AFP Beijing names islands in disputed South China Sea

Source: https://www.yahoo.com/news/beijing-names-islands-disputed-south-china-sea-104551761.html

World

Beijing names islands in disputed South China Sea

AFP April 21, 2020, 3:45 AM PDT

 

 

China on Tuesday defended its naming of 80 islands and other geographical features in the South China Sea in a move likely to anger neighbours as the country asserts its territorial claims.
A joint announcement of the names on Sunday from the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Ministry of Civil Affairs came a day after China established new administrative districts for the contested Spratly and Paracel island chains.
The notice listed the Chinese names and coordinates of 80 islands, reefs, seamounts, shoals and ridges, 55 of them submerged in water.
China last released such a list in 1983 when it named 287 geographical features across the disputed waterway.
Beijing has repeatedly asserted its sovereignty in the sea despite rival claims by Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia and other nations.
"No state can claim sovereignty over underwater features unless they are within 12 nautical miles of land. So is China ignorant of this or deliberately trying to overturn international law?" said Bill Hayton, associate fellow at British think tank Chatham House.
"China has ratified the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) which is very clear on what states can and cannot claim as territory. Yet China seems to be going against UNCLOS by asserting sovereignty in very far away places."
In recent years, Beijing has stepped up its territorial claims in the South China Sea by building artificial islands and a heavy military presence, making it a flashpoint for geopolitical tensions.
China angered Vietnam after announcing at the weekend that the Paracel and Spratly islands, the Macclesfield Bank and their surrounding waters would be administered under two new districts of Sansha city, which China created on nearby Woody Island in 2012.
Vietnam claimed the move "seriously violated" its territorial sovereignty in the area.
In response, China's foreign ministry said Tuesday the Spratly and Paracel islands are its "innate territories" and that Vietnam's claims are "illegal".
Earlier this month Vietnam lodged an official complaint with China and the UN saying Beijing illegally sank a fishing trawler near the Paracel Islands, killing eight people on board.
As a result, the United States warned China not to take advantage of the coronavirus pandemic to assert itself in the South China Sea.

China has also established new administrative districts for the contested Paracel island chain (AFP Photo/-)

Reuters: American quandary: how to secure weapons-grade minerals without China

Source: https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/american-quandary-secure-weapons-grade-112359021.html

Reuters

American quandary: how to secure weapons-grade minerals without China

By Ernest Scheyder

ReutersApril 22, 2020, 11:23 AM UTC

 

 By Ernest Scheyder
MOUNTAIN PASS, Calif. (Reuters) - The United States wants to curb its reliance on China for specialized minerals used to make weapons and high-tech equipment, but it faces a Catch-22.
It only has one rare earths mine - and government scientists have been told not to work with it because of its Chinese ties.
The mine is southern California's Mountain Pass, home to the world's eighth-largest reserves of the rare earths used in missiles, fighter jets, night-vision goggles and other devices.
But the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has told government scientists not to collaborate with the mine's owner, MP Materials, the DOE's Critical Materials Institute told Reuters.
This is because MP Materials is almost a tenth-owned by a Chinese investor and relies heavily on Chinese sales and technical know-how, according to the company.
"Clearly, the MP Materials ownership structure is an issue," said Tom Lograsso, interim director of the institute, the focal point of the U.S. government's rare earths research and a facility that typically works closely with private industry.
"We're going to allow the people in Washington to figure this out."
The DOE instruction, which has not been previously reported, illustrates the competing pressures facing officials looking to resurrect the U.S. commercial rare earths industry, which has all but disappeared since its genesis in World War Two's Manhattan Project to develop the atomic bomb. Lograsso did not say how the guidance was delivered to the institute.
Reviving domestic rare earths production has become a priority in Washington as relations with China, which dominates global supplies, have become increasingly frayed and U.S. lawmakers warn of the dangers of relying on a competitor for critical defense components.
Even as the DOE has blacklisted MP Materials, the company is a candidate to receive up to $40 million in funding from the Pentagon, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
The Pentagon has yet to announce its decision on funding, which could go to more than one project, after delaying the decision from March due to the coronavirus crisis.
MP Materials is by far the most advanced player in the U.S. rare earths industry, given no rival project has even broken ground. As such, Mountain Pass is widely seen by industry analysts as the front-runner for Pentagon funding.
The DOE did not respond to requests for comment on the instruction to scientists or any potential conflict with Pentagon policy.
The Pentagon is working closely with "the president, Congress, allies, partners and the industrial base to mitigate U.S. reliance on China for rare earth minerals," said spokesman Lt Col Mike Andrews. The department did not respond to requests for comment on whether it might fund Mountain Pass or potential conflicts with DOE policy.

