Bernie Sanders quits 2020 US Democratic presidential campaign
Leading US Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has ended his presidential campaign, paving the way for his rival, former Vice President Joe Biden, to win the Democratic presidential race.
This is Sanders’ second failed attempt to grab the Democratic party’s nomination after he fell short of defeating former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2016 primaries.
“The path toward victory is virtually impossible,” Sanders said in a livestreamed speech to supporters from his hometown of Burlington, Vermont, on Wednesday.
“I have concluded that this battle for the Democratic nomination will not be successful. And so today, I am announcing the suspension of my campaign,” the 78-year-old US senator added.
Sanders’ exit comes after a series of losses to Biden, beginning in South Carolina in late February and continuing with losses in crucial states like Michigan and Florida last month.
Source: Presstv
Coronavirus Lockdown: Monkeys, elephants and dogs reclaim India’s streets
Hundreds of monkeys have taken over the streets around India’s presidential palace, leading an animal offensive taking advantage of deserted streets as the country remains under a coronavirus lockdown.
With India’s 1.3 billion population and tens of millions of cars conspicuous by their absence, stray domestic animals and wildlife has moved to fill the void, while also suffering from the pandemic fallout.
In the financial capital Mumbai, peacocks have been seen perched on top of parked cars, displaying their spectacular trains.
In Delhi, troops of monkeys now scamper over the walls of the Rashtrapati Bhawan presidential compound, past military guards and into the grounds of ministries and other official buildings.
“They are stealing a lot more, but not yet threatening humans,” said one officer on duty at the palace entrance.
The Rhesus macaque monkeys — who often snatch food from shoppers’ bags — have long been a problem in the capital, but there have been reports of some getting into office buildings during the lockdown.
Other animals have also been emboldened by the coronavirus restrictions on humans, who are only allowed out for food and essential items.
A Himalayan black bear last week wandered into Gangtok, capital of the northeastern state of Sikkim, entering a telecoms office and injuring an engineer, media reported.
– Hungry strays –
Indian Forest Service officers, meanwhile, have shared videos on social media of elephants trundling past shuttered shops along deserted streets.
But the lockdown has also been deadly for some animals.
Four horses normally employed for tourist carriage rides near Kolkata’s landmark Victoria Memorial have died from starvation in recent days, animal rights activists said.
Some 115 horses, which make their living pulling carriages bedecked with flowers and balloons, were left to fend for themselves after the government ordered the shutdown, Sushmita Roy, spokeswoman for the Love and Care for Animals group told AFP.
“They are becoming sick. We fear many more will die in coming days if they do not get food,” she said.
The owners of the carriages say they have no money for the horses after being ordered off the streets.
“We are finding it difficult to feed our family. How can we feed our horses?” said one owner, Sunny.
India’s army of stray cows and dogs have also found new freedom to take over city intersections and forage in waste bins, but even those scraps have disappeared as restaurants and shops have closed.
Aditi Badam of the Posh Foundation in Noida, outside Delhi, said shelters like his were struggling to feed its animals and other strays during the lockdown.
Her foundation has been receiving increasing numbers of calls about abandoned dogs and pets, which he said had become a “major issue”.
“It getting tougher day by day here,” Badam told AFP, adding that strays near the office blocks of multinational companies and outsourcing firms in the city were starving as all had closed down.
Source: AFP
UK: Prime Minister Johnson stable after second night in intensive care battling COVID-19
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson spent a second night in intensive care and was in a stable condition on Wednesday after receiving oxygen support for COVID-19 complications while his foreign minister directs the battle against the outbreak.
Johnson, who tested positive nearly two weeks ago, was taken to St Thomas’ hospital on Sunday evening as he had a persistent high temperature and cough but his condition deteriorated on Monday and he was rushed into an intensive care unit.
The 55-year-old British leader received oxygen support but was not put on a ventilator and his designated deputy, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, said he would soon be back at the helm as the world faces its gravest public health crisis in a century.
“He is comfortable, he’s stable, he’s in good spirits,” Edward Argar, a junior health minister, said on Wednesday. “While he’s had oxygen, he hasn’t been on a ventilator.
