Pandemic drives broadest economic collapse in 150 years: World Bank

AFP/File / Noel CELISChina's economy is reopening in the wake of the pandemic, and the country is almost alone in seeing growth this year, according to the World Bank

The coronavirus pandemic inflicted a "swift and massive shock" that has caused the broadest collapse of the global economy since 1870 despite unprecedented government support, the World Bank said Monday.

The world economy is expected to contract by 5.2 percent this year -- the worst recession in 80 years -- but the sheer number of countries suffering economic losses means the scale of the downturn is worse than any recession in 150 years, the World Bank said in its latest Global Economic Prospects report.

"This is a deeply sobering outlook, with the crisis likely to leave long-lasting scars and pose major global challenges," said World Bank Group Vice President for Equitable Growth, Finance and Institutions Ceyla Pazarbasioglu.

The depth of the crisis will drive 70 to 100 million people into extreme poverty -- worse than the prior estimate of 60 million, she told reporters.

And while the Washington-based development lender projects a rebound for 2021, there is a risk a second wave of outbreaks could undermine the recovery and turn the economic crisis into a financial one that will see a "wave of defaults."

Economists have been struggling to measure the impact of the crisis they have likened to a global natural disaster, but the sheer size of the impact across so many sectors and countries has made that difficult.

Under the worst-case scenario, the global recession could mean a contraction of eight percent, according to the report.

But Pazarbasioglu cautioned: "Given this uncertainty, further downgrades to the outlook are very likely."

Meanwhile, a group of American economists who are the arbiters of when a recession starts and ends said Monday the United States entered a downturn in February, ending 128 months of uninterrupted growth, the longest streak in history.

Recessions typically are defined by several months of declining economic activity.

But the Business Cycle Dating Committee of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), a non-profit, non-partisan research organization, called the current situation in the world's largest economy "unprecedented" due to the severity of the drop in employment and production, even if it might turn out to be shorter than other recessions.

- China still growing, barely -

China is nearly alone in seeing modest growth this year. However the World Bank warned the depth of the slowdown in the world's second-largest economy will hinder recovery prospects in developing nations, especially commodity exporters.

While China will see GDP rise just one percent, the World Bank said, the rest of the forecasts are grim: US -6.1 percent, eurozone -9.1 percent, Japan -6.1 percent, Brazil -8 percent, Mexico -7.5 percent and India -3.2 percent.

AFP/File / Andrew CABALLERO-REYNOLDSThe World Bank now believes 70 to 100 million people could fall into extreme poverty due to the coronavirus pandemic

And things could get worse, meaning the forecasts will be revised even lower, the bank warned.

Though dramatic, the current forecast falls short of the Great Depression, which saw a global contraction of 14.5 percent from 1930 to 1932, while the post-war downturn in 1945-1946 was 13.8 percent, according to the World Bank.

But because of the pandemic there remain some "exceptionally high" risks to the outlook, particularly if the disease lingers and authorities have to reimpose restrictions -- which could make the downturn as bad as eight percent.

"Disruptions to activity would weaken businesses' ability to remain in operation and service their debt," the report cautioned.

That, in turn, could raise interest rates for higher-risk borrowers. "With debt levels already at historic highs, this could lead to cascading defaults and financial crises across many economies," it said.

But even if the 4.2 percent global recovery projected for 2021 materializes, "in many countries, deep recessions triggered by COVID-19 will likely weigh on potential output for years to come."

UK anger at toppled slave trader statue but few want it back

AFP / -Sequence of pictures showing demonstrators pulling down the bronze monument to Edward Colston in Bristol and threw it into the harbour

The British government on Monday denounced the toppling of a slave trader's statue during anti-racism protests, urging campaigners to use democratic means for change rather than breaking the law.

But the action won some support, including from the city's mayor, against a backdrop of public pressure to re-examine representations of the country's colonial past.

Demonstrators pulled down the 18-foot (5.5-metre) bronze monument to Edward Colston in the southwest English city of Bristol and threw it into the harbour on Sunday.

The protest was one of many across Britain in recent days in response to the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, at the hands of police in the United States.

