| 100 days from election, top intel official warns of foreign interference Posted: 24 Jul 2020 04:33 PM PDT  NCSC Director Bill Evanina's statement was criticized by top Democrats for creating "false equivalence" among Russia, China and Iran.
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| Europe Women’s Lingerie Market Forecast to 2027 - COVID-19 Impact and Regional Analysis By Type ; Material ; Distribution Channel, and Country. Posted: 24 Jul 2020 03:43 PM PDT |
| 26 deaths in 3 US convents, as nuns confront the pandemic Posted: 24 Jul 2020 02:06 PM PDT  At a convent near Detroit, 13 nuns have died of COVID-19. The toll is seven at a center for Maryknoll sisters in New York, and six at a Wisconsin convent that serves nuns with fading memories. Only small, private funeral services were permitted as the death toll mounted in April and May at the Felician Sisters convent in Livonia, Michigan — a spiritual hardship for the surviving nuns.
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| Democrats: Trump must tell voters about election threats Posted: 24 Jul 2020 01:50 PM PDT  Democratic leaders in Congress are dialing up pressure on President Donald Trump's administration over foreign election interference, saying it's time for officials to make a "concrete and specific statement" to inform voters ahead of the 2020 contest. The Democrats did not detail exactly what they want the administration to say.
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| Chinese researcher charged with US visa fraud is in custody Posted: 24 Jul 2020 01:42 PM PDT  A Chinese researcher accused of concealing her ties to the Chinese military on a visa application she submitted so she could work in the U.S. was booked Friday into a Northern California jail and was expected to appear in federal court Monday. Sacramento County jail records show Juan Tang, 37, was being held on behalf of federal authorities after she was arrested by the U.S. Marshals Service. The Justice Department on Thursday announced charges against Tang and three other scientists living in the U.S., saying they lied about their status as members of China's People's Liberation Army.
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| Genetic impact of African slave trade revealed in DNA study Posted: 24 Jul 2020 01:20 PM PDT  The consequences of rape, maltreatment, disease and racism are revealed by the findings.
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| Pepcid-COVID study raised red flags weeks after $21M grant Posted: 24 Jul 2020 01:11 PM PDT  Two months after the Trump administration awarded $21 million to study whether a common heartburn drug was effective against COVID-19, government health officials raised serious concerns about patient safety and scientific integrity, according to internal documents obtained by The Associated Press. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services outlined a long list of concerns in a June 8 letter, concluding there was "a high probability" that the companies doing the research would fail to honor the terms of the deal to assess famotidine, the active ingredient in Pepcid, as a coronavirus treatment. The AP reported Thursday that the contract with Florida-based Alchem Laboratories and its subcontractor, Northwell Health in New York, was the subject of ridicule by some government scientists who did not think the Pepcid study merited millions of federal research dollars.
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| NOT REAL NEWS: A look at what didn't happen this week Posted: 24 Jul 2020 12:53 PM PDT  None of these are legit, even though they were shared widely on social media. The government is trying to usher in a cashless society. THE FACTS: Not so, says The Federal Reserve, which manages the country's coin inventory.
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| Trump news: President boasts about being in rap songs after press secretary shares police 'propaganda' video and contradicts CDC coronavirus study Posted: 24 Jul 2020 12:52 PM PDT  White House secretary Kayleigh McEnany has defended Donald Trump over the well wishes he sent publicly to Ghislaine Maxwell, who has been charged with the sexual trafficking of young girls, while sharing a video of protestors described by critics as "propaganda" as the president threatens to send federal law enforcement to nationwide cities dealing with major demonstrations.Ms McEnany said that the president instead wanted "justice to be served for victims in this case". The United Nations has pleaded with the US to halt the use of force against journalists, at least 70 of which have been placed in custody during Black Lives Matter demonstrations.
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| North America Blood Meal Market to 2027- Covid-19 Impact and Regional Analysis by Source ; Application, Process, and Country Posted: 24 Jul 2020 12:43 PM PDT |
| Trump, GOP ally vow Confederate base names won't change Posted: 24 Jul 2020 12:21 PM PDT  President Donald Trump and a top Senate Republican are pushing Congress to preserve the names of military bases that honor Confederate generals, even though the House and Senate have overwhelmingly approved bills that rename them. Like him, Inhofe "is not a believer in 'Cancel Culture,' " Trump said.
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| Despite COVID crisis, Congress seeks to do its day job Posted: 24 Jul 2020 11:58 AM PDT  Even as lawmakers stumble in their quest to pass another coronavirus response measure, both the House and Senate sought to return to some semblance of normal business this week, passing annual must-do measures on spending and defense policy despite the challenges of legislating during a pandemic. On Friday, the House passed a $259 billion funding bill for foreign aid and the Interior, Agriculture, and Veterans Affairs departments along party lines. The measure is the first annual spending measure to pass either the House or Senate this year, but it has scant chance of becoming law, serving instead as a springboard for negotiations down the line.
