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New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is expected to return to power in Saturday’s general election. Ardern has been praised globally for her response to the Christchurch mosque attacks in 2019 and the COVID-19 pandemic. But critics point to her coalition government’s failure to tackle child poverty.Jacinda Ardern is the type of leader New Zealand has never seen before. She has several million social media followers, and she won global acclaim for her sensitivity after a gunman murdered 51 people at two mosques in the city of Christchurch last year. Her swift response to the threat of COVID-19 has also attracted widespread praise.Ardern’s center-left Labour party came to power in 2017 even though it lost the election. Under New Zealand’s proportional representation voting system, it managed to put together a coalition with a small group of nationalist lawmakers and the Green party.Her main challenger in Saturday’s poll is a seasoned politician nicknamed “Crusher” Collins.When the leader of the conservative National Party, Judith Collins, was the police minister in a previous government, she supported a policy to crush the cars of repeat traffic offenders. She has clashed with Ardern during the campaign, calling the prime minister a “liar “over testing protocols for COVID-19 at New Zealand’s closed international borders.Political commentator Ben Thomas told Radio New Zealand that personal insults will not sway voters.“This kind off language does not come from a position of strength,” he said. “It is an attempt to provoke Ardern into responding to Collins, you know, putting a spotlight on a confrontation between those two leaders, and yet trying to make National seem a little bit more relevant in the dying days of an election that they certainly do not look on track to win.”Much of the campaign has been around New Zealand’s response to COVID-19. The government’s decision to close its international borders to foreign nationals in March, and a series of strict domestic lockdowns appear to have been well received by voters, although the virus has pushed the nation into recession.New Zealand has had about 1,800 coronavirus infections and 25 deaths.Analysts have said the pandemic has helped the Ardern government avoid greater scrutiny over its failures to reduce child poverty and build more affordable housing.The South Pacific nation adopted the German-style Mixed Member Proportional voting system in 1996. That has led to coalition governments ever since. Seven seats are reserved for Indigenous Maori candidates in the 120-seat national parliament.About 3.5 million people are expected to vote in Saturday’s poll.
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At least 30 people have been killed because of sudden torrential rains and flooding in southern India, officials said Thursday.
 
In Hyderabad city, home to top IT companies, nine people were killed when a wall collapsed on them and 10 others died from electrocution and drowning, a local official told AFP.
 
Dramatic images showed cars being washed away by swirling waters, bridges submerged by swollen rivers and trucks stranded on roads inundated by flooding Wednesday.
 
Eight members of a family, who were standing on their balcony to watch the rain, were also washed away due to sudden flooding in Hyderabad.  
 
Two of them were found dead and the search is on for the remaining six, the Times of India reported.  
 
Personnel from the army and the National Disaster Response Force have been deployed to evacuate stranded residents.
 
Weather officials blamed the sudden deluge on a depression in the Bay of Bengal.  
 
Telangana state is the hardest hit area but the flooding has also affected neighboring Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.
 
Flash floods kill hundreds of people across India every year, with experts blaming poor construction and warning systems for the fatalities.
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Fake news about the coronavirus can do real harm. Polygraph.info is spotlighting fact-checks from other reliable sources here​.Daily Debunk”Covid-19 and the economy: Kenya president’s maths doesn’t add up,” Africa Check, October 1.​Social Media DisinfoRapplerCirculating on social media: Infographic claiming that the correct way to wear a mask is with the white side facing outwards if you are healthy, and with the blue side facing outwards if you are sick.Verdict: FalseRead the full story at: Rappler Factual Reads on CoronavirusWatch: Understanding dexamethasone, the steroid used to treat Trump’s Covid-19
It is inexpensive and widely prescribed. But side effects of dexamethasone can be quite serious.
— Stat, October 12Eight Persistent COVID-19 Myths and Why People Believe Them
From a human-made virus to vaccine conspiracy theories, we rounded up the most insidious false claims about the pandemic
— Scientific American, October 12
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The former owner of a Mexico City private school who was convicted of manslaughter last month in the deaths of 26 people during a 7.1-magnitude earthquake was sentenced to 31 years in prison.During Wednesday’s sentencing, the court ruled Mónica García Villegas, former owner and director of the Enrique Rébsamen School, acted carelessly by building an apartment for herself on the roof of the school building.The court deemed the extra weight was a factor in the building’s collapse during the September 19, 2017, earthquake that killed 19 children and seven adults.In addition to the prison sentence, Villegas was ordered to pay nearly $19,000 to each victim’s family and fined $5,800 for criminal negligence.The Mexico News Daily reports Villegas was arrested in May of last year in Mexico City on a tip from her brother who received a reward of just over $234,000 for leading authorities to her.