As Johnson battled the novel coronavirus in hospital, the United Kingdom was entering what scientists said was the deadliest phase of the outbreak and grappling with the question of when to lift the lockdown.
Inside the government, ministers were debating how long the world’s fifth-largest economy could afford to be shut down, and the long-term implications of one of the most stringent set of emergency controls in peacetime history.
The United Kingdom’s total hospital deaths from COVID-19 rose by a record 786 to 6,159 as of 1600 GMT on April 6, the latest publicly available death toll, though just 213,181 people out of the population of around 68 million have been tested.
Britain was in no position to lift the shutdown as the peak of the outbreak was still over a week away, London Mayor Sadiq Khan said.
“We are nowhere near lifting the lockdown,” Khan said.
Acting PM Raab?
Johnson was breathing without any assistance and had not required respiratory support, said Raab, who insisted that Johnson remained the boss.
There are few precedents in British history of a prime minister being incapacitated at a time of major crisis, though Winston Churchill suffered a stroke while in office in 1953 and Tony Blair twice underwent heart treatment in the 2000s.
Johnson has delegated some authority to Raab, who was appointed foreign minister less than a year ago, though any major decisions – such as when to lift the lockdown – would in effect need the blessing of Johnson’s cabinet.
“He’s a fighter, and he’ll be back at the helm leading us through this crisis in short order,” Raab said on Tuesday. “His team will not blink, and we will not flinch from the task at hand at this crucial moment.”
Britain’s uncodified constitution – an unwieldy collection of sometimes ancient and contradictory precedents – offers no clear, formal “Plan B”. In essence, it is the prime minister’s call and, if he is incapacitated, then up to cabinet to decide.
Finance minister Rishi Sunak, a 39-year old former Goldman Sachs banker, would deputize should Raab become incapacitated.
(Source: Reuters)
CPDM crime syndicate sweeps coronavirus elections in Southern Cameroons
Cameroon’s ruling party has swept all 13 seats in parliamentary by-elections held late last month in the conflict-wracked anglophone west of the country, the constitutional council announced Tuesday.
Long-ruling President Paul Biya’s Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (CPDM) won all 13 seats at stake in 11 constituencies in the North-West and South-West regions of the central African country.
The CPDM “ran the table” in 10 North-West districts and one in the South-West, state broadcaster CRTV reported.
The wins reinforced the party’s massive majority in the 180-member parliament to 152 seats.
The two anglophone regions have been rocked by deadly violence as armed separatists campaign for independence from the rest of Cameroon, which is majority French-speaking.
The conflict has killed more than 3,000 people and displaced nearly 700,000 in less than three years, according to humanitarian organisations.
Separatist fighters had called on people in the two regions to boycott nationwide municipal and legislative elections on February 9, issuing threats to anyone who planned to vote.
Several NGOs including Amnesty International reported multiple clashes between the separatists and the army ahead of the polling, though only one incident — in the North-West region — was reported on election day itself.
The constitutional council said on February 25 that the vote would have to be rerun in several parts of the two anglophone regions.
The opposition Social Democratic Front, dominated by anglophones, contested the results of the by-elections, but the constitutional court rejected their demand for another re-run.
Source: AFP
Football star Ronaldinho to be freed from Paraguyan jail
Brazilian World Cup winner Ronaldinho Gaucho will be released from jail into house arrest in Paraguay on Tuesday after he and his brother paid $1.6 million in bail, the judge in his case said.
The former Barcelona, Paris St Germain and AC Milan midfielder, who won the World Cup with Brazil in 2002, was arrested on March 6 with his brother and business manager Roberto Assis.
They were accused of possessing adulterated Paraguayan passports. The brothers’ lawyer has called their detention “arbitrary, abusive and illegal.”
The pair had been previously denied bail but the judge on Tuesday said the investigation carried out in the days since favoured the detainees.
Judge Gustavo Amarilla gave no further details but said there was no reason to keep the pair in custody given their huge bail payment and on the condition they do not leave the country.
The judge relayed his decision to the brothers in a video call and granted them permission to move into the four-star Palmaroga hotel in Asuncion while they awaited their trial.
