| Why some Nigerian families lock up children and the mentally ill Posted: 03 Oct 2020 04:31 PM PDT  Maltreatment of adults with mental illness and children living with relatives has shocked Nigerians.
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| Chairman of election watchdog is forced out Posted: 03 Oct 2020 02:12 PM PDT  The chairman of the election watchdog is being forced to stand down after the body drew fury from the Conservatives over a botched attempt to hand itself powers to prosecute political parties. Sir John Holmes is understood to have been told by MPs that he cannot continue in the role – after seeking to extend his four-year term beyond December. The Electoral Commission is also now shelving plans to acquire powers to prosecute scores of criminal offences itself, rather than referring suspected breaches to the police and Crown Prosecution Service. It comes after the Conservatives raised "serious concerns" about the leadership and accountability of the watchdog, over the proposals, which Amanda Milling, the party chairman, said would have amounted to the body "marking its own homework". Writing in The Sunday Telegraph in August, Ms Milling said: "The commission should be focusing on improving its core functions, not trying to expand its empire. If the 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." This weekend, a commission spokesman said the body had "paused" the move, stating that "we do not currently have broad stakeholder understanding and consent". Sir John, who has chaired the commission since 2017, faced criticism when this newspaper revealed in 2018 that, months after being nominated as the body's chairman, he said in a speech that he "regret[ted] the result" of the 2016 Brexit referendum and complained about "the panoply of Eurosceptic nonsense about the EU" heard during the campaign. Brexiteers have repeatedly accused the commission of bias against pro-Leave campaigners. Sir John is understood to have informed the Speaker's committee on the Electoral Commission, which oversees the body, that he wished to continue in his role beyond the initial four-year term. His predecessor, Jenny Watson, served for two terms, totalling eight years. But the former civil servant's request was turned down after members of the panel concluded that "all is not well" at the commission, according to a source familiar with the discussions. Last week, the committee began the process of appointing a replacement, with a public recruitment campaign expected to begin shortly. Under the Political Parties and Elections Act, the chairman cannot be a member of a political party, or anyone who has served as an MP or donated to a party in the last five years. Sir John gave the commissioners' endorsement to the push by Bob Posner, the body's chief executive, to hand itself powers to prosecute parties and campaign groups – now "paused". A spokesman for the commission said: "We thank him for his leadership of and commitment to the commission over the past four years and for all his work in support of the UK's democratic processes." The spokesman added: "We planned to consult later this year on changes to our enforcement policy, which would have included a draft prosecution policy. However, while we have had positive discussions with a range of stakeholders, we do not currently have broad stakeholder understanding and consent. "We hope to build consensus in due course, but our current focus is to work to prepare for the polls taking place next May, to ensure that these elections can be delivered safely and effectively. We have therefore paused this work."
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| Colliding crises shake already chaotic campaign's last month Posted: 03 Oct 2020 01:08 PM PDT  The closing days of the presidential campaign were already dominated by the worst public health crisis in a century, millions of jobless Americans, a reckoning on civil rights, the death of a Supreme Court justice and uncertainty about President Donald Trump's willingness to accept the election outcome. One month before Election Day and with ballots already being cast in some states, there are few parallels in American history to such a stunning collision of crises in the late stage of a campaign. The election began as, and remains, a referendum on Trump's turbulent presidency.
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| Israelis persist in rallies against PM despite lockdown Posted: 03 Oct 2020 12:57 PM PDT  Tens of thousands of Israelis demonstrated in hundreds of locations across Israel against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, pressing ahead with their campaign against the Israeli leader on Saturday night after the government banned large, centralized demonstrations as part of a new coronavirus lockdown. The protesters have been gathering outside Netanyahu's official residence in Jerusalem each week for over three months, demanding his resignation. After imposing a second nationwide lockdown to halt a raging coronavirus outbreak, the government last week passed a rule allowing people to protest only within one kilometer (0.6 miles) of their home.
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| Of presidents and health, history replete with secrecy, lies Posted: 03 Oct 2020 11:06 AM PDT  Throughout American history, an uncomfortable truth has been evident: Presidents have lied about their health. Now President Donald Trump has been diagnosed with the COVID-19 disease. The White House initially said he had "mild symptoms."
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| GOP seeks to call off Senate work, but not Barrett hearings Posted: 03 Oct 2020 10:27 AM PDT  The coroniavirus reached further into Republican ranks on Saturday, forcing the Senate to call off lawmaking as a third GOP senator tested positive for COVID-19. Trump and Senate Republicans had hoped the confirmation hearings of Judge Amy Coney Barrett's would make the final case to voters of the party's commitment to remake the court with a muscular conservative majority.