APPLE TO LOCKHEED
MP Materials, which bought the mine in 2017, describes itself as an American-controlled company with a predominantly U.S. workforce. The privately held firm is 9.9%-owned by China's Shenghe Resources Holding Co, though, and Chinese customers account for all its annual revenue of about $100 million.
"Had we not had a Chinese technical partner helping us do this relaunch, there's no way this could have been done," said James Litinsky, chief executive of JHL Capital Group LLC, a Chicago-based hedge fund and MP Materials' majority owner.
Litinsky declined to comment on the Pentagon funding.
Asked for comment on the DOE instruction to scientists, Litinsky said: "MP is on a mission to restore the full rare earth supply chain to the United States of America, whether the government helps us or not."
Shenghe did not respond to requests for comment.
MP Materials is among a slew of U.S. companies dependent on China's rare earths industry. Apple Inc uses Chinese rare earths in its iPhone's taptic engine, which makes the phone vibrate. Lockheed Martin Corp uses them to make the F-35 Lightning fighter jet. General Dynamics Corp uses them to build the Virginia-class submarine.
The COVID-19 pandemic has further driven home the global nature of supply chains and how heavily Western countries rely on manufacturing powerhouse China for a host of key products, including drug ingredients.

MANHATTAN PROJECT
Mountain Pass first opened in the late 1940s to extract europium, a rare earth used to produce the color red in televisions. It drew heavily on technology developed by Manhattan Project government scientists to separate the 17 rare earths, a complex and expensive process.
By the early 1980s, the mine was a top global rare earths producer. Its minerals were in much of the equipment that U.S. soldiers used during the first Gulf War in 1990.
However China ramped up development of a massive rare earths refining network and began boosting exports, undercutting other producers. "The Middle East has oil. China has rare earths," then-Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping said in 1992.
In 2010, China halted supplies to Japan during a diplomatic dispute, unnerving U.S. military officials who wondered if China could one day do the same to the United States.
That refocused Washington's attention on the mine and its then-owner Molycorp, which launched a $400 million initial public offering the same year.
However, even as U.S. government scientists had begun research projects with Molycorp, the company went bankrupt in 2015 under the weight of its debt - partly built up to comply with tightened environmental regulations from the Obama administration - and cheaper Chinese competition.
Two years later, Litinsky's group and Shenghe bought Mountain Pass out of bankruptcy. The processing equipment installed by Molycorp, however, remains unused because of poor design, Litinsky said.
For now, MP Materials ships more than 50,000 tonnes of concentrated rare earths per year to China for processing, the Achilles heel of the U.S. industry.
The company aims to restart its own processing by the end of 2020, Litinsky said. The goal is to produce about 5,000 tonnes per year of the two most common rare earth metals, more than enough for U.S. military needs.
Some rare earths analysts and academics have doubted whether Mountain Pass can resume processing so soon, citing concerns about its plans for waste disposal and water filtration.

'NATIONAL SECURITY MALPRACTICE'
Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio told Reuters that the United States' reliance on China for defense components could pose a strategic military threat.
"It would be national security malpractice not to address this," said Rubio, who sits on the Senate's Intelligence and Foreign Relations committees.
This was echoed by Representative Chrissy Houlahan, a Pennsylvania Democrat, who said the issue of creating a viable domestic industry had been ignored for too many years.
"This isn't an issue we can just kick down the road," said Houlahan, who sits on the House Armed Services Committee.
The Pentagon asked miners in early 2019 to outline plans to develop rare earths projects and processing facilities, according to documents seen by Reuters.
President Donald Trump sharpened the directive last July, telling the Pentagon to fund U.S. rare earths projects and find better ways to procure military-grade magnets made from rare earths.
On Wednesday, Australia-based Lynas Corp and privately held Blue Line Corp said they were chosen by the Pentagon to process in Texas so-called heavy rare earths, a less-common type of the specialized minerals, imported from Australia. The deadline for that project was in December.
MP Materials is said to have applied for the light rare earths funding, the deadline for which was March 2. No decision has been announced. Light rare earths are the most-commonly used of the specialized materials.
Other applicants for the Pentagon funding programs included Texas Mineral Resources Corp; a joint venture between Alaska's UCore Rare Metals and Materion Corp; Medallion Resources Ltd and Search Minerals Inc, both of Canada; and Nebraska's NioCorp Developments Ltd.
For a FACTBOX about these projects, click here:
Meanwhile, U.S. government scientists at the DOE institute are studying ways to recycle rare earth magnets, to find substitutes and to locate new sources of the strategic minerals. None of that research is shared with MP Materials.
"MP Materials recognizes they have become the elephant in the room that the U.S. government doesn't want to acknowledge, given their relationship with Shenghe," said Ryan Castilloux, a rare earths industry consultant at Adamas Intelligence.

