SUPERSPREADER EVENT

Thousands Attend Rev. Franklin Graham's Prayer March in DC

Faithful followers of Franklin Graham march from the Lincoln Memorial to Capitol Hill, during the Prayer March at the National Mall, in Washington, D.C., on Saturday. (Jose Luis Magana/AP)


By Tauren Dyson | Saturday, 26 September 2020 03:09 PM


Thousands of Christians showed up to the National Mall on Saturday for the 2020 Washington Prayer March organized by the Rev. Franklin Graham.

The prayer march "focused solely asking God to heal our land," according to the organizer's website.

The two-hour event was designed to stop at seven locations on a nearly two-mile route where attendees would be asked to "pray silently using the focus and prompts for each location."

One of those locations included the World War II memorial, where participants prayed for the military, police, and their families, along with peace in the United States.

Vice President Mike Pence appeared at the event along with former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

Liberty University President Jerry Prevo tweeted:

"These buses are filled with Christians committed to prayer and to God's best for this nation. They're college students today – and the leaders of tomorrow. They’re Champions for Christ."

At the Washington Monument, the attendees prayed for families, for the salvation of the lost, and an end to abortion.

SMACK DOWN 

Dwayne Johnson backs Biden in first public presidential endorsement

DO YOU SMELL WHATS COOKING

BY ZACK BUDRYK - 09/27/20 

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson endorsed Democratic nominee Joe Biden on Sunday morning, calling the November election “critical.”

“I’ve got friends in all parties, but the one thing we can always agree on is the conversation and the dialogue, and where that conversation lands is always the most critical part,” Johnson said in a video he tweeted Sunday.

The actor and former wrestler described a conversation on political issues he recently had with Biden and his running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.).

“I thought it was a great and extremely productive conversation that we had, and as a registered Independent for years now with centrist ideologies, I do feel that Vice President Biden and Sen. Harris are the best choice to lead our country, and I am endorsing them to become president and vice president of our United States,” Johnson said.

The video includes a clip of the remote conversation between the three, in which Johnson noted he has never made a public presidential endorsement before.

“You guys are both experienced to lead. You’ve done great things. Joe, you’ve had such an incredible career, and you’ve led with such great compassion, heart, drive and soul,” Johnson said. “Kamala, you have been a district attorney, a state attorney, a U.S. senator. You are smart and tough. I have seen you in those hearings.”

Johnson has been largely politically neutral in public in the past. He spoke at the 2000 Republican National Convention and the same year appeared at a nonpartisan World Wrestling Entertainment voter registration event at the Democratic National Convention. He told Rolling Stone in 2018 that he voted for former President Obama twice but did not vote in the 2016 election.

Tens of thousands rally against Belarus president in 'people's inauguration'

By Andrei Makhovsky 

© Reuters/STRINGER Belarusian opposition supporters hold a rally in Minsk

By Andrei Makhovsky

MINSK (Reuters) - Masked police dragged people into vans and fired stun grenades and tear gas to disperse crowds as tens of thousands marched for a seventh straight weekend to demand veteran Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko quit.

© Reuters/STRINGER Belarusian opposition supporters hold a rally in Minsk

Protesters chanted "impostor" and "Sveta is our president" as they marched through Minsk and other cities decked out in red-and-white opposition colours. At least 53 people were detained, human rights activists said.

Some dubbed the protest a "people's inauguration" of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, Lukashenko's main opponent who fled into exile after the Aug. 9 election that Lukashenko's opponents say was blatantly rigged to hand Lukashenko a sixth term.  

© Reuters/TUT.BY Belarusian opposition supporters hold a rally in Minsk

Lukashenko denies electoral fraud and was inaugurated on Wednesday in a ceremony held without any prior announcement, sparking more protests and condemnation from the European Union, the United States and Britain.


French President Emmanuel Macron said in comments in the French press Lukashenko must step aside.

