A delegation from the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) will hold talks in Mali Friday with the military junta holding ousted Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita and other government leaders.The ECOWAS leaders have called for Keita’s release since the military faction arrested him Tuesday after he announced his resignation and the disbanding of the government.The M5-RFP coalition of opposition parties, which led protests against Keita, supports the mutineers and rejected ECOWAS’ position.ECOWAS leaders have imposed sanctions on Mali, blocked borders and suspended the country’s involvement in the pan-African bloc.Meanwhile, opposition leaders are urging Malians to attend a rally Friday in the capital, Bamako, in support of the military takeover. 
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Ethiopia arrested thousands of protesters, opposition members and journalists during July’s sectarian unrest. Health workers and local officials say some of those detained have contracted COVID-19 and are concerned the virus is spreading in overcrowded prisons and makeshift detention centers.In the four months since Ethiopia recorded its first case of COVID-19, Dambal Kassim, the head nurse at a coronavirus treatment center in the Ethiopian town of Ziway, had very little to do. But in the aftermath of widespread unrest following the killing of Hachalu Hundessa, a popular singer who fought for Ethiopia’s Oromo ethnic group, things have become much busier. The unrest resulted in thousands of incarcerations and at least 178 deaths.Dambal, other health workers in the region and local officials say some detainees have tested positive for the coronavirus. Authorities are now testing inmates amid concerns the virus is spreading fast.”In the three months since COVID-19 began, we only had two cases of coronavirus,” Dambal said. “But in the last two weeks, we’ve recorded 23 cases. … In prisons, there are sometimes 150 people in one room following the unrest that resulted in many arrests. That is why people are being infected in jail.”Rights workers say Ethiopian authorities have detained scores of opposition members and journalists for prolonged periods without charges since Hachalu’s death on June 28. The result is overcrowded jails and makeshift detention centers located inside schools and warehouses.While the government has blamed the opposition Tigray Peoples’ Liberation Party for coordinating the killing and the violence that followed Hachalu’s death, anti-government activists and Oromo opposition members believe the violence was planned to create the conditions necessary to clamp down on dissent.Jibril Sharbi, the CEO of the general hospital in Ziway, spoke with VOA about the risk of COVID-19 spreading among detainees.“Following the arrests after Hachalu was killed, we’re recording more cases,’ Sharbi said. “We have three female prisoners infected and sent to a nearby town. We suspect there are more, and we are conducting more tests.”Among those detained who have contracted COVID-19 is Kenyan journalist Yassin Juma. The Foreign Correspondents’ Association of East Africa has complained that he was held, despite the court granting him bail, and have appealed for his immediate release.On Thursday, he was sent to a government-run isolation center.The Ethiopian Health Ministry did not respond to questions asking how many detainees had contracted the coronavirus.  
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Footage taken from inside a car shows the damage from one of the dozens of wildfires spreading through Northern California’s wine country, Wednesday, August 19. (REUTERS)
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Former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, a Democrat set to run against President Donald Trump in the November 3 national election, is making his third run for the White House but for the first time stands as his party’s nominee.If he wins and is inaugurated in January 2021, Biden will become the country’s 46th chief executive. By then, he would be 78, the oldest U.S. president ever elected, surpassing Donald Trump, who was 70 when he entered the White House.Biden, for 36 years a senator and for eight President Barack Obama’s second in command, defeated two dozen other Democrats for the nomination.FILE – Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden speaks during a campaign rally at Renaissance High School in Detroit, March 9, 2020.He campaigned as a reliably left-of-center politician embracing expanded health care benefits for Americans but not a universal government-paid plan that more progressive Democrats have called for. He stands for enhanced environmental programs and a re-engagement with traditional American allies overseas whom Trump has alienated at times.Throughout months of campaigning, Biden has said he wants to put an end to Trump’s “aberrant” administration.Call for dignity“We’re in a battle for the soul of America,” Biden says on his campaign website. “It’s time to remember who we are. We’re Americans: tough, resilient, but always full of hope. It’s time to treat each other with dignity. Build a middle class that works for everybody. Fight back against the incredible abuses of power we’re seeing.