Greece has rejected new calls by Turkey to start exploratory talks to settle their maritime differences, feeding into a long-running and dangerous energy standoff in the eastern Mediterranean. The snub comes as Greece tries to increase pressure on its European allies to impose sanctions on Turkey during a summit next week. Beyond Europe, Greece is also shoring up international support, including in the Middle East, to press Turkey to back down from what it believes are irrational and unsubstantiated claims in the region.As the voice of Greek diplomacy, Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias is usually subtle and discreet in his remarks.Angered, now, however, by what he calls Turkey’s continued defiance of international rules and regulations, he has lashed out at Ankara, saying its high time for Europe to call it out and take punitive action against its dispatch of a survey ship to scout for gas and oil in regions claimed by Greece.He also believes Turkey’s bid to return to the negotiating table with Athens ahead of next month’s EU leaders summit is just a last-minute ploy.Turkey, Dendias said, missed its chance, when it unilaterally shut the door on talks, instead resending a survey vessel to the eastern Mediterranean to search for gas and oil in contested waters.He warned that the European leaders would not be fooled, as he put it, by Ankara’s about-face and newfound desire to restart the talks.Dendias’ remarks come less than two weeks before EU leaders convene anew to consider sanctions against Turkey. However, to potentially stave off any action by Turkey and appease EU critics, Turkish President Recep Tayyip said this this week he would suspend his country’s contentious energy hunt in the eastern Mediterranean, in addition sending a top aide to Brussels to try and work out a compromise, face-saving deal with EU officials.Greece has been urging the EU to slap sanctions on Turkey since Erdogan ordered the first survey ship to the Eastern Mediterranean during the summer.Tensions have since then flared and a military buildup in the region has followed, as Erdogan has vowed to drill off the coast of a Greek island – a strip of seabed Athens says it alone has the right to exploit but which Ankara insists it has legitimate claims to because islands, as it argues, do not have continental shelves.Leading European nations, including Turkey’s biggest trade partner, Germany, have resisted sanctions against Ankara, especially as Turkey’s economy continues to be in free fall.However, like Greece, some U.S. officials are also growing frustrated with Turkey, as former U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said, “Turkey has become in many ways, for the EU and NATO, the largest problem because of its undue aggression in the eastern Mediterranean, because it continues to pick fights with Greece, along what Turkey believes is a contested border.”That leaves Greece extremely vulnerable. In an effort to increase pressure against Turkey, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has moved in recent weeks to shore up international support from countries Ankara was once closely aligned with, including the United Arab Emirates.In a lightening visit to Abu Dhabi, Mitsotakis signed a defense and strategic partnership agreement with the crown prince. While details of the pact have not been released, Athens analysts believe the deal drives a further wedge between Turkey and the Emirates , whose relations have deteriorated because of Erdogan’s active support of the Libyan government Abu Dhabi is fighting through the Libyan National Army.In recent months, Greece has also bolstered ties with Israel and grown closer to Egypt in a bid to sideline Turkey in the region.That strategy, some suggest, may backfire, though.With the Turkish economy waning and EU member states remaining divided over punitive economic action against Ankara, analysts in Athens say Erdogan is being further emboldened, warning he may move to escalate tensions in the eastern Mediterranean to deflect the attention of his electorate.
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Month: November 2020
Greece Rejects Turkey’s Renewed Call for Talks
Posted by Worldcrew On 26/11/2020
Supreme Court Blocks NY Coronavirus Limits on Houses of Worship
Posted by Worldcrew On 26/11/2020
As coronavirus cases surge again nationwide the Supreme Court late Wednesday barred New York from enforcing certain limits on attendance at churches and synagogues in areas designated as hard hit by the virus.
The justices split 5-4 with new Justice Amy Coney Barrett in the majority. It was the conservative’s first publicly discernible vote as a justice. The court’s three liberal justices and Chief Justice John Roberts dissented.
The move was a shift for the court. Earlier this year, when Barrett’s liberal predecessor, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, was still on the court, the justices divided 5-4 to leave in place pandemic-related capacity restrictions affecting churches in California and Nevada.
The court’s action Wednesday could push New York to reevaluate its restrictions on houses of worship in areas designated virus hot spots. But the impact of the court’s action is also muted because the Catholic and Orthodox Jewish groups that sued to challenge the restrictions are no longer subject to them.
The Diocese of Brooklyn and Agudath Israel of America have churches and synagogues in areas of Brooklyn and Queens previously designated red and orange zones. In those red and orange zones, the state had capped attendance at houses of worship at 10 and 25 people, respectively. But the those particular areas are now designated as yellow zones with less restrictive rules neither group challenged.
The justices acted on an emergency basis, temporarily barring New York from enforcing the restrictions against the groups while their lawsuits continue. In an unsigned opinion the court said the restrictions “single out houses of worship for especially harsh treatment.”
“Members of this Court are not public health experts, and we should respect the judgment of those with special expertise and responsibility in this area. But even in a pandemic, the Constitution cannot be put away and forgotten. The restrictions at issue here, by effectively barring many from attending religious services, strike at the very heart of the First Amendment’s guarantee of religious liberty,” the opinion said.
The opinion noted that in red zones, while a synagogue or church cannot admit more than 10 people, businesses deemed “essential,” from grocery stores to pet shops, can remain open without capacity limits. And in orange zones, while synagogues and churches are capped at 25 people, “even non-essential businesses may decide for themselves how many persons to admit.”
Roberts, in dissent, wrote that there was “simply no need” for the court’s action. “None of the houses of worship identified in the applications is now subject to any fixed numerical restrictions,” he said, adding that New York’s 10 and 25 person caps “do seem unduly restrictive.”
“The Governor might reinstate the restrictions. But he also might not. And it is a significant matter to override determinations made by public health officials concerning what is necessary for public safety in the midst of a deadly pandemic,” he wrote.
Roberts and four other justices wrote separately to explain their views. Barrett did not.
The court’s action was a victory for the Roman Catholic Church and Orthodox Jewish synagogues that had sued to challenge state restrictions announced by Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Oct. 6.
The Diocese of Brooklyn, which covers Brooklyn and Queens, argued houses of worship were being unfairly singled out by the governor’s executive order. The diocese argued it had previously operated safely by capping attendance at 25% of a building’s capacity and taking other measures. Parts of Brooklyn and Queens are now in yellow zones where attendance at houses of worship is capped at 50% of a building’s capacity, but the church is keeping attendance lower.
“We are extremely grateful that the Supreme Court has acted so swiftly and decisively to protect one of our most fundamental constitutional rights — the free exercise of religion,” said Randy Mastro, an attorney for the diocese, in a statement.
Avi Schick, an attorney for Agudath Israel of America, wrote in an email: “This is an historic victory. This landmark decision will ensure that religious practices and religious institutions will be protected from government edicts that do not treat religion with the respect demanded by the Constitution.”
Two lower courts had sided with New York in allowing the restrictions to remain in place. New York had argued that religious gatherings were being treated less restrictively than secular gatherings that carried the same infection risk, like concerts and theatrical performances. An email sent early Thursday by The Associated Press to the governor’s office seeking comment was not immediately returned.
There are currently several areas in New York designated orange zones but no red zones, according to a state website that tracks areas designated as hot spots.
