Voice of America - Europe

The Infodemic: Maddow’s Math on COVID-19 Herd Immunity Deaths is Wrong

Tue, 20 Oct 2020 13:59:51 GMT

Fake news about the coronavirus can do real harm. Polygraph.info is spotlighting fact-checks from other reliable sources here.

Daily Debunk

Claim: "Math on Trump Covid strategy has millions dying before it works." -- "The Rachel Maddow Show"/MSNBC

Verdict: False

Read the full story at: CHECKYOURFACT.COM

Social Media Disinfo

Circulating on social media: A publication that maintains that the World Health Organization (WHO) “was wrong” and called “now” to avoid quarantine “as the main method to control the advance of the coronavirus.”

Verdict: False

Read the full story at: Poynter.org

Factual Reads on Coronavirus

The coronavirus test results that predict an outbreak's course
Viral levels in people infected with SARS-CoV-2 in a specific town or city could be used to assess whether the epidemic there has passed its peak.
-- Nature, October 19

The Infodemic: Fact-checking the Presidential Candidates' Town Halls

Tue, 20 Oct 2020 13:53:40 GMT

Fake news about the coronavirus can do real harm. Polygraph.info is spotlighting fact-checks from other reliable sources here.

Daily Debunk

"FactChecking Biden’s Town Hall," FactCheck.org, October 16.

"FactChecking Trump’s Town Hall," FactCheck.org, October 16.

Social Media Disinfo

Screenshot

Circulating on social media: Image purportedly showing bacteria growth that was collected from a face mask after a person wore it for just 20 minutes.

Verdict: Misleading

Read the full story at: Agence France-Presse

Factual Reads on Coronavirus

Coronavirus can last 28 days on glass and currency, study finds
Findings from the study by Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, appear to show that in a very controlled environment the virus remained infectious for longer than other studies have found.
-- Reuters, October 11

If Democrats Can, Should They Pack US Supreme Court?

Tue, 20 Oct 2020 13:24:50 GMT

As Republicans rush to confirm Amy Coney Barrett, President Donald Trump’s pick to replace the late-Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the U.S. Supreme Court before Election Day, some liberal Democrats are floating the idea of adding more seats to the court — beyond the current nine.

The number of justices has changed over time, from six to as many as 10, but the number has remained steady at nine since 1869. In the 1930s, President Franklin D. Roosevelt tried to pack the court to preserve his New Deal legislation, which kept getting struck down by the high court. He failed.

If Democrats capture the White House and Senate, while retaining majority control of the House of Representatives, there is no constitutional impediment to following through on the idea.

“There's nothing in the Constitution that says that the Supreme Court has to have one or two or five or 10 members,” says Calvin Schermerhorn, professor of history at Arizona State University. “It’s silent on how many members there are on the Supreme Court. It only says that there shall be a chief justice, and Congress will have the power to shape the court and configure them in the best interest of justice.”

Judge Amy Coney Barrett, President Donald Trump's nominee to the Supreme Court, meets with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell at the Capitol, September 29, 2020 in Washington.

Democrats would have to change filibuster rules in the Senate to lower the threshold for passing legislation from 60 votes to a simple majority of the 100-member chamber to change the number of justices on the high court.

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has declined to say whether he would support an expansion of the Supreme Court if he wins election and the Democrats take back control of the Senate, but has promised to reveal his position before Election Day.

Expanding the court for political reasons could damage the integrity of the Supreme Court, says Nicole Huberfeld, professor of law at Boston University.

“People worry already about whether the Supreme Court is a political actor, rather than apolitical. I do think that adding justices so that one president can appoint a whole bunch of justices could affect the institutional integrity, or at least the perception of institutional integrity,” she says.

“The authority of the court largely comes from respecting the decisions of the justices, and the court of itself doesn't actually have any way to ensure that its decisions are implemented,” Huberfeld adds. “If people stop thinking that's the law of the land, then the court has an institutional integrity problem.”

Associate Justice David Souter signs documents of office at the Supreme Court after being sworn in as the newest member of the high court in Washington, Oct. 9, 1990.

Most Americans trust the U.S. Supreme Court to act in the best interests of the nation, according to public surveys, but an increasing number of people do worry justices are becoming too mixed up with politics.

Although a politicized Supreme Court might be alarming to some today, the scenario would be familiar to the nation’s Founding Fathers, because the court was viewed as an extension of party politics in the 19th century.

“The first generation of American leaders, by the so-called founders, used the courts as a creature of the legislature. And so, the federal judiciary, especially, was supposed to be subordinate to the will of democratically elected representatives,” Schermerhorn says.

The Republican effort to fast-track Barrett’s confirmation is particularly galling to Democrats still steaming because Republicans successfully blocked the 2016 confirmation of Merrick Garland, President Barack Obama’s pick to replace Justice Antonin Scalia, early in an election year. Now, the Republicans are rushing to confirm Barrett just days before another presidential election, which would create a solid 6-3 conservative majority on the Supreme Court.

FILE - In this May 10, 2016 photo, President Barack Obama's Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland meets with Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, on Capitol Hill in Washington.

But again, Schermerhorn says, none of that would have fazed the nation’s founders.

“They would have understood this is as partisan combat and not as a matter of constitutional principle,” he says. “There would have been no hesitation for the party in power in doing exactly what Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has done in his tenure as leader of the Republican-controlled Senate. That's not to say that this is a model that ought to be followed, that just because the founders thought or did something means that it’s worthy of emulation.”

Huberfeld says it is important to remember that there is more to the high court’s work than the few cases that draw the most attention and controversy, such as those dealing with health care, abortion or LGBTQ rights..

“The way that the court decides cases is much more than the handful of cases that people tend to talk about in political conversation. There are many cases the court hears that are just basic statutory interpretation. There are many cases the court hears that are criminal procedure cases,” she says. “Typically, at least in the modern era, once people are appointed, they tend to take that appointment quite seriously and to sort of put politics behind them.”

