Author: CensorBiz

The death toll from the coronavirus in the U.S. climbed to six Monday and the disease spread to ever more countries and world capitals, even as new cases in China dropped to their lowest level in six weeks.A shift in the crisis appeared to be taking shape, as hundreds of patients were released from hospitals at the epicenter of the outbreak in China and the World Health Organization reported that nine times more cases were reported outside the country than inside it over the past 24 hours.At the same time, the virus popped up for the first time in New York, Moscow and Berlin, and clusters of the disease surged around the world. In the U.S., health officials announced four more people died, bringing the total to six, all in Washington state, where researchers said the virus may have been circulating undetected for weeks.The global death toll pushed past 3,000, and the number of people infected topped 89,000, with fast-expanding outbreaks in South Korea, Italy and Iran.Dr. Mike Ryan, the WHO’s chief of emergencies, pointed out that even regions that have taken less aggressive measures than the extraordinary lockdowns implemented by China have managed to keep the virus in check. Ryan said that because COVID-19 is not as easily transmitted as the flu, “it offers us a glimmer … that this virus can be suppressed and contained.”Around the world, the virus reshaped people’s routines, both at home and at work, from the millions of Japanese schoolchildren facing four weeks without class to special voting booths for Israelis under quarantine. Mobile hospitals were planned in Iran, and the “Mona Lisa” hung in a vacant room of the shuttered Louvre in Paris.The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development warned that the world economy could contract this quarter for the first time since the international financial crisis more than a decade ago.“Global economic prospects remain subdued and very uncertain,” the agency said.Wall Street nonetheless opened higher after the worst week for stocks since the 2008 crisis.In New York City, a health care worker who had returned from Iran was in quarantine at home, according to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. He said the city is ramping up preparations and cautioned against panic. The virus has reached at least 10 states, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.“The fear, in my opinion, is outpacing reason at this point,” Cuomo told “CBS This Morning.”Four Americans who were quarantined in Nebraska after being exposed on the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan were released. “My only question is, will my friends shun me after this?” said one of the, Joanne Kirkland.Malaysia, Tunisia, Senegal, Jordan and Portugal were among the newest places to detect the virus. More than 60 countries, including nine of the 10 most populous, have reported infections.Even as alarms grew louder in much of the world, positive signs emerged from China, where the outbreak started two months ago. China reported 202 new cases, its lowest daily count since Jan. 21, and the city at the heart of the crisis, Wuhan, said 2,570 patients were released.At the largest of 16 temporary hospitals that were rapidly built in Wuhan in response to the outbreak, worries over the availability of supplies and protective gear eased, along with the pressure on the medical staff.Dr. Zhang Junjian, who leads a temporary hospital in Wuhan with a staff of 1,260, said optimism is high that the facility will no longer be needed in the coming weeks.“If nothing special happens, I expect the operation of our makeshift hospital … could complete its historical mission by the end of March,” Zhang said.But in other places, problems continued to multiply.“Just about everywhere, the cases are rising quite quickly in a number of countries,” said Ian Mackey, who studies viruses at the University of Queensland in Australia.South Korea, with the worst outbreak outside of China, said it recorded 599 new cases Monday, bringing the total to 4,335. The death toll rose to 26. To cope, the country said hospitals will be reserved for patients with serious symptoms or preexisting conditions, with mild cases now routed to other designated facilities.“If we continue to hospitalize mild patients amid the continued surge in infections, we would be risking overworking medical professionals and putting them at greater risk of infections,” said the country’s vice health minister, Kim Gang-lip.South Korea extended the shutdown of its schools two more weeks to March 23. And the leader of a church that has blamed for being the source of the country’s largest cluster of infections bowed in apology.“We also did our best but weren’t able to contain it fully,” said Lee Man-hee, the 88-year-old leader of the Shincheonji church, which some mainstream Christian groups reject as a cult.In the Middle East, a worsening situation in Iran was accompanied by concern for its top leaders after a member of the council that advises the Islamic Republic’s supreme leader died of COVID-19. Iran has confirmed 1,501 cases and 66 deaths, but many believe the true number is larger. Its caseload surged more than 250% in just 24 hours.Major Shiite shrines in Iran remain open despite civilian authorities’ calls to close them. The holy cities of Mashad and Qom, where Shiites often touch and kiss shrines in a show of faith, have had high numbers of infections. The Revolutionary Guard said it will install some mobile hospitals in response, and authorities have been cleaning the shrines and spraying down streets with disinfectant.“We will have two difficult weeks ahead,” said Ali Raibiei, a spokesman for the Iranian government.In Europe, leaders braced for worsening caseloads after the count surged in France, Italy and to a lesser degree Spain over the weekend. Italy’s infections ballooned 50% in 24 hours to 1,694. Health officials in northern Italy sought to bring doctors out of retirement and accelerate nursing students’ graduations to help an overwhelmed public health system.The Louvre, the world’s most popular museum, remained closed as its 2,300 workers expressed fears of contracting the virus from visitors arriving from all over the world. At Fashion Week in Paris, attendees greeted each other with elbow touches instead of kisses. In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s outstretched hand was rebuffed by her interior minister at a meeting.Japan closed schools for most of the country’s 12.7 million children until the end of the month, creating difficulties for some families.Mika Nakajima, a museum employee and single mother with a 15-year-old autistic son, said she has already used up her paid vacation days to take care of her aging parents and her son and fears losing her job.“It’s a difficult time for families with ordinary children, but it’s much harder for those who have children with disabilities or who need attention and care,” Nakajima said. “Some other forms of support are needed.”
