| Police called after NYC funeral home puts bodies in trucks Posted: 29 Apr 2020 05:59 PM PDT  Police were called to a Brooklyn neighborhood Wednesday after a funeral home overwhelmed by the coronavirus resorted to storing dozens of bodies on ice in rented trucks, and a passerby complained about the smell, officials said. Investigators who responded to a 911 call found that the home had rented four trucks to hold about 50 corpses, according to a law enforcement official. The home was able to obtain a larger, refrigerated truck later in the day, the official said.
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| Putin Admits Russian Health Workers Face Protective Gear Shortages Posted: 29 Apr 2020 05:58 PM PDT  Russian President Vladimir Putin has admitted the country is facing a shortage of protective equipment for health workers battling the coronavirus. During a televised briefing on Tuesday, Putin said that despite a "substantial increase in domestic production and large import purchases" of protective masks and suits over the last month, "it's still not enough compared to what is needed now." Putin also extended Russia's lockdown, which was set to expire at the end of April, to May 11.
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| Putin: Russian Health Workers Face PPE Shortages Posted: 29 Apr 2020 05:58 PM PDT Russian President Vladimir Putin has admitted the country is facing a shortage of protective equipment for health workers battling the coronavirus. During a televised briefing on Tuesday, Putin said that despite a "substantial increase in domestic production and large import purchases" of protective masks and suits over the last month, "it's still not enough compared to what is needed now." Putin also extended Russia's lockdown, which was set to expire at the end of April, to May 11.
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| Trump erupts at campaign team as his poll numbers slide Posted: 29 Apr 2020 05:10 PM PDT  President Donald Trump erupted at his top political advisers last week when they presented him with worrisome polling data that showed his support eroding in a series of battleground states as his response to the coronavirus comes under criticism. As the virus takes its deadly toll and much of the nation's economy remains shuttered, new surveys by the Republican National Committee and Trump's campaign pointed to a harrowing picture for the president as he faces reelection. While Trump saw some of the best approval ratings of his presidency during the early weeks of the crisis, aides highlighted the growing political cost of the crisis and the unforced errors by Trump in his freewheeling press briefings.
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| Training AI 'to translate mum's phone messages' Posted: 29 Apr 2020 04:12 PM PDT  How African researchers are using the continent's languages to help spur innovation in Artificial Intelligence.
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| Debate flares over legal protections as businesses open up Posted: 29 Apr 2020 03:21 PM PDT  The effort to reopen the economy in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic has set off a conflict at the state and federal level that is escalating by the day over how much legal protection companies should get if their returning workers get sick. The White House, governors, members of congress and state lawmakers are all getting pressured by business leaders who want to be shielded from potential lawsuits brought by sick workers. The safety of returning workers has dominated union negotiations between casino workers and their employers in Las Vegas.
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| Joe Biden says he'd leave US embassy in Jerusalem if elected Posted: 29 Apr 2020 03:15 PM PDT  Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden said Wednesday that the U.S. embassy in Israel would remain in Jerusalem if he's elected, even as he called President Donald Trump's decision to move the diplomatic base from Tel Aviv "short-sighted and frivolous." Biden, speaking during a virtual fundraiser, suggested relocating the embassy again would not help the stagnant peace process between the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority that have fought for generations over how to divide land and power, especially Jerusalem. Trump's decision effectively ratified the Israeli government's claim on the disputed capital that is a holy city for Jews, Muslims and Christians.
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| Biden assault allegation prompts GOP attacks, Dem worries Posted: 29 Apr 2020 03:00 PM PDT  A sexual assault allegation is raising Joe Biden's first big challenge as the Democrats' presidential nominee, fueling Republican attacks and leaving many in his own party in an uncomfortable bind. Biden's campaign has denied the allegation from his former Senate staffer Tara Reade, who has said Biden assaulted her in the basement of a Capitol Hill office building in the 1990s.
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| Libya's Hifter declares cease-fire in Tripoli fighting Posted: 29 Apr 2020 02:27 PM PDT |
| Editorial Roundup: US Posted: 29 Apr 2020 02:20 PM PDT |
| Malawi's cash handouts and the row about a coronavirus lockdown Posted: 29 Apr 2020 01:30 PM PDT  Malawi announces cash handouts for the poorest, after the courts blocked the proposed lockdown.
