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Iran is warning the United States against threatening its tankers carrying fuel to Venezuela, where gasoline and oil are in desperately short supply despite Venezuela being a major oil production center. As many as five Iranian ships loaded with gasoline are believed to be on their way to the South American country. U.S. sanctions forbid Iran from selling oil and the U.S. is also pressuring all countries against supplying fuel to Venezuela, as part of Washington’s efforts to drive President Nicolas Maduro from power. Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif wrote a letter Sunday to United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres about Tehran’s concerns over whatever action the U.S. might take. Iran “reserves its right to take all appropriate and necessary measures and decisive action…to secure its legitimate rights and interests against such bullying policies and unlawful practices,” Zarif wrote. “This hegemonic gunboat diplomacy seriously threatens freedom of international commerce and navigation and the free flow of energy. Zarif said Iran would consider any “coercive measures” by the U.S. as a “dangerous escalation.”  Iranian officials delivered a similar message to the Swiss ambassador in Tehran who handles all U.S. interests in Iran.Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin brief reporters about additional sanctions placed on Iran, at the White House, Jan. 10, 2019, in Washington.U.S. officials have not yet said specifically how they plan to respond if Iran is sending gasoline to Venezuela. But the State Department, Treasury, and Coast Guard warned all global shipping companies and governments not to help Iran, or anyone else, dodge sanctions. U.S. President Donald Trump re-imposed sanctions on Iran when he pulled the U.S. out of the 2015 nuclear deal, leaving the Iranian economy in shambles. The U.S. has also imposed a variety of sanctions against Venezuela, whose economy was destroyed by a drop in global oil prices, corruption, and Maduro’s failed socialist policies. The sanctions have made it difficult for Venezuela to send crude oil to refineries. “We have to sell our oil and we have access to its paths,” Iranian cabinet spokesman Ali Rabiei says. “Iran and Venezuela are two independent nations that have had trade with each other, and they will.” 
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Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell expressed optimism Sunday that the U.S. economy can begin to recover from a devastating recession in the second half of the year, assuming the coronavirus doesn’t erupt in a second wave. But he suggested that a full recovery won’t likely be possible before the arrival of a vaccine.In an interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes,” Powell noted that the economy was fundamentally healthy before the virus struck suddenly and forced widespread business shutdowns and tens of millions of layoffs. Once the outbreak has been contained, he said, the economy should be able to rebound “substantially.”  Powell offered an overall positive message while warning that it would take much longer for the economy to regain its health than it took for it to collapse with stunning speed.  “In the long run, and even in the medium run,” the chairman said, “you wouldn’t want to bet against the American economy. This economy will recover. And that means people will go back to work. Unemployment will get back down. We’ll get through this.”Powell pointed out that the downturn wasn’t a result of deep-seated financial instabilities, like the housing meltdown and the excessive risk-taking among banks that ignited the Great Recession. Rather, it resulted from an external event — a pandemic — that required a shutdown of the economy. That may mean, he said, that “we can get back to a healthy economy fairly quickly.”In the meantime, though, American workers are enduring their worst crisis in decades. More than 36 million people have applied for unemployment benefits in the two months since the coronavirus first forced businesses to close down and shrink their workforces. The unemployment rate, at 14.7%, is the highest since the Great Depression, and is widely expected to go much higher.In the interview with CBS, Powell played down comparisons to the Depression. While acknowledging that unemployment could peak near the Depression high of 25%, he noted that U.S. banks are far healthier now and that the Fed and other central banks are much more able and willing to intervene to bolster economies than they were in the 1930s.Still, Powell cautioned that it would take time for the economy to return to anything close to normal. A recovery “could stretch through the end of next year,” he said. And a vaccine would likely be necessary for Americans to feel safe enough to return to their normal economic behavior of shopping, traveling, eating out and congregating in large groups — activities that fuel much of the economy’s growth. Most health experts have said that a vaccine won’t be ready for use for 12 to 18 months at least.  “Certain parts of the economy will find it very difficult to have really a lot of activity,” Powell said. “The parts that involve people being in the same place, very close together. Those parts of the economy will be challenged until people feel really safe again.”The Fed chairman said he and other central bank officials, in conversations with businesses, labor leaders, universities and hospitals, have picked up on “a growing sense that the recovery may take some time to gain momentum.””That would mean,” he added, “that we will start our recovery and get on that road, and that’ll be a good thing, but that it’ll take some time to pick up steam.”Powell reiterated his view that both Congress and the Fed must be prepared to provide additional financial support to prevent permanent damage to the economy from widespread bankruptcies among small businesses or long-term unemployment, which typically erodes workers’ skills and social networks. Congress has already approved roughly $3 trillion in rescue aid for individuals and businesses. But states and localities are in need of federal money to avoid having to cut jobs and services, and legislation to provide that money remains at an impasse in Congress.If necessary, Powell said, the Fed could expand any of the nine emergency lending programs it has launched since the viral outbreak began to harm the economy — or create new ones. In March, the central bank slashed its benchmark interest rate to near zero as stock markets plunged and bond markets froze. The Fed has also intervened by buying $2.1 trillion in Treasurys and other bonds in an effort to keep interest rates low and smooth the flow of credit.  The Fed could also provide more explicit guidance on how long it will keep rates pegged at nearly zero and the extent of its bond-purchase programs, Powell said. Doing so would give banks and other companies more confidence that borrowing rates will stay lower for longer.But the chairman reiterated that the Fed isn’t considering cutting rates into negative territory, which President Donald Trump has repeatedly urged. The issue of negative rates flared up in recent weeks when futures markets essentially bet that the Fed would take that step early next year, as some other central banks have done.  “There’re plenty of people who think negative interest rates are a good policy,” Powell said. “But we don’t really think so at the Federal Reserve.” 
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For some of the 2,000 or so year-round residents of Deer Isle, Maine, the fraying American flag outside the post office this spring was a reminder of the nation’s mood.The flag was in tatters. It twisted in the wind from a single hook. But it was stuck in the up position, so the postmistress hadn’t been able to replace it.”I was thinking what a metaphor it is for our country right now,” community health director René Colson Hudson said. “It was really important that the flag be replaced, as a symbol of hope.”Colson Hudson, a former New Jersey pastor who moved to coastal Maine a few years ago, posted an online plea on April 23 that sparked a community thread. Should someone scale the flagpole? Could the local tree-trimmer help? Did they need a bucket truck?By week’s end, a secret helper had gotten the flag down. Postmistress Stephanie Black soon had the new one flying high.Colson Hudson, 54, had rarely visited her post office when she lived in suburban New Jersey. But in Deer Isle, people exchange small talk in the lobby, announce school events on the bulletin board and pick up medications and mail-in ballots — while postal workers keep an eye on everyone’s well-being.”Here,” she said, “it is the center of community.”A STRUGGLE TO FLOURISHMany of the nation’s 630,000 postal employees are facing new risks during the COVID-19 outbreak, as they sort mail or make daily rounds to reach people in far-flung locales. More than 2,000 of them have tested positive for the virus, and a union spokesman says 61 workers have died.For most Americans, mail deliveries to homes or post boxes are their only routine contact with the federal government. It’s a service they seem to appreciate: The agency consistently earns “favorability” marks that top 90%.Yet it’s not popular with one influential American: President Donald Trump, who has threatened to block the U.S. Postal Service from COVID-19 relief funding unless it quadruples the package rates it charges large customers like Amazon, owned by Jeff Bezos. Bezos also owns The Washington Post, whose coverage rankles Trump.”He is willing to sacrifice the U.S. Postal Service and its 630,000 employees because of petty vindictiveness and personal retaliation against Jeff Bezos,” Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., said last week. “That would be a tragic outcome.”Postal Service officials, bracing for steep losses given the nationwide coronavirus shutdown, warn they’ll run out of money by September without help. They reported a $4.5 billion loss for the quarter ending March 31 — on $17.8 billion in revenue — before the full effects of the shutdown sank in.  