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| Exclusive: British fishermen unprepared to take full advantage of extra quota when UK reclaims its waters, Scottish Tory leader says Posted: 03 Oct 2020 09:22 AM PDT  British fishermen are not ready to take full advantage of the additional stocks the country stands to reclaim from the EU, the leader of the Scottish Conservatives has said. In an interview with The Telegraph, Douglas Ross said the UK's fishing industry did not yet have the "capacity" to reap the full benefits of leaving the Common Fisheries Policy at the end of this year. Mr Ross's remarks came after Nigel Farage accused Boris Johnson of "backing down" on fish in the post-Brexit trade talks. On Sunday, Mr Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president agreed to "intensify" negotiations this week. In a joint statement the two sides said that "progress had been made in recent weeks" but that "significant gaps remained", including on the issue of fishing rights in UK waters. Mr Johnson is understood to have insisted that the UK was prepared to end the post-Brexit transition period without a formal trade agreement, as he warned that time was short to agree a deal. The UK has said it needs "clarity" by Oct 15 on whether a deal is possible. Last week it emerged that the UK had proposed a new three-year transition period for fisheries, in a bid to help unlock the talks. Over the course of the three-year period, the catches of EU fishermen would be gradually reduced before the implementation of new quotas.
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| UK, EU leaders agree to keep talking in bid for Brexit deal Posted: 03 Oct 2020 09:06 AM PDT  British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and EU chief Ursula von der Leyen on Saturday asked their negotiators to "work intensively" to overcome differences to secure a post-Brexit free trade deal.
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| Yemeni officials say clashes kill 23 in Hodeida, Marib Posted: 03 Oct 2020 07:51 AM PDT |
| Supreme Court opens new term on cusp of conservative control Posted: 03 Oct 2020 07:42 AM PDT  The Supreme Court opens a new term Monday with Republicans on the cusp of realizing a dream 50 years in the making, a solid conservative majority that might roll back abortion rights, expand gun rights and shrink the power of government. Eight justices are getting back to work at a most unusual, politically fraught moment in American history. President Donald Trump's nominee for Ginsburg's seat, Judge Amy Coney Barrett, could be on the bench in time for one of the term's biggest cases, post-Election Day arguments in the latest Republican bid to strike down the Affordable Care Act, which provides more than 20 million people with health insurance.
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| Trump's diagnosis shows US vulnerability to the coronavirus Posted: 03 Oct 2020 07:36 AM PDT  President Donald Trump's startling COVID-19 diagnosis serves as a cruel reminder of the pervasive spread of the coronavirus and shows how tenuous of a grip the nation has on the crisis, health experts said. With U.S. infections rising for several weeks, Trump became one of the tens of thousands of Americans who test positive each day.
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| Sudan, rebel leaders seal peace deal in effort to end wars Posted: 03 Oct 2020 07:13 AM PDT  Sudan's transitional authorities and a rebel alliance signed on Saturday a peace deal initialed in August that aims to put an end to the country's decades-long civil wars, in a televised ceremony marking the agreement. "The next biggest challenge is to work with all local and international partners to preach the agreement and its benefits," Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok tweeted on Friday upon his arrival at Juba, the capital of South Sudan. Reaching a negotiated settlement with rebels in Sudan's far-flung provinces has been a crucial goal for the transitional government, which assumed power after a popular uprising led the military to overthrow President Omar al-Bashir in April 2019.
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| No course correction for state Republicans after Trump test Posted: 03 Oct 2020 07:11 AM PDT  Republican governors and lawmakers in many states have followed President Donald Trump's lead on their response to the coronavirus, declining to impose mask mandates and pushing to lift restrictions on businesses and social gatherings as swiftly as possible. Revelations that the president and first lady are now among those who have tested positive for the disease appeared to do little to change their thinking. In the hours after the nation learned that Trump had tested positive for the virus, Republican-controlled courts, conservative groups and Republican lawmakers continued to move against mask mandates and other coronavirus restrictions.
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| Egypt reveals 59 ancient coffins found near Saqqara pyramids Posted: 03 Oct 2020 07:09 AM PDT  Egypt's tourism and antiquities minster said on Saturday archaeologists have unearthed dozens of ancient coffins in a vast necropolis south of Cairo. Khalid el-Anany said at least 59 sealed sarcophagi, with mummies inside most of them, were found that had been buried in three wells more than 2,600 years ago. The sarcophagi have been displayed and one of them was opened before reporters to show the mummy inside.
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| The Latest: Biden aides say COVID results will be released Posted: 03 Oct 2020 07:02 AM PDT  Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden's campaign is committing to releasing the results of all future COVID-19 tests the candidate takes. Biden spokesman Andrew Bates repeated Saturday evening that the former vice president is tested "regularly." Biden told reporters Saturday in Wilmington that he was not tested earlier in the day but would be tested Sunday morning.
