Witnesses say Cameroon police have chased and beaten at least 200 opposition supporters outside the home of opposition leader Maurice Kamto, who has been under de facto house arrest for over a month. Anti-riot police were deployed to Kamto’s home this week to contain crowds of supporters demanding he be released. Police blocked Kamto from leaving his house after he organized anti-government protests in September. An unknown female supporter of opposition leader Maurice Kamto stripped off her clothes in front of his house Thursday and shouted at the large police presence that his month-long detention was illegal. The woman, in her early 50s, screamed that she would not leave until police allowed Kamto out of his house to speak with her. She was one of over 200 opposition supporters gathered outside Kamto’s house to mark one month since police surrounded his home, placing him under de facto house arrest. Kamto supporter Giselle Malongo says she came from the western town of Bafoussam to ask why Kamto has been stopped from leaving his house since September 22. She told VOA the police violently brutalized and blocked supporters from meeting Kamto, a man she called “their president.” Malongo said armed police seized mobile phones from supporters who tried to take photographs (of the clashes). She said police also prevented them from delivering food donations to Kamto and his family. A reporter also witnessed police beating and blocking Kamto’s supporters, some of whom were trying to donate food. Christopher Ndong, secretary general and legal advisor of Kamto’s Cameroon Renaissance Movement party, said police beat 13 supporters so badly that they had to get treated at a hospital.”Kamto was very furious at this gesture by the military refusing people to come and give him food aid after he had been locked up for a month,” Ndong told VOA. “There were a lot of hot exchanges. We decry the attitude of government and its military operatives. We are saying in fact, this is an infringement to democratic principles and democratic rights.”Cameroon police gave no official statement on the clashes and would not answer a reporter’s questions. Authorities have not officially declared Kamto to be under house arrest, but police have not allowed him to leave his home since he organized nationwide anti-government protests in September. Cameroon Territorial Administration Minister Paul Atanga Nji said police are watching Kamto because he is being investigated for hostilities against the state. “I want to sound a stern warning to unscrupulous politicians that they will face the law. It must be clear that the discontinuance of legal proceedings does not imply that the charges have been dropped. Any further act of public disorder will take them back to square one,” Nji said.The September opposition protests were against Cameroon holding December 6 regional elections. The opposition says the electoral laws favor long-ruling President Paul Biya and his Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement party. Biya has been in power for 38 years, making him one of Africa’s longest-serving leaders. Kamto and about 200 supporters were jailed last year for protesting against the 2018 presidential election results, which named Biya the winner. Kamto was released after nine months following international pressure. Since then, Cameroon police have closely monitored his activities and all of his political rallies and protests have been declared illegal.
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Month: October 2020
Trump, Biden Spar in Final Face-to-Face Debate
President Donald Trump and his Democratic Party challenger, Joe Biden, met in Nashville, Tennessee, Thursday night for the final debate of the presidential campaign. VOA’s Mike O’Sullivan reports.
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UN Chief Calls for More Coordinated Global Efforts to Fight COVID
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres said it was very unfortunate that the 20 major industrialized nations did not come together in March, as he suggested then, to establish a coordinated response to suppress COVID-19 worldwide.In an interview with the Associated Press, Guterres said he hopes that as the G-20 summit is coming next month, the international community understand “they need to be much more coordinated in fighting the virus.”Guterres said the U.N. will be “strongly advocating” for a coordinated response to the disease, in addition to seeking a “guarantee” that any developed vaccine be treated as “a global public good” and be made “available and affordable for everyone, everywhere.”Scores of researchers around the world are racing to develop a safe and effective vaccine against COVID-19, which has killed more than 1.1 million people worldwide and sickened more than 41 million.Meanwhile, the number of countries with more than 1 million confirmed coronavirus cases has risen to seven, with France and Spain the latest nations to reach the mark.On Thursday, France extended curfews to about 65% of its population and Belgium’s foreign minister was hospitalized with COVID-19 and treated in the intensive care unit, as a second wave of the pandemic surged across Europe.However, according to data compiled by the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center, the United States remains the country with highest number of infections, more than 8.4 million total cases, followed by India, with 7.76 million; Brazil, with 5.32 million; Russia, with 1.45 million; and Argentina, which has 1,053,650. France is in sixth place with 1,041,991 cases, followed by Spain with 1,026,281.The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has revised its definition of close contact with a person infected with COVID-19.The agency had previously determined that close contact was spending 15 consecutive minutes within 2 meters of an infected individual. The revised changes announced Wednesday now defines a close contact as someone who spent a total of 15 minutes accumulated over a 24-hour period.The change by the CDC was prompted by a report of a prison officer in the northeastern U.S. state of Vermont who became infected with COVID-19 after more than 20 brief interactions with inmates who later tested positive for the virus. The brief visits added up to about 17 total minutes of exposure.