She points out that justices don’t always rule as expected. For example, conservative Scalia’s interpretation of the Constitution led him to be protective of the rights of criminal defendants. While Trump appointee Neil Gorsuch wrote the majority opinion that gay and transgender workers are protected by the Civil Rights Act.

“So, I think the question before the court isn't always a matter of this political ideology that people ascribe to the justices. It's much more a matter of what the question is before the court and how the judges interpret it,” Huberfeld says.

From Attending Concerts to Training Police, Users Share Group Experiences in Augmented Reality

Tue, 20 Oct 2020 12:56:08 GMT

With special glasses or a mobile device, augmented reality allows users to see virtual images superimposed over real life images, allowing groups to share a wide range of experiences, as VOA’s Elizabeth Lee reports.

Large Earthquake Off Alaska Prompts Tsunami Fears, Fleeing

Tue, 20 Oct 2020 12:31:03 GMT

A magnitude 7.5 earthquake prompted a tsunami warning Monday for a nearly thousand-mile stretch of Alaska's southern coast, with waves over 2 feet at the nearest community as the threat subsided.

The quake was centered near Sand Point, a city of about 900 people off the Alaska Peninsula where wave levels late Monday topped 2 feet (0.61 meters), according to the National Tsunami Warning Center. The warning was downgraded to an advisory just over two hours after the quake hit, and was lifted Monday night.

"It was a pretty good shaker here," said David Adams, co-manager of Marine View Bed and Breakfast in Sand Point. "You could see the water kind of shaking and shimmering during the quake. Our truck was swaying big time."

Adams didn't take any photos or video: "It just kind of happened all of a sudden."

The quake struck in the North Pacific Ocean just before 1 p.m. It was centered about 67 miles (118 kilometers) southeast of Sand Point, according to the Alaska Earthquake Center. The community is about 800 miles (1,288 km) southwest of Anchorage. The quake was recorded at a depth of 19 miles (30 kilometers).

The National Tsunami Warning Center in Palmer, Alaska, said the tsunami warning — and later advisory — was in effect for roughly 950 miles (1,529 kilometers), from 40 miles (64 kilometers) southeast of Homer to Unimak Pass, about 80 miles (129 kilometers) northeast of Unalaska.

The quake was felt widely in communities along the southern coast, including Sand Point, Chignik, Unalaska and the Kenai Peninsula, according to the Alaska Earthquake Center, which said a magnitude 5.2 aftershock was reported 11 minutes later, centered roughly in the same area.

Patrick Mayer, superintendent of the Aleutians East Borough School District, said parents picked up their children from Sand Point School, which also served an evacuation point. The earthquake was felt to varying degrees at the other four schools in the district, the closest of which is 90 miles away, he said.

Mayer said a school bus was dispatched to a fish processing facility to bring workers to the school since it's on high ground.

The workers were to wear masks to protect against the spread of the coronavirus, he said, in a community where there have been only "limited cases."

Public safety officials in King Cove had urged residents to remain vigilant after the warning was downgraded and to stay off the beach and out of harbors and marinas. Waves by late afternoon in King Cove were less than 2 feet (0.61 meters), according to the National Tsunami Warning Center.

The size of the quake was originally reported to have been a magnitude of 7.4, but was revised to a 7.5, said Paul Caruso, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey. He said an earthquake of this size, in this area, is not a surprise.

"This is an area where the Pacific Plate is subducting underneath the North American Plate. And because of that, the Pacific Plate actually goes underneath the North American Plate, where it melts," Caruso said, noting that's why there are volcanoes in the region. "And so we commonly have large, magnitude 7 earthquakes in that area."

Rita Tungul, front desk assistant at the Grand Aleutian Hotel in Unalaska, said she felt some shaking but it wasn't strong. Her coworker didn't feel the quake at all, she said.

Connie Newton, owner of the Bearfoot Inn, a grocery store, liquor store and small hotel in Cold Bay, said the temblor it felt like someone drove into her building with a truck. Still, nothing fell to the ground and she said she suffered no damage because she earthquake-proofed her stores by installing 2-inch (5-cm) risers around the outside of her shelves.

Guinea Opposition Reports 3 Deaths Amid Election Standoff

Tue, 20 Oct 2020 12:16:32 GMT

Guinea's opposition party said at least three people had been killed overnight after presidential challenger Cellou Dalein Diallo declared victory before the country's electoral commission announced official results.

Diallo's claim set up a tense showdown with incumbent President Alpha Conde, who has been in power a decade and angered the opposition when he sought constitutional changes earlier this year so that he could seek yet another term.

Even before ballots were cast, international observers had raised concerns that an election dispute could reignite ethnic violence in the West African country. The opposition Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea said early Tuesday that three youths, aged 13, 14, and 18, were killed Monday night when security forces suppressed the party's celebrations.

"While supporters of President Cellou Dalein Diallo were peacefully celebrating the victory of their candidate, defense and security forces violently suppressed this moment of jubilation," the party said in a statement.

Conde's party, meanwhile, swiftly condemned Diallo's declaration of victory as "irresponsible and dangerous."

The ruling party called on "the competent institutions to take all necessary measures to prevent disorder and to prevent any attempt to destabilize the country and its legitimate institutions."

Official results will be released by the end of the week, Bakary Manse, vice president of the electoral commission, said.

"It is neither up to a candidate nor to a person to proclaim himself or herself a winner," he said.

Monday's development marked a dramatic escalation in an already tense electoral race. Conde's decision to seek another term by having the constitution modified already had led to protests that left more than 50 people dead this year.

Diallo, when asserting that he won on Monday, said his declaration was based on information gathered at polling stations by his party. He did not give any figures to back up his claim.

"Despite all the anomalies of this election ... and in view of the results that came out of the polls, I emerge victorious from this presidential election," he told scores of cheering supporters who thronged his party's headquarters in the capital, Conakry.

Even before Diallo's announcement, Conde's government already was criticizing his opponent's intention to declare victory.

"This strategy of forced, premature and unjustified celebration was meticulously planned well before the election by Mr. Cellou Dalein Diallo," the government's communications unit said in a press release Monday.