Some in Congress want to set aside $25 billion from the nearly $3 trillion relief program to keep the mail flowing. But with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin pushing Trump’s priorities, the Postal Service has so far landed just a $10 billion loan.”The Postal Service is a joke,” President Donald Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on April 24. “They’re handing out packages for Amazon and other internet companies and every time they bring a package, they lose money on it.”  Historically, the Postal Service has operated without public funds, even since a crushing 2006 law required it to pre-fund 75 years of retiree benefits. It’s been around longer than the nation itself, with a rich history that includes Benjamin Franklin’s tenure as the first postmaster general.  This month, the USPS Board of Directors appointed Republican fundraiser Louis DeJoy to the post. He succeeds Megan Brennan, a career postal worker who is retiring.The president insists higher package rates could ease the Postal Service’s financial troubles. But most financial analysts disagree. They say customers would turn to UPS or FedEx.Packages typically account for 5 percent of the Postal Service’s volume but 30 percent of its revenue. And package revenue has actually gone up during the shutdown. Still, it hasn’t been enough to restore profitability, battered during the internet age by the decline of first-class mail.Mark Dimondstein, president of the American Postal Workers Union, with 200,000 members, fears the Trump administration wants to destabilize the agency and then sell it off.With more than 30 million Americans suddenly out of work, he wonders why anyone would put “600,000 good, living-wage jobs” at risk. Those Postal Service jobs have moved generations of Americans, especially blacks and minorities, firmly into the middle class.Yet the president, Dimondstein said, wants to privatize the operation when “here you have the post office serving the people of this country in maybe a deeper way than we ever have.”A 55-CENT JOURNEY TO ISLE AU HAUTOn Henrietta Dixon’s mail route in North Philadelphia, every house has a story. Dixon seems to know them all.  Alvin Fields moved back to his block of two-story row homes after 40 years working for Verizon. Jason Saal, 40, lives in an abandoned factory he bought for an art studio, but now hopes to make industrial-grade masks there.Sharae Cunningham is also making masks, but the hand-sewn kind, some with African prints she sells for $6.  All said they would miss the Postal Service if it collapsed.”It’s nice to have mail delivered by a letter carrier,” said Saal, who mailed out two boxes of masks through Dixon one recent morning and gave her several free ones. “It’s the person that you see, a government worker, every day, Monday to Sunday.”They agreed the neighborhood, one of Philadelphia’s poorest, would benefit from the kind of expanded services — such as low-fee check cashing and wifi — that’s the norm in Europe and might help U.S. post offices survive.  “That’d be a great service. A lot of people need to cash checks,” said Cunningham, 40, who helps care for chronically ill parents, four children and a grandchild.Dixon, who lives nearby, has been with the post office for nearly 30 years, the last nine on her current route. Fields called her “absolutely wonderful.”Her route, in a dense city neighborhood, might be attractive to private companies itching to compete with the Postal Service. But the same 55-cent stamp that takes a letter across town can also get one to the Pacific Northwest, rural Appalachia or islands off the coasts of Alaska, California and Maine. That’s because of the USPS pledge to offer “universal service” to everyone in the United States, no matter what it takes.”For the American psyche, it’s one of the last places where we are all equal. We all have the right to a 55-cent letter and mail delivery six days a week,” said Evan Kalish, 30, of Queens, New York, a postal enthusiast who’s documented thousands of post office visits on his blog, Postlandia.A few miles south of Deer Isle, Postmistress Donna DeWitt walks down to a boat dock each morning to retrieve her plastic bins from the 7 a.m. mail boat and carts it up to the tiny Isle au Haut Post Office a few hundred feet away.  With no bridge to the mainland and wifi and cell phone service on the island spotty, mail service is essential to the 70 or so year-round residents, who mostly work in the fishing and lobstering trades.”I don’t think you’d find most of the old-timers, for instance, paying their bills online. They depend on the mail for all of their business transactions,” said George Cole, the volunteer president of Isle au Haut Boat Services, a nonprofit that brings the mail over on the 45-minute trip from Stonington.The ferry service gets most of its revenue from summer tourists, but the small USPS contract helps.”If we lost it, it would be very painful,” Cole said. “We’ve carried the mail for 50 years.”DEATH NOTICES, PLANTS AND PUMPKIN ROLLSFilmmaker Tom Quinn set out to make a movie about a town that lost its zip code — and its place on the map — in a round of USPS closures in 2011. The film became a study in loneliness.”I started to understand what this is about,” said Quinn, speaking of his 2019 film “Colewell,” set in a fictional small town on the New York-Pennsylvania border.In places like those, he said, the post office serves as the town’s living room — a gathering spot for conversation, for human contact, for community.”When this hub is there, you run into people by accident,” said Quinn, who teaches film at Drexel University in Philadelphia. “It’s the same thing about Zoom and teaching. None of those accidental interactions happen anymore.”In rural Fayette County, West Virginia, Susan Williams fondly recalls postmistresses who left homemade pumpkin roll out for customers, posted a note in the lobby when someone died and kept her mail-order geraniums alive.”If I thought these plants were going to arrive while we were away, she would just open the boxes and water them for us,” said Williams, a retired journalist and teacher who lives in Falls View, about 35 miles east of Charleston.  With no home delivery there, she treks two miles to Charlton Heights to get her mail, trying to arrive after it gets put up at 10:30 a.m. and before the post office closes at noon. On a recent day in late April, her box held her mail-in ballot for the presidential primary. She planned to return it the next day.”It means everything,” Williams said of the Postal Service.Back in Maine, Colson Hudson likes to take the mail boat over to Eagle Island in the summer (year-round population 2; seasonal, perhaps 40) to visit friends. She once took a picture of the mail bag, musing about who its contents would connect.”All these people come flocking down at the time the boat comes with the mail,” she said. “There’s something in that bag that they’re waiting for, that they’re hoping for.” 
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Five Iranian tankers likely carrying at least $45.5 million worth of gasoline and similar products are now sailing to Venezuela, part of a wider deal between the two U.S.-sanctioned nations amid heightened tensions between Tehran and Washington.The tankers’ voyage come after Venezuela’s socialist leader Nicolás Maduro already turned to Iran for help in flying in chemicals needed at an aging refinery amid a gasoline shortage, a symptom of the wider economic and political chaos gripping Latin America’s one-time largest oil producer.For Iran, the tankers represent a way to bring money into its cash-starved Shiite theocracy and put its own pressure on the U.S., which under President Donald Trump has pursued maximalist campaigns against both nations.But the strategy invites the chance of a renewed confrontation between the Islamic Republic and America both in the Persian Gulf, which saw a series of escalating incidents often involving the oil industry last year, and wider afield.“This is like a new one for everyone,” said Capt. Ranjith Raja, an analyst who tracks oil shipments by sea at the data firm Refinitiv, of the gasoline shipments. “We haven’t seen anything like this before.”All the vessels involved belong to Iranian state-owned or state-linked companies, flying under the Iranian flag. Since a pressure campaign on Iranian vessels began, notably with the temporary seizure of an Iranian tanker last year by Gibraltar, the country’s ships have been unable to fly flags of convenience of other nations, a common practice in international shipping.The ships all appear to have been loaded from the Persian Gulf Star Refinery near Bandar Abbas, Iran, which makes gasoline, Raja said. The ships then traveled around the Arabian Peninsula and through the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean Sea, according to data collected from the ship’s Automatic Identification System, or AIS, which acts as a tracking beacon.One of the vessels, the Clavel, listed its AIS destination as Caracas beginning May 12, according to log data from ship-tracking website MarineTraffic.com. The vessel later changed its destination as “TO ORDER” two days later, though the ship remains on a route that will see it leave the Mediterranean Sea and be in position to sail onto Venezuela.Another tanker, the Forest, changed its AIS destination to “S. AMERICA TO ORDER” on May 14.Three others, the Faxon, the Fortune and the Petunia, all appear on routes that could take them to Venezuela. Given the crushing U.S. sanctions imposed on Iran, also-sanctioned Venezuela appears to be the country that would have nothing to lose from accepting the shipments. Raja said Refinitiv had no data on any Iranian gasoline shipment ever going to South America before.TankerTrackers.com, a website focused on the oil trade at sea, first reported the ships likely were heading to Venezuela.The capacity of the five ships is some 175,000 metric tons. On the open market, the gasoline and product carried within them would be worth at least $45.5 million, though Iran likely reached a discounted, non-cash deal with Caracas given the circumstances the two nations face, Raja said.As news about the tankers grew, an Iranian news agency called Nour, believed to have ties to the country’s Supreme National Security Council, published an item on its website early Saturday trying to link a U.S. military exercise in the Caribbean to the tankers. That council includes members of Iran’s civilian government, its military and its paramilitary, hard-line Revolutionary Guard.