Plight of the pangolin: Once coveted, now feared because of coronavirus


Margaret Evans CBC

14/6/2020

© Isaac Kasmani/AFP via Getty Images 

A white-bellied pangolin which was rescued from local animal traffickers is seen at the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) office in Kampala, Uganda, on April 9.
Veterinarian Mark Ofua walks through rows of cages housing barking dogs and stray cats in the animal shelter he set up in Lagos, Nigeria's largest city, about five years ago.

The ease with which the animals submit to his ministrations makes it clear it is a place of trust, a sanctuary for lost souls in the animal kingdom.

Many Nigerians, struggling with the challenges of the coronavirus, are no longer able to afford or keep pets.

But the shelter isn't just for domestic animals. Increasingly, Ofua finds himself rescuing wild animals, including one of the world's most endangered: the pangolin.

One, in particular, has clearly captured his heart: a baby he rescued from a bush meat market when it was just a week old. He named the pangolin Juba.

"Now, I know buying these animals off them is wrong, because it kind of promotes the trade," he said in a Skype interview. "But imagine if Juba was not rescued."

Juba is now about five months old, still fed from a bottle. But Ofua is also encouraging him to forage for ants and termites before he releases him back into the wild.
Pangolins blamed for coronavirus outbreak

He's named after a character in the film Gladiator, because he's armoured like one, Ofua said.

Pangolins are mammals that look like anteaters but are covered in scales made of keratin.

But those chain-mail coats haven't been enough to protect them from a voracious illegal wildlife trade that sees their meat sold as a delicacy in Asian markets overseas, and their scales sold for alleged medicinal cures.

"In the last couple of years the demand for pangolin has skyrocketed," said Ofua. "It has left the traditional role for bush meat and medicine. It has now moved on to the scales."

WATCH | Veterinarian plays with pangolin

Juba is a white-bellied tree pangolin native to Nigeria. There are eight species across Africa and Asia and all are either vulnerable or critically endangered.
Negative attention could protect pangolins

Nigeria has become a world hub when it comes to trafficking them.

The UN's Wildlife Crime Report for 2020 found that almost 60 per cent of seized pangolin scales came from Nigeria in 2018, compared to 20 per cent in 2015.

Professor Olajumoke Morenikeji of the University of Ibadan said it's "absolutely ridiculous."

"[There is ] so much illiteracy when it comes to environmental laws, wildlife trade and so forth," she said.

Morenikeji is also the president of the Pangolin Conservation Guild of Nigeria. Her advocacy work has earned her the nickname Madame Pangolin but she doesn't mind if it gets people talking about them.

She also said that the negative press the pangolin received in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic — and speculation that it might have had a role in its jump to humans — could help them survive. People are asking her if they should stay away from them.

"We now know that most likely it is not from the pangolin. It might be from the bats or whatever," Morenikeji said. "But we know from history that there are instances we have had diseases jump from wildlife to man."

"I have more people listening to what I have to say about the situation," she said. "And I tell them it's not just the pangolin. There's the problem of zoonotics if you do not leave wild animals in the wild and you bring them into the system."

Early investigations into the source of the coronavirus outbreak focused on a market in Wuhan, China, where live animals were traded.

But there are as yet no firm conclusions and a zoonotic source has yet to be identified.

WATCH | Coronavirus: Where did it come from?

In a move that many conservationists hope will be permanent, China banned the consumption and trading of wildlife in February, after the outbreak began.

Beijing also recently afforded the pangolin its highest protection status and banned pangolin scales from being used in traditional medicines.

Kaddu Kiwe Sebunya, CEO of the African Wildlife Foundation, an international wildlife conservation organization, calls it a huge step.

"We are so happy this is happening," he said in a Skype interview from Kenya.

"And you know we are not going to relent. We would like to see this also happening with rhino horns because they really have no medicinal properties."
Poachers capitalize on COVID-19 outbreak

It's a potential ray of hope for the pangolin, but Sebunya said that in general, COVID-19 has been a tragedy for conservation efforts.

"Actually, what we are seeing is a spike in poaching across the continent," he said. "Because the tourism industry collapsed overnight and funding went to zero for conservation."

Sebunya said tourism accounts for more than 80 per cent of conservation money directed toward most of the national park services across Africa.

"And so [anti-poaching] patrols are less," he said.

© Ellen Mauro/CBC Bumi Hills Conservation Manager Mark Brightman says criminal poaching syndicates are taking advantage of the COVID-19 lockdown in Zimbabwe to increase their operations.
Kruger National Park in South Africa might be an outlier, having reported a "significant decline" in rhino poaching since its lockdown in April.

It has a well equipped anti-poaching unit, including helicopters and a canine team.

But it's a very different picture in neighbouring Zimbabwe.

© Ellen Mauro/CBC News Conservation Manager Mark Brightman says the number of elephants in the Bumi Hills region dropped from 15,000 to 3,500 in recent years. Ninety per cent of the decline has been attributed to poaching.

"We still have the criminal [poaching] syndicates that are operating, said Mark Brightman, conservation manager with the Bumi Hills Anti Poaching Unit along Lake Kariba in Zimbabwe.

