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U.S. Vice President Mike Pence is distancing himself from President Donald Trump out of an abundance of caution, the White House has confirmed.  “The vice president has made the choice to keep his distance for a few days,” after Pence’s press secretary, Katie Miller, last Friday tested positive for COVID-19, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany told reporters Tuesday. FILE – Katie Miller, press secretary for Vice President Mike Pence, April 29, 2020. Miller has tested positive for COVID-19.Pence was notably absent Monday when Trump held a news conference in the White House Rose Garden to promote the administration’s record on coronavirus testing.  During Tuesday’s press briefing, McEnany also reconfirmed an estimate that by the end of this week 10 million people in the United States will have been tested for COVID-19.  McEnany said every U.S. state is better off than South Korea at the moment, in terms of coronavirus testing.  In terms of death tolls, 29 states have recorded higher fatality numbers than all of the Asian country.  South Korea, with a population of about 52 million, has reported fewer than 300 deaths.  The United States, with 328 million people, has recorded more than 81,000 fatalities from the novel coronavirus — the most of any country.Masks for staffOn Monday, the White House directed all staff to wear masks at work except when they are seated at their desks. The president, however, has been a notable exception to the new rule.McEnany spoke to reporters during her 23-minute briefing Tuesday without a mask.  When asked why she was not wearing one, she replied, “It’s because I’m distanced from you,” adding she had tested negative for the coronavirus on Monday and again on Tuesday.Members of the pool of reporters designated to cover the president on behalf of the rest of their colleagues have begun receiving daily COVID-19 tests. They all wore masks while in their assigned seats during Tuesday’s briefing.   
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Some American states are holding special elections and primaries during the pandemic. Worries about the possible health risks of standing in line to vote at polling places is making the vote by mail option more appealing to some voters.  These are the requirements to vote by mail in the U.S. 
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Twenty-year-old Leo Canty says he was worried less about himself and more about the people around him when he tested positive for COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus, in late March.“The scariest part was that thought in my mind, that like hurting someone else, hoping that people I’ve been in contact with, specifically my family, were all OK,” the New York college student said via Skype from his home in Washington.Canty lives with his parents and three siblings in the home, where he quarantined himself in his room. His mother, Michelle Cochran, also tested positive in early April.“We were all quarantined to the house for two weeks. It was about four weeks, of all us inside the house, all the time, in different quarantines,” she said.Leo and his mother, Michelle Cochran. (Photo courtesy Canty family)Social distancing at homeCochran, a nurse practitioner, says she is certain she was not infected by her son but was exposed to the virus elsewhere, noting she tested negative for the virus after her son tested positive. Her employer wanted her to be tested before she could come back to work as well. And when her son Leo was recovering, her results came back positive.During that time, to keep the rest of the family safe, the Canty family practiced strict social distancing at home. Cochran was confined to her room for almost two weeks, until she felt better, and seeing her family only through Zoom meetings.  At the same time her son Leo was quarantined in his room, while the rest of the family avoided physical contact like handshakes and hugs.  “A terrible feeling to feel like you are kind of toxic and that you could infect your loved ones. It’s a really awful feeling,” she said.Leo Canty works in his home lab in Washington. (Photo courtesy Canty family)Plasma donation & antibodies testingCanty tested negative in mid-April. And in early May, he donated his plasma for potential therapy for both prevention and treatment in the fight against the coronavirus.  The college student said he was determined to do this, as health officials and those from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were in constant contact with him from the beginning.“It seemed selfish not to. If there is any possibility of helping someone like it’s something you got to do. If you can help people, you should, It’s just basic,” he said.Dr. Arturo Casadevall chairs the Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He is leading a national effort to test whether the use of blood plasma from recovered patients might help prevent COVID-19 or lessen the chance of progression to this severe disease.“Antibodies recovered from COVID-19 patients might be a potential therapy for both prevention and treatment in the fight against coronavirus until a vaccine becomes available”, said Dr. Casadevall during an online briefing  What are antibodies?Antibodies are specialized proteins in the blood that are produced by the body’s immune system to help fight off a new infection. These proteins bind to the invading foreign bacteria or virus, then neutralize, destroy and ultimately remove it from the body.  What is plasma?Blood plasma is the liquid part of blood, where antibodies can be found.“So, if I was to take a sample of your blood, in it you got red cells, you got white cells, you got platelets, and they’re floating on liquid. The liquid is the plasma. And that’s where the antibodies are. The antibodies are floating in the liquid,” said Casadevall.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
Leo Canty with his siblings at their home in Washington. (Photo courtesy Canty family)Good news Cochran is a registered bone marrow donor and all her children are blood donors. She says she wants to find out if anyone else in the family has antibodies so that person can donate his or her plasma for research.The Canty family says they are happy they were able to help by providing Leo’s plasma, and that everyone is doing okay now.“I feel incredibly fortunate that, knock on wood, we both recovered and nobody else has gotten sick,” his mother said with a smile on her face.  Leo’s father, Brendan Canty, says the experience has brought the family together.  “I think ultimately the experience probably will make us a much tighter family. It’s something that I have never expected to have – this much time together.”
