Three months after easing nationwide restrictions to stem the spread of the coronavirus, the government in Athens has placed the tiny Greek island of Poros into fresh lockdown following a sudden flare-up of infections in scores of locals and tourists. The lockdown comes as the coronavirus pandemic spreads rapidly in Greece, tripling infections in the past 10 days alone and marring the country’s image as a near virus-free summer retreat.With a population of about 3,000, Poros, a one-hour jaunt from the Greek capital, has been a favorite destination this summer, attracting record numbers of tourists seeking a safe summer hideout from the coronavirus.But on Friday, most of Poros’ visitors were seen scrambling onto ferries bound for Athens or other islands.More than 30 people, mainly young Greeks, tested positive for COVID-19 within a 24-hour period, an outbreak officials fear could spread rapidly across the idyllic, pine-cloaked island.Scores of suspected cases are being examined with results likely by the end of the weekend.But authorities, concerned by the rising rates of COVID-19 infections across the country, are not taking any chances. They are taking aggressive action to contain the flare-up in Poros.Bars and nightclubs are barred from operating at late hours. Curfews now have been imposed. All social and religious events have been suspended. And beginning at dawn, text messages from homeland security offices have been ringing across Poros, notifying people to wear masks.It is not clear what exactly caused the Poros outbreak. Authorities have not tracked the infections to “patient zero.”Whatever the reason though, local officials, including Mayor Giannis Dimitriadis, blame authorities for being too lax in monitoring regulations that have been in effect for weeks.In every society, authorities set the example by observing regulations and keeping citizens vigilant, he said. Police here were not enforcing the rules, he said.Dimitriadis said he notified authorities more than a month ago, urging them to act against what he called recurring and serious lapses.But Poros is just one example of what critics are calling state neglect and reckless behavior by locals defying existing regulations across the country.“The rising rate has me extremely concerned,” Manolis Dermitzakis, a Greek professor of medicine in the University of Geneva said. “We’ve seen cases triple in a short period of time in Greece.” And ultimately, he said, it all boils down to the fact that measures are not being fully adhered to.What’s the point, he said, of having a mandatory mask order when most Greeks are wearing them under their noses, beneath their chins or dangling on one of their ears? This half-baked compliance is dangerous, he said.Since the Poros outbreak, authorities have intensified inspections, issuing steep fines against offenders.But if the measures fail to quash Greece’s rise in new coronavirus infections, the government may have no other option than to take tougher, nationwide measures, potentially reimposing a national lockdown.Until then, the U.S. State Department is urging American citizens to reconsider travel plans to Greece.
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Month: August 2020
Trump Threatens to Take Executive Action on Economic Relief Package
U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday he is ready to take executive action after congressional lawmakers failed again to reach agreement on a relief package for the tens of millions of Americans who have lost their jobs following the COVID-19 pandemic.Trump told a news conference that executive orders are being prepared to enhance unemployment benefits until the end of the year, defer student loan payments and forgive interest on the loans, and extend a moratorium on evictions. He said an executive order is also being prepared to defer payroll taxes until the end of the year.It was not immediately clear if he has the legal authority to take the executive actions he has proposed. It was also not immediately clear how the actions, if implemented, would work. For example, if payroll taxes are deferred, it is not clear whether workers would then have to pay them retroactively at some point and whether that payment would be one large payment or stretched out over time.Republican lawmakers are not interested in an economic relief package that costs more than $1 trillion. The bottom line for the Democrats is $2 trillion. There seems to be no room for negotiating away from those numbers for the politicians. Reports say the lawmakers have not scheduled any additional meetings.Millions of Americans recently saw the $600 enhancement to their weekly unemployment benefits come to an end. Social service agencies have warned that the lack of the additional funds for the unemployed could result in food insecurity and evictions for millions.
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She Lost Her Father to COVID-19, Then She and Her Family Got the Virus
Meet Cynthia Reyes whose family has been living a nightmare. Reyes recently lost her father to COVID-19. With no time to mourn, the 35-year old woman who has diabetes, asthma, and rheumatoid arthritis also got the virus, along with family members. Reyes lives in California’s Imperial County, a farming region along the Mexican border with one of the state’s highest coronavirus infection rates. VOA’s Mariama Diallo has this report.
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Lukashenko’s Biggest Election Opponent: the Internet
In the closing days of the Belarus presidential election campaign, opposition candidates are holding mass rallies and incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko is visiting businesses, giving speeches to the Security Council and government – and lashing out at the news media.During a meeting with campaign staff, Lukashenko railed at local and international media, saying the Belarussian edition of Russian daily Komsomolskaya Pravda “will soon turn into a tabloid” and accusing foreign outlets, including the BBC and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, of being biased and calling for riots.Lukashenko, who has been in power for 26 years, asked the Foreign Ministry to intervene.“There is no need whatsoever to wait until the end of the election campaign. Get them out of here if they do not comply with our laws and call people to Maidans,” he said on July 23, referring to mass protests in Ukraine in 2013 over the country’s move away from the European Union.In the months leading up to the August 9 vote, journalists and bloggers in Belarus have been arrested, harassed and even deported as Lukashenko faces an unexpectedly tough election amid discontent with the economy and his poor handling of the coronavirus pandemic.The president, who says he People look at a presidential election information board in Minsk, Belarus, Aug. 7, 2020.Opposition presidential candidates were also A man stands next to an election campaign poster during a rally held by supporters of Svetlana Tikhanouskaya, a candidate in the upcoming presidential election and President Alexander Lukashenko’s main challenger, in Minsk, Belarus, Aug. 6, 2020.Earlier in the campaign, Sergei Tikhanovsky was the main irritant for authorities, said Klaskovsky.“He traveled all over the country,” Klaskovsky said. “In small towns, he would give the microphone to disadvantaged people blasting the authorities. And the authorities felt that it was dangerous, because their biggest fear is the street, since the election commissions are staffed with loyal people and the counting of votes is completely under state control.”On May 6, authorities charged Sergei Tikhanovsky and seven others with “organizing and preparing actions that grossly violate public order.”Boris Goretsky, deputy chair of the Belarusian Association of Journalists, said arrests and oppression of journalists have increased, with over 60 incidents recorded during the campaign.“The authorities are afraid of freely disseminated information, as evidenced by the recent arrests of journalists after rallies,” Goretsky told VOA. “Authorities try to detain the maximum number of journalists so no one is there to provide video coverage and distribute it on the internet.“After all, information is what motivates people to act,” he said.In addition to the arrests, authorities are beating journalists at rallies and obstructing live broadcasts, said Natalya Radina, editor-in-chief of the news website Charter’97.Klaskovsky, of BelaPAN, added that bloggers and administrators of public and Telegram channels working under the “Country to Live In” brand have been hit hard, but the pressure is also felt by independent news websites, news agencies and publications whose editorial offices are abroad.These journalists are often not invited to press conferences or other official events, where the priority is given to state-owned press. And those covering mass gatherings risk being arbitrarily detained, having equipment broken or confiscated and, if they lack accreditation, being fined for “illegal fabrication of mass media products.”“The rest of the press finds itself in an information vacuum,” Klaskovsky said.The Belarus Embassy in Washington told VOA on Friday to send questions via email. The embassy did not respond to VOA’s emailed questions.‘Under supervision’Independent media in Belarus are still tightly controlled. Journalists need accreditation to access official events, and the State Security Committee — still known as the KGB, its Soviet-era name — regularly monitors the press, with officials calling reporters to discuss their work.FILE – Opposition supporters wearing protective masks amid the coronavirus disease outbreak wait in a line to put signatures in support of their potential candidates in the upcoming presidential election in Minsk, Belarus, May 31, 2020.Because of these officials — described by some journalists as “supervisors” — “it is very difficult to determine the degree of independence of a local outlet,” said Irina Khalip, a Belarus correspondent for Novaya Gazeta, an independent Russia paper known for its critical and investigative coverage of Russian political and social affairs.“All foreign journalists need to be accredited with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. And this accreditation comes with lines you cannot cross,” Khalip said. “One step over and your accreditation is revoked.”In May, the Foreign Ministry stripped a Channel One correspondent of his accreditation and deported him to Russia. The ministry did not state the reason, but Channel One, a Russian state broadcaster, said it came one day Belarus citizens in Poland demonstrate during a solidarity rally in front of the Belarusian Embassy before the upcoming presidential election, in Warsaw, Aug. 7, 2020. Belarus will hold its presidential election on Aug. 9.The journalist was convicted of rioting after the 2010 election and authorities jailed her husband, Andrew Sannikov, who ran as an opposition presidential candidate.News websites based outside Belarus are a key source of information. Despite attempts by authorities to block the sites, readers are finding ways to access them online.The Charter’97 website has been blocked for over two years, editor-in-chief Radina said. “But people have learned to bypass the blocking via virtual private networks [and] anonymizers, and still read us because they need accurate information.”“It is impossible to completely cut off information, because these days not only journalists but everyone can record videos on their mobile phones and post them on the internet. Information on what happens in Belarus on August 9 and 10 will appear anyway,” Radina said.Goretsky, deputy chair of the Belarusian Association of Journalists, said the internet, along with social media and Telegram channels, makes it faster and easier to share or access objective information.“People no longer watch TV day and night; they watch YouTube channels. This gave birth to the phenomenon of Sergei Tikhanovsky, who created his own channel, which was popular with the older generation as well,” he said.“While the government has been fighting all these years for print runs and compulsory subscriptions, independent publications have de facto taken over the internet,” Goretsky said. “And although many of them do not have accreditation and cannot attend official events, they have several advantages, including the internet.”This article originated in VOA’s Russian service.
