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One of the Iranian lawyers representing a minority Kurdish political prisoner facing execution in Iran has reportedly asked for a retrial to overturn the man’s death sentence, which supporters say was unjustly based on forced confessions.In a Tuesday interview with VOA Persian, a source with knowledge of the situation said the lawyer submitted the request for a retrial of Heydar Ghorbani to Iran’s judiciary in response to an August 6 ruling in which the Iranian Supreme Court upheld Ghorbani’s death sentence. VOA has not named the lawyer cited by the source at the source’s request. Iran has a record of harassing citizens who speak to Western-based media outlets that it deems hostile.Ghorbani was arrested in October 2016 in Iranian Kurdistan’s Kamyaran County and charged in connection with a violent incident there in the previous month involving the killings of three members of Iran’s top military force, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.In the following years, rights activists reported that Iranian authorities sentenced Ghorbani to death on charges of collaborating in an armed attack that killed the IRCG personnel and being a member of the outlawed Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan rebel group. During the period, Iranian state-run network Press TV aired a 2017 program titled The Death Driver, in which Ghorbani seemingly confessed to having driven the DPIK rebels involved in the killings.Amnesty International has said Ghorbani is one of several minority Kurds persecuted by Iranian authorities for “real or perceived affiliation with armed Kurdish political opposition groups.” Those Kurds were sentenced to death following what the group has called “grossly unfair trials that relied primarily or exclusively on confessions obtained without the presence of a lawyer and under torture and other ill-treatment.”The source who spoke to VOA said the Iranian Supreme Court’s August 6 action entitles authorities in Iranian Kurdistan’s provincial capital of Sanandaj to carry out Ghorbani’s execution. However, the source said the ruling also gave Ghorbani’s lawyer access to the case files for the first time, showing the lawyer that the entire verdict was based on what Ghorbani’s supporters have said were forced confessions.“Ghorbani has never admitted to being armed or being a member of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan,” the source said. Ghorbani’s lawyer requested the retrial citing the lack of evidence besides the apparent forced confessions, the source added.Article 477 of Iran’s Code of Criminal Procedure gives Iran’s judiciary chief the power to order the Supreme Court to overturn a verdict that he deems to be “evidently in contravention of Sharia [Islamic law]” and issue a new one.There have been no references to Ghorbani’s case or his lawyer’s reported retrial request in Iranian state media in recent days.In a video shared with VOA Persian and published Tuesday, Ghorbani’s wife Sharareh Sadeghi reiterated her belief in his innocence, saying he had been tortured into confessing.“I call on the Iranian people, relevant authorities, the people of the world and international organizations to respond to the upheld death sentence of my husband by stopping Iranian security forces from depriving my children of having a father,” Sadeghi said.She also identified one member of her husband’s legal team as Morteza Javanmardi. No recent comments from him about the case could be found online.In an August 3 message on the case of another Iranian Kurd at risk of execution, Amnesty International said statements elicited as a result of torture, ill-treatment or other forms of coercion “must be excluded as evidence in criminal proceedings, except those brought against suspected perpetrators of such abuse.”“In view of the irreversible nature of the death penalty, the proceedings in capital cases must scrupulously observe all relevant international standards protecting the right to a fair trial,” the group added.This article originated in VOA’s Persian Service. Click here for the original Persian version of the story. 
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Health care workers in Peru held a demonstration Thursday demanding better pay and working conditions as more of their colleagues become infected with the coronavirus.Members of medical workers’ unions appealed for government help during a rally outside the Health Ministry.The workers’ plea for aid came on the same day President Martin Vizcarra unveiled an obelisk at the Medical College of Peru in honor of 125 doctors who have died from the coronavirus.The observance occurred on the same day Peru marked a milestone, surpassing 500,000 coronavirus cases, with Latin America’s highest fatality rate.  
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Tensions are still running high in Ivory Coast’s commercial capital, Abidjan, Friday, a day after police used tear gas to break up street protests against President Alassane Ouattara’s controversial decision to seek a third term.At least one protester was killed in Abidjan’s Yopougon district as police chased down protesters, who set up roadblocks made from burning tires and furniture.There have been scattered demonstrations in the Ivory Coast since Ouattara announced last week he is seeking reelection on October 31 despite the opposition accusing him of violating term limits.Ouattara is challenging the two-term presidential law, saying a new constitution adopted in 2016 offset any barriers preventing him from running again.If Quattara’s attempt to run again is successful, he will face several other candidates, including former president Henri Konan Bedie in the election, which is viewed as a major test of the country’s stability since a civil war 10 years ago.Violent demonstrations were rampant after former president Laurent Gbagbo’s refusal to step down after a disputed run-off election.
