Category: Aktualności

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo travels to Afghanistan amid coronavirus outbreak, sending a strong signal about U.S. interest in salvaging the peace process
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The long-awaited trial of a former U.S. Marine facing charges of espionage got under way in Moscow on Monday — with U.S. officials accusing Russia of providing no evidence in a spy case that has proved an added irritant to already troubled relations between the two countries.  Paul Whelan, 50, was arrested by FSB security agents in late December 2018 after allegedly accepting classified materials on a computer thumb drive in a central Moscow hotel.  Whelan has repeatedly denied those charges, insisting he was in Moscow for a friend’s wedding and had accepted the drive from a Russian acquaintance without ever knowing or viewing its contents. The former Marine, who in addition to U.S. citizenship holds passports from the U.K., Canada and Ireland, also says he’s been mistreated and denied medical treatment while in detention — an assertion that U.S. officials have backed repeatedly and did so again Monday. U.S. Ambassador to Russia John J. Sullivan joined his counterparts from the U.K. and Ireland at the courtroom Monday, where the presiding judge allowed them to speak with Whelan briefly before closing the hearing to the public — a standard practice in Russian-led “top secret” espionage cases. “It’s a sad day for me as an American and a U.S. ambassador, in these circumstances, to come and see a citizen of my country held in such circumstances, with serious health problems unaddressed, with no evidence that’s been produced to justify his incarceration for well over a year, and his inability to communicate with his family despite repeated requests by him and by me to the Russian government,” said Sullivan, in a statement afterward to the press. “I am hoping that, as this process moves forward, we see a fair and transparent judicial process,” Sullivan added. “Every person, every citizen, of every country in the world, deserves that.” In turn, Russia’s foreign ministry has accused Whelan of feigning illness — part of what the ministry says is Whelan’s playbook training as a U.S. intelligence officer after being caught “red-handed” by Russia’s security services. If convicted on existing charges, Whelan faces the possibility of 10-20 years in prison.U.S. ambassador to Russia John Sullivan speaks with journalists after his meeting with Paul Whelan, a U.S. national arrested and accused of espionage, outside a detention centre in Moscow, Russia January 30, 2020.COVID-19, witnesses, and ‘a goat rodeo’ The Whelan trial proved one of the rare court proceedings currently in session in Russia, after the country’s high court postponed most judicial work last week out of fear of the spread of the coronavirus. Whelan’s Russian lawyers, Olga Karla and Vladimir Zherebenkov, said that — barring unforeseen delays because of the contagion — the closed trial would last about a month in which they promised to mount a vigorous defense. Speaking to reporters, Zherebenkov said he planned to call at least a dozen witnesses, all of them Russians with whom Whelan had been in contact during multiple visits to the Russian Federation in recent years. Whelan’s legal team also indicated they planned to call embassy officials to the stand, a move they assured would prove Whelan’s innocence of the spy charges. “We’ll interrogate the embassies to prove that Whelan physically could not be an agent as a citizen of four different countries,” said Zherebenkov, in comments carried by the Interfax News Agency. “It’s simply not possible,” he added. Yet, throughout the run-up to Monday’s hearing, Zherebenkov has repeatedly acknowledged that politics may play a larger role than material evidence in resolving the case. Last December, the lawyer publicly floated the idea of including Whelan in a wider prisoner swap between Russia and the West. “Paul is a citizen of four countries. None of them has asked to organize his exchange yet,” noted Zherebenkov before pleading: “Take the initiative gentlemen!” Meanwhile, Whelan has called on U.S. President Donald Trump to intervene on his behalf, asking the American leader “to tweet your intentions” about a case that Whelan has colorfully labeled “the Moscow goat rodeo.” 
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Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin say they hope a deal on a $2 trillion economic aid package can be reached Tuesday. They held talks until late into the night Monday after the Senate failed for a second time to advance a bill that would send money to most Americans and many businesses that have been severely impacted by the deadly coronavirus.    Republican and Democratic leaders have exchanged sharp words as the process unfolded in recent days, with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell accusing Democrats of delaying the process by asking for changes to the bill and Schumer saying McConnell wasted time by bringing two procedural votes on the measure he knew would fail. Democrats first blocked advancing the aid package on Sunday.  After more negotiations Sunday night and Monday morning, they again voted against moving the legislation forward on Monday afternoon, triggering the fresh talks between Schumer and Mnuchin, with a phone call to President Donald Trump. The aid package is aimed at boosting the U.S. economy by sending direct payments to more than 90% of Americans and a vast array of U.S. businesses to help them weather the immediate and burgeoning economic effects of the coronavirus.  Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky. speaks to reporters outside the Senate chamber after Democrats block a coronavirus aid package on Capitol Hill, Monday, March 23, 2020, in Washington.Most U.S. families of four would get $3,000 in assistance, with the aid package also creating a $500 billion lending program for businesses, cities and states, and $350 billion more to help small businesses meet payroll costs at a time when there is a declining demand for their products and services.    Democrats focused their objections on the $500 billion lending program for businesses, which some critics are calling a “slush fund” because the Treasury Department would have wide discretion over who gets the money, with little accounting for how the money is spent.     Trump, in comments made Sunday, appeared to agree with the Democrats’ contention.   “I don’t want to give a bailout to a company and then have somebody go out and use that money to buy back stock in the company and raise the (stock) price and then get a bonus,” Trump said. “So, I may be Republican, but I don’t like that. I want them to use the money for the workers.”    But by Monday afternoon he stood before reporters at the White House and said Congress should approve “the Senate bill as written.” Governors in at least 13 states have ordered millions of people to stay home, in effect quarantined, to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. No national shutdown is planned.    The toll from the coronavirus is mounting in the U.S. More than 41,000 cases have been confirmed, with more than 500 deaths. Both figures have markedly increased in recent days. 
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At a time of great uncertainty, even the seasons seem scrambled. Christmas lights in springtime?  Wrapped around a tree trunk in Colorado, fashioned into a heart in Alabama and hung high over Main Street in a New Hampshire town, holiday lights are going back up. As the coronavirus spreads, the displays are providing a bit of emotional and actual brightness. And they’re especially easy to enjoy from a safe social distance. “We live out in the country, but I know you can see them from the highway,” said Julie Check, who turned on the white lights that trace the roof line of her home in Eastman, Wisconsin, on Wednesday night. “Anything I can do to make people happy right now, I’m going to try to do.” In Farmington, New Hampshire, a roughly five-block stretch of downtown has been re-illuminated with holiday lights that swoop and zigzag between tall wooden posts. So cherished is the town’s 80-year decorating tradition that taxpayers approved spending $11,500 six years ago to erect the posts after the electric company said lights could no longer be affixed to its poles. Jason Desjardin, of the Farmington Preservation & Improvement Organization, turns the Christmas lights back on in Farmington, N.H., March 19, 2020.”It’s a small town; we don’t have a lot of traditions. That was one of them, and we just didn’t want it to go away,” said Lee Warburton, president of the Farmington Preservation and Improvement Organization, which maintains and installs the lights. At his suggestion, the 27 strands totaling 2,000-plus bulbs were tested and turned back on Thursday night. “It’s tough for everybody right now. Everyone is on edge,” he said. “We just thought it would be nice to give the folks in town something to smile about.” Police Chief John Drury was all for the idea. He remembers how pretty the lights looked when he first visited the town for a job interview on a December day 20 years ago.  “It was one of the things that actually drew me to this community when I was first looking to be a police officer,” he said. “By bringing the lights back, hopefully it gives people the sense of hope that we’re all in this together. We’ll get through it.” A lit Christmas tree hangs from a pole at dusk as holiday lights illuminate downtown in Farmington, N.H., March 19, 2020.Many of the posts on Twitter and other social media platforms point back to a Colorado man who tweeted Monday that his mom thought people should put Christmas lights in their windows “to remind each other there is still life and light” while they stay home to avoid the virus.  Rosemary Peterson, the mom in question, said Thursday she made the offhand suggestion after making the wrenching decision to indefinitely postpone the funeral for her sister, Marlene, who died on March 13. “We know we are not alone. Many are giving up events, experiences, celebrations and milestones,” she said. “So in the midst of a lot of darkness, I thought we could all use some light.” Both she and her son were surprised that his tweet took off. “He told me, ‘Mom, there are a lot of people looking at this!’ and I said, ‘Oh, no! We have to go put out some lights!'” Peterson said. “We ran out and wrapped a tree and had another light string we put around our front window. Nothing too fancy, I’ll tell ya.” Two young men walk down Main Street under Christmas lights in downtown Farmington, N.H., March 19, 2020.Since then, others have adopted his #lightsforlife hashtag to share photos of their efforts. In Huntsville, Alabama, Sarah Bang said she usually just winds a string of white lights around the railing of her apartment balcony for Christmas. But after seeing Peterson’s tweet, she made a heart shape instead. “I had Christmas lights because I’m super into Christmas, so I dug them out and decided love was a good thing to spread,” she said.  
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A Trump administration official said Sunday that illegal border crossings have dropped by half as the strictest U.S.-Mexico border policies yet went into place amid the coronavirus pandemic, but there was confusion about how it was all working.  
Anyone caught crossing the border illegally is to be immediately returned back to Mexico or Canada, according to the new restrictions based on an order from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention late Friday. According to Mark Morgan, the acting head of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the decision applies to all migrants.  
“We’re not going to take you into our custody,” he said Saturday evening on Fox News. “We don’t know anything about you. You have no documents, we’re not going to take you into our facilities and expose you to CBP personnel and the American people as well as immigrants,” he said.  
But Mexican officials have said they would only take people from Mexico and Central America and only those who are encountered straight away — not people already in custody. Officials later said the elderly and minors won’t be taken back and that they expected to take in about 100 per day. 
“If people who are not Mexican or Central American are returned to us, Mexico would not accept them,” Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard said Friday in Spanish. “The United States will take care of that.”  
The majority of people crossing the border are from Central America, but not all. For example, there were some 6,000 Brazilians and nearly 1,200 Chinese who arrived between January and February this year, according to Customs and Border Protection data.  
But it’s not entirely clear what happens to those people. Morgan said the migrants should be “expeditiously” returned to the country they came from.  
