Rights group decries Myanmar's camps for displaced Rohingya
By GRANT PECK, Associated Press 2020-10-08


BANGKOK (AP) — The de facto detention of 130,000 ethnic Rohingya in squalid camps in Myanmar amounts to a form of apartheid, a human rights group alleged Thursday in urging the world to pressure Aung San Suu Kyi’s government to free them.

The camps are a legacy of long discrimination against the Muslim Rohingya minority in Buddhist-dominated Myanmar and were the immediate consequence of communal violence that began in 2012 between the Rohingya and the Buddhist Rakhine ethnic group. The fighting left people in both groups homeless, but almost all of the Rakhine have since returned to their homes or been resettled, while the Rohingya have not.© Provided by Associated Press FILE - In this June 24, 2014, file photo, a Rohingya boy walks with a mat as children play in the background at Dar Paing camp for Muslim refugees in north of Sittwe, western Rakhine State, Myanmar. The de facto detention of 130,000 ethnic Rohingya in squalid camps in Myanmar amounts to a form of apartheid, a human rights group alleged Thursday, Oct. 8, 2020 in urging the world to pressure Aung San Suu Kyi’s government to free them. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe, File)

Human Rights Watch in its new report said inhuman conditions in 24 tightly restricted camps and closed-off communities in the western state of Rakhine threaten the right to life and other basic rights of the Rohingya.

“Severe limitations on livelihoods, movement, education, health care, and adequate food and shelter have been compounded by widening constraints on humanitarian aid, which Rohingya depend on for survival,” the report said. “Camp detainees face higher rates of malnutrition, waterborne illnesses, and child and maternal mortality than their ethnic Rakhine neighbors.”

“The government’s claims that it’s not committing the gravest international crimes will ring hollow until it cuts the barbed wire and allows Rohingya to return to their homes, with full legal protections,” said Shayna Bauchner, Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch and author of the report.

Myanmar’s government had no immediate response to the report. Rohingya are not recognized as an official minority in Myanmar, where they face widespread discrimination and most are denied citizenship and other basic rights. Many members of other ethnic groups consider the Rohingya to be illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

People living in the camps cannot move freely because of formal policies, ad hoc practices, checkpoints, barbed-wire fencing and a widespread system of extortion that makes travel prohibitive, Human Rights Watch said.


As we mark the World Day of Migrants and Refugees, take a look at the top 10 countries which generated the largest number of refugees and the top 10 countries where they have sought shelter, according to United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) Mid-Year Trends 2016 data.

(Pictured) Refugees after being rescued in the Mediterranean Sea, near Libya.

The report also noted a lack of education and employment opportunities was inflicting systemic damage. “This deprivation of education is a violation of the fundamental rights of the 65,000 children living in the camps. It serves as a tool of long-term marginalization and segregation of the Rohingya, cutting off younger generations from a future of self-reliance and dignity, as well as the ability to reintegrate into the broader community,” it said.

Myanmar's government in April 2017 announced plans to begin closing the camps, but Human Right Watch said those plans entailed building permanent structures in their place, ”further entrenching segregation and denying the Rohingya the right to return to their land, reconstruct their homes, regain work, and reintegrate into Myanmar society, in violation of their fundamental rights.”

Later that year, Myanmar security forces waged a brutal counterinsurgency campaign that targeted Rohingya. The army-directed violence including the burning of villages, rape and murder and drove an estimated 740,000 Rohingya to seek refuge in neighboring Bangladesh. International courts are seeking to determine whether genocide was committed.

Related slideshow: Refugees around the globe (Provided by Photo Services)

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21 SLIDES © Marcus Drinkwater/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Exclusive: Virgin Hyperloop picks West Virginia to test high-speed transport system

By Eric M. Johnson and Joey Roulette 2020-10-08

© Reuters/Handout . Artist's rendering of Virgin Hyperloop's forthcoming certification center and test track to be built in West Virginia

SEATTLE/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Virgin Hyperloop has picked the U.S. state of West Virginia to host a $500 million certification center and test track for billionaire Richard Branson's super high-speed travel system, the company told Reuters.

The center will be the first U.S. regulatory proving ground for a hyperloop system designed to whisk floating pods packed with passengers and cargo through vacuum tubes at 600 miles (966 kmph) an hour or faster.

Later, Branson announced the decision in a press conference on Thursday, joined virtually by U.S. Transportation Department Secretary Elaine Chao, the state's Republican governor Jim Justice, and U.S. Senators from West Virginia Shelley Moore Capito, a Republican, and Joe Manchin, a Democrat.

"Today we lay the foundation for commercial deployment and operations across the United States of America and beyond," the company's Chief Executive Jay Walder told reporters.