"We are witnessing a power crisis in Belarus with an authoritarian administration that is not able to accept the logic of democracy," Macron told le Journal du Dimanche in comments published on Sunday.

"It is clear that Lukashenko must go."

Russia said the EU's decision not to recognise Lukashenko as the legitimate president contradicted international law and amounted to indirect meddling in the country.

Buoyed by support from traditional ally Russia, the 66-year-old Lukashenko, a former Soviet collective farm manager who has been in power for over a quarter of a century, shows no inclination to resign.  

© Reuters/TUT.BY Belarusian opposition supporters hold a rally in Minsk

Riot police pulled people out of crowds and hauled them away into vans, a Reuters witness said. Several metro stations were shut and the mobile internet disrupted. Some protesters wore fake crowns to mock Lukashenko's inauguration. 

© Reuters/TUT.BY Belarusian opposition supporters hold a rally in Minsk

"We came to celebrate the people's inauguration of the people's president," said Alexander, a 30-year-old logistics worker, while protesting in Minsk. "First he falsified the elections, and then he falsified the inauguration."

Police said they used tear gas and stun grenades to disperse "disobedient" protesters in the eastern city of Gomel, the Russian agency TASS reported.

Local media footage showed masked security forces spraying a substance from a can into the faces of people in Gomel, while the protesters retreated shouting "fascists".

The Belarusian government typically releases the data for the total number of people arrested on the day after a protest.

The Russian news agency Interfax said at least ten people had been detained at the start of Sunday's protest.

Police detained 150 people during protests on Saturday, the interior ministry said.

Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei on Saturday accused western countries preparing to impose new sanctions on Minsk of attempting to sow "chaos and anarchy".

(Additional reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin and Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber in Moscow; writing by Matthias Williams; editing by Barbara Lewis)

COMMENTARY: It’s time for Canada to implement universal child care


globalnewsdigital
  

© THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Child care is not a women's issue. It is not a parenting issue, nor is it a social issue. It an economic one.

Canada's economic stability hinges on a plan that includes universal child care. Before the pandemic hit, half of Canada's workforce was women. We require women's participation in the labour force to rebuild and grow our economy.

Wednesday's throne speech suggests the Trudeau government recognizes this. "The government will make a significant, long-term, sustained investment to create a Canada-wide early-learning and child-care system," Gov. Gen. Julie Payette said during the speech, though details beyond that were vague.

READ MORE: Trudeau dangles national childcare system in throne speech with few hints of fiscal restraint

Not that I was expecting the nitty-gritty particulars; throne speeches offer big picture plans and overarching vision.

But needless to say, I was cautiously optimistic to hear child care put front and centre.

My caution is duly warranted, as this isn't our government's first kick at the can. A universal child care plan has been in the work for five long decades. The 1970 Report on the Royal Commission on the Status of Women called for a national daycare act. (The report, which highlighted the inequities faced by women noted that child care workers get paid less than zookeepers.)

Twenty-three years later, another plan was promised in the Liberal's famous Red Book in 1993, and again in 2004 and again in 2011.

Then, as recently as 2015, the NDP pledged a $15-a-day child care plan in its bid for power, but the party lost.

All this to say, 50 years later, we are still without a national child care plan. We do not have a sufficient number of qualified caregivers or sufficient pay to retain them. So yes, I am hopeful for change — especially now.

When the coronavirus hit, many women were forced to leave their jobs to care for children as child-care facilities and schools shuttered. I have two children, aged eight and five. Looking back, I'm not quite sure how we made it through March to June, juggling home-schooling with full-time work from home.

We almost didn't. As an epileptic, I was doubling up on my medication almost daily out of fear of an oncoming seizure from all of the stress and sleepless nights as I managed more roles than I could carry. The entire summer was fraught with nerves about what "back-to-school" would look like for my children.

Like many families, we didn't have the financial luxury of choosing a pandemic pod with a private tutor or even online schooling. Our only option was to send our children back to the classroom.