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| America First meets global pandemic, testing Trump worldview Posted: 29 Apr 2020 01:21 PM PDT  When terrorists struck the United States on Sept. 11, Nicholas Burns was the U.S. ambassador to NATO, and one memory still stands out: how swiftly America's allies invoked Article Five of the organization's charter, that an attack on one member was an attack on all. It was a kinship among nations nurtured over decades and a muscular display of collective defense that has defined much of the post World War II era. It is also a worldview that Burns finds starkly at odds with President Donald Trump's "America First" foreign policy as NATO's members and other countries suffer from the deadly weight of the coronavirus pandemic.
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| Many field hospitals went largely unused, will be shut down Posted: 29 Apr 2020 01:12 PM PDT  Gleaming new tent hospitals sit empty on two suburban New York college campuses, never having treated a single coronavirus patient. Convention centers that were turned into temporary hospitals in other cities went mostly unused. When virus infections slowed down or fell short of worst-case predictions, the globe was left dotted with dozens of barely used or unused field hospitals.
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| Brazil leaves its many poor hanging amid coronavirus surge Posted: 29 Apr 2020 01:12 PM PDT  Work had already dried up for Ivanilson Gervásio when the coronavirus first emerged in Brazil in late February. As cases now surge amid a simultaneous implosion of Latin America's largest economy, hope of finding a job is gone, forcing Gervásio to line up for hours outside a state-owned bank for a $110 monthly government handout.
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| AP Interview: Amash says voters want political 'alternative' Posted: 29 Apr 2020 11:49 AM PDT  Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan said Wednesday he is seeking the Libertarian nod for president because millions of Americans do not feel well represented by either major political party and their standard-bearers: President Donald Trump and presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden. Amash, a Trump critic who left the Republican Party to become an independent and later supported his impeachment, told The Associated Press that too many people vote Republican or Democrat because they do not feel they have any other choice.
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| UK now has world's third-highest virus-related death toll Posted: 29 Apr 2020 11:40 AM PDT  The U.K. has the third-highest coronavirus death toll in the world after the British government published new figures Wednesday that include deaths outside of hospitals. After factoring in deaths in all settings such as care homes, the number of people in Britain who have died after testing positive for the virus has now hit 26,097, way ahead of the 21,678 announced on Tuesday. Until now, hospital deaths have been reported daily, while deaths in nursing homes and other settings were reported separately on a weekly basis.
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| Protective orders issued to 'Duck Dynasty' star's family Posted: 29 Apr 2020 11:18 AM PDT  Three members of "Duck Dynasty" star Willie Robertson's family have received protective orders against a man charged with shooting at homes on their Louisiana estate. Daniel King Jr., 38, was booked into jail on a charge of aggravated assault by drive-by shooting after two homes were struck by gunfire on the West Monroe property belonging to Willie Robertson, a star of the reality show about duck hunting that ran from 2012 to 2017. King has since been ordered to stay at least 1000 feet (305 meters) away from Willie Robertson's son, John Luke Robertson, as well as John Luke's wife and infant child, The News-Star reported.
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| War-torn Yemen braces for worst as five more virus cases reported Posted: 29 Apr 2020 10:29 AM PDT  Yemen's internationally recognised government reported five new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, as health and aid organisations warned the outbreak could have dire consequences in the war-ravaged country. The United Nations has long seen Yemen, where war a conflict erupted in 2014, as the world's most acute humanitarian crisis, with millions suffering displacement and malnutrition, the "worst cholera outbreak in modern history" and a crumbling healthcare system. The separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC), which controls Aden, declared a total curfew for three days in the port city and other southern provinces starting midnight Wednesday to Thursday.
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| Russia slams US arguments for low-yield nukes Posted: 29 Apr 2020 10:16 AM PDT |
| AP Exclusive: Texas AG helped donor fight virus lockout Posted: 29 Apr 2020 10:13 AM PDT  When a small county in the Colorado mountains banished everyone but locals to blunt the spread of the coronavirus, an unlikely outsider raised a fuss: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who called it an affront to Texans who own property there and pressed health officials to soften the rules. "The banishment of nonresident Texas homeowners is entirely unconstitutional and unacceptable," Paxton said in a news release April 9, when his office sent a letter asking authorities in Gunnison County to reverse course. An Associated Press review of county and campaign finance records shows Paxton's actions stood to benefit an exclusive group of Texans, including a Dallas donor and college classmate who helped Paxton launch his run for attorney general and had spent five days trying to get a waiver to remain in his $4 million lakeside home.