In a hyperloop system, which uses magnetic levitation to allow near-silent travel, a trip between New York and Washington would take just 30 minutes. That would be twice as fast as a commercial jet flight and four times faster than a high-speed train.

Construction is slated to begin in 2022 on the site of a former coal mine in Tucker and Grant Counties, West Virginia, with safety certification by 2025 and commercial operations by 2030, the company said.

Federal regulators will use the center, and accompanying six-mile test track, to establish regulatory and safety standards, while Virgin will test its product and infrastructure.

The announcement comes less than three months after the Transportation Department published guidance on a regulatory framework for U.S. hyperloop systems. On Thursday, Chao said the guidance will enable the company "to spend less time on government paperwork and more time on making hyperloop systems fast, efficient, and above all, safe."

Virgin Hyperloop, which has raised more than $400 million, largely from United Arab Emirates shipping company DP World and Branson, is among a number of firms racing to launch new high-speed travel systems.

Canada's Transpod and Spain's Zeleros also aim to upend traditional passenger and freight networks with similar technology they say will slash travel times, congestion and environmental harm linked with petroleum-fueled machines.

HYPERLOOP WAS FIRST DEVELOPED BY THE RESEARCH COUNCILS IN CANADA I SAW IT IN A MODEL FORM IN THE SIXTIES AT THE ALBERTA RESEARCH COUNCIL WHERE MY UNCLE WORKED AS AN ENGINEER.

Elon Musk's Boring Company envisions commuters zipping along underground tracks in electric cars.

Virgin Hyperloop picked West Virginia after reviewing applications from 17 U.S. states to host the center.

However, the company's most likely first route could be in India, linking Mumbai to Pune, though the COVID-19 pandemic has delayed procurement and construction, initially slated for 2020.

Virgin Hyperloop also has a research and development test track near Las Vegas, Nevada.

(Reporting by Eric M. Johnson in Seattle and Joey Roulette in Washington; Editing by David Gregorio)

Trump's Indian worshipper dies 'depressed' over president's COVID-19 illness
By Sudarshan Varadhan

© Reuters/VINOD BABU FILE PHOTO:

 Bussa Krishna, a fan of U.S. President Donald Trump, adjusts a garland on a Trump statue after offering prayers at his house in Konney village

CHENNAI (Reuters) - An Indian man who worshipped Donald Trump and was upset by the news of the U.S. president contracting COVID-19 died of a cardiac arrest on Sunday, an official from his village and police said.

© Reuters/VINOD BABU FILE PHOTO:

 Bussa Krishna, a fan of U.S. President Donald Trump, wears a t-shirt with the word Trump as he poses for a photograph in Konney village

Bussa Krishna, who had said his devotion for Trump began more than four years ago when the leader appeared to him in a dream, had days ago posted a tearful video on his Facebook page wishing for his idol's recovery from the viral disease that has killed more than 1 million people worldwide.

© Reuters/VINOD BABU FILE PHOTO: 

Bussa Krishna, a fan of U.S. President Donald Trump, checks his mobile phone with an image of Trump outside his house in Konney village

Trump revealed on Oct. 2 that he had tested positive for COVID-19 and spent three nights in the hospital for treatment. He said on Sunday he had fully recovered and was due to resume campaigning on Monday ahead of the Nov. 3 U.S. election.

Venkat Goud, the head of Krishna's native Konney village and a close friend, said he was "depressed" that Trump and his wife Melania had got the disease.

"It's sad that he passed away without meeting his hero," Goud told Reuters by phone. "He had tried so hard to meet him" when Trump had come to India in February.




Raghupathi, a local police officer, said Krishna had left the village over two weeks ago to meet his parents in another part of the same southern state of Telangana.

"It is there that he passed away due to a cardiac arrest," Raghupathi, who goes by one name, said.

Reuters could not immediately contact Krishna's family members or the hospital where he was taken to. Local media said Krishna was in his late thirties.

(Reporting by Sudarshan Varadhan; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

More homeowners in Edmonton, Calgary deferred mortgages during pandemic than in any other city

CBC/Radio-Canada

© John Bazemore, File/Associated Press Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation numbers show deferrals were sought in 18.9 per cent of mortgages in Alberta — double that of Ontario and Quebec.

A higher percentage of homeowners in Edmonton and Calgary deferred their mortgage payments than in any other major city in Canada, numbers shared by the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation show.

In Edmonton, 21 per cent of mortgages were deferred in August, according to a list tweeted by CMHA president Evan Siddall. Calgary was close behind at 18 per cent.

Overall, deferrals were sought in 18.9 per cent of mortgages in Alberta — double that of Ontario and Quebec.