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Mauritius Declares Emergency as Stranded Ship Spills Fuel
The Indian Ocean island of Mauritius declared a “state of environmental emergency” late Friday after a Japanese-owned ship that ran aground offshore days ago began spilling tons of fuel.Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth announced the development as satellite images showed a dark slick spreading in the turquoise waters near environmental areas that the government called “very sensitive.”Mauritius has said the ship was carrying nearly 4,000 tons of fuel and cracks have appeared in its hull.Jugnauth earlier in the day said his government was appealing to France for help, saying the spill “represents a danger” for the country of 1.3 million people that relies heavily on tourism and has been been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.Mauritius”Our country doesn’t have the skills and expertise to refloat stranded ships, so I have appealed for help from France and President Emmanuel Macron,” he said. Bad weather has made it impossible to act, and “I worry what could happen Sunday when the weather deteriorates.”Jugnauth shared a photo of the vessel, the MV Wakashio, tilted precariously.Video posted online showed oily waters lapping at the shore as people peered at the ship in the distance. Online ship trackers showed the Panama-flagged bulk carrier had been en route from China to Brazil.The French island of Reunion is the closest neighbor to Mauritius, and France’s Foreign Ministry says France is Mauritius’ “leading foreign investor” and one of its largest trading partners.”We are in a situation of environmental crisis,” the environment minister of Mauritius, Kavy Ramano, said, calling the Blue Bay Marine Park and other areas near the leaking ship “very sensitive.”After the cracks in the hull were detected, a salvage team that had been working on the ship was evacuated, Ramano told reporters Thursday. Some 400 sea booms have been deployed to try to contain the spill.Government statements this week said the ship ran aground July 25 and the National Coast Guard received no distress call. The ship’s owners were listed as the Japanese companies Okiyo Maritime Corp. and Nagashiki Shipping Co. Ltd.A police inquiry has been opened into issues such as possible negligence, a government statement said.Tons of diesel and oil are now leaking into the water, environmental group Greenpeace Africa’s climate and energy manager, Happy Khambule, said in a statement.”Thousands of species around the pristine lagoons of Blue Bay, Pointe d’Esny and Mahebourg are at risk of drowning in a sea of pollution, with dire consequences for Mauritius’ economy, food security and health,” Khambule said.A government environmental outlook released nearly a decade ago said Mauritius had a National Oil Spill Contingency Plan but equipment on hand was “adequate to deal with oil spills of less than 10 metric tonnes.”In case of major spills, it said, assistance could be obtained from other Indian Ocean countries or from international oil spill response organizations.
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TikTok Threatens to Sue after US Moves to Ban App
TikTok reacted to President Donald Trump’s executive order barring U.S. companies and individuals from doing business with its parent company, ByteDance, by threatening to take legal action and urging its U.S. users to lobby on its behalf. Trump ordered sweeping bans late Thursday prohibiting U.S. companies from doing business with ByteDance and Tencent, the owner of the messenger app WeChat. The executive orders targeting the Chinese companies go into effect in 45 days. “We are shocked by the recent Executive Order, which was issued without any due process,” ByteDance said in a statement released Friday. The company suggested that the executive order was illegal and that it might be challenged in court. “We will pursue all remedies available to us in order to ensure that the rule of law is not discarded and that our company and our users are treated fairly — if not by the Administration, then by the U.S. courts,” the company said. In the meantime, Tencent responded by saying it was evaluating the situation. “The company is reviewing the potential consequences of the administrative order in order to fully understand its impact,” Tencent said in a brief statement issued through Hong Kong Stock Exchange. In addition to its hugely popular messaging feature, WeChat also links to finance and other services. It claims that the app has more than 1 billion users. The Trump administration and U.S. lawmakers have expressed concerns that the Chinese social media services could provide American users’ personal information to the Chinese government. Both companies have said they do not share their data with the Chinese government. The twin executive orders Thursday added new contention to growing U.S.-Chinese conflict over technology and security. The Chinese foreign ministry accused Washington of “political suppression” and said the moves would hurt American companies and consumers. “The United States is using national security as an excuse, frequently abuses national power and unreasonably suppresses companies of other countries,” Wang Wenbin, a ministry spokesman, said. Wang, who did not mention TikTok or Tencent by name, said China strongly opposed the move but gave no indication of how Beijing might retaliate. The Trump administration has previously threatened to shut TikTok down if it remains under the ownership of Beijing-based ByteDance. According to a memo sent Monday by Chief Executive Officer Zhang Yiming, ByteDance is exploring all possibilities to ensure that its subsidiary can continue operating in the United States. Without naming Microsoft directly, the company said Friday, “We even stated that we could sell our U.S. business to a U.S. company.” The statement ended by calling on its 100 million U.S. users to put pressure on the Trump administration. “As TikTok users, creators, partners and family members, you have the right to express your opinions to all levels of lawmakers, including the White House government,” the statement said.
