| Algeria's lessons from The Plague in the age of coronavirus Posted: 29 Aug 2020 04:17 PM PDT  Finding parallels between the famous novel and how Algeria is coping with coronavirus amid political upheaval.
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| Thousands gather in Israel for anti-Netanyahu weekly rallies Posted: 29 Aug 2020 01:13 PM PDT  Thousands of Israelis demonstrated Saturday in Jerusalem in a continuation of summer-long weekend rallies demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces a corruption trial and accusations of mishandling the coronavirus crisis. Smaller protests also took part in other parts in Israel, including overpasses and outside Netanyahu's private house in the upscale town of Caesaria. At the main rally in Jerusalem, protesters gathered at the entrance of the city and marched to Netanyahu's official residence, holding Israeli flags and black flags symbolizing one of the protest movements.
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| Trump's intel chief ends election security briefings to Hill Posted: 29 Aug 2020 01:12 PM PDT  The nation's top intelligence official has informed Congress that his office will no longer give in-person election security briefings on Capitol Hill, a move that raised concern among lawmakers Saturday about the public's right to know about foreign interference in the upcoming presidential election. President Donald Trump said National Intelligence Director John Ratcliffe made the decision because the administration "got tired" of intelligence about election security leaking from Congress.
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| Biden, aiming at Trump, says he won't use military as 'prop' Posted: 29 Aug 2020 12:28 PM PDT  Joe Biden said on Saturday that as president, he would never use the military "as a prop or private militia" and accused President Donald Trump of employing U.S. forces to settle "personal vendettas" and violate citizens' rights. The Democratic presidential nominee, in a virtual address to the National Guard Association of the United States' general conference, said Trump recommended "that you should be deployed to quote, 'dominate,' your fellow citizens for exercising their right to peacefully protest." "We're so much better than this," Biden said.
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| 2 soldiers killed in Black Hawk training crash in California Posted: 29 Aug 2020 11:08 AM PDT |
| Liz Truss to set out ambition for a 'gold standard' trade deal with Australia Posted: 29 Aug 2020 10:28 AM PDT  Liz Truss will this week set out her ambition for a "gold standard" trade deal with Australia which would wipe tariffs on spirits, clothing and cars, as the Government prepares to step up talks next month. The International Trade Secretary will tell MPs that UK officials are intensifying talks as they push for a wide-ranging agreement which includes financial services, telecoms, technology, food and drink. The Government also hopes to make it easier for professionals to travel and work in Australia, with politicians in Canberra calling for the two sides to agree to freedom of movement in any post-Brexit deal. A Whitehall source On Saturday night said both sides were optimistic a deal can be struck before the end of the year, with the UK also hoping to conclude a deal with Japan in the same time frame. With the second round of negotiations due to commence in the fourth week of September, Ms Truss will hail a trade deal with Australia as a "critical step" to fulfilling the UK's ambition of joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). The trade bloc, comprising 11 nations including Japan, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, accounts for 13 per cent of global commerce, with 95 per cent of goods traded between members tariff-free. The UK is said to be particularly drawn to the bloc due to huge growth potential as well its high standards in areas such as digital and data. On Saturday night Ms Truss said: "We want a gold standard deal with Australia that pushes new frontiers in trade and delivers for the whole country. "We are intensifying talks over the next few weeks, and fighting hard for British interests in areas like financial services, telecoms, tech, and food and drink. "Together with our great friend Australia, we will stand up for rules-based free trade and help advance it globally. Strategically, a deal is an important step towards British membership of the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) - which will open up new opportunities for our businesses and hitch Britain to one of the world's biggest free trade areas." The UK intends to secure zero-tariffs on UK exports including whisky, gin, sausages and cars, currently set at five per cent, as well as simplifying customs processes, and making it easier for professional and financial services companies to operate in Australia. The Government believes the deal would boost the UK economy by £500m, increase UK wages by £400m, and drive up exports by £900m in the long-term.
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| Syria talks 'respectful' but no agenda, date for next meet Posted: 29 Aug 2020 10:21 AM PDT  The U.N.'s special envoy for Syria said Saturday that the latest round of talks between the country's opposing parties took place in a "respectful" tone and they are keen to meet again, but no agenda or date has been set for the next session. "People were listening to each other," Geir Pedersen told reporters in Geneva. "Obviously there are still very strong disagreements," Pedersen acknowledged, but the two co-chairs of the meeting had both said there were areas of common ground that could be built on.