"They haven't shut down the tools. In fact, they're taking advantage of the situation."

The Bumi Hills rangers are still operating as a deterrent for now, but two elephants were recently poached just outside their area. And Zimbabweans who used to rely on tourism for work are feeling even more economic pain in the face of the lockdown than normal.

"People have got to feed themselves," said Brightman. He said there's been an increase in the number of people snaring animals to put meat on the table for their families.

"We're not really concerned with that. It's the commercial poaching and the priority is elephant poaching and the bush meat trade that we cannot let get out of hand once more."
'We'll have to do what is right by him'

The COVID-19 pandemic offers the world an opportunity for a reset, to have a global conversation about biodiversity and management of natural resources, according to Sebunya.

"People have seen what happens when we mismanage nature," he said.

"COVID-20 might come from my country. And it will shut down Toronto. So this responsibility is global responsibility. And we need more support. There has been a decrease in support to conservation in Africa."

© AFP via Getty Images Last week, in a move applauded by conservation groups, China banned the use of pangolin scales in traditional Chinese medicines and elevated the pangolin’s protection status to the highest level.

Back in the port city of Lagos, Ofua is walking the stray dogs twice a day and feeding baby civets along with Juba. He's bracing himself for the day he'll say goodbye to the young pangolin before releasing it back into the bush.

"I pray every day for grace to be able to let him go when it's time. I just want to make sure he's able to fend for himself properly."

Ofua is working on building a kind of enclosed pangolin shelter where they can take first steps before finally being returned to the wild.

Juba will be the first to try it.

"It's going to be difficult but we'll have to do what is right by him," he said. "I try to let people see the connection between us and these animals. Conservation is not something we should do for fun or for pleasure or for sentiment. It's something we actually need to do deliberately to save mankind."

'His brain is injured': Lawyer says of 75-year-old man shoved by Buffalo police

CATHOLIC WORKER PEACE ACTIVIST
Elisha Fieldstadt
13/6/2020

© Mike Desmond/WBFO via AP In this image from video provided by WBFO, a Buffalo police officer appears to shove a man who walked up to police Thursday, June 4, 2020, in Buffalo, N.Y. Video from WBFO shows the man appearing to hit his head on the pavement, with blood leaking out as officers walk past to clear Niagara Square. Buffalo police initially said in a statement that a person “was injured when he tripped & fell,” WIVB-TV reported, but Capt. Jeff Rinaldo later told the TV station that an internal affairs investigation was opened. Police Commissioner Byron Lockwood suspended two officers late Thursday, the mayor’s statement said.The 75-year-old man who was shoved to the ground by police at a protest in Buffalo, New York, suffered a brain injury and is facing "a new normal," his lawyer said Thursday.

The video of social justice activist Martin Gugino being pushed at a protest on June 4 outside City Hall became one of the most-viewed examples of police violence related to nationwide protests sparked by the death of George Floyd.

Gugino has been hospitalised since the incident, which led to charges of second-degree assault and suspension without pay for Buffalo officers Robert McCabe, 32, and Aaron Torgalski, 39. Both officers have pleaded not guilty.


On Thursday, Gugino's lawyer, Kelly V. Zarcone, said she had spoken with him, and he was feeling better and "starting physical therapy today which is definitely a step in the right direction."

But, Zarcone said, "As heartbreaking as it is, his brain is injured and he is well aware of that now."

For that reason, she said, he wasn't interested in doing media interviews at this point, but he "feels encouraged and uplifted by the outpouring of support which he has received from so many people all over the globe."

"It helps," Zarcone said. "He is looking forward to healing and determining what his 'new normal' might look like."

Zarcone added that Gugino was "a soft-spoken but thoughtful and principled man."

Friends told Religion News Service that Gugino is a devout Catholic and retired computer programmer who has long worked to advocate for the poor, disenfranchised and on behalf of Black Lives Matter.

On June 4, he was at a protest in Buffalo when he approached a large group of officers in tactical gear before saying something, video shows.

The officers yell for him to move back before one or two appear to push him before he falls backward, slams his head and then lay bleeding and motionless on the ground.

One of the officers appears to lean over and say something to Gugino on the ground before another officer pulls him back and they march past him.

The incident occurred shortly after the city's curfew of 8 p.m. on Thursday, NBC affiliate WGRZ in Buffalo reported. Buffalo police initially said the man tripped and fell, but video revealed the reality.

After the suspension of the two officers, but prior to their being charged, 57 members of the Buffalo Police Department's Emergency Response team quit that unit in solidarity with their colleagues.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo condemned the officers' actions on the day after the incident.

Cuomo said he spoke with Gugino and that the incident "disturbs our basic sense of decency and humanity."

"Why, why? Why was that necessary?" the governor said. "Where was the threat? Older gentleman, where was the threat? Then you just walk by the person when you see blood coming from his head?"

Fears for right whales rise after Trump reopens area to commercial fishing
Mia Urquhart
12/6/2020

Environmental groups are condemning U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to allow commercial fishing in a previously closed area in the North Atlantic. 