Observers fear the standoff between Conde and Diallo could rekindle long-standing ethnic tensions between Guinea's two largest ethnic groups. Conde draws his support from his Malinke community, while Diallo is heavily backed by the Peuhl ethnic group. This election is the third time the two men have vied for the presidency, and previous electoral match-ups have seen bursts of violence.

Tensions were inflamed during the election campaign so much that the United Nations chief urged Guineans to refrain from ethnic violence.

In a statement issued on the eve of the poll, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres "urged all political leaders and their supporters to refrain from acts of incitement, inflammatory language, ethnic profiling and violence."

Conde came to power in 2010 in the country's first democratic elections since independence from France in 1958. Many saw his presidency as a fresh start for the mineral-rich country mired by decades of corrupt, authoritarian rule.

Opponents, though, say he has failed to improve the lives of Guineans, most of whom live in poverty despite the country's vast mineral riches. In his final campaign speech, Diallo condemned the country's high unemployment and human rights abuses of the past decade.

Controversial Indian Interfaith Marriage Ad Sparks Concerns About Growing Religious Divide

Tue, 20 Oct 2020 12:09:21 GMT

After a leading jewelry brand in India pulled out an advertisement showcasing an interfaith marriage following a rightwing backlash on social media, concerns have been raised about a growing religious divide in the country since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party came to power.

The controversy has also generated a debate on whether big corporations should stand up to “faceless trolls.”

The 45-second video released by the jewelry manufacturer “Tanishq” featured a Hindu bride and her Muslim mother in-law holding a baby shower in the Hindu tradition. The company said it was meant to celebrate diversity -- the caption called it a “beautiful confluence of two different religions, traditions and cultures.”

But a flood of voices on social media last week slammed the advertisement, some accusing it of promoting “love jihad” while others called it “fake secularism.”

“Love jihad” is a term coined by rightwing Hindu groups for what they perceive as a covert attempt by Muslim men to convert Hindu women to Islam on the pretext of love and marriage.

“This is bizarre, highly objectionable and normalizing LoveJihad,” tweeted Geetha Kothapalli, a BJP politician from southern India.

Some opponents of the commercial questioned why it did not feature a Muslim woman married to a Hindu man.

Following the outcry, Tanishq said it withdrew the video due to "hurt sentiments, and the well-being of our employees, partners and store staff.” It had released the commercial to promote a new jewelry collection called “Ektavam” or “oneness” and said the idea behind the campaign was to celebrate people from different walks of life coming together.

The commercial’s withdrawal has prompted a flood of commentary and debates in the country.

“It’s a very disturbing trend and shows the fracturing of intercommunity relations. This will only embolden the fringe Hindu groups and few thousand trolls who used social media to make things toxic,” said Niranjan Sahoo, a political analyst at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi. “These were not voices of the mainstream.”

Commentators point out that no evidence of “love jihad” was found in the southern Kerala state where authorities investigated 11 interfaith marriages.

Days after the controversy erupted, Home Minister Amit Shah warned against “overactivism” but said that such “small incidents” cannot break India’s social harmony. “The roots of social harmony are very strong,” he said during an interview with Network18 on a range of current issues.

However, commentator Sahoo said the outcry against the advertisement reflects the growing trend of religious polarization witnessed in the country in recent years under the BJP government. “While the ruling party does not directly support such intolerant voices, such incidents help to keep the pot boiling and stoke division,” according to Sahoo.

Prominent opposition leaders supported the advertisement. Senior Congress Party lawmaker Shashi Tharoor called it a “beautiful ad” and tweeted that if Hindu-Muslim “ekatvam” (oneness) irks “Hindutva bigots” so much, “why don’t they boycott the longest surviving symbol of Hindu-Muslim unity in the world -- India?”

It is not the first time that an advertisement featuring Hindus and Muslims has faced a backlash on social media. Last year a commercial by Hindustan Unilever for a detergent, Surf Excel, was trolled for showing a Hindu girl protecting a Muslim boy from revelers spraying color for a Hindu festival.

“It is not as if divisive forces are new, they have always been there,” points out women’s right activist, Zakia Soman. “But they have now started enjoying this kind of impunity due to the political climate in which you want to keep communities polarized.”

The controversy has also triggered a debate on whether leading companies should resist “cyber bullying” and stand by a social issue they chose to highlight.

In an editorial headlined “Craven Cave-In,” the Indian Express criticized the withdrawal of the advertisement by Tanishq, which belongs to the Tata group, one of India’s largest and oldest conglomerates.

“It is true that from cinema to business, few want to cross the foot-soldiers of a ruling establishment bent on having its way. But this shared experience of diversity is what has enabled the India story, and allowed the building and creation of wealth. It is worth a fight,” the newspaper said. It pointed out that with ample friends in business and politics, the Tata conglomerate “has the power to stand up to faceless trolls and defend what is right.”

Others however said that the company could not be blamed and pointed out how a “Tanishq” store in Gandhidham town in Gujarat state briefly put up a handwritten apology to the Hindu community for the “shameful advertisement” after allegedly receiving threatening calls.

“The company had little choice faced with tumult for the brand and tumult for their stores. We are living in tough times today, in sensitive society. The entire tone, decibel of conversation has gone up,” according to brand consultant Harish Bijoor. “And companies have to choose between brand idealism and brand pragmatism. Tanishq chose pragmatism. Brands cannot tread where angels fear to tread,” he said.

Argentina Now Has 1 Million Confirmed COVID-19 Cases

Tue, 20 Oct 2020 12:06:12 GMT

Argentina is now the world’s fifth country with more than one million confirmed COVID-19 cases.

Data collected by Johns Hopkins University’s Coronavirus Resource Center shows the South American country has 1,002,662 total cases. Argentina is in fifth place behind the United States (8.2 million), India (7.5 million), Brazil (5.2 million) and Russia (1.4 million).

The one million coronavirus cases in Argentina include 26,716 deaths.