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| United Nations calls on US police to halt use of force against journalists covering protests Posted: 24 Jul 2020 11:26 AM PDT  Journalists covering protests in the United States should be permitted to do their jobs without fear of attack or arrest, the United Nations human rights office said on Friday.A mounting crackdown on reporters by authorities has been seen in recent weeks as the Trump administration has deployed federal agents to several cities where demonstrators are calling for racial justice.
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| Thousands of families evicted in Sao Paulo amid pandemic Posted: 24 Jul 2020 11:25 AM PDT  Jussara de Jesus never thought that her family would live in a shack. The human rights and research group LabCidade estimates more than 2,000 families have lost their homes in Sao Paulo state since March, with another 1,000 facing the same risk in upcoming weeks.
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| Iran protests to UN after US jets approach flight over Syria Posted: 24 Jul 2020 11:20 AM PDT  Iran protested Friday to the United Nations of a "flagrant violation" of international law after nearby US fighter jets sparked panic on an Iranian passenger plane over war-torn Syria. The incident on Thursday was the latest between arch-foes Tehran and Washington since US President Donald Trump in 2018 walked out of a nuclear accord with Iran and imposed punishing sanctions. Iran's state television broadcast footage filmed on a mobile phone of screaming passengers as the pilot of a Mahan Air plane on a flight from Tehran to Beirut took emergency action.
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| At 88, former Sheriff Joe Arpaio makes 2nd comeback bid Posted: 24 Jul 2020 11:10 AM PDT  Joe Arpaio is trying to win back the sheriff's post in metro Phoenix that he held for 24 years, facing his former second-in-command in the Aug. 4 Republican primary in what has become his second comeback bid. The 88-year-old lawman, who was unseated in the 2016 sheriff's race by a Democratic challenger and was trounced in a 2018 U.S. Senate race, has based much of his campaign around his support for President Donald Trump. Arpaio and his former second-in-command, Jerry Sheridan, are considered front-runners in GOP primary.
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| US military chief visits Israel amid tensions with Iran Posted: 24 Jul 2020 10:45 AM PDT |
| Nigeria's Boko Haram crisis: Aid workers 'killed' in Borno state Posted: 24 Jul 2020 10:29 AM PDT  President Buhari condemns the killings and vows to bring the gunmen to justice.
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| Trump administration, Democrats joust over warning on election interference Posted: 24 Jul 2020 10:15 AM PDT |
| Passengers hurt after U.S. jets ‘harassed’ Iranian airliner in ‘terrorist act,’ Tehran says Posted: 24 Jul 2020 10:12 AM PDT  Several passengers were hurt after an Iranian airliner was forced to swiftly change altitude Thursday as two U.S. fighter jets came dangerously close to their plane in the skies over Syria, Iran's state media and government officials said. The aircraft, operated by Mahan Air, managed to avoid a collision and land safely in Lebanon a short time later. The U.S. Central Command confirmed that an American jet did fly by the Iranian Airbus, describing the move as "a standard visual inspection" that was conducted "at a safe distance" of about 1,000 meters, or 3,280 feet.
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| US military: Russia ships more military supplies to Libya Posted: 24 Jul 2020 10:06 AM PDT |
| South Africa escape: Manhunt launched for inmates on the run Posted: 24 Jul 2020 09:58 AM PDT  The inmates absconded after staff were overpowered at the prison during exercise.
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| In VP search, Biden has a known quantity in Susan Rice Posted: 24 Jul 2020 09:37 AM PDT  As then-Vice President Joe Biden left the West Wing each evening to head home, he often popped his head into national security adviser Susan Rice's nearby suite of offices to check in — sometimes on pressing foreign policy matters, sometimes just to shoot the breeze. "My favorite unannounced visitor was Vice President Joe Biden," Rice wrote in her book "Tough Love." In those casual visits, as well as in daily national security briefings, Biden and Rice forged an easy working relationship, according to people who worked alongside them during their eight years in the Obama administration.
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| Smart Wearables Global Market Report 2020-30: Covid 19 Growth and Change Posted: 24 Jul 2020 08:43 AM PDT |
| Aspen Security Forum Goes Digital in 2020; Agenda & Speakers Announced Posted: 24 Jul 2020 08:34 AM PDT |
| 'Clear as mud' housing refund plans irk college students Posted: 24 Jul 2020 08:26 AM PDT  At the direction of the state's public university system, UNCG asked her to sign a housing contract addendum acknowledging that she might not get a refund if the school kicks her out of her dorm in the fall because of the coronavirus pandemic. An online petition Comino circulated days later collected nearly 40,000 signatures from people demanding that all 16 UNC System colleges offer prorated refunds and return deposits if the virus closes dorms. With classes scheduled to begin in August, the possibility of no refunds has left students and administrators alike with questions.