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| Coronavirus is a "catastrophe within a catastrophe" for women, U.N. report says Posted: 29 Apr 2020 10:09 AM PDT |
| Pompeo urges end to overflight rights for Iran airline flying to Venezuela Posted: 29 Apr 2020 09:43 AM PDT |
| Scientists urge Germans to keep social distancing discipline Posted: 29 Apr 2020 09:24 AM PDT |
| Pompeo says US to seek all ways to extend Iran arms embargo Posted: 29 Apr 2020 09:21 AM PDT  US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo vowed Wednesday to use all means available to extend a UN arms embargo on Iran, including working through a nuclear accord that President Donald Trump has trashed. A ban on selling conventional weapons to Iran ends in October under a 2015 Security Council resolution that blessed the denuclearization accord negotiated by former president Barack Obama.
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| More and more countries across Europe have started lifting their lockdowns. Here's how they're working out. Posted: 29 Apr 2020 09:17 AM PDT |
| McConnell open to state aid in next virus relief package Posted: 29 Apr 2020 09:09 AM PDT  Shifting tone, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Wednesday he is "open" to considering additional funds for state and local governments in the next coronavirus relief bill as the chamber returns to session during the pandemic. The Republican leader faced a storm of criticism from the nation's governors after panning Democrats' proposal for more than $500 billion to help cash-strapped local governments cover the sudden extra costs of police, fire and other front-line workers in the crisis. While saying he's willing to consider new funds, McConnell insisted the next package must also include federal liability protections from what he warned will be an "avalanche" of lawsuits against businesses that reopen during the pandemic.
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| Anger at plans to ban hymns as churches set to reopen in Germany Posted: 29 Apr 2020 08:49 AM PDT  As churches prepare to reopen their doors in Germany after weeks of coronavirus lockdown, an unholy row is brewing over moves to ban the singing of hymns. Angela Merkel is set to discuss plans to reopen churches and other places of worship at talks with regional leaders on Thursday as Germany gradually lifts its lockdown. But the Catholic Church is unhappy with proposals to ban hymns and other church music in order to prevent the spread of the virus. "If the social distancing rules are observed, there is no reason to do without singing," reads a position paper prepared by the Catholic Bishops' Conference. While a few churches have already been allowed to hold very limited services, a date has yet to be set for general reopening of places of worship across Germany. Social distancing is expected to be strictly enforced when services resume. But planned measures to protect congregations from the virus don't stop there.
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| Court: Kansas can't require voters to show citizenship proof Posted: 29 Apr 2020 08:28 AM PDT  A federal appeals court panel ruled Wednesday that Kansas can't require voters to show proof of citizenship when they register, dealing a blow to efforts by Republicans in several states who have pursued restrictive voting laws as a way of combating voter fraud. The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals panel in Salt Lake City upheld a federal judge's injunction nearly two years ago that prohibited Kansas from enforcing the requirement, which took effect in 2013. The appeals court, in a ruling that consolidated two appeals, found the statute former Gov. Sam Brownback signed into law violates the U.S. Constitution's Equal Protection Clause and the National Voter Registration Act, commonly known as the "motor-voter law."
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| 52 who worked or voted in Wisconsin election have COVID-19 Posted: 29 Apr 2020 08:02 AM PDT  More than 50 people who voted in person or worked the polls during Wisconsin's presidential primary this month have tested positive for COVID-19, according to the latest count by state health officials tracking the impact of holding the election in the middle of a pandemic. It remains unclear how many — if any — of those people contracted the virus at the polls and health officials are still collecting testing and tracing information. The "vast majority" of cases tied to the election have "already likely come to the surface," said Andrea Palm, the state Department of Health Services secretary on Wednesday.