The new figures from Argentina push the total number of worldwide coronavirus infections to more than 40.4 million cases, including 1.1 million deaths.

FILE - Scientists and researchers work on a potential vaccine for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at a Pfizer's laboratory.

Reuters news agency says U.S.-based pharmaceutical firm Pfizer and German-based BioNTech have begun a combined Phase One and Phase Two trial of an experimental coronavirus vaccine in Japan. The study will recruit 160 people between the ages of 20 and 85 to take part in the study.

The United Nations Children’s Fund says it will stockpile 500 million syringes by the end of the year, and one billion by 2021, as part of its preparations for an eventual COVID-19 vaccine.

According to U.N. News, the stockpile of one billion syringes to support the agency’s coronavirus vaccination drive is in addition to the 620 million syringes UNICEF plans to purchase for its normal vaccination programs.

UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore says the push to vaccinate billions of the world’s children against COVID-19 “will be one of the largest mass undertakings in human history, and we will need to move as quickly as the vaccines can be produced.”

UNICEF is the world’s largest purchaser of vaccines, buying more than two billion doses annually for routine vaccination efforts against such diseases as measles and typhoid, as well as outbreak responses on behalf of nearly 100 countries.

A report in The Guardian newspaper says Chinese health authorities have found traces of live coronavirus on frozen food packaging. The live virus was detected during an investigation of an outbreak in the eastern coastal city of Qingdao, marking the first time the virus in an active state has been detected on the outside of refrigerated goods.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has previously said there has been no evidence of COVID-19 infection through handling or consuming food.

Empty city center shopping streets are seen as the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak continues, in Galway, Ireland, Oct. 19, 2020.

Ireland announced some of the strictest measures in Europe this fall to combat a surge in cases. The government told residents not to travel more than five kilometers from their home, closed nonessential retail businesses and limited restaurants and pubs to takeout only.

Part of Germany’s Bavaria region will go into a strict lockdown on Tuesday. Officials in Berchtesgadener Land district announced Monday that residents will not be able to leave their homes without a valid reason for two weeks. Schools, restaurants and hotels will be closed to stop the spread of the virus.

FILE - Coronavirus signs are seen in the city center as the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak continues in Cardiff, Wales, Britain, Oct. 19, 2020.

Wales became the second nation in Britain to lock down large parts of its economy, even as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson resisted calls to do the same throughout England. The Welsh government announced Monday it would close nonessential retail, hospitality and tourism businesses, beginning Friday.

Northern Ireland recently ordered new lockdown measures, closing schools for two weeks and shutting down many businesses, including bars and restaurants, for a month.

Poland’s government said Monday it is transforming its National Stadium in Warsaw into a field hospital to handle the growing number of COVID-19 cases.

The European Commission on Monday launched a system across the EU to link national COVID-19 tracing apps, beginning with COVID-19 trackers in Germany, Italy and Ireland.

In the United States, cases of COVID-19 continue to rise in almost every state, and an analysis by Reuters found the number of new cases in the past week rose 13% to more than 393,000, approaching levels last seen during a summer peak.

Protest Arrests Show Regular Americans, Not Urban Antifa

Tue, 20 Oct 2020 11:34:50 GMT

The judge was incredulous as a federal prosecutor pushed to keep a 25-year-old man behind bars until his trial on a charge of having a Molotov cocktail at a protest in May.

The judge couldn't understand how the government was arguing that the man — who had never previously been in trouble with the law, wasn't a member of violent groups and lived with his parents in a suburb outside Austin, Texas — was too dangerous to be released.

The prosecutor pressed his case anyway, defending the government's effort to keep the man locked up even as prisons across the U.S. were releasing high-risk inmates because of COVID-19 and prosecutors had been told to consider the risks of incarceration during a pandemic when seeking detention.

The case highlights the no-holds-barred approach the U.S. Department of Justice has taken against protesters involved in civil unrest, determined to focus on federal action and a reluctance to release.

It also underscores how the people being brought up on federal charges rarely fit President Donald Trump's portrayal of them as members of left-wing radical groups.

An Associated Press review of thousands of pages of court documents from the more than 300 federal arrests nationwide shows that many look like people caught up in the moment. Very few of those charged appear to be affiliated with highly organized extremist groups, and many are young suburban adults who are from the very neighborhoods Trump is vowing to protect amid an election year effort to scare white voters from the suburbs into reelecting him.

Not to say there hasn't been violence. Police cars have been set on fire. Officers have been injured and blinded. Windows have been smashed, stores looted, businesses destroyed.

Some of those facing charges undoubtedly share far-left and anti-government views. Far-right protesters also have been arrested and charged. Some defendants have driven to protests from out of state. Some have criminal records and were illegally carrying weapons. Others are accused of using the protests as an opportunity to steal or create havoc.

But many have had no previous run-ins with the law and no apparent ties to antifa, the umbrella term for leftist militant groups that Trump has said he wants to declare a terrorist organization.

Attorney General William Barr has urged his prosecutors to aggressively go after protesters who cause violence and has suggested that rarely used sedition charges could apply. But defense attorneys question why the Department of Justice has taken on some cases they say belong in state court, where defendants typically get much lighter sentences.

"It is highly unusual, and without precedent in recent American history," said Ron Kuby, a longtime attorney who isn't involved the cases but has represented scores of clients over the years in protest-related incidents. "Almost all of the conduct that's being charged is conduct that, when it occurs, is prosecuted at the state and local level."

In one case in Utah, where a police car was burned, federal prosecutors had to defend why they were bringing arson charges in federal court. They said it was appropriate because the patrol car was used in interstate commerce.

Even though most of the demonstrations have been peaceful, Trump has made "law and order" a major part of his reelection campaign, casting the protests as lawless and violent in mostly Democratic cities he says have done nothing to stymie the mayhem. If the cities refuse to properly clamp down, he says, the federal government has to step in.

"I know about antifa, and I know about the radical left, and I know how violent they are and how vicious they are, and I know how they are burning down cities run by Democrats," Trump said at an NBC town hall.

