New studies by the World Health Organization and the United Nations show people suffering from noncommunicable diseases are more susceptible to becoming severely ill and dying from COVID-19.Noncommunicable diseases kill more than 40 million people a year worldwide. The World Health Organization says seven out of 10 deaths globally are caused by cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes, respiratory and other NCDs.Of those, the data show, 17 million people die prematurely, the great majority between the ages of 30 and 70. Most of the deaths occur in low-income countries.Nick Banatvala, the head of a U.N. task force on noncommunicable diseases, said Friday that NCDs and their risk factors are increasing susceptibility to COVID-19 infection and the likelihood of worse outcomes, including in young people. He said research from academics in several countries demonstrates the scale of the problem.Obesity, smoking, diabetes“In a study in France, the odds of developing severe COVID-19 were seven times higher in patients with obesity,” he said. “Smokers are 1½ times more likely to have severe complications from COVID-19 and had higher mortality rates. … People with diabetes are between two and four times more likely to have severe symptoms or die from COVID-19.”Banatvala said other studies have shown similar outcomes for people with chronic pulmonary or cardiovascular diseases, cancer and so on.“Overall, almost one-quarter of the global population is estimated to have an underlying condition that increases their vulnerability to COVID-19, and most of these conditions are NCDs. … Let me remind you, 70 percent of deaths globally are from NCDs, and yet NCDs receive less than 2 percent of development assistance for health,” he said.Banatvala called this shortsighted. He said a 2018 WHO study showed that investing in cost-effective preventive health measures could save both money and lives.He said the study found that for every dollar invested in preventive measures, there would be a return of $7 by 2030. He also said that using these initiatives over the next decade could result in saving 8.2 million lives.
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Month: September 2020
Members Named to Panel Probing WHO’s Pandemic Response
An independent panel appointed by the World Health Organization to review its coordination of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic will have full access to any internal U.N. agency documents, materials and emails necessary, the panel said Thursday as it begins the probe.
The panel’s co-chairs, former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark, announced the 11 other members during a media briefing. They include Dr. Joanne Liu, who was an outspoken WHO critic while leading Medecins Sans Frontieres during the 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak in West Africa.
Also named to the panel are: Dr. Zhong Nanshan, a renowned Chinese doctor who was the first to publicly confirm human-to-human transmission of the coronavirus; Mark Dybul, who led the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; and David Miliband, a former British foreign secretary who is CEO of the International Rescue Committee.
Clark said she and Johnson Sirleaf chose the panel members independently and that WHO did not attempt to influence their choices.
We look forward to a period of intense work together at a key moment in history. We must honor the more than 25.6 million people known to have contracted the disease and the 850,000 and counting who have died from COVID-19,'' Johnson Sirleaf said. puppet” of China.
The panel scheduled its first meeting for Sept. 17 and plans to meet every six weeks between then and April. It expects to brief WHO on the group's initial progress in November before presenting a final report next year.
WHO bowed to calls from most of its member states in May to launch an independent investigation of how it managed the international response to the coronavirus after the United States accused the U.N. health agency of mismanaging the early phase of the pandemic and colluding with China to hide the extent of the outbreak there.
President Donald Trump pulled the U.S. out of WHO earlier this year after calling the agency a
In June, the Associated Press found that China delayed releasing critical information to WHO, including the virus’ genetic sequence, for weeks in January. Internal recordings of WHO meetings revealed officials were frustrated at the lack of data-sharing while Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus publicly praised China for its speed and transparency.
To uncover how the global response to COVID-19 was managed, we may ask decision-makers what kept them up at night, Clark said. The panel also plans to examine what WHO and national governments might have done differently had they known more about the coronavirus.
She said WHO had “made it clear their files are an open book” and that the panel members would have access to any internal documents or materials they wanted, although no such requests have yet been made. As a U.N. agency, WHO is not subject to any freedom of information requests and does not routinely make its internal deliberations public.
The panel is financed by WHO and has its own staff in Geneva, led by Dr. Anders Nordstrom, a former acting director-general at the agency.
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US Unemployment Rate Fell Sharply in August
The U.S. unemployment rate fell sharply in August to 8.4% from 10.2% even as hiring slowed, with employers adding the fewest jobs since the pandemic began.
Employers added 1.4 million jobs, the Labor Department said Friday, down from 1.7 million in July. The U.S. economy has recovered about half the 22 million jobs lost to the pandemic.
Friday’s report from the Labor Department added to evidence that nearly six months after the coronavirus paralyzed the country, the economy is mounting only a fitful recovery. From small businesses to hotels, restaurants, airlines and entertainment venues, a wide spectrum of companies are struggling to survive the loss of customers with confirmed viral cases still high.
After an epic collapse in the spring, when the economy shrank at a roughly 30% annual rate, growth has been rebounding as states have reopened at least parts of their economies. Yet the recovery remains far from complete.