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Trump Has Granted Fewer Pardons, Commutations Than Previous Presidents
Posted by Worldcrew On 26/11/2020
Despite the controversial nature of many of Donald Trump’s presidential pardons, including that of his associate, Michael Flynn, this week, Trump has granted clemency far less than any of his predecessors in the past century, according to a U.S. research group. FILE – Former national security adviser Michael Flynn, right, and his lawyer, Sidney Powell, leaves the federal courthouse in Washington, June 24, 2019.By contrast, Trump’s predecessor, Barack Obama, issued 212 pardons and 1,715 commutations during his eight years in office. President George H. W. Bush issued 74 pardons but just three commutations during his four years in office. Individuals may appeal to the president for clemency in two forms — sentence commutation and pardons. Generally, a commutation means a reduction, either partial or full, of a convict’s sentence. A pardon relieves a convict of any remaining punishment and/or future consequences of their crime. On Wednesday, Trump pardoned Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty in 2017 to lying to FBI agents about a series of conversations he had with Russia’s then-ambassador to Washington, Sergey Kislyak, about Obama administration sanctions during the Trump presidential transition in December 2016. “Congratulations to @GenFlynn and his wonderful family, I know you will now have a truly fantastic Thanksgiving!” Trump wrote on Twitter Wednesday, the day before the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday. It is my Great Honor to announce that General Michael T. Flynn has been granted a Full Pardon. Congratulations to @GenFlynn and his wonderful family, I know you will now have a truly fantastic Thanksgiving!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 25, 2020 The move came as a federal judge was weighing an abrupt decision by the Justice Department earlier this year to throw out Flynn’s case. Justice Department Drops Case Against Former Trump Adviser FlynnThe move marked a dramatic turnabout in a celebrated case that often inflamed partisan passions in Washington and among the general public Researchers note that while Trump has issued fewer pardons and commutations than his predecessors, the numbers are likely to change in his last two months as president. “I can’t speculate as to the reason why Trump has issued so few pardons/commutations to date or what may happen in the future,” John Gramlich, a researcher at Pew, told VOA in an email. “But it’s not unusual for presidents to grant clemency in the later stages of their tenure, so it wouldn’t be a total surprise to see Trump’s numbers go up in the next few weeks,” he added. Trump’s pardon of Michael Flynn is his 29th to date and his 45th overall act of clemency (including 16 commutations). So far Trump has used his clemency power less than any POTUS in 120+ years, but there’s still plenty of time left in his term. https://t.co/LpzA6CixMJpic.twitter.com/iOooRa0HJk— John Gramlich (@johngramlich) November 25, 2020Trump has granted 0.5% of clemency requests made to his administration. But some legal experts anticipate that he may be likely to grant more pardons, particularly of his past associates, who were indicted on charges similar to Flynn’s, before January. According to The New York Times, lawyers representing Trump campaign advisers, including Rick Gates and George Papadopoulos, could request clemency from the president as he nears the end of his term. Gates and Papadopoulous were also convicted of crimes unearthed during special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of the Trump administration’s ties to Russia. Trump’s first presidential pardon was in 2017 for Joe Arpaio, an Arizona sheriff who was convicted of unlawful racial profiling. The pardon was met with outrage from organizations and activists, including the American Civil Liberties Union, which called the move “a presidential endorsement of racism.” Trump Pardons Ex-Arizona Sheriff Arpaio
President Donald Trump on Friday granted a pardon to former Arizona lawman and political ally Joe Arpaio, the self-proclaimed "toughest sheriff in America," less than a month after he was convicted of criminal contempt in a case involving his department's racial profiling policy.Trump had signaled this week that the first presidential pardon of his administration would go to Arpaio, 85, whom he has frequently praised for his hard-line immigration stance.I am pleased to inform you that I have just…
In Thanksgiving Address, Biden Urges Americans to Recommit to Fight Against Virus
Posted by Worldcrew On 26/11/2020
President-elect Joe Biden delivered a Thanksgiving address Wednesday, saying the country will get through the pandemic and urging Americans to recommit to the fight against the coronavirus. Biden spoke as the United States is facing a steep rise in COVID-19 cases and a surge in food insecurity. White House correspondent Patsy Widakuswara reports.
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US Records Highest Coronavirus Toll Since May
Posted by Worldcrew On 26/11/2020
The United States registered its deadliest day from the coronavirus since May on Wednesday while also adding nearly 200,000 infections to a wave of new cases that is by far the worst the country has experienced at any time during the pandemic.More than 89,000 people were hospitalized as of Wednesday, another record figure that comes amid worries that Thursday’s U.S. Thanksgiving holiday will lead to even more infections with people traveling to gather with family and friends.Officials in many states have put restrictions in place to slow the spread of the virus. However, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a temporary order blocking New York state from enforcing attendance limits at houses of worship in areas that have infection spikes.In a 5-4 vote, the court sided with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn and two Orthodox Jewish congregations that challenged the system put in place by Gov. Andrew Cuomo.The majority opinion pointed to limits of 10 or 25 people in houses of worship, while under the same designation grocery stores and other essential businesses can operate without capacity restrictions.Chief Justice John Roberts, the only conservative justice who did not join the majority, said in his dissent that “it is a significant matter to override determinations made by public health officials concerning what is necessary for public safety in the midst of a deadly pandemic.”South Korea, one of the early hotspots in the pandemic is also in the midst of a new surge in cases, reporting more than 500 daily infections for the first time since early March.The rise in new cases comes a month after the government decided to ease strict social distancing rules in Seoul and its surrounding regions. Those measure were put in place during the last spike in August, and this week the government opted to reimpose them.Russia on Thursday reported its record one-day increase of 25,487 COVID-19 infections, pushing its total to nearly 2.2 million. Its 524 deaths during a 24-hour span were also a record for the country.In Germany, nearly 400 new deaths pushed that country’s toll to more than 15,000 since the pandemic began.The German government decided in early November to close restaurants, bars and sports facilities to combat a record rise in infections. Chancellor Angela Merkel and the governors of Germany’s states agreed late Wednesday to extend the restrictions through Dec. 20.There have been more than 60.4 million reported cases worldwide, with 1.4 million deaths.The United States has been hit the hardest, followed by Brazil with 170,000 dead, India with 135,000 dead, and Mexico at 103,000 dead.
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Bulgaria: Parliament Rejects Draft New Constitution
Posted by Worldcrew On 26/11/2020
The Bulgarian parliament on Wednesday rejected a controversial plan by Prime Minister Boyko Borisov to rewrite the constitution, which he submitted in August in an attempt to defuse the political crisis. This proposal, recently criticized by the Venice Commission, the Council of Europe’s consultative body on constitutional matters, received only 110 votes in favor, while a qualified majority of 160 out of 240 deputies was needed to continue the procedure. The Conservative government had launched such an initiative to try to weaken the protest movement, which vehemently denounces its alleged links with the oligarchy. But this decision, seen as a maneuver to buy time and stay in power until the general elections were held in March 2021, provoked a strong reaction from the demonstrators. Clashes with the police left more than 45 injured in Sofia in early September. The project brought for its detractors no limitation of the power of the Attorney General Ivan Geshev, today untouchable, whose resignation is demanded by the protesters. Deploring “a missed opportunity,” the Venice Commission regretted, in a press release, “that the launch of the constitutional reform was not preceded by an appropriate public debate, that the project was drawn up within the majority Parliament, apparently without any external input, and that the reasons for certain amendments were not well explained.” The demonstrations brought together thousands of people for more than 100 days, before becoming scarce in recent weeks, in particular because of the health situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Train Gunman Tells French Court His Target Was Only US Soldiers
Posted by Worldcrew On 26/11/2020
The gunman charged over a foiled 2015 train attack told a French court Wednesday that he had targeted only American soldiers, after refusing instructions from an Islamic State ringleader to kill members of the European Commission he was falsely told were in the train car.Ayoub El Khazzani, who had been armed with an arsenal of weapons including a Kalashnikov assault rifle, said the attack on the fast train from Amsterdam to Paris was planned as an act of vengeance for bombings of civilians in Syria, which he saw during a brief stay there.The monthlong trial for attempted terrorist murder opened Nov. 16. El Khazzani risks life in prison if convicted. Three accomplices, who were not on the train, sat beside him in the heavily guarded Paris courtroom.El Khazzani, a Moroccan, wounded a French-American who managed to briefly yank the Kalashnikov from his hands before the three vacationing Americans — who were long-time friends — took him down. Two of the three men were in the military but wearing civilian clothes.The Aug. 21, 2015, attack was allegedly planned by terrorist mastermind Abdelhamid Abaaoud with whom he traveled back to Europe. Abaaoud was killed by French special forces shortly after the Nov. 13 Paris massacre at a music hall and restaurants that left 130 people dead, just months after the foiled train attack.Abaaoud was thought to be the coordinator of the November attacks and was portrayed in court as the man behind the plot to carry out an attack on the train. One passenger, Mark Moogalian, who wrenched the Kalashnikov from the attacker as he emerged from a toilet, was injured in the back. El Khazzani told the court he had only meant to shoot him in the hand.The drama on the train is portrayed by investigators as one of a series of IS-linked attacks in Europe.”He put hate in my heart,” El Khazzani said of Abaaoud.He said Abaaoud told him there were to be members of the European Commission in car 12 and three to five American soldiers.The defendant could not explain how he was expected to recognize them or other targets. There were no known European officials in the first-class car. He said that in any event “I changed my mind” about killing anyone else on his mission. Asked whether he had repented, he said yes.