Last Friday, Trump signed a proclamation that rolls back protections in a 13,000-square-kilometre area off of Cape Cod. The area, known as the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, is located along the migratory path of the endangered North Atlantic right whale.

Groups, many of which have spent years pushing for the protections, worry that opening the area to fishing will put right whales at even greater risk of entanglement in fishing gear.

The New England Aquarium was quick to denounce the move.
Kelly Kryc, the director of marine conservation policy and leadership, said the aquarium is "disappointed and devastated" by the decision.

Kryc, who has led the aquarium's advocacy for the protected zone for years, said all kinds of species have been spotted in the area, including the right whale.

"It is a critically important area for all sorts of marine mammals and dolphins, different types of species of dolphins."

All of those species are at greater risk if commercial fishing resumes, she said. — that is a risk to North Atlantic right whales and other whales and dolphins that might be in the area."

The marine monument, the first of its kind in the Atlantic Ocean, was created by former president Barack Obama in 2016.

More than twice the size of Prince Edward Island, the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument includes two distinct areas, one that features three canyons and one that contains four seamounts, or underwater mountains.

The area contains fragile marine ecosystems, including important deep sea corals, endangered whales and sea turtles, other marine mammals and numerous fish species, according to NOAA Fisheries, also known as the National Marine Fisheries Service, which is an office of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration within the Department of Commerce.

"The Trump administration once again has chosen a moment of national vulnerability to take aim at the environment, this time by rolling back protections of the only marine national monument in the U.S. Atlantic Ocean," Vikki Spruill, the CEO and president of the New England Aquarium, said in a news release.
The statement from the aquarium said aerial surveys revealed an "extraordinary diversity of animals" in the area.

"During those flights, our scientists have observed pods of dolphins 1,000 strong feeding on the rich abundance of squid at the surface. Most recently, two blue whales were spotted there for the first time."

There are only about 400 North Atlantic right whales left in the world, and fewer than 100 breeding females.

© Michael Dwyer/CP/AP In this March 28, 2018, photo, a North Atlantic right whale feeds on the surface of Cape Cod Bay off the coast of Plymouth, Mass.

Researchers were excited to see a boon in calves this season with 10 new whales observed in U.S. water, but Fisheries and Oceans Canada said one is presumed dead.

Last month, a days-old calf was spotted with injuries from a vessel strike.

Ship strikes and fishing gear entanglement are the leading cause of death for North Atlantic right whales.

Since 2017, 29 whales — not counting the calf presumed dead — have died in Canadian waters.

GRIEF IN PARADISE
Hawaii grapples with Great Depression-level unemployment as tourism plummets





A surfer walks on a sparsely populated Waikiki beach in Honolulu, June 5, 2020.

Peter Yee has been furloughed from his job at a rental car company since late March, and now says he spends up to 12 hours a day, seven days a week answering questions and sharing advice in the Facebook group, "Hawaii Unemployment Updates and Support Group."

In just a matter of weeks, the coronavirus pandemic has ravaged the economy of the picturesque town of Kahului on the island of Maui where Yee lives.

"Driving through the main little areas was like a ghost town," Yee told ABC News.

The unemployment rate in Kahului skyrocketed to 35% in April -- nearly 10% higher than the national unemployment rate at the peak of the Great Depression -- and the highest of any metropolitan area in the U.S., according to the latest data available from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

As COVID-19 decimated tourism and the planes stopped coming in, job losses on the island piled up with unprecedented furor. In March, Kahului had some of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation at 2.2%.

In an effort to contain the spread of COVID-19 on the islands, Hawaii’s government acted fast -- imposing a mandatory 14-day quarantine for all visitors. While the move was lauded by many and proved effective in preventing major outbreaks of the respiratory disease on the islands, the impact to tourism, Hawaii’s biggest industry, proved quick and severe.

"I knew that was a kiss of death," Yee said of the quarantine. "I'm not saying I'm against it, but I knew that there would be virtually zero visitors and zero business for my industry."
'You go from 30,000 airline passengers per day to a few hundred'

Carl Bonham, the executive director and a professor at the Economic Research Organization at University of Hawaii, told ABC News that the most recent data puts Hawaii's unemployment rate at 22.3% in April, but because these surveys were conducted early that month before many of the job losses, some economists estimate it's 30% or more.

"The range of unemployment estimates will vary dramatically," Bonham said. "The bottom line is it’s bad, a lot of the data is problematic right now because of sort of changes in what it means to be in the labor force."

The closest comparison in living memory is after 9/11 when air travel took a major hit, according to Bonham, but he said "this is completely different."

"After 9/11 there were literally zero planes in the air," he said. "That was a very different situation in that we had a shutdown of tourism for a short period of time, but we didn’t shut down the rest of the economy."

Roughly 25% of the jobs in Hawaii are connected to tourism, which has almost entirely vanished, according to Bonham.

"Because we rely completely on air travel, when you shut down tourism with a 14-day quarantine and you go from 30,000 airline passengers per day to a few hundred, that’s a very different situation from a place that may still be getting some visitors by car,” he said.