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| Barred presidential candidate flees Belarus, fearing arrest Posted: 24 Jul 2020 08:24 AM PDT  An opposition candidate who planned to challenge Belarus' longtime authoritarian leader in next month's presidential election has fled the country with his children, fearing arrest. Valery Tsepkalo, a former ambassador to the United States and founder of a successful hi-tech park, had been widely seen as President Alexander Lukashenko's top rival in the Aug. 9 vote but he was denied a spot on the ballot last week. Lukashenko, 65, has run Belarus with an iron fist for a quarter century, relentlessly suppressing free speech in the ex-Soviet country of 9.5 million and cracking down on political opposition.
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| To photograph comet Neowise, it takes patience and placement Posted: 24 Jul 2020 07:26 AM PDT  The newly discovered comet Neowise is only visible from Earth once every 6,800 years, and photographers who want to document it seek places with high elevation and little smog or light pollution. On a recent weekend, Associated Press photographer Gerry Broome was granted special after-hours access to the iconic peak to accompany photographer and amateur astronomer Johnny Horne on a trip to make images of the comet discovered in March.
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| Síndrome de Guillain-Barré, raro trastorno neurológico relacionado con COVID-19 Posted: 24 Jul 2020 07:22 AM PDT  El paciente en el informe del caso (llamémosle Tom) tenía 54 años y gozaba de buena salud. Durante dos días en mayo, se sintió mal y estaba demasiado débil para salir de la cama. Cuando su familia finalmente lo llevó al hospital, los médicos descubrieron que tenía fiebre y signos de una infección grave, o sepsis. Dio positivo por SARS-CoV-2, el virus que causa la infección por COVID-19. Además de los síntomas de COVID-19, también estaba demasiado débil para mover las piernas.Cuando un neurólogo lo examinó, Tom fue diagnosticado con el síndrome de Guillain-Barré, una enfermedad autoinmune que causa sensación anormal y debilidad debido a retrasos en el envío de señales a través de los nervios. Generalmente reversible, en casos severos puede causar parálisis prolongada que involucra músculos respiratorios, requiere soporte de ventilación y algunas veces deja déficits neurológicos permanentes. El reconocimiento temprano por neurólogos expertos es clave para el tratamiento adecuado.Somos neurólogos especializados en cuidados intensivos y estudios líderes relacionados con complicaciones neurológicas de COVID-19. Dada la aparición del síndrome de Guillain-Barré en pandemias anteriores con otros coronavirus como el SARS y el MERS, estamos investigando un posible vínculo entre el síndrome de Guillain-Barré y COVID-19.Algunos pacientes pueden no buscar atención médica oportuna para los síntomas neurológicos como dolor de cabeza prolongado, pérdida de visión y nueva debilidad muscular debido al miedo a exponerse al virus en situaciones de emergencia. Las personas necesitan saber que buscar una evaluación médica oportuna para detectar síntomas neurológicos puede ayudar a tratar muchas de estas enfermedades. ¿Qué es el síndrome de Guillain-Barré?El síndrome de Guillain-Barré ocurre cuando el propio sistema inmunitario del cuerpo ataca y lesiona los nervios fuera de la médula espinal o el cerebro, el sistema nervioso periférico. Con mayor frecuencia, la lesión involucra la vaina protectora, o mielina, que envuelve los nervios y es esencial para la función nerviosa.Sin la vaina de mielina, las señales que atraviesan un nervio se ralentizan o se pierden, lo que hace que el nervio no funcione correctamente.Para diagnosticar el síndrome de Guillain-Barré, los neurólogos realizan un examen neurológico detallado. Debido a la lesión nerviosa, los pacientes a menudo pueden tener pérdida de reflejos en el examen. Los médicos a menudo necesitan realizar una punción lumbar para tomar muestras de líquido cefalorraquídeo y buscar signos de inflamación y anticuerpos anormales.Los estudios han demostrado que administrar a los pacientes una infusión de anticuerpos derivados del intercambio de sangre o plasma donado, un proceso que limpia la sangre de los anticuerpos dañinos de la sangre de los pacientes, puede acelerar la recuperación. Un subconjunto muy pequeño de pacientes puede necesitar estas terapias a largo plazo.La mayoría de los pacientes con síndrome de Guillain-Barré mejoran en unas pocas semanas y eventualmente pueden recuperarse por completo. Sin embargo, algunos pacientes tienen síntomas persistentes que incluyen debilidad y sensaciones anormales en brazos y/o piernas; rara vez los pacientes pueden permanecer en cama o discapacitados a largo plazo. Síndrome de Guillain-Barré y pandemiasA medida que la pandemia de COVID-19 se extiende por todo el mundo, muchos especialistas en neurología han estado atentos a complicaciones potencialmente graves del sistema nervioso, como el síndrome de Guillain-Barré.Aunque el Síndrome de Guillain-Barré es raro, se sabe que emerge después de infecciones bacterianas, como Campylobacter jejuni, una causa común de intoxicación alimentaria, y una multitud de infecciones virales que