CDC on Friday issued an order in effect for 30 days that bars anyone coming illegally in part because migrants are held in close quarters and there isn’t enough proper staffing or space to keep them at a safe distance and to screen for the illness. Plus, migrants who are suspected of having COVID-19 are sent to local hospitals, possibly further infecting others, the CDC warned.  
The borders remain open, according to Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf, but only to facilitate trade; the U.S. has about $3 billion per day with Canada and Mexico. Tourists and shoppers were asked to stay home.  
Wolf said Sunday on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures” that the number of migrants crossing illegally had plummeted, but it was important to “keep supply chains open,” but to do it in a careful and considerate way that would “limit the introduction and spread of the virus.”  
Meanwhile, there was growing concern on the Mexican side of the border that the number of migrants stranded there would only increase, with shelters already at capacity.  
“We have 300 people in the shelter and we can no longer take it. We have been a week without the United States asking for people and if they don’t ask, we are going to be overcrowded,” said Héctor Joaquín Silva, director of the Senda de Reynosa shelter, which borders McAllen, Texas.
Silva said he hasn’t accepted more migrants and has kept the shelter in quarantine to avoid infections but that migrants continue to arrive in Reynosa.  
Meanwhile, in the U.S., immigrant advocates filed a lawsuit in Washington D.C. requesting the immediate release of migrant families from detention facilities over concerns of inadequate care and an environment ripe for an outbreak. They say the country’s three detention centers where families are held — Berks in Pennsylvania, and Karnes and Dilley in Texas — have failed to take adequate measures to protect families from COVID-19.  
Immigration enforcement has  wide latitude on when to release migrants. Earlier this year, Homeland Security officials said they would detain families as long as possible in an effort to discourage migrants from crossing the border. Most families are held 20 days.  
“The families who are detained in these detention centers facilities have no criminal history and do not pose any threat whatsoever to public safety and are not a flight risk — they all came to the United States to seek asylum and are actively pursuing the right to remain in the United States,” the advocacy groups wrote.
ICE has said it is working to contain any spread of the virus in its detention facilities. The agency did not comment on the lawsuit. Immigration courts are still operating, but with scattered closures and delays in some hearings.  
For most people, the new  coronavirus  causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia. More than 300,000 have been infected worldwide.  
The vast majority of people recover from the new virus. According to the World Health Organization, people with mild illness recover in about two weeks, while those with more severe illness may take three to six weeks to recover.
Curbing immigration has been a signature policy of Trump’s, and he’s tried to block asylum seekers before but failed after courts ruled against him. On Sunday, a text from his re-election campaign read: “Pres. Trump is making your safety his #1 priority. That’s why we’re closing BORDERS to illegals.”
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Rising seas are causing inland flooding in many parts of the world. This is especially true in southern Florida where, increasingly, high tides are flooding buildings and roads, threatening drinking water and causing soil erosion.  As we hear from VOA’s Deborah Block, human-caused climate change is the biggest culprit, but Mother Nature is lending a hand to hold back the tides.
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U.S. lawmakers are racing to enact a massive rescue package to prop up an American economy increasingly paralyzed by efforts to contain the novel coronavirus.Stock markets plunged last week — wiping out nearly all gains recorded during Donald Trump’s presidency — as activity in public places across the country ground to a halt.  With factories, businesses, restaurants and schools shutting down and entire industries in shambles, workers are facing layoffs, cutbacks in hours or having to make the difficult choice of working while ill if they lack paid sick leave.  Despite positive test results for lawmakers in both chambers that have forced self-quarantining measures, Democratic and Republican leaders say lawmakers must stay in Washington to finish work on an economic stimulus package.  “The coronavirus is slowing our economy to a near standstill,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said on the Senate floor last week. “We’re almost certainly anticipating a recession.” Lawmakers and the White House have devised a series of phases to rescue the U.S. economy. Here is a summary of what each phase has been designed to do.   Phase One Lawmakers initially focused on funding U.S. public health efforts to combat the coronavirus, passing an $8.3 billion package earlier this month. Trump asked Congress for little more than $2 billion in funding, with a plan to fund $535 million of that request by rerouting unused funds allocated to fight Ebola. Democrats pushed back on that plan and ultimately negotiated a bill with the White House that included $3 billion for coronavirus vaccine development and $1 billion for U.S. international aid efforts to combat the virus.  Trump signed that bill on March 6.  Phase Two  The Democrat-majority House of Representatives took the lead on negotiating the first bill with Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin to address the devastating economic impact of the crisis.  The Senate passed “phase two” of the bill last week by a 90-8 vote. The bill offers COVID-19 testing without cost, an extension of unemployment benefits to address the needs of workers who may be laid off due to the crisis, as well as paid sick leave for workers at some U.S. companies.  The MGM Grand hotel-casino, which is closing, flashes messages on their marquees, March 16, 2020, in Las Vegas, Nevada.Lower-income workers in the United States make up one-quarter of the American workforce that has no access to paid sick leave.  The House-passed bill has several loopholes, which means the sick leave extension would not apply to companies with fewer than 50 employees or more than 500 workers. The bill also caps the amount of sick leave pay workers can collect.  Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky expressed reservations about the bill but encouraged Republicans to pass it.  “I do not believe we should let perfection be the enemy of something that will help even a subset of workers,” McConnell said on the Senate floor last week. “The House bill has real shortcomings. It does not even begin to cover all of the Americans who will need help in the days ahead.” The Republican-majority Senate passed the bill last week, as it became clear that lawmakers would need to quickly work on passage of a more ambitious economic stimulus bill.  Phase Three  The Senate is taking the lead on working with the White House to craft a massive economic stimulus plan that could be nearing $2 trillion in cost. A member of staff gives food to families at the DC Bilingual School after the school was closed due to the global coronavirus pandemic in Washington, March 17, 2020.The Treasury Department proposed a direct deposit of $1200 to hundreds of millions of Americans, based on family and income size starting in April. Under that plan, the U.S. government would also offer billions of dollars in loans to small businesses teetering on the edge of financial ruin amid social distancing and quarantines. Republicans have also proposed $75 billion in aid to hospitals and health care providers. But Democrats have expressed concerns the bill does send enough money to hospitals and state and local governments. They are also arguing the legislation does not do enough to help lower and middle-class Americans hurt by the crisis, pushing back against Republicans’ proposal for a $500 billion fund controlled by the Treasury Department to aid the hardest-hit industries. “We want the workers to come first,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told news network CNN Sunday. “If a corporation is getting money because they need something, and airlines is the industry they’re talking about, they’ve got to keep their employees, they’ve got to not cut the pay of their employees, and they should not do stock buybacks, increases in compensation for the top executives.”Leverage over Republicans
Democrats have unexpected leverage in the Republican-majority Senate after Rand Paul of Kentucky became the first U.S. senator to test positive for the coronavirus. His absence – along with self-quarantining measures by Utah Senators Mike Lee and Mitt Romney – means McConnell must have Democrat votes to pass the measure.Lawmakers are aiming to pass this new round of economic relief by the end of this week to calm an anxious public. But once the bill is passed in the Senate it would head over to the House of Representatives, where House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats are drafting their own version of the economic assistance bill. “We’ll be introducing our own bill and hopefully it will be compatible,” Pelosi said Sunday.Identical legislation must pass both chambers before it can go to the White House for President Trump’s signature.Despite warning signs negotiations could be much longer than expected, President Trump said the bill would provide much-needed assistance.“Our goal is to get relief to Americans as quickly as possible so that families can get by and small businesses can keep workers on the payroll,” Trump told reporters Sunday. “This will help our economy, and you will see our economy skyrocket once this is over. I think it’s going to skyrocket.” 
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Now that the restaurant where he works full time in the Washington suburb is closed, server Gerardo Espiell, 23, plans to move back in with his mother and sister to make ends meet. Together, he’s hopeful they can make the mortgage.  “Honestly, it’s kind of crazy,” he says. “I’m very calm about everything. I’m just taking it day by day. I have some PTO (paid time off) saved up, so I’m using my PTO.”  Server Gerardo Espiell says he has no savings because all of his earnings go to rent and other living expenses. (Photo courtesy Gerardo Espiell)In San Francisco, Anita Reyes, who had her fourth child six months ago, usually waitresses at SanJalisco, the family restaurant owned by her mother, Delores. Her husband works there, too.  “It’s overwhelming,” she says. “I thought I’d come in and help her because she can’t afford the workers. We’re living off this food (in the restaurant refrigerator) right now. We’re taking it home to our families.”   Percy Saloman, who drives for a ride-hailing service in Virginia, is still working, but he’s putting in longer hours for less money.  “Yeah, I’m worried, because right now, this is my second shift, and I only made like $70. And usually, I finish with around $150 or something,” he says.  Saloman, Espiell and Reyes are among millions of American workers in service industries that are among the hardest hit by restrictions imposed by many U.S. states trying to stem the spread of the coronavirus known as COVID-19. Some states are telling people they must stay home. Businesses that are deemed as nonessential are closing. About one in six workers, some 17% of U.S. employees, could be impacted by social distancing, according to an analysis from Ball State University. “Four-and-a-half million retail sales folks, 3.5 million food preparation, almost 3.5 million cashiers, 2.5 million waiters and waitresses,” says Ball State University economist Michael Hicks. “So, those numbers add up pretty quickly to about 28 million workers in the United States who are immediately affected by the social distancing measures that have been taken at the federal, state and local level in the U.S … a very vulnerable share of the workforce. These are mostly low wage workers. (They) face almost immediate financial problems.” Congress is debating a relief package that could include a direct cash payment to U.S. adults. “I think something like at least a short-term universal basic income that pays everybody $1,000 a month for three, four or five, six months,” Hicks says. “We could collect some of that back in taxes from the better-off, for those of us who are unaffected by this. Those are the sorts of policies that are going to, I think, sustain households through this short-term social distancing that we’re facing right now.” Server Syndi Brooks, a married mother of one who works at a San Diego eatery, relies on tips to help support her family. (Courtesy Sydni Brooks)Money like that could go a long way for some workers.  “That would help a lot, actually,” says Syndi Brooks, a server in the San Diego area. “That would hold me over for a few months.”  The 29-year-old has a 7-year-old daughter. She and her husband, a tattoo artist whose business is also suffering, are living off money they’ve saved.  “I’m worried. I’m lucky to have some savings, and I know a lot of people don’t,” Brooks says. “This wasn’t what we intended to save for. We were intending to save for a house.”  Espiell, the server from Virginia, says help from the federal government could make all the difference, especially with money already being tight. “Not just me, but, like, everybody in the service industry sometimes live paycheck by paycheck, especially, like, it’s been very slow this winter, too,” he says. “Not a lot of people have been coming out, so, everybody’s trying to save up all that winter money by not going out and all that stuff. Or, like, you know, some people don’t eat.” Ride-hailing driver Percy Saloman, picking up a fare in Northern Virginia on March 17, 2020, is driving longer hours for less money.Saloman intends to keep driving. Beyond that, he admits to having no plan for his, and his family’s, future. “So far, the only thing that I can do day by day, is just to keep working longer shifts to be able to provide the same income that I was bringing in before,” he says. Reyes, the San Francisco server, is hopeful her family and its business can see the crisis through. “We’re staying together,” she says. “If this is only a timeout for a little bit, then we’re sticking together.” 
