| Merkel’s Coalition Agrees on Fresh $10.8 Billion Crisis Package Posted: 22 Apr 2020 05:00 PM PDT |
| Coronavirus: Why some Nigerians are gloating about Covid-19 Posted: 22 Apr 2020 04:42 PM PDT  Many rich Nigerians, including the political classes, used to go abroad for medical treatment - but no longer.
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| Germany agrees more measures to shield workers, companies from coronavirus impact Posted: 22 Apr 2020 03:52 PM PDT |
| Iran reportedly launches first military satellite as Trump makes threats Posted: 22 Apr 2020 03:25 PM PDT  The Noor was launched by a three-stage rocket and, according to Iran officials, had reached a 425 km high orbitIran has claimed it has put its first military satellite into orbit, further raising tensions with the US at a time the two countries are already facing off in the Persian Gulf.Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) said the satellite "Noor" (Light) was in a 425km (264 miles) high orbit, after a successful launch. Iran launched its first civilian satellite in 2009.It came on the day Donald Trump went on Twitter to announce he had ordered the US navy "to shoot down and destroy any and all Iranian gunboats if they harass our ships at sea", following an incident in which nearly a dozen small Iranian boats had steered within a few yards of US warships.The Pentagon said it was too early to say whether the Iranian satellite launch had been successful but the North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD) issued a new code designator for an orbiting object which appeared consistent with Noor."I consider that this confirms that the Iranian satellite successfully reached orbit," Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, commented on Twitter.The Noor satellite was launched by a three-stage rocket which the IRGC said was powered by a combination of solid and liquid fuels.The US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, said the launch violated a 2015 UN security council resolution."I think every nation has an obligation to go to the United Nations and evaluate whether this missile launch was consistent with that security council resolution," Pompeo told reporters. "I don't think it remotely is, and I think Iran needs to be held accountable for what they have done."The 2015 UN resolution Pompeo was referring to was intended to endorse a nuclear deal with Iran that the US abrogated in 2018. The resolution (UNSC 2231) said: "Iran is called upon not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons, including launches using such ballistic missile technology."Although there is technological overlap between space launches and intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), Iran denies that the aim of its space programme is to pursue ICBM technology."It's achieving both their objective of flexing muscle and implying they have the ability to go further if needed without giving the US the legal grounds to go to the UNSC," said Ariane Tabatabai, Middle East fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the US."Covid-19 hasn't slowed down the tensions between the two sides, it's exacerbated them. Neither side has shown a willingness to back down from its policy. The Trump administration introduced new sanctions even as Iran was grappling with the outbreak. Iran has resumed provoking actions."Trump went on Twitter on Wednesday to declare: "I have instructed the United States Navy to shoot down and destroy any and all Iranian gunboats if they harass our ships at sea."The tweet came a week after 11 IRGC speed boats deliberately cut across the paths of US warships patrolling the Gulf, one of them coming within 10 yards in what US Central Command called "dangerous and harassing approaches".The Trump tweet does not appear to have marked a change of US posture in the Gulf by changing the circumstances in which the US would open fire. But General John Hyten, the vice-chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, welcomed Trump's threat."I like that the president warned an adversary. That's what he's doing," said Hyten. "He's providing a warning. If you want to go down that path, we will come and we will come large."Hyten warned the Iranian gunboats: "[If] you're waving, that's one thing. If you have a gun, and you point it at me, that's another thing – we know exactly what that means. So if you cross that line, we know what that line is, and we will respond."
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| Trump threatens to ‘shoot down’ Iranian gunboats in Persian Gulf Posted: 22 Apr 2020 03:23 PM PDT  President Trump got his saber-rattling all tangled up Wednesday when he threatened to "shoot down" Iranian gunboats that American commanders accuse of harassing Navy ships in the Persian Gulf. The militaristic mixed metaphor earned Trump instant ridicule on Twitter as "SHOOT down" was trending with 45,000 tweets and counting. Iran and the U.S. have been trading accusations about a series of close calls in the flashpoint waterway that is a conduit for a huge chunk of the world's oil supply.
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| Global air traffic could drop by up to 1.2 billion passengers: ICAO Posted: 22 Apr 2020 03:16 PM PDT  International air passenger traffic could drop by as many as 1.2 billion travelers, or two-thirds, by September 2020, as the coronavirus pandemic weighs on demand, the United Nations aviation agency said on Wednesday in a statement, citing projections. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) estimates that international capacity could drop by as much as two-thirds from previous forecasts for the first three quarters of 2020. Coronavirus has led to widespread flight cancellations and grounding of aircraft.
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| Coronavirus brings looming global food crisis into 'uncharted territory' Posted: 22 Apr 2020 02:53 PM PDT  The coronavirus will almost have long-lasting consequences that will extend beyond the pandemic itself, including a looming global food crisis, The New York Times reports.So far, the world is not dealing with new food shortages, but lockdowns across the globe are stripping people of their incomes, and there could soon be disruptions in the agriculture sector and supply chain, which, in addition to a variety of other factors, could leave many poor countries vulnerable to hunger.Even if food prices don't surge, countries like Iran, which rely heavily on oil revenues, or Venezuela, Sudan, and Zimbabwe, which were already severely strained before the virus, could still feel the effects. Arif Husain, the chief economist at the World Food Program, said the pandemic could push 130 million more people to the brink of starvation by the end of 2020, bringing the total number of people facing food shortages to 265 million."We've never seen anything like this before," Husain told the Times. "It wasn't a pretty picture to begin with, but this makes it truly unprecedented and uncharted territory." Read more at The New York Times.More stories from theweek.com How close are we to herd immunity? The Navajo Nation outbreak reveals an ugly truth behind America's coronavirus experience Trump administration allegedly removed doctor developing COVID-19 vaccine for refusing to back hydroxychloroquine
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| Iran says it launched military satellite as Trump threatens ships Posted: 22 Apr 2020 02:21 PM PDT  Iran said it put its first military satellite into orbit Wednesday, making it an emerging "world power", as the US issued new threats amid rising naval tensions in the Gulf. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps hailed the launch as a milestone, in the face of intense US pressure and Washington's allegations that the space programme is a cover to develop ballistic missiles. Tensions between the United States and Iran escalated again last week with Washington accusing its arch-foe of harassing its ships in the Gulf.
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| Will the coronavirus crisis finally lead us away from America First? Posted: 22 Apr 2020 02:17 PM PDT  True, there were criticisms of President Trump's readiness to berate our traditional allies while lauding Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping — and of his withdrawal from diplomatic understandings like the Paris Climate Accord, the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Iran nuclear deal, with calls to rejoin them. The impulse for the U.S. to play less of a role and assume less of a burden internationally was seemingly shared by nearly all of Trump's Democratic competitors.
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| US adds cameras at Mexico border despite drop in crossings Posted: 22 Apr 2020 02:06 PM PDT  The Trump administration has been quietly adding military surveillance cameras at the U.S.-Mexico border in response to the coronavirus pandemic, though fewer people appear to be crossing illegally. Documents obtained by The Associated Press show the Department of Defense, at the request of the Department of Homeland Security, sent 60 mobile surveillance cameras and 540 additional troops to the southwest border this month. The documents are unclassified but for official use only and were part of PowerPoint slides created last week to brief Lt. Gen. Laura J. Richardson, commander of U.S. Army North, the primary unit overseeing military operations at the border.
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| Under pressure, Harvard says it will reject US relief aid Posted: 22 Apr 2020 01:52 PM PDT  Harvard University announced Wednesday it will turn down $8.7 million in federal coronavirus relief, a day after President Donald Trump excoriated the wealthy Ivy League school over taxpayer money it stood to receive. It followed similar actions at Stanford and Princeton universities, which said they will too will reject millions of dollars in federal funding amid growing scrutiny of wealthy colleges. Officials at Harvard said the school still faces significant financial challenges due to the pandemic but will refuse the money over concerns that "intense focus by politicians" will undermine the relief program created by Congress.
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| U.N. Agency Warns Of 'Hunger Pandemic' From Coronavirus Posted: 22 Apr 2020 01:20 PM PDT  Its executive director, David Beasley, delivered the findings Tuesday in this urgent appeal to the U.N. Security Council. The virus is expected to exacerbate severe food insecurity in parts of Africa, among people already impacted by war and drought. In the warn-torn countries such as Syria, food shortages are expected to multiply amid the virus.
