Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Monday picked a new head of the federal police following a Supreme Court decision to block his effort to appoint a family friend — a tactical retreat a day after he and supporters threatened the court in anti-democratic protests. The new appointment showed Bolsonaro moving quickly to install a trusted appointee to the top law enforcement role as mounting investigations and his lax handling of the COVID-19 pandemic erode his popularity and feed talk of impeachment. The government’s official gazette said Bolsonaro had tapped as federal police chief Rolando Alexandre de Souza, who had worked as a close aide to his original choice, Alexandre Ramagem, at Brazil’s intelligence agency Abin. Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro shakes hands with the new head of the federal police Rolando Alexandre de Souza at the Planalto Palace in Brasilia, Brazil, May 4, 2020.Bolsonaro dismissed as “gossip” accusations by former Justice Minister Sergio Moro that the president had tried to interfere in sensitive investigations by naming Ramagem, a friend of his sons, as top cop. Moro, a popular figure in Brazil’s anti-corruption efforts who locked up scores of businessmen and politicians as a judge, testified to prosecutors and police on Saturday as part of an investigation authorized by the Supreme Court. The former minister’s evidence against Bolsonaro included recordings of conversations with the president, a person with knowledge of his deposition told Reuters. Moro told investigators that army generals in Bolsonaro’s Cabinet, two of them active duty officers, witnessed the president’s pressure on the federal police and could confirm his accounts, said the source, requesting anonymity to speak freely. Moro could not be reached immediately for comment. Moro’s resignation and allegations 10 days ago set off the most serious political crisis Bolsonaro has faced in office, compounded by criticism for playing down a coronavirus outbreak that has killed more than 7,000 people in Brazil. Approval ratingsA record low 27% of Brazilians consider the government “good” or “great,” while those considering it “bad” or “awful” jumped 7 percentage points in a week to 49%, showed a telephone survey by pollster Ipespe commissioned by XP Investimentos. Another survey published over the weekend, run by pollster IDEIA Big Data via mobile app, showed the government’s approval rating fell 8 percentage points in a week to 22% as disapproval shot up to a record 47%. Those polls, conducted from Tuesday to Thursday, suggested that the impact of the crisis may have grown over the course of last week, after a Monday telephone poll by veteran pollster Datafolha showed Bolsonaro’s support holding firm. The far-right president came under fire again on Sunday for attacking Congress and the Supreme Court in a speech to hundreds of supporters who were calling for military rule in Brazil and an end to coronavirus quarantine measures. Bolsonaro said at the rally outside the presidential palace that he had Brazil’s armed forces behind him and he was losing patience with “interference” in his agenda. FILE – Supporters of Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro shout slogans during a protest against his former Minister of Justice Sergio Moro and the Supreme Court, in front of the Planalto presidential palace, in Brasilia, Brazil, May 3, 2020.Yet, the Defense Ministry cast doubt on Bolsonaro’s claim in a rare statement on Monday. The government body said the armed forces were on the side of democracy, the separation of powers and of Brazil’s constitution, The statement also denounced attacks on journalists, after at least three photographers were attacked during the Sunday rally. House Speaker Rodrigo Maia said Bolsonaro was out of line and called on Brazilian institutions to defend democracy. “In Brazil, unfortunately, we are fighting against coronavirus and the virus of extremism,” Maia tweeted. Former allies in Congress have joined a growing chorus in Brasilia calling for a debate on impeachment of Bolsonaro, a move with the support of about half of Brazilians, according to the most recent Datafolha survey. Last week’s XP poll surveyed 1,000 people, with a margin of error of 3.2 percentage points up or down. The IDEIA survey polled 1,609 people, with a margin of error of 4 percentage points in either direction.  
 
