US says foreign students must leave if classes go fully online due to Covid-19

Issued on: 07/07/2020 -

Students and pedestrians walk through the Yard at Harvard University, after the school asked its students not to return to campus after Spring Break and said it would move to virtual instruction for graduate and undergraduate classes, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S., March 10, 2020. © REUTERS/Brian Snyder

Text by:NEWS WIRES


The United States said Monday it would not allow foreign students to remain in the country if all of their classes are moved online in the fall because of the coronavirus crisis

"Nonimmigrant F-1 and M-1 students attending schools operating entirely online may not take a full online course load and remain in the United States," US Immigration and Custom Enforcement said in a statement.

"Active students currently in the United States enrolled in such programs must depart the country or take other measures, such as transferring to a school with in-person instruction to remain in lawful status," ICE said.

"If not, they may face immigration consequences including, but not limited to, the initiation of removal proceedings."

ICE said the State Department "will not issue visas to students enrolled in schools and/or programs that are fully online for the fall semester nor will US Customs and Border Protection permit these students to enter the United States."

F-1 students pursue academic coursework and M-1 students pursue "vocational coursework," according to ICE.

Most US colleges and universities have not yet announced their plans for the fall semester.

A number of schools are looking at a hybrid model of in-person and online instruction but some, including Harvard University, have said all classes will be conducted online.

Harvard said 40 percent of undergraduates would be allowed to return to campus but their instruction would be online.

There were more than one million international students in the United States for the 2018-19 academic year, according to the Institute of International Education (IIE).

That accounted for 5.5 percent of the total US higher education population, the IIE said, and international students contributed $44.7 billion to the US economy in 2018.

The largest number of international students came from China, followed by India, South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Canada.
(AFP)

Dalai Lama channels 'Inner World' in album to mark 85th birthday



Issued on: 06/07/2020 -

The Dalai Lama, shown here in 1996, has put out a music album to mark his 85th birthday David HANCOCK AFP/File

New Delhi (AFP)

Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama launched an assault on the music charts on Monday by releasing his first album to mark his 85th birthday.

"Inner World", in which the Dalai Lama chants meditations and Buddhist sayings, was inspired by New Zealand follower Junelle Kunin who spent five years working on the project after persuading him to take part.

The Dalai Lama went to her home in Auckland three times and she recorded some sessions at his residence in Dharamsala in India, where the Tibetan government in exile is based.

"He had a clear vision with this work and has been very committed to it," Kunin, who produced the music with her husband Abraham, told the Radio New Zealand programme Nine to Noon.

"It's not a religious project although they are mantras. It's really just a work to try and benefit people. So I thought about what we need day-to-day -- courage and healing and wisdom and so forth so that's the path we went down."

The Dalai Lama has won the Nobel Peace prize, is the best-selling author of a number of books and has been depicted in a number of Hollywood movies, but his involvement with music has been rare.

He appeared at the Glastonbury rock festival in England five years ago with US rock singer Patti Smith when she sang for his 80th birthday.

On a video to promote the album, the Dalai Lama was asked why he had agreed to take part, and answers: "I can say the very purpose of my life is to serve as much as I can."

Lobsang Sangay, president of the Tibetan government-in-exile based in Dharamsala, said he hoped the album would "contribute in calming minds and nerves" of many people as the coronavirus pandemic rages around the world.

He also said the Dalai Lama was making the most of the lockdown and treating it like a "vacation of sorts".

"The lockdown is very good for him. He can now go into retreat, go through all his scriptures and daily prayers... He is a spiritual in heart. He is getting the needed rest, he is 85 years old," Sangay told AFP.

Hollywood star Richard Gere, British pop singer Annie Lennox and comedian Russell Brand were among international celebrities to join special birthday greetings in a video on Facebook.

© 2020 AFP

'Devil Went Down to Georgia' country star Charlie Daniels dies

THE DEVIL YOU SAY, HOPE CHARLIE TOOK HIS FIDDLE DOWN WITH HIM
PROVING THAT NOT ALL LONG HAIRS WERE HIPPIES 
SOME GREW THEIR HAIR LONG TO COVER THEIR RED NECKS

Issued on: 06/07/2020 -

New York (AFP)

Charlie Daniels, a musical force who melded country music and southern rock, showcasing his blistering fiddle skills on hits like "The Devil Went Down to Georgia," died Monday. He was 83 years old.