incluyen el virus de la gripe, el virus del Zika y otros coronavirus.Los estudios mostraron un aumento en los casos de síndrome de Guillain-Barré después de la pandemia de gripe H1N1 en 2009, lo que sugiere una posible conexión. La presunta causa de este vínculo es que la propia respuesta inmune del cuerpo para combatir la infección se activa y ataca los nervios periféricos. Esto se llama una condición "autoinmune". Cuando una pandemia afecta a tantas personas como nuestra actual crisis COVID-19, incluso una complicación rara puede convertirse en un importante problema de salud pública. Esto es especialmente cierto para quien sufre disfunción neurológica, donde la recuperación lleva mucho tiempo y puede ser incompleta.Los primeros informes del síndrome de Guillain-Barré en la pandemia de COVID-19 se originaron en Italia, España y China, donde la pandemia surgió antes de la crisis mundial.Aunque existe una clara sospecha clínica de que el COVID-19 puede conducir al síndrome de Guillain-Barré, quedan muchas preguntas importantes. ¿Cuáles son las posibilidades de que alguien contraiga el síndrome de Guillain-Barré durante o después de una infección por COVID-19? ¿El síndrome de Guillain-Barré ocurre con mayor frecuencia en las personas infectadas con COVID-19 en comparación con otros tipos de infecciones, como la gripe?La única forma de obtener respuestas es a través de un estudio prospectivo donde los médicos realizan una vigilancia sistemática y recopilan datos sobre un gran grupo de pacientes. Hay grandes grupos de investigación en curso trabajando arduamente para encontrar respuestas a estas preguntas. Asociación entre COVID-19 y Guillain-BarréSi bien se están realizando grandes estudios de investigación, en general parece que el síndrome de Guillain-Barré es un fenómeno raro pero grave posiblemente relacionado con COVID-19. Se han reportado más de 10,7 millones de casos de COVID-19; hasta el momento se han reportado 10 casos de pacientes con COVID-19 con síndrome de Guillain-Barré, dos casos reportados en Estados Unidos, cinco en Italia, dos en Irán y uno de Wuhan, China.Ciertamente es posible que haya otros casos que no han sido reportados. El Estudio del Consorcio Global de Disfunciones Neurológicas en COVID-19 está trabajando para descubrir con qué frecuencia se ven problemas neurológicos como el Síndrome de Guillain-Barré en pacientes hospitalizados con COVID-19. Además, solo porque este sindróme ocurre en un paciente diagnosticado con COVID-19, eso no implica que haya sido causado por el virus; esto todavía puede ser una coincidencia. Se necesita más investigación para comprender cómo se relacionan los dos eventos.Debido a las consideraciones de contención de pandemias e infecciones, las pruebas de diagnóstico, como un estudio de conducción nerviosa que solía ser una rutina para pacientes con sospecha de síndrome de Guillain-Barré, son más difíciles de hacer. En los dos casos de Estados Unidos, el diagnóstico inicial y el tratamiento se basaron en el examen clínico realizado por expertos neurológicos en lugar de cualquier prueba. Ambos pacientes sobrevivieron pero con una debilidad residual significativa en el momento en que salieron estos informes de casos, pero eso no es raro para los pacientes con síndrome de Guillain-Barré. El camino hacia la recuperación a veces puede ser largo, pero muchos pacientes pueden recuperarse por completo con el tiempo.Aunque los casos reportados de síndrome de Guillain-Barré hasta ahora tienen síntomas severos, esto no es infrecuente en una situación de pandemia en la que los pacientes menos enfermos pueden quedarse en casa y no acudir a la atención médica por temor a exponerse al virus. Esto, más la capacidad limitada de prueba de COVID-19 puede sesgar nuestra detección actual de casos del síndrome hacia los pacientes más enfermos que tienen que ir a un hospital. En general, la mayoría de los pacientes con síndrome de Guillain-Barré se recuperan, con tiempo suficiente. Todavía no sabemos si esto es cierto para los casos relacionados con COVID-19 en esta etapa de la pandemia. Con scientificos alrededor del mundo, nosotros estamos trabajando duro para identificar las respuestas a estas preguntas críticas.Este artículo fue traducido por El Financiero.This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts.Read more: * COVID-19: una segunda ola puede ser fatal para la salud mental del personal sanitario * COVID-19: mascarillas sí, pero rastreadores tambiénSherry H-Y. Chou ha recibido fondos de la University of Pittsburgh Clinical Translational Science Institute, El National Institute of Health de EEUU y University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine Dean's Faculty Advancement Award. Chou es miembro de la junta directive de la Neurocritical Care Society.Aarti Sarwal no recibe salario, ni ejerce labores de consultoría, ni posee acciones, ni recibe financiación de ninguna compañía u organización que pueda obtener beneficio de este artículo, y ha declarado carecer de vínculos relevantes más allá del cargo académico citado."Neha S. Dangayach recibe fondos de la Bee Foundation, el Friedman Brain Institute, la Neurocritical Care Society, el InCHIP-UConn Center for Health y Social Media Seed Grant. Es miembro de emcrit.org y AiSinai.