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Doctors and medical researchers are studying whether antibodies in plasma from recovered COVID-19 patients are effective in treating the disease until a vaccine against the virus becomes available. A family in America’s capital that has recovered from COVID-19 is now helping to make a difference by donating plasma for research. VOA’s Saqib Ul Islam has the story.
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A top U.S. health official says he will express to a congressional committee Tuesday the dangers of lifting coronavirus restrictions too quickly. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, told the New York Times his main message to lawmakers will be that if the country skips over checkpoints in a three-phase White House plan, “then we risk the danger of multiple outbreaks throughout the country.” “This will not only result in needless suffering and death, but would actually set us back on our quest to return to normal,” Fauci said. Health officials have warned for weeks that easing stay-at-home restrictions and allowing businesses to resume operations too quickly could lead to a resurgence in COVID-19 cases, both endangering public health and harming the Trump administration’s push to kickstart economic activity.People make preparations for reopening at Vesta Coffee Roasters, Friday, May 8, 2020, in Las Vegas. Nevada.The White House plan outlines several recommendations for states as they consider how to ease restrictions, including that they should show a downward trajectory in positive tests and a two-week fall in documented cases, as well as strong systems for tracing the contacts of those who test positive. Fauci is one of four top officials set to appear Tuesday before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee for a hearing titled “Safely Getting Back to Work and Back to School.” Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the CDC, and the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, Dr. Stephen Hahn, along with Fauci, are giving their testimony remotely because they are self-isolating after having contact with a White House staffer who has tested positive for COVID-19. Brett Giroir, assistant secretary for health at the Department of Health and Human Services, is also participating in the meeting. The United States has more than 1.3 million confirmed cases and 80,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University statistics. 
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Asian markets are trading lower Tuesday amid concerns of a second wave of the novel coronavirus outbreak. Tokyo’s Nikkei index is 0.1% lower, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index has lost a whopping 438 points, or 1.7% of its value. The S&P/ASX index in Sydney is down 1.4%, while the markets in Seoul, Shanghai and Taipei are also significantly lower in late afternoon trading. The three major U.S. indexes, the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq, are all trading below one percent in futures trading.  Meanwhile, the price of the U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude is $24.41 per barrel, a gain of 1.1%, while Brent crude, the international benchmark, is trading at $29.78 per barrel, up 0.5%.   Although economies around the world appear to be slowly returning to normal, experts say U.S. markets will have a tough time making a full recovery if coronavirus testing isn’t improved and no vaccine is available anytime soon.   
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President Donald Trump’s fundraising pace slowed slightly for the second straight month as the nation reeled from the coronavirus outbreak. The Republican National Committee and Trump’s reelection campaign announced Monday that they raised more than $61.7 million in April. It brings Trump’s total haul for the election cycle to over $742 million. That’s $288 million more than the Obama reelection effort had at this same point, the campaign and the RNC announced in a joint statement. The campaign raised $63 million in March, down from the $86 million raised in February. Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale said in a statement that the April haul underscores that the president’s “consistent record of unprecedented action is met with overwhelming enthusiasm and support.” Despite the drop, Trump’s fundraising remains far ahead of likely Democratic challenger Joe Biden.  Biden’s presidential campaign said Monday that it and the Democratic National Committee jointly raised $60 million in April. It’s a solid sum that may ease some Democratic worries that Biden is stumbling in the money race. Biden’s campaign was almost broke before he vaulted to the top of the crowded Democratic presidential field on Super Tuesday in early March. He became the party’s presumptive nominee when his sole remaining rival, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, suspended his campaign in early April. The campaign said in a statement that its average April donation was $32.63, “showing continued grassroots strength even in this time of crisis.” It has recently announced a number of hires, a sign of a newly secure financial position. 
