INTL Europe: Politics, Economics, Military- April, 2020

[Plain Jane]

The thread from March is here:

INTL - Europe: Politics, Economics, and Military- March 2020

February 2020's thread is here: http://xf.timebomb2000.com/xf/index.php?threads/europe-politics-economics-and-military-february-2020.567513/ Conflict in the Eastern and Southern Mediterranean impact several European countries. Ongoing thread about that is here...

www.timebomb2000.com

Main coronavirus thread in March on pages 538-1011 approximately here:

CORONA - Main Coronavirus thread

If you are going to be quarantined and wearing a mask anyway, you might as well buy a couple of gallons of primer and white semigloss paint and a couple of brushes, In 14 days you should be able to paint the baseboards, door and window trim. Heck go ahead and get that third gallon of semigloss...

www.timebomb2000.com

Regional conflict around the Mediterranean pages 15-18 here:

WAR - Regional conflict brewing in the Mediterranean

View: https://mobile.twitter.com/EndGameWW3/status/1233150974325334018

www.timebomb2000.com

Netherlands recalls 'defective' masks from China – DW – 03/29/2020

Hundreds of thousands of masks sent to Dutch hospitals have been recalled after tests showed they failed to protect the face or had defective filters. The Netherlands recently bought 1.3 million masks from China.

www.dw.com

Coronavirus: Netherlands recalls 'defective' masks bought from China
Hundreds of thousands of masks sent to Dutch hospitals have been recalled after tests showed they failed to protect the face or had defective filters. The Netherlands recently bought 1.3 million masks from China.




The Dutch government has ordered a recall of around 600,000 masks out of a shipment of 1.3 million from China after they failed to meet quality standards.
The defective masks had already been distributed to several hospitals currently battling the COVID-19 outbreak, news agency AFP and Dutch media reported. The Dutch Health Ministry has kept the rest of the shipment on hold.
An inspection revealed that the FFP2 masks did not protect the face properly or had defective filter membranes. The fine filters stop the virus from entering the mouth or nose. The masks failed more than one inspection.
"A second test also revealed that the masks did not meet the quality norms. Now it has been decided not to use any of this shipment," said the Health Ministry said in a statement to news agency AFP.
Read more: How well do face masks protect against viruses, droplets and dust?













Watch video01:22
Mask makers set to profit from virus outbreak
The masks were delivered to the Netherlands by a Chinese manufacturer on March 21. The Health Ministry said it would conduct extra testing on any future shipments.
Several hospitals in the Netherlands had already rejected some of the shipment even before the Health Ministry issued the recall.
"When they were delivered to our hospital, I immediately rejected those masks," a hospital source told Dutch public broadcaster NOS.
China is sending millions of masks and medical supplies to countries across the world to combat the COVID-19 outbreak. Countries that are receiving China's supplies include Serbia, Liberia, France, the Philippines and the Czech Republic.
The Netherlands currently has over 9,700 confirmed COVID-19 cases. Over 630 people have already died in the western European country due to the virus.
DW's editors send out a selection of the day's hard news and quality feature journalism. Sign up for it here.


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[Plain Jane]

France to transfer critical coronavirus patients by train to ease hospital pressure

Thirty-eight critically ill coronavirus patients will be transferred by high-speed train from the Paris area to less overwhelmed regions on Wednesday to ease pressure on the capital's intensive-care capacity, French health officials said.

www.reuters.com

NEWS
MARCH 31, 2020 / 10:27 AM / UPDATED AN HOUR AGO
France to transfer critical coronavirus patients by train to ease hospital pressure


2 MIN READ

PARIS (Reuters) - Thirty-eight critically ill coronavirus patients will be transferred by high-speed train from the Paris area to less overwhelmed regions on Wednesday to ease pressure on the capital’s intensive-care capacity, French health officials said.

France recorded its worst daily coronavirus death toll on Monday, taking the toll above 3,000 for the first time, with the country battling to free up space in life-support units.

That has now become critical in Paris, where the number of beds in intensive care units is now practically at the same level as the number of patients.

“What is planned from the Paris region by TGV (train) is (to transport) 38 sick people,” Bruno Riou, who heads up the Paris hospitals’ crisis team, told reporters in a conference call on Tuesday.

“We’re close to knowing whether we will be able to remain under the saturation stage so the regional transfers, notably tomorrow, will be an important security valve even if it’s a small number of patients.”

France has already been shuffling patients from the east of the country, where the virus outbreak has overwhelmed hospitals, to other areas and neighboring countries. The army has been drafted to help, while 36 patients were moved to western France from the east on medically outfitted TGV trains on Sunday.

France 3 TV reported that the patients from Paris would be moved to Brittany in the country’s northwest.

“We had 200 patients in intensive care in mid-March, 1,000 on March 24 and as of today about 1,900. That shows a colossal increase in a very short space of time, which makes things extremely difficult,” said Antoine Vieillard-Baron, head of the surgical and medical Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at the University Hospital Ambroise Pare.

Reporting by John Irish; Editing by Benoit Van Overstraeten and Mark Heinrich
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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[Plain Jane]

Un-baaaaa-lievable: Goats invade locked-down Welsh town

LONDON (AP) — Un-baaaaa-lievable: This wild bunch is completely ignoring rules on social distancing.

apnews.com

Un-baaaaa-lievable: Goats invade locked-down Welsh town
yesterday



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A herd of goats walk the quiet streets in Llandudno, north Wales, Tuesday March 31, 2020. A group of goats have been spotted walking around the deserted streets of the seaside town during the nationwide lockdown due to the coronavirus. (Pete Byrne/PA via AP)
LONDON (AP) — Un-baaaaa-lievable: This wild bunch is completely ignoring rules on social distancing.

With humans sheltering indoors to escape the new coronavirus, mountain goats are taking advantage of the peace and space to roam in frisky clumps through the streets of Llandudno, a town in North Wales.

Andrew Stuart, a video producer for the Manchester Evening News, has been posting videos of the furry adventurers on his Twitter feed and they are racking up hundreds of thousands of views.

He said the goats normally keep largely to themselves, in a country park that butts up against Llandudno. But now emboldened by the lack of people and cars, the long-horned animals are venturing deeper into the seaside town. The U.K. has been in lockdown for the past week to combat the spread of the coronavirus.

“There’s no one around at the moment, because of the lockdown, so they take their chances and go as far as they can. And they are going further and further into the town,” Stuart told The Associated Press in an interview Tuesday from his parents’ pub in Llandudno, where he is waiting out the pandemic.
His videos show the goats munching on people’s neatly trimmed hedges and trees in front yards and loitering casually on empty streets as if they own the place.

View attachment 1585734571085.png

“One of the videos on my Twitter shows that they were on a narrow side street and I was on the other side and they were scared of me. They were edging away from me. So they are still scared of people,” Stuart said. “But when there’s hardly anyone around on the big streets, they are taking their chances, they are absolutely going for it. And I think because it’s so quiet, and there’s hardly anyone around to scare them or anything, that they just don’t really care and are eating whatever they can.”

For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and death.

 

[Plain Jane]

Greece quarantines camp after migrants test coronavirus positive

Greece has quarantined a migrant camp after 23 asylum seekers tested positive for the coronavirus, authorities said on Thursday, its first such facility to be hit since the outbreak of the disease.

www.reuters.com

NEWS
APRIL 2, 2020 / 2:47 AM / UPDATED 41 MINUTES AGO
Greece quarantines camp after migrants test coronavirus positive


3 MIN READ

ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece has quarantined a migrant camp after 20 asylum seekers tested positive for coronavirus, the migration ministry said on Thursday, its first such facility to be hit since the outbreak of the disease.

Tests on 63 people were conducted after a 19-year-old female migrant who gave birth in hospital in Athens was found infected, becoming the first recorded case among thousands of asylum seekers living in overcrowded camps across Greece.

None of the confirmed cases showed any symptoms, the ministry said, adding that it was continuing its tests.

Greece, which recorded its first coronavirus case at the end of February, has reported 1,415 cases so far, and 50 deaths.

It is the gateway to Europe for people fleeing conflicts and poverty in the Middle East and beyond, with more than a million passing through Greece during the migrant crisis of 2015-2016.

Any movement in and out of the Ritsona camp, which is 75 kilometres (45 miles) northeast of Athens and hosts hundreds of people, will be restricted for 14 days, the ministry said. Police would monitor the implementation of the measures.

The camp in central Greece has an isolation area for coronavirus patients should the need arise, sources have said.

TICKING HEALTH BOMB”
More than 40,000 asylum-seekers are stuck in overcrowded refugee camps on Greece’s outlying islands, in conditions that aid organisations say are appalling and which the government itself has described as a “ticking health bomb”.

“This news confirms what we have been repeatedly calling for; it is urgently needed to evacuate migrants out of the Greek islands to EU countries,” said Leila Bodeux, policy and advocacy officer for Caritas Europa, an aid agency.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Wednesday evening that Greece was ready to protect its islands, where no case has been recorded so far, but that the EU should do more to improve conditions in camps and to relocate people to other countries.

Thank God, we haven’t had a single case of COVID-19 on the island of Lesbos or any other island,” he told CNN TV, adding that the government was ramping up heath facilities and its plan was still to alleviate pressure on the islands.

“The conditions are far from being ideal but I should also point out that Greece is dealing with this problem basically on its own... We haven’t had as much support from the European Union as we want.”

Reporting by Renee Maltezou; Editing by Gareth Jones
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

 

[Plain Jane]

Top EU court says eastern states broke law by refusing to host refugees

The European Union's top court ruled on Thursday that Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic had broken the law by refusing to host refugees to help ease the burden on southern states such as Greece and Italy after a surge in migrant arrivals from 2015.

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NEWS
APRIL 2, 2020 / 4:13 AM / UPDATED 6 MINUTES AGO
Top EU court says eastern states broke law by refusing to host refugees

Gabriela Baczynska
3 MIN READ

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union’s top court ruled on Thursday that Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic had broken the law by refusing to host refugees to help ease the burden on southern states such as Greece and Italy after a surge in migrant arrivals from 2015.
The ruling underscores Europe’s bitter divisions over migration, though the three ex-communist nations face no immediate penalty as the relocation of tens of thousands of people agreed by the EU was only envisaged until 2017.

“By refusing to comply with the temporary mechanism for the relocation of applicants for international protection, Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic have failed to fulfil their obligations under European Union law,” the Luxembourg-based Court of Justice of the European Union said in its ruling.

The eurosceptic, nationalist governments on the EU’s eastern flank had cited national security reasons in refusing to take in any of the mostly Muslim refugees and migrants who had fled wars and poverty in the Middle East, North Africa and beyond.
Frontline states such as Italy and Greece complained angrily over the lack of European solidarity as they struggled with mass arrivals that overwhelmed their security and welfare systems.

Wealthy northern European states such as Germany also criticised the ex-communist east for refusing to help while continuing to benefit from generous EU financial aid.

More than a million people reached Europe’s shores from across the Mediterranean in 2015, catching the EU unprepared as they trekked across the continent and triggering a new wave of support in some quarters for far-right, anti-immigrant parties.

The EU has since cracked down on immigration, fortifying its external borders and offering money and aid to countries such as Turkey to help prevent migrants from heading to Europe.

But the internal EU divisions on migration are far from healed. The 2015 mass influx of migrants at least partly contributed to Britain’s 2016 decision to leave the EU, in the worst setback for European integration since World War Two.

The EU now faces a fresh test of its unity from the coronavirus pandemic, with member states mostly pursuing their own strategies to counter the spread of the disease and the worst affected nations - Italy and Spain - again complaining of a lack of European solidarity and aid.

Reporting by Gabriela Baczynska; Editing by Gareth Jones
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

 

[Plain Jane]

NATO welcomes North Macedonia as 30th ally

NATO foreign ministers welcomed North Macedonia as the alliance's newest member on Thursday, ending a long process that included a change to the country's name.

www.reuters.com

NEWS
APRIL 2, 2020 / 1:02 PM / UPDATED AN HOUR AGO
NATO welcomes North Macedonia as 30th ally


1 MIN READ

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - NATO foreign ministers welcomed North Macedonia as the alliance’s newest member on Thursday, ending a long process that included a change to the country’s name.

“We welcome North Macedonia as NATO’s 30th ally,” NATO foreign ministers said in a statement following a video conference, which North Macedonia’s minister was part of as a full member.

North Macedonia raised its flag at NATO headquarters in Belgium earlier this week.
NATO members signed an accord last year allowing the ex-Yugoslav republic to become the 30th member of the U.S.-led military alliance, after a deal with Greece ended a long dispute over its name. Macedonia changed its name to North Macedonia.

Reporting by Robin Emmott, editing by Ed Osmond
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principle

 

[Plain Jane]

Spain overtakes Italy in coronavirus cases, death rate slows

Spain overtook Italy for the first time on Friday for the number of confirmed coronavirus cases, but the overnight death toll fell from the previous day, providing a small glimmer of hope.

www.reuters.com

NEWS
APRIL 3, 2020 / 5:58 AM / UPDATED 10 MINUTES AGO
Coronavirus claims more Spanish lives, but death rate slows

Inti Landauro, Clara-Laeila Laudette
2 MIN READ

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain reported more deaths from the coronavirus tearing around the world on Friday, but the number who succumbed overnight was lower than the previous day.
Adding to the world’s worst death toll from the disease after European neighbour Italy, 932 people died in 24 hours, bringing the total to 10,935, the Health Ministry said.

It was the first time in over a week that the figure fell from the previous day.
On Thursday, 950 new deaths were reported.

More new cases were also registered, but the rate of infection slowed. With 117,710, Spain is now second only in numbers of infected to the United States, which has a population some seven times larger.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has imposed one of Europe’s strictest lockdowns, leaving only employees in essential sectors free to travel to and from work.
Bars, restaurants and shops are shuttered.

Spaniards have now been confined since March 14, and Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said late on Thursday that Sanchez would decide over coming days whether to extend that.

The region around the capital Madrid has suffered far more infections and deaths than anywhere else in the country. More than 4,400 people have now died there, data showed on Friday.

Hospitals are struggling to cope, and more people are dying in the area’s nursing homes, which house some 50,000 people in the most vulnerable age bracket.

Mortuaries have been overwhelmed, prompting regional authorities to set up a third improvised facility at an ice rink near the capital on Friday, adapting the 1,800 square-metre space to receive corpses.