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| UN: US protesters, journalists need their rights protected Posted: 24 Jul 2020 07:13 AM PDT  Protesters and journalists in U.S. cities including Portland, Oregon, must be able to take part in peaceful demonstrations without risking arbitrary arrest, detention, the unnecessary use of force or other rights violations, the U.N. human rights office said Friday. Spokeswoman Liz Throssell of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights noted reports that some peaceful demonstrators in Portland had been detained by unidentified officers. "That is a worry, because it may place those detained outside the protection of the law, and may give rise to arbitrary detention and other human rights violations," she told reporters in Geneva.
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| Rising virus cases spark concern in Florida nursing homes Posted: 24 Jul 2020 06:55 AM PDT  The coronavirus transformed Florida's nursing homes into closely guarded fortresses beginning in March, with the state banning family visits, isolating infected residents in separate wings and now requiring staff be tested every two weeks. In the past three weeks, cases have gone from about 2,000 to some 4,800 at Florida nursing homes. Roughly 2,550 long-term care residents and staff have died overall, accounting for about 45% of all virus deaths in Florida.
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| Iran slams interception by US jet over Syria as 'illegal' Posted: 24 Jul 2020 06:37 AM PDT  Iranian officials on Friday slammed the interception of an Iranian passenger plane by a U.S. fighter jet in the skies over Syria the previous day as "illegal," threatening action against Washington over the incident. Iran had said that one of its airliners, flying from Tehran to Beirut on Thursday, was "harassed" by fighter jets, but later landed safely in Lebanon. A U.S. official confirmed a U.S. jet had passed by the Iranian airliner, but at a safe distance.
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| Authorities: Woman slain when gunman fires into wrong house Posted: 24 Jul 2020 06:36 AM PDT |
| Christian abortion critics urge Dems to change platform Posted: 24 Jul 2020 06:05 AM PDT  A group of more than 100 Christian pastors, religion professors and other advocates is urging the Democratic National Committee to adopt a party platform that's friendlier to abortion opponents. In a letter organized by the anti-abortion group Democrats for Life and set to be sent Friday, the group of Christians calls on the Democratic Party to rescind its platform's support for ending restrictions on federal funding for abortion. Last year, Joe Biden, the Democrat's presumptive presidential nominee, shifted his position to back an end to restrictions on government funding for abortion.
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| France pledges $17 million to Lebanon's struggling schools Posted: 24 Jul 2020 05:18 AM PDT  France's visiting foreign minister pledged Friday €15 million — about $17 million — in aid to Lebanon's schools, struggling under the weight of the country's economic crisis. Jean-Yves Le Drian said France will not let the "Lebanese youth alone" face the crisis that has hit the education sector hard. Many parents, struggling to pay private school fees, have enrolled their children in already overcrowded public schools.
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| Siberian heatwave: Wildfires rage in Arctic, sea ice melts Posted: 24 Jul 2020 05:17 AM PDT  The U.N. weather agency warned Friday that average temperatures in Siberia were 10 degrees Celsius (18 Fahrenheit) above average last month, a spate of exceptional heat that has fanned devastating fires in the Arctic Circle and contributed to a rapid depletion in ice sea off Russia's Arctic coast. "The Arctic is heating more than twice as fast as the global average, impacting local populations and ecosystems and with global repercussions," World Meteorological Organization Secretary-General Petteri Taalas said in a statement Friday. WMO previously cited a reading of 38 Celsius in the Russian town of Verkhoyansk on June 20, which the agency has been seeking to verify as a possible record-high temperature in the Arctic Circle.