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| WHO chief brushes off resignation calls, appeals for US aid Posted: 22 Apr 2020 01:15 PM PDT  The World Health Organization chief said Wednesday he hopes the United States will reconsider its freeze in funding for his agency and vowed to keep working on "saving lives" despite calls from some U.S. lawmakers for his resignation. President Donald Trump last week announced a temporary halt to U.S. funding for the U.N. agency, alleging a WHO cover-up and missteps handling the outbreak. A group of Republican lawmakers in the House of Representatives last week suggested that Trump should condition any voluntary U.S. contributions to the WHO this year on Tedros' resignation.
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| Trump Orders Navy to 'Shoot Down' Harassing Iranian Boats Posted: 22 Apr 2020 01:06 PM PDT  President Trump said he ordered the U.S. Navy to "shoot down and destroy" Iranian gunboats if they harass American ships. The president tweeted his instructions Wednesday, a week after a Navy report accused Iran's Revolutionary Guard of using small boats to make "dangerous and harassing approaches" on U.S. craft in the Persian Gulf. Just hours before the president's announcement, Iran successfully launched its first military satellite into space.
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| Trump Says He's Ordered Navy To 'Shoot Down' Harassing Iranian Boats Posted: 22 Apr 2020 01:06 PM PDT President Trump said he ordered the U.S. Navy to "shoot down and destroy" Iranian gunboats if they harass American ships. The president tweeted his instructions Wednesday, a week after a Navy report accused Iran's Revolutionary Guard of using small boats to make "dangerous and harassing approaches" on U.S. craft in the Persian Gulf. Just hours before the president's announcement, Iran successfully launched its first military satellite into space.
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| Spain Extends Lockdown as Virus Cases Rise Again in Europe Posted: 22 Apr 2020 12:37 PM PDT |
| Trump 'disagrees strongly' with Georgia's plan to reopen Posted: 22 Apr 2020 11:36 AM PDT  President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he "disagreed strongly" with the decision by Georgia's Republican governor to reopen salons, gyms and other nonessential businesses later this week, saying, "It's just too soon." Just last week, the president urged his supporters on Twitter to protest against statewide closures in three Democratic-led states — at the same time that mostly Republican governors like Brian Kemp were taking steps to lift stay-at-home restrictions. Kemp announced earlier this week that as of Friday, elective medical procedures could resume in Georgia, and that barbershops, nail salons and gyms could reopen with restrictions.
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| UN rejects 2 COVID-19 resolutions from Russia, Saudi Arabia Posted: 22 Apr 2020 11:31 AM PDT |
| Residents of Syrian village hurl stones at U.S. convoy Posted: 22 Apr 2020 11:29 AM PDT |
| AP-NORC poll: Few Americans support easing virus protections Posted: 22 Apr 2020 11:01 AM PDT  Americans remain overwhelmingly in favor of stay-at-home orders and other efforts to slow the spread of the coronavirus, a new survey finds, even as small pockets of attention-grabbing protests demanding the lifting of such restrictions emerge nationwide. The survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research also finds that a majority of Americans say it won't be safe to lift social distancing guidelines anytime soon, running counter to the choice of a handful of governors who have announced plans to ease within days the public health efforts that have upended daily life and roiled the global economy. More than a month after schoolyards fell silent, restaurant tables and bar stools emptied, and waves from a safe distance replaced hugs and handshakes, the country largely believes restrictions on social interaction to curb the spread of the virus are appropriate.
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| 'Fourteen dead' in Yemen's flood-hit Aden Posted: 22 Apr 2020 10:59 AM PDT  Fourteen people, including at least five children, have been killed and dozens injured in flash floods in Yemen's second city Aden, authorities said Wednesday, amid submerged streets and destroyed homes. The deaths take the national toll to at least 21 after the United Nations said that seven other people were killed by flooding in the north, where the country's long conflict between the government and the Iran-backed Huthi rebels continues. Deputy Prime Minister Salem al-Khanbashi told AFP that "men, women and children" were among the 14 dead in Aden, where "flooding also caused streets to shut down in most neighbourhoods".
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| Coronavirus: Caution urged over Madagascar's 'herbal cure' Posted: 22 Apr 2020 10:39 AM PDT  The WHO says there is no proof after the country's president claims a herbal tonic has cured people.
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| Iran Launches First Military Satellite Into Space Posted: 22 Apr 2020 10:39 AM PDT  Iran said it has successfully launched its first military satellite into orbit. It also comes amid tensions between Iran and the U.S., which alleges that the launch is cover for missile development. In a tweet Wednesday, President Trump instructed the Navy to "shoot down and destroy any and all Iranian gunboats if they harass [U.S.] ships."
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| Iran Launches First Military Satellite Into Space Posted: 22 Apr 2020 10:39 AM PDT Iran said it has successfully launched its first military satellite into orbit. It also comes amid tensions between Iran and the U.S., which alleges that the launch is cover for missile development. In a tweet Wednesday, President Trump instructed the Navy to "shoot down and destroy any and all Iranian gunboats if they harass [U.S.] ships."
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| 2 cats in NY become first US pets to test positive for virus Posted: 22 Apr 2020 10:34 AM PDT  Two pet cats in New York state have tested positive for the coronavirus, marking the first confirmed cases in companion animals in the United States, federal officials said Wednesday. The cats, which had mild respiratory illnesses and are expected to recover, are thought to have contracted the virus from people in their households or neighborhoods, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. The finding, which comes after positive tests in some tigers and lions at the Bronx Zoo, adds to a small number of confirmed cases of the virus in animals worldwide.
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| Volunteer + tutor = learning and fun for isolated students Posted: 22 Apr 2020 10:28 AM PDT  NEW YORK (AP) — "Tell us about Vikings; tell us about shipwrecks; tells us about pirates and ancient myths." Sara Herlevsen nods, smiles and answers these questions from students via video conferencing. Herlevsen said it all started because she was worried about students falling behind.
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| Coronavirus: South Africa deploys 70,000 troops to enforce lockdown Posted: 22 Apr 2020 10:21 AM PDT  Security forces are struggling to enforce the lockdown intended to stop the spread of the virus.
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| Fears realised as first Covid-19 case found in Lebanon refugee camp Posted: 22 Apr 2020 10:15 AM PDT  Palestinian woman tests positive as medics scramble to contain outbreak * Global live updates * See all our coronavirus coverageMedics are scrambling to contain a potential outbreak of Covid-19 in a Palestinian camp in Lebanon after a refugee tested positive for the virus, the first known case in one of the region's most vulnerable communities.The patient, a woman in her 40s, is being treated at a state-run hospital in Beirut. A medical team travelled to the al-Jalil camp in Lebanon's Bekaa valley on Tuesday to screen the women's relatives and anyone else who had come into contact with her.The UN and authorities in the region had seen such an outcome as almost inevitable. It prompted fresh calls to protect refugees from the pandemic, which could be devastating if it took root among the cramped and often unhygienic confines of refugee camps."We knew it was a matter of time before we had a case confirmed in the Palestine refugee community, and that's what happened," said Tamara al-Rifai, spokesperson for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). "Our position is that everyone who needs medical treatment for Covid-19 should get it, with no discrimination. UNRWA will cover the cost of the treatment of the confirmed case, and will support her family if they need to isolate themselves."The rampant spread of coronavirus through developed nations, with advanced health systems, has caused deep alarm in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Turkey and Jordan, where more than 12 million refugees, or internally displaced people, have little access to life-saving health care and cannot practise physical distancing.default In a separate development, coronavirus is confirmed to have killed a patient in a hospital in north-eastern Syria two weeks ago, the first of its kind in another regional conflict zone. The NGO Médecins Sans Frontières said the diagnosis cast a spotlight on the area's capacity to deal with the pandemic. "The response in north-east Syria at this time is not nearly enough," Crystal van Leeuwen, MSF's medical emergency manager for Syria, said. "A significant increase in assistance from health actors, humanitarian organisations and donors is essential."As fears grow that refugees will bear the brunt of the next wave of coronavirus, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has increased demands for them to be protected by unholding human rights laws.Its head, Filippo Grandi, said: "The core principles of refugee protection are being put to test, but people who are forced to flee conflict and persecution should not be denied safety and protection on the pretext, or even as a side-effect, of responding to the virus."Securing public health and protecting refugees are not mutually exclusive. This is not a dilemma. We have to do both. Long-recognised refugee laws can be respected even as governments adopt stringent measures to protect public health, including at borders."Regional states' commitment to refugee protection is being increasingly challenged, with many concerned about the strains on their already weakened economies. In Lebanon, Palestinians are routinely denied access to state care.The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA), which has struggled since the Trump administration withdrew funding in 2018, has raised $14m (£11.3m) for its initial Covid-19 response. With much of that money now spent, and fears of infections being realised, UNRWA leaders are launching a second funding appeal.A total of 9,400 refugees are registered at Lebanon's al-Jalil camp but the real population remains unknown, and could be as low as 3,000. Waves of departures to Gulf states, and undocumented arrivals from Syria over the past nine years, have made actual numbers of refugees in Lebanon, and their whereabouts, difficult to discern.Lebanon hosts around 475,000 Palestinian refugees in 12 camps and 26 unofficial sites. They are among the most impoverished people in the country, which is also believed to have up to 1 million Syrian refugees. Many of the Syrians are living in informal settlements, which are even harder for health authorities to regulate.
