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Police in Cameroon have detained several hundred people for not wearing face masks in public, as COVID-19 cases in the central African state continue to rise. Seventeen-year-old David Ngwa Fru said a team of police and gendarmes detained him and his two younger sisters in the capital, Yaounde, on Thursday morning.”The police removed us from a taxi on our way to the market because we were not wearing our masks. They detained us at the police station for three hours. We paid 2,000 (each) before we were released. Many people who did not pay the money are still there.”Fru, speaking to VOA through a messaging app, said that although they were not issued any receipts, the police told them that the $9 he and his siblings paid were fines for not wearing their masks, and assured them that the money would be sent to the state treasury.FILE – A health worker wearing protective equipment disinfects a member of medical staff amid the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), at an hospital in Douala, Cameroon, April 27, 2020.Police official Oswald Ateba said officers are implementing a Cameroon government order that everyone in public must wear a face mask as of 6 a.m. Thursday. He said they have been instructed to arrest everyone found along the streets, markets, bars and popular spots without masks and to impound all vehicles and motorcycles that are seen with drivers and passengers not wearing masks.The police said authorities have detained hundreds of people, seized 250 motorcycles and impounded hundreds of taxis in Yaounde alone as part of efforts to implement the new rules.Government spokesperson Rene Emmanuel Sadi said the decision to make arrests came after lockdown restrictions were eased, but a majority of Cameroonians were not wearing masks.He said the government is also battling the growing stigmatization of people testing positive for COVID-19 and those who have recovered from the disease, stressing that COVID-19 is neither shameful nor a curse and any person can be contaminated.Cameroon has about 3,000 reported cases of COVID-19 and has recorded 139 deaths.Even though the government has eased the strict lockdown measures, Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute said on Wednesday no one should think that COVID-19 has been conquered in the central African state.  
 
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International media-freedom watchdogs are urging Iran to stop jailing members of the press arbitrarily, particularly during the coronavirus pandemic, after a local journalist started serving an 18-month prison sentence in Tehran’s Evin prison.Hassan Fathi, a freelance columnist, began his prison term last week after his appeal in a 2018 criminal case stemming from an interview with the BBC’s Persian service was denied, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), a U.S.-based outlet that covers news in Iran.The Iranian authorities “continue to jail journalists although COVID-19 is taking a heavy toll on the country’s prison population,” Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said Thursday.Iranian officials “must stop their absurd practice of imprisoning journalists solely for speaking to foreign media outlets, especially during a pandemic, when any jail term could be a potential death sentence,” said Sherif Mansour, Middle East and North Africa program coordinator at the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).Detained in May 2018Fathi was detained in May 2018 after he gave an interview to  the BBC’s Persian service about the reelection of President Hassan Rohani, according to an interview with the journalist by Iran International.Tehran’s Revolutionary Court charged Fathi with “spreading lies and disrupting public opinion,” before releasing him on bail, Fathi told the Britain-based broadcaster.It was unclear when Fathi was initially convicted or sentenced, but a Tehran court early this month rejected his final appeal, HRANA reported.Also Thursday, RSF quoted the family of Mahmud Shariari, a former national radio and TV presenter, as saying he had been transferred last week from Evin prison to a section of a Tehran hospital that is reserved for coronavirus patients.Shariari has been detained since mid-April for “publishing false information about the coronavirus,” the Paris-based group said.RSF said that imprisoned journalists in Iran “have routinely been denied adequate medical care in the past and … are now in danger of dying from the coronavirus that is spreading in the prisons.”
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In a world full of bad news on coronavirus, the good deeds of quiet people often go unnoticed. In a report narrated by Jonathan Spier, Ricardo Marquina and Sergey Smolyakov bring us the story of an octogenarian in St. Petersburg, Russia, who – despite being in the highest-risk group – goes out every day to help those who need it most. 