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| Pence ordered borders closed after CDC experts refused Posted: 03 Oct 2020 06:19 AM PDT  Vice President Mike Pence in March directed the nation's top disease control agency to use its emergency powers to effectively seal the U.S. borders, overruling the agency's scientists who said there was no evidence the action would slow the coronavirus, according to two former health officials. The top Centers for Disease Control and Prevention doctor who oversees these types of orders had refused to comply with a Trump administration directive saying there was no valid public health reason to issue it, according to three people with direct knowledge of the doctor's refusal. The vice president, who had taken over the Trump administration's response to the growing pandemic, called Dr. Robert Redfield, the CDC's director, and told him to use the agency's special legal authority in a pandemic anyway.
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| Amid pandemic challenges, houses of worship show resiliency Posted: 03 Oct 2020 06:04 AM PDT  The coronavirus pandemic has posed daunting challenges for houses of worship across the U.S., often entailing large financial losses and suspension of in-person services. In the Chicago suburb of Cary, Lutheran pastor Sarah Wilson recorded a sermon aboard a small plane piloted by a congregation member. "It was very spiritual," Wilson said.
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| North Korea is likely to start acting up again during the US presidential election — but this year might be different Posted: 03 Oct 2020 05:20 AM PDT  North Korea historically conducts border clashes and long-range missile launches near US elections.
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| Israeli navy prepares for arrival of new upgraded warships Posted: 03 Oct 2020 04:00 AM PDT  After a coronavirus-related delay, Israel's navy is preparing for the long-awaited arrival of its next generation of missile boats — giving it a powerful new tool to defend its strategic natural gas industry from the threat of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. The first missile boat of "Project Magen" is scheduled to arrive by early December, with three more of the German-made corvettes scheduled to arrive over the next two years. The vessels, commonly known as the "Saar 6," will be at the forefront of Israeli efforts to protect its 200-mile exclusive economic zone.
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| Macau's ambitious plan to turn itself into a Greater Bay Area entertainment, finance hub runs into Covid-19 difficulties Posted: 03 Oct 2020 02:30 AM PDT  He started as a cook in the Michelin-starred Antonio Restaurant, and then quickly rose through the ranks to become head chef in just three years. "The opportunities are definitely better in Macau as many hotels, casinos and resorts have opened here," said the 31-year-old.Last year, he was the given the task of opening Paulaner Brahaus, a franchised German restaurant in the former Portuguese colony. Tavares was on track to open in late January when the Covid-19 outbreak in China brought tourism to a standstill, disrupting plans and pushing back the opening of the 150-seat outlet by nearly a year to December.Get the latest insights and analysis from our Global Impact newsletter on the big stories originating in China.Tavares' predicament and those linked to the city's tourism industry show that Macau's reliance on gaming, tourism and affiliated services is hurting its economy as it accounted for 70 per cent of its revenues in the first eight months of this year.Macau needs to move quickly to diversify its economy to provide new job opportunities and income sources for its growing population, especially in light of the havoc wrecked to its mainstay tourism industry by the coronavirus pandemic, say analysts and veteran businessmen.Just before the Covid-19 pandemic derailed the city's economy, Beijing announced a raft of policies in December last year aimed at diversifying Macau's economy and forging closer integration with the Greater Bay Area by building its financial services industry, while maintaining its position as a leading gaming and tourism centre.President Xi Jinping, during his three-day visit to Macau in December last year to mark the 20th anniversary of its return from Portuguese to Chinese rule, backed the city to develop into a service platform for commercial and trade cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking countries. Xi also urged Macau to seize the opportunities arising from the Belt and Road Initiative and Greater Bay Area projects.Chinese President Xi Jinping gives a speech in Macau to celebrate the 20-year anniversary of the former Portuguese colony's return to Chinese rule, on December 20, 2019. Photo: Bloomberg alt=Chinese President Xi Jinping gives a speech in Macau to celebrate the 20-year anniversary of the former Portuguese colony's return to Chinese rule, on December 20, 2019. Photo: BloombergMacau government projections show by 2040 the population is expected to increase by 18 per cent to 808,000 from 685,400 at present. This means the government has to act fast to maintain its per capita GDP of US$84,096, one of the world's highest, according to 2019 World Bank data."The upcoming retendering of the six casino concessionaires would be crucial to the development of Macau and take it to the next level," Allan Zeman, non-executive chairman at Wynn Macau, told the Post in an interview late last month.All