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| Amid pandemic, homebrewing surges in popularity Posted: 22 Apr 2020 09:25 AM PDT  On March 14, the day after the COVID-19 outbreak was declared a national emergency in the United States, I decided to take up an activity that I had abandoned decades ago. While states imposed stay-at-home orders, brewpubs closed, and people lost jobs and tried to economize, homebrewing in America has exploded in popularity. "Our industry in a recession does well because not as many people are working, people are more cost-conscious and they have time on their hands," said David Stuart, national sales manager for Ohio-based LD Carlson, a wholesale distributor of beer- and winemaking supplies.
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| Hillel defaced by graffiti on Holocaust Remembrance Day Posted: 22 Apr 2020 09:13 AM PDT |
| If Kim Jong Un Dies, His Younger Sister Is Primed to Take Over Posted: 22 Apr 2020 09:09 AM PDT  SEOUL—The Winter Olympics of 2018 were Kim Yo Jong's international coming out party. The world's press gushed about the younger sister of North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un. The debutante—slender, smiling, gracious—seemed to be so very different from her porcine brother. But now that his health is in question, and amid conflicting reports that he could be at death's door, his little sister may well be first in line to carry on the family dynasty.Sister and brother have been close for years. She has advised on key events in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang, encouraging construction of modern apartments, ski slopes, even an amusement park, but it was during those Olympics that she shone as a major figure before the world. It was then, at a luncheon meeting in the Blue House, the center of power in South Korea, that she gracefully handed the South's President Moon Jae-in a handwritten note from her brother suggesting they get together for a summit.As a Blue House spokesman described the encounter, Kim Yo Jong embellished the written verbiage with polite words of her own. Big brother hoped they could get together sooner rather than later, at the "earliest convenience," she said. Moon, who had been looking for reconciliation with the North, was thrilled. "Let's create the environment for that to happen," was his all-too-eager response.Kim Jong Un's Little Sister Steals Pence's Thunder and Trumps Trump, at Least in SeoulAh, those were the days. Now, after all those summits between Moon and Kim—and between U.S. President Donald Trump and Kim—the atmosphere has cooled again while both Koreas struggle through the coronavirus pandemic that may also have caught Kim in its feverish grip. More than ever, Yo Jong is looking like Jong Un's most obvious heir apparent, and while she may not be overly qualified to rule, she has this: she survived her brother's bloody family purges. Kim Yo Jong is young—she's 31— but she's older than her brother was when he inherited absolute power from their father in December 2011, just shy of his 28th birthday. And Yo Jong is a familiar face to North Koreans. Big brother has been promoting her as a visible number two for years now. If Jong Un succumbs to the kind of cardiovascular issues that are inevitable for one who's 5'7", tips the scales at 300 pounds according to South Korean intelligence, is a chain smoker, drinks heavily, and works hard, few other contenders have his little sister's high profile.Previous contenders for the throne, or would-be powers behind it, have not fared well. Jang Song Thaek, his father's sister's husband, had an inside track on power during the later days of Kim Jong Il's rule. After Jong Il died, Jang was fully expected to advise young Jong Un on the ways and wiles of governance. But less than two years after Kim Jong Un took power, he had Uncle Jang charged with corruption and power-grabbing, beaten, dragged before a judge, and executed. Kim also had his older half brother, who'd been living a playboyish life in Macao, snuffed with VX nerve agent in 2017.Bruce Bennett, who follows Korea for the Rand Corporation, believes Kim may want his sister to keep the seat of power warm for when his son is ready to take charge. But the boy was born in 2010, date uncertain, so Kim Yo Jong's regency would be pretty long. Kim may believe his sister is a safer bet as successor-in-waiting because in his view she "would not be able to take over the government herself," says Bennett, unlike the highly qualified, deceased, Jang Song Thaek. Kim Yo Jong was named an alternate member of the politburo at her brother's last publicized appearance on April 12. She rose to that position after having been authorized to make public statements in her own name criticizing South Korea for bowing to Washington's wishes about demands for an end to the North's nuclear and missile program.As quoted in the North Korean state media, this lissome young woman could be a tough cookie—not exactly the charmer she had appeared when she and Moon met during the Olympics. When South Korea leveled official criticism at the North's recent missile tests, Yo Jong fired back, "The South side is … fond of joint military exercises and it is preoccupied with all the disgusting acts like purchasing ultra-modern military hardware." She did not mention South Korea's President Moon Jae-in by name but called the Blue House, the center of presidential power, "a mere child"—like "a child dreading fire" whose behavior was "so perfectly foolish.""They meant they need to get militarily prepared but we should be discouraged from military exercises," she declared in a flight of verbiage worthy of the North's best rhetoricians. "Such a gangster-like assertion can never be expected from those with normal way of thinking."It would have been impossible for Kim Yo Jong to utter such caustic words had Kim not wanted to push her into the spotlight and move her up the hierarchy. Among her official positions Kim Yo Jong has served as vice director of the propaganda and agitation department of the Workers' Party and was elected last year to the Supreme People's Assembly, the North's rubber stamp parliament. All that background may not qualify her in a male-dominated society, but she does carry on the sacrosanct "Paektu line." That's the blood relationship to her grandfather, Kim Il Sung, who was installed by the Soviet Union as North Korea's first leader after World War II and ruled for nearly 50 years, and to her father, Kim Jong Il, mythologized by North Korea as born in a cabin on sacred Mount Paektu, the Korean peninsula's highest peak and a former hideout for guerrillas battling Japanese colonial rule."The logical successor will be Kim Yo Jong," says Evans Revere, a long-time diplomat dealing with North Korea at the U.S. embassy in Seoul and the State Department. "She is a member of the Kim family. Clearly, she is being groomed for greater responsibilities, as evidenced by her recent promotions, her elevated public profile, and her self-confident, almost cocky, comments."Bruce Klingner, northeast Asia expert at the Heritage Foundation, observes "the usual assessment would be that a 'Confucian Korean culture' would never choose a woman" but "Kim Yo Jong has gained prominence." Kim Jong Un "may have designated her since she is likely the only person he trusts. If she were chosen, the regime would emphasize the continuity of the Paektu bloodline."Others, however, doubt the elite surrounding Kim would be in a mood to accept her except, perhaps, as a figurehead."I doubt she could consolidate power like her brother and father did," says Dan Pinkston, long-time North Korea analyst, now a professor at Troy University here. "Maybe she could be part of collective leadership, but I don't think it would be sustainable."If Kim "is seriously sick or dies tomorrow," says Choi Jin-wook, a North Korea expert and former director at the Korea Institute of National Unification, "leadership would go almost automatically to Choi Young Hae, deputy chairman of the state council." Kim Yo Jong may be "a legitimate successor and Kim Il Sung's granddaughter, but she is not quite ready for the supreme power." More likely, Choi predicts, "there will be a power vacuum and some instability." It's exactly that possibility, however, that suggests that Kim Yo Jong may be the one to rise above quarreling factions in the armed forces and the party.Bruce Bechtol, author of numerous books and papers on North Korea's leadership, puts it this way: "Her power base will be even weaker than KJU when he first started. Plus, there has been no preparation for this move. That said, if he dies, there may be no other alternative." Yes, Kim has an older brother, Kim Jong Chul, 38, born to the same mother, but he's "known to be gay and has no support in the party or the army."Then too, says Bruce Bennett, "I have also heard that the senior North Korean elites are done with the Kim family. " Disillusioned by Kim Jong Un's failure to accomplish "many things he has attempted, like sanctions relief," says Bennett, they may be happy to let the remaining Kims "die of COVID-19 as the cover story to allow someone else to take leadership in North Korea." Whatever happens, there's no doubt that Kim Jong Un's lifestyle is catching up with him. If he's not in "grave danger," as one report put it, he may still be seriously ill. At 36, "Kim is grossly overweight and likely suffers from a number of serious chronic health issues, including cardiovascular problems," says retired U.S. diplomat David Straub. "These problems are exacerbated by the enormous stress he is constantly under as the leader of a rogue state and under constant threat from within his own state as well." All of which means that little sister, her big brother's understudy, may be rehearsing for center stage. "It's hard to imagine a woman being the real leader of a regime as macho as North Korea's," says Straub, "but it's conceivable that top male power players there might, in a pinch, agree on installing her as the symbolic leader."If some of her public remarks are any clue, however, she may reject the symbolism and prove to be every bit as ruthless as her megalomaniacal brother.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Pompeo vows to hold Iran 'accountable' over satellite launch Posted: 22 Apr 2020 09:09 AM PDT  US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday accused Iran of violating a UN Security Council resolution through a satellite launch and vowed repercussions. "I think Iran needs to be held accountable for what they've done," Pompeo told reporters. Iran announced Wednesday that it had put its first military satellite in orbit after repeated tries and despite intense economic and military pressure from President Donald Trump's administration.