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| Top Russian intelligence general ran Ukraine separatists when MH17 was shot down, report finds Posted: 29 Apr 2020 07:30 AM PDT  One of the men charged over the shootdown of Malaysian airlines flight MH17 has refused to deny taking orders from a senior Russian general who has been named as a potential suspect. Colonel General Andrei Burlaka, the deputy head of the Russian Federal Security Service's border guards, is four rungs down from Vladimir Putin himself in the FSB chain of command and would be the most senior Russian official implicated in the disaster. According to an investigation published this week, Gen Burlaka directed Russian backed-separatists in Ukraine and was in charge of supplying them with weapons at the time the BUK missile launcher that downed the aircraft crossed the border. The Kremlin has refused to comment on the allegations. The men he directed would have included Igor "Strelkov" Girkin, who was the defence minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic and is being prosecuted in the Netherlands for the murders of 298 passengers and crew of the Malaysian airlines flight. Asked by users on his Vkontakte page whether it was true that he answered to Gen Burlaka, Mr Girkin wrote only that "the rebels did not shoot down the Boeing" but would not comment further. He has previously admitted to knowing the man. Bellingcat and the Insider, its Russian partner organisation, said on Tuesday that they had used telephone databases and facial and voice recognition technology to identify him as "Vladimir Ivanovich", a shadowy figure who the MH17 joint investigation team have asked for witnesses to help identify. "Vladimir Ivanovich" is heard speaking in four of five recordings of intercepted telephone calls released by the MH17 Joint Investigation Team last year, and is referred to several times by separatist commanders in other conversations. The conversations suggest "Vladimir Ivanovich" was a senior FSB official in charge of directing the separatist war-effort against Ukraine from at least early July 2014. He appears to have been senior to any of the commanders on the ground, including Mr Girkin, and at one point ordered a troublesome unit to be disarmed. He also approved or rejected commanders' requests for night vision goggles, ammunition, and armoured vehicles. Dutch prosecutors say the missile launcher that shot down MH17 came from the 53rd anti aircraft missile Brigade of the Russian army and crossed the border just a few days before the disaster on July 17, 2014. Mr Girkin, a former FSB colonel who commanded the DPR's militia from April until late summer 2014, is one of four men being tried in absentia in the Netherlands for intentionally bringing down the aircraft and the murders of the 298 victims. He has always maintained that the irregular militia he led did not shoot down the Boeing, but has refused to answer when asked if that meant the regular Russian military was responsible. The trial of Mr Girkin, Sergei Dubinsky, Oleg Pulatov and Leonid Kharchenko, is expected to resume on June 8.
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| U.S. will not allow Iran to buy arms when U.N. embargo ends -Pompeo Posted: 29 Apr 2020 07:16 AM PDT |
| New Navy carrier inquiry suggests tough scrutiny of admirals Posted: 29 Apr 2020 06:46 AM PDT  The Navy is launching a wider investigation of the coronavirus crisis aboard the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, suggesting closer and deeper scrutiny of actions and decisions by senior admirals in the Pacific that led to the controversial firing of the ship's commander nearly a month ago. The move announced Wednesday effectively delays a decision on whether to go ahead with a Navy recommendation that Capt. Brett E. Crozier be restored to command of the Roosevelt, which has been docked in Guam for weeks. Crozier was fired after pleading for urgent Navy action to protect his crew.
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| Pompeo says no sign of North Korea's Kim, real risk of famine in country Posted: 29 Apr 2020 06:38 AM PDT |
| We’ve Lost Time in the Race for a Covid-19 Cure Posted: 29 Apr 2020 06:29 AM PDT  (Bloomberg Opinion) -- It's been three months since the World Health Organization declared the novel coronavirus a public health emergency of international concern on its way to becoming a full-blown pandemic. Despite much hype around several existing drugs, we still haven't found a proven, evidence-based treatment for Covid-19. The stakes are clearly high, with a vaccine at least a year away, if at all, and countries around the world facing a potential second wave of infections as they start to lift draconian lockdown measures. A conclusive finding that one of the already-available medicines can reduce the viral load or severity of symptoms in infected patients would be a "game changer," as French state medical adviser Jean-Francois Delfraissy said on local radio on Monday.For now, we're still waiting for convincing evidence of whether potentially promising drugs actually work. A European trial of four treatments, dubbed "Discovery," began in March; it was due to give early results in the first week of April. That date was pushed back to this week after a slow start getting off the ground. In that time, tens of thousands of people have died.It's tempting to imagine the blame for lost time lies with bureaucratic red tape and squabbling scientists who prefer idle box-ticking to daring experiments with drugs on the pandemic's front lines. That's the narrative favored by supporters of Didier Raoult, the flamboyant French doctor who first flagged anti-malaria