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Jordan said on Monday a man who had flown in from Italy had tested positive for the new coronavirus, the first case confirmed in the country, state news agency Petra reported.The Jordanian citizen had flown back nearly two weeks ago on a plane with around 100 passengers, Health Minister Saad Jaber told a news conference.
The man was quarantined at his home with strict controls on his movement and was in “stable” condition, Jaber said.
Another Jordanian was under close observation, the minister added.
Italy, the European country worst affected by the outbreak so far, has recorded 34 deaths and 1,694 cases.
Last week, Jordan’s state carrier Royal Jordanian suspended flights between Amman and Rome until further notice and reduced flights to major Asian destinations.
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In the near future, farmers in Africa could boldly go where no farmers have gone before. Major manufacturers look to launch the industry into the 21st Century by tying tractors to cell phones. With a high-tech device, can follow a tractor’s movement and productivity. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi ploughs through this story.
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In Fredericksburg, Virginia, they put a unique spin on an annual charity event. It’s called the Canstruction Festival and it consists of several teams and lots and lots of cans of food. VOA’s Maxim Moskalkov has the story.
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North Korea has launched two unknown projectiles, South Korea’s military reported Monday — apparently the North’s first rocket launches of the year.The projectiles were fired from the Wonsan area toward the sea off North Korea’s east coast, said South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff. It did not say what type of weapons were launched or how far they traveled.The launch suggests North Korea will continue provocations, even as it implements emergency measures to prevent or contain a coronavirus outbreak. North Korean authorities have warned those virus containment measures are a matter of “national survival.”North Korea last conducted a projectile launch in late November. That test came as North Korea was warning of its end-of-year deadline for the United States to offer more concessions in nuclear talks.
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Voters in Israel are casting ballots Monday in the country’s third election in the past 12 months.They are deciding whether to give Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a new term, or to go in a new direction with former military chief Benny Gantz.Polls ahead of election day suggested neither candidate’s party would have enough support to form a ruling coalition.That was the case in the last two elections, and after weeks of negotiations there was no resolution.Ultra-orthodox man votes during elections in Bnei Brak, Israel, Monday, March 2, 2020.Netanyahu has remained the caretaker prime minister through the repeat elections.  The latest comes two weeks before he is set to go on trial on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust.Gantz in his campaign said Netanyahu is plagued by scandal, while Netanyahu said he is best qualified to lead the country at this time.Once the election results are in, President Reuben Rivlin will select the candidate he thinks has the best chance to form a coalition and give them up to six weeks to do so.  If that candidate fails, another would then have 28 days to form their own coalition.
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A right-of-center president took office in Uruguay on Sunday, promising to crack down on crime and tighten government finances after a 15-year string of left-leaning governments.Luis Lacalle Pou, a 46-year-old surfing enthusiast and son of a former president, narrowly won the election in November in his second try for the top office.Lacalle Pou thanked outgoing President Tabaré Vázquez who gave him the presidential sash.“The country has built a democracy with this ceremony,” he said, celebrating the seventh presidential change since the restoration of democracy in 1985.Lacalle Pou inherits a country of nearly 3.4 million people that had grown steadily under the outgoing Broad Front government, but rising crime in recent years dented its popularity and economists have grown concerned about a rising fiscal deficit that reached 4.9% of gross domestic product last year.In his inaugural address, the new leader promised “to promote what was done well (and) correct what was done badly.”Lacalle Pou, who has promised to cap government spending, said he wanted reduce the costs of production and services “to recover national competitiveness.”He said the country faces “an emergency” of insecurity, adding that “the enormous majority of Uruguayans feel unprotected.” He campaigned on calls to bolster the country’s security forces and toughening sentences.“In the interior of the country we used to sleep with the door open…. Even vehicles were left with doors and windows open and the key in the ignition. But lately the houses are all fenced…. We hope that this government takes some measures and can change that,” said Natalia Cardozo, a 37-year-old teacher who was participating on horseback in the inaugural; day parade.Lacalle Pou, who spent many years in Uruguay’s congress, grew up in an intensely political family. He father Luis Lacalle Herrera was president from 1990 to 1995 and his mother, Julia Pou, was a senator. His great-grandfather Luis Alberto de Herrera was a major figure in the National Party.He will have to depend on an ideologically diverse four-party coalition to get his programs through Congress.