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| Why Trump’s Messaging About Iranian Gunboats Is Causing An Uproar On Twitter Posted: 22 Apr 2020 08:19 AM PDT  On Wednesday morning, President Trump took to Twitter to address further concerns over the country's relations with Iran. Despite the fact that the world — and the United States, in particular — are in the midst of a pandemic, the threat of war is still imminent. And Trump is stoking those fires and taking foreign policy into his own hands via his Twitter account, potentially bringing the U.S. closer to the brink of war with Iran."I have instructed the United States Navy to shoot down and destroy any and all Iranian gunboats if they harass our ships at sea," the president tweeted. Trump's tweet did not clarify whether the action to "destroy" Iranian gunboats was an actual order or another threat between two countries that are longtime enemies. But, the reaction to this statement caused quite a stir on Twitter.Following the tweet, "shoot down" and "gunboats" both began trending, with most of the responses mocking President Trump's choice of words and observing that it's not possible to shoot a boat down because, well, boats don't fly.> Shoot down. Boats. https://t.co/n812oickmO> > — James Felton (@JimMFelton) April 22, 2020> Gotta shoot down those flying gunboats. Get the torpedoes ready for any Iranian planes too! https://t.co/hfZcHGokvS> > — Brian Klaas (@brianklaas) April 22, 2020> Nothing like a war to distract from your domestic failures. (And how do you "shoot down" boats anyway? Is Gyro Gearloose working for the Iranians?) pic.twitter.com/LlXwJY7CHM> > — Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) April 22, 2020Others are pointing out that Trump might be trying to create a distraction from ongoing criticism of his leadership during the coronavirus pandemic. Vox journalist Aaron Rupar observed that the tweet came approximately an hour and a half after Fox & Friends had a segment about Iran launching a new military satellite; the president is known to watch the program every morning, and the content of his tweets is often influenced by the discussion on the show.The Fox & Friends segment about the military satellite referenced an April 15 incident in which, according to a U.S. Navy press release, 11 Iranian military vessels "repeatedly conducted dangerous and harassing approaches" to Navy ships in international waters in the Persian Gulf. The video the Navy released of the incident shows multiple Iranian boats passing in front of a U.S. naval vessel. The Iranian vessels appear to have men manning guns at the front of those ships. The guns don't appear to be pointed at the U.S. ship, which sounded a horn multiple times as the Iranian vessels approached.As a result of Trump's tweets, CNN noted that "it's unclear if Trump's tweet amounts to a standing order, and whether Central Command, which oversees operations in the Middle East, would fire upon an Iranian boat."The tweet is the latest in a series of escalating tensions between the U.S. and Iran.Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?Why Donald Trump Jr. Is Calling Out FacebookWhy Trump Refuses To Bail Out The Postal ServiceWhy Trump's Plan To Reopen States Is Not Possible
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| Pompeo says Iran needs to be held accountable for launch of military satellite Posted: 22 Apr 2020 08:09 AM PDT |
| Germany condemns anti-Semitic disruption of memorial on Zoom Posted: 22 Apr 2020 07:44 AM PDT |
| If Kim Jong-Un Dies, What Will Happen to North Korea? Posted: 22 Apr 2020 07:25 AM PDT  "It's a very legitimate question to ask," journalist Barbara Demick, the author of "Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea," told InsideEdition.com. The speculation comes as Kim reportedly underwent cardiovascular surgery earlier this month, and was recovering at a villa in Mount Kumgang, a picturesque mountain range that once allowed foreign tourists, including those from South Korea. When he didn't appear at the ceremonies commemorating the Day of the Sun on April 15, an annual public event commemorating his grandfather Kim Il-sung's birthday that is considered the most important holiday in the country, many speculated the procedure may have taken a turn for the worse.
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| Pandemic warms relationship between Trump, Mexican president Posted: 22 Apr 2020 07:22 AM PDT  The COVID-19 pandemic could have been a fraught moment for U.S.-Mexico relations — two leaders from opposite ends of the political spectrum facing the largest crisis ever confronted by either administration. Instead, presidents Donald Trump and Andrés Manuel López Obrador are carrying on like old pals. The men appear so chummy that the Mexican president, who has not traveled outside his country since taking office nearly 18 months ago, is talking about visiting his U.S. counterpart.
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| What It’s Really Like To Be A Climate Change Activist In Quarantine Posted: 22 Apr 2020 07:00 AM PDT  In Trailblazers: Diaries From The Front Lines Of The 2020 Election, we take an in-depth look at the lives of women working behind the scenes to make our country better every day, whether it's on a presidential campaign or political advocacy organization.Name: Sophia KianniOccupation: Climate activist! National strategist for Fridays for Future USA and international spokesperson for Extinction Rebellion. Age: 18Gender Identity: WomanLocation: McLean, VASocial Media Handles: @SophiaKianni on Instagram Day 1: Monday, April 20, 2020Please note: Times are Eastern Standard Time unless otherwise noted.8:30 a.m. — I wake up bleary-eyed to my mom shaking me, explaining that I've overslept my alarm. Except, for once, I haven't set an alarm! She thinks I'm about to miss my talk show interview, but it's actually at 8:30 p.m. I tell her not to worry and roll back over, burrowing beneath the folds of my comforter. I can tell it's the start of a long day. 10:30 a.m. — I wake up feeling refreshed and recharged. I grab my phone off my nightstand, and the first thing I do is check my email inbox. There is a steady stream of climate-activism-related requests, and I spend 30 minutes replying to emails and flagging important updates. 11 a.m. — For breakfast, I mix some granola and honey with cottage cheese.11:15 a.m. — I jump in the shower and blast my old throwback playlist — listening to Jason Derulo really gets my creative juices flowing. I throw on a sweatshirt and do my makeup to film a video about my vision for climate action for a compilation the UN75 is putting together for Earth Day. I carefully balance my phone on my bedroom windowsill to take advantage of the good lighting. These days, the only time I ever get ready is to record a Zoom call or give a virtual speech. 1 p.m. — I start scheduling interviews and writing questions for a podcast I'm hosting with The New Fashion Initiative, a sustainable fashion nonprofit. I go through my list of participants, sending out individualized emails and calendar invites. I accidentally schedule a Zoom call for 1:30 a.m. on Friday instead of 1:30 p.m. and feel mortified when my interviewee jokingly points out my mistake. I've noticed a large uptick in podcast creation as climate activists have started adapting to life under quarantine. Since we can't hold physical strikes or events, our alternative plans include virtual advocacy and education initiatives.2 p.m. — I decide to take a break and read through the daily headlines on Google News while munching on frozen grapes. After scrolling for 10 minutes, I realize that my eyes are starting to ache, thanks to the hours of screen time I've accumulated while glued to my phone. I decide to pick up where I left off in House Of Leaves by Mark Danielewski, a book my friends and I are reading as part of a virtual book club. 3:30 p.m. — Before my Zoom call with my Fridays for Future USA team, I grab a quick lunch, reheating last night's vegetarian pizza.4 p.m. — The call begins with planning content for the 24-hour FFF international livestream on April 24. Everyone laments the number of Zoom calls they have scheduled and the general pandemonium that has preceded this atypical Earth Day. We were planning to mobilize millions of people to participate in physical strikes, but having a mass digital mobilization seems like the next best alternative. 