Fifteen Asian and Pacific countries Sunday signed the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement on the sidelines of the annual Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit.The agreement, signed virtually, creates the largest trading bloc in the world and includes about a third of global economic activity.Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc chaired the summit.”And I am delighted to say that after eight years of hard work, as of today, we have officially brought RCEP negotiation to a conclusion for signing,” he said.Phuc added that the agreement will help global and regional economies cope with the obstacles and challenges arising from COVID-19 and the resulting decrease in global trade.“The conclusion of RCEP negotiation, the largest free trade agreement in the world, will send a strong message that affirms ASEAN’s leading role in supporting the multilateral trading system, creating a new trading structure in the region, enabling sustainable trade facilitation, revitalizing the supply chains disrupted by COVID-19 and assisting the post pandemic recovery,” he said.The deal, which was first proposed in 2012, will lower tariffs on trade among the signatories and opens services trade.RCEP includes the 10 ASEAN countries plus China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand, but not the United States.Analysts see the accord as offering huge advantage for China in extending its influence.
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Month: November 2020
Political Polling Once Again Under Microscope
Frank Luntz is a noted Republican political pollster. In the days before the Nov. 3 election, he said if the 2020 pre-election polls were wrong again, “my profession is done.”In the days after the election, Luntz said the results are “devastating for my industry.”“The polls were really bad this time and really misleading, and I’m not sure why,” said Elaine Kamarck, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.In 2016, the pre-election polls of individual states were off quite a bit, showing Democrat Hillary Clinton ahead of Republican Donald Trump in key states that Trump eventually won. Pollsters failed to adequately account for education levels and underestimated Trump’s support among whites without a college education.Undercounting Trump’s supportPollsters acknowledged the shortcomings and said they adjusted how they weigh education levels for the 2020 election. But there appears to have been a similar undercount of Trump supporters during the run-up to the latest election.“We are missing some small set of Trump supporters, who are not necessarily Republicans, but who are declining to take part in the survey systematically,” said Charles Franklin, director of the Marquette Law School Poll in Wisconsin.In 2016, the Marquette Poll had Clinton up 6 percentage points in Wisconsin. Trump won by 1 percentage point. “This time we have the right winner, and we’re off by 3 or 4 depending on turnout,” Franklin explained.Biden won Wisconsin by 20,000 votes, a 0.63 percentage point lead over Trump. The Marquette Poll showed Biden 5 percentage points up on Trump a week before the election.Key states that were off the pre-election polling averages by 5 or more percentage points were Wisconsin (7 percentage points), Iowa (7), Florida (6), Michigan (5), Ohio (5) and Texas (5). Trump won four of those states – all but Michigan.Unrealistic expectations?Nate Silver, editor in chief of FiveThirtyEight, a website that analyzes polling data, pushes back on the notion that the polls were wrong, writing that polls accurately called 48 of the 50 states along with the winner of the Electoral College and popular vote, Joe Biden.There is an underlying possibility of error in any poll. Most of the polls used in the presidential polling averages allowed for a polling error of 3 to 4 percentage points either way. Silver says polling’s 3 to 4 percentage point underestimate of Trump’s vote is within historical standards, and the public has to adjust expectations that “demand(ed) an unrealistic level of precision” of polling.“The polls set expectations too high for Democrats,” said Bill Schneider, professor at the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University. Schneider, a longtime political analyst for CNN, said Democrats “ended up doing worse than expected.”Many experts point to declining response rates to telephone polling as a problem in getting it right. They are also finding that Democrats are likelier to respond to polling inquiries than Republicans.For campaigns that depend on polling to make decisions about resource allocation, “they have to go back to an old-fashioned way before we had polling,” said Kamarck, who is also a member of the Democratic National Committee. She said having people on the ground to canvass “precinct by precinct, county by county, state by state” may be the way voter research is conducted in the future.“The state-by-state polls that they did this time in order to make up for the problems they had four years ago really have been wildly off,” Kamarck said.And regarding Frank Luntz’s prediction about his profession if there was a repeat of 2016? “Frankie may be out of business,” Kamarck remarked.
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Will Mask-Wearing Outlast the Pandemic?
A year ago, if you saw someone wearing a mask, you might assume they were sick or maybe even a little weird or paranoid. Today, thanks to the pandemic, wearing a mask to prevent the spread of COVID-19 is the new normal for many Americans.Thirty-four states and the District of Columbia require people to FILE – Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams, left, bumps elbows at Sergio’s Restaurant in Doral, Florida, July 23, 2020.Not all Americans have adopted mask-wearing, especially not those who view masks through a political lens. But pandemics have changed public habits in the past. Wearing a face covering is much more common in East Asia since the outbreak of FILE – Barbers Johnny ‘Geo’ Sanchez, left, and Alberto Sagentin, rear, cut hair in the Little Havana neighborhood of Miami, May 21, 2020.“I can see how, in the future, especially during the cold and flu seasons, people are going to step away from it saying, ‘Hey, listen, let’s just wave, let’s bow to each other, let’s do a namaste. Let’s do something different,” he says. “So yeah, I think there’s going to be a cultural shift with the handshake.”Overall, Americans might be less touchy-feely, according to Dr. Aaron Glatt, spokesperson for the FILE – A shopper wears a mask and gloves to protect against coronavirus as he shops at a grocery store in Mount Prospect, Illinois, May 13, 2020.“When you go through something like a pandemic, regardless of how you feel politically, it is a fairly scary and unpredictable event. And I do feel like certain habits that we’ve picked up, like hygiene habits, are likely to stick on some level of moving forward,” says Mathema of Columbia University.“Some of these habits that we’ve learned, like washing our hands, including mask-wearing, for that matter, disinfecting surfaces, some of these habits will likely sort of continue on,” he says.And that could be one of the pandemic’s silver linings.“I think there’s a heightened sense of awareness of how certain illnesses can be spread,” says Glatt of IDSA. “People won’t accept … uncleanliness or poor hygiene, and they may wipe things down where in the past they would have not thought to do so. They may be a little bit more careful washing their hands.”Industries might also change. More businesses have gone paperless and contactless during the pandemic; there are fewer receipts to sign, restaurants have dropped paper menus, and airlines have new cleaning and air filtration standards.“I see that being the more important component, where the service side of the world is basically going to say, ‘We learned that cleanliness is important, that disinfection is important, and we’ll continue doing that in the workplace,’” says Lushniak of the University of Maryland. “It’s those types of practices that I think people will be looking for and, in fact, specific industries may be advertising, saying, ‘Hey, we do it this way, why don’t you come into our place versus some other place?’”FILE – Hand sanitizer sits on a cart as Des Moines Public Schools custodian Tracy Harris cleans a chair at Brubaker Elementary School, July 8, 2020, in Des Moines, Iowa.Another long-term impact of the pandemic could be more people staying at home when they are sick.“What we’ve learned about here is the beauty of, not in everybody’s circumstance, but the world of telework has really opened up new opportunities for us to say, ‘Listen, you know, right now I’m not feeling well.’ It used to be that that was always a sign of weakness,” Lushniak says.In a post-pandemic world, staying home might be more likely to be viewed as a courtesy to fellow commuters and coworkers, and an effort to stop the spread of disease.