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US Civil Rights Pioneer Bruce Carver Boynton Dies at 83
Posted by Worldcrew On 26/11/2020
Bruce Carver Boynton, a civil rights pioneer from Alabama who inspired the landmark “Freedom RidesC of 1961, died Monday. He was 83.Former Alabama state Sen. Hank Sanders, a friend of Boynton’s, on Tuesday confirmed his passing.Boynton was arrested 60 years ago for entering the white part of a racially segregated bus station in Virginia and launching a chain reaction that ultimately helped to bring about the abolition of Jim Crow laws in the South. Boynton contested his conviction, and his appeal resulted in a U.S. Supreme Court decision that prohibited bus station segregation and helped inspire the “Freedom Rides.”Despite his pivotal role, Boynton was not as well known as other civil rights figures. Yet both his mother and father were early civil rights activists. His mother, Amelia Boynton Robinson, was savagely beaten while demonstrating for voting rights in 1965 and was honored by then-President Barack Obama 50 years later.”He did something that very few people would have the courage to do. He said no,” U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson said of Boynton in 2018. “To me he’s on a par with Rosa Parks,” the Black woman who refused to give up her bus seat to a white man.Boynton described his arrest in a 2018 interview with The Associated Press.Boynton was attending law school at Howard University in Washington, D.C., when he boarded a bus bound for Alabama in 1958. Public facilities including bus stations were separated by race across the South at the time, despite federal laws banning segregation in interstate travel.The bus pulled into a station in Richmond, Virginia, for a break, and Boynton went inside to eat. Seeing that the part of the restaurant meant for blacks had water on the floor and looked “very unsanitary,” Boynton said he sat down in the “clinically clean” white area. He told the waitress he would have a cheeseburger and tea.”She left and came back with the manager. The manager poked his finger in my face and said ‘ … move,’ ” using a racial slur, Boynton recalled in the interview. “And I knew that I would not move, and I refused to, and that was the case.”Convicted of trespassing, Boynton appealed, and his case wound up before the Supreme Court. Thurgood Marshall, then the nation’s leading civil rights attorney and later to become the first Black Supreme Court justice, was his counsel.Boynton contested his conviction, and the Supreme Court ruled in 1960 that federal discrimination prohibitions barring segregation on interstate buses also applied to bus stations and other facilities linked to interstate travel. The next year, dozens of black and white students set out on buses to travel the South and test whether the ruling in the case, Bruce Boynton v. Virginia, was being followed.The “Freedom Riders” were arrested or attacked in Alabama, Mississippi and South Carolina, and a bus was burned. Then-President John F. Kennedy ordered stricter enforcement of federal anti-discrimination laws.”He was a pioneer,” said Sanders. “All of the Freedom Rides sprung from this particular action.”Sanders said Boynton paid a price for what he did, and initially wasn’t able to get a law license in Alabama. He spent most of his career as a civil rights attorney before retirement.Thompson said in 2018 that Boynton’s life “is a teaching lesson for all of us about how we can make a difference.””All he wanted was a cheeseburger, and he changed the course of history.”
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In Thanksgiving Address, Biden Urge Americans to Recommit to Fight Against Virus
Posted by Worldcrew On 26/11/2020
President-elect Joe Biden delivered a Thanksgiving address Wednesday, saying the country will get through the pandemic and urging Americans to recommit to the fight against the coronavirus. Biden spoke as the United States is facing a steep rise in COVID-19 cases and a surge in food insecurity. White House correspondent Patsy Widakuswara reports.
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Turkish Court Adds New Saudi Defendants in Khashoggi Trial
Posted by Worldcrew On 26/11/2020
A Turkish court this week added new defendants to the case against Saudi officials charged in the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, state media reported, in a trial that Ankara says is needed to reveal the full truth behind the killing. Khashoggi, a critic of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was last seen entering the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018. Turkish officials believe his body was dismembered and removed; his remains have not been found. In September a Saudi court jailed eight people for between seven and 20 years over the killing, in a trial that critics said lacked transparency. None of the defendants was named. FILE – This image taken from CCTV video obtained by the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet and made available on Oct. 9, 2018 claims to show Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Oct. 2, 2018.At a hearing Tuesday in Istanbul, only the second session of a trial that opened four months ago, the court accepted a second indictment adding six defendants to the list of 20 Saudi officials already being tried in absentia. The latest indictment accuses a vice consul and an attache of “premeditated murder with monstrous intent.” The four others, also Saudi nationals, were charged with destroying, concealing or tampering with evidence. The court heard testimony from Egyptian opposition activist Ayman Noor, a friend of Khashoggi, before adjourning the case to March 4 and extending a process that has kept Khashoggi’s killing in the public eye and further strained relations between Turkey and Saudi Arabia. Yasin Aktay, a member of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s AK Party and an acquaintance of Khashoggi, said a just verdict could not have been expected from a Saudi court that was ruling on senior Saudi officials. Yasin Aktay, adviser to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Egyptian politician Ayman Noor talk to media after a trial on the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Arabian Consulate, in Istanbul, Turkey, Nov. 24, 2020.”The events actually transpired in Turkey. If we have a concern about justice, there is no other way than to have confidence in Turkish courts,” he said after Tuesday’s hearing. The first indictment accused two top Saudi officials, former deputy head of Saudi Arabia’s general intelligence Ahmed al-Asiri and former royal court adviser Saud al-Qahtani, of instigating murder. It said 18 other defendants were flown to Turkey to kill Khashoggi, a prominent and well-connected journalist who had grown increasingly critical of the crown prince. Noor said in court that Khashoggi called him about 10 days before he came to Turkey and broke down in tears as he asked Noor to delete an interview Khashoggi had recorded with him. “Qahtani had called him from Saudi Arabia. He threatened him with very strong language, saying he knew his children and was close to them,” Noor said, according to Turkey’s state-owned Anadolu news agency. Qahtani, a top aide to Crown Prince Mohammed who was sacked and was later sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury over his suspected role, has not faced trial in Saudi Arabia. He did not respond to requests for comment at the time of the Saudi trial. The CIA and some Western countries believe the crown prince ordered the killing, which Saudi officials deny. Reporters Without Borders said it was disappointed by the court’s rejection of its request to join the case as a civil party and would continue to closely monitor the case and call for adherence to international standards.