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Report: Pompeo Warns Russia Against Taliban Bounties
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has warned Russia’s foreign minister about alleged bounty payments to Taliban militants for killing U.S. troops in Afghanistan, according to The New York Times.The Times reported Friday that Pompeo made the warning to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov during a July 13 phone call, citing unidentified U.S. officials.It said Pompeo’s warning was the first known rebuke from a senior U.S. official to Russia over the alleged bounties program.Pompeo has previous declined to say whether he specifically raised the bounty allegations with Russia. However, he told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last month that he has “raised all of the issues that put any Americans at risk” each time he has spoken to Lavrov.Trump has called the reports of Russian bounties on U.S. troops “another Russian hoax” despite concerns about them from the intelligence community.Trump told reporters in Florida last month, “It was never brought to my attention and it perhaps wasn’t brought because they didn’t consider it to be real. And if it is brought to my attention, I’ll do something about it,” he said.During an interview with “Axios on HBO,” Trump said he had not raised the bounty allegations in a recent phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin.“That was a phone call to discuss other things, and, frankly, that’s an issue that many people said was fake news,” Trump said.White House officials have said that Trump was not briefed on the suspected bounties because the assessment was not conclusive. However, several media outlets, including the Times, have reported that the issue was included in one of the president’s written daily briefings in February. Trump has said he was never personally told about the issue.Russia has denied that it paid bounties to Taliban militants for killing U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
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Canada to Impose Retaliatory Tariffs on US Goods, Hopes for Resolution
Canada will slap retaliatory tariffs on C$3.6 billion ($2.7 billion) worth of U.S. aluminum products after the United States said it would impose punitive measures on Canadian aluminum imports, a senior official said on Friday.Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland told a news conference the countermeasures would be put in place by Sept. 16 to allow consultations with industry.The move marks the latest ruction in a choppy relationship between the neighbors and close allies since President Donald Trump took office in 2017.Trump moved on Thursday to reimpose 10% tariffs on some Canadian aluminum products on Aug 16 to protect U.S. industry from a “surge” in imports. Canada denies any impropriety.”At a time when we are fighting a global pandemic … a trade dispute is the last thing anyone needs – it will only hurt the economic recovery on both sides of the border. However, this is what the U.S. administration has chosen to do,” said Freeland.”We do not escalate and we do not back down,” she said later, variously describing the U.S. decision as “entirely unacceptable,” absurd and ludicrous.The Canadian list of goods that might be subject to tariffs includes aluminum bars, plates, refrigerators, bicycles, washing machines and golf clubs. Trump is a keen golfer.”I think the very best outcome would be for the United States to reconsider,” said Freeland, adding that she was confident common sense would prevail.The list of goods subject to tariffs is narrower than the last time Ottawa struck back at Trump because the two sides agreed in 2019 to limit the scope of retaliation in disputes over steel and aluminum, said a Canadian government source who requested anonymity.In 2018, Ottawa slapped tariffs on C$16.6 billion ($12.5 billion) worth of goods ranging from bourbon to ketchup after Washington imposed sanctions on Canadian aluminum and steel.Ottawa may be calculating its measures will be short-lived. A source briefed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office said Canadian officials are increasingly sure Trump will lose the Nov. 3 presidential election.Trump acted just weeks after a new continental trade pact between the United States, Canada and Mexico took effect. The North American economy is highly integrated and Canada sends 75% of all its goods exports to the United States.
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How Philippines Got Runaway COVID-19 Caseload, an Outlier in Asia
The Philippines has become a COVID-19 outlier in East Asia with a runaway caseload because initial stay-home orders ended early and people struggle to practice social distancing despite strict rules, local observers say.New reported cases spiked during the past month, leaving the archipelago with a cumulative total of about 120,000. Daily cases set a record Tuesday of 6,277. Now cities have shut down again, threatening access to workplaces in a country where many people depend on daily labor to survive.“A lot of it is because people don’t follow the protocols,” said Rhona Canoy, president of the International School of CDO in the southern Philippine city Cagayan de Oro.“They don’t wear masks,” she said, “and the biggest issue of all is that people don’t observe social distancing.”People wearing masks shop for fresh food at a market in Manila on Aug. 6, 2020.So dire is the situation in the Philippines that on Tuesday the United Nations and 50 nonprofit partners began carrying out a $122 million response plan to help about 5.4 million of the country’s “poorest and most marginalized people” with a focus on protecting women, according to Canoy.Elsewhere in Southeast Asia, only Indonesia still struggles with daily COVID-19 caseload surges. Most of Northeast Asia, including the disease’s apparent source, China, has recovered, despite isolated flare-ups.Stay-home orders in much of the Philippines began easing in June before hospitals could deploy equipment and coordinate with each other to handle the disease, said Maria Ela Atienza, political science professor at the University of the Philippines Diliman.Among hospitals, she said, “things were so bureaucratic and top-down, and when they decided to open up the economy little by little, it turned out that much of the supposed things that should have been done during the strict lockdown period have not been done.”A child reacts after getting swabbed for a free coronavirus disease (COVID-19) test at a gymnasium in Navotas City, Metro Manila, Philippines, Aug. 7, 2020.A lot of people still fear getting tested for COVID-19 at hospitals in case they test positive, Canoy said. She said some parts of the country lack bed space for any local surge in cases.Not everyone wears a face mask in shopping malls, often because they find them uncomfortable or because they left them at home, Canoy said. In restaurants, she said, diners sit “bunched up” at bigger tables, even if the next table is only a meter away.Crowded slum housing pushes people into streets, basketball courts and tiny stores where air circulates better despite stay-home orders, said Eduardo Araral, a Philippine native and associate professor at the National University of Singapore’s public policy school.“You cannot force poor people to be staying inside because, all the more, they are congested,” Araral said. “It makes more sense to just be outside where there’s more space.”Stay-home measures resumed this week in metro Manila and other parts of the country affecting about 27 million of the country’s 109.5 million population.A worker disinfects chairs at the airport in Manila on Aug. 4, 2020.Public transport has noticeably slowed, making it hard for even medical staffers to reach their jobs, Araral said. Prolonged shutdowns will keep poorer people away from work too long, said Rajiv Biswas, Asia-Pacific chief economist at IHS Markit in Singapore.“This is always the problem in low-income countries where a lot of people are dependent on daily work and there’s no government support, so I think this is the problem in places like in the Philippines that you can’t really keep people locked down for long periods of time because many have very little savings, if any,” Biswas said.Remote parts of the Philippines, a group of some 7,100 islands, still report few cases, however. They can keep local economies on track because they get little traffic from metro Manila or Cebu, the country’s two most infected spots.Cagayan de Oro, the southern Philippine city of 753,000 people where Canoy’s school is located, recorded just 140 cases from March through July.It is hard to know, however, when a flight arrives with an infected passenger, she said, so she chastises her rice vendor who doesn’t use a mask, and cringes at people gathering outside convenience stores where they go to spend economic relief money.
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School Teachers in US Protest Going Back to Classrooms
In early August, thousands of parents, educators, students, and community members took to the streets in over 25 U.S. states to call for safe and equitable schools. The protests, organized as a National Day of Resistance, were called to raise concerns that with the coronavirus still spreading reopening schools for in-person learning is dangerous. The issue has become political, with pressure growing from the White House and many state governors to reopen the classrooms. Nina Vishneva has this report narrated by Anna Rice on the demonstrations in New York City. Camera: Max Avloshenko, Alex Barash, Olga Terekhin
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US Sees Election Threats From China, Russia and Iran
The director of US intelligence on Friday raised concerns about interference in the 2020 election by China, Russia and Iran.U.S. intelligence has assessed that China is hoping President Donald Trump does not win reelection, Russia is working to denigrate Democrat Joe Biden and Iran is seeking to undermine democratic institutions, said Bill Evanina, director of the National Counterintelligence Security Center.In a statement, Evanina provided the U.S. intelligence agencies’ most recent assessment of election threats to the November presidential election.“Many foreign actors have a preference for who wins the election, which they express through a range of overt and private statements; covert influence efforts are rarer,” Evanina said. “We are primarily concerned about the ongoing and potential activity by China, Russia, and Iran.”China views Trump as “unpredictable” and does not want to see him win reelection, Evanina said. China has been expanding its influence efforts ahead of the November election in an effort to shape U.S policy and pressure political figures it sees as against Beijing, he said.“Although China will continue to weigh the risks and benefits of aggressive action, its public rhetoric over the past few months has grown increasingly critical of the current administration’s COVID-19 response, closure of China’s Houston consulate and actions on other issues,” he wrote.On Russia, U.S. intelligence officials assess that Russia is working to “denigrate” Biden and what it sees as an anti-Russia “establishment” among his supporters, Evanina said. He said that would track Moscow’s criticism of Biden when he was vice president for his role in Ukraine policies and support of opposition to President Vladimir Putin inside Russia.On Iran, the assessment said Tehran seeks to undermine U.S. democratic institutions as well as Trump and divide America before the election.“Iran’s efforts along these lines probably will focus on on-line influence, such as spreading disinformation on social media and recirculating anti-U.S. content,” Evanina wrote. “Tehran’s motivation to conduct such activities is, in part, driven by a perception that President Trump’s re-election would result in a continuation of U.S. pressure on Iran in an effort to foment regime change.”