The Country Music Hall of Fame musician died following a hemorrhagic stroke in Tennessee, a statement on his website said.

Originally a session musician who worked with icons including Bob Dylan, Ringo Starr and Leonard Cohen, Daniels made his name as leader of the Charlie Daniels Band, a country-rock group that hosted the Volunteer Jam annual music festival.

An outspoken persona who waffled between patriotic and countercultural bents, Daniels' intrepid attitude was on full display in his best known hit "The Devil Went Down to Georgia," which hit number one on the country charts and jumped into the top ten pop songs.

The uptempo but growling bluegrass song recounts a fiddle player's musical duel with Satan after wagering his soul -- and playing well enough to keep it -- a song hearkening to historical associations tying fiddle-playing to dark arts and sin.

The rollicking hit won Daniels a Grammy in 1979.

The singer long backed veterans' causes and was also a staunch supporter of the National Rifle Association.

He favored Jimmy Carter, a Georgian, and played the former Democratic president's inauguration ball. Later in life he called former president Barack Obama a "fresh-faced, flower-child president (with) his weak-kneed, Ivy League friends."

Daniels often sounded off his opinions on his website in a section entitled "Soap Box," with a final post celebrating the United States' Independence Day on July 3.

Late last month on the site he skewered protestors marching for anti-racist causes and against police brutality, railing against the demonstrations as a "revolutionary street battle... funded and lead by socialist factions."

"Gun sales are through the roof and America is locked and loaded to protect their families and their neighborhoods," Daniels wrote.

HERE IS MY FAVORITE VERSION OF THE SONG BY EDMONTON'S OWN THE KUBASONICS
THE INSTRUMENT THEY REFER TO IS NOT A VIOLIN OR FIDDLE BUT A UKRAINIAN INSTRUMENT

Tsymbaly - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Tsymbaly

The tsymbaly (Ukrainian: цимбали) is the Ukrainian version of the hammer dulcimer. It is a chordophone made up of a trapezoidal box with metal (steel or bronze) strings strung across it. The tsymbaly is played by striking two beaters against the strings.

US judge temporarily closes controversial oil pipeline

Issued on: 06/07/2020 -

Protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline raged for months in North Dakota in 2016 Robyn BECK AFP/File

New York (AFP)

A US judge on Monday ordered the closure, at least temporarily, of the Dakota Access Pipeline, which has been the subject of dispute and massive protest for years by Native American tribes and environmental groups.

Activists protested and blocked construction of the controversial $3.8-billion, 1,172-mile oil pipeline for months in 2016, objecting to the route connecting the Bakken and Three Forks oil production areas in North Dakota to a distribution center in Illinois.

Washington-based federal judge James E. Boasberg ruled the pipeline falls far short of environmental standards, particularly when it comes to preventing oil spills.

In his 24-page order, he suspended an operating permit granted by the US Army Corps of Engineers to the company Energy Transfer to build a portion of the pipeline under Lake Oahe that stretches from South Dakota into North Dakota in the Northwest United States.

"Fearing severe environmental consequences, American Indian tribes on nearby reservations have sought for several years to invalidate federal permits allowing the Dakota Access Pipeline to carry oil under the lake," Boasberg wrote.

"Today they finally achieve that goal -- at least for the time being."

The ruling means the pipeline must be emptied of oil by August 5 while the Army Corps of Engineers prepares an environmental impact statement -- a step that it had forgone in approving the pipeline.

The ruling is a setback for President Donald Trump, who relaunched the Dakota Access Pipeline shortly after taking office in January 2017, alongside the Keystone XL, another controversial oil pipeline.

Both projects had been frozen under his predecessor Barack Obama.

The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe sued over Trump's decision, claiming the pipeline threatened their drinking water and degraded sacred sites.

In a statement to AFP, Energy Transfer said it would ask the court to stay the decision, or appeal Monday's ruling.

"We believe that the ruling issued this morning from Judge Boasberg is not supported by the law or the facts of the case," spokeswoman Lisa Coleman said.