Many economists think significant hiring may be hard to sustain because employers are operating under a cloud of uncertainty about the virus. Daily confirmed case counts have fallen from 70,000 in June to about 40,000. The decline has leveled off in the past week and the viral caseload remains higher than it was in May and June.
As a result activities like restaurant dining and air travel are still far below pre-pandemic levels. Most economists say a meaningful economic recovery will likely be impossible until the coronavirus is brought under control, most likely from the widespread use of a vaccine.
The United States keeps regaining more of the jobs that vanished when the viral pandemic flattened the economy early this spring. Yet so deep were the layoffs that began in March that millions of Americans remain burdened by job losses that might prove permanent.
Economists have forecast that employers added 1.4 million jobs in August and that the unemployment rate fell from 10.2% to 9.8%, according to a survey by data provider FactSet. That rate would still be just below the peak unemployment level of the 2008-2009 Great Recession.
The Labor Department will issue the August jobs report at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time Friday.
While a monthly gain above 1 million would show that some businesses are still willing to add workers, it would take many months to return to pre-pandemic job levels even if that pace could be sustained. And many economists think hiring is slowing. The economy still has roughly 13 million fewer jobs than it did when the coronavirus struck in March.
Friday’s jobs data will be the second-to-last employment report _ for most voters, the most visible barometer of the economy _ before Election Day, Nov. 3. President Donald Trump faces the daunting task of seeking re-election in the worst economic downturn since the 1930s. Yet voters in surveys have generally given him higher marks on the economy than they have on other aspects of his presidency.
The jobs report coincides with growing signs that more companies are making permanent job cuts rather than temporary furloughs. That trend could keep the unemployment rate persistently high. It is typically harder for an unemployed worker to find a new job at a new company or in a new industry than to return to a previous employer.
Casino and hotel operator MGM Resorts, slammed by declines in travel and tourism, said last week that it’s eliminating 18,000 jobs. Coca Cola, which derives half its sales from stadiums, theaters and other venues that have been largely shut down, is offering buyouts to 4,000 employees. Salesforce said it is cutting 1,000 jobs. Bed, Bath & Beyond will shed 2,800.
A Federal Reserve report this week based on anecdotal reports from businesses found “rising instances of furloughed workers being laid off permanently as demand remained soft.”
Roughly 29 million Americans are receiving state unemployment aid, although their total benefits, on average, have shrunk by more than half since the expiration of a $600-a-week federal supplement more than a month ago. The Trump administration has set up a program that will provide some of the unemployed with $300 a week.
But new rules and requirements will make many of the unemployed ineligible. Only people who receive at least $100 a week in state unemployment aid will qualify for the $300 federal supplement – a requirement that could exclude at least 850,000 Americans.
The ongoing job losses and economic slump have left a rising share of Americans out of work for longer periods. From June to July, the number of people who were unemployed for 15 weeks or longer tripled to more than 6 million.
One consequence is that rising stress and anxiety are evident at therapists’ offices and mental health hotlines around the country. Calls from March through July to the U.S. government-funded Disaster Distress Helpline, which offers counseling and emotional support, surged 335% from the same period last year.
And half of U.S. adults reported at least some signs of depression, such as hopelessness, feelings of failure or an inability to derive pleasure from daily activities, in a survey published Wednesday in the medical journal JAMA Network Open. That amounted to twice the rate from a survey two years ago.
“Not many days go by where I don’t have a couple where one partner or both are not working or furloughed,” said Todd Creager, a therapist in Southern California who treats mostly middle- to upper-middle-class adults.
What’s more, the economy appears to be operating on two tracks, resulting in an uneven and unequal recovery. Manufacturers are enjoying a solid rebound in demand for cars, appliances and electronics, with factory orders nearly back to pre-pandemic levels.
Home sales are also booming. So are home prices. Sales of existing homes surged by the most on record in July and are now nearly 9% higher than a year ago.
In addition, wealthier and well-educated workers have been far less likely to lose jobs to the pandemic than lower-income and minority workers have, in part because of a greater ability to work from home.
The coronavirus has also reshaped much of the consumption of affluent households: While spending less on restaurants and at shops and movie theaters, they are buying new homes to gain more space or renovating their houses to serve as workplaces as well as homes.
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COVID-19: Is it Safe to Open Schools?