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This week, the U.S. Senate is holding confirmation hearings for U.S. Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett to fill the seat left empty by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who passed away last month. Supreme Court justices receive lifetime positions, and the battle to fill the seat has become a focus of the contest between President Donald Trump and his challenger, Joe Biden. Patsy Widakuswara reports.
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G-20 nations announced a six-month extension Wednesday to a debt suspension initiative for poor countries ravaged by the coronavirus pandemic, falling short of calls by the World Bank and campaigners for a full-year renewal.The 20 most industrialized nations pledged in April to suspend debt service from the world’s most vulnerable countries through the end of the year as they faced a sharp economic contraction caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.The initiative will now be extended until the end of June next year, G-20 finance ministers and central bankers said after a virtual meeting, as they also agreed on a “common framework” to individually deal with poor nations distressed by rising debt.”We have agreed to extend the Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) by six months,” said Mohammed Al-Jadaan, the finance minister of Saudi Arabia, which is the current G-20 president.In its final statement after the meeting, the group said the DSSI could be further extended until the end of 2021 when the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank meet next spring “if the economic and financial situation requires” the move.”Given the scale of the COVID-19 crisis, the significant debt vulnerabilities and deteriorating outlook in many low-income countries, we recognize that debt treatments beyond the DSSI may be required on a case-by-case basis.”‘Bare minimum’The group pledged to publish the common framework ahead of the G-20 leaders’ summit in November.The agreement on the framework marks a leap for China, a major creditor to poor countries that officials say has resisted attempts to write off debts.”The G-20 took an important step today, but it didn’t go far enough,” said Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, France director of the ONE campaign, an international nonprofit organization that advocates worldwide eradication of extreme poverty by 2030.”They could have extended the debt service standstill until the end of 2021, helping the world’s poorest countries combat this global pandemic,” she said. “They simply chose not to.”Campaigners warn of a looming debt crisis across poverty-wracked developing nations.The World Bank on Monday said the debt of the world’s 73 poorest countries grew 9.5% last year to a record $744 billion.The countries’ debt burden owed to government creditors, most of whom are G-20 states, reached $178 billion last year, and China is owed more 63% percent of that.”The tendency in past debt crises (was) for countries in debt distress to go through a series of ineffective debt reschedulings that leaves them weaker,” said World Bank President David Malpass.”Creditors may eventually allow them to get to a debt reduction process, but at a tremendous cost to the poor. We need to work better and faster this time.”U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin also pushed for more help for poor nations and signaled American support for debt restructuring deals.The G-20 framework “will facilitate debt write-downs when needed,” Mnuchin said in a speech to the IMF and World Bank annual meetings.”In a number of countries, debtors and creditors will need to work together expeditiously to restructure debt, in particular to unlock much-needed IMF financing,” he said in the prepared statement.’Tsunami of debt’Amid the economic crisis, extending the DSSI was the “bare minimum” the G-20 could do, said Jaime Atienza of Oxfam International.”Despite the common framework announced — good news to deal with deep solvency problems but with details still unknown — the failure to cancel debt payments will only delay the tsunami of debt that will engulf many of the world’s poorest countries,” Atienza added.In April, the G-20 indicated about 70 countries would be eligible for the DSSI. But last month, the group said it had received only 46 applications from eligible countries across the world, most of them from Africa.The initiative has covered “a meager 1.66%” of debt payments due in 2020 by developing nations, according to the European Network on Debt and Development (Eurodad).”Of the 46 beneficiary countries, it has had very limited impact, due to the failure of private and multilateral lenders to participate,” Eurodad said in a report that likened the initiative to “draining out the Titanic with a bucket.”The G-20 announcement came a day after the IMF said the global economy would contract 4.4% in 2020, and the damage inflicted by the pandemic would be felt for years.Huge injections of government aid have kept economies from plunging further in 2020, but the continued presence of COVID-19 means the outlook is highly uncertain, the IMF said.
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President Donald Trump’s recovery from COVID-19 was made possible by a combination of medical treatments. Plugged In with Greta Van Susteren examines what experts have learned and how they have adapted treatments to help patients recover and keeping others healthy and safe. Joining Greta is infectious disease expert Dr. Monica Ghandi from USCF/San Francisco General Hospital and Dr. Joseph Allen, professor at Harvard University. Air date: October 14, 2020.