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As more people across the US stay home due to the threat of the coronavirus, they are learning to adapt to a new way of life. VOA’s Julie Taboh spoke with a few Washington area residents to see how they’re making the best of a scary situation.
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U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in Kabul Monday on a previously unannounced visit to try to resolve a political dispute between President Ashraf Ghani and his rival Abdullah Abdullah that has threatened to derail a deal signed between the U.S. and the Taliban last month. Both Ghani and Abdullah declared themselves president of the country after a contentious election.       The trip, at a time when world leaders are limiting travel due to a coronavirus pandemic, and when the Trump administration’s Afghanistan czar Zalmay Khalilzad has been in Kabul for weeks trying to help sort out the political mess, speaks to the gravity of the dispute.   FILE – Afghan presidential election opposition candidate Abdullah Abdullah (L) and Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani are seen after a press conference at the presidential palace in Kabul, Feb. 29, 2020.“What we want is President Ghani and former chief executive Abdullah to come to an agreement about how to form an inclusive government that is acceptable to both,” a senior State Department official told reporters.  “Both sides know there is some distance. Let’s see if they can overcome that today.”    Meanwhile, after weeks of squabbling, the Afghan government and the Taliban made their first direct official contact Sunday using Skype video conferencing facilities to discuss the issue of prisoner release.      “The over two-hour technical discussion today was important, serious, and detailed. My thanks to all sides. Everyone clearly understands the coronavirus threat makes prisoner releases that much more urgent,” tweeted Khalilzad, the U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation.        
 The over two-hour technical discussion today was important, serious, and detailed. My thanks to all sides. Everyone clearly understands the coronavirus threat makes prisoner releases that much more urgent.— U.S. Special Representative Zalmay Khalilzad (@US4AfghanPeace) March 22, 2020The issue of the release of up to 5000 Taliban prisoners in return for up to 1000 Afghan security personnel has been holding up the start of negotiations between Taliban and other Afghan factions that were supposed to commence on the 10th of March as per the deal signed between the U.S. and Taliban in Doha last month.      A Qatar Foreign Ministry statement called the talks “fruitful and constructive, in which the two parties discussed important issues related to the lists of prisoners and how to verify them and the locations of their release and transfer them to the agreed locations.”       Both the United States and Qatar, the two parties that facilitated the contact, made sure to identify it as “technical talks” focused on prisoner release to avoid making them sound like the start of official negotiations.      The Taliban have strongly refused to negotiate with the Afghan government, calling it a puppet of the Americans. Instead, they have agreed to negotiate with a team of Afghans including representative of various political factions, including the government, civil society activists, women, and others.  
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President Donald Trump is directing the federal government to cover the costs of coronavirus relief efforts carried out by National Guard troops that are activated under the control of state governors. During a White House news conference Sunday evening, Trump specifically mentioned California, New York and Washington state, those hardest-hit so far, and said National Guard troops would help set up medical stations and distribute hundreds of tons of masks, gowns, respirators and other supplies.   Trump has already approved major disaster declarations for all three states. Judie Shape, center, who has tested positive for the coronavirus, but isn’t showing symptoms, presses her hand against her window after a visit through the window and on the phone with her relatives, March 17, 2020, in Kirkland near Seattle.A number of governors, including New York’s Andrew Cuomo, have been appealing to the White House to nationalize efforts to get medical supplies, complaining that state leaders have been competing against one another to get their hands on what’s available. “I think the federal government should order factories to manufacture masks, gowns, ventilators, the essential medical equipment that is going to make the difference between life and death,” Cuomo said at a news conference Sunday in Albany. “It’s not hard to make a mask or PPE (personal protective equipment) equipment, or a gown, but you need companies to do it.” Trump said the U.S. Navy medical ship Mercy, will be deployed off Los Angeles and another ship, the Comfort, will be sent up the East Coast within weeks, likely to be docked in New York Harbor. The head of the White House coronavirus task force, Vice President Mike Pence, said all commercial laboratories in the United States must make in-patient coronavirus testing their priority. Pence said 254,000 Americans have been tested so far, and that a new test with results in about 45 minutes will be ready by the end of next week. Surgeon General Jerome Adams says 9 out of 10 people who think they have coronavirus symptoms test negative. U.S. President Donald Trump briefs reporters at a news conference on the latest steps the United States is taking to fight the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, Washington D.C., March 22, 2020. (C. Presutti/VOA)When a reporter asked if illegal migrants can be tested at hospitals or clinics without the fear of being detained, Trump said: “Yes. If that’s not the policy, I will make it the policy.”   Closing stores and restaurants, theaters and other amusements, grounding travel and ordering people to stay home has battered the U.S. economy. Record losses on Wall Street, predictions of soaring unemployment numbers and a forecast of a recession are tangible signs that the coronavirus is turning life upside down for 7 billion people around the globe. But Trump said the U.S. economy will “skyrocket” when the country wins what he calls the war against “the hidden enemy.” Trump did not use the word coronavirus during his news conference, but twice called it the “China virus,” ignoring those who say such words veer into a racism. Trump has denied any racist intent. But he again Sunday complained that he is still upset with China for apparently rejecting U.S. offers of help when the outbreak grew earlier this year. The World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have repeatedly asked people to call the disease by its proper scientific name: COVID-19. Facing criticism that he has failed to show genuine compassion during the outbreak, Trump said he wanted those who feel alone and isolated to know that “no one is alone as long as we are a united people.” He promised to always fight for Americans.  As of late Sunday, there were about 34,000 coronavirus cases in the U.S. and 450 deaths. 
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President Donald Trump is activating the U.S. National Guard in the three states hit hardest by the coronavirus outbreak – California, New York and Washington state.During a 90-minute-long White House news conference Sunday evening, the president said the guard will be at the command of the three governors to help set up federal medical stations and distribute hundreds of tons of masks, gowns, respirators and other supplies.  Trump has already approved major disaster declarations for New York and Washington state and said he will have done the same for California by the end of the day Sunday.Judie Shape, center, who has tested positive for the coronavirus, but isn’t showing symptoms, presses her hand against her window after a visit through the window and on the phone with her relatives, March 17, 2020, in Kirkland near Seattle.A number of governors, including New York’s Andrew Cuomo, have been appealing to the White House to nationalize efforts to get medical supplies, complaining that state leaders have been competing against one another to get their hands on what’s available.  “I think the federal government should order factories to manufacture masks, gowns, ventilators, the essential medical equipment that is going to make the difference between life and death,” Cuomo said at a news conference Sunday in Albany. “It’s not hard to make a mask or PPE (personal protective equipment) equipment, or a gown, but you need companies to do it.”  Trump said the U.S. Navy medical ship Mercy, will be deployed off Los Angeles and another ship, the Comfort, will be sent to the East Coast within weeks, likely to be docked in New York Harbor.The head of the White House coronavirus task force, Vice President Mike Pence, said all commercial laboratories in the United States must make in-patient coronavirus testing their priority.Pence, who had been tested himself with a negative result, did not sugarcoat the test, calling it uncomfortable. A technician swabs the patient’s nasal cavity or the back of the throat for cells.He said 254,000 Americans have been tested so far. Pence said a new test with results in about 45 minutes will be ready by the end of next week.  U.S. President Donald Trump briefs reporters at a news conference on the latest steps the United States is taking to fight the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, Washington D.C., March 22, 2020. (C. Presutti/VOA)Surgeon General Jerome Adams says 9 out of 10 people who think they have coronavirus symptoms test negative.  When a reporter asked if illegal migrants can be tested at hospitals or clinics without the fear of being detained, Trump said “Yes. If that’s not the policy, I will make it the policy.”  Closing stores and restaurants, theaters and other amusements, grounding travel and ordering people to stay home has battered the U.S. economy.  Record losses on Wall Street, predictions of soaring unemployment numbers and a forecast of a recession are tangible signs that the coronavirus is turning life upside down and inside out for 7 billion people around the globe.But Trump said the U.S. economy will “skyrocket” when the country wins what he calls the war against “the hidden enemy.”Trump did not use the word coronavirus during his news conference, but twice called it the “China virus,” ignoring those who say such words veer into a racism.  Trump has denied any racist intent. But he again Sunday complained that he is still upset with China for apparently rejecting U.S. offers of help when the outbreak grew earlier this year.The World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have repeatedly asked people to call the disease by its proper scientific name: COVID-19.Facing criticism that he has failed to show genuine compassion during the outbreak, Trump said he wanted those who feel alone and isolated to know that “no one is alone as long as we are a united people.” He promised to always fight for Americans.As of late Sunday, there were about 33,000 coronavirus cases in the U.S. and 400 deaths.