However, what was a very real reality was that if schools did shutter for a second time, my career would be the one to be put on hold. I am a freelance worker; less salary, no benefits — economically, it is seemingly a no-brainer. If push comes to shove, my career will be the one to be pushed aside, even temporarily.

Nonetheless, we are among the lucky ones and recognize our privilege in that my husband and I are both still working, while so many others are not. But if one of us has to drop out of the workforce in order to manage child care, it will be me.

READ MORE: Childcare, flex work are key for women to recover from pandemic career hits, report says

I am not the exception, I am the rule. A 2019 study showed that the average cost of preschool-age child care was $1,207 per month in Toronto. Costs varied across the country: $954 in Vancouver; $875 in Edmonton; $861 in Halifax.

By contrast, Quebec City had average monthly child care costs of $179. To date, Quebec is the only province that currently provides government-subsidized child care. For many Canadian parents outside Quebec, child care costs about as much as housing.

A single year of preschool child care can cost the same as four years of university tuition.

And beyond the egregious costs, there is also a matter of availability. In our densely populated metropolises, we see parents signing up for child care spots the moment they find out there's a baby on the way.

Of Canada's approximately five million children under the age of 12, we don't have statistics on how many are in paid and unpaid care. But we do know that only 27 per cent are in licensed and regulated facilities.

COVID-19 has exposed glaring economic inequalities in our society and revealed how those with the financial least have been impacted the most by this seemingly indiscriminate virus.

Women have lost jobs at a higher rate than men. When it comes to the labour force, women have been flung back to 1990 — it feels as if we are in a time warp.

In March, women represented 70 per cent of job losses in Canada among workers aged 25-54. By June, while the employment rate was almost back to normal for fathers of school-aged children, for mothers, employment had dropped by five per cent.

A recent study by RBC shows that women's participation in the labour force is at a 30-year low. But women cannot return to the work-force unless child care is both affordable and safe.

Universal child care is no easy feat. There will be a significant investment, and I use the term investment purposefully, rather than expense. I believe this is an investment in our future which will have long-term benefits that will greatly exceed the costs.

More than 25 per cent of Canadian children start schooling with learning or social vulnerabilities that will impede their educational advancement and chances for career advancement.

We need to start paying attention sooner. U.S. research shows that every dollar invested into child care returns $8.60 back into the economy over the child’s lifetime. A U.K. study says a one per cent of GDP investment in child care will create as much as five times more jobs than an equivalent investment in construction.

Public policy must rebalance the economy to counteract inequity. We must have a measured, robust plan.

"Money without a strategy will simply expand a market that already fails many families. Building a high-quality, regulated system of early learning and child care requires a plan and targets for outcomes," wrote Armine Yalnizyan and Kerry McCuaig in a brief to the Prime Minister's Office, ahead of the throne speech.

Universal child care system may seem like an overwhelming task. But we are living in overwhelming times.

If we truly value the collective well-being and future growth potential of our country, then now is the time to invest in our youngest members of society.

Meera Estrada is a cultural commentator and co-host of kultur’D! on Global News Radio 640 Toronto.

Montreal demonstrators demand climate justice a year after Greta Thunberg speech

© Provided by The Canadian Press

MONTREAL — Demonstrators gathered in downtown Montreal on Saturday to protest planetary warming on the Global Day of Action for Climate Justice.

The coalition behind the event is calling for net zero emissions by 2030 as part of a broad slate of demands that also includes Indigenous self-determination, migrant rights and defunding the police.

Lylou Sehili, co-spokeswoman for the Student Coalition for an Environmental and Social Shift, said combining divergent social issues into a single movement strengthens their message.

"We cannot exclude social justice from the climate fight," Sehili said, pointing to a legacy of colonialism she said manifests itself in areas ranging from resource extraction to police brutality.