“If the United States, like pirates, intends to create insecurity on international highways, it will take a dangerous risk that will certainly not go unnoticed,” the agency warned in its brief report.The Nour item, later picked up by other semiofficial news agencies in Iran, follows a pattern by Tehran of issuing veiled threats through such reports even as officials don’t directly acknowledge them.Quoted by a website affiliated to Iranian state television, Cabinet spokesman Ali Rabiei on Saturday said he did not have any information on the ships.“We have to sell our oil and we have access to its paths,” Rabiei said. “Iran and Venezuela are two independent nations that have had trade with each other and they will” in the future.But that all changed late Sunday, when Iran’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif wrote a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres saying the U.S. “piracy” threatened the “disruption of Iran’s fuel transmission to Venezuela.” Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister, issued a similar warning to the Swiss ambassador in Tehran, who looks out for American interests there.It remains unclear how the U.S. will respond to the tankers. On Thursday, the U.S. Treasury, State Department and Coast Guard issued an advisory warning the maritime industry of illegal shipping and sanctions-dodging tactics by countries including Iran.The advisory repeated an earlier promise of up to $15 million for information disrupting the Guard’s finances. It also warned anyone “knowingly engaged in a significant transaction for the purchase, acquisition, sale, transport or marketing of petroleum” faced U.S. sanctions.The U.S. State Department and the Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Analysts already have been warning about the growing chance for a renewed confrontation between the U.S. and Iran, whose government downplayed and then struggled for weeks with the coronavirus pandemic.In April, the U.S. accused Iran of conducting “dangerous and harassing” maneuvers near American warships in the northern Persian Gulf. Iran also had been suspected of briefly seizing a Hong Kong-flagged oil tanker just before that.Iran seized ships last summer and the U.S. accuses it of attacking tankers in the region amid tensions over Trump unilaterally withdrawing America from Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers in 2018.
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The United States leads the world with nearly 90,000 coronavirus deaths, but the U.S. health chief on Sunday rejected the notion that the government had failed its people. “You can’t celebrate a single death,” Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar told CNN, but contended, “It could have been vastly, vastly worse.” President Donald Trump said on Twitter, “Doing REALLY well, medically, on solving the CoronaVirus situation (Plague!). It will happen!” Doing REALLY well, medically, on solving the CoronaVirus situation (Plague!). It will happen!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) Club Ritz reopens to patrons following the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s decision to strike down Governor Tony Evers’ safer-at-home order against coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Kaukana, Wisconsin, May 13, 2020.Gov. Mike DeWine in Ohio, where crowds ignored social distancing guidelines as restaurants reopened, said, “We’ve got to continue to keep our space. This is a crucial time,” even as 90% of the state’s economy has now reopened. “We have to open back up,” he said, “but with caution,” to prevent a renewed outbreak of the pandemic. “Whether we’re able to reopen schools (in August) depends on what we’re doing right now. It’s in everyone’s collective hands.” Gov. Gavin Newsom of California, the Pacific coastal state that is the country’s largest, said 75% of his state’s economy is reopened, but that coronavirus precautions must still be adhered to. He said he does not now foresee the likelihood that crowds of 80,000 fans crammed into stadiums will be able to gather for football games in the fall. White House trade adviser Peter Navarro, as Trump has, blamed China for the advance of virus from Wuhan in China to Europe and then to the United States. “Yes, I do blame the Chinese,” Navarro told ABC News’ “This Week” show. He said Beijing, “behind the shield of the World Health Organization — for two months— hid the virus from the world.” “They could have kept it in Wuhan,” he said. “Instead it became a pandemic.”
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Five Mexican citizens apprehended this week after illegally entering the United States in remote northern Maine were returned to Canada within hours under a rule put into place as part of the U.S. government response to the COVID-19 pandemic.A similar policy by the Canadian government allows the return to the United States of most people seeking asylum in Canada.While the restrictions haven’t ended illegal immigration into the United States from Canada, the emergency policy has all but ended the use of Roxham Road in Champlain, New York — one of the most well-known routes used by people fleeing the U.S. to seek asylum in Canada.For more than three years, Janet McFetridge, a humanitarian activist from Champlain, helped the northbound asylum seekers.”‘It makes me wonder where they are and whether they are safe,” she said of their absence.Prior to COVID-19, depending on the circumstances of the individual border crosser, the five people apprehended in Maine on May 12 could have been charged with a federal crime in the United States or quickly processed for deportation to their home country.President Donald Trump closed the borders with Mexico and Canada to all-but-essential traffic in March. For those entering illegally or seeking asylum, the administration has suspended immigration laws on public health grounds, giving border officials authority to rapidly expel them.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s order allowing rapid expulsions along the Mexican and Canadian borders is set to expire May 21, but administration officials have said it could be extended.The vast majority of the expulsions have been on the southern border. CBP statistics show that between the time the rule was implemented and the end of April, 20,860 people were returned to Mexico. On the northern border, there were 27.One of the first instances of returning northern border crossers came on March 21, the day the policy was implemented, when Border Patrol agents in Richford, Vermont, apprehended six individuals who had just illegally entered the U.S. from Canada. They were returned to Canada the same day.Justin Mohammed of Amnesty International Canada, which is party to a pending Canadian lawsuit challenging the safe third country agreement that allows the northbound migrants to seek asylum in Canada, said his organization was extremely concerned by the Trump administration’s summary expulsion of migrants back to Canada, including people who could possibly seek refugee protection.”The terms of the arrangement between Canada and the U.S. have never been publicly disclosed, and thus it is unclear how Canada is ensuring that it will not be complicit in any violations committed by American authorities,” he said Friday in an emailed statement.But Jessica Vaughan, the director of policy studies for the Washington-based Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for tight restrictions on immigration, said Friday the immigration crackdown is having the desired effect of reducing illegal immigration.”It’s pretty clear the main reason for this is the policies,” Vaughn said. “They are not going to get away with making asylum claims, they are not going to be able to game the system.”Since around the time Trump took office, tens of thousands of immigrants in the U.S. who despaired of finding a permanent safe haven began crossing illegally into Canada to seek asylum. Many of those asylum seekers used Roxham Road, a back road in Champlain that ends at the Canadian border.There, they would cross the border and be arrested by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, but were allowed to file an asylum claim. In most cases, they were released while their applications were pending.After the pandemic hit, the Canadian government implemented its own border restrictions that allows it to return most asylum seekers to the United States. The current order is now scheduled to expire June 30.In an email response to questions, the Canada Border Services Agency said that between March 21 and May 13, 26 asylum seekers were returned to the U.S., including 21 “irregular” border crossers — 14 in Quebec and nine in British Columbia. The other three asylum seekers presented at a port of entry in southern Ontario and were sent back to the U.S.Two other asylum seekers were allowed to enter Canada under exceptions to the rule that include being an unaccompanied minor or a U.S. citizen seeking to make an asylum claim in Canada.In the Maine case, Customs and Border Protection says the immigrants were apprehended May 12 near the St. Juste Port of Entry in Maine’s Big 10 Township, about 60 miles (97 kilometers) southeast of Quebec City.They were spotted by a local resident emerging from brush near the border. The local then gave the five people a ride to the nearby border crossing, where they were taken into custody by the Border Patrol.Later that same day they were returned to Canada at the Armstrong, Quebec, port of entry.
 