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Democratic presidential candidates were in Selma, Alabama, Sunday — a place where African Americans once risked their lives simply by  demanding the right to vote.The Democrats were among those marking the 55th anniversary of what’s known as Bloody Sunday, where police beat and tear-gassed civil rights marchers as they tried to cross a bridge to walk from Selma to the state capitol in Montgomery.Fresh off his big win in Saturday’s South Carolina primary, which he won with the support of African American voters, former Vice President Joe Biden spoke to worshippers at Selma’s Brown Chapel AME Church.Biden quoted civil right leader Martin Luther King Jr. and former President Barack Obama to talk about what he sees as the country’s lack of progress under President Donald Trump.”We’ve been dragged backwards and we’ve lost ground. We’ve seen all too clearly that if you give hate any breathing room, it comes back,” Biden told the congregation.Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg got a much chillier reception from the churchgoers.Bloomberg is struggling to find solid support among black voters, many of whom are still angry over New York’s “stop and frisk” policy, a police practice that targeted young black men when Bloomberg was mayor.He has apologized for the crime prevention tactic that called for police to stop and search people they suspected of criminal activity, most of whom were black and Latino. A handful of people turned their backs on Bloomberg when he addressed the Selma church.Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg speaks at the North Carolina Democratic Party’s Blue NC Celebration, Saturday, Feb. 29, 2020, in Charlotte, N.C.”Dr. King understood that the right to vote was only the first step in the march to true equality, because true equality means that wealth in this country should have no relation to race or ethnicity,” the ex-mayor said.Other Democrats, including Elizabeth Warren, Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar, joined the thousands who marched across the Edmund Pettis Bridge Sunday, where they would have been beaten and tear gassed if they had tried to do it March 7, 1965.The candidates were overshadowed by congressman and civil rights icon John Lewis, who was among those whose attempt to cross the bridge 55 years ago ended with a policeman’s club to his skull.There was doubt whether Lewis would attend. He is battling stage 4 pancreatic cancer. But he said he wanted to be part of the anniversary despite his serious illness and reflect.”I thought I was going to die on this bridge. But somehow and some way, God almighty helped me here. … I’m not going to give up, I’m not going to give in. We’re going to continue to fight,” Lewis said, calling the vote “a nonviolent instrument to redeem the soul of America.”We must go out and vote like we never ever voted before,” he said.Millions of Americans were sickened and horrified watching television pictures of police beating peaceful marchers in 1965.King led a second march two days later that ended peacefully. But more than 20,000 civil rights supporters, including hundreds of clergymen and women from around the country, came to Selma for a third march that made it all the way to Montgomery.The Selma marches was one of the events that led to congressional passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
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 A U.S. federal judge on Sunday ruled that Ken Cuccinelli, acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) was unlawfully selected as acting director. U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss said Cuccinelli was not legally the first assistant to the director of USCIS under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act (FVRA) and could not be named acting director.“…The ‘first assistant’ to the vacant office automatically serves as the acting official when a vacancy arises.”BREAKING: Federal judge declares that @HomelandKen was unlawfully installed as Acting Director of @USCIS. Policies he authorized are void. pic.twitter.com/Nb2Q7gBLlD— Bradley Jenkins (@bradkjenkins) March 1, 2020According to court documents, on June 1, 2019, Lee Francis Cissna, the then Senate-confirmed director of USCIS, resigned and according to FVRA his “first assistant,” then Deputy Director Mark Koumans, was expected to automatically assume the post of acting director.Nine days after Cissna’s resignation, the then acting Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Kevin McAleenan, appointed Cuccinelli “to serve as the principal deputy director of USCIS” — a position that court documents say did not exist before Cuccinelli’s appointment.McAleenan revised USCIS’s order of succession, designating the newly created position of principal deputy director as “the first assistant and most senior successor to the director of USCIS.”These two changes, documents show, took place after Cissna’s resignation, and allowed Cuccinelli to jump over Koumans to become USCIS acting director.Acting Secretary McAleenan specified that Cuccinelli’s appointment as principal deputy director was to remain in effect until the appointment of a director of USCIS by the president of the United States, or “the express revocation of this appointment.”McAleenan then said the revised order of succession would “terminate automatically” upon the appointment of a new director of USCIS by President Donald Trump.”In other words, as soon as the vacant office is filled, “the status quo will be restored,” court documents show.VOA sent USCIS a request for comment but has not received a response.