The community of Kahului saw the largest over-the-year unemployment rate increase in April, shooting up more 32.5% points, according to the BLS’s most recent data. As the travel industry was hit hard by the pandemic, fellow tourist hubs Las Vegas, Nevada, and Atlantic City, New Jersey, saw the second and third highest increases in over-the-year unemployment rates.

Bonham said due to high cost of living and a lack of jobs, they are forecasting an exodus from Hawaii within the next few years.
An unemployment 'nightmare'

Yee said he first joined the Facebook unemployment support group in early April when there were around 800 members, but said, "we accumulated 10,000 more members in 30 days."

It now has more than 14,000 members, all of whom have been vetted by admins to make sure they aren't scammers.

As a moderator, Yee said he is in the group every day trying to help people who post questions or share their stories -- many of which highlight dire realities of what Great Depression-era unemployment in America looks like.

"What else was I going to do during lockdown?" Yee said. "I was helping out every day, seven days a week, eight to 15 hours a day, and I still do that."

MORE: Another 1.5 million workers file jobless claims

He said he constantly replies to people reminding them of a temporary eviction moratorium, what food stamp programs are available, and mostly serving as a source of support as frustration and anger mounts towards the state’s unemployment insurance program.

Many members in the Facebook group say they have waited over six weeks to receive any benefits at all, according to Yee.

In the first week of June, the state's Department of Labor announced the sudden leave of its director, Scott Murakami. His office, which did not respond to ABC News' interview requests, said he and other workers had been receiving death threats.

Yee said it took more than four weeks between the time he submitted his unemployment claim to the time he received any unemployment insurance from the state.

Simon Kaufman, a stand-up comedian and radio DJ from Hilo, Hawaii, said he waited nine weeks before he saw any money after filing his unemployment claim.

Moreover, he said they didn’t calculate a majority of his income into his check, instead basing it off of a part-time holiday job he had waiting tables.

"I don’t know what’s going on," he said. "I’m not a waiter, they’re paying me on the side gig I did."

Kaufman said he has been surviving on savings and even tried "intermittent fasting."

Phone lines to the state’s unemployment insurance office have been almost entirely clogged up since the last week of March, Yee and Kaufman said.

"I've only gotten through once, since March," Yee said, calling the situation a "nightmare."

"If you've got no money for six, eight weeks living paycheck to paycheck, it would be a good assumption to say that half those claimants are in a very dire situation," he said. "But I knew that at that point six, eight weeks, it would be food lines, which came actually earlier."

The Hawaii Department of Labor and Industrial Relations announced earlier this week -- nearly three months into the crisis -- that it has finally made it through a majority of the claims.

"Eighty-eight percent (88%) of the valid unemployment insurance claims that have come in since the beginning of the COVID-19 shutdown have been processed and paid out by the DLIR," the department's deputy director Anne Perreira-Eustaquio, said in a statement on June 10. "We sincerely appreciate people’s patience and wanted the public to know the scope of the remaining issues as well as the scope of the incredible progress made."

Hawaii Gov. David Ige's office did not immediately respond to ABC News' request for comment Friday.

Despite the dire economic situation, Bonham told ABC News that Hawaii's actions in response to the health crisis have been notably effective.

"We’re probably the safest state in the country right now in terms of health outcomes and controlling the virus," he said.
'Something we've never seen in Hawaii, ever': Up to 4-hour lines at food banks

Ron Mizutani, the president and CEO of the Hawaii Foodbank, told ABC News there has been a 260% increase in the amount of food the nonprofit distributed in the month of May compared to the same month last year.

"This unprecedented to say the least,” Mizutani told ABC News. “We always see the face of hungry during crises, during hurricanes, tsunamis, during the government shutdown, but this is something we’ve never seen in Hawaii ever.”

“We have also had some serious issues with unemployment checks being distributed so that’s contributed to needs in a way that we haven’t anticipated,” he added.

Mizutani said according to their simple questionnaires, 80% of families who came to pick up food during the month of May say they have had somebody in their household furloughed or unemployed because of COVID-19, but only 5% have said they were receiving government assistance.

"They are willing to stand in line in their vehicles for three to four hours to receive much-needed food," he said, saying lines have been as long as 4,000 people.

Prior to the pandemic, Mizutani said they usually distributed 800,000 to 1 million pounds of food to those in need each month. In May, he said they distributed more than 3.75 million pounds of food.

"You don’t budget for that, nor can you anticipate those kinds of needs," he said.

"We survive on donations," he added. "Donations have also come to a screeching halt."

Mizutani said he is worried about how they will be able to keep up with the demand, which he expects to continue for months into the future.

"It takes a long time for food to get here to the island and we like other food banks are standing in line with the rest of the country," he said. "We made orders two weeks ago that won’t arrive until August, September, that’s the kind of wait time that we have before we receive food from mainland distributors."

A self-described "local boy," Mizutani said he has deep respect for those who come to receive food.

"They’re not quick to raise their hand when it comes to hunger," he said of many in his community. "It takes courage to wait in line for hours for something they would never thought they would have to do."