"Furthermore, we believe that Judge Boasberg has exceeded his authority in ordering the shutdown of the Dakota Access Pipeline, which has been safely operating for more than three years."

Brazil's Bolsonaro dilutes face mask law again
Issued on: 06/07/2020

Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, whose image can be seen on this person's face mask, has further diluted a law mandating such masks in his country as it struggles with the coronavirus pandemic CARL DE SOUZA AFP/File

Brasília (AFP)

Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro on Monday made more changes to weaken a law requiring the wearing of face masks in public places in order to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

On Friday, the far right president had already watered down the bill by vetoing several articles, including ones requiring employers to supply face masks for their staff and another mandating that public authorities should provide face coverings for "economically vulnerable people."

Now he has also vetoed articles requiring masks be worn in prisons and another obliging businesses to provide information on how to wear masks properly.

Some states have already made the wearing of masks mandatory, but this was the first such law on a national level.

Since the beginning of the virus outbreak, Bolsonaro has minimized the risks of what he initially called "a little flu" and flouted social distancing rules and containment measures, such as wearing a mask in public.

Brazil is the second worst-hit country in the world in the pandemic, with almost 65,000 deaths and more than 1.6 million cases.

On Saturday, Bolsonaro published photos on social media in which he is seen without a face mask at a lunch with the US ambassador and several ministers celebrating the US independence day.

Since he was in a private residence he did not break the new law -- but that didn't spare him an avalanche of criticism on social media for not providing a good example.

Holiday park sculpture by artist Calder on sale in Paris
Issued on: 06/07/2020

]Une sculpture de l'artiste américain Alexander Calder proposée aux enchères mercredi 8 juillet 2020 à la maison de ventes Artcurial à Paris BERTRAND GUAY AFP


Paris (AFP)

A huge sculpture by American artist Alexander Calder will be auctioned this week in Paris after spending over 50 years at a holiday park in southern France, the auction house said on Monday.

The influential sculptor is known primarily for his colourful and abstract mobiles, of which he made thousands over the course of his career.

But he also made "stabiles" -- the opposite of mobiles -- one of which has remained concealed from the general public in La Colle-sur-Loup village, a few dozen kilometres from the ritzy city Cannes. Until now.

The black steel 3,5 metre (11 foot) structure, which will go under the hammer at the auction house Artcurial on Wednesday, was made by Calder in 1963.

It was installed six years later in front of a holiday park which aims to attract low-income families by maintaining affordable prices.

The free-standing stabile is being sold by the current owner of the holiday park Belambra Clubs and is estimated to be worth between 2.5 and 3.5 million euros ($2.8-4.0 million).

"It's the first time that a major monumental stabile by Calder will be on auction in France," said Hugues Sebilleau, the director of the modern art department at auction house Artcurial.

"The stabile is completely characteristic of Calder's style at the time. The structure is very assertive and well planted on its four bearing points," said sales expert Serge Lemoine.

"Rhythm and space are the vital compositions. The curves respond to the angles and the surfaces respond to the voids," Lemoine said.

The stabile is on show in the entry of the Artcurial building on the famous Champs Elysees avenue in Paris until its sale on Wednesday.

Trained as an engineer, Calder used a wide variety of media to make more than 22,000 works before he died in 1976.

© 2020 AFP

https://loumessugo.com/secret-riviera-la-colle-sur-loup/

ELECTORAL FASCISM
Egypt parliament approves law for military to run in polls

Issued on: 06/07/2020 - 1

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (C), a former army chief, seen in a January 2015 picture surrounded by top generals, could potentially stay in power until 2030 under amendments passed by parliament MENA MENA/AFP

Cairo (AFP)

Egypt's parliament on Monday approved amendments allowing active or former military personnel to run for the presidency and parliament pending the army's approval.

The legislative changes come a year after Egyptians overwhelmingly voted in favour of constitutional amendments that potentially allow President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, a former army chief, to stay on until 2030.

Since it became a modern republic, all but two of Egypt's presidents have hailed from a military background.

The army is highly visible in Egypt's public life, with former top brass currently serving as ministers and heading governorates as well.