Activists gathered at Place du Canada around 1 p.m. to kick off the march, which went east on Sherbrooke Street from the intersection of Peel Street and Rene-Levesque Boulevard.

A group of parents set up an installation showcasing scores of children's shoes to symbolize the carbon footprint current generations are leaving for their kids.

"Young people will be disproportionately impacted by climate change. The Quebec government must act now to ensure their safety," said Dr. Genevieve Ferdais, a family doctor and member of the group For Our Kids Montreal.

The demonstration follows the Liberal government's throne speech Wednesday, which singled out clean technology and green jobs as cornerstones of an economic rebound.

The address, which outlined the government's priorities for the new session of Parliament, did not change its emissions goals of net zero by 2050 and a one-third reduction by 2030.

Saturday's event also comes a year after hundreds of thousands put foot to pavement for the Montreal Climate March, which featured teen climate activist Greta Thunberg as the keynote speaker.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 26, 2020.

Stephane Blais and Christopher Reynolds, The Canadian Press

Mi'kmaq power, inside and beyond Ottawa, stronger than in past fishery battles

   

© Provided by The Canadian Press

HALIFAX — When Jaime Battiste was in his early 20s, cable news channels were full of images of Mi'kmaq fishermen in New Brunswick battling federal fisheries officers over seized lobster traps.

Now, Canada's first Mi'kmaq MP is on the inside of federal power, trying to help as the launch of an Indigenous lobster fishery in St. Marys Bay in Nova Scotia meets fierce resistance.

"I wonder if they ever thought, 20 years ago, that they'd have two Mi'kmaq senators and a Mi'kmaq MP who could help influence and work with government to find a solution," the Liberal MP said in a recent interview from his Cape Breton riding.

His role is seen by some observers as one sign Mi'kmaq political influence is gradually growing, when compared to the clashes off Burnt Church, N.B., in Miramichi Bay, between 1999 and 2002.

Curtis Bartibogue, a Mi'kmaq lobster fisherman who was arrested by Department of Fisheries and Oceans officers during that earlier unrest, said public knowledge of treaty rights remains poor, but governments are more reluctant to bring in enforcement crackdowns.

"There's a big difference now between government and Indigenous relationships due to our ability to have our voices within government," he said in an interview Friday from his community, now known as Esgenoopetitj First Nation.

He recently was following closely as Sipekne'katik First Nation held a ceremony on Sept. 17 at Saulnierville wharf in southwestern Nova Scotia, issuing five lobster licences.

Like Esgenoopetitj, the Nova Scotia community cites the 1999 Supreme Court of Canada decision stating Donald Marshall Jr. had a treaty right to fish for eels when and where he wanted, without a licence.

The Marshall decision also said the Mi'kmaq, Maliseet and Passamaquoddy bands could hunt, fish and gather to earn a "moderate livelihood,'' though the court followed up with a clarification two months later, saying the treaty right was subject to federal regulation.

As in earlier crises, opposition from non-Indigenous fishermen has been based on arguments that the First Nations must abide by Ottawa's conservation measures, and out-of-season fishing is therefore illegal.

Hundreds of non-Indigenous fishermen gathered for protests at wharfs after the new Nova Scotia fishery was announced this month, and later a flotilla hauled 350 Mi'kmaq traps from the water.

However, the reaction from Ottawa has followed a different pattern from the early 2000s.

Senators Dan Christmas of Membertou First Nation and Brian Francis from Lennox Island First Nation issued a letter noting the Mi'kmaq had treaty rights to hunt, fish and to earn a moderate livelihood.

Fisheries Minister Bernadette Jordan and Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett said in a Sept. 21 statement they won't tolerate vigilante action on the water, saying there's "no place for the threats, intimidation, or vandalism."

By Friday, Chief Mike Sack of the Sipekne'katik First Nation, confirmed he would hold talks this week with Jordan and her officials on defining what his community's moderate livelihood fishery might look like.

