Author: CensorBiz

Fake news about the coronavirus can do real harm. Polygraph.info is spotlighting fact-checks from other reliable sources here​.Daily DebunkClaim: Phil “Dr. Phil” McGraw said there are 360,000 annual deaths in the U.S. from swimming pools. He’s since said he was citing the worldwide number and “misspoke.”Verdict: FalseRead the full story: “Dr. Phil’s faulty point about the coronavirus and swimming pools,” PolitiFact​. Social Media Disinfo​Bill GatesCirculating on social media: Claim that Microsoft owns patent “666,” which involves inserting microchips into people to mine their activity for cryptocurrency purposes.Verdict: Mostly FalseRead the full story at: “Does Microsoft Own Patent ‘666’ About Implanting Microchips in People?” — Snopes​ Factual Reads on CoronavirusA New Doctor Faces the Coronavirus in Queens
A front-line physician at Elmhurst Hospital sees how closely socioeconomic status is tied to the disease, and tries to help patients who are dying without their families.
— The New Yorker, April 20Coronavirus myths explored
As the coronavirus continues to make the news, a host of untruths has surrounded the topic. In this special feature, we address some of these myths and conspiracies.
— Medical News Today, April 16
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Global advocates for media freedom said Tuesday that while “total impunity” for violent crimes against journalists has persisted in Pakistan, workers at the country’s leading independent newspapers and television channels continue to work without pay or with major salary cuts associated with the COVID-19 outbreak. FILE – Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan in Islamabad, Pakistan, March 16, 2020.RSF also accused Prime Minister Imran Khan’s government of trying “to step up online regulation” to encourage media censorship. Pakistani officials did not immediately comment on the report. Both the government and the military, however, have consistently denied allegations they want to curtail mainstream or social media freedoms in the country.  Journalists unpaid  Separately, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) said Tuesday that employees at Pakistan’s largest group of independent newspapers and TV stations, Jang Media, have not been paid for more than four months.  Pakistani journalists and activists have welcomed the IFJ statement, saying it highlights an issue that plagues almost the entire industry in the country where a majority of media workers have long complained of delayed payment or nonpayment of their salaries for months.  “Media workers in Pakistan are currently facing some of the worst of the economic pressures associated with COVID-19 after struggling with years of systematic wage theft,” lamented an IFJ statement. The Brussels-based global voice for journalists demanded the administration of Jang Media Group immediately pay the outstanding salaries and reinstate all employees it recently terminated.  There was no immediate reaction from the Jang Media Group to the allegations. Last month, Pakistani anti-corruption authorities arrested the company’s owner and editor-in-chief, Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman, for illegally obtaining government land more than 30 years ago.  Rahman’s group and attorneys have rejected accusations of wrongdoing in the real estate purchase deal, denouncing the arrest as an “attack on the freedom of expression.”  Shakeel Qarar, the president of the national press club in Islamabad, says newspaper owners and television channels in some cases have not paid their employees for at least 10 months.  “Those who have protested … nonpayments have even been laid off without clearing their outstanding dues,” Qarar told VOA. “This has forced a large number of journalists to look for other streams of income such as video blogging on social media while others are driving cabs or have opened shops to feed their families,” he said.  Journalists working in mainstream media say that since the outbreak of the coronavirus in Pakistan, their owners have told them to work from home for safety reasons on the one hand and have cut salaries as well as travel allowances citing a lack of outdoor activity on the other.  Most media groups had made the last bulk payments of outstanding salaries to their employees in June 2018 when they were ordered to do so by Pakistan’s Supreme Court. Media owners argue that one of the main reasons they are unable to pay or ensure timely payment of salaries to their employees is nonpayment of government advertisement charges that has strained their financial resources. Pakistani officials and independent observers question the argument, saying owners of major media companies have for decades benefited from the public advertisement system, but they have not passed on the benefit to their workers.   
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Quarantine and lockdowns in many U.S. states has moved life online including the search for love and companionship. For now, that will ha to be virtual… using dating apps. Karina Bafradzhian investigated dating during a pandemic.  
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Paris police are facing a modest uptick of unrest in the oft-troubled suburbs of the locked-down French capital, making a small number of arrests after fires were set and fireworks lobbed to shatter the calm imposed by stay-home measures to counter the coronavirus.  