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YouTube Suspends US Network for Misinformation
Posted by Worldcrew On 26/11/2020
A U.S. network has been suspended from YouTube for a week for a video that the social media platform says violated its coronavirus misinformation policy.As of Tuesday, the conservative One America News Network (OAN) was suspended from uploading videos and livestreams to YouTube for one week. The platform, owned by Google, also suspended OAN from its Partner Program, which lets channels earn money through advertising and subscriptions.The YouTube logoThe suspension was imposed for a video that YouTube determined was in violation of its rules about the pandemic, which include not sharing misinformation about treatments or the virus.“Since early in this pandemic, we’ve worked to prevent the spread of harmful misinformation associated with COVID-19 on YouTube,” Ivy Choi, a YouTube spokesperson, said in a statement shared with VOA. “After careful review, we removed a video from OANN and issued a strike on the channel for violating our COVID-19 misinformation policy, which prohibits content claiming there’s a guaranteed cure.”YouTube did not directly say what the video showed.OAN provided VOA with a link to the video it says led to the YouTube suspension. The video questions whether a vaccine or lockdown measures are necessary and discusses hydroxychloroquine.The anti-malaria drug has proved to be ineffective against the coronavirus in several studies.Biden Plans Sharp Change in Coronavirus Response Pandemic is among president-elect’s top issues for Day One in office YouTube has a three-strikes policy. Users issued with three strikes for violating a policy within 90 days are permanently removed from the platform.Choi said that because of repeated violations of YouTube’s COVID-19 misinformation policy and monetization policies, OAN was suspended “from the YouTube Partner Program and as a result, its monetization on YouTube.”Channels can reapply for the Partner Program but must show they have addressed the issues that led to their removal, YouTube says.In a statement shared with VOA, OAN said that the video flagged by YouTube was not public, but unlisted “for review by internal OAN staff only.”The network said it would abide by policies for video available on YouTube but “OAN will not let YouTube’s arbitrary rules infringe upon its First Amendment editorial rights to inform the public.”COVID authoritiesOAN added, “It is our understanding that YouTube only recognizes two authorities for COVID-19, namely the CDC [the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] and local county health experts. We believe that the opinions of frontline doctors should also be heard, regardless if their views agree or differ from the CDC.”The conservative cable network OAN was founded in 2013 and has 1.22 million YouTube subscribers.The network has been supportive of President Donald Trump, who has shared and praised its reporting. OAN amplified Trump’s unsupported claims of voter fraud in the U.S. presidential election, Reuters reported. Earlier this year, Trump shared an unsubstantiated report by OAN that a man knocked to the ground by police in Buffalo, New York, was part of antifa, an umbrella term for left-leaning militant groups.Trump also praised OAN in a November 15 tweet about Fox News, saying, “Many great alternatives are forming & exist,” and recommending his followers try the network.This is why @FoxNews daytime and weekend daytime have lost their ratings. They are abysmal having @alfredenewman1 (Mayor Pete of Indiana’s most unsuccessful city, by far!) on more than Republicans. Many great alternatives are forming & exist. Try @OANN & @newsmax, among others! https://t.co/ewHE8GBRNy— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 15, 2020The influence of social media companies on American politics has become a potent issue in Washington in recent years. Politicians often complain that the platforms and their moderation policies are unfair to certain political factions or are worsening political tensions by spreading false and divisive content.Congress questioned the heads of Twitter and Facebook last week about policies, including on content moderation, with Republicans asking about claims that social media platforms flag or remove more posts from conservative voices.The platforms deny bias and say they are enforcing policies on hate speech and disinformation.During the hearing, Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat from Connecticut, said Google has been given a “pass” and was being rewarded for its “timidity” in content moderation.Letter to YouTube CEOAlso on Tuesday, four Democratic senators sent a letter to YouTube’s CEO, Susan Wojcicki, urging the platform to remove content that they said spread misinformation on election results.Since February, YouTube has removed 200,000 videos that it determined contained dangerous or misleading information about the novel coronavirus. The platform says it has expanded its policies on medical information to include possible threats to misinformation about the pandemic and treatments for COVID-19.Some information in this report is from Reuters.
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Pandemic Postpones National Math, Reading Tests Until 2022
Posted by Worldcrew On 26/11/2020
National reading and math tests long used to track what U.S. students know in those subjects are being postponed from next year to 2022 over concerns about whether testing would be feasible or produce valid results during the coronavirus pandemic, the National Center for Education Statistics announced Wednesday.The biennial National Assessment of Educational Progress evaluations used for the Nation’s Report Card were slated for early next year for hundreds of thousands of the country’s fourth- and eighth-graders. But widespread remote learning and health protocols would have added big complications and costs because the model uses shared equipment and sends outside proctors to conduct the testing in schools.Pushing ahead with testing in 2021 runs the risk of spending tens of millions of dollars and still not getting the data necessary to produce a reliable, comparable picture of state and national student performance, NCES Commissioner James Woodworth said in a statement. By law, they would have to wait another two years for the next chance at testing.Testing in 2022 instead “would be more likely to provide valuable — and valid — data about student achievement in the wake of COVID-19 to support effective policy, research, and resource allocation,” the leaders of the National Assessment Governing Board said in a separate statement supporting the move.The nonpartisan Council of Chief State School Officers also supported the NAEP postponement.Ohio Department of Education spokesperson Mandy Minick called it “entirely understandable” given the extensive disruptions schools are facing.”I think we’re all on the same page about trying to stress health and safety,” she said.However, the decision also delays data that could help show how the pandemic is impacting learning.Woodworth suggested that results from states’ annual tests — generally conducted using schools’ own equipment and staff, and perhaps therefore more feasible than the national tests — could help bridge the gap and provide a state-level look at the impact. But the NAEP postponement might have ripple effects in the debate about whether those state tests even happen in spring 2021.State tests, which are federally mandated and are used more for accountability purposes, were canceled last spring under federal waivers as the pandemic surged. The current presidential administration had indicated states shouldn’t expect to be granted another round of waivers if they request them, but it’s an issue likely to come up again after President-elect Joe Biden’s administration takes office.”If the national assessment can’t be done in ’21, states are legitimately going to say, ‘Well, why are we expected to test in ’21?'” said Chester Finn, a former chair of the National Assessment Governing Board and president emeritus of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute who advocates results-based accountability.If states get to skip the tests again this spring, that could create a multiyear gap in data that helps inform other decisions and identify concerns, and that’s problematic, Finn said.”If you’re not held accountable for your results, or there’s no way to do it because there’s no information about your results, then all sorts of bad things happen to the education system and to the kids in the education system,” he said. “We sort of go back to the pre-accountability days, when, you know, the only thing you knew about a kid’s learning was the teachers’ grades, and the only thing you knew about a school’s performance was what the principal said it was, and nobody had data on gaps between different groups of kids.”
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Iran Swaps Jailed British-Australian Academic for 3 Iranians Held Abroad
Posted by Worldcrew On 26/11/2020
Iran has released a British-Australian academic who had been detained in Iran in exchange for three Iranians who were held in another country, according to Iranian state TV. Kylie Moore-Gilbert, a University of Melbourne lecturer on Middle Eastern studies when she was detained, was sent to a Tehran prison more than two years ago after receiving a 10-year sentence for espionage. She is among several people from Western countries who were detained in recent years in Iran on espionage charges that rights groups and their families maintain are groundless. State TV has described the detained Iranians as “economic activists,” while a state TV-affiliated website described them as a businessman and two citizens who were detained “on baseless charges.” The Young Journalist Club news website provided little information about the Iranians, but it reported they were held for trying to avoid U.S. sanctions that were imposed on Iran two years ago when the U.S. withdrew from the Iran nuclear agreement. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have arrested dozens of dual nationals in recent years, primarily on espionage charges. Rights activists contend that Tehran has detained dual nationals to secure concessions from other countries. Iran has denied holding people for political reasons and accused many of the detainees of espionage. The British government did not immediately comment on Moore-Gilbert’s release.