six casino licence holders - Las Vegas Sands, MGM Resorts and Wynn Resorts from the US, Melco International Development and Galaxy Entertainment from Hong Kong, and Macau-based SJM Holdings, the gaming business of the late "King of Gambling" Stanley Ho - will see their concessions expire in June 2022. Macau hotels report rise in bookings for golden week holiday"Gaming operators are looking at and working on [new projects]," said Zeman. However, he added that the gaming operators are reluctant to commit wholeheartedly as there has been no word from the government on their licence renewal."I think once there is a green light, they will move forward," said Zeman, who is best known as the founder of Lan Kwai Fong, Hong Kong's nightlife district.Industry experts have long been critical of existing casino operators' heavily reliance on high rollers from mainland China, with visitors from China accounting for more than 70 per cent of Macau's tourists.At present, nearly 80 to 90 per cent of the gaming revenue comes from the mainland, said Ben Lee, managing partner at IGamiX Management and Consulting. "I don't think this is what the government intended to achieve when it opened up the casino monopoly [in 2001]," he said, adding that the Macau government planned on it being more like Las Vegas, as an international tourism centre.Zeman, however, said that it was natural for Macau to get most of its visitors from China because of its proximity, 1.4 billion population and status as the only place outside the mainland where gambling is legal.He said that Las Vegas first started off with a focus on gambling for many years and eventually brought some top entertainment shows to its hotels to become a leading international tourism and gaming destination. He added that Macau has gone through a similar phase, and as the world's top gaming centre it now has the platform to become the world's No 1 entertainment centre by bringing the biggest names in the music industry and host major international sports events.Allan Zeman, chairman of the board at Wynn Macau, said the company is in the process of diversifying its entertainment offerings. Photo: Winson Wong alt=Allan Zeman, chairman of the board at Wynn Macau, said the company is in the process of diversifying its entertainment offerings. Photo: Winson WongZeman said Wynn Resorts was in the process of diversifying its entertainment offerings with the Crystal Pavilion at Wynn Palace, adding that construction on the project's initial phase will start in late 2021. "Crystal Pavilion will become a unique world-class cultural destination, incorporating art, theatre and interactive installations, expansive food and beverage offerings, additional hotel rooms, and several signature entertainment features," according to Wynn's interim report.IGamiX's Lee said that to prevent "bait and switch" strategies, the Macau government will need a system for monitoring, enforcement and penalties should the casino operators fail to deliver on the promised non-gaming facilities after successfully winning the tender again in 2022.Macau badly needs these non-gaming facilities to attract international tourists to broaden its revenue sources as gaming income has declined for 12 straight months up to September. In the first nine months of the year, the sector's revenue fell 82 per cent to 38.6 billion patacas (US$4.8 billion), from 220.29 billion patacas a year ago, according to official data. Even the VIP segment which accounts for half of the sector's revenues, saw a 77 per cent decline in the first two quarters of the year, compared to a year earlier.This was inevitable considering tourist arrivals in Macau, whose historic city centre is a Unesco World Heritage Site, have tumbled 87 per cent to 3.57 million in the first eight months of the year because of border restrictions to prevent the spread of Covid-19, official figures show.As a result Macau's gross domestic product sank by 67.8 per cent year on year in the second quarter of 2020, the Statistics and Census Service said. As has been the case with economies around the world, the Macau government stepped in to help businesses and households affected by the Covid-19-induced downturn."With tourism being one of Macau's core economic pillars, the Macau government came up with financial stimulus packages, providing tax breaks and cash aid to affected companies and households as well as affected industries and employers to help revitalise the hard-hit economy," said Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, director of Macau's tourism office in a written reply.Carlos Siu Lam, associate professor at Centre for Gaming and Tourism Studies of Macao Polytechnic Institute, said that Macau should reduce its reliance on VIP gamers and expand its non-gaming offerings. "With increased emphasis on the non-gaming sector, Macau will be able to draw different types of tourists, from young couples to families and even retirees," he said.Ho Iat-seng, Chief Executive of Macau, reiterated plans for a proposed stock exchange in the city during his policy address in April. Photo: Xinhua alt=Ho Iat-seng, Chief Executive of Macau, reiterated plans for a proposed stock exchange in the city during his policy address in April. Photo: XinhuaMacau's other much-publicised economic diversification plans include launching a Nasdaq-like stock exchange, which would offer another alternative destination for start-ups in the bay area to raise capital, and tap into the fundraising needs of the Portuguese-speaking world to which Macau belongs. China's first-quarter