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International students bring a wealth of diversity and a healthy chunk of money to many American colleges and universities.But the flow of international students to the U.S. will most likely decrease in the fall. The coronavirus has hit the U.S. hard and may dissuade some international students from coming. Challenges and delays in obtaining visas to America, and in getting flights here, threaten the enrollment of some.Trade conflicts and other tensions between the U.S. and some nations, particularly China, the biggest source of international students, might play into some students’ decisions. Further, the number of international students enrolled in American colleges has already dropped over the past couple of years.”There are just so many things out of our control,” said Lina Stover, undergraduate admissions director at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.Coronavirus crisisSue Zhang, a Chinese student who will graduate from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln this month, has decided to go to graduate school at UNL as well. But Zhang, who has majored in civil engineering and math, told the Omaha World-Herald she expects the coronavirus crisis to cut into UNL’s international student enrollment.Worry about getting COVID-19 compelled her to stay put at UNL. She had hoped to visit other graduate schools this spring, such as Stanford University and the University of California-Davis, but she didn’t want to fly while the country was intensely affected by the virus.”I think the university is doing everything they can,” said Zhang, who moved with some other international students into UNL’s Eastside Suites residence hall when the crisis closed many dorms.A UNL professor in civil engineering, Dave Admiraal, said Zhang has a passion for learning and the ability to pick up new things quickly. “I have learned so much from them (international students) beyond what I would have learned had I only been exposed to students from the U.S.,” he said in an email.Zhang plans to start working on a master’s degree in water resource engineering this summer. As for trade tensions and other conflicts between the U.S. and China, she said they aren’t vital to her. “I’m just not that into politics,” she said.Declining student populationLast fall, UNL’s international student population fell from 2,807 to 2,560, according to the UNL Factbook, an 8.8 percent decline. The coronavirus crisis may affect all universities’ enrollments in the fall, said Josh Davis, UNL’s associate vice chancellor for global affairs. It’s too early to say how much, he said.”International students really add so much to our campus and our community,” Davis said. They enrich a campus’s diversity and have become a key source of revenue to American colleges over the past 10 years. At UNL and Iowa State, they make up close to 10 percent of the enrollment, and many of them pay full out-of-state tuition.Davis said UNL wants to stay in touch with international students who have stayed on campus or gone home. UNL holds virtual coffee talks, he said, and held a virtual karaoke night this semester. The students “are looking for the signal and message that they’re welcome here,” he said.If visa challenges mean that some international students can’t get back to Lincoln until the middle of the fall semester, Davis said, UNL will work with them.’Three-plus years of rhetoric’Grant De Roo, a higher education consultant in Iowa City, said “three-plus years of rhetoric that paints other countries as antagonists to the United States” has hurt international enrollment. President Donald Trump’s talk about sealing borders, American nationalism and a travel ban for some nations give the U.S. an unfriendly image, he said.”I think it’s really fundamentally changing the way international students view the United States,” he said.Ryan Hamilton, executive director of the Nebraska Republican Party, disagrees. Trump insists that allies fulfill their financial obligations to international organizations like NATO and that Mexico strengthen its border, Hamilton said.If those expectations make the U.S. seem less friendly and unwilling to be taken advantage of, “most Americans are prepared to accept” the consequences, he said.Edna Chun, chief learning officer at the consulting firm HigherEd Talent, said delays in obtaining visas could make it difficult for some international students to come to the U.S. Greater scrutiny of visas is also a concern.Chun cited a Palestinian student from Lebanon who enrolled at Harvard University last year. Immigration officials in Boston sent the student back to Lebanon when they found anti-American political messages from his friends on a laptop, according to multiple news accounts. The young man was ultimately allowed in.The University of Nebraska at Kearney saw a slight decline in international students last year. Tim Burkink, UNK’s assistant vice chancellor for international affairs, said he and his staff hope to retain many of their existing international students, about three-fourths of whom remain in Kearney.Visa hangups “would probably be the biggest barrier” to coming to UNK, he said. Staff shortages at U.S. consulates and embassies in other nations — American staffers have been brought back during the pandemic — contribute to visa problems.Burkink nevertheless said he is optimistic that the number of international students at UNK will be flat or only slightly down.De Roo said competition for those students has increased in recent years. English-language nations such as Canada, Great Britain and Australia have upped their higher ed games to provide good degree programs for international students, he said.Not everyone saw a decline last year. Wayne State College said its global enrollment increased last fall to 82 from 38. UNO’s rose from 845 to 876.Sue Zhang, who plans to be an engineer, said her parents hope that she will eventually return to China. Their wishes are a major consideration, she said.But she could also imagine getting a job in the U.S. or getting married and staying here. “I was kind of thinking about it,” she said. “Who will know what will happen later?”This story was written by Rick Ruggles of Omaha World-Herald for the Associated Press.