A scattering of vehicle and trash can blazes and firework explosions on the outskirts of Paris this week have so far been far milder than previous outbreaks of violence. But the renewed tensions are also a reminder of policing difficulties that have long simmered in troubled neighborhoods of the city, before the virus lockdown forced most people indoors.  
Paris police said officers arrested nine people in two suburbs overnight Tuesday. They were suspected of either possessing fireworks or gathering together to commit violence.
A possible trigger for the flare-up appears to have been a traffic accident this past weekend involving a police car and a motorcyclist who was injured. Police reported that projectiles were thrown at officers following the crash on Saturday evening.
The French lockdown, in place since March 17, has been particularly tough for families jammed together in small apartments in the poorer Paris suburbs. The stay-home orders and police patrols to enforce them have also disrupted underground economies that are centered around drug-dealing and other crime in unruly projects. 
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U.S. lawmakers are close to an agreement on a $450 billion package to help small businesses and hospitals in the latest move to respond to the coronavirus outbreak. The Senate could vote as early as Tuesday on the legislation. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said if the Senate gives its approval Tuesday, the House “could meet as early as Thursday” to consider the bill. The majority of the money would be targeted at small businesses that missed out on an earlier pool of rescue money.   Under that program, if a business used the aid to pay employees during the next two months then the government will assume responsibility for the costs and the business will not have to pay it back.   Officials want to help people stay employed and have businesses as ready as possible to ramp up their activity when it becomes safe for customers to return. A homeless panhandler checks his bucket for money along Wall Street where much of the Financial District stands empty as the coronavirus keeps financial markets and businesses mostly closed on April 20, 2020 in New York City.The governors of several U.S. states have announced plans to begin relaxing stay-at-home orders, including some beginning next week. Some states have seen small protests calling for a return to regular economic activity. But the nation’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, warned Monday that those who are ignoring the stay-at-home orders could be hurting the chances for economic recovery. “Unless we get the virus under control, the real recovery economically is not going happen,” Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told ABC’s “Good Morning America” show.  “So what you do if you jump the gun and go into a situation where you have a big spike (in more coronavirus cases), you’re going to set yourself back.”    Trump has praised the protesters, saying that some governors “have gone too far” in imposing restrictions. 
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The southern African country of Lesotho’s coalition government is calling for the immediate resignation of scandal-plagued Prime Minister Thomas Thabane. The 80-year-old leader has been under pressure to leave office after being linked to the murder of his estranged wife, 58-year-old Lipolelo Thabane, three years ago. The prime minister’s current wife, Maesaiah Thabane, is charged with shooting to death  Lipolelo, two days before Thabane’s inauguration in 2017. Both the government of Lesotho and South African mediators released a joint statement Monday, saying Thabane’s departure should be graceful and that he gets what is described as a secure retirement. Its unclear if that means Thabane would no longer face legal consequences for his alleged ties to his estranged wife’s murder. Thabane has also been criticized for calling up troops over the weekend to restore order in Lesotho, following his claim some leaders in law enforcement were seeking to undermine democracy in the small country surrounded by South Africa.  Observers believe the troop deployment to the capital, Maserua, was a last ditch effort by Thabane to remain in power.  A day before he called up the troops, his authority took another hit when the constitutional court ruled against his decision to suspend parliament. Although Thabane has previously promised to leave office at the end of July,  South African mediator Jeff Radebe told reporters his departure should be imminent.  