“It’s time to dig deep and remember that our best days still lie ahead,” he says.Biden has characterized Trump as an unfit leader of the free world, saying, “It’s time for respected leadership on the world stage — and dignified leadership at home.”If elected, Biden almost certainly would rejoin several international accords Trump withdrew from, such as the Paris climate pact and the Iran nuclear deal aimed at curbing Tehran’s nuclear weapons development.FILE – Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., chosen by Joe Biden to be his running mate on the Democrats’ 2020 national ticket, receives a virtual briefing on COVID-19 from public health experts in Wilmington, Del., Aug. 13, 2020.Months ago, Biden promised to pick a woman as his vice presidential running mate, and he followed through with the selection of California Senator Kamala Harris, who is the first Black woman and South Asian American on a major party U.S. national ticket and only the fourth woman ever selected.The Trump campaign has pilloried Biden’s choice of Harris, running ads claiming, “Now that Kamala Harris is on the ticket, the radical leftist takeover of Joe Biden is now complete.”Close to homeAmid a historic coronavirus pandemic that has swept through the U.S., Biden’s campaign up to now has been unlike any other U.S. run for the presidency in modern times. He has largely waged his presidential bid from his home in Wilmington, Delaware, with occasional forays to nearby Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for speeches and policy discussions with small groups of people.On the advice of medical experts, he has shunned traditional large political rallies for fear of catching or helping to spread the coronavirus if large crowds gathered to hear him speak. Similarly, the four-day Democratic National Convention has been conducted virtually, without the usual packed arena filled with thousands of cheering supporters.FILE – Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Joe Biden speaks at a campaign event devoted to the reopening of the U.S. economy during the coronavirus pandemic in Philadelphia, June 11, 2020.Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic in the U.S. is likely to be one focus of the contest with Biden over the next 2½ months before the election.Trump for much of early 2020 belittled the importance of the coronavirus and, despite the advice of medical experts for Americans to wear face masks, said it was not for him, although he occasionally has worn one.More recently, when assessing the world-leading death toll in the U.S. that has reached more than 174,000 people, Trump said, “It is what it is.”Biden has ridiculed Trump’s coronavirus performance, noting that he claimed to be a “wartime president” in the fight against the infectious disease. But Biden said Trump had “raised the white flag” of surrender against the coronavirus.Biden and Trump are slated to debate three times before Election Day, starting in late September.
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German and Israeli air forces held their first joint combat exercises in Germany, Thursday, August 20.The German Air Force called the visit, entitled “Blue Wings 2020,” a historic moment. The last time Germany’s air force flew with Israel’s was in the Negev desert in 2019. (REUTERS) 
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Fake news about the coronavirus can do real harm. Polygraph.info is spotlighting fact-checks from other reliable sources here​. Daily DebunkClaim: Filters can “eat any form of virus including coronavirus” on aeroplanes.Verdict: MisleadingRead the full story at: Africa Check Social Media DisinfoCirculating on social media: Photo of a World Health Organization (WHO) guidance on a Fox News segment saying that “masks should only be used by healthcare workers, caretakers or by people who are sick with symptoms like fever and cough.”Verdict: MisleadingRead the full story at: Reuters Factual Reads on CoronavirusLong-Haulers Are Redefining COVID-19
Without understanding the lingering illness that some patients experience, we can’t understand the pandemic.
— The Atlantic, August 19Evidence lags behind excitement over blood plasma as a coronavirus treatment
Although there have been few data on whether convalescent plasma definitely improves outcomes for people with other diseases, it was logical to test the treatment against COVID-19 when the outbreak began. But researchers have struggled to nail down its effectiveness in the middle of the pandemic, says Michael Joyner, an anaesthesiologist at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.
— Nature, August 19
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President Donald Trump’s former political adviser Steve Bannon has been charged by federal prosecutors in New York with conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with a fundraising campaign to support the building of a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico. A Justice Department statement said Bannon and three others were indicted “for their roles in defrauding hundreds of thousands of donors in connection with an online crowdfunding campaign known as “We Build the Wall” that raised more than $25 million.” “The defendants allegedly engaged in fraud when they misrepresented the true use of donated funds.  As alleged, not only did they lie to donors, they schemed to hide their misappropriation of funds by creating sham invoices and accounts to launder donations and cover up their crimes, showing no regard for the law or the truth,” Inspector-in-Charge Philip R. Bartlett said. All four defendants have been arrested.    
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The World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) Europe office said it has begun discussions with Russia regarding the COVID-19 vaccine that the nation approved last week without the advanced trials normally required to prove a vaccine works.In a virtual news conference from the organization’s Copenhagen office, the WHO Europe’s senior emergency official Catherine Smallwood said there have been several direct discussions between Russia’s teams and the WHO’s pre-qualification colleagues, primarily on how the organization is going to assess the potential vaccine.The WHO Europe’s regional director, Hans Kluge, said that while any potential vaccine is good news, all must go through the same vigorous assessments. Smallwood added “This concern that we have around safety and efficacy is not specifically for the Russia vaccine, it’s for all of the vaccines under development.”  Smallwood acknowledged that the WHO was taking an “accelerated approach” to try to speed development of coronavirus vaccines but said “it’s essential we don’t cut corners in safety or efficacy.”Kluge cautioned that even once a vaccine or vaccines are approved, that will not be the end of the pandemic. “The end of the pandemic will be the day when everyone of us will take the responsibility and have been learning how to behave with the virus. And that depends on us, that day can even be tomorrow.”