"We've been dealing — reeling — already from low energy prices and then shut downs related to COVID have led to people not being able to pay their mortgage bills and led to even more lower prices, leading to more layoffs," said Raja Bajwa, president of the Economic Society of Northern Alberta.

Canada's big banks announced mortgage-relief programs in March and April allowing mortgage payments to be deferred up to six months.

With deferrals coming to an end, it remains to be seen whether those relying on the programs will face foreclosures or find other strategies to continue payments, Bajwa said.

"This will kind of be holding our breath to see where things are at," he said.

Homeowners who took deferrals fell broadly into two categories, said Todd Bradley, a real-estate agent with Royal LePage in Edmonton, those who used the deferral as a means to stockpile cash or pay off other consumer debt and people who "really put a Band-Aid on some very intense bleeding."

"There's a big chance that they couldn't make the payments three or four months ago and they couldn't make the payments now that the deferral ends," Bradley said in an interview with CBC Radio's Edmonton AM.

"Those people are going to be in a whole world of hurt."

Bradley predicts the industry will see a jump in foreclosures.

"I don't think it's going to be calamitous, but they're going to increase."

Although the court system is getting back on track after shutting down early in the pandemic, foreclosure cases are well behind, he said.

"You won't see the foreclosures come from the court probably for another six or seven months — easily that long."

Bradley notes there could be a silver lining for potential buyers, however.

"If you do have stable employment and you have a little bit of down payment, never, ever have interest rates been this low for mortgages."

Lenders will need to plan

Mark Holtom, a mortgage broker with Dominion Lending Centres, believes part of the reason Alberta's deferral proportion was so high was because the province has fewer mortgage holders than Ontario or Quebec.

Banks were not set up to deal with the program when it began, leading to long waits on the phone, which would have been even longer in places with a higher proportion of mortgages, Holtom said.

Those looking for a deferral but not necessarily needing one would have bowed out somewhere along the way, he said.

"I think Alberta maybe was just a little bit luckier in enabling to defer them."

The impact of deferrals will likely be seen in the next six months, Holtom said. But with many people returning to work, he does not see catastrophe ahead.

"You're probably going to see a small percentage of properties that may be going into foreclosure or would normally go into foreclosure," he said.

With the courts backed up, Holtom said, lenders will have to make decisions that could mean further deferrals.

"It's in their best interest to work with those borrowers to actually come up with a plan," he said.

Analysis: The US and Europe face rising Covid-19 case numbers as they squander lessons from Asia-Pacific

Analysis by Tara John, CNN

While the Asia-Pacific region treads water until a coronavirus vaccine is found, the West's biggest economies are drowning as a second wave firmly establishes itself in Europe.

© Top Photo Corporation/Shutterstock Mandatory Credit: Photo by Top Photo Corporation/Shutterstock (10739563a) Eric Chou performs in concert and invited Ella to be his special guest. Eric Chou in concert, Taipei, Taiwan, China - 09 Aug 2020

Europe is now reporting more daily infections than the United States, Brazil, or India -- the countries that have been driving the global case count for months -- as public apathy grows towards coronavirus guidelines. Several countries are seeing infection rates spiral again after a summer lull that saw measures to contain the virus and travel restrictions relaxed.

© Win McNamee/Getty Images North America/Getty Images US President Donald Trump removes his mask on his return to the White House from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where he was treated for coronavirus.

In the United Kingdom, for example, questions are being asked about whether Prime Minister Boris Johnson's decision to lift the country's lockdown in June was premature. Northern England's current high rates of Covid-19 are down to the fact that infections "never dropped as far in the summer as they did in the south," Jonathan Van-Tam, Britain's deputy chief medical officer, told a press conference on Monday.

© STR/AFP/AFP via Getty Images Thousands of revelers gathered at an open air water park in the Chinese city of Wuhan, ground zero of the pandemic, for an electronic music festival in August.

It is just the latest problem to beset Britain's slapdash pandemic response. There are now more patients in hospital with Covid-19 in England than there were in March, when a nationwide lockdown was imposed, according to Johnson and health officials.

France and the Netherlands broke their own records over the weekend, reporting the highest numbers of confirmed Covid-19 cases since the start of the pandemic.

In the United States, there were more new positive cases in the White House on October 2 than in the whole of Taiwan, after President Donald Trump became the second G7 leader (after Johnson) to test positive for Covid-19. Despite his illness, Trump has continued to downplay the severity of the virus and potentially endanger the health of those around him, holding a campaign rally on Monday.

Seven months after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a global pandemic, life is closer to normal in the Asia-Pacific region thanks to the basic lessons of epidemiology: clear communication, quarantines, border controls, aggressive testing and contact tracing, Kenji Shibuya, the Director of the Institute for Population Health at King's College London, told CNN.