In dozens of cases, the government has pushed to keep the protesters behind bars while they await their trials amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which has killed more than 220,000 people across the U.S. There have been more than 16,000 positive cases in the federal prison system, according to a tracker compiled by the AP and The Marshall Project.

In some cases, prosecutors have gone so far as appealing judge's orders to release defendants. Pre-trial detention generally is reserved only for people who are clearly dangers to the community or a risk of fleeing.

In the Texas case, Magistrate Judge Andrew Austin repeatedly challenged the prosecutor to explain why Cyril Lartigue, who authorities say was caught on camera making a Molotov cocktail, should be behind bars while he awaits his trial. Lartigue, of Cedar Park, described his actions that night as a "flash of stupidity," prosecutors said.

The judge said there are lot of people "who do something stupid that's dangerous that we don't even consider detaining."

"I'm frustrated because I don't think this is a hard case," the judge said. "I have defendants in here with significant criminal histories that the government agrees to release."

"We have no evidence of him — at least that's been given to me — being a radical or a member of a group that advocates violence toward the police or others. We've got no criminal history. … What evidence is there that he's a danger to society?" the judge asked.

The judge allowed Lartigue to stay out of jail.

While some of the defendants clearly hold radical or anti-government beliefs, prosecutors have provided little evidence of any affiliations they have with organized extremist groups.

In one arrest in Erie, Pennsylvania, community members raised more than $2,500 to help with bail for a 29-year-old Black man who was arrested after they said white people had come and spray painted a parking lot.

In thousands of pages of court documents, the only apparent mention of antifa is in a Boston case in which authorities said a FBI Gang Task Force member was investigating "suspected ANTIFA activity associated with the protests" when a man fired at him and other officers. Authorities have not claimed that the man accused of firing the shots is a member of antifa.

Others have social media leftist ties; a Seattle man who expressed anarchist beliefs on social media is accused of sending a message through a Portland citizen communication portal threatening to blow up a police precinct.

Several of the defendants are not from the Democratic-led cities that Trump has likened to "war zones" but from the suburbs the president has claimed to have "saved." Of the 93 people arrested on federal criminal charges in Portland, 18 defendants are from out of state, the Justice Department said.

This has contributed to a blame game that has been a subplot throughout the protests. Leaders in Minneapolis and Detroit have decried people from out of state and suburbanites for coming into their cities and causing havoc. Trump in turn has blamed the cities for not doing their part.

"Don't come down to Detroit and tear the city up and then go back home. That's putting another knee on the neck of Black folk because we got to live here," the Rev. Wendell Anthony of the NAACP said in May.

More than 40% of those facing federal charges are white. More than two-thirds are under the age of 30, and most are men. More than a quarter have been charged with arson. More than a dozen are accused of civil disorder, and others are charged with burglary and failing to comply with a federal order. They were arrested in cities across the U.S., from Portland, Oregon, to Minneapolis, Boston and New York.

Attorneys for those facing federal charges either declined to comment or didn't respond to messages from the AP.

Brian Bartels, a 20-year-old suburban Pittsburgh man who is described by prosecutors as a "self-identified left-wing anarchist," was flanked by his parents when he turned himself in to authorities. Bartels, who lives at his parents' house, spray painted an "A" on a police cruiser before jumping on top of it and smashing its windshield during a protest in the city, prosecutors said. He pleaded guilty in September.

One defendant who was arrested during a protest in the central Massachusetts city of Worcester told authorities he was "with the anarchist group." Vincent Eovacious, 18, who is accused of possessing several Molotov cocktails, told authorities that he had been "waiting for an opportunity," according to court documents.

But tucked into the protest-related cases are accusations of far-right extremism and racism as well.

John Malcolm Bareswill, angry that a local Black church held a prayer vigil for George Floyd, called the church and threatened to burn it to the ground, using racial slurs in a phone call overheard by children, prosecutors said. Bareswill, 63, of Virginia Beach, faces 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to making a telephonic threat.

Two Missouri militia members who authorities say traveled to Kenosha, Wisconsin, to see Trump's visit in the wake of the police shooting of Jacob Blake were arrested at a hotel in September with a cache of guns, according to court documents. An attorney for one of the men, Michael Karmo, said he is "charged criminally for conduct that many Americans would consider patriotic," as authorities have alleged his motive was to assist overwhelmed law enforcement.

Three of the men arrested are far-right extremists, members of the "Boogaloo" movement plotting to overthrow the government and had been stockpiling military-grade weapons and hunting around for the right public event to unleash violence for weeks before Floyd's death, according to court documents.

After aborting a mission related to reopening businesses in Nevada as the coronavirus pandemic raged, they settled on a Floyd-related protest led by Black Lives Matter. Angry it had not turned violent, they brought carloads of explosives, military-grade weapons, to a meet-up about 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) from the protest site and pumped gasoline into tanks. FBI agents arrested them before they could act, according to a criminal complaint.

FBI Director Christopher Wray recently told a congressional panel that extremists driven by white supremacist or anti-government ideologies have been responsible for most deadly attacks in the U.S. over the past few years. He said that antifa is more of an ideology or a movement than an organization, though the FBI has terrorism investigations of "violent anarchist extremists, any number of whom self identify with the antifa movement."

But the handling of the federal protest cases is vastly different from other recent times of unrest.
"Look at Travyon (Martin) verdicts, Eric Garner verdicts," Kuby said, talking about high-profile cases in which Black people were killed but no charges were filed.

"There was a tremendous amount of anger and unrest and activity that was objectively unlawful," he said. "There were objections about law enforcement being militarized, but you didn't see following the quelling of those demonstrations any significant federal law enforcement involvement."

Indigenous Australians Seek Damages For ‘Slavery-Like’ Wage Theft

Tue, 20 Oct 2020 10:46:50 GMT

Thousands of aboriginal Australians are expected to join a class action lawsuit that has been filed against the West Australian government for compensation for years of unpaid work. Historians have said that at the time the authorities knew the practice was a form of slavery.

