votes from the foot of the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Alabama and from the parents of murdered hate crime victim Matthew Shepard in Wyoming.
It became a guessing game for viewers: Where will my state’s delegates speak from? Washington Post editor Tanya Sichynsky tweeted that it was “the most any of us have traveled in months.”
“It’s like the Olympic parade of nations,” tweeted NBC’s Kasie Hunt, “which I so missed this year.”
It made the ABC and CBS decisions to cut away from the roll call to show portions of former President Bill Clinton’s address feel like old hat. None of Tuesday’s speakers had the immediate impact of former First Lady Michelle Obama on Monday night.
The nomination was marked by a Zoom-like outbreak of applause and streamers tossed at Biden and his wife, Jill, as Kool & The Gang’s “Celebration” played in the background.
“Not quite the same,” said ABC’s George Stephanopoulos.
Democrats have worked to produce a relentlessly theme-driven facsimile, but it still isn’t a television event like past conventions. Television viewership for Monday’s first night was sharply down compared with the opening of Hillary Clinton’s nomination week in 2016.
An estimated 19.7 million people watched Monday’s coverage between 10 and 11 p.m. on some 10 different television networks, the Nielsen company said. Four years ago, opening night drew just under 26 million viewers.
The Biden campaign claimed their event was a hit online, with campaign spokesman T.J. Ducklo saying an additional 10 million people streamed live video of the convention on various platforms. Those numbers could not immediately be independently verified.
Broadcast networks were hit hardest by the changed format. NBC’s telecast drew 2.28 million viewers, down from 4.29 million four years ago, Nielsen said. ABC reached 2.44 million people on Monday, compared to 4.13 million.
The left-leaning MSNBC, where Rachel Maddow, Joy Reid and Nicolle Wallace were anchors, led the way Monday with 5.1 million viewers, up from four years ago. CNN had 4.78 million. Unlike the broadcasters, the two cable networks ran the Democrats’ production nearly in its entirety.
Fox News Channel’s audience was unimpressed; the 2.1 million viewers it reached for its hour of convention coverage compared poorly with the 3.4 million viewers that time slot occupant Laura Ingraham had on an average July day. Earlier in the evening, Fox kept to its regular lineup with Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity criticizing the Biden campaign, instead of showing news coverage of the convention.
Veteran television producer Don Mischer, whose credits include the Oscars, the Emmys and the 2004 Democratic national convention, said that while the convention’s first night was well-produced, it suffered from the lack of a live audience.
While Obama “hit a home run” with her speech, “had that been done in front of the crowd, with the crowd’s emotion getting stronger and stronger as she went through that speech, by the time she got to the end, there would have been a rush of palpable emotion that would have resonated with people many times greater than what came across,” he said.
Republicans will take their shot next week in nominating President Donald Trump for a second term.
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Mali President Resigns After Arrest by Rebel Soldiers
President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita resigned late Tuesday night, hours after he was arrested by mutinous soldiers following months of political turmoil in the West African nation. Wearing a surgical mask in recognition of the coronavirus pandemic, a weary-looking Keita appeared on state television to announce he was stepping down in order to avoid any bloodshed. The 75-year-old deposed leader said if “certain elements” of the military wanted to end his presidency with “their intervention, do I really have a choice?” Keita also announced that his government and the National Assembly would be dissolved. Keita’s resignation speech capped a day of turmoil that began when soldiers seized weapons from an army base in Kati and advanced on the capital of Bamako. A reporter in Mali told VOA’s French to Africa service that the soldiers ““went on the rampage, got to the arsenals, got the guns, started shooting in the air, went out and cut off access to the camp.” Scores of anti-government protesters gathered in Bamako’s central square to cheer the soldiers on as they made their way to Keita’s house to arrest him. The soldiers arrested Keita and Prime Minister Boubou Cisse at Keita’s house and drove them back to Kati, the same camp where the 2012 coup that overthrew President Amadou Toumani Toure began. The overthrow of Toure unleashed a violent Islamic insurgency in central Mali, despite the ongoing presence of French troops that initially drove the jihadists out of northern Mali. No casualties have been reported from Tuesday’s uprising. A man wears a national flag as he celebrates with others in the streets in the capital Bamako, Mali, Aug. 18, 2020.Mali has been mired in months of protests led by the main opposition party June 5 Movement over an economic crisis, corruption and Keita’s failure to quell an eight-year-old Islamic insurgency that has gained a foothold in central Mali. Anger also brewed over the results of 31 legislative races held in April that remain in dispute. Violent clashes between anti-government protesters and security forces last month left at least 14 protestors dead and another 154 injured. The regional bloc ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) crafted a plan for Keita to form a unity government with the opposition, which was rejected by the June 5 Movement. ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) sealed its member states’ borders with Mali after Keita and Cisse’s arrest and suspended all financial transactions between Mali and its 14 other members and is, for now, removing Mali from its decision-making bodies. ECOWAS officials have called for sanctions on those it calls “putschists and their partners and collaborators.” J. Peter Pham, the U.S. envoy to the Sahel region, issued a statement saying Washington is opposed to any “extra-constitutional change.” An African Union Commission spokesman said Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat strongly condemns the arrests of Keita and Cisse and strongly rejects any attempted unconstitutional change of government in Mali. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is calling for the immediate restoration of constitutional order and the rule of law in Mali. Council members France and Niger have called for a closed-door meeting of the Security Council Wednesday.
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Australia Reaches Deal to Secure Millions of Doses of Potential COVID-19 Vaccine
The Australian government has reached a deal to secure 25 million doses of a potential COVID-19 vaccine from British pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca that is currently undergoing late-stage human trials. The new vaccine, dubbed AZD1222, was developed by Britain’s University of Oxford and licensed to British pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca. “The Oxford vaccine is one of the most advanced and promising in the world,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Wednesday in a statement announcing the deal.” Morrison said if the vaccine passes the human trials, it will be offered for free to every Australian, hopefully by early next year. But the prime minister said the government is also in talks to secure other potential coronavirus vaccines, including one being developed by domestic drugmaker CSL Limited in cooperation with the University of Queensland, warning “there is no guarantee that this, or any other, vaccine will be successful.” Morrison also said Australia intends to play a role in “supporting our Pacific family” by supplying a safe and effective vaccine to its regional neighbors, including Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Fiji. A pedestrian wears a face mask as the city operates under lockdown in response to an outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Melbourne, Australia, Aug. 12, 2020. (AAP Image/James Ross via Reuters)The deal between the Australian government and AstraZeneca comes as authorities in southern Victoria state are dealing with an escalating surge of COVID-19 infections that has forced a strict lockdown of Melbourne, Victoria’s state capital. In the US, universities go onlineIn the United States, the University of Notre Dame, one of the nation’s prestigious universities, announced Tuesday it is switching from in-person instruction to online classes for two weeks due to a growing outbreak of COVID-19 cases on its South Bend, Indiana campus. The school reported Tuesday 147 people have tested positive since students began returning on August 3 for the start of fall classes, including 80 who tested positive just on Monday. The Rev. John I. Jenkins, the president of Notre Dame, warned students that they would be sent home and the campus shut down entirely, as it was earlier this year at the start of the pandemic, if the outbreak continued to spread. And Michigan State University president Samuel L. Stanley said Tuesday that it would be offering online classes for nearly all of its undergraduate students when the fall semester begins on September 2. Notre Dame and Michigan State University are the latest in a growing list of colleges and universities in the United States that have shut down in-person classes in favor of virtual learning due to the pandemic. A student stands on the balcony of Ehringhaus dormitory on campus at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, N.C., Aug. 18, 2020.Officials at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill became the first large school in the nation to shut down on-campus learning after 177 students tested positive for the coronavirus and another 350 were in quarantine in dorms and off-campus housing because of possible exposure. Some of the college campus outbreaks have been blamed on students who have participated in large off-campus parties or events without observing guidelines such as social distancing or wearing masks.
