Month: May 2020

The International Space Station received several tons of supplies this week from an unmanned craft, but the big story this week is a milestone birthday for the ultimate eye in the sky, as the Hubble Telescope turned 30. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi spoke with NASA’s director of astrophysics and brings us this story.
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Assessing the security situation in Afghanistan is getting increasingly difficult now that Western military officials have started withholding some data on militant attacks across the country, according to a key U.S. government watchdog.The warning from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, also known as SIGAR, comes as hopes for an end to decades of war appear to be fading following February’s agreement between the United States and the Taliban, due to political infighting in Kabul and a steady increase in Taliban-initiated violence since the deal was signed.Only according to SIGAR, the full extent of the Taliban’s offensive remains something of a mystery because coalition forces monitoring the violence are keeping the intelligence to themselves.“NATO Resolute Support (RS) restricted from public release data on the number of enemy-initiated attacks (EIA) that took place this quarter,” Inspector General John Sopko wrote in the quarterly report issued Friday.“This EIA data was one of the last remaining metrics SIGAR was able to use to report publicly on the security situation in Afghanistan,” he added, noting it was the first time the NATO-led mission had refused to provide the figures since 2018.NATO officials defended their decision, telling SIGAR data on enemy-initiated attacks “are now a critical part of deliberative interagency discussions regarding ongoing political negotiations between the U.S. and the Taliban.”Afghans clear glass from a broken window of a house after a suicide bomb attack on the southern outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan, April 29, 2020.However, they also said that while the Taliban generally refrained from attacking coalition forces after signing the agreement with the U.S. in late February, “they increased attacks against ANDSF [Afghan National Defense and Security Forces] to levels above seasonal norms” during March.The last available data for enemy attacks, covering the last three months of 2019, before the U.S.-Taliban deal was signed, showed enemy attacks trending significantly higher.“Both overall enemy-initiated attacks and effective enemy-initiated attacks [resulting in casualties] during the fourth quarter of 2019 exceeded same-period levels in every year since recording began in 2010,” SIGAR’s January report said.This is not the first time SIGAR has criticized the U.S.-led mission in Afghanistan for hiding or manipulating data.SIGAR also chastised U.S. defense officials in May 2019 after Resolute Support Afghan special forces stand guard near the site of a suicide bomber attack on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan, April 29, 2020.”We have incentivized lying to Congress,” SIGAR’s John Sopko told lawmakers this past January. “The whole incentive is to show success and to ignore the failure. And when there’s too much failure, classify it or don’t report it.”For now, the security situation remains murky.Officials with the U.S.-led Resolute Support mission told SIGAR the Afghan government maintains control of Kabul, provincial capitals, major population centers and most district centers but that Taliban forces are vying for control in some areas even while reducing attacks against Afghan forces in provincial capitals.But Afghan officials have accused the Taliban of killing more than 100 Afghan security forces, while also killing or wounding up to 800 civilians, since signing the February peace-building deal with the U.S.And while both U.S. officials and the United Nations found overall civilian casualties decreased during the first three months of 2020, the United Nations said civilian deaths due to anti-government forces, mainly the Taliban, rose by 22 percent, including the deaths of 150 children.Late last month, the Taliban also rejected calls for a cease-fire for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.There is also growing uncertainty about the impact the coronavirus pandemic will have on Afghanistan.So far, the government has reported just under 2,200 confirmed cases and 64 deaths, but the SIGAR report warns the worst is yet to come.“Afghanistan’s numerous unique vulnerabilities — a weak health care system, widespread malnutrition, porous borders, massive internal displacement, proximity to Iran (where the disease has spread widely), and ongoing conflict — raise the possibility of significant social and economic disruption in the coming months,” it said.Afghanistan & Pakistan Bureau Chief Ayesha Tanzeem contributed to this story.
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After a weekend of crowded beaches, California Governor Gavin Newsom has ordered all state beaches and parks closed as of Friday. Pushback is expected from residents. According to the A pier is fenced off in Newport Beach, Calif., April 30, 2020.But various local rules regarding lockdowns have caused confusion, as they conflict with statewide regulations and restrictions.San Francisco was one of the first cities in the state to enforce a stay-at-home order, but as of Wednesday the San Francisco Bay Area allowed construction, landscaping and various outdoor businesses to resume if social distancing guidelines were followed.Riverside County reopened hiking, horseback riding and biking trails, but face masks are required.Local beach orders also differ. Los Angeles beaches have remained closed, while Orange County and San Diego County beaches have reopened.Though lifeguards at Newport Beach in Orange County said visitors practiced social distancing, and Orange County Supervisor Donald P. Wagner said closing the beaches would be unwise, Newsom still disapproves of thousands of people on the beaches.State health officials continue to caution against the lessening of social distancing restrictions for fear of a resurgence of coronavirus cases.