(Reporting by Ernest Scheyder; Editing by Amran Abocar and Pravin Char)

World: China’s Coronavirus Diplomacy Has Finally Pushed Europe Too Far

Source: https://www.yahoo.com/news/china-coronavirus-diplomacy-finally-pushed-210000019.html

World

China’s Coronavirus Diplomacy Has Finally Pushed Europe Too Far

Alan Crawford and Peter Martin

BloombergApril 21, 2020, 8:52 PM PDT

(Bloomberg) -- With a series of high-level summits culminating in a visit to Germany in the fall by President Xi Jinping, this was supposed to be the year of Europe-China diplomacy. Instead, Europeans are warning of a damaging rift.
Diplomats talk of mounting anger over China’s behavior during the coronavirus pandemic including claims of price gouging by Chinese suppliers of medical equipment and a blindness to how its actions are perceived. The upshot is that Beijing’s handling of the crisis has eroded trust just when it had a chance to demonstrate global leadership.
“Over these months China has lost Europe,” said Reinhard Buetikofer, a German Green party lawmaker who chairs the European Parliament’s delegation for relations with China. He cited concerns from China’s “truth management” in the early stages of the virus to an “extremely aggressive” stance by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing and “hard line propaganda” that champions the superiority of Communist Party rule over democracy.
Rather than any single act responsible for the breakdown, he said, “it’s the pervasiveness of an attitude that does not purvey the will to create partnerships, but the will to tell people what to do.”
While the Trump administration has resumed its swipes at China, European officials are traditionally less willing to be openly critical, in part for fear of retribution. The fact that politicians in Berlin, Paris, London and Brussels are expressing concern over Beijing’s narrative on Covid-19 hints at a deeper resentment with wide-ranging consequences. Already some European Union members are pursuing policies to reduce their dependence on China and keep potential predatory investments in check, defensive measures that risk hurting China-EU trade worth almost $750 billion last year.
It’s a turnaround from just a few weeks ago, when China emerged from the worst of its own outbreak to offer web seminars on best practice gained from tackling the virus where it first emerged. It also airlifted medical supplies including protective equipment, testing kits and ventilators to the worst-hit countries in Europe and elsewhere, in a show of aid-giving that contrasted with America’s international absence.
The pandemic offered a chance for mutual solidarity. But it didn’t last.
“Now the atmosphere in Europe is rather toxic when it comes to China,” said Joerg Wuttke, president of the EU Chamber of Commerce in China.
Belt and Road
Concerns were aired during a March 25 call of Group of Seven foreign ministers about how China would proceed during the crisis and once it subsided. Ministers were told that Europe and the G-7 must be on guard as Beijing was likely to move “more self confidently, more powerfully” and in a way that exploits its leverage when other nations were still in lockdown, according to a European official familiar with the call.
In public, Chinese officials have struck a conciliatory tone. “When people’s lives are at stake, nothing matters more than saving lives. It is useless to argue over the merits of different social systems or models,” Foreign Ministry Spokesman Zhao Lijian said at a regular press conference on April 17. China, he said, is ready to work with the international community, including European countries, to “jointly safeguard the health and safety of all mankind.”
Yet China’s means of going about it has backfired in much of Europe. An anonymously authored text posted on the website of the Chinese embassy in France this month falsely accused French retirement home staff of leaving old people to die. It was “an incredible accusation on one of the most sensitive and tragic aspects” of the crisis in France, Mathieu Duchatel of the Institut Montaigne wrote on Twitter.
The embassy website comments rang alarm bells for the needless offense caused. China underestimated the reaction to its conspiracy theories amplified by propaganda outlets, according to two European officials in Beijing. What’s more, China’s insistence that aid be accompanied by public thanks and praise has undercut the goodwill it might otherwise have gained, they said.
Vulnerable Companies
European governments have become more wary of China over the past two years as Xi’s Belt and Road Initiative on trade and infrastructure expanded across the continent, snapping up strategic assets including ports, power utilities and robotics firms from the Mediterranean to the Baltic Sea. While some nations including Italy and Portugal have been enthusiastic backers of Belt and Road, another program known as Made in China 2025, whereby Beijing seeks to become the world leader in key technologies, is seen in many quarters as a further threat to European industry.
With stock prices tumbling on the coronavirus crisis, countries including Germany that have investment screening regulations have tightened them and extended their scope in response to concerns that China, among others, could take controlling stakes in companies suddenly made vulnerable. EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager suggested in a Financial Times interview that governments go further and buy stakes in companies themselves to stave off the threat of Chinese takeovers.
More far-reaching still are proposals to curb dependence on China, not just for medical supplies but in areas such as battery technology for electric vehicles. EU Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan said last week there’s a need for a discussion “on what it means to be strategically autonomous,” including building “resilient supply chains, based on diversification, acknowledging the simple fact that we will not be able to manufacture everything locally.” Japan already earmarked $2.2 billion from its $1 trillion stimulus package to help its manufacturers shift production away from China.
Without mentioning China, EU trade ministers agreed in an April 16 call on the importance of diversifying to “reduce the reliance on individual countries of supply.” As a first step, Berlin plans state funds and purchase guarantees to start industrial production of millions of surgical and face masks by late summer. China currently exports 25% of the world’s face masks.
Wuttke of the EU trade chambers said the discussion on supply chains began when Beijing shut its ports earlier this year, prompting fears that pharmaceutical ingredients produced in China would not reach Europe, and causing policymakers to realize that strategic products had to be secured. According to another European official, even official suppliers were breaking contracts for items such as ventilators and scamming people, burning bridges along the way. “People want to have their eggs in more baskets,” said Wuttke.
Burning bridges
Certainly, the tenor of the political debate in Europe has shifted since. German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas told Bild newspaper that China’s revising up of the death toll last week was “alarming,” while French President Emmanuel Macron said in an FT interview there were “clearly things that have happened that we don’t know about.” U.K. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said it can’t be “business as usual” with China once the pandemic is over.
Spain’s Health Ministry has canceled an order of antigen test kits from Chinese company Bioeasy after sending back a previous batch, the country’s El Pais reported. Health authorities found that both sets of kits were faulty, it said.
As a result of the Covid-19 crisis, pressure is growing on the U.K. to reverse its decision to allow Huawei Technologies a limited role in its fifth-generation mobile networks, while France may be less inclined to give Huawei a chunk of its 5G contracts after the embassy spat. Germany must make a decision by around midyear on Chinese involvement in its 5G networks.
In the battle of narratives, Germany is key, according to Janka Oertel, director of the Asia program at the European Council on Foreign Relations in Berlin. As well as Europe’s dominant economy, its trade ties to China dwarf those of its neighbors: German exports to China in 2019 were higher than the U.K., France, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands combined. It will assume the EU’s rotating presidency on July 1, giving it the chance to turn the debate in Europe.
China could still win back favor and help secure a greater global role by acceding to demands to open up its markets and introduce a more level playing field for international business, said Oertel. “That would be something that the Europeans would very much appreciate,” she said. All the same, she added: “I don’t think it’s very likely.”
(Updates with El Pais report in final section.)
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©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