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Thirteen former U.S. officials from Republican and Democratic administrations Wednesday sent an open letter to South Korean President Moon Jae-in accusing his government of “undermining North Korea’s human rights movement.”Describing themselves as “deeply troubled” by a government-led campaign “aimed at undermining the North Korea human rights movement by targeting all the major organizations that work to help rescue, educate, protect and/or improve the lives of North Koreans,” the ex-officials called on Moon to instead “promote human rights for North Koreans.”On Tuesday, South Korea’s Unification Ministry began inspecting 25 defector-run NGOs, criticizing their failure to file necessary documentation, and announced a registration-compliance review of 64 others.The massive probe coincides with Moon administration efforts to jump-start dialogue and economic projects with Pyongyang, which remains under strict international embargoes because of its nuclear weapons program.The Unification Ministry recently canceled corporate licenses of two defector groups that were sending propaganda leaflets into the North. Without a license, the groups can’t apply for tax exemptions or hold fundraisers.Moon under fireSignatories of the open letter — including Richard Allen, national security adviser for Ronald Reagan, and Robert Joseph, former undersecretary of state for arms control and international security under George W. Bush — have served every U.S. president since Richard Nixon. They called the sweeping probe “a chilling form of intimidation, as they were all clearly targeted simply for their North Korea human rights work.”“The tendency of this South Korean government led by President Moon to appease North Korea, really seems to have gotten out of control,” signatory Christian Whiton, a State Department senior adviser for strategic communication during the Trump administration, told VOA Wednesday.”You would expect the South Korean government to speak up for the human rights of North Koreans and protect North Koreans who make it to the South, and they seem to be doing the opposite,” Whiton added. “They seem to be hurting North Koreans and those who help North Korean defectors in efforts to appease North Korea and get something out of Kim Jong Un and his government.”Signatory Roberta Cohen, former deputy assistant secretary of state for human rights, told VOA: “It’s important for them to know that their actions in South Korea have consequences — that the friends of South Korea abroad believe they’ve gone too far.”Here [in the U.S.], there is really a bipartisan view that this is a mistake,” she added.Speaking with VOA on Thursday, former special envoy for North Korea human rights Robert King, who also signed the letter, said “there is a legitimate concern to make sure the funds are being spent well, but doing this office inspection immediately after other things that have taken place … the whole thing has a flavor of a witch hunt.”South Korea’s prioritiesA source close to Moon told VOA Wednesday that the “Unification Ministry’s office inspection is a regular procedure to guarantee transparent management of relevant organizations, and the ministry will continue communications with organizations as needed.”The source spoke on the condition of anonymity to candidly describe Seoul’s view on the issue.The South Korean government has repeatedly denied its recent actions are in response to North Korea’s threats to damage inter-Korean ties. North Korea in June threatened to cut off ties with Seoul over the propaganda leaflets. It also blew up an inter-Korean liaison office in the border city of Kaesong in an apparent show of anger.King said: “I think the Moon Jae-in administration is getting very concerned that the time of his term of office is beginning to run out. They’re anxious to make an agreement to do something with the North. They’re willing to abandon the principles of human rights.”South Korea is seeking measures to improve relations with the North, which turned sour after the second U.S.-North Korea summit in Hanoi collapsed in February 2019. The Unification Ministry is set to approve an inter-Korean barter trade of South Korea’s sugar for North Korea’s liquor, bypassing U.N. sanctions banning cash transfers to North Korea. Seoul also announced a plan last week to provide $10 million in food aid to North Korea through the World Food Program.Hwanyong Kim contributed reporting from Seoul. Some information is from Reuters.