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Millions more Americans than usual have been working from home since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic earlier this year.Google said it will be at least July 2021 before workers will be back in the office. Twitter and Microsoft have announced staff may work remotely … forever.That is why some office workers are rethinking where to live. While some cities are big job centers, they come with a high cost of living that may no longer make sense for people working remotely.A growing number of these remote workers are striking out, and some are taking advantage of special programs being offered by cities across the U.S. that are luring them with cash incentives and other benefits.One of them is Stephanie Robesky.San Francisco to Tulsa, OklahomaRobesky, who works in the tech industry, was thinking about leaving San Francisco and searching for a different place to live when she read an article about Tulsa Remote – a program that is offering a $10,000 grant to eligible remote workers to move to and work in Tulsa, Oklahoma, about 2,700 kilometers (1,700 miles) from San Francisco.“It is not a place that I had ever visited,” says Robesky, “so I went on Google Maps and took a look at it and said ‘OK, that’s right smack dab in the center of the United States.”“I went and did the application online, and it all worked out and here I am!”Stephanie Robesky found a new life — and love, Chris Bouldin — since moving to Tulsa, Oklahoma in 2019, to participate in the Tulsa Remote program. (Courtesy – Stephanie Robesky)In addition to receiving $10,000 paid over the course of the first year, Robesky received other benefits, like help with housing and free co-working space.These kinds of programs may make sense for regions that have seen people leave for job meccas and have struggled to attract new residents, especially now with more companies allowing remote work, said Richard Florida, a professor at the University of Toronto and consultant to the George Kaiser Family Foundation, which pays for the Tulsa Remote program.“When you attract remote workers, you diversify your labor force,” he said. “It gives you a different kind of resiliency and the ability to weather bad things.”The arrival of COVID-19 has forced businesses – and cities – to adapt. That’s what communities have always done, said James Schrager, a clinical professor of entrepreneurship and strategy at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.“Going way back to the industrial revolution, cities and towns were changed dramatically with advances in technology,” he said. “What Tulsa is doing is that same game plan over again, with today’s technology shift of working from home, working remotely.”New friends, new house, new boyfriendBen Stewart, the interim executive director of the Tulsa Remote program, said the goal is to roll out the welcome mat for newcomers.“We believe that building out that community is the core of the program, and the core of our retention goal,” he said.More than 300 people have participated in the Tulsa Remote program since its inception in 2018. (Courtesy – Josh New)Since its inception in 2018, the Tulsa Remote program has seen more than 25,000 applications, which surged after the start of the pandemic.Just over 300 members have been accepted into the program with “hundreds more in the pipeline,” said Stewart.About 95% of participants have ended up staying in Tulsa beyond the life of the program, Stewart said.Robesky remembers thinking: “I’ll move to Tulsa, take the money, try it out.”Since arriving in 2019, she has made new friends, owns a house. And met her boyfriend Chris Bouldin.“I never anticipated that I would fall this deeply in love with this town,” she said.With many office workers saying they want to continue with remote work even after the pandemic, experts predict more people will be like Robesky, rethinking where and how they want to live. 
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A federal judge on Wednesday extended the deadline for registering to vote in the U.S. state of Virginia by 48 hours. The order came one day after an accidentally severed fiber optic cable at a field project site caused the state’s online portal to shut down on the last day of registration before the November 3 general election.U.S. District Judge John Gibney, in the state capital of Richmond, issued the order extending the deadline to make up for several hours of lost time. He said the disruption caused “a tremendous harm” to those who wanted to register.Gibney’s order came after voting rights activists filed a lawsuit seeking an extension, which was agreed to by Virginia officials, who were named as defendants.Virginia residents now have until 11:59 p.m. local time on Thursday to register online or in person.The state’s Department of Elections said in a statement six hours after the system was shut down that the registration portal was back online, but that did not stop voting advocates from noting the technological failure occurred on the registration deadline.  The lawsuit filed by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law said the state should also make a “significant effort” to inform the public about the extension.“Absent relief, voters who attempted to register to vote through the online portal on October 13, 2020, but were unable through no fault of their own, will be absolutely disenfranchised in the upcoming elections,” the suit said.Virginia Governor Ralph Northam told reporters Tuesday he supported a deadline extension. Northam also said the state did not have a backup plan for the severed cable but that the disruption highlighted the need for the state to continue efforts to develop a secure network.The disruption occurred as three tight congressional races are under way in Virginia, the outcomes of which could affect the makeup of the U.S. House of Representatives.Democratic freshmen Representatives Abigail Spanberger and Elaine Luria are locked in close races in the state’s 7th District and 2nd District, respectively. Republican Bob Good and Democrat Cameron Webb are vying for the open 5th District seat.In 2016, an undetermined number of Virginia residents were unable to meet the voter registration deadline because of unprecedented demand. A federal judge granted a brief extension of the deadline after a lawsuit filed by the New Virginia Majority Education Fund.The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, which filed the 2016 lawsuit on behalf of the fund, swiftly denounced Tuesday’s disruption, saying Virginia election officials “have again failed the public.”
