| Afrobeat pioneer Tony Allen dies aged 79 Posted: 30 Apr 2020 06:26 PM PDT  Nigerian drummer Tony Allen, who created Afrobeat with Fela Kuti, dies aged 79, his manager says.
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| Russian prime minister tests positive for COVID-19 Posted: 30 Apr 2020 06:08 PM PDT  Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin has tested positive for the COVID-19 coronavirus, becoming the first high-ranking politician in the country to become infected by the virus.Russian television on Thursday aired a video call between Mishustin and Russian President Vladimir Putin. During the call, Mishustin told Putin about the diagnosis, and encouraged Russians to take the threat of COVID-19 seriously. "What's happening to you can happen to anyone, and I've always been saying this," Putin told Mishustin. "You are a very active person. I would like to thank you for the work that has been done so far."Mishustin, who became prime minister in January, told Putin he would be going into self-isolation, and Putin responded by telling him to call him when he arrives at the hospital. Andrei Belousov, the first deputy prime minister, will step in while Mishustin is recovering.There are now more than 100,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Russia, with the death toll at 1,073. With the weather warming up, the government is worried about people going out, and extra police units will patrol Moscow to enforce the lockdown, BBC News reports. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said many residents don't realize the severity of the situation. "If we see things are getting better, then of course we will reduce the restrictions," he said. "But until that happens, you need to be courageous and patient. It's very important for you and your health."More stories from theweek.com Trump's 'mission accomplished' moment J. Crew is reportedly preparing to file for bankruptcy The Justice Department is apparently working with conservative Christian groups to fight COVID-19 policies
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| Leave.EU founder Arron Banks did not break electoral law Posted: 30 Apr 2020 05:02 PM PDT  Arron Banks, the Brexit campaigner, has said he has been "completely vindicated" after reaching a settlement with the Electoral Commission. The watchdog referred the Leave.EU co-founder to the National Crime Agency (NCA) after his campaign was fined for breaking electoral law. But the agency found "no evidence" of criminal offences and Mr Banks threatened to sue the commission over £8 million in referendum campaign funding. The watchdog said all parties had "agreed amicable terms of settlement", but said the commission "considers it was right to refer this matter to the NCA for further investigation" in October 2018. A statement added that it "accepts" the NCA's conclusions. Mr Banks said: "The statement completely vindicates me and our position. "As the NCA concluded the money came from myself and my business and it's good to see the Electoral Commission concede this." He called for "an urgent inquiry by Parliament" to investigate the Electoral Commission, the Information Commissioner's Office and some MPs who have criticised him.
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| UN chief:16 armed groups have responded to cease-fire appeal Posted: 30 Apr 2020 04:53 PM PDT  Sixteen armed groups have responded positively to Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' appeal for a global cease-fire to tackle the coronavirus pandemic, but the U.N. chief said Thursday that mistrust remains high and turning intentions into an end to hostilities is difficult. According to an informal tally kept by the U.N. based on various sources, the 16 armed groups that responded positively are from Yemen, Myanmar, Ukraine, Philippines, Colombia, Angola, Libya, Senegal, Sudan, Syria, Indonesia and Nagorno-Karabakh.
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| Africa's week in pictures: 24 - 30 April 2020 Posted: 30 Apr 2020 04:24 PM PDT  A selection of the week's best photos from across the continent and beyond.
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| Coronavirus in Ghana: Online funerals, face masks and elections without rallies Posted: 30 Apr 2020 04:17 PM PDT  Ghana is well known for its elaborate funerals and rowdy election campaigns so coronavirus is changing everything.
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| The United Nations’ own experts slam its treatment of Haiti’s cholera victims Posted: 30 Apr 2020 03:41 PM PDT  More than a dozen United Nations independent rights experts are slamming the world agency on its response to the cholera epidemic in Haiti that has left more than 10,000 dead and over 800,000 infected after being introduced by U.N. peacekeepers shortly after Haiti's devastating 2010 earthquake.
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| Coronavirus: Kenyans moved by widow cooking stones for children Posted: 30 Apr 2020 02:27 PM PDT  Jobless because of coronavirus restrictions, she hoped they would fall asleep waiting for their meal.
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| Egypt: Sinai bomb causes at least 10 casualties among troops Posted: 30 Apr 2020 02:25 PM PDT |
| Trump says China either could not stop virus spread or let it spread Posted: 30 Apr 2020 02:23 PM PDT |
| Brazilians start defying isolation, egged on by Bolsonaro Posted: 30 Apr 2020 02:17 PM PDT  Divina Baldomero awoke, looked out the window at Rio de Janeiro's Copacabana beach under a cloudless sky, and decided to take her first stroll in 40 days. The 75-year-old restaurant owner, like most Brazilians, had been adhering to her governor's call to stay home to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
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| 23 photos show what life in North Korea is like during its coronavirus lockdown Posted: 30 Apr 2020 02:15 PM PDT  North Korea has implemented a number of measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, but its claims of zero cases are highly unlikely.