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В путляндии всё совсем плохо: обиженный карлик пукин запустил печатный станок
В путляндии всё совсем плохо: обиженный карлик пукин запустил печатный станок.
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Трудно сказать, достаточно ли этого, чтобы обеспечить деревянными всех желающих и отказаться от долларов, фунтов и евро, но обиженный дед явно тронулся рассудком
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Точка невозврата пройдена, протестующие белорусы развелись с лукашеску!
Точка невозврата пройдена, протестующие белорусы развелись с лукашеску!
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Маньяк лукашеску перешул рубеж, за которым у него не будет больше преждей народной любви
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Китай отказался покупать вонючие газы обиженного карлика пукина и убивает газпром
Китай отказался покупать вонючие газы обиженного карлика пукина, даже в нарушение контракта.
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Поставкам – труба: «немощь сибири» и «турецкий поток» скоро разорят «газпром»…
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“Убери телефон, жестоко накажу!”, маньяк лукашеску напал на рабочего завода
“Убери телефон, жестоко накажу!”, маньяк лукашеску напал на рабочего завода.
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Дегенерат лукашеску пытается тянуть время, чтобы поссорить своих оппонентов, но получает обратный эффект
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Карлик “цап-царап” провалился: вакцина “проверенная на его дочери” смешит всех…
Карлик “цап-царап” провалился: вакцина “проверенная на его дочери” смешит всех…
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Цивилизованный мир спокойно дождется окончания третьей фазы клинических испытаний тех семи вакцин, которые сейчас до нее добрались и будет использовать одну или несколько наиболее эффективных и безопасных
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Australian Relations With China Deteriorate As Beijing Probes Wine Imports
China has launched an anti-dumping investigation into Australian wine imports, as trade tensions between Beijing and Canberra continue to fester. Australia owes much of its recent prosperity to China, its biggest trading partner. Last year, two-way commerce was worth $170 billion, but cracks are appearing in this valuable relationship. Australian wine growers are the latest to be caught up in escalating geo-political tensions. Exporters are accused of cutting their prices and taking market share from local companies in China. An anti-dumping inquiry has been requested by the Chinese Alcoholic Drinks Association. It will examine whether Australian firms are being supported by government subsidies. Canberra has insisted wine sales to China have been fairly priced, and officials have said they would cooperate fully with the investigation. Trade minister Simon Birmingham says Australian wine makers have done nothing wrong. “We find these suggestions deeply troubling and quite perplexing. Australian wine is by no means subsidized, it is by no means sold at or below anything other than market rates in the world market. Indeed, Australian wine during the first half of this year proved itself to be the second highest priced wine sold in the Chinese market,” Birmingham said. The investigation comes against a backdrop of increasing friction between Beijing and Canberra after the Australian government called for an international investigation into the origins of COVID-19, which first emerged in Wuhan, China late last year. China recently imposed tariffs on Australian barley, suspended some beef imports and told Chinese students and tourists it was not safe to travel to Australia because of allegations of racism. China is also suspected of orchestrating cyber-attacks on Australian institutions, allegations that Beijing strongly denied. But Matt Canavan, a federal government lawmaker in Canberra, accuses China of economic coercion. “It is a pattern of behavior we are seeing from China and I do not think they can be a trustworthy business partner anymore the way they are acting, and I think every Australian business must be very careful about how much they get exposed to a jurisdiction whose behavior is increasingly threatening and bullying” Canavan said.China has insisted its anti-dumping investigation into Australian wine would be undertaken in a “fair and just way, according to the law.” A foreign ministry spokesman denied suggestions it was politically motivated. As bilateral tensions grow, analysts fear that Australia’s lucrative iron ore and coal exports could be next to suffer.