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China’s economic rise and its greater assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific is setting off alarms in Washington, already rattled by the devastating consequences from COVID-19 — the virus that came from Wuhan. As the two countries navigate their evolving and tense relationship, some analysts are looking back at how American policy toward China failed and what that means for the future.  VOA’s Jela de Franceschi speaks with two influential American military strategists for what to expect next. Mary Alice Salinas narrates.Producer: Marcus Harton 
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U.S. Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett returns to the U.S. Capitol Wednesday for more questioning after a nearly 12-hour session Tuesday in which she declined to answer a range of questions from senators on how she might rule on legal disputes she would face if confirmed to fill a crucial vacancy on the country’s highest courtBarrett told members of the Senate Judiciary Committee conducting her confirmation hearing that she wouldn’t let her personal and religious views determine how she would decide cases.  “I have no agenda,” Barrett said. “I’ll follow the law.” Abortion, gun ownership
Barrett, in initial queries from two Republicans, the panel chairman, Sen. Lindsey Graham, and Sen. Chuck Grassley, and two Democrats, Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Patrick Leahy, declined to say how she might rule on the court’s 1973 legalization of abortions in the United States, gun ownership rights sanctioned by the U.S. Constitution and whether, in a case to be heard by the court next month, the country’s national health care law should remain in effect. She also rebuffed a question on whether she would recuse herself, if she is quickly confirmed by the Senate, from considering any legal disputes arising from the Nov. 3 national election. President Donald Trump, who nominated Barrett, is trying to win a second four-year term in the White House and faces Democratic former Vice President Joe Biden. Trump has assailed mass balloting by mail and said he wants the court to help decide the election. The president, trailing Biden in national polls, says he wants Barrett confirmed to avoid a 4-4 stalemate on contested election issues. Barrett said she has had no conversations with Trump or his staff “on how I would rule” on election disputes. She said it would have been unethical for her as a sitting federal appellate court judge to have such a discussion.  Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 10 MB480p | 14 MB540p | 18 MB720p | 36 MB1080p | 76 MBOriginal | 231 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioConservative favorite
The 48-year-old Barrett is a favorite of U.S. conservatives looking to give the court a decided 6-3 conservative majority. She has cited the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, for whom she served as a law clerk two decades ago, as her philosophical mentor, for his strict interpretation of the U.S. Constitution as written two centuries ago rather than reinterpreting it to address current life in the U.S.   Barrett said that if she is confirmed as the fifth woman ever to serve on the court, “You would be getting a Justice Barrett, not a Justice Scalia.”         If confirmed, Barrett would replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a liberal icon who died last month at 87. Democratic critics fear that Barrett would vote to undo many of the reforms championed by Ginsburg, including abortion rights and the right for gays to marry and be treated equally in American society.  Graham called Barrett’s selection “one of the greatest picks President Trump could make.” He predicted Monday that the committee’s 12 Republicans will all vote in favor of Barrett’s nomination with all 10 Democrats opposed. Republican leaders say they have enough votes in the full Senate to confirm her nomination. Barrett assured Graham that despite her family owning a gun, she could fairly “decide such a case” calling for tighter restrictions on gun ownership sanctioned by the Constitution’s Second Amendment.  Barrett said that even as the court has ruled that Americans have a personal right to own a gun, the ruling “leaves room for gun regulation. I promise I would come to that with an open mind. Any issue should be decided by the facts of the case.”  Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) questions U.S. Supreme Court nominee Judge Amy Coney Barrett about her position on court cases involving LGBT rights.Religious beliefs Similarly, Barrett said as an appellate court judge she has set aside her devout Catholic beliefs to issue rulings according to U.S. law and could do so again on the Supreme Court.  But she made no promises on how she might rule on abortion, which the Catholic Church opposes.   She said high court precedent from long ago rulings is “presumptively controlling,” and that some decisions fall into the “super precedent” category, such as the 1954 decision banning school segregation by races as unequal treatment of Blacks and unconstitutional.  Scalia dissented against abortion rights, but Barrett declined to say whether she also thinks the legality of abortion was wrongly decided. “It would be wrong for me as a sitting judge to say,” Barrett told Feinstein. “I have to decide cases as they come before me. I can’t pre-commit to judge a case in any way. I’ll follow the law.”  At another point in Tuesday’s questioning, Barrett told Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar, “I’m 100% committed to judicial independence.”  But Klobuchar said she fears that a Justice Barrett “would be the polar opposite” of Ginsburg in the way she votes on key cases. “That’s what concerns me,” Klobuchar said.  Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) attends the second day of the U.S. Supreme Court nominee Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., Oct. 13, 2020.Initial vote planned for Thursday
Graham plans to call for an initial committee vote for Thursday on Barrett’s nomination.  That would allow for final approval late next week and a vote by the full Republican-majority Senate before the end of the month, just days ahead of the presidential and congressional elections.
