Статті

Voters in Poland are going to the polls Sunday for what most analysts say will be a close runoff election between right-wing President Andrzej Duda and centrist Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski.In the first round of voting in late June, there was no clear winner.  Duda received 43 percent of the votes, while Trzaskowski obtained 30 percent.Duda’s nationalist Law and Justice Party is hoping to be able to extend its majority in parliament and implement conservative social, judicial and immigration policies that many others in the European Union have criticized as anti-democratic.They include Duda’s pledge to ban gay rights classes in schools. He has called homosexuality worse than communism.Trzaskowski, of the Civic Platform party, campaigned on promises to preserve the ruling party’s popular welfare programs but said he would block any legislation he says would be unconstitutional. He also says he would restore good relations with the European Union.The coronavirus outbreak forced a nearly two-month delay in the first round of voting.Observers say the postponement hurt Duda, who had looked as if he would cruise to a first-round victory. But his popularity in the polls slipped after the Civic Platform party replaced a much less popular candidate with Trzaskowski and other candidates were allowed to get out and campaign more when COVID-19 restrictions were eased.  
…

To slow the spread of the coronavirus, governments issued lockdowns to keep people at home. They curtailed activities that affected services like trash collection. They tried to shield hospitals from a surge of patients.But the cascading effects of these restrictions also are hampering efforts to cope with seasonal outbreaks of dengue, an incurable, mosquito-borne disease that is also known as “breakbone fever” for its severely painful symptoms.Southeast Asian countries like Singapore and Indonesia have dealt with concurrent outbreaks of dengue and coronavirus this year. In Brazil, where there are more than 1.8 million COVID-19 infections, at least 1.1 million cases of dengue have been reported, with nearly 400 deaths, according to the Pan American Health Organization.Dengue cases are likely to rise soon with the start of seasonal rains in Latin American countries like Cuba, Chile and Costa Rica, as well as the South Asian countries of India and Pakistan.Dengue typically isn’t fatal, but severe cases may require hospitalization. Prevention efforts targeted at destroying mosquito-breeding sites, like removing trash or old tires and other objects containing standing water, are still the best ways to curb the spread of the disease. But coronavirus-era lockdowns and other restrictions have meant that these efforts have been reduced or stopped altogether in many countries.In northwestern Pakistan, plans to disinfect tire shops and markets that had dengue outbreaks in 2019 were shelved due to funds being used for the coronavirus, said Dr. Rizwan Kundi, head of the Young Doctor’s Association.FILE – A laborer cleans a manhole on a sidewalk in Mumbai, India, June 10, 2020.Health workers who would destroy mosquito-breeding sites in India’s capital of New Delhi are also screening people for the virus.Having to identify thousands of virus cases has meant that dengue surveillance has suffered in many Latin American countries, added Dr. Maria Franca Tallarico, the head of health for the Americas regional office of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.Experts say that disrupting such prevention efforts is ominous for the global battle against dengue.The World Health Organization says 2019 was the worst year on record for dengue cases, with every region affected, and some countries were hit for the first time.Aedes aegypti, the mosquito that spreads dengue, is most prevalent in cities, and experts warn that increased urbanization and warming temperatures due to climate change means that its range will keep increasing.Experts say that while reduced travel means fewer opportunities for mosquitoes to bite people with dengue to become carriers themselves, the coronavirus pandemic has introduced other variables.Staying home — one way to slow outbreaks of COVID-19, especially in cities — poses greater risks for spreading dengue, said Singapore’s National Environment Agency (NEA). That’s because the Aedes mosquito bites during the day, and with more people staying home, where mosquito populations are high, the more likely they are to be bitten.The impact is already visible. Singapore recorded a five-fold increase in the mosquito larvae detected in homes and common corridors of residential areas during the two-month coronavirus lockdown period, compared with the previous two months. By July 6, the total of dengue cases in Singapore was more than 15,500. The NEA says the number of cases this year is expected to exceed the 22,170 cases reported in 2013, which at the time was the largest dengue outbreak in Singapore’s history.FILE – A worker fumigates a neighborhood in an effort to control the spread of dengue fever, amid the new coronavirus outbreak in Jakarta, Indonesia, May 17, 2020.Oliver Brady, an associate professor at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said Central America and the Caribbean were at higher risk due to overlapping outbreaks.Working with communities in Latin America to stop mosquitoes from breeding had been the most successful anti-dengue strategy in recent years, Tallarico said. But with strict limitations on movement, she said they didn’t know whether these measures were still happening, and “this is the big concern for us.”A shortage of protective equipment also means limiting the number of first responders who can check on people with fever or cough, she said.“My concern is that you have (many) more cases of dengue … but the capacity of the system to notify (and) test is limited,” she said.Dengue patients need acute care, and this could lead to a “double whammy” that overwhelms health care systems, said Scott O’Neill, founder and director of the World Mosquito Program.“The health care system is already crumbling. … I am not sure how (India’s) existing health care system will be able to handle this load,” said Dr. S.P Kalantri, a public health specialist.Global research into dengue also will be affected by the coronavirus pandemic, Brady said.At the WMP Tahija Foundation Research Laboratory in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, which has been studying dengue for years, “it became too difficult to enroll patients with the social-distancing measures,” O’Neill said. The facility is now being used as a COVID-19 testing site.Similarly, the National Institute of Malaria Research in New Delhi has stopped all field work after it was converted into a center for validating COVID-19 testing kits, said Dr. R.C Dhiman, who studies mosquitoes and climate change.In Bangladesh, where dengue season is just starting, the launch of a mobile app to help people report their cases was delayed by the pandemic, said Afsana Alamgir Khan, who oversees the country’s dengue program.Experts say such disruptions by the coronavirus will only increase the risks of dengue infections. 
…