The nationalist institution boasts a sizeable business portfolio ranging from massive construction projects to most recently producing protective masks.
Sisi, the former general-turned-president, led the army's overthrow of elected president Mohamed Morsi in 2013 following mass protests against the Islamist leader's rule.

He won his first term as president in 2014 and was re-elected in March 2018 with more than 97 percent of the vote, after standing virtually unopposed.

The amended law also prohibits officers from divulging information during their service publicly or joining political parties without the Supreme Council of Armed Forces' permission.

SCAF is a military council comprised of the country's most senior generals. It ruled Egypt following the toppling of long-time autocrat Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

A former chief of staff of the armed forces, Sami Anan, was jailed in January 2018 after contesting the presidential elections against Sisi without the military's explicit approval.

He was released nearly two years later.

A military court jailed another former soldier in December 2017 for six years for announcing his decision to enter the presidential race as a potential candidate in a video he posted on YouTube.

© 2020 AFP

Opposition candidate wins Dominican Republic presidential poll

ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ISLAND WITH HAITI
Issued on: 06/07/2020 -

Opposition candidate Luis Abinader, who ran out winner of the Dominican Republic's presidential election, pictured casting his vote in the capital Santo Domingo Juan VALENZUELA afp/AFP


Santo Domingo (AFP)

Opposition candidate Luis Abinader swept to victory in the Dominican Republic's presidential election, early results showed Monday, ending 16 years of unbroken rule by the Caribbean nation's center-left PLD party after voters braved a worsening coronavirus outbreak to cast their ballots.

Abinader, the candidate of the Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM), took 52.51 percent of the vote with 82 percent of polling station returns counted, the Central Electoral Board said.

"We won, today we won," a victorious Abinader told dozens of supporters at his campaign headquarters in the capital Santo Domingo.
"This is the change the Dominican people voted for," said the 52-year-old businessman who will take office on August 16.

Gonzalo Castillo, standing for outgoing President Danilo Medina's Dominican Liberation Party (PLD), conceded late Sunday after winning just 37.69 percent of the vote.

Gray-haired Abinader -- whose holding company has interests in tourism, agriculture and cement -- has the dual challenge of reviving the coronavirus-hit economy and regaining public trust after the Latin America-wide Odebrecht corruption scandal embroiled local officials.

- Record coronavirus infections -

Voters lined up to cast their ballots wearing masks and standing six feet apart as the presidential and legislative polls went ahead Sunday despite soaring coronavirus cases.

The polls were originally scheduled for May 17 but were postponed as the virus outbreak gathered pace across the Caribbean and Latin America.

Gunfire outside a polling station in the capital left one person dead after an argument among opposing party activists turned violent, police said.

But elsewhere, voting appeared to progress smoothly, with few disruptions despite the extra virus precautions.

"It's pretty fluid and very well organized. The truth is I didn't expect it," said Maribel Roman, a 47-year-old business consultant, as she waited for her turn to vote.

The country on Sunday broke its record for the number of daily infections as health officials reported 1,241 new cases. On Saturday, the number of new infections had exceeded 1,000 for the first time.

Since the first infections were registered on March 1, the country has recorded 37,425 cases with 794 deaths from COVID-19.

An election monitor from the Organization of American States (OAS) who travelled from Washington, "tested positive" for the virus and is "in isolation" the organization said on Twitter.

Abinader, whose grandparents immigrated from Lebanon, unsuccessfully ran for the presidency in 2016 and the vice-presidency in 2012. He failed as a Senate candidate in 2005.

His father, Jose Rafael Abinader, fought against the dictatorship of Rafael Leonidas Trujillo in the 1930s and 1940s.

When democracy returned, Abinader senior held numerous public offices and unsuccessfully ran for the presidency three times before winning a senate seat in the 1990s.
- Economic challenges -

While regaining public trust remains a deep concern, restoring economic performance to the levels of the past seven years -- when the tourism-dependent country averaged around 5.0 percent annual growth -- will be Abinader's key task.

GDP slumped almost 30 percent in April compared to the same month last year due to the impact of COVID-19 containment measures.

"We will face the most difficult challenges in our history, economic recovery and regaining confidence in democratic institutions," he said.