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President Donald Trump is refusing to reject false claims circulating on social media that Kamala Harris may not be legally eligible for the vice presidency because of questions surrounding the immigration status of her parents at the time she was born.“I heard it today that she doesn’t meet the requirements,” Trump said, responding to VOA’s question. “And by the way, the lawyer that wrote that piece is a very highly qualified, very talented lawyer. I have no idea, that’s right. I would have thought, I would have assumed the Democrats would have checked that out before she gets chosen to run for vice president.”Trump was referring to John Eastman, a law professor at Chapman University who floated the theory in an opinion piece published in Newsweek. A tweet containing the op-ed was retweeted earlier Thursday by Jenna Ellis, a Trump campaign adviser.Harris was born in Oakland, California. Constitutional scholars and Supreme Court precedent have long maintained that anyone born in the U.S. is an American citizen, which makes them eligible for the presidency and the vice presidency.“Harris is clearly eligible,” said Georgetown University Law Center professor Josh Chafetz. “She was born in the United States, and under the citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment, that means she was a citizen at birth, which makes her a natural-born citizen for presidential eligibility purposes. No serious scholar thinks otherwise.”This is not the first time Trump has made an issue of his opponent’s citizenship. After years of promoting the “birther conspiracy” and calling for President Barack Obama to release his birth certificate, Trump acknowledged in 2016 that Obama was born in the United States.Trump’s floating of similar birther claims about Harris was “entirely predictable” and “total nonsense,” said Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia.Trump has succeeded in politics because he is very good at defining his opponents as “the other,” Sabato added.“Leading the birther movement against President Obama was Trump’s baptism, and his constant attacks on immigrants have continued to enthuse his base,” Sabato said. “Kamala Harris is Black, partly South Asian, and has immigrant parents, and all of this will automatically raise suspicion among the Trump blue-collar whites.”The Biden campaign has not responded to VOA’s request for comment. 
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A newly developed saliva test is aiming to determine coronavirus infections in less than a second, Israel’s largest hospital said Thursday, August 13. In an initial clinical trial, a new artificial intelligence-based device was able to identify evidence of the virus in the body at a 95% success rate, according to Sheba Medical Center. Patients wash their mouth and spit into a vial, which is examined by a small spectral device. The device essentially shines light and analyses the reaction of the saliva. An algorithm determines whether the reaction lines up with COVID-19 samples. With machine learning, the results should get more accurate over time as more samples are testing. (REUTERS) 
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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 DebunkClaim: Asymptomatic spread of coronavirus is “very rare.”Verdict: MisleadingRead the full story at: Health FeedbackSocial Media DisinfoScreenshotCirculating on social media: Claim that Samsung is running a giveaway to help students who have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.Verdict: FalseRead the full story at: PesaCheck​Factual Reads on CoronavirusThe ever-expanding list of COVID-19 symptoms
We last wrote about COVID-19 symptoms at the end of April. Since then, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has added several new symptoms of possible infection: congestion, runny nose, nausea or vomiting, and diarrhea.
— MITMedical, August 11
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US President Donald Trump announced a deal between Israel and the United Arab Emirates to normalize relations between the two countries.  “This is a truly historic moment,” Trump said, during a White House ceremony, Aug. 13, 2020.
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Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai, who has been released on bail after his arrest Monday, said Thursday he has accepted imprisonment as his “destiny” and that the widespread support he has received proves his struggle for democracy is a worthy cause.Lai, 71, was one of 10 people arrested Monday for violating the national security law imposed by China on July 1. Among them, two were his sons, four were senior executives at Lai’s Next Digital company, and three were activists, including 23-year-old Agnes Chow. Local news reports say he was released on bail and that $6.5 million of his assets have been frozen.The arrest of Lai, a high-profile supporter of the pro-democracy movement, and the police raid on the Apple Daily newspaper owned by Next Digital this week have stoked widespread fears of the end of Hong Kong as a city where information and opinions are freely aired.Speaking in public for the first time since his release, Lai said in an Apple Daily live link Thursday morning that he had his moments of doubt when he was handcuffed and struggled to sleep on the floor in custody.“If I knew I would end up here, or eventually in prison, would I have changed myself?” he said has asked himself.“[But] my character is my destiny. Once I accepted my destiny, all of a sudden, I felt the grace of God, the blessing of God, and I was totally relieved. And I left myself to my destiny and accepted it,” said Lai, a Catholic.