Most marches were peaceful but there were flashes of violence, including in London, where the statue of World War II leader Winston Churchill in Parliament Square was defaced.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson condemned the clashes as "a betrayal of the cause they (protesters) purport to serve".

Johnson's spokesman told reporters on Monday the violence was "unacceptable", while the removal of the statue in Bristol was a criminal act that should be prosecuted.

"We fully understand the strength of opinion but in this country we settle our differences democratically," he added.

In parliament, Home Secretary Priti Patel said there had been 135 arrests in protests across Britain and 35 police officers injured in London alone.

She described those behind the clashes as "thugs and criminals".

Colston, who came from a wealthy merchant family, was a former top official in the Royal African Company in the late 17th century.

The company sent into slavery hundreds of thousands of men, women and children from West Africa to the Caribbean and the Americas. Many were branded with the company's initials.

Colston was also a Tory member of parliament and philanthropist, donating huge funds to support schools, hospitals, almshouses and churches in Bristol.

- 'Symbol of injustice' -

Historic England, a government heritage body, said the local community must now decide what to do with the fallen statue but "we do not believe it must be reinstated".

"We recognise that the statue was a symbol of injustice and a source of great pain for many people," it added.

Authorities had agreed to rename his statue, which was erected in 1895, to highlight his role in slavery but the process became deadlocked because of conflicting views.

Marvin Rees, Bristol's elected Labour mayor, said he believed the statue would end up in a museum, alongside banners from Sunday's Black Lives Matter protest.

Rees, who is of Jamaican heritage, said he "cannot condone the damage" but described the destruction of the statue as an "iconic moment".

"I cannot pretend it was anything other than a personal affront to me to have it in the middle of Bristol, the city in which I grew up," he told BBC radio.

Leading Bristol music venue Colston Hall, which has hosted concerts from Louis Armstrong to The Beatles, said Sunday's protests had spurred it to speed up a plan to change its name.

Bristol trip-hop outfit Massive Attack have consistently refused to play at the venue because of its name and associations.

- 'Who we are' -

British institutions and local authorities have in recent years been re-examining their public monuments in the face of demands to better represent the country's colonial past.

Churchill's legacy has come under scrutiny for his wartime policies that are blamed for the death of millions during famine in the Indian state of Bengal in 1943.

"No debate about the way we run our public spaces should ever be finished," mayor Rees said. "We should be constantly wrestling with who we are and where we've come from."

British Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton called Colston a "monster" and urged all similar statues to be torn down.

The wider protests won the backing of Manchester City and England footballer Raheem Sterling, while world heavyweight boxing champion Anthony Joshua joined protesters in London.

Hong Kong seethes one year on, but protesters on the back foot

AFP/File / Anthony WALLACETens of thousands of protesters defied a ban on public gatherings to hold a candlelight vigil to mark the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown

Hong Kong on Tuesday marks a year since pro-democracy protests erupted, but a resumption of city-wide unrest is unlikely as activists reel from mass arrests, coronavirus bans on public gatherings and a looming national security law.

Seven months of massive and often violent rallies kicked off on June 9 last year when huge crowds took to the streets to oppose a bill allowing extraditions to mainland China.

Battles between police and protesters became routine, leaving in tatters the city's reputation for stability, and a population divided.

Messaging groups used by protesters have called for people to come out in force on Tuesday evening, although locations will only be announced an hour ahead of time.

The tactic is a bid to thwart police, who now move swiftly against such gatherings to enforce anti-virus restrictions.

Student groups and unions have also announced plans to canvas members over possible strike action in coming days, but Hong Kong's labour movement has limited influence.

"I don't think the passion has subsided much, but the problem is that many actions are now not allowed in the current circumstances," Leung Kai-chi, an analyst at the Chinese University, told AFP.

Beyond a withdrawal of the extradition bill, the protest movement's core demands -- such as universal suffrage and an inquiry into police tactics -- have been rejected by the city's leadership and Beijing.

Instead, China has unveiled plans to impose a more sweeping law -- one that will bypass the city's legislature entirely -- banning subversion, secession, terrorism and foreign interference.