They are expected to leave prison on Tuesday and they will be allowed to receive visits in the hotel.
The two men deposited $800,000 each as bail into a local bank account on Tuesday.
“It’s a significant bail in cash to guarantee they will not flee,” Amarilla said.
Although he last played professionally in 2015, Ronaldinho, who also represented Brazilian clubs Gremio, Atletico Mineiro, Flamengo and Fluminense, is still hugely popular with global football fans.
He also won the Champions League with Barcelona in 2006 and was named FIFA world player of the year in 2004 and 2005.
(REUTERS)
Coronavirus may spark ‘devastating’ global condom shortage
A global condom shortage is looming as the coronavirus pandemic shutters factories and disrupts supply chains, the world’s top maker of the contraceptives said, with the United Nations warning of “devastating” consequences.
Over half of humanity has been confined to their homes as the highly contagious virus marches round the planet, while governments worldwide have ordered the closure of businesses deemed non-essential.
Malaysia — one of the world’s top rubber producers and a major source of condoms — imposed a nationwide lockdown last month as infections surged to the highest level in Southeast Asia.
But restrictions on the operations of Malaysian contraceptive giant Karex, which makes one in every five condoms globally, mean the firm expects to produce 200 million fewer condoms than usual from mid-March to mid-April.
With other producers around the world likely facing disruption and difficulties in getting condoms to market due to transport problems, supplies of contraceptives will be hit hard, warned Karex chief executive Goh Miah Kiat.
“The world will definitely see a condom shortage,” Goh told AFP.
“It’s challenging, but we are trying our best right now to do whatever we can. It is definitely a major concern — condom is an essential medical device.
“While we are fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, there are also other serious issues that we need to look at,” he said, adding he was particularly worried about supplies of condoms to developing countries.
– UN sounds alarm –
Karex, which supplies condoms to many companies as well as governments and for distribution by aid programmes, had to close its three Malaysian factories for a period at the start of the country’s lockdown, which is due to last until April 14.
The company has since been allowed to resume operations but with only 50 percent of its usual workforce, and Goh wants permission to ramp up production.
The UN is also sounding the alarm, with its sexual and reproductive health agency warning it can currently only get about 50-60 percent of its usual condom supplies due to virus-related disruptions.
“Border closings and other restrictive measures are affecting transportation and production in a number of countries and regions,” said a UN Population Fund spokesperson, adding they were taking steps such as adding extra suppliers to support urgent needs.
The agency, which works with governments worldwide to support family planning, said a key concern was being able to ship condoms to where they were needed quickly enough — and warned the poorest and most vulnerable would be hit hardest if stocks run low.
“A shortage of condoms, or any contraceptive, could lead to an increase in unintended pregnancies, with potentially devastating health and social consequences for adolescent girls, women and their partners and families,” said the spokesperson.
There could also be an rise in unsafe abortions and an increased risk of sexually transmitted infections and HIV, the agency said.
Even as factory shutdowns and border closures throw the condom industry into chaos, demand appears to be increasing.
Goh said Karex had seen growing demand as people worldwide are confined to their homes, while Indian media reported that condom sales had jumped 25-35 percent in the week after the country of 1.3 billion people announced a lockdown.
– China to the rescue? –
Despite the warnings about a potential shortage, there are positive signs from condom makers in China, where the virus first emerged last year but which has largely managed to bring its outbreak under control.
Major producers there have resumed operations as authorities eased tough restrictions to halt the virus, which has claimed more than 80,000 victims worldwide.
HBM Protections, which makes more than one billion condoms a year, said production is back to normal levels and it is pushing ahead with earlier plans to triple its number of manufacturing lines by the end of the year.
And Shanghai Mingbang Rubber Products said it was ready to ramp up condom exports, which currently make up only about 10 percent of its output, if there is a global shortfall.
“If the international market runs into such problems… we will be willing to export more,” chief executive Cai Qijie told AFP.
Source: AFP
US reports biggest daily increase in coronavirus deaths, with NY at epicentre
Even as medical teams struggled to save an onslaught of gravely ill coronavirus patients and deaths hit new highs, the number of COVID-19 hospitalisations seemed to be leveling off in New York state, the U.S. epicentre of the pandemic, Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Tuesday.