Writing by Isla Binnie; Editing by Sonya Dowsett and Andrew Cawthorne
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

 

[Plain Jane]

Zerohedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

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China Floods Europe With Defective COVID-19-Fighting Medical Equipment

by Tyler Durden
Sat, 04/04/2020 - 07:00
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Authored by Soeren Kern via The Gatestone Institute,
As the coronavirus rages across Europe, a growing number of countries are reporting that millions of pieces of medical equipment donated by, or purchased from, China to defeat the pandemic are defective and unusable.

The revelations are fueling distrust of a public relations effort by Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Communist Party to portray China as the world's new humanitarian superpower.




On March 28, the Netherlands was forced to recall 1.3 million face masks produced in China because they did not meet the minimum safety standards for medical personnel. The so-called KN95 masks are a less expensive Chinese alternative to the American-standard N95 mask, which currently is in short supply around the world. The KN95 does not fit on the face as tightly as the N95, thus potentially exposing medical personnel to the coronavirus.
More than 500,000 of the KN95 masks had already been distributed to Dutch hospitals before the recall was enacted.

"When the masks were delivered to our hospital, I immediately rejected them," a hospital worker told the Dutch public broadcaster NOS.
"If those masks do not seal properly, the virus particles can simply pass through. We cannot use them. They are unsafe for our people."

In a written statement, the Dutch Ministry of Health explained:

"A first shipment from a Chinese manufacturer was partly delivered last Saturday. These are masks with a KN95 quality certificate. During an inspection this shipment was found not to meet our quality standard. Part of this shipment had already been delivered to healthcare providers; the rest of the cargo was immediately withheld and not further distributed.
"A second test also showed that the masks did not meet our quality standard. It has now been decided that this entire shipment will not be used. New shipments will undergo additional tests."

The Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad reported on March 17 that the Netherlands had only a few days' supply of masks: "All hope is now for that one cargo plane from China on Wednesday." The substandard quality of the masks delivered by China has left the Netherlands shattered. A spokesperson for a hospital in Dutch city of Eindhoven said that Chinese suppliers were selling "a lot of junk...at high prices."

In Spain, meanwhile, the Ministry of Health on March 26 revealed that 640,000 coronavirus tests that it had purchased from a Chinese vendor were defective. The tests, manufactured by Shenzhen Bioeasy Biotechnology Company in Guangdong province, had an accurate detection rate of less than 30%.

On April 2, the Spanish newspaper El Mundo reported that it had been presented with leaked documents which showed that Bioeasy had lied to the Spanish government about the accuracy of the tests. Bioeasy had claimed, in writing, that its tests had an accurate detection rate of 92%.

Also on April 2, the Spanish government revealed that a further million coronavirus tests delivered to Spain on March 30 by another Chinese manufacturer were also defective. The tests apparently required between five and six days to detect whether a patient is infected with coronavirus and were therefore useless to diagnose the disease in a timely manner.

On March 25, the Spanish government announced that it had purchased medical supplies from China in the amount of €432 million ($470 million), and that Chinese vendors demanded that they be paid up front before the deliveries were made. Spanish Health Minister Salvador Illa explained:

"We have bought and paid for 550 million masks, which will start arriving now and will continue to arrive for the next eight weeks. 11 million gloves will arrive in the next five weeks. As for rapid tests, we have acquired 5.5 million for the months of March and April. In addition, we will receive 950 respirators during the months of April to June. We are managing the purchase of more equipment."

It is not at all clear how the Spanish government will be able to guarantee the quality of these new mass purchases, or how it would obtain compensation if the products from China were again substandard.

On March 28, the French government, which apparently has only a few weeks' worth of supplies, announced that it had ordered more than one billion face masks from China. It is unclear whether the quality control problems experienced by other European countries would affect France's purchasing plans.

Other countries — in Europe and beyond — have also criticized the quality of Chinese medical supplies:

• Slovakia. On April 1, Prime Minister Igor Matovič said that more than a million coronavirus tests supplied by China for a cash payment of €15 million ($16 million) were inaccurate and unable to detect COVID-19. "We have a ton of tests and no use for them," he said. "They should just be thrown straight into the Danube." China accused Slovakian medical personnel of using the tests incorrectly.
• Malaysia. On March 28, Malaysia received a consignment of medical equipment donated by China, consisting of test kits, medical face masks, surgical masks and other personal protective equipment. A senior official in the Ministry of Health, Noor Hisham Abdullah, said that the test kits would be evaluated for accuracy after previous test kits from China were found to be defective: "This is a different brand from the one we tested earlier. We will assess the new test kit which is FDA-approved. I was assured by the Chinese ambassador that this is more accurate than the other one we tested." Abdullah previously stated that the accuracy of the Chinese tests was "not very good."
• Turkey. On March 27, Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said that Turkey had tried some Chinese-made coronavirus tests but authorities "weren't happy about them." Professor Ateş Kara, a member of the Turkish Health Ministry's coronavirus task force, added that the batch of testing kits were only 30 to 35% accurate: "We have tried them. They don't work. Spain has made a huge mistake by using them."
• Czech Republic. On March 23, the Czech news site iRozhlas reported that 300,000 coronavirus test kits delivered by China had an error rate of 80%. The Czech Ministry of Interior had paid $2.1 million for the kits. On March 15, Czech media revealed that Chinese suppliers had swindled the Czech government after it paid upfront for the supply of five million face masks, which were supposed to have been delivered on March 16.

On March 30, China urged European countries not to "politicize" concerns about the quality of medical supplies from China. "Problems should be properly solved based on facts, not political interpretations," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said.

On April 1, the Chinese government reversed course and announced that it was increasing its oversight of exports of coronavirus test kits made in China. Chinese exporters of coronavirus tests must now obtain a certificate from the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) in order to be cleared by China's customs agency.

Meanwhile, the Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei announced that it would stop donating masks to European countries as a result of allegedly derogatory comments by the EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell.

On March 24, Borrell had written in a blog post that China was engaging in a "politics of generosity" as well as a "global battle of narratives."

On March 26, a Huawei official told the Brussels-based news service Euractiv that due to Borrell's comments, the company would be ending its donation program because it did not want to become involved in a geopolitical power play between the U.S. and China.

On March 28, Huawei paid for sponsored content in the publication Politico Europe. Huawei's Chief Representative to the EU, Abraham Liu, wrote:

"Let me be clear — we have never sought to gain any publicity or favor in any country by what we are doing. We made a conscious decision not to publicize things. Our help is not conditional and not a part of any business or geopolitical strategy as some have suggested. We are a private company. We are trying to help people to the best of our abilities. That's all. There is no hidden agenda. We don't want anything in return."

On March 30, the BBC reported that Huawei was acting as if nothing had really changed since the coronavirus crisis began:

That may be naive on the company's part. While nothing has really changed when it comes to the technical and security issues around Huawei's equipment, the political climate for the company has certainly worsened.
"A story in the Mail on Sunday at the weekend had Downing Street warning China 'faced a reckoning' over its handling of the coronavirus.
"And that is likely to embolden those MPs who have been telling the government no Chinese company should be allowed a role in the UK's vital infrastructure."

On March 29, the British newspaper Daily Mail reported that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his allies in parliament had "turned" on China because of the coronavirus crisis:

"Ministers and senior Downing Street officials said the Communist state now faces a 'reckoning' over its handling of the outbreak and risks becoming a 'pariah state.'
"They are furious over China's campaign of misinformation, attempts to exploit the pandemic for economic gain and atrocious animal rights abuses blamed by experts for the outbreak."

On January 28, Johnson had granted Huawei a role in Britain's 5G mobile network, frustrating efforts by the United States to exclude the company from the West's next-generation communications, which, it seems, can also be used for spying. The London-based Financial Times reported that U.S President Donald J. Trump vented "apoplectic fury" at Johnson in a tense phone call. Johnson is now facing pressure from his Cabinet as well as from Members of Parliament to reverse his decision.

After Chinese officials blamed the United States and Italy for starting the coronavirus pandemic, the Daily Mail quoted a British government source as saying:

"There is a disgusting disinformation campaign going on and it is unacceptable. They [the Chinese government] know they have got this badly wrong and rather than owning it they are spreading lies."

The newspaper continued:

"Mr. Johnson has been warned by scientific advisers that China's officially declared statistics on the number of cases of coronavirus could be 'downplayed by a factor of 15 to 40 times.' And No. 10 believes China is seeking to build its economic power during the pandemic with 'predatory offers of help' to countries around the world.
"A major review of British foreign policy has been shelved due to the Covid-19 outbreak and will not report until the impact of the virus can be assessed. A government source close to the review said: 'It is going to be back to the diplomatic drawing board after this. Rethink is an understatement.'
"Another source said: 'There has to be a reckoning when this is over.' Yet another added: 'The anger goes right to the top.'
"A senior Cabinet Minister said: 'We can't stand by and allow the Chinese state's desire for secrecy to ruin the world's economy and then come back like nothing has happened. We're allowing companies like Huawei not just into our economy, but to be a crucial part of our infrastructure."

In an article published by The Mail on Sunday on March 29, former Tory Party leader Iain Duncan Smith wrote:

"All issues can and will be discussed, except for one, it seems — our future relationship with China.
"The moment anyone mentions China, people shift uncomfortably in their seats and shake their heads. Yet I believe it is vital that we start to discuss how dependent we have become on this totalitarian state.
"For this is a country which ignores human rights in the pursuit of its ruthless internal and external strategic objectives. However, such facts seem to have been swept aside in our rush to do business with China.
"Remember how George Osborne [Chancellor of the Exchequer under Prime Minister David Cameron from 2010 to 2016] made our relationship with China a major plank of UK Government policy? So determined were Ministers to increase trade that they were prepared to do whatever was necessary.
"Indeed, I am told that privately this was referred to as Project Kow-Tow — a word defined by the Collins dictionary as 'to be servile or obsequious.'
"We were not alone. Countless national leaders over recent years have brushed aside China's appalling human rights behavior in the blind pursuit of trade deals with Beijing....
"Thanks to Project Kow-Tow, the UK's annual trade deficit with China is £22.1 billion ($27.4 billion). But we are not alone in being in hock to Beijing.
"For China has racked up a global trade surplus of £339 billion ($420 billion). Distressingly, the West has watched as many key areas of production have moved to China....
"The brutal truth is that China seems to flout the normal rules of behavior in every area of life — from healthcare to trade and from currency manipulation to internal repression.
"For too long, nations have lamely kowtowed to China in the desperate hope of winning trade deals.
"But once we get clear of this terrible pandemic, it is imperative that we all rethink that relationship and put it on a much more balanced and honest basis."

 

[Plain Jane]

Lausanne watchman rings cathedral bell anew to signal hope amid pandemic

In Lausanne, a Swiss city on the shores of lake Geneva, the coronavirus outbreak has revived a tradition of centuries past: The cathedral watchman climbs the 153 stone steps to his tower at night, puts on a black hat, lights a lantern and rings the "La Clemence" bell to...

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NEWS
APRIL 4, 2020 / 4:35 AM / UPDATED 4 HOURS AGO
Lausanne watchman rings cathedral bell anew to signal hope amid pandemic

Cecile Mantovani
2 MIN READ



LAUSANNE (Reuters) - In Lausanne, a Swiss city on the shores of lake Geneva, the coronavirus outbreak has revived a tradition of centuries past: The cathedral watchman climbs the 153 stone steps to his tower at night, puts on a black hat, lights a lantern and rings the “La Clemence” bell to stir residents’ solidarity and courage.

It’s a practice dating back to the Middle Ages, when watchmen at Lausanne Cathedral kept a vigil over the city and rang the bell if they spotted a fire.


“We can compare this pandemic to a worldwide fire that has spread at lightning speed on all continents,” Renato Hausler, one of the last cathedral watchmen in Europe, told Reuters.

“It was also considered an encouragement, more than a distress signal, everybody was hearing it and it brought unity with residents fighting the fire.”

Since last week Hausler has been ringing “La Clemence”, the 16th-century bell, nearly every night, and calling out the hours from 10pm to 2am.

Switzerland’s death toll from the novel virus has risen to nearly 500 and the total confirmed infections approach 20,000.

Hausler wants to “keep people awake with regards to what is happening, to stay focused”.

Reporting by Cecile Mantovani; Editing by Pravin Char
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

 

[Plain Jane]

Zerohedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

www.zerohedge.com

Sudanese Migrant Kills 2 During Knife Attack In Southeastern France

by Tyler Durden
Sat, 04/04/2020 - 12:35
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As if a national lockdown to prevent a deadly pandemic from killing hundreds of thousands of people wasn't terrifying enough, there are now armed asylum seekers marauding around southeastern France, murdering shoppers as they venture out to buy groceries.
To wit, a man killed two people and wounded several others, one critically, during a knife attack in the town of Romans-sur-Isère in the Drôme, about 20 kilometers north of Valence.

According to Haaretz, witnesses said the man first attacked the owner of a tobacco shop in the town center, then attacked two customers inside the shop. After that, he twalked out and began stabbing people in the street. One of the dead was inside the tobacconist. A second man, a butcher from a nearby shop, was killed outside.


Local police told French media that the suspect was a 33-year-old asylum seeker from Sudan. Anti-terrorism investigators are reportedly investigating the incident to try and determine if it was an act of terrorism.

As COVID-19 has spread across Europe, the issue of how to handle the asylum-seekers and migrants who continue to spill over the continents' borders, even as the Syrian Civil War appears to finally be winding down, has become increasingly fraught as Turkey has reportedly tried to send migrants infected with the virus to Greece.
Macron tweeted his condolences, and promised to investigate to incident and determine whether it was an act of terrorism.




The suspect was living in the center of town where he carried out the attack. A statement from the local municipal government read: "This Saturday 4 April morning an individual carried out a knife attack at several places in the centre of Romans-sur-Isère. The individual in question was arrested around 11am. According to initial information, two people have died, five others are injured and in a critical condition. At this moment, we do not know the motive for this act."