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With the number of coronavirus infections continuing to rise in Turkey, the country is – like many others – anxiously awaiting a vaccine. Until one comes, many Turks are turning to an old tradition: perfume. From Istanbul, Dorian Jones reports.
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Migrants returning from the United States were once considered heroes in Guatemala, where the money they send back to their hometowns is a mainstay of the economy.  
But since the coronavirus pandemic hit, migrants in town after town have been mistreated, run off or threatened by neighbors who fear they will bring the virus back with them from the United States.  
Similar mistreatment is being reported across Latin America and the Caribbean. In Haiti, police are guarding a hotel full of quarantined deportees from the U.S. — partly to prevent them from escaping and partly to stop attacks from neighbors frightened of the coronavirus.  
For immigrants already shaken by the Trump administration’s hard line on deportation, mistreatment at home is a further blow, and a disturbing illustration of how the pandemic is upending longstanding social norms in unexpected ways across the world.  
Vanessa Díaz said her mother heard rumors that neighbors were organizing to keep her from reaching her home in the northern province of Petén after she was deported back to Guatemala on a flight from the United States.
Díaz had to run inside with her 7-year-old son and hide when she arrived.  
“When we arrived my mother said, ‘Get out of the car and run into the house.’ She was afraid they were going to do something to us,” Díaz recalled.
The Guatemalan government says at least 100 migrants deported from the United States between late March and mid-April have tested positive for COVID-19. Even those who, like Díaz, are not infected — she was placed in quarantine at home for two weeks after arriving last month on flight where nobody tested positive — carry the stigma.  
“The assistant mayor was going around egging people on, because they wanted to kick me and my son out of my house,” Díaz said.
The fear hasn’t subsided; Díaz’s mother must shop for food for them all, because her daughter doesn’t dare venture out. The mother has filed a complaint with police, because she’s afraid neighbors might yet attack the house.
“I am afraid. The police came to the house and left their phone number, so we can call them” if there’s any trouble, Diaz said. But reason and the threat of legal action appear to mean little. “I have a document that says I do not have the disease,” Díaz said, referring to a letter given to her by the Public Health Ministry when she was sent home to self-quarantine.
Díaz left Guatemala on Feb. 14 and was caught entering the U.S. two weeks later. She and her son spent more than a month in detention in Texas before they were deported.  
The treatment of returning migrants by their own countrymen has become a matter of concern for President Alejandro Giammattei, who issued an appeal last month to stop the harassment.
“A few months ago, many people were happy to get their remittances checks,” Giammattei said, referring to the money migrants send back to their home country. “Now, the person who sent those checks is treated like a criminal.”
He stressed that through steps like quarantines and health checks, authorities are trying to guarantee that returning migrants are free of the virus.  
But on social media, videos have been posted of angry residents chasing fellow Guatemalans deported from Mexico who had escaped from a shelter in the western city of Quetzaltenango where they were supposed to be in quarantine, even though there have been no coronavirus cases among migrants deported from Mexico.  
And when one migrant deported from the United States who tested positive for the virus left a hospital in Guatemala City where he was supposed to remain in isolation, the persecution was almost immediate. The local radio station Sonora es la Noticias identified the man by name, posted photos of him and asked citizens to find him; comments on social media quickly turned brutal, with some suggesting the man should be killed. A judge eventually ordered his arrest because he could infect others, but he remains at large.
More than 680 people have tested positive for the coronavirus in Guatemala, including those deported from the U.S., and at least 17 have died. Both figures are considered significant under counts because testing has been so limited.
Ursula Roldan, director of the Institute for Research on Global and Territorial Dynamics at Rafael Landívar University, said the government hasn’t set up shelters for returning migrants or carried out public education programs in their hometowns.
“The migrants aren’t to blame. They have made so many sacrifices on their journey, they have sustained the economy of this country,” Roldan said.
Roldan also blamed the U.S. government for deporting people with the virus, and of fostering anti-immigrant sentiments.
“Unfortunately, the tone regarding the migrants gets more aggressive when there are official statements, like for example when President Donald Trump depicts migrants as a danger in his speeches,” Roldan said.
The Roman Catholic Bishops Council has issued public calls to respect migrants, saying the situation “breaks our hearts.”
“How is it possible that both the governments of the United States and Mexico continue to deport people, during a crisis that has exposed the precarious nature of our health care system and a lack of effective strategies to contain the pandemic?” the council said in a statement.
“The example being set by both governments before the whole world is that they do not have the slightest sense of humanity,” it said, while not sparing criticism of Guatemalan society, too.
“This isn’t about finding fault with others, when we here in Guatemala are witnessing the lack of solidarity in those towns that haven’t allowed their fellow Guatemalans to return,” the council said. “When they sent money home, people congratulated them and praised them. Now, when they are deported, without a dollar in their pocket, they are rejected and suffer discrimination.”  
Meanwhile, Díaz is faced with the prospect of finding a job in a hostile town, penniless after her failed bid to reach the United States.
Asked what she would do after her quarantine ended Saturday, Díaz said: “Look for work.”
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A former Green Beret has taken responsibility for what he claimed was a failed attack Sunday aimed at overthrowing Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and that the socialist government said ended with eight dead.
Jordan Goudreau’s comments in an interview with an exiled Venezuelan journalist capped a bizarre day that started with reports of a predawn amphibious raid near the South American country’s heavily guarded capital.
An AP investigation published Friday found that Goudreau had been working with a retired Venezuelan army general now facing U.S. narcotics charges to train dozens of deserters from Venezuela’s security forces at secret camps inside neighboring Colombia. The goal was to mount a cross-border raid that would end in Maduro’s arrest.  
But from the outset the ragtag army lacked funding and U.S. government support, all but guaranteeing defeat against Maduro’s sizable-if-demoralized military. It also appears to have been penetrated by Maduro’s extensive Cuban-backed intelligence network.  
Both Goudreau and retired Venezuelan Capt. Javier Nieto declined to speak to the AP on Sunday when contacted after posting a video from an undisclosed location saying they had launched an anti-Maduro putsch called “Operation Gideon.” Both men live in Florida.  
“A daring amphibious raid was launched from the border of Colombia deep into the heart of Caracas,” Goudreau, in a New York Yankees ball cap, said in the video standing next to Nieto who was dressed in armored vest with a rolled-up Venezuelan flag pinned to his shoulder. “Our units have been activated in the south, west and east of Venezuela.”  
Goudreau said 60 of his men were still on the ground and calls were being activated inside Venezuela, some of them fighting under the command of Venezuelan National Guardsman Capt. Antonio Sequea, who participated in a barracks revolt against Maduro a year ago.  
None of their claims of an ongoing operation could be independently verified. But Goudreau said he hoped to join the rebels soon and invited Venezuelans and Maduro’s troops to join the would-be insurgency although there was no sign of any fighting in the capital or elsewhere as night fell.  
In an interview later with Miami-based journalist Patricia Poleo, he provided a contradictory account of his activities and the support he claims to have once had — and then lost — from Juan Guaidó, the opposition leader recognized as Venezuela’s interim president by the U.S. and some 60 countries.
He provided to Poleo what he said was an 8-page contract signed by Guaidó and two political advisers in Miami in October for $213 million. The alleged “general services” contract doesn’t specify what work his company, Silvercorp USA, was to undertake.
He also released via Poleo a four-minute audio recording, made on a hidden cellphone, in the moment when he purportedly signed the contract as Guaidó participated via videoconference. In the recording, a person he claims is Guaido can be heard giving vague encouragement in broken English but not discussing any military plans.
“Let’s get to work!,” said the man who is purportedly Guaido.  
The AP was unable to confirm the veracity of the recording.
There was no immediate comment from Guaidó on Goudreau’s claim that the two had signed a contract. Previously, Guaidó has said he hadn’t signed any contract for a military incursion.
Goudreau said he never received a penny from the Guaidó team and instead the Venezuelan soldiers he was advising had to scrounge for donations from Venezuelan migrants driving for car share service Uber in Colombia.