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Asian markets sank into negative territory Thursday, dragged down by the U.S. Federal Reserve’s sobering outlook on a post-pandemic recovery the day before.Japan’s benchmark Nikkei index finished a full 1% lower. The S&P/ASX index was down 0.7%. South Korea’s KOSPI index plunged 3.6%, and the TSEC index in Taiwan dropped 3.2%.Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was trading 1.8% lower in late afternoon trading, while Shanghai’s Composite index was down 1.3% and Mumbai’s Sensex was down just over 1%.In minutes of last month’s meeting of the U.S. central bank, released Wednesday, several members of the Reserve said the COVID-19 pandemic “would continue to weigh heavily on economic activity, employment, and inflation in the near term and was posing considerable risks to the economic outlook over the medium term.”The Fed’s remarks caused a shockwave on Wall Street, sending the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq downward.In commodities trading Thursday, gold was selling at $1,951.70, down 0.9.% U.S. crude oil was selling at $42.57 per barrel, down 0.8%, and Brent crude oil was selling at $45.02 per barrel, down 0.8%.All three U.S. indices were trending negatively in futures trading.  
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Gun violence, climate change and COVID-19, issues highlighted on night three of the Democratic National Convention Wednesday, when Senator Kamala Harris of California accepted the vice-presidential nomination as running mate to candidate Joe Biden. Mike O’Sullivan reports, viewers heard a litany of complaints against Republican President Donald Trump, all conveyed through a virtual format.
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North Korea will hold a rare ruling party congress in January where leader Kim Jong Un will announce a new five-year plan to develop the country’s dismal economy ravaged by U.S.-led sanctions and the coronavirus pandemic, state media said Thursday. The plans were confirmed Wednesday during a plenary meeting of the Workers’ Party’s decision-making Central Committee where Kim acknowledged economic shortcomings caused by “unexpected and inevitable challenges in various aspects and the situation in the region surrounding the Korean Peninsula.” The report by Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency didn’t directly mention nuclear diplomacy with the United States, which has stalled over disagreements in exchanging sanctions relief and denuclearization steps. The Workers’ Party last convened for a full congress in 2016, which was its first in 36 years, where Kim announced his initial five-year national development plan, which included goals for improving power supply and increasing agricultural and manufacturing production.  Entering the plan’s final year, Kim during the Central Committee’s last plenary meeting in December declared a “frontal breakthrough” against sanctions while urging his nation to stay resilient in the struggle for economic self-reliance.  But experts say the COVID-19 crisis has clearly derailed some of Kim’s major economic goals after North Korea imposed a lockdown that significantly reduced trade with China — its major ally and economic lifeline — and likely hampered its ability to mobilize its workforce.  The Workers’ Party after Wednesday’s meeting said the North’s economy has “not improved in the face of the sustaining severe internal and external situations and unexpected manifold challenges” and that development goals have been “seriously delayed and the people’s living standard (has) not been improved remarkably.”  The party’s congress in January will “set forth a correct line of struggle and strategic and tactical policies” after reviewing the experience of the last five years, it said in a statement published on KCNA.  It’s also possible Kim could use the party congress, which would take place after the U.S. presidential election in November, to announce a new foreign policy approach toward the United States and rival South Korea.  During the 2016 congress, Kim declared that his country will not use its nuclear weapons first unless its sovereignty is invaded and proposed talks with the South. Seoul had employed a hard line on the North before the 2017 inauguration of President Moon Jae-in, a dovish liberal who met Kim three times in 2018, before bilateral relations cooled amid the stalemate in nuclear negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang. Kim’s economic setbacks have left him with nothing to show for his high-stakes summitry with President Donald Trump, whom he first met in June 2018 in Singapore, where they issued an aspirational statement on a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula without describing when and how it would occur.  Their diplomacy deteriorated last year in Vietnam, after their second meeting, when the Americans rejected North Korea’s demands for major sanctions relief in exchange for a partial surrender of its nuclear capabilities. The North has recently said it has no immediate intent to resume talks with Washington, vowing not to gift Trump with meetings he could boast as foreign policy achievements unless it gets something substantial in return.  Some experts say the North would likely avoid serious negotiations with the United States before the election as it wouldn’t want to make any major concessions when there’s a chance U.S. leadership could change. 
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Forecasters are keeping a close watch on Hurricane Genevieve in the Pacific, which generated rough seas and where authorities said two people drowned.The U.S. National Hurricane Center said a hurricane warning is in effect for parts of the Mexican peninsula, including the resorts of Los Cabos and the town of Todos Santos.Civil protection officials in Los Cabos are urging people to remain at home.The hurricane center said the center of Genevieve is expected to move into the vicinity of the Baja, California, peninsula Thursday.A tropical storm warning is in effect for the west coast of the Baja, California, peninsula from north of Todos Santos to Cabo San Lazaro.U.S. forecasters warn heavy rainfall from Genevieve could produce life threatening conditions, including flooding, mudslides, and rip currents in the southern end of Baja, California Sur.Genevieve formed into a tropical storm Sunday night and quickly grew into a Category 4 hurricane before losing some intensity.     
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