“It was such a wonderful feeling … culminating in such a situation. It was like God telling me, ‘Don’t fear, just do what you have to do, I’m with you,’” he said.He said he was overwhelmed by the public support for him and his paper.After Apple Daily’s office was raided by around 200 police officers, Next Digital’s share price more than doubled on Monday and rocketed five times again the next day to reach a six-year high.The paper said it printed 550,000 copies of Tuesday’s paper, compared with the usual run of around 70,000. People lined up in the early hours of Tuesday to buy the paper, which sold out across Hong Kong. Some bought multiple copies to leave on the streets for others.Lai said he was filled with emotion when he was released, to be greeted by supporters, who were shouting for joy. He said the images of 200 police officers raiding the newsroom have angered many as it was “a violation of the people’s belief in the freedom of the speech.”“It shows that people really support us, they give us so much comfort to be part of this community,” he said. “I was so touched. This has reaffirmed that whatever I’ve done wrong in the past, what I’m doing now is right. The message is: ‘Let’s go on!’”Likening freedom to oxygen, he said, “The oxygen is getting thin, we’re all choking, [but] we’re still taking care of each other and we keep resisting and fighting for the rule of law and freedoms.”Lai said he was relieved that he had not been taken to mainland China and the police who dealt with his case were Hong Kongers.However, as Lai’s charges included subversion and collusion with a foreign country, which are new offenses under the new national security law, analysts have warned that under the law’s Clause 55 and 56, he risks being sent to China for trial, and could be given the maximum, life imprisonment.After Lai’s arrest, the Chinese government’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office accused him and his paper of being a mastermind behind protests in Hong Kong, using his media platforms to “fabricate and spread rumors and to incite and support violence,” and of providing financial support for anti-China and pro-independence forces.It called for “severe punishment” of those who “collude with foreign forces” and “act as their agents” to harm national security by “secession, subversion and infiltration.”Lai said China does not understand that Hong Kong’s best assets are the rule of law and its civil liberties, and that they are the foundation of its success as an international financial center. He conceded, though, that Hong Kongers are helpless against such a powerful country.“It’s a long fight, I agree. We cannot be radical, we cannot confront them face to face,” he said.  “We are just eggs and they’re the wall. We have to be flexible and innovative, and patient but to achieve [our goal], that’s the way.”Wiping away tears from time to time during the livestream, Lai said the international support meant “what we are doing is right.”“I am in my 70s and there was never a time when I felt so moved and so happy, knowing that I’ve been doing the right thing. I’m near the end of my life, it’s a very precious feeling,” he said.
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Police in the northwestern U.S. city of Portland, Oregon, used tear gas Wednesday night to disperse protesters at a building that houses a police precinct and jail.Authorities declared the latest in what have been several months of nightly protests a riot and said some demonstrators engaged in criminal activity that included setting fires and lighting fireworks outside a federal courthouse.The protests began after the death in police custody of George Floyd in the state of Minnesota, with those in Portland and many other places across the country calling for police reforms and steps to address racial inequality.Portland gained prominence when federal agents deployed there in July over the objections of local officials.They have since withdrawn. 
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One of Iran’s most prominent jailed dissidents, human rights defenders and lawyers, Nasrin Sotoudeh, has begun a second hunger strike to protest the refusal of the country’s Islamist rulers to free political prisoners endangered by coronavirus outbreaks in notorious Iranian jails.Speaking to VOA Persian in a Tuesday interview from Tehran, Sotoudeh’s husband, Reza Khandan, said his wife started her latest hunger strike earlier in the day at the city’s Evin prison, where she has been detained since June 2018. He said Sotoudeh made the hunger strike open-ended but could halt the protest if at least some of her demands are met.Khandan also shared with VOA an August 11 letter written by his wife and addressed to human rights defenders, explaining why she was demanding the release of political prisoners such as herself from overcrowded and unsanitary Iranian jails infested with the coronavirus.“The conditions of political prisoners [in Iran] have become so difficult that it is impossible to continue their detention under these oppressive conditions,” Sotoudeh wrote.Iran temporarily released tens of thousands of prisoners from its prisons in March as the nation’s coronavirus outbreak intensified but refused to release dissidents sentenced to more than five years in prison for peaceful activities designated as national security offenses.Sotoudeh said many such dissidents were now eligible for conditional parole under recent reforms to Iranian law, but authorities were denying them their rights to seek judicial relief.Khandan said his wife had written to prison and judiciary officials several times in recent months to raise concerns about living conditions in jails, the ability of inmates to meet visitors face to face, denials of prisoners’ leave requests and lengthy prison sentences handed to dissidents. He said she received no response to her letters.