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Australia is trying to clarify reports of a Chinese ban on its coal imports. Industry sources have said Beijing told energy providers and steel firms to stop buying Australian coal. Trade tensions between the Asia-Pacific partners have deteriorated in recent years. Coal is one of the major Australian commodity exports to China, behind iron ore and liquefied natural gas.  So, any disruption to this multi-billion trade would hurt.  State-owned energy providers and steel mills in China have reportedly been told not to buy Australian coal.  Australian officials believe it could be temporary and part of informal quotas in China, or an attempt to restrict imports to protect China’s domestic coal mining industry. However, analysts have speculated that the reported ban on Australian coal could be part of an emerging trade war.     Earlier this year, China was infuriated when Canberra called for a global investigation into COVID-19, which was first detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan. Relations have also soured over allegations of Chinese interference in Australia’s domestic politics, cyber-espionage and the detention of Australian citizens in China. Beijing has accused Australia of being “anti-China.” Australian Trade Minister Simon Birmingham says he has not confirmed that coal exports to China are being disrupted. “We have also been working to seek a response from Chinese authorities in relation to the accusations that have been made publicly. But we take the reports seriously enough to certainly to try to seek some assurances from Chinese authorities that they are honoring the terms of the China-Australia free trade agreement,” Birmingham said.Earlier this year, Beijing effectively banned imports of Australian barley, placed restrictions on meat, and discouraged students and others from traveling to Australia.  In August, China said it had launched an anti-dumping investigation into Australian wine imports. China is Australia’s biggest trading partner. Australia owes its recent prosperity in large part to Chinese demand for iron ore and other resources.  Given this economic reality, standing up to Beijing isn’t easy. 
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As coronavirus infections surged in Malaysia this year, a wave of hate speech and misinformation aimed at Rohingya Muslim refugees from Myanmar began appearing on Facebook.   Alarmed rights groups reported the material to Facebook. But six months later, many posts targeting the Rohingya in Malaysia remain on the platform, including pages such as “Anti Rohingya Club” and “Foreigners Mar Malaysia’s Image,” although those two pages were removed after Reuters flagged them to Facebook recently.   Comments still online in one private group with nearly 100,000 members included “Hope they all die, this cursed pig ethnic group.”   Facebook acknowledged in 2018 that its platform was used to incite violence against the Rohingya in Myanmar, and last year spent more than $3.7 billion on safety and security on its platform. But the surge of anti-Rohingya comment in Malaysia shows how xenophobic speech nonetheless persists.   “Assertions that Facebook is uncommitted to addressing safety and security are inaccurate and do not reflect the significant investment we’ve made to address harmful content on our platform,” a company spokeswoman told Reuters.   Reuters found more than three dozen pages and groups, including accounts run by former and serving Malaysian security officials, that featured discriminatory language about Rohingya refugees and undocumented migrants.   Dozens of comments encouraged violence.   Reuters found some of the strongest comments in closed private groups, which people have to ask to join. Such groups have been a hotbed for hate speech and misinformation in other parts of the world. Facebook removed 12 of the 36 pages and groups flagged by Reuters, and several posts. Five other pages with anti-migrant content seen by Reuters in the last month were removed before Reuters queries.   “We do not allow people to post hate speech or threats of violence on Facebook and we will remove this content as soon as we become aware of it,” Facebook said. Some of the pages that remain online contain comments comparing Rohingya to dogs and parasites. Some disclosed where Rohingya had been spotted and encouraged authorities and the public to take action against them. Widespread hate speech   “This kind of hate speech can lead to physical violence and persecution of a whole group. We saw this in Myanmar,” said John Quinley, senior human rights specialist at Fortify Rights, an independent group focused on Southeast Asia.   “It would be irresponsible to not actively take down anti-refugee and anti-Rohingya Facebook groups and pages.”   Muslim-majority Malaysia was long friendly to the Rohingya, a minority fleeing persecution in largely Buddhist Myanmar, and more than 100,000 Rohingya refugees live in Malaysia, even though it doesn’t officially recognize them as refugees. But sentiment turned in April, with the Rohingya being accused of spreading the coronavirus. Hate speech circulated widely, including on Facebook – a platform used by nearly 70% of Malaysia’s 32 million people.   Rights groups and refugees said comments on Facebook helped escalate xenophobia in Malaysia.   “Malaysians who have lived with Rohingya refugees for years have started calling the cops on us, some have lost jobs. We are in fear all the time,” said Abu, a Rohingya refugee who did not want to give his full name fearing repercussions. Another refugee who declined to be identified said he deactivated his Facebook account after his details were posted and Malaysians messaged him telling him to go back to Myanmar – from where he fled five years ago. “Facebook has failed, they don’t understand how dangerous such comments can be,” he said, referring to posts he had seen supporting action in Myanmar against Rohingya.   ‘Absent’ Rights groups said the government of Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin had failed to do enough to curb xenophobia as it rounded up thousands of undocumented migrants and said it would no longer accept Rohingya refugees.   “The Malaysian government was completely absent from any sort of effort to try to curtail this wave of hate speech,” said Human Rights Watch deputy Asia director Phil Robertson. Muhyiddin’s office did not respond to requests for comment.   