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The New York Jets have reportedly closed their practice facilities and sent players, coaches and staff home after a player tested positive Friday for COVID-19.   A source with the NFL team told reporters the player has been retested and results are expected later Friday. The Associated Press reports that if the second test is negative, the player will be considered not positive, a precedent set in August when Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford initially tested positive. If the Jets player is confirmed to have tested positive a second time for the virus, it raises question about the Jets’ scheduled game against the Arizona Cardinals hosted by the Jets. The Cardinals were scheduled to fly to New York on Friday for the Sunday game. The NFL has not announced any change to the schedule. Meanwhile, media is reporting Friday the Tennessee Titans had no new positive tests. The franchise has the largest outbreak in the league. The Titans reported their 23rd positive test among its players and staff Thursday. The New England Patriots also reported no new positive cases Friday after a positive test result Wednesday for cornerback Stephon Gilmore, the second player on the team in the past week to test positive since quarterback Cam Newton tested positive Saturday.  The Patriots were forced to close their facilities following that news, and their game with the Denver Broncos, originally scheduled for Sunday in Foxborough, Massachusetts, will now be played Monday. 
 
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From the start of his tenure as CEO of the U.S. Agency for Global Media in June, Michael Pack and his team of political appointees aggressively sought “to fundamentally remake USAGM into state sponsored media,” according to a lawsuit filed in a federal court in Washington on Thursday.   The FILE – Michael Pack, CEO the U.S. Agency for Global Media, is seen at his confirmation hearing, on Capitol Hill, in Washington, Sept. 19, 2019.Members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee have flagged several concerns about Pack’s decisions regarding the Open Technology Fund, the firing of network heads and his failure to renew visas for international journalists, among other matters.    The plaintiffs named in the filing late Thursday include former USAGM CFO Grant Turner and four other senior executives who were placed on administrative leave in August.   The named defendants include USAGM CEO Michael Pack and five of his staff members. The lawsuit says Pack and his team sought to install themselves in editorial decision making; scrutinized news copy and personal social media feeds of journalists at USAGM’s networks, including at VOA, for perceived bias against President Donald Trump; and retaliated against staff who flagged concerns about alleged firewall violations and mismanagement.    The suit also argues that Pack’s decisions and investigations have affected VOA’s editorial independence, with journalists and senior management avoiding stories that could be deemed controversial to protect staff from potential USAGM retaliation.    Freezes and alleged violations of the Antideficiency Act — which prevents government agencies from spending funds differently from how Congress intended — have further hampered the USAGM mission, with VOA language services drastically reducing or cutting content after losing staff, the suit says.    “If Voice of America and the other USAGM networks are to survive Defendants’ insidious stewardship, this Court must act,” the suit says. “It must enforce the firewall in the way Congress wrote it and the agency’s own regulation construes it.”  The lawsuit comes in the wake of protected whistleblower complaints filed to the Office of the Inspector General and Office of Special Counsel on behalf of agency employees. The OIG in September also wrote to USAGM to express concern about comments suggesting it would take disciplinary action against whistleblowers within VOA.    In a statement shared Friday with VOA, Pack said the lawsuit was “without merit” and that all of his and his team’s decisions and actions are “correct and lawful.”   “USAGM leadership will not allow any effort to distract attention away from the real issues of an agency that has been poorly run and mismanaged for years, to the detriment of national security and the American people and the agency’s ability to perform its important mission of promulgating American ideals such as democracy and freedom around the world,” Pack said.    Editorial interference   The lawsuit alleges several breaches of the federally regulated editorial firewall that prohibits anyone in the executive branch or a network outside the newsroom from “attempt[ing] to direct, pressure, coerce, threaten, interfere with, or otherwise impermissibly influence any of the USAGM networks.”   