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| U.S. 'hopeful' U.N. will extend Iran arms embargo, Russia 'negative' Posted: 30 Apr 2020 01:58 PM PDT |
| A coronavirus drug seems to work. What's next? Posted: 30 Apr 2020 01:49 PM PDT  News that an experimental drug seems to be the first effective treatment for the new coronavirus has unleashed a flurry of interest – and a clamor to know how soon it might be available. Talk turned Thursday to how quickly the federal Food and Drug Administration might act on Gilead Sciences's remdesivir after preliminary results from a major study found it shortened the recovery time by an average of four days for people hospitalized with COVID-19. "You do now have a drug that you have proven can actually work on the virus," the National Institutes of Health's Dr. Anthony Fauci told The Associated Press.
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| UN chief: World should follow South Korea on COVID-19 fight Posted: 30 Apr 2020 01:20 PM PDT  The United Nations chief said he hopes many countries in the world will follow the "remarkable example" of South Korea, which he said has been "extremely successful" in addressing the coronavirus pandemic and is planning to tackle climate change in its recovery from COVID-19. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres pointed to Thursday's announcement "that there was no new case in the Republic of Korea," the country's official name. At the same time, he said, South Korea has presented plans for "a very ambitious green deal" for its recovery from the pandemic, including a ban on new coal-fired plants and a reduction of emissions from existing coal-fired plants.
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| US says Iran helping Venezuela oil sector Posted: 30 Apr 2020 01:13 PM PDT  The United States said Thursday that cash-strapped Venezuela is paying Iran in gold to rebuild its troubled oil industry as it denounced what it saw as growing cooperation between its two adversaries. Elliott Abrams, the envoy who leads US efforts to topple Venezuela's leftist leader Nicolas Maduro, said that Iran has been sending "more and more planes" to the South American nation, including this week. "Those planes that are coming in from Iran that are bringing things for the oil industry are returning with the payments for those things: gold."
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| Navy hospital ships, once thought critical, see few patients Posted: 30 Apr 2020 01:08 PM PDT  The USNS Mercy, with 1,000 hospital beds and giant red crosses on its sides, was welcomed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Mayor Eric Garcetti. Both officials were making grim predictions that LA could soon look like New York City, the epicenter of the U.S. outbreak, and Garcetti noted the ship immediately became his city's largest hospital. Ultimately, Los Angeles hasn't been overrun with virus cases, and so the Mercy has not had to play its envisioned role of being a safety net in order to allow hospitals to focus on treating those infected with the virus.
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| Coronavirus: Why Nigeria's rice handouts aren't going down well Posted: 30 Apr 2020 12:55 PM PDT  There are allegations that some of the thousands of bags of rice given as food handouts have expired.
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| COVID-19 Enabling Some Governments To Limit Press Freedoms Posted: 30 Apr 2020 12:34 PM PDT  The COVID-19 outbreak is bringing with it a crackdown on press freedom in different parts of the world. Darragh Worland, vice president of creative services with Newsy's partners at the News Literacy Project, says the outbreak is empowering governments to censor coverage. China, Iran, Iraq and Hungary have all reportedly either censored coverage of the outbreak, stripped journalists of their ability to report in retaliation for questioning virus figures, or passed "coronavirus laws" with penalties of up to five years in prison for distributing false information.
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| COVID-19 Is Enabling Some Governments To Limit Press Freedoms Posted: 30 Apr 2020 12:34 PM PDT The COVID-19 outbreak is bringing with it a crackdown on press freedom in different parts of the world. Darragh Worland, vice president of creative services with Newsy's partners at the News Literacy Project, says the outbreak is empowering governments to censor coverage. China, Iran, Iraq and Hungary have all reportedly either censored coverage of the outbreak, stripped journalists of their ability to report in retaliation for questioning virus figures, or passed "coronavirus laws" with penalties of up to five years in prison for distributing false information.
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| Army defends decision to have West Point graduation Posted: 30 Apr 2020 12:10 PM PDT  The Army's top leaders on Thursday defended their decision to bring 1,000 cadets back to the Military Academy at West Point for graduation, where President Donald Trump is slated to speak, saying that despite the coronovirus risk students would have had to return anyway to prepare for their next duty assignment. The announcement has been criticized as a political move to get Trump on stage at the academy, where he hasn't yet given a graduation address. "We can't telecommute to combat," Gen. James McConville, the chief of staff of the Army, told Pentagon reporters when asked about the decision, which forces cadets spread out across the U.S. to travel, risking exposure on public transportation, and then land in New York, a coronavirus hot spot.