“It’s almost like crowdfunded the liberating of a country,” he said.
Goudreau said everything he did was legal but in any case he’s prepared to pay the cost for anything he did if it saves the lives of Venezuelans trying to restore their democracy.  
“I’ve been a freedom fighter my whole life. This is all I know,” said Goudreau, who is a decorated three-time Bronze Star recipient for courage in deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan as a special forces medic.  
Asked about why his troops would land at one of Venezuela’s most fortified coastlines — some 20 miles from Caracas next to the country’s biggest airport — he cited the example set by Alexander the Great, who had “struck deep into the heart of the enemy” at the Battle of Guagamela.  
The government’s claims that it had foiled a beach landing Sunday triggered a frenzy of confusing claims and counterclaims about the alleged plot. While Maduro’s allies said it had been backed by Guaidó, Colombia and the U.S., the opposition accused Maduro of fabricating the whole episode to distract attention from the country’s ongoing humanitarian crisis.
“Those who assume they can attack the institutional framework in Venezuela will have to assume the consequences of their action,” said socialist party boss Diosdado Cabello, adding that one of two captured insurgents claimed to be an agent of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
Authorities said they found Peruvian documents, high-caliber weapons, satellite phones, uniforms and helmets adorned with the U.S. flag.
Both U.S. and Colombian officials dismissed the Venezuelan allegations.
“We have little reason to believe anything that comes out of the former regime,” said a State Department spokesperson, referring to Maduro’s government. “The Maduro regime has been consistent in its use of misinformation in order to shift focus from its mismanagement of Venezuela.”
Venezuela has been in a deepening political and economic crisis under Maduro’s rule. Crumbling public services such as running water, electricity and medical care have driven nearly 5 million to migrate.
The United States has led a campaign to oust Maduro, increasing pressure in recent weeks by indicting the socialist leader as a drug trafficker and offering a $15 million reward for his arrest. The U.S. also has increased stiff sanctions.  
In addition to U.S. economic and diplomatic pressure, Maduro’s government has faced several small-scale military threats, including an attempt to assassinate Maduro with a drone in 2018 and Guaidó’s call for a military uprising a year ago.
Cabello linked Sunday’s attack to key players in the alleged plot led by Goudreau and Ret. Maj. Gen. Cliver Alcala, who is now in U.S. custody awaiting trial after being indicted alongside Maduro on narcoterrorist charges. One of the men he said was killed, nicknamed “the Panther,” had been identified as involved in obtaining weapons for the covert force in Colombia.
Guaidó accused Maduro’s government of seizing on the incident to draw the world’s attention away from the country’s problems.  
“Of course, there are patriotic members of the military willing to fight for Venezuela,” Guaidó said. “But it’s clear that what happened in Vargas is another distraction ploy.”
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Governments across Europe are facing a coronavirus-related revolt from the elderly, who are pushing back on plans that would see their home-confinement prolonged as restrictions on other age groups are slowly relaxed. Seniors say a prolonged “gray lockdown” amounts to age discrimination and will probably cut their lives short anyway, regardless of the coronavirus.They have support from some doctors, who warn of the “impact” lockdowns are having on the “physical and mental health” of the elderly.In Britain, where all those aged 70 and over, regardless of their health, have been classified as “clinically vulnerable” and told to stay at home, the British Medical Association (BMA) has urged Prime Minister Boris Johnson to include the elderly in any plans for easing the coronavirus lockdown in the coming weeks. Home confinement is damaging the mental health of seniors, they say.FILE – Elderly people wait for a Sainsburys supermarket to open as the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues, in Hertford, Britain, March 19, 2020.Age alone should not determine people’s ability to resume aspects of their daily lives when the government begins easing the overall lockdown restrictions in the coming weeks, the BMA says.In a statement, the BMA said, “A blanket ban on any section of the population being prohibited from lockdown easing would be discriminatory and unacceptable.” The doctors’ association acknowledged the government should ensure that “those at highest risk from infection are protected,” but added, “This needs to be based on individual risk that would apply at all ages rather than an arbitrary age of 60 or 70.”Muir Gray, professor of primary health care at Britain’s Oxford University, has warned of  a “de-conditioning syndrome,” in which reduced physical and mental activity “increases the risk of dementia and frailty.”Those at greatest risk to the coronavirus are the over-70s, but the elderly say they should be allowed to make their own risk assessments as other age groups are slowly released from confinement.FILE – Stanley Johnson, father of the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, speaks at an event on climate change, in London, Oct. 9, 2019.”It should be up to us to determine our own risk, and judge whether we can finally see our children and grandchildren again,” according to commentator Magnus Linklater.As debate rages in Britain over the future of the elderly, Boris Johnson’s father, Stanley, has entered the fray, saying he hopes his son will end restrictions on seniors in time for his 80th birthday in August as he hopes to join an expedition to climb Mount Kilimanjaro to raise money for a charity.”I am rather hoping they will ease the restrictions in time,” the elder Johnson said.FranceAfter a pushback from the elderly in France, President Emmanuel Macron assured seniors his government will try to avoid setting separate rules for older people as the easing of the coronavirus confinement unfolds. The French president was forced to offer the concession when a backlash mounted after his top scientific adviser, Jean-François Delfraissy, said home confinement should continue for people over the age of 65 for the foreseeable future.”The President has followed the growing debate about the situation for elderly citizens,” the Elysee palace said in a statement last month. “He does not want there to be any discrimination among citizens after May 11 in the context of a gradual easing of confinement measures, and will appeal to people’s individual responsibility.”FILE – Marguerite Mouille, 94, gestures while her visiting daughter takes a photo at the Kaisesberg nursing home, eastern France, April 21, 2020.Generational tensions The debate is underscoring generational tensions in Europe. As countries started to lock down in March and April, governments appealed to cross-generational solidarity, arguing that the young had a duty to abide by restrictions in order to shield the most-at-risk groups, those with underlying health conditions, the old and frail.While many, if not most, people, both young and old, have responded to the appeals, there have been signs of generational friction — as well as complaints by both sides. Some youngsters bristled at lockdowns and flouted restrictions, with especially rebellious ones disobeying the rules on social distancing. Some held “lockdown parties” and “end of world” drinking sessions, joking on social media sites that the pandemic was the perfect opportunity for the removal of the baby boomer generation. Baby boomers are generally thought to have been born between 1946 and 1964.Millennials (born between 1981 and the mid-’90s) and youngsters from Generation Z (born between the mid-’90s and 2015), have also complained that they will be the ones who will have to bear the brunt of the economic costs of the coronavirus, rather than the old, much as what happened after the 2008 crash. State pensions in most European countries after the financial crash were shielded for the elderly and increased in line with inflation; austerity measures hit youngsters harder, their advocates say.FILE – Reinier Sijpkens performs classical music on his music boat for elderly people confined to their nursing home because of the coronavirus, in Heemstede, Netherlands, April 27, 2020.The elderly have said that they too suffered after 2008 with low returns on their savings — as they are suffering now. Nonetheless, there have been mounting calls for the huge economic cost of the pandemic emergency measures to be shared equally between old and young in the years ahead.”Quite rightly, society is making sacrifices to protect its elderly right now. There is a clear case for intergenerational reciprocation when it comes to meeting the fiscal costs of the crisis in the years ahead,” said Scott Corfe of the Social Market Foundation, a research group based in London.While some youngsters, who are less at risk from the coronavirus, have earned the ire of government officials and scientists for blithely flouting coronavirus restrictions, there have also been complaints of some seniors not observing lockdown rules, especially in central Europe, where pensioners have crowded markets. Romanian authorities cracked down on pensioners, ordering those aged over 65 only to venture from their homes between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. unless seeking urgent medical care.Craig Turp, the editor of Emerging Europe, a news site, suggested that the more carefree attitude of central Europe’s elderly had much to do with the history they have experienced.”War, deportation, poverty, dictatorship and revolution: They harden the spirit, darken the soul.” He went on to write, “For anyone who has lived through them, why would an invisible threat such as coronavirus pose any concern at all?”  
 