Nightclubs remain open in Taiwan, which also held its first full capacity arena show in August. Thousands were pictured visiting the Great Wall of China last week, months after an estimated 20,000 people packed into a New Zealand stadium for a rugby match.

European countries with successful pandemic responses, like Germany, have taken this approach.

But experts say Spain, the US and the UK are seeing cases skyrocket, and cracks appear in the political and public consensus, after they opted to prematurely re-open their economies without heeding those rules.

Spain's government declared a state of emergency on Friday in the country's worst-hit Madrid region, in order to override regional leaders' objections to the restrictions. In the UK, Johnson's muddled messaging and a lack of transparency in decision-making have drawn criticism from across the political spectrum.

But instead of taking stock of their failures and looking at a sustainable way forward, an Anglo-American narrative has grown, suggesting it is too late to try to emulate Asia-Pacific nations, said Dr. Tim Colbourn, a global health epidemiology and evaluation lecturer at University College London. Libertarian think-pieces, open letters and politicians across the Atlantic have advocated -- with little scientific merit -- for governments to "give up restrictions and let it [Covid-19] spread" for the sake of the economy, Colbourn said.

© SAM YEH/AFP/AFP via Getty Images A worker sprays sprays hand sanitiser onto passengers as they arrive at Taoyuan Airport in Taiwan.

This is a maddening idea to the vast majority of health professionals and scientists, who point to Covid-19's high fatality rate and its long-term effects on survivors.

"When countries [like the US and UK] experience declining life expectancy, it really should be a red flag," said Martin McKee, professor of European public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Deteriorating health in populations has electoral consequences, McKee told CNN -- adding that historically, those factors caused "populism and then you get state failure."

© From Taiwan Ministry of Health and Welfare/Facebook Taiwan's government deployed a cartoon spokesdog to help communicate its social distancing policy.

Classic epidemiology

Resurgences of Covid-19 in the Asia-Pacific region look a lot different to what is happening in the West. New Zealand pretty much eradicated community transmission within its borders after a minor outbreak in August, during which the virus' spread never rose beyond 19 new infections a day.

Border controls have been effective, says Shibuya. Singapore, Hong Kong and New Zealand have largely kept their borders closed to visitors, with returning citizens and work permit holders being quarantined at home or at designated facilities.  

 

© Jung Yeon-je/AFP/Getty Images A South Korean woman wears plastic gloves and a mask as she prepares to cast her ballot during April's election.

The same is true in Vietnam, which remains closed to most international travelers and, like many countries in the region, has encouraged citizens to holiday within its borders. The lower-middle income country has taken a proactive approach to the outbreak, bringing infections down to the single digits in October, little more than two months after authorities evacuated 80,000 local tourists from the resort city of Da Nang after three residents tested positive for the virus.

By contrast, the European Union resumed inter-regional tourism in June, even though many European countries were slow to require visitors to undergo routine testing on arrival.

The United Nations' tourism agency, the UNWTO, found that "Europe is the region in which more destinations (81%) have eased travel restrictions" while only 28% of destinations in the Asia-Pacific region had eased border controls by September 1, according to its analysis of travel restrictions.

Taiwan and South Korea, which had the world's second highest number of cases in February, kept a handle on outbreaks without blunt instruments like lockdowns thanks to their gold standard test and tracing systems, and a transparent communication strategy that has kept the public on side.

The UK deploys conventional contact-tracing methods, which identify cases and track down the people they met after they became infectious, says McKee. Meanwhile, Asian countries like South Korea have relied on what is known as backwards tracing, which attempts to identify the event, place or source of an infection.

"Was it the churches in Germany, our packing plants or a nightclub in Korea?" Mckee said, adding that instead of focusing on the source of infection, the UK has "hit whole communities with a hammer" of localized lockdowns without consulting local leaders. He says such measures are appropriate "if you don't have intelligence" on the source of an outbreak, but adds: "The UK should not be in that position at this stage."

Even the economic situation looks less stark. The IMF forecasts that the economy in the Asia-Pacific region will contract by 0.2% this year, while those in US and Western Europe are expected to sink by 5.9% and 7.3% respectively.

Cultural tropes

Asia-Pacific's response has been shaped by the 2003 SARS outbreak. Trauma from that period meant many Asian countries were better prepared and better resourced to act decisively at start of the pandemic with public approval.

But a common, and orientalist, refrain has emerged from the Western commentariat that more draconian measures and -- arguably sensible -- rules on mask wearing would be impossible to mandate on freedom-loving Anglo-Americans.