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Army Identifies 5 Americans Killed in Egypt Helicopter Crash
Five American soldiers killed in a helicopter crash this week while on a peacekeeping mission in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula included one who left behind a wife pregnant with their daughter.The soldiers were part of an international force that monitors the four-decade-old Israeli-Egyptian peace agreement. The Multinational Force and Observers said the soldiers were on a routine mission when the Black Hawk helicopter crashed Thursday near Sharm el-Sheikh, a popular Egyptian resort on the Red Sea.A French peacekeeper and Czech officer also were killed, and a sixth American on the helicopter was injured.The Army said the cause of the crash is still under investigation. On the day of the crash, the MFO said at that point there were no signs of an attack and it appeared to have been an accident.The Army identified the dead as Capt. Seth Vernon Vandekamp, 31, from Katy, Texas; Chief Warrant Officer 3 Dallas Gearld Garza, 34, from Fayetteville, North Carolina; Chief Warrant Officer 2 Marwan Sameh Ghabour, 27, from Marlborough, Massachusetts; Staff Sgt. Kyle Robert McKee, 35, from Painesville, Ohio; and Sgt. Jeremy Cain Sherman, 23, from Watseka, Illinois.McKee, who’d served as a crew chief in Iraq, Afghanistan and Korea, was the father of two boys, 11 and 3. His wife, Nikki, is due to deliver their daughter “at any time,” said McKee’s father, Steve McKee.Because of the pandemic, Kyle McKee was unable to be with his wife for the birth, and remained on duty in Egypt, his father said.Thirteen countries contribute troops to the peacekeeping force, with the United States making up the largest contingent. The responsibilities include monitoring troop levels along the border and ensuring the freedom of navigation through the Strait of Tiran.
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Federal Judge: Wolf’s DACA Rules Invalid
A federal judge in New York ruled Saturday that Chad Wolf, the acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, could not suspend a program that shields from deportation people who were brought to the country illegally as children because he was not lawfully appointed.Last July, Wolf wrote a memo launching a review of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. In addition to rejecting new applications during that time, his agency would allow current participants to renew their status and work permits for only one year instead of the previous two-year periods.However, U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis ruled Saturday that “DHS failed to follow the order of succession as it was lawfully designated. Therefore, the actions taken by purported Acting Secretaries, who were not properly in their roles according to the lawful order of succession, were taken without legal authority.”FILE – Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf is sworn in before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee during his confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Sept. 23, 2020.Garaufis cited a Government Accountability Office report to Congress in August that found that Wolf and his acting deputy, Ken Cuccinelli, were improperly serving and ineligible to run the agency under the Vacancies Reform Act.Karen Tumlin, an attorney who represented a plaintiff in one of two lawsuits that challenged Wolf’s authority, told the Associated Press the ruling was “another win for DACA recipients and those who have been waiting years to apply for the program for the first time.”DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the ruling, the AP said.Effort to end programPresident Donald Trump tried to end the DACA program that was enacted in 2012 by his predecessor, President Barack Obama, but the Supreme Court ruled in June that the Trump administration did not follow proper procedures in shutting it down.There are more than 650,000 people who are part of DACA. To qualify, they had to have come to the United States before their 16th birthday, been in the country continuously since mid-2007, be under age 31 in mid-2012, have no felony or significant misdemeanor convictions, pose no national security threat, and either have either a high school diploma, be enrolled in school or have a record of service in the U.S. military.FILE – President Barack Obama meets with a group of “dreamers” who have received Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals protection at the White House in Washington, Feb. 4, 2015.The Obama administration argued that those who qualified were people who lacked a legal immigration status through no fault of their own, in many cases knew only the United States as home and were contributing to the country.Obama called the program a “stopgap” measure meant to protect the immigrants from deportation and urged Congress to enact fixes to what he called a “broken immigration system.”Wolf noted in his memo that Congress has not taken any action on the issue and said there has arguably been “more than sufficient time to consider affording permanent status or immigration relief to the class of aliens covered by the policy.”President-elect Joe Biden, who served as Obama’s vice president, said he would protect the group of immigrants nicknamed “Dreamers” and give them and other undocumented immigrants in the United States a pathway to citizenship.
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Rockets Hit Airports in Eritrea’s Capital, Ethiopia’s Amhara State
Three rockets were fired Saturday at the Eritrean capital, Asmara, diplomats said, hours after the leaders of Ethiopia’s Tigray region warned it might attack.The rockets appeared to be aimed at the capital’s airport. Information about damage or deaths was not available, and Tigray regional officials did not respond to requests for comment.On Tuesday, Debretsion Gebremichael, the leader of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), accused Eritrea of sending troops across the border in support of Ethiopian government forces, which Eritrea’s Foreign Minister Osman Saleh Mohammed denied, telling Reuters: “We are not part of the conflict.”Eritrea has long been at odds with the TPLF, experts said, and they fear it could be drawn into the conflict between the TPLF and Ethiopia’s federal government.Airports targetedLate Friday, Tigray fired rockets at two airports in the nearby Amhara region, the Ethiopian and Tigray regional governments said.In a statement on Tigray TV, the Tigray regional government said attacks would continue “unless the attacks against us stop.”The federal government confirmed the attacks, saying in a statement, “A rocket was fired towards Bahir Dar & Gondar cities. As a result, the airport areas have sustained damages.”FILE – Members of Amhara region militias ride on their truck as they head to face the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, in Sanja, Amhara region near a border with Tigray, Ethiopia, Nov. 9, 2020.The Ethiopian army has been battling local forces in the neighboring northern Tigray region for more than a week. Hundreds have been killed since Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sent the national defense force into Tigray November 4, after accusing local forces there of attacking a military base.More than 14,500 Ethiopians have fled to Sudan, and the U.N. refugee agency says more people are on their way.On Friday, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet expressed alarm at the rapidly deteriorating situation in Tigray.Her spokesman, Rupert Colville, said Bachelet was particularly disturbed by an Amnesty International report of alleged mass killings in the town of Mai-Kadra in southwest Tigray.Grisly deathsAmnesty said photographs and videos of the scene indicated hundreds of people had been stabbed or hacked to death. It said the victims appeared to have been day laborers, who were not involved in military operations.The Tigray People’s Liberation Front denied that scores or hundreds of people had been “hacked to death” in Mai-Kadra.Colville said the high commissioner was fearful of the consequences if Tigray and Ethiopia failed to heed her warning.If fighting continues, he said, Bachelet feared the conflict could easily spill across borders, potentially destabilizing parts of East Africa.Lisa Schlein contributed reporting from Geneva.