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While many of us have been sheltering at home during the pandemic, essential workers such as truckers have not had that luxury. They and the products they transport are in high demand. The drivers spend most of their days on the road. VOA’s hitched a ride with two truckers to see what life is like for them these days.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
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Asian markets were all trading lower Thursday in reaction to a gloomy assessment about the struggles facing the global economy due to the coronavirus pandemic.Japan’s Nikkei index was down 1.5 percent in late afternoon trading, while Hong Kong had lost 1.3 percent.  The indexes in Seoul, Shanghai, Sydney and Taipei were also posting significant losses.The big selloff in Asia mirrors Wednesday’s losses on Wall Street, sparked by a warning from Jerome Powell, the chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve, that the current economic downturn caused by the global COVID-19 outbreak will last into the foreseeable future.In futures trading, the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq are slightly lower, indicating the losses will continue into Thursday.While equities are losing ground, the price of oil is on the upswing.  The U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude is trading at $25.51 per barrel, up 0.8 percent, while Brent crude, the international benchmark, is selling at $29.35 per barrel, up 0.5 percent.   
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A parliamentary no-confidence vote against Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin will not take place next week as previously scheduled.Speaker Mohamad Ariff Md Yusoff accepted a motion filed last week by former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad against his successor and scheduled it for a vote for  Monday. However, the speaker said Wednesday that he received a letter from Muhyiddin saying that because the coronavirus pandemic has not eased, the only item on the agenda will be an opening address from the king.The 94-year-old Mahathir stepped down suddenly in February after his ruling coalition collapsed. Muhyiddin, who served in Mahathir’s cabinet as home affairs minister, filled his government with several members of the United Malays National Organization, which had ruled Malaysia since its independence from Britain in 1957 until it was defeated by Mahathir’s coalition in 2018.The party was driven from office by voters weary of corruption, especially a scandal involving former Prime Minister Najib Razak and the looting of state-owned investment bank 1MDB.
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As people around the world wonder when the coronavirus might go away, experts say: Maybe never.The World Health Organization warned Wednesday that the new virus, which has infected 4.3 million people worldwide, may become endemic, just like the HIV virus, and that people may have to learn to live with it.It could stay embedded in communities even if a vaccine is found, said WHO emergencies director Mike Ryan during a virtual news conference from Geneva.”HIV has not gone away, but we have come to terms with the virus,” he said.About 100 organizations worldwide are working on developing a coronavirus vaccine. Even if they find one that works, containing the virus will take a “massive effort,” the WHO official said.Meanwhile, the California-based Gilead drug company has reached agreements with several companies to make its antiviral drug Veklury, the brand name of remdesivir, available in 127 countries to help treat COVID-19.After weeks or months under lockdown, people around the world are eager to return to their normal lives, but the pandemic is showing no signs of going away, at least for now. Some countries, like New Zealand and Thailand, reported no new cases Wednesday, and Australia came close. Once hardest hit, Italy and Spain have both slashed the number of new cases.An employee cleans the floor at Riverside Market in Christchurch on May 14, 2020. New Zealand will phase out its coronavirus lockdown over the next 10 days after successfully containing the virus.But Russia has reported more than 10,000 new infections per day for the past 11 days. It has the second-highest number of COVID-19 cases after the United States. The country’s prime minister and the president’s spokesman are being treated for COVID-19. There are fears the situation may worsen because the country’s official nonworking period ended Tuesday.Some countries that seem to have halted the spread, like Germany and South Korea, have seen a resurgence of cases. A spike of new infections in Lebanon prompted the government to reimpose a four-day lockdown Wednesday after it began gradually lifting restrictions earlier this month.Governments are struggling between the need to restart their economies and the necessity to contain the virus. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has instructed local governments to reinstate shutdowns if they record more than 50 new cases per 100,000 residents. Russian President Vladimir Putin left to local governors to decide whether to extend shutdowns or reinstate the ones that have been lifted.In the United States, the government’s top virology expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, warned the public and leaders of the dangers of reopening too soon. Fauci told a Senate committee Tuesday that premature lifting of restrictions could lead to an outbreak that could be impossible to control.But U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday that people want the country reopened, including businesses and schools.