Cuccinelli, a conservative lawmaker known for his hard-line immigration views, is a former Virginia attorney general. Trump asked him to lead the agency that is tasked with administering the nation’s legal immigration system.USCIS is an agency of 19,000 employees and contractors.Cuccinelli also serves as U.S. Homeland Security Department deputy secretary.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin has called current oil price levels “acceptable” in a possible sign that Moscow is willing to bend when the world’s biggest oil exporters gather this week in Vienna to discuss supply curbs as coronavirus effects pummel oil demand and prices.Putin also said Moscow was approaching a so-called OPEC+ meeting this week in Vienna as an “instrument for long-term stability,” according to Interfax.Reports last week quoted sources saying some influential OPEC members, including Saudi Arabia, were likely to call for a larger-than-expected reduction in oil output by the group as the global spread of coronavirus and related effects slow economies and depress international demand for oil.But Russia was said to be resisting further curbs too far beyond an existing deal that has kept a lid on demand through the end of March.”I want to stress that for the Russian budget, for our economy, the current oil price level is acceptable,” Putin told Russian energy officials and producers gathered in Moscow to discuss the coronavirus and its implications on March 1.He said Russia’s budget assumes an average Brent crude price of $42.40 a barrel for supplies from the estimated $560 billion in oil reserves under Russian territory.Russia’s economy has recovered significantly from a downturn that followed its 2014 invasion and annexation of Crimea from Ukraine and a falling-off of oil prices around the same time, prompting painful measures that dented Putin’s popularity well into his fourth overall term as president.”Our accumulated reserves, including the National Wealth Fund, are enough for ensuring a stable situation, the fulfillment of all budget and social liabilities, even under a possible deterioration of the global economic situation,” Putin said on March 1.OPEC+, a group of OPEC’s 14 members and 10 other major oil producers, has “proved to be an effective instrument to ensure long-term stability on global energy markets,” Putin said, saying the cooperation had resulted in “extra revenues.”Last week, the ruble slumped to more than 67 to the U.S. dollar, its weakest level since early 2019, and its stock market slid amid a global sell-off and fears of tensions between Russia and Turkey amid competing military interests in Syria.
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Former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, the easy winner of the South Carolina Democratic presidential primary, faces an immediate new challenge from Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders when 14 states vote Tuesday in party contests across the country.Biden, in three runs for the presidency, had never won a state primary nominating election until Saturday. But pre-election surveys show that Sanders, a self-declared democratic socialist, is handily leading in California, where the most delegates to the party’s mid-summer national presidential nominating convention are at stake in the next round of voting. The polling shows Biden ahead in seven of the states with Tuesday contests, Sanders in six and Sen. Amy Klobuchar in the lead in her home state of Minnesota.”It’s going to be very hard to make up ground in California,” Biden acknowledged Sunday on ABC News’s “This Week.” But he said, “I feel very good where it’s going” in other states, adding that he’s “not even certain” that he will be trailing Sanders in the overall convention delegate count after the Tuesday voting.Biden declared that he can beat Republican President Donald Trump in November’s national election and “bring along [Democratic] candidates and win the Senate” that is now controlled by Republicans.A third of the pledged delegates to the July convention in the Midwestern city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, are at stake in the Tuesday voting, when former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s name will appear on the ballots for the first time.Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaks during a campaign event, Feb. 28, 2020, in Columbia, S.C.Sanders said on ABC that Biden “did well” in South Carolina. “We’ll see what happens Tuesday, but we have an excellent chance to win some of the largest states,” he said.Some national Democratic figures have voiced concern that Sanders, who has called for a government-run national health care system and an end to the private insurance plans now used by most Americans to help pay their medical bills, would turn off voters with his left-wing political views and lead to Trump’s re-election to a second White House term.Sanders called Biden “a decent guy” and said that both of them of would support the eventual Democratic nominee against Trump. But Sanders said that he, and not Biden, would bring new voters to the Democratic party to defeat Trump, whom he called “a fraud, a liar who has undermined the democratic process” in Washington.The mounting count of delegates to the national party convention is all important. The state-by-state Democratic primary contests award national convention representation based on the vote counts in the primary elections and caucuses, but candidates only win any delegates if they reach a 15% threshold in a given state.Current projections show Sanders possibly reaching the national convention with a plurality of the delegate votes, but not a majority on the first ballot.FILE – Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., meets with attendees campaign event, Thursday, Feb. 27, 2020, in Spartanburg, S.C.Sanders has argued that if he is close to a majority, the other Democratic  candidates should unite behind his candidacy, while Biden and other presidential aspirants have contended that the convention should then move to a second ballot where superdelegates (mostly party officials and elected Democratic officials) would be allowed to vote, allowing them to possibly deny Sanders the nomination.Bloomberg, whose business information company has made him the 12th richest person in the world, has spent upwards of $400 million of his own money on his campaign. But by choice he skipped the voting in the first four primary