On Pack’s first day in office he removed VOA standards editor Steven Springer, a veteran journalist who oversees and enforces the agency’s editorial guidelines. To date, USAGM has ignored multiple communications from VOA leadership that the position is critical to the network, the suit says.    FILE – The Voice of America building, in Washington, June 15, 2020.The lawsuit cites a letter sent to management by an unnamed senior editor in August that argues that the extended absence of a standards editor, especially during a U.S. presidential election, “is frankly journalistic malpractice.”  “The longer the position remains empty, the more likely we will make errors that undermine our credibility,” the editor wrote.    The lawsuit also alleges interference in personnel matters including the firing of Radio Free Asia executive editor Bay Fang; attempts to reassign a newly hired New York bureau chief for VOA — an effort resisted by the newsroom; and Pack’s refusal to sign J-1 visas — the special entry permits for individuals with unique talents.    The latter, the suit argues, has resulted in several VOA language services “struggling to produce the volume and quality of content both Congress and their audience expect.”  VOA has more than 40 language services that broadcast to a weekly audience of some 280 million people.    The lawsuit says VOA had to cancel Hausa-language service affiliation partnerships as well as “radio and Twitter content aimed at young people who are vulnerable to extremism.” Actions by the defendants led to a shortage of staff for the Mandarin service and reduced programming in Russian, Iranian and Korean languages, as well as disruption to Venezuela programming, the suit says.    Intimidation and investigations    The lawsuit accuses Pack and co-defendants, including senior adviser Samuel Dewey, of illegally interfering with journalistic content.    It alleges Dewey has tried to insert himself into news coverage meetings; bypassing newsroom leadership to speak directly with journalists to seek action.     USAGM policy states that suspected editorial shortcomings should be investigated by journalists at the news networks rather than outside officials. The suit argues USAGM management does not have the authority to initiate an investigation into specific editorial issues or impose punishments.   In one such investigation, USAGM officials questioned reporters and editors about profiles of first lady Melania Trump and Jill Biden, with an emphasis on the author of specific words about the president’s comments on immigrants and his attacks on “perceived adversaries on Twitter.” The line was changed before publication.   “USAGM’s attempt to root out the writer and editor responsible for these words is a reprehensible attempt to retaliate against reporters … and to penalize them for taking what they perceive to be an anti-Trump viewpoint,” the suit alleges.  Dewey also asked VOA’s leadership to identify which journalists are working on which stories, the suit alleges. It says that interference by the CEO’s office has led to self-censorship to avoid retaliation against staff.    The lawsuit details a September newsroom meeting at which VOA managers dropped several political stories “because of increased scrutiny, the investigations, and the risks of retaliation by the Defendants.” Similarly, reporting has been adjusted to prevent any possibility of the defendants interpreting content as pro-Biden.   A senior VOA manager wrote to VOA’s leadership: “[W]e have reached a point where we, in the News Center, are at least as worried about self-censorship as we are about bias and think we need to be equally vigilant against both.”  The investigations and scrutiny of staff extends beyond the news content published by the agency. The lawsuit details investigations into journalists’ social media profiles and alleges Pack and his team compiled a 30-page document about White House Bureau Chief Steven Herman, who had written a letter to VOA acting director Biberaj raising concerns about Pack’s actions.    Staff in the CEO’s office “have placed Herman’s reporting under a magnifying glass since the letter, and have been watching Herman’s private social media activity for any hint of bias,” the suit alleges. USAGM staff shared with Biberaj the document that alleged Herman had conflicts of interest.   The suit says the actions amount to an attempt to intimidate and undermine Herman’s coverage of the administration.    FILE – Congressman Michael McCaul, R-Tex, questions witnesses during a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Sept. 16, 2020.In response to allegations about an investigation into Herman, lead Republican on the Foreign Affairs Committee Michael McCaul of Texas said earlier this week he was “concerned about the state of affairs at USAGM and its grantees like OTF under CEO Pack’s watch.” OTF provides grants to create technology to facilitate the free flow of information. Senator Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut, said the investigation was “inappropriate and possibly illegal.”    “This didn’t happen in a vacuum. This is all part of the growing politicization of the United States Agency for Global Media, which VOA is housed under, by new CEO Michael Pack,” Murphy told VOA. “Freedom of press is crucial to a democracy. That’s why I’m working on legislation to protect journalists from being targeted for their perceived political views.”     FILE – Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., speaks during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Sept. 24, 2020.An Oct. 4 policy memo Pack shared about social media use and conflicts of interest is similarly viewed by the lawsuit as an attempt to control reporters and their supervisors.  In a statement Monday on the memo, Biberaj said VOA handles potential infractions in accordance with its policies and federal law.”VOA’s independence, integrity, and credibility of our reporting are of paramount importance,” Biberaj said.  “VOA considers any violation of the firewall or attack on its journalistic independence completely unacceptable.”    The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (RCFP), a nonprofit that offers pro bono legal support to journalists, said Pack’s actions have “prompted broad bipartisan condemnation.”   “This lawsuit is a welcome step in restoring independence to the broadcasters so they can continue to provide crucial news services to audiences around the world, particularly in countries suffering under censorship or state-controlled media,” said Gabe Rottman, director of RCFP’s technology and press freedom project.  Funding    Since his appointment, Pack has frozen budgets at the agency, imposed hiring freezes, and attempted to redistribute funding already approved by Congress. The latter carries administrative and penal sanctions, the suit says.  USAGM distributes grants to the networks but since June several funds have been withheld without explanation. The funds had already been allocated via appropriation bills signed into law by the president.   Other funds were moved internally and without legal authorization, the suit alleges, including $3.4 million in Internet Freedom funds which were moved from a grantee without notifying the appropriate bodies or having them reapportioned by the Office of Management and Budget, and $1.4 million from the Office of Policy Research. 
 
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China said Friday it is joining a World Health Organization international initiative to distribute COVID-19 vaccines to the developing world.  China, Russia and the U.S. had said they were not joining the alliance to help two-thirds of world’s population receive the vaccines by 2022.China’s reversal makes it the largest country to participate in what is known as the COVAX deal.  “We are taking this concrete step to ensure equitable distribution of vaccines, especially to developing countries, and hope more capable countries will also join and support Covax,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in a statement. Over 36 million infections
More than 36.5 million people have been infected with the coronavirus as it snakes it way around the world, according to statistics from the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. 
 
The U.S., India and Brazil lead in the number of cases and deaths from COVID-19 — the disease caused by the virus. India’s health ministry reported more than 70,000 new cases in the past 24-hour period.  
 
The U.S. has more than 7.6 million infections and upwards of 212,000 deaths. India has nearly 7 million COVID cases, with more than 106,000 deaths, while Brazil has over 5 million cases and a death tally close to 149,000.
Russia reported a new record for coronavirus cases Monday – 12,126, bringing its total of confirmed cases to 1,272,238.  The previous daily high was in May.  Some officials there say new restrictions may have to be imposed. Ukraine reported a record 5,804 new cases Friday.  Authorities are expected to extend the Eastern European country’s lockdown until the end of October. Australia said Friday it has experienced two straight days without any COVID-19 deaths, the longest amount of time it has not had any COVID deaths in three months. White House Director of Strategic Communications Alyssa Farah puts on her mask after speaking to reporters about U.S. President Donald Trump’s coronavirus disease (COVID-19), outside the White House in Washington, Oct. 8, 2020.White House outbreak
Various health departments in the U.S. capital, Washington, and the states of Maryland and Virginia sent letters Thursday to individuals who worked at the White House in the past two weeks or attended an event Sept. 26 in the Rose Garden for Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett, urging them “to contact their local health department for further guidance/questions regarding their potential need to quarantine.”   
 
The White House seemingly has become the source for several COVID-19 cases, including the infection of U.S. President Donald Trump, several lawmakers and the president of Notre Dame University.  