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As the coronavirus scythed through nursing homes, cutting a deadly path, Valerie Martin vowed to herself that the story would be different in the home she runs in France.  The action she took to stop the virus from infecting and killing the vulnerable older adults in her care was both drastic and effective: Martin and her staff locked themselves in with the 106 residents.  For 47 days and nights, staff and residents of the Vilanova nursing home on the outskirts of the east-central city of Lyon waited out the coronavirus storm together, while COVID-19 killed tens of thousands of people in other homes across Europe, including more than 9,000 in France. “I said, ‘No. Not mine. My residents still have so much to live for,'” Martin said in an interview. “I don’t want this virus to kill them when they have been through so much.”  On Monday, Martin and 12 colleagues who stayed in the home for the full duration ended their quarantine with hugs of celebration and singing, and with an uplifting victory: Coronavirus tests conducted on the residents and staff all came back negative. The caregivers, who nicknamed themselves “the happily confined,” left in a convoy of cars, joyously honking horns and heading for reunions with families, pets and homes.  “We succeeded,” Martin said. “Every day, every hour, was a win.”  While COVID-19 killed people by the dozens at some other homes, Martin said there were just four deaths at Vilanova during their lockdown and that none appears to have been linked to the virus. The average age of residents at the home is 87 and the deaths were not unexpected, she said.  Because staff and residents were locked in together, Vilanova didn’t have to confine people to their rooms like other homes to shield them from the risk of infection brought in from outside. That spared residents the loneliness that has been agonizing for others. Vilanova allowed residents to continue to mingle and to get fresh air outside.May Day in France: Virtual Protests and Little to CelebrateThe coronavirus pandemic has battered the country’s economy and jobs, leaving workers anxious about the futureThe son of a 95-year-old resident described the staff as “a fantastic team,” saying they saved his mother by shielding her from the virus and keeping her spirits up, even holding celebrations for her birthday on April 17. Gilles Barret said the home’s daily Facebook posts of news, photos and videos also were “such a comfort.”  “It saved lives,” he said. “Perfect, perfect. I tip my hat to them.”  Martin said she didn’t want their residents to feel like “prisoners” and that it wouldn’t have felt right to her had she continued to come and go from the home while depriving them of their liberty during France’s lockdown, in place since March 17. Residents were confined to their rooms for two days at the beginning while staffers gave the home a thorough cleaning, and that proved “a catastrophe,” Martin said. “In two days, we already saw people who started no longer wanting to eat, people who didn’t want to get up, people who said, ‘Why are you washing me? It’s pointless,'” she said, In all, 29 of the 50 staff volunteered to stay, bringing pillows, sleeping bags and clothes on March 18 for what they initially thought might be a three-week stay but which they subsequently opted to extend. Other staff came from outside to help and were kept apart from residents and made to wear masks and take other protective measures to prevent infections. The carers slept on mattresses on the floor. Martin slept in her office. One of the volunteers left a 10-month-old baby at home. The team tallied the days on a blackboard marked: “Always together with heart.”  “It was tough,” said caregiver Vanessa Robert. But there were also moments of “total joy, getting together in the evenings, fooling around, tossing water bombs at each other.”  Martin said her top priority now is to console her estranged cat, Fanta. And one of the weirdest moments of the lockdown was climbing back into her car and hearing the same tune on the CD player — Limp Bizkit’s “Mission Impossible” soundtrack — that she had been listening to when she parked seven weeks earlier. “It was a bit like entering a holiday camp,” she said. “Living a lockdown with 130 people is extremely rewarding.”
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Goodbye lockdown, hello smartphone.
As governments race to develop mobile tracing apps to help contain infections, attention is turning to how officials will ensure users’ privacy. The debate is especially urgent in Europe, which has been one of the hardest-hit regions in the world, with nearly 140,000 people killed by COVID-19.
The use of monitoring technology, however, may evoke bitter memories of massive surveillance by totalitarian authorities in much of the continent.  
The European Union has in recent years led the way globally to protect people’s digital privacy, introducing strict laws for tech companies and web sites that collect personal information. Academics and civil liberties activists are now pushing for greater personal data protection in the new apps as well.  
Here’s a look at the issues.Why an App?
European authorities, under pressure to ease lockdown restrictions in place for months in some countries, want to make sure infections don’t rise once confinements end. One method is to trace who infected people come into contact with and inform them of potential exposure so they can self-isolate. Traditional methods involving in-person interviews of patients are time consuming and labor intensive, so countries want an automated solution in the form of smartphone contact tracing apps. But there are fears that new tech tracking tools are a gateway to expanded surveillance.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline. Embed” />CopyEuropean Standards
Intrusive digital tools employed by Asian governments that successfully contained their virus outbreaks won’t withstand scrutiny in Europe. Residents of the EU cherish their privacy rights so compulsory apps, like South Korea’s, which alerts authorities if users leave their home, or location tracking wristbands, like those used by Hong Kong, just won’t fly.
The contact-tracing solution gaining the most attention involves using low energy Bluetooth signals on mobile phones to anonymously track users who come into extended contact with each other. Officials in western democracies say the apps must be voluntary.  Rival Designs
The battle in Europe has centered on competing systems for Bluetooth apps. One German-led project, Pan-European Privacy-Preserving Proximity Tracing, or PEPP-PT, which received early backing from 130 researchers, involves data uploaded to a central server. However, some academics grew concerned about the project’s risks and threw their support behind a competing Swiss-led project, Decentralized Privacy-Preserving Proximity Tracing, or DP3T.
Privacy advocates support a decentralized system because anonymous data is kept only on devices. Some governments are backing the centralized model because it could provide more data to aid decisionmaking, but nearly 600 scientists from more than two dozen countries have signed an open letter warning this could, “via mission creep, result in systems which would allow unprecedented surveillance of society at large.”
Apple and Google waded into the fray by backing the decentralized approach as they unveiled a joint effort to develop virus-fighting digital tools. The tech giants are releasing a software interface so public health agencies can integrate their apps with iPhone and Android operating systems, and plan to release their own apps later.
The EU’s executive Commission warned that a fragmented approach to tracing apps hurt the fight against the virus and called for coordination as it unveiled a digital “toolbox” for member countries to build their apps with.Beyond Borders
The approach Europe chooses will have wider implications beyond the practical level of developing tracing apps that work across borders, including the many found in the EU.
“How we do this, what safeguards we put in, what fundamental rights we look very carefully at,” will influence other places, said Michael Veale, a lecture in digital rights at University College London who’s working on the DP3T project. “Countries do look to Europe and campaigners look to Europe,” and will expect the continent to take an approach that preserves privacy, he said.Country by Country
European countries have started embracing the decentralized approach, including Austria, Estonia, Switzerland, and Ireland. Germany and Italy are also adopting it, changing tack after initially planning to use the centralized model.
But there are notable exceptions, raising the risk different apps won’t be able to talk to each other when users cross Europe’s borders.  
EU member France wants its own centralized system but is in a standoff with Apple over a technical hurdle that prevents its system from being used with iOS. The government’s digital minister wants it ready for testing in “real conditions” by May 11 but a legislative debate on the app was delayed after scientists and researchers warned of surveillance risks.  
Some non EU-members are going their own way. Norway rolled out one of the earliest – and most invasive – apps, Smittestopp, which uses both GPS and Bluetooth to collect data and uploads it to central servers every hour.