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The Oregon governor’s office on Monday circulated its own version of a three-phase federal guideline to lift restrictions amid the coronavirus pandemic, including allowing child care facilities and possibly restaurants to reopen in phase one. The Trump administration guidelines say there first needs to be downward trajectories, during a 14-day period, of influenza-like illnesses, COVID-19-like cases, of documented cases or of positive tests as a percent of total tests, as well as “robust testing and contact tracing.” Oregon, however, has some counties where there no or few COVID-19 cases. The draft circulating among state leaders says Oregon will likely use modified metrics, especially for rural counties who have small numbers. FILE – Oregon Gov. Kate Brown speaks at a news conference in Portland, Oregon, March 16, 2020.Democratic Gov. Kate Brown’s draft plan contains no time frame on when the drop in cases is expected to occur. It says experience in other countries and modeling says reducing social distancing too quickly will create a spike in cases. The plan comes as Republicans, a minority in the state Legislature, said they are ramping up pressure on the governor to lift economic restrictions on parts of the state that have not been hit as hard by the virus, including rural Oregon.”The rural districts my caucus and I represent should be able to return to a new normal and get back to work,” said Senate Republican Leader Herman Baertschiger Jr. of Grants Pass. In the federal guidelines, under phase one restaurants, sports venues, theaters and churches could open, with strict physical distancing and sanitation protocols. But the Oregon draft plan says sports venues, theaters and churches would likely remain closed. However, state officials are looking at allowing sit-down dining. And while the federal guidelines say bars should remain closed in phase one, Oregon will instead have a work group to propose a phase one plan. Oregon’s many brewpubs, wine-tasting rooms and bars have been hit hard economically by Brown’s shutdown order. Phase two and phase threeOregon is still evaluating the federal guidelines on phase two and phase three. Under the Trump administration “Opening Up America Guidelines” released last Thursday, in phase two, gatherings can increase to 50 people, nonessential travel can resume, and schools and gyms can open under physical distancing. Phase three would see mass gatherings size increases, work sites with unrestricted staffing, visitors to nursing homes allowed, restaurants and bars to have more seating. FILE – Health care workers wheel a gurney into Salem Hospital’s emergency room in Salem, Oregon, April 9, 2020.Brown’s draft plan says all that needs review by the Oregon Health Authority, Brown’s Medical Advisory Panel and local public health officials. The Oregon Health Authority reported an additional coronavirus death Monday — a 45-year-old Marion County man with underlying medical conditions — raising the overall toll to 75. It also reported 47 additional confirmed COVID-19 cases, raising the total to over 1,950. Over 40,000 residents have been tested for the coronavirus since the state confirmed its first case on Feb. 28.For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death. The vast majority of people recover. 
 
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After oil prices crashed to historic lows Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump declared “this is a great time to buy oil.” The president largely brushed off the ramifications to domestic energy jobs and the geo-political consequences of the oil price plunge amid the coronavirus pandemic, telling reporters that the “problem is nobody’s driving a car anywhere in the world, essentially.”  The president, looking to add as much as 75 million barrels of oil to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, said “if we can buy it for nothing, we will take everything we can get.” Trump also said he is looking at stopping incoming Saudi shipments of oil.  The president termed it “largely a financial squeeze,” when asked about the May futures contract for West Texas Intermediate crude oil trading closing for the day at minus $37.63 per barrel, the first time ever a price for the commodity transitioned into negative numbers. Those holding the May contracts on Tuesday, amid evaporated demand, would need to arrange for delivery of their barrels of oil.  “It’s going to be picking up, and the energy business is going to be strong,” predicted Trump, noting that other types of crude oil are still trading above $25 per barrel.   COVID-19 testingTrump and members of the White House coronavirus task force Monday defended the administration’s gradual ramping up of coronavirus testing.  They explained there are ample testing supplies available for all states to proceed to the first stage of reopening their economies that were shut down to prevent the spread of the highly infectious virus. “We’re going maximum, we’re going to the outer limits,” said Trump of plans to test millions more Americans.  About 4 million people in the country have been tested so far, about 1% of the U.S. population.  Some governors are not convinced of the current domestic capabilities for testing.  Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan speaks at a news conference in Annapolis, Md., with his wife, Yumi Hogan, April 20, 2020. He announced that Maryland received supplies from a South Korean company to boost the state’s ability to conduct tests for COVID-19.Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, a Republican, said his state has acquired 500,000 testing kits from South Korea.  “He didn’t need to go to South Korea. He needed to get a little knowledge,” said Trump, saying the governor was not adequately informed of what is available in the country.  “I’m not sure what the president is referring to. I have a pretty good understanding of what’s going on,” Hogan, head of the National Governors’ Association, told CNN following the president’s remarks.  Trump is also rebuffing concern that he was not taking the virus as seriously as he should have as late as last month, when he held a political rally.  Trump pointed to restricting travelers in early February from China, where COVID-19 emerged, although since that action tens of thousands of Americans and other authorized travelers entered the United States from Chinese airports.  “We would have lost millions of people” if he had not taken that action, Trump asserted. “It would have been an atrocity. We’ve done the right thing.”  US has highest death tollMore than 41,000 people in the United States have died of the coronavirus, the most reported by any country.  About 170,000 people globally are confirmed to have died of COVID-19.  The head of the World Health Organization, which avoids politics, issued one of his most direct criticisms yet of the lack of global solidarity since the outbreak of the disease.  “The cracks between people and the cracks between parties is fueling it,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “Don’t use this virus as an opportunity to fight against each other or score political points. It’s dangerous. It’s like playing with fire.” The comment came less than a week after Trump, who has called Tedros’ leadership “China-centric,” announced that the United States will suspend funding to WHO while it reviews the agency’s response to the pandemic. 