“We have to open our country. Now, we want to do it safely, but we also want to do it as quickly as possible. We can’t keep going on like this,” Trump said.The mayor of Washington, D.C., Muriel Bowser, extended the U.S. capital’s stay-at-home order, which was to expire Friday, until June 8. She said she wanted to see a steady decline of new cases over two weeks before lifting restrictions. Governors of neighboring states Virginia and Maryland are planning to ease their lockdowns in places where the spread of the virus has halted.Sheila Kelly, center, owner of Powell’s Steamer Co. & Pub, stands behind makeshift barriers as she helps patrons at her restaurant in the El Dorado County town of Placerville, Calif., May 13, 2020.Los Angeles County, California, the most populous county in the U.S., with 10 million residents, is expected to announce a three-month extension of its lockdown.The largest four-year public university system in the U.S., California State University, announced the cancellation of in-person classes in the fall at its 23 campuses, the first large U.S. university to do so. Almost all instruction will be moved online, Chancellor Timothy White said in a statement.Elsewhere in the world, Saudi Arabia announced Wednesday that it would go into complete lockdown for the end of the holy month of Ramadan after a sharp rise in new cases. The Interior Ministry said the measure would be in effect from May 23 through May 27.Worldwide, there were about 4.3 million confirmed infections and more than 297,000 deaths late Wednesday evening EDT, according to Johns Hopkins University statistics. The United States was leading the world in the number of infections, with close to 1.4 million, and the number of coronavirus-related deaths, over 84,000. 
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Classrooms should reopen quickly, U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday.“I think you should absolutely open the schools,” said the president as he hosted the governors of Colorado and North Dakota in the Cabinet Room.“It’s had very little impact on young people,” the president said of COVID-19. “But it’s the governors’ choice.”Trump’s comments came a day after California’s state university system decided that classrooms would not reopen even for the new school year, beginning in the autumn.Schools at all levels of education are closed in nearly every state, as well as in the District of Columbia. Many school districts have already announced they will not reopen for the remainder of the school year, which for most in the United States ends in June.“We’re opening our country. People want it open,” said Trump.’Not an acceptable answer’The president took issue with comments made the previous day during a Senate hearing by one of the most prominent members of the White House coronavirus task force.“He wants to play all sides of the equation,” said the president of comments by Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.Fauci had warned the senators that states and cities will face serious consequences if they reopen public activities too quickly amid a viral pandemic.“I think we better be careful we are not cavalier in thinking that children are completely immune to the deleterious effects” of the coronavirus, Fauci said Tuesday.“I was surprised by his answer,” the president told reporters in the Cabinet Room. “To me it’s not an acceptable answer, especially when it comes to schools.” Professors and other teachers over a certain age, however, should perhaps “take it easy” for another few weeks, according to Trump.The president said he has been speaking on the phone with Vice President Mike Pence as they keep their distance as a precaution.“I miss him,” the president told reporters. “He was in the room with somebody who tested positive.”Pence’s press secretary, Katie Miller, last Friday was confirmed to be infected with the coronavirus.Colorado’s actionsTrump asked Colorado’s governor, Jared Polis, to speak about efforts to reopen his state.“We’re doing it in a safe way. All the stores are back,” said Polis, removing his mask as he spoke.North Dakota’s governor, Doug Burgum, said his state was second per capita in the country behind New York in testing for the coronavirus.“We handled the virus and really focused,” keeping 93 percent of business operating in the state, Burgum said.Only three states have less population density than North Dakota.Interior Secretary David Bernhardt said his department was “right on the shoulder of the governors” when it comes to reopening national parks.“I hope everybody is listening. The parks are opening, and rapidly,” said the president.Yellowstone, Grand TetonTwo of the country’s most iconic and popular parks, Yellowstone, located in three western states, and Grand Teton in Wyoming, will begin allowing tourists to return next week.Public health officials caution that infection rates for the virus continue to climb in much of the country, while they decline in the hard-hit metropolitan area in and around New York City.As of late Wednesday evening, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University, COVID-19 had killed more than 84,000 people in the United States. The coronavirus had infected about 1.4 million.  