And the First Nation's boats kept fishing.

Meanwhile, Battiste and the Mi'kmaq senators met Friday at the Membertou First Nation in Cape Breton and held online discussions with Jordan and Bennett.

Battiste, a lawyer who has taught university courses on Indigenous treaties, says he's advocating the concept of co-managed fishing systems, with Mi'kmaq representatives having a direct say in regulations. "It could be the Canada-Mi'kmaq Fishing Authority. I'm not sure if federal legislation is required," he said.

It remains to be seen how influential the 41-year-old MP's views will be.

Naiomi Metallic, the chair in Aboriginal law and policy at Dalhousie University, said a negotiated solution is needed that recognizes treaty rights and includes a "significant and meaningful role for Mi'kmaq management of their own fishery."

She said to date the DFO response has been an initiative to provide commercial licences to some Mi'kmaq communities willing to participate, but it hasn't settled the issue of a moderate livelihood fishery under Indigenous control.

"Canada has been dragging and dragging its feet at the negotiation table and people are fed up," she said.

Bartibogue, who now holds a commercial licence, said his community accepted the DFO licences after years of battles, but he said the push for more control will continue.

He said his community just completed a two-week "treaty fishery" where he estimated about 500 traps were set for a total lobster catch of approximately 20,000 pounds.

"We basically did like what they're doing in St. Marys' Bay .... We just finished it yesterday and it went off pretty well," he said.

Battiste wouldn't speculate on how large a moderate livelihood fishery for his people would be.

"We will work with the government to figure out what is possible .... At the end of the day, we can't have continued hostilities on the water that flare up like this," he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 27, 2020.

Michael Tutton, The Canadian Press

El Salvador's next US envoy met Trump at Miss Universe

© Provided by The Canadian Press

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador — El Salvador's next ambassador to Washington is someone President Donald Trump might remember from his days as a beauty pageant boss.

A photo circulating on social media Friday showed a smiling Trump locking arms with Milena Mayorga and two other contestants - Miss USA and Miss Guatemala - on the sidelines of the 1996 Miss Universe pageant, where she was a top 10 finalist. Trump at the time was owner of the pageant.

Mayorga, 44, was appointed Thursday night by President Nayib Bukele as El Salvador's next ambassador to the U.S.

She's a political neophyte with no previous diplomatic experience, having been elected to congress for the first time in 2018.

But she's well known to Salvadorans for years as a popular TV host.

Mayorga garnered the president's attention after denouncing corruption in her conservative ARENA party, which as the dominant force in congress has blocked Bukele's agenda. She later quit the party.

As ambassador, she'll face an uphill battle trying to repair deteriorating relations with Republicans and Democrats in Congress who have increasingly voiced concern that Bukele, although highly popular, is overstepping his authority and threatening checks and balances in the small Central American country.

While Bukele has endeared himself to Trump by backing his hardline immigration policies, he's faced criticism among human rights and pro-democracy activists for defying El Salvador's supreme court and congress.

On Thursday, six Republican congressmen led by David Royce of Ohio and Mario Diaz Balart of Miami wrote a letter to Bukele expressing concern about what they called El Salvador's “slow but sure departure from the rule of law and norms of democracy that our hemisphere has fought so hard to preserve.”

The letter provoked an angry response on national TV from Bukele, who dismissed the letter - which followed similar complaints by Democrats - as the work of a small group of lawmakers that don't represent even 3% of the entire U.S. Congress.

“Getting congressmen to write a letter is the easiest thing in the world,” Bukele said.

Criticism of Bukele stems from his repeated defiance of congress and the supreme court.

In February, he sent heavily armed soldiers to surround the congress to pressure lawmakers into approving a loan to fund a fight against gangs. Then in April, Bukele ignored several rulings by El Salvador’s supreme court striking down strict measures that led to the detention in crowded quarantine centres of hundreds of people accused of breaking the coronavirus lockdown rules.