 
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For months, U.S. officials have been warning about a spike in cyberattacks during the coronavirus pandemic, but they’ve stopped short of pointing fingers at any one country. Now, as the all-out global race for a coronavirus vaccine accelerates and hackers home in on related scientific research, U.S. officials are preparing to single out a long-standing cyber adversary: China.    In a joint warning slated for the coming days, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security reportedly plan to publicly accuse China of seeking to pilfer U.S. research related to coronavirus vaccines, treatments and tests.   Tab Bradshaw, CEO of Redpoint Cybersecurity and a member of the Department of Homeland Security’s advanced information sharing working group, confirmed the planned warning in an interview Monday.  “I think it’s what should be happening,” Bradshaw told VOA. “It’s a political move to call out the Chinese Communist government and to state to the world that they’re actively trying to steal U.S. technology.” The FBI did not have a comment. DHS did not respond to a request for comment.The U.S. has long branded China along with Russia, North Korea and Iran as a major source of cyberattacks, accusing Beijing of pilfering U.S. intellectual property in a bid to gain a competitive edge over the United States.FILE – President Donald Trump speaks during a signing ceremony of the “Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Act,” in the Oval Office of the White House, Nov. 16, 2018, in Washington.“What else is new with China? Tell me,” President Donald Trump said during a White House press briefing when asked about the report of alleged Chinese theft of vaccine research. Publicly accusing China of seeking to steal proprietary research related to COVID-19 vaccines is likely to exacerbate tensions between Beijing and Washington as the Trump administration continues to pin the blame for the pandemic on China where it originated, and for failing to act quickly enough to warn other countries and block the spread of the coronavirus. The FBI-DHS warning comes on the heels of a joint alert issued last week by U.S. and British cyber officials. The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and Britain’s National Cyber Security Center said they were investigating a number of incidents involving pharmaceutical companies, medical research organizations and universities.  “Organizations involved in COVID-19-related research are attractive targets for … [hackers] looking to obtain information for their domestic research efforts into COVID-19-related medicine,” the agencies said in a statement. The feverish search for a COVID-19 vaccine is taking place in several countries around the globe. The World Health Organization (WHO) is currently tracking eight vaccines in the clinical evaluation phase, including two in the United States and four in China. That is on top of at least 100 vaccine candidates in the preclinical evaluation stage around the world.  For China, the ability to rapidly manufacture a successful vaccine is as much about gaining a geopolitical edge over the U.S. as promoting public health, officials say.  FILE _ Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers, speaks during a news conference to announce a criminal law enforcement action involving China, at the Department of Justice in Washington, Nov. 1, 2018.“It’s of great importance not just from a commercial value but whatever countries, company or research lab develops that vaccine first and is able to produce it is going to have a significant geopolitical success story,” John Demers, the Justice Department’s top national security official, said last month.   Given China’s decades-long history of intellectual property theft, the notion that Beijing might be trying to steal research related to coronavirus vaccines and treatments is not far-fetched, Demers said.“It would be beyond absurd to think well, the Chinese, they care about all this other stuff, but this they’re going to lay off,” Demers said. Cyberattacks traced to China and other countries picked up pace following the coronavirus outbreak, with ransomware operations seeing a big uptick.A Chinese cyber espionage group known as APT-41 has long-targeted research universities and is “getting a lot of attention right now because of COVID-19,” Bradshaw said. In January, hackers tied to the Chinese government attacked health care providers and companies in other sectors, according to cybersecurity firm FireEye. FireEye called it “one of the most widespread campaigns we have seen from China-nexus espionage actors in recent years.”   FILE – A man walks past a Google sign in San Francisco, May 1, 2019.China is not the only country involved in cyberattacks during the pandemic. Google’s Threat Assessment Group has identified more than a dozen groups of government-backed hackers using COVID-19 themes to gain access to computer networks.  Google did not name the countries, but private sector cybersecurity firms have identified several state actors. From January to April, Vietnamese hackers launched cyberattacks on Chinese targets in order to collect intelligence on the coronavirus crisis, FireEye reported last month.   FILE – This July 9, 2015, file photo shows the headquarters of Gilead Sciences in Foster City, Calif.In April, Iranian hackers reportedly launched an attack on Gilead Sciences, the maker of remdesivir, the drug recently approved by FDA as a treatment for COVID-19. While the attacks have involved a wide range of activities — from criminals targeting Italian financial institutions to North Korean hackers targeting organizations in South Korea — vaccine and treatment research remains a favorite target of state-sponsored actors “There is nothing more valuable today than biomedical research relating to vaccines for treatments for the coronavirus,” Demers said. 