In the wake of a pair of U.S. Supreme Court rulings on President Donald Trump’s refusal to release his financial records, a debate is raging about whether the landmark decisions represent a win or a loss for Trump.The rulings on Thursday all but ensure that Trump’s tax returns and other closely guarded records won’t be released — and potentially used by his political rivals — before the contentious November 3 presidential election.But the high court’s decisions also amount to a repudiation of Trump’s long-standing claim of immunity from subpoenas for his personal information and his expansive views of presidential authority.Here are three things you need to know about the court’s 7-2 decisions:No one is above the lawIn the first case, known as Trump v. Vance, the Supreme Court essentially reaffirmed a long-standing principle that no one — the president included — is immune from the criminal process.The case concerned a subpoena issued by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance for eight years of financial records of Trump, a multibillionaire former New York real estate developer. Vance is supervising a grand jury investigation of Trump’s business dealings and whether the Trump Organization falsified business records to conceal the payment of hush money to two women who claimed to have had affairs with Trump years ago — assertions the president has denied.Vance’s subpoena marked the first time a local prosecutor has issued a request for a sitting president’s personal papers.Trump’s lawyers went to court to block the subpoena. Claiming that Trump enjoyed “absolute immunity” from criminal investigations by a local prosecutor, they argued that enforcing the subpoena would harass and distract him from his duties and tarnish his reputation.But Chief Justice John Roberts, citing more than 200 years of precedent, rejected the assertion.“In our judicial system, the public has a right to every man’s evidence,” Roberts wrote on behalf of the court, citing an old maxim.Roberts also rejected the claim that a higher standard is needed when a president is subpoenaed. But he said that the president, like every other citizen, has the right to challenge the subpoena in court.Paul J. Larkin, a former Justice Department official who is now a senior legal research fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation, said the ruling amounts to a “reaffirmation of presidential accountability.”“What they said was this has always been the rule with respect to federal cases, and we don’t see a reason for a different rule to apply just because it’s a state case,” Larkin said.Congressional subpoena power is not unboundedIn the second case, known as Trump v. Mazars, the court struck a middle ground, ruling that while Congress has the power to subpoena the president, that authority is not “limitless.”At issue in this case were four subpoenas issued last year by three House of Representatives committees for Trump’s financial records. The committees claimed the information was needed as part of their investigations of Trump and efforts to craft new legislation.The high court has long recognized Congress’ constitutional authority to issue subpoenas. However, it had never before waded into a dispute between Congress and the executive branch over a subpoena for the president’s personal tax returns and records.Here the justices threaded a needle between Congress’ need to investigate and the executive branch’s interests. While reaffirming Congress’ investigative power, they held that the four House subpoenas placed “separation of powers principles at stake, including both the significant legislative interests of Congress and the ‘unique position’ of the President.”To resolve these issues, the high court asked that lower courts consider at least four factors in weighing the validity of a subpoena, including ensuring that a request for documents is “no broader than reasonably necessary” and that it does not impose undue “burdens” on the president.“The way I think about it is, Congress just can’t say, ‘We’re passing legislation’ or ‘We’re thinking of legislation.’ They’ve got to say more,” said Sai Prakash, a law professor at the University of Virginia.Where do we go from here?The disputes head back to the lower courts in New York and Washington, D.C. The outcome is uncertain, and a final verdict could come down either way. Trump may prevail in both cases if his lawyers mount a successful challenge to the Vance subpoena and ward off House efforts in the congressional case. On the other hand, lawyers for House Democrats may get one or more of their subpoenas approved after recrafting them to meet the criteria laid out by the high court.Alternatively, the two parties could engage in negotiations to reach a compromise. That would be the court’s preference, given the justices’ aversion to getting drawn into political disputes between Congress and the president. 
…