 
Photos of the Barrett event showed the mostly maskless crowd not observing social distancing protocols, including sitting shoulder-to-shoulder in chairs placed on the lawn.  The Expanding Number of COVID-19 Cases Linked to the White HouseAn increasing number of people with connections to the White House – including the President and First Lady – contracted COVID-19 recently        
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Armenia and Azerbaijan have agreed to participate in Moscow-mediated talks to end the fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh, the Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry said Friday. As deadly clashes over the breakaway Azerbaijani region continued overnight Thursday, foreign ministers of both countries accepted Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invitation to meet for the first negotiations since fighting erupted Sept. 27.”Baku and Yerevan have confirmed their participation,” AFP quoted Russian ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova as saying. The preparations were underway, she said.Armenia and AzerbaijanThe Kremlin said in a statement late Thursday that “following a series of telephone discussions between the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and the Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan,” Putin called for a halt to fighting “in order to exchange dead bodies and prisoners.” Armenian and Azerbaijani forces had ignored calls in the past two weeks by the United States, France and Russia for an immediate cease-fire, as fighting escalated to levels not seen since the 1990s. The three countries co-chair the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Minsk Group, which is trying to find a peaceful solution.   The predominantly ethnic Armenian territory declared its independence from Azerbaijan in 1991 during the collapse of the Soviet Union, sparking a war that claimed the lives of as many as 30,000 people before a 1994 cease-fire.    Peace efforts in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, mediated by the Minsk Group, collapsed in 2010.   
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Former Malian presidential candidate Soumaila Cisse met the country’s transitional president Thursday night for the first time since his release this week by Islamist insurgents in a prisoner swap.Cisse, who had been kidnapped six months ago, did not reveal the nature of his talks with Bah N’Daw and other dignitaries at Mali’s presidential palace, in the capital Bamako.Cisse only spoke of his captivity, saying he was mostly in isolation living under difficult conditions, but that he was not the victim of any physical or verbal abuse.Cisse and three European hostages were freed by Islamic extremists in northern Mali just days after the Malian government released nearly 200 militants despite concerns their release might further destabilize the country.
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One of the most popular holiday beach resorts in Argentina is the site of a poignant memorial to the people who have died from the novel coronavirus.People in Mar del Plata planted 504 small Argentine flags on Bristol Beach, as the pandemic continues to spread through the interior of the country.Residents said they chose the popular beach ahead of the start of the summer season to draw attention to the rising toll of people contracting coronavirus and dying from COVID-19.One of the Mar del Plata residents placing the flags on the beach said her sympathy for COVID-19 victims extends beyond her hometown.COVID-19 infections reportedly are down in Buenos Aires and its metropolitan area, but nationwide, Argentina still has one of the highest coronavirus tallies in Latin America and the world.Argentina has reported more than 840,000 cases of the new coronavirus and 22,710 deaths.
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Eight-year-old Inbar Regev plays with her pet python, Belle, in a small pool in her backyard at her family’s animal sanctuary in the Israeli town of Ge’a, Wednesday, October 7.  Inbar said Belle is good company during a coronavirus lockdown that has kept schools closed over the past few weeks. “It helps me pass the time because I really like to hang out with snakes and sometimes I help snakes shed (their skin) and I help them to be happy during coronavirus,” Inbar said. Sarit Regev, Inbar’s mother, said the two grew up together. “Inbar was raised with all these animals and she was raised with the snakes. When Inbar was little she swam inside the bath with the snake and now she has grown up and the snake got bigger, so they swim together in the pool. It’s very natural for us,” she said. (Reuters) 