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Belarusian Opposition Candidate Asks EU to Reject Election Results
Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya has called on the European Union to not recognize what she called “fraudulent elections” last week in which she lost to longtime President Alexander Lukashenko. In a video message ahead of an emergency EU summit on the issue Wednesday, Tsikhanouskaya said, “Lukashenko has lost all legitimacy in the eyes of our nation and the world.”In this Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2020 file photo Belarusian opposition supporters gather for a protest rally in front of the government building at Independent Square in Minsk, Belarus, with a Soviet era sculptures in the foreground.Official election results showed Lukashenko winning with 80% of the votes, and he has denied allegations that the voting was rigged. Tsikhanouskaya rejected the results, as did protesters who have gathered for mass rallies across the country to voice their opposition to Lukashenko.
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Joe Biden Becomes Democrat’s Presidential Nominee
Democrats formally nominated former Vice President Joe Biden as their candidate for president Tuesday, during the second night of an extraordinary virtual convention that included criticism of President Donald Trump from Republicans as well as Democrats, and personal stories of Biden as a public servant, father and husband. White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has this story from Wilmington, Delaware.
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Singapore Had the Most COVID-19 Cases in ASEAN as Migrants Became Infected
Singapore’s prosperity is underpinned by an overlooked foreign work force grant, advocates say. Domestic worker Yulia Endang feels torn about the stunning burst of COVID-19 cases in Singapore among foreigners like her. The surge of cases starting in April was a jolt for Singapore, which before then had seemed like a model nation that crushed the disease. Donning a black hijab with pink roses, Endang says she is sad about the plight of foreign workers, whose cramped and overlooked conditions contributed to the surge. However, she also hopes the bad news will be a wake-up call for the rest of the island nation. “Knowing what happened to migrant workers and how or why they have become the center of attention is actually very saddening,” she said, adding: “I hope the attention is not just attention but signal that outside, there are more people are aware on how actually migrant workers’ life [is] like.” At the peak Singapore had the most cases in Southeast Asia in the spring, despite its small population, though it has now flattened the curve of infections. The surge, mostly in dorms for foreign workers, came as a surprise as it flew in the face of the authoritarian state’s reputation for technocratic capacity, including skills to handle emergencies. The episode has been a reminder that, as in several rich societies, Singapore’s prosperity relies in part on blue collar foreign labor that is sometimes ignored. How has Singapore responded? After a peak of more than 1,400 cases one day in April, there are now as few as 200 new COVID-19 cases a day in the city-state. Singapore’s main action to deal with the spread among foreign workers — as well as the underlying problems revealed by the spread — has been to focus on health and housing. The state issued a quarantine order on foreign dorms and this month it finished coronavirus testing of all dorm residents. “This means that all workers living in dormitories have either recovered or have been tested to be free from the virus,” except for those in quarantine, the Singapore Ministry of Manpower said in a press release on Aug. 11. Moving forward Singapore plans to expand health services for foreign workers, as well as build more housing to relieve the population density that was blamed in part for the COVID-19 outbreak. Some have already been relocated to refurbished buildings out of current rooms that have bunks for up to 20 people. The construction plans include eight dorms by the end of the year. Non NIMBY Cartoons Beyond logistics, locals are looking for social change to help correct what has historically been a more stratified nation. Heard of NIMBY? The United States popularized the “not in my backyard” politics of exclusion, which a group of Singapore residents aim to combat in their own nation by creating the group “Welcome In My Backyard,” or WIMBY. Endang shared her views through the group, which was formed after the COVID-19 surge to bridge ties between foreign workers and others in Singapore. Artists have shared a variety of work to promote WIMBY’s message of inclusion: a father-son duet cover of the song “Stand By You;” jewelry art meant to show diversity; cartoons challenging the status quo of what one artist called “marginalized” workers. Such foreign labor has long been seen as intrinsic to the economy. With more domestic workers like Endang, for instance, Singapore saw that “the gainful entry of its own women into the formal economy has been facilitated,” scholars Shirlena Huang and Brenda Yeoh wrote. “Let’s challenge this status quo,” the WIMBY group said in a Facebook post. “We must not be comfortable with the idea of riding on the basic livelihoods of others for the success of the economy. Perhaps the ultimate ‘Gold Standard’ Singapore can strive to achieve and be proud of is to cultivate an inclusive and empathetic society?”