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British media are reporting that the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) has issued a wanted notice for a U.S. woman who is accused of killing a British teenager during a car crash last year.  A so-called “Red Notice” was issued for Anne Sacoolas, the wife of a U.S. diplomat, meaning she could provisionally be arrested if she leaves the United States. Such notices are usually initiated by a member country but are not the same as an international arrest warrant.  Sacoolas claimed diplomatic immunity after a deadly car crash in Britain last August and swiftly returned to the United States, setting off a diplomatic dispute between London and Washington.  Britain has requested her extradition, but U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo rejected that request in January.   When asked Monday if Britain pushed for the Interpol notice, a spokesperson for Prime Minister Boris Johnson said only that the British government continues to believe that Sacoolas should return to Britain to face judgment.  He said the U.S. decision not to extradite Sacoolas was a “denial of justice.” “She should return to the U.K. We have made this clear to the U.S., including the prime minister to President (Donald) Trump,” the spokesperson said. Sacoolas, 42, has been charged by British prosecutors in the death by dangerous driving of 19-year-old Harry Dunn, who was riding a motorcycle when Sacoolas’s car crashed into him.  The accident took place outside RAF Croughton, a British military base in central England used by U.S. forces. At the time, Sacoolas’s husband was an intelligence officer at the base.  Dunn’s parents urged Sacoolas to return to Britain to face justice. They met with Trump at the White House last October in an effort to bring about her extradition. Trump had hoped to persuade the family to meet with Sacoolas who was in another room, but they declined.  Dunn’s mother, Charlotte Charles, said on Twitter Monday that the Interpol development was “important news.”    “I just want to urge Mrs. Sacoolas to come back to the UK and do the right thing,” she added.  
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An increase in coronavirus infections linked to a nightclub district in Seoul, South Korea, has sparked a backlash against the LGBTQ community after the outbreak was allegedly connected to gay people. While South Korea has been largely successful in managing and suppressing its number of coronavirus cases in recent weeks, the surge of new cases connected to bars and nightclubs in Seoul has sparked concerns about a second wave of infections, as well as refreshed homophobic sentiments. Twenty-nine of the new cases were found to be linked to Itaewon, a dining and nightclub district known to cater to members of the gay community. Privacy concernsKorea’s attempts to trace potentially infected people have led to the disclosure of sensitive information, including the recent locations, of coronavirus patients. Privacy concerns have presented complications for officials, as some people have been hesitant to be tested for fear of being outed as a homosexual.  Health ministry official Yoon Tae-ho acknowledged that individuals could face discrimination if they came forward in a nation where homosexuality is taboo. “We release the movement of confirmed patients to encourage anyone who might be exposed get tested voluntarily,” he said in a briefing. “We urge you to refrain from distributing patients’ personal information or groundless rumors, which not only hurts them but can also be subject to punishment,” he said Monday at a news conference. Official warningConsidering these concerns, officials on Monday issued an official warning against leaking the personal information of coronavirus patients. “Leaking personal information of confirmed patients or spreading baseless rumors not only harms others but could be criminally punished,” Yoon said.  Eighty-six people tested positive for the coronavirus in connection with the Itaewon outbreak, including people who had traveled to the capital and subsequently returned home, according to the Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Of the 86 who tested positive, 78 were men, and 76 were in their 20s and 30s.  