drug chloroquine as a promising treatment in February. While the scientific establishment waits for conclusive trial results, self-declared "maverick" Raoult has been using hydroxychloroquine (a less toxic derivative of chloroquine) on patients. U.S. President Donald Trump's endorsement of the drug, and his pressure on regulators to fast track it, have made it a household name.But, if anything, it's the mavericks not the bureaucrats who have slowed things down.Recent trials of hydroxychloroquine, for example, have been criticized for cutting a lot of corners without showing clinically significant effects. Raoult's test in Marseilles used a small sample size of 42 patients, their enrollment wasn't randomized and one patient who died was excluded from the results. Subsequent trials elsewhere were also found to be of limited quality. A review by Birmingham University's Robin Ferner and Oxford University's Jeffrey Aronson found that most hadn't been blinded, meaning those involved knew which treatment was being administered to whom. Other drawbacks included inconsistent treatment procedures, such as the addition of the antibiotic azithromycin, which when combined with hydroxychloroquine can cause dangerous heart problems. Of the 142 hydroxychloroquine trials registered as of April 14, only about 35% were designed to be blinded, the review found.Sacrificing standards for speed hasn't just resulted in a lack of evidence; it has hampered and delayed follow-up studies. When the "Discovery" mega-study began enrolling patients in March, it immediately hit a big hurdle — patients swayed by headlines only wanted to be treated with hydroxychloroquine. In the U.S., one patient who was offered the chance to trial Gilead Sciences Inc.'s remdesivir asked for "Trump's drug" instead. The hype around potential treatments has also spurred countries to hoard drugs, hurting their availability.Doctors are understandably in an ethical bind in this pandemic. The urge to "try everything" is strong when patients and their families are visibly suffering. Yet speed has to be balanced against other trade-offs like patient safety, too. And the grim truth is that a double-blind, randomized trial of several drugs could have been conducted by now.This week has brought glimmers of optimism from other trials, though it's still early days. The Paris region's hospital association announced that a randomized 129-patient trial of tocilizumab (marketed by Roche Holding AG as Actemra) launched just a month ago has already shown "significant" improvement for Covid-19 sufferers — though the results aren't yet peer reviewed. On Wednesday, Gilead said positive findings were emerging from a study of remdesivir by the U.S.'s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.There are other ways to accelerate research in a pandemic. One option is the use of adaptive platform trials, in which several treatments are monitored at the same time so that resources can be shifted toward those that are the most effective, as my colleague Max Nisen has written. Artificial intelligence can also help. The University of Pittsburgh is using machine learning to power its own adaptive trial of potential Covid-19 treatments across 40 hospitals. Even before testing, researchers are being called upon to use computational methods to screen existing treatments quickly, as in one initiative by a European moon-shot foundation called JEDI.And if there is conclusive evidence that a cheap generic drug like hydroxychloroquine works, then the pharmaceutical supply chain may find new ways to meet a rise in demand. French firm Rondol Industrie is testing the ability of drug-blending machines to make more efficient doses of hydroxychloroquine that would improve absorption into the human body. The benefits of a lower dose for the same treatment result could include fewer side effects and lower production costs. It would also make it possible to treat more patients with the same quantity of active pharmaceutical ingredient.Without that evidence, though, we will only be wasting time. Clinical trials are logistically and financially costly, but they're invaluable. A new pledge by world leaders such as France's Emmanuel Macron and Germany's Angela Merkel to raise $8 billion for the development and accessibility of possible treatments for Covid-19 will help. This is a race without an obvious shortcut.(Adds Gilead news on remdesivir trial data in 9th paragraph.))This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Lionel Laurent is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering Brussels. He previously worked at Reuters and Forbes.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinionSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Wary Russian doctors count their own dead from virus Posted: 29 Apr 2020 06:22 AM PDT  When Russian cardiologist Alexei Erlikh and several colleagues started a project to keep track of medics who had died from the coronavirus, he never expected there would be so many names. Launched last week, the database already lists more than 70 dead doctors, nurses and lab technicians, and the number is expected to grow as Russia approaches its peak of infections. Russia is registering several thousand new coronavirus infections a day and, with more than 99,000, has surpassed China and Iran in the number of cases.
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| VIRUS DIARY: A positive test, then a Mumbai hotel quarantine Posted: 29 Apr 2020 06:11 AM PDT  I was on assignment April 20 outside Mumbai, India's financial center. Fellow news photographers checked whether I'd heard about the COVID-19 tests we had taken days earlier at the Mumbai Press Club.