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Armenian Opposition Leader Detained, Accused of Plotting to Kill PM
The leader of Armenia’s opposition Homeland party, Artur Vanetsyan, has been arrested and accused of plotting to overthrow the government and kill the country’s embattled prime minister, as the country’s main security body said it had thwarted an assassination attempt.Vanetsyan, who formerly headed Armenia’s National Security Service (NSS), was detained after his arrival for a meeting with the service’s Investigative Department on Saturday, according to his lawyer.”Vanetsyan was detained on suspicion of usurping power and preparing the assassination of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan,” attorney Lusine Sahakian wrote on Facebook.In addition, Sahakian wrote, “illegal searches” were carried out in the apartment of Vanetsyan’s parents and an office affiliated with the Homeland party.Both Sahakian and Vanetsyan’s Homeland party condemned the moves as politically motivated.NSS statementThe NSS has not confirmed Vanetsyan’s arrest, but in a statement Saturday it said that it had thwarted an assassination attempt against Pashinyan.”The National Security Service of the Republic of Armenia has revealed cases of illegal acquisition and storage of weapons, ammunition and explosives by a group of people with the aim of seizing power in the Republic of Armenia,” the statement said. “It is clarified that the attackers, who did not agree with the domestic and foreign policy of the state, intended to seize power by killing the head of government.”The Homeland party said in a statement that Vanetsyan’s arrest was part of the Armenian authorities’ efforts to quell opposition protests against a Russia-mediated cease-fire agreement that stopped fighting between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces in Nagorno-Karabakh.Pashinyan’s agreement to the truce with Azerbaijan on Tuesday prompted a furious reaction in the Armenian capital, with protesters storming government buildings and parliament.Homeland is one of 17 Armenian opposition groups that launched the protests and demanded Pashinyan’s resignation. They accuse Pashinyan of capitulating to Azerbaijan and committing high treason.10 arrestsOn Wednesday, 10 prominent opposition figures, including Vanetsyan, were arrested and accused of “organizing illegal violent mass disorder.” The detentions were denounced by the opposition as illegal, and the opposition figures were released two days later.Vanetsyan, 40, was appointed as head of the NSS immediately after the 2018 revolution that brought Pashinyan to power. He quickly became an influential member of Pashinyan’s entourage, overseeing high-profile corruption investigations initiated by Armenia’s new leadership.Vanetsyan resigned in September 2019 after a falling out with the prime minister. He has since repeatedly accused Pashinyan of incompetence and misrule, prompting angry responses from the premier and his political allies.While the Moscow-brokered truce ended fighting that has killed more than 2,000 soldiers and civilians on each side, it has been rejected by Armenians because it allows Azerbaijan to keep large swaths of Nagorno-Karabakh.Nagorno-Karabakh is recognized as part of Azerbaijan, but its majority Armenian population has governed its own affairs since Azerbaijani troops and Azeri civilians were pushed out of the region in a war that ended in a cease-fire in 1994.The most recent fighting broke out in late September.
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Armenians Torch Their Homes on Land Ceded to Azerbaijan
In a bitter farewell to his home of 21 years, Garo Dadevusyan wrenched off its metal roof and prepared to set the stone house on fire. Thick smoke poured from houses that his neighbors had already torched before fleeing this ethnic Armenian village about to come under Azerbaijani control.The village is to be turned over to Azerbaijan on Sunday as part of territorial concessions in an agreement to end six weeks of intense fighting with Armenian forces. The move gripped its 600 people with fear and anger so deep that they destroyed the homes they once loved.The settlement — called Karvachar in Armenian — is legally part of Azerbaijan, but it has been under the control of ethnic Armenians since the 1994 end of a war over the Nagorno-Karabakh region. That war left not only Nagorno-Karabakh itself but also substantial surrounding territory in Armenian hands.After years in which sporadic clashes broke out between Azerbaijani and Armenian forces, full-scale fighting began in late September this year. Azerbaijan made relentless military advances, culminating in the seizure of the city of Shusha, a strategically key city and one of strong emotional significance as a longtime center of Azeri culture.Two days after Azerbaijan announced it had taken Shusha, Armenia and Azerbaijan signed a Russia-brokered cease-fire under which territory that Armenia occupies outside the formal borders of Nagorno-Karabakh will be gradually ceded.Muslim Azeris and Christian Armenians once lived together in these regions, however uneasily. Although the cease-fire ends the fighting, it aggravates ethnic animosity.Garo Dadevusyan, right, wrenches off its metal roof and prepares to set the stone house on fire in Kalbajar before leaving the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh for Armenia, Nov. 14, 2020. The village is to be turned over to Azerbaijan Nov. 15.”In the end, we will blow it up or set it on fire, in order not to leave anything to Muslims,” Dadevusyan said of his house.He spoke while taking a rest from salvaging what he could from the home, including metal roof panels, and piling it onto an old flatbed truck.The truck’s final destination was unclear.”We are homeless now, do not know where to go and where to live. Do not know where to live. It is very hard,” Dadevusyan’s wife, Lusine, said, choked by tears as the couple gave the interior of the house a last look.Dadevusyan’s dismay extended to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Armenia and Russia keep close relations and Russia has a sizable military base in Armenia, so many Armenians had hoped for support from Moscow. Instead, Russia facilitated the cease-fire and territorial concessions and is sending in nearly 2,000 peacekeepers to enforce it.”Why has Putin abandoned us?” Dadevusyan asked.Cars and trucks stuck in a huge traffic jam climb along the road from Kalbajar to a mountain pass leaving the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh for Armenia, Nov. 14, 2020.On Saturday, kilometers-long columns of cars and trucks carrying fleeing residents jammed the road to Armenia.Scores of local people flocked to Dadivank, an Armenian Apostolic Church monastery dating to the ninth century, as priests removed sacred items to be taken away. Many of the visitors took photos of themselves at the site nestled in the mountains near Karvachar, suggesting they did not expect to see it again.People look at bells, removed from the Dadivank, an Armenian Apostolic Church monastery dating to the ninth century, as ethnic Armenians leave the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh for Armenia, Nov. 14, 2020.A small group of Russian peacekeepers watched from across the road, some sitting on their armored vehicles.The monastery’s abbot, the Reverend Hovhannes Ter-Hovhannisyan, walked over to greet them.”It’s very important to us that the Russian peacekeepers came today in order to preserve peace, because not all the questions of our future have been resolved,” he said. “But I am sure that justice will triumph.”Hundreds of thousands of Azeris were displaced by the war that ended in 1994. It is unclear when any civilians might try to settle in Karvachar — which will now be known by its Azeri name, Kalbajar — or elsewhere.Any returns could be wrenching. Settlers will confront the burned, empty shells of houses — or worse. Agdam, which is to be turned over next week, once was a city of about 40,000, but now is an empty sprawl of buildings that were destroyed in the first war or later ruined by pillagers grabbing building materials.Returning also is potentially dangerous because of the remnants of war. The Azerbaijani general prosecutor’s office said one man was killed and another injured Saturday when they triggered a mine left over from the fighting in Fizuli, an area now under Azerbaijani control.For the Dadevusyans, their sudden relocation is overwhelming beyond words.”When you spent 21 years here and now need to leave it … ,” Garo Dadevusyan said, trailing off, as smoke from nearby burning houses choked the air. Soon, he knew, his house would be one of them.
