Authorities in Indonesia say six supporters of a hardline Muslim cleric were killed Monday during a clash with police officers on a Jakarta highway.
According to police officials, the officers were following a motorcade carrying followers of Rizieq Shihab shortly after midnight when the followers stopped the police car and attacked it with guns, sickles and a sword, prompting the officers to open fire in self-defense.
A spokesman for Rizieq denied the allegations, calling the six followers victims of an “extrajudicial killing” at the hands of police. Munarman said the convoy was carrying the cleric and his family to an early morning prayer event when the clash occurred.
Rizieq heads the Islamic Defenders Front, which has gained attention for its extremism. He returned to Indonesia last month from Saudi Arabia, where he spent three years in self-exile after he was charged with pornography.
Police officials say they have been investigating Rizieq for violating coronavirus restrictions since his return, including holding mass gatherings with his supporters and refusing to undergo mandated coronavirus testing. He has been summoned by police for questioning over his events.
Rizieq has issued a call for a “moral crusade” to impose his version of Sharia law in Indonesia.
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Month: December 2020
Despite Promise, Few in US Adopting COVID-19 Exposure Apps
Six months ago, Apple and Google introduced a new smartphone tool designed to notify people who might have been exposed to the coronavirus, without disclosing any personal information. But for the most part, Americans haven’t been all that interested.
Fewer than half of U.S. states and territories — 18 in total — have made such technology widely available. And according to a data analysis by The Associated Press, the vast majority of Americans in such locations haven’t activated the tool.
Data from 16 states, Guam and the District of Columbia shows that 8.1 million people had utilized the technology as of late November. That’s about one in 14 of the 110 million residents in those regions.
In theory, such apps could bolster one of the most difficult tasks in pandemic control: Tracing the contacts of people infected with the coronavirus in order to test and isolate them if necessary. In practice, however, widespread COVID-19 misinformation, the complexity of the technology, overwhelmed health workers needed to quickly confirm a diagnosis, and a general lack of awareness have all presented obstacles, experts and users say.
“There’s a lot of things working against it,” said Jessica Vitak, an associate professor at the University of Maryland’s College of Information Studies. “Unfortunately, in the U.S., COVID has been politicized far more than in any other country. I think that’s affecting people’s willingness to use tools to track it.”
Charlotte, North Carolina, lawyer Evan Metaxatos was thrilled to learn in November about his state’s tracking app, called SlowCOVIDNC. He immediately downloaded it and got his parents and pregnant wife to follow suit.
But they’re still outliers in the state, which launched the app in September with little fanfare. Of roughly 10.5 million state residents, only 482,003 had installed it through the end of November.
“It won’t work great until everyone’s using it, but it’s better than nothing,” Metaxatos said.
Apple and Google co-created the primary technology behind such apps, which use Bluetooth wireless signals to anonymously detect when two phones have spent time in close proximity. If an app user tests positive for the virus, that person’s phone can trigger a notification to other people they’ve spent time near — without revealing names, locations, or any other identifying information.
In states such as Colorado, Connecticut, Maryland and Washington, as well as Washington, D.C., iPhone users don’t even have to download an app. In fact, Apple prompts users via pop-ups to activate the notification system by adjusting their phone settings.
In these states, adoption rates are notably higher. But even in the most successful state, Connecticut, only about a fifth of all residents have opted into this tracking. On Friday, Washington said that more than 1 million state residents — roughly 13% of its population — had activated the technology in its first four days.
Virginia’s COVIDWISE app launched on Aug. 5 and was the first to go live. Since then, fewer than one in ten residents have downloaded it, though the state estimates almost 20% of Virginians between the ages of 18 and 65 with a smartphone have done so. Delaware’s app downloads account for about 7% of the state’s population.
All other U.S. states analyzed have much lower adoption rates.
New York launched its app on Oct. 1. It recently surpassed 1 million downloads, which amounts to about 5% of the population. New Jersey and Pennsylvania have seen less use, with a 4% download rate.
Adoption is even lower in Wyoming, North Dakota, Michigan, Nevada and Alabama, with users representing only 1% to 3% of their state populations. The apps, which are free, can be found in Apple’s app store and the Google Play store for Android devices; they’re also typically available on state health-department websites.
Irish app developer NearForm says more than one-quarter of Ireland’s population uses its COVID-19 app. It’s been harder to get such traction in the four U.S. states where it’s built similar apps: New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware.
In Ireland, “all sides of the political divide came together with a consistent message on this is what we need to do,” said Larry Breen, NearForm’s chief commercial officer. “That debate continues to rage on your side of the pond.”
Elsewhere in Europe, the uptake has been mixed. Germany and Britain have penetration rates similar to Ireland’s; in Finland the figure is 45%, according to data compiled by MIT Technology Review. In France, however, less than 4% of the population is using the official COVID app, which shuns the Apple-Google approach for a more intrusive data collection system that raised privacy concerns and technical issues.
Security experts praise the Apple-Google system for protecting users’ anonymity, but it’s been a tough sell for many people. American users say partisanship, privacy concerns and stigma surrounding COVID-19 have kept participation low. A lack of state and federal efforts to boost awareness hasn’t helped.
Neither have technological and bureaucratic issues.
Lee McFarland, a loan officer from Grand Forks, North Dakota, was eager to download his state’s Care19 Alert app but said he couldn’t push a “Notify Others” button after getting the virus in late October.
“If you test positive, a public health official will call and verify your code,” said a message on McFarland’s app. “This ensures that only verified positive COVID-19 people can send notifications.”
McFarland said he forgot to tell the health worker he had the app installed on his phone. He was unsuccessful in following up with the worker to get the needed code, and has since deleted the app.
Even when that process works, however, many North Dakotans don’t actually push the button to notify others.
Tim Brookins, CEO of app developer ProudCrowd, said 91 of North Dakota’s 14,000 active users had their “Notify Others” button enabled after the state confirmed them as positive. Of the 91 users, only 29 pushed the button, which prompted 50 notifications.
Still, many users say they’ll keep the app in hopes others will see its potential benefits.
“You can say that about just about anything that not enough people are doing this or that, but everybody that does something is helping,” said David Waechter, a general contractor from Lenoir, North Carolina. “I think that the United States could use a good strong dose of E pluribus unum and stop thinking about self and start thinking about our countrymen.”
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Biden Names Top Health Care Officials
U.S. President-elect Joe Biden named his top health care officials on Monday, tapping former Congressman Xavier Becerra as his Health and Human Services chief to lead the country’s fight to curb the surging coronavirus pandemic and oversee millions of vaccinations against it in the coming months.
FILE – California Attorney General Xavier Becerra speaks during a news conference in Sacramento, California, March 5, 2019.Becerra currently is attorney general for the western state of California who led the defense last month in the U.S. Supreme Court against a conservative bid to overturn the country’s Affordable Care Act, in a case yet to be decided. During his 24 years as a congressman in the House of Representatives, Becerra worked to win approval for the national health care law that has provided insurance coverage to millions of Americans.
In addition, Biden picked Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country’s top infectious disease expert, as his chief medical adviser on COVID-19. Biden also asked Fauci to continue in his longtime role as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Fauci, 79, has served as a medical adviser to six U.S. presidents and for months has been the face of the U.S. government’s response to the pandemic.
In the months before the presidential election, President Donald Trump grew increasingly peeved at Fauci’s grim assessments of the spread of the virus and sidelined him in favor of more upbeat commentary.
FILE – Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases arrives to participate in a roundtable at the American Red Cross national headquarters in Washington.Biden has said he will pay close attention to scientific findings about the virus from Fauci and other medical experts and get vaccinated as soon as Fauci says the preventative is safe.
U.S. health regulators are about to review two proposed vaccines that have proved effective in clinical tests. Millions of doses of the vaccines could be available later this month, with millions more in early 2021.
Biden named Dr. Vivek Murthy as surgeon general, a position he held from 2014 to 2017 during the administration of former President Barack Obama, when Biden was second in command.
The president-elect picked Dr. Rochelle Walensky, a top expert on virus testing, prevention and treatment in the eastern state of Massachusetts, as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She is chief of infectious diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital and a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.
Biden chose Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith, an expert on health care disparities among racial and ethnic groups in the U.S., as chair of his COVID-19 equity task force. She is an associate professor of medicine, public health and management at the Yale School of Medicine.