6 p.m. — My mom makes me dinner while I check the progress of the green onions I've been growing after being inspired by a TikTok. All of my extra free time has enabled me to learn how to cook (although "cook" would probably be a generous characterization given that I've mostly been trying easy online three-ingredient recipes). 7 p.m. — I'm supposed to have a website-planning call for the nonprofit I'm starting, Climate Cardinals (CC), but one of my team members cancels last-minute. We decide to reschedule for tomorrow at 11:30 a.m. The silver lining of this pandemic is that people always have some free time to have a call — even on short notice! I spend my extra time checking WhatsApp, Keybase, and Slack for progress on various Earth Day initiatives. 8:15 p.m. — I go on Instagram to join the talk show Verifiable Talks Live hosted by Chris Bivins. I talk to him about my work with Extinction Rebellion, Zero Hour, and Fridays for Future. I explain how witnessing Iran's polluted sky in middle school inspired me to begin my environmental advocacy. In the comment section, one kind user remarked, "Wow. You are so well-spoken for being in high school."> Witnessing Iran's polluted sky in middle school inspired me to begin my environmental advocacy. 9:30 p.m. — I FaceTime my friends from school and spend 30 minutes unwinding and catching up. 10:30 p.m. — I check my email inbox and respond to the dozen emails that have trickled in over the past few hours. I also catch up on some schoolwork.11 p.m. — I make a to do list in my Notes app, marking the times for my five calls tomorrow, reminding myself to follow up on old emails and pitches, and writing down the due dates for schoolwork. My virtual classes restart tomorrow morning, and I am not looking forward to another day of Blackboard collaborative sessions.12 a.m. — I read House of Leaves until my eyelids begin to droop. Time to hit the hay! Day 2: Tuesday, April 21, 20208:30 a.m. — My alarm jolts me awake and I let out an audible groan. I roll over to silence it and check my inbox; to my surprise, I find out that synchronous learning sessions have been canceled due to continuing issues with Blackboard. I decide to go back to bed, pleased that I am once again able to catch up on sleep.9:30 a.m. — I wake up feeling rested and ready to tackle the busy day ahead.9:45 a.m. — I make myself a bowl of greek yogurt with fresh strawberries and frozen blueberries. I scroll through my emails and respond to a few last-minute requests. It feels hard to believe that in just a day, it will be time for Earth Day Live, the culmination of hundreds of hours of planning by climate activists across the globe. 10 a.m. — Emails, emails, emails.11:30 a.m. — I finally have my call with my Climate Cardinals team! Without the extra time I've gotten during quarantine, I wouldn't have been able to make this project a reality. My idea for the nonprofit started after noticing a lack of accessibility in the climate movement to those who didn't speak English. Students will receive volunteer service hours to translate climate change research and information into different languages. We spend half an hour planning the website layout and strategizing new content development. I'm most excited about the partnership I have just formed with Radio Javan, a Persian radio station with over 10 million followers on Instagram. 12 p.m. — Right after I hop off the CC call, I join a Google Hangouts meeting for my PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Labs Homegrown Fellowship. We talk about what we're going to do with the footage we've shot and edited over the last few months and brainstorm virtual projects we can pursue while quarantined. 1 p.m. — I spend over an hour practicing for the lecture I'm giving virtually at earthday365, an Earth Day festival.3 p.m. — I take a break and go on Pinterest. After I scroll past a picture of a pink-and-gold cake, I begin saving birthday party ideas. (Not like my birthday is months away on December 13 or anything…but a girl needs something to look forward to!)4 p.m. — I translate information for a CC graphic I'm creating and draft up an email template that students can use to send their friends and family climate content in different languages. 5 p.m. — I go on a run with my sister (while socially distancing!) through my local park and return home right in time for my third call of the day.6 p.m. — I attend a messaging workshop on Zoom. I learn about effective climate messaging, taking into consideration how the global perspective has shifted in light of COVID-19. Hopefully it will come in handy tomorrow.7 p.m. — Right after the call finishes, I attend the Extinction Rebellion (XR) DC Zoom divestment training, where I learn about how to move my money from a fossil fuel-investing bank account to an ethical bank account. I mostly attended with the intention of planning ahead for when I'm entirely financially independent, although I also plan to use the information to educate my relatives.8:45 p.m. — I have a call with the XR DC media team, and we plan the social media content strategy for Instagram for Earth Day. I look into effective climate hashtags, and we discuss when will be the best time of day to post. (Having social media-savvy friends has paid off!)9:30 p.m. — I check my email for the last time today!10:30 p.m. — I start a new book, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari. I read for about 30 minutes to help calm my nerves. In just a few hours, I will be waking up to the 50th anniversary of Earth Day! I set my alarm for 7:30 a.m.11:15 p.m. — I fall asleep excited, anxious, and full of hope. Don't forget to register to vote!VICE and Refinery29 are committed to ongoing coverage of the global climate crisis. Read all of Refinery29's sustainability stories, and check out more Earth Day 2020 content from Vice. Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?Getting Out The Vote While StayingHomeHow Staying Inside Is Impacting Climate ChangePoliticians Who Are Leading Climate Change In 2020
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| President Trump Orders Navy to 'Destroy' Iranian Boats that Harass US Vessels Posted: 22 Apr 2020 06:22 AM PDT  The commander in chief has issued a stark warning to Iran a week after 11 Iranian boats swarmed U.S. ships.
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| What you need to know today about the virus outbreak Posted: 22 Apr 2020 06:19 AM PDT  Congress is sprinting to approve a $483 billion coronavirus aid package this week, but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says it's time to "push the pause button" on federal spending. Two pet cats in New York state have tested positive for the virus and health officials in California discovered that two people died from COVID-19 in Santa Clara County weeks before the first death in the state was initially was reported. Meanwhile, Tyson Foods shut down a pork plant in Iowa.
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| Famines of ‘biblical proportions’ could hit dozens of countries due to coronavirus Posted: 22 Apr 2020 05:56 AM PDT  Dozens of countries could soon suffer from devastating famines as a result of the coronavirus, an official with the United Nations said. Famines of "biblical proportions" may be experienced in the coming months due to factors such as reductions in foreign aid, the price of oil and tourism, David Beasley, director of the UN's World Food Programme branch, said Tuesday. Around three dozen countries are considered to be at risk, he said.
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| Iran-US tensions rise on Trump threat, Iran satellite launch Posted: 22 Apr 2020 05:48 AM PDT  Tensions between Washington and Tehran flared anew Wednesday as Iran's Revolutionary Guard conducted a space launch that could advance the country's long-range missile program and President Donald Trump threatened to "shoot down and destroy" any Iranian gunboats that harass Navy ships. The launch was a first for the Guard, revealing what experts described as a secret military space program that could accelerate Iran's ballistic missile development, which is a major source of U.S. and international criticism. Trump's top diplomat accused Iran of violating U.N. resolutions.