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| 'How dare we not vote?' Black voters organize after DC march Posted: 29 Aug 2020 10:21 AM PDT  Tears streamed down Brooke Moreland's face as she watched tens of thousands gather on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to decry systemic racism and demand racial justice in the wake of several police killings of Black Americans. As the campaign enters its latter stages, there's an intensifying effort among African Americans to transform frustration over police brutality, systemic racism and the disproportionate toll of the coronavirus into political power.
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| Shiite Muslims mark holy day of mourning in virus' shadow Posted: 29 Aug 2020 09:35 AM PDT  Shiite Muslims are observing the solemn holy day of Ashoura that they typically mark with large, mournful gatherings, in the shadow of the coronavirus pandemic. Ashoura commemorates the seventh-century killing of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, in the Battle of Karbala in present-day Iraq with the army of then Caliph Yazid, to whom Hussein had refused to pledge allegiance. "At its heart, It's the story of the sacrifice of an extraordinary religious figure," said Noor Zaidi, who teaches history at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and researches Shiite Islam.
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| Mauritius oil spill: Thousands march in Port Louis Posted: 29 Aug 2020 09:06 AM PDT  Massive amounts of oil spilled into a wildlife sanctuary, and 39 dead dolphins have been discovered.
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| Nathaniel Julius: South Africa police arrested for killing teen Posted: 29 Aug 2020 08:39 AM PDT  Nathaniel Julius, who had Down's syndrome, was out to buy biscuits when he got shot, his family says.
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| '7 bullets, 7 days': Protesters march for Blake in Kenosha Posted: 29 Aug 2020 08:30 AM PDT  With chants of "One person, one vote!" and "No justice, no peace!" a crowd of about 1,000 demonstrators gathered outside a Wisconsin courthouse Saturday to denounce police violence and share messages of change, a week after an officer shot Jacob Blake in the back and left the 29-year-old Black man paralyzed. The diverse group of protesters also chanted "Seven bullets, seven days!" — a reference to the number of times Blake was shot last Sunday — as they marched toward the courthouse in Kenosha. There Blake's father, Jacob Blake Sr., gave an impassioned call for changing a system he described as fostering police brutality and racial inequities.
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| For Trump, GOP Created an Alternate Reality Beyond COVID-19 Posted: 29 Aug 2020 07:15 AM PDT  For four days, the Republican National Convention projected the image of a nation that had beaten the coronavirus, with maskless supporters packed close together and free to carry on with their lives thanks to the quick, powerful and effective response of President Donald Trump, who crushed a pandemic when it reached American shores.The truth is another story.With more than 180,000 Americans dead and the economy still mired in recession, no issue threatens Trump's reelection like the coronavirus. To make the post-pandemic imagery stick, speaker after speaker -- especially the president -- had to paint a narrative that rewrote history and was resplendent with distortions, exaggerations and outright falsehoods.From the start of the pandemic, Trump played down the coronavirus, saying in an interview in January that "we have it totally under control" and speculating in February that it "could maybe go away." Far from condemning Beijing's handling of what he would later refer to as the "China virus" or the "Chinese virus," Trump initially praised President Xi Jinping's handling of it.By March 15, as daily cases continued to increase, Trump said the virus was "something we have tremendous control of."These dismissals, however, did not stop one speaker, a nurse named Amy Ford, from declaring on Monday that "President Trump recognized the threat this virus presented for all Americans early on and made rapid policy changes," or Secretary of State Mike Pompeo from claiming that "the president has held China accountable for covering up the China virus."Trump did place restrictions on travel from China on Jan. 31, effective Feb. 2, but they only applied to foreign nationals and exceptions were granted. The porous "ban" ultimately allowed 40,000 to travel from China to the United States from the end of January to April. It wasn't until March 13 that similar restrictions were placed on travel from Europe, and by then, a strain of the virus that was circulating in Europe had already become widespread in New York City.In fact, Trump's botched announcement of the European travel ban set off a chaotic exodus of Americans from the Continent that overwhelmed U.S. airports and most likely let in thousands of cases.Addressing the convention Wednesday night, Vice President Mike Pence proclaimed that "before the first case of the coronavirus spread in the United States, the president took unprecedented action and suspended all travel from China, the second largest economy in the world." That is not true.And in the telling of Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, "President Trump saved lives by shutting down flights from China and Europe." Another speaker, Natalie Harp, put it more hyperbolically: "Millions would have died" had it