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Muslims abstain from eating and drinking during daylight hours in the month of Ramadan, which ends on May 23rd. After sunset, they enjoy a meal and celebration known as iftar. Much of the celebrating this year is taking place in homes or online because of COVID-19. As Mike O’Sullivan reports, one online event has brought together people from two faiths which are sometimes antagonistic towards each other.
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As the U.S. and other countries slowly begin to lift strict COVID quarantine measures, some elements of pandemic life won’t be disappearing so soon. Masks and social distancing are here to stay, say experts, and while gyms and restaurants are reopening, their capacity will be cut in half. These and other measures will be part of the world’s new normal at least until a vaccine against COVID-19 is developed. Lesia Bakalets has the story, narrated by Anna Rice.Camera: Artyom Kokhan 
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May 17 is International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia.First observed in 2004, the day was designed to focus “attention on the violence and discrimination experienced by lesbian, gay, bisexuals, transgender, intersex people and all other people with diverse sexual orientations, gender, identities or expressions, and sex characteristics,” according the May17.org website.The U.N. secretary general issued a statement in support of May 17, noting that this year’s observation comes “at a time of great challenge.”“Among the many severe impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic is the increased vulnerability of LGBTI people,” Antonio Guterres said. “Already facing bias, attacks and murder simply for who they are or whom they love, many LGBTI people are experiencing heightened stigma as a result of the virus, as well as new obstacles when seeking health care.”The U.N. chief urged people to “stand united against discrimination and for the right of all to live free and equal in dignity and rights.”Most of the events around the world marking the day have been moved online because of the lockdowns caused by the coronavirus pandemic.The May 17 date was chosen for the worldwide celebration of sexual and gender diversities to commemorate the World Health Organization’s 1990 decision to declassify homosexuality as a mental disorder.  
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Los Angeles fire officials say at least 10 firefighters have been injured in an explosion and fire in a downtown neighborhood Saturday.More than 200 firefighters have been involved in bringing the blaze under control.The fire apparently began in a one-story commercial building but spread to multiple buildings after an explosion. The fire’s flames and smoke were visible for miles.The Los Angeles Fire Department said a “medical branch” was created at the scene of the fire “for treating and transporting injured firefighters.”  
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The clash between China and the United States over COVID-19 has caused a rift between European nations at the U.N. Security Council over a call for cease-fires in some conflict zones during the pandemic.For two months, France has been trying to corral Washington and Beijing into a compromise on the resolution, which would urge a halt to fighting in countries like Afghanistan and Yemen as they struggle to cope with COVID-19.France and Tunisia had teamed up to draft the resolution.But on Tuesday, Germany and Estonia threw their hats in the ring with a competing resolution — one they did not coordinate with France, and which includes language that would placate the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.The same day, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke by telephone with Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu, with the State Department saying they “discussed cooperative efforts” at the Security Council.’Clean up the mess'”Everybody knows who is behind the new draft,” quipped one diplomat under condition of anonymity.”Estonia and Germany are just trying to clean up the mess the U.S. has created,” said Richard Gowan, who follows the United Nations for the International Crisis Group, which studies conflict resolution.At the heart of the dispute is Trump’s offensive against the World Health Organization, from which he has vowed to cut all U.S. funding.President Donald Trump is pictured with the World Health Organization logo in this photo illustration.Trump has accused the WHO of responding too slowly to the illness, which had killed more than 311,000 people worldwide as of Saturday evening EDT, and of blindly accepting China’s initial assurances about the virus first discovered in its metropolis of Wuhan.Beijing denies wrongdoing and, as do others, accuses Trump of seeking to shift attention from his handling of COVID-19 in the United States, which has suffered by far the highest death toll.China has threatened for the past two months to veto any resolution that did not reference the WHO, while the United States has indicated it would do likewise if the text did mention the U.N. agency.Compromise collapsesThe French-Tunisian draft tried to skirt around the rift by speaking of the role of “specialized health agencies.”The United States and China both indicated last week that they were fine with the compromise — but Washington reversed course a day later.That prompted the new initiative by Estonia, which holds the rotating presidency of the Security Council this month. The Estonian-German draft makes no mention of the WHO.”The Europeans are united on the substance but disagree on the method,” another diplomat said.Several diplomats said that some countries were taken aback by the Estonian-German effort, and that it would be difficult to resolve the two texts.”The French are not happy,” Gowan said, but he doubted that any council member “really thinks a resolution will make a difference at this stage.””It is just necessary to end this pointless debate at last,” he said.FILE – U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks during a press conference at the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Feb. 8, 2020.Violence in Afghanistan, Libya and Yemen has continued despite the virus, and despite calls first led by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for global peace.Even if France and Tunisia press ahead, their room for maneuver is limited.A diplomat doubted that either the United States or China wanted a resolution, believing it would only strengthen the hand of Guterres in the future.Several sources saw growing tension between France, the only EU member with a Security Council veto, and the non-permanent European members, as Paris chose to focus on negotiating with the other permanent members.The three EU members have divergent interests, Gowan noted.France seeks to show its clout as one of the Big Five, Germany hopes to highlight its leadership against the pandemic, and Estonia, a former Soviet republic with historic tensions with Moscow, is prioritizing its security relationship with Washington.After Estonia, France takes over the Security Council presidency and then Germany.The three powers called a news conference this week to celebrate the “European Spring” — but it was abruptly canceled.
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Phyllis George, the former Miss America who became a female sportscasting pioneer on CBS’s “The NFL Today,” has died. She was 70.A family spokesperson said George died Thursday at a Lexington hospital after a long fight with a blood disorder.Her children, Lincoln Tyler George Brown and CNN White House correspondent Pamela Ashley Brown, released a joint statement, saying:”For many, Mom was known by her incredible accomplishments as the pioneering female sportscaster, 50th Miss America and first lady. But this was all before we were born and never how we viewed Mom. To us, she was the most incredible mother we could ever ask for, and it is all of the defining qualities the public never saw, especially against the winds of adversity, that symbolize how extraordinary she is more than anything else. The beauty so many recognized on the outside was a mere fraction of her internal beauty, only to be outdone by an unwavering spirit that allowed her to persevere against all the odds.”Miss America in 1971, George got into television in 1974 at CBS on “Candid Camera” and joined Brent Musburger and Irv Cross in 1975 on “The NFL Today.” Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder later was added to the cast.”Phyllis George was special. Her smile lit up millions of homes for the NFL Today,” Musburger tweeted. “Phyllis didn’t receive nearly enough credit for opening the sports broadcasting door for the dozens of talented women who took her lead and soared.”George worked on “The NFL Today” until 1984 and also covered horse racing. She hosted the entertainment show “People” and later co-anchored the “CBS Morning News.”George was briefly married to Hollywood producer Robert Evans in the mid-1970s and to John Y. Brown Jr. from 1979-98. Brown owned Kentucky Fried Chicken and the NBA’s Boston Celtics and served as the governor of Kentucky.”Phyllis was a great asset to Kentucky,” Brown told the Louisville Courier-Journal. “We had a great partnership. I think we enjoyed every single day.”From Denton, Texas, George attended the University of North Texas for three years, then went to Texas Christian University after earning a scholarship as Miss Texas in 1970.”A true pioneer who approached her job with enthusiasm, empathy and humor,” ESPN broadcaster Hannah Storm tweeted. “She was herself-charming and funny .. helped her audiences connect with some of the great sports figures of the day.” 
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U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned the International Criminal Court Friday that if it continues to assert authority over Israel, the U.S. will “exact consequences.”Pompeo’s warning came after the ICC prosecutor decided to consider Palestine a state with the ability to submit complaints that could trigger probes into alleged war crimes it says Israel committed in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.Pompeo said the U.S. does not “believe the Palestinians qualify as a sovereign state.”“The United States reiterates its longstanding objection to any illegitimate ICC investigations,” Pompeo added. “If the ICC continues down its current course, we will exact consequences.”On Wednesday, a bipartisan group of U.S. House and Senate legislators sent separate letters to Pompeo urging him to defend Israel, a firm U.S. ally, against ICC investigations, declaring the ICC’s assertion amounts to a “politicization” of the court’s mission.ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said late last year her years-long examination into Palestinian affairs provided her with a “reasonable basis to believe that war crimes were committed” by Israel and Palestinian groups such as Hamas. 