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| Trump Iran Warning Another Way He’s Using 2016 Playbook for 2020 Posted: 22 Apr 2020 05:44 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- As President Donald Trump faces rising disapproval of his coronavirus response, he's reviving the heated rhetoric that got him elected -- blaming China, threatening Iran and, especially, cracking down on immigrants.His latest volley came Wednesday in a tweet saying he's ordered the Navy to destroy any Iranian gun boats that harass American ships at sea. He also said Wednesday he'd be signing an executive order to temporarily halt to all immigration to the U.S., even though the coronavirus has already ground travel globally to a halt.It marked a revival of Trump's signature issues from 2016, when he fired up supporters with vows to build a wall on the southern U.S. border -- and make Mexico pay for it -- and also promised that other nations wouldn't "take advantage" of the U.S.The return to the immigration issue arose seemingly out of nowhere, and coincides with the American economy suddenly souring as the lockdowns across the country cause a record spike in unemployment. That dynamic allows Trump to use immigrants as a target for U.S. job losses."I have determined that we cannot jump start the domestic economy if Americans are forced to compete against an artificially enlarged labor pool caused by the introduction of foreign workers," Trump said in the draft of the executive order still being finalized. "I have determined that the entry of most aliens as permanent or temporary workers in the immediate term would have adverse impacts on the national interest."The immigration order is part of a return to his old patterns of criticizing Democratic-led states, attacking global institutions like the World Health Organization and unleashing criticism of China and Iran from the daily briefing podium after months of praising its leaders during trade negotiations. And it coincides with a rise in the number of Americans dissatisfied with his handling of the crisis."I ran on China and other countries, the way they were ripping us off. They were ripping off our country," Trump said Sunday.He began his presidential campaign in a 2015 with a speech assailing Mexican immigrants, making foreigners the target of his ire as he ran on the "Make America Great Again" theme.The twin crises play right into that theme that he is once again embracing -- setting himself up again as the Washington outsider, from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue no less, chafing against the advice of his health and economic advisers, asserting that Democratic governors are reflexively overreaching into the private lives of Americans.Trump's slogan for 2020 was "Keep America Great." But that's no longer a viable message, with 789,000 Americans sick and more than 22 million people out of work, eviscerating his best campaign argument that he presided over the strongest American economy in decades.As his approval ratings slump over how he's handled the virus crisis, Trump has been left to come up with a theme less than seven months before the election. In times of duress, he pivots to his base, which he did Tuesday with the immigration suspension, even though it would exempt seasonal farm workers who are mostly Latino, and others."Clearly he needs to throw red meat to the base and clearly how he does that is by bashing China and by saying we're going to cut off immigration. It is an interesting ploy. I mean there's not like a lot of people are flooding into America anyway. It's hard to get a flight," said John Feehery, a Republican strategist. "It's a good message for him, for his base, because why should we bring in more immigration when we have so many people out of work. I think that that actually works pretty well."Feehery said that the strategy enables Trump to excite his base and also puts Democrats on the defensive as it relates to immigration with blue collar workers who might be unemployed.Presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden is competing for workers like that, holding virtual town halls with first-responders and winning the endorsement of the United Auto Workers. Democrats fervently hope Biden will win back the blue-collar workers who voted for President Barack Obama and then turned to Trump in 2016. Yet that all depends on which candidate those voters believe can steer the country out of the crisis.Trump's approval rating in the latest Gallup poll was 43%, down six percentage points from its high in mid-March when the president first introduced social-distancing guidelines.Survey of LossA separate Pew report out Tuesday showed 43% of U.S. adults now say that they or someone in their household has lost their job or had their pay cut because of the pandemic. For lower-income adults it's even higher, at 52%, underscoring the disproportionate economic impact of Covid-19."President Trump's immigration policy just makes sense as the United States fights the war against the coronavirus," Tim Murtaugh, a Trump campaign spokesman said in a statement Tuesday. "He has two main goals: to protect the health and safety of Americans and to safeguard the economy. This decision addresses both."China, where the virus started, has become a familiar target. At Saturday's press briefing Trump said his anger at the country would depend on whether it was "a mistake that got out of control, or was it done deliberately?" In January, still confident of his re-election, he praised the efforts of Chinese President Xi Jinping.Trump also said last week he would halt U.S. funding for the World Health Organization, accusing the United Nations agency of taking Chinese claims about the disease "at face value," and he compared the WHO to another foil, the World Trade Organization, that he's argued unfairly helped enrich other countries, like China, at the expense of the U.S., hallmarks of his 2016 campaign message.And Wednesday's threat against Iran came after 11 gunboats from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps crossed the bows and sterns of American ships at close range last week, a move that U.S. Central Command called "dangerous and provocative."Walt Whetsell, a Republican political strategist from South Carolina, said that Trump has a talent for tapping into the sentiment of his strongest supporters. The slumping economy also gives Trump the opportunity to fully reach back into his old campaign playbook, Whetsell said."Here's a guy who won in 2016 with this slogan, he won using the slogan, so you can't use it again, right? But think about it, he really can now, right? He can go run on Make America Great Again it will be just fine," Whetsell said.(Updates with Trump telling Navy to destroy Iranian ships in first three paragraphs and 20th paragraph)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| First U.S COVID-19 deaths were weeks earlier Posted: 22 Apr 2020 05:23 AM PDT  The U.N. warns that the coronavirus pandemic and resulting economic turmoil could cause "famines of biblical proportions."
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| Speculation Over Kim Jong Un's Health Is Fueled by North Korea's Own Secrecy Posted: 22 Apr 2020 05:23 AM PDT  SEOUL, South Korea -- There was one state event that the secretive leader of North Korea, Kim Jong Un, never missed: a visit to the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun every April 15 to mark the birthday of his grandfather, the founder of the dynastic regime. In the mausoleum, both his grandfather and his father lie in state.So when Kim was a no-show at this year's anniversary in Pyongyang, it triggered speculation about his whereabouts and even his health. Such rumors gained further traction after Daily NK, a Seoul-based website relying on anonymous sources inside the North, reported Monday that Kim was recovering from heart surgery performed April 12.By Tuesday, South Korean officials were questioning the accuracy of the report. Kang Min-seok, a spokesman for President Moon Jae-in, said South Korea "has so far detected no special signs inside North Korea," a stock phrase often used to cast doubt on unsubstantiated news reports.North Korea also tried to dispel the speculation. On Tuesday, its official news agency said Kim had sent birthday gifts to exemplary workers and a birthday letter to the Cuban president Monday.Such declarations will not necessarily quash the chatter, especially in a nuclear state where so much power is concentrated in a single leader.Kim, 36, last appeared publicly in the North's state media April 11, when he presided over a meeting of the Politburo of the ruling Workers' Party. It is not unusual for senior North Korean leaders to stay out of public view for weeks at a time.But the inner workings of the top leadership in Pyongyang, the capital, have been cloaked in such secrecy that those disappearances always catch the attention of analysts, who look for signs of trouble within the country, especially a possible problem with Kim's health. When his father, Kim Jong Il, died in 2011, outside intelligence officials did not know until the news was announced two days later on North Korean television."For Kim Jong Un not visiting the Kumsusan Palace on April 15 is all but unthinkable in North Korea. It's the closest thing to blasphemy in the North," said Cheong Seong-chang, director of the Center for North Korean Studies at the Sejong Institute in South Korea. "It is reasonable to think that there is something temporarily wrong with his health, although it may stretch things too much if we say his life is in danger."The information blackout in North Korea means that rumors about military rebellions or mass political purges can often take months and even years to confirm, while some sensationalistic reports eventually prove false.One outlandish report that made headlines around the world claimed that the body of Jang Song Thaek, Kim's uncle, whose execution he ordered in 2013, had been fed to a pack of starved German shepherds. The origin of that story turned out to be an unattributed Chinese blog post. Generals who were reported by South Korean media to have been executed by Kim have sometimes resurfaced in new jobs.North Korea's media treats its top leaders like godlike figures and seldom mentions their health. But speculation about it has not always been unfounded.In 2008, Kim Jong Il was absent from view for months. It was eventually confirmed that he had suffered a stroke. In his later years, Kim Jong Un's grandfather, Kim Il Sung, developed a large cyst on the back of his head, but North Korean media never showed it in photos.In 2014, Kim Jong Un disappeared for more than a month, prompting rumors that he might have been grounded by a severe hangover, gout or even a coup. North Korean state TV later showed him walking with a limp, saying that he was "not feeling well." South Korean intelligence officials said Kim had a cyst removed from his ankle and that his ankle trouble could return.The family history has fed speculation about health crises. Both Kim's grandfather and father suffered various ailments, like diabetes, and died of heart failure.The outside world saw Kim as an adult for the first time in 2010, when he debuted as his father's heir at a party meeting. He was already portly by then, but he has since gained more girth. Kim is also a heavy smoker, and in recent years, his face has often assumed a puffy and tired complexion.The current round of speculation started after South Korea said the North had launched short-range cruise missiles off its east coast April 14, as part of Kim Il Sung's birthday celebration. Although Kim Jong Un has attended similar missile tests, state media this time did not report the launch. It also did not report whether there had been an annual national meeting of party officials in Pyongyang on the eve of the April 15 anniversary.Both of those omissions were highly unusual.Some analysts said North Korea may have skipped the national meeting this year because of the coronavirus pandemic. But its rubber-stamp parliament, the Supreme People's Assembly, met April 12.The rumors intensified after Daily NK quoted an anonymous source as saying that Kim had undergone a cardiovascular