While empty beaches and recovering coral reefs have been a bright spot for some locals, Mizutani said "we need people back badly."

"This is not normal, I don’t like to use the word the 'new normal' because there is nothing normal about this at all," he said. "We live in a very special place here and while a lot of families are hurting, we are seeing a lot of our Aloha spirit."

"The world was not prepared for COVID-19, but I truly believe that COVID-19 was not prepared for Hawaii and our spirit," he added. "We are a resilient state and we are rising."

Rio cartels go from running drugs to pushing medication
By Nick Paton Walsh, Jo Shelley, Robert Fortuna and William Bonnett, CNN

© Jo Shelley/CNN 

Young dealers, not state medical personnel, are the ones encouraging measures against coronavirus in the favela.
Coronavirus rages on the edges of Rio de Janeiro -- in the hills and slums run by drug gangs, where police dare not go unless on an armed raid.

Absent of help from the state -- President Jair Bolsonaro has pledged to crush criminals "like cockroaches" -- the gangs have stepped up. Where before they peddled narcotics with the rule of the gun, now they also push curfews, social distancing and food handouts for the neediest.

"We fear the virus, not Bolsonaro," said Ronaldo, a gang member who, like most people interviewed, either requested anonymity or gave a false name. "We can't count exactly how many have already died. The hospitals kill more than if you stay home and take care of yourself."

A drug gang granted CNN access one of Rio's poorest and most socially isolated communities, to illustrate how it has dealt with Covid-19. It's an area inaccessible to state healthcare. Alcohol gel, medication and cash handouts are all part of a system that gang members were eager to display, with Brazil now the country with the second highest number of coronavirus infections behind the United States, and where cases are still doubling every two weeks.
Four young men climb off their motorbikes and begin to lift large plastic bags from the back of a pickup truck. The first package of groceries goes to a manicurist who has been out of work for four months. The second goes to a street vendor.

"Things are getting very difficult," said the street vendor, who requested anonymity. She says she is trying to set up a stall in the community, but there is nobody to buy her products.

"I'm trying at least," she said. "Kids and lots of people are getting sick. The food they're giving us helps a lot."

She says her father-in-law died in April from Covid-19. He seemed stable, she adds, until he was transferred to hospital, where he died within the day.

"Until now we didn't get a full report on what happened, except that it was Covid-19," she said. "It took two weeks for him to be buried."

She says that her uncle is now sick and hospitalized, having caught the virus while at his supermarket job.

Medical help is available in the community, and hospitalizations are rare.

"Doctors from the community are helping the sick people voluntarily," Ronaldo said. "The people who have money can get assistance. The ones who haven't just can't."

The local community sometimes chips in to pay for burials, says Ronaldo.

"The isolation was going well here but now even the President himself -- in his own words -- is disregarding it," Ronaldo said. "But we can't ease it. We've seen a lot of death. We know it's not a small thing."

As he spoke, two teenagers played pool nearby. Many here violate the social-distancing rules, like they do on the wealthier coast below.

"It's complicated to enforce quarantine on people," Ronaldo said.

These drug dealers -- young and armed with old semi-automatic rifles, short-barreled M4s and, in Ronaldo's case, a Glock pistol adapted into a rifle -- have become as knowledgeable about Covid-19 as they are about narcotics.

When asked if they would accept any of the two million doses of hydroxychloroquine that the United States has agreed to send Brazil -- despite the drug being ruled ineffective against Covid-19, and perhaps dangerous by the World Health Organization -- Ronaldo replies:

"I don't think hydroxychloroquine helps. It's BS. Everything that comes to Brazil from abroad has already been contaminated."

The streets seem busy for curfew. Bars are closed, however, and business has adapted to the pandemic.

Neia, a hairdresser before the pandemic, has turned to making masks. She sells them through her front window, which allows her to stay inside. They're free for children, and three face masks cost 10 reals (about US$1.75) for adults. But Neia says that drug dealers give her 15 reals.

"I am more afraid of the virus than anything else here," she said. "An elderly man who lives there (next to her home) died. People in general are respecting isolation."

Crime has often cut this community off from the rest of Rio. Police regularly raid the area, as part of Bolsonaro's crackdown on favelas. He has said that a policeman who does not kill is not a real policeman. And the resulting uptick in deadly operations has led to outcry from human rights advocates.

The most recent raid near this favela occurred ten days ago and left at least seven dead. The signs another raid may be on its way are everywhere: a big rock blocks a road, the sound of firecrackers from a rooftop -- a warning that a lookout has seen something strange, and the police may be coming again.

Nearly everyone we spoke to had a story of death or infection from coronavirus. Daniel, who runs a street food stall, told stories of deaths he had heard of as he prepared pastels.

"Today there was a girl who lives nearby who died," he said, adding a friend of his with diabetes and a heart condition also died suddenly at home. The street he lives on has seen two deaths, he says.

"There's less movement in the streets," Daniel said. "I wash my hands here all the time. I use hand gel, masks and clean the stall a lot."