China says an anti-subversion law will only target "a small minority" and will restore business confidence.

- 'Anti-virus software' -

In a speech on Monday Zhang Xiaoming, the deputy head of Beijing's Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, likened the law to "anti-virus software".

"Radical separatists have been mistaking the central government's restraint and forbearance for weakness and timidity," he said.

"They have gone too far".

"No person or organisation will succeed in intimidating the (Hong Kong) Government by extreme means," the city's pro-Beijing leadership said in a statement on Monday.

AFP / John SAEKIA year of turmoil in Hong Kong

Opponents fear the law will bring mainland-style political oppression to a business hub supposedly guaranteed freedoms and autonomy for 50 years after its 1997 handover from Britain.

"First (Beijing) loses the hearts and minds of Hong Kong's people and then it seeks to force them to be loyal," said Kong Tsung-gan, an activist who has published three books on the protest movement.

"This is a long-term struggle, the Communist Party is upping the ante, and Hong Kong people will have to be willing to suffer and sacrifice much more than they have up to now to see their way through," Kong said.

Over the last year around 9,000 people have been arrested and more than 1,700 people charged, but by the time the deadly coronavirus hit the city in January, the protest movement was already on the back foot.

The virus has made any protest effectively illegal, with emergency laws banning gatherings of more than eight people even though local transmissions have been virtually eradicated.

Still, protests have bubbled up again since the security law plans were announced -- including tens of thousands defying a ban on a June 4 gathering to mark the anniversary of the Tiananmen crackdown.

Trump wanted to deploy 10,000 troops in Washington D.C., official says


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump told his advisors at one point this past week he wanted 10,000 troops to deploy to the Washington D.C. area to halt civil unrest over the killing of a black man by Minneapolis police, according to a senior U.S. official.

The account of Trump’s demand during a heated Oval Office conversation on Monday shows how close the president may have come to fulfilling his threat to deploy active duty troops in U.S. cities, despite opposition from Pentagon leadership.

At the meeting, Defense Secretary Mark Esper, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, and Attorney General William Barr recommended against such a deployment, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The meeting was “contentious,” the official added.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump has since appeared satisfied with deployments by the National Guard, the option recommended by the Pentagon and a more traditional tool for dealing with domestic crises. Pentagon leaders scrambled to call governors with requests to send Guard forces to Washington. Additional federal law enforcement were mobilized too.

But also key for Trump appears to have been Esper’s move to preposition — but not deploy — active duty soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division and other units in the Washington D.C. area. Those troops have since departed.

“Having active duty forces available but not in the city was enough for the president for the time,” the official said.


Barr told CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday that no active duty troops were deployed on Washington streets, but there were some military police nearby.

“We had them on standby in case they were needed,” Barr said.

Trump’s bid to militarize the U.S. response to the protests has triggered a rare outpouring of condemnation from former U.S. military officials, including Trump’s first defense secretary, Jim Mattis, and retired four-star generals who normally try to steer clear of politics.

Those comments reflect deep unease inside and outside the Pentagon with Trump’s willingness to inject the U.S. military into a domestic race relations crisis following the killing of George Floyd, 46, who died on May 25 after a Minneapolis policeman knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.

Floyd’s death has led to a wave of protests and national soul-searching over the country’s legacy of violence and mistreatment of African Americans and other minorities.

It has also led some Pentagon leaders of color to issue unprecedented statements bit.ly/30mxTlD about their experiences dealing with issues of race in the U.S. military.

ESPER’S FUTURE?

Esper publicly voiced his opposition on Wednesday to invoking the Insurrection Act to deploy active duty forces — remarks to reporters that did not go over well with either Trump or his top aides.

The senior U.S. official said Trump yelled at Esper after that news conference.

As speculation swirled over whether the president might fire him, White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany said Trump “remains confident in Secretary Esper.”

“Secretary Esper has been instrumental in securing our nation’s streets and ensuring Americans have peace and confidence in the security of their places of business, places of worship, and their homes,” McEnany said in a statement.

Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy told reporters on Sunday he believed “we came right up to the edge of bringing active troops here,” but added that he did not speak to the president. He expected all National Guard who came from out of state to be heading back home within 72 hours as the crisis eased.

Esper issued a memo on Tuesday reminding Defense Department personnel “we commit to protecting the American people’s right to freedom of speech and to peaceful assembly.”

Milley issued a similar statement reminding troops of their oath to the U.S. Constitution, which protects the right to peaceful protests.

Those statements by Milley and Esper came after they took fierce criticism for using military planning terms like “battlespace” to describe American protest sites during a conference call with state governors that Trump hosted on Monday, a recording of which leaked.

FILE PHOTO: National Guard members look on while mounting guard at the Lincoln Memorial during a protest against racial inequality in the aftermath of the death in Minneapolis police custody of George Floyd, in Washington, U.S., June 6, 2020. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File Photo

At the time, the Pentagon was concerned that Trump might deploy active duty troops if the governors did not sufficiently employ the National Guard, the official said.

Esper and Milley have also faced criticism for accompanying Trump for a photo opportunity outside a church near the White House on Monday after police cleared the area by firing smoke grenades and chemical irritant “pepper balls” and charging into peaceful protesters.


Reporting by Phil Stewart; Additional reporting by Steve Holland; Editing by Daniel Wallis
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

China demands proof from U.S. senator for COVID-19 accusation


BEIJING (Reuters) - China on Monday challenged U.S. Senator Rick Scott to show evidence supporting his accusation that Beijing is trying to slow down or sabotage the development of a COVID-19 vaccine by Western countries.

“Since this lawmaker said he has evidence that China is trying to sabotage western countries in their vaccine development, then please let him present the evidence. There’s no need to be shy,” Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a daily briefing in response to the Republican senator’s comments to BBC TV.

Scott declined to give details of the evidence when asked during the interview on Sunday but said it had come through the intelligence community.


“China does not want us ... to do it first, they have decided to be an adversary to Americans and I think to democracy around the world,” he told the BBC.

Scott and six other Republican senators introduced a bill last month aimed at preventing China from stealing or sabotaging vaccine research.

Asked to comment on Hua’s remarks, Scott’s office referred to a statement from the FBI last month saying it was investigating attempts by Beijing-affiliated hackers to steal COVID-19-related research.

Hua said development of a COVID-19 vaccine was not a bilateral competition and Beijing hoped the United States would mirror China’s pledge and offer any vaccine it develops to the world for free.

U.S. President Donald Trump and other top officials in Washington have repeatedly criticised China’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak, which has infected more than 4 million people globally and killed more than 400,000.

China has bristled at Washington’s accusations of wrongdoing regarding COVID-19 and insists it has been open and transparent about the outbreak, which first emerged from the city of Wuhan in late 2019.

Gov. Rick Scott took responsibility? No, he took $300 million ...

https://www.sun-sentinel.com › opinion › fl-op-col-rick-scott-medicare-fra...

Oct 2, 2018 - Gov. Rick Scott is trying to run from his past when he ran a hospital company that committed massive Medicare fraud. Rather than take ...

Of Course, Trump's New Health Care Guy Was Involved in ...

https://www.gq.com › story › rick-scott-trump-health-care-fraud

Apr 3, 2019 - Florida Senator Rick Scott was CEO for a hospital network charged with $1.7 billion for Medicare fraud. Now, he's helping Trump with health ...

How much responsibility did Rick Scott really take in Medicare ...

https://floridapolitics.com › archives › 276048-how-much-responsibility-di...

Sep 30, 2018 - ... released this week seeking to address the 1990s Medicare fraud scandal has the Republican U.S. Senate campaign of Gov. Rick Scott.

Rick Scott 'oversaw the largest Medicare fraud' in ... - PolitiFact

https://www.politifact.com › factchecks › mar › florida-democratic-party

Claim: Says Rick Scott "oversaw the largest Medicare fraud in the nation’s history."