procedure at Hyangsan Hospital, a clinic dedicated to treating the Kim family, on April 12.The website said Kim was recuperating at a villa near the hospital, which is in the foothills of Mount Mohyang, north of Pyongyang. But most of the doctors called in from Pyongyang returned to the capital a week later because Kim had recovered sufficiently, it said.Daily NK, one of a slew of Internet-based news outlets in South Korea that specialize in covering the North, has ferreted out news about hunger, floods and unofficial market activities in the North, often by using defectors as reporters. But many stories by such outlets contradict each other and remain unconfirmed.Rumors about Kim's health carry serious overtones: What happens to a nuclear state when the leader who has executed or purged all potential challengers to his power, including his own uncle, is suddenly gone?Kim is too young to have a grown-up child to continue the Kim family dynasty, which has ruled North Korea since its founding at the end of World War II. Analysts instead focus on Kim's sister, Kim Yo Jong, who has accompanied her brother to meetings with the leaders of South Korea, China and the United States.Kim Yo Jong has emerged as a key aide to her brother. Last month, she issued a statement under her own name attacking South Korea's presidential office and calling it an "imbecile." In another statement last month, she revealed that President Donald Trump had sent a letter to Kim Jong Un expressing his willingness to help the North battle the coronavirus. She called Trump's letter "a good judgment and proper action.""In recent weeks, she has positioned herself as the public face of North Korea, as her brother's spokesman, chief of staff and national security adviser," said Lee Sung-yoon, a North Korea expert at Tufts University's Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy."She is the natural heir to the throne, as the Kim family regime is more a dynasty than republic," he added. "One thing Ms. Kim has going for herself and prospects for regime preservation is that she is a known entity both within and outside North Korea."Lee Byong-chol, a North Korea expert at Kyungnam University's Institute for Far Eastern Studies in Seoul, said the North's deeply patriarchal elites would find it hard to accept a young, inexperienced female leader. Instead, Choe Ryong Hae, the current No. 2 in the government hierarchy, could fill a power vacuum created by Kim Jong Un's death.Either way, a new leadership in Pyongyang could presage a new bout of tensions on the Korean Peninsula. A change at the top has always unleashed military provocations like weapons tests or bloody purges of top generals and officials, as the leader struggled to establish his own totalitarian grip on power at home and show his mettle to external enemies."I would not be surprised even if he died today or tomorrow," Lee said. "What should worry us is how power in North Korea is going to be realigned after his death."This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company
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| Chinese Agents Spread Messages That Sowed Virus Panic in U.S., Officials Say Posted: 22 Apr 2020 05:22 AM PDT  WASHINGTON -- The alarming messages came fast and furious in mid-March, popping up on the cellphone screens and social media feeds of millions of Americans grappling with the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.Spread the word, the messages said: The Trump administration was about to lock down the entire country."They will announce this as soon as they have troops in place to help prevent looters and rioters," warned one of the messages, which cited a source in the Department of Homeland Security. "He said he got the call last night and was told to pack and be prepared for the call today with his dispatch orders."The messages became so widespread over 48 hours that the White House's National Security Council issued an announcement via Twitter that they were "FAKE."Since that wave of panic, U.S. intelligence agencies have assessed that Chinese operatives helped push the messages across platforms, according to six U.S. officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to publicly discuss intelligence matters. The amplification techniques are alarming to officials because the disinformation showed up as texts on many Americans' cellphones, a tactic that several of the officials said they had not seen before.That has spurred agencies to look at new ways in which China, Russia and other nations are using a range of platforms to spread disinformation during the pandemic, they said.The origin of the messages remains murky. U.S. officials declined to reveal details of the intelligence linking Chinese agents to the dissemination of the disinformation, citing the need to protect their sources and methods for monitoring Beijing's activities.The officials interviewed for this article work in six different agencies. They included both career civil servants and political appointees, and some have spent many years analyzing China. Their broader warnings about China's spread of disinformation are supported by recent findings from outside bipartisan research groups, including the Alliance for Securing Democracy and the Center for a New American Security, which is expected to release a report on the topic next month.Two U.S. officials stressed they did not believe Chinese operatives created the lockdown messages but rather amplified existing ones. Those efforts enabled the messages to catch the attention of enough people that they then spread on their own, with little need for further work by foreign agents. The messages appeared to gain significant traction on Facebook as they were also proliferating through texts, according to an analysis by The New York Times.U.S. officials said the operatives had adopted some of the techniques mastered by Russia-backed trolls, such as creating fake social media accounts to push messages to sympathetic Americans, who in turn unwittingly help spread them.The officials say the Chinese agents also appear to be using texts and encrypted messaging apps, including WhatsApp, as part of their campaigns. It is much harder for researchers and law enforcement officers to track disinformation spread through text messages and encrypted apps than on social media platforms.U.S. intelligence officers are also examining whether spies in China's diplomatic missions in the United States helped spread the fake lockdown messages, a senior U.S. official said. U.S. agencies have recently increased their scrutiny of Chinese diplomats and employees of state-run media organizations. In September, the State Department secretly expelled two employees of the Chinese Embassy in Washington suspected of spying.Other rival powers might have been involved in the dissemination, too. And Americans with prominent online or news media platforms unknowingly helped amplify the messages. Misinformation has proliferated during the pandemic -- in recent weeks, some pro-Trump news outlets have promoted anti-American conspiracy theories, including one that suggests the virus was created in a laboratory in the United States.U.S. officials said China, borrowing from Russia's strategies, has been trying to widen political divisions in the United States. As public dissent simmers over lockdown policies in several states, officials worry it will be easy for China and Russia to amplify the partisan disagreements."It is part of the playbook of spreading division," said Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, adding that private individuals have identified some social media bots that helped promote the recent lockdown protests that some fringe conservative groups have nurtured.The propaganda efforts go beyond text messages and social media posts directed at Americans. In China, top officials have issued directives to agencies to engage in a global disinformation campaign around the virus, the U.S. officials said.Some U.S. intelligence officers are especially concerned about disinformation aimed at Europeans that pro-China actors appear to have helped spread. The messages stress the idea of disunity among European nations during the crisis and praise China's "donation diplomacy," U.S. officials said. Left unmentioned are reports of Chinese companies delivering shoddy equipment and European leaders expressing skepticism over China's handling of its outbreak.President Donald Trump himself has shown little concern about China's actions. He has consistently praised the handling of the pandemic by Chinese leaders -- "Much respect!" he wrote on Twitter on March 27. Three days later, he dismissed worries over China's use of disinformation when asked about it on Fox News."They do it and we do it and we call them different things," he said. "Every country does it."Asked about the new accusations, the Chinese Foreign Ministry released a statement Tuesday that said, "The relevant statements are complete nonsense and not worth refuting."Zhao Lijian, a ministry spokesman, has separately rebutted persistent accusations by U.S. officials that China has supplied bad information and exhibited a broader lack of transparency during the pandemic."We urge the U.S. to stop political manipulation, get its own house in order and focus more on fighting the epidemic and boosting the economy," Zhao said at a news conference Friday.An Information WarThe United States and China are engaged in a titanic information war over the pandemic, one that has added a new dimension to their global rivalry.Trump and his aides are trying to put the spotlight on China as they face intense criticism over the federal government's widespread failures in responding to the pandemic, which has killed more than 40,000 Americans. President Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party are trying to shore up domestic and international support after earlier cover-ups that allowed the virus to spread.As diplomatic tensions rose and Beijing scrambled to control the narrative, the Chinese government last month expelled American journalists for three U.S. news organizations, including The New York Times.The extent to which the United States might be engaging in its own covert information warfare in China is not clear. While the CIA in recent decades has tried to support pro-democracy opposition figures in some countries, Chinese counterintelligence officers eviscerated the agency's network of informants in China about a decade ago, hurting its ability to conduct operations there.Chinese officials accuse Trump and his allies of overtly peddling malicious or bad information, pointing to the president's repeatedly calling the coronavirus a "Chinese virus" or the suggestion by some Republicans that the virus may have originated as a Chinese bioweapon, a theory that U.S. intelligence agencies have since ruled out. (Many Americans have criticized Trump's language as racist.)Republican strategists have decided that bashing China over the virus will shore up support for Trump and other conservative politicians before the November elections.Given the toxic information environment, foreign policy analysts are worried that the Trump administration may politicize intelligence work or make selective leaks to promote an anti-China narrative. Those concerns hover around the speculation over the origin of the virus. U.S. officials in the past have selectively passed intelligence to reporters to shape the domestic political landscape; the most notable instance was under President George W. Bush in the run-up to the Iraq War.But it has been clear for more than a month that the Chinese government is pushing disinformation and anti-American conspiracy theories related to the pandemic. Zhao, the Foreign Ministry spokesman, wrote on Twitter in March that the U.S. Army might have taken the virus to the Chinese city of Wuhan. That message was then amplified by the official Twitter accounts of Chinese embassies and consulates.The state-run China Global Television Network produced a video targeting viewers in the Middle East in which a presenter speaking Arabic asserted that "some new facts" indicated that the pandemic might have originated from American participants in a military sports