Britain rejected the system Apple and Google are developing because it would take too long, said Matthew Gould, CEO of the National Health Service’s digital unit overseeing its development. The British app is weeks away from being “technically ready” for deployment, he told a Parliamentary committee.
Later versions of the app would let users upload an anonymized list of people they’ve been in contact with and location data, to help draw a “social graph” of how the virus spreads through contact, Gould said.
Those comments set off alarm bells among British scientists and researchers, who warned last week in an  open letter against going too far by creating a data collection tool. “With access to the social graph, a bad actor (state, private sector, or hacker) could spy on citizens’ real-world activities,” they wrote.  
Despite announcing plans to back European initiatives or develop its own app, Spain’s intricate plan for rolling back one of the world’s strictest confinements doesn’t include a tracing app at all. The health minister said the country will use apps when they are ready but only if they “provide value added” and not simply because other countries are using them.
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A watchdog group is calling on democratic nations to prevent the election of Russia, Cuba and Saudi Arabia to the 47-member U.N. Human Rights Council, saying their abysmal human rights records disqualify them from membership.   U.S. President Donald Trump addresses the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Sept. 24, 2019.The U.N. General Assembly will elect 15 new members to the U.N. Human Rights Council in October.  U.N. Watch, an independent group that monitors the United Nations, says it would be a travesty and outrage to permit Russia, Cuba and Saudi Arabia — three repressive, authoritarian regimes — to join this body.  Executive Director of U.N. Watch, Hillel Neuer, says governments that systematically deny basic freedoms to their own people are in no position to judge the human rights records of others. “No one is saying that every member of the Human Rights Council has to be perfect.  Obviously, there are no perfect countries.  But to choose some of the worst governments is not a strategy and it is completely contrary to the official criteria declared at the founding of the Human Rights Council and which continues to govern the elections.”   The resolution that was adopted when the Council was created in 2006 obliges members to uphold the promotion and protection of human rights. It also warns nations that commit gross human rights could be suspended.  It has been applied only once against Libya in 2010 following the violent crackdown on protestors by the late dictator Muammar Gadhafi. Neuer tells VOA the Council is a political body and for many countries, politics too often trump human rights as their guiding principle.  He says more than 50 percent of Council members are not full democracies. “Because of the membership of those countries, a large part of the work, of the proper work of the Council never gets done.  So, for example, countries like China, Cuba, Saudi Arabia, Turkey have never been condemned for violations of human rights.”  U.N. human rights spokesman, Rupert Colville, says running for a seat on the Council is not a cost-free exercise.  He tells VOA any member State with a poor human rights record will find itself scrutinized.“There is a bit of a price to pay actually,” he said.  “It doesn’t mean by getting on the Council you get a free ride.  If anything, it is a little bit the other way around because you get more attention put on you… Their voting patterns and what they say in debates and so on will be subject to scrutiny and will be subject to criticism, you know, if they are elected as are all States.”   Colville says Council members are held up against the high human rights standards set by the General Assembly.  He says there are examples in the past of States who have withdrawn their candidacy for a seat on the Council after receiving a barrage of criticism.   He notes the process has a long way to run before the election is held and anything could happen before then.     
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Every morning a white horse named Jenny is seen strolling freely through her Frankfurt neighborhood.  Her owners, Anna and Werner Weischedel, say the 25-year-old, free-roaming Arabian mare, is brightening up the coronavirus lockdown for many people in the Fechenheim area of Frankfurt-am-Main.  “She goes wherever she wants, she has no limits. She can travel further away than we can, because we have travel restrictions at the moment. Jenny has ‘Corona-Freedom’, everything is allowed,” Werner said.For more than a decade Jenny has roamed solo through the town, taking the high street or trotting along the tram line to a nearby field nibbling for hours on patches of grass. “People seem to notice her more because they have more time. A lot of passers-by stroke her, maybe because they are missing some human contact,” Anna said. “Everyone knows her, no matter where she goes. People always greet her nicely, especially now in times of coronavirus, they are happy to have someone to cuddle. People have to stay apart from each other, but Jenny sometimes has 10 children around her. Adults too come out of the tram and hug or pet her,” Werner said.Germany, like many other countries, has closed schools, playgrounds and many businesses to curb the spread of the coronavirus. It has slowly begun to ease some lockdown measures, but people are urged to observe social distances and limit their social interactions. But the guidelines do not apply when it comes to interacting with Jenny and people can still snuggle with her. Since residents have in the past called the police to report an unaccompanied horse, Jenny wears a note around her neck that reads: “I haven’t run away, I’m just out for a walk.” 
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Supporters of Brazil’s president protested Sunday in Brasilia against stay-at-home guideline issued by some states to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Jair Bolsonaro has repeatedly rejected both the dangers the virus presents and lockdown policies. “The whole of Brazil complains. Go back to work (they say). This irresponsible destruction of jobs from some governors is unacceptable. The price will be very high in the future: hunger, unemployment, misery. This is not good,” Bolsonaro said. After the firing of the federal police chief prompted the resignation of Minister of Justice and Public Security Sérgio Moro amidst the controversy of how to handle the COVID-19 pandemic, Bolsonaro proposed a replacement for the police chief, but Brazil’s Congress did not accept the nomination. The president accused the legislative body of “interference.” “We want the true independence of the three powers, not only a fraction of the constitution. We don’t want that. Enough with interference, we won’t admit any more interference, I’m being very clear, patience has run out,” Bolsonaro said.Bolsonaro did not wear a face mask as he met with supporters who were allowed into the courtyard of the presidential palace.  Sunday’s protest took place while Brazil seems headed towards a major public health emergency and economic meltdown. 
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Russia has seen a record rise in coronavirus infections in the past 24 hours, according to government figures reported Sunday.  The daily rise of 10,633 new cases is the highest since the beginning of the outbreak in the country and brings the total of cases to almost 135,000. On Sunday, 58 more people in Russia were reported dead, bringing the death toll from coronavirus-linked cases to 1,280. The death rate is still lower than in the United States, Italy and some other countries.Russia’s Tass news agency reports that 4.1 million coronavirus tests have been administered so far, 174,000 in the last official report issued Sunday.  Earlier in the week Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin tested positive for the coronavirus, the highest Russian official who has been diagnosed with COVID-19.Tailor Yalcine of Boulard Retouche prepares face protective masks in cotton sewn in his shop at the Daguerre district in Paris, Sunday, May 3, 2020 as a nationwide confinement continue to counter the COVID-19.Meanwhile France reports that the number of new cases is flattening and has declined in three of the hardest hit regions. The total number of new cases reported Sunday was less than 300 and the total of new deaths was 135, compared to April 7 when the number of new cases was close to 9,000 and the death toll was more than 14,000. France is one of the most affected European countries with a total of nearly 170,000 COVID-19 cases and close to 25,000 deaths. The government has extended health emergency for two more months, until the end of July.About a half of European Union countries will begin relaxing coronavirus measures starting Monday after weeks of shutdowns which have brought down their economies. Italy and Spain, Europe’s most affected countries, are among them. On Sunday, both reported the lowest daily death tolls in weeks.   