not been for the restrictions.As the virus began to spread in the United States and around the world, the federal government was slow to develop testing at the scale necessary to monitor the pandemic. Myriad failures in testing in the critical early days of the pandemic -- a botched kit from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, restrictions on who could be tested and delays in monitoring -- left the country blind. By the end of March, testing in the United States still lagged behind many other countries as measured by population.Still, Trump and Pence celebrated the United States' testing record, with Trump boasting that "America has tested more than every country in Europe put together."The president was similarly hesitant to use the full powers of the Defense Production Act, a federal law that gives him the authority to mobilize industry in the interest of national security. He signed an executive order on March 18 invoking portions of the law, including the power to essentially direct private businesses to make certain supplies and products.From March 23 to March 27, the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services surveyed hospitals and found serious supply shortages. Some hospitals, the inspector general wrote, "had not received supplies from the Strategic National Stockpile, or that the supplies that they had received were not sufficient in quantity or quality."Yet the president asserted that the government "shipped hundreds of millions of masks, gloves and gowns to our front line health care workers," without mention of the shortages.On March 27, amid a torrent of criticism from governors and public health officials over shortages in ventilators and personal protective equipment, the president finally invoked the Defense Production Act to force General Motors to make ventilators. Still, he maintained that "nationalizing our business is not a good concept." By July, there was still no widespread use of the law to combat the virus.Yet according to Pence, Trump "marshaled the full resources of our federal government from the outset." The president also echoed this when he claimed credit for the "largest national mobilization since World War II," citing his invocation of the Defense Production Act.The way Trump cited the data on virus deaths in the country also presented a false picture. In April, the number of average daily deaths peaked at between 2,000 and 2,200. Cases and deaths fell and plateaued as spring turned into summer, before roaring back as a number of states relaxed social distancing rules and began reopening their economies. Average daily deaths increased from 400 to 500 in July to over 900 today.Despite the uptick, Trump celebrated the 80% decline in the number of deaths since April -- cherry-picking the peak and comparing it to a low point that has since passed -- and falsely claimed again that the United States had "among the lowest case fatality rates of any major country anywhere in the world." (It ranks in the top third around the world.)As states began issuing stay-at-home and social distancing orders to contain the spread, Trump resisted, worrying that a shutdown would imperil the economy, the focal point of his reelection effort. Even after the federal government recommended social distancing on March 16, Trump continued to sound skeptical of the measures that experts said were necessary to save lives, at times urging reopening and arguing that a recession would be deadly as well.That was not how Ivanka Trump portrayed it Thursday night, when she declared of her father: "I watched him take the strongest, most inclusive economy in our lifetime, the lowest unemployment in half a century, and the highest wage increase for working families in decades -- and close it down to save American lives."While other countries began to flatten their curves and reopen their economies, the outbreak continued to rampage through the United States. The unemployment rate skyrocketed to 14.7% in April -- the highest rate since the Great Depression -- before declining to 10.2% last month. From February to April, the economy lost 20 million jobs before regaining 9 million. Gross domestic product fell 9.5% in the second quarter.In his acceptance speech, the president focused on the gain of "9 million jobs, and that's a record in the history of our country" and misleadingly claimed to have "the smallest economic contraction of any major Western nation." (The 9.5% was lower than the average of countries tracked by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, but still above more than a dozen other OECD countries.)Although scientists are racing to develop treatments that will fight the coronavirus, only a handful are considered promising, and all need further study. No drugs have been found to be safe and effective treatments for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, by the Food and Drug Administration.The president declared, "We developed a wide array of effective treatments, including a powerful antibody treatment known as convalescent plasma," which he claimed "will save thousands and thousands of lives."In fact, convalescent plasma has been used by doctors for decades, and with coronavirus patients since the early days of the outbreak. Its effectiveness, however, is still in question and has most likely been exaggerated by the administration, and because it must be made from blood donations from COVID-19 survivors, its availability is expected to be limited.As for a vaccine, it is impossible to predict when one will become availability