This week on Healthy Living, what does going back to school look like during the Coronavirus pandemic? For more on school safety, we hear from Dr. Esther Ngumbi, Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois, and we hear from some of you in Nigeria on reactions to school openings. These stories and more on the show this week. S1, Ep60
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New Zealand Reports First COVID Death Since May
New Zealand has recorded its first COVID-19 death since the end of May, health officials say, bringing the country’s total death tally from the virus to 23. In contrast, the United States continues to top the list of COVID-19 deaths with more than 186,000, and more than 6.1 million cases.Brazil follows the U.S. with just over 4 million cases and more than 124,000 deaths. India comes in third with nearly 4 million cases and over 68,000 deaths. Berlusconi hospitalized Former Italian Prime Minister and leader of the Forza Italia (Go Italy!) party Silvio Berlusconi gestures during a rally ahead of a regional election in Emilia-Romagna, in Ravenna, Jan. 24, 2020.Silvio Berlusconi, Italy’s former prime minister, has been hospitalized for COVID-j19. Doctors say the 83-year-old also has been diagnosed with the early stages of double pneumonia. His condition, however, is “not a cause for concern,” his Forza Italia party said in a statement. His girlfriend, lawmaker Marta Fascina, has also contracted the virus. Trenchcoat maker Burberry has been awarded a more than $700,000 contract to produce personal protective gear and gowns for Britain’s National Health Service. Before the contract, the iconic brand manufactured and donated more than 160,000 pieces of PPE to the NHS and healthcare charities. US college quarantines entire student body
A college in Pennsylvania has quarantined its entire student body after 24 students tested positive for the coronavirus this week. Gettysburg College students are only allowed to leave their rooms to pick up takeout meals from campus locations, to use the bathroom and to take a coronavirus test. The small liberal arts school has about 2,500 students. After police in Thailand arrested a man, they discovered that he had COVID-19, making the detainee the first locally transmitted case in the country in 100 days, authorities say. UNICEF wants to co-lead vaccine allocation FILE – Small bottles labeled with a “Vaccine COVID-19” sticker and a medical syringe are seen in this illustration taken taken Apr. 10, 2020.The U.N. children’s agency said Thursday it would lead the world’s largest and fastest procurement and distribution system for COVID-19 vaccines from dozens of makers in the next two years so that no country lacks access.UNICEF and the World Health Organization co-lead a COVID-19 vaccine allocation plan known as COVAX.Seventy-six wealthy nations are part of the COVAX plan, which aims to buy and provide equitable access worldwide to the inoculations for 92 low- and lower-middle-income countries, according to a UNICEF statement. “This is an all-hands on deck partnership between governments, manufacturers and multilateral partners to continue the high-stakes fight against the COVID-19 pandemic,” Henrietta Fore, UNICEF executive director, said in a statement. “In our collective pursuit of a vaccine, UNICEF is leveraging its unique strengths in vaccine supply to make sure that all countries have safe, fast and equitable access to the initial doses when they are available.”In August, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned of possible vaccine hoarding by wealthier nations, saying such actions would worsen the effects of the pandemic.He pushed for the creation of the COVAX Global Vaccines Facility as way to share COVID-19 vaccines with developing countries. More than 170 countries have agreed to take part.US opts out
On Wednesday, the United States said White House deputy press secretary Judd Deere waits for the arrival of President Donald Trump to the White House, Friday, Oct. 4, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)White House spokesman Judd Deere issued a statement saying the United States “will continue to engage our international partners to ensure we defeat this virus, but we will not be constrained by multilateral organizations influenced by the corrupt World Health Organization and China.”President Donald Trump announced in July that he was withdrawing the United States from WHO, claiming the agency mishandled the outbreak and showed deference to China, where the virus was first detected late last year.In addition to UNICEF and the WHO, COVAX is being supported by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, which was founded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to vaccinate children in the world’s poorest countries.Twenty-eight COVID-19 makers shared production plans with UNICEF, which said in a market assessment “that manufacturers are willing to collectively produce unprecedented quantities of vaccines over the coming 1-2 years,” according to a report by Reuters news service.The drugmakers, however, said production levels are “highly dependent” on the success of clinical trials, according to Reuters.Amnesty highlights impact on frontline workers
Also Thursday, Amnesty International said 1,320 health workers in Mexico have died from the coronavirus pandemic, the worst for any country in the world.Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro, who is infected with COVID-19, wears a protective face mask as he attends a Brazilian flag retreat ceremony outside his official residence the Alvorada Palace, in Brasilia, Brazil, Wednesday, July 22, 2020…Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who was diagnosed with COVID-19 and has downplayed the severity of the coronavirus outbreak, said Thursday Brazilians will not be forced to receive a vaccination, when they become available. Brazil on Thursday tallied more than 4 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 and is second in the world with 124,614 deaths.”Many people want the vaccine to be applied in a coercive way, but there is no law that provides for that,” Bolsonaro said in a Facebook live chat with his supporters, according to a Reuters report.Several COVID-19 vaccines are being tested in Brazil. The government has bought 30 million doses of a vaccine that is being produced by Oxford University/AstraZeneca. Three others are in Phase 3 clinical trials from makers Sinovac Biotech of China, Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech, and Johnson & Johnson’s pharmaceutical subsidiary Janssen, according to Reuters. Next ‘Batman’ Pattinson tests positive
Production on the latest Batman movie was halted in March as the coronavirus swept around the world. It recently resumed, but has halted again after lead actor Robert Pattinson tested positive for the virus. Johns Hopkins University reported early Friday that there are 26.3 million global COVID cases and over 869,000 deaths.