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UN Chief Calls for More Coordinated Efforts Internationally to Fight the Coronavirus
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres said it was very unfortunate that the 20 major industrialized nations did not come together in March, as he suggested then, to establish a coordinated response to suppress COVID-19 worldwide.In an interview with the Associated Press, Guterres said he hopes that as the G-20 summit is coming next month, the international community understand “they need to be much more coordinated in fighting the virus.”Guterres said the U.N. will be “strongly advocating” for a coordinated response to the disease, in addition to seeking a “guarantee” that any developed vaccine be treated as “a global public good” and be made “available and affordable for everyone, everywhere.”Scores of researchers around the world are racing to develop a safe and effective vaccine against COVID-19, which has killed more than 1.1 million people worldwide and sickened more than 41 million.Meanwhile, the number of countries with more than 1 million confirmed coronavirus cases has risen to seven, with France and Spain the latest nations to reach the mark.On Thursday, France extended curfews to about 65% of its population and Belgium’s foreign minister was hospitalized with COVID-19 and treated in the intensive care unit, as a second wave of the pandemic surged across Europe.However, according to data compiled by the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center, the United States remains the country with highest number of infections, more than 8.4 million total cases, followed by India, with 7.76 million; Brazil, with 5.32 million; Russia, with 1.45 million; and Argentina, which has 1,053,650. France is in sixth place with 1,041,991 cases, followed by Spain with 1,026,281.The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has revised its definition of close contact with a person infected with COVID-19.The agency had previously determined that close contact was spending 15 consecutive minutes within 2 meters of an infected individual. The revised changes announced Wednesday now defines a close contact as someone who spent a total of 15 minutes accumulated over a 24-hour period.The change by the CDC was prompted by a report of a prison officer in the northeastern U.S. state of Vermont who became infected with COVID-19 after more than 20 brief interactions with inmates who later tested positive for the virus. The brief visits added up to about 17 total minutes of exposure.
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Many Successes, but Difficult Challenges Ahead in Ending Polio
At a time when growing numbers of people are shunning vaccines, the polio vaccine proves that they work. As VOA’s Carol Pearson reports, despite setbacks and a coronavirus pandemic, the world is making headway in eliminating the crippling disease.
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Donors Pledge $600 Million for Ethnic Rohingyas Who Fled Myanmar
The United States has announced nearly $200 million in additional humanitarian assistance to Rohingya refugees who fled what the U.S. and others call ethnic cleansing in Rakhine State in Myanmar three years ago. VOA’s Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine has more on Thursday’s global donor conference.
Camera: Steve Sanford Producer: Mary Cieslak
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FDA Approves First COVID-19 Drug: Antiviral Remdesivir
U.S. regulators on Thursday approved the first drug to treat COVID-19: remdesivir, an antiviral medicine given to hospitalized patients through an IV.The drug, which California-based Gilead Sciences Inc. is calling Veklury, cut recovery time from 15 days to 10 on average in a large study led by the U.S. National Institutes of Health.It has been authorized for use on an emergency basis since spring, and it now becomes the first drug to win full Food and Drug Administration approval for treating COVID-19. President Donald Trump received it when he was diagnosed earlier this month with the disease caused by the coronavirus. Veklury is approved for people at least 12 years old and weighing at least 40 kilograms (88 pounds) who are hospitalized for a coronavirus infection. For patients younger than 12, the FDA will still allow the drug’s use in certain cases under its previous emergency authorization.The drug works by inhibiting a substance the virus uses to make copies of itself. Certain kidney and liver tests are required before starting patients on it to ensure it’s safe for them and to monitor for any possible side effects. And the label warns against using it with the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine, because that can curb its effectiveness.”We now have enough knowledge and a growing set of tools to help fight COVID-19,” Gilead’s chief medical officer, Dr. Merdad Parsey, said in a statement.FILE – Vials of the drug remdesivir are seen at a hospital in Germany, April 8, 2020.The drug is either approved or has temporary authorization in about 50 countries, he noted.Its price has been controversial, given that no studies have found it improves survival. Last week, a large study led by the World Health Organization found the drug did not help hospitalized COVID-19 patients, but that study did not include a placebo group and was less rigorous than previous ones that found a benefit. The FDA’s approval statement noted that, besides the NIH-led study, two others found the drug beneficial.Gilead charges $2,340 for a typical treatment course for people covered by government health programs in the United States and other developed countries, and $3,120 for patients with private insurance. The amount that patients pay out of pocket depends on insurance, income and other factors.So far, only steroids such as dexamethasone have been shown to cut the risk of dying of COVID-19. The FDA also has given emergency authorization to using the blood of survivors, and two companies are currently seeking similar authorization for experimental antibody drugs.
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Blood of Recovered COVID-19 Patients Shows Little Benefit as Treatment, Study Finds
Using blood of recovered COVID-19 patients, the so-called convalescent plasma, as a potential treatment is of little benefit in helping hospitalized patients fight off the infection, according to results of a clinical trial in India.Published in the BMJ (British Medical Journal) on Friday, the results show that convalescent plasma, which delivers antibodies from COVID-19 survivors to infected people, failed to reduce death rates or halt progression to severe disease.The findings, from a study of more than 400 hospitalized COVID-19 patients, are a setback for a treatment that U.S. President Donald Trump touted in August as a “historic breakthrough.” The United States and India have authorized convalescent plasma for emergency use.Other countries, including Britain, are collecting donated plasma so that it could be widely rolled out if shown to be effective.”The … trial was able to show a small effect on the rate at which patients were able to rid themselves of the virus, but this was not enough to improve their recovery from the disease,” said Simon Clarke, an expert in cellular microbiology at the University of Reading.”In simple terms, there were no clinical benefits to the patients,” he said.The Indian researchers enrolled 464 adults with confirmed moderate COVID-19 who were admitted to hospitals across India between April and July. They were randomly split into two groups, with one group receiving two transfusions of convalescent plasma, 24 hours apart, alongside best standard care, and the control group receiving best standard care only.After seven days, use of convalescent plasma seemed to improve some symptoms, such as shortness of breath and fatigue, the researchers said, and led to higher rates of something known as “negative conversion,” a sign that the virus is being neutralized by antibodies.But this did not translate into a reduction in deaths or progression to severe disease by 28 days.”The poor performance of convalescent plasma in this trial is disappointing but not entirely surprising,” said Ian Jones, a professor of virology, also at the University of Reading.He said the plasma is more likely to work if given very swiftly after someone contracts COVID-19.He urged these and other researchers to continue to conduct trials of convalescent plasma as a potential COVID-19 treatment, but to do so in newly diagnosed patients.”We still do not have enough treatments for the early stage of disease to prevent severe disease and until this becomes an option, avoiding being infected with the virus remains the key message,” he said.
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Goldman Sachs to Pay Record Fine Over 1MDB Scandal
A settlement has been reached over charges leveled against Goldman Sachs Group Inc. related to the global financial institution’s conspiracy to violate foreign bribery laws in the United States.The firm will pay $2.9 billion in the plea deal, the largest penalty of its kind in U.S. history, for its role in Malaysia’s 1Malaysia Development Berhad fund corruption scandal, known as 1MDB.In total, Goldman Sachs will pay more than $5 billion globally.The Asian subsidiary of Goldman Sachs pleaded guilty after admitting Thursday the company “knowingly and willingly” conspired to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Representatives of the firm admitted violating U.S. anti-bribery laws by engaging in bribery that resulted in the looting of billions of dollars from a fund designed to increase economic development in the country.In a FILE – In this May 7, 2019, file photo, former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, takes a tea break at Kuala Lumpur High Court in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.From 2009 to 2014, the firm’s Malaysian unit raised $6.5 billion for 1MDB. According to U.S. authorities, the funds were stolen by people connected to former Prime Minister Najib Razak, who was removed from office in July and is currently serving a 12-year jail sentence for criminal breach of trust, money laundering and abuse of power related to the scandal.Money raised by Goldman Sachs went toward financing the lavish lifestyles of Malaysian officials, who spent the funds on mega-yachts, a boutique hotel in Beverly Hills and a share of the Hollywood movie “The Wolf of Wall Street.”The Justice Department said the firm’s involvement goes against the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which bans U.S. companies from paying foreign government officials for help in securing business ventures.The bribery resulted in Goldman Sachs’ role as an adviser on energy acquisitions and provided opportunities to secure a role in the highly anticipated and lucrative initial public offering for 1MDB’s energy assets.The settlement allows the firm to avoid facing criminal convictions.
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Drone Footage Shows Looting in Lagos Amid Further Unrest
Drone footage showed people looting a burning supermarket in the Lekki district of Lagos, Thursday, October 22, amid further unrest in the city, despite an ongoing curfew. Video obtained by Reuters shows people running from the Shoprite supermarket as flames and smoke were surrounding the building. A witness said the looters came in groups, taking food and electronics, and afterwards setting a part of the mall ablaze. Violence has intensified in Nigeria’s commercial capital since the shooting of civilians by security forces at an anti-police brutality protest at Lekki gate Tuesday, October 20. A curfew, initially imposed on Tuesday by Lagos governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has been extended indefinitely, and on Wednesday, October 21, the army offered to deploy to help protect key business and government sites. (Reuters)
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Britain to Deliberately Infect Volunteers With Coronavirus
Healthy volunteers will be deliberately infected with the coronavirus to try to speed up the development of a vaccine, under plans announced by the British government this week. The trial will involve healthy volunteers ages 18 to 30. Most coronavirus vaccine trials involve giving volunteers the potential vaccine or a placebo and then waiting until enough of them have been exposed to the virus through their everyday lives. That can take months or years. Britain announced this week it plans to begin the so-called “human challenge” trials in May 2021 to speed up the development of vaccines. Several young people have already volunteered, among them Danica Marcos, 22, a recent university graduate from London. “So many people [are] struggling right now. I want this pandemic to be over,” Marcos told The Associated Press. “Every day that goes on, more cases are going on, more people are dying. And if this vaccine trial could mean that this period of trauma for the whole world will be over sooner, I want to help. I want to be a part of that.” People walk past a display featuring health advice in the shopping district in central Sheffield, south Yorkshire, Oct. 21, 2020. (AFP)Alastair Fraser-Urqhart, 18, from Stoke-on-Trent said he wanted to contribute to a vaccine. “Personally, I can’t let this opportunity to do something, to really do something, pass me by when I’m at such low risk than other people,” he said. The British government plans to invest over $43.4 million in the challenge trial. The World Health Organization said it could be significant. “There is a very long history of this for development of a number of vaccines that has been part of what has gone on with, say, the development of the cholera vaccines and the typhoid vaccines,” said Margaret Harris, a spokeswoman for WHO. Harris also expressed some concerns. “What is critical is that if people are considering this, it must be overseen by an ethics committee, and the volunteers must have full consent, and they must select the volunteers in order to minimize their risk. Because you will be challenging people with a virus that we do not have a treatment for,” Harris said. “So, you must ensure that everybody involved understands exactly what is at stake, must be selected to minimize the risk. The volunteer and you must ensure that informed consent is rigorous, that they really do understand all the risks.” FILE – A passenger in a car receives a novel coronavirus test at a drive-in COVID-19 testing facility set up at the Chessington World of Adventures Resort, in Chessington, southwest of London, Oct. 20, 2020. (AFP)Infections, hospitalizations and deaths from the new coronavirus are rising sharply in many countries around the world. A vaccine remains the best hope of any return to some kind of normality, said Dr. Sterghios Moschos, a microbiologist at the University of Northumbria, who spoke to VOA in a recent interview. “At this point in time, we don’t have a way of stopping transmission,” Moschos said. “And we don’t even have the financial capacity to give multiple antibody treatments, steroids, et cetera, like Donald Trump received, to everybody in the population that needs treatment. The cost is quite large for these kinds of treatments. We don’t have a vaccine. And therefore, as a result, we need to contain the spread of this virus. Not just manage it, contain it.” The initial aim of the British research team will be to discover the smallest amount of virus it takes to cause a COVID-19 infection, using controlled doses of the virus. If approved by regulators and an ethics committee, it is hoped the full challenge trial could begin in May 2021.
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Florida Sees Record Turnout for Early Voting
Early voting began in Florida on October 19, and the number of people who turned out shattered opening-day records for in-person early voting. Liliya Anisimova has more in this story narrated by Anna Rice.
Camera: Liliya Anisimova and Aleksandr Fedorov
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The Infodemic: Dr. Fauci Didn’t Write Paper Blaming Most Spanish Flu Deaths on Masks
Fake news about the coronavirus can do real harm. Polygraph.info is spotlighting fact-checks from other reliable sources here.Daily DebunkClaim: Dr. Anthony Fauci “wrote a paper regarding the Spanish Flu and stated that the majority of deaths in 1918-1919 was because of bacterial pneumonia from wearing masks.”Verdict: FalseRead the full story at: Politifact.com Social Media Disinfo Fact check: “Social media users have claimed that a document from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) admits that the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which is the name for the novel coronavirus, does not exist. While the document is authentic, the scientific process described within it has been misrepresented.” — Reuters Fact CheckVerdict: FalseRead the full story at: Reuters.com/fact-check Factual Reads on CoronavirusChina’s Covid success compared to Europe shows lockdowns are a first step, not a solution
As much of Europe stares down the barrel of renewed coronavirus lockdowns, and a potentially miserable — and deadly –winter to come, China is going from strength to strength.
— CNN, October 19The coronavirus test results that predict an outbreak’s course
Viral levels in people infected with SARS-CoV-2 in a specific town or city could be used to assess whether the epidemic there has passed its peak.
— Nature, October 19Eight Persistent COVID-19 Myths and Why People Believe Them
From a human-made virus to vaccine conspiracy theories, we rounded up the most insidious false claims about the pandemic
— Scientific American, October 125 Things to Know About a COVID Vaccine: It Won’t Be a ‘Magic Wand’
President Donald Trump makes no secret he would like a COVID-19 vaccine to be available before the election. But it’s doubtful that will happen.
— Kaiser Health News, October 5Watch: Antibodies, immunity, and what they mean for Covid-19, explained
The immune system is no wimp. When pathogens cause illness, it kicks into high gear. Cells work together to tag, kill and gobble up invaders as they fight the infection.
— Stat, May 5The race for coronavirus vaccines: a graphical guide
Eight ways in which scientists hope to provide immunity to SARS-CoV-2.
— Nature, April 28
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NATO Chief: Alliance to Build Space Center at Ramstein Airbase in Germany
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg confirmed Thursday that the military alliance would establish a space center at the Allied Air Command base in Ramstein, Germany.Speaking in Brussels after a virtual conference of NATO foreign ministers, Stoltenberg confirmed reports regarding the space center made earlier this week by European news agencies.”NATO is determined to keep our cutting edge in all domains,” he said, including “land, sea, air, cyber and space.”During a meeting last December, Stoltenberg declared “space as an operational domain for NATO. And today we took another important step.”In his comments, the NATO chief said the Allied Air Command space center would help to coordinate allied space activities and provide support for NATO missions and operations from space using satellite communications and imagery. Stoltenberg said the center also would help protect NATO-allied space systems by sharing information about potential threats.Stoltenberg has said repeatedly that NATO has no interest in the “militarization” of space. But Thursday, he said threats against NATO allied satellites and space systems were real.“For instance,” he said, “Russia and China are now developing capabilities that can blind, destroy, for instance, satellites, which will have a severe impact on both military and civilian activities on the ground.”Stoltenberg also said NATO foreign ministers expressed concern about Russia’s growing arsenal of nuclear-capable missiles and the importance of Russia and the U.S. extending the new START missile treaty.The secretary-general also called for an immediate cease-fire and cessation of all hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The region lies within Azerbaijan but has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since a war there ended in 1994.The current fighting that started there marks the biggest escalation in the conflict since the war’s end. Stoltenberg called on Turkey to “use its considerable influence in the region to calm tensions.”
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New Huawei Phone Comes at Crucial Time for Chinese Company
Huawei’s new smartphone has an upgraded camera, its latest advanced chipset and a better battery. What it may not have outside the Chinese tech giant’s home market is very many buyers.
Huawei, which recently became the world’s No. 1 smartphone maker, on Thursday unveiled its Mate 40 line of premium phones, a product release that comes at a crucial moment for the company as it runs out of room to maneuver around U.S. sanctions squeezing its ability to source components and software.
The Mate 40 could be the last one powered by the company’s homegrown Kirin chipsets because of U.S. restrictions in May barring non-American companies from using U.S. technology in manufacturing without a license.
Analysts say the company had been stockpiling chips before the ban but its supply won’t last forever.
“This is a major challenge to Huawei and it’s really losing its market outside of China,” said Mo Jia, an analyst at independent research firm Canalys. The latest U.S. restrictions mean it “100% has closed doors for Huawei to secure its future components.”
Executives said this summer that production of Kirin chips would end in mid-September because they’re made by contractors that need U.S. manufacturing technology. In a press preview this week ahead of the Mate 40’s launch, staff declined to answer questions on Huawei’s ability to source chips. The head of Huawei’s consumer business, Richard Yu, referred only briefly to the issue at the end of a virtual launch event Thursday.
“For Huawei, nowadays we are in a very difficult time. We are suffering from the U.S.
government’s third round ban. It’s an unfair ban. It makes (the situation) extremely difficult,” Yu said.
Huawei, which is also a major supplier of wireless network gear, is facing pressure in a wider global battle waged between the U.S. and China over trade and technological supremacy. The U.S. government’s efforts to lobby allies in Europe to not give it a role in new high-speed 5G wireless networks over cybersecurity concerns has been paying off, with countries including Sweden and Britain blocking its gear.
Huawei phones are not widely available in the U.S., but they’re sold in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. The company climbed to the top of the global smartphone rankings this summer, knocking Samsung off top spot by shipping 55.8 million devices in the second quarter to gain a 20% share of the market, according to research firms Canalys and International Data Corp. But the performance was driven by strong growth in China while smartphone sales in the rest of the world tumbled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Analysts say it will be hard for Huawei to remain No. 1.
“Huawei’s in a tight spot,” said Ben Wood, chief of research at CCS Insight. Along with the U.S. sanctions, it’s also hurt by slumping confidence in the brand that makes retailers less keen to stock its phones. “And sadly, I don’t think you’re going to see the Mate 40 performing particularly well outside of China.”
Huawei has a small but enthusiastic fan base in Europe, its biggest market outside China. But some users are turned off by the idea of sticking with the brand because of a related problem: recent models like the Mate 40, priced at 899 euros ($1,070) and up, can’t run Google’s full Android operating system because of an earlier round of U.S. sanctions.
Instead, they come with a stripped down open source version of Android, which doesn’t have Google’s Play Store and can’t run popular apps like Chrome, YouTube and Search.
Mark Osten, a 29-year-old architect in Preston, England, bought a Huawei P30 last year when the contract on his previous Samsung phone ended.
He says the camera is great but hesitates to recommend the brand to others because of the uncertainty.
“I just can’t imagine life without YouTube or Google,” said Osten.
To make up for losing Google services, Huawei has built its own app store and has been paying developers to create apps for it. Users can request apps that aren’t yet available, but it’s not something that appeals to Chloe Hetelle, a 35-year-old events organizer in Toulouse, France, who bought a Huawei P20 model two years ago after switching from an iPhone.
“I don’t want to request apps, I just want to have YouTube,” said Hetelle. “I’m not really keen on struggling to get something that I would have easily with another phone.”
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German Health Institute Sounds Alarm on COVID-19
The head of Germany’s disease control institute sounded an alarm Thursday, warning of a possible uncontrollable spread of COVID-19 as the country reported a daily record of 11,287 new infections.Lothar Wieler, president of the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases, told reporters in Berlin that infection numbers are rising among all age groups, not just young people, though he said their tendency to attend social gatherings is a significant cause for the spread. Wieler also disputed claims that the rise in new cases was the result of increased testing.Koch said the situation was serious and that the country must prepare for it to get worse.“We must anticipate the virus heavily spreading further, at least in some German regions, and that there might even be an uncontrolled spread.”The 11,287 new infections shattered the record of 7,830 recorded last Friday and marks the first time the nation has seen more than 10 new cases in a single day since the pandemic began.While Germany’s infection rates are lower than in much of Europe, they have been accelerating rapidly since the onset of cooler weather, with politicians warning that stricter social distancing rules may be needed if the trend continues.German authorities have toughened measures to curb the spread of the pandemic, such as banning large gatherings and mandating the wearing of masks in certain parts of Berlin. Wieler urged people to heed the rules and restrictions.Health Minister Jens Spahn tested positive for the coronavirus on Wednesday.