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Some of the millions of American workers laid off because of the coronavirus are beginning to face a tough choice: Return to work and risk infection, or stay home and risk losing unemployment payments.The decision is most pressing in states where governors have started allowing businesses such as restaurants to reopen with social-distancing restrictions.Tyler Price, 26, was called back to his job at Del Frisco’s Grille in the Nashville suburb of Brentwood. Tennessee allowed restaurants to open dining rooms at 50% capacity, with servers wearing masks and being tested for fever.But Price, who has yet to receive any unemployment benefits, is wrestling with what do. He said he is “highly susceptible” to respiratory illness and was hospitalized with pneumonia as a child.”I know what it feels like to be in a hospital, to be drowning in your own lungs,” said Price, who moved in with his mother near St. Louis after getting laid off. “It’s horrifying. It’s terrible. I don’t want to find myself there.”He said waiting tables “is impossible to do under social-distancing guidelines,” and he would prefer to draw unemployment payments.Startling figureOn Thursday, the Labor Department reported that the business shutdowns and stay-at-home orders caused by the pandemic have led 30 million Americans to file for unemployment insurance, or roughly one of every six workers.The design of the unemployment system adds to the pressure. If an employer calls back laid-off workers, they must report to work or are likely to lose their benefits.That’s because unemployment insurance is designed to tide people over until they can get back to a job, said Michele Evermore, a senior policy analyst with the National Employment Law Project in New York.”An unemployed worker cannot refuse suitable work and still continue to collect unemployment insurance,” Evermore said. “Presumably, the job you used to have is suitable.”Fear of getting sick or worries that an employer isn’t providing adequate infection protection are generally not reasons someone can file for benefits. The latter concern is getting more complicated because some businesses are lobbying to keep employees and customers from suing them over coronavirus transmission.Lacey Ward, a hairstylist in Omaha, Nebraska, filed for unemployment benefits in mid-March and is still waiting for the first payment. She’s been forced to drain her family’s savings and feels increasing pressure to return to work. Still, she is worried that Governor Pete Ricketts’ decision to let salons reopen Monday could put her, her husband and two young sons at risk.’I would rather be safe’Ward, 38, said she would prefer to collect unemployment until the risk from the virus subsides and it’s clearer whether she can offer services like shampooing. She co-owns the salon but makes money only off her own clients.”I would rather be safe than sorry,” Ward said. “We are not an essential field. I haven’t had my hair done in three or four months at this point. But what does it matter? Who are people seeing?”Ward said she’s so concerned about spreading the virus that she plans to change clothes and wash her hair before she returns home.”We’re playing with fire, physically touching another person,” she said.Some workers are ready to go back. Kathryn Marsilli, 33, is a manager and server at the Collins Quarter restaurant in Savannah, Georgia.She knows she may make less at work because of reduced business and would like a way for those with fears of the virus to stay home. But she said she wants to go back out of loyalty to the owner and because she’s not interested in trying to maximize her unemployment benefits.”My future where I work is more important to me than trying to get what I can now,” Marsilli said.Temptation to stay outOther workers may be tempted to hold on to unemployment. Especially in some low-wage regions, laid-off workers may receive more money with the state benefit and the additional $600 a week provided by Congress than they were on the job. The federal boost ends July 31.Georgia labor officials are trying to balance the needs of business owners with the genuine concerns of workers. State Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said he’s telling businesses that are easing into reopening and don’t need all their employees to call in those who are willing to work and leave the others to the unemployment system.Georgia also is allowing people to earn up to $300 a week before it begins to eat into their state unemployment benefit, meaning workers could earn more than $1,200 a week in total.”It was a way we could get more people back to work at reduced hours,” Butler said. “Otherwise, why would you go back to work at all?”Jennifer Holliday is a manager at a restaurant in Oklahoma City called Zio’s Italian Kitchen, which plans to reopen its dining room Friday. She said getting furloughed employees to return has been difficult. Many are not returning her phone calls or messages.”There are some who want to just ride it out [until July] and take the unemployment,” Holliday said. “They don’t even have to apply” for other jobs.