He also recently attacked one of Central America's most independent investigative news outlets, El Faro, after it uncovered evidence that the government had been secretly negotiating with jailed members of MS-13, which is considered a terrorist group in El Salvador.

Throughout the confrontation, he's maintained strong support from the Trump administration and U.S. Ambassador Ronald Johnson. Bukele last year signed a bilateral agreement that would allow the U.S. to send asylum seekers from other countries to El Salvador. The policy had not been implemented before the pandemic.

In August, his government signed a $450,000 contrac t with a well-connected Washington lobbyist, according to U.S. Department of Justice filings. Bukele claims to have annulled the contract with the Sonoran Policy Group without having disbursed any funds.

Mayorga has generated controversy inside El Salvador for honouring on social media the deceased military commander behind the 1981 raid on the village of El Mozote, a gruesome low point during the country's long civil war. Almost 1,000 people, including farmers and children, were killed by U.S.-trained counterinsurgency troops during a hunt for leftist guerrillas.

“Some people never die, they just convert into myths and legends,” she wrote in a 2018 tribute to army Col. Domingo Monterrosa on the anniversary of the commander's birth. Monterrosa was later killed when a guerrilla bomb destroyed the helicopter he was travelling in.

Mayorga was a top 10 finalist at the 1996 Miss Universe won by Alicia Machado, a former Miss Venezuela who campaigned against Trump in the 2016 campaign. Machado accused Trump of labeling her with a sexist nickname — “Miss Piggy” — that caused her shame and humiliation after she was crowned Miss Universe.

—

Goodman reported from Medellin, Colombia.

Marcos Aleman And Joshua Goodman, The Associated Press

Demonstration in Fredericton as private abortion clinic to lose its doctor

© Provided by The Canadian Press

FREDERICTON — A doctor who runs a private abortion clinic in Fredericton says he can't afford to continue subsidizing the service and is leaving the practice for another job at the end of this month.

Dr. Adrian Edgar says he's applied for a contract with the military, and Clinic 554 — the former Morgentaler Clinic — is still for sale more than a year after it was put on the market.

Edgar said when he bought the building six years ago, he assumed the province would take over the majority of the service.

"I've had to continue to subsidize the health care for an entire operating room. That's not possible," he said in an interview Saturday.

"I haven't been able to make a payment on my student debt for six years. I only can pay the interest. I don't pay myself frequently. I make about a third of what any other family doctor should be making in this province," he said.

For years, the clinic has blamed its impending closure on a long-standing provincial refusal to fund surgical abortions performed outside a hospital.

After Fredericton's Morgentaler clinic closed in 2014, citing lack of provincial funding, the Liberal government of the day removed a regulation requiring women seeking hospital abortions to have two doctors certify the procedure as medically necessary. But the regulation limiting funding to abortions performed in hospitals remained.

Edgar said many of his patients can't afford the procedure, which costs between $700 and $850, and expenses have become too great for him to keep the clinic open.

Edgar said until it's sold, the facility is available if the lobby group Reproductive Justice New Brunswick can recruit another doctor, or if another physician wants it for a family practice.

"I see no reason for health care not to continue there, but I can't be the one to keep it up," he said.

Edgar provided a full range of reproductive health services, along with a family practice and care for members of the LGBTQ community.

About two dozen people staged a quiet demonstration in front of the New Brunswick legislature Saturday, accusing the province of violating the Canada Health Act.

"Clinic 554 is a symptom of the fact that we have an unconstitutional regulation that doesn't provide medicare funding for abortions out of hospitals. We're kind of mourning the life of reproductive rights for people of this province as well," said Kerri Froc, an associate professor of law at the University of New Brunswick.

"We're tired of having to fight this fight over and over again. At some point the government has to give its head a shake and say we're going to comply with the law," she said.