The dealers have barred restaurants from putting tables out, he says.

"The virus is in control here," Daniel said. "Even the dealers are afraid. It's not possible to control everybody."

The motorcycles whizz back and forth, some carrying gunmen, others ferrying teenage girls out for the night. The streets buzz with activity. At times it feels like a world before lockdowns.

But locals say it's fairly empty. Bars, they say, would normally hum with music and drug dealing would be more prevalent.

Areas like these will be an enduring concern to healthcare workers as the pandemic grows. The state will know little about how the virus has spread in these communities. Residents here may live apart from wealthier Rio neighborhoods, but many work there, nonetheless, and may spread the virus.

Firecrackers suddenly crackle again, and a lookout fears the police are on their way.

Aid groups 'alarmed' by little US coronavirus assistance

© Provided by The Canadian Press

JOHANNESBURG — More than two dozen international aid groups have told the U.S. government they are “increasingly alarmed” that “little to no U.S. humanitarian assistance has reached those on the front lines” of the coronavirus pandemic, as the number of new cases picks up speed in some of the world’s most fragile regions.

The letter obtained by The Associated Press and signed by groups including Save the Children, CARE USA, World Vision and others says that “in spite of months of promising conversations with USAID field staff, few organizations have received an executed award for COVID-19 humanitarian assistance.”

It calls the delays “devastating” and says the window is closing for the U.S. to help mitigate the worst impacts of the pandemic around the world.

The letter to U.S. Agency for International Development acting administrator John Barsa is dated June 4 — the same day that other USAID officials were touting the U.S. government’s “global leadership” in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“To date, we have committed more than $1 billion to benefit the global COVID response,” Kenneth Staley, the leader of the USAID COVID-19 task force, told reporters covering Africa. The funds are typically provided to aid groups as well as private contractors and United Nations agencies.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

But much of that aid has been tied up in “uncharacteristic delays” nearly three months after the passage of the Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act, the letter from aid groups says.

“The long delays in COVID-19 awards — and as a result, U.S. response to a dynamic global emergency — stands in stark contrast to our experience in crises where (the Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance) is known to turn around funding in a matter of weeks, if not days,” the letter says.

The letter makes clear the aid problem is a global one, pointing out the exponential rise in cases in Pakistan, and saying “the time to move is now.”

“The U.S. has basically been missing in action on the global front, which is very heartbreaking for me to see,” a director of the Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance during the Obama administration, Jeremy Konyndyk, said Thursday during a Center for Strategic and International Studies discussion. “What we have is kind of a vacuum and a lot of chaos on the international level.”

Acting USAID spokeswoman Pooja Jhunjhunwala told AP that the more than $1 billion includes $218 million in humanitarian aid through the International Disaster Assistance account — nearly $100 million of that authorized as awards. Aid groups can begin spending the rest of it via “essentially a promissory note from USAID." Some of that amount, however, can also go to U.N. agencies. 

 

© Provided by The Canadian Press

“We are in unprecedented times right now, with a rapidly evolving situation on the ground in almost every country,” she said.

For months while promoting U.S. coronavirus assistance, U.S. officials have not given details on the number of crucial items — such as ventilators and testing kits — delivered to countries in Africa, where such equipment has been in short supply for months. And the need is growing.

Cases on the African continent are accelerating, the World Health Organization warned Thursday, saying it took 98 days to reach 100,000 cases and just 18 to reach 200,000. The total number of confirmed is now above 218,000 with more than 5,000 deaths.

Just 3 million tests for the virus have been conducted across Africa, a continent of 1.3 billion people, far short of the goal of 13 million. “One of the biggest challenges we face in the response continues to be the availability of supplies,” WHO Africa chief Matshidiso Moeti told reporters on Thursday.

Another growing problem is infected health workers - nearly 5,000 in the 47-country WHO Africa region — amid shortages of protective gear.

U.S. President Donald Trump in recent weeks has spoken of deliveries of ventilators to African countries, saying 1,000 of the machines were being sent to Nigeria alone. But Nigeria’s government said none has arrived.

In fact, just 50 ventilators have arrived in Africa from the U.S. government, all of them going to South Africa in recent days. That country has about a quarter of Africa's virus cases.

A State Department official on Thursday said the U.S. has pledged ventilator assistance to Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria and Rwanda as well. The U.S. is supplying ventilators as soon as the domestic supply chain and vendors can produce and deliver them, the official said.

Some African officials have expressed open dismay or signalled quiet frustration over the U.S. response. Some have called for a “Made in Africa” push to reduce reliance on imports, amid efforts to create homemade ventilators and repurpose factories.

The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been quick to praise assistance from the Jack Ma Foundation and others for deliveries of ventilators, testing kits and other badly needed items.

But asked about just how many of those items the U.S. has delivered, Africa CDC chief John Nkengasong on Thursday said that “unfortunately, I cannot give you a number ... It has been a challenging time for many countries to fight their own pandemic.”

___

Associated Press writers Andrew Meldrum in Johannesburg and Ben Fox in Washington contributed to this report.