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| Virginia evicts Confederate monuments from its state Capitol Posted: 24 Jul 2020 05:00 AM PDT  Virginia has removed from its iconic state capitol the busts and a statue honoring Confederate generals and officials. Virginia House Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn, a Democrat, quietly ordered the Lee statue and busts of generals J.E.B. Stuart, Stonewall Jackson, Confederate President Jefferson Davis, and others removed from the historic Old House Chamber.
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| Speaker snared in Ohio bribery probe liked to play long game Posted: 24 Jul 2020 04:39 AM PDT  Tension was thick in the air. After 10 consecutive votes in which another man had garnered more support than Larry Householder's favored candidate to be the next Ohio House speaker, Householder leaned back quietly in his chair, arms confidently propped behind his head. The Republican now accused in a $60 million federal bribery probe had contributed to a monthslong impasse over the speakership that brought Ohio lawmaking to a standstill in 2018 and left a trail of intimidated, disheartened representatives in its path.
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| Sudan mass grave linked to anti-Bashir coup attempt Posted: 24 Jul 2020 03:21 AM PDT  The 28 bodies are thought to be army officers involved in a failed coup against Omar al-Bashir in 1990.
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| BDI on the conclusion of the Brexit round of talks: "A collapse in the negotiations on a partnership agreement is now all but inevitable" Posted: 24 Jul 2020 02:26 AM PDT |
| Christopher Columbus statues taken down at 2 Chicago parks Posted: 24 Jul 2020 02:02 AM PDT  Two statues of Christopher Columbus that stood in Chicago parks were taken down early Friday at the direction of Mayor Lori Lightfoot, a week after protesters trying to topple one of the monuments to the Italian explorer clashed with police. Crews used a large crane to remove the statue in downtown Chicago's Grant Park from its pedestal. A small crowd cheered and passing cars honked as the statue came down about 3 a.m. The second statue was removed about 5:30 a.m. from Arrigo Park in Chicago's Little Italy neighborhood.
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| Global Mobile and Tower Cranes Industry Posted: 24 Jul 2020 01:44 AM PDT |
| Always rocky, China-US relations appear at a turning point Posted: 24 Jul 2020 01:00 AM PDT  Four decades after the U.S. established diplomatic ties with Communist China, the relationship between the two may have reached a turning point. China ordered the closing of the U.S. Consulate in the southwestern city of Chengdu on Friday, in rapid retaliation for the closing of its consulate in Houston. Two weeks ago, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi asked aloud if relations could stay on track.
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| Global Paper & Paperboard Trays Industry Posted: 24 Jul 2020 12:24 AM PDT |
| CGTN: Xi Jinping inspects NE China's Jilin Province Posted: 24 Jul 2020 12:04 AM PDT |
| London Needs the Tube and the Tube Needs Londoners Posted: 24 Jul 2020 12:00 AM PDT  (Bloomberg Opinion) -- As the coronavirus pandemic continues, Bloomberg Opinion will be running a series of features by our columnists that consider the long-term consequences of the crisis. This column is part of a package on the future of transportation. For more, see Lionel Laurent on how public transportation can spark urban recovery and David Fickling on why passengers will pay the price for the airline industry's troubles. Recently, I caught myself waxing nostalgic about the daily journeys on the London Underground that I abandoned just before lockdown. Only a few months ago, I was that middle-aged woman inching onto an indecently crowded commuter carriage, stuck for what seemed like an eternity under some tall person's sweaty armpit, gripping a germ-covered pole as the car rumbled and jerked through a dark tunnel. Overcrowding and ear-splitting noise levels on the Tube made some journeys torture. There are laws against animals crammed so tightly into an enclosure.Even so, I miss it. My trip on the Tube had served both to separate work and home spaces and bridge them. The commute provided time to scan a morning newsletter or listen to a podcast. I could be lost in thought, buried in my phone or take in a visual smorgasbord of pinstripe suits and body piercings. Its familiar rules and conventions — the command to Mind the Gap, the way commuters always stand on the right of the escalator — were woven into the fabric of my day.The financial viability of cities rests on whether and under what conditions we are prepared to go back to our old travel habits. Since the start of the pandemic, urban dwellers have increasingly turned to buses, bicycles and scooters rather than venture back underground. Yet for all of their flaws, subway systems are the economic and social lifeblood of densely populated cities. Vast commercial ecosystems thrive around mass transit stations — from restaurants and shops to theaters and other small businesses that serve workers and visitors who move through the city. It's impossible to imagine urban life returning to normal without them. Nowhere is that more true than in London. Before the pandemic, more than 4 million people a day, or 1 billion a year, used the London Underground, the world's oldest subway system. The Tube has been a symbol of British ingenuity and the Enlightenment value of individual freedom. When it served as a shelter during German air raids in World War II, the Underground became synonymous with English resilience. Harry Beck's iconic 1931 multi-colored Underground map — ubiquitous on tea-towels, mouse pads, boxer shorts and most everything else — is genius not just because it makes getting around London