Reuters found four pages with links to security and enforcement agencies voicing anti-immigrant sentiment. “Let us not suffer the cancer of this ethnic (group),” administrators of a group called “Friends of Immigration” posted. The group says it is run by current and former immigration officials. That post from April was removed this month after Reuters queries to Facebook. The immigration department did not respond to Reuters queries. The communications and home ministries also did not respond to queries on hate speech in social media.   Among the earliest posts to draw comments calling for Rohingya to be shot was one from the Malaysian Armed Forces Headquarters asking the public to be its “ears and eyes” and report undocumented migrants. A military spokesman confirmed the authenticity of the page.   Another post that was shared more than 26,000 times was from a page calling itself the Military Royal Intelligence Corps that said undocumented migrants “will bring problems to all of us.”   Reuters was unable to contact the administrator of the page. The military said it had nothing to do with the page and it was run by a former member of the intelligence unit.   Facebook removed both posts after Reuters queries. The Intelligence Corps page was also taken down. 
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Hot, dry conditions and intense winds across California are threatening to reinvigorate what has already been the worst fire season in state history, officials warned on Tuesday.Gusty winds in California’s north and extreme heat in its south are creating conditions that could fan wildfires that began earlier in the summer as well as spark new ones, leading state and federal authorities to urge residents to prepare.The National Weather Service issued a heat advisory for a wide swath of Southern California as temperatures topped 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius). The agency asked residents to exercise caution with any fire sources.Strong winds, low humidityThe California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) said strong winds and low humidity could ramp up blazes in Northern California starting Wednesday.”While good progress has been made on a number of fires, this could hamper containment efforts,” Daniel Berlant, Cal Fire assistant deputy director, said on Twitter on Tuesday. “It means if a new fire breaks out, that that fire is going to be able to burn very rapidly.”Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), which provides power to much of California, said Monday it was considering proactively shutting off power as soon as Wednesday to as many as 50,000 state residents to mitigate fire risk.Over 4 million acres burned This year, wildfires have burned over 4 million acres in California — twice the total of 2018 which had been the highest on record. Five of the six largest fires in state history were in 2020. Thirty-one people have died, and over 9,200 structures have been destroyed.Fall has tended to be California’s peak wildfire season, but state officials say the season is growing longer each year.Experts say droughts and climate change from fossil fuels have made poorly managed forests much more flammable, leading to extreme fire activity. 
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Severe flash floods in western Cambodia caused by heavy rainfall have killed at least 11 people, local media reported, Tuesday, October 13. Footage carried by a local broadcaster showed villagers in Pursat province being evacuated by authorities, Monday, October 12. At least 2,400 families have been evacuated from flood zones and 75,000 hectares of land have been flooded, with several main roads inundated across the provinces, local media reported.  The military and police were deployed in several areas to assist in evacuations. (Reuters)
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Thousands of conservative Muslims marched in Indonesia’s capital on Tuesday demanding that the government revoke a new law they say will cripple labor rights, with some clashing with police. Authorities blocked streets leading to the Presidential Palace in Jakarta, where clashes between riot police and rock-throwing demonstrators, including workers and students, broke out last Thursday. The protests spread and turned violent in some cities across the world’s most populous Muslim nation, but calm had largely returned to Jakarta over the past four days. On Tuesday, the normally clogged streets of Jakarta were nearly empty of cars, embassies were closed and many businesses were shuttered for the day after several Muslim groups announced they would stage protests. Waving black flags bearing the Islamic declaration of faith, several thousand demonstrators, many wearing white Islamic robes, filled a major thoroughfare.  The Job Creation Law approved by Parliament last week is expected to substantially change Indonesia’s labor system and natural resources management. It amended 79 previous laws and is intended to improve bureaucratic efficiency as part of efforts by President Joko Widodo’s administration to attract more investment to the country. The demonstrators say the law will hurt workers by reducing severance pay, removing restrictions on manual labor by foreign workers, increasing the use of outsourcing, and converting monthly salaries to hourly wages.Police officers protect themselves with their shields during a protest against the new Job Creation Law, in Jakarta, Indonesia, Oct. 13, 2020. Protest organizer Shobri Lubis told the crowd, including members of the Islamic Defenders Front vigilante group, that they support workers and students in fighting for the rejection of the law. “It’s undeniable that the Job Creation Law is more intended for foreign economic domination in Indonesia and not to side with local workers,” he said.  Protesters chanted “God is Great” and “We stand with workers” near the blocked roads. Clashes broke out in the afternoon when riot police used tear gas to try to disperse protesters who were attempting to reach roads leading to the heavily guarded palace compound and the Chinatown area. Protesters hurled rocks, bricks and bottles. Tuesday’s protest was organized by a conservative Muslim alliance that held mass protests in 2016 against Jakarta’s ethnic Chinese Christian governor, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, that led to him being imprisoned for blasphemy. Widodo said on Friday that the new law was meant to improve workers’ welfare. He said the widespread protests resulted from disinformation about the legislation. He urged those who were dissatisfied with the law to challenge it in the Constitutional Court and avoid violent protests. Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s largest economy, is eagerly courting foreign investment as a key driver of economic growth in a nation where nearly half the population of 270 million is younger than 30.  