___

Follow AP pandemic coverage at http://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak

Cara Anna, The Associated Press

Missing and murdered Indigenous people rally planned for Sunday in Regina

INDIGENOUS PEOPLES LIVES MATTER

Connor O’Donovan

© Demi Knight The event is set to begin at 1 pm. Attendees are asked to bring hand sanitizer and masks and to practise physical distancing.

Following a week of Black Lives Matter rallies in Regina, another protest is planned for the Saskatchewan Legislature grounds -- this time with a focus on missing and murdered Indigenous people.

"There is so much violence toward Indigenous people and it is time to speak up about it," reads the description on the Facebook event page. "No more silence! We need to stand together."

READ MORE: Canada is asking families of murdered, missing Indigenous women to wait for action plan. Why?
The event is set to begin at 1 pm. Attendees are asked to bring hand sanitizer and masks and to practise physical distancing.

"This month is Indigenous History month," the description continues. "We need to be the change, and it starts now."

Judge orders Seattle to stop using tear gas during protests

© Provided by The Canadian Press

SEATTLE — A U.S. judge on Friday ordered Seattle police to temporarily stop using tear gas, pepper spray and flash-bang devices to break up largely peaceful protests, a victory for groups who say authorities have overreacted to recent demonstrations over police brutality and racial injustice.

The liberal city with a lengthy history of massive, frequent protests has taken hits from all sides — from demonstrators, some city officials, the president and now a judge — over the way it's responded to crowds taking to the streets following George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police. Those on the right say the mayor and police chief aren't being tough enough on protesters who have taken over part of a neighbourhood near downtown Seattle, while those on the left say police tactics have been far too harsh.© Provided by The Canadian Press

U.S. District Judge Richard Jones sided with a Black Lives Matter group that sued the Seattle Police Department this week to halt the violent tactics it has used to break up protests.

Last weekend, officers used tear gas, pepper spray and other force against crowds of protesters. Jones' order halts those tactics for two weeks, though demonstrations this week have been calm.

Mayor Jenny Durkan and Police Chief Carmen Best have apologized to peaceful protesters who were subjected to chemical weapons. But Best has said some demonstrators violently targeted police, throwing objects and ignoring orders to disperse. Both have faced calls to resign, which they have rejected

© Provided by The Canadian Press

The judge said those objecting to the police tactics make a strong case that the indiscriminate use of force is unconstitutional. Jones said weapons like tear gas and pepper spray fail to target “any single agitator or criminal” and they are especially problematic during the coronavirus pandemic.

“Because they are indiscriminate, they may even spill into bystanders’ homes or offices as they have done before,” Jones wrote.

Durkan, a former U.S. attorney, "believes the court struck the right balance to protect the fundamental constitutional right to exercise protest, with the need to also ensure public safety," spokeswoman Kamaria Hightower said in an email.

Durkan also has requested reviews of police actions from the Office of Police Accountability and the city’s inspector general. Washington State Patrol Chief John Batiste also said Friday the agency will stop using gas until further notice, particularly amid the pandemic.

This week, demonstrators have turned part of Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighbourhood into a protest centre with speakers, drum circles and Black Lives Matter painted on a street near a police station. Police largely left the station after the chaos last weekend, when officers tear-gassed protesters and some demonstrators threw objects at them. Police sprayed tear gas just two days after the mayor and police chief said they were temporarily halting its use.

Durkan tweeted that on Friday she visited the so-called autonomous zone — which has been criticized by President Donald Trump and where people, including officers, come and go freely. She said she spoke with organizers about moving forward and noted that she's always known Capitol Hill as a place for people to express themselves.

Trump has slammed her and Gov. Jay Inslee for not breaking up the occupation by “anarchists” and threatening to take action if they don’t. Both have assailed his comments and say they're focusing on a peaceful resolution. The demonstrations have been calm since police left the area.

Michele Storms, executive director of the ACLU of Washington, said the group was pleased with the judge's ruling.

“The city must allow for freedom of speech and freedom of assembly, and it must address police accountability and excessive use of force,” Storms said in a statement.

The ruling came as massive crowds marched in the rain and some businesses temporarily closed in response to a call from Black Lives Matter Seattle-King County to launch a statewide general strike.

“As tens of thousands of people were gathering today to march silently and in solidarity against police brutality and misconduct, the U.S. District Court affirmed their right to protest, free from state violence. That is a victory for today," the group said in a statement.

Black Lives Matter encouraged supporters not go to work or to work from home Friday and to learn about local elected officials and issues. Organizers have demands for the city, county and state that include cutting at least $100 million from the Seattle police budget, ending cash bail and declaring racism a public health crisis.

Durkan tweeted that she and the police chief participated in the march, saying Best and her Police Department leaders have been working “incredibly hard to adjust and improve every day.”

Washington State Patrol Chief John Batiste also said Friday his personnel will stop using gas until further notice, particularly amid the pandemic.