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A caravan of cars packed with protesters will trek from Atlanta to the small coastal community of Brunswick on Saturday to rally for a young black jogger killed by two white men who chased him down and shot him because they thought he was a burglar.Video of the killing of Ahmaud Arbery, 25, ignited outrage among activists who saw his death as the latest U.S. case of white perpetrators killing a black man and going unpunished. The father-and-son suspects were not arrested until weeks after the shooting, and just days after the video surfaced online.”If it wasn’t for the video, this would have been swept under the rug,” said Atlanta civil rights attorney Mawuli Davis, 51, one of the organizers of Saturday’s demonstration. “If they (the suspects) were black instead of white, they would have been arrested on day one. This is not how justice should work.”He said a newly formed organization, JustGeorgia — a coalition of about 20 churches and activist groups including the state chapter of the NAACP, are demanding that law enforcement officials involved in the case resign.Ahmaud Arbery, who was shot and killed while jogging in Brunswick, Georgia, Feb. 23, 2020, is seen in an undated photo provided by Marcus Arbery.Last week, Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr asked the U.S. Justice Department to open a probe into how the case was handled by two local prosecutors – the district attorneys for the Brunswick and Waycross judicial circuits – as well as the Glynn County Police Department.
According to Carr, both prosecutors recused themselves from the investigation, one of them, the Waycross district attorney, after providing police with a written opinion that no arrests should be made in connection with the Feb. 23 shooting.The suspects, former police officer Gregory McMichael, 64, and his son Travis, 34, were ultimately arrested and charged on May 7 with aggravated assault and murder, after the Georgia Bureau of Investigation began to probe the case.Both defendants remain in jail without bond and have yet to enter a plea. No court date has so far been set. The elder McMichael’s attorneys, Franklin and Laura Hogue, said in a statement that there had been a rush to judgment in the case before the “full story” was known. His son’s lawyer, Bob Rubin, said in a news release that “Travis has been vilified before his voice could even be heard.”The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating why charges were not brought sooner and whether to charge the suspects with federal hate crimes.Atlanta civil rights and criminal defense attorney Tiffany Williams Roberts, 38, said she was so angered by what happened in Brunswick that she decided to help launch JustGeorgia as an umbrella group to coordinate action.”We want to make sure that the world knows we are not satisfied with just these two arrests,” Williams said, adding that the case reflects a justice system in the United States that is biased in favor of whites.Under the slogan “We are Not Satisfied,” hundreds of protesters are expected to gather outside an Atlanta church on Saturday morning before beginning the four-hour drive south to rally in front of the Glynn County Courthouse at 2 p.m.”We hope to pick up more followers along the way,” said Davis. “From every city and town we go through, we want people to join us. Our message is clear: we are unified.” 
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President Donald Trump unveiled “Operation Warp Speed,” an initiative aimed at developing a coronavirus vaccine by the end of the year, although he vowed the country would reopen with or without one. This week the Trump administration also laid out plans to expand an initiative to ensure the United States does not run out of critical medical supplies. White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara reports.
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A Los Angeles coroner’s report says that everyone in the helicopter crash that killed basketball legend Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter died from blunt-force trauma.The pilot tested negative for drugs and alcohol, according to the 180-page report released Friday.There were six other people in the helicopter in addition to Bryant, daughter Gianna, and the pilot, Ara Zobayan.The helicopter slammed into a hill north of Los Angeles on January 26 in foggy weather.  The passengers were headed to a basketball tournament where Bryant was slated to coach his daughter’s basketball team. Two team members, three parents and a coach were also victims in the crash.The National Transportation Safety Board is still investigating the crash. 
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The Federal Reserve said Friday that parts of the U.S. financial system came under severe strain in March as a global pandemic was shutting down much of the economy.It said quick action by the central bank helped alleviate many of the stresses but cautioned that further shocks to the financial system could occur depending on the course of the virus and the amount of damage it does to the U.S. economy.The Fed’s assessment of the virus’ impact on the financial system came in a twice-a-year “Financial Stability Report” that the central bank issues to assess vulnerabilities in the financial system.The report said that asset prices such as stocks and bonds have been volatile and could show further declines depending on the course of the virus.”Asset prices remain vulnerable to significant price declines should the pandemic take an unexpected course, the economic fallout prove more adverse or financial system strains emerge,” the Fed said.  
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The U.S. Justice Department is aggressively forging ahead with a clampdown on Chinese economic espionage even as the coronavirus pandemic has shuttered much of the country’s criminal justice system.In recent days, the Justice Department has obtained a guilty plea from a former Atlanta-based university professor and has charged two others in connection with their work for China’s talent recruitment programs.The charges came as the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security warned this week that hackers tied to the Chinese government are attempting to steal U.S. research related to coronavirus vaccines, treatments and testing.While the coronavirus pandemic has shut down federal courts and forced most federal employees to telework, law enforcement officials say the work of combating Chinese intellectual property theft — as well as other investigations — continues, with more cases likely to be announced in the coming months.FILE – Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers speaks during a news conference at the Department of Justice in Washington, Nov. 1, 2018.“The Department of Justice remains vigilant over programs such as the Thousand Talents Program that recruits professors and researchers to work for China,” said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers.The Thousand Talents Program is the best known of more than 200 Chinese recruitment plans that target U.S. and other foreign academics and researchers to work in China.Chinese officials have made no secret about what they aim to accomplish through these programs: access to critical intellectual property. But the U.S. says the programs have a nefarious purpose: stealing U.S. technology and trade secrets.While the three cases announced this week do not allege outright intellectual property theft, they involve researchers at American institutions who hid their work for the Chinese, raising the risk of unauthorized intellectual property transfer.Arkansas professorLast Friday, Simon Saw-Teong Ang, an electrical engineering professor at the University of Arkansas, was arrested for failing to disclose his ties to the Chinese government and Chinese businesses in a grant application to NASA. The university suspended Ang after his arrest.Also last Friday, Dr. Xiao-Jiang Li, a former professor at Emory University, was sentenced to one year of probation in connection with his work with the Thousand Talents Program, which he hid from the federal government.Then on Wednesday, Dr. Qing Wang, a former researcher at the prestigious Cleveland Clinic, was arrested on fraud charges for failing to disclose in a $3.6 million grant application to the National Institutes of Health that he received money for conducting similar research in China. The clinic said it had fired the professor.”We’re hearing about some of these more high-profile investigations, mainly for the deterrent value so that China and Chinese state actors are aware that the U.S. is continuing to monitor this kind of activity,” said Paul Chan, the managing principal at the Bird Marella law firm in Los Angeles.Chan said the three cases underscore U.S. law enforcement agencies’ growing focus on academia as a target of Chinese intellectual property theft.“One of the ways in which China historically has sought to obtain intellectual property from the United States is through academic research institutions,” Chan said.’Principal IP infringer’According to the Commission on the Theft of American Intellectual Property, intellectual property theft costs the U.S. economy hundreds of billions of dollars annually, and China is “the world’s principal IP infringer.”Chan said China’s use of nontraditional actors such as students and scholars makes it particularly challenging for law enforcement to combat theft of trade secrets.“They successfully recruit a fair number of laypeople, academics, professors or students who might not start out necessarily working for the Chinese government, but are eventually recruited and encouraged and incentivized to become a conduit,” Chan said.Under the Trump administration, the Justice Department has increased its focus on combating Chinese economic espionage.In 2018, the department launched a “China Initiative” with the aim of prioritizing Chinese espionage cases.  Since then the department has announced charges in nearly 24 economic espionage and intellectual property theft cases.FILE – FBI Director Christopher Wray testifies before the House Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill, Feb. 5, 2020 in Washington.In February, FBI Director Christopher Wray said his agency was conducting about 1,000 investigations into suspected Chinese theft of U.S. technology involving every sector of the U.S. economy.The investigations are time-consuming – sometimes they can take years – but they’ve led to notable prosecutions in recent months.In January, Charles Lieber, a prominent Harvard University professor, was arrested on charges of lying about receiving research funding from the Chinese government. In March, a former West Virginia University professor pleaded guilty to fraud charges in connection with working for China’s Thousand Talents Program.The China Initiative has also involved an aggressive outreach campaign, with federal prosecutors and FBI agents regularly meeting with academia and the private sector about the threat of Chinese espionage.”The U.S. is worried about the leakage of intellectual property,” said Dean Cheng, a senior fellow for Chinese political and security affairs at the Heritage Foundation. “The bigger issue here with these professors is that by not declaring that they are taking Chinese money, to what extent is this allowing the flow of intellectual property to China?”
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The United States is on track to withdraw several thousand troops from Afghanistan as agreed in February, even as violence flares and the Taliban and the Afghan government have failed to start peace talks.  
 