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Cristina Lozano, a junior at New York University (NYU), has been staying at the chic W New York Hotel, a 1911 beaux arts-style building that overlooks Union Square Park and offers a short walk to the Empire State Building.The hotel is booked until next summer, when prices are advertised from the $400s to the $600s a night. For now, the place belongs to Lozano and others like her, who are living in single rooms that her university is using as campus housing during the COVID-19 pandemic.“Living in the hotel is the exact same price as most of the dorms, which I find a bit weird because I don’t have a kitchen and I am not getting many of the same amenities dorms have,” said Lozano. “If I wasn’t on scholarship, I probably wouldn’t want to pay to live in the hotel.”Some students are living on-campus, others in off-campus apartments, some are sharing homes or hotels, and many have remained at home with their families during the pandemic, which has upended how students go to college and university in 2020.Lozano was randomly assigned to the hotel after applying for on-campus housing earlier this year. A service comes every Tuesday to clean the bathrooms and bring clean sheets. Students receive a discount in the hotel restaurant, she said.“The hotel has a huge lobby, but they closed off the sitting area because of COVID-19. They don’t want people loitering in the hotel,” said Lozano. “There is hotel elevator music playing, which is funny, and very different from what you would experience in a dorm.”On the weekends, the farmers market in Union Square brings a lot of foot traffic near the W, Lozano said.People buy pumpkins at an outdoor market in Union Square Park, New York, Oct. 5, 2020. (Credit: John Nacion/STAR MAX/IPx)Lozano, like other on-campus housing residents, is not allowed to have guests and is required to wear a mask at all times. She said she’s comfortable with her situation.“I am happy, honestly, because I think you are in a different mindset if you are closer to school, even though I live in Manhattan,” said Lozano. “Once you are out of the house and in that college mindset, have your college routine and your college friends who are in your classes, I think you are more focused overall.”Social life in New York City has changed dramatically because of COVID-19. To buy alcohol at a restaurant or bar, you have to order food, which has centered the social scene around going out to eat, Lozano said.“In my immediate social group, a lot of my friends are off-campus in apartments, so they will invite people over,” she said. “But what used to be a group of 30 is now a group of five.”A younger crowd of college students and people in their 20s can be seen out on the weekends, Lozano said.“More so toward the East Village, you see people go to bars and restaurants later in the night to socialize,” she said. “In the street, you see people not wearing masks as much, but most people are wearing masks, and it seems like people really care about it here.”NYU is among the universities that offer COVID-19 testing for students. Lozano has already been tested twice since returning to school about two weeks ago. NYU requires students living on campus or going to in-person classes to be tested weekly.Students wait in line at a testing site for the COVID-19 set up for returning students, faculty and staff on the main campus of New York University (NYU) in Manhattan in New York City, Aug. 18, 2020.“I think the protocol is actually really admirable,” she said. “You go downstairs in your dorm and you pick up a saliva test, which is way easier to administer yourself, and you just have to return it back to the dorm before the deadline.”Since Lozano is living at the W, she has to go to a neighboring dorm to pick up and drop off her tests.Most of Lozano’s friends live within walking distance from her, although she occasionally will take public transportation to get around the city.“I take the subway, but I definitely take it with caution,” she said. “The train can be really packed, as if nothing ever happened, especially during rush hours.”While it’s mandated by state law to wear a mask on the subway, Lozano said she doesn’t see that being enforced by authorities.“That’s one of my concerns about being on a train is if someone sitting across from you isn’t wearing a mask, it’s not like you’re in a position to tell them to put their mask on,” she said.While housing at the hotel is temporary for students at NYU, the university has not updated the students about when they will be moved out.“The situation is really scary, but I feel pretty safe given what I am doing and the precautions I am taking,” said Lozano.Off-campus housingStudents living in off-campus housing have expanded freedom while still living close to campus. Although, local jurisdictions have placed restrictions on the number of guests allowed in a residence due to COVID-19.Despite these restrictions, off-campus housing can leave universities with little control over students’ behavior and whereabouts.Julia Seungyeon Han is an international student from Seoul, South Korea, studying to get her master’s degree in applied mathematics and statistics at the State University of New York-Stony Brook. She is living in a one-bedroom apartment off-campus.Han made the decision to return to campus to take an in-person Real Analysis course at the university. Han was able to find her off-campus apartment through a friend.