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Analysts Hope Elections Do Not Slow Somalia-Somaliland Talks
As Somalia and the self-declared republic of Somaliland head toward elections, conflict experts are calling on both sides not to let politics disrupt progress in recent talks.The two sides disagree on the status of Somaliland, which declared independence from Mogadishu in 1991.In June 2020, Somali government officials led by President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo met a delegation from Somaliland led by President Muse Bihi Abdi.FILE – Somalia’s President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo addresses lawmakers in the capital Mogadishu, Feb. 8, 2017.The meeting in Djibouti was the first time Somalia’s and Somaliland’s presidents had met since 1991, when the Somali government collapsed and Somaliland declared its independence. Somaliland is not recognized by any country.The agreement reached in June not to politicize aid and investment was another first between the sides.However, both Somalia and Somaliland are scheduled to have elections in coming months, and analysts suspect that will hold up any further negotiations.”I think Mogadishu will be quite distracted in the next few months,” said Omar Mahmood, a senior analyst on Somalia at the International Crisis Group. “To what degree can the current government engage at a deep level, given that they have a few months remaining on this mandate?”Last month, the Somali parliament voted out Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire for failing to secure general election and national security. Since then, the technical team that is supposed to follow up on the Djibouti talks has not held any meetings, according to a member of the team from Mogadishu who was not authorized to speak to the media.Mahmood says it’s hoped that Somalia and Somaliland can still discuss issues that can be achieved in the short term.”That’s international assistance and humanitarian aid, and basically how they share that, and also security, security cooperation, the battle against al-Shabab,” he said. “They have already outlined these various specific topics, and they are supposed to have a sort of subcommittee meeting on those.”However, there appears to be no change in Somalia’s stance that Somaliland is not an independent country.Mogadishu’s technical team on the talks is led by the interior minister, signaling that Somalia considers the talks an internal matter. Somaliland’s team is led by the foreign affairs minister, signaling that Hargeisa sees the talks as a negotiation between two states.Faisal Ali Warabe, an opposition politician in Somaliland, says there is nothing to talk about with Somalia.”We will think about engaging Somalia in the future, knowing well there is no government,” he said.He says Somalia is a divided country, with five presidents and five states. “Since we have our country, there is no war between us, and they have no power over us. It was a mistake to engage them,” Warabe said.The people of Somaliland accused Somalia’s government of committing widespread abuses against them during the government of Mohamed Siad Barre in the 1980s.Still, the two sides have agreed to continue with the engagement, in hopes of finding a solution to their political and historical differences.
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Somali Floods Displace Hundreds of Thousands, Raise Fears of Coronavirus Spread
Surging floodwaters in the southern regions of Somalia have driven more than 650,000 people to flee their homes this year. The U.N. refugee agency reports the flooding has caused food shortages, led to the outbreak of killer diseases and increased the risk of the coronavirus spreading in the country.More than 150,000 flood victims have become homeless since late June, including 23,000 in the past week, according to officials. Weather forecasters warn the worst is not over. They predict the heavy rains and extreme flooding will continue for some time in certain regions and exacerbate the living conditions of the hundreds of thousands of displaced.U.N. refugee agency spokesman Charlie Yaxley reports many of the newly displaced are living in overcrowded, makeshift shelters with little protection from the harsh weather. He says families are exposed to increased risk of crimes such as robbery and rape.FILE – Residents live in crowded conditions in the Sayidka camp for internally displaced people in Mogadishu, Somalia, March 26, 2020.”Food is in short supply and many are going hungry with rising malnutrition in children, leaving them at risk of starvation,” he said. “Sanitary conditions are poor and access to medical care is scarce and health partners warn of a risk of diarrhea, vector-borne diseases, respiratory-tract infections and other communicable diseases rapidly spreading amongst the displaced population.”Yaxley says there has been no reported major coronavirus outbreak, but he tells VOA the outlook is not good. He says people have little access to clean water, the cramped quarters prevent social distancing, and very little sanitation infrastructure is in place.”So conditions are ripe for transmission of viruses, including COVID-19, and it is exacerbated even further because in some areas, we are not able to access some of the affected communities. And some areas, particularly in the southern part, are controlled by armed groups and militias.”COVID-19 is the disease caused by the coronavirus.Yaxley says the UNHCR and other humanitarian agencies are not able to reach those areas and deliver assistance. He says the many people living there are largely left to fend for themselves.Yaxley says aid agencies are doing their best to deliver medical and personal protective equipment, as well as make people aware of the hygiene measures needed to mitigate COVID-19 and other diseases.The UNHCR is urgently appealing to the international community to support its relief efforts. The agency has appealed for $154 million to provide for the needs of an estimated 2.6 million internally displaced people and 30,000 refugees and asylum-seekers. The agency says it has received 33 percent of what it needs to carry out its life-saving mission.
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US Sanctions Hong Kong Leaders
The United States has imposed sanctions on Hong Kong’s pro-China government leader and other Hong Kong officials for allegedly suppressing freedom in the former British colony. The Treasury Department announced the sanctions against Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam and other government leaders on Friday, the latest in a series of moves the Trump administration has taken against China amid rising tensions over the coronavirus and trade disputes. The sanctions are aimed at penalizing Beijing for curtailing anti-government demonstrators in Hong Kong. There was no immediate response from Hong Kong or Beijing. FILE – Protesters hold up blank papers during a demonstration in a mall in Hong Kong on July 6, 2020, in response to a national security law which makes political views, slogans and signs advocating Hong Kong’s independence or liberation illegal.Hong Kong citizens have enjoyed civil liberties that don’t exist in mainland China since Britain relinquished control of the territory to China in 1997. Earlier this year, however, China imposed a new national security law that undermined Hong Kong’s autonomy, drawing criticism from pro-democracy activists and Western countries. “The recent imposition of draconian national security legislation on Hong Kong has not only undermined Hong Kong’s autonomy, it has also infringed on the rights of people living in Hong Kong,” the Treasury Department said in a statement. In addition to Lam, the sanctions target Hong Kong’s current and former police chiefs and eight other officials for orchestrating a campaign to curtail political liberties in the territory. The penalties also freeze any U.S. assets the Hong Kong officials hold and generally prohibits Americans from conducting business with them. Because of a surge in coronavirus cases, Lam recently announced a one-year delay to a legislative election in which pro-democracy activists hoped to win a majority of the seats. The U.S. denounced the postponement, declaring it was another move by China to undermine democracy in Hong Kong.