Claimed by: Florida Democratic Party

Man who drove into Virginia protest is KKK leader, prosecutor says

(Reuters) - Virginia prosecutors said on Monday a man facing charges for driving his pickup truck into racial equality protesters is a local leader of the Ku Klux Klan.

Harry H. Rogers, 36, was charged with assault and battery, malicious wounding and felony vandalism, the Henrico County police department said in statement on Monday.

The statement says Rogers on Sunday night drove through a crowd blocking a street near Richmond, Virginia, and protesting the death of George Floyd, a black man who died in Minneapolis police custody. One person was hit by Rogers’ vehicle, but not seriously injured.

Henrico Commonwealth’s Attorney Shannon Taylor said in a statement on Monday that Rogers “by his own admission and by a cursory glance at social media, is an admitted leader of the Ku Klux Klan and a propagandist for Confederate ideology.”

The Richmond CBS TV affiliate WTVR aired archive footage it had of Rogers from past years, wearing KKK robes and waving a Confederate flag.


Taylor said prosecutors were investigating to see if hate crimes should be applied to the case.

It was not immediately known if Rogers has an attorney.

Separately on Monday, a man was charged with assault for shooting a demonstrator in Seattle after he drove his car up to a march and was surrounded by protesters, according to King County jail records.

Nikolas Fernandez was captured by a bystander’s video shooting a protester who had reached into his car. The protester was hit in the arm and treated at a hospital.


Fernandez quickly exited his vehicle and brandished a gun, then dashed through the crowd and turned himself over to police who were monitoring the rally.

Fernandez is being held on a $200,000 bond.

Reporting by Nathan Layne in Wilton, Connecticut, and Brad Brooks in Austin, Texas; Editing by Bill Tarrant and Christopher Cushing

Black business owners on Washington's historic U Street see echoes of 1968

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - For the owners of some of the venerable black-owned businesses on U Street in Washington’s Northwest section, the protests against racism and police brutality that have flared on the streets of the U.S. capital seem like an echo of the past.

FILE PHOTO: Sonya Ali closes out the register at the end of service at Ben's Chili Bowl under the image of her parents-in-law and founders Ben and Virginia Ali, who famously kept the restaurant running through very difficult times in the past, as the eatery navigates the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak with no seating, limited hours and help from a federal Payroll Protection Program Loan in Washington, U.S. April 30, 2020. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo

Rioting that erupted in April 1968 in Washington and many other U.S. cities after the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King inflicted scars on the neighborhood that lasted decades.

Three black-owned U Street businesses that existed then are still are open today in a corridor of the District of Columbia once known as “Black Broadway” for its flourishing theaters and restaurants that welcomed affluent African-American customers from the 19th century through the mid-20th century.

“It’s saddened me to realize that our sons and daughters are fighting today for the same rights that we fought for back then, 52 years ago,” said Virginia Ali, 86, the co-founder of Ben’s Chili Bowl. “They’re fighting for the same basic human rights that we were fighting for.”

Ben’s Chili Bowl joins Lee’s Flower and Card Shop and Industrial Bank as U Street establishments that have managed to stand the test of time.

Three generations of the Lee family have owned Lee Flower and Card Shop since 1945, decorated the White House, and recently advised Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser on the reopening of businesses amid the coronavirus pandemic. But in 1968, the Lee family was not sure whether the neighborhood would survive.


Hundreds of buildings in Washington were burned. Some neighborhoods were pushed into an economic tailspin that took decades to recover from, according to historian Jane Levey of the Historical Society of Washington, D.C.

Rick Lee, son of business co-founder William Lee, recalls huddling in the shop with his mother Winifred, and a shotgun, praying that God would keep them safe.

“It would have been a catastrophe if something had happened to the shop,” said Lee, now 77.

The family had finally purchased the building housing the shop on a U Street corner that year after renting a different location for decades.

Several businesses, including Lee’s, placed “Soul Brothers” signs on their windows to make clear they were owned by black entrepreneurs. Those businesses were largely untouched in the 1968 unrest, Levey recalled.

‘A SAFE PLACE’

Ali recalled that Ben’s Chili Bowl, located three blocks away, was the only business allowed to stay open during the curfew imposed to try to quell the 1968 rioting.