The president-elect picked business executive Jeffrey Zients, a former director of the National Economic Council under Obama, as a coordinator of his COVID-19 response team and a counselor to him. Biden named former White House and Pentagon senior adviser Natalie Quillian as deputy coordinator of the government’s response to the pandemic.
The Biden transition team said the health officials “will help fulfill the president-elect’s vision of making health care a right, not a privilege, for all Americans — building on the Affordable Care Act to lower health care costs and tackle prescription drug costs.”
In a statement, Biden said, “This trusted and accomplished team of leaders will bring the highest level of integrity, scientific rigor, and crisis-management experience to one of the toughest challenges America has ever faced — getting the pandemic under control so that the American people can get back to work, back to their lives, and back to their loved ones.”
He said that after his inauguration on January 20, the government would “expand testing and masking, (and) oversee the safe, equitable and free distribution of treatments and vaccines.”
He said his administration would “rally the country and restore the belief that there is nothing beyond America’s capacity if we do it together.”
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Cameroon Lawyers Go on Strike, Complaining of Government Interference in Cases
Lawyers in Cameroon on Monday declared an indefinite strike to protest what they call government interference in their profession. The stop work action, which follows a five-day strike last week that got no government response, means courtrooms across the country will remain closed until a deal is struck. Only the hissing noise of air conditioners was heard at the usually busy Mfou courtroom in Cameroon’s capital Yaounde on Monday. Forty-two-year old teacher Magnus Anong says he is witness to a case concerning his younger brother. He says he found a locked courtroom. “My brother was intercepted by the police for rape and we believe he is innocent,” he said. “We have been expecting justice to be rendered here at the Mfou court of first instance but no lawyer is present. See for yourself. Court doors are locked. This is very terrible. I don’t know how much time he will spend again awaiting trial.” The Cameroon Bar Council held an initial five-day strike last week to protest an incident on November 27 in the city of Douala. The Bar Council says security forces tried to intervene in a case there, accusing lawyers of corruption. When the lawyers insisted that police leave the courtroom, the police attacked them with tear gas. Evaristus Morfaw is president of the Bar Council’s general assembly. He says lawyers will not attend court sessions to protest what he says is the maltreatment of lawyers by the government. “It is the persecution of lawyers in Cameroon,” he said. “Their rights have been violated. You know of the events that took place in Douala when the courtroom was invaded by armed uniformed people and lawyers were beaten up. Lawyers who are supposed to carry out their activities independently and in a liberal manner are seen to be pushed here and there. We have to tell the world that all is not well.” After the Douala incident, two prominent attorneys, including human rights lawyer Richard Tamfu, were arrested on charges of violence and corruption. They were released after pressure from the Bar Council.
The Bar Council also asked the government to let lawyers do their jobs without further interference. Lawyers say they are often denied access to clients in detention centers, and accuse the government of extracting confessions from suspects through the use of torture and inducements. Morfaw says the government did not respond, triggering what he calls an indefinite strike. Morfaw says the consequences will be heavy for the government and those seeking justice. “In criminal matters especially felonies where an accused person risks an imprisonment term of life or capital punishment, the assistance of counsel is mandatory and once the counsel is not there, the matter has to be adjourned. And if this is done several times, that is tantamount to delay and justice delayed is justice denied.” When contacted by a reporter, a government spokesperson declined to comment on the strike. Political analyst Eric Mathias Owona Nguini of the University of Yaounde says relations between the government and lawyers have always been sour. He says the government should open up to dialogue to solve problems with lawyers. “The process of law and justice should not be captured by political interest,” he said. “The state should be able to listen to what the lawyers are asking. But at the same time, the lawyers should be aware of the fact that they don’t need to be instrumentalized by political parties.”
Nguini’s comment is a reference to a meeting last month between a group of lawyers and opposition leader Maurice Kamto. Kamto, himself a lawyer, insists he won the October 2018 presidential elections in Cameroon and his victory was stolen by long-serving President Paul Biya.
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Residents of Australia’s Fraser Island Township Urged to Evacuate as Wildfire Approaches
Authorities in Australia’s state of Queensland Monday urged residents to immediately evacuate a small town on Fraser Island as a wildfire approaches.
Queensland Fire and Emergency Services Director Brian Cox said the wildfire was just 700 meters from the town of Happy Valley and told residents the safest option was to leave. Fraser Island is a U.N. Educational, Scientific Cultural Organization (UNESCO) heritage site.
Cox said about 90 percent of the island’s emergency staff were fighting the wildfires on the island, and authorities were preparing for the worst. Cox said ongoing heatwave conditions and a “a tinder dry environment” has made fighting the fire more difficult.
He added that firefighters are going to do all they can to keep the fire from hitting the township, but he said about 90 percent of the island emergency crews and resources being used to fight fires across the island.
Some residents have stayed behind to try to protect their homes. The island has roughly 200 permanent residents, though it is often flocked with tourists.
Fraser Island is the world’s largest “sand island” with a rare combination of rainforests and shifting sand dunes.
This year’s Australia’s wildfires appear to be picking up where last year’s left off. The 2019-2020 season destroyed an area of land twice the size of Britain, killing 33 people and billions of native animals, leading Prime Minister Scott Morrison to refer to it as Australia’s “black summer.”
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Ethiopia’s Abiy Denies Guerrilla War Emerging in Tigray
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed denied on Monday that a rebellious northern force his troops have battled for over a month would have the capacity to mount a guerrilla war from the mountains of Tigray.
Federal troops have captured the regional capital Mekelle from the former local ruling party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), and declared an end to their offensive.
But TPLF leaders say they are fighting back on various fronts around Mekelle. Ethiopia experts fear a drawn-out insurgency with a destabilizing impact around east Africa.
“The criminal clique pushed a patently false narrative that its fighters and supporters are battle-hardened and well-armed, posing the risk of protracted insurgency in the rugged mountains of Tigray,” Abiy said in a statement.
“It also claimed that it has managed to undertake strategic retreat with all its capability and regional government apparatus intact. The reality is the criminal clique is thoroughly defeated and in disarray, with insignificant capability to mount a protracted insurgency.”
There was no immediate TPLF response.
With communications largely down and access for humanitarian workers and media restricted, Reuters has not been able to verify claims from all sides on the state of fighting.Aid needed fast
The conflict, which has its roots in Abiy’s pushback against Tigrayans’ past dominance of federal government and military posts, is thought to have killed thousands of people.
It has also sent nearly 50,000 refugees fleeing to Sudan, seen TPLF rockets fired into Eritrea, stirred ethnic divisions, and led to the disarming of Tigrayans in Ethiopia’s peacekeeping contingency combating al Qaeda-linked militants in Somalia.
Abiy declared victory over the TPLF after federal troops captured Mekelle eight days ago, saying not a single civilian had been killed in the offensive.
However, a doctor reached in the city on Sunday told Reuters that at least 27 people – including a 4-year-old, a 78-year-old and a family of four – had died in the offensive. Two others were killed and four seriously wounded when residents blocked roads to protest looting by government forces in Mekelle, the doctor said.
Medical services in the city were at breaking point, he said.
“No light, no fuel for back up generator, no gloves, no anti-pain (medication), no antibiotics, no meals for patients and staff, no bank access – even our ambulance was taken by the soldiers,” the doctor said in a text message, asking that he and his hospital not be named for fear of reprisals.
The United Nations and aid agencies are pressing for safe access to Tigray, which is home to more than 5 million people and where 600,000 relied on food aid even before the war.
However, two senior aid officials told Reuters over the weekend that looting and lawlessness meant the region was still too dangerous to dispatch convoys.
The government says that with peace restored, its priorities are the welfare of Tigrayans and return of refugees. However, some residents, diplomats and the TPLF say clashes persist, with protests and looting also reported in Mekelle on Friday.
The TPLF dominated government for nearly three decades, until Abiy took power in 2018 and began democratic reforms.
The party accuses him of seeking to centralize power at the expense of Ethiopia’s 10 regions and says Tigrayan officials were unfairly targeted in a crackdown on corruption and rights abuses. The government denies that and accuses TPLF leaders of treason for attacking federal forces in early November.