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Hungary’s ambassador to Washington has stepped down and returned to Budapest on short notice to take charge of a beefed up messaging operation in support of Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s ruling party.The party, Fidesz, announced last week that it was launching an Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban arrives for an EU summit in Brussels, Dec. 12, 2019.The announcement brought an end to several days of speculation in Washington, where friends and acquaintances of Szabo had been puzzling over the Hungarian envoy’s departure from the U.S. capital with less than 48 hours’ public notice. For many in the diplomatic community, the first word of Szabo’s plans came in an April 11 email inviting recipients to listen in on an online virtual concert to mark the occasion. Szabo was in an airplane on his way home less than two days later. “After almost three years as the Ambassador of Hungary to the US, I am leaving office next week to take over an exciting new responsibility in Budapest in the private sector,” wrote Szabo, who holds a degree as a doctor of medicine. Given that Szabo had worked for 20 years in the global pharmaceutical industry, including over a dozen years at U.S.-based Eli Lilly, some had assumed that he was returning to that sector to engage in the global fight against the coronavirus pandemic. “It is always sad to see an esteemed colleague go, but Laszlo had a life ‘outside’ diplomacy … This might just be the right moment for him to return to the private sector – I wish him best of luck for all future endeavors,” said Austria’s ambassador to the United States, Martin Weiss, before learning of the KESMA appointment. He told VOA he had always “enjoyed working with” Szabo. Some members of the D.C. diplomatic community, when told of the departed envoy’s new responsibilities, suggested that KESMA is not quite “the private sector as most of us understand it.” KESMA is described as “a government-funded foundation” by Hungary Today, which says the media holding company known as Mediaworks “consists of almost 500 media outlets” including a leading national daily as well as “almost all the regional daily news sources in the country.”  The same report acknowledges that the KESMA foundation “has drawn much controversy” since its founding in late 2018. At the time of its formation, Prime Minister Orban declared the consolidation of pro-Fidesz media outlets as a matter of “national strategic importance in the public interest.” But critics say Orban has created a virtual media monopoly, reducing the space for media outlets critical of the current government.   More recently, Orban has been criticized for using the coronavirus crisis to push through parliament legislation entitling him to rule by degree for an indefinite period. The legislation, approved late last month, also provides stiff jail terms for spreading what the government deems to be false information.  Budapest has yet to announce who will succeed Szabó to represent Hungary in Washington. For the time being, an embassy spokesperson told VOA that a chargé d’affaires is at the helm, and “all embassy staff is working full-time.” No matter whom Budapest selects, some in the Washington policy community warn that the next ambassador can expect his or her efforts to be greeted with the same skepticism and reluctance to engage that Szabo might have experienced. “It’s not engagement with the embassy or ambassador that’s the issue per se, but rather engaging with the Orban government,” one analyst told VOA. The idea behind limiting contact, the analyst said, “is to not give the Hungarian government a platform for its undemocratic, nationalist positions.”  Szabo and his staff worked diligently during his three-year tenure to combat that image, including with regular emails to the news media. Yet, a similar protocol may exist in some U.S. government agencies. According to a former Pentagon official, “the policy [at Pentagon] was to refrain from engaging above the DASD [Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense] level.”   Nevertheless, the United States and Hungary have increased collaboration on some levels. One year ago, the two countries signed a defense cooperation agreement covering such areas as infrastructure improvements and missile defense cooperation.”  
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A professor at New York University has called on social scientists around the world to participate in an effort that could help medical experts and world leaders to better predict the spread of the coronavirus and also to control the outbreak. Bronwyn Benito has more.