trade with Lusophone countries reached US$31.97 billion, government data showed.In June, the Chinese government announced a plan to introduce a wealth management connect scheme which includes Macau financial firms. The scheme, which is yet to have a launch date, will allow bay area residents to buy investment products via banks in Hong Kong and Macau, while residents of Hong Kong and Macau can also invest in mainland investment products sold by the mainland banks.Similarly, there has not been much progress since last October when the Monetary Authority of Macau said it was conducting a feasibility study to establish a securities exchange. Besides, it has to compete with two established stock exchanges in Hong Kong and Shenzhen, which have about 4,700 listed companies and a combined market value of about US$10 trillion.Tourists at the ruins of St Paul's in Macau. The city's tourism industry has taken a huge hit from the Covid-19 pandemic. Photo: Nora Tam alt=Tourists at the ruins of St Paul's in Macau. The city's tourism industry has taken a huge hit from the Covid-19 pandemic. Photo: Nora TamMacau's Chief Executive Ho Iat-seng reiterated those plans in his policy address in April, saying the city is exploring ways to introduce a yuan-trading stock exchange and further develop its insurance and banking system. "Macau and Guangdong would also look at the feasibility of building an international trade centre serving China and Portuguese-speaking countries to further their economic and trade ties," Ho added.The proposed Macau exchange will first focus on bond trading, Benjamin Chan Sau-san, chairman of Monetary Authority of Macau, the de facto central bank, said last year.How quickly the Macau government moves to implement the plan remains to be seen."Bond market makes sense for Macau, not a stock exchange, as it would not be competing with neighbouring stock exchanges in Hong Kong and Shenzhen," said Patrick Rozario, managing director of accounting and advisory firm Moore Hong Kong, whose family is from Macau.The use of the yuan in Macau has grown substantially over the past one year, with cross border yuan trade settlement surging 23 per cent last year to 2.58 trillion yuan (US$378.44 billion) while yuan deposits rose 4 per cent to 55.97 billion patacas (US$7 billion), according to Monetary Authority of Macao data.Clement Chan, managing director of BDO, summed up Macau's predicament, saying the long-term success of Macau's diversification plan depends on whether it can define a role for itself as an offshore yuan trading centre and complement the two existing exchanges in Hong Kong and Shenzhen."It is a matter of finding a niche," he said.This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2020 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved. Copyright (c) 2020. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
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| Boris Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen 'to take stock of trade negotiations and discuss next steps' Posted: 03 Oct 2020 01:09 AM PDT  Boris Johnson will hold urgent talks with the president of the European Commission on Saturday afternoon, after his top Brexit official warned trade negotiation would fail unless the EU caved over fishing rights. The Prime Minister and Ursula von der Leyen will hold their first conference call on Brexit since June "to take stock of negotiations and discuss next steps," a Number 10 spokesman said. News of the video conference call came as the last scheduled round of UK-EU trade negotiations ended in Brussels. The pound rose by as much 0.5 percent on the hopes it would bring a breakthrough. "Where there is a will, there is a way so I think we should intensify the negotiations," said Mrs von der Leyen, who will put the prime minister under pressure to soften the British position on access to UK waters after the end of the Brexit transition period. Mrs von der Leyen on Friday said neither side could afford no deal during the coronavirus pandemic. But she demanded concessions over level playing field commitments on state aid laws and the enforcement of the trade deal. She wants a stricter system of enforcement of subsidy law and a way to ensure standards stay up to date. British negotiators will hope Mr Johnson will convince Mrs von der Leyen to begin intensive and secret "tunnel talks" in the run up to the October 15 EU summit. "On fisheries the gap between us is unfortunately very large and, without further realism and flexibility from the EU risks being impossible to bridge," warned David Frost, the UK's chief negotiator after the ninth round of talks. A British compromise offer of a three year transition period for fishing quotas, with the UK share increasing over time, fell short of EU expectations this week. France, in particular, is pushing hard for a permanent quota system. Michel Barnier, the EU's negotiator, said there had been "positive new developments" in police cooperation and aviation safety but "persistent serious divergences on matters of major importance for the European Union." Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, said, "As long as negotiations are ongoing I remain optimistic [...] It will be a crucial phase over the next few days." "The EU needs to hear at the highest level that the UK government is serious about a deal," one diplomatic source said. Getting a deal finalised by the end of October would give the EU time to ratify the deal before January 1 and avoid no deal, which would mean trading on less lucrative WTO terms.