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Fauci’s Plea ‘Wear a mask’ Tops List of 2020 Notable Quotes
A plea from Dr. Anthony Fauci for people to “wear a mask” to slow the spread of the coronavirus tops a Yale Law School librarian’s list of the most notable quotes of 2020.
The list assembled by Fred Shapiro, an associate director at the library, is an annual update to “The Yale Book of Quotations,” which was first published in 2006.
Also on the list is “I can’t breathe,” the plea George Floyd made repeatedly to police officers holding him down on a Minneapolis street corner. Several quotes from the presidential campaign appear including Joe Biden telling a student: “You’re a lying dog-faced pony soldier.”
Shapiro said he picks quotes that are not necessarily admirable or eloquent, but rather because they are famous or particularly revealing of the spirit of the times.The List
1. “Wear a mask.” — Dr. Anthony Fauci, CNN interview, May 21.
2. “I can’t breathe.” — George Floyd, plea to police officer, Minneapolis, May 25.
3. “One day — it’s like a miracle — it will disappear,” President Donald Trump, referring to the coronavirus in remarks at an African American History Month reception at the White House, Feb. 27.
4. “I see the disinfectant that knocks it out in a minute, one minute. And is there a way we can do something like that by injection inside or almost a cleaning?” — Trump, in remarks at a White House Coronavirus Task Force news briefing, April 23.
5. “I will never lie to you. You have my word on that.” — White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany, at her first press briefing, May 1.
6. “My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed.” — Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, statement dictated to granddaughter Clara Spera, September.
7. “If you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t Black.” — Joe Biden, in an interview with “The Breakfast Club” radio program, May 22.
8. “The science should not stand in the way of this.” — McEnany, referring to school reopenings in a news briefing, July 16.
9. “You’re a lying dog-faced pony soldier.” — Biden, in a remark to student at campaign event, Hampton, N.H., Feb. 9.
10. “We are all Lakers today.” — Los Angeles Clippers coach Doc Rivers, in a remark to reporters after the death of Kobe Bryant, Orlando, Fla., Jan. 26.
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Britain Makes Final Preparations for First Round of COVID-19 Vaccinations
Britain is on the eve of launching a COVID-19 vaccination campaign. Staffers with the nation’s National Health Service, nursing home residents and their caregivers on Tuesday will begin to receive the first of two doses of a vaccine jointly developed by U.S.-based pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech. The initiative will start nearly a week after the government’s medical regulatory agency granted emergency approval for the vaccine, making Britain the first western nation ready to begin mass inoculations. The approval came weeks after Pfizer announced the vaccine had been shown to be over 90% effective after its final, widespread clinical trial. The entrance to the Pfizer UK headquarters is seen in Tadworth, Britain, Dec. 2, 2020.Britain received 800,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine Sunday, the first of a total of 40 million it has purchased. Delivery of the vaccine is complicated by the fact that it must be stored in super-cold refrigerators at temperatures below 70 degrees Celsius. British news outlets reported Sunday that 94-year-old Queen Elizabeth II and her 99-year-old husband, Prince Philip, will announce when they are to receive the vaccine, hoping to reassure the British public of its safety. FILE – A research scientist works inside a laboratory of India’s Serum Institute, the world’s largest maker of vaccines, which is working on vaccines against COVID-19 in Pune, India, May 18, 2020.In a separate development, the Serum Institute of India has applied for emergency use of a COVID-19 vaccine under development by British pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca in collaboration with the University of Oxford. Serum, the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer, is leaning heavily towards the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine because it can be stored at 2 to 8 degrees Celsius, as opposed to the super-cold requirements of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. And Indonesian President Joko Widodo announced Sunday the country has received a shipment of a coronavirus vaccine developed by China’s Sinovac biotechnology company. The vaccine is still undergoing testing in Indonesia, where the government is making final preparations for an initiative to inoculate as many as 270 million people. United Statesthe United States, health regulators will meet Thursday to consider whether to authorize emergency use of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, followed by a second meeting a week later to discuss another vaccine under development by U.S.-based biotechnology company Moderna. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar told Fox News Sunday that if a panel of experts at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves the Pfizer vaccine, “within hours [health workers] can be vaccinating” patients. FILE – Medical personnel check on a COVID-19 patient at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Los Angeles, Nov. 19, 2020.U.S. authorities have decided that medical and emergency workers as well as employees and residents of nursing homes are at the highest risk of contracting the infection and will be first in line to be inoculated. Azar said that 30 million to 40 million doses of the vaccine will be available by the end of the year, with millions more doses to be manufactured in the first half of 2021. President-elect Joe Biden has said his transition team has seen “no detailed plan” for distribution of the vaccines. But Azar said, “With all due respect, that’s just nonsense. This is being micromanaged” by the outgoing Trump administration. FILE – A volunteer is injected with a vaccine as he participates in a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccination study at the Research Centers of America, in Hollywood, Florida, Sept. 24, 2020.In one national poll, about four in 10 people say they will refuse to get the shot, either because they are wary of vaccinations in general or the coronavirus inoculation specifically. Some Americans Worry About Safety of Coronavirus VaccineA significant number of Americans express concern over accelerated timeline in developing COVID inoculationsBut Azar said that “positive experiences” of people being inoculated “will drive more people” to get the necessary two shots a month apart to become vaccinated. Biden said last week that when he is inaugurated January 20, he will ask that Americans wear a mask for 100 days to try to curb the spread of the virus that causes the COVID-19 disease. The world has more than 67.1 million total COVID-19 cases, including more than 1.5 million deaths. The United States leads the world in both categories, with 14.7 million total cases and 282,312 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.
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Amid Pandemic, Pearl Harbor Survivors Commemorate Anniversary at Home
Survivors of the December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor will commemorate the anniversary at home this year, with gatherings banned and most large events canceled in the United States amid surging numbers of coronavirus cases.In past years, thousands of people – survivors, current members of the military, tourists, and locals – have attended ceremonies on the naval base in Hawaii honoring those killed in a Japanese aerial assault. The attack, launched to destroy the U.S. Pacific fleet and with the aim of keeping the United States out of the war, took 2,390 American lives.Of those, 1,177 were Marines and sailors serving on the battleship USS Arizona, moored in the harbor. FILE – American ships burn during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in this Dec. 7, 1941 file photo.The ship still rests in the harbor and is a grave for more than 900 men killed in the attack. The white memorial structure built above the ship is visited each year by nearly 2 million people. This year, the National Park Service and the U.S. Navy, who jointly host the annual event on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, will close the ceremony to the public to limit its size. The event will be live streamed instead. The ceremony will include a moment of silence at 7:55 a.m., the moment the Japanese attack began, and a flyover in a missing man formation in which one plane leaves the formation and flies high in the sky, leaving an empty space in honor of the lives lost. The commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet will deliver a speech.A Veterans Day wreath left Nov. 11, 2020, in Scottsdale, Ariz., at the USS Arizona Memorial Gardens, a site honoring each of the ship’s 1,512 crew members, including the 1,177 who died at Pearl Harbor.Last year, three of the survivors of the attack attended the ceremony in Hawaii, but this year none will be present because of the concerns about the pandemic, which has been particularly deadly for older people.Navy sailor Mickey Ganitch, 101, has attended most of the annual ceremonies since the attack, but this year, he will be observing a moment of silence from his home in California.“That’s the way it goes. You got to ride with the tide,” Mickey Ganitch, a 101-year-old survivor of the attack on Pearl Harbor, holds a football statue he was given, in the living room of his home in San Leandro, Calif., Nov. 20, 2020.Asked why Ganitch likes returning to Pearl Harbor for the annual remembrance ceremony. “We’re respecting them by being there and showing up and honoring them. Cause they’re really the heroes,” Ganitch said.