Countries like Norway and the Netherlands recommend masks in indoor public spaces, but do not mandate it. Swedish authorities have actively discouraged the use of masks, despite the high number of Covid-19 deaths in care homes,

As well as resorting to lazy cultural tropes, such as Trump's immediate racialization of the outbreak by calling coronavirus the "China virus," American and British leaders have also repeatedly undermined guidance and best practice.

Though he has since changed tack, in March Johnson said he shook hands "with everybody" during a visit to a hospital treating confirmed Covid-19 patients, on the same day the government's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies advocated against the practice. Trump has turned masks into a hyper-partisan issue, routinely mocking Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden for wearing a face covering.

Communication strategies are an underestimated "non-pharmaceutical intervention" which are not only useful in the short term -- by encouraging measures like mask usage -- but have long-term uses as well, says Heidi Tworek, an associate professor of international history and public policy at the University of British Columbia, who authored a report on democratic communications during the pandemic.

The report analyzed three democratic jurisdictions in the Asia-Pacific region -- Taiwan, New Zealand, and South Korea -- and found that cohesive messages from those governments were useful in forestalling "compliance fatigue" and laid the foundation for vaccine uptake. "They also matter for cultivating trust among citizens and their governments -- trust that is critical for the future stability of democratic institutions," the report stated.

Winning trust

That trust can easily be lost. A study in The Lancet found that when Johnson's chief adviser, Dominic Cummings, broke lockdown rules but faced no consequences, it undermined the public's faith in the government's ability to handle the pandemic. The opposite happened in New Zealand, where David Clark, its Health Minister, was demoted in April 2020 after twice breaking the country's Covid-19 regulations. He resigned in July and goodwill for the government has remained.

New Zealand and South Korea adopted a "division-of-labour approach to communicating political and scientific information," the report noted. Public health officials would first deliver the science. The message would be humanized and reinforced with meaning by politicians like New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern or South Korea's President Moon Jae-on in televised addresses or Facebook lives, Tworek said.

Misinformation and conspiracies were tackled in South Korea and Taiwan via high quality information being pushed out on multiple channels, Tworek added. To engage the public, the Taiwanese government worked with local comedians to create memes for their "humor over rumor" strategy. It included the use of a cartoon "spokesdog," a Shiba Inu called Zongchai, to help communicate its policies. One meme showed that the 1.5 meter indoor social distancing policy equated to the length of three Shiba Inu, while the outdoor social distancing policy was two Shiba Inu.

Masks were distributed to Taiwanese households at the start of the pandemic -- many of them in a shade of pink. After hearing that male students were being bullied for wearing pink masks at schools, officials wore pink face coverings at their daily briefing. "It is fantastic because it's not just about countering disinformation, it is about countering stigma and prejudice," Tworek said. "This is not rocket science. These are basic tenets of health and risk communications [in order to] establish trust."

Have an upcoming election in the pandemic? Asian democracies also have a solution to that. South Korea saw its highest turnout in April's poll as voters wore masks and gloves, polling booths were disinfected, and people spaced out as they queued to vote. In the US, officials are turning large venues and sports centers into polling stations in order to accommodate social distancing concerns in November's poll.

New Zealand and Hong Kong postponed elections over the summer, citing coronavirus fears. While the main New Zealand opposition party backed the move, some pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong claimed the government was using the pandemic as an excuse to avoid potential losses in a crucial election.

America's largest roadblock remains its President, who has repeatedly called into question the integrity of the democratic process by undermining the safest way to hand in a ballot in a pandemic: Mail-in voting.

As Trump continues to downplay the threat of the virus, another 20,000 Covid-19 deaths are "inevitable" by the end of the month, former director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Tom Frieden, told CNN this weekend.

Unlike the Asia-Pacific region, the West appears to be well on its way to a tragic winter.

Americans' dwindling belief in American exceptionalism
Mark Hannah and Dina Smeltz, opinion contributors 

If in the past several years, you've started to think America has lost its superior standing in the world, you're not alone. For the past several decades, American foreign policy has been animated by a belief that the country possesses special traits which, as one leading policymaker put it, "can be put to work to advance both the national interest and the larger common interest." This defines American exceptionalism, the belief that America can and should single-handedly confront the world's problems, not just its own. Recently fashionable inside the Beltway, this conviction is dwindling in the face of our present reality.

© Getty Images Americans' dwindling belief in American exceptionalism

This past year has laid bare to many the myth at the heart of American exceptionalism. The Chicago Council on Global Affairs (CCGA) and the Eurasia Group Foundation (EGF) are out with two major national surveys of Americans' views about their country and its role in the world. As the lead authors of both reports, we were struck at how Americans' confidence in their country's global leadership has plummeted. As a snapshot, this is not terribly surprising. This year has been full of sobering events, from the botched response to the COVID-19 pandemic to racial unrest to the struggle against west coast wildfires.