U.S. officials are sticking to their promise to reduce troop levels to 8,600 by mid-July, and by next spring all American and allied forces are to have left the country, ending America’s longest war. Yet the outlook for peace is cloudy. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani says his government is now going back on the offensive against the Taliban after a series of devastating attacks on civilians.
 
That has concerned some lawmakers, including Rep. Liz Cheney, a Wyoming Republican and member of the House Armed Services Committee. She says the United States needs to keep a military and intelligence presence in Afghanistan to prevent extremist groups like al-Qaida and the Islamic State’s Afghan affiliate from forming havens from which to attack the U.S.
 
“Withdrawing U.S. troops from Afghanistan won’t end the war – it will just let the terrorists win” she told The Associated Press.
 
Some question whether the U.S.-Taliban agreement signed in Doha, Qatar, on Feb. 29, which the Trump administration billed as “a decisive step to achieve a negotiated peace,” was instead mainly a withdrawal agreement. President Donald Trump had campaigned on bringing troops home from foreign wars. And though the Afghan government publicly supported the deal, it did not participate directly in the negotiations and has not, in Washington’s view, capitalized on the chance for peace talks.
 
President Trump promised to bring our troops home from overseas and is following through on that promise,'' the White House said when the Doha deal was signed.
 
The deal stipulated that the Taliban would start intra-Afghan peace negotiations on March 10, but that has not happened. The Taliban and the Afghan government also have squabbled over a promised release of each other's prisoners.
 
"A lot of this boils down to: Was the U.S.-Taliban agreement any kind of serious negotiation at all, or was it just totally a fig leaf to cover abject withdrawal? I suspect the latter," said Stephen Biddle, a Columbia University professor of international and public affairs and a former adviser to U.S. commanders in Kabul.
 
"It gave away almost all the leverage we had in exchange for virtually nothing,'' he added.It looks very much like a situation in which the Taliban have concluded that the Americans are out, and they’re going to play out the string and see what happens when we’re gone”
 
The United States has been the prime backer of the Afghan government since it invaded the country soon after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and overthrew the Taliban, which was running the country and harboring al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. According to U.S. government auditors, Washington has committed $86 billion to support Afghan security forces and is still spending about $4 billion a year.
 
The Trump administration has expressed frustration with the lack of movement toward peace talks, but it has not threatened publicly to pull back from its commitment to fully withdraw. It did conduct an airstrike against the Taliban in defense of Afghan ground forces in early March just hours after Trump had what he called a good conversation by phone with a senior Taliban leader, Abdul Ghani Baradar.
 