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Asian Countries Handle New COVID-19 Cases without Lockdowns
Asian countries faced with late-year spikes in COVID-19 are capping the outbreaks and keeping economies on track by leveraging earlier experience, namely quick control measures and public compliance, sources in the affected spots say. Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam have reported increases since mid-November as weather cools, citizens fly home from more heavily infected countries in the West, or both. Numbers had fallen in all six by mid-year after outbreaks in the first half. Health officials are now stepping up controls without shuttering businesses in most cases or ordering people to stay home. They’re still leaning heavily on control measures from earlier in the year when COVID-19 first appeared, catching Asia by surprise as the first place to feel an impact. Those measures include quarantining sick people, tracing their contacts and mandating bigger social distances in public. International borders remain shut to tourists. “The strategy behind these successes is based on the same basic factors: prioritizing health above economic concerns, producing excellent public communications, enforcing early border controls and mandating behavior change,” the Lowy Institute research group in Australia says in an analysis of Southeast Asia’s anti-pandemic measures. “These things work.” People in the region habitually comply with the rules, even where no one’s on hand to enforce them, as a way to stay healthy, locals say. Collective wellbeing is prioritized over individual liberty. “If someone in your family just (traveled) somewhere, then all of your neighbors will know, and if something happens to you, the neighbors themselves will tell about your situation to the police [first responders] or to the CDC,” said Phuong Hong, 40, a Ho Chi Minh City dweller who works in the Vietnamese hotel sector. FILE – People wearing face masks to help curb the spread of the coronavirus ride mopeds in Hanoi, Vietnam on Thursday, Aug. 6, 2020. Despite a monthly pay cut equal to 3.5 days of work as the travel industry suffers from Vietnam’s border closures, she lauds the government for “taking action very fast.” Vietnam ended its lockdown in April. Vietnam has 1,366 cases overall but reported rare daily infection totals above 20 twice in November. Domestic media point to a Vietnam Airlines flight attendant who violated home quarantine after arriving in Ho Chi Minh City on November 14 from Japan. His case sparked an inquiry by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc after three others got sick. In Taiwan, the Central Epidemic Command Center announced that from December 1 everyone in the malls, recreation halls and certain schools must wear facemasks. So many people were already using masks in those venues, plus a lot of others, that habits barely changed last week. Taiwan officials have reported 716 cases total including two days in December with more than 20 apiece, all of which the government calls “imported” from abroad. Its border closure and strict contract tracing rules haven’t wavered since taking effect in March. Economically crucial export manufacturing continues in Taiwan and Vietnam with no disruption. In Malaysia, citizens are working with the government to stave off another lockdown like the March-through-June one, said Ibrahim Suffian, program director with the polling group Merdeka Center in Kuala Lumpur. The “gravity is seen as high” due to constant media coverage, he said.
Public support for the government’s efforts has ranged from 65% to 80% most of the year and about 90% of Malaysians follow disease-control orders, he said. Large gatherings and local travel have been blamed for Malaysia’s spike, which began in October and has settled since then at 1,000 to 1,200 new cases daily. Now there’s debate on how to release more stimulus money as the number of under-employed people becomes more obvious, particularly in hospitality, Suffian said. “I think the wider impact is on the economy and I think that’s going to be felt for a while, so in the recent weeks the discussion has been what stimulus can the government provide,” he said.In the cooler regions of Asia, Japan’s daily caseload jumped above 2,000 per day in late November and hovers now between that level and 2,500. Officials there trace contacts in response to outbreak clusters, and Japanese are known for mass compliance with health advice.South Korea’s coronavirus caseloads began topping 500 per day in late November for the first time since March. Last month Korean authorities were considering stronger social distancing curbs after easing them a month earlier to help the economy.In Hong Kong, numbers began climbing from November 19 to between 50 and 100 or more per day. Nearly 7,000 have been infected since the start of the global outbreak. The Hong Kong government suspended in-person primary school classes last month and lets restaurants seat parties of only one or two people.Hong Kong inhabitants are used to the government’s control measures, though they want more clarity each time they change and ways to plan ahead, said Adam Wielowieyski, a 40-year-old Briton who works at the territory’s stock exchange. “People generally are sort of willing to try and make this work,” he said. “I don’t know of anyone who’s actively going out and flouting rules and restrictions. People are generally just finding ways to comply, but obviously it is sort of frustrating.”
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Voting Begins in Ghana’s Presidential and Legislative Elections
Voting has begun in the West African nation of Ghana, where ballots are being cast for president and members of the 275-seat legislature. Although 12 candidates are seeking the presidency, the race is viewed as a two-way contest between incumbent President Nana Akufo-Addo of the New Patriot Party and former president John Mahama, the leader of the opposition National Democratic Congress party. This is the third contest between the two men since 2012, when Mahama defeated Akufo-Addo, followed by Akufo-Addo’s win in 2016. Three women are among the 11 candidates challenging Akufo-Addo, but attention has been focused on Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang, a former education minister who is running as Mahama’s vice-presidential running mate, becoming the first woman on the ticket of a major Ghanian political party. The Congo-based media outlet Africa News cited a recent survey by the Center for Democratic Development showing President Akufo-Addo with a slight lead over Mahama. Both candidates have promised to revive the region’s second-largest economy and its vital cocoa-exporting sector, which has been devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Ghana has 52,274 confirmed coronavirus cases and 325 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University’s Coronavirus Resource Center. The Electoral Commission said so-called COVID-19 ambassadors will be located at all 311 voting centers to make sure voters follow protocols, including wearing masks, getting temperature checks and sanitizing their hands Ghana has been a symbol of political and economic stability in west Africa since returning to democracy in 1992. The winner must secure more than 50% of the vote to avoid a runoff. The final results are expected to be announced by Thursday, December 10.
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China’s Exports Surge on Hot Demand for PPE, Remote Working Tech
China’s exports rose in November at the fastest pace since February 2018, helped by strong global demand for a range of products including personal protective equipment that remains highly sought after during the pandemic. Exports in November rose 21.1% from a year earlier, customs data showed on Monday, soundly beating analysts’ expectations for a 12.0% increase and quickening from an 11.4% increase in October. Imports rose 4.5% year-on-year in November, slower than October’s 4.7% growth, and underperforming expectations in a Reuters poll for a 6.1% increase, but still marking a third straight month of expansion. Analysts say improving domestic demand and higher commodity prices helped buoy the reading. That has led to a trade surplus for November of $75.42 billion, the largest since at least 1981 when Refinitiv records began. It was also wider than the poll’s forecast for a $53.5 billion surplus and a $58.44 billion surplus in October. China’s exports were supported by strong overseas demand for personal protective equipment (PPE) and electronics products for working from home, as well as seasonal Christmas demand, Nomura analysts said in a note. “We believe China’s export growth could remain elevated for another several months due to the worsening COVID-19 situation overseas,” the note said. However, they noted some signs that demand for these pandemic-related goods was losing momentum. Booming sales of fridges, toasters and microwaves to households across the locked-down world have helped propel China’s manufacturing engine back to life, super-charging demand for key metals like steel, copper and aluminum, after a sharp slump early in the year. In another sign of brisk trade, China’s export surge and the low turnaround rate of containers from abroad have triggered a recent shortage of containers domestically, state media China Daily reported. A spate of early month economic data showed China’s economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic has stepped up, with manufacturing surveys showing new export orders expanding at a faster pace for November. A sharp appreciation of the yuan in recent months could also cloud the outlook for exporters. Some firms reported that a strong yuan squeezed profits and reduced export orders in November, the statistics bureau said this week. The yuan has booked six straight months of gains, its longest such winning streak since late 2014, and is trading at 2-1/2 year highs. The strong exports widened China’s trade surplus with the United States to $37.42 billion in November from $31.37 billion in October. While a Biden administration is expected to soften some of the diplomatic rhetoric seen in strained U.S.-China trade relations in recent years, there are no immediate signs the President-elect intends to unwind the punitive tariffs introduced under the Trump administration.
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Brexit Crunch Time as EU and UK Still Divided Over Trade Deal
Brexit hung in the balance on Monday as Britain and the European Union made a last-ditch attempt to bridge significant differences to strike a trade deal that would avoid a disorderly exit in just 24 days. As fears rose of a chaotic no-trade deal Brexit on Dec. 31 when the United Kingdom finally leaves the EU’s orbit, talks will resume in Brussels before Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen review the situation in the evening. Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin said on Sunday the odds of a deal were just 50-50 while investment bank JPMorgan said odds of a no-trade deal exit had risen to one third from 20 percent. “Decisive hours for the future of EU-UK relations,” said Sebastian Fischer, an EU spokesman for Germany, the current holder of the EU presidency. Failure to secure a deal would snarl borders, spook financial markets and disrupt the delicate supply chains that stretch across Europe and beyond just as the world tries to cope with the vast economic cost of the COVID-19 pandemic. Deal or no deal? For weeks, the two sides have been haggling – as yet without a result – over fishing rights in British waters, ensuring fair competition for companies and ways to solve future disputes. EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier told national envoys to Brussels on Monday morning that there was no agreement yet in UK trade talks, a senior diplomat told Reuters. Updating the EU envoys, Barnier said the three most contentious issues in the negotiations have not yet been resolved, according to the diplomat, who was taking part in the closed-door briefing. “I still think it is more likely than not that we will find a way of getting a deal done but I won’t be shocked if it falls apart,” Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney was quoted as saying by the Irish Times. “If we don’t get a deal in the next few days, then obviously there are serious problems around ratification and timelines.” In a move that could further undermine the talks, the British government will press ahead with draft laws this week that would breach London’s earlier divorce treaty with the bloc. Junior Foreign Office Minister James Cleverly said on Monday the clauses that breach the treaty would be re-inserted.
