| Social capitalism is at the peak of the trend: in a period of social upheaval, Igor Rybakov and other billionaires launch social preschool program Posted: 04 Oct 2020 05:00 PM PDT  Russian billionaire Igor Rybakov has launched a network of schools and kindergartens - the Rybakov PlaySchool. Igor Rybakov and his wife Ekaterina (Silver Stevie Award Winner in nomination Female Executive of the Year) are the founders of the Rybakov Foundation, which aims to provide high-quality education for everyone in accordance with the Sustainable Development Goal 4, set by the United Nations. That is why the Rybakov Foundation and its program the Rybakov Academy will provide grant support for education at the Rybakov PlaySchool for children from low-income families.
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| Coronavirus in Senegal: Keeping Covid-19 at bay Posted: 04 Oct 2020 04:38 PM PDT  With only seven doctors per 100,000 people, Senegal has been praised for its handling of coronavirus.
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| Justice Rally to Be Held October 5th in Cities Across North America and Europe Posted: 04 Oct 2020 04:25 PM PDT |
| Trump's doctor's comments on symptoms, care spark confusion Posted: 04 Oct 2020 01:55 PM PDT  For the second day in a row, the Navy commander in charge of President Donald Trump's care left the world wondering: Just how sick is the president? Dr. Sean Conley is trained in emergency medicine, not infectious disease, but he has a long list of specialists helping determine Trump's treatment at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. Conley said Sunday that Trump is doing well enough that he might be sent back to the White House in another day -- even as he announced the president was given a steroid drug that's only recommended for the very sick.
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| Fears for foreign exchange trips as peers urge Government to scrap plans to force all children from Europe to carry passports Posted: 04 Oct 2020 01:39 PM PDT  Fears have been expressed for foreign exchange trips as peers urge the Government to scrap plans that would force all children from Europe to carry passports after Brexit is completed. The Government plans to end the use of European ID cards as proof of identity for travel when the transition period ends on December 31. Promised by the Conservative Party in December last year before Boris Johnson's landslide general election win, the plan is now set to be codified as part of the Immigration and Social Security Co-ordination Bill. The restriction on ID cards was first floated by Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, with the intention of improving border security of the UK after it leaves the European Union. Monday (October 5) will see the Bill debated in the House of Lords at its report stage amid warnings from peers that it could "devastate" the UK's English language schooling sector. Writing in Monday's Telegraph, peers including Lord Blunkett, the former Home Secretary, and the crossbench peer Lord Alton warn that the industry "may not survive" the double blow of Brexit and Covid-19.
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| 8 migrants drown, 12 missing while trying to reach Djibouti Posted: 04 Oct 2020 01:28 PM PDT |
| Lawyer: Iran grants furlough to French-Iranian researcher Posted: 04 Oct 2020 01:14 PM PDT |
| One month out, battered Trump campaign faces big challenges Posted: 04 Oct 2020 12:02 PM PDT  President Donald Trump's long-hidden tax returns leaked out. Trump's reelection team, battered on all sides, now enters the final month of the campaign grappling with deficits in the polls, a shortage of cash and a candidate who is at least temporarily sidelined. The crises, many of Trump's own making, have come so quickly that they are hard to keep straight.
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| What we know, and what we don't, about Trump's diagnosis Posted: 04 Oct 2020 11:13 AM PDT  A White House physician's comments on Sunday about the health of President Donald Trump amid his coronavirus diagnosis added a new layer of confusion even as the doctor sought to clarify contradictory statements from the day before. Dr. Sean Conley, the president's physician, said Trump was given a steroid dexamethasone after his blood oxygen level had dropped suddenly twice in recent days, but he "has continued to improve" since then. Conley said Trump could be discharged from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center as early as Monday.
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| Record-breaking California wildfires surpass 4 million acres Posted: 04 Oct 2020 09:49 AM PDT  In a year that has already brought apocalyptic skies and smothering smoke to the West Coast, California set a grim new record Sunday when officials announced that the wildfires of 2020 have now scorched a record 4 million acres — in a fire season that is far from over. The unprecedented figure — an area larger than the state of Connecticut — is more than double the previous record for the most land burned in a single year in California.