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IS Claims Burkina Attack That Left 14 Soldiers Dead
The Islamic State on Saturday said it had staged a midweek ambush of soldiers in Burkina Faso ahead of elections this month.The Islamic State in the Greater Sahara, in a message carried on its Amaq news outlet and on social media, said it killed 20 soldiers traveling in a convoy Wednesday in Tin-Akoff in Oudalan province.A rival group, the Jihadist Group to Support Islam and Muslims (GSIM), had claimed responsibility Friday in social media posts.A government spokesman Thursday put the death toll at 14 while blaming “armed terrorist groups.”The attack took place in the country’s north, near the border with Mali and Niger, and came ahead of presidential and legislative elections scheduled for November 22.The latest bout of violence has seen several candidates, including incumbent President Roch Marc Christian Kabore, suspend campaigning for two days.The unrest will prevent residents of almost 1,500 villages out of 8,000 in the country from taking part in the vote.But in September, parliament passed a law allowing the results to be validated even if polling did not take place everywhere.The Burkinabe armed forces have suffered a spate of attacks. In the worst, 24 soldiers were killed at a military base in Koutougou in the north in August 2019.The jihadists have been making incursions from neighboring Mali since 2015 and have killed at least 1,200 people while forcing more than a million from their homes.
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Surging Coronavirus Cases Met With Shrugs in Many Midwestern Towns
Danny Rice has a good sense of how dangerous the coronavirus can be.What puzzles him are the people who have curtailed so much of their lives to avoid being infected by the virus.”I’m not going out and looking to catch it,” he said, sitting at a desk in his auto repair shop in the tiny eastern Nebraska community of Elmwood. “I don’t want to catch it. But if I get it, I get it. That’s just how I feel.”Plenty of people agree with Rice, and health experts acknowledge those views are powering soaring COVID-19 infection rates, especially in parts of the rural Midwest where the disease is spreading unabated and threatening to overwhelm hospitals.It’s not that people in Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Iowa and elsewhere don’t realize their states are leading the nation in new cases per capita. It’s that many of them aren’t especially concerned.‘They don’t think it’s real’Wayne County, home to 6,400 people in southern Iowa, has the state’s second-highest case rate, yet its public health administrator, Shelley Bickel, says mask-wearing is rare. She finds it particularly appalling when she sees older people, who are at high risk, shopping at a grocery store without one.”I just want to get on the speaker and say, ‘Why don’t you have your mask on?’ It’s just amazing,” Bickel said.Jenna Lovaas, public health director of Jones County, Iowa, said even now that her rural county has the state’s highest virus rate, people have opted not to make any changes, such as protecting themselves and others by wearing masks.”They don’t think it’s real,” she said. “They don’t think it’s going to be that bad or they just don’t want to wear a mask because we’ve made it a whole political thing at this point.”In part, though, some of those views are hard to fight because of the reality that many people have no symptoms, and most of those who do get sick recover quickly. And treatment advances mean that those who become seriously ill are less likely to die from the virus than when it emerged in the spring. Even though cases and the death toll are rising, infectious-disease experts note that death rates appear to be falling.Like most people, Jay Stibbe, 52, of Fargo, North Dakota, said he and his family are respectful of COVID-19 protocols and wear masks where required. However, Stibbe said he doesn’t see enough “concrete information” about the virus to stop him from going about his normal life, even though North Dakota leads the nation in the number of virus cases per capita.”We have an 18-year-old and a 16-year-old, and we certainly believe this is an important time of life to maybe shine a little bit,” he said. “We’re trying to create as much normalcy as we can. We try not to live in fear. We’ve traveled. We go out to dinner.”Karen Prohaska, 76, stands outside her purse-and-jewelry shop in Plattsmouth, Neb., Nov. 9, 2020. Prohaska says she hopes not to get the virus, but she usually doesn’t wear a mask in her store.Balancing risk, vulnerabilityIn Plattsmouth, Nebraska, Karen Prohaska, 76, said she generally doesn’t wear a mask in her downtown purse-and-jewelry shop but will put one on at the request of a customer. When customers come into the store with a face covering, she asks if they’d like her to don one as well. Most say no and ask if it’s OK for them to remove theirs.”I hope that I don’t get the virus, but I’ve never really been a germophobe,” Prohaska said.The pandemic hasn’t stopped Mary Gerteisen, of Eagle, Nebraska, from visiting her 96-year-old father on weekends to watch football. Gerteisen said she understands the risks, given her father’s age and vulnerability, but she also weighed the fact that he’s in the early stages of dementia and often believes family members have abandoned him.”There are times when I think that I do need to take the pandemic more seriously,” she said. “But I want to see my dad, and I don’t know how much longer I have with him. I would love for him to live to 100-some years old, but if he comes down with [the virus], he’s lived a good, long life.”No mask mandatesEven as virus rates have soared in the Midwest, the Republican governors of Nebraska, Iowa and South Dakota have ruled out requiring masks in all public places, though Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds this week required masks for indoor events with more than 25 people and outdoor events of more than 100 people. Iowa schools are exempted, and bars and restaurants are required only to ensure social distancing. Michelle Kommer, commissioner of the North Dakota Department of Commerce, and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum listen as President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting about the coronavirus response, at the White House in Washington, May 13, 2020.Meanwhile, North Dakota’s Republican governor, Doug Burgum, imposed statewide mask and business restrictions on Friday after resisting doing so for months. The state had only nine free intensive care unit hospital beds as of Friday.Although doctors and public health officials have criticized the governors for their lack of action, voters in all of the states last week delivered sweeping victories to Republicans, including President Donald Trump, who has mocked mask wearing and downplayed the seriousness of a pandemic that as of Saturday afternoon had killed more than 245,000 people, according to Johns Hopkins University.That has left Midwest medical professionals wondering how they will reverse a tide of people being treated for the coronavirus if residents of their states still aren’t taking the illness seriously.Suresh Gunasekaran, CEO of University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City, said they’re managing the surge of patients for now but don’t know what will happen if the numbers keep rising.”The real question is: Where are we going to be in December? Where are we going to be in January?” he asked. “These are the kinds of questions that I think that we as a state have to continue to ask ourselves, but more importantly, each local community has to ask themselves.”