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The Trump administration’s leading health experts on safely dealing with the novel coronavirus will be testifying in a Senate hearing by a videoconference this week after three of them and the committee’s chairman were exposed to people who tested positive for COVID-19.Adding to a string of potentially awkward moments for President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence himself self-isolated for the weekend after a staff member tested positive for COVID-19. Pence leads Trump’s coronavirus task force.The images of top administration officials taking such precautions come as states seek to loosen economic restrictions put in place to mitigate the virus’ spread.  In the Senate, a staff member for the office of Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., tested positive for COVID-19, leading Alexander to decide to preside over Tuesday’s hearing by teleconference while self-quarantining at home in Tennessee for two weeks.As the health experts discuss the administration’s response to the outbreak, lawyers for Trump will hope to persuade a Supreme Court with two of his appointees to keep his tax and other financial records from being turned over to lawmakers and a New York district attorney.  The justices are hearing arguments by telephone in a pivotal legal fight that could affect the presidential campaign. Rulings against the president could result in the quick release of personal financial information that Trump has sought strenuously to keep private.On Thursday, a House panels hears from Dr. Rick A. Bright, former director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority. Bright asserts that he was summarily removed from his job and reassigned to a lesser role because he resisted political pressure to allow widespread use of hydroxychloroquine, a malaria drug favored by Trump.Perhaps most important of all the week’s developments, the administration and Congress will be watching how businesses and consumers react as states gradually loosen restrictions that were designed to slow the spread of the coronavirus.  FILE – Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin speaks about the coronavirus in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington.Decisions about how fast to reopen are being made with a general election less than six months away, and Trump and other incumbents face the prospect of seeking another term in the midst of a public health and economic crisis.  “If we do this carefully, working with the governors, I don’t think there’s a considerable risk,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on “Fox News Sunday.” “Matter of fact, I think there’s a considerable risk of not reopening. You’re talking about what would be permanent economic damage to the American public.”Mnuchin was one of several economic advisers the White House dispatched on Sunday to place the focus on the merits of loosening restrictions on the economy. Yet attention to possible risks of infection also turned to how the virus seemed to find its way into the White House complex.Top task force officials who have gone into quarantine because of exposure to a person at the White House who tested positive for the virus include Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the CDC; and the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, Dr. Stephen Hahn.Fauci’s institute said he was “taking appropriate precautions” to mitigate the risk to others while still carrying out his duties, teleworking from home but willing to go to the White House if called. Officials said both Redfield and Hahn will be self-quarantining for two weeks.Pence’s press secretary, Katie Miller, tested positive for the coronavirus on Friday, making her the second person who works at the White House complex known to test positive for the virus this week. A military service member who acts as a valet to the president tested positive on Thursday, the first known instance where a person in close proximity to the president at the White House had tested positive.The precautions contrast with a president who has declined to wear a face covering in meetings at the White House or at his public events.  The White House has moved to shore up its protection protocols to protect the nation’s political leaders. Trump said that some staffers who interact with him closely would now be tested daily. Pence told reporters that both he and Trump would now be tested daily as well.Kevin Hassett, an adviser to Trump and the former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, acknowledged Sunday it’s “scary to go to work” in the White House, calling the West Wing a “small, crowded place. It’s, you know, a little bit risky.”Hassett said he wears a mask when necessary and practices “aggressive social distancing.” Appearing on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” he said any fears are tempered by frequent testing, access to an excellent medical team and his belief that this is a time “when people have to step up and serve their country.”The Senate will be in session this week. The House has not yet scheduled its return, as Democrats are determined to have a final coronavirus bill ready for voting before members are called back.House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is also working behind the scenes to unify her caucus and finalize their opening coronavirus bill; the Senate is in wait-and-see mode, with Republicans divided on next steps.  The president says he’s not in a hurry to pass another economic rescue package. Trump economic adviser Larry Kudlow said that the administration is, however, talking with lawmakers from both parties about possible next steps.”I think that many people would like to just pause for a moment and take a look at the economic impact of this massive assistance program, which is the greatest in United States history. That’s all that is being said,” Kudlow said on ABC’s “This Week.” 