World: US failed to block UN virus vaccine resolution

Source: https://www.yahoo.com/news/us-failed-block-un-virus-vaccine-resolution-235126482.html

World

US failed to block UN virus vaccine resolution

Philippe RATER

AFP April 21, 2020, 5:01 PM PDT

 

 

United Nations (United States) (AFP) - The UN General Assembly has demanded equal access for any future COVID-19 vaccine but its seeming unanimity was a fluke. The United States in fact opposed the resolution but acted too late to stop it, diplomats say.
The 193 members of the General Assembly adopted by consensus Monday a resolution led by Mexico that calls for "equitable, efficient and timely" access to any vaccine developed to fight the pandemic.
But the non-binding resolution irked the United States for another reason. It highlighted the "crucial leading role" of the World Health Organization, which President Donald Trump has strongly criticized for not doing more to halt the virus after it was detected in China.
The adoption of the text was announced three hours after the vote, an unusually long gap.
The reason for the delay, diplomats told AFP, was that the United States had tried unsuccessfully to block it after the fact.
There is no veto at the General Assembly, which includes every UN member state, unlike the more powerful Security Council where five powers -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- can stop any resolution.
In ordinary times, the General Assembly adopts resolutions either by consensus or by majority votes -- displayed openly on an electronic board or held secretly in the case of elections.
But faced with the coronavirus pandemic, the General Assembly has changed its way of doing business until at least late May to avoid physical meetings at the UN headquarters in New York.
Under the temporary setup, a country puts forward a text which is adopted after a "period of silence" of several days in which any member can voice objections -- effectively a veto.
The United States did not "break the silence" before Monday's deadline for the resolution -- but, according to diplomats, tried to voice objections just afterward.
"One delegation wanted to break the silence after the silence," a diplomat told AFP, with another diplomat confirming the United States was the country.
The US mission at the United Nations did not respond to requests for comment. Trump has ramped up his broadsides against the WHO amid criticism at home over his handling of the crisis.
- Concerns for upcoming votes -
For the United Nations, the temporary procedures were seen as vital to ensure that texts, not to mention budgetary authorizations, can move forward.
But the arrangement effectively lets any one of 193 nations hold up the entire United Nations.
On April 3, no country broke the silence to stop a resolution that called in general terms for international cooperation to fight COVID-19.
But a separate bid the same day by Russia to urge the lifting of economic sanctions amid the pandemic was blocked by Ukraine, Georgia, the United States and European Union.
Russia has moved forward this week with another resolution that targets sanctions. It calls on all nations to "face global challenges as good neighbors, refraining from implementing protectionist and discriminatory measures inconsistent with the World Trade Organization rules."
Member states have a deadline of 1600 GMT Wednesday to break the silence on the Russian draft -- and most diplomats think that this time around, objections will be lodged in time.
On June 17, the General Assembly will have to tackle one of its thorniest issues -- selecting five new non-permanent members to the Security Council.
Diplomats say that the candidates for Security Council seats -- which include Canada, Djibouti, Ireland, Kenya and Norway -- are already voicing alarm on how the election can take place if the crisis restrictions remain in place.