But this isn't merely a snapshot. The CCGA survey documented a steady downward trend going back eight years in feelings of American exceptionalism. The EGF study found a strong correlation with age, with the youngest Americans most likely to think "America is not an exceptional nation."

As the heady Cold War victory recedes from memory, and as Americans' experience of their country's foreign affairs continues to be dominated by decades of discrediting and dispiriting adventures in the Middle East, Americans appear to have grown bearish on their country's international influence. This is not all bad news. In fact, these findings give us some cause for optimism. America's political leaders can better confront threats and respond to the world as it is if they shed that intoxicating sense of supremacy, which leads to foolhardy foreign policy choices.

As Matt Duss, an advisor to Bernie Sanders, commented in response to some of these findings, "We can and should be globally engaged without stoking ultranationalist chauvinism... upholding democracy, dignity, and the rule of law doesn't require, is actually undermined by, the belief that we are anointed by God [or] history."

Americans of all political stripes are tired of international interventions - including to protect human rights - as they seek to shift leadership of international problems to multilateral organizations and, crucially, see urgent human rights problems at home which need to be tackled first. When the Eurasia Group Foundation asked how peace is best achieved and sustained by the United States, a plurality of both Democrats and Republicans answered: "by keeping a focus on domestic needs and the health of American democracy, while avoiding unnecessary intervention beyond the borders of the United States." Thirty-five percent more survey-takers believe the U.S. should first fix its "own human rights problems" such as "mass incarceration and aggressive policing" than believe the U.S. should use "military intervention to stop human rights abuses around the globe."

According to the Chicago Council, fewer Americans today than at any time in the past eight years believe the United States has a unique character that makes it the greatest country in the world - barely half, down from a high of 70 percent in 2012. While eight in ten Republicans continue to say the United States is the greatest country on Earth, this sentiment has taken a nose-dive among Democrats and Independents alike.

These declines are likely related to disappointment with how the government handles the domestic issues they deem top threats. Barely one in five Democrats say the government's response to the coronavirus pandemic has been effective, and fewer think the government has responded well to climate change, election interference, or racial and economic inequality. Mere minorities of Independents think the government responded effectively to the pandemic, political polarization, China's development as a world power, and racial inequality. Even among Republicans, fewer than half think the government is effectively confronting economic inequality, racial inequality, and political polarization, although these are not counted among the top threats.

Across both surveys, one thing Americans appear to believe is that America's strength abroad depends upon its strength at home. The US ranks 27th out of 31 countries in an OECD's social-justice index. Other recent surveys show the United States' global opinion is at or near new lows, with declining percentages worldwide saying America respects its citizens' personal freedoms. The virus is the latest challenge to national unity. Still, political polarization and economic tensions have long been simmering, and the prospect of a flagrant and flamboyant challenge to the integrity of American elections likely diminishes this stature further.

Jim Goldgeier and Bruce Jentleson recently argued the United States should have "a seat at the table but not always at its head." Americans appear to agree and would welcome a greater role for international institutions and agreements. Roughly 70 percent want the U.S. to reenter the World Health Organization and the Paris Climate Agreement, and 66 percent think the U.S. should rejoin the Iran nuclear deal. A solid majority believes the U.S. should negotiate with adversaries to avoid a military confrontation. The largest group of respondents support a type of U.S. engagement characterized by fewer international military obligations and more diplomacy.

Far from a kind of confidence crisis, it's likely Americans are emerging from a period of overconfidence. Instead of trying to solve the world's problems single-handedly, they are taking a more realistic assessment of the threats their country faces. They want political leaders to emphasize cooperation over confrontation and protect America's power at home before projecting it abroad. In a democracy predicated on the popular will, those leaders would be wise to listen.

Mark Hannah is a senior fellow at the Eurasia Group Foundation. Dina Smeltz is a senior fellow at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.

More Americans fall into poverty after federal stimulus programs end

By Tami Luhby, CNN 3 hrs ago

Congress' swift and expansive response to the coronavirus pandemic last spring spared millions of Americans from falling into poverty after losing their jobs. But now that the relief has ended, the poverty rate has risen in recent months, two new studies show.

© Ben Hasty/MediaNews Group/Reading Eagle/Getty Images Boxes of supplies to be distributed, with the Feed The Children logo on them, bottled water, school supplies, and bags with cereal. At the Hope Rescue Mission in Reading, PA Thursday morning August 27, 2020 where a food distribution was held from Feed the Children, in cooperation with Price Rite Marketplace, and Hope Rescue Mission.