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A senior official with the International Monetary Fund says the world economic outlook may be even worse than the grim forecast announced by the organization last month.”Our scenario is likely to fall a little short,” said Alejandro Werner, the IMF director for the Western Hemisphere, in an interview with Voice of America.The IMF in April predicted a 3% contraction of the global economy this year, based on projections which assumed the coronavirus health crisis eases in the second half of the year. For Latin America, it had predicted a contraction of 5.2%.FILE – Alejandro Werner, Director of the Western Hemisphere Department of the International Monetary Fund, speaks during an IMF news conference in Montevideo, Uruguay, May 6, 2013.But as more countries open up and the pandemic shows little sign of slowing, Werner said, “We are estimating in a base scenario that it could be double the minus 3 percent, and in Latin America we could see a contraction that is closer to 8%.”Werner said it is “an illusion” for governments to think they can avoid lockdowns and other strict measures, as in Nicaragua, where the government had decided against any type of quarantine and will continue all economic activities.The IMF official also voiced concerns about Venezuela, which was mired in an economic crisis that forced mass emigration even before the pandemic.”The case of Venezuela is not a ‘lost decade.’ It is a decade of a gigantic reversal. What has happened in Venezuela is a macroeconomic and social disaster that we have never seen in the region,” Werner said.If there is a new peak in emigration because of the pandemic, he said, that could worsen the health and economic vulnerability of neighboring countries that receive the Venezuelans.”But even in the absence of the pandemic, the fact is that 25% of the population has left the country and that represents a major challenge, especially in a context of slower economic growth and less job creation,” he added.The economist stressed that “the conditions have not changed” for the IMF to approve emergency loans to the disputed government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.Maduro’s government has asked the IMF for $5 billion to help it address the pandemic. The request was rejected on the grounds that Maduro’s government lacks international recognition.To date, the IMF has granted more than $3.4 billion in emergency loans to 19 governments in the Western Hemisphere. 
 
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Hundreds of angry demonstrators clashed with government forces Wednesday in Indian-administered Kashmir after soldiers shot dead a young man at a checkpoint, officials and locals said.The man’s death came amid heightened tensions in the restive Muslim-majority Himalayan region after New Delhi scrapped its semiautonomous status and imposed a curfew to quell unrest.Mehrajuddin Peer Shah, 25, was driving his car when paramilitary soldiers shot him near a checkpoint on the outskirts of Srinagar, the disputed region’s main city.Police said Shah ignored signals to stop at two checkpoints “in suspicious conditions” before troops fired at the vehicle.Shah was taken to hospital but died from his injuries, police added in a statement.But Shah’s father, Ghulam Nabi, rejected the police’s claims and said his son was shot and killed in cold blood.”Had soldiers fired at his vehicle while fleeing any checkpoint, his car would have got bullet marks,” he told reporters in Srinagar.Witnesses told AFP the young man had come out of his car to answer questions from soldiers at the checkpoint, then was shot as he got back into the vehicle.’We want freedom!’Civilians in Kashmir have been shot at checkpoints in the past, but this was the first such incident in several months.It took place under a nationwide lockdown in India to combat the spread of the coronavirus, with thousands of soldiers and police deployed at checkpoints across the territory to limit public movement.An inquiry into the shooting has begun, Kashmir’s civil administration said.As news of Shah’s death spread in the local area, hundreds of residents took to the streets to hold anti-India protests, shouting, “Go, India, go back!” and “We want freedom!”Masked demonstrators threw stones, and government forces fired tear gas and shotgun pellets to disperse the crowd.Mobile phone services were also cut in the area as the clashes escalated.At least two young women suffered eye injuries from metal pellets, a doctor at the city’s main hospital told AFP on condition of anonymity. Officials have barred doctors from speaking to reporters.The protest came a week after soldiers killed a top rebel commander in the southern Kashmir valley. Authorities cut mobile internet services then, but it was restored in most areas four days later.Rebel groups, which enjoy popular support, have fought for decades for the region’s independence or its merger with Pakistan.The fighting has left tens of thousands dead since 1989, mostly civilians. India has more than 500,000 troops in Kashmir.