 

[Plain Jane]

The Latest: South Korea health minister urges vigilance

South Korea’s vice health minister has urged vigilance to maintain hard-won gains against the new coronavirus.

apnews.com

The Latest: Spain reports 6,023 new cases as rate slows
The Associated Press3 minutes ago



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A couple applaud from their balcony in support of the medical staff that are working on the COVID-19 virus outbreak in Barcelona, Spain, Saturday, April 4, 2020. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people, but for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
The Latest on the coronavirus pandemic. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death.
TOP OF THE HOUR:
— Spain reports 6,023 new cases as rate continues to slow
— Dutch military plane flies intensive care beds and other medical equipment to Sint Maarten
— Queen Elizabeth II to use address to acknowledge the suffering many families have experienced
___
MADRID — The rate of the coronavirus outbreak continues to slow in Spain, the country with the second most infections behind the United States.

Spain recorded 6,023 confirmed new infections on Sunday, taking the national tally to 130,759. That is down from an increase of 7,026 infections in the previous 24-hour period, confirming the downward tendency of the past week.

Confirmed new deaths also dropped to 674 fatalities, taking the national tally to 12,418. That is the first time new deaths have fallen below 800 new fatalities in the past week.
As its outbreak loses steam, Spain’s government has started to cautiously consider when it can start to reactivate an economy that has been shut down and put hundreds of thousands out of work.

“We are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez told the nation Saturday.

But to get there, Sánchez announced that he would ask the Parliament to extend the state of emergency by two more weeks, taking the lockdown on mobility until April 26. He added that a team of experts is also studying how to plan for a gradual loosening of restrictions to reactive the country’s dormant economy and social life.
___
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — A Dutch military transport plane carrying a mobile field hospital made up of six intensive care beds is on its way to the Caribbean nation of Sint Maarten to help fight the coronavirus.

The Dutch government says the C-17 plane that left a military airbase in Eindhoven early Sunday morning was also carrying equipment to set up a further six IC beds in the semi-autonomous nation’s hospital, along with protective gear and medicines.

Dutch State Secretary for Health Paul Blokhuis says the country is closely cooperating with Sint Maarten and other Caribbean islands that make up part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands “to rein in the spread of corona as much as possible and at the same time provide the best care possible for corona patients.”

According to figures released April 2 by the government of Sint Maarten, 23 people have tested positive and two people have died in the outbreak. The half-island nation has a population of some 41,000.
___
LONDON — Queen Elizabeth II is expected to use a rare address to the nation to acknowledge the suffering many families have experienced because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The monarch will offer a deeply personal message, describing the moment as a “time of disruption in the life of our country: a disruption that has brought grief to some, financial difficulties to many, and enormous changes to the daily lives of us all.”

She plans to praise the National Health Service for its work and laud those who volunteered to help out in a time of crisis.

She plans to say that she hopes in the future everyone will be able to feel “pride” in how they rose to the situation and that “those who come after us will say that the Britons of this generation were as strong as any.”

The address was recorded in the White Drawing Room at Windsor Castle. The location was chosen specifically because it allowed enough space between the monarch and the camera person, who wore personal protective equipment.

The queen has given such an address on only three occasions before.
She delivered speeches after the Queen Mother’s death in 2002, before the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997 and at the time of the first Gulf War in 1991.

 

[Plain Jane]

Zerohedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

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NATO Meeting On COVID-19 Erupts In Greece & Turkey War Of Words Over Migrants

by Tyler Durden
Sun, 04/05/2020 - 09:40
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Via Al-Masdar News,
On Friday the foreign ministers of the NATO nations held a teleconference to discuss the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak and their contingencies; however, the meeting would apparently turn sour when Greece and Turkey traded accusations over Ankara’s decision to open their European border to migrants, the Russian newspaper Gazeta.RU reported.
According to the publication, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu left the virtual meeting earlier than all the other participants after disputes with Greece over migrants.
The Greek and Turkish foreign ministers, file image.

The diplomat recalled that an agreement was concluded between Ankara and the European Union in 2016, which obliged Turkey to accept about four million refugees from Syria and other countries of the Middle East, and not allow them to go to Europe.

In exchange for this, the EU promised to provide Turkey with assistance in the amount of €6 billion and provide other incentives, such as a visa-free regime for Turkish citizens. Cavusoglu stressed that the EU has not fulfilled its part of the deal.

“We advise them to think about the long term, because it is not just a matter of migration,” he said, demanding from Europe liberalization of the visa regime, updating the agreement on the customs union and strengthening the fight against terrorism.

Not long after this, Cavusoglu accused Greece of killing migrants trying to cross the common border of countries.

The Guardian

✔@guardian
https://twitter.com/guardian/status/1236017475868856326

Refugees told 'Europe is closed' as tensions rise at Greece-Turkey border https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/06/refugees-europe-closed-tensions-greece-turkey-border?utm_term=Autofeed&CMP=twt_gu&utm_medium&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1583519071 …

Refugees told 'Europe is closed' as tensions rise at Greece-Turkey border
Teargas fired by both sides amid political standoff over people displaced by war in Syria
theguardian.com

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In response, Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias said that Ankara’s claims are specially organized propaganda for political purposes and are fake news.

Greece faced an organized and unprecedented attack on its border and a disinformation campaign from Turkey. The methods used by Turkey violated the values of NATO. All allies have the right to call for NATO solidarity, but only if they fulfill their obligations,” the Greek diplomat emphasized, as quoted by Gazeta.RU.


Cavusoglu demanded to give him the opportunity to answer, but NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg stopped this attempt, so as not to contribute to inciting scandal online.

The Turkish Foreign Minister, in response, disconnected from the conference.

Turkish and Greek relations are at a decade-long low, as disagreements over the movement of migrants and Ankara’s oil exploration off the coast of Cyprus has put the two countries at odds.

 

[Plain Jane]

Zerohedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

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Boris Johnson Admitted To Hospital Due To "Persistent" Coronavirus Symptoms

by Tyler Durden
Sun, 04/05/2020 - 16:29
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Ten days after Boris Johnson was first diagnosed with the coronavirus, moments ago a Downing Street spokesman said that the UK Prime Minister is being admitted to an undisclosed hospital for tests due to "persistent symptoms" including a high fever.

"On the advice of his doctor, the Prime Minister has tonight been admitted to hospital for tests."
"This is a precautionary step, as the Prime Minister continues to have persistent symptoms of coronavirus ten days after testing positive for the virus" a Downing Street spokesperson said in a statement.

The prime minister thanks NHS staff for all of their incredible hard work and urges the public to continue to follow the government’s advice to stay at home, protect the NHS and save lives."

Johnson remains in charge of the government, and is in contact with ministerial colleagues and officials.

 

[Plain Jane]

Here is the transcript of Queen Elizabeth's speech to the UK on April 5, 2020.

Queen Elizabeth II Coronavirus Speech Transcript April 5 | Rev Blog

Queen Elizabeth gave an April 5 speech to the United Kingdom on COVID-19 or coronavirus. Read the full transcript of her address to the British people.

www.rev.com

Queen Elizabeth II Coronavirus Speech Transcript

Rev › Blog › Transcripts › Speech Transcripts › Queen Elizabeth II Coronavirus Speech Transcript
Queen Elizabeth, who rarely gives public addresses, gave an April 5 speech to the United Kingdom on COVID-19 or coronavirus. Read the full transcript of her address to the British people.


Queen Elizabeth II: (00:16)
I’m speaking to you at what I know is an increasingly challenging time, a time of disruption in the life of our country, a disruption that has brought grief to some, financial difficulties to many, and enormous changes to the daily lives of us all. I want to thank everyone on the NHS frontline, as well as care workers and those carrying out essential roles who selflessly continue their day-to-day duties outside the home in support of us all. I’m sure the nation will join me in assuring you that what you do is appreciated, and every hour of your hard work brings us closer to a return to more normal times. I also want to thank those of you who are staying at home, thereby helping to protect the vulnerable, and sparing many families the pain already felt by those who have lost loved ones.

Queen Elizabeth II: (01:22)
Together we are tackling this disease, and I want to reassure you that if we remain united and resolute, then we will overcome it. I hope in the years to come everyone will be able to take pride in how they responded to this challenge, and those who come after us will say the Britons of this generation were as strong as any, that the attributes of self-discipline, of quiet, good-humored resolve, and of fellow feeling still characterize this country. The pride in who we are is not a part of our past, it defines our present and our future.

Queen Elizabeth II: (02:11)
The moments when the United Kingdom has come together to applaud its care and essential workers will be remembered as an expression of our national spirit, and its symbol will be the rainbows drawn by children. Across the Commonwealth and around the world, we have seen heartwarming stories of people coming together to help others, be it through delivering food parcels and medicines, checking on neighbors, or converting businesses to help the relief effort. And though self-isolating may at times be hard, many people of all faiths and of none are discovering that it presents an opportunity to slow down, pause and reflect in prayer or meditation.

Queen Elizabeth II: (03:06)
It reminds me of the very first broadcast I made in 1940, helped by my sister. We as children spoke from here at Windsor to children who had been evacuated from their homes and sent away for their own safety. Today, once again, many will feel a painful sense of separation from their loved ones, but now as then, we know deep down that it is the right thing to do. While we have faced challenges before, this one is different. This time we join with all nations across the globe in a common endeavor. Using the great advances of science and our instinctive compassion to heal, we will succeed, and that success will belong to every one of us. We should take comfort that while we may have more still to endure, better days will return. We will be with our friends again. We will be with our families again. We will meet again. But for now, I send my thanks and warmest good wishes to you all.

 

[Plain Jane]

Zerohedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

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Sweden Beset By New Crime-Wave Of "Humiliation Robberies"

by Tyler Durden
Mon, 04/06/2020 - 03:00
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Authored by Judith Bergman via The Gatestone Institute,
A new kind of crime is making the headlines in Sweden, in Swedish known as förnedringsrån. Förnedring means "humiliation" and rån means "robbery." The victims of these "humiliation robberies" are almost always children or teenagers. As previously reported by Gatestone Institute:

"The number of children who rob other children has increased by 100% in only four years, according to a new study by Swedish police... In 2016, there were 1,178 robberies against children under 18 years of age. In 2019, the number had increased to 2,484. The number of violent crimes where the suspect is a child under 15 years of age has also gone up dramatically: In 2015, there were 6,359 reported violent crimes where the suspect was a child under 15. In 2019, that number had increased to 8,719 reported violent crimes".

The "humiliation robberies" have recently caused much consternation in Sweden. In Gothenburg, a criminal gang of youths forced their victim to kiss the gang leader's feet, while they filmed him. After that, they stomped on his face until he passed out.

In Stockholm, two 16-year-olds robbed, punched and kicked their 18-year old victim for hours. At the end of the ordeal, they took him behind a church where one of the perpetrators urinated on him while they called him names such as "****ing Swede". They then forced him to take his clothes of while laughing mockingly at him, the victim, only known as Liam, told Swedish TV. The two 16-year-olds filmed the incident and spread it on social media.

The parents of one of the perpetrators came to Sweden six years ago from an unspecified African country, according to Swedish TV, who interviewed them in February. The parents both work and said that their son lacks for nothing. The mother wore a hijab during the interview.



Although Swedish media rarely publish details of the ethnic origins of gang members, some media research has shown that gang members overwhelmingly are either foreign-born or children of immigrants. In 2017, the Swedish mainstream media outlet Expressen did a report about the 49 criminal networks in Stockholm. The report showed the networks consisted of between 500 and 700 gang members: 40.6% of the gang members that Expressen surveyed were foreign-born; 82.2% had two parents who were foreign-born. Their main country of origin was Iraq, followed by Bosnia, Lebanon, Somalia, Syria and Turkey.

It is a way to show your power. They want to dominate places. They do that by putting fear in other youths," said Thomas Petterson, an analyst for the Gothenburg police, in August.

"When it comes to these kinds of young people, they get a kick out of the deed, rather than going after possessions," said criminal prosecutor Linda Wiking.

However, little is apparently new about this form of crime. The only truly novel aspect of it is that the crime has become extreme to the extent that even Swedish mainstream media can no longer ignore it.

As early as 2007, four academics (Ingrid Björkman, Jan Elfverson, Jonathan Friedman and Åke Wedin) wrote a book, Exit Folkhemssverige ("Exit the Swedish Welfare State"), which received little to no attention in mainstream media at the time. The book contains much information about gang robberies, including the humiliation of the victims that they often entail:

"Since the early 1990s, gang robberies, where young people rob other young people, have been a marked feature of juvenile delinquency. From being a metropolitan phenomenon, the robberies have now spread across the country. Several reports, including an extensive BRÅ survey in 1999 of Malmö and Gothenburg, as well as interviews with police officers, give a coherent picture of the youth robberies. The increase is dramatic. In the Stockholm and Malmö regions, police reported robberies doubled in 1999, and the police are talking about a 'youth epidemic'. 80 - 90% of robbers have an immigrant background. The majority are 15 - 17 years...The victims are Swedish children and young people, primarily 'Swedish guys from rich men's schools', as one robber put it. The robberies are mostly carried out in the daytime and despite the fact that there are adults nearby. The surroundings rarely intervene... The robberies usually follow a certain pattern: A group of immigrant boys approach a selected victim and convey a clear threat with their actions. A common scenario is that one of the robbers holds a knife pressed against the victim, while the others rob him of mobile phone, bank card, money. The victim... is frightened and dare not [do anything] but give up the requested items... If he doesn't give up, he'll be beaten, often very brutally. Humiliation of the victim is not infrequently included in the picture. If it is a boy, it is about breaking his self-esteem. He is forced to cry, give up his shoes, even undress naked, kneel and plead for his life, etc. For the girl victims, sexual humiliation applies. They get their clothes ripped off, the robbers grab them and call them "whores". However, the robberies are rarely combined with rape. When the girls manage to get away, the robbers laugh out loud and let them run. Even little girls aren't safe... The gangs have gained respect, as it is called. This means that they have taken over certain neighborhoods, with the result that Swedish young people are restricting their freedom of movement...The teenage perpetrators behave like Mafiosi, police say. The robberies are a demonstration of power. If the robbers are caught, they laugh at the police, because the penalties for the crimes are so insignificant due to the young age of the perpetrators." (From chapter 5.)