Lisa Baumann, The Associated Press

Protesters burn down Wendy's in Atlanta where black man was slain by police

By Brad Brooks and Dan Whitcomb

© Reuters/ELIJAH NOUVELAGE People watch as a Wendy’s burns following a rally against racial inequality and the police shooting death of Rayshard Brooks, in Atlanta

By Brad Brooks and Dan Whitcomb

© Reuters/ELIJAH NOUVELAGE A protester watches as a Wendy’s burns following a rally against racial inequality and the police shooting death of Rayshard Brooks, in Atlanta

(Reuters) - Protesters shut down a major highway in Atlanta on Saturday and set fire to a Wendy's restaurant where a black man was shot by police as he tried to escape arrest, an incident caught on video and sure to fuel more nationwide demonstrations.© Reuters/ELIJAH NOUVELAGE A Wendy’s burns following a rally against racial inequality and the police shooting death of Rayshard Brooks, in Atlanta

The unrest broke out after dark in Atlanta, where earlier in the day Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said she had accepted the prompt resignation of police chief Erika Shields over the death on Friday night of 27-year-old Rayshard Brooks at the Wendy's.© Reuters/ELIJAH NOUVELAGE A Wendy’s burns following a rally against racial inequality and the police shooting death of Rayshard Brooks, in Atlanta

The police department has terminated the officer who allegedly shot and killed Brooks, police spokesman Carlos Campos confirmed late on Saturday. Another officer involved in the incident was put on administrative leave.

© Reuters/ELIJAH NOUVELAGE Protesters are seen in silhouette as they block traffic on a freeway during a rally against racial inequality and the police shooting death of Rayshard Brooks, in Atlanta

Authorities have not yet released the names of the two officers, both of whom were white.

© Reuters/ELIJAH NOUVELAGE A protester watches as a Wendy’s burns following a rally against racial inequality and the police shooting death of Rayshard Brooks, in Atlanta

Images on local television showed the restaurant in flames for more than 45 minutes before fire crews arrived to extinguish the blaze, protected by a line of police officers. By that time the building was reduced to charred rubble next to a gas station.

THIS IS A PHOTO ESSAY READ THE REST HERE 

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/us/protesters-burn-down-wendys-in-atlanta-where-black-man-was-slain-by-police/ar-BB15rqUf

Virginia protesters march to statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee


Amanda Golden and Kyle Stewart

RICHMOND, Va. — Thousands of protesters marched Saturday through the streets of what was once the capital of the Confederacy in the "5000 Man March Against Racism" that started and ended at the monument of Gen. Robert E. Lee.

The three-mile route passed several Confederate monuments as protesters chanted in support of Black Lives Matter and held signs denouncing police brutality and systemic racism. The march, which started four years ago as the “1000 Man March,” grew considerably this year as several thousand people decried racism, discrimination and hate.

Similar protests were held in other U.S. cities Saturday as demonstrations prompted by the death of George Floyd, a Black man who died May 25 under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer, continued for a third straight weekend.

In Richmond, marchers returned to the Lee statue, where Tavares Floyd, a cousin of George Floyd, addressed the crowd.

“George carried the weight of a nation that is guided by white supremacy,” Floyd said. “A weight of police brutality that has permeated the Black community for far too long. And I weep because George was a man that should have been right here today. But instead his life didn't matter.”

© Provided by NBC News Image: Robert E. Lee statue (Ryan M. Kelly / AFP - Getty Images)

Organizers intentionally held the event at the Lee statue, which Gov. Ralph Northam has promised to remove. Earlier in the week, a judge granted a temporary injunction to halt the removal for 10 days in a lawsuit challenging the governor’s authority to take it down. The suit was filed by the descendant of a family that deeded the land the monument sits on.

“We picked the Robert E. Lee monument with the idea that this would be the last big gathering here,” said organizer Triston Harris. “What it means to us is, as we see the statue and we see the graffiti, see all of the Black Lives Matter support that’s now upon the statue, it's extremely ... I want to say, well ... thrilling, to see some of the ideas and see some of the creativity that has been placed upon the statute.”

In some places, protesters have begun taking down statues themselves. Just days ago, they removed one of Confederate President Jefferson Davis a few blocks from the Lee statue on Monument Avenue, and in Portsmouth, Virginia, a man suffered life-threatening injuries when part of a Confederate soldier statue fell on him as they tried to topple it.

Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney, who attended the march, and other local leaders have acknowledged the statues symbolize hate and racism, but they urged activists to stop taking matters into their own hands for public safety.

Instead, they said, let the monuments be removed professionally. A new Virginia state law gives localities the ability to remove, relocate or contextualize war memorials starting July 1. Local governments were previously prohibited from taking such action.

Statues of Confederate leaders throughout the country are continuing to be vandalized and removed. To date, nearly 1,800 Confederate symbols still stand across the U.S., including more than 700 monuments in parks, schools and Washington, D.C. In the last few weeks, Confederate statues have also been removed in Kentucky, Alabama, Florida and Tennessee.

Public opinion about the fate of the monuments is also shifting, according to new polling that shows 44 percent of voters say statues of Confederate leaders should remain standing, down from 52 percent in 2017, and 32 percent say the statues should be removed, compared with 26 percent in 2017.