Source: https://www.yahoo.com/news/australia-joins-u-ships-south-050512278.html

World

Australia joins U.S. ships in South China Sea amid rising tension

By Rozanna Latiff

ReutersApril 21, 2020, 10:05 PM PDT

 

 

By Rozanna Latiff
KUALA LUMPUR, April 22 (Reuters) - An Australian frigate has joined three U.S. warships in the South China Sea near an area where a Chinese vessel is suspected to be exploring for oil, near waters also claimed by Vietnam and Malaysia, officials said on Wednesday.
The warships arrived this week close to where the Chinese government survey ship Haiyang Dizhi 8 has been operating, which is in turn near where a vessel operated by Malaysia’s Petronas state oil company is conducting exploratory drilling, regional security sources have said.
The U.S. navy said on Tuesday the USS America amphibious assault ship and the USS Bunker Hill, a guided missile cruiser, were operating in the South China Sea.
They were joined by Australia's frigate HMAS Parramatta and a third U.S. vessel, the destroyer USS Barry, as part of a joint exercise, the Australian defence department said.
"During the passage exercises, the ships honed interoperability between Australian and US navies, including replenishment-at-sea, aviation operations, maritime manoeuvres and communications drills," it said in a statement to Reuters.
The Haiyang Dizhi 8 was 325 km (202 miles) off the Malaysian coast, within its exclusive economic zone, data from ship-tracking website Marine Traffic showed on Wednesday.
The ship, accompanied by a Chinese coastguard vessel, has been moving in a hash-shaped pattern consistent with a seismic survey for nearly a week, the data showed.
The area is near waters claimed by both Vietnam and Malaysia as well as China.
China claims most of the energy-rich South China Sea, within a U-shaped "nine-dash line" on its maps, which is not recognised by its neighbours.
Petronas and Malaysia's foreign ministry have not commented on the situation but the United States has called on China to stop its "bullying behaviour" in the South China Sea.
China, however, has denied reports of a standoff, saying the Haiyang Dizhi 8 was conducting normal activities.
Last year, Vietnamese vessels spent months shadowing the Haiyang Dizhi 8.
It appeared off Vietnam again last week, within Vietnam's exclusive economic zone. Vietnam said it was closely monitoring the situation.
The United States has accused China of pushing its presence in the South China Sea while other claimants are pre-occupied with the coronavirus.
At the same time, China has been donating medical aid to Southeast Asian countries to help them tackle the virus, which emerged in central China late last year.
A team of Chinese medical experts arrived this week in Malaysia, which has reported more than 5,400 coronavirus infections.
On Sunday, Vietnam protested after China said it had established two administrative districts on the Paracel and Spratly islands in the disputed waters. China has called Vietnam's claims illegal. (Reporting by Rozanna Latiff Editing by Robert Birsel)

https://www.yahoo.com/news/suburban-york-city-county-residents-184338976.html

U.S.