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New Yorkers are fighting the coronavirus in any way they can: respecting the government directives, recommendations by health authorities and trying to stay strong in the face of calamity as they did in the wake of September 11, 2001  terrorist attacks.  Many New Yorkers, like people around the world, derive strength from their families. So, it is not surprising that some couples refused to postpone their wedding plans and took their vows wearing gloves or protective masks in ceremonies performed by an official standing at a distance.  Unseasonably warm weather Friday drew many New Yorkers to parks for jogging, riding bicycles and playing outdoor with their children.People gather in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park as state and city officials urge residents to maintain social distancing to control the growing COVID-19 outbreak, Sunday March 22, 2020, in New York.But the city’s life is far from normal, said scholar Kannan Srinivasan who has been doing a lot of research at a specialized department of the New York Public Library.“I knew this place might shut down any day, so I went through an elaborate procedure to check out the books that I normally use there, and brought them home so I could continue working,” Srinivasan told VOA in an email. “But a lot of my time has been wasted on watching the news, trying to follow precautions and so on. So, I’ve done very little work,” he said, adding that his wife also will have to start working from home this week and he is worried they might get on each other’s nerves.  A surgical mask is placed on The “Fearless Girl” statue outside the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday, March 19, 2020, in New York.But Srinivasan told VOA both he and his wife are impressed with the response by their governor, Andrew Cuomo, and mayor, Bill de Blasio.The numbers are growing by the hour. New York state had nearly 16,000 confirmed cases, up from 5,100 confirmed Friday and 800 just more than a week ago.The United States has more than 33,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with more than 400 confirmed deaths, 117 of them in New York state, according to Johns Hopkins University of Medicine on Sunday night.Cuomo, New York state’s governor, has placed a lot of blame on the slow response by the Trump administration, especially a delay in approving COVID-19 tests.  Cuomo confirmed the first case of COVID-19 in New York City on March 1.  The federal government authorized New York City to create its own test on March 11.  Since then New York has conducted 45,000 tests.New York Governor Andrew Cuomo delivers remarks at a news conference regarding the first confirmed case of coronavirus in New York State in Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., March 2, 2020.In an effort to curb the spread, Cuomo ordered workers in nonessential fields to stay at home, starting Sunday night. Essential businesses that will remain open include grocery stores, pharmacies and public transit. Schools have been closed across the country as well as in New York.The New York restrictions came as some hospitals struggled with shortages of safety masks, breathing ventilators and other health supplies.De Blasio, the city’s mayor, Sunday called on U.S President Donald Trump to turn the making and distributing of medical supplies over to the U.S. military.“I can’t be blunt enough. If the president doesn’t act, people will die who could have lived otherwise,” de Blasio told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”Hours later, Trump said he had ordered the Federal Emergency Management Agency to ship mobile hospital centers to Washington, California and New York. For New York, that would mean another 1,000 hospital beds. The president also ordered one of the U.S. Navy’s hospital ships to New York Harbor.On Sunday, New York surpassed Washington state in the number of fatal cases.And the governor told hospitals to find a way to expand the number of beds by half because predictions from health officials are that COVID-19 cases needing advanced medical care will top 100,000 in New York state in the coming weeks.
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Senator Rand Paul confirmed Sunday that he has tested positive for COVID-19 – the first U.S. Senator to do so.  “Senator Rand Paul has tested positive for COVID-19. He is feeling fine and is in quarantine,” a tweet from the Kentucky Republican’s account read.  The Senator said that he was asymptomatic and had not been in contact with any known carriers of the novel coronavirus but was tested out of an “abundance of caution due to his extensive travel and events”.  Senator Rand Paul has tested positive for COVID-19. He is feeling fine and is in quarantine. He is asymptomatic and was tested out of an abundance of caution due to his extensive travel and events. He was not aware of any direct contact with any infected person.— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 22, 2020 The Senator’s office began operating remotely ten days ago, so it affirmed that “virtually no staff” had been in contact with him.  As many Americans across the United States struggle to get tested for COVID-19, many critics have taken to social media questioning how and why the senator was able to be tested if he was asymptomatic and had no known contact with a carrier.  The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has said that testing abilities in the United States are expected to increase. 
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New York City was hit by the nation’s largest coronavirus jail outbreak to date this week, with at least 38 people testing positive at the notorious Rikers Island complex and nearby facilities — more than half of them incarcerated men, the board that oversees the city’s jail system said Saturday.Another inmate, meanwhile, became the first in the country to test positive in a federal jail.In a letter to New York’s criminal justice leaders, Board of Correction interim chairwoman Jacqueline Sherman described a jail system in crisis.She said in the last week, board members learned that 12 Department of Correction employees, five Correctional Health Services employees, and 21 people in custody at Rikers and city jails had tested positive for the coronavirus.And at least another 58 were being monitored in the prison’s contagious disease and quarantine units, she said.“It is likely these people have been in hundreds of housing areas and common areas over recent weeks and have been in close contact with many other people in custody and staff,” said Sherman, warning that cases could skyrocket. “The best path forward to protecting the community of people housed and working in the jails is to rapidly decrease the number of people housed and working in them.”New York officials have consistently downplayed the number of infections in its prisons and jails, The Associated Press has found in conversations with current and former inmates.Late Saturday, the city’s Department of Corrections acknowledged 19 inmates had tested positive — two fewer than in the board’s letter — and 12 staff members. On Friday, department said just one inmate had been diagnosed with coronavirus, along with seven jail staff members.Earlier this week, Juan Giron was transferred to Rikers Island from an upstate facility after his sentence was vacated because the judge had failed to consider him for youthful offender treatment. After going through intake, where he underwent health screening, he was taken to a dormitory that housed more than two dozen men, their beds lined up next to one another, spaced a few feet apart.“This is like a shelter. So everybody is out and about. You’re talking to people, mingling” Giron said. “Last night, a guy is brought in at around 6 p.m., and a few hours later, two police officers come in with masks and gloves on and try to give the guy a mask. They looked scared, didn’t even want to touch him. They told him to pack up, so he packed up and they took him out. It was crazy.”“We asked one of the officers and they said, ‘That’s the process we are doing now for guys who have the virus,’” Giron said, adding that others who had had contact with the man have not been questioned or notified about his status.More than 2.2 million people are incarcerated in the United States — more than anywhere in the world — and there are growing fears that an outbreak could spread rapidly through a vast network of federal and state prisons, county jails and detention centers.It’s a tightly packed, fluid population that is already grappling with high rates of health problems and, when it comes to the elderly and the intern, elevated risks of serious complications. With limited capacity nationally to test for COVID-19, men and women inside worry that they are last in line when showing flu-like symptoms, meaning that some may be infected without knowing it.The first positive tests from inside prisons and jails started trickling out just over a week ago, with less than two dozen officers and staff infected in other facilities from California and Michigan to Pennsylvania.Sherman wrote to Commissioner of New York City’s Department of Correction, the Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals, New York’s Acting Commissioner, and district attorney asserting that those who are at higher risk from infection, including people over 50 or with underlying health conditions, should be considered for early release. So should people detained for administrative reasons, like parole violations, she wrote.Mayor Bill de Blasio earlier this week said prosecutors were working to identify candidates and by Friday night, prosecutors in New York City agreed to release 56 Rikers inmates on their own recognizance.Bianca Tylek, executive director of the national criminal justice advocacy organization of Worth Rises, said that wouldn’t cut it.“There are nearly 1,500 people incarcerated on Rikers Island for low level offenses or technical parole violations who can be released immediately,” she said. “Releasing them would reduce their risk of infection, reduce the risk for all those who remain incarcerated, and reduce the spread of the virus into the public.”A man incarcerated in New York City, meanwhile, became the first confirmed case in the federal prison system on Saturday.The man, who is housed at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, complained of chest pains on Thursday, a few days after he arrived at the facility, the federal Bureau of Prisons told the AP. He was taken to a local hospital and was tested for COVID-19, officials said.He was discharged from the hospital on Friday and returned to the jail, where he was immediately placed in isolation, the agency said, adding medical and psychiatric staff were visiting him routinely.Others housed with the man are also being quarantined, along with staff members who may have had contact with him.There have been two positive cases among BOP staff members: an employee who works at an administrative office in Grand Prairie, Texas, and another employee who works in Leavenworth, Kansas, but who officials said did not have contact with inmates since becoming symptomatic.Ronald Morris, who leads the union for correctional officers at FCC Oakdale in Louisiana, said Sunday that two inmates at the federal prison complex had tested positive. One was hospitalized and the other was being isolated in the prison’s special housing unit, he said. Staff members were having their temperature taken and some were sent home after they didn’t pass the screening, Morris said.The Bureau of Prisons referred the AP to their website, which had not been updated since Saturday.The Bureau of Prisons has temporarily halted visitation at all 122 federal correctional facilities across the U.S., including both social and legal visitation, though officials have said some exceptions could be made for legal visits.For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and even death.The vast majority of people recover from the virus. According to the World Health Organization, people with mild illness recover in about two weeks, while those with more severe cases may take three to six weeks to recover.