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Истерика зелёного карлика. Месть депутату Леросу за унижение придурка
Истерика зелёного карлика. Месть депутату Леросу за унижение придурка
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Эрдоган обламал обиженному карлику пукину «хотелку» по Ближнему Востоку
Эрдоган обламал обиженному карлику пукину «хотелку» по Ближнему Востоку.
Как и ожидалось, провальные действия путляндии на Ближнем Востоке очень сильно тревожат остатки ума обиженного карлика пукина
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Плати за кота: зоосхематоз від Верховної ради зеленого карлика
Плати за кота: зоосхематоз від Верховної ради зеленого карлика.
Кожне скликання парламенту дегенерат антон яценко придумує нові ідеї, як витягти з вас гроші. За Ющенка його схеми витягували гроші з тих, хто брав участь у держзакупівлях. За кривавого януковича – з тих, хто купував-продавав майно, за Порошенка – з власників нерухомості. А зараз зможуть збирати гроші з власників будь-якої тварини: собак, котів, хомячків чи папуг – все одно. Все завдяки новому законопроєкту про державний реєстр тварин та “агентів з ідентифікації”. Чому це погано:
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Найкращі пропозиції товарів і послуг в Мережі Купуй!
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Вот и всё! Германия прекращает сотрудничество с обиженным карликом пукиным!
Вот и всё! Германия прекращает сотрудничество с обиженным карликом пукиным!
Последние новости путляндии и мира, экономика, бизнес, культура, технологии, спорт
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Зе-страх Майдана, слив Одессы, долги по зарплате и диктат холодильника
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Suspects Arrested in Colombia Linked to Failed Attempt to Overthrow Venezuelan President
Four Venezuelans are under arrest in Colombia for their alleged roles in a botched attempt to remove Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro from power a few months ago.Colombian officials announced Thursday the suspects are accused of arming and training mercenaries who in May invaded Venezuela by boat.The amphibious attacked dubbed “Operation Gideon” was carried out by three former U.S. Special Forces soldiers acting as mercenaries.Venezuelan soldiers arrested former Green Berets Luke Denman and Airan Berry, who were sentenced to 20 years in prison in Venezuela.The third former soldier is back in the United States. Jordan Goudreau, who operates a Florida security firm, has claimed responsibility for the failed attack.
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White House: Trump Meets Leaders of Kosovo, Serbia on Friday
U.S. President Donald Trump will meet with Kosovo Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti and Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić in the Oval Office on Friday, the White House said in a statement.Trump will attend a signing ceremony and participate in a trilateral meeting afterward, the statement, issued late Thursday, said, but it did not specify what would be signed.After the first day of negotiations on normalizing economic relations, Vučić said that he was presented with a draft agreement which mentioned mutual recognition and that he rejected it.Trump’s special envoy for the peace talks between Kosovo and Serbia, Richard Grenell, took to Twitter saying that it was not true.Not true. https://t.co/oDyaqs7ZvJ— Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) September 3, 2020For his part, Hoti did not comment on whether there was such a proposal but stressed that “harmful agreements for Kosovo, unacceptable for Kosovo, have never come and will never come from the White House.”On Thursday evening, after the leaders from Belgrade and Pristina ended the first day of negotiations, Grenell tweeted:It’s been a productive day. I am hopeful.It’s been a productive day. I am hopeful.— Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) September 3, 2020Earlier, Trump’s national security adviser, Robert O’Brien, who is co-hosting the meeting along with Grenell, struck an optimistic tone about the negotiations.O’Brien also thanked the American Financial Corporation for International Development, the Millennium Challenge Corporation and the American Export-Import Bank, for joining the talks.“Very good round of discussions this afternoon with the leaders of #Serbia and #Kosovo. They made real progress today. Thanks to @DFCgov, @MCCgov, and @EximBankUS for joining. #EconomicNormalization means jobs for young people. Talks continue tomorrow!” – NSA Robert O’Brien“Very good round of discussions this afternoon with the leaders of #Serbia and #Kosovo. They made real progress today. Thanks to @DFCgov, @MCCgov, and @EximBankUS for joining. #EconomicNormalization means jobs for young people. Talks continue tomorrow!” – NSA Robert O’Brien pic.twitter.com/7usHrh2w2N— NSC (@WHNSC) September 3, 2020After the meeting Friday at the White House, Hoti and Vučić are scheduled to meet separately with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at the State Department.Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia in 2008, but the latter has refused to recognize it. Kosovo’s independence also is not recognized by Russia or China.Kosovo’s independence has been recognized, however, by more than 100 members of the United Nations, including the United States, and most of the European Union member states, except for Slovakia, Cyprus, Greece, Romania and Spain.