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US Schools Confront ‘Off the Rails’ Numbers of Failing Grades
The first report cards of the school year are arriving with many more Fs than usual in a dismal sign of the struggles students are experiencing with distance learning. American school districts from coast to coast have reported the number of students failing classes has risen by as many as two or three times — with English language learners and disabled and disadvantaged students suffering the most. “It was completely off the rails from what is normal for us, and that was obviously very alarming,” said Erik Jespersen, principal of Oregon’s McNary High School, where 38% of grades in late October were failing, compared with 8% in normal times. Educators see a number of factors at play: Students learning from home skip assignments — or school altogether. Internet access for many is limited or inconsistent, making it difficult to complete and upload assignments. And teachers who don’t see their students in person have fewer ways to pick up on who is falling behind, especially with many keeping their cameras off during Zoom sessions. The increase in failing grades has been seen in districts of all sizes around the country. At Jespersen’s school in the Salem-Keizer Public School district, hundreds of students initially had not just Fs, but grade scores of 0.0%, indicating they simply were not participating in school at all. In New Mexico, more than 40 percent of middle and high school students were failing at least one class as of late October. In Houston, 42% of students received at least one F in the first grading period of the year. Nearly 40% of grades for high school students in St. Paul, Minnesota, were Fs, double the amount in a typical year. In response, schools have been ramping up outreach efforts, prioritizing the return of struggling students for in-person learning and in some cases changing grading policies and giving students more time to complete assignments. Jespersen said his school began to see grades improve after bringing groups of 300 students into the building in small cohorts to receive support from teachers, although that recently stopped because of the region’s rising coronavirus cases. Advisory teams increased contact with students, and teachers were asked to temporarily stop assigning graded homework. Parents of Hispanic students were invited for a session to learn how to access their children’s grades online. In Charleston, South Carolina, administrators and teachers are raising the possibility of adjusting grading the way they did in the spring, where instructors were told to give 50s instead of 0s to make it less punitive for disengaged students, according to eighth-grade English teacher Jody Stallings. “I’m an English teacher, not a math teacher, but I’ve learned zeros are very, very devastating,” he said. Most of the failing grades he gives out come from missing assignments, not assignments that were turned in with a lot of wrong answers. “You talk to them later and they say, `You know I just didn’t do it. I didn’t know the answer so I just didn’t do it,’” said Stallings, who teaches most of his students in person and the rest online simultaneously at Moultrie Middle School. “When you have a kid in person, he’s going to take the test … Even if he doesn’t know anything, he has a chance.” Jillian Baxter’s son, a high school sophomore in Fairfax County, Virginia, normally gets good grades but was failing all his classes at one point, including physical education. Her daughter, a senior, was getting all A’s. Both students are learning remotely fulltime. She attributes the difference to how her kids learn. Her daughter is thrilled to work independently in her room. Her son is a “tactile learner,” she said. “You don’t have that drive to do it if you’re not there,” she said. The failing grades during the pandemic have also revealed how equity gaps in the education system are growing. An analysis by the Fairfax County school system found that English language learners and students with disabilities were among those with the largest increases in failing grades. By contrast, students who performed well previously were performing slightly better than expected. In Hatch, New Mexico, high school registrar Blanca Ramirez said her job has evolved during the pandemic to serve as translator, ombudsman and life coach to students and parents who speak only Spanish. In conversations, she asks students how they can have such low grades. “The first response is ’it’s so hard — Miss — no lo entiendo [I don’t understand],'” Ramirez said. “Come to find out a lot of the time kids are not even doing their first attempt because I think they’re afraid. And so just making that phone call opens up that encouragement and they start making a little bit more effort,” says Ramirez. In some cases, the biggest barrier for an English-language learning student is simply that they’ve been unable to log in to the Zoom calls and the online education platform that are key to attending classes. A few times this semester, Ramirez has had the students meet her in the school parking lot, everyone masked up, while she shows them and their parents how to log in. Hatch High School reported 79% of students were failing at least one class during their first grading period of the year. That’s been cut to 46% within a few months, said spokeswoman Audra Bluehouse, both because school has been made easier and students are more engaged.
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Georgia Republican Senator Loeffler Dodges Questions on Trump During Debate With Challenger Warnock
Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler danced around questions about whether President Donald Trump lost the November 3 election in a debate with her Democratic challenger on Sunday before two Georgia runoffs that will decide control of the U.S. Senate. Facing off with the Rev. Raphael Warnock on a debate stage in Atlanta, Loeffler repeatedly called the political newcomer a “radical liberal,” while Warnock criticized Loeffler’s stock trades after the wealthy businesswoman was appointed senator a year ago. Each criticized the other’s interpretation of the Christian faith. As the debate began, Loeffler sidestepped a question about whether she agreed with Trump’s baseless claims that last month’s election was rigged. Trump has not conceded to Democratic President-elect Joe Biden, instead insisting without evidence that the result was because of widespread fraud, claims that state and federal officials have repeatedly rejected. “It’s vitally important that Georgians trust our election process and the president has every right to every legal recourse,” Loeffler said. Warnock countered by asking why Loeffler “continues to cast doubt on an American democratic election. It’s time to put this behind us.” Trump Campaigns in Georgia for Republican SenatorsThe president repeats vote fraud claims while backing GOP candidates in January runoff elections that could decide party control of SenateUphill fight for Democrats Georgia has not elected a Democratic U.S. senator in 20 years, but Biden’s narrow victory there over Trump has given Democrats hope. They face an uphill battle, however, and need to win both races to deny Republicans a Senate majority that could be used to block much of Biden’s legislative agenda. Republicans are training much of their fire on Warnock, the Black senior pastor of the Atlanta church where civil rights champion the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. once preached. “My opponent, radical liberal Raphael Warnock, is a socialist,” Loeffler said, an attack she voiced repeatedly throughout the debate. She went through a litany of attacks she has made in her campaign ads, which seek to portray Warnock as anti-police, anti-Israel, Marxist and tied to the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and a sermon in which the Black Chicago pastor declared: “God damn America!” Warnock said Loeffler was trying to misrepresent him. “I believe in the free enterprise system,” he said. He accused Loeffler of improperly profiting by “dumping millions of dollars of stock” just after becoming senator and early in the coronavirus outbreak, before the stock market turned down. “I’m OK with the fact that she wants to make money, I just think you shouldn’t use the people’s seat to enrich yourself. You ought to use the people’s seat to represent the people,” Warnock said. The Justice Department closed a probe into stock trades made by Loeffler, along with Senators Dianne Feinstein and Jim Inhofe, earlier this year, shortly before market turmoil tied to the coronavirus, media have reported. All three have denied wrongdoing. Loeffler was appointed to her seat a year ago after its former occupant retired. She trailed Warnock in her complicated 20-candidate November 3 contest, when Warnock got 32.9% and Loeffler took 25.9%. Who’s in Georgia’s US Senate Election Runoffs?Two special elections in Georgia on Jan. 5 will determine which political party controls the US SenateRunoffs, recriminations Senator David Perdue, the other Georgia Republican fighting to hold his seat on January 5, opted out of debating Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff again, leaving his rival alone on stage on Sunday. Ossoff said Perdue may not want to talk about his frequent stock trades while a senator. Last summer, the Justice Department closed an inquiry into Perdue’s trades in shares of a financial firm without charges, the New York Times reported last month. “Senator Perdue, I suppose, doesn’t feel that he can handle himself in a debate, or perhaps is concerned that he may incriminate himself in a debate, both of which in my opinion are disqualifying for a U.S. senator seeking reelection,” Ossoff said. Perdue’s campaign has said he does not manage his stock portfolio day to day. The road to the runoffs poses challenges for both parties. Biden demonstrated that a Democrat could win in the historically conservative state by defeating Trump there by 49.5%-49.3% in last month’s election. That outcome has sparked recriminations among Republicans, with Trump blasting Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, and Loeffler and Perdue calling for the resignation of Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. In a rally in Valdosta, Georgia, on Saturday night, Trump urged the crowd to vote Republican in the Senate runoffs despite his unsubstantiated claims of significant electoral fraud in the state. He also repeated his allegations of fraud in the national election that cost him the White House.