so easy, but because it shaped how Londoners see and experience the city.Now an underground system that has defined the life and character of a city since 1863 is edging toward a financial abyss, as social distancing and home-working become the new norm. Saving the Underground is also caught up in larger political debates over what to prioritize as parts of the economy sink. How those questions are resolved will go a long way toward determining not just London's economic future, but the shape of post-Brexit society. ***More than most other subway systems, London's metro relies heavily on fares to support its operations. Since the start of the lockdown, as businesses ordered employees to work from home and use of the Underground was restricted to essential workers, ridership has plummeted. Transport for London — the government body responsible for the Tube — has seen its income drop by 90%. TfL oversees not just the Tube, but London's vast bus network, its overground train lines, roads, cycle hire scheme and more. It employs some 28,000 workers (and many more indirectly). Just over a month into lockdown, it faced a funding gap for 2020-21 of over 4 billion pounds ($4.41 billion).There is no easy way out of this. The body, which is required by law to have a balanced budget, is limited in how much it can borrow and has already taken on a lot of debt to fund various capital projects. In April, 7,000 workers, a quarter of its workforce, had been furloughed; construction work was frozen.In May, with TfL within hours of running out of money, Boris Johnson's conservative government extended a 1.6 billion pound bailout package, a mix of grants and loans (with the possibility for further funding of up to 1.9 billion pounds). Rescuing the capital city's iconic mass transit system might seem like a no-brainer for the prime minister, who was a major champion of the Tube when he was London mayor. In those pre-Brexit days, he triumphantly accepted a 1 billion pound loan from the European Investment Bank to fund Crossrail, Europe's largest infrastructure project and the biggest change to the London Underground schematic since Victorian times.But Johnson won an election on a pledge to rebalance Britain's economy away from London, which has received the lion's share of public investment for years. Complicating things further, London mayor Sadiq Khan is a prominent Labour Party figure who has criticized Johnson's record as mayor.Tube funding has long been contentious, and the Conservative government was not going to hand anything to London without strings attached, even if the party no longer advocates privatization of the network. In exchange for the package, two government officials were put on TfL's board and key committees. The government also forced Khan to renege on his pledge not to increase fares. In the end, he had no choice but to accept, but made clear his bitterness. "Failing private rail companies who have let down commuters for years have been bailed out much quicker than TfL," he said.In its May research update, S&P Global Ratings noted that its base case for global air passengers envisages a full recovery only in 2023. That will have a knock-on effect on leisure travel to London. S&P estimates that TfL will see a 50% decline in operating revenue in the fiscal year ending in March 2021, 15% the following year and 10% in 2023. But, of course, these are just guesses; nobody knows how the pandemic will play out. What's clear is that TfL doesn't have much scope to reduce its expenditure to cover revenue losses. Total debt may rise to two times revenue by 2022.To cover the growing gap, TfL will need further subsidies. Indeed, if S&P's rating on TfL is a full two notches higher than its credit profile would warrant, there's one explicit reason: its strategic importance to London and the health of the U.K. economy.***The task of re-imagining the Underground for the Covid era has fallen to TfL's new chief, Andy Byford, an experienced British-born public transport manager who started his long career with London Underground and returned this year after he resigned as head of the New York City Transit Authority, reportedly over interference from Governor Andrew Cuomo. Byford's immediate focus has been safety. Shutting down London's main transport arteries was essential for limiting the transmission of the virus; getting them working again safely is going to be key to the economic recovery. The government's own Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) noted that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, is "highly likely to survive for several hours, and probably several days on typical surfaces within public transport." The Tube will be an attractive proposition only if commuters like me feel the risks of infection have been contained.Following the example set in Asia, the London Underground has been getting the mother of all spring cleanings. A new anti-viral cleaning regime uses hospital-grade substances for scrubbing surfaces. TfL is experimenting with using UV light to clean handrails on escalators and has installed 1,000 hand sanitizer points. New signage across the network reminds people of new rules, such as social distancing, mandatory face coverings and new one-way systems.So far, TfL says that tests for the virus at high-frequency touch points have come back negative. It helps that people on subways don't tend to speak to each other, which would release more aerosols that can spread the disease. The Underground also has a natural ventilation advantage from the piston effect as trains pass through close-fitting tunnels, which create air pressure gradients that push ventilation between platforms. Even so, as SAGE noted, ventilation is not likely to have any impact on short-range transmission (a cough) or surface contact. And it's not clear how quickly a surface can become contaminated again after it has been sanitized.What