The authors continued:

"The fact that it is a question of showing their power is confirmed by the immigrant youths themselves... 'The Swedes must become like us foreigners. Otherwise, they won't make it,' says one immigrant... 'You don't rob your own. And then it becomes immigrants against Swedes'. 'If you get to know them and pretend to look up to them, then you don't get robbed,' explains a Swedish 14-year-old. The defense mechanism is called conscious identity change. A sociological study at the University of Gothenburg by John Järvenpää has dealt in detail with the phenomenon of immigrant youth and robberies...The crucial motive for the choice of victims was ethnic. No one could imagine robbing someone of their own nationality. First, 'it's about respect.' Second, they would be severely punished by their compatriots. 'I'd get killed,' says one. 'The family would have killed us,' says another. That the robbers focus on Swedes is mainly because Swedes are afraid and therefore easy prey..."

Exit Folkhemssverige also has a section about gang rape, which the authors present as a different kind of humiliation crime:

Previously, gang rapes were virtually unknown in Sweden. But since the 1980s, they have steadily increased. Since 1995, they have quadrupled. In 1999, 35 gang rapes were recorded in Stockholm alone. Today, the media reports every week or every two weeks on such violent crimes. The usual pattern is the same as in the gang robberies. First, the ethnic relationship is the same: the victims are Swedish and among the perpetrators, the immigrants are greatly over-represented. For example, a study on sentencing practices shows that out of 24 perpetrators convicted of gang rape in 1989–91, 21 were foreign nationals. Whether the three Swedish citizens were ethnic Swedes or immigrants is not accounted for. Second, both perpetrators and victims are getting younger. In August 2001, for example, two 13-year-old girls in Malmö were raped by six immigrant boys aged 11 to 14. The case received widespread media attention, resulting in 17 rape reports against the same gang being filed with the police in the following days... The term 'whore' for Swedish women was launched by Muslim immigrant men from the Middle East. The concept has since been adopted by male immigrants from other cultures and now seems established..."

Exit Folkhemssverige was based, among many other sources, on the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention's (Brå) report "Youth who rob youth in Malmö and Stockholm" which was published in the year 2000 -- evidently at a time, when Swedish authorities still published details about the ethnic backgrounds of perpetrators. According to the report, 70-75 % of the victims of youth robbers were Swedes born of two Swedish-born parents, whereas:

"Between 1995 and 1999, the proportion of suspected perpetrators born in Sweden to Swedish-born parents fell in both Malmö and Stockholm, from 21% and 36% respectively, to 10% and 15% respectively... In Malmö, foreign-born young people made up more than half of all suspected perpetrators in 1995. By 1999, this proportion had increased to 69%. In Stockholm, young people born abroad accounted for about 40 % of the suspected perpetrators in both 1995 and 1999. Foreign-born young people were severely over-represented among the suspected perpetrators..." (page 27)

Twenty years after Brå's report about youths who rob other youths, Prime Minister Stefan Löfven, blamed the most recent and widely publicized "humiliation robberies" on the former liberal-conservative government, which Löfven took over from in 2014:

"For a long time there was a policy, during eight years of the former conservative government, of tax reductions and welfare cuts. That will not do. Now we have changed that policy, we will invest more in welfare".

Löfven might benefit from learning the history of gang violence in Sweden. He might start by reading Brå's 20-year old report.

 

[Plain Jane]

Accused of 'piracy', U.S. denies diverting masks bound for Germany

The United States had no knowledge of a shipment of face masks bound for Germany that officials in Berlin have accused it of diverting from an airport in Bangkok, a spokeswoman for the U.S. embassy in Thailand said.

www.reuters.com

NEWS
APRIL 6, 2020 / 5:40 AM / UPDATED AN HOUR AGO
Accused of 'piracy', U.S. denies diverting masks bound for Germany

Patpicha Tanakasempipat
2 MIN READ

BANGKOK (Reuters) - The United States had no knowledge of a shipment of face masks bound for Germany that officials in Berlin have accused it of diverting from an airport in Bangkok, a spokeswoman for the U.S. embassy in Thailand said.

The comment came after Berlin Secretary of Interior Andreas Geisel said on Friday that an order of 200,000 masks bound for Germany had been “confiscated” in Bangkok and diverted to the United States, calling it an “act of modern piracy”.

“The United States Government did not take any action to divert any 3M supplies that were destined to Germany nor did we have any knowledge of such a shipment,” Jillian Bonnardeaux, the spokeswoman for the U.S. embassy in Bangkok, told Reuters.

“We remain concerned about pervasive attempts to divide international efforts through unsourced, unattributed disinformation campaigns.”

Thai authorities were not reachable on Monday as the country was observing a public holiday.

The accusation that masks were diverted came at a time when countries are scrambling to secure protective gear to battle the coronavirus pandemic.

Allies of the United States from Europe to South America have complained about “Wild West” tactics they say Washington has employed to outbid or block shipments of medical supplies to original buyers.

Globally, there were more than 1.25 million cases of coronavirus and 68,400 deaths across 211 countries and territories, as of Monday morning, according to a Reuters tally.

Although Germany’s Geisel said on Friday the consignment had been “confiscated” in Bangkok, his office rowed back a day later, saying it was still trying to clarify the circumstances of how the masks, which were ordered from a German wholesaler, and not from U.S. manufacturer 3M [MMM.N], had been diverted.

A spokeswoman for 3M had told Reuters the company had no evidence that its products had been seized.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday that “there has been no act of piracy”.

Reporting by Patpicha Tanakasempipat; Editing by Matthew Tostevin and Gareth Jones
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

 

[Plain Jane]

World leaders send Boris Johnson messages of support – DW – 04/07/2020

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and US President Donald Trump are among those who have sent their best wishes to the UK prime minister. Johnson is currently in intensive care in London suffering from coronavirus.

www.dw.com

Boris Johnson: World leaders wish speedy recovery from coronavirus
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and US President Donald Trump are among those who have sent their best wishes to the UK prime minister. Johnson is currently in intensive care in London suffering from coronavirus.








Watch video01:34
British PM Boris Johnson in intensive care with COVID-19
News of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson being admitted to an intensive care unit drew messages of support from leaders across the world Monday.
The UK leader’s symptoms worsened a day after he was admitted to hospital for persistent COVID-19 symptoms.
Keep up to date with the latest coronavirus developments with our rolling coverage
Johnson is the first major world leader to test positive for the coronavirus.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel shared a photo of the two. Government spokesman Steffen Seibert tweeted that Merkel wished Johnson "much strength and a speedy recovery and hopes that he can leave hospital soon."

Steffen Seibert

✔@RegSprecher
https://twitter.com/RegSprecher/status/1247190515721875456

Kanzlerin #Merkel wünscht dem britischen PM @BorisJohnson viel Kraft und gute Besserung und hofft, dass er das Krankenhaus bald wieder verlassen kann.

Chancellor #Merkel wishes @BorisJohnson much strength and a speedy recovery and hopes that he can leave hospital soon.


460
11:52 AM - Apr 6, 2020
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EU officials send their support

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President Charles Michel and the EU's Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier, all wished Johnson well via Twitter.

"My thoughts are with Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his family this evening. I wish him a speedy and full recovery," von der Leyen wrote.

Ursula von der Leyen

✔@vonderleyen
https://twitter.com/vonderleyen/status/1247266901010649089

My thoughts are with Prime Minister @BorisJohnson and his family this evening. I wish him a speedy and full recovery.

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Barnier, who is also recovering from a positive coronavirus test result, wished the UK prime minister "a speedy recovery."

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte also tweeted his support in English. "The Italian people [are] with the UK in these difficult times. We are one for each other. Get well soon Boris Johnson!"

French President Emmanuel Macron expressed his "full support to Boris Johnson, his family and the British people at this difficult time," after the UK prime minister was admitted into intensive care.

"I hope he will rapidly overcome this ordeal," he tweeted.

Emmanuel Macron

✔@EmmanuelMacron
https://twitter.com/EmmanuelMacron/status/1247266635569823746

I send all my support to Boris Johnson, to his family and to the British people at this difficult moment. I wish him a speedy recovery at this testing time.

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Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said that "on behalf of the Dutch cabinet, I wish Boris Johnson, his family and the British people lots of strength during this difficult time."

"I hope to be able to speak to him soon in good health," Rutte tweeted.


Trump pledges help

US President Donald Trump said he was saddened to hear about British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's condition, as he battles COVID-19.

"Americans are all praying for his recovery," Trump told a White House press briefing. "He's been a really good friend. He's been really something very special — strong, resolute, doesn't quit, doesn't give up."

Trump also said he asked two "leading companies" to contact officials in London about therapeutics that could be of help with Johnson's treatment, adding that his team had "contacted all of Boris's doctors and we'll see what's going to take place but they are ready to go."

"When you get brought into intensive care, that gets very, very serious with this particular disease." Trump said.


Watch video01:54
UK Prime Minister Johnson hospitalized with COVID-19
Friends around the world

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whose wife Sophie tested positive for coronavirus last month, sent his wishes to Johnson in a Twitter message.

"Sending my best wishes to Prime Minister @BorisJohnson for a full and speedy recovery. My thoughts are with you and your family right now. Hope to see you back at Number 10 soon."

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also tweeted his support.

“Hang in there, Prime Minister @BorisJohnson! Hope to see you out of hospital and in perfect health very soon."

Narendra Modi

✔@narendramodi
https://twitter.com/narendramodi/status/1247219267717586947

Hang in there, Prime Minister @BorisJohnson! Hope to see you out of hospital and in perfect health very soon.

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The Director General of the World Health Organization said he was "thinking of my friend Boris Johnson tonight, and sending my and WHO's heartfelt good wishes as he battles the coronavirus."

"I know the NHS and its dedicated health workers will be looking after you," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus tweeted.
https://twitter.com/RegSprecher/status/1247190515721875456

 

[Plain Jane]

Zerohedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

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Eurogroup Fails To Agree On Coronavirus Stimulus After Feud Erupts Between Italy And Netherlands

by Tyler Durden
Wed, 04/08/2020 - 07:51
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Three things are guaranteed in life: death, taxes and the Eurogroup failing to reach an agreement.
At exactly 2am ET, the EURUSD tumbled in a flashback to the dark eurozone sovereign debt crisis days of 2010-2015, when news broke that European Union finance ministers had failed to agree in all-night talks on more support for their coronavirus-hit economies.

Shortly after Eurogroup president Mario Centeno tweeted that he was suspending the discussions until Thursday: "after 16 hours of discussions, we came close to a deal but we are not there yet. I suspended the Eurogroup and continue tomorrow, Thursday. My goal remains: A strong EU safety net against fallout of COVID-19 to shield workers, firms and countries & commit to a sizeable recovery plan."

Mário Centeno

✔@mariofcenteno
https://twitter.com/mariofcenteno/status/1247777093573726210

After 16h of discussions we came close to a deal but we are not there yet.
I suspended the #Eurogroup & continue tomorrow, thu.
My goal remains: A strong EU safety net against fallout of #covid19 (to shield workers, firms &countries)& commit/ to a sizeable recovery plan


458
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According to Reuters, diplomatic sources and officials said a feud between Italy and the Netherlands over what conditions should be attached to euro zone credit for governments fighting the pandemic was blocking progress on half a trillion euros worth of aid.

The finance ministers, who started talks at 1430 GMT on Tuesday and lasted all night with numerous breaks to allow for bilateral negotiations, are trying to agree a package of measures to help governments, companies and individuals. They had hoped to agree on a half-trillion-euro program to cushion the economic slump and finance recovery from the pandemic, and turn a page on divisions that have marred relations as the bloc struggles with the outbreak.


But feuds emerged prominently again, one diplomatic source said: "The Italians want a reference to debt mutualisation as a possible recovery instrument to be analysed more in the future. The Dutch say ‘no’."

In other words, Italy was hoping to use the coronacrisis to finally get its long-sought goal of federalized, mutualized debt, and yet the Dutch (and somewhere not as loud behind them the Germans) said "nee."

An official who participated in the talks said at around 0400 GMT on Wednesday The Hague was the only one refusing to endorse a text that the ministers were expected to agree on to get endorsement for a new set of economic measures from the bloc’s 27 national leaders.

German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said on Twitter: "In this difficult hour Europe must stand together closely. Together with (French finance minister) Bruno Le Maire, I therefore call on all euro countries not to refuse to resolve these difficult financial issues and to facilitate a good compromise - for all citizens."

Hardly a new topic of contention, issuing joint debt has been a battle line between economically ailing southern countries like Spain and Italy and the fiscally frugal north, led by Germany and the Netherlands, since the financial and euro zone crises began over a decade ago.

To support economies burdened by coronavirus lockdowns, the EU has already suspended state aid limits and allowed member states to inflate their debt to spend more. But Spain, France and Italy say that is not enough and have cast the discussion about more support as an existential test of solidarity that could make or break the EU.

Further proposals under discussions include credit lines from the euro zone bailout fund that would be worth up to 2% of a country’s economic output, or 240 billion euros in total. The conditions for gaining access to this money remain a sticking point. Granting the European Investment Bank 25 billion euros of extra guarantees so it can step up lending to companies by a further 200 billion euros is another option.

The third is support for the EU executive’s plan to raise 100 billion euros on the market against 25 billion euros of guarantees from all governments in the bloc to subsidise wages so that firms can cut working hours rather than sack people.

Creating an emergency support fund issuing grants for medical supplies and health care is another idea, as is a French proposal to create a joint EU solidarity fund to finance long-term recovery.

That said, if Europe does eventually agree, the combined pan-EU and national government responses could add up to the biggest fiscal support programme in the world, surpassing that of the United States, Reuters calculations showed. Below is a summary of what is eventually expected to be unveiled:

• Unemployment scheme: The EU Commission plan to set up an instrument for temporary Support to mitigate Unemployment Risks in an Emergency (SURE) where loans up to EUR100bn can be granted to member states (which helps to contain job losses in the Eurozone vs the US).
• Corporate support: The EIB announcement to set up a pan-European guarantee fund (EUR25bn proposal on top of 40bn support package announced last month). Question is how generous this will be.
• No coronabonds. Commonly issued debt to exclusively fund COVID-19 measures is unlikely to be agreed on. While advocated by Spain, Italy and France, there is staunch opposition from other parts of the Eurogroup.
• Open question on ESM credit lines: Loans from the European Stability Mechanism with loose conditionality attached are possible. Citi Rates Strategy notes that the ESM currently has unused lending capacities of EUR410bn but that a compromise is unlikely today. Southern European countries have generally opposed this, particularly the stigma attached and the conditionality.