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Demonstrators Demand Better Conditions for Canary Islands’ Migrant Arrivals
Demonstrators on the Canary Islands on Saturday demanded better living conditions for thousands of migrants who have reached the Spanish archipelago from Africa.A slow procession of hundreds of demonstrators, some on foot and some in cars, crossed the island of Gran Canaria before reaching the Arguineguin dock in the town of Mogan, where nearly 2,000 migrants are living in tents in conditions that an immigration judge has called “inhumane and degrading.”Over 700 migrants in small boats were rescued Saturday, coast guards said, bringing the number of people who have reached the islands by the dangerous Atlantic route from Africa to nearly 17,000 this year — more than 10 times last year’s total.Deepening economic hardship due to the coronavirus pandemic is pushing more people in developing nations to seek better lives elsewhere, while tightened security in the Mediterranean means more migrants are attempting the Atlantic crossing, with many dying along the way.”We are here fighting for a more dignified reception for these people who arrive in our island to find a better life,” said one demonstrator, teacher Famara Brito.Aid groups estimate about 4,000 migrants are living in tourist hotels because of the lack of refugee reception centers. The Federation of Hospitality and Tourism Enterprises of Gran Canaria called on the government Saturday to act so hotels could be used again for tourists.Spain’s regional policy minister said Friday that it would expand naval patrols around the Canary Islands and set up more migrant centers in response to the surge in arrivals.
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Humanitarian Crisis Grips Ethiopia’s Restive Tigray Region
United Nations aid agencies report Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region is in a worsening humanitarian crisis, as fighting intensifies and thousands continue to flee to neighboring countries. Protection of Ethiopian civilians and Eritrean refugees is a major concern, with human rights monitors warning the weeklong fighting between Ethiopian federal forces and Tigray regional security forces could spin out of control.
The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says humanitarian aid to more than 2 million people in the region has been disrupted. It says security concerns are preventing food, health supplies and other relief from being delivered.
Babar Baloch, a spokesman for UNHCR, the U.N. Refugee Agency, says the safety of tens of thousands of Eritrean refugees who are living in camps near the conflict zone is at risk.
“Meanwhile, services for 96,000 Eritrean refugees inside Tigray have been seriously disrupted, with reports of growing numbers of Ethiopians themselves becoming displaced internally,” Baloch said.Rockets Hit 2 Airports in Ethiopia’s Amhara State Ethiopia’s Tigray regional government says it carried out the attacks and is warning of more to comeAid agencies say general living and operating conditions inside Tigray are becoming more difficult. They report power outages and say food and fuel supplies are becoming increasingly scarce. In addition, communications have been cut off, creating an information blackout.
Baloch said growing insecurity and lack of humanitarian assistance are driving an increasing number of people to flee across borders in search of safety. He said more than 14,500 refugees, half of them children have arrived in Sudan. He added that many more are on their way.
“People are arriving with very few belongings indicating they fled in a hurry. Arriving children are exhausted and are scared.… UNHCR and our partners are ramping up assistance, but the numbers of new arrivals are outpacing the capacity on the ground,” he said.
Baloch said Sudanese authorities have approved establishment of a new refugee camp to accommodate the growing number of new arrivals. He noted the camp, which can host up to 20,000 people, is 80 kilometers from the border. He said additional sites are being identified.
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Rockets Hit 2 Airports in Ethiopia’s Amhara State
Ethiopia’s Tigray regional government fired rockets late Friday at two airports in the nearby Amhara region, the Ethiopian and Tigray regional governments said.
In a statement on Tigray TV, the Tigray regional government said attacks would continue “unless the attacks against us stop.”
The federal government confirmed the attacks, saying in a statement, “A rocket was fired towards Bahir Dar & Gondar cities. As a result, the airport areas have sustained damages.”
The Ethiopian army has been battling local forces in the neighboring northern Tigray region for more than a week.
Hundreds have been killed since Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sent the national defense force into Tigray November 4, after accusing local forces there of attacking a military base.
More than 14,500 Ethiopians have fled to Sudan and the U.N. refugee agency says more people are on their way.On Friday, The U.N. high commissioner for human rights, Michelle Bachelet, expressed alarm at the rapidly deteriorating situation in Tigray.
Her spokesman, Rupert Colville, said Bachelet was particularly disturbed by an Amnesty International report of alleged mass killings in the town of Mai-Kadra in southwest Tigray.
Amnesty said photographs and videos of the scene indicate hundreds of people were stabbed or hacked to death. It says the victims appeared to have been day laborers, who were not involved in military operations.
The Tigray People’s Liberation Front has denied that scores or hundreds of people had been “hacked to death” in Mai-Kadra.
Colville said the high commissioner was fearful of the consequences if Tigray and Ethiopia fail to heed her warning. If fighting continues, he said, Bachelet feared the conflict could easily spill across borders, potentially destabilizing parts of East Africa.
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Acting Pentagon Chief Strikes Contradictory Tone in Letter to Troops
Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller struck a contradictory tone about the U.S.-led global war on terror in his first letter to the department, amid heightened concerns that big defense policy changes might emerge during President Donald Trump’s final weeks in office.
“This war isn’t over. We are on the verge of defeating al-Qaida and its associates, but we must avoid our past strategic error of failing to see the fight through to the finish,” Miller wrote in a letter dated Friday.
However, in the very next paragraph Miller wrote, “We met the challenge; we gave it our all. Now, it’s time to come home.”#Breaking In initial letter to troops, Acting #SecDef Christopher Miller strikes contradictory tone:”The war isn’t over…we must avoid our past strategic errors failing to see the fight through” followed by, “we met the challenge. We gave it our all. Now it’s time to come home.” pic.twitter.com/J3XX4V3qyv— Carla Babb (@CarlaBabbVOA) November 14, 2020Experts, along with current and former senior military officials, have raised concerns about the timing of the appointment of Miller, who replaced Mark Esper this week. They warn the move has created the perception of instability and could lead to hasty military policy moves.
“During the next couple months, we need leaders at the Pentagon who are willing to push back on any bad ideas emanating from the White House and to work closely with President-elect [Joe] Biden’s transition team,” Bradley Bowman, senior director of the Center on Military and Political Power at the research group Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told VOA.
Among the concerns are President Trump’s desire to remove all of the approximately 4,500 U.S. troops serving in Afghanistan, where the U.S. has been fighting for nearly two decades to prevent al-Qaida and other terror groups from establishing a safe haven, where they can carry out attacks on the U.S. and its allies.
Miller’s newly appointed senior adviser, retired Army Col. Douglas McGregor, has called for a complete withdrawal of U.S forces from Afghanistan, along with shutting down the U.S. Embassy in Kabul.
“I do think we will regret a hasty withdrawal from Afghanistan — not only because of what it will do to our Afghan and coalition partners, but also because of what it will signal about our strategy and role as a leader,” a former senior military official told VOA Friday.