After days of disagreement, the U.N. Security Council agreed late Saturday to a slimmed down cross-border aid operation from Turkey into northwest Syria, after pressure from Russia and China threatened to totally sever the lifeline.“In the interest of the almost 3 million civilians who depend on the crossing of Bab al-Hawa, the council had to make the decision to compromise,” said Belgium’s Ambassador Marc Pecsteen de Buytswerve, who with Germany holds the humanitarian file for Syria in the 15-nation Security Council and drafted the resolution.After multiple rounds of votes, vetoes and negotiations from Tuesday through Friday, the council essentially bent to Russia’s will on Saturday. They accepted the closure of Bab al-Salaam crossing, north of Aleppo, which means aid will be lost to the 1.3 million people who live outside the territory controlled by the government of Bashar al-Assad. Idlib’s Bab al-Hawa crossing will remain open for another year.The compromise came hours after the operation’s mandate expired at midnight Friday.The resolution was adopted with 12 votes in favor and the abstentions of Russia and China — as well as the Dominican Republic, which wanted to make the point that the resolution was not strong enough.“Let’s not be mistaken, this resolution is not what the United States and a majority of this council fought for over the course of the past six weeks — and indeed, for the past six months,” said U.S. Ambassador Kelly Craft. “This resolution is also not what the United Nations, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, and dozens of NGOs operating in Syria have repeatedly urged this council to do.” But she said it is necessary in order to keep aid convoys moving.Food and vaccinesUNICEF has said that 500,000 children in the Aleppo area will now be left without critical services, such as food and vaccines, if Bab al-Salaam closes.“Who are we to determine their future?” Dominican Republic Ambassador Jose Singer said of the children. “Who will they turn to now?”Diplomats said an attempt to get Russia to agree to at least a three-month extension for Bab al-Salaam so people in that area could find an alternate route for assistance was also rejected during negotiations.“The result of this disastrous development is simple — Russia aims at reaching its political goals, not preventing a humanitarian disaster,” Estonia’s Ambassador Sven Jurgenson said. “Undoubtedly, we will see the consequences of Russia’s political game soon, and the chips they are playing with are people’s lives.”Although Russia got what it wanted, it still abstained in the vote, complaining of the “clumsy” and “disrespectful” negotiation process.“We could have arrived to this result much earlier,” Russia’s deputy U.N. ambassador, Dmitry Polyanskiy, said. “One most important border crossing to Idlib was what Russia was proposing since the very beginning.”Moscow, a staunch ally of Assad, has argued that all aid should go through Damascus so the government has control over where it goes in Syria.The U.N. and humanitarian groups have requested more access and crossing points. The U.N. has asked the council to reauthorize use of a crossing from northern Iraq that was used for medical supplies, especially as Syria is now facing the COVID-19 pandemic. Russia and China forced the council to close that crossing in January.In addition to conflict and COVID-19, Syria faces a crippling financial crisis. Its currency, the pound, is in free fall, commodity prices are skyrocketing, and many Syrians are struggling to afford food, making them even more reliant on humanitarian assistance.
…