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U.S. intelligence agencies are debunking a conspiracy theory, saying they have concluded that the new coronavirus was “not manmade or genetically modified” but say 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. The statement from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the clearinghouse for the web of U.S. spy agencies, comes as President Donald Trump and his allies have touted the as-yet-unproven theory that an infectious disease lab in Wuhan, the epicenter of the Chinese outbreak, was the source of the global pandemic, which has killed more than 220,000 people worldwide.In recent days the Trump administration has sharpened its rhetoric on China, accusing the geopolitical foe and vital trading partner of failing to act swiftly enough to sound the alarm to the world about the outbreak or to stop the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19. U.S. officials have said the Chinese government should “pay a price” for its handling of the pandemic.The new statement says, “The Intelligence Community also concurs with the wide scientific consensus that the COVID-19 virus was not manmade or genetically modified.” “The IC will continue to rigorously examine emerging information and intelligence to determine whether the outbreak began through contact with infected animals or if it was the result of an accident at a laboratory in Wuhan.” President Donald Trump speaks about the coronavirus in the Rose Garden of the White House, April 27, 2020, in Washington.Trump on Thursday again blamed China for not doing enough to contain the coronavirus. “We just got hit by a vicious virus that should never have been allowed to escape China,” he said during an Oval Office meeting with New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy. Earlier this month, Trump addressed the lab theory saying, “More and more, we’re hearing the story.” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo added at the time, “The mere fact that we don’t know the answers — that China hasn’t shared the answers — I think is very, very telling.” Pompeo also pressed China to let outside experts into the lab “so that we can determine precisely where this virus began.” While Trump and Pompeo have made public statements speculating about the lab, a U.S. intelligence official disputed the notion that there was any pressure on agencies to bolster a particular theory. The intelligence official was not authorized to publicly discuss the issue and spoke only on condition of anonymity.  Scientists say the virus arose naturally in bats. Even so, Pompeo and others have pointed fingers at an institute that is run by the Chinese Academy of Sciences. It has done groundbreaking research tracing the likely origins of the SARS virus, finding new bat viruses and discovering how they could jump to people. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo addresses a news conference at the State Department in Washington, April 7, 2020.”We know that there is the Wuhan Institute of Virology just a handful of miles away from where the wet market was,” Pompeo said two weeks ago. The institute has an address 8 miles, or 13 kilometers, from the market that is considered a possible source. U.S. officials say the American Embassy in Beijing flagged concerns about potential safety issues at the lab in Wuhan in 2018, but they have yet to find any evidence the virus originated there nearly two years later. The Chinese government said Thursday that any claims that the coronavirus was released from a laboratory are “unfounded and purely fabricated out of nothing.” Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang cited the institute’s director, Yuan Zhiming, as saying the lab strictly implements bio-security procedures that would prevent the release of any pathogen. “I would like to point out again that the origin of the virus is a complex scientific issue, and it should be studied by scientists and professionals,” Geng said. The U.S. was providing funding to the Wuhan lab for its research on coronaviruses, Michael Morell, former acting director and deputy director of the CIA, said Thursday. He said State Department cables indicate that there have been concerns in past years among U.S. officials about the safety protocols at that lab. If the virus did escape from a Chinese lab, it not only reflects negatively on China but also on the United States for providing research funding to a lab that has safety concerns, Morell said during an online forum hosted by the Michael V. Hayden Center for Intelligence, Policy and International Security at George Mason University. “So if it did escape, we’re all in this together,” Morell said. “This is not a gotcha for China. This is a gotcha for both of us.” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng also criticized U.S. politicians who have suggested China should be held accountable for the global pandemic, saying they should spend their time on “better controlling the epidemic situation at home.” But another government spokesman, Zhao Lijian, demonstrated that China was not above sowing confusion in the face of the pandemic. He tweeted in March the falsehood that the virus might have come from the U.S. Army. Trump, whose early response to the outbreak has been questioned, also pushed back on news reports that he was repeatedly warned about the virus by intelligence agencies. Trump said he was given the first intelligence briefing in “later January.” Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar also briefed Trump on the threat by phone on Jan. 18.   
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