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| Boris Johnson insists he is not helping the SNP break up the Union Posted: 04 Oct 2020 09:45 AM PDT  Boris Johnson has insisted he was not helping the SNP break up the Union as the Scottish Tory leader challenged his English colleagues to "look in the mirror" and prove they are doing enough to bolster it. The Prime Minister said that Douglas Ross was "talking about those who don't value the Union in the way I do" when he criticised some English Tories and Cabinet ministers over their "defeatism and disinterest." Speaking as the Conservatives held their virtual party conference, he denied his style of leadership combined with his Brexit policy was driving Scotland and England apart. Mr Johnson also echoed his predecessor, Theresa May, by stating that "this is not the time" for another independence referendum, even if the SNP wins a majority in next year's Holyrood election. The Prime Minister argued that the country should instead focus on recovering from the coronavirus pandemic and reiterated that Nicola Sturgeon had promised the 2014 vote was a once-in-a-generation event.
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| Egypt outlet says reporter detained while covering unrest Posted: 04 Oct 2020 08:49 AM PDT  Egyptian authorities detained a local journalist after she traveled to the southern city of Luxor to cover the alleged killing of a man during a police raid last week, her employer and family said Sunday. Basma Mostafa arrived in Luxor on Saturday morning, according to the al-Manassa news website where she works, but her employer subsequently lost contact with her. Rights lawyer Karim Abdel-Rady, who is also her husband, said his wife, a 30-year-old mother of two, appeared Sunday at the headquarters of Egypt's state security prosecution in the capital, Cairo.
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| SARS: Nigeria 'rogue' police unit banned from stop and search Posted: 04 Oct 2020 08:30 AM PDT  Videos allegedly showing SARS officers extorting money and shooting people cause public outrage.
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| The Latest: Campaign says Biden tests negative for virus Posted: 04 Oct 2020 08:17 AM PDT  Joe Biden's campaign says the Democratic presidential nominee tested negative for coronavirus Sunday. The results come five days after Biden spent more than 90 minutes on the debate stage with President Donald Trump. The president was diagnosed with COVID-19 days after the debate, and he remains hospitalized.
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| AP EXPLAINS: What happens if a candidate for president dies? Posted: 04 Oct 2020 06:35 AM PDT  It's a month before Election Day and President Donald Trump is in the hospital, infected with a virus that has killed more than 209,000 Americans. If the president is unable to serve, through illness or death, the 25th Amendment makes clear the powers of the presidency transfer to Vice President Mike Pence until the president regains the ability to perform his duties. It's never happened in a country with a long transition between Election Day at the start of November and the start of a president's new term on Jan. 20.
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| The Big Question: What Price Peace in Afghanistan? Posted: 04 Oct 2020 05:00 AM PDT |
| He's fought COVID-19 for months. Can he ever really beat it? Posted: 04 Oct 2020 04:46 AM PDT  Larry Brown had been on a ventilator for 37 days. "Thank you for fighting so hard, Larry," his sister-in-law, Ellie Brown, told him. Around Brown's hometown, Indianapolis, fewer than 10 new cases were reported each day, on average.