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Tanzania Opposition Leader to Run Against President in General Elections
Tanzanian opposition leader Tundu Lissu was chosen this week to take on President John Magufuli in October’s general elections.Lissu returned to Tanzania from Belgium last week for the first time since 2017, when the Magufuli critic was shot 16 times by unknown gunmen in Dar es Salaam.Lissu says that since Magufuli came to power in 2015, there has been an open war against the multiparty system and some attempts to turn the country back to the dark years.FILE – Tanzanian President John Magufuli addresses a news conference during an official visit to Nairobi, Kenya, Oct. 31, 2016.Lissu’s supporters say their candidate will win in October because he will offer a leadership style that contrasts with that of Magufuli, whose critics say he suppresses democracy.Ibrahim Chawe, a member of the Chadema Party and a communication officer for the Chadema youth organization, says the performance of the current government will help Lissu win. The economic policies of the government have hurt many Tanzanians, he says, and benefit only a few.Magufuli has pledged peaceful and credible elections, and has said he is ready to continue for a second term in order to fulfill his journey of serving Tanzanians and boosting the country’s economy.Political analysts like Abdul Karimu Atiki say the new roads, railways and power plants that have sprung up under Magufuli give the president a chance to win another term.For almost three decades since the coming of the multiparty system in Tanzania, there has never been development reaching to the people as there has been under Magufuli, Atiki says, adding that while critics like Lissu say development is meant for people and not material things, it is the infrastructure that is bringing development.Another political analyst, Mbwana Aliamtu, says Lissu has a good chance in the October polls because of his outstanding presence in Tanzania politics. Even if he does not win, Aliamtu adds, he will bring about big changes. Magufuli has boosted government revenue and initiated reforms of the mining industry since coming to power in 2015. His opponents accuse him of cracking down on political dissent and freedom of speech, which he denies.
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China Threatens Retaliation for US Denial of Journalist Visas
China has threatened to retaliate after the United States did not renew visas for some 40 Chinese journalists, whose 90-day permit to work in the U.S. expired Thursday.No retaliatory move, however, was immediately announced Friday, after Hu Xijin, the editor-in-chief of state tabloid Global Times previously warned that the “Chinese side will retaliate, including targeting U.S. journalists based in Hong Kong.”Instead, Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin Friday denounced the U.S. action as “a unilateral provocation” during a routine media briefing, urging the U.S. “to correct its mistakes and cease its oppression of Chinese media workers.”Tell right from wrong?Prior to that, the ministry’s office in the former British colony also released a written statement, urging Hong Kong-based foreign journalists “to understand the consequences and tell right from wrong.”The ministry reiterated that “if the U.S. persists with escalating its actions against Chinese media, China will take a necessary and legitimate response.” China Threatens Countermeasures over US Visa Rule for Chinese JournalistsCiting China’s treatment of the reporters, the US Homeland Security Department issued new regulations limiting visas for Chinese journalists to a maximum 90-day stay, with the possibility to request an extension The official statement came as a response to an open letter issued one day earlier by the city’s Foreign Correspondents’ Club, which called on both the U.S. and Chinese governments to stop “using journalists’ visas as a weapon in international disputes and…taking action against journalists for the decisions made by their home countries.”“This downward spiral of retaliatory actions aimed at journalists helps no one, not least of all the public that needs accurate, professionally produced information now more than ever,” said the letter.Unusual delays in issuance of visasThe club added that several media outlets in Hong Kong have experienced unusual delays in getting new or renewed visas for journalists working in the city. The latest journalist visa drama will surely escalate U.S.-China tensions and invite retaliation from China, which will pose a new threat to American journalists working in China, two analysts told VOA.Since early this year, the two countries have clashed over media exchanges. In mid-February, the U.S. State Department listed five U.S.-based Chinese media outlets as foreign embassies since they work for the Communist government’s propaganda efforts and in March ordered them to reduce the number of Chinese journalists on staff from 160 to 100. China later retaliated by expelling Beijing-based U.S. journalists working at three American newspapers — The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post. US Newspapers Call on China to Reverse Expulsion of JournalistsPublishers of three US newspapers urge China to reverse the expulsion of an about a dozen of their journalists, calling the move ‘uniquely damaging and reckless’ at a time when the world is sharing the burden of fighting the coronavirusJournalistic tit-for-tatIn May, the U.S. hit back by shortening the validity period of visas for Chinese journalists to a maximum of 90 days.According to Global Times, one of its U.S.-based reporters has filed to extend the 90-day limit after her visa expired on Thursday. Her application is neither rejected nor approved.The journalist said she is allowed to stay in the U.S. for another 90 days until early November, but not allowed to work unless her visa is renewed, the report added. Ross Feingold, a Taipei-based political analyst, described the media tit-for-tat as just one facet of escalating Sino-U.S. tensions.“Like everything else in the bilateral relationship, it’s one among many different issues whether it’s trade, or human rights in China or Taiwan, South China sea, technology industries, being one that’s in the news in recent days as well,” Feingold said. Change is required“So, it’s on the agenda that the United States identifies as something that requires a change,” he added.Feingold said the U.S. actions are based on years of frustration over unequal restrictions China has placed on American diplomats and journalists working in China while China’s government-funded media propagandists face no such restrictions in the U.S.There is, however, little sign that the Communist government in Beijing is interested in taking in criticism or changing its journalistic practice, said Cédric Alviani, head of Reporters Without Borders’s (RSF) East Asia bureau in Taipei. While denouncing U.S. President Donald Trump’s repeated attacks on journalists, Alviani added that any government’s move to limit the influence of state propaganda and disinformation – which the Chinese state media are openly engaged in – isn’t an erosion of press freedom.Reporter’s Notebook: Press Freedom is First Casualty in US-China Media War American journalists lose a vital resource as Beijing retaliates against Washington and bans Chinese from working for US media Media as collateral?But an anticipated media war, in which the U.S. and Chinese governments simply use journalists as a collateral to fight each other, should not be encouraged, he said. “It’s normal that the U.S. democracy would try and limit the influence of the propaganda media within its borders. But by using the impression that it is some kind of war using the media as a collateral, somehow, it’s posing a new threat to foreign journalists based in China,” Alviani told VOA.The level of hostility between the Chinese and Americans over recent media exchange policies is also rising. Most Chinese netizens on Weibo, China’s Twitter-like microblogging site, expressed negative views toward the U.S. actions against Chinese media.For example, one netizen wrote, “What’s there to be afraid of. Let’s take the opportunity to kick all American journalists in Hong Kong out since they are very mean” in response to a news report on Thursday.In a Twitter post, famed U.S. author Gordon Chang, author of “The Coming Collapse of China,” Tuesday responded to Hu’s threat of China’s retaliation by saying, “Retaliate all you want…Your China can’t get along without us. We, however, can get along without you. In fact, we would be far better off without you. So leave.”