British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the only head of state to have had COVID-19, is expected to announce a plan to reopen his country next week after declaring that the number of new cases is flattening in the country. Britain has had close to 187,000 COVID cases and the coronavirus has killed close to 29,000.Sweden also announced a drop in new infections. The European country has raised eyebrows with its liberal coronavirus policy, keeping its schools and restaurants open throughout the outbreak. On Sunday it said that one infected person on average passes the infection to less than one person, which means the pandemic is in decline.  Sweden has had more than 22,000 cases and nearly 2,700 deaths, which is more than double the numbers of Denmark and Norway put together.European leaders have announced plans to establish an international organization to  fight the coronavirus. The group wants to raise $8 billion in an online pledging campaign to finance finding a COVID-19 vaccine and treatment.  A man wearing a protective gear mourns next to the body of his father who died from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), at a graveyard in New Delhi, India, May 2, 2020.Another campaign is seeking to raise funds to stop the spread of coronavirus in India. International stars including Mick Jagger, Will Smith, Kate Bosworth and Jack Black joined Bollywood celebrities in the 4-hour-long “iFor India” concert livestreamed Sunday on Facebook to help COVID-19 relief in the second most populous Asian country. India reported a daily record of 2,600 new cases on Saturday, despite tough shutdown measures. The country now has more than 42,500 COVID-19 cases with close to 1,400 deaths, despite the government’s tough restrictions aimed at stopping the outbreak.The number of new cases grew sharply in Bangladesh in the past 24 hours, with 665 new cases reported on Sunday.China, the continent’s most populous country, where the virus was first recorded in December, reported only two new cases since Saturday.  Monsignor Kieran Harrington, Vicar for Communications for the Diocese of Brooklyn, prays over the body of the Rev. Jorge Ortiz-Garay in the Brooklyn borough of New York as they prepare to transport his body to JFK International Airport, May 3, 2020.The United States has about 1,200.000 cases, with close to 69,000 deaths so far.  On Friday, the country saw the highest number of coronavirus-related deaths – 2909 within 24 hours, according to the World Health Organization. It also recorded 34,000 new cases, the highest daily total since April 24. More than 1,000 deaths were reported in the past 24 hours.  In South America, Brazil and Peru are experiencing a spike in new cases.Close to 3.5 million cases of COVID-19 and about nearly 250,000 resulting deaths have been confirmed and reported around the world.
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While millions of people took advantage of easing coronavirus lockdowns to enjoy spring weather, some of the world’s most populous countries reported worrisome new peaks in infections Sunday, including India, which saw its biggest single-day jump yet.Second in population only to China, India reported more than 2,600 new infections. In Russia, new cases exceeded 10,000 for the first time. The confirmed death toll in Britain climbed near that of Italy, the epicenter of Europe’s outbreak, even though the U.K. population is younger than Italy’s and Britain had more time to prepare before the pandemic hit.A woman wearing a home made face shield and mask walks a dog in Piccadilly Circus, central London, Sunday, May 3, 2020.The United States continues to see tens of thousands of new infections each day, with more than 1,400 additional deaths reported Saturday.Health experts have warned of a potential second wave of infections unless testing is expanded dramatically once the lockdowns are relaxed. But pressure to reopen keeps building after the weeks-long shutdown of businesses worldwide plunged the global economy into its deepest slump since the 1930s and wiped out millions of jobs.China, which reported only two new cases, saw a surge in visitors to newly reopened tourist spots after domestic travel restrictions were loosened ahead of a five-day holiday that runs through Tuesday. Nearly 1.7 million people visited Beijing parks on the first two days of the holiday, and Shanghai’s main tourist spots welcomed more than 1 million visitors, according to Chinese media. Many spots limited daily visitors to 30% of capacity.On the eve of Italy’s first steps toward easing restrictions, the Health Ministry reported 174 COVID deaths in the 24-hour period ending Sunday evening — the lowest day-to-day number since the national lockdown began on March 10. Parks and public gardens were set to reopen on Monday.In Spain, many ventured outside for the first time since the country’s lockdown began March 14, but social distancing rules remained in place. Masks are mandatory starting Monday on public transit.In Britain, Prime Minister Boris Johnson is under pressure to reveal how the country will lift its lockdown. The restrictions are due to last through Thursday, but with hundreds of deaths still being reported daily — twice as many recently as Italy or Spain — it’s unclear how the country can safely loosen the restrictions.The 55-year-old Johnson, who spent three nights in intensive care while being treated for COVID-19, told The Sun newspaper that he knew his doctors were preparing for the worst.”It was a tough old moment, I won’t deny it,” he said. “They had a strategy to deal with a ‘death of Stalin’-type scenario” if he succumbed to the virus.Another potentially troubling sign emerged in Afghanistan’s capital city of Kabul, where a third of the 500 people selected in random test came up positive for the virus.In the U.S., New Jersey reopened state parks, though several had to turn people away after reaching a 50% limit in their parking lots. Margie Roebuck and her husband were among the first on the sand at Island Beach State Park.”Forty-six days in the house was enough,” she said.Speaking on “Fox News Sunday,” White House coronavirus coordinator Deborah Birx expressed concern about protests by armed and mostly maskless crowds demanding an end to stay-at-home orders and a full reboot of the economy. President Donald Trump has encouraged people to “liberate” their states.”It’s devastatingly worrisome to me personally, because if they go home and infect their grandmother or their grandfather … they will feel guilty for the rest of our lives,” she said. “So we need to protect each other at the same time we’re voicing our discontent.”If restrictions are lifted too soon, the virus could come back in “small waves in various places around the country,” said Dr. Tom Inglesby, director of the Center for Health Security of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.”Nothing has changed in the underlying dynamics of this virus,” he said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that his state would join with six others to create a regional supply chain for masks, gowns, ventilators, testing supplies and other equipment for fighting the disease.”It will make us more competitive in the international marketplace, and I believe it will save taxpayers money,” Cuomo said.  Meanwhile, the divide in the United States between those who want lockdowns to end and those who want to move more cautiously extended to Congress.The Republican-majority  Senate will reopen Monday in Washington. The Democrat-controlled House of Representatives is staying shuttered. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s decision to convene 100 senators gives Trump, a Republican, the imagery he wants of America getting back to work, despite the risks.Doctors attend to a patient inside the intensive care unit for people infected with the new coronavirus, at a hospital in Moscow, Russia, May 2, 2020.Elsewhere, Russia’s latest tally of infections was nearly double the new cases reported a week ago. More than half of Russia’s new cases were in Moscow, where concern is rising about whether the capital’s medical facilities will be overwhelmed.Indian air force helicopters showered flower petals on hospitals in several cities to thank doctors, nurses and police at the forefront of the battle against the pandemic.  The country’s number of confirmed cases neared 40,000 as the population of 1.3 billion marked the 40th day of a nationwide lockdown. The official death toll reached 1,323.And in Mexico City, where authorities expect infections to peak next week, workers will turn the Hernandez Rodriguez Formula 1 racecourse into a temporary hospital for COVID-19 patients. The paddocks and suites along the front straightaway will have eight hospital modules with 24 beds each. The pits will be used as offices for consultations.The virus has infected 3.5 million people and killed more than 246,000 worldwide, including more than 66,000 dead in the United States, according to a count by Johns Hopkins University.  All the numbers are considered to be undercounts, due to testing issues, the problems of counting deaths in a pandemic and deliberate concealment by some governments. 
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Should the NHL restart its 2019-20 season, players on Canadian teams who have been out of the country likely would need to quarantine before they can rejoin their teammates, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Sunday.”I think it’s a question we’ll have to look into,” Trudeau said in a press briefing. “Certainly at a strict minimum, anyone who arrives from another country will have to follow all the rules of quarantine in an extremely strict manner, but we’re not there yet in our discussions with the NHL.”
 