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Airstrike Kills Nearly a Dozen Children in Northeastern Afghanistan
Local officials in northeastern Afghanistan say 12 people were killed, 11 of them children, in an airstrike that struck a religious school.
The airstrike Wednesday in Takhar province came after three days of heavy fighting between Afghan security forces and Taliban fighters that left more than two dozen security personnel dead. It wasn’t immediately clear who carried out the airstrike.
Officials say 14 others were wounded in the attack.
Continuous fighting between the U.S.-backed Afghan government and the Taliban have complicated intra-Afghan peace talks that began last month in Qatar.
The United States is seeking an agreement that would allow it to bring an end to its 19-year military involvement in Afghanistan, the longest war in U.S. history.
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Senate Judiciary Committee Approves Barrett Supreme Court Nomination Despite Democrats’ Boycott
The Republican-led Senate Judiciary Committee has approved Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination to the Supreme Court, sending the matter to the full Senate for consideration. Democrats on the committee boycotted the vote Thursday, resulting in a 12-0 vote in favor of the nomination.Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer reiterated his party’s objection to President Donald Trump moving ahead with replacing the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the court so close to an election, arguing that such a move should be left to whichever candidate wins the November 3 U.S. presidential election.He cited the Supreme Court vacancy in 2016, when then-President Barack Obama nominated Judge Merrick Garland but Senate Republicans blocked the process while making similar arguments about letting voters decide who should pick the next justice.“When Merrick Garland was nominated, eight months before an election, we have to wait for an election. Now that an election is ongoing, we are rushing through this nomination. It is one of the worst moments the Senate has ever seen,” Schumer said.He called Barrett’s confirmation proceedings “the most rushed, most partisan and least legitimate process in the history of Supreme Court nominations.”Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham said the Democrats boycotting the vote “does a disservice to Judge Barrett who deserves a vote, up or down.”With Republicans holding a 53-47 majority in the Senate, Graham expressed optimism about the prospects for Barrett’s nomination.“Judge Barrett deserves to be on the Supreme Court and she will be confirmed,” he said.The 12 Republicans on the committee have indicated they will back Barrett.Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell plans to follow the Judiciary Committee’s vote with a procedural vote in the full Senate on Sunday that could bring a final vote on Barrett’s nomination on Monday.If Barrett is confirmed to the lifetime appointment, the Supreme Court would have a 6-3 conservative majority.
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Seychelles Voters Thursday Begin Choosing President, Lawmakers
Voters in the Seychelles on Thursday begin the three-day process of choosing a president and lawmakers.Voters in the Indian Ocean archipelago of 115 islands will decide if President Danny Faure will be elected for the first time after taking over from predecessor James Michel, who resigned.Faure, of the ruling United Seychelles party, is running against two candidates.Agence France-Presse reports Faure’s main rival is perennial presidential candidate, Anglican priest Wavel Ramkalawan, who lost to Michel by just 193 votes in 2015.Ramkalawan’s Seychelles Democratic Alliance party holds most of the seats in parliament.The other candidate is Alain St Ange, a former tourism minister, who is representing the One Seychelles party.One of the main challenges facing the country is rebooting the critical tourism industry affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
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Asian Markets Slump Thursday as Stimulus Stalemate Continues in Washington
Asian markets are mostly lower Thursday as investors continue to wait for a resolution to talks between the Trump administration and U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on a coronavirus relief bill.Tokyo’s Nikkei index dropped 0.7% at the closing bell. Shanghai’s Composite index fell 0.3%. The S&P/ASX ended 0.2% lower. Seoul’s KOSPI index lost 0.7%.The TSEC index in Taipei was the lone bright spot in the region, gaining 0.3%.In late afternoon trading, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index is up 1.1%, while Mumbai’s Sensex is down 0.5%.In commodities trading, gold is selling at $1,921.20 an ounce, down 0.4%. U.S. crude is selling at $40.23 per barrel, up 0.5%, and Brent crude is selling at $41.97 per barrel, also up 0.5%.All three U.S. indices are trending negatively.
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