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NGOs, Journalists Concerned French Bill Would Restrict Liberties
Posted by Worldcrew On 26/11/2020
A controversial security bill that is drawing protests from journalists and rights groups has cleared the lower chamber of France’s National Assembly.The so-called Global Security bill has sparked street protests and drawn angry criticism from media and rights groups that accuse the government of Emmanuel Macron of pushing illiberal measures akin to those of less developed democracies. The law aims to improve regulations for the use of drones and dash cams by security forces. It also creates new rules for private security companies and new prerogatives for local police. But to some human rights activists, parts of the text are concerning. Nicolas Krameyer, Amnesty International’s France program manager, said it is concerning that the bill would enable vast surveillance against citizens, with police officers equipped with dash cams and the use of drones to monitor civilians during protests. FILE – Masked protesters attend a demonstration as French parliament begins to discuss a proposed law that would make it a crime in some circumstances to circulate an image of a police officer’s face, in Nantes, France, Nov. 17, 2020.NGOs, including the press freedom group Reporters Without Borders, expressed concerns about the bill, especially Article 24, which would make it a criminal offense for anyone to disseminate images that — according to the text — might “harm the physical or mental integrity” of police officers. Those found guilty could be punished by a year in prison or a fine of up to $53,000. In a rare rebuke, the European Commission declared earlier this week that news media must be able to work freely. France’s Prime Minister Jean Castex discussed those concerns in a speech to French lawmakers this week. Castex said the intent was not to restrain freedom of the press and freedom of expression, and no one would be prevented from shooting and sharing videos involving policemen. Article 24, Castex said, is meant to protect security forces. French media professionals remain skeptical about the bill, which many of them believe could prevent them from reporting cases of police abuse. Krameyer said that with this law, contrary to what the government says, any journalist and citizen would be in trouble if they report, shoot and share videos involving the police. He said he fears the law opens the door for arbitrary procedures by security forces. The French Senate will vote on the Global Security bill in January. Castex has promised to ask France’s high court to review — and possibly strike down — the bill.
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Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade Reworked for COVID-19 Restrictions
Posted by Worldcrew On 26/11/2020
The show must go on. This year’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City will take place but not as we know it. The characteristic crowds of people who line the streets to catch a glimpse of the parade will be missing because of the coronavirus pandemic, organizers said in a statement on Wednesday. Spectators of the annual event will have to view the parade on television. NBC’s Savannah Guthrie, Hoda Kotb and Al Roker will host Thursday’s event, which is scheduled for broadcast from 9 a.m. until noon in all time zones across the United States. Macy’s also plans to restrict the parade to its storefront on 34th Street in New York City, cutting out its signature 4-kilometer route. Also, this year, high school and college marching bands will be absent. In partnership with the city, Macy’s promised to deliver a safe 94th Thanksgiving Day Parade. This included figuring out which roads to block to prevent people from entering the parade area. Program lineups involving musical performances, balloons, floats and an appearance by Santa Claus will not change. This year, late night talk show host Jimmy Fallon and The Roots band are scheduled to open the program with musical performances from entertainers including Patti LaBelle, Keke Palmer and Dolly Parton.
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Millions of Americans Travel for Thanksgiving Despite COVID-19 Warnings
Posted by Worldcrew On 25/11/2020
Millions of people in the U.S. are traveling ahead of Thursday’s Thanksgiving holiday, despite a surging COVID-19 death toll and record hospitalizations.Travelers’ dismissal of increasingly dire warnings to stay home and limit their holiday gatherings fueled concerns of another wave of coronavirus infections and COVID-19 deaths during the December holiday season. Sharp rises in cases usually result in a rising death toll weeks later.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 9 MB480p | 13 MB540p | 17 MB720p | 33 MB1080p | 66 MBOriginal | 202 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioAs more people traveled on Tuesday, the daily U.S. COVID-19 death toll exceeded 2,000 for the first time since May. A record 87,000 hospitalizations were reported on Tuesday as the country recorded 2.3 million new infections in the past two weeks alone.The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state and local governments have been strongly urging people to remain at home and keep their Thanksgiving celebrations small.Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade Reworked for COVID-19 Restrictions The 2020 event will be viewed on television only as organizers make major changesSome 1 million people passed through U.S. airport checkpoints each day from Friday through Tuesday, a 60% decline from the same time a year ago but still the largest crowds since the coronavirus crisis took hold in the United States in March.The American Automobile Association predicted fewer people would drive over the Thanksgiving holiday this year but did not offer specifics.
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Duchess of Sussex Reveals She Had Miscarriage During Summer
Posted by Worldcrew On 25/11/2020
The Duchess of Sussex has revealed that she had a miscarriage in July, giving a personal account of the traumatic experience in hope of helping others.
Meghan described the miscarriage in an opinion piece in the New York Times on Wednesday, writing that “I knew, as I clutched my firstborn child, that I was losing my second.”
The former Meghan Markle and husband Prince Harry have an 18-month-old son, Archie.
The duchess, 39, said she was sharing her story to help break the silence around an all-too-common tragedy. Britain’s National Health Service says about one in eight pregnancies in which a woman is aware she is pregnant ends in miscarriage.
“Losing a child means carrying an almost unbearable grief, experienced by many but talked about by few,” Meghan wrote.
“In being invited to share our pain, together we take the first steps toward healing.”
In a startlingly intimate account of her experience, the duchess described how tragedy struck on a “morning that began as ordinarily as any other day: Make breakfast. Feed the dogs. Take vitamins. Find that missing sock. Pick up the rogue crayon that rolled under the table. Throw my hair in a ponytail before getting my son from his crib.
“After changing his diaper, I felt a sharp cramp. I dropped to the floor with him in my arms, humming a lullaby to keep us both calm, the cheerful tune a stark contrast to my sense that something was not right.”
Later, she said, she “lay in a hospital bed, holding my husband’s hand. I felt the clamminess of his palm and kissed his knuckles, wet from both our tears. Staring at the cold white walls, my eyes glazed over. I tried to imagine how we’d heal.”
Sophie King, a midwife at U.K. child-loss charity Tommy’s, said miscarriage and stillbirth remained “a real taboo in society, so mothers like Meghan sharing their stories is a vital step in breaking down that stigma and shame.”
“Her honesty and openness today send a powerful message to anyone who loses a baby: this may feel incredibly lonely, but you are not alone,” King said.
Meghan, an American actress and star of TV legal drama “Suits,” married Harry, a grandson of Queen Elizabeth II, in a lavish ceremony at Windsor Castle in May 2018. Their son was born the following year.
Early this year, the couple announced they were quitting royal duties and moving to North America, citing what they said was the unbearable intrusions and racist attitudes of the British media. They recently bought a house in Santa Barbara, California.
The duchess is currently suing the publisher of Britain’s Mail on Sunday newspaper for invasion of privacy over articles that published parts of a letter she wrote to her estranged father after her wedding.
Last month a judge in London agreed to Meghan’s request to postpone the trial from January until fall 2021. The decision followed a hearing held in private, and the judge said the reason for the delay request should be kept confidential.
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Christmas Traditions Axed as Pandemic Sweeps Rural Kansas
Posted by Worldcrew On 25/11/2020
It’s barely a town anymore, battered by time on the windswept prairie of northwest Kansas. COVID-19 still managed for find Norcatur.
Not much remains of the rural hamlet, save for a service station, a grain elevator, a little museum, and a weekend hangout where the locals play pool, eat pizza and drink beer. The roof has collapsed on the crumbling building that once housed its bank and general store. Schools closed decades ago and the former high school building is used for city offices.
But for the 150 or so remaining residents, the cancellation of the beloved Norcatur Christmas Drawing has driven home how the global coronavirus pandemic has reached deep into rural America.
“Due to individuals who have COVID and refuse to stay home and quarantine it has been determined it is not safe for the citizens of Norcatur and the area to proceed,” read the notice tucked in the town’s newsletter and posted on its Facebook page. It blamed “negligent attitudes of lack of concern for others” for the cancellation.
In a decades-old tradition that evokes Norman Rockwell nostalgia, the whole town typically gathers for a potluck dinner at Christmastime. Its namesake drawing features a plethora of donated meats, crafts and other goodies so every family can go home with prizes. The local 4-H Club puts on its bake sale. Santa Claus comes riding the firetruck.