with certainty. A few drugmakers are far along in testing their vaccines, but the process then includes securing FDA approval, ramping up manufacturing and setting up a distribution system -- an awful lot to pack into the next four months.Paul Mango, an official at the federal Department of Health and Human Services who is helping to lead the vaccine effort, told reporters Friday that while hundreds of millions of doses of vaccine will indeed be manufactured by the end of the year, "what is uncertain is whether or not they will be FDA approved."Nevertheless, Trump sounded an optimistic note, saying that there would be "a vaccine before the end of the year or maybe even sooner."The coronavirus pandemic shows little sign of abating in the United States, with nearly 6 million total cases and an average of 42,000 new daily cases. The campaign of former Vice President Joe Biden noted Friday that at least 3,525 Americans had lost their lives to the coronavirus since the Republican convention began on Monday. (The New York Times counted 4,037.)"Instead of a strategy to overcome the pandemic, or any concern for the unbearable suffering in our country right now as a result of his ongoing failures, what we heard was a delusional vision completely divorced from the crushing reality that ordinary Americans face," said Kate Bedingfield, a Biden deputy campaign manager.Such numbers did not stop Trump from declaring the country's response to the pandemic a great success."Joe Biden's plan is not a solution to the virus, but rather it is a surrender to the virus," he said. "My administration has a very different approach. To save as many lives as possible, we are focusing on the science, the facts and the data."This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company
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| Electoral commission should be overhauled or abolished, say Conservative Party Posted: 29 Aug 2020 07:01 AM PDT  The Electoral Commission should be abolished or radically overhauled because it has become "accountable to no-one", the Conservative Party has said. Amid mounting concerns over the regulator's performance and accountability, Tory chairman Amanda Milling claimed it is "not fit for purpose" and should not be allowed to hand itself the ability to prosecute parties and campaign groups. The Telegraph can reveal the Conservatives have now lodged a submission with the Committee on Standards in Public Life, which is currently reviewing the Commission's remit and whether it should be handed more powers. The Commission, which has faced accusations of bias against bodies that campaigned for Brexit - a charge it strongly denies - confirmed plans earlier this year to hand itself a "prosecutions capability". However, in its response to the review, the Conservatives argue that the watchdog is "unaccountable", has conflicts of interest, and should not "be allowed to mark its own homework". Writing for The Telegraph, Ms Milling also cites a number of referrals of Brexit campaigners to the police by the Commission in recent years, which she argues has "led to lengthy and often unnecessary investigations." On prosecutions, she adds: "This must remain a matter for the police and the independent Crown Prosecution Service, overseen by the courts. "As has already been highlighted, the Commission should be focusing on improving its core functions, not trying to expand its empire. If the Electoral Commission fails to make these changes and do the job it was set up to do then the only option would be to abolish it." In its submission, seen by this newspaper the Conservative Party claims there is "little outside challenge or scrutiny" of the watchdog, adding that there are a "number of flaws" with how it operates. This includes an alleged lack of cooperation between staff members on investigations it is conducting - some of which have dragged on for years - unclear, contradictory or outdated advice provided to parties, and overly bureaucratic processes. The Party argues that the Commission should therefore be disbanded or have its powers reined in by Parliament. In the first scenario, the Conservatives say that legislation should be amended to enable the Government to clearly define the Commission's "remit and goals" in a regulatory policy statement. This would then be ratified by Parliament, and would mirror the approach for other watchdogs, such as the electricity and gas regulator Ofgem. Alternatively, it suggests the watchdog should be abolished altogether, with its reporting and registration functions for donations and campaign spending transferred to Companies House, which would retain the ability to use civil sanction powers and issue fines for breaches. "The Electoral Commission's core functions could be easily absorbed," the document adds, with investigations into national or party electoral fraud conducted by a specialist department within a police force, or the National Crime Agency, which would receive additional funding. The watchdog's remaining functions, including guidance to parties, would be transferred to the Cabinet Office. Senior Tories sound alarm over powers It comes several weeks after senior Conservatives sounded alarm at the regulator's plans to hand itself the power to bring low-order offences before the courts, citing a string of recent controversies. They include its decision to refer Brexit campaigners Darren Grimes, pictured below, and Alan Halsall to the Metropolitan Police two years ago over alleged breaches of spending rules, which were dropped by the force in May.