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Democrats Officially Nominate Joe Biden as Their Presidential Candidate
U.S. Democrats officially nominated former Vice President Joe Biden Tuesday to be their candidate in the November presidential election on another evening in which prominent Republicans joined with Democrats in criticizing President Donald Trump while praising Biden’s leadership skills. Biden had been the party’s presumptive nominee for months after outlasting a crowded field of Democratic presidential hopefuls in state-by-state primary and caucus votes, including his closest rival, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. On the second night of the Democratic National Convention, the traditional roll call vote of states officially picking the party nominee featured representatives speaking from their states and territories pledging their support for Biden as he now runs against Trump, a Republican.In this image from video, Gilbert Alaquinez of Arkansas speaks during the state roll call vote on second night of the Democratic National Convention on Aug. 18, 2020.Biden said the nomination “means the world to me and my family, and I’ll see you on Thursday,” looking ahead to his speech accepting the nomination on the final night of the convention. As Democrats gathered virtually, Trump traveled Tuesday to two key battleground states, Iowa and Arizona, and sought to curry favor with women voters with a pardon earlier in the day of women’s suffrage leader Susan B. Anthony who protested during the 1870s. ‘Finding mercy and grace’Biden’s wife, Jill, said that if elected, her husband would bring to the White House “leadership worthy of our nation” at the time of an historic coronavirus pandemic and economic depression. “There are those who want to tell us that our country is hopelessly divided, that our differences are irreconcilable. But that’s not what I’ve seen over these months,” Jill Biden said as she gave the final remarks of the night. “We’re coming together and holding onto each other. We’re finding mercy and grace in the moments we might have once taken for granted. We’re seeing that our differences are precious and our similarities infinite.In this image from video, Jill Biden, wife of Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden, speaks during the second night of the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2020. “We have shown that the heart of this nation still beats with kindness and courage. That’s the soul of America Joe Biden is fighting for now,” she said, delivering her speech from a classroom in the high school where she once taught in Wilmington, Delaware. Jill Biden has played an active, behind-the-scenes role in her husband’s third run for the presidency over three decades. Aides say she offered her thoughts on his choice of a vice presidential running mate before he chose California Senator Kamala Harris last week, making Harris the first Black woman and South Asian American to be picked for a spot on a national U.S. political ticket. Harris is set to give her convention acceptance speech Wednesday, along with remarks from former President Barack Obama and Senator Elizabeth Warren. Former Secretary of State John Kerry, who served in the Obama-Biden administration, used his speech Tuesday night to portray Trump’s foreign policy as a failure. “When this president goes overseas, it isn’t a goodwill mission, it’s a blooper reel. He breaks up with our allies and writes love letters to dictators. America deserves a president who is looked up to, not laughed at,” Kerry said. Kerry added that Biden understands that the problems facing the world, including the coronavirus, terrorism and climate change, cannot be resolved “without bringing nations together with strength and humility.”John Kerry speaking at the Democratic National Convention held in Milwaukee, Aug. 18, 2020.Times of crisis Former President Bill Clinton criticized Trump’s leadership, particularly in times of crisis. “At a time like this, the Oval Office should be a command center. Instead, it’s a storm center. There’s only chaos,” Clinton said. “Now you have to decide whether to renew his contract or hire someone else. “If you want a president who defines the job as spending hours a day watching TV and zapping people on social media, he’s your man. Denying, distracting, and demeaning works great if you’re trying to entertain and inflame. But in a real crisis, it collapses like a house of cards,” the former president said.WATCH: Biden DNC PickSorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 9 MB480p | 12 MB540p | 15 MB720p | 26 MB1080p | 57 MBOriginal | 77 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioNext week, Trump is set to officially accept his party’s nomination at the Republican National Convention. Trump and Vice President Mike Pence are making campaign stops during Biden’s week in the spotlight, traveling to political battleground states that could play a pivotal role in the election. Trump headed to the Midwestern state of Iowa on Tuesday and later visited Yuma, Arizona, near the border with Mexico to assess the construction of a border wall to thwart undocumented immigrants from crossing into the United States. The issue was a major plank of his successful 2016 run for the presidency. On Thursday, Trump plans to visit a site near Biden’s boyhood home in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