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Asian markets are mixed Wednesday over concerns the coronavirus pandemic could worsen if governments try to return to normal too soon. Japan’s Nikkei index is trading slightly lower in late afternoon trading, while the indexes in Hong Kong, Seoul, Shanghai, Sydney and Taipei are all in positive territory. In oil trading, West Texas Intermediate crude, the U.S. benchmark, is trading at $25.65 per barrel, down 0.5%, while the international benchmark, Brent crude, is selling at $29.58 per barrel, down 1.3%. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq are all up in futures trading, indicating a good start for Wall Street at the opening bell.   All three indexes lost shares Tuesday after Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious disease expert, told a Senate panel that the coronavirus pandemic could worsen if cities and states tried to reopen too quickly.   
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New Zealand and Thailand each reported no new coronavirus cases Wednesday as the governments prepared to further ease lockdown restrictions. New Zealand has now had four such days during the past two weeks, showing continued success that followed a month of strict stay-at-home orders. Thursday brings the latest step back to normalcy there with most stores and restaurants allowed to open again with social distancing rules in place. “The sense of anticipation is both palpable and understandable,” Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield said. Thailand reached the zero daily cases milestone for the first time since early March.  The government is urging people to continue wearing masks if they go out in public and will meet Friday to decide on additional easing measures such as allowing shopping malls to reopen. In another sign of progress, Austria announced Wednesday its border with Germany would fully reopen on June 15 after talks between leaders of the two countries. Mexico’s General Health Council has classified the construction, mining and automobile manufacturing industries as “essential activities,” meaning they will be allowed to operate while other businesses remain under lockdown restrictions.A medical worker from the COVID-19 triage carries paperwork at the Mexico General Hospital, in Mexico City, Tuesday, May 12, 2020.The move came ahead of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s expected announcement Wednesday of his plan for gradually resuming economic activity in Mexico.  The country’s health ministry has reported 38,000 confirmed cases and more than 3,900 deaths. While many countries, especially in Europe, are starting to allow businesses to reopen, health officials remain cautious about the risk for moving too quickly and allowing a resurgence of infections. The top U.S. infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, told a Senate committee he is concerned that if states skip stages such as waiting for a two-week decline in confirmed cases before opening up, “we will start to see little spikes that might turn into outbreaks.” “If you think that we have it completely under control, we don’t,” Fauci told lawmakers.  “If you look at the dynamics of the outbreak, we are seeing a diminution of hospitalizations and infections in some places, such as in New York City, which has plateaued and starting to come down, New Orleans. But in other parts of the country, we are seeing spikes.” The United States has the most confirmed cases in the world, followed by Russia, which has seen a spike in cases, including reporting more than 10,000 new cases again Wednesday. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced Tuesday that he has contracted the virus. Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin had to relinquish his duties two weeks ago after being diagnosed with COVID-19.  President Vladimir Putin is conducting all his communication via video links from his official retreat outside Moscow.  Worldwide, there are about 4.3 million confirmed cases and 292,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University statistics. 