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| ‘Protect our babies:’ Hospital cares for babies in hurricane Posted: 29 Aug 2020 06:15 AM PDT  As the wind howled and the rain slammed down, a team of nurses, respiratory therapists and a doctor worked through the night to care for 19 tiny babies as Hurricane Laura slammed southwestern Louisiana. The babies, some on ventilators or eating through a feeding tube, seemed to weather the storm just fine, said Dr. Juan Bossano, the medical director of the neonatal intensive care unit at Lake Charles Memorial Hospital for Women. Laura made landfall early Thursday morning as a Category 4 storm, packing top winds of 150 mph (241 kph), and pushing a storm surge as high as 15 feet in some areas.
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| Census, like Post Office, politicized in election year Posted: 29 Aug 2020 05:34 AM PDT  The postal service isn't the only staid federal agency to be drawn into a political battle in 2020. Unlike the department charged with delivering mail, however, the U.S. Census Bureau has been here before. "The census was political from the very beginning and remains so," former Census Bureau director Kenneth Prewitt wrote in an essay almost two decades ago.
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| Alexander Lukashenko brings his 16-year-old son onto frontline as protests endanger succession plans Posted: 29 Aug 2020 05:28 AM PDT  Pictured last weekend sporting body armour and an assault rifle, Belarus's embattled dictator has shown the world that he does not plan to go down without a fight. Yet as Alexander Lukashenko defies protesters calling for his downfall, it is not just his own fate that hangs in the balance. So does that of his 15-year-old son, Nikolai - his presumed heir to power. Ever since he was old enough to walk, Nikolai has been paraded at his father's side, meeting world leaders at the highest level. By the age of 11, he had been pictured with everyone from Barack Obama and the Pope through to China's Xi Jinping. Last weekend, he also had a starring role in his father's belligerent photo op, dressed in military fatigues and likewise clutching an AK-47. One picture showed him and his father disembarking from a helicopter, accompanied by the riot police Mr Lukashenko has used to crack down on protesters. Another showed Nikolai guarding Mr Lukashenko in his palace in Minsk, as thousands demonstrated outside. The constant photos of the pair together over the years have fuelled fears that Mr Lukashenko wants a North Korean-style dynastic regime - something opponents regard as their worst nightmare.
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| With the conventions now over, what's next in campaign 2020? Posted: 29 Aug 2020 05:15 AM PDT  President Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden have emerged from their presidential nominating conventions with each candidate believing he has a head of steam. Trump's job approval ratings and standing in polls are perilously low for an incumbent, but Biden and other Democrats vividly remember 2016, when Trump made an against-all-odds October comeback and defeated Hillary Clinton. Trump is set to launch an aggressive travel schedule with multiple events a week, according to advisers.
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| UN expresses concern over 'dramatic turn' in Libya crisis Posted: 29 Aug 2020 04:38 AM PDT  The United Nations on Saturday voiced alarm over what it called "a dramatic turn of events" in Libya's civil war, after a power struggle between leaders of the Tripoli-based government surfaced in the wake of anti-corruption protests. Protests over deteriorating economic conditions erupted earlier this week in the capital and elsewhere in western Libya, which is controlled by forces loyal to the U.N.-supported government. In Tripoli, local militia allied with the government opened fire on demonstrators with rifles and truck-mounted guns and abducted some of the protesters.
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| France's horses killed in mysterious ritual-like mutilations Posted: 29 Aug 2020 04:23 AM PDT  Armed with knives, some knowledge of their prey and a large dose of cruelty, attackers are going after horses and ponies in pastures across France in what may be ritual mutilations. Up to 30 attacks have been reported in France, from the mountainous Jura region in the east to the Atlantic coast, many this summer, the agriculture minister said Friday. "We are excluding nothing," Agriculture Minister Julien Denormandie said Friday on France-Info, before heading to a riding club in the Saone-et-Loire region, in east central France, where a horse was attacked a day earlier.