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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is questioning President Donald Trump’s fitness to serve, announcing legislation Thursday that would create a commission to allow Congress to intervene under the 25th Amendment to the Constitution and remove the president from executive duties.Just weeks before the Nov. 3 election, Pelosi said Trump needs to disclose more about his health after his COVID-19 diagnosis. She noted Trump’s “strange tweet” halting talks on a new coronavirus aid package — he subsequently tried to reverse course — and said Americans need to know when, exactly, he first contracted COVID as others in the White House became infected. On Friday, she plans to roll out the legislation that would launch the commission for review.”The public needs to know the health condition of the president,” Pelosi said, later invoking the 25th Amendment, which allows a president’s cabinet or Congress to intervene when a president is unable to conduct the duties of the office.Trump responded swiftly via Twitter.”Crazy Nancy is the one who should be under observation. They don’t call her Crazy for nothing!” the president said.The president’s opponents have discussed invoking the 25th Amendment for some time, but are raising it now, so close to Election Day, as the campaigns are fast turning into a referendum on Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic. More than 210,000 Americans have died and millions more infected by the virus that shows no signs of abating heading into what public health experts warn will be a difficult flu season and winter.Trump says he “feels great” after being hospitalized and is back at work in the White House. But his doctors have given mixed signals about his diagnosis and treatment. Trump plans to resume campaigning soon.Congress is not in legislative session, and so any serious consideration of the measure, let alone votes in the House or Senate, is unlikely. But the bill serves as a political tool to stoke questions about Trump’s health as his own White House is hit by an outbreak infecting top aides, staff and visitors, including senators.Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) speaks to the media after the Republican policy luncheon on Capitol Hill in Washington, Sept. 22, 2020.In a stunning admission, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Thursday that he had stopped going to the White House two months ago because he disagreed with its coronavirus protocols. His last visit was Aug. 6.”My impression was their approach to how to handle this was different from mine and what I insisted we do in the Senate, which is to wear a mask and practice social distancing,” McConnell said at a campaign stop in northern Kentucky for his own reelection.On Friday, Pelosi along with Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., a constitutional law professor, plan to roll out the legislation that would create a commission as outlined under the 25th Amendment, which was passed by Congress and ratified in 1967 as way to ensure a continuity of power in the aftermath of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination.It says the vice president and a majority of principal officers of the executive departments “or of such other body as Congress” may by law provide a declaration to Congress that the president “is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.” At that point, the vice president would immediately assume the powers of acting president.Trump abruptly halted talks this week on the new COVID aid package, sending the economy reeling, his GOP allies scrambling and leaving millions of Americans without additional support. Then he immediately reversed course and tried to kickstart talks.It all came in a head-spinning series of tweets and comments days after he returned to the White House after his hospitalization with COVID-19.First, Trump told the Republican leaders in Congress on Tuesday to quit negotiating on an aid package. By Wednesday he was trying to bring everyone back to the table for his priority items — including $1,200 stimulus checks for almost all adult Americans.Pelosi said Thursday that Democrats are “still at the table” and her office resumed conversations with top negotiator Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.She said she told Mnuchin she was willing to consider a measure to prop up the airline industry, which is facing widespread layoffs. But that aid, she said, must go alongside broader legislation that includes the kind of COVID testing, tracing and health practices that Democrats say are needed as part of a national strategy to “crush the virus.”Normally, the high stakes and splintered politics ahead of an election could provide grounds for a robust package. But with other Republicans refusing to spend more money, it appears no relief will be coming with Americans already beginning early voting.Democrats have made it clear they will not do a piecemeal approach until the Trump administration signs off on a broader, comprehensive plan they are proposing for virus testing, tracing and other actions to stop its spread. They have scaled back a $3 trillion measure to a $2.2 trillion proposal. The White House presented a $1.6 trillion counter offer. Talks were ongoing when Trump shut them down.”There’s no question that the proximity to the election has made this much more challenging,” McConnell said.