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As many as 26 members of Afghan local forces or pro-government militias were killed over the past two days in northern Afghanistan in fighting with the Taliban, according to the Ministry of Defense and local officials.  On Sunday night, Taliban  fighters attacked local Afghan forces in Khwaja Ghar district in Takhar province. Mohammad Jawad Hijri, a spokesman for Takhar’s governor, told VOA fighting continued for hours and the attack was only repulsed after reinforcements arrived.    A Defense Ministry statement said 17 of those killed belonged to the Afghan local army, which is different from the regular national army in Afghanistan. Officially called the Afghan National Army Territorial Force, the local force under the leadership of the army was created in 2018 to allow locals to guard their own territories.    “[T]hey work extremely well, producing determined fighters with local knowledge who protect the civilians in their areas and often stand their ground more than regular troops because they have nowhere else to retreat to,” wrote Kate Clark, the co-director of Afghanistan Analysts Network in a dispatch about the local force.    Meanwhile, provincial officials in Balkh confirmed a separate Taliban attack Saturday in the Shulgra district that killed nine men and wounded seven others. All of them belonged to local militias known as anti-Taliban uprising forces.    The Taliban have not yet commented on these incidents, but the insurgent group has come under heavy criticism for continuing attacks that often kill innocent civilians.    FILE – Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the leader of the Taliban delegation, and Zalmay Khalilzad, U.S. envoy for peace in Afghanistan, shake hands after signing an agreement at a ceremony in Doha, Qatar, Feb. 29, 2020.For a week in February, leading up to the Taliban’s signing a historic deal with the United States to end the war in Afghanistan, all sides agreed to reduction in violence. Security incidents around the country dropped to a trickle. The Afghan government and its allies were hoping the reduction in violence would continue but the level of Taliban attacks increased soon after the week was over.    Findings by Afghanistan’s local Tolonews channel showed the Taliban have carried out more than 2,000 attacks on Afghan security forces since the signing of the deal on February 29.  A countrywide cease-fire was supposed to be one of the top items on the agenda of talks between the Taliban and other Afghan factions. Those talks have been postponed due to a delay in the release of as many as 5,000 Taliban prisoners by the Afghan government.   FILE – In this handout photo taken and released on April 11, 2020 by Afghanistan’s National Security Council, Taliban prisoners stand before being released from the Bagram prison next to the US military base in Bagram, some 50 km north of Kabul.However, in the past two weeks, the Afghan government has released around 361 prisoners in batches, and the Taliban has released around 60 security forces personnel held by them, raising hopes that the two sides may be inching closer to the start of talks.        
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A flood of new research suggests that far more people have had the coronavirus without any symptoms, fueling hope that it will turn out to be much less lethal than originally feared.
While that’s clearly good news, it also means it’s impossible to know who around you may be contagious. That complicates decisions about returning to work, school and normal life.
In the last week, reports of silent infections have come from a homeless shelter in Boston, a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier, pregnant women at a New York hospital, several European countries and California.  
The head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention  says 25% of infected people might not have symptoms. The vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. John Hyten, thinks it may be as high as 60% to 70% among military personnel.
None of these numbers can be fully trusted because they’re based on flawed and inadequate testing, said Dr. Michael Mina of Harvard’s School of Public Health.  
Collectively, though, they suggest “we have just been off the mark by huge, huge numbers” for estimating total infections, he said.  
Worldwide, more than 2.3 million infections and more than 160,000 deaths have been confirmed. The virus has caused nearly unprecedented economic and social harm since its existence was reported in early January.  Stealth cases
Based on known cases, health officials have said the virus usually causes mild or moderate flu-like illness. Now evidence is growing that a substantial number of people may have no symptoms at all.
Scientists in Iceland screened 6% of its population to see how many had previously undetected infections and found  that about 0.7% tested positive. So did 13% of a group at higher risk because of recent travel or exposure to someone sick.
Aboard the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, where one crew member died from the virus, “the rough numbers are that 40 percent are symptomatic,” said Vice Adm. Phillip Sawyer, deputy commander of naval operations. The ratio may change if more develop symptoms later, he warned.
In New York, a hospital tested all pregnant women coming in to deliver over a two-week period.
Nearly 14% of those who arrived with no symptoms of coronavirus turned out to have it. Of the 33 positive cases, 29 had no symptoms when tested, although some developed them later.  
Previously, tests on passengers and crew from the Diamond Princess cruise ship found  nearly half who tested positive had no symptoms at the time. Researchers estimate  that 18% of infected people never developed any.  STAMFORD, CT – MARCH 20: A sign sits on a barrier at a coronavirus (COVID-19) drive thru testing location operated by Murphy Medical Associates at Cummings Park on March 20, 2020 in Stamford, Connecticut. We are still at the beginning of this public…Flawed testing methods
These studies used tests that look for bits of the virus from throat and nose swabs, which can miss cases. Someone can test negative one day if there’s not much virus to detect and then positive the next.  