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| US silence on Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict reflects international disengagement Posted: 04 Oct 2020 03:08 AM PDT  Under Trump, the US has taken a back seat on many major international issues, compared to previous administrationsHeadlines last week that the presidents of Russia and France were jointly calling for a ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh were "heartbreaking" to Carey Cavanaugh, a former US ambassador charged with helping to resolve the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan.Partly it was because they meant the century-old dispute had flared up again, killing more than 400 people so far, including more than a dozen civilians. But it was also because the US – which, along with France and Russia, forms the OSCE Minsk Group, a troika that has worked to end the conflict since 1993 – was missing from the statement."The US wasn't coordinated into that discussion," said Cavanaugh, the former US representative to the Minsk Group.He is among observers of the Caucasus who see in this week's events the latest example of US diplomatic disengagement from theatres around the world, amid wider fears of a hollowing out of the US state department under Donald Trump."The Americans have withdrawn from this issue," said Thomas de Waal, a senior fellow specialising in the Caucasus with Carnegie Europe. "If Trump has heard of Azerbaijan, it's because it's a place he wanted to build a Trump tower in."The Trump administration has been largely silent about the conflict. Secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, only commented on it when asked about it in an interview this week, and he was non-committal."Our view is that this has been a longstanding conflict between these two countries in this particular piece of real estate," Pompeo told Fox News. "We're discouraging internationalization of this. We think outsiders ought to stay out. We're urging a ceasefire. We want them both to back up. We've spoken to the leadership in each of the two countries, asking them to do just that."Under the Trump administration, the US has taken a back seat on many major international issues, compared to previous administrations, particularly when it affects the Russian sphere of influence. Trump has consistently avoided statements that would irritate Vladimir Putin. US allies, like the UK and Lithuania, have recently tried to persuade the state department to be more aggressive in its response to the suppression of protests in Belarus and the poisoning of Russian opposition leader, Alexei Navalny.America's lack of interest in Nagorno-Karabakh was first flagged in August 2017 when the US appointed its new representative to the Minsk Group, Andrew Schofer, but did not grant him ambassador status – putting him at a lower rank than his French and Russian counterparts.In a finely balanced, complex regional dispute, that decision risked delegitimising diplomatic efforts, said Cavanaugh. "Maintaining that equality was important, because it gives Armenia and Azerbaijan a sense of balance in the process. You don't have to worry that Russia is being unduly influential [in the Group], or the United States either."US embassies in Azerbaijan and Armenia both issued travel advisories to their citizens, warning of possible heightened violence in Nagorno-Karabakh. Their fears – borne out 48 hours later – were not echoed by Washington. "The US state department wasn't issuing a statement saying we're worried about the conflict," de Waal says, describing it as "missing in action".It was not until Thursday – five days since the war erupted – that a full Minsk Group statement was issued condemning the fighting.It compared starkly with US diplomatic activity the last time the two countries clashed in a four-day war in 2016. "In that case we saw the secretary of state calling both leaders," says Olesya Vartanyan, from the International Crisis Group."Secretary [John] Kerry took part in the first summit of the Azerbaijan and Armenian presidents along with his counterparts from France and Russia. And his presence definitely played a role, because they were able to agree on some measures to pacify the situation and prevent new escalations," she says."Since this president [Trump], the interest in this conflict has mainly disappeared, and what we've seen is much less shuttle diplomacy going on. The guys who used to represent the US before would go the region and speak to the leaders and sometimes civil society to learn their views, see what could be done, and they were coming up with different proposals. Not all of it worked, but it helped."Because when these two sides (Armenia and Azerbaijan) are left on their own, what we've seen in the past and recently is there is a bigger possibility for tensions, new clashes and escalations."A spokesman for the US state department said in a statement that Washington's position on the conflict had not changed and that both sides needed to cease hostilities immediately and work with the Minsk Group members to return to substantive negotiations.
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| France, Italy search for missing victims after deadly floods Posted: 04 Oct 2020 03:04 AM PDT  French authorities deployed about 1,000 firefighters, four military helicopters and troops to search for at least eight people who were missing after devastating floods hit a mountainous border region with Italy, where at least four people were killed. Emergency workers in Italy recovered two corpses Sunday in northern Liguria that they feared may have been washed away as a result of the storms that killed two other people on Saturday. Floods washed away houses and destroyed roads and bridges surrounding the city of Nice on the French Riviera after almost a year's average rainfall fell in less than 12 hours.