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Mali President Keita Resigns
President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita resigned late Tuesday night, hours after he was arrested by mutinous soldiers following months of massive protests. The 75-year-old Keita said he wished to avoid any bloodshed in a resignation speech delivered on state television. Keita and Prime Minister Boubou Cisse were arrested Tuesday at Keita’s house in the capital of Bamako. A reporter for VOA’s French to Africa service says soldiers took Keita and Cisse to a military camp in Kati. The West African economic bloc ECOWAS ( Economic Community of West African States) sealing member states’ borders with Mali after Keita and Cisse’s arrest, and suspended all financial transactions between Mali and its 14 other members and is, for now, removing Mali from its decision-making bodies. ECOWAS officials have called for sanctions on those it calls “putschists and their partners and collaborators.”A man wears a national flag as he celebrates with others in the streets in the capital Bamako, Mali, Aug. 18, 2020.An African Union Commission spokesman says Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat strongly condemns the arrests of Keita and Cisse and strongly rejects any attempted unconstitutional change of government in Mali. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is calling for the immediate restoration of constitutional order and the rule of law in Mali. Council members France and Niger have called for a closed-door meeting of the Security Council Wednesday. Another reporter in Mali told VOA that soldiers in Kati “went on the rampage, got to the arsenals, got the guns, started shooting in the air, went out and cut off access to the camp.” Kati is the same camp where the 2012 coup that overthrew President Amadou Toumani Toure began. No casualties have been reported from Tuesday’s uprising and as of late Tuesday, soldiers were reported to be moving freely through Bamako. Opposition supporters in Mali have held a number of large protests since June, demanding Keita’s resignation. Clashes between security forces and protesters in July killed at least 11 people.
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Trump Speaks to Supporters in Two Battleground States
President Donald Trump reached back Tuesday to the signature issue of his 2016 campaign to deliver a broadside against Democratic rival Joe Biden over immigration.As Democrats gathered virtually to denounce the president’s policies and formally nominate Biden to challenge him, Trump targeted voters in a pair of key swing states and sought to curry favor with women voters.In Arizona, one of the top 2020 battleground states, the president sought to paint a Biden victory in apocalyptic terms, insisting “the survival of our nation is at stake” in November, as he slammed what he hyperbolically labeled the “insane and lethal policies” of his opposition.”Biden’s plan is the most radical, extreme, reckless, dangerous and deadly immigration plan ever put forward by a major party candidate,” he said. “It must be defeated. and it will be defeated on November 3.”Trump mischaracterized Biden’s views on immigration, which are more centrist than many others in his party. Biden, for instance, does not support abolishing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and he argues that crossing the U.S. border illegally should be criminally prosecuted rather than made a civil offense, as many other top Democratic presidential hopefuls proposed.With his second campaign trip in two days, Trump was hoping to halt an expected convention polling bump for his rival and shore up support with his focus on immigration, one of the most important issues to his political base.In recent weeks, Trump has been trying to build support within the pivotal female voter constituency and has stepped up his events aimed at women. His campaign has launched another “women for Trump” bus tour, and the president has embraced a “law and order” message with renewed vigor.The president also worked in a last-minute stop in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, for a briefing about damage from the derecho last week that has left thousands without power and caused catastrophic damage across the battleground state. Many there have expressed outrage that their plight has not received more national attention.The storm, which packed 100 mph winds and similar power to an inland hurricane, blew down trees, flipped vehicles and caused widespread damage.”We’ve come through for you, and we will always come through for Iowa,” Trump said, as the city’s mayor urged him to consider enhanced federal disaster funding for people there.Trump highlighted his immigration agenda during his stop in Yuma, and got an update on construction of his southern border wall. The president insisted that, in addition to fulfilling his pledge to build the wall, Mexico was also paying for it — even though they’re not.”They are paying for it,” he said as he stood in front of a replica of his wall, telling reporters he’s planning to enact a border crossing toll at some point in the future.”Mexico will be paying,” he said. “We’re figuring how much we have to charge.”