Decatur County has fewer than 3,000 people scattered across farms and small towns like Norcatur. As of Monday, the county had 194 coronavirus cases and one death, although medical providers say there are at least four more deaths of local residents that have yet to be added to the official toll.
Carolyn Plotts, a 73-year-old Norcatur resident who never had symptoms and only found out she was positive for COVID-19 when tested for a medical procedure in October, said two of her former high school classmates who live in the county died because of the virus. Her husband also tested positive.
“It’s been very real to me,” she said.
Plotts wondered whether the cancellation notice was maybe “talking about me.” During her quarantine she would only leave her house — with her doctor’s permission and wearing a mask, she said pointedly — to care for a housebound friend who still believes the pandemic is a hoax.
Carl Lyon, the Norcatur mayor who takes on the annual Santa role, said while most residents are “pretty good” about social distancing and wearing a mask, some have gotten the virus.
“I know a couple of people had it and they were still kind of running around and whatnot,” Lyon said. “Didn’t seem to bother them that they infected everybody else.”
Decatur County Sheriff Ken Badsky estimated that 5% of county residents who should quarantine violate the restrictions and go out. His office has called some and “insisted they do what they are supposed to do,” but has taken no legal action.
“I have so much other stuff to do. I don’t have time to follow people around,” Badsky said. “We have 900 square miles, we have three full-time officers and a part-time to take care of that and we are busy with everything else.”
Such sentiments anger medical providers as coronavirus cases surge and it gets more difficult to find beds for their sickest patients as hospitals across the state fill up.
“We need some backing to stop this virus and we are looking to people that need to do their job to do it, and so otherwise this thing is going to run rampant and it is going to put more pressure on our hospital,” Kris Mathews, the administrator of Decatur Health, a small critical access hospital in Oberlin, just 19 miles west of Norcatur.
Stan Miller, the announcer for the Christmas Drawing for more than 25 years, has mixed emotions about the decision to forgo it this year. The 63-year-old Norcatur resident said he understands that there are elderly people who you don’t want to get the virus. But it’s also disappointing.
“I like to see all the joy, especially the little kids,” Miller said. “We have Santa Claus after the drawing is over and to see them sit on Santa’s lap and tell them what they want for Christmas, you know, always puts a smile on my face.”
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US Jobless Benefit Claims Rise for 2nd Week in a Row
Posted by Worldcrew On 25/11/2020
U.S. unemployment benefit claims are on the rise again, increasing last week for the second week in a row, the Labor Department reported Wednesday.With the country’s recent surge in coronavirus cases posing a new threat to the world’s biggest economy, a total of 778,000 jobless workers filed new applications for jobless compensation, up 30,000 from the revised figure of the week before.It was the sixth straight week the number fell below 800,000 but remained above the highest pre-pandemic figure in records that date to the 1960s. It also was the first time since July that claims had risen in back-to-back weeks.
A total of 6.1 million workers remain unemployed, translating to a 4.1% jobless rate for the second week in November, the Labor Department said.The unemployment rate is a marked improvement from the pandemic low point — a 14.7% jobless rate in April. But with more than a million new coronavirus cases being recorded in the U.S. each of the last two weeks, state governors and municipal officials have been imposing new restrictions on business activity, after lifting similar curbs month ago, as the virus seemed to ebb.The new restrictions could portend more U.S. workers being laid off in the coming weeks as retail stores cut the hours they are open, restaurants close and entertainment and arts centers cancel live shows. The approaching colder winter weather in the U.S. also means that fewer outdoor gatherings are possible.Numerous health officials are urging Americans to stay home this week in advance of Thursday’s annual Thanksgiving holiday, normally a time when millions of people travel long distances to visit relatives. Many people are heeding the advice, but millions are not, packing airports across the country this week.U.S. President-elect Joe Biden announces his national security nominees and appointees at his transition headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, Nov. 24, 2020.U.S. President-elect Joe Biden has called for passage of a new coronavirus relief package by the end of the year, three weeks before he is inaugurated on January 20. Such a measure could include a new round of $1,200 checks to most adult Americans and restoration of some federal jobless aid on top of less generous state-by-state assistance.But the fate of such legislation is uncertain at best and may not occur before Biden takes office. Fractious Democratic and Republican lawmakers are at odds over the extent of the aid and who exactly should benefit. Democrats want extensive assistance for state and local governments, Republicans much less so. The country’s Commerce Department reported a month ago that the U.S. economy surged at an annualized 33.1% rate from July to September and confirmed the figure in a second reading released Wednesday. The U.S. economy had contracted 31.4% in the April-to-June period as the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic swept through the country.
But analysts believe that U.S. economic growth will end up being slower in the last three months of the year, especially if business restrictions are markedly increased, such as renewed limitations on indoor seating at restaurants.
Government officials have been reluctant to curtail business activity as much as they did in the March-to-June period. But as the virus spreads, some state governors who refused to impose earlier restrictions now are ordering limitations.In addition, some consumers have shunned in-store shopping or eating in restaurants, and many entertainment events have been canceled for months, contributing to the jobless rate.
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US Considers Shortening COVID-19 Isolation After Potential Exposure
Posted by Worldcrew On 25/11/2020
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is considering reducing the recommended self-quarantine period for people who may have been exposed to someone with COVID-19. Current guidelines recommend people isolate for 14 days in that situation, but an official said Tuesday the period could be shortened an unspecified amount if a person tests negative during the isolation period. The U.S. government is also working on its plan to quickly distribute the first round of coronavirus vaccines, should they receive regulatory approval. General Gustave Perna, chief operations officer for the government’s Operation Warp Speed, told reporters Tuesday that 40 million doses of vaccine made by two manufacturers would be available by the end of December. The Food and Drug Administration is due to decide December 10 whether to give emergency approval to Pfizer’s vaccine, while Moderna is expected to apply for approval soon. Both companies have released preliminary results from trials showing their vaccines appear to be effective. The government told states and territories last week how many doses of vaccine they will be allocated in the initial rounds, and it plans to issue further recommendations as to who should be prioritized for receiving the vaccine first. Health care workers are expected to be a focus of the first round of vaccines, and officials have said it could be April by the time a vaccine is available to everyone in the United States.University of Miami Miller School of Medicine lab tech Sendy Puerto processes blood samples from study participants in the specimen processing lab, Sept. 2, 2020 in Miami.The country is the world leader in total confirmed cases and has seen a spike in infections during the past month. An average of more than 170,000 new infections have been reported each day during the past week, along with 1,500 daily deaths. A record number of people are currently hospitalized for COVID-19 treatment. The CDC and officials in many states have urged people not to travel for Thursday’s Thanksgiving holiday or hold large gatherings with family due to fears of making the surge in infections even worse. Neighboring Canada celebrated its Thanksgiving holiday in early October and since then has seen its number of daily infections double. Canada’s Alberta province announced Tuesday a ban on social gatherings, a cap on how many people can be inside retail stores and halted classes for some students. “These measures are tough but necessary,” Premier Jason Kenney said, adding that social gatherings have been the biggest spreaders of the virus. “They are needed to keep our health care system from being overwhelmed.” In Japan, the government scaled back a campaign meant to boost tourism after a spike in cases that began there this month. Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said the trips destined for the cities of Sapporo and Osaka would be temporarily excluded. “Although we have tried to balance both economic revitalization as well as virus containment, we have made this decision at the local governors’ request,” Nishimura told reporters. Some European nations are planning to ease restrictions ahead of next month’s Christmas holiday. French President Emmanuel Macron announced Tuesday that starting Sunday, some shops can reopen and the nationwide stay-at-home orders put in place to hold down another wave in infections would be lifted on December 15. “We will be able to travel without authorization, including between regions, and spend Christmas with our families,” Macron said.