Suburban NYC county residents sue WHO over coronavirus pandemic response

By Jonathan Stempel and Jan Wolfe

ReutersApril 20, 2020, 11:43 AM PDT

 

 

 

Suburban NYC county residents sue WHO over coronavirus pandemic response

Members of Joint Task Force 2, composed of soldiers and airmen from the New York Army and Air National Guard, work to sanitize the New Rochelle High School during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in New Rochelle, New York

By Jonathan Stempel and Jan Wolfe
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Residents of a suburban New York City county that was one of the earliest U.S. hot spots for the coronavirus sued the World Health Organization on Monday, accusing it of gross negligence in covering up and responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a proposed class action, three residents of Westchester County accused the WHO of failing to quickly declare a pandemic, monitor China's response to the original outbreak, provide treatment guidelines, advise members on how to respond including through travel restrictions, and coordinate a global response.
They also accused the WHO of conspiring with China's government, which was not named as a defendant, to cover up COVID-19's severity.
The WHO did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Its director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has defended the agency's handling of the pandemic, saying the WHO had kept the world informed about the coronavirus. He has also called for global unity to fight the pandemic.
The lawsuit by Richard Kling and Steve Rotker, both of New Rochelle, and Gennaro Purchia, of Scarsdale, was filed in the federal court in White Plains, New York.
It seeks unspecified damages for what they called WHO's "incalculable" harm to the roughly 756,000 adult residents in Westchester County who would make up the class.
Westchester is north of New York City, and last year had about 967,506 people, of whom roughly 78% were adults, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Chimène Keitner, an international law professor at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco, said the lawsuit will likely be dismissed because U.S. law affords the WHO "functional immunity" from such cases.
She also said the complaint did not detail the alleged harm suffered by the individual plaintiffs, or show what legal duty the WHO owed to them.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
China itself also faces multiple private lawsuits in the United States seeking damages related to the pandemic.
New Rochelle became a coronavirus hot spot after a lawyer who attended the Young Israel of New Rochelle synagogue was diagnosed with COVID-19 on March 2, the first person in the community to test positive.
Through April 19, a total of 247,512 people in New York state had tested positive for the coronavirus, including 24,306 in Westchester, according to the state's health department.
The number of total hospitalizations for COVID-19 and the daily death toll have fallen in recent days, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Monday.
The case is Kling et al v World Health Organization, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 20-03124.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York and Jan Wolfe in Washington; Editing by Grant McCool and Matthew Lewis)

https://www.yahoo.com/news/missouri-sues-china-over-coronavirus-172735575.html

Business

Missouri lawsuit alleges China caused coronavirus pandemic

SUMMER BALLENTINE

Associated PressApril 21, 2020, 10:27 AM PDT

 

 

 FILE - In this Sept. 9, 2019, file photo, Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt speaks in front of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington. Schmitt on Tuesday, April 21, 2020, filed a lawsuit against the Chinese government, the Community Party of China and others, alleging that the hiding of information and other actions at the outset of the coronavirus outbreak led to loss of life and significant economic damage in Missouri. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

 

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — The state of Missouri filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the Chinese government over the coronavirus, alleging that nation's officials are to blame for the global pandemic.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court by the state's top lawyer, alleges Chinese officials are “responsible for the enormous death, suffering, and economic losses they inflicted on the world, including Missourians.”
Republican Attorney General Eric Schmitt in a written statement said the Chinese government lied about the dangers of the virus and didn’t do enough to slow its spread.
“The Chinese government lied to the world about the danger and contagious nature of COVID-19, silenced whistleblowers, and did little to stop the spread of the disease,” he said. "They must be held accountable for their actions.”
It's unclear whether the lawsuit will have much, if any, impact. U.S. law generally prohibits lawsuits against other countries with few exceptions, said Chimène Keitner, an international law professor at University of California, Hastings College of the Law.
“The legal problem is, it's just not possible,” said Keitner, who recently wrote a blog titled “Don't Bother Suing China for Coronavirus.”
Missouri Democratic Party Executive Director Lauren Gepford called the lawsuit a “stunt” by a Republican attorney general who is up for re-election this year.
The number of Missouri deaths statewide rose by 16 Tuesday to 215, according to Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering. The number of cases rose by 156 to 5,963.
For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and death.

FOX News Videos

Sen. Cotton on origins of COVID-19: All circumstantial evidence points to Wuhan labs

FOX News VideosApril 20, 2020, 7:01 AM PDT

 

 https://www.yahoo.com/news/sen-cotton-origins-covid-19-140131616.html

 