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| Half of world’s workers at risk as coronavirus devastates jobs Posted: 29 Apr 2020 05:58 AM PDT  Half of the world's workers could lose their livelihoods due to the coronavirus pandemic, the International Labour Organisation has warned, with the poorest likely to suffer the brunt of the damage. An estimated 1.6bn workers are at risk, with those in the informal economy facing the greatest hazards. These are typically jobs with extremely limited basic protections, meaning they have little private or government support to fall back on. Tradespeople and factory staff in the developing world are believed to be among those most exposed. The number of hours worked globally is set to fall by more than 10pc in the second quarter of the year, the organisation (ILO) estimates. That is equivalent to the loss of more than 300 million full-time jobs, or a major hit to income spread across millions more. Guy Ryder, director-general of the United Nations agency, said: "We have to think of the human suffering, the human need, which stands behind that extraordinary figure. "Of the two billion informal workers of the world, about 1.6bn have suffered massive damage to their ability to earn a living and to support themselves and their families because of the current Covid 19 crisis." Informal workers suffered an average 60pc drop in their income worldwide, with workers in Africa and the Americas hit even harder. However, the ILO said improvement could be rapid as the pandemic passes and workers can return to their jobs. Mr Ryder said: "It does sound terrifying, but as national economies unlock, as and when they can, these figures can come down very quickly as well. Although the nature and timing of this recovery remains an open question."
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| NYC mayor takes heat after lashing out at Jewish funeral Posted: 29 Apr 2020 05:39 AM PDT  New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio defended his tweets criticizing a large Orthodox Jewish funeral. Gov. Andrew Cuomo said daily deaths are down but still "disgustingly high." Front-line health care workers and first responders will be mass tested for antibodies.
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| Brexit Britain will lead world in green fishing, UK claims, as EU accused of massive overfishing Posted: 29 Apr 2020 05:32 AM PDT  Britain will lead the world in sustainable fishing once it leaves the Brexit transition period and the Common Fisheries Policy, UK officials said on Wednesday, as the EU was accused of overfishing nearly nine million tonnes of fish. EU governments have regularly awarded themselves catch levels far higher than scientific advice from the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea during yearly intra-bloc negotiations about annual fishing limits in Brussels. The EU, including the UK, has overfished 8.78 million tonnes of fish in the last two decades, despite passing a law to end overfishing by 2020, a report by Our Fish and the New Economics Foundation said. Britain and the EU are deeply divided over fisheries in the deadlocked Brexit trade negotiations. Brussels wants to preserve EU boats' access to UK waters "under existing conditions" and has made a fisheries deal a precondition of any free trade agreement. The UK insists any fishing agreement must be separate from the trade deal with access negotiated annually and based on "scientific principles". Boris Johnson called on EU leaders to intervene to break the deadlock, a request which was given short shrift in Brussels, after Michel Barnier accused the UK of wasting time in the last round of negotiations.
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| UN human rights expert accuse Myanmar army of fresh abuses Posted: 29 Apr 2020 05:25 AM PDT |
| Are we living in a dystopia? Posted: 29 Apr 2020 05:11 AM PDT  Dystopian fiction is hot. Sales of George Orwell's "1984" and Margaret Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale" have skyrocketed since 2016. Young adult dystopias – for example, Suzanne Collins' "The Hunger Games," Veronica Roth's "Divergent," Lois Lowry's classic, "The Giver" – were best-sellers even before. And with COVID-19, dystopias featuring diseases have taken on new life. Netflix reports a spike in popularity for "Outbreak," "12 Monkeys" and others. Does this popularity signal that people think they live in a dystopia now? Haunting images of empty city squares, wild animals roaming streets and miles-long food pantry lines certainly suggest this. We want to offer another view. "Dystopia" is a powerful but overused term. It is not a synonym for a terrible time. The question for us as political scientists is not whether things are bad (they are), but how governments act. A government's poor handling of a crisis, while maddening and sometimes disastrous, does not constitute dystopia. Legitimate coercionAs we argue in our book, "Survive and Resist: the Definitive Guide to Dystopian Politics," the definition of dystopia is political.Dystopia is not a real place; it is a warning, usually about something bad the government is doing or something good it is failing to do. Actual dystopias are fictional, but real-life governments can be "dystopian" – as in, looking a lot like the fiction. Defining a dystopia starts with establishing the characteristics of good governance. A good government protects its citizens in a noncoercive way. It is the body best positioned to prepare for and guard against natural and human-made horrors. Good governments use what's called "legitimate coercion," legal force to which citizens agree to keep order and provide services like roads, schools and national security. Think of legitimate coercion as your willingness to stop at a red light, knowing it's better for you and others in the long run. No government is perfect, but there are ways of judging the imperfection. Good governments (those least imperfect) include a strong core of democratic elements to check the powerful and create accountability. They also include constitutional and judicial measures to check the power of the majority. This setup acknowledges the need for government but evidences healthy skepticism of giving too much power to any one person or body. Federalism, the division of power between national and subnational governments, is a further check. It has proved useful lately, with state governors and mayors emerging as strong political players during COVID-19. Three kinds of dystopiasBad governments lack checks and balances, and rule in the interest of the rulers rather than the people. Citizens can't participate in their own governance. But dystopian governments are a special kind of bad; they use illegitimate coercion like force, threats and the "disappearing" of dissidents to stay in power. Our book catalogs three major dystopia types, based on the presence – or absence – of a functioning state and how much power it has. There are, as in Orwell's "1984," overly powerful governments that infringe on individual lives and liberties. These are authoritarian states, run by dictators or powerful groups, like a single party or corporate-governance entity. Examples of these governments abound, including Assad's murderously repressive regime in Syria and the silencing of dissent and journalism in Russia. The great danger of these is, as our country's Founding Fathers knew quite well, too much power on the part of any one person or group limits the options and autonomy of the masses. Then there are dystopic states that seem nonauthoritarian but still take away basic human rights through market forces; we call these "capitocracies." Individual workers and consumers are often exploited by the political-industrial complex, and the environment and other public goods suffer. A great fictional example is Wall-E by Pixar (2008), in which the U.S. president is also CEO of "Buy 'N Large," a multinational corporation controlling the economy. There are not perfect real-life examples of this, but elements are visible in the chaebol – family business – power in South Korea, and in various manifestations of corporate political power in the U.S, including deregulation, corporate personhood status and big-company bailouts.Lastly there are state-of-nature dystopias, usually resulting from the collapse of a failed government. The resulting territory reverts to a primitive feudalism, ungoverned except for small tribal-held fiefdoms where individual dictators rule with impunity. The Citadel versus Gastown in the stunning 2015 movie "Mad Max: Fury Road" is a good fictional depiction. A real-life example was seen in the once barely governed Somalia, where, for almost 20 years until 2012, as a U.N. official described it, "armed warlords (were) fighting each other on a clan basis." Fiction and real lifeIndeed, political dystopia is often easier to see using the lens of fiction, which exaggerates behaviors, trends and patterns to make them more visible. But behind the fiction there is always a real-world correlate. Orwell had Stalin, Franco and Hitler very much in mind when writing "1984." Atwood, whom literary critics call the "prophet of dystopia," recently defined dystopia as when "[W]arlords and demagogues take over, some people forget that all people are people, enemies are created, vilified and dehumanized, minorities are persecuted, and human rights as such are shoved to the wall." Some of this may be, as Atwood added, the "cusp of where we are living now." But the U.S. is not a dystopia. It still has functioning democratic institutions. Many in the U.S. fight against dehumanization and persecution of minorities. Courts are adjudicating cases. Legislatures are passing bills. Congress has not adjourned, nor has the fundamental right of habeas corpus – the protection against illegal detention by the state – (yet) been suspended. Crisis as opportunityAnd still. One frequent warning is that a major crisis can cover for the rolling back of democracy and curtailing of freedoms. In Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale," a medical crisis is the pretext for suspending the Constitution. In real life, too, crises facilitate authoritarian backsliding. In Hungary the pandemic has sped democracy's unraveling. The legislature gave strongman Prime Minister Viktor Orban the power to rule by sole decree indefinitely, the lower courts are suspended and free speech is restricted. Similar dangers exist in any number of countries where democratic institutions are frayed or fragile; leaders with authoritarian tendencies may be tempted to leverage the crisis to consolidate power.But there are also positive signs for democracy. People are coming together in ways that didn't seem possible just a few months ago. This social capital is an important element in a democracy. Ordinary people are performing incredible acts of kindness and generosity – from shopping for neighbors to serenading residents at a nursing home to a mass movement to sew facemasks. In politics, Wisconsin primary voters risked their lives to exercise their right to vote during the height of the pandemic. Citizens and civil society are pushing federal and state governments to ensure election safety and integrity in the remaining primaries and the November election.Despite the eerie silence in public spaces, despite the preventable deaths that should weigh heavily on the consciences of public officials, even despite the authoritarian tendencies of too many leaders, the U.S. is not a dystopia – yet. Overuse clouds the word's meaning. Fictional dystopias warn of preventable futures; those warnings can help avert the actual demise of democracy.[Get facts about coronavirus and the latest research. Sign up for The Conversation's newsletter.]
Este artículo se vuelve a publicar de The Conversation, un medio digital sin fines de lucro dedicado a la diseminación de la experticia académica. Lee mas:
The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
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| IMF leader says pandemic stimulus must focus on battling climate crisis Posted: 29 Apr 2020 04:41 AM PDT |
| UN: New polio outbreak in Niger after vaccination suspended Posted: 29 Apr 2020 04:28 AM PDT |
| Iran says reopened for business as no end in sight to virus crisis Posted: 29 Apr 2020 04:23 AM PDT  Iran reopened for business despite its persistent coronavirus outbreak as there was no end in sight to the crisis, its president said Wednesday, as 80 new deaths were announced. "Due to uncertainty about when this virus will end, we are preparing for work, activity and science," said President Hassan Rouhani. Ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said another 1,073 people tested positive for the virus in the past 24 hours.
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| Satellite images reveal Kim Jong-un may be at luxury family villa Posted: 29 Apr 2020 03:22 AM PDT  New satellite images showing the recent movements of luxury boats by Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, have provided further indications that he may be ensconced in his seaside villa in Wonsan, on the country's east coast. The location of the reclusive leader has been a mystery since his unprecedented no-show at April 15 events to mark the birthday of his late grandfather and North Korea's founder, Kim Il Sung. His absence, for the first time since he took power in 2011, unleashed a torrent of speculation about his health conditions, with unverified and conflicting reports claiming he was both recuperating from cardiovascular surgery and in "grave danger." On Tuesday, commercial satellite imagery obtained by North Korea-monitoring website NK PRO showed boats often used by Kim had made movements in patterns that suggested he or his entourage may be in the Wonsan area. "Extensive analysis shows that similar leisure boat movements at an exclusive villa in Wonsan and a nearby island near the Kalma peninsula have aligned with Kim's public appearances in the area in every one of a half-dozen instances since last summer, and many more dating back to 2013," it said. The imagery adds to earlier satellite pictures studied by the Washington-based North Korea monitoring project 38 North, which appeared to show that a train similar to Kim's was parked in the resort's so-called "leadership station" reserved for the use of the Kim family a week ago.
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| Iran tells US not to 'plot' against it amid Gulf tensions Posted: 29 Apr 2020 02:56 AM PDT  Iran's President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday told the United States it "should not plot against the Iranian nation every day", amid fresh tensions between the arch foes in the Gulf. Tehran and Washington have traded barbs over a spate of incidents in the past year involving their forces in the sensitive waters of the Gulf. President Donald Trump then tweeted that he had ordered the US Navy to "shoot down and destroy any and all Iranian gunboats if they harass our ships at sea".
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| Iran death toll from coronavirus outbreak reaches 5,957 - health ministry official Posted: 29 Apr 2020 02:49 AM PDT |
| China says detained Canadians 'in good health' Posted: 29 Apr 2020 02:26 AM PDT  China said Wednesday that two Canadians held for more than 500 days in a case that has roiled diplomatic relations were in "good health", after authorities suspended consular visits over the coronavirus pandemic. Businessman Michael Spavor and former diplomat Michael Kovrig have been in detention since December 2018, an apparent retaliation for the arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver on a US warrant. The United States wants Meng extradited to face trial on charges related to the Chinese telecom equipment maker's alleged violations of US sanctions against Iran.
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| Israel marks its Independence Day under coronavirus lockdown Posted: 29 Apr 2020 02:15 AM PDT  Israelis celebrated their Independence Day at home Wednesday amid a nationwide lockdown aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. The national holiday, which honors the creation of Israel after the end of the British Mandate in 1948, is usually a festive occasion, with people heading to the beach, hosting barbecues and watching fireworks. The Israeli air force devoted its annual fly-by to health workers, with four planes crisscrossing the nation and performing aerial acrobatics over hospitals and medical centers.
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