“As all correspondences remain unanswered, I am going on a hunger strike,” Sotoudeh wrote in concluding her August 11 letter.In a separate VOA Persian interview on Wednesday, Sotoudeh’s lawyer, Mohammad Moghimi, expressed concern that she could suffer severe mental and physical distress by refusing food because of her history of underlying health problems.“On the other hand, we have to give the hunger-striker the right to decide for herself what to do,” he said.My client Nasrin Sotoudeh announced today, August 12, in a letter; She has gone on a hunger strike to protest the unjust and illegal situation of political prisoners, which has been exacerbated by the outbreak of Corona. pic.twitter.com/OIANs7mJwV— Mohammad Moghimi (@DUSrp0Boo1KdJmr) August 10, 2020Moghimi said Sotoudeh was not protesting for personal benefit but to help Iranian society as a whole.“Her demands are legitimate, and Iran’s leaders must address them,” he said.Sotoudeh last began a hunger strike on March 16 and continued it for several weeks as she made similar demands of Iranian authorities.Khandan told the U.N. Human Rights Office in a video message in May that Iran responded to Sotoudeh’s most recent hunger strike by granting temporary releases to several prisoners, including women held in Evin. However, he said authorities refused to furlough dissidents charged with serious offenses and sentenced to long prison terms.Khandan previously has said his wife is serving a more than 30-year sentence for alleged national security offenses related to her work. Prior to Sotoudeh’s 2018 arrest, she defended Iranian women detained for removing their compulsory hijabs or headscarves in acts of public protest against Iran’s ruling clerics. Rights activists have said she must serve 12 years before being eligible for parole.Khandan, who is himself a rights activist, was detained in September 2018 and charged with subversion for publicly campaigning for the release of his wife. He was released in December 2018 and sentenced the following month to six years in prison but has remained free pending an appeal.دادستان تهران حساب‌های بانکی نسرین را مسدود کرده است. به نظر می‌رسد این اقدام، سرآغاز توقیف اموال خانواده است.
مراجعات…Posted by Reza Khandan on Monday, July 27, 2020In a July 27 Facebook post, Khandan said he learned that a Tehran prosecutor had frozen his wife’s accounts at Pasargad Bank in an apparent effort to pressure the couple financially. He vowed not to remain silent in the face of what he called an “inhumane act.”In his VOA interview, Khandan said he was concerned that Iranian authorities may seize the assets and property of other activists as well.“This is a serious danger to all political prisoners and rights activists in Iran,” he said.There was no comment in Iranian state media about Sotoudeh’s new hunger strike or the latest remarks made by her husband.This article originated in VOA’s Persian Service. Click here and here for the original Persian versions of the story.
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Peru is reimposing Sunday curfews and banning family gatherings in response to a new surge in coronavirus infections.In announcing the return of a curfew first introduced in April, President Martin Vizcarra blamed the spike in COVID-19 cases on large social gatherings.The curfew prohibits people from leaving home on Sundays unless they have special passes given to essential professionals such as medical workers.The president said his administration believes it is better to go back one step so that citizens are all responsible again for “recovering the conditions that we would all like to have.”Vizcarra also said a COVID-19 vaccine is expected to be available in the first months of next year.Peru, which trails only Brazil and Mexico in coronavirus cases in Latin America, has confirmed more than 590,000 cases and more than 21,700 deaths.
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The World Health Organization is making a worldwide appeal for $76 million in aid to Lebanon a week after a massive explosion in Beirut devastated the port and destroyed hospitals, clinics and stores of medical supplies.“In particular, we are concerned about the return of COVID-19 in Lebanon. We have launched an appeal for $76 million and ask the international community to support the Lebanese people and show solidarity with them in every way possible,” WHO regional program director Rana Hajjeh said.She added that the WHO is also concerned about the psychological suffering of those who were wounded, lost loved ones or are homeless after the blast.WHO officials said the explosion put three hospitals totally out of commission and left three others only partially open. It cut the number of hospital beds by as many as 600.  Half of Beirut’s 55 primary health care clinics cannot function.WHO emergencies director Rick Brennan said there were 309 new coronavirus cases in Lebanon on Tuesday and that people, including those at hospitals, have relaxed protective measures.The WHO has already brought in tons of medical and surgical supplies, including protective gear, and reported that 11 emergency medical teams from around the world are in Beirut.Ammonium nitrate that had likely been improperly stored at the port for years is the widely suspected cause of the August 4 explosion in Beirut that killed at least 170 people and injured 6,000.The blast also destroyed or heavily damaged buildings across the Lebanese capital.  