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| People Are Talking About 'Travel Bubbles.' But Could They Work? Posted: 30 Apr 2020 11:56 AM PDT  Last week, Australia's Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, said that he and Jacinda Ardern, the Prime Minister of New Zealand, were talking about creating a "travel bubble" that would let people move between their two countries, which have both made progress in containing the coronavirus.The move would benefit businesses and help the economies of both nations -- and, by still keeping travelers from other countries out, would limit new infections acquired abroad. Morrison's comments prompted discussions as to whether similar bubbles between countries, states or towns could be the way forward for travel's revival.Following the example of Australia and New Zealand, officials in New Brunswick, Canada, said Friday that residents can create a small bubble by picking one other household to interact with. Other provinces in the country are looking to see if the effort is successful.Regional bubbles -- among a group of states, for example -- could be a way to get people traveling again and help revive businesses as the world readjusts to life with the coronavirus. The governors of California, Washington, Oregon, Nevada and Colorado have said that they will coordinate the reopening of their states to limit the spread of COVID-19. A travel bubble among those states might make it easier for residents to travel and work across their borders, although spokesmen for the governors of California, Oregon and Washington said that they have not yet discussed creating such a bubble.Are travel bubbles legal?Travel bubbles imposed by nations -- where strict immigration rules can dictate who enters and exits -- are one thing. But would they be legal within the United States? Maybe not."If any states created a bubble to keep out residents of disfavored states, the action would be open to challenge that the bubble violated U.S. constitutional principles of equal treatment," said Cam Winton, a lawyer with the firm Dorsey & Whitney, who has been advising people dealing with state-imposed coronavirus rules. "Those principles are enshrined in the Privileges and Immunities Clause, the Equal Protection Clause and the so-called Dormant Commerce Clause, which prohibits states from putting undue burdens on interstate commerce."Under its police power, a state can deploy nondiscriminatory public health measures like taking the temperature of everyone entering the state or requiring them to go into quarantine, as long as it imposes that rule on every person, regardless of where the person is from.Winton added that neighboring states could enter into agreements for coordination of checkpoints, sharing data and other anti-coronavirus efforts, but those initiatives would all be subject to the constraints on government power conferred by constitutional rights.In the United States, measures created by some municipalities in recent months have created de facto bubbles, but the porousness of these varies from place to place and would be difficult, if not impossible, to make official without infringing upon the rights of states and citizens, experts said.The Key West exampleIn Florida, the Keys have become their own bubble. Since March 22, Monroe County, which includes the islands, has had two checkpoints at the top of the Florida Keys Overseas Highway -- one at mile marker 112.5 of U.S. 1 and the other on County Road 905. Only people who can prove that they live or own property or work in the Keys have been allowed onto the chain of islands, which is about 60 miles from Miami.When Key West, the seat of Monroe County, began reopening its beaches and parks on Monday for locals, people from neighboring Miami-Dade County tried to drive to the beach but were turned away at the checkpoints."Historically we've had day trippers come then leave, but Miami-Dade County is a hot spot with a lion's share of cases, so what we're trying to do is only allow essential services into the Keys and say that the beach is open only for locals to get out a few hours a day to get sun," said Teri Johnston, the mayor of Key West. "Our residents want to know that we aren't relaxing orders in a way that would bring visitors to our island until it is safe for that."Officials in Key West have been in conversation with business owners, real estate agents and the administrators of attractions like museums about a phased reopening of the city, in which everything would reopen to locals first, said Alyson Crean, a public information officer."Everyone agrees that opening up to visitors is the last phase," Crean said.Where does one bubble end and the other begin?For places without the natural geography to help create a bubble, things get murkier. Under Colorado's new "Safer at Home" policy, people have been ordered by Gov. Jared Polis to limit recreational travel to no more than 10 miles from their homes and to try to keep essential travel within their county, if possible. Theoretically, those orders would create bubbles that would prevent visitors from traveling to the state's more isolated areas.However, Estes Park, a tourist town in Larimer County that is the gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park and 30 miles from the nearest city, recently began allowing its hotels and short-term rentals to reopen with social distancing policies in place.Kate Rusch, a spokeswoman for Estes Park, said that essential travelers and people traveling within Larimer County might need accommodations and that the town wanted to be ready for when travel restrictions were loosened further.But some saw the move as an open invitation to visit. Hattie Serrano, a local resident, wrote in a tweet that hundreds of people had been visiting even during the shelter-in-place order. "Telling people to stay home and then opening hotels at the same time is contradictory to one another. If the hotels are open they will come. They've come despite them being closed. Reopening them is a terrible mistake."Others, like Stephen Rapp, objected to staying within the 10-mile bubble. He tweeted that it would be "unconstitutional" to prevent him from staying in his second home in Estes Park where he normally spends six months of the year and pays taxes. He asked: "I'm an Estes Park property owner, so am I an outsider or not a local?"Even islands can struggle with bubblesIn South Carolina, the city of Folly Beach, located on Folly Island just south of Charleston, found itself in conflict with the state's governor when it set up checkpoints on the road leading to the island and banned short-term rentals in March. "By creating the checkpoint, we had essentially