South Africa’s confirmed coronavirus cases have doubled in just two weeks to a quarter-million, and India on Saturday saw its biggest daily spike as its infections passed 800,000.The surging cases are raising sharp concerns about unequal treatment in the pandemic, as the wealthy hoard medical equipment and use private hospitals and the poor crowd into overwhelmed public facilities.Globally, as of Saturday afternoon EDT, nearly 12.6 million people have been infected by the virus and nearly 562,000 have died, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Experts say the pandemic’s true toll is much higher because of testing shortages, poor data collection in some nations and other issues.Some of the worst-affected countries are among the world’s most unequal. South Africa leads them all on that measure, with the pandemic exposing the gap in care.Private purchases of gearIn Johannesburg, the epicenter of South Africa’s outbreak, badly needed oxygen concentrators that help COVID-19 patients who are struggling to breathe are hard to find as private businesses and individuals are buying them up, a public health specialist volunteering at a field hospital, Lynne Wilkinson, told The Associated Press.Meanwhile, South Africa’s public hospitals are short on medical oxygen — and they are now seeing a higher proportion of deaths than private ones, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases said.South Africa now has more than 250,000 confirmed coronavirus cases, including more than 3,800 deaths. To complicate matters, the country’s troubled power utility has announced new electricity cuts in the dead of winter as a cold front brings freezing weather. Many of the country’s urban poor live in shacks of scrap metal and wood.FILE – A man rides a motorcycle past an informational mural warning people about the dangers of the new coronavirus, in the Kibera slum, or informal settlement, of Nairobi, Kenya, July 8, 2020.And in Kenya, some have been outraged by a local newspaper report that says several governors have installed intensive care unit equipment in their homes. The country lost its first doctor to COVID-19 this week.”The welfare, occupational safety & health of frontline workers is a non-negotiable minimum!!” the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union tweeted after her death. On Saturday, the union and other medical groups urged President Uhuru Kenyatta to implement a promised compensation package to ease the “anxiety and fear that has now gripped health care workers.”8,000 health workers hitMore than 8,000 health workers across Africa have been infected, half of them in South Africa. The continent of 1.3 billion has the world’s lowest levels of health staffing and more than 560,000 cases, and the pandemic is reaching “full speed,” the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.Many parts of the world are facing fresh waves of infections as they try to reopen their economies.Health workers gear up to screen people for COVID-19 symptoms at Deonar slum in Mumbai, India, July 11, 2020. In three weeks, India went from the world’s sixth hardest hit country by the coronavirus to the third, Johns Hopkins University data show.In India, which reported a new daily high of 27,114 cases on Saturday, nearly a dozen states have imposed partial lockdowns in high-risk areas. Cases jumped from 600,000 to more than 800,000 in nine days. People are packing India’s public hospitals as many are unable to afford private ones that generally uphold higher standards of care.Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged top officials to improve infection testing and tracking, especially in states with high positivity rates.In Australia, the beleaguered state of Victoria reported 216 new cases in the past 24 hours, down from a record 288 the previous day. It is hoped that a new six-week lockdown in Melbourne, Australia’s second-largest city with a population of 5 million, will curb the spread.”We cannot pretend that doing anything other than following the rules will get us to the other side of this,” said Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews.Latin American leaders test positiveIn Latin America, where inequality is sharp and Brazil and Peru are among the world’s five most badly hit countries, the COVID-19 pandemic is sweeping through the continent’s leadership, with two more presidents and powerful officials testing positive in the past week.Yet developing countries are not the only ones overwhelmed. Confirmed COVID-19 cases in the U.S. have hit 3 million, with over 130,000 deaths — the worst outbreak by far in the world. The surge has led to equipment shortages as well as long lines at testing sites.Texas is among the U.S. states setting records  for infections, virus hospitalizations and deaths almost daily after embarking on one of America’s fastest reopenings. Republican Governor Greg Abbott on Friday extended a statewide disaster as the state surpassed 10,000 hospitalized patients for the first time.”Things will get worse,” Abbott told Lubbock television station KLBK. “The worst is yet to come as we work our way through that massive increase in people testing positive.”
…

U.S. President Donald Trump planned to visit American service members Saturday at an army hospital outside Washington, the White House said.Trump said he would wear a mask during his visit to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, telling Fox News that “it’s a very appropriate thing” to do in a hospital setting.The president said that in addition to meeting with wounded soldiers, he would meet with workers tasked with containing the spread of the new coronavirus.Trump has been criticized for not wearing a mask or promoting the use of them, even within his Republican Party in recent weeks.It was unclear whether Trump would be photographed wearing a mask, since such visits are often closed to the media to shield the privacy of the wounded soldiers.His visit with the troops and employees comes amid surges of COVID-19 cases in the U.S., which continues to lead the world in both infections and fatalities.More than 3.2 million people in the U.S. were infected with the virus as of Saturday, about one-quarter of the almost 12.6 million cases worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University statistics.The more than 134,000 deaths in the U.S. represent over one-fourth of the nearly 562,000 COVID-19 fatalities throughout the world.Trump last visited Walter Reed in November 2019. The visit was unscheduled and secretive, and was described by the White House as an “interim checkup” nine months after his previous medical examination.The White House dismissed speculation about any “urgent or acute” issues involving Trump’s health. 
…