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US Analyst Among Political Prisoners in Belarus
A Washington, D.C.-based political analyst faces an uncertain future in Belarus – where he remains in prison charged with inciting mass unrest in the run-up to rigged elections that triggered a wave of protests in challenge to strongman Alexander Lukashenko’s 26-year rule. Vitali Shkliarov, 44, is a Belarus native married to an American who news reports say works at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv. He was arrested July 29 while visiting his parents in his hometown of Grodno. KGB agents detained him as he went out to the store to buy a watermelon for his son. He managed to issue one quick message on his popular Telegram channel: “FILE – Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, candidate for the presidential elections, reacts during a meeting with her supporters in Minsk, Belarus, July 19, 2020.Foreign interference conspiracies The elections — which Lukashenko claims he won in a landslide over Tikhanovskaya despite evidence of mass vote rigging — have led to the largest protests in Belarus since the fall of the Soviet Union. A state crackdown on demonstrators in the wake of the vote has only fueled public anger, with widespread reports of torture and abuse at the hands of police and security forces. Authorities report nearly 7,000 arrests. But as discontent with Lukashenko swelled even before the election, Lukashenko warned of foreign plots to overthrow his government. Enter Shkliarov. “Some people were detained with American passports, married to Americans, working in the State Department,” said Lukashenko, in what appeared to be comments directed at Shkliarov’s arrest in particular. “Vitaly’s become a convenient scapegoat for Lukashenko’s security forces,” said Skliarov’s lawyer, Anton Gashinsky, in an interview with VOA. “He ideally fits the picture that they’re trying to draw: foreigners came from abroad to organize a revolution.” Workers of the Minsk Tractor Works Plant leave after their work shift as activists with old Belarusian national flags greet them in Minsk, Belarus, August 18, 2020.Shkliarov denies he was active in Tikhanovsky’s campaign and says he is being punished for writing critically about the government in the run-up to the election. A prolific political commentator on events in America and the former Soviet Union, Shkliarov’s writings have appeared in Foreign Policy magazine and Russia’s independent Novaya Gazeta among other publications. He has also advised on presidential campaigns in Russia, Georgia and the United States — where he worked as a field staff organizer for former President Barack Obama and Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. The Belarusian human rights group Viasna has recognized him as a political prisoner. The European Federation of Journalists, EFJ, is also demanding his release. If found guilty of charges, Shkliarov faces up to three years in prison and fines. Conditions inside Shkliarov has detailed a grim existence since his detention last month. “Like any person daring to criticize an authoritarian regime, I understood you can’t swear off prison. But when they arrested me, I didn’t expect that I would fall into a totalitarian torture chamber,” Shkliarov wrote in a statement released to Novaya Gazeta Monday. “No, they don’t beat me. But they’re trying to break me. With everything they have,” he added. Shkliarov said he was put in a dirty, overcrowded cell with no hot water despite increasingly brisk temperatures in Belarus. Inmates are forced to shave with a dull razor and given one shower weekly – prompting skin breakouts. Patriotic Soviet music blasts through the prison from morning until night. Prisoners are forbidden to lay down throughout the day. He said he has also been denied contact with family members through mail, and that his writings and letters are read and confiscated by authorities. Complaints led to a six-hour stint in the stakan – Russian for “the glass” – a vertical isolation cell with no room to sit while deprived of food and water. “He’s constantly under psychological pressure,” his lawyer, Gashinsky, said to VOA. “He’s living in conditions he considers inhuman to try and break him psychologically.” “It shouldn’t be this way. This isn’t 1937,” added Gashinsky in a reference to the height of the Soviet-era repressions. Responding to inquiries from VOA, the U.S. Embassy in Minsk acknowledged a consular officer had been granted access to Shkliarov on August 13 after “repeatedly” raising concerns. “We continue to press for fair treatment, judicial transparency, and regular visits by U.S. consular officials,” read the statement. “We have no higher priority than the safety and welfare of U.S. citizens abroad,” it said. Other US lawmakers say they, too, are paying attention. U.S. Department of State officials have not responded to VOA requests for comment on Shkliarov’s case. But some U.S. lawmakers say they are paying attention. “The government’s ongoing crackdown on the democratic opposition, as well as the arrest of American citizen Vitaly Shkliarov, is a calamity and completely unacceptable,” said Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, in a statement. “Now more than ever, the international community must not waver in our steadfast support for democracy, human rights and the aspirations of the Belarusian people.” It is a message Shkliarov came to identify with during his own experiences on the campaign trail in America. In an interview with Public Radio International’s The World in 2018, he recalled his experiences urging Americans who were reluctant to vote in the U.S. presidential elections during cold-calls over the phone. “I grew up in a country where nobody asked us. Nobody asked me what president I would love to elect or even who I am. Nobody cared,” Shlkiarov said he would tell people. “And here you have this democracy. You can actively voice your opinion and influence the decision-making. This is amazing. You guys don’t understand what you have.” Most, said Shkliarov, promised to cast their ballots.