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| Boris Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen take charge as Brexit talks reach end-game Posted: 03 Oct 2020 12:30 AM PDT  Coronavirus latest news: Donald Trump begins treatment amid reports of breathing difficulty Boris Johnson vows to put 'Generation Buy' on the housing ladder 'Red Wall' war chest offered to northern MPs Boris Johnson facing new backbench rebellions over Covid Juliet Samuel: Priti Patel's loopy migration idea isn't quite as cruel or unusual as it looks Subscribe to The Telegraph Boris Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen will hold direct conversations "on a regular basis" in the hope of reaching a compromise on trade talks as the clock ticks down. It is hoped the pair, who have not spoken since June, will be able to inject some much-needed political momentum as the post-Brexit trade talks enter the end-game, in the run-up to the European Council summit in the middle of this month. During their scheduled video conference call today the Prime Minister and European Commission president also agreed that negotiators must intensify talks, acknowledging that "significant gaps remained" with just a fortnight left to close them. A Downing Street spokesman said: "They agreed on the importance of finding an agreement, if at all possible, as a strong basis for a strategic EU-UK relationship in future. "They endorsed the assessment of both chief negotiators that progress had been made in recent weeks but that significant gaps remained, notably but not only in the areas of fisheries, the level playing field, and governance. "They instructed their chief negotiators to work intensively in order to try to bridge those gaps," the spokesman said. "They agreed to speak on a regular basis on this issue." See below for the rest of the day's news
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| Nobel Prizes and COVID-19: Slow, basic science may pay off Posted: 03 Oct 2020 12:26 AM PDT  While the world wants flashy quick fixes for everything, especially massive threats like the coronavirus and global warming, next week's Nobel Prizes remind us that in science, slow and steady pays off. Science builds upon previous work, with thinkers "standing on the shoulders of giants," as Isaac Newton put it, and it starts with basic research aimed at understanding a problem before fixing it. It's that type of basic science that the Nobels usually reward, often years or decades after a discovery, because it can take that long to realize the implications.
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| Bosnia: Unnerved by virus denial, survivors mourn their dead Posted: 03 Oct 2020 12:20 AM PDT  SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — Denis Zekic was on his daily video call with his parents in Bosnia in early August when his father said he might be coming down with a fever. Less than a month later, both of Zekic's parents were dead, joining the people who would be counted as the coronavirus pandemic's global toll climbed toward 1 million. Zekic says his mother, Sefketa, and father, Muharem, both were comparatively healthy before they died at age 68.
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| What is contact tracing, and how does it work with COVID-19? Posted: 03 Oct 2020 12:00 AM PDT  The goal of contact tracing is to alert people who may have been exposed to someone with the coronavirus, and prevent them from spreading it to others. Health experts say contact tracing is key to containing the virus and allowing places to reopen more safely. The focus is on close contacts, or people who were within 6 feet of the infected person for at least 10 minutes or so.
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| Trump said to be improving but next 48 hours 'critical' Posted: 02 Oct 2020 11:00 PM PDT  President Donald Trump went through a "very concerning" period Friday and faces a "critical" next two days in his fight against COVID-19 at a military hospital, his chief of staff said Saturday — in contrast to a rosier assessment moments earlier by Trump doctors, who took pains not to reveal the president had received supplemental oxygen at the White House before his hospital admission. Trump offered his own assessment Saturday evening in a video from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, saying he was beginning to feel better and hoped to "be back soon." Hours earlier, chief of staff Mark Meadows told reporters outside the hospital, "We're still not on a clear path yet to a full recovery."
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| Cunningham admits sending sexually suggestive texts Posted: 02 Oct 2020 10:56 PM PDT  The Democratic challenger in North Carolina's closely contested U.S. Senate campaign has acknowledged exchanging sexually suggestive text messages with a woman who's not his wife, but he said he will not drop out of the race. Cal Cunningham apologized late Friday for the text message exchanges in which he tells the woman he wants to kiss her and she says she wants to spend the night with him. Cunningham's admission regarding the text messages, along with his opponent U.S. Senate Thom Tillis announcing Friday night he has tested positive for COVID-19, could reshape the nation's most expensive Senate campaign, which is considered key to determining the power balance in the Senate.
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| California wildfires on the brink of burning 4 million acres Posted: 02 Oct 2020 10:19 PM PDT  Red flag warnings of extreme fire danger subsided, but warm and dry weather continued to challenge firefighters battling more than two dozen blazes across California on Saturday as the state approaches an astonishing milestone: 4 million acres burned by wildfires this year. Powerful winds that had been expected to drive flames since Wednesday hadn't materialized, and warnings of extreme fire danger for hot, dry and gusty weather expired Saturday morning as a layer of fog rolled in. Above-normal temperatures and low humidity persisted Saturday, heightening the fire danger.