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More Than 100 Boko Haram, Captives Surrender Along Cameroon-Nigeria Border
More than 100 Boko Haram and their captives, almost all Nigerians, have fled the group in the past two weeks, according to the Multinational Joint Task Force fighting the Islamist militants.Thirty-four-year-old Nigerian Kharim Kalga is among 109 people who have surrendered to the task force since late July. Kalga said he has not seen his two wives and five children in the two years since he joined the Islamist militant group because they kept him captive.He said he was living in poverty when Boko Haram fighters promised to give him a motorcycle to earn money for his family, so he joined the group. He said he was forced to steal cattle and millet from villages surrounding the militant group’s camp in Nigeria. Kalga said he surrendered to the military because Boko Haram did not fulfill its promise to give him a motorcycle.The task force is holding the former Boko Haram fighters and captives at their base in Cameroon’s northern town of Mora, near the border with Nigeria.Among them are 45 Nigerian and three Cameroonian former fighters, 45 Nigerian children and 16 women who were being used as sex slaves.Major General Ibrahim Manu Yusuf, the Nigerian-born commander of the MultiNational Task Force, is seen in Mora, Cameroon, Aug. 7, 2020. (Moki Edwin Kindzeka/VOA)Commander of the Multinational Joint Task Force Major General Ibrahim Manu Yusuf said the Nigerians are all from Borno state, a Boko Haram stronghold.A campaign calling for Boko Haram members to surrender and be pardoned has helped in the fight, Yusuf said.”As professional armies, we always open this window for those who wish to come up and surrender,” he said. “You know the narrative in the Boko Haram enclave is that if you come out, soldiers will kill you, and based on the way they are being treated, the way they are being managed, they kept calling on their other colleagues to turn over themselves.”The governments of Cameroon and Nigeria will decide whether the former Boko Haram members will remain in Cameroon or go back to Nigeria.Rehabilitation centerMeanwhile, the former militants were handed over to the Cameroon Center for Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration.Oumar Bichair, head of the Cameroon Center for Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration, is seen in Mora, Cameroon, Aug. 7, 2020. (Moki Edwin Kindzeka/VOA)The Mora-based center was created in 2019 to rehabilitate 100 ex-militants at a time, but currently hosts more than 250. Center director Oumar Bichair said he needs more resources to rehabilitate the increasing numbers fleeing Boko Haram.The government of Cameroon should provide more housing and workers, especially psychosocial caregivers, Bichair said, adding that the center also needs more workers who can train ex-fighters with skills such as farming, carpentry, and raising fish and livestock.The Multinational Joint Task Force fighting the Islamist militants is made up of troops from Benin, Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria.The U.N. says the decade-long conflict with Boko Haram has left 30,000 people dead and displaced more than 3 million throughout the region.
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US Adds 1.8 Million Jobs in Sign Hiring Has Slowed
The United States added 1.8 million jobs in July, a pullback from the gains of May and June and evidence that the resurgent coronavirus is stalling hiring and slowing an economic rebound.With confirmed viral cases still elevated in much of the nation and businesses under continued pressure, many employers appear reluctant or unable to hire. Even counting the hiring of the past three months, the economy has now recovered only about 42% of the 22 million jobs it lost to the pandemic-induced recession, according to the Labor Department’s jobs report released Friday.The unemployment rate did decline in July from 11.1% to 10.2%, though that still exceeds the highest rate during the 2008-2009 Great Recession.The acceleration of the viral outbreak that began in late June more than doubled the daily U.S. confirmed case count by mid-July, though the rate of new reported cases has since declined. The outbreaks have led many states and cities to close bars and other businesses for a second time and have dampened confidence, causing many consumers to continue limiting their shopping, traveling, eating out and gathering in crowds.July’s job gain was much lower than June’s 4.8 million and May’s 2.7 million jobs, both of which were revised slightly.The economy is struggling to emerge from the devastating recession that caused the economy to shrink at a nearly 33% annual rate in the April-June quarter, the worst quarterly fall on record. Employers slashed their work forces, consumers cut spending and corporations pulled back on investment and expansion.The economy has since started to grow again, and many economists have forecast a solid rebound in the July-September quarter, though not nearly enough to offset the second quarter’s dizzying fall.
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Widely Seen as Warning Shot, Russia Court Sentences Young Activists for Extremism
A Moscow court convicted 7 young Russians on extremism charges Thursday — sentencing several of the group to lengthy prison sentences in a closely watched case that seemed to encapsulate the limits of political youth activism in today’s Russia. Prosecutors argued that the defendants — most in their teens and 20’s — had organized an illegal online extremist chat group called “The New Greatness” with the intent of overthrowing the government in 2018. The accused all denied the charges and said evidence was fabricated.Indeed, to critics, the case was the latest example of the government’s abuse of Russia’s vague anti-extremism laws — and subservient court system — to crush perceived political rivals through any means necessary. The state’s case was marred by credible accusations of torture and entrapment by Russia’s Federal Security Services, or FSB. The government’s key witness was an undercover FSB agent named “Ruslan D” who prosecutors say infiltrated the group to learn of their plans. Throughout the trial, the accused countered that the agent himself concocted “The New Greatness” label and pushed a radical political agenda to the other participants in an otherwise largely apolitical group chat. Supporting government evidence came from an additional suspect in the case — Pavel Rebrovsky, who later cut a plea deal with investigators and was given a two-and-a-half-year prison sentence in April 2019. Rebrovsky has since rescinded his testimony — saying it was given under pressure from state investigators.The judge cited Rebrovsky’s initial confession as proof of the group’s guilt, nonetheless.Authorities also promoted the group’s guilt by releasing a video confession from another defendant, Ruslan Kostylenkov. Kostylenkov, 29, later retracted the statement explaining he had been coerced through torture and rape while in custody. He was given the harshest sentence — a 7-year prison term. Two others were given 6.5- and 6-year prison terms. The remaining accused were handed suspended sentences, including Anna Pavlikova, who was a 17-year old high school student when the case began. Lawyers for all said they would appeal the ruling. Acquittals are exceedingly rare in Russia, with conviction rates hovering at over 99% in criminal trials.FSB Unbound Outside the courthouse, several hundred supporters — most of them younger Russians — gathered and shouted chants of “Not guilty!” and “Let them go!” While inside the courtroom, the defendants were forced to stand for 4 hours as the judge read his verdict in a hushed whisper. The case was widely seen as the latest legal warning shot against youth dabbling in politics — particularly as the Kremlin has increasingly struggled to gain support among a generation that has essentially known one leader, Vladimir Putin, for their entire lives. In February, a court sentenced a group of young leftist activists to lengthy prison terms for running an “anarchist terrorist” cell called “The Network.” The case was similarly tainted by allegations of fabricated evidence and torture at the hands of the federal security services.