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More than 200 pro-democracy protesters were arrested in Hong Kong Sunday night after staging a sit-in at a shopping mall in the city’s Mong Kok district.Authorities say about 230 protesters between the ages of 12 and 65 were arrested and charged with unlawful assembly, failure to produce proof of identity and various other violations.The protest was one of several smaller demonstrations held in multiple shopping malls in the semi-autonomous Chinese city, with participants singing, chanting and holding signs in defiance of authorities after they were denied permission to hold a Mother’s Day march.Police in riot gear used pepper spray on the demonstrators to break up the protests.Political tensions have escalated in Hong Kong after Beijing’s top representative office in the city said it was not bound by a law that restricts interference by other mainland Chinese agencies.In recent weeks, Hong Kong’s law enforcement authorities arrested 15 pro-democracy activists, including Martin Lee, 81, a move the U.S. condemned.Before the COVID-19 outbreak, Hong Kong was engulfed by several months of massive anti-government protests last year, initially sparked by a controversial extradition bill. The protests evolved into a demand for greater democracy.Hong Kong enjoys a high degree of autonomy under the concept of “one country, two systems,” since Britain handed the territory back to Beijijng in 1997.  But many Hong Kongers fear that autonomy is steadily being eroded by a central government that is increasingly meddling in its affairs. 
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Asian markets are on the rise as more and more nations gradually ease restrictions imposed at the start of the coronavirus epidemic that ground nearly all economic activity to a halt. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei index was up 1.4 in late Monday afternoon trading, while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong surged 1.9% higher.  Australia’s S&P/ASX was up 1.6% and  Shanghai was 0.1% higher.  Seoul’s KOSPI index was flat ahead of the closing bell. In other trading activity, the price of West Texas Intermediate crude, the U.S. benchmark, was at $24.44 per barrel, down 1.2%, while Brent crude, the international benchmark, was at $30.60 per barrel, down 1.1% All three major U.S. indexes are in positive territory in futures trading.   
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It’s not meant to be a trick question, but many filling out their 2020 U.S. census form struggle to answer: How many people were staying at your home on April 1? The pandemic has fostered sudden, unexpected dislocation, making a typically easy question confusing for the newly displaced. Some people living in coronavirus hot spots fled their homes or were hospitalized. Students living off-campus moved in with their parents once universities closed. Travelers got stuck far from home because of health concerns. Fran Kunitz left St. Louis to visit her sister and brother-in-law in Fort Myers, Florida, in mid-March. She was supposed to fly back on April 1 but nixed those plans. She has a weak immune system and asthma and didn’t want to risk catching the virus on a flight.  Census Bureau guidance puts her in St. Louis, so when she fills out her form, she’ll have to ignore the part about where she was on April 1 — the date that determines where people are counted once a decade. “I’m anxious to go home, but everyone tells me not to,” Kunitz said recently from Florida. The displacement is especially worrisome in New York City, which has been the epicenter of the nation’s coronavirus outbreak.  It’s leading to low response rates in wealthy enclaves of the Upper East Side and midtown Manhattan where many residents have left for the Hamptons, Florida or elsewhere. Some believe they need the census ID number that was mailed to them to fill out the form online, but that’s not necessary, said Julie Menin, director of NYC Census 2020. “It’s a problem that we’re having. People are under the misimpression that if for any reason they have left New York City during COVID, they still believe they need the paper form with a computer code,” Menin said.  People who answer the questionnaire without an ID number are identified and counted by their address. The response rates are lowest in some of the New York City neighborhoods where the virus hit hardest, such as Elmhurst in Queens, which had more than 7,000 confirmed cases in the first few weeks of the outbreak. That coincided with the period in March when most people could begin answering the questionnaire.Census Bureau guidelines say a person should be counted where they usually live if they expect to go back there.  “If they are not sure whether they will return to their usual residence after the crisis ends, then they should be counted where they are staying on April 1, 2020,” the agency said.  For college students living away from home, that means at school. Students living in college housing before the pandemic mostly are being counted by their schools, but it’s confusing for those living off campus who have moved back in with their parents. For graduating seniors, the uncertainty is compounded because they’re not returning to campus. The bureau says they should still be counted at school. Jake Mershon, who just finished his sophomore year at Florida State University in Tallahassee, moved back in with his mother, her fiance and his sister in Atlanta after on-campus classes shut down in mid-March. His mother included him on the census form for her household, and neither Mershon nor his three roommates filled out a questionnaire for their Tallahassee apartment.  “She was like, ‘Of course, I’ll count you here,'” Mershon said. “There’s no way I will be counted in Tallahassee because of everything going on.” The pandemic has forced the Census Bureau to push back its deadline for finishing the 2020 count from the end of July to the end of October. The bureau also is asking Congress for permission to delay deadlines next year for giving census data to the states so they can draw new voting maps. The 2020 census will determine how many congressional seats each state gets as well as how some $1.5 trillion in federal spending is doled out. “It’s hard to think of another census when there’s been this disruption nationwide,” said D’Vera Cohn, a census expert at the Pew Research Center. “Certainly, there have been hurricanes or other national disasters that have displaced people, but this particular set of circumstances seems to be unique, being nationwide.” As lockdowns started in mid-March, Shana Roen left her apartment in Atlanta for her parents’ home in Orlando, Florida, remembering to bring her census notice. She filled out the form online at the end of April before heading back to Georgia, where stay-at-home restrictions were loosening before the rest of the U.S. “I came down to Florida to be around family and do stuff for my parents and be with somebody rather than by myself in my apartment,” Roen said. “But I put myself down as a Georgia resident.” 