Symptoms also may not appear when someone is tested but turn up later. One Japanese study found more than half of those who had no symptoms when they tested positive later felt sick.  
Better answers may come from newer tests that check blood for antibodies, substances the immune system makes to fight the virus. But the accuracy of these, too, is still to be determined.  
On Friday, researchers reported results from antibody tests on 3,300 people in California’s Santa Clara county: Between 1.5% and 2.8% have been infected, they claimed. That would mean 48,000 to 81,000 cases in the county — more than 50 times the number that have been confirmed.
The work has not been formally published or reviewed, but some scientists were quick to question it. Participants were recruited through Facebook ads, which would attract many people likely to be positive who have had symptoms and want to know if the coronavirus was the reason. Some neighborhoods also had way more participants than others, and “hot spots” within the county might have made infections seem more common than they are elsewhere.  
Ships, maternity wards and single counties also don’t provide data that can be used to generalize about what’s happening elsewhere. And many of the figures have come from snapshots, not research on wide populations over time.Next steps
Antibody testing in particular needs to be done “in an unbiased approach” on groups of people that are representative of the geographic, social, racial and other conditions, Mina said.
The CDC and other groups plan such studies, and they could guide public health advice on returning to normal life for people in certain areas.  
If infections are more widespread than previously understood, it’s possible that more people have developed some level of immunity to the virus. That could stifle the spread through what’s called herd immunity, but scientists caution that there is still much to learn about whether mild illnesses confer immunity and how long it might last.  
It will probably be months before enough reliable testing has been done to answer those questions and others, including how widespread infections have been and the virus’s true mortality rate, which has only been estimated so far.
“If they’ve all seen the virus before, then maybe you can relax in that neighborhood” and ease social distancing, Mina said. “We’re not anywhere close where we need to be” on antibody testing to do that yet, he said.
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Days before the holy fasting month of Ramadan begins, the Islamic world is grappling with an untimely paradox of the new coronavirus pandemic: enforced separation at a time when socializing is almost sacred. The holiest month in the Islamic calendar is one of family and togetherness – community, reflection, charity and prayer. But with shuttered mosques, coronavirus curfews and bans on mass prayers from Senegal to Southeast Asia, some 1.8 billion Muslims are facing a Ramadan like never before. Across the Muslim world the pandemic has generated new levels of anxiety ahead of the holy fasting month, which begins on around Thursday. In Algiers, Yamine Hermache, 67, usually receives relatives and neighbors at her home for tea and cold drinks during the month that Muslims fast from dusk till dawn. But this year she fears it will be different. “We may not visit them, and they will not come,” she said, weeping. “The coronavirus has made everyone afraid, even of distinguished guests.” In a country where mosques have been closed, her husband Mohamed Djemoudi, 73, worries about something else. “I cannot imagine Ramadan without Tarawih,” he said, referring to additional prayers performed at mosques after iftar, the evening meal in which Muslims break their fast. In Jordan the government, in coordination with neighboring Arab countries, is expected to announce a fatwa outlining what Ramadan rituals will be permitted, but for millions of Muslims, it already feels so different. From Africa to Asia, the coronavirus has cast a shadow of gloom and uncertainty. ‘Worst Year Ever’ Around the souks and streets of Cairo, a sprawling city of 23 million people that normally never sleeps, the coronavirus has been disastrous. “People don’t want to visit shops, they are scared of the disease. It’s the worst year ever,” said Samir El-Khatib, who runs a stall by the historic al-Sayeda Zainab mosque, “Compared with last year, we haven’t even sold a quarter.” During Ramadan, street traders in the Egyptian capital stack their tables with dates and apricots, sweet fruits to break the fast, and the city’s walls with towers of traditional lanterns known as “fawanees.” But this year, authorities have imposed a night curfew and banned communal prayers and other activities, so not many people see much point in buying the lanterns. Among the few who ventured out was Nasser Salah Abdelkader, 59, a manager in the Egyptian stock market. “This year there’s no Ramadan mood at all,” he said. “I’d usually come to the market, and right from the start people were usually playing music, sitting