Quốc Hận 30/4 Năm Nay Nghĩ Gì về Ðất Nước Hoa Kỳ

Quốc Hận 30/4 Năm Nay Nghĩ Gì về Ðất Nước Hoa Kỳ

Năm nay 2020 có thể là năm căng thẳng nhất mà toàn nước Mỹ sẽ phải đối phó về mọi mặt y tế, kinh tế, quân sự, chính trị, và những mặt trận xa ngoài đất nước. Viễn cảnh một nước Mỹ phục hồi sau Wuhan virus thật khó lường. Trong thời gian tạm lắng đọng những đối đầu chính trị giữa hai đảng chính trị trước ngày bầu cử vào tháng 11/2020, đất nước như cuốn hút vào những rối ren mà chủ yếu do bối cảnh của Trung cộng và WHO, một tổ chức y tế thế giới đang bị chính phủ Mỹ ngừng cung cấp số tiền khoảng 900 triệu đô la cho nó với lý do những phát biểu của Tedros, người đứng đầu WHO đã không minh bạch và che dấu những nguy hiểm Wuhan virus có thể lây lan giữa người với người. Việc WHO che dấu sự thực này và có hành động ngã theo Trung cộng đã khiến nước Mỹ bị lâm vào thế thụ động trong việc ngăn chận sự tràn lan của Wuhan virus và dẫn đến hậu quả hôm nay tại Hoa Kỳ có hơn 37 ngàn người đã chết và 789.400 (theo Yahoo™) người lây nhiễm. Toàn thế giới đã có 169.794 người chết và hơn 2 triệu người lây nhiễm.

Chắc chắn tổ chức WHO, nếu tồn tại, cần phải cải tổ. Tedros phải từ chức hoặc cần phải bị điều tra sâu rộng và có thể bị xem là một tội phạm nếu xét thấy đủ bằng chứng buộc tội.

Trong thời gian khó khăn này của đất nước Hoa Kỳ, chúng ta cần cẩn thận khi lắng nghe các nguồn thông tin và tìm hiểu cặn kẻ để nhận ra sự thật chính xác mà không phải là sự sợ hãi. Chúng ta cần biết về những dữ kiện (fact) và hổ trợ chính quyền ngăn chận sự lây lan của bệnh Wuhan virus và đồng thời tuân thủ theo các quy định của các cấp chính quyền liȇn bang, tiểu bang, counties, và Trung Tâm phòng chống dịch bệnh (CDC).

Một số phương cách phòng chống dịch bệnh trong đó có việc nȇn tránh những tụ tập đông người, che mũi miệng và khi tiếp xúc cá nhân cần đứng xa tối thiểu 6 feet (khoảng 2m) để tránh hít thở không khí mang Wuhan virus từ người bệnh, hoặc nếu chúng ta có bệnh thì chúng ta sẽ không lây bệnh sang người khác. Hai bàn tay cần thường xuyȇn rửa sạch với xà bông trong ít nhất 20 giây sau khi đi ra ngoài, chợ, hoặc những nơi cần thiết. Khi về nhà quần áo không nȇn giũ, cần thay đổi và bỏ riȇng hoặc bỏ giặt vì virus có thể bám nơi quần áo khi chúng ta giũ nó sẽ bay ra, thư từ cần nȇn được lau bằng thuốc sát trùng sau khi nhận. Khi có việc đi chợ, chúng ta nȇn đi chợ sớm vì sẽ ít người có nhiều không khí và không đi gần nhau, có thể chúng ta mang găng (gloves) để cầm thức ăn, đồ dùng và nȇn giữ vệ sinh chung. Cần nȇn có ít thực phẩm đồ hộp dự trù trong 3 tuần, một tháng, phòng khi lười đi chợ, hoặc không đi chợ được. Nhìn chung đó là sự đề phòng thôi, nếu lỡ mắc bệnh thì phải đến các cơ quan y tế nhờ giúp đỡ.

Từ nay đến ngày Tổng bầu cử vào tháng 11/2020 còn chưa đầy 7 tháng, nhưng chúng ta chưa rõ cuộc bầu cử diễn ra sao, nhưng trước mắt, nếu tình hình dịch bệnh không giảm bớt thì cuộc bầu cử nếu diễn ra thì phương cách hay nhất là bầu cử bằng thư. Bầu cử bằng thư Mail Ballot sẽ ít tốn kém và an toàn về mặt y tế, nhưng quyết định bầu cử bằng thư hợp lý hơn là hoãn lại bầu cử. Do đó, cộng đồng người Việt tỵ nạn cộng sản cần nȇn học hỏi cách bầu bằng thư và không nȇn nhờ bất cứ ai điền thư cho mình, việc này quan trọng hơn đi với người lớn tuổi và không đọc được chữ Anh thì cần có Mail Ballot bằng tiếng Việt. Việc bầu cử vào tháng 11/2020  này rất quan trọng để chọn lựa những vị dân cử xứng đáng, nhất là vị Tổng Thống lãnh đạo đất nước vượt qua khó khăn.