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| Austerity is killing Ecuador. The IMF must help end this disaster Posted: 29 Aug 2020 04:13 AM PDT  In Ecuador, IMF-promoted austerity has been disastrous and brutal. It's time to reverse courseEcuador is among the countries hardest hit by the Covid-19 pandemic: staggering deaths, an overwhelmed health system, and an economy plunged deep into depression. Amid this chaos, the 1 September deadline is fast approaching for the government of Ecuador to restructure $17.4bn in debt owed to international creditors. Securing IMF assistance is a condition of this restructuring – assistance that is likely to come with even more brutal austerity.Despite its failure in every country where it has been applied, the IMF continues to promote austerity as a solution to sovereign debt concerns. In Ecuador, the effects of these policies have been particularly disastrous, wreaking havoc on the country's economy as well as its healthcare system – and leading to systematic violations of the economic and social rights that the Ecuadorian constitution and international law protect.In a word, austerity in Ecuador has become a vector for the health, economic and social crises of Covid-19. The IMF has the influence – and responsibility – to end it.The IMF does not bear this responsibility alone. The government of Lenín Moreno is also bound to protect human rights, which its austerity policies fail to do. In the healthcare sector alone, public investment was reduced by almost two-thirds (falling by 64%) between 2017 and 2019. Cuts continued in 2020 in line with IMF guidelines. In March 2019, Moreno signed a credit agreement with the IMF for $4.2bn, with the expectation that the country address its fiscal deficit, including by "strengthening controls over spending commitments" and "realigning the public sector wage bill". This led to the dismissal of 3,680 workers from the ministry of public health in 2019 (4.5% of total employment in this ministry) – just before the worst public health crisis in decades.The results have been predictably terrible. The cuts have exacerbated the country's vulnerability to the Covid-19 pandemic, contributing to one of the deadliest outbreaks of the coronavirus worldwide. The country's marginalized populations have been disproportionately affected: Indigenous peoples, Afro-descendants, women, older people, informal workers and families in the lowest-income quintiles, who are more dependent on public services.Ecuador's debt obligations are leading the government to prioritize advance payment of foreign debt servicing over basic care for its citizens. The terms agreed for the restructuring process – the deadline for which is just days away – are extremely disadvantageous: although Ecuador's bonds fell to 35% of their value due to the pandemic, the renegotiation guarantees its creditors 59% of the current value. While this allowed the country to relieve some pressure to deal with the pandemic, it in no way resolves the current debt crisis.A particularly problematic aspect of the restructuring agreement is that it depends on Ecuador securing increased financial support from the IMF under its Extended Fund Facility. According to the IMF, this type of assistance has "a strong focus on structural adjustment". So it's likely to include more conditions on the country's economic and social policy. The spiral of austerity swirls downward.The IMF claims to support increased spending on public health to respond to Covid-19. Yet the emergency financing loan it granted to Ecuador in May recommends the continuation of "fiscal consolidation … of about 6.2 percentage points of GDP over the period 2019-2025". Prioritizing this target will further weaken Ecuador's capacity to adequately finance public services, social protection programs, and regulatory schemes that are essential to protect the economic and social rights of the Ecuadorian population from the economic fallout of Covid-19. ECLAC estimates that Ecuador will be one of the countries with the highest increases in extreme poverty and inequality in the region as a result of Covid-19. These projections can only be mitigated by significant public spending in the very sectors where cuts are being considered.Recent history provides ample reasons for the IMF to reconsider its role in Ecuador. Massive popular protests against IMF-backed reforms erupted in October last year, led by Indigenous peoples and residents of working-class neighborhoods in major cities. This must go beyond the reprioritizing the particular policies it prescribes and include a rethink of the process through which it prescribes them. To date, the IMF has demonstrated no respect for democratic procedures in Ecuador – one of the primary motivations for the protest movement last October. It has been silent about the Moreno government's use of the state of emergency, enacted in March, to accelerate structural adjustment across the board: a labor flexibilization reform that had been postponed for fear of social opposition; a fiscal reform that had been rejected by parliament at the end of 2019; and the elimination of fuel subsidies, which had previously been reversed.To end this downward spiral – and respect the rights in the Ecuadorian constitution – the IMF should at the very least adopt the measures that align with its own research findings.First, the IMF should properly assess – and be transparent about – the human rights impact of its loan conditions, in particular economic and social rights. This means measuring the distributional effect of changes in fiscal policy, with an emphasis on impacts on gender inequality. Those that impose a cost on the most disadvantaged groups, including Indigenous peoples, must be avoided.Second, the IMF should respect democratic processes for economic decision-making. Agreements must be negotiated transparently. This means refraining from exerting any undue influence over fiscal policy decisions.Finally, the IMF should recommend and promote alternative rights-based policies to expand fiscal space. These include tax reform, in order to tax large fortunes and the excess profits of large corporations and to meaningfully combat tax evasion and avoidance; repealing the rule preventing the Central Bank of Ecuador from acquiring public debt securities to finance liquidity problems in crisis situations, such as the current one; and support for an orderly debt restructuring process at an international level, in line with the United Nations' basic principles for sovereign debt restructuring processes.For too long, the IMF has gotten away with apologizing for its role in brutal austerity after the fact, only to implement it again and again in country after country. It is time to hold the IMF accountable for its human rights responsibilities – and protect the constitutional rights of the Ecuadorian people to a good life and democratic government. Allison Corkery, Centre for Economic and Social RightsAndrés Chiriboga-Tejada, Observatorio de la Dolarización del Ecuador and Sciences Po ParisAdrian Falco, Latindadd (Red Latinoamericana sobre Deuda, Desarrollo y Derechos)Demba Moussa, Third World ForumJayati Ghosh, professor of economics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New DelhiOsama Diab, economic rights researcher and lecturer in development studiesSergio Chaparro, Centre for Economic and Social RightsIgnacio Saiz, Centre for Economic and Social RightsLeilani Farha, global director, the ShiftJohn N. Robinson III, assistant professor of sociology, Washington University in St LouisCarolyn Sissoko, senior lecturer in economics, UWE BristolCrystal Simeoni, director, Nawi: Afrifem Macroeconomics CollectiveGilad Isaacs, co-director, Institute for Economic Justice, South AfricaNicholas Loubere, associate senior lecturer, Lund University, SwedenDr Philip Mader, Institute of Development Studies, UKMatthias Goldmann, Goethe University Frankfurt and Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, HeidelbergStephan van der Merwe, senior attorney, notary public and lecturer, Stellenbosch University Law Clinic, South AfricaZ Fareen Parvez, assistant professor of sociology, University of Massachusetts at AmherstIngrid Harvold Kvangraven, lecturer in international development, University of YorkMelinda Cooper, Professor of Sociology, Australian National University
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| REFILE-Xi says China to step up efforts to fight 'splittism' in Tibet Posted: 29 Aug 2020 02:06 AM PDT |
| Zimbabwe's 'keyboard warriors' hold protests off the streets Posted: 29 Aug 2020 01:39 AM PDT  Unable to protest on the streets, some in Zimbabwe are calling themselves "keyboard warriors" as they take to graffiti and social media to pressure a government that promised reform but is now accused of gross human rights abuses. Activists use the hashtag #zimbabweanlivesmatter to encourage global pressure on President Emmerson Mnangagwa's government.
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| Activists: Militias tolerated, Kenosha protesters arrested Posted: 29 Aug 2020 12:30 AM PDT  Police officers in Kenosha were on alert after days of protests over the shooting of Jacob Blake by one of their colleagues, and they'd recently gotten a tip about "suspicious vehicles" from out of state. Jennifer Scheurle, a member of its board of directors, said they were filling up gas cans to power a generator for their food truck. The nine taken into custody in the SWAT-style operation Wednesday were among dozens of people arrested this week in the Wisconsin city.
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| Tito Mboweni: South Africa's finance minster known for a Twitter roast chicken fail Posted: 29 Aug 2020 12:06 AM PDT  South Africa's Tito Mboweni is fearless on Twitter, rowing with officials and sharing cooking skills.
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| 'A time to pick up:' Hurricane-hurt Louisiana begins cleanup Posted: 28 Aug 2020 09:34 PM PDT  Residents in southwestern Louisiana embarked Saturday on the epic task of clearing away felled trees, ripped-off roofs and downed power lines after Hurricane Laura tore through parts of the state. The U.S. toll from the Category 4 hurricane rose to 16 deaths, with more than half of those killed by carbon monoxide poisoning from the unsafe operation of generators. President Donald Trump toured the damage from Laura in Louisiana and Texas on Saturday.