“We were able to accommodate city officials, police officers, even activists. This was kind of a safe place to just pop in during those turbulent times,” Ali said.

Ben’s Chili Bowl - known for a menu that includes burgers, chili dogs and fries as well as the colorful murals adorning the outside of the restaurant - is a local institution. Its customers over the years have included former President Barack Obama, activist and performer Harry Belafonte, civil rights leader Jesse Jackson, comedians Kevin Hart and Dave Chappelle and U2 frontman Bono.

The protests in the past two weeks in Washington and other cities in the United States and abroad were sparked by the death of a black man named George Floyd in Minneapolis after a police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.

In 1968 and today, people took to the streets because they were angry about an unjust killing, but also over a range of other issues including lack of economic opportunity and police brutality, Levey said.

Ali and Lee family members said they are looking at the recent protests with a mixture of sadness and hope.

“I’m so glad that the young people are picking up the mantle,” said Stacie Lee Banks, Rick Lee’s daughter and the current president and co-owner of the flower shop

The protesters today are more racially diverse than in 1968, which could put pressure on U.S. political leaders, Ali said.

U Street’s remaining black businesses have witnessed the end of segregation policies, survived the scourge of drugs like heroin and cocaine in the neighborhood in the 1970s and 1980s, and are holding on through a new wave of gentrification.

Ali is still waiting to see a broader transformation in the United States, observing, “I hope to see positive change in this country before I leave this Earth.”

TRUDEAU ORDERS BODY CAMERAS FOR RCMP
Canadian Mounted Police to seek body cameras to 'enhance trust,' accountability

David Lj

OTTAWA (Reuters) - The head of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police on Monday said she would seek to equip officers with body-worn cameras to increase trust, accountability and transparency, according to a statement from a spokesman.

FILE PHOTO: Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau rubs hand sanitiser on his hands, given to him by a protestor, while taking part in a rally against the death in Minneapolis police custody of George Floyd, on Parliament Hill, in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada June 5, 2020. REUTERS/Blair Gable
Earlier on Monday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he wanted police to wear body cameras to help overcome what he said was public distrust in the forces of law and order.

Protesters in Montreal and other Canadian cities took to the streets on Sunday in the latest international demonstrations against police brutality, sparked by the death of black man in Minnesota as a police offer knelt on his neck.

RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki has agreed to “engage in work and discussion... on a broader rollout of body-worn cameras” with the National Police Federation union, a statement from spokesman Dan Brien said.


“The commissioner agrees it is critically important for Canadians to feel protected by the police and is committed to take whatever steps are required to enhance trust between the RCMP and the communities we serve.”

“The use of body-worn cameras by RCMP officers was discussed as a means of ensuring accurate evidence gathering and accountability... (and) increased transparency,” the statement said.

Earlier on Monday, Trudeau said he had spoken to Lucki.

“One of the things we discussed was the adoption of body cameras. I’m committing to raising this with the provinces this week so we can move forward as quickly as possible,” Trudeau told a daily briefing. “Body cameras (are) a significant step towards transparency.”


The RCMP, which is a federal police force, also services eight of the 10 provinces. Ontario and Quebec, the two most populous provinces, have their own police.

“Many people in this country simply do not feel protected by the police. In fact, they’re afraid of them,” Trudeau said.


Reporting by David Ljunggren; Editing by Dan Grebler, Steve Scherer and Leslie Adler
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Closing in on all sides: Cuba nears declaring coronavirus victory

 (Reuters) - Reina Paula, a saleswoman at Havana’s La Epoca supermarket, said the same day that a worker tested positive for the coronavirus, local authorities sent the rest of the staff in a fleet of state vehicles to isolation facilities for testing.

Nurse Yosian Diago checks door-to-door for people with symptoms amid concerns about the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in downtown Havana, Cuba, June 8, 2020. REUTERS/Alexandre Meneghini

Healthcare providers traced their relatives and sent them into quarantine, while state news outlets publicly appealed to anyone who had had close contact with them to come forward to prevent the virus from spreading.