In the 19th and 20th centuries, indigenous children as young as four were forcibly taken from their families to work in mines, on farms and as domestic servants in Australia. Many received little or no wages, and some were paid only with bread and beef. Lawyers have said conditions were “akin to slavery.” Until the 1970s, wages earned by indigenous workers in Western Australia were paid to the state government, but rarely was the money passed on.

Lawyers have said as many as 10,000 workers and their descendants would be eligible to join the stolen wages class action lawsuit, which has been filed in Australia’s Federal Court.

Jan Saddler is the head of class actions at Shine Lawyers, a legal firm that is leading the court case.

“We have been talking to indigenous Western Australians who are well into their 70s and 80s. Those people have effectively been waiting all their lives to be properly compensated. They are actually waiting to receive their wages from the 1940s and the 1950s and they still have not been paid, and this is what that claim is all about,” she said.

Up until the late 1970s, Australia’s laws controlled every aspect of indigenous peoples’ lives — from buying clothes to whether they could marry. They also allowed wages to be withheld.

The Western Australian state government, which is being sued for compensation, has said it hopes a mediated settlement can be reached.

Multi-million-dollar reparation schemes have compensated indigenous workers in the states of Queensland and New South Wales. A previous restitution program in Western Australia limited claimants to payments of $1,400 and came with strict conditions. Campaigners said it was too restricted and did not go far enough to address the injustices of the past.

A federal parliamentary inquiry in 2006 tried to determine how much money may have been stolen from aboriginal Australians over the decades, but lawmakers found that wage theft was so widespread the amount was almost impossible to calculate.

In US Presidential Campaign Coronavirus Displaces Traditional Ideological Issues

Tue, 20 Oct 2020 10:04:56 GMT

America’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic is an issue that could decide the upcoming U.S. presidential election, as it has taken center stage over ideological fights that dominated past elections. VOA’s Brian Padden reports.

Asian Markets Mostly Lower as Hopes Fade for New US COVID-19 Relief Bill

Tue, 20 Oct 2020 09:44:46 GMT

Asian markets are mostly lower Tuesday as hopes for a new U.S. coronavirus financial relief package steadily fade among investors.

The Nikkei index in Tokyo closed 0.4% lower. Sydney’s S&P/ASX index dropped 0.7%, while Taiwan’s TSEC index lost 0.3%. The KOSPI index in Seoul, however, gained 0.4%.

In late afternoon trading, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index is down 0.1%, Shanghai’s Composite is up 0.2%, and Mumbai’s Sensex is up 0.7%.

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has set a Tuesday deadline for a final agreement with the Trump administration over a new stimulus package. Pelosi said Monday the two sides have narrowed their differences, but remain far apart on some details.

In commodities trading, gold is selling at $1,905.30 an ounce, down 0.3%. U.S. crude oil selling at $40.84 per barrel, unchanged percentage-wise, and Brent crude is selling at $42.64 per barrel, also unchanged percentage-wise.

Despite the uncertainty surrounding the political stalemate in Washington, all three major U.S. indices are trending positively in futures trading.

Former Honduran President Receives Experimental Russian Vaccine for Coronavirus

Tue, 20 Oct 2020 09:36:02 GMT

Former Honduran President Manuel Zelaya is taking part in Phase 3 trials of a potential coronavirus vaccine.

Venezuelan state television showed Zelaya receiving a shot of Russia's experimental Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine in Caracas on Monday.

Venezuela is the first Latin American country to participate in the testing process.

FILE - A Russian medical worker administers a shot of Russia's experimental Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine in Moscow, Russia, Sept. 15, 2020.

Western experts raised questions over the Sputnik V vaccine’s readiness for mass trials, citing the fact that Russia had tested the vaccine on just a small sample group before launching widespread testing.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro discounted the criticism, expressing satisfaction Zelaya is taking part in the trials.

So far, Venezuela has confirmed more than 87,000 coronavirus cases and at least 736 deaths.

US Presidential Debate Set For Thursday With New Rules

Tue, 20 Oct 2020 09:15:05 GMT

The second and final debate before the U.S. presidential election appears set to go forward with new rules in place meant to prevent the candidates from talking over each other.

President Donald Trump expressed his displeasure with the overall setup, telling reporters Monday that while he thinks “it is very unfair,” he will be a part of Thursday’s event in Nashville, Tennessee.

“I will participate but it’s very unfair that they changed the topics and it’s very unfair that again we have an anchor who is totally biased,” Trump said.

Kristen Welker, a respected NBC White House reporter, is moderating the debate and has chosen to ask Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden about fighting COVID-19, American families, race in America, climate change, national security and leadership.

Trump’s campaign said earlier Monday the debate should focus more on international issues.

Biden’s campaign said Trump was seeking to avoid discussing how his administration has handled the coronavirus pandemic, and that both sides had agreed to let moderators choose the topics for the debates.

Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden arrives to speak during a campaign event at Riverside High School in Durham, N.C., Oct. 18, 2020.

"As usual, the president is more concerned with the rules of a debate than he is getting a nation in crisis the help it needs," Biden spokesman TJ Ducklo said.

The format of Thursday’s debate will be 15-minute segments for different topics, during which each candidate will have two minutes to speak, followed by open discussion.

In the first presidential debate in late September, Trump repeatedly interrupted Biden, who at one point responded: “Will you shut up, man?”

The commission pledged to institute reforms to better facilitate a meaningful debate, and on Monday announced that during the two-minute exclusive period, only one candidate will have his microphone turned on.

"Both campaigns this week reaffirmed their agreement to the two-minute, uninterrupted rule,” it said in a statement. “The Commission is announcing today that in order to enforce this agreed upon rule, the only candidate whose microphone will be open during these two-minute periods is the candidate who has the floor under the rules."

The commission said neither campaign may be totally satisfied with the rules, but that it believes the actions “strike the right balance and that they are in the interest of the American people.”

The presidential candidates first debated in late September and were due to have another earlier this month. But Trump tested positive for COVID-19 and when the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates decided to have the candidates participate remotely, the president withdrew.

Trump: US to Remove Sudan from Terror List

Tue, 20 Oct 2020 08:18:44 GMT

U.S. President Donald Trump says the United States will remove Sudan from its list of state sponsors of terrorism after the country follows through on an agreement to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to U.S. terror victims and families.

Trump tweeted Monday: “GREAT news! New government of Sudan, which is making great progress, agreed to pay $335 MILLION to U.S. terror victims and families. Once deposited, I will lift Sudan from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list. At long last, JUSTICE for the American people and BIG step for Sudan!"

GREAT news! New government of Sudan, which is making great progress, agreed to pay $335 MILLION to U.S. terror victims and families. Once deposited, I will lift Sudan from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list. At long last, JUSTICE for the American people and BIG step for Sudan!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 19, 2020

The move would allow Sudan to once again receive international loans and aid that are needed to boost the country’s economy.

It could also pave the way for Sudan to establish diplomatic relations with Israel, as the Trump administration seeks to broker deals for Arab countries to recognize Israel. The administration has facilitated such agreements with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok thanked Trump in a tweet Monday, saying the terrorism-sponsor designation has seriously harmed Sudan. He added that the Sudanese people have never supported terrorism, and that the U.S. move is a strong support for the country’s transition to democracy.

The $335 million that Sudan has agreed to pay to Americans is for victims of al-Qaida attacks on U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 and for the bombing of the USS Cole in 2000 in a Yemeni port. U.S. courts have found that Sudan was complicit in those attacks.

Sudan Terror Victims, an advocacy group for the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombing victims, said Monday that the majority of victims issued a statement reiterating their rejection of Sudan’s settlement offer.

FILE - An unidentified man lays flowers at the US Embassy bombing memorial site in Nairobi, Kenya, Aug. 7, 2013.

The group said the proposed settlement payments prioritize American-born victims and give substantially less money to victims who are naturalized U.S. citizens not born in the United States. It says more than 500 of the 700 U.S. Embassy bombing victims have signed a letter rejecting the settlement terms.

Edith Bartley, spokesperson for the families of the Americans killed in the embassy bombing in Nairobi, thanked the U.S. State Department and the new government in Sudan for securing compensation for the victims.

A lawyer representing the families of victims of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania expressed fears that the Sudan agreement, and potential subsequent action by Congress to restore the country’s sovereign immunity, could endanger those families’ ability to seek their own compensation.

"The 9/11 families are counting on Congress to reject Sudan's plea that our pending lawsuits be wiped out and they insist it do nothing that would undermine them,” said Jack Quinn, who represents 2,500 families in a lawsuit against Sudan.

Sudan was designated as a state sponsor of terrorism in 1993 over U.S. allegations that Sudan’s then-leader Omar al-Bashir was supporting Hezbollah and Palestinian militant groups. Bashir was removed from power last year.

If Sudan is removed from the State Department’s list of state sponsors of terrorism, only three countries would remain – Iran, North Korea and Syria.

US House Speaker Pelosi Says 'Progress' with Trump Admin Over COVID-19 Stimulus Deal

Tue, 20 Oct 2020 08:04:15 GMT

With just hours left before a self-imposed deadline, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she and the Trump administration have made some progress in their negotiations over a second round of financial aid to address the coronavirus pandemic.

Pelosi said Monday during a television interview that she and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin narrowed their differences during an hour-long phone call earlier in the day. She said the administration has finally reached the point where they are ready to reach an agreement, and that the two sides will speak again Tuesday to determine where each side stands.

“Let’s make a judgment,” Pelosi said on the cable news network MSNBC. “We may not like this, we may not like that, but let’s see on balance if we can go forward.”

Pelosi has set Tuesday as the final day to reach a deal with the Trump administration before the presidential and congressional elections, which are just two weeks away on November 3.

If negotiations between the White House and the Democratic-majority House of Representatives fail, the next opportunity for negotiations on aid will come during a lame-duck session of Congress in November and December.

Pelosi has said the two sides are far apart on providing emergency funding for cash-strapped state and local governments and language that spells out a COVID-19 tracing and testing strategy.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., meets with reporters at the Capitol in Washington, Oct. 8, 2020.

U.S. lawmakers have repeatedly failed to reach an agreement on a second round of economic aid to millions of Americans impacted by the pandemic. In September, Senate Republicans failed to pass a slimmed-down $500 billion aid proposal. The House passed the $2.2 trillion Heroes Act in June and has so far rebuffed the administration’s offer of $1.8 trillion for a new round of aid.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced the Senate will vote on another $500 billion proposal Wednesday. That bill would provide funding for a new round of unemployment benefits and the popular Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).

During remarks on the Senate floor Monday, McConnell criticized Pelosi for taking an “all or nothing approach” to a new coronavirus relief package, and said her “Marie Antoinette act needs to end,” a reference to the 18th century French queen with a reputation for flamboyance.

McConnell’s Democratic counterpart, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, called the Republican plan “emaciated.”

President Donald Trump announced an end to negotiations on a new round of aid earlier this month before reversing course and tweeting, “Go big or go home!” His expression of support for a larger topline number closer to House Democrats’ asks for close to $2 trillion and has caused discomfort among many Senate Republicans.

But the president appeared to dampen hopes of a final deal during a campaign stop in Arizona Monday, saying Pelosi “at this moment, does not want to do anything that’s going to affect the election.”

The $2 trillion CARES Act, passed by bipartisan agreement in March, was one of the largest aid packages in U.S. history, providing $600 in weekly enhanced unemployment benefits for millions of out of work Americans. The weekly benefits expired on July 31.

The U.S. economy is showing some signs of recovery from the lockdowns instituted earlier this year to contain the spread of the virus. More than 11.4 million jobs have been recovered, and there are signs of increased hiring in hard-hit industries such as tourism.