created a bubble for our island," said the town's mayor, Tim Goodwin.But under an order from the state's attorney general, officials were forced to lift the restrictions. Goodwin said people immediately began flooding in. "The day that we did lift the checkpoint we went from an average of 2,000 cars to an average of 10,000 cars," he said.On Peaks Island, an island in Casco Bay, Maine, that is 15 minutes from downtown Portland and is only accessible by ferry, residents recently asked city leaders to encourage people to only take essential ferry trips to the island out of fear that the guests could increase the number of cases already recorded. Some locals worry that people will flood back to the island over Memorial Day weekend."It's a very conflicted situation with the community needing the business that comes with visitors but also needing to prioritize everyone's health," said Randy Schaeffer, chair of the Peaks Island Council, which is not a legislative body but an advisory group for the island. "People might want something like a bubble, but we don't have the legal power to do that and it is highly unlikely that we would be able to keep people from coming here.""We aren't North Korea," he added.This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company
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| Brexit trade talks face collapse unless EU abandon demands for continued access to UK fishing waters Posted: 30 Apr 2020 11:38 AM PDT  Brexit trade negotiations face collapse unless the EU abandons its demands for continued access to UK fishing waters, sources close to the talks have said. Brussels has called for EU boats to keep access under "existing conditions" as a price for the free trade agreement being negotiated by the two sides. The UK insists any fishing agreement must be separate from the trade deal with access negotiated annually in a similar fashion to Norway's agreement with the bloc. A UK source close to the negotiations said that the EU's red line would need to change, otherwise the talks could be terminated in June. "There are some fundamentals that we're not going to change, nor going to move on. Because they are not so much negotiating positions as they're sort of what an independent state does" the source said. "An independent state has independent control over coastal waters," the source added, "what we are wanting now is an EU understanding that we are not going to subordinate our laws to them in any areas". Michel Barnier accused Britain of wasting time in the trade negotiations, which have a deadline of the end of the year, after a round of talks last week. He criticised British negotiators for failing to present a text on fisheries for negotiations. UK sources said there was no point presenting a text when the two sides were "talking across each other". Downing Street has called on EU national leaders to intervene to break the deadlock in the talks but that is not expected to happen before June, when a joint conference will be held to evaluate progress towards the agreement. The source said that the UK would consider walking away in June and begin preparing for a no trade deal exit at the end of the transition period. "We do need to prepare for the end of the transition period, focus on that as well. If we don't look like we are going to get a deal that will become the primary focus of effort," the source said. The deadline to finalise the trade deal, which has come under pressure from the coronavirus pandemic, is the end of the year, when the Brexit transition period finished. The transition period deep-freezes UK membership of the Single Market and Customs Union. Boris Johnson has vowed to not extend the transition period, despite the EU being ready to negotiate a delay and despite the risk of the UK failing to agree a deal in time, which would mean trading on less advantageous WTO terms.
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| Turkmenistan bans use of the word 'coronavirus' ahead of World Health Organization visit Posted: 30 Apr 2020 11:25 AM PDT  While experts around the world debate the merits of different strategies for addressing the coronavirus pandemic, Turkmenistan has its own novel solution for eliminating the virus: banning it from being mentioned. In the former Soviet republic, it has become illegal to use the word "coronavirus" in official documents or news media or to wear face masks in public, reports Radio Free Europe.The Central Asian nation has reported zero cases of the virus, but Radio Free Europe suggests that hundreds of people previously held in quarantine zones are being moved ahead of an official visit by the World Health Organization. While health experts have questioned the reliability of infection figures from Turkmenistan, which borders hard-hit Iran, the country's foreign minister Rashid Meredov has insisted that his country so far been spared. "If there was a single confirmed coronavirus case, we would have immediately informed ... the World Health Organization in line with our obligations."This is not the first time Turkmenistan has been criticized for its lack of transparency. The global free speech organization Reporters Without Borders has ranked Turkmenistan 178 out of 180 in its Press Freedom Index, just ahead of Eritrea and North Korea.Despite his country's reported lack of infections, President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, who is also a rapper and a dentist, has offered advice to public health experts on combating the virus with herbal remedies.More stories from theweek.com Trump's 'mission accomplished' moment J. Crew is reportedly preparing to file for bankruptcy The Justice Department is apparently working with conservative Christian groups to fight COVID-19 policies
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| Coronavirus lockdown: Sierra Leone 'role model' minister carries baby and holds Zoom meeting Posted: 30 Apr 2020 11:20 AM PDT  Sierra Leone's Education Minister David Sengeh combines child care and official duties at home.
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| Russian PM has coronavirus as cases surge past 100,000 Posted: 30 Apr 2020 11:05 AM PDT  Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin on Thursday announced he has tested positive for the coronavirus, as the country's number of confirmed cases surged past 100,000 after its largest daily increase. In a televised meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Mishustin said he has to "observe self-isolation" to protect his colleagues, suggesting a temporary acting PM. Putin swiftly signed a decree appointing First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov as a temporary replacement.
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| A Poison Plot in Prague May Be Pure Propaganda—or Business as Usual for Vladimir Putin Posted: 30 Apr 2020 11:04 AM PDT  MOSCOW—Twenty years into the rule of former KGB operative Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin's reputation for assassination is such that almost no plot seems too far-fetched, from bloody shootings—bullets in the back, for instance—to suspicious defenestrations: liquidations known in the trade as "wet work." There's also been a penchant for wildly exotic poisons that seem intended as Kremlin calling cards, reminding Putin's enemies, when eventually discovered, of the nuclear, biological, and chemical arsenal he controls as well as his very long reach. So, when a magazine in the Czech Republic reported over the weekend that two prominent politicians in Prague were targeted by a Russian assassin in retaliation for affronts to Moscow—and that the lethal weapon of choice was ricin, an infamous toxin—the article was taken seriously enough in Moscow and Prague to spark official responses.Ondrej Kundra, a journalist for the Czech magazine Respect, wrote on Sunday that a Russian man entered Prague some weeks ago with an unspecified quantity of ricin in his suitcase and murderous intent. Revealed: The Secret KGB Manual for Recruiting SpiesIf ricin is injected into the bloodstream, even 22 millionths of one gram can prove fatal; if injested orally, a few grams are required. Ricin dust blown into the eyes can be deadly as well.The poison, extracted from castor beans, was a famous component in the KGB array of toxins used to assassinate people from Eastern Europe during the Cold War, including one famous case where a Bulgarian dissident writer was killed in London with a tiny ricin-laced pellet shot into his leg from the tip of a KGB-confected umbrella. So Kundra's story, "A Man With Ricin," prompted immediate action from the Czech police, who put the two reported targets, Prague Mayor Zdenek Hrib and another city official, under their protection. In Russia, the foreign ministry glibly dismissed the allegation as the result of a fevered imagination, perhaps brought on by the coronavirus. The article leaves much to be desired in terms of solid information. It is vaguely sourced, and lacking all sorts of critical details. In other assassination plots tracked to the doors of the Kremlin, there were some efforts to disguise the killers's origins. Investigators had to peel back layers of concealment before finding the signature poison and tracking those who delivered it.In 2018, for instance, undercover Russian military intelligence officers eventually identified as Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Bashirov nearly killed Russian defector Sergei Skripal and his daughter, and did kill an innocent bystander, with the nerve agent novichok developed by the Soviets. But Petrov and Bashirov had traveled with false documents under assumed names. The mysterious man from Kundra's story traveled openly on a diplomatic passport, it seems, was not detained, and if he had any ricin with him, may well have held onto it. Where did the so-far nameless man travel from? How much ricin did he have in his suitcase? How did the alleged assassin get away with the poison, if the special services knew about the threat? The author could not answer any of these questions. "I only know that he arrived before April 10," Kundra told The Daily Beast in a telephone interview. "I cannot even find out how he could arrive in my country during the COVID-19 shutdown."And why would Russia target two municipal officials in Prague? Kundra suggested an answer to this one: "To send a message to all other Czech politicians: if you promote anti-Kremlin policies, you will be rubbed out."Soviet Scientist Who Developed Novichok Poison Used on Sergei Skripal: 'I'm Sorry'The Czech Foreign Ministry confirmed to The Daily Beast that "a member of the Russian embassy in Prague had returned to Prague from a business trip a few weeks ago and was picked up at the airport by his colleagues. We can't confirm or disprove the rest of the story." Russian and Czech officials have been at odds since Prague's Mayor Hrib, one of the alleged targets for the ricin poison, renamed the square in front of the Russian embassy after Boris Nemtsov, the leader of opposition to Putin in Russia who was gunned down just outside the Kremlin walls five years ago. But this renaming of streets and squares in front of Russian embassies is not entirely new. It's something of an international movement promoted, not least, by Nemtsov's daughter, Zhanna.A stretch of Wisconsin Avenue in front of the massive Russian embassy compound in Washington, D.C. was renamed Boris Nemtsov Plaza two years ago, and Lithuania has done much the same thing. When Prague followed suit in February this year, it denied officially that it was trolling Moscow—but of course it was.The Kremlin was further offended when the mayor of Prague's 6th district, Ondrej Kolar, removed the statue of a Soviet-era commander, Ivan Konev, on April 3. Russia regards Konev as a Soviet hero, mainly for his actions in World War II, while many Czechs remember him as a symbol of repression for his role helping to crush the Hungarian uprising of 1956 and the "Prague Spring" of 1968. That the Konev statue was brought down so soon before the 75th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany on May 8 is especially galling for Moscow. "By demolishing Konev's monument they took a piss on the graves of millions of Russian soldiers who were victims of Nazis," Sergei Markov, a pro-Kremlin political analyst, told The Daily Beast.The Russian foreign ministry also protested the statue's removal, but said any suggestion that such desecration would provoke an assassination plot is a "a sick fantasy." Still, ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said, "Prague should fully realize how serious the consequences of such methods and manipulations [of information] could be." A state newspaper, Rossiyskaya Gazeta, mocked the Czech authorities' reaction to Kundra's article: "It turns out coronavirus does not destroy just the lungs but also the human mind," the newspaper wrote. Though partly obscured by the COVID-19 pandemic, the dispute between Prague and Moscow has continued to escalate. The suggestive equivocation of Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis seemed to add credibility to the magazine report: "It's not acceptable—if it's true—for a foreign state to take action against our citizens here. We will certainly not allow any big world powers to influence our political affairs in any way," Babis said.Now several days have passed, but the Czech government has not released any more details about the mysterious alleged assassin, who would seem to be still in Prague in the Russian Embassy. Skeptics have suggested propaganda agendas on both sides. "The story is very poorly sourced," says Joseph Fitsanakis, a scholar of Russian security service operations and professor in the Intelligence and National Security Program at Coastal Carolina University in the United States. "I would not recommend any reporter treat it as a fact." Fitsanakis noted an infamous incident in 2018 in Ukraine when a reporter working with Kyiv's security services allowed them to fake his assassination by a Russian hit team.If there was a poison plot in Prague, there would be ample circumstantial evidence to back up the story and incriminate accomplices, Fitsanakis suggested. "Considering how many cameras there are in Prague, such an operation would mean burning several Russian agents," Fitsanakis said. "I would not hurry at this point to point the finger at the Russians," though he cited a dozen or so recent assassinations in Europe with likely Russian involvement, and added, "It is also important to note that Russian wet work displays an impressive array of methods of killing."One of the first poisonings allegedly ordered by Putin that drew major international attention was the murder of former Russian intelligence officer Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006 using the rare radioactive isotope polonium 210. When security analysts discuss the use of poison as an instrument of policy by the Soviet Union and post-Soviet Russia, they sometimes suggest an analogy with the United States' targeted killing program using drones. And to be sure, U.S. President Donald Trump seems attracted by the idea that there's moral equivalency, at least when rationalizing Moscow's actions. As The New York Times reported last year, when London was pushing for the White House to expel dozens of suspected Russian operatives in the wake of the Skripal incident, Trump initially wrote off the poisoning, in the Times' words, "as part of legitimate spy games, distasteful but within the bounds of espionage."Over the years, Soviet secret services experimented with various poisons including arsenic, thallium, atropine, and warfarin, sometimes seeking a type of death that might appear natural. A KGB officer who defected to Western Germany, Bohdan Stashynsky, has testified that dozens of assassinations on foreign soil were personally authorized by the senior leadership of the KGB and Communist Party. Many were never reported as murders.Another defector, the former KGB general Oleg Kalugin, now lives in Washington. Kalugin remembers the day he received sanctions for the assassination in 1978 of Georgiy Markov, the Bulgarian dissident writer in London."I was in the room with the head of KGB, Yuriy Andropov, and the head of foreign intelligence, Vladimir Kryuchkov," 85-year-old Kalugin told The Daily Beast in a phone interview on Wednesday. "Andropov told me he was against political assassinations, but Kryuchkov insisted that if we didn't give Bulgarians the umbrella with poison, they would fire our friend, the head of foreign intelligence. So Andropov agreed and we passed the umbrella to Bulgarians." Under Putin, Russia convicted Kalugin in absentia for treason in 2002, which may give him a special interest in these matters. The general says that the Federal Security Service, the successor to the KGB, and the GRU, Russian military intelligence, inherited the secret poison labs. And apparently, those in charge are not counting on the coronavirus to do their work for them. Kalugin's former colleague, Colonel Mikhail Lyubimov, spied in the United Kingdom and Scandinavia for two decades and later, after the fall of the Soviet Union, remained in Russia, where he wrote books full of anecdotes about KGB activity. But Lyubimov says he does not find the Prague scandal convincing. The radioactive polonium poisoning in London in 2006, he said, was a shameful operation, judging by reports, since the assassins left traces of polonium 210 scattered around the city and on the plane they flew home on. "I feel embarrassed," he said. "KGB operations were thoroughly planned, double checked. There are much simpler ways to kill a person." He suggested rogue officers might be to blame. "There might be some gang operating around the world, who knows, there are too many betrayers of Russia these days."But "within the bounds of espionage" assassinations are one tool, and propaganda another, and they sometimes overlap. What's certain is that the alleged victims of the Prague poison plot are still alive. But the ricin, if it ever existed, is still out there.Christopher Dickey also contributed to this article.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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| Merkel urges caution as Germany eases more virus curbs Posted: 30 Apr 2020 11:00 AM PDT  Germany announced further plans to ease coronavirus curbs on public life Thursday, with religious institutions, playgrounds, museums and zoos given the green light to reopen. After a meeting with state premiers on Thursday, Chancellor Angela Merkel said the relaxing of measures was just a "step", with a more far-reaching plan to be agreed next week. Other decisions, such as when to open schools and restaurants and resume Bundesliga football, were pushed back until next week.
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| Jordan halts Israeli farmers' access to border enclave Posted: 30 Apr 2020 10:35 AM PDT  Jordan's Foreign Ministry said Thursday that Israeli farmers will no longer be allowed to work their fields in an enclave of southern Jordan, ending a more than 25-year arrangement meant to shore up a historic peace agreement. The announcement reflects the poor relations between the countries, which have been underscored by Jordan's vocal opposition to Israeli plans to annex parts of the occupied West Bank. Under their landmark 1994 peace deal, Jordan granted Israel a 25-year lease on two small areas along their border, Baqura and Ghamr.
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| Germany presses ahead with gradual lifting of lockdown Posted: 30 Apr 2020 10:25 AM PDT  Germany is to reopen playgrounds, zoos and museums in a clear sign it intends to press ahead with lifting its coronavirus lockdown. But large public gatherings have been banned until August 31 and Angela Merkel warned it was too early to consider reopening European borders to travel. There has been speculation in recent days over whether Germany would stick to its plan to ease restrictions amid fears of a second wave of infections. But as a key measurement of the outbreak fell to its lowest level in a week Mrs Merkel and regional leaders agreed to press ahead. "It is in everyone's interest that we have a strategy and an objective in Germany," Mrs Merkel said as she announced the new measures. Significant decisions were not expected at the German chancellor's weekly meeting with regional leaders on Thursday. Germany began to lift its lockdown last week when shops reopened, but government sources have stressed reliable data on the effects will not be available until next week. There was concern over a possible second wave on Monday when the reproduction number — the average number of people each person with the virus infects — briefly rose to 1. But after it fell back to 0.75 on Wednesday Mrs Merkel and the regional leaders appeared keen to send a signal. Playgrounds, museums and zoos will be allowed to reopen provided hygiene measures are taken. Churches and other places of worship will also be allowed to resume religious services, but singing will not be permitted.