The poverty rate fell from 11% in February to 9.3% in June, according to research conducted by professors at the University of Notre Dame, the University of Chicago and Zhejiang University in China. The entire decline could be attributed to the one-time federal stimulus checks of up to $1,200 for eligible individuals and $2,400 for eligible married couples, plus $500 for each qualifying child, that were distributed in the spring.

Lawmakers also enacted a historic expansion of the unemployment program, temporarily broadening it to more of the jobless, adding a $600 weekly boost and extending the duration of benefits. The $600 enhancement ceased at the end of July.

While Congress and the White House continue to discuss a new relief package, Democrats and Republicans remain divided.

Without the additional federal help, more people -- particularly Black Americans, children and those with a high school education or less -- fell into poverty over the summer. The rate rose to 11.1% in September, according to the researchers, who have created a near real time dashboard.

"Our results show that for low-income individuals and families, the government response to the pandemic more than offset the sharp decline in earnings early on in the pandemic," the authors wrote. "However, these gains appear to have faded as some of the benefits expire."

These figures differ from the nation's official poverty rate, which is determined by the US Census Bureau. The 2020 data will not be released until next year, likely in September.

Another study, done by researchers at Columbia University's Center on Poverty and Social Policy, found that the stimulus checks and enhanced jobless benefits lifted more than 18 million people out of monthly poverty in April.

The expiration of the $600 assistance sent the monthly poverty rate to 16.7% in September, higher than the spring and pre-pandemic levels. Only 4.3 million people were kept out of poverty last month, mainly through the broadening of the unemployment program to freelancers, the self-employed, independent contractors and certain people affected by the coronavirus.

Without the March relief package, the poverty rates would have been higher over the last seven months.

The increases have been particularly severe for Black and Hispanic Americans, as well as for children, the Columbia study found. The monthly poverty rate for White Americans was 12% in September, but it was 25.2% and 25.8% for Black and Hispanic Americans, respectively.

GRIFTER NATION

A billionaire who vowed to pay off the debt of an entire college class will pay $140 million to settle a 

4-year tax probe, a report says

© Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images

The billionaire Robert Smith will pay $140 million to settle a four-year tax investigation, Bloomberg reported Wednesday.

The CEO of the private-equity firm Vista Equity Partners will admit misconduct but will not be prosecuted, sources told Bloomberg.

The settlement amount, which is expected to be made public as early as Thursday, is said to include back taxes, penalties and interest.

Bloomberg reported in August that Smith had been the subject of a four-year investigation by the Justice Department and the IRS into outstanding taxes on $200 million in assets.

Smith hit headlines last year when he vowed to pay off the student loans of the entire graduating class of 2019 at Morehouse College.

Robert Smith, the billionaire who pledged a year ago to pay off the student debt for an entire class of college graduates, will pay $140 million to settle a four-year tax investigation involving assets held in offshore tax havens, Bloomberg reported Wednesday.

Citing sources familiar with the matter, Bloomberg said Smith told some executives of the pending agreement on Wednesday. Bloomberg said Smith, who heads up the private-equity firm Vista Equity Partners, was cooperating with investigators and would admit misconduct but would not be prosecuted.

Bloomberg reported in August that Justice Department and IRS officials had spent four years investigating whether Smith owed taxes on $200 million in assets that were moved through offshore entities.

The settlement, which one source told Bloomberg could be made public as early as Thursday, is said to include back taxes, penalties, and interest. It does not involve Vista, Bloomberg said.

Representatives for Smith, Vista Equity Partners, and the US attorney in San Francisco declined to comment to Bloomberg on the nature of the agreement.

Smith's settlement includes a non-prosecution agreement that states he did not pay roughly $30 million in taxes, with penalties and interest accounting for the remainder of the payment, one source told Bloomberg.

The person added Smith admitted in a telephone call to failing to file accurate reports of foreign bank and financial accounts over three years.

Smith hit headlines last year when he pledged to pay off the student debt of the entire 2019 graduating class at Morehouse College in Georgia.
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Mexico says two women may have had non-consensual surgery in U.S. detention center

MONTERREY, Mexico (Reuters) - Mexico's Foreign Ministry said it has identified two Mexican migrant women who may have had surgery performed on them without their consent while detained at a U.S. immigration center in the state of Georgia.

© Reuters/BRIAN SNYDER Demonstrators march during the Never Again Para Nadir protest against ICE Detention camps in Boston

While being held at the Irwin center in Georgia, one Mexican woman was reportedly subject to gynecological surgery without her approval and without receiving post-operative care, the ministry said in a weekend statement.

The ministry said its findings were based on actions taken by consular staff and interviews Mexican officials conducted at the center.