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With 8.6 million residents cooped up at home indefinitely, New York City’s health department has offered graphic guidance on safe sex practices during the coronavirus pandemic.“You are your safest sex partner,” the 2-page document says. It then encourages individuals to wash their hands and any pleasure devices they may use.The city advises that other than masturbation, “the next safest partner is someone you live with.” But urges you to “skip sex if you or your partner is not feeling well.”Health officials warn that kissing – which involves saliva — can quickly spread COVID-19, the respiratory infection caused by the new coronavirus, but it has not yet been found in other bodily fluids associated with sex.“We know that other coronaviruses do not efficiently transmit through sex,” the guidance says. SARS and MERS are examples of two earlier coronaviruses.New York State is leading the United States with virus cases, with more than 10,300 as of Saturday. More than 8,000 are in the densely populated city.People queue to enter a tent erected to test for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at the Brooklyn Hospital Center in Brooklyn, New York City, March 19, 2020.The state’s governor has ordered all non-essential workers to stay home and has told residents to only go out for groceries or the occasional exercise. That leaves people with a lot of free time.After blizzards and hurricanes, many cities see baby booms, and perhaps it is with this in mind that health officials issued their guidance. They also recommend you “have an effective form of birth control for the coming weeks.”Officials are also urging people to avoid online dating for now and keep your circle of contact as small as possible.“If you usually meet your sex partners online or make a living by having sex, consider taking a break from in-person dates,” the city says. “Video dates, sexting or chat rooms may be options for you.”And if you do go that route, health officials recommend that you disinfect keyboards and touch screens that you share with others.Social distancing — staying 2 meters apart —  is still the order of the day.But whatever route you go, always, always wash your hands.Full NYC guidance on sex and the coronavirus can be found at: https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/doh/downloads/pdf/imm/covid-sex-guidance.pdf 
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The U.S. Congress is moving toward passage of a massive $1.8 trillion economic aid package to send money to most Americans and many businesses that have been severely impacted by the deadly coronavirus. Aside from the obvious impact of the public health crisis, perhaps two million or more U.S. citizens have been laid off from work as thousands of schools, national businesses and such community enterprises as gyms, restaurants, bars and stores have shut their doors, either voluntarily or under state and local government orders. Governors in five states — New York, New Jersey and Connecticut in the East, Illinois in the U.S. heartland and California on the Pacific coast — have ordered millions of people to stay home, in effect quarantined to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. No national shutdown is planned. FILE – Traders at the New York Stock Exchange listen to President Donald Trump’s televised White House news conference, March 17, 2020.All stock market gains since President Donald Trump took office in January 2017 have been erased in a matter of a few weeks, while economists say the U.S., the world’s biggest economy with more than $21 trillion in goods and services produced last year, could soon slip into a recession, its first in more than a decade. FILE – A caregiver tests a patient for coronavirus at University Hospitals, March 16, 2020, in Mayfield Heights, Ohio.The toll from the coronavirus is mounting in the U.S., with more than 27,000 confirmed cases and at least 323 deaths, with both figures markedly increasing in recent days. The U.S. Senate, normally sharply politically divided between the 53-member Republican majority and the 47 opposition Democrats, is working on the aid package in tandem with the administration of the Republican Trump.  The Senate is planning to approve it in a rare Sunday afternoon session, with final passage in the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives on Monday. “We’re all negotiating and everybody’s working hard,” Trump said Saturday, while urging his countrymen, “Stay at home and save lives.” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Trump’s key negotiator with congressional leaders, told the “Fox News Sunday” show, “I do think it will get done. The president is very determined to help Americans.” “We think we can stabilize the economy,” Mnuchin said. FILE – Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, March 11, 2020, before a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing on the FY’21 budget.Mnuchin said the aid package would give thousands of small businesses, those with 500 or fewer employees, enough cash to keep their businesses afloat for two weeks provided they keep their employees working as soon as they can and not dismiss them. He said this part of the aid package would affect about 50% of the U.S. economy, about half of its workforce of 160 million people. Mnuchin said that in addition, most Americans would get direct aid, with a family of four getting about $3,000 in one-time assistance. Congressional leaders say this part of the aid package would extend to individuals earning up to $99,000 annually and married couples up to $198,000, which covers about 91% of U.S. households.  “They can think of this as a bridge to get through this,” Mnuchin said. He said the cash to families would be a one-time payout, but that if the coronavirus impact lasts longer “we’ll come back for more.” The Treasury chief said a third plank of the package would sanction $4 trillion in lending rights for the country’s central bank, the Federal Reserve, to inject new liquidity into the American economy as it sees fit.  “We need the money now,” Mnuchin said of the overall package. “The president has every intention this is going to look a lot better in eight to 10 weeks.” “The U.S. economy is strong,” he said. “The economy is going to bounce back significantly.”    
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Young German adults hold “corona parties” and cough toward older people. A Spanish man leashes a goat to go for a walk to skirt confinement orders. From France to Florida to Australia, kitesurfers, college students and others crowd beaches.Their defiance of lockdown mandates and scientific advice to fight the coronavirus pandemic has prompted crackdowns by authorities on people trying to escape cabin fever brought on by virus restrictions. In some cases, the virus rebels resist — threatening police as officials express outrage over public gatherings that could spread the virus.“Some consider they’re little heroes when they break the rules,” said French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner. “Well, no. You’re an imbecile, and especially a threat to yourself.”People ride their bikes along a bike bath near the pier, March 21, 2020, in Huntington Beach, Calif. California Governor Gavin Newsom issued a statewide stay at home order for Californians in an attempt to slow the spread of the coronavirus.‘You’re not Superman’After days of noncompliance by people refusing to stay home and venture out only for essential tasks, France on Friday sent security forces into train stations to prevent people from traveling to their vacation homes, potentially carrying the virus to the countryside or beaches where medical facilities are less robust.The popular Paris walkway along the Seine River was closed and a nightly curfew was imposed in the French Mediterranean city of Nice by Mayor Christian Estrosi, who is infected with the virus.Florida’s governor closed all of the state’s beaches after images of rowdy spring break college crowds appeared on TV for days amid the rising global death toll, which surpassed 13,000 Sunday. Australia closed Sydney’s famous Bondi Beach after police were outraged at pictures of the crowds.New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Saturday that people from 18-to-49 account for more than half of the state’s coronavirus cases, warning them “you’re not Superman, and you’re not Superwoman.”Many people were not complying with social distancing recommendations to stay away from each other in New York City’s vast city park network ahead of a ban on congregating in groups that goes into effect Sunday night, Cuomo said.“You can wind up hurting someone who you love, or hurting someone wholly inadvertently. Social distancing works, and you need social distancing everywhere,” Cuomo warned.China’s exampleAs new coronavirus cases in China dropped to zero several days in a row, the chief medical officer for the International Clinic of Wuhan was alarmed at those elsewhere refusing to follow rules to contain the virus. Dr. Philippe Klein said people should look to China’s confinement of tens of millions as an example to emulate “with courage, with patience, with solidarity.”“I exhort you, the French, to apply the rules in our way,” said Klein, who is French.Worldwide, over 307,000 people have been infected. For most, the coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms. But it can cause more severe illness in others, especially older adults and people with existing health conditions. Some 92,000 people have recovered, mostly in China, where the virus first struck late last year.A woman wears a face mask to protect against coronavirus infection as she shops at an IKEA store in Beijing, March 21, 2020.Who are the virus rebels?The virus rebels tend to range from restless teens to wealthy adults who can travel to their getaway homes. Even in Italy, where the virus death toll soared beyond China’s last week, authorities are still trying to rein in people from going outside for fresh air, sun and visits with friends to escape walled-in lives.French farmers markets where people congregate to shop for food have posed a special challenge for police trying to keep people apart from each other at the recommended 2 meters (6 feet), along with neglected urban housing projects where distrust and disobedience of authorities runs deep.In Clichy-Sous-Bois, a Paris suburb where nationwide riots triggered by police harassment allegations erupted in 2005, a person bit a police officer trying to enforce confinement rules, said Linda Kebbab, a police union spokesperson. And a large crowd threatened to spit on officers who had planned to disperse them in the southeastern city of Lyon but left instead, she said.In the southern German state of Bavaria, Gov. Markus Soeder lamented that “there are still corona parties, there are young people who cough at older people and shout corona for fun and, above all, there are an incredible number of groups being formed.”A police officer wearing a face mask patrols the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, as Nice’s mayor said Friday he will be closing a part of it as part of measures to fight the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak spread in France, March 20, 2020.Spain enforces from aboveNational police in Spain, which has the second-highest number of coronavirus infections in Europe after Italy, are using helicopters to spot groups of people meeting up outdoors. Then agents are sent in to break up the gatherings.Spanish police have also taken to highlighting examples on social media of what people should not do in public during the country’s state of emergency. In the southeastern Murcia region, they posted video of police stopping a person waddling outside in a full-body dinosaur costume and tweeted that pets can be taken for brief walks by owners but that “having a Tyrannosaurus Rex complex is not” allowed.And in Spain’s northeastern region of Catalonia, police posted a picture of a man walking a goat on a leash, apparently trying to take advantage of the pet walking exception.France now has 100,000 security personnel on the streets who are issuing fines amid a new national “Stay Home” mantra and warnings by officials that the country’s two-week lockdown could be extended if the country’s infection rate keeps rising. France on Sunday had nearly 15,000 infections.In Greece, Prime Minister Kyriakos tried to convince people to say home, warning citizens that future virus prevention measures depend “on our behavior.”But after Florida’s governor shut down the state’s famed beaches, some businesses were still trying to draw in tourists, including Clearwater Mega Bite Shark Boat, a 40-foot (12-meter) vessel with a bow shaped like a shark’s snout that cruises the Gulf of Mexico off Florida’s western coast.The boat can carry 50 passengers but the owner was limiting trips to 10 to comply with federal advice. Only four people signed up for a Saturday trip, said an employee named Chase who answered the phone but declined to give his last name.“Normally we’d be packed this weekend,” he said.
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As the coronavirus pandemic grows worse, Chinese international students in the U.S. are facing a dilemma: as more and more schools close, more and more Chinese students are finding themselves with nowhere to go. If they return to China, the travel ban will stop them from returning to the U.S. Calla Yu reports for VOA from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
 