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Malaysia’s COVID Woes Spotlight ‘Terrible’ Migrant Worker Housing
Malaysia is pressing companies to quickly upgrade staff housing after a major outbreak of COVID-19 in the teeming dormitories for migrant workers providing the world with personal protective equipment, something labor rights groups had been warning of for months.The country counted a record 2,188 COVID-19 cases on November 24, most linked to company dorms for migrant workers at Top Glove, the world’s leading latex glove maker.The next day, Defense Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob announced that authorities would start enforcing new worker housing rules right away, and imposing fines of some $12,300 for every employee in substandard accommodation.Human Resource Minister Saravanan Murugan followed up by calling some of the country’s dorm conditions “terrible” after personally visiting a few sites. Days later, on December 1, his ministry announced 19 investigations into six Top Glove subsidiaries, mostly for failing to furnish migrant workers with proper housing.Exterior of workers’ hostel for Top Glove, the world’s largest glove maker, is seen through barricade amid the COVID-19 outbreak in Meru, Selangor state, Malaysia, Nov. 24, 2020.Joseph Maliamauv, a director at local rights group Tenaganita, said employers have had well over a year to get ready for those rules. He also said he doubts the government would be enforcing them now if it weren’t for the outbreak. As recently as September, the human resource minister said his plans were not to fine errant employers so much as to “educate and encourage” them to comply.”They had more than enough time, but nobody took it seriously until now,” said Maliamauv.”And what really got anybody acting on it is the coronavirus. If it were not for the coronavirus, people would just have been doing what they have always been doing,” he said.Labor rights groups said a major COVID-19 outbreak among migrant workers in neighboring Singapore in April should also have been a call to action for authorities here.Lessons not learnedMalaysia’s government said at the time that it was learning from Singapore and ordered employers to start testing all their migrant workers, but it soon settled for construction workers and security guards, and only in some regions, Maliamauv said.FILE – A worker inspects disposable gloves at the Top Glove factory in Shah Alam on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Aug. 26, 2020.Top Glove itself put out a glossy video on May 1, Labor Day, telling workers it was doing all it could “to ensure you are always safe and well protected.”However, employees say the company did little more than pass out gloves and masks, take their temperatures at the start of each shift and remind them to keep their distance.Now, 28 of Top Glove’s 41 factories in Malaysia are shuttered while the company copes with the largest COVID-19 cluster the country has seen since the pandemic began.A Top Glove production line supervisor from Bangladesh told VOA that he and his 29 roommates were never tested before the entire bloc was put on lockdown on November 17.Videos he shared show a bare room packed tightly with bunk beds, their flimsy frames draped thick with laundry.A photo supplied by labor rights advocate Andy Hall shows a migrant worker dorm room in Malaysia.The 30 men share two bathrooms among them, although water often runs short during peak hours. There’s no air conditioning, and the fans do a poor job of keeping them cool on sweltering nights.”We were very worried since the pandemic started about getting infected, but this is where we have to live,” the young man said, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal.”We’ve been very worried about living in one room with 30 people because if one person gets it they can bring it back. We’re worried, but we have no choice,” he said.Eleven of his roommates have since tested positive for COVID-19 and been sent to the hospital or put into quarantine.”If they [Top Glove] had taken the right steps, maybe this situation would not have happened,” he said. “The company did not take care of us and protect us from COVID-19 the way it needed to.”Suing for timeIn a recent statement, Top Glove said its efforts to upgrade the dorms were continuing and would be complete by the end of the year.Maliamauv said the same conditions, and worse, still exist far and wide, and that the Human Resource Ministry’s enforcement efforts could not afford to end with Top Glove.”There are hundreds of employers who are not in the news that are still providing sub-standard housing, so it has to be continued,” he said. “Whether the minister lasts in the position and whether he has the stamina to do it, whether the employers lobby strong enough [for delays], that all depends. But as of now I am a little bit optimistic that some changes will occur.”Employers are indeed asking for more time.”Many of them are actually depending on the government’s assistance to remain in business, and if at the same time they also have to actually face penalties that are imposed by authorities, then of course it’s going to be very hard for them to survive,” said Shamsuddin Bardan, executive director of the Malaysian Employers Federation.The Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers and the Small and Medium Enterprises Association of Malaysia have also urged the government not to impose stiff fines while the pandemic continues to batter the economy.While soaring global demand for protective gear has blessed Top Glove and other local rubber glove makers with record profits this year, many companies are suffering.If authorities do press ahead with fines now, Shamsuddin said, “then I would say it’s just like trying to kill them faster.”
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Trump Rallies Georgia Voters in US Senate Runoff While Alleging Widespread Fraud
Republicans and Democrats are working to get Georgia residents to vote in the January 5 runoff election that will decide control of the U.S. Senate. But Republicans are also divided about the results of the November 3 presidential race, with President Donald Trump still asserting widespread voter fraud. Michelle Quinn reports.Video editor: Mary Cieslak
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Thousands in London Protest India’s Farming Reforms; 13 Arrested
Thousands of people protested and blocked traffic in central London on Sunday over Indian agricultural reforms that have triggered mass demonstrations in India, and police made 13 arrests over breaches of COVID regulations.A crowd of demonstrators converged on the Indian embassy, located on a major artery in the center of the British capital, and groups marched around the Trafalgar Square area.Tens of thousands of farmers have protested in India against three laws the government says are meant to overhaul antiquated procurement procedures and give growers more options to sell their produce.Farmers fear the legislation, passed in September, will eventually dismantle India’s regulated markets and stop the government from buying wheat and rice at guaranteed prices, leaving them at the mercy of private buyers.Britain is home to a large Indian diaspora, and many Britons who trace their family roots to India are strongly engaged with news from the country.There was little social distancing in evidence at the London protests and few participants were wearing face masks, a Reuters photographer at the scene said.The Metropolitan Police said it had arrested 13 people for breaching restrictions aimed at curbing the spread of COVID-19, and that four of those people were later released after being issued fines.Police also confiscated fireworks from teenagers who were seen setting them off toward a crowd. There were no reports of injuries, and traffic was flowing freely after the crowds dispersed.”The capital remains in the midst of a pandemic. It is vital that we all play our part in the fight against COVID-19,” said police Commander Paul Brogden in a statement.