Officials were also verifying the case of a second woman who may have been subject to surgical intervention "without her full consent," without receiving an explanation in Spanish of the procedure, or her medical diagnosis, it added.

It did not name the women. The ministry last month said it had identified a woman possibly subjected to surgery in the center, but did not specify whether she had given her consent.

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency did not respond to a request for comment.

The ministry also said it is in touch with a lawyer about a possible class action lawsuit by Mexican women who have been detained at the facility.

In September, a complaint by a whistleblower nurse alleged medical abuse within the Georgia detention center, including unauthorized hysterectomies, a surgery to remove the uterus.

Reuters could not independently confirm those claims. In its statement, the Mexican foreign ministry said the first woman it referred to was not subject to a hysterectomy. It gave no further details on the second.

ICE Health Service Corps said in September that since 2018 only two people at the center were referred for hysterectomies, based on approved recommendations by specialists.

The contractor that runs the facility has said it strongly refutes the allegations and any implications of misconduct.

(Reporting by Laura Gottesdiener; Editing by Aurora Ellis)

Senator shares family's abortion story, 1st sitting senator to do so

A Michigan senator facing a tense reelection race has become the first sitting senator, male or female, to share a personal abortion story with the public.

© Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images, FILE Sen. Gary Peters leaves the Senate Democrats policy lunch in the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Sept. 10, 2019.

"The mental anguish someone goes through is intense," Sen. Gary Peters told Laura Bassett for Elle magazine, "trying to have a miscarriage for a child that was wanted."

As Peters, 61, told it, his first wife, Heidi, was about four months pregnant -- in the second trimester -- when her water broke, creating what their doctor said were unsurvivable conditions for the fetus. The couple was told to go home to miscarry naturally.

When a miscarriage didn't happen naturally by the next day, the couple returned to the hospital, where the doctor recommended an abortion but said it couldn't be provided there as the hospital had a ban. The couple went home again.

On the third day with no natural miscarriage, they again returned to the hospital where, Peters said, the doctor told them Heidi could lose her uterus or die of sepsis. The hospital denied the doctor's appeal for an abortion procedure, but the Peters were able to get the procedure at another hospital because they were friends with its chief administrator, Bassett reported.

"If it weren’t for urgent and critical medical care, I could have lost my life," his former wife said in a statement to Elle.

"I’ve always considered myself pro-choice and believe women should be able to make these decisions themselves, but when you live it in real life, you realize the significant impact it can have on a family," Peters, who was elected to the Senate in 2014, told Elle.

He said he chose to come forward with his story now as the Senate considers President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett, who has signed her name to anti-abortion ads.

Barrett's confirmation would represent a solid conservative-leaning block for the court, which would likely impact abortion law in years to come. Depending on the outcome of a 5th Circuit decision, a case that would be a de facto ban on second-trimester abortions, by banning the dilation and evacuation method of abortion, could soon make it to the Supreme Court.

MORE: Is Ginsburg's death the end of Roe v. Wade? This time, some experts say, it could be.

Republicans, including the president and vice president, have made a point of targeting Democrats' implicit support for the right to abortion in the second and third trimesters. According to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, abortions after 14 weeks' gestation make up about 8.9% of all abortions in the United States, with just 1.2% occurring after 20 weeks.

Pressed about the right to abortion in the third trimester in a Fox News town hall last year, in a clip that recently went viral on social media, then-Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg said, "We're talking about women who have perhaps chosen the name, women who have purchased the crib, families that then get the most devastating medical news of their lifetime, something about the health or the life of the mother that forces them to make an impossible, unthinkable choice. That decision is not going to be made any better, medically or morally, because the government is dictating how that decision should be made."

In his bid for reelection, Peters is facing Republican candidate John James in a contentious -- and costly -- race. According to FiveThirtyEight, Peters has had a slight edge in recent polls.


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M. Gretchen Roedde

I am a pro-life Catholic, global public health doctor, and practicing physician. Unsafe abortion contributes heavily to the deaths of pregnant women. According to the Lancet/Guttmacher Commission Sept. 2020 Vol.8: "Conclusion: The Guttmacher-Lancet Commission recommended a comprehensive package of essential sexual and reproductive health and rights services, including contraception and safe abortion care, for inclusion in national health systems. Our findings emphasise that unintended pregnancy and abortion are experiences shared by many people globally, regardless of region, income group, and legal status. Our findings highlight the need for continued commitment and investment to ensure access to the full spectrum of quality comprehensive sexual and reproductive health care. Fulfilling these commitments will not only result in better outcomes for all, but are also necessary to achieve the targets for the Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescent’s Health (2016–30)8 as well as the Sustainable Development Goals, and universal health coverage." Dr. Gretchen Roedde Canada