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| Jimmy Carter Has Always Been the Odd Man Out in the Presidents’ Club Posted: 02 Oct 2020 09:37 PM PDT  Jimmy Carter has had complex relationships with all of his successors. This excerpt from His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, a Life, by Jonathan Alter, explores Carter's contacts with President George H.W. Bush and President Barack Obama, all three of whom Alter interviewed for his biography.It was no secret that Carter was not a member in good standing of the ex-presidents' club, in part because he never accepted their code. The unwritten rules aren't complicated: Until the Trump era, former presidents were expected to build their libraries and at least try to hold their tongues about the incumbent, not complain—as Carter often did—that the policy is wrong or they are underused by the president. No one sitting in the Oval Office likes the idea of a freelance secretary of state. The challenge for them was managing their high-maintenance predecessor.After George H. W. Bush was elected in 1988, Secretary of State James Baker consulted Carter often. Carter helped Bush out in Panama in 1989 by confronting Manuel Noriega after he rigged an election. He told the dictator and his henchmen, "You are thieves." But his most conspicuous early diplomatic success was in Nicaragua, which he visited eight times in a five-year period.In February 1990, for the first time since the Russian Revolution, a Communist regime (the Sandinistas) lost a democratic election. If the shocking results held, Violeta Chamorro, a newspaper publisher, would replace President Daniel Ortega and become the first female head of state in the Americas.But five decades had passed since the last peaceful transfer of power in Nicaragua, and this one was by no means assured. Ortega had been confident of reelection—all the polls showed him well ahead—and he was not inclined to relinquish power. The Carter Center monitored the election, and, after finding it fair, Carter met with Ortega late into the night. He told Ortega, who had followed the familiar trajectory of dashing revolutionary to repressive thug, that he knew what it felt like to lose and that he could perhaps make a comeback someday. (He did.) Carter's personal experience in 1980 impressed Ortega, and he left office peacefully.President Bush was thrilled with Carter's role. "This sent a powerful message throughout the region and to Moscow," he recalled. Later, Carter resolved devilishly complex disputes between the Sandinistas and those whose property they had seized during their revolution.In the run-up to the 1991 Gulf War, Carter's relationship with Bush turned sour. Carter felt passionately that Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait wasn't worth going to war over, even though Bush cited the 1980 Carter Doctrine (which decreed that the U.S. had vital interests in the Persian Gulf) in justifying it. The former president said so publicly, then took matters a fateful step further, writing each member of the UN Security Council and urging them to vote against the United States on the resolution authorizing coalition forces to intervene. Canadian prime minister Brian Mulroney received Carter's letter and alerted the Bush White House. Carter argued that there was no difference between expressing one's views publicly and privately. Bush, who recalled "working night and day" to bring the allies aboard, vehemently disagreed. "We only have one president at a time," he said in 2016. He was appalled that a former president would "foment opposition to the policy objective of his own country." Even many Democrats felt Bush had the better argument.Carter didn't care about procedural niceties or whether Bush would stop liking him. When he was trying to keep the bullets from flying, his Plains friend Jill Stuckey explained, he never "gave a rat's ass what people thought of him." Former Carter speechwriter Rick Hertzberg noted that Americans admire ruthlessness in the waging of war but not peace. Carter was "a Patton of peace," Hertzberg said, referring to General George S. Patton, whose single-minded devotion to achieving his objectives during World War II was remembered longer than the harsh criticism he received from many contemporaries for improper behavior. Bush's apoplectic team briefly considered charging Carter with violation of the Logan Act, the 1799 federal law that criminalizes unauthorized negotiation with a foreign power.Bush himself was more merciful. After he won UN approval and liberated Kuwait, he dropped the matter. In 2006 Carter infuriated Bush again when he used his eulogy at Coretta Scott King's funeral to implicitly criticize President George W. Bush's response to Hurricane Katrina the year before. Bush Sr. thought Carter's comments about his son were "out of line and untrue," but at the end of his life, he made a point of saying, "I respect this good man."* * *Just after the 2008 election, outgoing president George W. Bush invited all of the living former presidents to the White House for a private lunch with President-Elect Obama. A memorable Oval Office photograph shows the Bushes, Bill Clinton, and Obama chatting like old friends on the left, with Carter standing alone on the right. One of the presidents confided later that the photo perfectly captured the chemistry of their meeting and lunch that day. The other presidents gave Obama convivial advice on the peculiarities of the office, while Carter wanted to press his serious policy agenda. Carter later told Brian Williams of NBC News that the body language was deliberate because "I feel that my role as a former president is probably superior to that of other presidents." Judging by the amount of golf the others played over the years while Carter was doing good in Africa, this was an accurate but—as he recognized—ill-advised statement. The next day he tried to walk back the boast by saying he meant to refer to the "good deeds" of the Carter Center.In October 2017 the five living former presidents, including new member Obama, gathered at Texas A&M University to raise money for hurricane relief. In the holding area, aides saw on their phones a column by Maureen Dowd in The New York Times entitled "Jimmy Carter Lusts for a Trump Posting." In it, Carter