around, almost living in the streets.” Dampening the festivities before they begin, the coronavirus is also complicating another part of Ramadan, a time when both fasting and charity are seen as obligatory. ‘All Kinds of Togetherness Missed’ In Algeria, restaurant owners are wondering how to offer iftar to the needy when their premises are closed, while charities in Abu Dhabi that hold iftar for low-paid South Asian workers are unsure what to do with mosques now closed. Mohamed Aslam, an engineer from India who lives in a three-bedroom apartment in downtown Abu Dhabi with 14 others is unemployed because of the coronavirus. With his apartment building under quarantine after a resident tested positive, he has been relying on charity for food. In Senegal, the plan is to continue charity albeit in a limited way. In the beachside capital of Dakar, charities that characteristically hand out “Ndogou,” baguettes slathered with chocolate spread, cakes, dates, sugar and milk to those in need, will distribute them to Koranic schools rather than on the street. Meanwhile in Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority country, some people will be meeting loved ones remotely this year. Prabowo, who goes by one name, said he will host Eid al-Fitr, the celebration at the end of the fasting month, via the online meeting site Zoom instead of flying home. “I worry about the coronavirus,” he said. “But all kinds of togetherness will be missed. No iftar together, no praying together at the mosque, and not even gossiping with friends.” 
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Australia says Facebook and Google will soon have to pay news outlets for their content.  Treasurer Josh Frydenberg announced Monday that the government’s watchdog group, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, will unveil a mandatory code of conduct by July that will address the disparity between news outlets and internet giants when it comes to online advertising revenue. Facebook and Google receive nearly all online advertising spent in Australia.   The new rules are being undertaken after 18 months of talks with the U.S. tech companies over a voluntary code of conduct failed to yield an agreement. Australia would be the third western country in the world to impose such a plan, following similar moves by Spain and France.   Australian media companies have lost millions of dollars in advertising revenue in just the last month alone thanks to the coronavirus pandemic.   Facebook issued a statement that it was “disappointed” by the government’s decision, noting that it had begun a multi-million dollar investment in Australia’s news industry, while Google said it will continue to work with Australian news outlets, the ACCC and government to develop a code of conduct.  
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More than 2,000 Israelis took to the streets of Tel Aviv on Sunday, demonstrating against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s attempts to form an “emergency” government with his chief rival and accusing him of using the coronavirus crisis to escape prosecution on corruption charges.Demonstrators wore face masks and largely kept their distance from one another, in line with social-distancing rules, as speakers criticized Netanyahu’s possible partnership with rival Benny Gantz. Some held black flags, which have become the symbol of their campaign in recent weeks.Gantz, who during three bitter election campaigns over the past year vowed never to sit in a government with Netanyahu due to his legal problems, announced last month that he had accepted the prime minister’s suggestion to form an “emergency” government to deal with the coronavirus crisis. The announcement infuriated many of Gantz’s supporters and caused his Blue and White party to fracture.”You don’t fight corruption from within. If you’re inside, you’re part of it,” said Yair Lapid, Gantz’s former political partner, who withdrew from the Blue and White alliance last month.Netanyahu has been charged with fraud, breach of justice and accepting bribes. He denies the charges and says he is the victim of a hostile media and aggressive police and prosecutors.  Protesters on Sunday accused Netanyahu of exploiting the crisis to evade his looming trial and cement his lengthy rule.Citing the pandemic, Netanyahu’s hand-picked justice minister delayed the prime minister’s trial just two days before it was to begin until late May.  Since then, Netanyahu’s coalition talks with Gantz have reportedly stalled due to demands by the prime minister to gain more control over judicial appointments and assurances that he can remain in office even if he gives up the prime minister’s job in a proposed power-sharing arrangement with Gantz. Under Israeli law, public officials, with the exception of the prime minister, must resign if charged with a crime.Demonstrators repeatedly chanted “democracy” and accused the prime minister of endangering the country’s democratic institutions. “Corona equals virus in the service of a dictator,” said one sign. 