is clear is that Covid-19 has created a whole new segment of home-working employees. An estimated 25% of U.K. workers are in jobs where they could work from home some of the time; many likely will.Something not entirely dissimilar happened during the 2012 London Olympics, says Dr Jonathan Reades, a lecturer in quantitative human geography in London and an advisor to TfL during that period. Braced for throngs of Olympic spectators, the city worried about dangerous levels of overcrowding on public transport. "The messaging then was almost exactly the same: Stay at home, shift your working hours. Of course, the reasons were very different," Reades says.Reades's analysis of travel data at the time showed that 10% to 15% of people reduced their travel. Others changed their travel habits, avoiding the most crowded stations and altering their travel times.That experience suggests there are effective ways to redistribute traffic, especially where people have flexibility. And yet daily commuters, the stickiest group of travelers, were least likely to change their habits at the time, he found. Much of that group, myself included, are now working from home with no compelling need to return to daily travel."The Tube has just passed a phenomenal period of recovery over the past 20 years, through higher levels of investment and management attention to things like reliability. It is now one of the more reliable metros in Europe," says Alex Barron, head of Metro benchmarking at Imperial College's Center for Transport Studies. "This crisis is a real tipping point and could go either way for TfL."With ridership shrinking, TfL might be tempted to cut services. But if the goal is to maximize social distancing and spread Londoners out across different modes and journey rates, reduced services makes little sense. Increasing fares — another reflexive action — would also be counterproductive.Commuting, particularly by rail and underground, is highly correlated to income in the U.K. With many commuters having the option of working from home, demand will be more elastic than it was and pricing will have to reflect that. Unlike the New York subway, the Tube has six fare zones and charges a higher fare the greater the distance traveled. That structure may need to change too; hiking fares further will only incentivize commuters from further out (who pay the most) to stay away and perhaps encourage employers to locate offices out of central London, where space is cheaper anyhow.TfL could also use technology to improve traffic flows and commuter confidence — providing real-time information on crowding, route choice, where to find the most space on a train or other tips. Some proactive messaging was used during the Olympics effectively. Fares might even fluctuate to regulate traffic.***One thing's certain: Bringing Londoners back on the Tube can't be done on the cheap. Subways require enormous maintenance expenditure. If investment is not made, services decline, customers grow increasingly disgruntled and many will look for alternatives, further damaging revenues. It's a vicious circle, as New York has learned."Both Andy Byford and the mayor will be expecting the national government to help in some way. Funding and financing is going to be everything," says Richard Anderson, managing director of the Transport Strategy Center at Imperial College London.Delays and cost overruns on the new Elizabeth line — the nearly 18 billion pound Crossrail project — also don't help TfL's financial picture. In its 2018 business plan, TfL figured that delays in construction would cost it up to 600 million pounds in lost revenue by 2024. But that was provided the central section opened in mid-2020; it's now targeting completion in 2021 and that deadline will likely be missed.Boris Johnson sees public sector investment as key to his bid to hold onto the new conservative coalition. Public sector net investment in the U.K. has lagged behind other major economies and infrastructure spending remains skewed toward London. This unevenness has social and economic repercussions that have fed into the Brexit vote. It has exacerbated divisions between north and south and urban and rural areas.Additional financial support for London's transit system would raise eyebrows in Parliament and protest from Johnson's new voters. The temptation will be to do as little as possible, which worries experts like Imperial's Anderson. "It would be a mistake for any government to make the decision that in the short term we could squeeze funding. If cities are to thrive, they need sustainable mass transport systems." But this isn't just about London. However unfashionable among New Tories, London attracts enormous levels of tourism (some of which fans out to the rest of the country), consumer spending and investment that fill government coffers and fund current spending. It is a world-class center of learning and innovation as well as a center for the arts, fashion and hospitality — sectors that need high concentrations of workers and patrons and are deeply intertwined with the availability of efficient, safe public transport.Some of that creative energy and spending will inevitably shift to areas outside London; that can be to Britain's benefit, too, with the pandemic assisting the rebalancing agenda. But only to a point. It's doubtful that Zoom working and small clusterings of workers can replace the well-known agglomeration benefits of cities.It's just one of many paradoxes this pandemic has thrown up. The longer we stay away, the less there may be to go back to when we ride again.This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Therese Raphael is a columnist for Bloomberg Opinion. She was editorial page editor of the Wall Street Journal Europe.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinionSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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