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| What would Trump do with a second term? Posted: 04 Oct 2020 02:50 AM PDT  What the president says he will do if he's re-elected. Next week: The Biden agenda. Here's everything you need to know:Donald Trump has broken the mold as president, and that extends to his second-term agenda. In August, the Republican Party dispensed with long-standing tradition and did not formulate a policy platform, instead issuing a statement declaring that the party will "enthusiastically support the president's America First agenda." The Trump campaign later issued a list of "core priorities" for a second term, offered in bullet points that included "Build the World's Greatest Infrastructure System" and "Stop Endless Wars," but did not offer any detail about how it would achieve them. Still, Trump's stated priorities and his first-term record offer a sense of what policies he might pursue in a second term.COVID-19 Trump has suggested repeatedly that we are "rounding the corner of the pandemic" and that the coronavirus may just "go away" on its own. He has declined to have the federal government take an active role in building a testing system or putting in place other public health measures, telling states that the response is their responsibility. He has been a vocal opponent of state lockdown efforts, remote schooling, and other social-distancing measures aimed at stemming viral spread, and has questioned the value of wearing face masks. Recently, he has focused on developing a vaccine and initiated the public-private partnership Operation Warp Speed to fast-track vaccine development, manufacture, and distribution. He has pledged that a vaccine will be available within months, "maybe even before a special date." Experts involved in the vaccine efforts say that's unlikely.Taxes Trump campaigned in 2016 on a platform of lowering taxes, and he delivered with the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which lowered the corporate tax rate and cut income tax rates across the board, with most of the benefits going to corporations and upper-income earners. Extending those cuts, which are slated to expire in 2025, would almost certainly be a second-term priority. Trump has said he may pursue a reduction in capital-gains taxes and additional tax cuts for middle-income families. By executive order, Trump deferred the collection of payroll taxes for many workers through the end of the year, and he has vowed to eliminate the payroll tax, which funds Social Security and Medicare, if he is re-elected. But Congress has shown no interest in eliminating the tax.Health care Trump's health-care plan could best be described as a plan to make a plan. He vowed in his first term to "repeal and replace" the Affordable Care Act — an effort that failed in Congress — and has continually promised that he will unveil a health-care plan that will cost less than ObamaCare while offering better coverage. But he has never released such a plan, even as his administration has joined a lawsuit by 20 Republican-led states seeking to repeal the ACA as unconstitutional, which will reach the Supreme Court in November. If the lawsuit succeeds, at least 21 million Americans will lose their coverage. Last week, Trump issued an executive order stating that the estimated 133 million Americans with pre-existing conditions should be protected from losing their health insurance. He offered no specifics on how that might be achieved if ObamaCare is revoked.Climate change and the environment Trump moved early in his first term to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris climate agreement, and maintains that the science on climate change is unsettled. His administration has aggressively pursued rollbacks of environmental protections — rollbacks that have benefited the fossil-fuel industry by weakening fuel-efficiency standards for cars, loosening limits on power-plant emissions, and opening up public lands for gas and oil extraction. In his second term, Trump has promised, he will continue his "deregulatory agenda for energy independence."Education Trump has said that education will "be a big factor for me" in a second term, and he's a strong proponent of school choice. His administration has pushed policies favoring charter schools and vouchers, which allow families to use tax dollars for private-school tuition, and he has promised to "rescue kids from failing schools by helping their parents send them to a safe school of their choice." He has proposed a $5 billion tax credit that would reimburse private donations to state-based scholarship funds.The economy Trump embarked on a trade war with China in his first term, imposing tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars in imports. Aiding the American economy by reducing our dependence on China is a key focus of his second-term agenda. He has promised to pass tax credits for companies that shift operations from China to the U.S., deny federal contracts to companies that move jobs there, and increase deductions "for essential industries like pharmaceuticals and robotics who bring back their manufacturing to the United States."Trump's foreign policy Trump has pursued an "America First" doctrine that has led to a cooling of relations with long-standing allies, curtailment of international cooperation, and calls to reduce overseas troop deployments. He has questioned the worth of international alliances such as NATO — which he says relies too heavily on U.S. defense spending — and the World Trade Organization, and has announced his intent to withdraw the U.S. from the World Health Organization. He also pulled out of the nuclear deal President Obama struck with Iran, pursuing economic sanctions that he predicts will force Tehran back to the negotiating table. He has made the Middle East a priority, and successfully brokered deals to establish diplomatic ties between Israel and two Arab nations, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. And he has taken a much friendlier approach to Russia than previous administrations, communicating regularly with Russian President Vladimir Putin and pushing last summer to readmit Russia to the G-7 group of Western nations. Trump has declined to confront Putin over Moscow's interference in the 2016 and 2020 elections or its offering of bounties to Taliban militants for killing U.S. troops in Afghanistan. "I like Putin, he likes me," Trump said last week. "We get along."This article was first published in the latest issue of The Week magazine. If you want to read more like it, you can try six risk-free issues of the magazine here.More stories from theweek.com 7 insanely funny cartoons about the chaotic first debate The Good Lord Bird perfectly captures the great tragicomedy of America Biden campaign stands by decision to ax negative ads despite calls for reversal
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| UK's Johnson says he doesn't want no-deal Brexit but can live with it Posted: 04 Oct 2020 01:58 AM PDT |
| Pilgrims return to Mecca as Saudi eases virus restrictions Posted: 03 Oct 2020 11:23 PM PDT  A very small, limited number of people on Sunday donned the white terrycloth garment symbolic of the Muslim pilgrimage and circled Islam's holiest site in Mecca, after Saudi Arabia lifted coronavirus restrictions that had been in place for months. Only Saudi citizens and residents will be permitted to enter the mosque during this first phase of reopening, and each person has up to three hours to complete the pilgrimage.