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Romanian PM Claims Election Win, But One Exit Poll Differs
Romanian Prime Minister Ludovic Orban claimed victory in Sunday’s national election seen as pivotal for the country’s future in the European mainstream, although one exit poll showed his ruling Liberals (PNL) losing by a narrow margin.A reform-minded fiscal conservative, Orban is expected to be nominated by President Klaus Iohannis to form a coalition government, even if final results show him slightly behind his rivals, the leftist PSD.Orban quickly claimed victory, with one exit poll conducted by INSOMAR giving him a narrow lead of 32% versus the PSD’s 28%. Another exit poll by Curs-Avantgarde put the PSD at 30.5% and the PNL at 29.1%. Both showed the centrist USR-Plus, Orban’s likely coalition partner, at roughly 16%.”The PNL thinks it is the winner of this election,” Orban told supporters in a quick speech. “We will seek to represent an array of interests.”A government led by Orban would be welcomed in Brussels, frustrated by years of efforts by a succession of leftist Romanian governments to suppress the independence of the courts, a charge they had denied. Critics had compared what’s happened in Romania to judiciary overhauls in Poland and Hungary that the European Commission says subvert the rule of law.In power for a year, Orban had been constrained in any reform efforts by a parliament controlled by the PSD, which has seen three prime ministers toppled since the last legislative election in 2016 amid infighting over jobs.The party’s last government collapsed in late 2019, following the imprisonment of former leader Liviu Dragnea on corruption charges.Pandemic fearsCampaigning on a promise to bring Romania closer to the European mainstream, Orban has pledged to restore investor sentiment badly shaken by the PSD’s fiscal populism and revive efforts to repair neglected infrastructure and public services.The PSD had seen a last-minute rise in polls, after it accused Orban of botching Romania’s approach to the coronavirus pandemic.With a 6% annual contraction in the third quarter, Romania had one of the worst economic outcomes in the EU.The party’s core rural electorate was angry over social distancing restrictions that curbed the ability of small-plot farmers to sell their produce in nearby cities.”I thank Romanians who punished this mockery that was (Orban’s) handling of the pandemic,” PSD leader Marcel Ciolacu said.Turnout was the lowest since Romania shed communism in a bloody revolt in 1989, with decades of voter apathy over failed reforms compounded by fears over coronavirus contagion in polling stations.There were few new rules introduced for election day, but Romania has had one of the highest death rates in the EU. Schools and restaurants remain closed and an evening curfew was imposed in November.Orban said he expected coalition talks to proceed quickly. But he faces a daunting task to contain public finances to avert the budget deficit ballooning into double digits, something that economists say could trigger ratings agencies to bring Romania below investment grade.The Romanian leu has traded near record lows against the euro over the past year amid political turmoil and rating concerns.Exit polls did not include votes from the Romanian diaspora. Partial official results were expected on Monday morning.
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Malaysia’s Coronavirus Outbreak Puts ‘Terrible’ Migrant Worker Housing in Spotlight
Malaysia is pressing companies to quickly upgrade staff housing after a major outbreak of COVID-19 in the teeming dormitories for migrant workers providing the world with personal protective equipment, something labor rights groups had been warning of for months.The country counted a record 2,188 COVID-19 cases on November 24, most linked to company dorms for migrant workers at Top Glove, the world’s leading latex glove maker.The next day, Defense Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob announced that authorities would start enforcing new worker housing rules right away, and imposing fines of some $12,300 for every employee in substandard accommodation.Human Resource Minister Saravanan Murugan followed up by calling some of the country’s dorm conditions “terrible” after personally visiting a few sites. Days later, on December 1, his ministry announced 19 investigations into six Top Glove subsidiaries, mostly for failing to furnish migrant workers with proper housing.Exterior of workers’ hostel for Top Glove, the world’s largest glove maker, is seen through barricade amid the COVID-19 outbreak in Meru, Selangor state, Malaysia, Nov. 24, 2020.Joseph Maliamauv, a director at local rights group Tenaganita, said employers have had well over a year to get ready for those rules. He also said he doubts the government would be enforcing them now if it weren’t for the outbreak. As recently as September, the human resource minister said his plans were not to fine errant employers so much as to “educate and encourage” them to comply.”They had more than enough time, but nobody took it seriously until now,” said Maliamauv.”And what really got anybody acting on it is the coronavirus. If it were not for the coronavirus, people would just have been doing what they have always been doing,” he said.Labor rights groups said a major COVID-19 outbreak among migrant workers in neighboring Singapore in April should also have been a call to action for authorities here.Lessons not learnedMalaysia’s government said at the time that it was learning from Singapore and ordered employers to start testing all their migrant workers, but it soon settled for construction workers and security guards, and only in some regions, Maliamauv said.FILE – A worker inspects disposable gloves at the Top Glove factory in Shah Alam on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Aug. 26, 2020.Top Glove itself put out a glossy video on May 1, Labor Day, telling workers it was doing all it could “to ensure you are always safe and well protected.”However, employees say the company did little more than pass out gloves and masks, take their temperatures at the start of each shift and remind them to keep their distance.Now, 28 of Top Glove’s 41 factories in Malaysia are shuttered while the company copes with the largest COVID-19 cluster the country has seen since the pandemic began.A Top Glove production line supervisor from Bangladesh told VOA that he and his 29 roommates were never tested before the entire bloc was put on lockdown on November 17.Videos he shared show a bare room packed tightly with bunk beds, their flimsy frames draped thick with laundry.A photo supplied by labor rights advocate Andy Hall shows a migrant worker dorm room in Malaysia.The 30 men share two bathrooms among them, although water often runs short during peak hours. There’s no air conditioning, and the fans do a poor job of keeping them cool on sweltering nights.”We were very worried since the pandemic started about getting infected, but this is where we have to live,” the young man said, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal.”We’ve been very worried about living in one room with 30 people because if one person gets it they can bring it back. We’re worried, but we have no choice,” he said.Eleven of his roommates have since tested positive for COVID-19 and been sent to the hospital or put into quarantine.”If they [Top Glove] had taken the right steps, maybe this situation would not have happened,” he said. “The company did not take care of us and protect us from COVID-19 the way it needed to.”Suing for timeIn a recent statement, Top Glove said its efforts to upgrade the dorms were continuing and would be complete by the end of the year.Maliamauv said the same conditions, and worse, still exist far and wide, and that the Human Resource Ministry’s enforcement efforts could not afford to end with Top Glove.”There are hundreds of employers who are not in the news that are still providing sub-standard housing, so it has to be continued,” he said. “Whether the minister lasts in the position and whether he has the stamina to do it, whether the employers lobby strong enough [for delays], that all depends. But as of now I am a little bit optimistic that some changes will occur.”Employers are indeed asking for more time.”Many of them are actually depending on the government’s assistance to remain in business, and if at the same time they also have to actually face penalties that are imposed by authorities, then of course it’s going to be very hard for them to survive,” said Shamsuddin Bardan, executive director of the Malaysian Employers Federation.The Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers and the Small and Medium Enterprises Association of Malaysia have also urged the government not to impose stiff fines while the pandemic continues to batter the economy.While soaring global demand for protective gear has blessed Top Glove and other local rubber glove makers with record profits this year, many companies are suffering.If authorities do press ahead with fines now, Shamsuddin said, “then I would say it’s just like trying to kill them faster.”
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Britain to Be First Country to Use Pfizer COVID Vaccine
Britain will be the first country to roll out the Pfizer – BioNTech coronavirus vaccine – the first Western nation to do so, the government announced Sunday.The first doses will be distributed to health care workers and Britons over the age of 80 starting Tuesday, the National Health Service said.Roughly 800,000 doses are expected to be administered during the first week.Pfizer and BioNTech could receive U.S. approval later this month.China is also gearing up to introduce a huge coronavirus vaccine initiative. The Associated Press reports provincial governments across the country are placing orders for experimental, domestically made coronavirus vaccines, although health officials have yet to say how well they work or how they may reach the country’s 1.4 billion people.The AP says more than a million Chinese health care workers have already received experimental vaccines under emergency use permission, but there have been no indications about possible side effects.People wearing face masks to help curb the spread of the coronavirus walk by a mural depicting China’s skyscrapers along a street in Beijing, Dec. 6, 2020.Russia launched its coronavirus vaccine initiative Saturday to contain the outbreak there. The most vulnerable will receive the first doses of the vaccine named Sputnik V, including medical workers and teachers. The vaccine was approved in August, despite criticism from Western experts about the country’s dearth of clinical trial information. On Friday, Bahrain became the second country to approve emergency use of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine, after Britain. The challenge in distributing the vaccine will be keeping it cold enough. It must be stored at temperatures of around minus 70 degrees Celsius (minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit). Bahrain routinely registers summer temperatures of 40 Celsius (104 F). Bahrain has already inoculated 6,000 people with a Chinese vaccine that uses a dead version of the virus. The Middle Eastern nation has had nearly 88,000 cases of the coronavirus and almost 350 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University. The virus causes the COVID-19 disease.In the United States, millions of people in southern California and the San Joaquin Valley will be under new restrictive stay-at-home orders, starting Sunday night.People wait in line to be tested at an outdoor COVID-19 testing site in the North Hollywood section of Los Angeles, California, Dec. 5, 2020.California Governor Gavin Newsom said last week that the orders would go into effect when the intensive care capacity of a region’s hospitals fell below 15%. Starting Sunday night, the California orders will close all outdoor dining, public outdoor playgrounds, outdoor museums, zoos and aquariums, drive-in theaters, and open-air tour buses and boats. Pet grooming and electronics or shoe repair, considered low-contact retail, will be allowed on a curbside-drop-off basis. All other retail, including grocery stores, will be allowed to operate at 20% capacity.Nursing home deaths are once again climbing in Europe. AP reports that at least 5,000 “institutionalized elderly” have died in France in the past month, while Portugal has sent military units to nursing homes to instruct staff on how to properly perform disinfections. A surge in cases has prompted South Korean officials to impose new restrictions in the capital city of Seoul and surrounding locations. Starting Tuesday, gyms and karaoke bars will be closed, no gatherings larger than 49 people will be permitted and religious services can only be held online or broadcast.