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U.S. farmers face a growing season plagued by uncertainty about demand for their crops amid the COVID-19 crisis that is battering the global economy.  As VOA’s Kane Farabaugh reports, record low grain stocks in China, historically one of the largest importers of U.S. crops, isn’t translating into increased purchases despite agreements reached in recent trade negotiations.
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President Donald Trump has sent a personal letter to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, offering U.S. help amid the coronavirus pandemic, the first known contact between the two leaders in months.The letter shows the continued “special and firm” relationship between Kim and Trump, according to the North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency, which revealed the existence of the letter in a statement Sunday.In the letter, Trump offered Kim “anti-epidemic” help and said he “was impressed by the efforts made by the Chairman to defend his people” from the epidemic, the North Korean statement said.North Korea insists it does not have any coronavirus infections, though many suspect it is hiding an outbreak. The coronavirus could be especially deadly in North Korea, which lacks adequate medical supplies and infrastructure.’Consistent’ with past effortsA senior White House official acknowledged Trump’s letter, which he said was “consistent with his efforts to engage global leaders during the ongoing pandemic.”“The president looks forward to continued communications with Chairman Kim,” the U.S. official said.  U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo recently said Washington had offered Pyongyang coronavirus assistance, despite “deep differences” between the two countries.FILE – U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un sign documents that acknowledge progress in talks and pledge to keep momentum going, after their summit at the Capella Hotel on Sentosa island in Singapore, June 12, 2018.U.S.-North Korea nuclear talks had already been stalled since the middle of last year, but the negotiations have gone completely dormant as both countries deal with the coronavirus.In January, Trump sent Kim wishes for a happy birthday in a letter, briefly raising hopes of renewed dialogue. But North Korea has repeatedly stressed that overall relations remain poor, despite the Trump-Kim friendship.“We try to hope for the day when the relations between the two countries would be as good as the ones between the two top leaders, but it has to be left to time and be watched whether it can actually happen,” said Kim’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, who wrote the North Korean statement Sunday.’Proper action’Kim, who has recently taken on a wider diplomatic role in support of her brother, welcomed Trump’s letter as a “good judgment and proper action.”“We view such a personal letter of President Trump as a good example showing the special and firm personal relations with Chairman Kim Jong Un,” she said, adding her brother also has mentioned his “special personal relations” with Trump.However, she said North Korea would not “waste time” but would make itself “more powerful,” just as it had “for the past two years.”“Even at this moment we are working hard to develop and defend ourselves on our own under the cruel environment which the U.S. is keen to ‘provide,’ ” Kim said, apparently referencing international sanctions.FILE – Missiles are seen in this undated picture released by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency, March 9, 2020.North Korea on Saturday tested two short-range ballistic missiles, its third round of ballistic missile tests this month. KCNA on Sunday said Kim Jong Un had overseen the test, which involved a newly developed “tactical guided weapon.”Analysts said the missile tests might be designed to keep up pressure on the U.S. or might serve as a show of strength for a domestic audience. Another reason: North Korea is simply trying to produce more advanced weapons.
 