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A prominent leader of Pakistan’s Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) and member of the country’s National Assembly blamed “state-sponsored militants” for last week’s fatal attack on a leader of the movement in the country’s South Waziristan region. “It is clear for them [the authorities] that they [state-sponsored militants] have a hand in it. There were cases in the past, and it [the government] kept quiet [about those cases] and even tried to influence those in the investigation,” Mohsin Dawar, a member of Pakistan’s National Assembly and a leader of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM), said in accusing “state-sponsored militants” of carrying out the attack. “In the cases, such as Tahir Dawar’s, [federal] ministers made promises, in the parliament, that they would conduct (an) investigation but did not kept their words,” Dawar said, referring to the case of a Pashtun police officer who was abducted in 2018, and then tortured and killed by unknown people. Arif Wazir, a leader of PTM, died May 2, a day after he was wounded in an attack in Wana, South Waziristan. Police in Wana have filed a first information report (FIR) against “unidentified gunmen.” Grievances Pashtuns, who are the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan but a minority in Pakistan, have felt neglected and targeted in Pakistan for some time. That long-simmering anger boiled over in January 2018 with the death of Naqeebullah Mehsud, a 27-year-old shopkeeper-turned-model, at police hands in Karachi. Police said at the time that Mehsud had been killed in a shootout with members of the Pakistani Taliban, but an internal inquiry cast doubt on that claim, saying Mehsud had no known link to any militant group.  The killing sparked days of protests and a weekslong march in Pashtun-dominated northwestern Pakistan. It also prompted the establishment of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement, or Pashtun Protection Movement, that has since held dozens of rallies across the country to demand basic rights for ethnic Pashtuns. The movement demands an end to extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, removal of military checkpoints, and the establishment of a truth and reconciliation commission. Pakistan’s government has vowed to address these grievances, but PTM accuses it of dishonesty. Arif Wazir’s case Arif Wazir was an outspoken critic of Pakistan’s military and the establishment’s alleged ties to militants in the region. Since 2018, he has spent more than a year in jail for his activism. He was arrested April 17 and accused of delivering “anti-Pakistan” remarks during a recent visit to Afghanistan. Days after he was released on bail, he was attacked by gunmen on his way home. PTM members have accused the government of being behind the attack, which they claim is meant to intimidate other members of the movement. Prominent rights groups have urged Pakistan’s government to open an investigation into the killing of Wazir. “The Pakistani authorities must carry out an independent and effective investigation into yesterday’s attack in South Waziristan on Arif Wazir, a member of the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement. The suspected perpetrators must be held accountable,” Amnesty International said in a tweet May 2 in reaction to Wazir’s death.   The Pakistani government has not officially released any statement regarding the call for investigation into Wazir’s killing. Pakistan’s Foreign Office (FO) did not respond to a request for comment from VOA.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline. Embed” />CopyInvestigation unlikely Some experts said it is “unlikely” that Pakistan’s government would carry out such an investigation. Michael Kugelman, a South Asia analyst at the Woodrow Wilson Center, told VOA that he believes an investigation should be conducted into the case but doubts Pakistan would conduct or “create space” for such an investigation. “Particularly for an attack that is so sensitive dealing with PTM, which is a group that (the) Pakistani state simply does not want anyone to be talking about,” Kugelman said. Elizabeth Threlkeld, a senior fellow and deputy director of South Asia program at the Stimson Center, told VOA that “a transparent investigation” would help in “addressing what the state has acknowledged are legitimate grievances.”  The international community should highlight “instances of suspected human rights violations and draw attention to such cases,” Threlkeld said. “Even if this is unlikely to lead to a swift investigation by state authorities, external pressure could limit the chances of similar cases going forward,” she added. Muhammad Zubair, a PTM supporter in the United States, stressed the importance of addressing grievances of ethnic Pashtuns. “The movement demands a truth and reconciliation commission‌ so that all the atrocities committed against Pashtuns could be investigated,” Zubair said.  