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Biden to Discuss ‘Shared Sacrifices’ as Coronavirus Looms Over Thanksgiving Holiday
Posted by Worldcrew On 25/11/2020
U.S. President-elect Joe Biden is set to discuss the coronavirus pandemic and the holiday season in an address Wednesday. The speech comes a day before the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, a time when millions of Americans typically gather with family, many traveling in order to do so. But this year, with COVID-19 infections spiking across the country, the federal government has urged people to stay home. Biden’s transition office said he will “discuss the shared sacrifices Americans are making this holiday season and say that we can and will get through the current crisis together.” On Tuesday, Biden declared that the United States is “ready to lead the world, not retreat from it,” signaling a sharp pivot from outgoing President Donald Trump’s “America First” credo over the last four years.WATCH: Biden picks his teamSorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
President-elect Joe Biden’s nominee for Secretary of State Tony Blinken speaks at The Queen theater, Nov. 24, 2020, in Wilmington, Del.Aside from Blinken, Biden named former Secretary of State John Kerry to a new position as special presidential envoy for climate, while giving him a seat on the National Security Council. It was a reflection, the Biden transition said, of the incoming president’s commitment to addressing climate change as an urgent national security priority. Biden selected Alejandro Mayorkas as head of the Department of Homeland Security. A Cuban American lawyer, he is a former deputy secretary at the agency. If confirmed by the Senate, he would be its first Latino and immigrant leader. Biden picked former Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, an African American woman and a 35-year veteran of the U.S. Foreign Service who has served on four continents, as U.S. envoy to the United Nations. Biden elevated her role to a seat in his Cabinet, a rank past presidents have also occasionally given the high-profile position. The president-elect named another woman, Avril Haines, as director of national intelligence. She is a former deputy director of the Central Intelligence Agency and a deputy national security adviser. She will be the first woman to lead the U.S. intelligence community if confirmed. Jake Sullivan, a Biden foreign affairs adviser, was named as Biden’s national security adviser. The president-elect and the newly named officials all wore face masks when they were not speaking, a pointed reminder to Americans that the country is facing a surging number of new coronavirus cases. The United States is moving to approve three vaccines that could begin to control the pandemic, but most Americans will not be able to get the shots until well into 2021. “To the American people, this team will make us proud to be Americans,” Biden said, adding that the group will bring “experience and leadership, fresh thinking and perspective, and an unrelenting belief in the promise of America.” Biden also plans to name Janet Yellen, the 74-year-old former chair of the Federal Reserve, the country’s central bank, as his Treasury secretary. If confirmed, she would be the first woman to lead the department. Biden has yet to decide other Cabinet appointments. He is set to become the 46th U.S. president, and at 78, its oldest. Trump is continuing his long-shot legal attempt to upend Biden’s November 3 election victory. Monday night, he acquiesced in his administration making an “ascertainment” that Biden was the likely winner, allowing Biden’s transition to move forward. But he did not concede and is continuing to pursue lawsuit challenges to the outcome of the election.
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Scotland First in the World to Make Sanitary Products Free
Posted by Worldcrew On 25/11/2020
Scotland on Tuesday made sanitary products free to all women, becoming the first nation in the world to take such a step against “period poverty.” The measure makes tampons and sanitary pads available at designated public places such as community centers, youth clubs and pharmacies, at an estimated annual cost to taxpayers of $32 million U.S. The Period Products (Free Provision) Scotland Bill passed unanimously, and First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon called it “an important policy for women and girls.” “Proud to vote for this groundbreaking legislation, making Scotland the first country in the world to provide free period products for all who need them,” Sturgeon posted on Twitter. During the debate, the bill’s proposer, Scottish Labour MP Monica Lennon, said: “No one should have to worry about where their next tampon, pad or reusable is coming from. “Scotland will not be the last country to consign period poverty to history, but we have the chance to be the first,” she said. In 2018, Scotland became the first country to provide free sanitary products in schools, colleges and universities. Some 10% of girls in Britain have been unable to afford sanitary products, according to a survey by the children’s charity Plan International in 2017, with campaigners warning many skip classes as a consequence. Sanitary products in the United Kingdom are taxed at 5%, a levy that officials have blamed on European Union (EU) rules that set tax rates on certain products. Now that Britain has left the EU, British Finance Minister Rishi Sunak has said he would abolish the “tampon tax” in January 2021.
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Biden Announces Cabinet Picks
Posted by Worldcrew On 25/11/2020
U.S. President-elect Joe Biden announced his picks for top diplomatic and national security posts in his forthcoming administration. Biden is pressing ahead with the transition process even though President Donald Trump has yet to formally concede. White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has the latest.Produced by: Bakhtiyar Zamanov
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Biden: US ‘Ready to Lead the World, Not Retreat From It’
Posted by Worldcrew On 25/11/2020
President-elect Joe Biden declared Tuesday that the United States is “ready to lead the world, not retreat from it,” signaling a sharp pivot from outgoing President Donald Trump’s “America First” credo over the last four years.As he prepares to assume office on January 20, Biden said the country is “ready to confront our adversaries, not reject our allies. And ready to stand up for our values.”From his transition center in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware, the president-elect introduced his top foreign policy and national security officials.“They embody my core belief that America is strongest when it works with its allies,” he said. “That’s how we truly keep America safe without engaging in needless military conflicts, and our adversaries in check and terrorists at bay.”Nominated Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during President-elect Joe Biden’s cabinet announcement event in Wilmington, Delaware, on Nov. 24, 2020.Biden’s selections, perhaps especially Antony Blinken for secretary of state, have a globalist viewpoint distinctly different from that of the Trump administration.Under Trump, the U.S. often found itself at odds with longtime Western allies while the U.S. leader appeared at ease with such autocrats as Russian President Vladimir Putin, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.Biden said, “America leads not only by the example of our power, but by the power of our example.”He said the officials he named “will not only repair, they will reimagine American foreign policy and national security for the next generation. And they will tell me what I need to know, not what I want to know.”President-elect Joe Biden’s climate envoy nominee former Secretary of State John Kerry speaks at The Queen theater, Nov. 24, 2020, in Wilmington, Del.Aside from Blinken, Biden named former Secretary of State John Kerry to a new position as special presidential envoy for climate, while giving him a seat on the National Security Council. It was a reflection, the Biden transition said, of the incoming president’s commitment to addressing climate change as an urgent national security priority.Biden selected Alejandro Mayorkas as head of the Department of Homeland Security. A Cuban American lawyer, he is a former deputy secretary at the agency. If confirmed by the Senate, he would be its first Latino and immigrant leader.Biden picked former Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, an African American woman and a 35-year veteran of the U.S. Foreign Service who has served on four continents, as U.S. envoy to the United Nations. Biden elevated her role to a seat in his Cabinet, a rank past presidents have also occasionally given the high-profile position.President-elect Joe Biden’s Director of National Intelligence nominee Avril Haines speaks at The Queen theater, Nov. 24, 2020, in Wilmington, Del.The president-elect named another woman, Avril Haines, as director of national intelligence. She is a former deputy director of the Central Intelligence Agency and a deputy national security adviser. She will be the first woman to lead the U.S. intelligence community if confirmed.Jake Sullivan, a Biden foreign affairs adviser, was named as Biden’s national security adviser.The president-elect and the newly named officials all wore face masks when they were not speaking, a pointed reminder to Americans that the country is facing a surging number of new coronavirus cases — tens of thousands of new infections a day, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. The U.S. is moving to approve three vaccines that could begin to control the pandemic, but most Americans will not be able to get the shots until well into 2021.“To the American people, this team will make us proud to be Americans,” Biden said, adding that the group will bring “experience and leadership, fresh thinking and perspective, and an unrelenting belief in the promise of America.”Former Fed Chair Janet Yellen appears for an interview on Aug. 14, 2019, in Washington.Biden also plans to name Janet Yellen, the 74-year-old former chair of the Federal Reserve, the country’s central bank, as his Treasury secretary. If confirmed, she would be the first woman to lead the department.Biden has yet to decide other Cabinet appointments. He is set to become the 46th U.S. president, and at 78, its oldest.Trump is continuing his long-shot legal attempt to upend Biden’s November 3 election victory.Monday night, he acquiesced in his administration making an “ascertainment” that Biden was the likely winner, allowing Biden’s transition to move forward.But he did not concede and is continuing to pursue lawsuit challenges to the outcome of the election.