While the EU is no stranger to protracted horse-trading, the discussion exposes rifts in the bloc and further strains its unity, already damaged by the euro zone crisis and the 2015-16 migration crisis, which partly contributed to Brexit.

So far the ministers, discussing via videoconference through the night with some of them dozing off at times, according to officials present, have been left frustrated. Le Maire was quoted as saying at one point during the night, according to one official who participated: “Shame on you, shame on Europe. Stop this clownesque show.”
https://twitter.com/mariofcenteno/status/1247777093573726210

 

[Plain Jane]

Italy closes ports to migrant ships because of coronavirus

Italian ports cannot be considered safe because of the coronavirus epidemic and will not let migrant boats operated by charities dock, the government has ruled.

www.reuters.com

NEWS
APRIL 8, 2020 / 4:54 AM / UPDATED 19 MINUTES AGO
Italy closes ports to migrant ships because of coronavirus

Wladimiro Pantaleone
3 MIN READ

PALERMO, Sicily (Reuters) - Italian ports cannot be considered safe because of the coronavirus epidemic and will not let migrant boats operated by charities dock, the government has ruled.

The decision was taken late on Tuesday after a ship operated by the German non-governmental group Sea-Eye picked up some 150 people off Libya and headed towards Italy.

“For the entire duration of the national health emergency caused by the spread of the COVID-19 virus, Italian ports cannot guarantee the requisites needed to be classified and defined as a place of safety,” the decree said.

The national emergency is set to expire on July 31, but the deadline might be extended.

Tuesday’s order was signed by the interior, foreign and transport ministers, as well as Health Minister Roberto Speranza, who comes from a leftist party that has always supported migrant protection and charity operations.

After a relative lull in arrivals of boat migrants from Africa, numbers had started to pick up again in the first two months of the year only to fall back sharply in March as Italy was hit by the coronavirus epidemic.


A total of 17,127 people have died from the virus in Italy, the highest number anywhere in the world, while 135,586 cases have been confirmed since the outbreak came to light on Feb. 21.

Charity ships which regularly patrol the coast of Libya looking to rescue migrants from flimsy boats initially withdrew from the Mediterranean at the onset on the health crisis, but the Sea-Eye ship Alan Kurdi returned to the area last week.

“Even when life in Europe has almost come to a halt, human rights must be protected,” the group said in a tweet on Tuesday, announcing it had rescued 150 people. “Now our guests need a port of safety.”

In a separate statement, the charity called on Germany to take in the migrants. “After all, Germany is our flag state,” it said, adding that Berlin had just managed to bring home 200,000 citizens stranded abroad because of the coronavirus.

Surely it must be conceivable and humanly possible to send a plane for 150 people seeking protection to southern Europe in order to evacuate the people immediately,” it said.

While the Alan Kurdi is sailing in international waters close to the Italian island of Lampedusa because it is banned entry, smaller, autonomous boats continued to arrive with migrants.

A total of 57 people arrived aboard one boat on Wednesday while 70 people came ashore on Tuesday in separate boats.

Locals protested in the centre of the main town against the new arrivals. “What is the point of us being locked up in our homes if people keep on coming here and wandering around without any problem,” said a man in a video of the protest.

Writing by Crispian Balmer; Editing by Giles Elgood and Pravin Char
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

 

[Plain Jane]

Malta takes in rescued migrants despite coronavirus ban

- A group of North African migrants rescued from a sinking boat came ashore in Malta early on Friday, hours after the government had said no further groups would be allowed in after it closed its ports due to the coronavirus emergency.

www.reuters.com

NEWS
APRIL 10, 2020 / 4:58 AM / UPDATED AN HOUR AGO
Malta takes in rescued migrants despite coronavirus ban


3 MIN READ

VALLETTA (Reuters) - - A group of North African migrants rescued from a sinking boat came ashore in Malta early on Friday, hours after the government had said no further groups would be allowed in after it closed its ports due to the coronavirus emergency.

The 64 migrants were rescued by the Maltese armed forces from a boat inside the Malta rescue zone south of the island and brought ashore. On Thursday Malta had followed Italy, the country that has so far seen the most deaths from the epidemic, in announcing it would no longer allow migrant boats to land due to the risk of coronavirus infection.

The Maltese government said in a statement the armed forces had been monitoring the migrants for some hours before a patrol boat picked them up.

However, it said Malta could not guarantee further rescues and would not allow any further disembarkation of rescued persons because resources have been strained by the COVID-19 pandemic.


The new arrivals were received by soldiers wearing bio-suits shortly after midnight. They will be kept in detention.

“It is in the interest, and is the responsibility, of such people not to endanger themselves on a risky voyage to a country which is not in a position to offer them a secure harbour,” the government said.

Malta has imposed a 14-day quarantine on all travellers entering the country, closed schools and told people to stay at home during the emergency.

It announced this week its first death from COVID-19, the disease associated with the coronavirus, and had 319 active cases as of Thursday, according to government figures.

After a relative lull in arrivals of boat migrants from Africa, numbers had started to pick up again in the first two months of the year only to fall back sharply in March as Italy was hit by the coronavirus epidemic.

Before the crisis, ships operated by aid groups regularly patrolled the coast of Libya looking to rescue migrants from flimsy boats. Most have withdrawn but one ship operated by German charity Sea-Eye returned to the area last week and picked up 150 migrants on Monday.

With both Italy and Malta, the two nearest European countries, closed, it is unclear where they will be taken.

Reporting by Christopher Scicluna; Editing by Gareth Jones
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

 

[Plain Jane]

Zerohedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

www.zerohedge.com

EU Court Of Justice Rules Poland, Hungary, & Czech Republic Broke EU Law

by Tyler Durden
Fri, 04/10/2020 - 06:00
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Authored by Judith Bergman via The Gatestone Institute,
The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has ruled that Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic broke EU law when they refused to take in migrants under the European Union's September 2015 relocation agreement. During the 2015 migrant crisis, EU leaders agreed to relocate 160,000 migrants and refugees EU-wide, assigning each EU member state a fixed quota from the camps in Italy and Greece, where migrants and refugees were arriving in record numbers. However, the Czech Republic accepted only 12 of the 2,000 refugees assigned it, while Hungary and Poland took in none.

In 2017, the EU took Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) over that refusal to take migrants. On April 2, 2020, the CJEU ruled against the three countries. The ruling followed the October 2019 recommendation by the Court's Advocate General, legal advisor to the Court, which said that EU law must be followed and that the EU's principle of solidarity "necessarily sometimes implies accepting burden-sharing".



In its judgment, the Court dismissed the three countries' argument that they were entitled to refuse the relocation scheme based on concerns for the maintenance of law and order and the safeguarding of internal security. The Court agreed that those concerns constituted legitimate reasons to derogate from obligations of EU law. However, the Court ruled that EU member states refusing to take in migrants under the relocation scheme could only legitimately do so if they proved, "following a case-by-case investigation, on consistent, objective and specific evidence that provides grounds for suspecting that the applicant in question represents an actual or potential danger".
As Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic had not proven any specific and concrete danger for each of the migrants that they refused to take in under the relocation scheme, they had not been justified in "suspending the implementation of or even ceasing to implement its obligations under the relocation decisions".
The Court's ruling comes at a time when the European Union is experiencing unprecedented disunity over the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic and just weeks after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's recent, and muscular attempts at utilizing migrants for the purpose of political blackmail against EU leaders.
The ruling effectively removes the sovereignty of EU member states to make their own decisions regarding the keeping of public law, order and national security in the case of EU migration policies, if those decisions conflict with EU obligations. The ruling does so by setting up criteria that are impossible to meet. A "case-by-case investigation, on consistent, objective and specific evidence that provides grounds for suspecting that the applicant in question represents an actual or potential danger" is unworkable today for the following reasons:

The EU's own European Migration Network, an "EU network of migration and asylum experts who work together to provide objective, comparable policy-relevant information", which works under the auspices of the European Commission, published a report in 2017, "Challenges and practices for establishing the identity of third country nationals in migration procedures". According to the report, which was based on input from almost all EU member states:

"Generally, (Member) States observed an increase in the number of international protection applicants unable to provide a valid proof of identity... Most (Member) States reported that applicants for international protection are often not able to provide official travel and/or identity documents, and even if these are provided, a further challenge lies in determining whether these are genuine".

Given these documented difficulties, why did the Court set up criteria -- "case-by-case investigation, on consistent, objective and specific evidence that provides grounds for suspecting that the applicant in question represents an actual or potential danger" -- that are entirely unrealistic?

In addition, the ruling of the court goes against evidence that migration flows into Europe do indeed constitute a real security danger that has cost European lives. In his November 2019 report, "What Terrorist Migration Over European Borders Can Teach About American Border Security", Todd Bensman, a senior national security fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies, described the extent to which terrorists disguised as migrants have entered the European Union to commit terrorist attacks.

According to Bensman:

Between January 2014 and January 2018, at least 104 Islamist extremists entered Europe by way of migration...The majority of the 104 Islamist migrant-terrorists — 75 — were primarily affiliated with ISIS, while 13 were affiliated with Jabhat al Nusra... Of the 104 migrants implicated in terrorist acts, 29 were involved in 16 completed attacks inside Europe between 2015 and 2018. These attacks killed 170 people and wounded at least 878 more, according to an analysis of media accounts... At least 27 were part of one large cell of operatives dispatched onto the migration trails by ISIS...Of the 65 migrant-terrorists involved in completed or thwarted attacks, at least 40 appeared to have been purposefully deployed into migrant flows toward Europe, impersonating war refugees, to conduct or support attacks in Europe. ISIS was responsible for this infiltration operation..."

How national authorities are supposed to distinguish between actual "war refugees" and terrorists impersonating war refugees is not suggested by the Court, which appears curiously uninterested in dealing with the reality of migration.

Another problem with the Court's requirement that member states must prove that a migrant will constitute a potential or present danger to the maintenance of law and order is that this may also be impossible, even if a clean criminal record is available at the time that a migrant seeks to enter a country. The presence of large numbers of migrants from primarily the Middle East and North Africa has brought with it a documented increase in crimes that did not use to exist in European countries. One such crime is gang rape, which is now widespread in a country like Sweden, which has taken in very large numbers of migrants over the past several decades, but was literally unheard of until the 1980s. The mass sexual assaults on women by migrants in European cities such as Hamburg and Cologne, on New Year's 2015-16, where it was estimated that 2,000 men, mainly migrants, sexually assaulted 1,200 women, was also a new kind of crime. "There is a connection between the emergence of this phenomenon and the rapid migration in 2015," Holger Münch, president of the German Federal Crime Police Office, said in July 2016 about the incidents.

No amount of investigations by Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic could have possibly predicted what migrants, among the more than one million that entered into Europe during the 2015 migrant crisis, would participate in such crimes.

The Court's ruling does not only contradict facts and common sense. It sends the distinct signal to foreign regimes, such as that of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, that sending migrants to the continent for whatever purpose, even political blackmail, will be successful, because European institutions, such as the Court of Justice of the European Union, will do their utmost to ensure that even the most rebellious EU member states, such as Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic, will be forced to receive them.

 

[Plain Jane]

Zerohedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

www.zerohedge.com

Coronavirus Devastates Italy: Is It The Result Of Globalism And Free Trade?

by Tyler Durden
Fri, 04/10/2020 - 04:30
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Authored by Philip Giraldi via The Strategic Culture Foundation,
The devastating impact of the coronavirus on Italy has sparked considerable speculation as to why the country appears to have suffered so disproportionately from the disease.
Some initial theories suggested that the deaths might be due to lower standards and ill-advised practices in the Italian national health system, but the reality is that northern Italy, where the virus has struck hardest, has by most metrics better and more accessible health care than does the United States overall.


By one reckoning, the claimed number of dead is too high because anyone who tested positive and died had his or her death attributed to the virus even if it was actually due to other unrelated causes. And that argument has also been flipped on its head to demonstrate that the numbers are too low, using the fact that many Italians have not been tested for the virus to assert that many dead were actually caused by coronavirus. Since those dead were not medically confirmed positive for COVID-19, the deaths were erroneously attributed to other causes.

A third bit of somewhat more bizarre speculation centers on the fact that in September 2019 Italy made legal euthanasia for those with terminal illnesses seeking to end their suffering, a move strongly opposed by the Roman Catholic Church. Some of those weighing in on the number of deaths have claimed without evidence that a significant percentage of the dead were actually cases of euthanasia, i.e. implying that Italy has been deliberately killing off its elderly. Those seeking an explanation for such bizarre behavior by the national health service have suggested that it would be to ease pressure on the troubled Italian economy by eliminating old age pensions and medical costs.

Be that as it may, there is an interesting backstory developing in the Italian media about why Italy has been hit so hard by the “Chinese” virus in spite of the fact that it has been in lockdown for over one month. Italy’s ties with China, and with the city of Wuhan, where the virus may have originated, run deeper than with any other European country.

Last spring, when my wife and I were traveling in Northern Italy, we noticed the large numbers of Chinese, not only in tourism centers like Venice and Verona, but also in commercial and industrial areas. Italian shop holders we spoke with told us how the Chinese government and individual entrepreneurs were buying up businesses and properties at an alarming rate, penetrating the Italian economy at all levels. One gift shop proprietor in Venice described how even tourist items were increasingly being manufactured in China, a development which he described as “selling cheap junk.” He reached beneath his counter and produced a perfume bottle which looked like a local product but instead of being made in Murano it bore a tiny stamp “Made in China.”

A little less than a year ago Italy became the first G-7 country in Europe to sign a memorandum of understanding formalizing its membership in the Chinese Belt and Road project, part of the Silk Road scheme to create a vast linked commercial network across Asia and into Europe. Two of the main hubs being developed for the project are Genoa and Trieste. The Italian government, confronted with a struggling economy, based the move on “commercial reasons” and “economic advantages,” to include the investment being offered by Beijing, but Rome paid a price for the move with intense criticism coming from both Washington and Brussels. The Atlanticist crowd, which normally applauded a form of globalism and free trade, inevitably insisted that not only were the Chinese seeking to “destabilize” Europe, Beijing was also attempting to divide Europe politically and militarily from the United States.