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‘Follow Your Vote,’ Trump Tells Mail-in Ballot Voters
President Donald Trump has introduced more confusion into what already stands to be America’s most difficult presidential election in modern times by suggesting — and then partly backing away from — a legally dubious scheme in which his supporters would try to vote twice in order to test voting safeguards.“Let them send it in and let them go vote,” Trump said in an interview on Wednesday with WECT-TV in Wilmington, North Carolina. “And if the system is as good as they say it is, then obviously they won’t be able to vote” in person.On Thursday in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, Trump seemingly amended his remarks to say his followers should only vote a second time if their first vote was not counted.“Sign your mail-in ballot … and send it in,” Trump told a crowd of invited supporters in a Latrobe airport hangar. “And then you have to follow it. And if on Election Day or early voting, that if it is not tabulated or counted, you go vote.”The president added, “You have to make sure your vote counts.”FILE – A person drops applications for mail-in-ballots into a mailbox in Omaha, Neb., Aug. 18, 2020.State election officials are preparing for a record number of mailed-in ballots in the November 3 election because of the coronavirus pandemic. The president has repeatedly claimed, without evidence, the opposition Democrats will “harvest” tens of millions of mailed ballots in order to attempt “the greatest scam in the history of politics.”On Wednesday in North Carolina, Trump first urged his supporters to vote twice to ensure their votes are counted, comments that have sown confusion over his intended message and caused Facebook to label his claims as misleading and Twitter to slap a warning on a pair of his Thursday tweets.“This video violates our policies prohibiting voter fraud and we will remove it unless it is shared to correct the record,” Facebook said in a statement about his North Carolina recorded comments. In tweets earlier Thursday, the president repeated the message.“On Election Day, or Early Voting, go to your Polling Place to see whether or not your Mail In Vote has been Tabulated (Counted). If it has you will not be able to Vote & the Mail In System worked properly. If it has not been Counted, VOTE (which is a citizen’s right to do),” said Trump on his personal (@realDonaldTrump) Twitter account.Twitter deemed the Trump tweets a violation of its rules about civic integrity and elections.“The laws regarding the invalidation of mail-in ballots when individuals choose to vote in person are complex and vary significantly by state. Our goal is to prevent people from sharing advice about voting twice, which may be illegal,” Twitter said in a tweet.We placed a public interest notice on two Tweets in this thread for violating our Civic Integrity Policy, specifically for encouraging people to potentially vote twice. https://t.co/UU9kJfqptz— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) September 3, 2020“The president does not condone unlawful voting,” White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany replied repeatedly when pressed at a briefing Thursday on whether she would acknowledge it is illegal in the United States to vote twice in the same election.The press secretary accused the media of taking out of context Trump’s comments.“The president wants enfranchisement, not disenfranchisement,” McEnany added.“It is illegal in all 50 states and under federal law to vote twice,” Ellen Weintraub, a commissioner and former chair of the Federal Election Commission, said.Weintraub, a Democratic Party appointee, also said on Twitter “there’s still no basis for the conspiracy theory” that postal balloting will lead to a rigged election, as Trump has repeatedly asserted. There are 61 days until Election Day. It is illegal in all 50 states and under federal law to vote twice. As any federal officeholder or law-enforcement official should know.And there’s still no basis for the conspiracy theory that #VoteByMail will lead to a rigged election. https://t.co/u1E0zmfvRa— Ellen L 😷 Weintraub (@EllenLWeintraub) September 3, 2020North Carolina’s election board also responded swiftly in a statement posted to Twitter.“It is illegal to vote twice in an election,” the board’s executive director, Karen Brinson Bell, said. “There are numerous checks in place in North Carolina that prevent people from double voting.”Bell’s statement explains that election pollbooks at every early voting site contain information about who has already voted. On Election Day, voters who have cast absentee ballots are removed from the pollbooks, which are updated before actual in-person voting begins.“Because absentee ballots and early ballots are retrievable, if someone tries to get around the system, their ballots can be retrieved and not counted, so it will not affect the outcome of an election,” Bell added.Michigan officials, Attorney General Dana Nessel and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, both Democrats, issued a reminder to voters in that state Thursday that “intentionally voting twice is illegal and will be prosecuted.” The Democratic Party nominee, Joe Biden, challenging Trump in November’s election, accuses the incumbent of “trying to delegitimize” the process.“The way to overcome this is to vote. Vote, vote, vote,” the former vice president told Atlanta’s WSB-TV in an interview Wednesday. “And there’s not a shred of evidence, not a shred of evidence that mail-in voting is fraudulent.” National Security Correspondent Jeff Seldin contributed to this story.
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Police Kill Suspect in Fatal Portland Shooting During Arrest, Report Says
A suspect in the fatal shooting of a supporter of the Patriot Prayer group in Portland was killed on Thursday night when authorities moved to arrest him, The New York Times reported, citing officials familiar with the investigation.The suspect, Michael Reinoehl, was killed during an encounter in Lacey, Washington, southwest of Seattle, according to the report.The Oregonian newspaper reported Reinoehl was under investigation in the killing that took place after Aaron Danielson, one of the supporters of President Donald Trump who came into downtown Portland and clashed with protesters demonstrating against racial injustice and police brutality.“Why aren’t the Portland Police ARRESTING the cold blooded killer of Aaron “Jay” Danielson,” Trump tweeted on Thursday regarding the issue.