He continued: “We recognize that it’s a possibility, but it depends on an enormous amount of things, and I don’t want to speculate on this until there’s more discussion.”
 
The season was halted on March 12, one day after the NBA suspended play when Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz was diagnosed with the coronavirus. At least eight NHL players have been diagnosed with COVID-19 — five of them from the Ottawa Senators.
 
The NHL is hoping to finish the 2019-20 season and award the Stanley Cup, while deputy commissioner Bill Daly said in a radio interview on Friday that Edmonton is among the cities under consideration should the league decide to use centralized locations for games. Toronto is another city reportedly in consideration to be a “hockey pod.”
 
Daly also said frequent testing for COVID-19 would be required for play to resume, provided that ample tests are available and that the general public would not be deprived of tests.
 
“We’re going to need to have access to testing, and we’re going to make it a point that we’re not accessing testing, even in a private way, if testing availability is an issue in the community,” Daly told 630 CHED in Edmonton. “We will not test asymptomatic players ahead of symptomatic people who are unable to get tested. It’s just something we will not do.” 
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Venezuelan officials said Sunday they foiled an attack by boats through the port city of La Guaira. Interior Minister Nestor Reverol said the would-be attackers, whom he referred to as “mercenary terrorists”, came from neighboring Colombia and were quickly repelled by Venezuelan forces. “They tried to carry out an invasion by sea, a group of terrorist mercenaries from Colombia, in order to commit terrorist acts in the country, murdering leaders of the revolutionary government,” Reverol said in a televised address Sunday. He said there were “some casualties” but did not specify how many attackers there were, who they were, or what weapons and boats they used. President Nicolas Maduro’s government frequently accuses political adversaries of trying to overthrow his government. Socialist critics have dismissed the accusations as an excuse to detain Maduro’s opponents. Maduro has overseen a six-year economic crisis in Venezuela. More than fifty countries, including the United States, have indicated their support for opposition leader Juan Guaido after a disputed election in 2018, but Maduro maintains control of the country’s military.  
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Thousands of desperate migrants are trapped in limbo and even at risk of death without food, water or shelter in scorching deserts and at sea, as governments close off borders and ports in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.Migrants have been dropped by the truckload in the Sahara or bused to Mexico’s border with Guatemala and beyond. Others are drifting in the Mediterranean after European and Libyan authorities declared their ports unsafe. And around 100 Rohingya refugees from Myanmar are believed to have died in the Bay of Bengal, as country after country pushed them back out to sea.Many governments say that a public health crisis requires extraordinary measures. However, these measures are just the latest steps taken to clamp down on migrants.“They just dumped us,” said Fanny Jacqueline Ortiz, a 37-year-old Honduran who was abandoned March 26 with her two young daughters at the lonely  El Ceibo  border crossing with Guatemala, expelled first by the U.S. and then by Mexico.___This story was produced with the support of the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.___Since the aftermath of World War II, international and some national laws have protected refugees and asylum-seekers. Nations have the right to close themselves off for national security, but cannot forcibly return migrants to danger, according to Dr.  Violeta Moreno-Lax, professor of migration law at Queen Mary University of London.Yet that is exactly what is happening.“The pandemic provides the perfect excuse,” said Moreno-Lax.The desert deportations have been happening for years in North Africa and beyond, and Europe has been deadlocked on how to handle migration on the Mediterranean since the 2015 migration crisis. In the United States, President Donald Trump made migration a central issue of his winning 2016 campaign.But this year, coronavirus has shifted the dynamic and allowed governments to crack down even harder, even as the desperation of those on the move remains unchanged.In the United States, Trump is using a little-known 1944 public health law to set aside decades-old American immigration law. Nearly 10,000 Mexicans and Central Americans were “expelled” to Mexico less than three weeks after the new rules took effect March 21, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. U.S. authorities say the decision was not about immigration but about public health.Mexico then pushes the migrants further south. Mexico denies that it leaves migrants to fend for themselves, saying it coordinates with their home governments.Migrants have also been left stranded in similarly makeshift conditions in the Sahara Desert, after being expelled from Algeria and Libya.Groups of dozens are walking 10 to 15 kilometers (6 to 10 miles) through the desert from a no-man’s-land called Point Zero to the dusty frontier village of Assamaka in neighboring Niger. There, new arrivals remain in makeshift quarantine for 14 days.More than 2,300 foreign migrants are stranded in Niger, unable to return home or go anywhere else, according to the U.N.’s International Organization for Migration.In Libya, the migrant detention center in Kufra expelled nearly 900 men and women from April 11 to 15, taking them by truck or bus across hundreds of miles of sand and leaving them either in a remote town in Chad or at a Sahara border post in Sudan, according to Lt. Mohamed Ali al-Fadil, the center’s director. Hundreds more came the following week.Al-Fadil said the center is “deporting more people faster than ever before.” He said the expulsions are an attempt to shield migrants from the coronavirus.Yet the large groups of migrants forced out are in danger not only of the coronavirus but of midday temperatures that can rise to 50 degrees Celsius (120 degrees Fahrenheit) this time of year.Hundreds of other migrants are stuck at sea in the Mediterranean and the Bay of Bengal.The Mediterranean has been unpatrolled by rescue boats for two weeks. The last two such vessels are lashed together off the coast of Italy along with a ferry holding 180 migrants rescued in April, all of them in a 14-day waterborne quarantine.The boats will ultimately dock. But no country has agreed to take in the migrants, who will stay on the ferry until their fate is decided. Any others who try to leave Libya’s squalid coastal detention centers or cramped smuggler’s warehouses will face an equally uncertain future, either pushed back to Libya or adrift at sea.Half a world away, hundreds of Rohingya refugees are also stranded at sea in the Bay of Bengal. Weeks ago, they boarded at least two fishing trawlers, and are now marooned off the coast of Bangladesh.Fishermen spotted the boats on April 20, and the United Nations refugee agency said they may have been at sea for weeks without enough food and water. A group of 29 made it to an island in southern Bangladesh on Saturday. The aid group Médecins Sans Frontières said survivors on another boat that ultimately made it to shore estimated around 100 had died waiting.The Bangladeshi government said it cannot sustain more refugees and still keep a handle on the coronavirus crisis. Malaysia has also denied entry to several other boats, each with dozens on board.In her tiny bamboo home in the Rohingya refugee camp at Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh, Rahima Khatun has been sleepless since losing contact with her daughter, who went to sea with her grandchildren more than 50 days ago to join her son-in-law in Malaysia.Khatun is not sure which boat they are on but she has heard about the stranded trawlers.“If I had wings I would fly and go see where they are,” Khatun said. “They are not being allowed to enter either Bangladesh or Malaysia – just floating in the middle with no one to help them out.”  