One of the more interesting, and perhaps coincidental, aspects of the Chinese entry into Italy has been the particular connection between China and the northern Italian fashion houses, centered on Milan, that have shifted their production to Wuhan to take advantage of the cheap labor in China’s own textile industry, largely centered on the city. By all accounts, Chinese investors bought up factories in Northern Italy starting in the early 1990s. By 2016 many major brands had been completely acquired, to include Pinco Pallino, Miss Sixty, Sergio Tacchini, Roberta di Camerino and Mariella Burani while major shares of Salvatore Ferragamo and Caruso were also obtained.

The Chinese owners and investors replaced ageing machinery and brought in, often illegally, tens of thousands of skilled Chinese seamstresses as a labor force. By the end of last year when the virus first struck China, direct flights from Wuhan to Lombardy served the roughly 300,000 Chinese residents of Italy who mostly work in Chinese-owned factories producing Chinese inspired Made in Italy designs. It is widely believed, though not confirmed by the Rome government, that the first infections by coronavirus in Italy, attributed to visiting “tourists,” actually may have taken place in crowded dormitories where Chinese shift workers from Wuhan dined and slept.

In less than a year, however, Italians have come to realize that a tight economic embrace with Beijing also has a downside. Italy’s trade gap with China has gone up, not down and much promised investment in new enterprises has failed to materialize. But even as the dust cleared, the results derived from opening the door to China were not pretty. By 2016, Chinese acquisitions had exceeded 52 billion EUROS, giving them ownership of more than 300 companies representing 27% of major Italian corporations.

The Bank of China now owns five major banks in Italy as well as the major telecommunication corporation (Telecom) and the two top energy utilities (ENI and ENEL). China also has controlling interest in Fiat-Chrysler and Pirelli.

More recently, Italian government views on China’s human rights record in Hong Kong have hardened and the country’s legislature has rejected overtures by the Chinese telecommunications conglomerate Huawei to have a major role in developing the country’s new 5G technology. One might observe, however, that the barn door is being closed after the horse has already escaped.

To limit the damage, the Chinese have sweetened their economic expansion into Western Europe by carefully integrating trade with humanitarian initiatives to make the transformation palatable to the local populations. The Health Silk Road initiative is a major exercise of soft power which has, in the current crisis, provided various forms of emergency medical assistance to a number of European nations. In doing so, it has done more than the European Union or the United States. Italy currently has three Chinese medical teams assisting its doctors in and around Milan and has benefited from airlifted medical supplies to include millions of masks and testing kits.

China is not doing what it does for altruistic reasons. It sees itself as the major economic driver of a new globalism, displacing an increasingly foundering and incapable United States, which has dominated world finance and commerce since the Second World War. For China COVID-19 is seen as an opportunity to reconfigure the playing field in its favor.

The experience of Italy, which may have become an epicenter for the virus due to its close commercial and personal ties to China, is illustrative of how globalism and free trade being promoted by a number of engaged groups in many countries can be exploited to create a new reality. Beijing is shaping that reality while the U.S. and E.U. stand on the sideline and watch.

 

[Melodi]

Well, Italy was the entry spot in Europe for the Black Death in the 14th century because of their trade routes with China - history doesn't repeat itself but it does rhyme...

 

[Plain Jane]

Finland's emergency supply agency head quits over face mask purchase

The Finnish government said on Friday it has accepted the resignation of the head of the country's emergency supply agency over a multi-million euro purchase of Chinese face masks that proved unsuitable for hospital use.

www.reuters.com

NEWS
APRIL 10, 2020 / 11:49 AM / UPDATED 4 HOURS AGO
Finland's emergency supply agency head quits over face mask purchase


3 MIN READ

HELSINKI (Reuters) - The Finnish government said on Friday it has accepted the resignation of the head of the country’s emergency supply agency over a multi-million euro purchase of Chinese face masks that proved unsuitable for hospital use.

Prime Minister Sanna Marin earlier said she had lost confidence in the official, Tomi Lounema.
The National Emergency Supply Centre, which is in charge of acquiring face masks and other equipment to help tackle the coronavirus pandemic, had paid two Finnish agents a combined 10 million euros ($11 million) for face mask deliveries from China.

But the millions of face masks that arrived in the first delivery earlier this week were found to be unsuitable for use in hospitals, while local media reported that one of the agents involved was in debt and facing court orders.

Lounema offered his resignation on Friday, Minister of employment Tuula Haatainen told a news conference.

The delivery that arrived from China on Tuesday was meant to contain 2 million surgical masks and 230,000 other face masks. But the masks were quickly found not to be suitable for hospital use due to their low quality, the ministry said on Wednesday.

“The protective gear market is highly chaotic at the moment. There are all kinds of traders and prices rise all the time,” Lounema said earlier in the week.

Finnish weekly Suomen Kuvalehti and the country’s largest daily, Helsingin Sanomat, reported that the first delivery of masks were bought via an agent who previously ran a short-term loan business and who faces court orders for debts. Reuters was not able to verify the reports or to contact the agent for comment.

The emergency supply centre holds reserves for different types of crisis, and it had been holding millions of face masks following the 2009 swine flu pandemic, which in the end did not reach Finland.

Due to high demand as a result of the coronavirus outbreak, however, its supplies are running low and the centre has been trying to purchase more equipment via several suppliers.

Reporting by Anne Kauranen; Editing by John Stonestreet and Hugh Lawson
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

 

[Plain Jane]

PM Johnson up and walking in COVID-19 recovery as UK deaths near 9,000

Prime Minister Boris Johnson was back on his feet in his recovery from COVID-19 on Friday as Britain recorded its deadliest day yet in the coronavirus pandemic, with 980 more deaths taking the country's overall toll to nearly 9,000.

www.reuters.com

NEWS
APRIL 10, 2020 / 4:30 AM / UPDATED 15 HOURS AGO
PM Johnson up and walking in COVID-19 recovery as UK deaths near 9,000

Michael Holden, Andy Bruce
4 MIN READ

LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Boris Johnson was back on his feet in his recovery from COVID-19 on Friday as Britain recorded its deadliest day yet in the coronavirus pandemic, with 980 more deaths taking the country’s overall toll to nearly 9,000.

The rise in deaths, which even exceeded the deadliest day reported so far in Italy, the country worst hit by the virus, comes as the government told Britons to obey a lockdown and resist going out in the spring sunshine over Easter.

“However warm the weather, however tempting your local beach or park, we need everyone to stay at home because in hospitals across the country NHS staff are battling day and night to keep desperately sick people breathing,” health minister Matt Hancock told a news conference.

One person the National Health Service (NHS) is treating is Prime Minister Johnson, who emerged from three nights of intensive care on Thursday after entering hospital on Sunday as his symptoms of COVID-19 persisted.

The prime minister, 55, who needed oxygen support, was now able to take short walks between periods of rest, as part of the his recovery, which his office said was at an early stage.

“I was told he was waving his thanks to all of the nurses and doctors he saw as he was moved from the intensive care unit back to the ward,” his spokesman said. “The hospital said that he was in extremely good spirits last night.”

Johnson was the first world leader to be hospitalised with the coronavirus, forcing him to hand control to foreign minister Dominic Raab just as Britain’s coronavirus outbreak worsened drastically.


PM “MUST REST”
While Johnson’s condition was improving, it was unclear how long he would be incapacitated.

“He must rest up,” his father, Stanley Johnson, told BBC radio. “You cannot walk away from this and go straight back to Downing Street and pick up the reins without a period of readjustment.”

Hancock said Raab had done an “excellent job” in Johnson’s stead. “The good news is that the government in his absence has been functioning very efficiently, very effectively,” he said.

In Johnson’s absence, ministers’ top priority is considering if and when it can end the lockdown which has so far been in place for three weeks.

The four-day Easter break began on Friday with bright sunshine, and authorities warned they were on the lookout for those breaking a ban on social gatherings or venturing out without good reason.

LOCKDOWN MUST STAY
Officials say the measures are vital to curbing the spread of the virus and must remain in place until the number of new hospital admissions and infections has peaked.

“We don’t have enough information yet to make any changes to the social distancing arrangements,” Hancock said.

The government says it will have a better idea by next week of whether the lockdown was proving successful, with health officials saying the indications were positive.

However, the death rate is still expected to continue to rise for several days. Hancock said the death toll had reached 8,958 people as of 1600 GMT on April 9 - the fifth highest in the world.

One senior minister was under pressure on Friday himself for not adhering to the lockdown after newspapers said he travelled to a second home outside London and visited his parents.

“For clarity - my parents asked me to deliver some essentials - including medicines,” housing minister Robert Jenrick tweeted in his defence, adding that he had left London to return to his family home.

“We are confident that he complied with the social distancing rules,” Johnson’s spokesman said.

The government has also faced criticism over its response to the outbreak, from a lack of testing for the virus, to failing to provide enough personal protective equipment (PPE) to frontline healthcare staff.

Hancock said new testing centres had been opened to allow all frontline staff to be tested, while a “Herculean” effort was underway to ensure they received PPE.

Additional reporting by Elizabeth Piper; Editing by David Goodman, Frances Kerry and Hugh Lawson
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

 

[Plain Jane]

Germany flies in seasonal farm workers amid virus measures

BERLIN (AP) — Two planes carrying Eastern European farmhands arrived Thursday in Germany as an ambitious government program to import thousands of seasonal agricultural workers got underway amid strict precautions to protect both the laborers and the country from the new coronavirus.

apnews.com

Germany flies in seasonal farm workers amid virus measures
By DAVID RISINGApril 9, 2020



1 of 14
An airport employee checks the temperature of a Romanian seasonal worker outside the Avram Iancu international airport, in Cluj, central Romania, Thursday, April 9, 2020. More then 1800 workers from across Romania are traveling on 12 flights to Berlin, Baden Bade and Dusseldorf in Germany, most of them to work in asparagus farms.(AP Photo/Raul Stef)
BERLIN (AP) — Two planes carrying Eastern European farmhands arrived Thursday in Germany as an ambitious government program to import thousands of seasonal agricultural workers got underway amid strict precautions to protect both the laborers and the country from the new coronavirus.

The flights to Berlin and Duesseldorf were arranged to address a massive labor shortage created when Germany banned most foreign travelers from entering the country last month in response to the virus outbreak.

Seasonal workers caught up in the ban were not available to pick asparagus, which has already sprouted in Germany, and to plant other crops in the fields where some 300,000 such workers were employed last year.

Most came from Eastern European countries such as Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine, and Hungary, where wages are much lower than in Germany, which is Europe’s largest economy.


Mariana Hopulele, 43, waited at the airport in the central Romanian city of Cluj with her 17-year-old son, Valentin, for the flight to Duesseldorf. While farm work in Germany is physically demanding, “there is no way to find work that pays enough to support one’s family” in Romania, she said.

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• – What you need to know today about the virus outbreak
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“I have worked for 15 years abroad, the last eight in Germany on asparagus farms,” Hopulele said. “Our contract says we work eight hours a day, but we actually work 10 to 12 hours, seven days a week. It’s very, very tough but we do get compensation for the extra hours.”

Under the new program, workers are flown to Germany in controlled groups — to prevent possible infection en route — and are subject to medical checks upon arrival. They will be required to live and work apart from the farmhands already in Germany for two weeks and wear protective gear.

German Agriculture Minister Julia Kloeckner described the program as a “pragmatic and goal-oriented solution” that would bring up to 40,000 seasonal workers into the country in April and 40,000 more in May. The government hopes to recruit an additional 20,000 during the two months among people in Germany who are unemployed, students or resident asylum-seekers, the minister said.

“This is important and good news for our farmers,” Kloeckner said. “Because the harvest doesn’t wait, and you can’t delay sowing the fields.”
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Farmers had brought in some 20,000 workers before virus-related travel bans were imposed, and Germany has extended the time seasonal workers are allowed to stay from 70 days to 115 days, Kloeckner said at a press conference at a Frankfurt-Hahn airport.

The government will work with farmers along the way to determine if more needs to be done, she said.

“We will need to always reevaluate the situation and then act, and act quickly,” she said.
Ahead of time, interested workers have to register online and have their information checked by federal police. Farmers needing help register online with the airlines contracted to bring the workers in, saying when they’re needed and where.

So far, 9,900 people had registered for April and another 4,300 for May.

Flights are then organized to bring in groups, and the first group of workers, 530 people from Romania, arrived on Thursday in Duesseldorf and Berlin, said Eurowings, the airline contracted for the initial group of workers. Further flights were already planned to Duesseldorf, Karlsruhe, Leipzig, Nuremberg and Frankfurt.

Nicoleta, another worker waiting to board a plane in Cluj who did not want to give her last name, said she had traveled to Germany every fall for the last seven years to help make Christmas decorations. With everything uncertain due to the pandemic, she said she leapt at the opportunity to work on an asparagus farm instead.

“We are happy we can go work in Germany” she said. “It is an opportunity. I can go there to earn enough to properly raise my two little children.

Other countries in Western Europe have taken different approaches, like in France where authorities and the agricultural sector have launched a call for local residents to help in the fields, called “arms for your plate.”

Spain is trying to prevent a critical shortage of workers for its important agriculture industry in its sunny south, which helps feed the nation as well as providing Europe with exported fruit and vegetables.

Earlier this week, the government launched a campaign to try and find 75,000 residents to help, and extended seasonal migrants’ work permits.

“If we do not harvest this produce, we will see a drop in our ability to supply our markets, and (that) could increase prices,” said Spanish Agriculture Minister Luis Planas.
Full Coverage: Virus Outbreak

Kloeckner, the German minister, cautioned that with the additional costs to fly in the seasonal workers, Germany will also likely see an increase in the cost of fruit and vegetables.
“We live in very challenging times,” she said.
____
This version has been corrected to show surname of quoted worker is Hopulele, not Hopulete.
____
Raul Stef in Cluj, Romania, Angela Charlton in Paris and Joseph Wilson in Barcelona contributed to this report.
____
Follow AP news coverage of the coronavirus pandemic at Virus Outbreak and Understanding the Outbreak

 

[Plain Jane]

Easter isn't cancelled: UK's Queen Elizabeth says coronavirus will not overcome

Britain's Queen Elizabeth said on Saturday that coronavirus "would not overcome us" as she delivered her second rallying message to the nation in a week.

www.reuters.com

NEWS
APRIL 11, 2020 / 2:00 PM / UPDATED AN HOUR AGO
Easter isn't cancelled: UK's Queen Elizabeth says coronavirus will not overcome


2 MIN READ

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain’s Queen Elizabeth said on Saturday that coronavirus “would not overcome us” as she delivered her second rallying message to the nation in a week.