North Korea is banned from any ballistic missile activity under U.N. Security Council resolutions. But Trump has said he is not concerned about North Korea’s short-range tests.Three meetingsTrump and Kim have met three times, but talks broke down last year after the U.S. refused to relax sanctions and provide other concessions.During their talks, Trump said Kim promised he would not conduct any long-range missile or nuclear tests, though that alleged agreement was never formalized.At a New Year’s speech, Kim said he no longer felt bound by his self-imposed suspension of nuclear or intercontinental ballistic missile tests and warned the world would soon see a “new strategic weapon.”
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As the coronavirus spreads rapidly, and cities and towns move toward possible lockdowns, families across the United States are bracing for the worst. VOA’s Saqib Ul Islam spent an evening with a family in Great Falls, Virginia. 
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California Governor Gavin Newsom issued an order Thursday night for all residents to stay at home in the most populous state in the U.S. until further notice.
 
In Los Angeles, a city infamous for its congested roads, traffic is now light. Playgrounds are empty, and restaurants are only open for takeout and delivery.
 
With the new order, dine-in restaurants, entertainment venues, health clubs and public events will have to close. Only essential services, such as gas stations, grocery stores, pharmacies, laundromats and banks will remain open.  
 
“Eerie, it’s eerie out there,” M.J. Shoenberg, a Los Angeles resident and preschool teacher, said.
 Stress on businesses  
 
Grocery stores have become a stressful experience, with lines out the door because some stores are limiting the number of people who can shop inside at the same time.   
 
Items such as toilet paper, hand sanitizer and even eggs are hard to find.Restaurants are open for take-out and deliveries but dining inside a food establishment is not allowed. (Elizabeth Lee/VOA)“If I were to get sick, it seems very clear to me that I would get sick from being in a grocery store, touching handles, pushing carts, opening doors, listening to conversations, people coming and asking me questions,” Sadie Verley, an Oakland resident, said. She noticed that many people were not observing the recommended social distancing while waiting in line to check out.
 
“There is a lot of tension in the grocery store. I noticed that people are kind of crowding the grocery store,” Verley said.  
 
“I was glad that the farmers market was open,” said Shoenberger, who by chance saw a small outdoor farmers market by a park that consisted of three vendors. She bought some fresh vegetables without having to wait in line.  
 
One of the vendors, a Mexican food stand operator, said since the pandemic, he has lost 80% of his business.
 
If California were a nation, it would be the fifth-largest economy in the world. The impact the governor’s order has on the economy will depend on how long the pandemic lasts and how many weeks the order will be in place.Lines outside grocery stores are not uncommon. Items such as toilet paper and sanitizers are in high demand and hard to find. (Elizabeth Lee/VOA)New normal  
 
Families are adjusting to the new normal.  
 
For the past week, Mia McNiece’s three children, 5, 7 and 10 years old, have been out of school and home schooling online.
 
McNiece has also been working from home. So when the governor ordered everyone to stay home, it did not immediately make a big difference to her family, but she said, “It is a little more scary.”
 
“So far it’s been good. It’s just kind of this weird new world that we’re all adjusting, but as the weeks go on, I think it’s definitely going to become more challenging,” she said. “My youngest is already saying she misses school and she misses her friends, and that’s heartbreaking to hear.”
 
If there is a bright side to this order, Californians said they see more adults and children going outside for walks, and McNiece said there is now more family time.
 