The government has repeatedly defended its position, saying it provides access to abortion services at the Moncton Hospital, Dr. Georges-L.-Dumont University Hospital Centre in Moncton and the Chaleur Regional Hospital in Bathurst.

But Green Leader David Coon — who attended the rally — said that's just not good enough.

"To restrict access to abortion services to two locations in Moncton in the southeast of the province and in Bathurst in the north of the province is unjust," Coon said.

Earlier in the week, the president of the New Brunswick Medical Society issued a statement in support of Clinic 554, and urging the government to fund out-of-hospital surgical abortions.

"Clinic 554 provides a safe environment for abortions and reproductive care, it is a health resource for LGBTQ patients across New Brunswick, and it serves as a family practice for thousands of patients. It is a valuable part of our health system and must be maintained," wrote Dr. Chris Goodyear.

The Progressive Conservative government of Premier Blaine Higgs won a majority in the provincial election earlier this month, and a new cabinet will be sworn-in on Tuesday.

Edgar said he doesn't expect a new position on abortions from the new health minister.

"I think the new health minister will say nothing because this government just seems to abdicate its responsibility for health care when it comes to abortion," he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 26, 2020.

Kevin Bissett, The Canadian Press

As Covid-19 rages on, countries need to support migrant workers (opinion)


Opinion by Saad Quayyum and Roland Kangni Kpodar for CNN Business Perspectives

  

© Alfonso Di Vincenzo/KONTROLAB/LightRocket/Getty Images CORIGLIANO-ROSSANO, CALABRIA, ITALY - 2020/07/15: A migrant collect watermelons in a field in Calabria, in southern Italy. In Italy, after the coronavirus, foreign labor in agriculture is in great demand. The most requested foreigners are African migrants and Romanians. (Photo by Alfonso Di Vincenzo/KONTROLAB/LightRocket via Getty Images)


Just as Covid-19 has disproportionately impacted some communities more than others, globally, the virus has had an oversized negative impact on migrant workers.

Perhaps surprisingly, despite the bleak experience for foreign overseas workers during the pandemic, the effect on remittances — the flow of money they send back home — has, in many cases, proven resilient. But that trend may yet be upended.


The predicament of migrant workers over the last few months has highlighted the pressing need — now greater than ever — to support them and their families back home.

In the wake of the pandemic, many overseas foreign workers lost their jobs, and reports were widespread of newly laid-off foreign employees stranded in host countries without the means to return home.

Migrants, many of whom are undocumented, often face a heavier burden than a local worker once they lose their job. They often lack access to social safety nets or stimulus checks, which provide a cushion to their local counterparts. This is especially the case for the undocumented or those on temporary work visas

At the same time, many migrant workers have limited or no access to health care. Crowded living quarters, together with poor working conditions, put them at higher risk of contracting the virus.

They may also live in fear of deportation as several countries have tightened immigration rules in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.


Outlook for remittances

It's unsurprising then that remittances were expected to take a hit from the pandemic as countries that employ large numbers of foreign workers moved into recession. In addition, the hundreds of thousands of migrant workers employed in major oil-producing countries also suffered repercussions from the drop in oil prices, which weighed down the outlook of Gulf Cooperation Council countries and Russia.

The remittances sent back by migrants are a crucial source of external financing. In 57 countries, it exceeded 5% of GDP last year. The money went mostly to low-income households.

Against the background of the current health crisis, the need for that income is acute.

Back in April, the World Bank estimated that remittances would fall by 20% in low and middle-income countries.

Despite the coronavirus and its likely impact on remittances, the picture is not unconditionally bleak. Remittances often hold up in response to adverse shocks in recipient countries. This possibly explains why they were surprisingly resilient in many countries in the first half of the year.

While there is a great deal of diversity, remittances largely fell from March, then started to stabilize in May before picking up. This pattern was broadly in line with the stringency of virus containment policies in advanced countries where strict measures were put in place in March and slowly relaxed starting in May.