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| A wobble, luck and preparations lessened Laura's devastation Posted: 28 Aug 2020 09:25 PM PDT  Hurricane Laura was a monster storm that could have, even should have, wreaked much more destruction than it did, except for a few lucky breaks and some smart thinking by Gulf Coast residents, experts say. Just before striking Louisiana, Laura wobbled. Cameron Parish has less than 7,000.
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| Trump still faces skepticism in suburbs following convention Posted: 28 Aug 2020 09:04 PM PDT  Pat Newell backed Donald Trump in 2016. The GOP convention's target audience, according to campaign officials, was mostly former Trump supporters, those Republicans or independents who may have backed him in 2016 but grew unhappy with his rhetoric or handling of the pandemic.
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| GOP portrayal of urban mayhem doesn't always match reality Posted: 28 Aug 2020 09:01 PM PDT  At almost every turn at the Republican National Convention, speakers from the president on down portrayed American cities like Portland, Oregon, New York and Chicago as lawless Democratic wastelands that have been overrun with violence, looting and destruction that is forcing residents to flee for safer locales. In downtown Portland this week, tourists from Texas enjoyed gyros at a food cart, a couple from the suburbs soaked up the afternoon sun and a recent transplant from Indiana strummed an acoustic guitar outside a shuttered Apple store, in front of a mural that's dedicated to Black people killed by police. "It's a pretty day and we feel just perfectly safe as long as we've got our masks on," said Benjamin Green, a warehouse forklift operator from Beaverton, Oregon.
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| AP PHOTOS: Pandemic casts pall over Muharram in Kashmir Posted: 28 Aug 2020 08:09 PM PDT  For Nasir Hussain, observing the Muslim month of Muharram, which marks the martyrdom of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson in the battle of Karbala, is an article of faith. "We have to survive this epidemic to keep the mission of Imam Hossein alive," said Hussain, a business executive, explaining that the virus has not stopped them from mourning but only from going to community congregational halls. On a recent humid August night, Hussain's family sat in the brightly lit drawing room at their residence at Srinagar's sprawling Dal Lake, attentively listening to a religious broadcast on cable TV.
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| Russian poison victim Alexei Navalny’s health improving, although he’s still in coma, says German hospital Posted: 28 Aug 2020 04:12 PM PDT  Alexei Navalny, the vocal Vladimir Putin critic who was poisoned last week, is improving but remains comatose. Officials at the Berlin hospital where Navalny was flown to say he is being treated with an antidote called atropine, reported The Associated Press on Friday. Days later, Navalny was transferred to Charité Hospital in Berlin, where doctors found traces of cholinesterase inhibitors in his system.
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| Kenosha police union gives its version of Blake shooting Posted: 28 Aug 2020 03:33 PM PDT  The Kenosha police union on Friday offered the most detailed accounting to date on officers' perspective of the moments leading up to police shooting Jacob Blake seven times in the back, saying he had a knife and fought with officers, putting one of them in a headlock and shrugging off two attempts to stun him. The statement from Brendan Matthews, attorney for the Kenosha Professional Police Association, goes into more detail than anything that has been released by the Wisconsin Department of Justice, which is investigating. The Sunday shooting of Blake, a Black man, put the nation's spotlight on Wisconsin and triggered a series of peaceful protests and violence, including the killing of two people by an armed civilian on Tuesday.
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| College towns growing alarmed over outbreaks among students Posted: 28 Aug 2020 10:08 AM PDT  As waves of schools and businesses around the country are cleared to reopen, college towns are moving toward renewed shutdowns because of too many parties and too many COVID-19 infections among students. With more than 300 students at the University of Missouri testing positive for the coronavirus and an alarming 44% positivity rate for the surrounding county, the local health director Friday ordered bars to stop serving alcohol at 9 p.m. and close by 10 p.m. Iowa's governor has ordered all bars shut down around The University of Iowa and Iowa State, while the mayor of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, did the same in the hometown of the state's flagship university.
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