admitted that at Zbigniew Brzezinski's funeral, he had lobbied President Trump's (second of several) national security adviser, H. R. McMaster, to be dispatched to North Korea, and—not coincidentally—he refused to say anything negative about Trump. At the same time, he didn't hold back on his Democratic successors. Carter said that Obama "reneged" on his early promise to work on Mideast peace and that he went overboard on authorizing drone strikes, especially in Yemen, a country that the always-adventurous Carter, late in life, called the most fascinating he had ever visited. (He even tried khat, a shrub used in the Horn of Africa as a stimulant.)During Obama's first term, neither the president nor Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had any interest in Carter's advice. He described his relationship with them as "nonexistent," which, in the case of Obama, whom he had admired greatly in 2008, was personally hurtful. The fact that he and Obama had only ceremonial contacts embittered Carter and—in his mind—freed him to knock the president, as he had Clinton. Carter had known embattled Syrian president Bashar al-Assad since he was an ophthalmology student, and he publicly criticized Obama for issuing futile demands for Assad's removal. Obama's second-term secretary of state, John Kerry, was more solicitous of Carter and checked in regularly to see what he had learned about Syria peace plans in his meetings with Vladimir Putin and other leaders. Kerry found that even at ninety, Carter still had fresh information and penetrating insights into geopolitics.As he reflected on his own presidency, Obama came to feel that Carter had been misunderstood and deserved better from history. "He was mocked for the solar panels [that Carter placed on the roof of the White House in 1979] but he was prescient and he brought environmental concerns out of the counterculture and directly into U.S. policymaking," Obama said in 2020. "He introduced an explicit language around human rights and what previously had been an afterthought in foreign policy." Obama saw Carter as an important prod for his successors, who learned from him that "it wasn't enough to talk about America as being a beacon for freedom as JFK or Ronald Reagan did, but that it had to mean something." And he found Carter's post-presidency inspiring: "His voice has meant a better life for many people around the world."From HIS VERY BEST: Jimmy Carter, a Life by Jonathan Alter. Copyright © 2020 by Jonathan Alter. Reprinted by permission of Simon & Schuster, Inc.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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| Johnson 'optimistic' over Brexit deal ahead of talks with EU chief Posted: 02 Oct 2020 09:31 PM PDT  UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was "pretty optimistic" a Brexit deal could be reached as he prepared for talks on Saturday with EU chief Ursula von der Leyen to determine the next steps in the fraught negotiations.
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| Key players to meet virtually to push for Libya cease-fire Posted: 02 Oct 2020 09:02 PM PDT |
| Virus spreads on panel handling Supreme Court nomination Posted: 02 Oct 2020 07:23 PM PDT  Two Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee have tested positive for the coronavirus, raising questions about the timing of Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Judge Amy Coney Barrett and whether additional senators may have been exposed. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell declared the confirmation process was going "full steam ahead." Both had attended a ceremony for Barrett at the White House on Sept. 25 with President Donald Trump, who announced Friday that he had tested positive and was later hospitalized at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
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| The politics behind Xi's big green promise for China Posted: 02 Oct 2020 06:54 PM PDT  Xi Jinping's vow to snuff out emissions by 2060 completes a diplomatic pirouette that moves China to the heart of the global green agenda, wrong-foots the US and cuddles up to Europe's climate advocates in one nimble step.
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| Cavalier White House approach to COVID catches up to Trump Posted: 02 Oct 2020 05:03 PM PDT  Crowds of people gathered shoulder to shoulder on the White House South Lawn. With ready access to testing and the best public health minds at his disposal, President Donald Trump should have been the American safest from COVID-19. Instead, he flouted his own government's guidelines and helped create a false sense of invulnerability in the White House, an approach that has now failed him as it did a nation where more than 200,000 people have died.
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| Biden: Trump diagnosis is 'bracing reminder' of virus stakes Posted: 02 Oct 2020 04:22 PM PDT  Democrat Joe Biden offered sympathy to President Donald Trump over his coronavirus diagnosis while casting the moment as a reminder of the worldwide health crisis that has hit the United States particularly hard. Shortly after the White House announced Trump would spend "a few days" at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, the Biden campaign said it would take down its negative advertising. Biden said Friday from the battleground state of Michigan that it cannot be a "partisan moment" and that Americans must "come together as a nation."
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| Trump gets experimental drug aimed at curbing severe illness Posted: 02 Oct 2020 04:18 PM PDT  The experimental antibody drug given to President Donald Trump has been called one of the most promising approaches to preventing serious illness from a COVID-19 infection. Its maker, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., said the company agreed to supply a single dose, given through an IV, for Trump at the request of his physician under "compassionate use" provisions, when an experimental medicine is provided on a case-by-case emergency basis, while studies of it continue. No treatment has yet proved able to prevent serious illness after a coronavirus infection.
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