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The top-ranked military officer in the United States is warning adversaries that there has been no letup in the country’s defenses even though he and other high-ranking officers have been forced to self-quarantine because of the coronavirus.In a message shared Thursday on Twitter, Joint Chiefs Chairman General Mark Milley said the quarantine was having “no impact” on the Pentagon’s ability to defend the nation or its allies.“America is capable and ready,” Milley said in the statement. “The Joint Chiefs and I remain in constant communication while in quarantine and the chain of command remains the same.”#GenMilley: “America is capable and ready to defend the homeland and support our allies and partners. The Joint Chiefs and I remain in constant communication while in quarantine and the chain of command remains the same. (1/2)— The Joint Staff 🇺🇸 (@thejointstaff) October 8, 2020Milley, along with Vice Chairman General John Hyten and the chiefs of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Space Force, began self-quarantining earlier this week, “out of an abundance of caution,” according to the Pentagon, after learning another top military official, U.S. Coast Guard Vice Commandant Admiral Charles Ray, had come down with COVID-19.Officials said Ray tested positive for the coronavirus on Monday, followed by Marine Corps Assistant Commandant General Gary Thomas, who tested positive Tuesday.Officials said all the military officers, along with National Guard Bureau Chief General Daniel Hokanson, Cyber Command Chief General Paul Nakasone, and lower-ranking members of the Joint Staff took part in meetings last week at the Pentagon.The Pentagon said it was unclear how Ray, who began experiencing mild symptoms over the weekend, was exposed to the coronavirus.Protocols followed“From the available data that I have, the senior-most leaders of the department are following and have followed all of the protocols to keep themselves safe and their staff safe,” Lieutenant General Ronald Place, director of the Defense Health Agency, told reporters Thursday.“What this really shows is despite all those best practices that we think that we know about how to try to contain this particular virus, it isn’t 100% effective,” Place said. “It’s just reinforcing that we have to continue to stay vigilant at a time where complacency becomes an even greater risk factor across the world, really, but in particular for us across America.”Milley, Defense Secretary Mark Esper and other senior defense officials have been tested frequently since Sept. 27, when they attended a White House reception for Gold Star families of fallen troops. Both President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump were at that event and tested positive for coronavirus later in the week.VOA Pentagon Correspondent Carla Babb contributed to this report.
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Violence in Afghanistan has surged as the U.S. special envoy is in Doha to break the deadlock over the framework for conducting peace talks.   
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U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and California Senator Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party’s vice presidential nominee, faced off Wednesday night in a debate in Salt Lake City, Utah.  Mike O’Sullivan reports the administration’s handling of COVID-19 loomed large as President Donald Trump and others in the White House remain in quarantine after contracting the virus.
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American poet Louise Glück has won this year’s Nobel Prize in literature.The Swedish Academy praised Glück’s “unmistakable poetic voice that with austere beauty makes individual existence universal.”Glück has published 12  poetry collections, and her previous honors include the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award.The literature prize is just one of a group given out this week.  Each comes with a $1.1 million cash award.Friday brings the announcement of the Nobel Peace Prize.The prize in chemistry was awarded to two scientists for developing a method of gene editing.Three scientists won the physics prize Wednesday for their discoveries related to black holes.  Three scientists also shared the medicine prize for the discovery of the Hepatitis C virus.
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Authorities in Mexico are trying to trace the origin of a light plane carrying just under 400 kilos of cocaine, which crashed following an air chase.Mexico’s Defense Ministry announced Wednesday that two people on board the plane died.Reuters reports that authorities say Mexican military helicopters chased the plane for hundreds of kilometers over Mexico airspace Monday before it ran out of fuel and crashed in central Mexico.The crash occurred less than two weeks after authorities said a business jet stolen in Mexico crashed in Guatemala, near a jungle airstrip, carrying a stash of drugs and weapons.Authorities say the plane made a stop in Venezuela for an unknown reason before the crash.Prosecutors in Guatemala said at least two bodies were found at the crash site.The Associated Press reports Guatemala confiscated more than 50 aircraft last year on suspicion of transporting drugs.