Although the drawdown is required by the Doha agreement, U.S. defense officials had said for many months that they wanted to reduce to 8,600 _ the approximate number of troops that were supporting Afghan forces and conducting counterterrorism operations when Trump took office.
 
American officials constructed the Doha agreement mainly as a way of ending U.S. involvement in the war, rather than as an assured path to peace. The withdrawal is subject to Taliban assurances, but it does not require a peace settlement.
 
The deal also is seen by the U.S. as a way to enlist the Taliban in the fight against the Islamic State group. The American military considers the group’s Afghan affiliate as a greater threat than the Taliban.
 
The U.S. agreed to withdraw not just military forces but also all intelligence agency personnel, private security contractors, trainers and advisers. NATO allied forces also are to withdraw.
 
The Doha deal was seen at the time as Afghanistan’s best chance at peace in decades of war, but the government has since been consumed with political turmoil. Ghani and his rival Abdullah Abdullah have both declared themselves winners of last year’s presidential polls, and each declared himself president.
 
Defense Secretary Mark Esper has said that getting out of Afghanistan would advance his aim of devoting more forces to the Asia-Pacific region to counter China, which he sees as the No. 1 long-term threat to the United States.
 
Esper has been skeptical of the Taliban’s commitment to peace, and on May 5 he said neither the Taliban nor the Afghan government is abiding by the agreement.
 
Esper said the Taliban should return to the reduced levels of violence that existed in the week before the Feb. 29 Doha signing. At the time, Ghani put his government forces in a defensive stance, but on Tuesday he ordered a return to the offensive, expressing anger for two attacks, including one that killed 24 people, including infants, at a hospital.
 
The Taliban denied responsibility and the U.S. has blamed the Islamic State affiliate in Afghanistan for the attack. The Taliban on Thursday said it had carried out a suicide bombing as retaliation for having been falsely accused by Ghani.
 
A Pentagon spokesman, Lt. Col. Thomas Campbell, indicated the U.S. stance has not changed.
 
“Consistent with the agreement, the U.S. military will continue to conduct defensive strikes against the Taliban when they attack our (Afghan) partners,” he said Wednesday. “As the secretary of defense stated recently, this is going to be a windy, bumpy road, but a political agreement is the best way to end the war.”
 
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The Trump administration on Friday moved to block shipments of semiconductors to Huawei Technologies from global chipmakers, in an action ramping up tensions with China.The U.S. Commerce Department said it was amending an export rule to “strategically target Huawei’s acquisition of semiconductors that are the direct product of certain U.S. software and technology.”The reaction from China  was swift with a report saying it was ready to put U.S. companies on an “unreliable entity list,” as part of countermeasures in response to the new limits on Huawei, FILE – A security personnel stands near the logo of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd (TSMC) during an investor conference in Taipei, July 16, 2014.The rule change is a blow to Huawei, the world’s No. 2 smartphone maker, as well as to Taiwan’s Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd, a major producer of chips for Huawei’s HiSilicon unit as well as mobile phone rivals Apple and Qualcomm. TMSC announced late Thursday it would build a $12 billion chip factory in Arizona.TSMC said Friday it is “working with outside counsels to conduct legal analysis and ensure a comprehensive examination and interpretation of these rules. We expect to have the assessment concluded before the effective date,” the company said, adding the “semiconductor industry supply chain is extremely complex, and is served by a broad collection of international suppliers.”Huawei, which needs semiconductors for its widely used smartphones and telecoms equipment, is at the heart of a battle for global technological dominance between the United States and China.Huawei, which has warned that the Chinese government would retaliate if the rule went into effect, did not immediately comment on Friday. U.S. stock market futures turned negative on the Reuters report.”The Chinese government will not just stand by and watch Huawei be slaughtered on the chopping board,” Huawei Chairman Eric Xu told reporters on March 31.The United States is trying to convince allies to exclude Huawei gear from next generation 5G networks on grounds its equipment could be used by China for spying. Huawei has repeatedly denied the claim.Huawei has continued to use U.S. software and technology to design semiconductors, the Commerce Department said, despite being placed on a U.S. economic blacklist in May 2019.FILE – A chip by Huawei’s subsidiary HiSilicon is displayed in Fuzhou, Fujian province, China, March 21, 2019.Under the rule change, foreign companies that use U.S. chipmaking equipment will be required to obtain a U.S. license before supplying certain chips to Huawei, or an affiliate like HiSilicon. The rule targets chips designed or custom-made for Huawei.In order for Huawei to continue to receive some chipsets or use some semiconductor designs tied to certain U.S. software and technology, it would need to receive licenses from the Commerce Department.National security concernsCommerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told Fox Business “there has been a very highly technical loophole through which Huawei has been in able, in effect, to use U.S. technology with foreign fab producers.” Ross called the rule change a “highly tailored thing to try to correct that loophole.”Ross said in a written statement Huawei had “stepped-up efforts to undermine these national security-based restrictions.”The Commerce Department said the rule will allow wafers already in production to be shipped to Huawei as long as the shipments are complete within 120 days from Friday. Chipsets would need to be in production by Friday or they would be ineligible under the rule.The United States placed Huawei and 114 affiliates on its economic blacklist citing national security concerns. That forced some U.S. and foreign companies to seek special licenses from the Commerce Department to sell to it, but China hawks in the U.S. government have been frustrated by the vast number of supply chains beyond their reach.Separately, the Commerce Department extended a temporary license that was set to expire Friday to allow U.S. companies, many of which operate wireless networks in rural America, to continue doing business with Huawei through Aug. 13. It warned it expected this would be the final extension.Reuters first reported the administration was considering changes to the Foreign Direct Product Rule, which subjects some foreign-made goods based on U.S. technology or software to U.S. regulations, in November.Most chip manufacturers rely on equipment produced by U.S. companies like KLA, Lam Research and Applied Materials, according to a report last year from China’s Everbright Securities.Other recent actionThe Trump administration has taken a series of steps aimed at Chinese telecom firms in recent weeks.The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) last month began the process of shutting down the U.S. operations of three state-controlled Chinese telecommunications companies, citing national security risks. The FCC also in April approved Alphabet Inc. unit Google’s request to use part of an 8,000-mile undersea telecommunications cable between the United States and Taiwan, but not Hong Kong, after U.S. agencies raised national security concerns.This week, President Donald Trump extended for another year a May 2019 executive order barring U.S. companies from using telecommunications equipment made by companies deemed to pose a national security risk, a move seen aimed at Huawei and peer ZTE Corp. 
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Retail sales in the U.S. fell much more than expected in April as the coronavirus pandemic forced businesses across the country to close, the Commerce Department reported Friday.Retail sales plunged 16.4% last month, the largest drop in recorded history, and the latest indication the outbreak is taking its toll on the world’s largest economy.Economists expected April retail sales to decline 12% over March, but they fell more than expected due to fewer people traveling, shopping and dining out.The steepest drops occurred at clothing and electronics stores and at restaurants.As the trend toward more online shopping and delivery services continues, retailers large and small are finding it increasingly difficult to remain in business. Department stores Neiman Marcus and J.Crew have filed for bankruptcy and hotels, restaurants and other businesses are in danger.The dramatic decline in retail spending is a primary reason the U.S. economy is shrinking. Retail purchases are a key area of all consumer spending, which is responsible for about 70% of U.S. economic growth.  
 