A U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, says a speedy, hastened withdrawal from Afghanistan in a few weeks would be “costly and much more dangerous,” than a slower, more deliberate withdrawal based on the security conditions on the ground.
The official added that hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. equipment currently in the country hangs in the balance of such a move, with some equipment needing to be turned over to Afghan forces, some equipment having to be evacuated from the country for security purposes, and some equipment needing to be destroyed.
Last month, Trump tweeted that the U.S. should have its troops, who are serving in Afghanistan, home by Christmas.We should have the small remaining number of our BRAVE Men and Women serving in Afghanistan home by Christmas!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 7, 2020Shortly afterward, Trump’s national security adviser said the president’s tweet that all U.S. troops should be home from there by December 25 was a “desire” rather than a military order.
“Right now, we’re on a path with our European allies — we went into Afghanistan together; we’re going to come out together — we’re on a path right now that looks like about 4,500 this fall and a smaller number in January and February,” national security adviser Robert O’Brien said on October 16.
Miller, the former Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, was appointed acting secretary of defense Monday after outgoing President Donald Trump abruptly fired Defense Secretary Mark Esper. The move was announced in a surprise tweet on social media shortly after Trump’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows, called Esper to inform him of his termination, an official told VOA….Chris will do a GREAT job! Mark Esper has been terminated. I would like to thank him for his service.— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 9, 2020Esper had been expected to serve through the transition period between now and President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration on January 20, 2021, although rumors of his imminent firing had been swirling around Washington for weeks.
In a final message to the Defense Department late Monday, Esper touted the progress made on implementing the National Defense Strategy, which shifted the Pentagon’s focus toward modernization and efficiency in light of near-peer competition with Russia and China.
“Stay focused on your mission, remain steadfast in your pursuit of excellence, and always do the right thing. Following these imperatives will ensure you remain the most ready, respected, and capable military force in the world,” he wrote.
Trump and Esper’s relationship reportedly had been tense since a rift in June. Days after the president threatened to deploy active-duty forces to quell protests against police violence and racial injustice, Esper publicly declared his opposition to any such move.
Esper expressed frustration with the nickname “Yesper,” which he was dubbed by critics, including the president, telling the Military Times newspaper in an interview on November 4 that he preserved his integrity during his tenure without being anyone’s “yes man.”
“At the end of the day … you’ve got to pick your fights,” he said in the interview. “Why? Who’s going to come in behind me? It’s going to be a real ‘yes man.’ And then God help us.”
Esper served as defense secretary from July 2019 through November 9, 2020.
VOA national security correspondent Jeff Seldin contributed to this report.
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In Malaysia, Businesses Adapt to Survive COVID
Sri Themudu’s seasonal business, Diyaa Confectionary, is a success story at a time many businesses are struggling in the COVID-19 economic climate.His company has for eight years catered to Malaysian families and local companies that buy gift baskets of snacks such as crackers, cookies and coconut candy for Diwali, the Indian festival of lights, known as Deepavali in Malaysia.The snacks, made from scratch in the kitchens of his mother and family friends, start at about $8 each.The baskets include sweet treats such as coconut candy. (Dave Grunebaum/VOA)Sri used to go to the offices of potential corporate clients with samples but could not do so this year because of the coronavirus pandemic. Moreover, many of his longtime corporate customers cut expenses and did not place orders.“It looked like this year was going to be a washout,” Sri said, adding, “Just a month ago I had so few sales and had no confidence that this year would work out at all.”However, he invested almost $1,000 for a photographer and videographer to improve his website and promote his products on Instagram. The gamble paid off – he now has three times the revenue as in his previous best year, and he even stopped taking orders last Wednesday because he could not handle any more.The cookies, crackers and candy are made from scratch in the home of Sri’s mother, Maletchumy, as well as the kitchens of several family friends.(Dave Grunebaum/VOA)“The main reason why I did professional videography and photography is because people cannot touch, taste, feel the product,” Sri said. “But they want to see the best visuals in order for them to feel they’re buying the right product for their clients or their staff. This was the next best thing to sampling the actual food.”“It all boils down to the mindset of business owners,” said Yohendran Nadar Arulthevan a researcher at the Kuala Lumpur-based think tank, the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs. “If they’re willing to make the changes that are needed to stay relevant to the demands that consumers have currently then you’ll survive. Otherwise, you’re better off closing down.”Yohendran said that since the start of the pandemic many Malaysian companies have made significant changes such as instituting cashless payments and contactless delivery.“Successful businesses figure out how to reach out to their customers,” Yohendran said.“They know how to engage with their customers and how to adapt to what their customers want.”Sri acknowledged that he was not sure these steps would make a difference but said he took a risk “and this year what looked like a bust turned out to be my best.”
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Rockets Hit 2 Cities in Ethiopia’s Amhara State
Two cities in Ethiopia’s Amhara state were hit by a rocket attack late Friday, the Ethiopian government said Saturday.”A rocket was fired towards Bahir Dar & Gondar cities. As a result, the airport areas have sustained damages,” the statement said.The Ethiopian army has been battling local forces in the neighboring northern Tigray region for more than a week.Hundreds have been killed since Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sent the national defense force into Tigray on Nov. 4, after accusing local forces there of attacking a military base.More than 14,500 Ethiopians have fled to Sudan and the U.N. refugee agency says more people are on their way.On Friday, The U.N. high commissioner for human rights, Michelle Bachelet, expressed alarm at the rapidly deteriorating situation in Tigray.Her spokesperson, Rupert Colville, said Bachelet was particularly disturbed by an Amnesty International report of alleged mass killings in Mai-Kadra in southwest Tigray.Amnesty said photographs and videos of the scene indicate hundreds of people were stabbed or hacked to death. It says the victims appeared to have been day laborers, who were not involved in military operations.Colville said the high commissioner was fearful of the consequences if Tigray and Ethiopia fail to heed her warning. If fighting continues, he said, Bachelet feared the conflict could easily spill across borders, potentially destabilizing parts of East Africa.