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| Libya's UN-supported government rejects rivals' cease-fire Posted: 30 Apr 2020 10:23 AM PDT |
| Poll: Many Americans feel lonely and anxious during pandemic Posted: 30 Apr 2020 10:01 AM PDT  As the coronavirus pandemic upends lives across the United States, it's taking a widespread toll on people's mental health and stress levels, according to a survey that finds a majority of Americans felt nervous, depressed, lonely or hopeless in the past week. "It's just so overwhelming, the fear and anxiety," said 49-year-old Julie Hitchcock of Milwaukee, who had pneumonia last fall. The poll conducted last week is the first wave of the COVID Impact Survey by NORC at the University of Chicago for the Data Foundation.
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| Russian prime minister says he tested positive for virus Posted: 30 Apr 2020 09:59 AM PDT  Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin says he has tested positive for the new coronavirus and has told President Vladimir Putin he will self-isolate. First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov will temporarily perform Mishustin's duties, but the prime minister said Thursday that he would stay in touch on key issues. During a video call, Putin voiced hope that Mishustin would continue taking part in drafting policies to shore up the Russian economy, which has been hurt by the virus pandemic.
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| This time, Pence wears mask as he tours Indiana plant Posted: 30 Apr 2020 08:39 AM PDT  Vice President Mike Pence donned a face covering Thursday as he toured a General Motors/Ventec ventilator production facility in Indiana after coming under fire for failing to wear one earlier this week in violation of Mayo Clinic policy. General Motors requires workers to wear masks in the plant's production area, according to spokesman Jim Cain. Pence removed the mask, however, for a roundtable with top officials, including General Motors CEO Mary Barra and Ventec CEO Chris Kiple.
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| NYC subway halting overnight service for virus cleaning Posted: 30 Apr 2020 08:37 AM PDT  New York City's subway system, long celebrated for its all-night service, will shut down each day from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. so trains and stations can be disinfected, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Thursday, two days after saying the system had gotten "disgusting" during the coronavirus crisis. Meanwhile, a Navy hospital ship sent a month ago to relieve stress on hospitals has left the city, fatalities inched downward and unemployment claims in the state soared again. The city's subway system has been partially emptied and financially devastated by stay-at-home orders, and now it is shedding overnight service to make it easier to clean the system and empty it of homeless people who have increasingly taken up residence on vacant trains.
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| Women leaders condemn threat against congressional candidate Posted: 30 Apr 2020 08:27 AM PDT  Dozens of women activists, leaders and lawmakers have joined a petition denouncing a death threat against congressional candidate Amani Al-Khatahtbeh, the first Muslim woman to run for federal office from New Jersey. The 27-year-old is the founder of MuslimGirl.com, an online magazine with a global audience. "It's unnerving for anybody to hear somebody threaten their family, let alone have their actual personal information and detail how they would go about doing that," Al-Khatahtbeh told The Associated Press via video conference.
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| Bullets, virus: Fears multiply for Colombia's ex-rebels Posted: 30 Apr 2020 07:53 AM PDT  On the day that Colombia announced its first case of the new coronavirus, Astrid Conde's body lay in a morgue with four gunshot wounds to the chest, the latest casualty in a scourge of violence against former rebel soldiers. Lockdowns prompted by the pandemic may have slashed overall crime in Colombia, but the killings of ex-combatants like Conde have continued, and the COVID-19 crisis itself is putting yet more strain on the already fragile implementation of the historic 2016 accord that ended a half-century of conflict. Nascent projects aimed at providing ex-combatants with a livelihood are up against a recession.
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| Trump speculates that China released virus in lab 'mistake' Posted: 30 Apr 2020 06:52 AM PDT  President Donald Trump on Thursday speculated that China could have unleashed the coronavirus on the world due to some kind of horrible "mistake," and his intelligence agencies said they are still examining a notion put forward by the president and aides that the pandemic may have resulted from an accident at a Chinese lab. Trump even suggested the release could have been intentional. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the clearinghouse for the web of U.S. spy agencies, said it had ruled out the virus being man-made but was still investigating the precise source of the global pandemic, which has killed more than 220,000 people worldwide.
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| VIRUS DIARY: In a morning run, a tonic for pandemic anxiety Posted: 30 Apr 2020 06:48 AM PDT  My runs in the past have offered me freedom of head space, a churning meditation that declutters the mind to make room for problem-solving. When the run is over I trade the fresh morning air for the stuffy chaos of our home.
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| What you need to know today about the virus outbreak Posted: 30 Apr 2020 06:16 AM PDT  The world's economic pain was on full display Thursday with new bleak evidence from Europe and the United States of the mounting devastation wrought on jobs and economies by coronavirus lockdown measures. The drop was the biggest since eurozone statistics began in 1995 and compares with a 4.8% contraction in the United States. Here are some of AP's top stories Thursday on the world's coronavirus pandemic.