Russian Leftist Activists Convicted of Terrorism ChargesA military court in the western city of Penza gives seven members of a left-wing group prison terms of up to 18 years on terrorism charges human rights groups call fabricatedAnd, like in The New Greatness trial, the group’s goal was allegedly ending President Vladimir Putin’s rule. The initial arrests in The New Greatness occurred in March 2018, just days before Putin was elected to a new 6-year term. “It was a gift to the president from the FSB,” said Alina Danilina, whose boyfriend, 22-year old law student Vyachaslav Kryukov, was sentenced to six years. “It’s a catastrophe,” she added about Thursday’s ruling. “The worst happened.” “There is no evidence, no objective reason for my involvement in this case,” wrote Kryukov in a statement provided to VOA ahead of the verdict. “It feels extremely strange that they accused me of things I’ve always opposed. Extremism stands for hatred and violence — I’ve never been like that.” Indeed, the case seemed to point to a security apparatus untethered — with many voicing suspicion agents were inventing threats simply to justify their continued existence and generous state funding.“These people have to do something to prove their effectiveness. So they forge these fake cases to show there is extremism and they are doing an important job,” said Alexey Minyaylo, 35, a political activist who himself was arrested and faced charges of “inciting riots” against the government during a charged election season in 2019. “They know how to beat out a confession,” he tells VOA in an interview. “What they don’t know is how to gather evidence. And this is especially true when there is nothing to find.”“It’s a security service out of control,” said Nikolai Svanidze, a veteran journalist who sits on Russia’s Presidential Human Rights Council, in an interview outside the courthouse. “It means any provocateur can give false testimony and make an honest person guilty,” added Svanidze, while noting similarities to the worst of Russia’s Soviet-era repressions. “The scale is different, but the principles are the same.” Torture Allegations The grim nature of the torture allegations were front and center throughout the trial — even if judge refused to acknowledge them or investigate the charges. In October of last year, Kostylenkov and Kryukov slit their wrists during a courtroom hearing — the two of them yelling “This is an unfair trial” and “Freedom for political prisoners” before being rushed to hospital. “Their nerves couldn’t handle it anymore,” said Kostylenkov’s lawyer, Svetlana Sidorkina at the time. “All the evidence proves that they didn’t commit a crime.”Kostylenkov later detailed horror at the hands of FSB agents. In a letter written to a friend last March but only released to the media during the final phase of the trial, he said he had been beaten and sexually assaulted with a kitchen mallet to gain his confession. ndeed, the violence hovering over the case was captured in a stunt before the day’s final verdict: Activists dressed as police slit the throat of a mannequin dressed as Christ — spraying red paint on supporters before being detained by security officers. Meanwhile, Kira Yegorova, an actress, showed up to give a more low-key performance — she was holding a teddy bear. “The state is destroying our children,” she tells VOA. And yet — for some — the trial has meant there was also fast growing up to do. Kryukov’s girlfriend, Alina Danilina 23, announced the verdict meant that she and Vyachaslav Kryukov were getting married. “It’s the only way I can visit him in prison,” she tells VOA. “We’ve lost for now,” she added. “But I will fight until the end.”
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US Approaches 4.9 Million COVID Cases, More Than Any Other Country
The number of COVID-19 cases around the world continues its steady climb with more than 19.1 million infections, according to Johns Hopkins University. The U.S. continues to have more cases than any place else with nearly 4.9 million, followed by Brazil with 2.9 million and India with two million.
According to Johns Hopkins University, there were more than 2,000 COVID-19 deaths in the United States over the past 24 hours as of Thursday night – the highest one-day number since early May.Vaccine prospects
The top U.S. infectious disease expert says the world will never be able to eradicate the coronavirus, but he is hopeful hundreds of millions of doses of vaccine could be available by the end of this year. “There will be, I think, enough vaccine if everything turns out to be successful,” Dr. Anthony Fauci told VOA contributor Greta Van Susteren. “To get vaccine not only to the countries that are the classical rich countries but those who are low and middle income that would not be able to readily have access to a vaccine. That’s what we’re hoping to do.” But Fauci has said in the past that there’s no guarantee a vaccine will give long-term protection against COVID-19 since it is a new coronavirus and scientists are still learning about it. In a separate interview with Reuters, Fauci said the reason the virus will never go away is because of its “highly transmissible” nature. But he said with “the combination of a good vaccine and attention to public health measures … then I think we can get behind this.”Student suspended for posting mask-less gathering online
At least one student was suspended at a high school in the southern U.S. state of Georgia for posting a photograph online of a crowded hallway, showing most of the students not wearing masks. Hannah Watters, the 15-year-old Georgia high school student who was suspended for sharing photos of packed hallways at her school, said on Friday that her suspension had been “deleted.” “To everyone supporting me, I can’t thank you enough,” she tweeted. FILE – Ohio Governor Mike DeWine speaks during an interview at the Governor’s Residence in Columbus, Ohio, Dec. 13, 2019.Ohio governor tests positive, then negative
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, a Republican, canceled plans to meet with President Donald Trump in Cleveland on Thursday when he got word that he had tested positive for COVID-19 and immediately went into quarantine. In a second more sensitive COVID-19 test administered later Thursday in Columbus, DeWine tested negative for the coronavirus, according to the governor’s office.International travel restrictions liftedThe U.S. State Department and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lifted the recommendation to Americans to avoid all global travel and replaced it with a number of high-level warnings against heading to individual nations. “With health and safety conditions improving in some countries and potentially deteriorating in others, the department is returning to our previous system of country-specific levels of travel advice,” the State Department said. Thirty countries are on the Level Four “Do Not Travel” list, including India, Russia, Egypt, Libya, Honduras and Kazakhstan.Vietnam, Liberia, Armenia, the Philippines and the entire European Union are in the Level 3: Reconsider Travel category, even though the E.U. is currently closed to Americans. Travel Safely Ambassador Carlos Hernandez hands out face masks to an airline passenger at LAX airport, as the global outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues, in Los Angeles, California.Discussions about European travel
The U.S. and E.U. are in talks to allow Americans to once again visit Europe. In Europe, Britain has added Andorra, the Bahamas and Belgium to the list of countries whose visitors must enter a 14-day quarantine when arriving in the U.K.And Norwegian Prime Minister Ern Solberg said the country is canceling plans to ease coronavirus restrictions because of a slight rise in the number of cases.“We need to slow down now to avoid a full stop down the road,” Solberg told reporters Thursday.Among the measures that are now suspended was a plan to allow some travel from several non-European countries, which has been banned since March.
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Trump Orders Bans on 2 Chinese Apps, Citing Security Concerns
U.S. President Donald Trump Thursday ordered sweeping bans on two Chinese consumer apps.He ordered the bans prohibiting U.S. companies from doing business with ByteDance, the owner of the video-sharing app TikTok, and Tencent, the owner of the messenger app WeChat. The executive orders targeting the Chinese companies go into effect in 45 days.Whether Trump has the legal authority for such actions is not immediately clear, analysts said.The move comes amid data collection and privacy concerns the Trump administration and U.S. lawmakers have expressed about the apps. However, no evidence has been cited to support the claims.Both companies have said they do not share their data with the Chinese government.“I am the first to yell from the rooftops when there is a glaring privacy issue somewhere,” mobile security expert Will Strafach told The Associated Press last month. ”But we just have not found anything we could call a smoking gun in TikTok.”Analysts said they expect China to retaliate.Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday that the U.S. would not allow U.S. stores to sell Chinese apps because of security concerns.Millions of people around the world use the two apps.
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Thai Protesters Demand Drastic Changes in Political System
Protesters in Thailand are pressing on with their demands for the dissolution of parliament, new elections and changing the constitution.Leaders said Friday they would step up pressure on the government of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha if it failed to act on changes.”(Our demands) are clear enough for the government to hear and follow,” said protest leader Tattep Ruangprapaikitseree. “To set up a committee to have hearings is like an act. It’s like a show with no meaning. Is it to buy time? They think that we will disappear. They believe that we will fade away. So, they set up this committee to buy time. But the fact is we want real change. We want to send our demands to those with powers to make decisions, not to some rubber stamp committee.”Meeting in front of Bangkok’s iconic Democracy Monument, eight leaders of the Free People Movement, formerly known as Free Youth, announced plans for a big rally on August 16.Protesters held signs reading: “Constitution needed to be amended. Democracy must come from the people” and “We don’t hate our nation. We hate dictatorship. No coup.”Prayuth said early this week he will consider protester’s demands, but protest leader Tattep suggested the premier’s statement was just a delaying tactic, as the prime minister is unlikely to agree to dissolve parliament or call new elections.After more than five years of relative calm since a military coup in 2014, anti-government protests have erupted again, mostly on school and university campuses in the capital Bangkok and other Thai cities.Protesters, majority of them young people, are highly dissatisfied with the current administration.A former army chief, Prayuth first took power in 2014, then held a tight grip on it through the 2019 elections, widely seen as manipulated in his favor.