competition in October in Wuhan. The network has an audience of millions, and the video has had more than 365,000 views on YouTube."What we've seen is the CCP mobilizing its global messaging apparatus, which includes state media as well as Chinese diplomats, to push out selected and localized versions of the same overarching false narratives," Lea Gabrielle, coordinator of the Global Engagement Center in the State Department, said in late March, referring to the Chinese Communist Party.Some analysts say it is core to China's new, aggressive "'Wolf Warrior' diplomacy," a term that refers to a patriotic Chinese military action film series.But Chinese diplomats and operators of official media accounts recently began moving away from overt disinformation, Gabrielle said. That dovetailed with a tentative truce Trump and Xi reached over publicly sniping about the virus.U.S. officials said Chinese agencies are most likely embracing covert propagation of disinformation in its place. Current and former U.S. officials have said they are seeing Chinese operatives adopt online strategies long used by Russian agents -- a phenomenon that also occurred during the Hong Kong protests last year. Some Chinese operatives have promoted disinformation that originated on Russia-aligned websites, they said.And the apparent aim of spreading the fake lockdown messages last month is consistent with a type of disinformation favored by Russian actors -- namely sowing chaos and undermining confidence among Americans in the U.S. government, the officials said."As Beijing and Moscow move to shape the global information environment both independently and jointly through a wide range of digital tools, they have established several diplomatic channels and forums through which they can exchange best practices," said Kristine Lee, a fellow at the Center for a New American Security who researches disinformation from China and Russia."I'd anticipate, as we have seen in recent months, that their mutual learning around these tools will migrate to increasingly cutting-edge capabilities that are difficult to detect but yield maximal payoff in eroding American influence and democratic institutions globally," she added.'There Is No National Lockdown'The amplification of the fake lockdown messages was a notable instance of China's use of covert disinformation messaging, U.S. officials said.A couple of versions of the message circulated widely, according to The Times analysis. The first instance tracked by The Times appeared March 13, as many state officials were enacting social distancing policies. This version said Trump was about to invoke the Stafford Act to shut down the country.The messages generally attributed their contents to a friend in a federal agency -- the Pentagon, the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, the CIA and so on. Over days, hundreds of identical posts appeared on Facebook and the online message board 4chan, among other places, and spread through texts.Another version appeared March 15, The Times found. This one said Trump was about to deploy the National Guard, military units and emergency responders across the United States while imposing a one-week nationwide quarantine.That same day, the National Security Council announced on Twitter that the messages were fake."There is no national lockdown," it said, adding that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention "has and will continue to post the latest guidance."Samantha Vinograd, who was a staff employee at the National Security Council during the Obama administration, replied to the council's tweet, recounting her experience with the disinformation."I received several texts from loved ones about content they received containing various rumors -- they were explicitly asked to share it with their networks," she wrote. "I advised them to do the opposite. Misinfo is not what we need right now -- from any source foreign or domestic."Since January, Americans have shared many other messages that included disinformation: that the virus originated in an Army laboratory at Fort Detrick in Maryland, that it can be killed with garlic water, vitamin C or colloidal silver, that it thrives on ibuprofen. Often the posts are attributed to an unnamed source in the U.S. government or an institution such as Johns Hopkins University or Stanford University.As the messages have sown confusion, it has been difficult to trace their true origins or pin down all the ways in which they have been amplified.This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company
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| 25,000 Missing Deaths: Tracking the True Toll of the Coronavirus Crisis Posted: 22 Apr 2020 05:22 AM PDT  At least 25,000 more people have died during the coronavirus pandemic over the last month than the official COVID-19 death counts report, a review of mortality data in 11 countries shows -- providing a clearer, if still incomplete, picture of the toll of the crisis.In the last month, far more people died in these countries than in previous years, The New York Times found. The totals include deaths from COVID-19 as well as those from other causes, likely including people who could not be treated as hospitals became overwhelmed.These numbers undermine the notion that many people who have died from the virus may soon have died anyway. In Paris, more than twice the usual number of people have died each day, far more than the peak of a bad flu season. In New York City, the number is now four times the normal amount.Of course, mortality data in the middle of a pandemic is not perfect. The disparities between the official death counts and the total rise in deaths most likely reflect limited testing for the virus, rather than intentional undercounting. Officially, about 165,000 people have died worldwide of the coronavirus as of Tuesday.But the total death numbers offer a more complete portrait of the pandemic, experts say, especially because most countries report only those COVID-19 deaths that occur in hospitals."Whatever number is reported on a given day is going to be a gross underestimate," said Tim Riffe, a demographer at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research in Germany. "In a lot of places the pandemic has been going on for long enough that there has been sufficient time for late death registrations to come in, giving us a more accurate picture of what the mortality really was."The differences are particularly stark in countries that have been slow to acknowledge the scope of the problem. Istanbul, for example, recorded about 2,100 more deaths than expected from March 9 through April 12 -- roughly double the number of coronavirus deaths the Turkish government reported for the entire country in that period. The increase in deaths in mid-March suggests that many people who died had been infected in February, weeks before Turkey officially acknowledged its first case.In March, the Indonesian government attributed 84 deaths to the coronavirus in Jakarta. But over 1,000 people more than normal were buried in Jakarta cemeteries that month, according to data from the city's Department of Parks and Cemeteries. (The data was first reported by Reuters.)The New York Times estimated the excess mortality for each country by comparing the number of people who died from all causes this year with the historical average during the same period.In many European countries, recent data show 20% to 30% more people have been dying than normal. That translates to tens of thousands of more deaths.In some countries, authorities are trying to clarify how many excess deaths should be attributed to COVID-19, either by including deaths outside hospitals in their daily totals or by retroactively adjusting death tolls once death certificates are processed.In France, officials began including COVID-19 deaths outside hospitals in early April. And Britain's Office for National Statistics has started to release mortality data that reflects when COVID-19 is mentioned on a death certificate, providing a more accurate -- albeit delayed -- account of the pandemic than the figures released each day by Public Health England.Deviations from normal patterns of deaths have been confirmed in many European countries, according to data released by the European Mortality Monitoring Project, a research group that collects weekly mortality data from 24 European countries.It is unusual for mortality data to be released so quickly, demographers say, but many countries are working to provide more comprehensive and timely information because of the urgency of the coronavirus outbreak. The data is limited and, if anything, excess deaths are underestimated because not all deaths have been reported."At this stage, it's a partial snapshot," said Patrick Gerland, a demographer at the United Nations. "It's one view of the problem that reflects that most acute side of the situation, primarily through the hospital-based system."That is likely to change."In the next couple of months," Gerland said, "a much clearer picture will be possible."Age breakdowns in mortality data could provide an even clearer picture of the role of COVID-19 in excess deaths. In Sweden, for example, a high mortality rate among men age 80 and older accounted for the largest increase in deaths, suggesting that the overall numbers understate the severity of the outbreak for older people in particular.Even taking into account the new numbers, experts say the death toll to date could have been much worse."Today's rise in all-cause mortality takes place under conditions of extraordinary measures, such as social distancing, lockdowns, closed borders and increased medical care, at least some which have positive impacts," said Vladimir Shkolnikov, a demographer at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research. "It is likely that without these measures, the current death toll would be even higher."--ABOUT THE DATA: Reported COVID-19 deaths reflect official coronavirus deaths during the period when mortality data is available. Istanbul reported deaths include those for all of Turkey, as city-level data has not been made public. The all-cause mortality data obtained from each country varies: Some countries publish daily death totals dating back decades, and others only for the last few years. Places with less historical data, such as Istanbul and France, make for rougher historical comparisons. Historical baselines used to calculate excess deaths do not adjust for changes in population or any expected reduction in recent deaths from non-COVID-19 causes. The count of recent deaths in New York City includes city residents only, while data from previous years includes all deaths in the city regardless of residence.SOURCES: Stephane Helleringer, Johns Hopkins University; Vladimir Shkolnikov, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research; Tom Moultrie, University of Cape Town; Patrick Gerland, United Nations; S V Subramanian, Harvard University; Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality; Jakarta Department of Parks and Cemeteries; Daily Mortality Surveillance System (Spain); Statistics Netherlands; National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (France); Federal Statistical Office (Switzerland); Leroy Mathias, Dupont Yves, Bossuyt Nathalie, Bustos Sierra Natalia. Epistat, Belgium Mortality Monitoring, Sciensano (Belgium); Statistics Sweden; Office for National Statistics (England & Wales); Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (New York City).This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company
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| Trump orders US to 'shoot down and destroy' Iranian boats 'harassing' warships Posted: 22 Apr 2020 05:17 AM PDT  Donald Trump said he instructed the Navy "to shoot down and destroy" Iranian gunboats if they "harass" US ships at sea following a tense encounter between US warships and Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard in the Persian Gulf.In a tweet posted on Wednesday morning, the president wrote: "I have instructed the United States Navy to shoot down and destroy any and all Iranian gunboats if they harass our ships at sea."
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