New unemployment claims jumped last week to more than 890,000, the highest level since mid-August, although continuing unemployment claims dropped to 10 million.

The U.S. leads the world with just over 220,000 COVID-19 deaths, as well as infections, with more than 8 million cases total, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Mexico to Extradite Drug Lord to US

Tue, 20 Oct 2020 07:47:23 GMT

The Mexican government is set to extradite to the United States Jaime González Durán, one of the founders of the Los Zetas drug cartel.

Duran, who has been in custody in Mexico for 12 years ranked third among the leaders of the Los Zetas cartel behind Heriberto Lazcano-Lazcano, who was killed eight years ago, and Miguel Treviño Morales, who was extradited to the United States nearly three years ago.

Duran is expected to face multiple charges in the United States, including crimes of conspiracy, drug trafficking of cocaine and marijuana and money laundering.

Duran, who is on the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration most wanted list, is being held at a federal prison in Hermosillo, Sonora.

By late Monday, the DEA had yet to release a statement in response the Mexican court clearing the way for Duran to brought the United States.

Indigenous Colombians Joining National Anti-Government Protests

Tue, 20 Oct 2020 05:42:00 GMT

Thousands of indigenous peoples in Colombia are planning to join a national strike this week after staging a mass protest Monday in Bogota, insisting the government change its economic and social policies.

Protesters are also demanding an end to violence against social leaders and mass killings.

Indigenous leaders refused to meet with a delegation sent by President Ivan Duque, saying they wanted to meet directly with the Colombian leader.

President Duque said nothing justifies placing our health and life at risk at the moment. He said if we have discussions, let's have them within the framework of democracy, without issuing a summons or ultimatums, or invoking judgments that have no basis in reality. He added the dialogue should be sectorial and timely with regard to the issues of the regions, as we have already had.

Indigenous groups are expected to join Wednesday's planned national strike set up by unions other groups.

Runner Up in Bolivia Presidential Race Concedes Defeat, Citing Exit Polling

Tue, 20 Oct 2020 04:25:35 GMT

Bolivian presidential candidate Carlos Mesa of the Citizen Community party has conceded defeat to rival Luis Arce Catacora, candidate of the Movement Towards Socialism party, citing exit polls showing Arce with an insurmountable lead.

Speaking Monday, Mesa said he recognizes that there has been a winner in the election and that it is appropriate in a democracy to recognize the victory.

Mesa’s concession comes a day after the election, with the official count by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal expected in the next few days.

Exit polls revealed Arce obtained at least a 20-percentage point lead over Mesa, with third placed candidate Luis Fernando Camacho of the Creemos coalition garnering just over 14 percent of the votes.

Meantime, the French News Agency reports exiled former president Evo Morales is suggesting he will return to Bolivia after the election victory by Arce, a former member of Morales’ cabinet.

High Court to Review Two Cases Involving Trump Border Policy

Tue, 20 Oct 2020 03:15:33 GMT

The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear two cases involving Trump administration policies at the U.S.-Mexico border: one about a policy that makes asylum-seekers wait in Mexico for U.S. court hearings and a second about the administration's use of money to fund the border wall.

The justices' decision to hear the cases continues its practice of reviewing lower court rulings that have found President Donald Trump's immigration policies illegal over the past four years.

Most notably, the high court reviewed and upheld Trump's travel ban on visitors from some largely Muslim countries. In June, the court kept in place legal protections for immigrants who came to the U.S. as children.

The justices will not hear either new case until 2021, and the outcome of the presidential election could make the cases go away, or at least reduce their significance. If Democrat Joe Biden wins the White House, he has pledged to end "Migrant Protection Protocols," which Trump considers a cornerstone policy on immigration.

In the border wall case, much of the money has already been spent and wall constructed. It is unclear what could be done about that wall that has already been built if the administration loses, but it could conceivably be torn down. Biden has said he would cease wall construction if elected but would not tear down what was built under Trump's watch.

The court has allowed both policies to continue even after they were held illegal by lower courts, a sign the challengers could face long odds when the justices ultimately decide the cases.

Remain in Mexico

The Trump administration policy known informally as "Remain in Mexico" began in January 2019. It became a key pillar of the administration's response to an unprecedented surge of asylum-seeking families from Central American countries at the border, drawing criticism for having people wait in highly dangerous Mexican cities.

Lower courts found that the policy is probably illegal. But earlier this year the Supreme Court stepped in to allow the policy to remain in effect while a lawsuit challenging it played out in the courts.

More than 60,000 asylum-seekers were returned to Mexico under the policy. The Justice Department estimated in late February that there were 25,000 people still waiting in Mexico for hearings in U.S. court. Those hearings were suspended because of the coronavirus pandemic.

In a statement after the high court agreed to take the case, Department of Justice spokeswoman Alexa Vance said the administration is pleased the court agreed to hear the case, calling the program "a critical component of our efforts to manage the immigration crisis on our Southern Border."

Judy Rabinovitz, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, which is challenging the policy, called the policy "illegal and depraved."

"The courts have repeatedly ruled against it, and the Supreme Court should as well," she said in a statement.

Border wall

The high court also agreed to hear the Trump administration's appeal of a lower court ruling that it improperly diverted money to build portions of the border wall with Mexico.

The high court has previously allowed construction to continue, even after a federal appeals court ruled in June that the administration had illegally sidestepped Congress in transferring $2.5 billion in Defense Department funds.

The case has its origins in the 35-day partial government shutdown that started in December 2018. Trump ended the shutdown after Congress gave him about $1.4 billion in border wall funding, but that was far less than the $5.7 billion he was seeking. Trump then declared a national emergency to take cash from other government accounts to use to construct sections of the wall.

At the time, the money Trump identified included $2.5 billion in Defense Department money, $3.6 billion from military construction funds and $600 million from the Treasury Department's asset forfeiture fund.

The case before the Supreme Court involves just the $2.5 billion in Defense Department funds. The administration has already built 115 of the 129 miles of border wall that is funded by that money. That includes sections in California, Arizona, New Mexico and west Texas.