Peace committee Dawar, the Pakistani National Assemly member and a PTM leader, alleged the militants who attacked Wazir are not unknown. “We cannot say that they are unknown, they are known,” Dawar said. “They have their offices in Wana; they have their courts, cars, weapons … they are allowed by the state.” Referring to the 2018 attack in Wana on Ali Wazir, another prominent leader of PTM and a close cousin of Arif Wazir, Dawar said the government called the militants involved in that attack “peace committee,” instead of Taliban. “Two years back when the terrorists attacked Ali [Wazir] in central Wana, the government said that the fight was between them [PTM] and peace committee, not the Taliban. They call it peace committee. They give them protection; they given them resources; if this is not called state support, what else can we call it,” Dawar said. On the radar Kugelman, of the Woodrow Wilson Center, said it is difficult to say who was behind the attack, but he added that because of Wazir’s speech in Afghanistan, he was “on the radar” of the state. “It is because of harsh language [that] they have made a lot of enemies that are not only Pakistani military but also hard-line [Pakistani] nationalists, who are extremely defensive and unhappy of anyone that is critical of the Pakistani state and certainly the Pakistani military,” Kugelman said. “PTM is one of the few groups in Pakistan that is willing to strongly and publicly criticize the Pakistani state, especially the Pakistani military,” Kugelman added. 
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Clashes between two tribes in Sudan’s eastern city of Kassala killed three people and wounded 79 others, the state’s acting governor said on Sunday.Violence between members of the Beni Amer and Nuba ethnic groups, which has flared in the past, reignited on Thursday and escalated on Friday when houses were set ablaze, Brigade Mahmoud Baker Homd said in a statement.It was not immediately clear what caused Thursday’s clash.Violence between the Beni Amer and Nuba was reported in Port Sudan in January by a local doctors’ group that said eight people were killed and dozens injured.The two groups had made peace in September 2019 after Sudan’s top military commander, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, threatened to expel both tribes from the country if they did not commit to reconciliation.
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Avianca, the second-largest airline in Latin America, filed for bankruptcy protection in the United States on Sunday to reorganize its debt “due to the unpredictable impact” of the coronavirus pandemic.In a statement issued in Bogota, Avianca said that along with “some of its subsidiaries and affiliates,” it had asked to “voluntarily file for Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code” in a New York court.The process allows financially struggling companies to reorganize and restructure their debt.The airline’s operations “have been dramatically affected by the COVID-19 pandemic,” as well as federal air travel restrictions.The company “continues to have high fixed costs,” the statement said.Avianca temporarily suspended all passenger operations in late March, following Colombian President Ivan Duque’s decision to close the country’s airspace as the number of confirmed coronavirus cases rose.The decision, which grounded 142 aircraft, “has reduced consolidated income by more than 80 percent and has put significant pressure on liquidity,” according to the statement.It added that 12,000 of the airline’s more than 20,000 employees would take unpaid leave.The company asked the New York court for “authorization to fulfill work commitments” prior to the bankruptcy protection request and “maintain the compensation scheme applicable to its employees.”The coronavirus pandemic has dealt a crushing blow to the global aviation industry, which has been directly affected by confinement measures and travel restrictions.According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), Latin American airlines will lose $15 billion in revenue this year, the worst crisis in the industry’s history.Avianca, which had already filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the US in 2003, recorded a net loss of $894 million in 2019, against a $1.1 million profit the year before.Avianca Holdings — which carried 30.5 million passengers in 2019 — is currently comprised of the Colombian airlines Avianca and Tampa Cargo, the Ecuadorian airline Aerogal and the companies of the Taca International Airline Group, which has offices in Central America and Peru.
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