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| Trump declares 'I get it,' then briefly leaves hospital Posted: 03 Oct 2020 09:42 PM PDT  Two days after being hospitalized with COVID-19, President Donald Trump declared, "I get it," in a message to the nation Sunday before briefly leaving the hospital to salute supporters from his motorcade, a move that again showed his willingness to disregard basic precautions to contain the virus that has killed more than 209,000 Americans. Hours earlier, Trump's medical team reported that his blood oxygen level dropped suddenly twice in recent days and that they gave him a steroid typically only recommended for the very sick. Before the video was posted, the infected president cruised by supporters in his sealed SUV, windows rolled up, driven by Secret Service agents in protective gear who were potentially exposed to the disease that has swept through the White House in recent days.
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| Analysis: Trump faces credibility crisis over health scare Posted: 03 Oct 2020 09:31 PM PDT  One month from Election Day, President Donald Trump is facing a credibility crisis as yawning as his health crisis, at a moment when he needs the public's trust the most. The president's coronavirus infection, as well as the illnesses of several aides and allies, has imperiled the highest levels of the U.S. government. The White House's efforts Saturday to project calm backfired in stunning fashion, resulting in a blizzard of confusing and contradictory information about the health and well-being of the commander in chief.
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| Battlegrounds review: HR McMaster plots paths Trump won't travel Posted: 03 Oct 2020 09:00 PM PDT  The former national security adviser's critical study of US foreign policy goals can seem remote from political reality"Strategic narcissism" is the term of reference for HR McMaster's latest book. Coined by the late Hans Morgenthau, it refers to a tendency "to view the world only in relation to the US". Instead, McMaster argues that America should embrace "strategic empathy" as its doctrine for international relations. But what sounds good as theory is not always easily deliverable.Donald Trump's second national security adviser, a retired three-star general, positions himself as a historian and thinker who would rely upon diplomacy, democracy, alliances and realism to implement policy objectives. He is not an isolationist, a subscriber to the theory the US is to blame for the world's ills, or a doctrinaire realist.Driving his point home, he castigates Charles Koch, on the right, and George Soros, on the left, and their jointly funded Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. As McMaster sees it, they wrongly advocate "American retrenchment". McMaster also criticizes those within the Trump administration who argue against a large US footprint in the Middle East and advocate against "endless wars".In McMaster's view, the US cannot easily walk away. As if to prove his point, reports abound of US troops and tanks redeploying to eastern Syria after clashes with Russian troops. Other events, however, have caught up with McMaster – and passed him by.> It is not clear the US public is in sync with the more muscular and constant use of force which McMaster supportsThe normalization of relations between Israel, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates forms a western-allied bulwark against Iran, without an increased US military presence. The president and his son-in-law got this one right. Practically speaking, US allies will be doing more heavy lifting in the not-so-cold war against Tehran.Interestingly, Battlegrounds is more critical of George W Bush for postwar failures in Iraq than for invading in the first place. McMaster blames unfounded optimism for the chaos that followed an unnecessary war. "The US-led coalition was too slow to adopt to the evolution of the enemy and its strategy," he writes. "There was insufficient civilian capacity to stabilize the country."But McMaster fails to lay out what could have been done differently – not attacking Iraq would appear the simpler path. Beyond that, it is not clear the US public is in sync with the more muscular and constant use of force that McMaster supports.Granular examination of election returns from 2016 shows body counts mattered. There was a notable correlation between battlefield casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan and support for Trump.Those parts of the US that felt the carnage more as reality than abstract swung Republican. According to Douglas L Kriner of Boston University and Francis X Shen of the University of Minnesota, "Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan could very well have been winners for [Hillary] Clinton if their war casualties were lower." Strategic empathy ought to begin at home.Those who were hoping Battlegrounds would be a vehicle for settling scores with the president will be disappointed. McMaster is not John Bolton. Rather, he endeavors to call balls and strikes in assessing foreign policy. He takes the Obama administration to task for the Iran nuclear deal. To McMaster, the US gave away too much and received too little.He characterizes Iran as ideologically hostile to the US and Israel, and does not foresee any thaw in the near future. Instead, he argues for vigilance. That said, he did advise Trump against abandoning the deal.The president did not take heed. Rather, the administration recently demanded the imposition of snap-back sanctions, a move opposed by allies in Europe. Trump and the secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, are faced with the test of whether they can deploy the international banking and monetary systems to bend the rest of the world to their will and bring Iran to its knees.> Trump, McMaster reminds the reader, described Kim Jong-un as 'honorable' and a person who 'loves his people'McMaster strikes a similar tone on North Korea before Trump: "Washington remained weak in its response by continuing to engage the regime for potential talks, under the misguided assumption that reconciliatory diplomacy could generate a fundamental shift in Pyongyang's policy."Yet McMaster laments Trump downplaying human rights abuses, including the death of Otto Warmbier. Trump, McMaster reminds the reader, described Kim Jong-un as "honorable" and a person who "loves his people" – despite the brutal maltreatment meted out to the student from Ohio.Not surprisingly, the author has a dim view of both Russia and China. With regard to Russia, he recalls how Barack Obama mocked Mitt Romney for labeling it the No 1 geopolitical threat, and upbraids Trump's 2016 campaign for enlisting its assistance. As for China, McMaster credits the Trump administration for recognizing the danger posed by a resurgent Middle Kingdom, in contrast to its predecessors.McMaster's embrace of "strategic empathy" may well be a highbrow synonym for engaged prudence at home and abroad. Although he is sympathetic to the president's demands that US allies pick up a larger share of defense costs, he places a premium on alliances. He sees them a means for projecting power and optimizing outcomes.Likewise, McMaster takes climate change as reality, and accuses "climate deniers and skeptics" of "disregarding compelling evidence". He makes clear that he opposed exiting the Paris accords.At the same time, McMaster views the Green New Deal as an "unrealistic proposal" and a "non-solution". He accuses both sides of strategic narcissism, and instead calls for a "comprehensive strategy" that recognizes that nations will not "suppress their security and economic interests" simply to join an international agreement". Not surprisingly, McMaster advocates continued transnational cooperation – with the US taking the lead.As the US hurtles toward election day, hyper-partisanship and metaphors of Armageddon fill our pages and screens. Tuesday's debate further raised the temperature. Battlegrounds may struggle to find a ready audience. Its time may already be gone.
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| Graham, Harrison both tout bipartisanship in 1st SC matchup Posted: 03 Oct 2020 12:32 PM PDT  In their first debate in a race that has shattered fundraising records and become among the more closely watched Senate contests of this cycle, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Democratic challenger Jaime Harrison drew multiple contrasts between their campaigns but also both portrayed themselves as willing to work across the aisle to achieve legislative progress. In his pursuit of a fourth term, Graham — chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee — also argued the case for his chief congressional goal at the moment: the confirmation of President Donald Trump's latest Supreme Court nominee.
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