Giữa khi tình hình căng thẳng và nhuốm đau buồn trȇn đất nước Hoa Kỳ, quȇ hương thứ hai của chúng ta, đã hết rồi thời gian khi chúng ta bật khóc vì buồn mà chỉ có một lòng quyết tâm hổ trợ cho quȇ hương này sớm vượt qua gian khó. Nhìn ngày Quốc Hận 30/4 đến gần lòng chúng ta không khỏi ngậm ngùi thương khóc một tổ quốc quȇ hương Việt Nam Cộng Hòa đã mất. Nếu tiếng khóc đau thương ấy là sự có thật, còn hiện hữu trong lòng chúng ta thì hãy biến tiếng khóc và nổi đau ấy thành hành động cương quyết thiết thực hổ trợ, tiết kiệm, hạn chế tiȇu xài, gìn giữ và phấn đấu cho quȇ hương thứ hai này mãi mãi xinh đẹp, tươi vui, cường thịnh thì từ đó chúng ta mới có cơ hội trở về quȇ hương xưa cũ của chúng ta treo lại lá cờ Vàng Ba Sọc Ðỏ tại Sài Gòn và Hà Nội và mang về tự do, ấm no cho dân chúng và gột sạch những nhơ bợn tàn dư mà chế độ cộng sản đã để lại sau bao nhiȇu năm tang tóc mà chúng đã đang thống trị.

Quan Ðiểm Việt Nam

20/4/2020

Source: https://www.yahoo.com/news/watch-live-coronavirus-task-force-114803611.html

Politics

Trump announces U.S. funding for WHO will be withheld

CBSNews

CBS News April 19, 2020, 1:17 PM PDT

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Trump announces U.S. funding for WHO will be withheld

 

Highlights from President Trump's press conference:
President Trump said Tuesday that he is instructing his administration to halt funding to the World Health Organization pending an investigation into how the organization handled the pandemic.Mr. Trump said he will be speaking to all 50 governors about reopening the country.One day after saying he had "absolute" authority to reopen, Mr. Trump said Tuesday he would be acting in a "managerial role" and would not put any pressure on any governors to reopen.Mr. Trump announced a deal to help float airlines.
President Trump announced Tuesday that the U.S. will be withholding funding for the World Health Organization, pending a review. The president also claimed plans to reopen the nation are close to being finalized, and said he will soon speak with all 50 governors and authorize each governor to implement such a plan.
The president on Tuesday blamed the WHO for helping accelerate the coronavirus pandemic. Countries that listened to the WHO and didn't impose travel restrictions are experiencing terrible problems, the president said. Mr. Trump imposed travel restrictions from China in late January, but has struggled to explain what he did with the time he bought. Travel bans "work for the same reason quarantines work," he said.
"Today I'm instructing my administration to halt funding of the WHO while a review is conducted to assess the WHO's role in severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the coronavirus."
The U.S. contributes more to the organization than any other nation. The president also accused the WHO of failing to earlier report the dangers of the virus, including that it could be spread by human-to-human contact. The WHO "pushed China's misinformation about the virus," the president said.
"So much death has been caused by their mistakes," he said.
When reporters pointed out that the president also praised China's transparency, the president claimed, "I don't talk about China's transparency." On January 24, the president tweeted that the United States "greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency."
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres issued a statement Tuesday night after Mr. Trump spoke saying now is "not the time to reduce the resources for the operations of the World Health Organization or any other humanitarian organization in the fight against the virus."
The U.S. has the largest number of confirmed cases of any country in the world by far, according to Johns Hopkins University data, although it's unclear how accurate China's reporting is. The death toll from the coronavirus continues to climb and on Tuesday surpassed 25,000 in the U.S.
Mr. Trump, who has said he wants to leave the decision to shutter local economies to the states but has also said he has total authority over reopening them, said he will be keeping the states "accountable." Mr. Trump said he may make the recommendations to open in some places before May 1, the White House's current target.
No, Trump can't order states to reopen, constitutional scholars say
Asked what he will do to governors who don't follow his administration's guidance and if their funding will be taken away, Mr. Trump said, "I don't want to say that." Later in the briefing, the president said he wouldn't put pressure on states to act as he wants.
Mr. Trump said Monday his administration will soon release guidelines for how states can start reopening their economies. He told reporters that as president, he has "total" authority, and the decision on when to reboot the economy lies with him. But governors, who were responsible for issuing stay-at-home orders, and constitutional law experts disagree.
"The Constitution does not go out the window in an emergency," Cuomo told CNN in a phone interview. "We don't have a king. We have an elected president."
Governors of states from the East and West Coasts have formed regional coalitions to study when it's best to begin easing restrictions put in place to curtail the spread of the coronavirus.
"Sunday Morning" Matinee: "A Chorus Line in Quarantine"
Minnesota attorney general discusses pressure on state officials to reopen
Cuomo says New York will start aggressive antibody testing

Trump announces U.S. funding for WHO will be withheld