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European leaders are establishing an international medical organization to mount a united battle against the coronavirus.In their announcement in The Independent, a British newspaper, they said they are following in the footsteps of “Louis Pasteur, one of the world’s greatest scientists and a mastermind behind vaccines and breakthroughs which have saved millions of lives spanning three centuries.”“Our aim is simple,” the group said, about its goal of raising $8 billion Monday in an online pledging campaign to finance finding a COVID-19 vaccine and treatment.The leaders listed as being responsible for The Independent article are: Giuseppe Conte, prime minister of Italy; Emmanuel Macron, president of France; Angela Merkel, chancellor of Germany; Charles Michel, president of the European Council; Erna Solberg, prime minister of Norway; and Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission.“We will all put our own pledges on the table and we are glad to be joined by partners from the world over,” they said. “We support the WHO and we are delighted to join forces with experienced organizations such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Wellcome Trust.”U.S. President Donald Trump has suspended payments to the World Health Organization, saying that WHO did not act swiftly enough in alerting the world about the deadly virus.The European leaders said, “Every single euro or dollar that we raise together will be channeled primarily through recognized global health organizations such as CEPI, Gavi, the Vaccines Alliance, the Global Fund and Unitaid into developing and deploying as quickly as possible, for as many as possible the diagnostics, treatments and vaccines that will help the world overcome the pandemic.”“If we can develop a vaccine that is produced by the world, for the whole world, this will be a unique global public good of the 21st century,” the alliance said. “Together with our partners, we commit to making it available, accessible and affordable to all.”There are more than 3.4 million global cases of COVID-19 worldwide, and nearly 244,000 deaths.
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A Bolivian air force plane crashed in the Amazonian region shortly after takeoff Saturday afternoon, killing all those on board.The victims on the twin-engine propeller plane included four Spanish nationals and the two-man crew, an air force captain and lieutenant.The Spaniards were en route to catch a flight back to Spain, the Bolivian Defense Ministry said in a statement.The plane went down in a marshy area on the outskirts of the northeastern city of Trinidad, the statement said.The aircraft was also carrying coronavirus test samples to the city of Santa Cruz.
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A riot broke out Saturday at a prison in the city of Manaus in Brazil’s Amazon state, as inmates protested the suspension of all visits to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.The inmates at the Puraquequara facility held prison guards hostage for more than five hours before authorities brought the situation under control and freed the guards, the state’s public security secretary said in a statement.While inmates took to the roof of the facility, people outside the penitentiary were holding signs in Portuguese reading “Peace, Peace. They just want to be treated with respect” and “They’re already paying for their offenses.”A group of family members, some wearing masks, held a sign saying “Social reintegration? In these conditions it’s not possible.”Relatives said visits at the Puraquequara prison were suspended in mid-March. Rumors that the coronavirus had begun to spread there have been circulating on social media for weeks.Brazil has reported at least 92,000 cases of COVID-19 infections as of Saturday. About 6,500 people have succumbed to the virus.
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With the coronavirus having closed nightclubs across the world, comedians are still managing to get the laughs from people on a pandemic lockdowns all over the world.   VOA’s Mariama Diallo reports on Hollywood’s Laugh Factory and The Stand comedy club in Edinburgh. And she looks at a Japanese comedian who stormed the world with his hit  ‘Pineapple-pen,’ is back with a new message: Wash your hands!
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Iran on Saturday denounced recent U.S. allegations that it was providing covert aid to help Venezuela overcome gas shortages as “baseless” without directly addressing them.  Secretary of State Mike Pompeo last week said “multiple aircraft” belonging to Iran’s Mahan Air had transferred “unknown support” to Venezuela’s government. He called for a halt to the flights and for other countries to bar overflights by Mahan Air.  The Associated Press reported last month that Mahan Air was delivering key chemical components used for producing gasoline to help revive an aging refinery in the South American country, which is in the grip of a severe economic crisis.Venezuela has been suffering from widespread gasoline shortages despite having the world’s largest oil reserves.Both Iran and Venezuela are under heavy U.S. sanctions, and have had close relations for the last two decades.Iran’s Foreign Ministry tweeted that the “baseless comments were made in order to prepare the ground for mounting U.S. pressure on the Venezuelan government.”Another statement said the U.S. intended to “obstruct the Venezuelan government’s plan for reviving the country’s refineries.” The statements did not directly address the allegations or elaborate on the nature of the cooperation between the two countries.The Trump administration is pursuing a “maximum pressure” campaign aimed at ousting Venezuela’s socialist president, Nicolas Maduro, and considers opposition leader Juan Guaido as the nation’s legitimate leader. The U.S. and a coalition of nearly 60 nations say Maduro clings to power following a 2018 election that critics consider a sham because the most popular opposition politicians were banned from running.The Trump administration imposed heavy sanctions on Iran after withdrawing from Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.
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The death toll from a prison riot in western Venezuela has risen to at least 47, with 75 wounded, an opposition politician and prisoners’ rights group said Saturday.”At the moment we have been able to confirm 47 dead and 75 wounded,” deputy Maria Beatriz Martinez, elected from Portuguesa state where the Los Llanos prison is located, told AFP.The Venezuelan Prison Observatory (OVP) rights group also gave the same tally.The initial toll Friday from the riot at the prison in the city of Guanare was 17 dead and nine wounded.
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Inmates at a prison in Manaus, a Brazilian city deep in the Amazon that has been hit hard by the coronavirus outbreak, have taken seven prison guards hostage, the local prison authority told Reuters on Saturday, underlining the endemic violence that has plagued the region’s jails in recent years.The reason for the rebellion at the Puraquequara Penitentiary was not immediately clear, but local television stations cited a video allegedly recorded by an unidentified inmate, who complained of sweltering heat and a lack of electricity in the prison.In a statement, the prison authority in the state of Amazonas, where Manaus is located, said the prisoners were demanding the presence of the press and human rights groups. They had no information on possible deaths.The rebellion came as the coronavirus outbreak has overwhelmed public services in Manaus, with authorities burying victims in mass graves and warning residents of a shortage soon of coffins.Violence is rife in Brazil’s prisons, where organized crime groups often exercise de facto control. Overcrowding is also common, and rights groups call conditions medieval, with food scarce and cells so packed that prisoners have no space to lie down.In January 2017, almost 150 prisoners were killed as organized crime groups battled each other in several prisons in north and northeastern Brazil. In one particularly violent incident in Manaus, 57 inmates were killed, some of whom were decapitated and thrown over prison walls.Last year, over 50 inmates were strangled or stabbed to death as rival gangs battled each other in four separate Manaus jails.Various police units have been deployed and were already beginning negotiations as of Saturday morning, the Amazonas secretary of prisons said in its statement.
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An earthquake struck the Greek island of Crete Saturday.
 
There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage from the afternoon temblor, centered in the Mediterranean Sea.
 
The European Mediterranean Seismological Center reported the quake was of a 6.0 magnitude at a depth of 10 kilometers.
 
The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake registered a preliminary magnitude of 6.6 at a depth of 17 kilometers.
 
The German Research Center for Geosciences also reported a preliminary magnitude of 6.6.
 
The quake rocked the island as Greece again confronts the possibility of a deep recession while it grapples with the coronavirus pandemic.
 
Ten years ago, the country was plunged into one of the world’s worst economic crisis in decades.  
 
The economy has since shown signs of recovery, as its gross domestic product grew 1.9% last year and the jobless rate fell more than 10 points over the previous year to 17.3%.
 
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