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This week in Michigan, protesters gathered at the state capitol to express their frustration with the state’s lockdown rules. Such protests have sprouted up around the United States as some people buck against what they see as overreaching government control in their lives. Matt Dibble reports.
Camera: Sam Paakkonen  Produced by: Matt Dibble, Barry Unger
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A Taiwan-based company is planning a $12 billion semiconductor factory in the U.S. state of Arizona.Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. is the world’s largest contract manufacturer of computer chips.The firm said Friday the factory will create as many as 1,600 jobs. Thousands more jobs are expected to be created along the supply lines to support production of the 5-nanometer chips.The factory will be able to produce 20,000 of the wafers each month. They’re used in an array of consumer electronics, including the iPhones and defense equipment.Construction of the facility is to begin next year, and the location in Arizona has not been determined.“This project,” the company said, “is of critical, strategic importance to a vibrant and competitive U.S. semiconductor ecosystem that enables leading U.S. companies to fabricate their cutting-edge semiconductor products within the United States.”The firm has another U.S. factory in Washington state.U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross lauded the plan as showing the success of President Donald Trump’s programs.The company’s plan to set up the facility, he said, “is yet another indication that President Trump’s policy agenda has led to a renaissance in American manufacturing and made the United States the most attractive place in the world to invest.”Also praising the move was Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who said the facility will “increase U.S. economic independence, bolster our safety and competitiveness, and strengthen our leadership in high-tech manufacturing.”“This historic deal also strengthens our relationship with Taiwan, a vibrant democracy and force for good in the world,” he said.TSMC’s stock rose more than 1.5 percent Friday morning which outperformed the 0.8 percent gain in the main Taiwan stock market.  
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The top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said Thursday the nonprofit organization run by President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the federal agency with oversight of Voice of America is under investigation by the District of Columbia attorney general’s office.New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez said late Thursday the attorney general’s office is investigating whether Michael Pack’s use of funds from his nonprofit, Public Media Lab, was unlawful and whether he improperly used those funds to benefit himself.The U.S. Agency for Global Media is the agency that oversees U.S. government broadcasting, including the Voice of America, among others.Menendez said that since Pack’s confirmation hearing in September, “Mr. Pack has refused to provide the Senate Foreign Relations Committee with documents it requested that get to the heart of the matter that the OAG (Office of Attorney General) is now investigating, or to correct false statements he made to the IRS.”Menendez said he is urging the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, Republican Jim Risch, to put the Pack nomination on hold.There has been no response so far from Pack or the White House to the Menendez statement. VOA has asked for comment from Risch.Trump nominated Pack to take over the USAGM nearly two years ago. 
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This week in Michigan, protesters gathered at the state capitol to express their frustration with the state’s lockdown rules. Such protests have sprouted up around the United States as some people buck against what they see as overreaching government control in their lives. Matt Dibble reports.
Camera: Sam Paakkonen  Produced by: Matt Dibble, Barry Unger
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Karen Pence says it’s OK to not be OK during the coronavirus pandemic.While Vice President Mike Pence runs the White House coronavirus task force, his wife is leading a parallel effort to help people deal with anxiety and other unsettling emotions brought on by the pandemic.Two months into the crisis, millions of Americans are struggling to cope with the fallout, whether it’s losing loved ones, losing a job or staying at home more than they ever have.”This is something we’re all going through together, and it’s not like anything we’ve ever gone through before,” Karen Pence told The Associated Press in a recent interview.She is lead ambassador for the PREVENTS task force, an acronym for the President’s Roadmap to Empower Veterans and End the National Tragedy of Suicide. It was created in 2019 to focus on veterans’ suicides but recently launched a social media campaign called “More Than Ever Before” to help reach Americans before they get to “the end of their rope,” she said.”We want them to know there’s help out there, and there are things that we can do to prevent some of the effects that this is having on our mental health as a nation,” Mrs. Pence said. She joined the PREVENTS effort early this year, before the extent of the coronavirus threat in the U.S. became clear.Recent pollA majority of Americans say they have felt at least one negative emotional reaction in the last seven days, according to a new poll conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago for the Data Foundation.At least a third of Americans reported feeling nervous, depressed, lonely or hopeless at least one day in the past week. But taken together, 61% of Americans say they have felt at least one of those emotions at one point throughout the week.Nine percent also reported having a physical reaction, such as sweating, nausea or hyperventilating, when thinking about their experience with the pandemic on one or more days.The new poll, conducted last week, is the second wave of the COVID-19 Household Impact Survey.Thirty-eight percent of Americans say they felt lonely at least one of the last seven days. Sixteen percent said they felt that way on three or more days. And 38% said they felt hopeless about the future at least once, with 14% saying they felt that way on three or more days.Those patterns are similar for feelings of anxiety and depression.Ways to copeMrs. Pence says there are four basic things people can do to help them cope with the situation, beginning with a daily “check in” with themselves to gauge how they’re feeling and then reach out to a friend or other individual if they need someone to hear them out.They should also figure out what puts them at ease, whether it’s reading, cooking or another activity, and schedule time for it. Mrs. Pence, a watercolor artist, said she’s been working on a painting of a friend’s house and is designing her family’s Christmas card.People should also talk about their struggles and successes and include children in those conversations. And if they’re concerned about themselves or someone else, they should feel comfortable calling the national suicide prevention lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK.”It’s OK to not be OK,” said Mrs. Pence. She posts tips and information about available resources on her Twitter page.Among those grappling with the new dynamics is Jody Garrison, who works from her Milwaukee home, turning old books into journals and selling them online.It’s the rare trip to the grocery store — or to the auto mechanic shop later this week to pick up her car after a repair — that brings on the anxiety.”You worry about, ‘Am I going to catch something from touching something?’ so I truly don’t go out in public much at all,” she said by telephone.Being retired helps, as Garrison had long settled into a routine. The 68-year-old plays with her grandchildren online and meets friends there, and is exercising and reading more, too.”I think what’s kept my sanity is that I’ve tried really hard to stay focused on things that kept me happy in the past to sustain the thought of being alone,” she said. “I’m trying to stay focused on the positive, and when you do that, it doesn’t seem quite so bad.”Suicide and substance abuse Anxious to see the U.S. economy humming again, President Donald Trump has pushed back against those who warn that coronavirus cases will spike after state lockdowns are lifted. He says more people will die from suicide and substance abuse the longer schools, businesses and workplaces remain closed and people stay at home.Experts say rates of suicide and substance abuse were rising before the pandemic, but it’s too soon to know how much they may have increased during the outbreak.Suicide prevention and mental health advocates said they welcome the PREVENTS effort but would like to see more spending on a more coordinated effort to reduce deaths caused by despair.”You don’t have to be a mental health expert to know we’re in deep trouble,” said former Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., co-chair of a new public-private effort to respond to mental health and suicide prevention needs both during and after the coronavirus.Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the U.S., with 48,000 deaths reported in 2018, said Jerry Reed, who serves with Kennedy on the executive committee of the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention, which is separate from the virus-related initiative.Reed, a longtime suicide prevention advocate, said he’d like to see the same amount of effort that went into combating the coronavirus put into responding to mental health needs.”I like the fact that we all came together to flatten the physical curve of the virus,” Reed said. “I would suggest we all come together to flatten the mental health curve.” 
 
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