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UNICEF to Lead Global Initiative to Buy, Distribute COVID-19 Vaccines
The U.N. children’s agency said Thursday it would lead the world’s largest and fastest procurement and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines from dozens of makers in the next two years so that no country lacks access.UNICEF and the World Health Organization co-lead a COVID-19 A workers sanitizes a metro coach in New Delhi, India, Sept. 3, 2020.On Wednesday, Nepalese protesters defying a government coronavirus lockdown to take part in a religious festival clash with riot police, in Lalitpur, Nepal, Sept. 3, 2020.Amnesty’s report highlighted the deadly toll COVID-19 has had on frontline workers. Overall, at least 7,000 health workers have died of the virus.Other countries with high mortality rates include the United States, Brazil and India, where health worker death tolls stand at 1,077, 634 and 573, respectively, Reuters reported. The three countries have the highest number of deaths and confirmed cases of COVID-19, according to Johns Hopkins.Mexico ranks eighth in the world with 616,894 confirmed cases, but fourth overall in deaths, with 66,329.According to a Reuters analysis of data from the Mexican government, health care workers in that country are four times more likely to die than in the U.S.”Many months into the pandemic, health workers are still dying at horrific rates in countries such as Mexico, Brazil and the USA,” Steve Cockburn, head of Economic and Social Justice at Amnesty International, told Reuters. “There must be global cooperation to ensure all health workers are provided with adequate protective equipment, so they can continue their vital work without risking their own lives.”Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who was diagnosed with COVID-19 and has downplayed the severity of the coronavirus outbreak, said Thursday Brazilians will not be forced to receive a vaccination, when they become available.Brazil on Thursday tallied more than 4 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 and is second in the world with 124,614 deaths.”Many people want the vaccine to be applied in a coercive way, but there is no law that provides for that,” Bolsonaro said in a Facebook live chat with his supporters, according to a Reuters report.Several COVID-19 vaccines are being tested in Brazil. The government has bought 30 million doses of a vaccine that is being produced by Oxford University/AstraZeneca. Three others are in Phase 3 clinical trials from makers Sinovac Biotech of China, Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech, and Johnson & Johnson’s pharmaceutical subsidiary Janssen, according to Reuters.
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COVID Vaccines Approaching Finish Line Use New Technology
Two COVID-19 vaccines that could arrive as soon as November use a promising new technique that experts say speeds up the development process. The new vaccines will be the first test to see if vaccines based on genetic code, rather than the germ itself, can be safe and effective. U.S.-based biotech company Moderna is developing one. The other is the product of a collaboration between German drugmaker BioNTech and U.S.-headquartered Pfizer. FILE – The Pfizer company logo is seen at the company’s headquarters in New York, Dec. 4, 2017.FILE – A sign marks an entrance to a Moderna, Inc., building, in Cambridge, Mass., May 18, 2020.All previous vaccines have triggered the immune system with dead or weakened versions of a germ or parts of it. The active ingredient in each of the new vaccines is a piece of genetic code called mRNA. It instructs the body to produce one small piece of the virus. It does not cause illness, but it primes the immune system to fight off the real virus. Producing enough vaccine for hundreds of millions of doses usually requires large, specialized biological manufacturing systems to grow the germ or its parts. The mRNA vaccines are quicker to develop in part because they do not rely on these complex systems. Plus, mRNA is a string of chemical building blocks that can be quickly modified to produce a new vaccine to combat a different germ. These are the first vaccines based on genetic code to be developed for human patients. Several veterinary vaccines using this technique are on the market, including immunizations against West Nile virus in horses, melanoma in dogs and a viral disease in salmon.Tests under way In early safety tests, a few dozen healthy people received either a vaccine or a placebo for comparison. Both vaccines produced side effects such as headaches, fever, chills, fatigue, or sore muscles in most patients. None were serious enough to stop the testing. FILE – Wade Bardo of Erin, N.Y., gets an injection as a study of a possible COVID-19 vaccine gets under way in Binghamton, N.Y., July 27, 2020.Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech have advanced their vaccines to the final round of testing, which involves about 30,000 patients each. These trials are designed to determine how effective they are, as well as look for less common side effects. Final results are not expected until the end of the year, but Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn told the FILE – A poster advertises a hunt for volunteers for a study of a possible COVID-19 vaccine, in Binghamton, N.Y., July 27, 2020.And then, he added, at least 150 or so people who received the placebo have to get sick in order to have enough cases to compare to those who received the vaccine. Though experts are skeptical that results will be conclusive enough by November, they say it’s not a bad idea to start planning now, because it’s going to be an incredibly complicated exercise. The federal government has committed billions of dollars to buy hundreds of millions of doses of the vaccines. But that’s just the start. “It’s not just buying vaccine. We need to ensure we have the resources to deliver the vaccines to the people who need it,” Orenstein said. That’s no easy task for a nation of 330 million people. Twice the effort Plus, since both vaccines require two doses, “it will take twice the effort to get people vaccinated,” said Vanderbilt University infectious disease expert William Schaffner, a spokesman for the Infectious Diseases Society of America. “You have to track who’s received which vaccine. You won’t be able to mix and match.” Then there’s the question of who gets the first doses. There won’t be enough vaccine for everyone right away. Committees at the CDC and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine are working on setting priorities with comments from the public. Once that’s settled, officials not only have to identify who is in the priority groups, “you have to make sure that people who aren’t in those groups don’t get those vaccines initially,” Offit said. “That’s going to be an enormous strain.” Even the basic issue of how to store the vaccine gets complicated. One of the vaccines needs to be stored at -70C. Standard freezers run about -20C. Big institutions may have the capacity, but “I’m a little concerned about the average doctor’s office and clinic,” Schaffner said. All this is being put on state and local public health departments suffering from years of underfunding, the results of which have become abundantly clear under COVID-19. Are they up to the job? “I’m more hopeful than confident,” Schaffner said.