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Mexico Megachurch Leader Remains Jailed
Bail for the leader of a Mexican megachurch nearly doubled to $90 million after prosecutors expanded charges against him, including child rape, and possession of child pornography.The new bail ruling by a Los Angeles judge ensures Naason Joaquin Garcia, of the Guadalajara-based La Luz del Mundo church (Light of the World church) will remain in custody until his trial.Garcia, who says he has a million followers worldwide, was initially jailed on sex crimes charges last year with a $50 million bail.The attorney general’s office of California filed dozens of new felony charges, including rape, against Garcia and two co-defendants last week
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Russia’s Race for Virus Vaccine Raises Concerns in the West
Russia boasts that it’s about to become the first country to approve a COVID-19 vaccine, with mass vaccinations planned as early as October using shots that are yet to complete clinical trials — and scientists worldwide are sounding the alarm that the headlong rush could backfire.Moscow sees a Sputnik-like propaganda victory, recalling the Soviet Union’s launch of the world’s first satellite in 1957. But the experimental COVID-19 shots began first-in-human testing on a few dozen people less than two months ago, and there’s no published scientific evidence yet backing Russia’s late entry to the global vaccine race, much less explaining why it should be considered a front-runner.“I’m worried that Russia is cutting corners so that the vaccine that will come out may be not just ineffective, but also unsafe,” said Lawrence Gostin, a global public health law expert at Georgetown University. “It doesn’t work that way. … Trials come first. That’s really important.”According to Kirill Dmitriev, head of Russia’s Direct Investment Fund that bankrolled the effort, a vaccine developed by the Gamaleya research institute in Moscow may be approved in days, before scientists complete what’s called a Phase 3 study. That final-stage study, usually involving tens of thousands of people, is the only way to prove if an experimental vaccine is safe and really works.Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said members of “risk groups,” such as medical workers, may be offered the vaccine this month. He didn’t clarify whether they would be part of the Phase 3 study that is said to be completed after the vaccine receives “conditional approval.”Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova promised to start “industrial production” in September, and Murashko said mass vaccination may begin as early as October.In this photo made from footage provided by the Russian Defense Ministry on July 15, 2020, a group of volunteers participating in a coronavirus vaccine trial pose for a photo as they leave the Budenko Main Military Hospital outside Moscow, Russia.Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious disease specialist, questioned the fast-track approach last week. “I do hope that the Chinese and the Russians are actually testing a vaccine before they are administering the vaccine to anyone, because claims of having a vaccine ready to distribute before you do testing I think is problematic at best,” he said.Questions about this vaccine candidate come after the U.S., Britain and Canada last month accused Russia of using hackers to steal vaccine research from Western labs.Delivering a vaccine first is a matter of national prestige for the Kremlin as it tries to assert the image of Russia as a global power capable of competing with the U.S. and China. The notion of being “the first in the world” dominated state news coverage of the effort, with government officials praising reports of the first-step testing.In April, President Vladimir Putin ordered state officials to shorten the time of clinical trials for a variety of drugs, including potential coronavirus vaccines.According to Russia’s Association of Clinical Trials Organizations, the order set “an unattainable bar” for scientists who, as a result, “joined in on the mad race, hoping to please those at power.”The association first raised concern in late May, when professor Alexander Gintsburg, head of the Gamaleya institute, said he and other researchers tried the vaccine on themselves.The move was a “crude violation of the very foundations of clinical research, Russian law and universally accepted international regulations” the group said in an open letter to the government, urging scientists and health officials to adhere to clinical research standards.But a month later, the Health Ministry authorized clinical trials of the Gamaleya product, with what appeared to be another ethical issue.Human studies started June 17 among 76 volunteers. Half were injected with a vaccine in liquid form and the other half with a vaccine that came as soluble powder. Some in the first half were recruited from the military, which raised concerns that servicemen may have been pressured to participate.Some experts said their desire to perform well would affect the findings. “It’s no coincidence media reports we see about the trials among the military said no one had any side effects, while the (other group) reported some,” said Vasily Vlassov, a public health expert with Moscow’s Higher School of Economics.As the trials were declared completed and looming regulatory approval was announced last week, questions arose about the vaccine’s safety and effectiveness. Government assurances the drug produced the desired immune response and caused no significant side effects were hardly convincing without published scientific data describing the findings.The World Health Organization said all vaccine candidates should go through full stages of testing before being rolled out. “There are established practices and there are guidelines out,” WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier said Tuesday. “Between finding or having a clue of maybe having a vaccine that works, and having gone through all the stages, is a big difference.”In this photo made from footage provided by the Russian Defense Ministry on July 15, 2020, medical workers look at volunteers participating in a coronavirus vaccine trial as they leave the Budenko Main Military Hospital outside Moscow, Russia.Offering an unsafe compound to medical workers on the front lines of the outbreak could make things worse, Georgetown’s Gostin said, adding: “What if the vaccine started killing them or making them very ill?”Vaccines that are not properly tested can cause harm in many ways — from a negative impact on health to creating a false sense of security or undermining trust in vaccinations, said Thomas Bollyky, director of the global health program at the Council on Foreign Relations.“It takes several years to develop any drug,” said Svetlana Zavidova, executive director of Russia’s Association of Clinical Trials Organizations. “Selling something the Gamaleya (institute) tested on 76 volunteers during Phase 1-2 trials as a finished product is just not serious.”Russia has not yet published any scientific data from its first clinical trials. The WHO’s list of vaccine candidates in human testing still lists the Gamaleya product as in Phase 1 trials.It uses a different virus — the common cold-causing adenovirus — that’s been modified to carry genes for the “spike” protein that coats the coronavirus, as a way to prime the body to recognize if a real COVID-19 infection comes along. That’s like vaccines being developed by China’s CanSino Biologics and Britain’s Oxford University and AstraZeneca.It’s not the first controversial vaccine Russia developed. Putin mentioned earlier this year that Russian scientists delivered an Ebola vaccine that “proved to be the most effective in the world” and “made a real contribution to fighting the Ebola fever in Africa.”Russia’s Health Ministry authorized two Ebola vaccines for domestic use — one in 2015 and another one in 2018 — but there is little evidence either was widely used in Africa.People wearing face masks and gloves to protect against coronavirus come through passages equipped with disinfectant sprays at a shopping mall entrance in Moscow, Russia, Aug. 3, 2020.In 2019, the WHO considered the 2015 vaccine along with several others for use in Congo but didn’t pick it. It pointed out that it had been approved for emergency use after Phase 1 and 2 trials, but not Phase 3. According to ClinicalTrials.Gov, a website maintained by the U.S. National Institutes of Health, a study among 2,000 people in Guinea and Russia was still ongoing last month.The 2018 Ebola vaccine, according to the WHO, was tested on 300 volunteers in Russia and completed all three phases. The Associated Press couldn’t find any records of the studies in the Health Ministry’s registry of approved clinical trials. As of 2019, both Ebola vaccines were listed by the WHO as “candidate vaccines.”Russia’s Health Ministry did not respond to numerous requests for comment, and the Gamaleya institute referred an interview request to the ministry.It remains unclear whether Phase 3 trials, said to be carried out after the COVID-19 vaccine receives “conditional approval,” will wrap up by October, when health officials plan to start mass vaccinations, and how trustworthy the results will be. The study will supposedly involve 1,600 participants — 800 for each of the two forms of the vaccine; in comparison, a similar Phase 3 trial in the U.S. includes 30,000 people.According to Dmitriev, countries including Brazil and India have expressed interest in the vaccine.For Lawrence Gostin, this is another cause for concern.“There may be many people in the world who don’t care about the ethics and just want the vaccine,” he said.
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