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A Palestinian rock-thrower killed an Israeli soldier in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday and police wounded a Palestinian who tried to stab security staff at a checkpoint, Israeli authorities said. The separate events marred a relative lull in West Bank violence during the coronavirus outbreak. Palestinians and Israelis have restricted their movements and, to a degree, cooperated on measures in response to the crisis. On Thursday, however, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to swear in a new coalition government whose agenda includes a possible declaration of sovereignty over Jewish settlements and the Jordan Valley in the West Bank – a de facto annexation. The Israeli military said a 21-year-old conscript died after being struck in the head by a rock thrown from a rooftop in Yabad village, near Jenin, as his special forces unit withdrew after detaining four wanted Palestinians. The military said troops were back in the village, searching for the rock-thrower, and Netanyahu said on Twitter that Israel would “settle the score with him.” A few hours later, a Palestinian tried to stab Israeli security staff at Qalandiya, a checkpoint around 50 km (30 miles) to the south on the West Bank boundary and was shot, an Israeli police spokesman said. The wounded Palestinian was taken by ambulance to hospital in critical condition, an Israeli emergency service said. The Palestinians want the West Bank for a future state and deem Israeli settlements there illegal, as do most world powers. Israel and the United States dispute that view. U.S.-backed peace-making between the two sides broke down in 2014. Israel’s proposed territorial steps in the West Bank are expected to be discussed during a one-day visit on Wednesday by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who will meet Netanyahu as well as the premier’s designated coalition partner, Benny Gantz. “We (also) hope that we can convince the Palestinian leadership that they should engage with the Israelis on the basis of the (Trump) Vision for Peace,” Pompeo told the Israel Hayom newspaper in an interview. President Donald Trump unveiled a new peace plan in January, but his administration has been boycotted by the Palestinians, who see bias in moves such as his 2017 recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. The initial Israeli raid on Yabad was launched to arrest Palestinians suspected of previously throwing rocks at Israeli cars and of other offenses, the military spokesman said. By midday, 16 Palestinians had been arrested in the Jenin area, Palestinian officials said.
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The French News Agency, Agence France Presse, says Lesotho Prime Minister Thomas Thabane will turn in his resignation on Wednesday.   AFP says the 80-year-old Thabane revealed in a telephone interview that he was stepping down due to his age.  He said he will inform King Letsie III, the supreme traditional leader of the small southern African country, of his intention to resign. Thabane has been mired in a political and legal crisis stemming from the murder of his estranged wife, Lipolelo Thabane, in 2017.  The couple were going through a bitter divorce when she was shot dead in front of her house in the capital Maseru. Thabane’s current wife, Maesaiah, whom he married a few months after Lipolelo’s death, is charged with her murder. The prime minister has been named as a suspect, but has not been formally charged. After ignoring repeated calls for him to resign, Thabane’s coalition government collapsed Monday, with parliament due to meet next week to name a new prime minister.   Finance Minister Moeketsi Majoro has been nominated by the ruling All Basotho Convention to succeed Thanbane.   Thabane’s request for immunity from prosecution after leaving office was rejected last week by the governing party.   
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Karolina Chorvath created her Instagram account while at Northeastern University in the early days of social media for the same reasons as everyone else: to share images and connect with friends.But after being diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, she used the platform to talk about her health. Now, she’s a 26-year-old Instagram influencer — @karolinakristina — with more than 12,000 followers.Irene Kim (Screenshot from Instagram)Influencers like Chorvath are paid to promote content on their social media accounts. Karolina Chorvath (Screenshot from Instagram)Chorvath — a third-culture journalist and influencer — has lived in Poland, the Netherlands, Belgium and Michigan before landing in Boston. While she shifted to endorsing mostly beauty products and fashion in 2016, she’s talking more about her health battles with Crohn’s disease and chronic illness.More companies have reached out during the quarantine because she’s one of the few influencers who has chronic illness. Having spent a lot of time isolated and in pain, she knows how to get through unbearable times.”When the pandemic started, I didn’t just continue to post skin care and beauty and fashion,” Chorvath said. “I was really posting about meditation and mindfulness and that has been hopefully helping. … It would be my honor if that could be the influence that I make during COVID, people can come to my Instagram account and feel validated or calmer or less alone.”Being paid to influence followers toward a product or service is an unregulated field. Taylor Lorenz, a technology and internet culture reporter at The New York Times, has