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Biden Meets Relatives of Black Man Shot by Police in Wisconsin
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden visited Kenosha, Wisconsin, Thursday, holding a community meeting in the wake of civil unrest spawned by the shooting of a Black man by a white police officer.Before arriving in the 100,000-resident Midwestern city along Lake Michigan, the former vice president met at the nearby Milwaukee airport with relatives of Jacob Blake, the Black man shot seven times in the back on August 23 as police attempted to arrest him in a domestic dispute.In this image taken from a motorcade, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden exits a building after meeting with relatives of Jacob Blake at General Mitchell International Airport, Sept. 3, 2020, in Milwaukee.Biden’s visit came two days after his opponent in the November 3 election, Republican President Donald Trump, visited Kenosha and voiced support for law enforcement officials and their efforts to quell disturbances that erupted after Blake was left partially paralyzed in the confrontation with police. Trump did not meet with Blake’s family while he was in Kenosha.Biden’s campaign said he and his wife, Jill Biden, met with Blake’s parents and other family members, some of whom took part by phone, for an hour. It said three members of Blake’s legal team were also either present or took part by phone.“The family was grateful for the meeting and was very impressed that the Bidens were so engaged and willing to really listen. Jacob’s mother led them all in prayer for Jacob’s recovery,” Ben Crump, the family’s attorney, said. “It was very obvious that Vice President Biden cared, as he extended to Jacob Jr. a sense of humanity, treating him as a person worthy of consideration and prayer.”Crump said Biden spoke about racial injustices in policing and changes he felt are needed in law enforcement to address systemic racism.’We’ve got to heal’Ahead of the visit, Biden said Wednesday that he hoped “to bring together Americans to heal and address the challenges we face.””What we want to do is — we’ve got to heal,” Biden said. “We’ve got to put things together. Bring people together.”Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden speaks as he meets with members of the community at Grace Lutheran Church in Kenosha, Wis., Sept. 3, 2020.Biden’s visit underscores how he and Trump are trying to gain a political edge on the sensitive U.S. reckoning over racial issues and police treatment of minorities. The issue came to the forefront when a Black man, George Floyd, died in late May while in police custody in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and spiraled into coast-to-coast protests over Floyd’s death and similar, subsequent incidents.Trump marked his visit to Kenosha with vocal support for law enforcement, saying, “You have to be decisive, and you have to be tough, and you have to be strong, and you have to be willing to bring people in,” such as National Guard troops, to quell violence.Biden has criticized the U.S. leader for failing to condemn all violence from the political left and right, while at the same time refusing to criticize a teenager accused of killing two people and wounding another during protests prompted by the shooting of Blake.“This president keeps throwing gasoline on the fire,” Biden said at his news conference. He added, “I didn’t hear him say much” about Blake being shot seven times. “The fact is he’s not acting very responsibly,” Biden said of Trump.Biden’s visit was the first stop in Wisconsin by a Democratic presidential candidate in eight years. In 2016, the state looked safe for Democrats, and the party’s candidate, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, skipped campaigning there. But Trump narrowly won Wisconsin, along with two other normally Democratic states, Pennsylvania and Michigan, to capture a four-year term in the White House.Convention plan scrappedDemocrats had been scheduled to hold their national convention last month in Milwaukee, Wisconsin’s biggest city, but abandoned those plans in favor of a virtual convention for fear of spreading coronavirus infections if thousands of convention delegates jammed into a basketball arena, as had been scheduled.FILE – President Donald Trump tours an area on Sept. 1, 2020, damaged during demonstrations after a police officer shot Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wis.During his visit to Kenosha, Trump said of urban protests, “You have anarchists, and you have the looters, and you have the rioters. You have all types. You have agitators.”Trump attacked “reckless, far-left politicians,” adding, “We must give far greater support to our law enforcement.”Trump said that in Kenosha, “Violent mobs demolished or damaged at least 25 businesses, burned down public buildings and threw bricks at police officers, which your police officers won’t stand for.”’Domestic terror’“And they didn’t stand for it,” Trump said. “These are not acts of peaceful protests but really domestic terror.”Biden this week accused Trump of “rooting for chaos and violence” during the election season because he sees it as “a political lifeline.”Biden said at his Wednesday news conference that “burning and looting is wrong, and that person should be held accountable.”Authorities have charged Kyle Rittenhouse, 17, a white teenager from Illinois, with five felonies in connection with the shootings of three people during the August 25 protests. Rittenhouse claimed to be in Kenosha in order to protect businesses during the civil unrest.