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In a further blow to the travel industry, Australia is warning its international borders are likely to stay closed because of COVID-19 restrictions until “late next year.” Foreign nationals were banned in March to help curb the spread of the coronavirus, and Australian citizens must get official permission to leave the country.Last year, about 9 million overseas travelers arrived in Australia. The largest groups came from China, New Zealand and the United States. The pandemic has seen those numbers collapse.COVID-19 has turned Australia into a fortress. Its borders were closed to foreign nationals in March, helping to contain the disease but inflicting enormous economic harm. Australia is in a recession for the first time in three decades.The exclusion of overseas tourists and students intending to study in Australia has cost Australia billions of dollars in lost revenue.Australian citizens and permanent residents are allowed to fly home, but they must pay for mandatory hotel quarantine on their return. Tens of thousands of people are stranded in other countries because of strict quotas on those allowed into the quarantine system. Australians need official permission from the government to leave the country.Many of Australia’s internal borders also have also been closed to curb the spread of the virus.Most states and territories have managed to contain the virus, but reopening the country will take time, according to the Australian treasurer Josh Frydenberg.“Domestic borders are assumed to reopen around the end of this year,” he said. “International travel, including by tourists and international students, is assumed to remain largely closed off until late next year and then gradually return over time. And a vaccine to be available around the end of 2021 is one of the assumptions in the budget.”Large-scale immigration, which has fueled prosperity in Australia, will only resume when international borders are reopened.By many global comparisons, Australia has mostly handled the pandemic well. It has recorded just over 27,000 coronavirus cases, and about 900 people have died.Geography has been a key part in its pandemic strategy. Australia is a huge island, and restricting international travel has helped to limit the spread of COVID-19. Safely reconnecting with the rest of the world promises to be a monumental challenge for the authorities here, though.
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President Donald Trump said Wednesday he wants all U.S. troops to leave Afghanistan by Christmas, speeding up the timeline for ending America’s longest war.”We should have the small remaining number of our BRAVE Men and Women serving in Afghanistan home by Christmas!” Trump wrote on Twitter.In a February 29 agreement reached in Qatar with the Taliban, the United States promised to pull out all of its troops by mid-2021 in return for the insurgents’ promises not to allow Afghanistan to be used as a haven by extremists.The Taliban have since opened talks in Doha with the Afghan government, but the meetings have stalled as the hard-line Sunni rebels insist on their form of Islamic jurisprudence.Trump’s promise comes one month before U.S. elections in which the president, trailing in the polls, has sought to show that he is making good on his promise to draw to a close the nation’s “endless wars.”After 19 years of U.S. military operations, his stance enjoys wide support, with Democratic rival Joe Biden, a critic during his time as vice president of further U.S. involvement in Afghanistan, also supporting a withdrawal.The United States first intervened in Afghanistan after the September 11, 2001, attacks and dislodged the Taliban regime, which had welcomed Al-Qaida.But in the years since, the resurgent militants have launched a fresh battle to topple the U.S.-backed government in Kabul, with civilians bearing the brunt of spiraling violence since NATO combat troops withdrew in 2014.Trump has reduced U.S. forces in Afghanistan to around 8,600 and the Taliban has stood by promises not to attack Western troops, even as the militants continue their bloody campaign against government forces.
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An Iranian dissident has contracted the coronavirus at a prison in northern Iran, according to a knowledgeable source, highlighting what U.S. and U.N. officials say is a worsening pandemic threat facing Iran’s prisoners of conscience.In a message sent Tuesday to VOA Persian, an Iran-based source close to the family of dissident Farhad Meysami said Meysami tested positive for the virus at Rajaei Shahr prison in the city of Karaj and was transferred that morning from his ward to a so-called prison “safe room” for isolation. The source had no further details on the conditions of Meysami’s detention.The 50-year-old medical doctor and women’s rights activist has been imprisoned by Iran since his