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New US Diplomat: South Sudan Policy Unlikely to Change
U.S. government policy toward South Sudan isn’t expected to change regardless of the new presidential administration, according to Jon Danilowicz, the new U.S. charge d’affaires to South Sudan.He said the top priority will remain restoring peace and stability in the country. U.S. President-elect Joe Biden has been declared the winner, but President Donald Trump has so far refused to concede. Some mail ballots are still being counted.This week at his first news conference at the U.S. Embassy since arriving in Juba nearly two months ago, Danilowicz said there has been bipartisan consensus between Democrats and Republicans on U.S. policy toward South Sudan.“If I look at the current U.S. policy and engagement on South Sudan and if I look at the future, I don’t see significant differences regarding how the United States will engage in South Sudan depending on which political party may be in power in the executive branch or legislature,” Danilowicz told reporters.Danilowicz said Washington’s main objective in South Sudan is to ensure its political leaders restore stability across the country and to promote democracy which ensures delivery of services to vulnerable South Sudanese people.“A priority for my government both bilaterally and as partners of the Troika … our colleagues from the United Kingdom and Norway — is to do all what we can to support the peace process,” said Danilowicz.After months of haggling, mediators for South Sudan President Salva Kiir’s ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Party and opposition parties signed a revitalized peace agreement in 2018 and formed a transitional government the following year.Danilowicz said the U.S. government is discussing plans to construct a new embassy compound in Juba, which he said is symbolic of Washington’s long-term commitment to South Sudan.In 2014 the United States scaled back funding to South Sudan after the country’s civil war erupted in late 2013.Washington reduced funding for development projects and shifted much of its financial assistance to humanitarian aid. The U.S. also imposed targeted sanctions on senior South Sudanese politicians and military commanders accused of spoiling peace efforts in the country.Asked whether the U.S. would continue to sanction South Sudanese individuals accused of obstructing peace efforts, Danilowicz explained that sanctions are a tool “that not just the United States but other bilateral countries use” in their relationships with South Sudan and other countries.He said while the U.S. considers steering part of its funding to community resilience projects, such as job creation programs and sustainable development projects, much of the funding will continue to go toward humanitarian assistance.The U.S. diplomat noted the United States is still concerned about the slow pace of implementing two key provisions of the revitalized peace deal: security arrangements and power sharing.“We look forward to engaging conversation recognizing that these chapters of the peace agreement are absolutely essential if we are to see the rest of the processes move forward and if we are to see improvement in the security situation, which will enable further development in economic growth,” said Danilowicz.It’s been two years since South Sudan’s former warring parties signed the peace agreement, but government and rebel forces have yet to form one unified army, a core provision of the peace deal, and many state and local governments have yet to be set up.
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Doug Emhoff Makes History as First ‘Second Gentleman’
Kamala Harris made history as the first woman projected to become vice president-elect. That means her husband, Doug Emhoff, is set to become America’s first-ever “second gentleman” in the White House. VOA’s Mariama Diallo has more.
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Trump’s Appeal to Many Hispanics Helped Keep Election Close
Although projected to lose the U.S. election, President Donald Trump made the race closer than expected, in part by gaining a higher percentage of minority voters than in 2016, especially among in the growing Latino or Hispanic population. VOA’s Brian Padden reports on increasing political diversity of this rapidly growing ethnic minority, which has increased from 16% to 18% of the U.S. population in the last decade according to the Pew Research Center.
Camera: Vero Balderas Iglesias Producer: Brian Padden
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Pro-Trump Rallies Planned for Saturday in Washington
Demonstrators in support of President Donald Trump are planning to gather in Washington on Saturday, backing the president’s unproven claims of fraud in the November election.Several rallies are scheduled for the day, including a Million MAGA March, a Women for Trump event and a Stop the Steal demonstration, which has leveled unproven claims of voter fraud in the presidential election.Trump has refused to concede the presidential race to former Vice President Joe Biden, the projected winner of the Nov. 3 election, citing irregularities in several swing states. State election officials have reported no serious irregularities with the vote that would affect the outcome of the race.The rallies have been promoted by conservative media personalities as well as white nationalists and have fueled plans of counterdemonstrations organized by anti-fascist and anti-racism groups.The far-right Proud Boys say some of its members are attending, and The Washington Post reports that conspiracy theorist and Infowars broadcaster Alex Jones is leading a Stop the Steal caravan from Texas.Pro-Trump protests are also expected to take place at other major cities across the country.Trump tweeted Friday, “Heartwarming to see all of the tremendous support out there, especially the organic Rallies that are springing up all over the Country, including a big one on Saturday in D.C. I may even try to stop by and say hello.”It is not clear how many people will turn up in Washington.Christopher Rodriguez, Washington’s Homeland Security and Emergency Management director, said in a press conference Thursday that the city is aware of about a dozen organizations planning events in Washington but that most of the groups are expected to be small.”I don’t want anyone to think we are talking about large numbers of folks,” he said.Rodriguez stressed that violence will not be tolerated at the events.The National Park Service said Friday it approved a permit request by Women for America First for 10,000 people to rally in Washington’s Freedom Plaza. It said the group originally applied for 50 participants but later updated the number.Posts on social media promoting Stop the Steal events have been taken down by Facebook, drawing charges of censorship from the groups trying to organize the rallies.Trump supporters are expected to congregate near Freedom Plaza, just east of the White House, while anti-Trump protesters are planning counterdemonstrations at Freedom Plaza, Union Station and the Supreme Court.Police are planning road closures near the planned events. Law enforcement was on high alert last week over fears of election violence that did not materialize. Fears of violence also prompted some Washington businesses to close last week.Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser said at a news conference this week that city police continue to be prepared.“Our police chief will have a similar posture this weekend as he did last week. We will be there to support peaceful First Amendment demonstrations.”
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SpaceX Crew Flight Delayed; Musk Gets Mixed COVID-19 Results
SpaceX delayed its second astronaut flight by a day because of high wind and weather conditions that could jeopardize the recovery and recycling of the rocket booster, pushing the launch to Sunday.Friday’s postponement news came after SpaceX chief Elon Musk disclosed he had gotten mixed test results for COVID-19 and was awaiting the outcome of a more definitive test.NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said anyone testing positive for COVID-19 must quarantine under NASA policy and remain isolated. Officials said contact tracing by SpaceX found no link between Musk and any personnel in close touch with the four astronauts, who remain cleared for flight.”I can assure everyone that we’re looking good for the (crew) launch and all of the critical personnel involved,” said SpaceX’s Benji Reed, senior director for human spaceflight.It wasn’t immediately known if Musk would be allowed at the Kennedy Space Center launch site even if later tests came up negative.Norm Knight, a deputy manager at NASA, said the guidelines are rigid for restricting access to astronauts before flight in order to keep them safe and healthy.”No one’s above this access. It doesn’t matter if you’re Elon Musk or Jim Bridenstine,” Knight said at a news conference Friday night. “If you have not met those protocols, or if any of those protocols have been compromised, then we’re not going to let you near the crew.”FILE – In this Sept. 3, 2020, photo, Tesla CEO Elon Musk arrives to visit the construction site of the future US electric car giant Tesla in Gruenheide near Berlin.Musk said via Twitter that he tested positive for coronavirus, then negative twice, then positive again. He said he wasn’t feeling too well the past few days – sniffles, cough, low fever – but currently had no symptoms.”So ‘Elon Musk Tests Negative for Covid’ is an equally correct title,” he tweeted.Musk said his first tests were rapid tests, and he was awaiting the results of lab tests. The 15-minute rapid tests are less sensitive than the lab tests, which take hours longer to process.Four astronauts – three Americans and one Japanese – are scheduled to rocket to the International Space Station on Sunday night.One of the test pilots on SpaceX’s first astronaut flight, Doug Hurley, said he’s certain Musk will be involved with the launch – regardless of where he is.”Knowing Elon the way I do, they will figure out a way for him to be very much connected,” Hurley told The Associated Press from Houston.The upcoming crew flight comes just three months after the end of the test flight with Hurley and Bob Behnken, both NASA astronauts. The four astronauts are going up for a full space station stay of five to six months. They will be replaced in the spring with another crew launched by SpaceX.The latest launch was bumped a day in order to give SpaceX’s booster-landing platform enough time to get into position in the Atlantic, given the rough seas in the wake of Tropical Storm Eta. NASA and SpaceX are especially eager to retrieve this first-stage booster; it will be used for the next crew launch.NASA turned over space station ferry trips to SpaceX and Boeing, which has yet to launch anyone, following the retirement of the shuttle fleet in 2011. The space agency is looking to save big by no longer having to buy seats on Russian Soyuz capsules for U.S. astronauts. The last ticket, used by a NASA astronaut launched from Kazakhstan in October, cost $90 million.One launch pad over, meanwhile, an Atlas V rocket thundered into the sunset Friday with a classified spy satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office. The launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station had been delayed repeatedly by pad and weather issues.