Brazilian developer Odebrecht has admitted to doling out $92 million in bribes in the Dominican Republic in exchange for winning public works contracts.

The country, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, ranks 137th out of 180 countries on Transparency International's corruption index.
© 2020 AFP

World Cup 2022 organisers to cut staff: sources
Issued on: 06/07/2020

World Cup staff are to be layed off in Qatar GIUSEPPE CACACE AFP/File

Doha (AFP)

The organisers of the 2022 World Cup will lay off an undisclosed number of staff as gas-rich Qatar cuts costs amid the coronavirus economic downturn, several sources have told AFP.

The job losses, which have not previously been reported, follow similar redundancies at state-run organisations including Qatar Petroleum and Qatar Airways.

The government body organising the tournament, known as the Supreme Committee, directly employs 550 people -- both Qataris and expats -- but oversees the work of tens of thousands of contractors.
"The Supreme Committee has recently undertaken an internal exercise to assess the current workforce and engaged in a budget management and operational efficiency exercise as part of this transition," the organisation said in a statement to AFP Monday.

The 2022 organisers did not confirm how many posts would be lost or what the projected savings would be.

Qataris have largely been spared from past staff cuts at other state-controlled organisations.

- Expat exodus -

"As a result, we have taken the decision to make a number of positions redundant. All due salary and end of service benefits will be paid to those leaving, in line with Qatari labour laws," the statement added.

A source at one major engineering firm involved in the completion of one of seven new stadiums being built for 2022 told AFP that some staff at the company, an SC contractor, had also been terminated.

Despite the impact of coronavirus on construction work, slowing progress to permit social distancing, officials insist preparations are ahead of schedule and 85 percent of all tournament infrastructure is now complete.

Officials have confirmed more than 1,100 cases of COVID-19 among workers at tournament projects and at least one virus death.

Qatar passed the milestone of 100,000 coronavirus cases on Monday and has one of the world's highest per capita infection rates.

Of its 2.75 million population, 100,345 people or 3.65 percent have tested positive for COVID-19. Almost 94,000 of those have recovered and 133 people have died.

The economy of super-wealthy gas exporter Qatar has been buffeted by the global economic downturn and associated energy price collapse caused by the pandemic.

Qatar-based broadcaster BeIN will shed around 100 jobs and cut some salaries in response to the virus downturn, while Qatar Airways will slash some pilot pay by as much as a quarter.

The wider Gulf is in the midst of an expat exodus as foreign workers, who make up the majority of the populations in Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, return home.
The Supreme Committee said it was transitioning its focus from "constructing tournament infrastructure" to "delivering the event operations".

"The organisation's workforce needs to transition as well," the statement said.

burs-gw/dmc

Fossil of giant 70m year-old fish found in Argentina

THE BIG ONE THAT GOT AWAY
Issued on: 06/07/2020 -

The fossilized remains of this Xiphactinus - similar to the one found in Argentina - was discovered in the US state of Kansas and sold at auction in 2010 ROBYN BECK AFP

Buenos Aires (AFP)

A giant 70 million year old fossil of a fish that lived amongst dinosaurs has been discovered in Argentine Patagonia, a team of researchers said on Monday.

Argentine paleontologists "found the remains of a predator fish that was more than six meters long," the researchers said in a statement.

The discovery was published in the scientific journal Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology.


The fish "swam in the Patagonian seas at the end of the Cretaceous Period, when the temperature there was much more temperate than now," the statement said.

"The fossils of this carnivorous animal with sharp teeth and scary appearance were found close to the Colhue Huapial lake" around 1,400 kilometers south of the capital Buenos Aires.

This fossil belonged to the Xiphactinus genus, "amongst the largest predatory fish that existed in the history of Earth."

"Its body was notably slim and ended in a huge head with big jaws and teeth as sharp as needles, several centimeters long."

Examples of this species have been found in other parts of the world, "some of which even have preserved stomach contents," said Julieta de Pasqua, one of the study authors.

Previously, the Xiphactinus had only been found in the northern hemisphere, although one example was recently found in Venezuela.

Patagonia is one of the most important reservoirs of fossils of dinosaurs and prehistoric species.

© 2020 AFP