“Exposure to COVID-19 is the greatest fear,” she said. “Since the school is reporting several positive cases, there is a risk of encountering positive ones whom I do not know and where they will appear.”Han said she worries that if she got COVID-19, her student insurance would not provide adequate health care coverage. Also, she said if she left the U.S., her student visa status would become unstable, and getting back into the U.S. to go to school might become problematic.Han stated that she notices most students at the university wearing masks at all times.“It is not allowed to get into any of the buildings in school without wearing face masks,” she said. “There are a lot of signs and posters to let the students know that they should keep social distancing in all buildings, including libraries and lecture rooms.”SUNY-Stony Brook offers free COVID-19 testing for students taking in person classes, according to Han. She said she doesn’t socialize with her friends in person while at school.“I often go to the main library to study, but I don’t go to school to interact with my friends,” said Han. “I spend time and socialize with my friends through online platforms, such as Facebook or Instagram.”Sophia Michaelson, a junior at Syracuse University, is living off-campus in an apartment complex with two of her sorority sisters. Since moving into her apartment more than three weeks ago, Michaelson has already noticed several gatherings in the complex close to Syracuse’s main campus.Sophia Michaelson’s apartment complex, acquired from Google maps.“I’ve noticed a lot of other apartments will have people over. Since many of those students are in Greek Life, sometimes the parties will get relatively large for how small the apartments are,” she said. “I feel like that definitely can’t be safe in regard to COVID-19.” Students often don’t wear masks in the apartment complex as the hallways are outdoors, Michaelson said.Michaelson and her roommates signed their lease for the apartment back in October 2019, before the spread of the virus. While Michaelson is legally bound to her lease, there was a window before the start of the lease in August in which she could break her lease agreement for $500. She and her roommates decided to keep their lease despite COVID because of the freedom provided by living off-campus.“I definitely am happy with this arrangement in a COVID-19 scenario, because we were considering living in our sorority house, and that would have limited our freedom to do stuff,” said Michaelson. “For example, we wouldn’t have been able to have people over that didn’t live there, but now I can see my friends to whatever extent I’m comfortable with.”Living off-campus, Michaelson is allowed to use on-campus facilities with her student ID card, as long as she continues to update her COVID-19 status with the university. Like many universities, Syracuse offers a COVID-19 portal for students to upload their negative or positive test results, and it also provides contact tracing for students.Kasey Borduas, a junior at the University of Maryland, was supposed to live in her sorority house — considered on-campus housing — but opted out at the last minute for fear UMD would send their students home mid-semester because of COVID-19.Instead, she rented an apartment close to campus with three roommates.“It was a financial sacrifice my family decided was worth it because if I didn’t pay for an apartment, I would have had to stay home for the semester,” said Borduas, from Madison, Connecticut.While Borduas enjoys the freedom of living off-campus, she said she is cautious about the virus.“I go out to dinner, but we follow the rules all the time and always have our masks on,” she said. “I’m trying to find a new normal as much as I can, but I feel like isolating myself completely would be sort of pointless.”Borduas and her roommates live in an apartment building where she has noticed people wearing masks inside, but outside less so. Social scenes at UMD also have changed, according to Borduas. Bars at UMD now require everyone to stay seated.“I have noticed loud music from some rooms, but we play loud music, too, and there are three people in our room,” she said. “I don’t necessarily think people are throwing parties, I just think people are trying to have as much fun as they can.”UMD requires students to self-report positive cases. Borduas and her roommates decided that if one of them tested positive for COVID-19, they would all quarantine together as an apartment.Quarantining for many students living off-campus with roommates is a constant issue. UMD offers COVID-19 testing for students through their health center, and testing is a requirement for students to use on-campus facilities.Uncertainty for college students continues as the fall semester commences. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill sent students home in August because of a large COVID-19 outbreak.Students wear masks on campus at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, N.C., Aug. 18, 2020.The University of Wisconsin Madison announced early in the semester it would quarantine two dorms on-campus and switch to remote learning for two weeks.Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut, recently banned off-campus students from campus indefinitely after 10 students living off-campus tested positive for COVID-19.And despite the uncertainty, 76% of college students planned to return to campus this fall if given the option, according to a College Reaction poll taken in July. 
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