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| In the Face of a Global Farming Crisis, Taiwan's Tano Security is Helping to Solve the World Bank's Agriculture Challenges Posted: 30 Apr 2020 05:38 AM PDT  Undoubtedly, the agriculture industry will become even more important these next few decades. Yet, the global farming sector is facing ever-increasing risks as natural disasters become more frequent and disruptive as a result of climate change. What's more, the world's population continues to increase, with the United Nations estimating that it will reach 9.7 billion by 2050. As a result, the agriculture sector is looking to incorporate new technologies to maximize yields and improve efficiency in order to feed the planet's growing population. In fact, some estimates say that global agriculture production will need to rise by 69 percent between 2010 and 2050 to meet this need.
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| Banks dust off no-deal Brexit plans as December deadline looms Posted: 30 Apr 2020 05:07 AM PDT |
| Iran virus death toll surges past 6,000 Posted: 30 Apr 2020 04:31 AM PDT  Iran's health ministry said on Thursday that 71 new deaths from the novel coronavirus took the country's overall toll past the 6,000 mark. "The number of deaths from this disease effectively crossed 6,000 today," ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said in televised remarks. Doubts have been cast over Iran's coronavirus casualty figures by experts and officials both at home and abroad.
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| Khalifa Haftar's forces declare Ramadan ceasefire following setbacks in Libya's civil war Posted: 30 Apr 2020 04:16 AM PDT  Libya's eastern-based forces will cease fire for Ramadan, their spokesman said on Wednesday, after they suffered setbacks during weeks of intense fighting against the internationally recognised government. Libyan National Army (LNA) spokesman Ahmed Mismari said in a television broadcast that the ceasefire came at the request of the international community and "friendly countries". Both the LNA and the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) have already said twice this year that they would stop fighting, but there was a sharp escalation in warfare last month. Libya has been split since 2014 between the GNA in Tripoli and some other areas of the northwest, and a parallel administration based in Benghazi in the east. LNA commander Khalifa Haftar launched a war a year ago to capture Tripoli, but pro-GNA forces have this month taken back several areas with Turkish military support, particularly through drones that have targeted eastern supply lines. The LNA, which is supported by the United Arab Emirates, Russia and Egypt, has for weeks been shelling the capital in a campaign of bombardment that has drawn repeated rebukes from the United Nations. Hospitals in parts of Tripoli held by the GNA have repeatedly been hit by shelling in recent weeks, despite the threat to Libya posed by the coronavirus. Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday the UAE had last year targeted a biscuit factory with a drone strike in support of the LNA, killing eight civilians in an attack it called "apparently unlawful". The UAE and LNA have not commented on that report. There was no immediate GNA response to the LNA's declaration of a ceasefire, but Mismari said the eastern-based forces would reserve the right to respond to attacks. Ramadan, Islam's holy fasting month, began last week. It comes at a moment of political uncertainty in the eastern camp, with Haftar declaring on Monday that the army would take power and ripping up a 2015 political agreement that has been the basis for all international peacemaking efforts. Egypt and Russia, two of the LNA's main supporters, have declined either to endorse or reject the move, with Haftar having yet to spell out how the new government would operate or what relation it would have to the eastern-based parliament. Haftar is already widely regarded as controlling eastern Libya despite the nominal governance of a civilian administration. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday that "we do not approve of the statement that now field marshal Haftar will alone decide how the Libyan people will live," but tempered his remarks with criticism of the GNA. Egypt, which sees Haftar as a bulwark against their common enemy the Muslim Brotherhood, stressed the necessity of a political solution to Libya's conflict. The UAE has not yet made any official comment on Haftar's seizure of power.
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| Police: Shooting at Cuban Embassy is ‘suspected hate crime’ Posted: 30 Apr 2020 03:54 AM PDT  A man armed with an assault rifle was arrested after opening fire outside the Cuban Embassy in Washington early Thursday, his bullets tearing holes into the walls and pillars near the front entrance in what authorities suspect was a hate crime. The gunfire broke out around 2 a.m. outside the embassy in northwest Washington. Metropolitan Police Department officers were called to the scene after neighbors reported hearing gunshots, authorities said.
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| 10 things you need to know today: April 30, 2020 Posted: 30 Apr 2020 03:43 AM PDT |
| Trump praise of 'tormented' Flynn raises pardon speculation Posted: 30 Apr 2020 03:26 AM PDT  President Donald Trump voiced strong support Thursday for his former national security adviser Michael Flynn, raising speculation that a pardon may be coming after Flynn's lawyers disclosed internal FBI documents they claim show the FBI tried to "intentionally frame" him. "It looks to me like Michael Flynn would be exonerated based on everything I see," Trump told reporters Thursday. Trump has long said he is considering pardoning Flynn, who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his conversations with the Russian ambassador to the United States.
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| AP-NORC poll: Seeking virus data, people struggle with trust Posted: 30 Apr 2020 03:02 AM PDT  When John Manley tested positive for COVID-19, his sister urged him to get on the malaria drug that she'd heard Fox News hosts plugging and that President Donald Trump was heralding as a potential "game changer" for fighting the coronavirus. "It caused a huge rift in the family because the science wasn't behind it," said Manley, who lives in Stuttgart, Germany, and whose wife, Heidi Mathis, also tested positive for the virus after a visit to New York. Both have since recovered, and the FDA has advised people not to take the drug outside a hospital or clinical trial.
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