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USAGM Funds Two Internet Freedom Projects
The U.S. Agency for Global Media announced Tuesday that it is moving forward with funding two internet firewall circumvention projects despite an ongoing legal battle over the agency’s broader internet freedom strategy. The awardees — Psiphon and ACI — write software that help people gain access to websites and information blocked by their governments. “Our agency is determined to expand freedom of expression by continuing to explore, develop, and fund the most secure and effective internet freedom tools,” FILE – Michael Pack, President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the U.S. Agency for Global Media, is seen at his confirmation hearing, on Capitol Hill, in Washington, Sept. 19, 2019. Pack’s nomination was confirmed June 4, 2020.The announcement comes as USAGM, which is also the parent agency of Voice of America, remains locked in a legal battle with the Open Technology Fund (OTF), a Washington-based organization that receives a grant from USAGM to fund internet freedom technologies worldwide. Founded in 2012 as a pilot program under Radio Free Asia, another media organization under USAGM, OTF was spun out into a nonprofit organization in the fall of 2019. After Pack assumed office in June, he moved to fire OTF’s board and executives and install new leadership. A federal appeals court blocked that move in July. USAGM has withheld funding to OTF, leading the organization to halt 49 of its 60 internet freedom projects.US Global Internet Freedom Group Says Work Limited by Funding Dispute Open Technology Fund says global media chief is blocking access to $20 million for programs aimed at evading censorship in China, Iran, other authoritarian countriesEarlier this month, a group of Republican and Democratic lawmakers asked the Trump administration to release $20 million in congressionally approved funds for OTF. Psiphon, based in Toronto, creates software that “helps over 3 million people every week connect to content on the Internet,” according to its website. ACI, also known as Advanced Circuiting Inc., is the creator of NthLink, an “anti-censorship mobile application capable of circumventing Internet censorship and self-recovering from blocking events,” according to material on its website. Both Psiphon and ACI have received funding through OTF over the past few years. A May OTF monthly report called the companies “veteran circumvention tool providers.” Details of the new awards were unavailable.
USAGM did not respond to a request for comment by deadline. Lawyers representing Open Technology Fund board members also did not respond to questions about the awards. In its announcement Tuesday, USAGM also said it was reviving the Office of Internet Freedom (OIF), which was created in 2016 but had ceased operations. It is through the OIF that the grants to Psiphon and ACI were made. OIF will soon launch “another round of competitive bidding to fund additional internet freedom technology,” according to the USAGM press release. Pack said that reviving the Office of Internet Freedom will help allow people worldwide to gain access to information. “Blocking access to information is a horrible thing. But fostering access to information, especially in this advanced capacity, will prove a blow for liberty,” Pack said in a statement. “That’s why we’re funding a range of internet firewall circumvention tools. Bringing back OIF will further allow our agency to make significant strides in this area.”
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