The bounce back in remittances could be driven by a greater need to send money back to families as the remittance-receiving countries now struggle with the pandemic and collapse in external demand.

But, if migrants are dipping into their meager savings to support families back home, this may not be sustainable over time, especially if the recession in host economies becomes protracted. A second outbreak of the coronavirus in the latter part of the year in host economies, for example, could jeopardize remittance flows further.

Now more than ever, adequate and timely policy responses from both remittance-sending and remittance-receiving countries are critical to help migrant workers. Overseas workers often fill essential roles — in health care, agriculture, food production and processing — and often risk their lives to perform these jobs.


Solutions


Host countries could ensure all migrants have access to health care, and basic goods and services. There have been some positive steps in this area: All migrants and asylum-seekers were temporarily granted citizenship rights in Portugal. Italy announced plans for temporary work permits for more than half a million undocumented migrants deemed essential for harvesting crops and caring for the elderly. The State of California has contributed $75 million to a $125 million fund to provide $500 to support each undocumented worker.

Back home, authorities in countries that send workers overseas could step up support to vulnerable households, especially in those countries where the drop in remittances has been more severe. As remittances dry up, well-targeted cash transfers and food aid can be especially helpful to protect poor households, and those at risk of falling back into poverty.

Returning migrants may need training to be reabsorbed in the labor market. Access to credit can help them start a business where opportunities in the formal labor market is limited.

Technology could also be leveraged to the benefit of migrant workers and their families. For example, digital technology and mobile payment systems could be used to facilitate and lower the cost of sending and receiving remittances. The average cost of sending remittances was about 7% in the first quarter of 2020. Reducing this cost now would return a significant amount of money to the poor.

Governments could modify regulations to facilitate flows while minimizing risks of inappropriate use. Relaxing caps on how much can be transferred digitally (through mobile phones for example) can be helpful.

 Providing tax incentives to money transfer service providers to offset reduction in fees, as Pakistan did during the Global Financial Crisis, can be a smart move. Schemes like the 2% cash back for remitters instituted by Bangladesh can further support remittance flow. Increasing market competition among the remittance service providers can also drive down the cost.

Anarchy jurisdiction: New Yorkers mock the new label from the DOJ

By Lauren M. Johnson, CNN

© Johannes Eisele/AFP/Getty Images The US Department of Justice labeled three cities, including New York City, an "anarchy" jurisdiction.

New Yorkers are weighing in on what they think it means to live in an "anarchist jurisdiction" after the Department of Justice labeled Manhattan, Portland and Seattle as such in a new declaration.

The Justice Department labeled the three cities as "anarchy" jurisdictions on Monday on orders from President Trump to block federal funding into "lawless zones."

It took no time at all before some people in New York were mocking the assertion on social media. Anarchist jurisdiction started trending on Twitter and users began to tell the world how they felt about the label.

Many posted about how much they love their "anarchist jurisdiction" and their favorite things about it. Others simply posted what was outside their windows to show just how unruly their neighborhoods can be.

Some took a cleverer approach and changed the lyrics to one of Taylor Swift's songs "Welcome to New York" and replaced the city's name in first line of the chorus with anarchist jurisdiction.

Gov. Cuomo responds

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo called the DOJ labeling an attempt to distort government agencies to play politics during a news conference. He compared the move to similar action taken a few years ago when the federal government threatened to remove funding for sanctuary cities.

The governor said if the federal government once again threatens to block funding, the state will challenge it legally and Cuomo predicts the President will lose.

The anarchy labels come after Trump released a memorandum earlier this month that highlighted New York City, Portland and Seattle, as cities where their "local and state governments have contributed to the violence and destruction" following the death of George Floyd on May 25 at the hands of four Minneapolis police officers and have refused to "accept offers of Federal law enforcement assistance."

The list of jurisdictions will be updated periodically in consultation with the Secretary of Homeland Security and the director of the Office of Management and Budget.