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On most mornings, Somaya Farooqi and four other teen-age girls pile into her dad’s car and head to a mechanic’s workshop. They use back roads to skirt police checkpoints set up to enforce a lockdown in their city of Herat, one of Afghanistan’s hot spots of the coronavirus pandemic.The members of Afghanistan’s prize-winning girls’ robotics team say they’re on a life-saving mission — to build a ventilator from used car parts and help their war-stricken country battle the virus.”If we even save one life with our device, we will be proud,” said Farooqi, 17.Their pursuit of a low-cost breathing machine is particularly remarkable in conservative Afghanistan. Only a generation ago, during the rule of the Islamic fundamentalist Taliban in the late 1990s, girls weren’t allowed to go to school. Farooqi’s mother was pulled from school in third grade.After the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, girls returned to schools, but gaining equal rights remains a struggle. Farooqi is undaunted. “We are the new generation,” she said in a phone interview. “We fight and work for people. Girl and boy, it does not matter anymore.”Afghanistan faces the pandemic nearly empty-handed. It has only 400 ventilators for a population of more than 36.6 million. So far, it has reported just over 900 coronavirus cases, including 30 deaths, but the actual number is suspected to be much higher since test kits are in short supply.Herat province in western Afghanistan is one of the nation’s hot spots because of its proximity to Iran, the region’s epicenter of the outbreak.This has spurred Farooqi and her team members, ages 14 to 17, to help come up with a solution.On a typical morning, Farooqi’s father collects the girls from their homes and drives them to the team’s office in Herat, zigzagging through side streets to skirt checkpoints. From there, another car takes them to a mechanic’s workshop on the outskirts of the city.In Herat, residents are only permitted to leave their homes for urgent needs. The robotics team has a limited number of special permits for cars.  So far, Farooqi’s father hasn’t been able to get one, but the girls are in a hurry. “We are concerned about security driving out of the city but there is no other option, we have to try to save people’s lives,” Farooqi said.At the workshop, the team is experimenting with two different designs, including an open-source blueprint from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The parts being used include the motor of a Toyota windshield wiper, batteries and sets of bag valve masks, or manual oxygen pumps. A group of mechanics helps them build the frame of a ventilator.Daniela Rus, a professor at MIT, welcomed the team’s initiative to develop the prototype. “It will be excellent to see it tested and locally produced,” she said.Tech entrepreneur Roya Mahboob, who founded the team and raises funds to empower girls, said she hopes Farooqi’s group will finish building a prototype by May or June. In all, the team has 15 members who work on various projects.The ventilator model, once completed, would then be sent to the Health Ministry for testing, initially on animals, said spokesman Wahid Mayar.Farooqi, who was just 14 years old when she participated in the first World Robot Olympiad in the U.S., in 2017, said she and her team members hope to make a contribution.”Afghans should be helping Afghanistan in this pandemic,” she said. “We should not wait for others.”
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An Ebola flare-up in eastern Congo may spread again after a patient escaped from a clinic, complicating efforts to contain the disease that has infected six people since last week, the World Health Organization said on Sunday.The Democratic Republic of Congo was two days away from declaring the end of the world’s second-largest Ebola epidemic when a new chain of infection was discovered on April 10, following more than seven weeks without a new case.Since then, health authorities have sought to contain any renewed spread of infections.But on Friday a 28-year-old motorbike taxi-driver who had tested positive for Ebola ran away from the center where he was being treated in the town of Beni.”We are using all the options to get him out of the community,” said Boubacar Diallo, deputy incident manager for the WHO’s Ebola response operation. “We are expecting secondary cases from him.”Decades of conflict and poor governance have eroded public trust in authorities in Congo. Despite Ebola having killed more than 2,200 people since August 2018, research shows that many communities believe the disease is not real.Small outbreaks are common towards the end of an epidemic, but health workers need to ensure the virus is contained by tracking, quarantining and vaccinating the contacts of new cases.”We do not have any details yet. All have been working with the authorities, youths and civil society to find him. Search is ongoing,” Diallo said by WhatsApp message.A 15-year-old girl also tested positive for the virus on Friday, Diallo said, taking the total number of confirmed new cases since the flare-up to six.Beni’s deputy mayor Muhindo Bakwanamaha said the local authorities have not so far been able to track down the escaped patient. “Since he is out of treatment he will die, and create a lot of contacts around him,” he said.Two new vaccines have had a major impact in containing Ebola, but militia attacks have prevented health workers from reaching some areas hit by the virus.Congo’s battered health system is simultaneously fighting measles and cholera epidemics, as well as the global coronavirus pandemic. The country has recorded 327 cases of COVID-19 and 25 deaths. 
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