July 31, 2018, arrest. Security agents detained him at his Tehran home where they found him in possession of pins with the slogan “I am against compulsory hijab.”Meysami had been peacefully supporting a 2018 campaign by Iranian women who removed their hijabs in public to protest Islamist regulations requiring the headscarves. He was sentenced in January 2019 to five years in prison on charges of “spreading propaganda against the system” and “gathering and colluding to commit crimes against national security,”  a sentence that was upheld on appeal in August that year.Authorities initially incarcerated Meysami at Tehran’s Evin prison before moving him to Rajaei Shahr last November.A former Iranian political prisoner first reported Meysami’s coronavirus infection in a series of Monday tweets.#فرهادمیثمی در زندان رجائی‌شهر به کرونا مبتلا شده است؛امروز از زندان تماس گرفت و گفت که جواب تستش مثبت شده، اینکه در هفته گذشته احساس بی‌اشتهائی داشته ولی الان حالش خوب است.گفتم این خبر را توئیت بکنم، مخالفتی نکرد.گفتم آیا لازم است بگویم حالِ فعلی‌تان خوب است؟گفت: بله!۱/ pic.twitter.com/grFUJwI8Vv— Zia Nabavi (@ZiaNabavi1) October 5, 2020Zia Nabavi, who is based in Iran, tweeted that Meysami informed him of the diagnosis in a phone call from prison that day. Nabavi said Meysami reported feeling fine after being unwell last week.#فرهادمیثمی در زندان رجائی‌شهر به کرونا مبتلا شده است؛امروز از زندان تماس گرفت و گفت که جواب تستش مثبت شده، اینکه در هفته گذشته احساس بی‌اشتهائی داشته ولی الان حالش خوب است.گفتم این خبر را توئیت بکنم، مخالفتی نکرد.گفتم آیا لازم است بگویم حالِ فعلی‌تان خوب است؟گفت: بله!۱/ pic.twitter.com/grFUJwI8Vv— Zia Nabavi (@ZiaNabavi1) October 5, 2020The former political prisoner followed up with a Tuesday tweet in which he also said Meysami had been transferred to a prison safe room that morning. Nabavi described the safe room as an individual cell without medical and other facilities available to inmates in the public wards.Meysami’s lawyer Mohammad Moghimi also tweeted about his client’s coronavirus diagnosis on Monday.موکلم دکتر فرهاد میثمی به کرونا مبتلاء شده و باید از مرخصی درمانی بهره‌مند شود. بارها گفته‌ام، دوباره تاکید می‌کنم؛ زندانیان سیاسی باید بدون قید و شرط آزاد شوند و سلامتی زندانیان عادی نیز باید تضمین شود یا آنان نیز بصورت موقت یا مشروط آزاد شوند.#فرهادمیثمی#زندانیسیاسی#کروناpic.twitter.com/6ljKYTbGqR— Mohammad Moghimi (@Moghimi_Lawyer) October 5, 2020“My client should be on medical leave,” Moghimi wrote. “I emphasize again: political prisoners must be released unconditionally, and the health of ordinary prisoners must be guaranteed. Otherwise, they must be released temporarily or conditionally.”Meysami’s infection got a mention in Iranian state media as well. Ensaf News published a Monday report quoting a friend of the dissident, medical book publisher Farhad Teimourzadeh, as saying he heard about the diagnosis from the dissident’s mother, Sedigheh Pishnamaz.The health risks facing prisoners of conscience in Iran has prompted international concern as the Islamist-ruled nation struggles to contain the worst coronavirus outbreak in the Middle East.The U.S. is concerned by the worsening COVID-19 situation in Iran and we reiterate our offer of assistance first made in February. We join @UNHumanRights’ call for Iranian authorities to release all political prisoners from their overcrowded and unsanitary prisons immediately.— Morgan Ortagus (@statedeptspox) October 6, 2020In a Tuesday tweet, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus called for Iranian authorities “to release all political prisoners from their overcrowded and unsanitary prisons immediately.”U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet also issued a statement Tuesday saying poor conditions inside Iranian prisons have “led to the spread of the virus among detainees, reportedly resulting in a number of deaths.”“I call for [Iran’s] unconditional release of human rights defenders, lawyers, political prisoners, peaceful protesters and all other individuals deprived of their liberty for expressing their views or otherwise exercising their rights,” Bachelet said. “It is particularly important to rectify such injustices at a time when COVID-19 is coursing through Iran’s prisons.” This article originated in VOA’s Persian Service. Lipin reported from Washington and Yazdiha from Istanbul. Click here for the original Persian version of the story.
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President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump are among at least a dozen top White House or other government officials diagnosed with COVID-19. Plugged In with Greta Van Susteren examines the President’s treatment with former Director of the Centers for Disease Control Dr. Tom Frieden and ABC News Political Director Rick Klein helps clarify the effect it has on the presidential election campaign. Airdate October 7, 2020.
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