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National Security Adviser O’Brien to Represent US at Asia Meetings
U.S. national security adviser Robert O’Brien will represent the United States at back-to-back virtual summits with Asian countries this weekend, the White House said Friday.O’Brien will lead the U.S. delegation in talks with the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) beginning on Friday evening U.S. time, or Saturday morning in Asia.He will participate in a broader East Asia Summit on Sunday, when 15 Asia-Pacific economies, excluding the United States, are expected to sign a China-backed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), which could become the world’s largest free trade agreement.The White House has not yet said who will represent the United States at a leaders’ meeting of a larger grouping of Pacific Rim nations, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, next Friday.It will be the third year in a row that the United States has been represented in the East Asia meetings at a relatively low level, even though the outgoing administration of President Donald Trump had declared the Asia Pacific and competition with China a foreign policy priority.”Ambassador O’Brien will reaffirm the commitment of the United States to prosperity and security in the Indo-Pacific during virtual remarks,” the White House said in a statement.A U.S.-China trade war and Trump’s “America First” retreat from predecessor Barack Obama’s pivot toward Asia have given impetus to complete the RCEP, which is widely seen as Beijing’s chance to set a regional trade agenda.Biden’s election win could challenge that, with the former vice president signaling a return to stronger multilateralism, although moves on trade are not expected to be his first priority.While Trump attended the U.S.-ASEAN summit in Manila in 2017, he has never attended a full EAS meeting. Vice President Mike Pence represented the United States at the meetings in Singapore last year.
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Sudan’s New Ambassador Predicts Improved Relations With US
The new Sudanese top diplomat in Washington said his country is committed to correcting the mistakes of former rulers of Sudan.”This [Sudanese] revolution, you know, has come because of certain errors being committed in the past and because the people, the overwhelming majority of the Sudanese people, have realized that the ways of the Islamists were not in the interest of the country,” said Ambassador Nureldin Satti.”Now that we are building democracy, we know that we have to deal with diversity of issues, and we will work to build consensus around issues that benefit the national interests of Sudan,” he said. Satti was appointed May 5, 2020, as the first ambassador to the United States after 23 years of strained relations between the two countries. “The fact that I am the first ambassador in 23 years of downgraded diplomatic relations between two countries, I am being met [in Washington] with a lot of interest, and I received a lot of support from all those concerned in the U.S.,” Satti said. New beginning Speaking this week in an exclusive interview to VOA’s South Sudan in Focus program, Satti said he sees recent moves by the U.S. officials as a “game changer.” FILE – Then-Acting Special Representative of the U.N. Secretary General for Burundi, Nureldin Satti, left, talks with Burundi politician Agathon Rwasa during the Plenary Session on Burundi negotiations in Dar es Salaam, May 29, 2006.”I was well-received at the U.S. State Department. Even when they [department officials] were not receiving ambassadors in person due to COVID-19 restrictions, I was one of those they received in person,” Satti said. The Sudanese envoy says as long as there is a political will between Washington and Khartoum, the two countries will move forward in areas of investment, security and development. U.S. President Donald Trump announced on October 20 that the United States would remove Sudan from its State Sponsors of Terrorism list after the country agreed to follow through on an agreement to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to U.S. terror victims and their families. The U.S. placed Sudan on the list for giving haven to Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida in the 1990s. Washington also encouraged the military and civilian leaders in Khartoum to establish ties with Israel, a move that sparked opposition from Islamists and the Umma party of the country’s former prime minister, Sadiq El Mahdi. “We have for the last 70 years been in a kind of a hostile, antagonist relations in the region. It is high time that we try something else,” Satti told VOA. “Sudan is building a new democracy and it is opening to the international community. We would like to change course because what we have been doing since independence in 1956 has taken us to nowhere,” Satti said. Economic crisis An increase in bread prices triggered the demonstrations that led to the downfall of President Omar al-Bashir in April 2019. The civilian and military leaders in Sudan’s transitional government are still faced with serious challenges, including high inflation, skyrocketing prices of basic food commodities, and fuel shortages. “We knew since the beginning that it was not going to be an easy task to rebuild an economy that has been devastated by three decades of mismanagement and corruption,” Satti said. He predicted it would take five years for Sudan’s economy to stabilize. FILE – Civilians celebrate the signing of peace agreement between the Sudan’s transitional government and revolutionary movements to end decades-old conflict, in Juba, South Sudan, Oct. 3, 2020.He said the August 31, 2020, peace agreement signed in Juba by the Sudan Sovereign Council and an umbrella group of the rebel Sudan Revolution Front will silence the guns around the country and pave the way for economic development. The government has fought low-level insurgencies in the states of Darfur, Blue Nile and South Kordofan for years. Accountability for crimes Satti said since fighting has stopped in Darfur, his government is working on plans to turn a new page in the region. “Certain decisions are being taken in order to put polices in place for compensating the people of Darfur for the losses they have incurred during the last so many decades,” he said without elaborating. The new ambassador said Sudan is also working on establishing a mechanism to address issues of justice and reconciliation for the people of Sudan. Bashir, the former president, is currently in a Khartoum prison after being convicted on corruption charges, but he and several allies are wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of war crimes and genocide in Darfur.
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Pompeo Heads Abroad After Refusing to Recognize Biden Win
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo heads to France, Turkey and five other countries days after Democrat Joe Biden was named the projected the winner of the presidential race. Pompeo’s refusal to recognize Biden’s victory has raised eyebrows, as VOA’s Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports.
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