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Judges Skeptical Toward Trump Plan to Exclude Many Immigrants From Representation
U.S. judges appeared skeptical on Thursday toward President Donald Trump’s recent directive to exclude people who are in the United States illegally from representation when apportioning congressional seats. A three-judge panel in Manhattan sharply questioned a lawyer defending Trump and the Department of Commerce against lawsuits by 38 U.S. states, cities and counties, plus several immigrants rights nonprofits, over the July 21 directive. The plaintiffs said the directive violated a requirement in the U.S. Constitution to count the “whole number of persons in each state,” and could shift seats in the House of Representatives, with California, Texas and New Jersey most likely to lose representatives. At Thursday’s hearing, Justice Department lawyer Sopan Joshi said Trump had discretion to decide who is counted, that the concept of “persons in each state” was “not particularly well-defined,” and that any harm was speculative. But Circuit Judge Peter Hall suggested it might be enough that a small number of people be affected for harm to exist. U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman asked if the government had historical precedent to exclude “illegal immigrants” from the census count or apportionment base. “We have not been able to identify any,” Joshi said. Judith Vale, a lawyer for New York Attorney General Letitia James, said Trump’s directive “violates more than 200 years of history, practice and judicial precedent,” would impede redistricting and is already discouraging census participation. “Defendants simply have no authority, no discretion to subtract millions of undocumented immigrants,” she said. The plaintiffs have also argued that Trump’s directive was motivated by “discriminatory animus toward Hispanics and other immigrant communities of color.” Dale Ho, a lawyer for the nonprofits, rejected a government argument that media reports about the directive, not the directive itself, might be causing confusion. “Even in a dry season it is fair to trace the fire to the arsonist,” Ho said. Furman said the panel will rule as soon as it can.
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Rocket Test Boosts NASA Plans for Moon Trip
NASA this week moved closer to its next crewed mission to the moon. A successful rocket test means they know how they will get there, while scientists in India have developed eco-friendly bricks for building structures on the lunar surface. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi has the week in space.Produced by Arash Arabasadi
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Pelosi, Mnuchin Agree on Plan to Avoid Government Shutdown
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Trump administration have informally agreed to keep a stopgap government-wide funding bill — needed to avert a shutdown at the end of this month — free of controversy or conflict. The accord is aimed at keeping any possibility of a government shutdown off the table despite ongoing battles over COVID-19 relief legislation, while sidestepping the potential for other shutdown drama in the run-up to the November election. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi speaks during a news conference in San Francisco, Sept. 2, 2020.That’s according to Democratic and GOP aides on Capitol Hill who have been briefed on a Tuesday conversation between Pelosi, D-Calif., and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. They required anonymity to characterize an exchange they were informed of but not directly party to. “House Democrats are for a clean continuing resolution,” said Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammil. The definition of “clean” tends to vary among those steeped in Capitol Hill jargon, but it would not necessarily rule out noncontroversial add-ons like routine extensions of programs like federal flood insurance or authority to spend money for highway programs. Some lawmakers are sure to seek substantive legislation and even COVID-related items if consensus could somehow evolve. “We do believe that we’ll be able to get funding to avoid a shutdown,” White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Thursday. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Sept. 1, 2020.The duration of the temporary funding measure or what noncontroversial items might ride along haven’t been settled, aides say, and the Pelosi spokesman declined to further characterize the agreement. The government faces a Sept. 30 deadline to avoid a shutdown like the 2018-2019 shutdown sparked by Trump’s insistence on more funding to construct his U.S.-Mexico border wall. There is sentiment among some Democrats for the stopgap legislation to extend into next year, but December appears to be the administration’s preference and a more likely result. The development comes as lawmakers are absent from Washington but are preparing to return for a brief pre-election session that’s likely to involve battling over COVID relief legislation. But the chances of another rescue bill have ebbed as the summer is nearing an end. The Mnuchin-Pelosi agreement on preventing a shutdown appears aimed at ensuring that the consequences of gridlock on the COVID relief front do not include a politically-freighted partial shutdown. Monica Crowley, a spokeswoman for Mnuchin, said Treasury would decline to comment.
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