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The nation’s leading business group on Wednesday raised serious concerns about President Donald Trump’s move to defer Social Security payroll taxes for American workers, warning that the plan for a shot of economic relief during the coronavirus pandemic could prove unworkable.The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a White House ally in battles to cut federal regulations and taxes, said in a letter to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin that Trump’s directive is “surrounded by uncertainty as to its application and implementation” and “only exacerbates the challenges” for companies trying to quickly put his action in place.There was no immediate reaction from the administration.Trump on Saturday directed the Treasury Department to defer the 6.2 percent Social Security tax on wages paid by employees, beginning September 1 and lasting through the end of the year.A deferral leaves workers still on the hook for the money later on. But Trump said his ultimate goal is to make the tax break permanent, which would require congressional approval. That appears unlikely for now: Democrats have blasted Trump’s plan as an attempt to undermine Social Security’s finances and Republicans seem to have little enthusiasm for the idea.There’s a little more than two weeks before the payroll tax plan is supposed to go into effect, and the Chamber’s misgivings compound the problems for a president who wants to be seen as taking decisive action in the face of a stalemate with Congress over another pandemic relief bill.The Chamber’s chief policy officer, Neil Bradley, called the president’s move “well-intended to provide relief,” but raised questions about whether it would be workable.”There remains widespread uncertainty on how businesses will implement and apply the executive order, and as American employers, workers and families work to navigate the COVID-19 crisis they need clarity not more confusion,” Bradley said in a statement.In the letter to Mnuchin, the Chamber pressed to find out whether the tax deferral would be optional. If it’s employers who get that flexibility, it could make it easier for businesses to adjust. But then the tax deferral would not pack the economic punch for which Trump seemed to be reaching.Among the potential problems cited are whether businesses would be liable for repayment of deferred taxes, and what to do about short-term workers and those who earn part of their compensation from bonuses.The letter also raised questions about whether a tax deferral would have much impact on the economy if workers have to pay the money back. Some critics have said people might just save the money, not spend it, knowing that the government would ask for it back.  
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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”What we know — and don’t know — about Russia’s ‘Sputnik V’ vaccine,” CNN, August 12. Social Media DisinfoScreenshotCirculating on social media: Claim that Serbia on Aug. 3 announced mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations for children returning to school and that millions of Serbians took to the street that night in protest.Verdict: FalseRead the full story at: ReutersFactual Reads on CoronavirusWinter is coming: Why America’s window of opportunity to beat back Covid-19 is closing
Unless Americans use the dwindling weeks between now and the onset of “indoor weather” to tamp down transmission in the country, this winter could be Dickensianly bleak, public health experts warn.
— Stat, August 10America’s Obesity Epidemic Threatens Effectiveness of Any COVID Vaccine
Scientists know that vaccines engineered to protect the public from influenza, hepatitis B, tetanus and rabies can be less effective in obese adults than in the general population, leaving them more vulnerable to infection and illness. There is little reason to believe, obesity researchers say, that COVID-19 vaccines will be any different.
— Kaiser Health News, August 6
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Iran shut down a newspaper on Monday after it published remarks by an expert who said the official figures on coronavirus cases and deaths in the country account for only 5% of the real toll, allegations rejected by the Health Ministry. Mohammad Reza Sadi, the editor-in-chief of Jahane Sanat, told the official IRNA news agency that authorities closed his newspaper, which began publishing in 2004 and was mainly focused on business news. On Sunday, the daily quoted Mohammad Reza Mahboobfar, an epidemiologist the paper said had worked on the government’s anti-coronavirus campaign, as saying the true number of cases and deaths in Iran could be 20 times the number reported by the Health Ministry. He also said the virus was detected in Iran a month earlier than February 19, when authorities announced the first confirmed case. He said they held up the announcement until after the commemorations of the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution and parliamentary elections earlier that month. “The administration resorted to secrecy for political and security reasons,” he said, and only provided “engineered statistics” to the public. He also criticized testing efforts and warned of a renewed outbreak next month as universities hold entrance exams and people mark major Shiite holidays. Health Ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari rejected the allegations and said Mahboobfar had no role in the government’s anti-coronavirus campaign. IRNA quoted her as saying the ministry has provided figures in a “transparent” way. “The Health Ministry is not a political body and health of people is its main priority,” she said. The ministry has reported a total of nearly 330,000 cases and 18,616 deaths, including 189 fatalities in the past 24 hours.  Authorities in Iran have come under heavy criticism since the start of the pandemic because of their reluctance to impose the kind of sweeping restrictions seen elsewhere in the region. Iran is home to the deadliest outbreak in the Middle East.  
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President Donald Trump says Senator Kamala Harris was his “number one pick” as former vice president Joe Biden’s choice of a running mate.  Biden and Harris will face Trump and his vice president, Mike Pence in the November 2020 presidential election.
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