written about the Helene Heath (Screenshot from Instagram)Helene Heath, a Brooklyn-based fashion and beauty blogger from Canada — @heleneisfor — with more than 14,000 followers, has far more time during the quarantine to think about the messages she wants to convey to her audience.”This whole new freedom in schedule is also allowing me to reflect more on the space I occupy and the value I bring to my community, versus always feeling like I’m one step behind and trying to keep up during the hustle and bustle of real life,” Heath said.Fashion and beauty influencer Brooklynn Gallagher — @brooklynngallagher — is a 26-year-old who hails from Vancouver and is based in New York City. She said more brands have reached out to her during quarantine.”It’s not something I expected but it has been beneficial for me personally as I’ve had much more time on my hands to create content,” said Gallagher, director of growth at Bulletin. “Normally, I create content on the weekends, as I work full time during the week … so this has opened up a lot of time for me.”Chorvath, Heath and Gallagher agreed they are more careful and sensitive about how they promote themselves during the pandemic and quarantine.Brooklynn Gallagher (Screenshot from Instagram)”I have also said no to a couple of partnerships, specifically affiliate programs, because it doesn’t feel right to push my followers to buy right now,” said Gallagher. “I think the most important thing for influencers right now is to promote positivity and to be a place where people can come to and still feel connected — being a person/place where people can find comfort is essential right now.”Influencers said companies would be smart to create more genuine content and actively build communities and create new platforms on new social media such as TikTok during COVID.”There are some brands, however, who have used this as an opportunity to better connect with their audiences, and reach out and teach them things that could potentially help them get through this and I think that’s fantastic,” Chorvath said.Heath said influencers with a voice and large platform on Instagram should have a responsibility to help and support their communities of followers.”Their community looks up to them, and they can set the tone for positivity and action in the midst of a global crisis, using their influence for the greater good within their niche,” said Heath. “I think it’s time to show just how powerful their voices are.” “We are literally in isolation right now, and a lot of people need positive vibes in their life, and whether or not that’s coming from Instagram, being a person/place where people can find comfort is essential right now,” said Gallagher.Madeline Joung contributed to this report.  
 
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As mourners gathered for the funeral of an influential police commander in Afghanistan’s eastern Nangarhar province, a suicide bomber detonated his explosive vest, Smokes rises from a hospital after gunmen attacked in Kabul, Afghanistan, May 12, 2020.While officials have yet to confirm IS-Khorasan’s involvement in either of the attacks, some say such claims should serve as a warning that the group’s ability to survive adversity should not be underestimated. “It would be premature to say that the organization as a whole has been neutralized or defeated,” an international counterterrorism official told VOA prior to Tuesday’s bombing. “The history of ISIL-Khorasan up to now is that they have been reasonably resilient,” he added, speaking on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the intelligence. That counterterrorism officials are even willing to think along those lines, according to some analysts, is a testament to the group’s tenacity in the face of multiple setbacks. The most recent blow against IS-Khorasan came earlier this week, when Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security (NDS) announced the Map of Kunar province, AfghanistanBy mid-March, survival for IS-Khorasan in the region had become nearly impossible. “The entire province of Kunar was cleared of Daesh criminals,” Taliban officials announced, using the terror group’s Arabic acronym. Some intelligence estimates suggested the FILE – Afghan Special Forces inspect a cave used by suspected Islamic State militants in the Achin district of the province of Nangarhar, Afghanistan, April 23, 2017. The U.S. dropped a Massive Ordnance Air Blast on the cave and tunnel system.In April 2017, the U.S. dropped the largest non-nuclear bomb in its arsenal, a GBU-43 Massive Ordnance Air Blast, on a key IS cave and tunnel system in Nangarhar province. Over the next several months, a series of subsequent strikes killed the then-IS-Khorasan emir and his replacement and cut the estimated number of fighters from 3,000 to 600. Only two years later, IS-Khorasan’s number had grown almost eightfold. This time, IS-Khorasan may not have the luxury of established havens, but it continues to find a way to hold on. “ISIS-K does still have an operational network in Kabul and a presence in eastern Afghanistan,” according to Thomas Joscelyn, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. “It just isn’t clear how big they are at this point. That is, how much overall capacity ISIS-K has left,” he said. In a country still wracked by fighting and instability, and home to an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 foreign fighters, intelligence and counterterror officials warn it is not impossible for IS-Khorasan to revive itself and regain its footing.  
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