Serbian police said Saturday they arrested 71 people after violence erupted in Belgrade late Friday during a fourth night of anti-government protests triggered by another coronavirus lockdown.The head of Serbian Police, Vladimir Rebic, said 14 riot police were injured as they tried to protect the parliament building with tear gas in downtown Belgrade from hundreds of right-wing protesters who tried to storm the building with rocks, bottles and flares.  The protests over President Aleksandar Vucic’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic evolved during the course of the week into anti-government demonstrations attended by thousands of people.The first demonstration took place Tuesday after Vucic re-imposed a weekend curfew to contain a second eruption of coronavirus infections that has overwhelmed hospitals in Belgrade.Critics say the new surge in infections is the result of the government’s decision to relax some lockdown measures in May and to allow parliamentary elections to be held on June 21, which Vucic’s Serbian Progressive Party largely won.While Vucic later reversed his lockdown, the protests continued and turned into a general rebuke of his management of the coronavirus crisis.Vucic dismissed his critics’ claims and accused his political opponents of planning the protests.“The perpetrators will be defeated, the majority of them will be arrested, and they will have to answer for all the crimes they committed,” Vucic said in a live television broadcast from Paris, where is engaged in normalization talks with Kosovo along with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.Police said 130 officers have been injured since the protests began on Tuesday but did not say how many protesters have been hurt.Vucic noted that Friday was the most difficult day for the country since the coronavirus outbreak began in December. Eighteen people died of the disease in Serbia in a 24-hour period, according to data published Friday.The coronavirus has infected more than 18,000 people in Serbia and claimed more than 380 lives, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. 
…

Pro-democracy politicians and activists in Hong Kong urged people to vote this weekend in informal primary elections to choose candidates who could run for legislative council seats in September.Members of Hong Kong’s opposition camp set up hundreds of polling booths Saturday, despite warnings from authorities that their actions could violate a new security law imposed by China.In addition to allowing security agents from mainland China to operate officially in Hong Kong for the first time, the law outlaws what Beijing describes as secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces.Beijing enacted the law on June 30 in response to Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protest movement, sparking widespread concern that wide-ranging freedoms Britain granted to the semi-autonomous territory before returning it to China in 1997 will be crushed.Thousands of people lined up Saturday in the summer heat outside polling stations, one day after police searched the offices of a group involved in organizing the weekend election.The get-out-the-vote campaign is an informally organized effort to select democracy candidates who have the best chance of capturing legislative council seats during an official vote scheduled for September 6.Democracy candidates would need to win more than 35 of the 70 council seats to regain the power to block government proposals.Joshua Wong, a prominent pro-democracy activist who is running in the informal primary election, called on residents to cast ballots this weekend in resistance of China.The last formal popular vote in Hong Kong took place in November 2019 for lower level district council seats, resulting in landslide victories for many pro-democracy candidates. 
…

At least two doctors in Syria’s opposition-held northwest have been infected with the coronavirus, according to a monitoring group Saturday, raising the total number of cases in the overcrowded rebel enclave to three.  The Syrian opposition and militant groups control the Idlib area, which is home to more than 3 million people, most of them displaced by the war and living in tent camps and overcrowded facilities. Local health facilities have been targeted in Syrian government attacks that have recently displaced nearly a further million people.  The Early Warning and Alert Response Network, which reports on the virus, said the two doctors had been in touch with patient zero, another doctor who works in a hospital in Idlib. The first case was reported on Thursday and the hospital where the doctor works has since suspended its operations and quarantined patients and support staff to carry out testing.  The enclave is now under threat of losing crucial humanitarian aid access. Moves by Russia, a major ally of the Syrian government, at the U.N. Security Council are threatening to shut down border crossing between the rebel-held enclave and Turkey.A divided U.N. Security Council failed for a second time Friday to agree on extending humanitarian aid deliveries to the area from Turkey as the current U.N. mandate to do so ended.  Russia and China vetoed a U.N. resolution backed by the 13 other council members that would have maintained two crossing points from Turkey for six months. A Russian-drafted resolution that would have authorized just one border crossing in the area for a year failed to receive the minimum nine “yes” votes in the 15-member council.A new vote is expected Saturday. Germany and Belgium, who insist two crossings are critical especially with the first COVID-19 cases being reported in Syria’s northwest, circulated a new text that would extend the mandate through the Bab al-Hawa crossing into Idlib for a year and the mandate for the Bab al-Salam crossing — which Russia wants to eliminate — for three months to wind up its activities.Russia, Syria’s closest ally, has argued that aid should be delivered from within Syria across conflict lines. But the U.N. and humanitarian groups say aid for 2.8 million needy people in the northwest can’t get in that way.Kevin Kennedy, the U.N.’s Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Syria Crisis, told The Associated Press that leaving only one crossing open would make aid delivery more time-consuming, more costly, and more dangerous in a territory that is controlled by different armed groups.”The pipeline to aid people should not be subject to these political considerations from any side in this conflict,” Kennedy said late Friday.A day after the detection of the first COVID-19 case, hospitals in northwest Syria announced they would be suspending non-emergency procedures and outpatient services for at least one week. Schools were to shut down until further notice. 
…