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Americans Wait in Line for Hours for COVID-19 Tests as Holidays Approach
Posted by Worldcrew On 25/11/2020
With coronavirus cases surging across the U.S., more people who want to travel to be with family for the Thanksgiving holiday are getting tested for the virus. Lines are so long now that people wait for hours to be swabbed, as Mariama Diallo reports.
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Russian Influence Peddlers Carving Out New Audiences on Fringes
Posted by Worldcrew On 25/11/2020
After four years of warnings and preparations, the 2020 presidential election did not see a repeat of 2016, when intelligence officials concluded Russia meddled using a combination of cyberattacks and influence operations.
But according to current and former U.S. intelligence officials, as well as analysts, the good news ends there.
The Russians, they warn, have been busy laying the foundation for future success.
Instead of relying on troll farms and fake social media accounts to try to sway the thoughts and opinions of American voters, they warn the Kremlin’s influence peddlers have instead gained a new foothold, establishing themselves as part of the United States’s news and social media ecosystem, ingratiating themselves to U.S. audiences on the far right and the far left.
“A lot of these campaigns are getting engagement in the millions,” Evanna Hu, chief executive officer of Omelas, told VOA. “They are pretty good at inducing the type of sentiment, a negative sentiment or a positive sentiment in the audience, from their posts.”
Omelas, a Washington-based firm that tracks online extremism for defense contractors, has been studying Russian content across 11 social media platforms and hundreds of RSS feeds in multiple languages, collecting 1.2 million posts in a 90-day period surrounding the November 3 election.
It found the most prolific Russian outlets included state-backed media outlets like RT, Sputnik, TASS and Izvestia TV.FILE – Russian President Vladimir Putin is seen on the screen of a camera viewfinder in a studio of Russia’s RT television channel in Moscow, Russia, June 11, 2013.“We only look at active engagements, so you have to physically click on something or retweet it,” said Hu, admitting that the estimate for the millions of engagements is still “pretty rough.”
Also, Omelas determined that only about 20% of the posts pumped out by Russia’s propaganda and influence machine are in English. Forty percent of the content is in Russian, with the rest going out in Spanish, Arabic, Turkish and a handful of other languages.
Russian-backed media
U.S. officials have been reluctant to speak publicly about the impact these efforts have had on American citizens, in part because there is no easy way to measure the effect.
After the 2016 election, for example, intelligence officials repeatedly said while they were able to conclude Russian efforts expressed a preference for then-candidate Donald Trump, they could not say whether any Americans voted differently as a result.
Still, multiple officials speaking to VOA on the condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the subject said it was unlikely that Russia would continue to spend money on these media ventures if the influence operations were not producing results.
An August 2020 report by the State Department’s Global Engagement Center, while not sharing a figure, concluded Moscow “invests massively in its propaganda channels, its intelligence services and its proxies.”
U.S. election security officials have likewise repeatedly voiced concerns about Russia’s efforts to stake out space in the news and social media ecosystem.
“I’m telling you right now, if it comes from something tied back to the Kremlin, like RT or Sputnik or Ruptly, question the intent,” Christopher Krebs, the former director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, told a cybersecurity summit in September. “What are they trying to get you to do? Odds are, it’s not a good thing.”FILE – The main newsroom of Russia’s Sputnik news is seen in Moscow, April 27, 2018.Senior CISA officials again called out Russian-backed media while briefing reporters on Election Day (November 3), begging Americans to treat any information coming from Russian-linked sources with a “hefty, hefty, hefty dose of skepticism.”
Disinformation payoff
To some extent, the repeated warnings about Russian-supported outlets like RT and Sputnik have paid off, at least when it comes to this month’s presidential election.
“They (RT and Sputnik) aren’t prominent domains in any of the analyses that we’ve done on false narratives of voter fraud,” Kate Starbird, a University of Washington professor and lead researcher with the Election Integrity Partnership, told VOA via email.
“They do sometimes amplify disinformation that is already spreading,” she added. “But they typically come in late and rarely change the trajectory of that disinformation.”
Some intelligence officials and researchers warn, though, that for now, that could very well be enough.
“You still see people sharing their (Russian) content in America,” said Clint Watts, a former FBI special agent who has been studying Russian disinformation efforts for years. “The reach of Russian news inside the U.S. … is exponentially higher than in other countries. So, they can see a return on it.”
Redfish red herring
To help grow that return even more, and to avoid labels that identify the content as Russian, outlets like RT and Sputnik have also begun pushing content through the social media accounts of some of their most popular hosts, added Watts, currently a non-resident fellow at the Alliance for Securing Democracy. Then there is the Redfish channel on Instagram, which Watts said has allowed Russia to gain “significant traction.”“They put up a heavy rotation on George Floyd protests, and that is now where you see Americans sharing it routinely, millions and millions of shares,” Watts told VOA. “They dramatically raised their profile, particularly with the political left in the United States and African Americans, who I’m convinced have no idea that Redfish is a Russian outfit.”
Far-right appeal
Russia is also finding ways to resonate with the far right.
According to the August report by the Global Engagement Center, Russian proxy websites like Canada’s Global Research website or the Russian-run Strategic Culture Foundation amplify conspiracy theories about subjects like the coronavirus.
Researchers like Watts say that propaganda then sometimes finds its way onto far-right websites such as ZeroHedge or The Duran, where it gets amplified again.
Another researcher warned that Russian efforts are also resonating with far-right conspiracy theorists, some of whom will pick up propaganda from proxy sites, or more mainstream sources like RT.
“All of these Q(Anon)-driven accounts — they love the Russian stuff,” the researcher told VOA on the condition of anonymity, given the sensitivity of the work.
Into the mainstream
Not all Russian propaganda efforts circulate on the fringes of American politics. Some of the narratives hang around and are repeated often enough that they become difficult to ignore.
“So then, they can get somebody else from the American far right or far left to pick up on that story and then eventually snowball that so mainstream picks up on it … coopting the American media in a sense,” said Omelas’s CEO, Hu.
Other times, Russia’s influence peddlers have found their contributors thrust into the spotlight.
For example, on November 20, U.S. President Trump repeatedly retweeted Wayne Dupree, who regularly writes opinion pieces for RT.We have great support on the Election Hoax! https://t.co/ChpkuZvc4s— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 20, 2020
Just days earlier in a RT opinion piece, Dupree slammed what he described as “the fraudulent and brazen behavior of these Democrats to destroy the election’s integrity.”“They are all going to fall hard, along with the major news networks that have sought to brainwash the American people,” Dupree added. “The entire system is coming down, folks. Get ready.”
A number of researchers and U.S. counterintelligence officials say the incident falls into what has become an all-too familiar pattern.It’s actually quite a bit worse than that, the whole convergence of Kremlin media and conservative media…. https://t.co/dlJsUeeZOo— Clint Watts (@selectedwisdom) November 20, 2020In June, U.S. officials and lawmakers warned that RT purposefully courted outspoken, local U.S. police officers and union officials, attempting to use their reactions to protests sweeping across the country to further inflame tensions.
“They know they no longer need to do their own work,” National Counterintelligence and Security Center Director William Evanina told Hearst Television in October.
“They’re now taking U.S. citizens’ information, and they are taking it and amplifying it,” he said. “Whether it be conspiracy theorists or legitimate folks who have wrong information, they get amplified consistently.”
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