FILE PHOTO: Buckingham Palace handout image of Britain's Queen Elizabeth during her address to the nation and the Commonwealth in relation to the coronavirus epidemic (COVID-19), recorded at Windsor Castle, Britain April 5, 2020. Buckingham Palace/Handout via REUTERS
The 93-year-old monarch, who is the symbolic head of the Church of England, also stated that “Easter isn’t cancelled” in her first ever address to mark the Christian holy day.

“This year, Easter will be different for many of us, but by keeping apart we keep others safe. But Easter isn’t cancelled; indeed, we need Easter as much as ever,” she said.

Last Sunday, Elizabeth gave only the fifth televised address of her 68-year reign to say that if Britons stayed resolute in the face of a lockdown and self-isolation, they would beat the COVID-19 pandemic.


On that occasion, she made reference to her experience of World War Two, but this time the monarch, who takes her religious faith seriously, used the Easter message to reinforce that message.

“The discovery of the risen Christ on the first Easter Day gave his followers new hope and fresh purpose, and we can all take heart from this,” she said in the audio recording on Twitter.

“We know that coronavirus will not overcome us. As dark as death can be - particularly for those suffering with grief - light and life are greater. May the living flame of the Easter hope be a steady guide as we face the future.”

Her message comes as Britain’s death toll nears 10,000, with 917 more deaths reported by health officials on Saturday.

The queen is usually joined by other senior members of the royal family at a traditional Easter service at Windsor Castle, where she is staying with her husband Prince Philip, 98.

However, the service will not take place this year because of restrictions on social gatherings including a ban on church services.

“I wish everyone of all faiths and denominations a blessed Easter,” the queen said.

Reporting by Michael Holden; Editing by James Drummond
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

 

[Plain Jane]

5G protesters sabotage Dutch phone towers – DW – 04/11/2020

Opponents of the rollout of a new 5G data network have damaged and set alight several towers in the Netherlands. Activists have expressed concerns over possible health risks and privacy violations.

www.dw.com

5G protesters sabotage Dutch phone towers
Opponents of the rollout of a new 5G data network have damaged and set alight several towers in the Netherlands. Activists have expressed concerns over possible health risks and privacy violations.





Protesters targeted a number of cellular broadcasting towers throughout the Netherlands to oppose the new 5G telecommunications network, Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf reported on Saturday.

Towers in Rotterdam, Liessel, Beesd and Nuenen were severely damaged by fire, Rob Bongelaar told the newspaper. Bongelaar is director of The Monet Foundation, an association that oversees the placement of cell towers and coordinates with state governments on behalf of network operators including KPN, T-Mobile and Vodafone.

"The operators are doing their utmost to keep the mobile networks up and running in this difficult time," Bongelaar added. He said that the words, "F*** 5G" were written on the transmission box at one of the attack sites.
Read more: What does 5G have to do with coronavirus? Where did it come from? Your questions answered

'Desperately needed' for hospitals
"The availability of a reliable digital infrastructure is essential. The connections are desperately needed for hospitals and care homes … and then there are those who deliberately set radio masts on fire. Incomprehensible and unacceptable," Bongelaar said.
De Telegraaf also reported a possible arson incident on Friday evening in the northern city of Groningen.

In a statement, the Dutch government's Security and Counter-Terrorism (NCTV) announced it had registered "various incidents" around broadcasting antennas in the past week, including arson and sabotage, adding that opposition to the 5G plan is a possible cause.

"This is a concerning development," NCTV said. The body added that similar attacks have been occurring recently in the UK.
Read more: EU rules out Huawei ban — but maps out strict rules on 5G

Health and privacy concerns
Various groups in the Netherlands have been opposed to the 5G network for some time, largely due to health concerns such as radio waves that could potentially be harmful to human health. Others say that the network could violate privacy rights.

In January, around a hundred people rallied against the 5G network at Amsterdam's Dam Square, calling for its rejection on the basis of health and wellbeing.

As the major telecommunications providers in the country await a June spectrum auction before it can commence a nationwide rollout of 5G telecommunications, a testing phase is currently in place.
Every evening, DW's editors send out a selection of the day's hard news and quality feature journalism. You can sign up to receive it directly here.

 

[Plain Jane]

Irish rival leaders to sign off on initial government deal

The leaders of Ireland's rival Fianna Fail and Fine Gael parties will meet on Tuesday to sign off on a broad agreement struck by their negotiating teams aimed at attracting enough additional support to form a new government.

www.reuters.com

NEWS
APRIL 13, 2020 / 11:04 AM / UPDATED AN HOUR AGO
Irish rivals initial government deal 'effectively complete' - minister


2 MIN READ

DUBLIN (Reuters) - An agreement between Ireland’s Fianna Fail and Fine Gael parties aimed at attracting enough additional support to form a new government is “effectively complete”, a senior Fine Gael lawmaker said on Monday.

The centre-right parties, rivals who have alternated in power throughout the nation’s history but have never formed a coalition together, need the support of at least one smaller party or eight independent lawmakers to reach a majority.

The pair’s negotiating teams were due to finalise a joint paper setting out broad policy goals on Monday.

“I do understand that that document is effectively complete and has gone to both my party leader and the leader of Fianna Fail to review,” Acting Health Minister Simon Harris of Fine Gael told a news conference.

“Once it’s approved by both parliamentary parties, it will then be shared with other parties and we need them to step up. This is a time for stable government in Ireland to get on with massive challenges. We need other political parties to join us.”

Both parties steadfastly refuse to govern with the left-wing, pro-Irish unity Sinn Fein party, which surged to 37 seats in the Feb. 8 election, the same number held by Fianna Fail and two more than Fine Gael’s 35 in the fractured 160-seat chamber.

That leaves the Green Party, which has 12 seats and the centre-left Labour and Social Democrat parties, with six seats each, as the only viable partners. All three have so far shown little enthusiasm, although one of the Social Democrat’s co-leaders said on Sunday it was open to looking at the document.

Reporting by Padraic Halpin; editing by David Evans
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

 

[Melodi]

Actually they had an effective "coalition" for the last several years, they still have to get a smaller party to join them and so far that hasn't happened.

Both parties were badly beaten in the election but the winning party - Sinn Fein didn't run enough candidates to form a government (they didn't expect to win or to win that big).

If they don't find another small party or number of independents to go into the government with them there will be another election, though how that happens right now I'm not sure.

 

[Plain Jane]

Forest fire around Chernobyl plant put out, Ukraine says

A huge fire that tore through forests around the defunct Chernobyl nuclear plant has been put out, Ukrainian officials said on Tuesday, after hundreds of emergency workers used planes and helicopters to douse the flames.

www.reuters.com

ENVIRONMENT
APRIL 14, 2020 / 4:35 AM / UPDATED 21 MINUTES AGO
Forest fire around Chernobyl plant put out, Ukraine says

Pavel Polityuk
2 MIN READ

KIEV (Reuters) - A huge fire that tore through forests around the defunct Chernobyl nuclear plant has been put out, Ukrainian officials said on Tuesday, after hundreds of emergency workers used planes and helicopters to douse the flames.

Environmental activists said on Monday that the fire, near the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster in 1986 and believed to have been started deliberately, posed a radiation risk.


Officials said they registered short-term rises in Caesium-137 particles in the Kiev area to the south of the plant, but radiation levels were within normal limits overall and did not require additional protection measures. They did not say why the particle levels rose.

Assisted by rain, emergency services prevented the fire from spreading to either the plant or military facilities in the area, though they will need a few more days to fully extinguish it, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s office said in a statement.

Separately, the state agency responsible for managing the area around the plant said new fires had broken out to the west and south of the site. Their extent was not immediately clear.

The main fire, one of several that followed unusually dry weather, broke out on April 3.

Police have accused a 27-year old local of deliberately starting it, and Zelenskiy’s office said officers had detained suspected arsonists near two points where the fire broke out.

Parliament voted on Monday to increase fines for arson.

The Chernobyl disaster in then-Soviet Ukraine occurred on April 26, 1986. It was caused by a botched safety test in reactor and sent clouds of nuclear material across much of Europe.

The plant and the abandoned nearby town of Pripyat have become a draw for tourists, especially since a critically acclaimed U.S. television miniseries about the accident was aired last year.

The site is currently shut as part of a nationwide lockdown to contain the coronavirus pandemic.

Writing by Matthias Williams; editing by John Stonestreet
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Also see this thread.

INTL - Ukraine continues to battle forest fire near Chernobyl

I didn't find any postings on this....HC Posted for fair use..... https://apnews.com/42196386aa6dc9fb664de5da7995ad70 Ukraine continues to battle forest fire near Chernobyl yesterday KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Emergency teams in Ukraine on Monday continued battling a forest fire in the contaminated...

www.timebomb2000.com

 

[Plain Jane]

Greek authorities think Erdoğan regime plans to push virus-infected migrants to EU

Hellenic security forces are on high alert after officials received intel that Turkish regime leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is planning a “sea Evros”

voiceofeurope.com

Greek authorities think Erdoğan regime plans to push virus-infected migrants to EU
By ARTHUR LYONS 12 April 2020


The Hellenic Armed Forces, Coast Guard, and Police are on high alert after government officials received intel that Turkish regime leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is planning a “sea Evros” as thousands of migrants gather in towns and cities along Turkey’s Aegean coastline.
According to a report from Greek newspaper Kathimerini which cites “sources that cannot be named but which are considered reliable”, the Erdoğan regime is planning to push virus-infected migrants to Greece and other EU member states.


The same sources also say that thousands of migrants, many of whom were present at last month’s border crisis at Kastanies and Pazarkule, have been moved from migrant camps in the interior of the Turkey to the country’s coastal regions. Turkish authorities are said to be overseeing the migrant’s movement toward the coastline.


The fact that the Hellenic Coast Guard has blocked 21 ships full of illegal immigrant in the past two weeks near the area of Lesbos and Agothonisi supports the information put forward by Kathimerini’s sources. Furthermore, the accumulation of migrants along the Turkish coastline also seems confirm that Erdogan is preparing swamp Greece’s eastern Aegean islands with migrants.
Authorities in Greece have also collected information which suggests various NGOs are also helping migrants in Turkey make their way illegally to Greece.

Voice of Europe @V_of_Europe
https://twitter.com/V_of_Europe/status/1242860212148633607

Greece: Turkish fighter jets invade Greek airspace, again - Voice of Europe https://voiceofeurope.com/2020/03/greece-turkish-fighter-jets-invade-greek-airspace-again/#.XnuPYad56V4.twitter …

Greece: Turkish fighter jets invade Greek airspace, again
Groups of Turkish fighter planes repeatedly crossed into Greek airspace on Monday in a direct violation of Greece’s sovereignty. The Hellenic National Defense General Staff (GEETHA) said that two...
voiceofeurope.com

215
13:05 - 25 Mar 2020
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Earlier this month, Turkey threatened to send back migrants to the Greek border as soon as the global COVID-19 pandemic has ended, as Voice of Europe reported.


“When the coronavirus pandemic is over, we are not going to deter any immigrants who want to return to the Greek-Turkish border in Pazar,” Turkish Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu.
Follow Arthur Lyons on Twitter

See this thread also.

WTF?!? - Turkey Plans to Send Fresh Wave of Corona-Infected Migrants to Europe

Turkey Plans to Send Fresh Wave of Corona-Infected Migrants to Europe – Summit News Published 1 min ago on 14 April, 2020 Paul Joseph Watson Immigration Greece steps up patrols as Erdogan prepares to use ‘refugees’ as political weapon. ANGELOS TZORTZINIS/Getty Images Voice of America reports...

www.timebomb2000.com

 

[Plain Jane]

'The sun will shine again,' Captain Tom, 99, raises millions and the spirits of a nation

Captain Tom Moore, 99, a British war veteran, completed the last of 100 laps of his garden on Thursday, raising more than 15.4 million pounds ($19 million) for the health service in a feat that has spread joy across the country amid the coronavirus gloom.

www.reuters.com

WWII veteran, age 99, raises millions for UK health service

LONDON (AP) — A 99-year-old British army veteran who started walking laps in his garden as part of a humble fundraiser for the National Health Service has surprised himself by generating millions of pounds within days.

apnews.com

WWII veteran, age 99, raises millions for UK health service
By SYLVIA HUIyesterday



1 of 3
Undated family handout photo of Tom Moore, a 99-year-old British veteran who has started a campaign to thank the National Health Service by walking lengths in his garden. Captain Tom Moore’s family had set up a fund-raising drive to support health workers caring for coronavirus patients, as a way to thank doctors and nurses who treated him for a broken hip. The family thought they would struggle to reach their initial 1,000-pound target last week. But the campaign clearly captured the public mood at a time of national crisis and within days, the cause had attracted more than 250,000 supporters who pledged more than 6 million pounds. (Moore Family via AP)
LONDON (AP) — A 99-year-old British army veteran who started walking laps in his garden as part of a humble fundraiser for the National Health Service has surprised himself by generating millions of pounds within days.

Tom Moore’s family used social media to help him get donations to support health care workers during the coronavirus pandemic as a way to thank the doctors and nurses who took care of him when he broke his hip.

Moore, who uses a walker while putting in his paces, is well on his way to completing 100 laps of his 25-meter garden before he turns 100 on April 30.

His family thought it would be a stretch to reach the 1,000-pound fundraising goal initially set for Moore’s campaign last week. But the drive clearly captured the public mood at a time of national crisis. By Wednesday, the cause had attracted more than 250,000 supporters pledging close to 8 million pounds ($10 million.)


Celebrities, fellow veterans, health workers and many other Britons have rallied behind Moore after the World War II veteran and his family appeared on national television.

Moore said the response was “completely out of this world.”

“Thank you so much to all you people who subscribe to the National Health Service, because for every penny that we get, they deserve every one of it,” he told the BBC.

Moore trained as a civil engineer before enlisting in the army during WWII. He rose to the rank of captain and served in India and Burma.

His daughter described the flood of donations as “beyond our wildest expectations” and a gift for her father.

“Whilst he’s had a life full of purpose, he did fall and break his hip and became much less independent than he had been for the preceding 98 years,” Hannah Ingram-Moore told the BBC on Wednesday. “What you have done, the British public and everyone who’s supported him, is giving him his next purpose.”