contests.Polling shows Bloomberg has some support for the Democratic presidential nomination race heading into the Tuesday voting, but often trailing both Sanders and Biden.Other contenders are also looking for a breakthrough in the new contests, including Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Klobuchar, all of whom have had key moments in the spotlight during a lengthy run of debates among the Democratic challengers. But current polling shows none of the three would reach the Milwaukee convention among the leaders in the count of pledged delegates.In the South Carolina vote, Biden won nearly 50% of the vote. Sanders was in a distant second place, with 19%. Tom Steyer, a billionaire and philanthropist who has invested substantial time and money campaigning in South Carolina, was in third place, with 11% of the vote, but after the result became known, ended his campaign.Trump congratulated Biden after the South Carolina vote, but disparaged Steyer and Bloomberg’s candidacies.”Tom Steyer who, other than Mini Mike Bloomberg, spent more dollars for NOTHING than any candidate in history, quit the race today proclaiming how thrilled he was to be a part of the the Democrat Clown Show. Go away Tom and save whatever little money you have left,” Trump said on Twitter.Tom Steyer who, other than Mini Mike Bloomberg, spent more dollars for NOTHING than any candidate in history, quit the race today proclaiming how thrilled he was to be a part of the the Democrat Clown Show. Go away Tom and save whatever little money you have left!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 1, 2020Trump added, “I would find it hard to believe that failed presidential candidates Tom Steyer, or Mini Mike Bloombeg, would contribute to the Democrat Party, even against me, after the way they have been treated – laughed at & mocked. The real politicians ate them up and spit them out!”I would find it hard to believe that failed presidential candidates Tom Steyer, or Mini Mike Bloombeg, would contribute to the Democrat Party, even against me, after the way they have been treated – laughed at & mocked. The real politicians ate them up and spit them out!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 1, 2020
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Syrian state media (SANA) said on Sunday that Turkish forces targeted two Syrian planes over the Idlib region.  SANA reported pilots landed safely and got out of the unmanned warplanes in parachutes.The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, said the two jets went down over regime-held territory, likely after being targeted by Turkish F-16 planes.Turkey’s Defense Ministry said the planes were targeted after one if its aerial drones was downed.  The Syrian government announced it was closing its airspace for any flights or drones across the country’s northwest.Syria’s military said aircraft that try to enter Syrian airspace are expected to be treated with hostility and “shot down.”“Any jet that violates our airspace will be treated as a hostile target that must be shot down and prevented from achieving its goals,” the Syrian military statement saidSyria’s Idlib province is part of the last remaining Syrian territory held by Turkey-backed rebels. In February, 55 Turkish soldiers died in the area.The latest confrontations in Syria come amid increased tensions between Turkey and Russia– the countries that support opposite sides of the Syrian civil war.On Sunday, Turkey’s defense ministry said though the country is “successfully” continuing its military operation in northwestern Syria against the Russian-backed regime in Damascus, the Turkish government  does not “desire or intention to clash with Russia.”Via Operation Spring Shield  Turkish military forces disclosed an intensification of their Operation Spring Shield military operation after 34 Turkish soldiers were killed in a Syrian air strike in the Idlib region.”Following the heinous attack on February 27 in Idlib, Operation Spring Shield successfully continues. … We don’t have the desire or intention to clash with Russia,” Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said, according to state news agency Anadolu.  Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on February 29 that he spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin in a phone conversation saying that Moscow should let Turkey deal with the Syrian government forces.The continuous fighting in northwest Syria triggered a humanitarian debacle and reports say the single largest wave of displacement in the nine-year Syrian civil war.The United Nations said Sunday about 13,000 people traveled to Turkey’s border with Greece, after Turkey officially announced its borders were open to migrants and refugees hoping to make their way into the European Union. 
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For the third time in under a year, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seeks reelection, and once again the Israeli leader is on the ropes.After two inconclusive elections last year, opinion polls forecast another stalemate, a troubling scenario for Netanyahu who will go on trial on corruption charges two weeks after Monday’s vote.This election campaign has been especially tumultuous. President Donald Trump launched his long-awaited Mideast plan, a proposal that heavily favored Israel and was seen as an election gift to Netanyahu. The Israeli leader, meanwhile, was forced to drop his bid for immunity from prosecution, and just this week, Israel battled Gaza militants in a two-day round of fighting.Monday’s election is seen as another referendum on Netanyahu, the country’s longest serving prime minister. And once again, the country seems hopelessly divided.FILE – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, walk with Naama Issachar and her mother, Yaffa, after Russian President Vladimir Putin granted Naama a pardon, at Vnukovo International Airport in Moscow, Jan. 30, 2020.Campaign trailWith seeming boundless energy, the 70-year-old Netanyahu has taken to the airwaves and hit the campaign trail, presenting himself to adoring audiences as a global statesman uniquely qualified to lead the country through its many complicated challenges. In recent weeks, he jetted from the White House to Moscow to bring home a young Israeli woman jailed there on drug charges, and flew to Uganda for a meeting with a leader of Sudan, a longtime enemy country.“We have turned Israel into a world power, a leader in cyber technology, natural gas, water, agriculture, technology, intelligence,” Netanyahu boasted at a recent campaign stop.He claims credit for a strong economy and boasts of his close relationships with world leaders, first and foremost Trump, while deriding opponent Benny Gantz as a lightweight. In a message that has drawn accusations of racism, he also accuses Gantz of plotting with Arab lawmakers to oust him. In recent days, Netanyahu and his Likud surrogates spread unfounded allegations claiming his opponent is corrupt, unstable and susceptible to blackmail by Iran.“Being prime minister of Israel is a complicated thing, full of pressures 24 hours a day,” Netanyahu added. “I don’t think Benny Gantz can handle it.”Blue and White party leader Benny Gantz addresses his supporters during election campaign rally in Tel Aviv, Feb. 29, 2020.Matter of characterGantz, a former military chief of staff, has focused his campaign on Netanyahu’s character, saying a man accused of serious crimes is unfit to lead. He has painted Netanyahu as an out-of-touch egomaniac obsessed with remaining in power and escaping justice, while portraying himself as a moderate alternative to the polarizing prime minister.“Netanyahu, look me in the eye. Because of your obsession with evading trial, you’re lying, attacking, dividing, mudslinging, spreading malicious rumors and inciting. Netanyahu, you’re poisoning Israel,” Gantz said last week. “Netanyahu, you’ve lost it, and you’re unworthy of being prime minister for even a single day longer.”Weekend polls, the last to be published before the vote, showed Gantz’s Blue and White and Netanyahu’s Likud party in a tight race, though Gantz’s party has shown some small signs of slippage over the past week. Even so, the polls forecast both parties and their smaller partners will again fall short of securing the 61-seat majority in parliament required to form a government.The easiest way out of the deadlock would be a unity government between the two parties, which together are expected to control a solid majority in the 120-seat parliament.But Gantz says he will only form a partnership with Likud if Netanyahu steps down. Netanyahu says he must remain prime minister in any unity deal.The deadlock raised the possibility of a fourth election in quick succession.Blue and White party supporters hold banners and flags during an election campaign rally in Tel Aviv, Feb. 29, 2020. The Hebrew writing say ” Must to advance.”Voters are wearyTurnout of key voting groups could end up deciding the race. Weather may play a role, along with fears of the new coronavirus, which so far has been kept largely in check. Israel set up some 15 stations to allow voting by the hundreds of Israelis who are in home-quarantine after possible exposure to the virus.The biggest obstacle may be voter fatigue.“People are fed up. They think ‘we’re doomed to another gridlock, so what’s the point of voting?’” said Guy Ben-Porat, chairman of the department of politics and government at Israel’s Ben-Gurion University. “I think this is the decisive factor in turnout, but I can’t tell on which side it will work more.”Netanyahu has been charged with fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in a series of scandals in which he is accused of accepting lavish gifts from wealthy friends or exchanging favors with powerful media moguls.With his trial set to start March 17, he is desperate to remain in office. As prime minister, Netanyahu can use his position to rally public support and lash out at what he claims is a vast conspiracy by police, overzealous prosecutors and a hostile media to oust him.Israeli law allows a prime minister to remain in office even if charged with a crime, while requiring other public officials to resign once indicted.While another stalemate seems to be likely, the election could still deliver surprises.Late last week, the Justice Ministry said it would open an investigation into possible financial wrongdoing by a start-up security firm that Gantz chaired after leaving the military. The late-hour announcement was blasted by Gantz’s supporters as politically motivated, but it’s not clear if it’s had an impact on voters.The firm, which later went out of business, is believed to have won a lucrative police contract without going through a bidding process. Gantz was not named as a suspect.
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Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said Sunday his government has made no commitment to release 5,000 Taliban prisoners as part of a landmark peace deal the United States signed with the Islamist insurgent group Saturday.Ghani told a news conference in Kabul the demand for the release of insurgent prisoners cannot be a prerequisite for opening intra-Afghan peace talks with the Taliban. He insisted the insurgent demand could be included in the agenda of the upcoming dialogue.“The authority to release prisoners rests with the Afghan government and not the United States,” Ghani said, adding his government would not accept any pressure on the prisoner swap issue.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 between members of Afghanistan’s Taliban and the U.S. in Doha, Qatar, Feb. 29,2020.The U.S.-Taliban deal sealed Saturday in Qatar, witnessed by senior representatives of around 20 countries, requires Afghan parties to the conflict to open direct negotiations on or around March 10 to agree on a nationwide permanent cease-fire and future power-sharing.However, some of the steps required to be taken in the run-up to the dialogue include the release of up to 5,000 Taliban prisoners from Afghan jails and of 1,000 government security forces, who are held by the insurgents.“The United States is committed to start immediately to work with all relevant sides on a plan to expeditiously release combat and political prisoners as a confidence-building measure with the coordination and approval of all relevant sides,” reads the text of the pact.Senior Taliban leaders, while speaking to reporters at the deal-signing ceremony in the Qatari capital of Doha, said Washington has committed to facilitate the prisoner swap, insisting intra-Afghan talks will begin only after Taliban prisoners are freed.The Afghan president stopped short of criticizing the U.S.-Taliban deal, saying “an agreement that is signed behind closed doors” faces fundamental problems in its implementation. The Ghani government was kept out of the 18-month U.S.-Taliban peace talks and was not part of the Doha accord.FILE – Members of a Taliban delegation leave after peace talks with Afghan senior politicians in Moscow, May 30, 2019.US troops to come homeUnder the pact with the Taliban, Washington has committed bringing American troops home from Afghanistan in 14 months, with first reduction, down to 8,600 from 13,000, to take place in the first 135 days. The deal binds the insurgent group to deny sanctuary to transnational terrorist organizations and fight Islamic State militants on Afghan soil.President Donald Trump has defended the deal, saying it fulfilled one of his campaign promises to end America’s longest war.Trump told reporters at the White House on Saturday he believed the Taliban would deliver on its counterterrorism pledges, but the president went on to warn that “if bad things happen” U.S. troops would swiftly return to Afghanistan.“I will be meeting personally with the Taliban leaders in the not too distant future and we will be very much hoping that they will be doing what they say they are going to be doing; they will be killing terrorists, they will keep that fight going,” Trump stressed.U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad and Taliban deputy chief for political affairs Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar sign the U.S.-Taliban peace agreement during a ceremony in the Qatari capital Doha, Feb. 29, 2020.The initial seven-day reduction in violence truce in Afghanistan that culminated in the signing of Saturday’s landmark deal in Qatar is expected to continue until intra-Afghan negotiations start with a goal of turning it into a nationwide cease-fire.The United States and its allies invaded Afghanistan nearly 19 years ago to punish the Taliban rulers at the time for harboring al-Qaida leaders blamed for the September 2001 terrorist strikes against America.The war has since killed more than 150,000 people and caused more than 100,000 Afghan civilian casualties in the last 10 years alone. The military intervention has cost Washington around $1 trillion and the lives of 2,400 U.S. military personnel.Critics of the dealSome in Washington are critical of Trump for striking the deal with the Taliban, but he defended the agreement: “I am surprised that anybody would be against something where we’re trying to end a 19-year-old war,” he said.“We’ve had tremendous success in Afghanistan in the killing of terrorists but it’s time after all these years to go and bring our people back home. We want to bring our people back home.”John Bolton, a former assistant to the U.S. president for National Security Affairs, was among those who slammed the pact.“Signing this agreement with Taliban is an unacceptable risk to America’s civilian population. This is an Obama-style deal. Legitimizing Taliban sends the wrong signal to ISIS and al Qaeda terrorists, and to America’s enemies generally,” Bolton tweeted.
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Malaysia’s Muhyiddin Yassin, a Malay nationalist politician backed by the corruption-tarnished former ruling party, was sworn in as prime minister Sunday after the king picked him to replace 94-year-old Mahathir Mohamad.The swearing-in capped a week of turmoil that began with Mahathir’s resignation in an apparent bid to consolidate power, but ended with him sidelined and complaining of betrayal after decades dominating Malaysian politics.Mahathir promised to seek a vote in parliament to challenge Muhyiddin’s support, but conceded he might not win.Muhyiddin, 72, was sworn in at a palace ceremony in front of Malaysia’s king, Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, and promised to fulfill his duties as prime minister.FILE – People pass posters of Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad and politician Anwar Ibrahim at a rally in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, May 16, 2018.The change in leadership comes less than two years after Mahathir joined old rival Anwar Ibrahim, 72, to defeat the ruling party of six decades, the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), on an anti-corruption platform.“This is a very strange thing,” Mahathir said. “This is the losers that will form the government,” he added, referring to the outcome of the 2018 election.He said he had the support of 114 of parliament’s 222 members, but it was not guaranteed that they would all support him at a vote in a country of tangled political interests where horse-trading is commonplace.Mahathir questioned whether a government involving the former ruling party would be as ready to pursue graft cases against its politicians. Those include former prime minister Najib Razak, who is now on trial for corruption.A week of twists and turns in Malaysian politics began with Mahathir’s resignation, breaking his alliance with Anwar as he proposed a national unity government without party loyalties that would have given him greater authority.But Anwar then launched his own bid to become prime minister while Muhyiddin built his alliance.King’s choiceIt was down to the king to decide who would have the best chance to form a government. Although Mahathir and Anwar said they had reunited Saturday and now had majority support, the king announced Muhyiddin as the candidate.About 200 protesters gathered in Kuala Lumpur late Saturday to protest the king’s decision. Police said they were investigating a Twitter post that encouraged people to join the protest, which they said was illegal.Muhyiddin is from Mahathir’s Bersatu party, but had shown himself ready to work with UMNO, from which he had been sacked in 2016 after questioning former prime minister Najib’s handling of the 1MDB corruption scandal.Fortune’s riseUMNO’s fortunes have risen since its 2018 defeat, with the Pakatan coalition of Mahathir and Anwar losing five by-elections in the face of criticism from some Malay voters that it could do more to favor the biggest ethnic group in a nation of 32 million.UMNO, which Mahathir led from 1981 to 2003 during a previous stint as prime minister, supports Malay nationalism.“I think Muhyiddin would lead a more overtly pro-ethnic Malay government characterized by social division, economic nationalism, and possibly less fiscal restraint,” said Peter Mumford of the Eurasia consultancy.As well as personal relationships, politics in Malaysia is shaped by ethnic, religious and regional interests. Malaysia is more than half ethnic Malay, but has large ethnic Chinese, Indian and other minorities.
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A U.S. biomedical firm has announced it will begin additional clinical trials of remdesivir, so far the most promising potential drug for coronavirus, with clinical trials involving about 1,000 patients starting in March.In a sign that the drug, invented by California-based Gilead Sciences, is gaining traction, a trial involving about 400 patients “with severe clinical manifestations of COVID-19” will skip the placebo step and instead enroll all of them in remdesivir treatment, with either five or 10 days on the drug.Meanwhile roughly 600 patients “with moderate clinical manifestations of disease,” according to a Gilead statement, will be divided into three groups, with one-third receiving five days of remdesivir treatment, one-third receiving 10 days of treatment, and the remainder receiving “standard care alone,” which could include medicine for pain and fever, fluids, and oxygen, if needed.FILE – The headquarters of Gilead Sciences in Foster City, Calif., July 9, 2015. The company is expanding trials of a potential treatment for coronavirus.In February, Gilead, working with Chinese authorities and medical scientists, initiated two clinical trials in Wuhan, where the outbreak was first reported, and a third “multicenter,” long-term trial, led by the University of Nebraska and “conducted in up to 50 sites globally.”This fourth round of clinical trials will take place “at medical centers primarily across Asian countries,” the company said, “as well as other countries globally with high numbers of diagnosed cases.”One goal of the new trial, a senior Gilead official told U.S. reporters, is to National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci steps away from the podium during a news conference on the coronavirus at the White House, Feb. 29, 2020, in Washington.Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the U.S. National Institutes of Health, mentioned remdesivir Thursday at a White House press conference with U.S. President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence.Fauci said remdesivir has shown “anti-viral activity in vitro and in animal model.” He also said the trials underway would yield results “reasonably soon whether it works.“And if it does, we will then have an effective therapy to distribute,” he said.On Saturday, as the first fatality caused by COVID-19 was reported in the United States, Dr. Jeff Shuren of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said the agency is “dedicating all available resources to expediting the review of medical products, including diagnostics, to prevent the spread of this outbreak.”Although the latest trials were announced after Gilead had gone through the process of rapid review and acceptance of remdesivir being filed as an investigational new drug for the treatment of COVID-19, the company points out that “remdesivir is not yet licensed or approved anywhere globally” and that Gilead is providing the drug to “qualified patients with COVID-19 on a compassionate use basis for emergency treatment outside of ongoing clinical trials.”
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Some 13,000 migrants have gathered along the Turkish-Greek border after Turkey’s president threatened to allow some of the 3.6 million refugees in the country cross into Europe, the United Nations said Saturday. “Thousands of migrants, including families with young children, are passing a cold night along the border between Turkey and Greece,” the International Organization for Migration said in a statement. The U.N. agency said its staff had been tracking the movement of people from Istanbul and were providing humanitarian assistance to the most vulnerable. “By Saturday evening, staff working along the 212-kilometre-long border between Turkey and Greece and in the capital had observed at least 13,000 people gathered at the formal border crossing points at Pazarkule and Ipsala and multiple informal border crossings,” it said. The agency said it had spotted “groups of between several dozen and more than 3,000.” This picture taken from the Greek side of the Greece-Turkey border near Kastanies shows migrants standing behind razor wire, Feb. 29, 2020.”The number of migrants moving through Edirne towards the border grew through the day as cars, taxis and buses arrived from Istanbul,” the head of IOM’s Turkey mission, Lado Gvilava, said in the statement. “Most of those on the move are men but we are also seeing many family groups traveling with young children,” he added. ‘Vulnerable people’Gvilava said the IOM was distributing food and other basic supplies, but with temperatures dropping close to freezing, “we’re concerned about these vulnerable people who are exposed to the elements.” IOM staff reported that buses continued into the evening to be “loaded to overcapacity” in Istanbul with people bound for the border area. The mass movement of people began after Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to open the gates and allow refugees to travel to Europe as a way to pressure EU governments over the Syrian conflict. Turkey and Russia, who back opposing forces in the Syria conflict, have held talks to try to defuse tensions after an airstrike killed the Turkish troops, sparking fears of a broader war and a new migration crisis for Europe. At the border Saturday, Greek police clashed with several thousand migrants already gathered at the entrance to EU territory, where they hurled rocks at security forces firing tear gas across the frontier. In 2015, Greece became the main EU entry point for 1 million migrants, most of them refugees fleeing the Syrian civil war. 
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