New York was one of several states, along with the nation as a whole, to post their highest daily loss of life from COVID-19, the highly contagious respiratory disease caused by the virus. A staggering 731 fatalities were reported in Cuomo’s state alone.
But early statistical signs the crisis might be peaking provided little comfort to weary doctors and nurses on the front lines of the outbreak, as hospital emergency rooms and intensive care units overflowing with COVID-19 patients.
“People are just so incredibly sick … incredibly sick in a way that I’ve never experienced or seen before,” said Jacqueline Callahan, 33, a New York City nurse who spoke to Reuters on condition she not identify the hospital where she works.
“So every day is, honestly, the hardest day,” she said. “You just don’t know how it’s going to change, and you just hope it keeps getting better, but – you know – we haven’t turned that corner fully yet.”
In Wisconsin, voters on Tuesday braved the coronavirus outbreak to wait 6 feet (1.8 m) apart in lines for hours and cast ballots in the state’s presidential primary and local elections.
For the United States, the tally of known coronavirus infections approached 400,000 on Tuesday, with the number of deaths surpassing 12,700 in a record single-day jump of more than 1,800 nationwide.
New York state accounted for more than a third of U.S. confirmed coronavirus cases to date, and nearly half the cumulative death toll – 5,489 as of Tuesday.
But Cuomo said the rising number of deaths was a “lagging indicator” coming days or weeks after the onset of infections.
He pointed instead to slowing rates of coronavirus hospitalisations, intensive care admissions and ventilator intubations as signs social distancing measures imposed last month were working.
Calibrated messages
The governors of Illinois and Louisiana – two other hot spots in the U.S. pandemic – likewise paired reports of record jumps in COVID-19 deaths with data suggesting the contagion may be reaching a plateau.
The messages seemed calibrated to convey a sense of hope while urging the public to abide strictly by stay-at-home orders imposed by governors of 42 states.
“Let’s not get complacent,” Cuomo told a news conference. “Social distancing is working. … That’s why you see those numbers coming down.”
Across the country, California Governor Gavin Newsom said the infection curve in his state – the first to impose stay-at-home orders – was “bending but it’s also stretching,” with the virus outbreak there expected to peak in mid- to late May.
“The curve continues to rise, but now it is slower,” he told a news briefing.
In another glimmer of good news, the U.S. surgeon general, Jerome Adams, said on Tuesday the pandemic may end up killing fewer Americans than the range of 100,000 to 240,000 projected earlier by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The latest research model from the University of Washington – one of several cited by leading health authorities – has forecast U.S. coronavirus deaths totaling fewer than 82,000 by Aug. 4.
Adams, who is black, also acknowledged early data showing African Americans more likely to die from COVID-19, highlighting longstanding disparities in health and inequalities in access to medical care.
Reopen economy
The steps to curb the pandemic have hammered the U.S. economy, closing many businesses while unemployment soars.
Trump reiterated at a White House briefing he wanted to reopen the U.S. economy soon.
“We want to get it open soon, that’s why I think maybe we’re getting to the very top of the curve,” Trump said.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, whose city is the focal point of the state’s outbreak, said it was too early to declare a corner had been turned but cited encouraging developments. “The number of people showing up in our hospitals who need a ventilator – that situation has improved a bit in recent days,” he said.
In the nation’s second-largest city, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti on Tuesday ordered workers providing “non-medical” essential services, such as supermarket employees, wear face coverings while on the job. The order, which takes effect on Friday also requires customers of grocery stores and other essential businesses to likewise wear face coverings.
That will come as some relief to Tomas Flores, a grocery worker at Northgate Market in Los Angeles, who like many delivery workers, grocery staff and cleaners, doesn’t have a stay-at-home option.
“I do worry,” Flores said, hours before Garcetti’s order.”I ask God to watch over me when I leave my home and to take care of me at work, but I feel the need to come because many families depend on us,” he said. “Not only my family depends on me because I must earn money to bring home, but many people depend on the work that I do.”
(REUTERS)