There are more than 66.7 million global cases of the coronavirus, according to the Johns Hopkins University, and 1.5 million deaths.
With 14.5 million infections, the United States has more cases than any other nation. India follows the U.S. with 9.6 million infections and Brazil comes third with 6.5 million.
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1 Killed, Others Wounded as Cameroon Holds First Regional Elections
Scattered violence marred Cameroon’s first election to appoint regional councils on Sunday, with one voter killed by separatist insurgents in the English-speaking Northwest region.President Paul Biya hopes the vote will appease critics who say he has long neglected the central African country’s 10 regions and end a four-year separatist insurgency in the west, which has become the greatest threat to his nearly 40-year rule.Opponents say the vote offers only the semblance of regional autonomy. Officials voting in the election are overwhelmingly Biya supporters and will help enforce his will on the regions, they say.”It is not because we will have regional delegates that gunshots will stop and everything will be all right,” said Cameroonian political analyst Stephane Akoa.Separatist fighters had vowed to disrupt the vote and arrest anyone who took part in the Northwest and Southwest, the only regions where English is spoken instead of the official French language.The fighters killed one regional official who voted outside the town of Bamenda in the Northwest, said one separatist leader, Cho Ayaba.Elsewhere, gunmen opened fire and wounded a priest and a seminarian driving to Mass in the village of Akum in the Northwest region, said Tatah Mbuy, a spokesman for the Catholic Church in Cameroon.Ayaba denied involvement in that attack.The minister of territorial administration, Paul Atanga Nji, told journalists that the vote took place with “calm, serenity and transparency.”Local representatives voted to appoint councils in all 10 regions made up of regional delegates and traditional rulers, putting into action a 1996 law that promised decentralized government but was never enacted.The councils will have a say over development, but they will not be able to alter laws enacted by the National Assembly and the Senate in Yaounde.The separatist conflict has killed more than 3,000 people and forced 500,000 from their homes. It started in 2016 when police cracked down on peaceful protests in the west by lawyers and teachers demanding they be allowed to work in English.The movement became radicalized and militias began fighting for the creation of a breakaway state.
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A Unique Recipe for Healing: Bill Murray and the Book of Job
Against the backdrop of a pandemic’s blight and wounds from an acrimonious election, a group of acclaimed actors on Sunday will gather online for a reading of a religious text with remarkable relevance to the current moment: the Book of Job.Audience members may be drawn to the production by the casting of Bill Murray as Job, the righteous man tested by the loss of his health, home and children, but the real star is the format. Staged on Zoom, it’s aimed at Republican-leaning Knox County, Ohio, with participation from locals including people of faith, and designed to spark meaningful conversations across spiritual and political divides.After the performance, a half-dozen people from the area will be asked to share their perspective on the ancient story in a virtual discussion. It’s then thrown open to others, and ultimately to some of the tens of thousands of people signed in, no matter their location. The structure of a dramatic reading followed by open-ended dialogue is a fixture of Theater of War Productions, the company behind the event. Artistic director Bryan Doerries is an alumnus of Kenyon College in Knox County and chose the area to focus on bridging rifts opened by the election and sharing the pain of a pandemic that’s tied to more than 281,000 U.S. deaths.By using Job’s story “as a vocabulary for a conversation, the hope is that we can actually engender connection, healing,” Doerries said. “People can hear each other’s truths even if they don’t agree with them.”The performance is headlined by Murray and features other noted actors such as Frankie Faison and David Strathairn. The cast includes Matthew Starr, mayor of the Knox County town of Mount Vernon, who will play Job’s accuser. He said the timing is perfect for the moment the country is going through, given the pandemic, the heated election and racial justice protests. His hope is that the event and the dialogue afterward lead to less shouting and more listening. And a good story like that of Job can do so more effectively than a new law or a new directive, by changing people’s hearts, said Starr, a Republican and supporter of President Donald Trump who founded an independent film company before going into politics.”God does not say that bad things aren’t going to happen, but He does tell us, when they do, we’re not alone,” Starr said. “That’s the hope, for me, is that we get a chance to lean into our faith, we get a chance to lean into our neighbors, we get a chance to lean into each other, our family, a little bit more.”Knox County, a largely rural community of about 62,000 residents including a medium-size Amish population, lies about an hour east of the state capital, Columbus. Despite its numerous farms, most people in the county work blue-collar manufacturing jobs at several local factories.The county, which is 97% white, is a conservative stronghold that voted for Trump by a nearly 3-1 margin in November and went overwhelmingly for him in 2016.An exception is Kenyon College, a small liberal arts school perched on a hill a few miles outside of Mount Vernon. Voters in the precincts comprising the college and the village of Gambier voted 8-1 for President-elect Joe Biden.To help prompt more locals to engage in the post-reading conversation, Doerries worked with leaders from multiple faith traditions. Among them is Marc Bragin, Jewish chaplain at Kenyon, who said he hopes the experience can help people who share bigger values look beyond their differences.Bragin, administrator of a project backed by the nonprofit Interfaith Youth Core that partners Kenyon students with counterparts at nearby Mount Vernon Nazarene University, said he’s hopeful they will attend the discussion and take away an important lesson: “Surround yourself with people who aren’t like you,” he said, “and you can have such a bigger impact on your community, your world.”Pastor LJ Harry, who has also been recruiting people for the virtual conversation, does not believe Knox County is as divided as other places in the country. The police chaplain and pastor at the Apostolic Christian Church in Mount Vernon said most in the area are united in their support for Trump and for law enforcement, with protests after the death of George Floyd spirited but peaceful.Harry said the community’s biggest point of contention is over mask-wearing, with many resisting Republican Gov. Mike DeWine’s statewide mandate. He likened Knox County’s need for healing to that of a hospital patient who has left intensive care but remains in a step-down unit, and said he hopes the performance will drive home God’s central role in Job’s story.”That’s the message I’m hoping our church family, our community, hears,” Harry said. “God has this in control, even though it feels like it’s out of control.”In the biblical tale, God allows for Job’s massive losses as a means to share broader truths about suffering. The story ends with the restoration of what was taken from him, plus more.Theater of War held its first Job reading in Joplin, Missouri, a year after a tornado killed more than 160 people there in 2011. The company has performed more than 1,700 readings worldwide, harnessing Greek drama and other resonant texts to evoke deeper dialogues about an array of issues.Doerries acknowledged that his company’s readings always have the potential to fall flat if a genuine back-and-forth doesn’t develop. Still, he’s betting that Sunday’s event will create space for people from different backgrounds, in Ohio and beyond, to engage with each other. “Our hope is not that there’s going to be a group hug at the end of the thing, or that we’re going to resolve all our political differences, but that we can remind people of our basic humanity…what it requires to live up to basic values such as treating our neighbor as ourselves,” Doerries said.
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Thousands Protest in London Against India’s Farming Reforms
Thousands of people protested in central London on Sunday over Indian agricultural reforms that have triggered mass demonstrations in India.A crowd of demonstrators converged on the Indian embassy, located on Aldwych, a major artery in the center of the British capital, and groups marched around the Trafalgar Square area, a Reuters photographer at the scene said.Tens of thousands of farmers have protested in India against three laws the government says are meant to overhaul antiquated procurement procedures and give growers more options to sell their produce.Farmers fear the legislation, passed in September, will eventually dismantle India’s regulated markets and stop the government from buying wheat and rice at guaranteed prices, leaving them at the mercy of private buyers.Britain is home to a large Indian diaspora and many Britons who trace their family roots to India are strongly engaged with news from the country.There was little social distancing in evidence at the London protests and few participants were wearing face masks.The Metropolitan Police warned that people taking part in a gathering that did not respect COVID-19 restrictions risked being fined, and called on people to leave the area.
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