England’s chief nursing officer, Ruth May, said Moore’s campaign showed that “everyone has something they can do to support the COVID-19 response.”

U.K. Health Secretary Matt Hancock, who spent a week in self-isolation after both he and Prime Minister Boris Johnson tested positive for the virus, gave Moore a shout-out during the government’s daily public health briefing Wednesday’.

“Captain Tom, you’re an inspiration to us all,” Hancock said.

 

[Plain Jane]

Germany arrests IS suspects plotting attacks on US bases – DW – 04/15/2020

German police have arrested four suspected members of the "Islamic State" militant group, for allegedly planning attacks on US military bases. The suspects were also said to be plotting to assassinate an individual.

www.dw.com

Germany arrests IS suspects plotting attacks on US bases
German police have arrested four suspected members of the "Islamic State" militant group, for allegedly planning attacks on US military bases. The suspects were also said to be plotting to assassinate an individual.





German prosecutors on Wednesday said four men had been arrested for plotting to carry out attacks in the name of the terror group "Islamic State (IS)."

The four men, originally from Tajikistan — along with a fifth individual who was detained last year — were believed to have been plotting attacks on US air force bases in Germany.
They were also suspected of carrying out surveillance of critics of Islam, prosecutors said, targeting them for future assassination.

Attacks had not been due to take place imminently, officials said, but the men had already procured firearms and ammunition.

Read more: IS seeks to profit from coronavirus pandemic
The arrests, by tactical arms teams, were made early on Wednesday. Apartments, as well as six other locations, were targeted in the dawn raids in the western German cities of Essen, Neuss and Siegen, as well as the district of Heinsberg.

The suspects, who are due to be charged with membership of a terrorist organization, were reported to have been between the ages of 24 and 32.

German weekly news magazine Der Spiegel reported that the men's alleged leader, a 30-year-old Tajik man identified only as Ravsan B., has been in prison on firearms charges since last year.
Read more: Germany: Don't panic over IS returnees' arrival
Ravsan B., who was alleged to be financing the attacks after accepting a $40,000 contract to assassinate someone in Albania, was said to have already ordered materials to build an explosive device.

Prosecutors said the men swore allegiance to IS in early 2019, and that they had contacts with high-ranking figures from the group in both Syria and Afghanistan.

The men had reportedly planned to return to Tajikistan to carry out attacks, but later changed their target to Germany.
rc/stb (dpa, AP, AFP)

 

[Plain Jane]

Estonia far right ousts third trade minister amid infighting

Estonia's far-right EKRE, part of the ruling coalition, has ousted the EU-member state's third trade minister since last year's elections amid political infighting as it battles the coronavirus outbreak.

www.reuters.com

WORLD NEWS
APRIL 17, 2020 / 6:24 AM / UPDATED AN HOUR AGO
Estonia far right ousts third trade minister amid infighting


2 MIN READ

TALLINN (Reuters) - Estonia’s far-right EKRE, part of the ruling coalition, has ousted the EU-member state’s third trade minister since last year’s elections amid political infighting as it battles the coronavirus outbreak.

Kaimar Karu was one of five ministers chosen by the Conservative People’s Party of Estonia (EKRE), whose anti-immigration message helped the party more than double its support in the 2019 elections, winning broad support in poorer areas.

He was not a member of the party.

“This morning Mart Helme, the head of the Conservative People’s Party of Estonia, called me and informed me that he will recall me from the minister’s position because ‘the co-operation is not working and the party is not pleased’,” Karu wrote in social media post.

The prime minister approved the sacking.

Export-dependent Estonia’s economy has been hit bad by the coronavirus, with the gloomiest estimates forecasting a 14% drop in GDP this year. The country has recorded 1,459 infections and 38 deaths.

EKRE is the second largest partner in Estonia’s government whose programme includes some of the party’s strict immigration policies, pledging to expel foreign workers when their contracts end.

Karu took the job from Kert Kingo six months ago when she left following a hiring scandal. Kingo’s predecessor, Mart Kuusik, lasted just a day in the job.

Reporting by Tarmo Virki; editing by Nick Macfie
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

 

[Plain Jane]

Russia protests after Norway detains trawler near Svalbard

Russia on Friday said it had filed a protest to Oslo after Norwegian coastguards detained a Russian trawler near a remote chain of islands in the Arctic earlier this month.

www.reuters.com

NEWS
APRIL 17, 2020 / 12:36 PM / UPDATED 16 HOURS AGO
Russia protests after Norway detains trawler near Svalbard

Tom Balmforth, Nerijus Adomaitis
3 MIN READ

MOSCOW/OSLO (Reuters) - Russia on Friday said it had filed a protest to Oslo after Norwegian coastguards detained a Russian trawler near a remote chain of islands in the Arctic earlier this month.

The Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard, about 850 km (500 miles) north of mainland Norway, is seen as a potential flashpoint between Moscow and the West as climate change has opened up the resource-rich region.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Friday Russia was seriously concerned after a Russian fishing vessel named the Borey was detained on April 2, within Norway’s fishery protection zone that Russia considers illegal.

“We believe the practice of detaining foreign vessels by the Norwegian coastguard in the so-called fish protection zone is in line with Norway’s policy of illegally expanding its rights in the archipelago region,” Zakharova was quoted by TASS news agency as saying.

In a statement the Norwegian foreign ministry confirmed the Borey had been arrested by coastguards, saying it was suspected of having contravened Norwegian regulations relating to fishery operations and catches in the fishery protection zone.


“The case was solved under normal procedure at sea and the vessel was released,” the emailed statement added, confirming the ministry had received a verbal protest from Moscow but reiterating the fishery zone had been established legally.

Previous incidents of Russian vessels being detained in the area have been reported in 2003, 2011 and 2016.

Svalbard is regulated by a 1920 treaty which grants Norway sovereignty but allows other signatories, including Russia, residence and commercial rights. A Russian coal mining company has operated there for decades.

Moscow has accused Norway in recent years of flouting the treaty, listing concerns such as Norway’s establishment of the fishery protection zone. Norway has rejected those accusations and said it is fully compliant with the treaty.

The Borey could be seen sailing south of Svalbard earlier this month and last reported its location on April 10 southeast of Bear Island on the edge of Svalbard’s fishing protection zone, shipping data on Refinitiv Eikon showed.

Editing by David Holmes
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

 

[Plain Jane]

Head of EU's top science body quits amid coronavirus controversy

The president of the European Union's main science organisation has quit the post he took up only in January, the European Commission said, amid controversy over the bloc's response to the coronavirus pandemic.

www.reuters.com

NEWS
APRIL 8, 2020 / 5:00 AM / 12 DAYS AGO
Head of EU's top science body quits amid coronavirus controversy


3 MIN READ

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The president of the European Union’s main science organisation has quit the post he took up only in January, the European Commission said, amid controversy over the bloc’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Mauro Ferrari, who became head of the European Research Council for a four-year mandate on Jan. 1, submitted his resignation on Tuesday, which the Commission said was effective immediately.

“The Commission regrets the resignation of Professor Ferrari at this early stage in his mandate as ERC President,” a spokesman said.

Ferrari made a statement to the Financial Times, which first reported the resignation, saying: “I have been extremely disappointed by the European response” to the pandemic.
He cited institutional resistance and bureaucratic infighting in the EU’s complex structures to his proposal for a big scientific programme to fight the coronavirus.

“I arrived at the ERC a fervent supporter of the EU... The COVID-19 crisis completely changed my views,” the statement said, referring to the respiratory disease caused by the new coronavirus.

The ERC, however, said in a statement it regretted Ferrari’s comments on his resignation, which it said were “at best...economical with the truth”.

The body said it had asked Ferrari to resign on March 27, quoting his lack of understanding of the ERC’s role, as well as engaging in personal and external activities instead of being fully involved in the work of the EU agency.

It did, however, say it rejected Ferrari’s proposal to fund a special initiative on COVID-19, saying it was outside the ERC’s remit.

The ERC was established in 2007 to fund top European scientists with a budget of 1.86 billion euros ($2.02 billion) in 2018. It awards grants to projects proposed by experts, rather than following political directives, according to its website.

EU governments and the bloc’s institutions stand accused of a haphazard response to the pandemic by failing to react quickly enough or work together. The bloc’s finance ministers failed to agree a financial rescue package in recent weeks to soften the economic shock of the pandemic.

Reporting by Robin Emmott, Gabriela Baczynska; Editing by Nick Macfie, William Maclean
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
MORE FROM REUTERS

 

[Plain Jane]

Man arrested in Ireland in connection with deaths of 39 Vietnamese in 2019: UK police

Ronan Hughes, a 40-year-old from County Armagh in Northern Ireland, was arrested in Ireland on Monday in connection with the deaths of 39 Vietnamese nationals who were found in a lorry trailer in Essex, south-east England, in October 2019, Essex Police said in a statement.

www.reuters.com

NEWS
APRIL 20, 2020 / 3:22 PM / UPDATED 4 HOURS AGO
Man arrested in Ireland in connection with deaths of 39 Vietnamese in 2019: UK police


1 MIN READ

LONDON (Reuters) - Ronan Hughes, a 40-year-old from County Armagh in Northern Ireland, was arrested in Ireland on Monday in connection with the deaths of 39 Vietnamese nationals who were found in a lorry trailer in Essex, south-east England, in October 2019, Essex Police said in a statement.

Hughes has been charged with 39 offences of manslaughter as well as immigration offences, Essex Police said. He will appear at Dublin’s High Court on Tuesday.

Earlier this month, Northern Irish truck driver Maurice Robinson pleaded guilty to 39 counts of manslaughter related to the deaths.

Reporting by Paul Sandle; Editing by Chris Reese
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
MORE FROM REUTERS

 

[Plain Jane]

Coronavirus hits migrant hostel as Greece plans to ease lockdown

Dozens of migrants, including many single-parent families, accomodated at a hostel in southern Greece tested positive for the coronavirus on Tuesday as the government prepared for a gradual easing of a broad lockdown from April 27.

www.reuters.com

NEWS
APRIL 21, 2020 / 9:41 AM / UPDATED 39 MINUTES AGO
Coronavirus hits third migrant facility as Greece plans to ease lockdown

Lefteris Papadimas, Renee Maltezou
3 MIN READ

ATHENS (Reuters) - Dozens of migrants in a hostel south of Greece tested positive for the novel coronavirus on Tuesday, hours after the government said it would open some public services on April 27 as part of a gradual easing of the nation’s coronavirus lockdown.

Compared with countries, such as Italy, Spain, France and Britain, Greece’s toll from the coronavirus is low, but concern is mounting over its migrant population.

The hostel has been quarantined since April 16, the third migrant facility in the country to be hit by the virus.

The 497 people who live and work there were tested after a pregnant woman tested positive for the new coronavirus last week, the migration minister said. Among the migrants, who are mainly from Africa, there are many children, officials said.

On Tuesday, test results showed that 150 people had been infected, although none had developed any symptoms of COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, Deputy Civil Protection Minister Nikos Chardalias said.

“There is no reason for panic,” Chardalias told reporters outside the facility. “The measures (we have taken) are adequate to contain the spread of the virus.”

Greece, which adopted lockdown measures to try to slow the spread of the new coronavirus on March 23, has registered 2,245 infections since its first case surfaced in late February. The death toll is 116.

Government spokesman Stelios Petsas told reporters earlier on Tuesday the cabinet was working on a transition plan to gradually ease the lockdown. He said that judicial services would start to resume on April 27, when the lockdown is scheduled to end.

“A gradual return to normality starts symbolically with the judicial services on April 27,” he said in a televised briefing, adding land registries, county courts and courts of first instance would resume certain operations.

Petsas said that next week Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis would lay out Greece’s transition plan, likely to begin by lifting restrictions for lower-risk groups of the population and business activities.

Reporting by Lefteris Papadimas and Renee Maltezou; editing by Barbara Lewis
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

 

[Plain Jane]

In Spain, asparagus lies unpicked as lockdown shuts out migrant workers

About half of farmer Jaime Urbina's asparagus crop lies unpicked in his fields in central Spain as border closures to curb the coronavirus block Eastern European seasonal labourers.

www.reuters.com

NEWS
APRIL 21, 2020 / 6:32 AM / UPDATED 2 HOURS AGO
In Spain, asparagus lies unpicked as lockdown shuts out migrant workers


3 MIN READ

TORRE DEL BURGO, Spain, April 21 (Reuters) - About half of farmer Jaime Urbina’s asparagus crop lies unpicked in his fields in central Spain as border closures to curb the coronavirus block Eastern European seasonal labourers.

Right at peak food-harvesting time, farms across the nation have a shortfall of thousands of workers. Asparagus, especially, requires a lot of labour as it is harvested piece-by-piece.

“Everyone here in the asparagus sector has this problem - we don’t have the manpower,” Urbina lamented, standing in a field in Torre del Burgo in Guadalajara province.

In normal circumstances, Urbina exports part of his produce. But with so much of the crop lying unpicked, Spain is in the unprecedented situation of having to import asparagus from Germany to meet domestic demand, he said.

Facing one of the world’s worst outbreaks of the COVID-19 disease, Spain went into lockdown on March 14, closing borders and confining people to home.

In early April, the government started an initiative to get more workers into the fields, authorizing temporary hiring of tens of thousands of immigrants or jobless people. (Full Story)


But many who have applied to pick asparagus do not have the stamina of the foreign seasonal workers who traditionally move from harvest to harvest across Spain, said Urbina.

“Many people have contacted us but we know from experience that although they start with a lot of gusto, they are not accustomed to this kind of work and it exhausts them,” he said.

Out of 40 or 50 workers interviewed and hired for the lockdown harvest, only around 10 remain, he said.

In a muddy field, labourers bend to cut the green spears with a long curved knife. They place the asparagus in plastic boxes that are collected by tractor. The vegetable is then brought to the warehouse and bundled ready for sale.

In the packing shed is Elena Garcia, a self-employed beautician who worked in a hairdresser’s until losing her job due to the lockdown.

“I think it’s harder working out in the field than here packing. Here the work is tough but I get along fine,” she said.

( Writing by Sonya Dowsett;

Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)

sonya.dowsett@thomsonreuters.com ; + 34 91 585 8328; Reuters Messaging: sonya.dowsett.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.