“It’s nice to be able to spend more time together, uninterrupted time, and go on walks. We see other neighbors out and about,” McNiece said.   
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The NBA plans to pay full salaries to players as scheduled on April 1 but could begin cutting salaries to recover money from canceled games by April 15, ESPN reported Saturday.Citing a league memo shared with NBA clubs on Friday, the sport network’s website said the league might soon begin recovering salary based on a “force majeure” clause in its collective bargaining agreement with players.The NBA halted its season on March 11 after Utah’s Rudy Gobert tested positive for the coronavirus pandemic, which has shut down sports league throughout the United States.The memo said the league will inform teams about its plans before the April 15 payment date. That’s the day the league’s regular season was set to end before the schedule was suspended by the COVID-19 outbreak.Under terms of the NBA-union deal, the league can withhold a percentage of a player’s salary for a catastrophic situation that forces games to be canceled, including a pandemic.It’s uncertain when, or if, the NBA might be able to resume its campaign, which had just over a month remaining, or stage any playoffs.The league could keep back money under the disaster clause in the short term and pay players later should the games eventually be contested.NBA owners, preparing for major financial losses if the season does not resume, have reportedly been seeking arena dates into August in hopes of bringing the 2019-20 campaign to some sort of conclusion. 
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Actor-singer Kenny Rogers, the smooth, Grammy-winning balladeer who spanned jazz, folk, country and pop with such hits as “Lucille,” “Lady” and “Islands in the Stream” and embraced his persona as “The Gambler” on record and on TV died Friday night. He was 81.He died at home in Sandy Springs, Georgia, representative Keith Hagan told The Associated Press. He was under hospice care and died of natural causes, Hagan said.The Houston-born performer with the husky voice and silver beard sold tens of millions of records, won three Grammys and was the star of TV movies based on “The Gambler” and other songs, making him a superstar in the ’70s and ’80s. Rogers thrived for some 60 years before retired from touring in 2017 at age 79. Despite his crossover success, he always preferred to be thought of as a country singer. Rags to riches”You either do what everyone else is doing and you do it better, or you do what no one else is doing and you don’t invite comparison,” Rogers told The Associated Press in 2015. “And I chose that way because I could never be better than Johnny Cash or Willie or Waylon at what they did. So I found something that I could do that didn’t invite comparison to them. And I think people thought it was my desire to change country music. But that was never my issue.”A true rags-to-riches story, Rogers was raised in public housing in Houston Heights with seven siblings. As a 20-year-old, he had a gold single called “That Crazy Feeling,” under the name Kenneth Rogers, but when that early success stalled, he joined a jazz group, the Bobby Doyle Trio, as a standup bass player.But his breakthrough came when he was asked to join the New Christy Minstrels, a folk group, in 1966. The band reformed as First Edition and scored a pop hit with the psychedelic song, “Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In).” Rogers and First Edition mixed country-rock and folk on songs like “Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love To Town,” a story of a Vietnam veteran begging his girlfriend to stay. After the group broke up in 1974, Rogers started his solo career and found a big hit with the sad country ballad “Lucille,” in 1977, which crossed over to the pop charts and earned Rogers his first Grammy. Suddenly the star, Rogers added hit after hit for more than a decade. ‘The Gambler'”The Gambler,” the Grammy-winning story song penned by Don Schlitz, came out in 1978 and became his signature song with a signature refrain: “You gotta know when to hold ’em, know when to fold ’em.” The song spawned a hit TV movie of the same name and several more sequels featuring Rogers as professional gambler Brady Hawkes, and led to a lengthy side career for Rogers as a TV actor and host of several TV specials. Other hits included “You Decorated My Life,” “Every Time Two Fools Collide” with Dottie West, “Don’t Fall In Love with a Dreamer” with Kim Carnes, and “Coward of the County.” One of his biggest successes was “Lady,” written by Lionel Richie, a chart topper for six weeks straight in 1980. Richie said in a 2017 interview with the AP that he often didn’t finish songs until he had already pitched them, which was the case for “Lady.””In the beginning, the song was called, ‘Baby,'” Richie said. “And because when I first sat with him, for the first 30 minutes, all he talked about was he just got married to a real lady. A country guy like him is married to a lady. So, he said, ‘By the way, what’s the name of the song?'” Richie replies: “Lady.”Duets with DollyOver the years, Rogers worked often with female duet partners, most memorably, Dolly Parton. The two were paired at the suggestion of the Bee Gees’ Barry Gibb, who wrote “Islands in the Stream.””Barry was producing an album on me and he gave me this song,” Rogers told the AP in 2017. “And I went and learned it and went into the studio and sang it for four days. And I finally looked at him and said, ‘Barry, I don’t even like this song anymore.’ And he said, ‘You know what we need? We need Dolly Parton.’ I thought, ‘Man, that guy is a visionary.'”Coincidentally, Parton was actually in the same recording studio in Los Angeles when the idea came up.”From the moment she marched into that room, that song never sounded the same,” Rogers said. “It took on a whole new spirit.”The two singers toured together, including in Australia and New Zealand in 1984 and 1987, and were featured in a HBO concert special. Over the years the two would continue to record together, including their last duet, “You Can’t Make Old Friends,” which was released in 2013. Parton reprised “Islands in the Stream” with Rogers during his all-star retirement concert held in Nashville in October 2017.Rogers invested his time and money in a lot of other endeavors over his career, including a passion for photography that led to several books, as well as an autobiography, “Making It With Music.” He had a chain of restaurants called “Kenny Rogers Roasters,” and was a partner behind a riverboat in Branson, Missouri. He was also involved in numerous charitable causes, among them the Red Cross and MusicCares, and was part of the all-star “We are the World” recording for famine relief.A brief comebackBy the ’90s, his ability to chart hits had waned, although he still remained a popular live entertainer with regular touring. Still he was an inventive businessman and never stopped trying to find his way back onto the charts. At the age of 61, Rogers had a brief comeback on the country charts in 2000 with a hit song “Buy Me A Rose,” thanks to his other favorite medium, television. Producers of the series “Touched By An Angel” wanted him to appear in an episode, and one of his managers suggested the episode be based on his latest single. That cross-promotional event earned him his first No. 1 country song in 13 years.Rogers’ family is planning a private service “out of concern for the national COVID-19 emergency,” a statement posted early Saturday read. A public memorial will be held at a later date.
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U.S. Senator Richard Burr has sought an ethics review of his sale of $1.7 million in stocks last month ahead of the economic downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic, as he and other lawmakers face condemnation over the sales.  Burr, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, denied Friday that his decision to sell was based on information contained in private congressional briefings, saying he relied solely on public news reports.  In a statement Friday, he asked the Senate Ethics Committee to “open a complete review of the matter with full transparency.” Burr, a Republican from North Carolina, is one of several lawmakers who sold large amounts of stocks recently after attending congressional briefings on the pandemic, prompting widespread criticism.  FILE – Senator Kelly Loeffler, a Republican from Georgia, speaks during a re-election campaign rally in Marietta, Georgia, March 9, 2020.Senator Kelly Loeffler, a Republican from Georgia, also sold more than $1 million in stocks in recent weeks. Loeffler said on CNBC Friday that her stocks were sold “at the decision of our investment managers” and said she and her husband didn’t learn about the sale until later. Loeffler’s husband, Jeffrey Craig Sprecher, is the chairman of the New York Stock Exchange.  Two other senators – Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat from California, and James Inhofe, a Republican from Oklahoma – also are reported to have had financial transactions in the stock market after congressional briefings on COVID-19.  Feinstein sold $1.5 million to $6 million shares of stock in mid to late February, while Inhofe sold about $400,000 in equities in late January. Both senators denied that they attended closed Senate briefings on coronavirus that could have informed their stock decisions.  It is illegal for members of Congress, congressional staff and federal officials to use inside information to their financial advantage.  Common Cause, an advocacy group, said it is filing complaints with the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission against all four senators. President Donald Trump was asked at a White House news conference Friday whether he is “concerned about members of Congress using information they learned from updates to sell stocks and profit off” that information.  “I don’t know too much about what it’s about,” Trump replied. “But I find them to all be very honorable people. That’s all I know. And they said they did nothing wrong.” 
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