“They followed the clinical steps like a Swiss clock,” said Paula, at home after recovering from the worst of COVID-19, the respiratory disease the novel coronavirus causes.

Those who tested positive were transferred to hospital, where they were given antivirals and immune system boosters, while the others were sent home to quarantine for two weeks.

Paula’s story illustrates the rigorous approach Cuba has taken to curb the coronavirus outbreak - helped by the Caribbean island nation’s preventive, universal and well-staffed healthcare system, centralization and use of coercion.

Doing so was politically vital for Cuba’s ruling Communist Party, which claims the country’s strong healthcare system as a key achievements, even as it has failed to deliver on the economy, partly due to a U.S. trade embargo.

New cases have dropped to less than 10 per day on average from a peak of around 50, and two thirds of the island is virus-free, according to official data.

Monday was the ninth consecutive day with no deaths from COVID-19, while the highly infectious disease continues to rage throughout the Americas.

“We could be shortly closing in on the tail end of the pandemic and entering the phase of recovery from COVID,” President Miguel Diaz-Canel said this weekend.

Like many countries, Cuba closed its borders and schools at the start of the outbreak and urged Cubans to practice social distancing, though that was complicated by large queues outside shops amid growing scarcity.

But Cuba swiftly made face masks obligatory and quarantined large numbers of people rather than just telling them to stay home.

Disobeying pandemic measures carried a fine or even a prison sentence. And the Cuban state has used its monopoly of traditional news media to broadcast trials for such offenses to set an example and educate citizens on the virus.

It has also sent tens of thousands of family doctors, nurses and medical students to homes nationwide daily to conduct screenings, underscoring a strength of the healthcare system, even as tight resources in recent decades have seen hospitals fall into disrepair and more frequent medicine shortages.

Cuba’s top epidemiologist, Francisco Duran, said early detection, hospitalization and the application of experimental treatments - many developed by the country’s own biotech sector - have helped reduce COVID-19’s fatality.

Cuba, with a population of 11 million, has reported 2,200 cases and 83 deaths. That translates to 0.73 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants, according to a Johns Hopkins University tally, slightly above Costa Rica’s 0.20 per 100,000 but far below Brazil’s 17.4.

The success has won plaudits from citizens.

“Once more,” Havana resident Marina Rodriguez said, “our country has shown that despite its difficulties, it is always able to control an epidemic.”

Reporting by Sarah Marsh and Nelson Acosta; Editing by Leslie Adler

George Floyd protests in France give bereaved family new hope for justice

BEAUMONT-SUR-OISE, France (Reuters) - Since the wave of protests triggered by the brutal killing of George Floyd reached France, protesters have been chanting another name too: Adama Traore.



“They died in exactly the same way,” said his sister Assa Traore. “Adama carried the weight of three officers on his body.”

Adama Traore was celebrating his 24th birthday on July 19, 2016, when three police officers restrained him using the weight of their bodies. By the time he was delivered to a police station, he was unconscious and could not be revived.

Like Floyd, Traore was black, and his death triggered huge protests in France, where the police’s record of brutality and racism remains unaddressed.

For four years, his family have demanded that French police be held to account for the death of her brother in police custody. Noone has been prosecuted. Medical experts are unable to agree on whether the way he was restrained killed him, or an underlying medical condition. Attention to the death had faded.

Now, anger over the killing of George Floyd in the United States is giving their campaign new impetus.

“It’s a strong, powerful echo,” Assa Traore told Reuters in an interview in Beaumont-sur-Oise, the neighbourhood near Paris where her brother lived.

The Traore family and their supporters are this week calling for a nationwide day of protests in France.

“All the light shed on the George Floyd case has served as a reminder of the numerous other victims who died in the same conditions as George Floyd,” said Almamy Kanoute, a French actor involved in the Traore campaign.

“We’re not saying the police in France are the same as in the United States. But the deadly techniques used in the United States are the same ones as in some European countries, the same ones that kill the same type of people.”

Reporting by Noemie Olive, Lucien Libert and Yonathan Van der Voort; Writing by Christian Lowe; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky