Aspirin Could Be A Game Changer In Reducing Death Rates In COVID-19 Patients

BY KHARISSA FORTE/MARCH 25, 2022

Aspirin can be used to help alleviate pain and swelling, prevent blood clots from forming, and treat coronary events such as heart attack and stroke, according to Medical News Today. A new study published on March 24 in the journal JAMA Network Open suggests that aspirin can also help minimize the risk of death in hospitalized patients who are more seriously impacted by COVID-19.

Upon studying over 112,000 of these patients across 64 health centers in the United States, researchers at George Washington University found that people who received aspirin within the first 24 hours of being hospitalized for COVID-19 had a 1.6% lower risk of death than those who did not receive aspirin. Lead researcher Dr. Jonathan Chow, an associate professor at GW's School of Medicine, told Health Day that the findings are the result of 15 months of work and it is the third study involving the use of aspirin for treating hospitalized COVID-19 patients.

Several treatments have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for treating hospitalized patients who are suffering from more severe cases of COVID-19.

According to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS), the antiviral drug Remdesivir, also known as Veklury, was the first drug approved by the FDA for patients 12 years of age and older. Remdesivir is known for preventing SARS-CoV-2 from spreading throughout the body. The FDA also approved Actemra, a monoclonal antibody that is used to treat various inflammatory diseases and is believed to also be effective for treating COVID-19. Convalescent plasma is one treatment used that provides antibodies that fight COVID-19 and curtail inflammation. Barticitinib and corticosteroids are also known for reducing inflammation.

The HHS emphasizes the importance of participating in studies to test vaccine treatments. They encourage people of all backgrounds to find a clinical trial to be part of in order to help ensure treatments and vaccines are effective for all populations.

 CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

Accusations of bribery in Microsoft's business investments surface

March 25, 2022 by Kip Kniskern

A former Microsoft employee, who lost his job in 2018, has come forward to accuse the company of incidents of bribery in its foreign business investments, according to a post at The Verge. The former employee, Yasser Elabd, a director of emerging markets for the Middle East and Africa, describes a $40,000 payment he flagged as suspicious, and says he saw many incidents of suspicious activity:

Sometimes, as in the African case, they were suspicious requests from the business investment fund. In another instance, he saw a contractor for the Saudi interior ministry receive a $13 million discount on its software — but the discount never made it back to the end customer. In another case, Qatar’s ministry of education was paying $9.5 million a year for Office and Windows licenses that were never installed. One way or another, money would end up leaking out of the contracting process, most likely split between the government, the subcontractor, and any Microsoft employees in on the deal.

Microsoft says its committed to "doing business in a responsible way," Becky Lenaburg, deputy counsel for compliance and ethics at Microsoft told The Verge. Calling the accusations "many years old," Lenaburg said that the allegations have been addressed.

Corporate bribery, especially with foreign countries with mid-level bureaucrats acting as intermediaries and seeing bribery as just "a cost of doing business," is a trillion dollar problem, reaching far beyond Microsoft, but while Microsoft says they have dealt with the problem, Elabd told The Verge that "(a)ll the executives are aware of it, and they’re promoting the bad people. If you’re doing the right thing, they won’t promote you.”

USA
AP Explains: Why the 14th Amendment has surfaced in midterms
By GARY D. ROBERTSON

Lawmakers point at Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., after President Joe Biden delivered his first State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress at the Capitol, Tuesday, March 1, 2022, in Washington. (Jim Lo Scalzo/Pool via AP)

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — An 1868 amendment to the U.S. Constitution best known for protecting the due process rights of previously enslaved Americans has resurfaced in certain congressional races this year.

Some attorneys and voters believe a rarely cited section of the 14th Amendment dealing with insurrection can disqualify a handful of U.S. House members from seeking reelection for events surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol.

First-term Republican firebrands Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia are among those targeted. Both are strong supporters of former President Donald Trump who have pushed his unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election.

It’s a largely untested argument working its way through election agencies in at least three states, with little success so far. But court cases and appeals could address the extent to which state officials can scrutinize the minimum qualifications for candidates for federal office.

2022 MIDTERM ELECTIONS

WHAT DOES THE 14TH AMENDMENT SAY?

There are five sections to the amendment. The best-known declares that no state can “deprive any person of life, liberty or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

Section 3 of the amendment also declares that no one can serve in Congress “who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress ... to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same.” This section was designed to keep representatives who had fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War from returning to Congress. The amendment, however, allows Congress to pass laws that can remove such restrictions.

HOW COULD IT APPLY TO LAWMAKERS TODAY?

Voters from congressional districts where Cawthorn and Greene are seeking reelection this fall allege in legal filings that evidence shows they helped facilitate the Jan, 6, 2021, insurrection that attempted to thwart the certification of President Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory. The voters want state officials to investigate Greene and Cawthorn and disqualify them from appearing on ballots this year, based on the amendment’s language.

Greene, according to a challenge filed Thursday with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, either helped plan the riot or helped plan the demonstration held beforehand, knowing that it was “substantially likely to lead to the attack, and otherwise voluntarily aided the insurrection.”

In a video posted on social media, Greene said: “You can’t allow it to just transfer power ‘peacefully’ like Joe Biden wants and allow him to become our president because he did not win this election.”

Somewhat similar allegations have been lodged with the North Carolina Board of Elections by voters challenging Cawthorn. Cawthorn spoke at the “Save America Rally” before the riot, days after he was sworn in to office, saying the “crowd has some fight in it.”

A longshot Democrat candidate seeking to unseat Indiana Republican Rep. Jim Banks filed similar allegations against Banks with the state elections commission.

HOW HAVE THE REPRESENTATIVES RESPONDED?

Greene and Cawthorn have said they did nothing unlawful such as encouraging political violence or participating in an insurrection.

Cawthorn, who was the first representative subjected to the challenge in January, said activists are going after “America First patriots” who backed Trump. Greene said she was targeted because she is “effective and will not bow to the DC machine.”

Cawthorn proceeded to sue the State Board of Elections in federal court, saying that North Carolina’s candidate challenge process violated his constitutional rights and should be overturned. His lawyers also said Section 3 didn’t apply to Cawthorn because of congressional action in 1872.

Free Speech for People, a national election and campaign finance reform group, is helping represent the voters in both challenges. The group has said more challenges could be filed against other members of Congress who are seeking reelection.

WHAT’S HAPPENED TO THE CHALLENGES?

Indiana’s state elections commission voted unanimously last month to reject the challenge against Banks. The commission’s chairman, a Republican, called the Capitol riot a “regrettable mark in history” but said there was no evidence that Banks was guilty of taking part in an insurrection.

As for Cawthorn, U.S. District Judge Richard Myers ruled earlier this month that the State Board of Elections could not hear the voters’ challenges on Section 3 claims.

Myers wrote that the 1872 law that removed office-holding disqualifications “from all persons whomsoever” — save for those who served in two specific legislative sessions — “demonstrates that the disability set forth in Section 3 can apply to no current member of Congress.”

The North Carolina Board of Elections hasn’t appealed so far. Myers previously rebuffed efforts by voters who filed challenges to participate in the litigation, but the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals told him last week to reconsider their entry. Myers’ ruling could come as soon as next week.

COULD VOTERS ULTIMATELY HAVE THEIR SAY?

Free Speech for People argues that the 1872 law applied only to former members of the Confederacy: “The right of voters to bring this challenge to Cawthorn’s eligibility must be preserved,” group legal director Ron Fein said this month.

Michael Gerhardt, a constitutional expert at the University of North Carolina law school, said he believes the 1872 law could be construed more broadly than how Myers ruled. But he also said the chances that candidate challenges will go forward under insurrection claims are “probably not good.”

“It’s really a novel theory and there’s no consensus on what the actual procedure should be, and that does pose a problem,” Gerhardt said.

He said it’s unclear, for example, whether a declaration that someone participated in an insurrection should come from a judge hearing evidence, state officials or Congress.

If the challenges are unsuccessful or delayed, voters still will get to decide whether the subjects of the challenges should return to Congress. Greene and Cawthorn have GOP primaries in May.

Cawthorn may have the more difficult road, with seven GOP opponents. He also has taken criticism for a video in which he called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a “thug” even as his country resists a Russian invasion.

‘Gargantuan task’: Why India’s renewable push will be hard

By ANUPAM NATH and ANIRUDDHA GHOSAL

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Champa Timungi, 25, sits outside her home in Mikir Bamuni village, Nagaon district, northeastern Assam state, India, Feb. 18, 2022. Timungi said she was beaten by the police despite being pregnant during a protest against the transfer of her family's agricultural land to build a solar park. Injured, she was taken to a hospital. “I came back home and I suffered a miscarriage that night,” she said. Protests have been simmering in the village in Nagaon district in northeastern India's Assam state since January 2021. Timungi is among several poor families belonging to India's indigenous communities who contest the sale of 91 acres of land to New Delhi-based green energy producer Azure Power Global Limited. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)

NAGAON, India (AP) — Plans to build a sprawling solar park on land cultivated for generations by indigenous farmers in India’s Himalayan foothills erupted in violent clashes with police last year after their crops were bulldozed for the development.

Most men from the farming village of a few hundred in Assam state were out looking for work on Dec. 29. One of the few people who remained was Champa Timungpi, who says she was beaten by police and kicked in the stomach when she tried to protest.

Pregnant at the time, the 25-year-old was rushed to a hospital for her injuries. “I came back home at night, and I miscarried,” said Tumungpi, who lodged a complaint with police.

The lush green village in Nagaon district — still largely unconnected to the grid and home to families who earn less than $2 a day — is now framed by blue solar panels, barbed wire and armed guards.

The solar developer Azure Power, listed on the New York Stock Exchange, said in an email that the company legally bought 91 acres (38 hectares) in the village from “recorded landowners” and it’s “incorrect and erroneous” to say the land was forcibly taken.

The company’s position is strongly disputed by Timungpi and others in the Mikir Bamuni village who say their rights as tenants and established farmers were ignored. Local officials and police didn’t respond to requests for comment.

However it plays out in a district court, the dispute not only speaks to India’s often-tangled land ownership rules rooted in its colonial era. It also illustrates the complexity and immensity of the challenges facing the country of nearly 1.4 billion people in meeting its renewable power goals for the next decade.

Over the next 20 years, India’s demand for electricity will grow more than anywhere else in the world. Unlike most countries, India still has to develop and lift millions like Timungpi from poverty, and it will need to build a power system the size of the European Union’s.

How India meets its energy and economic needs will have an outsized impact on the world’s climate goals. The country is a major contributor of greenhouse gases from the burning of coal and other fossil fuels.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at last year’s United Nation climate talks that India would increase its capacity of non-fossil fuels electricity to 500 gigawatts by 2030 — from the 104 gigawatts at the start of this year.

To meet its goals, India must add four times the amount of power the average nuclear plant produces — every month until 2030.

These short-term energy targets won’t do much to limit global warming to 1.5 Celsius (34.7 Fahrenheit) — the level beyond which scientists warn of catastrophic climate impacts, scientists at last year’s United Nations climate conference had warned.

But for India, it’ll still be a “gargantuan task,” requiring investments between $20 billion and $26.8 billion, while only $10 billion is available, a parliamentary committee said last month.

Farmers whose agriculture lands had been transfered to build a solar power plant protest near the plant in Mikir Bamuni village, Nagaon district, northeastern Assam state, India, Feb. 18, 2022. Protests have been simmering among several poor families belonging to India's indigenous communities who contest the sale of 91 acres of land to New Delhi-based green energy producer Azure Power Global Limited. The dispute underscores not just India’s often fuzzy land ownership rules complicated by colonial-era land classifications, but also the immensity of the challenges facing India in its renewable goals for the next decade. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)

Some obstacles to renewables — such as the need to build electricity storage for when the sun isn’t shining or wind isn’t blowing — are global challenges. Others are more specific to India — such as the question of who owns land in poor communities that bear least responsibility for the climate crisis and the need to realign power systems that have relied on coal for centuries.

While there’s no clear roadmap yet for India’s renewable energy push, experts cite a federal report last year that said an optimal mix would be getting more than half the country’s power from the sun and wind by 2030.

But big solar and wind facilities are sparking conflicts with local communities. This is partly because land ownership is fuzzy at many project sites. For example, some communities have used land for centuries to farm or graze cattle without legal rights over it.

As governments and companies focused on transitioning away from fossil fuels, such conflicts were “collaterals” that had to be managed, Kanchi Kohli, an environmental researcher at the Indian think tank Centre for Policy Research.

Mandatory environmental impact assessments were waived for solar and wind projects to make them more viable. But environmental issues still have arisen.

For instance, India’s Supreme Court in April 2021 ordered that transmission lines for solar energy be put underground after environmentalists reported the lines were killing critically endangered great Indian bustards. Nine months later, the federal government said burying the lines to safeguard the birds would be too costly and would impede green energy development. The court is hearing the matter again.

India could reduce its dependence on large solar parks by building solar panels on roofs in cities.

The country’s initial rooftop goals were small, but in 2015 it set a target of 40 gigawatts of rooftop solar, enough to power 28 million homes. Customers were allowed to send electricity back to the grid — and the sector grew.

In December 2020, the federal government changed rules restricting large industries and businesses from sending electricity back to the grid. These commercial groups are among the highest paying customers for India’s perennially cash-strapped power distribution companies, which lost over $5 billion in 2020.

With industries sending electricity back to the grid in the evening when demand and power tariffs are highest, distribution companies were losing their best customers said Vibhuti Garg, an energy economist at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.

“They were losing money,” Garg said.

The installation cost makes rooftop solar too expensive for most homeowners. That was the case for Siddhant Keshav, 30, a New Delhi entrepreneur, who wanted to put solar panels on his home. “It just didn’t make sense,” he said.

Homes comprised less than 17% of India’s rooftop solar in June 2021, according to a report by Bridge to India, a renewable energy consulting firm. And India has only managed to achieve 4% of its 2022 rooftop solar target.

Wind could become another important element in India’s clean energy portfolio. But the most “attractive, juicy, windy sites” have small turbines using old technology, said Gagan Sidhu, the director of energy finance at think tank Council on Energy, Environment and Water.

By retiring old wind turbines built before 2002, India could unlock a capacity of 1.5 gigawatts, according to a 2017 study by Indo-Germany Energy Forum, the consulting firm Idam Infra and India’s renewable energy ministry. But experts said it’s unclear who would do the retrofitting and pay the bill.

With a coastline of over 4,670 miles (about 7,500 kilometers), India could potentially build enough offshore wind farms to provide roughly a third of the country’s 2021 electricity capacity by 2050, according to an assessment led by the Global Wind Energy Council.

But these are very expensive to build — and the first such project, a wind farm proposed for the Arabian Sea in 2018, has yet to get underway.

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Ghosal reported from New Delhi. AP journalist Chonchui Ngashangva in New Delhi contributed to this report.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Oscars diary: A yak in the classroom, a family in Hollywood
By PAWO CHOYNING DORJI

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Filmmaker Pawo Choyning Dorji, poses with Pem Zam on the set of "Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom," left, and Stephanie Lai and Dorji attend the 94th Academy Awards nominees luncheon in Los Angeles on March 7, 2022. Dorji's film "Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom" is nominated for best international feature. (Photo by Danny Moloshok/Invision/AP, File)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — “Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom,” became the unlikeliest of Oscar contenders when it was nominated this year for best international film. The story of a young man in Bhutan who goes on an unexpected and life-changing journey to become a teacher in the nation’s remote mountains is the first feature from director Pawo Choyning Dorji and the first film in the history of the small Himalayan country to be nominated.

Dorji and his wife, Taiwanese actor and producer Stephanie Lai, arrived in Los Angeles a few weeks before Sunday’s Academy Awards along with their 12-year-old daughter and 9-year-old son.

He shared some of their experiences with The Associated Press in this first-person account.



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A “BORING YAK”

As I worked over the past two years on “Lunana, A Yak in the Classroom,” my kids were subjected to a lot of talk about it. My son could not understand what the big fuss was about, and asked me why I worked so hard to make such a “boring and slow” film, that had a “yak who does nothing but just sit there.” He would often say, “Dad, can you next time maybe try and make films that are enjoyable to watch, like ”Spider-Man?”

When the film was announced as Bhutan’s first ever Oscar nominee, me and my wife jumped and screamed in joy. Our two children, who had never seen their parents that ecstatic, asked what the Oscars were. I told them that we had just been recognized as one of the five best international films in the world, and that we would have to go to Hollywood.

They asked us who else would attend the Oscars, and I told them, “Everyone!” My son replied, “Even Spider-Man?” I said, “Yes, of course! Even Spider-Man will be there!” They started jumping and asked me if I could have them meet Andrew Garfield, their favorite Spider-Man. I did not know that Andrew was nominated for an Oscar for “tick, tick...BOOM!” and frankly I thought meeting him in Hollywood would not be possible, but I nonetheless said “Yes, yes, I promise you will meet Andrew Garfield!” as I did not want to disappoint them. The children jumped in joy and were finally excited about the ”boring yak.”

My children told many of their friends that they were going to Hollywood to meet Andrew Garfield. I was very worried about disappointing them and even warned my wife, “Don’t tell the kids, but someone like Andrew Garfield would not have time to meet us.”

A THRILLING SPIDER-MAN

After arriving in California, me and my wife attended the nominees luncheon at the Fairmont Century Plaza hotel on March 7. It was such a surreal moment as we sat in the same room as Steven Spielberg, Denzel Washington, Benedict Cumberbatch, Jessica Chastain, and, yes, Andrew Garfield!

Me and my wife sneaked over to him. As I introduced myself, he grabbed my hand and said, “Oh I visited Bhutan, and I loved it so much! I was so happy when I saw that there was a Bhutanese film that was nominated.” Me and my wife then shared with Andrew how our children, who were not with us at that moment, wanted to meet him and he graciously agreed.

My wife quickly went to get the children at the luncheon’s drop off point. Andrew was so kind, he came over and spoke to the kids as though they were old friends, even giving my son high fives. My children claimed that meeting Andrew Garfield was the “best moment in their lives!”

That night once we got back to hotel room, we told our son to wash up before going to bed. He looked down at his little hands and said “but Andrew Garfield high fived me, if I wash up, I’ll lose his energy.”

Pawo Choyning Dorji, poses with actor Andrew Garfield at the 94th Academy Awards nominees luncheon. (Stephanie Lai via AP)

AN UNEXPECTED BIT OF BHUTAN

When “Lunana” defied most predictions and was first put on the shortlist then nominated for best international feature film, I received congratulations and good wishes from Bhutanese the world over, from yak herders in the real village of Lunana, to monks from the most remote monasteries, to children in the city. While other films had financial support from their governments, this is what “Lunana” had, the genuine hopes, prayers, and aspirations of an entire nation.

But I did not expect we would find part of that nation, and those hopes and prayers, on our trip.

When we were not busy with the film’s Oscar campaign, we would make day trips to take the children to visit the popular spots of Los Angeles. My wife was the designated driver while I was the chief navigator with the GPS. While returning from one trip, I missed an exit on the freeway and we ended up losing our way.

While getting an earful from my wife and trying to navigate the Santa Monica rush hour, I suddenly saw the orange and yellow colors of the Bhutan flag! As we drove closer in total astonishment, we saw a sign that said, “Bhutan Shop.” My wife said, “Oh you must visit that shop!” We stopped the car and I quickly rushed inside.

The store sold Bhutanese handicrafts. There was a teenage boy behind the counter, and even though I was still wearing my medical mask, he looked up and said, “Oh, it’s you! You are the yak director, aren’t you?” The family-run shop belonged to a man named Dorji — no relation to me — who was the first Bhutanese to migrate to Los Angeles in the early 1970s. The teenager, his 18-year-old son Ugyen — no relation to the protagonist of my film with the same name — was born here in LA and hadn’t yet visited Bhutan. Ugyen seemed so American, yet seemed to have so much pride in how a film from his parents’ distant homeland had become an Oscar nominee. “I have been following you on IG since 2016,” he said, “and I know of all your work.”

I did not know of any Bhutanese in LA, so I was surprised when Dorji shared with me that there were only around 50 Bhutanese in the whole greater Los Angeles area. He said they were all planning on attending a screening of the film in Santa Monica, where I was conducting a Q&A session. “There is so much pride in the film, all the Bhutanese said they are going to attend the screening in their national dresses,” Dorji said.

(AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File)

“There’s only a handful of us here but we try our best to have small gatherings to keep ourselves connected to our culture and way of life,” he said. “Many of our youths, who have been born here, refuse to go for these gatherings, they find it boring and cumbersome. But, when it’s for ‘Lunana’ they are all excited.”

Dorji, Ugyen and I took a photo in front of Bhutan Shop, which was quickly shared on the LA Bhutanese community’s group chat. As the photo made its rounds, the next day I was invited for a Bhutanese meal by the second Bhutanese to have settled in the LA area, a man who introduced himself to me as “Ashang,′ which means ”Uncle” in our language.

The delicious home cooked meal of Ashang’s wife, who everyone called “Aunty,” made me miss my family and home so dearly. I asked them how they got the authentic fermented cheese and chilis our cuisine is known for. Ashang laughed and said, “Oh I ask my family in Bhutan to send us fermented cheese every month by post.”

On the day of the screening, we were invited back to the Bhutan Shop, where all the Bhutanese of LA had gathered for a lunch of saffron rice and butter tea, something that is usually prepared in Bhutan only to celebrate the most auspicious of occasions. Most of the Bhutanese had dressed up in their Sunday best national dress to celebrate.

I was so far from home, but I had never felt so close to home.

Ukraine says Moscow is forcibly taking civilians to Russia

By NEBI QENA and CARA ANNA

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Natalya kisses her brother Sergiy Muravyts'kyi, 61, who was killed by Russian soldiers in the village of Mriya, which means Dream, in Ukrainian, during a ceremony before his cremation in Baikove cemetery, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, March 24, 2022. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine accused Moscow on Thursday of forcibly taking hundreds of thousands of civilians from shattered Ukrainian cities to Russia, where some may be used as “hostages” to pressure Kyiv to give up.

Lyudmyla Denisova, Ukraine’s ombudsperson, said 402,000 people, including 84,000 children, had been taken to Russia.

The Kremlin gave nearly identical numbers for those who have been relocated, but said they wanted to go to Russia. Ukraine’s rebel-controlled eastern regions are predominantly Russian-speaking, and many people there have supported close ties to Moscow.

A month into the invasion, the two sides traded heavy blows in what has become a devastating war of attrition. Ukraine’s navy said it sank a large Russian landing ship near the port city of Berdyansk that had been used to bring in armored vehicles. Russia claimed to have taken the eastern town of Izyum after fierce fighting.

At an emergency NATO summit in Brussels, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pleaded with the Western allies via video for planes, tanks, rockets, air defense systems and other weapons, saying his country is “defending our common values.”

U.S President Joe Biden, in Europe for the summit and other high-level meetings, gave assurances more aid is on its way, though it appeared unlikely the West would give Zelenskyy everything he wanted, for fear of triggering a much wider war.

Around the capital, Kyiv, and other areas, Ukrainian defenders have fought Moscow’s ground troops to a near-stalemate, raising fears that a frustrated Russian President Vladimir Putin will resort to chemical, biological or nuclear weapons.

In other developments Thursday:

—Ukraine and Russia exchanged a total of 50 military and civilian prisoners, the largest swap reported yet, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said.

—The pro-Moscow leader of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, warned that Poland’s proposal to deploy a Western peacekeeping force in Ukraine “will mean World War III.”



—In Chernihiv, where an airstrike this week destroyed a crucial bridge, a city official, Olexander Lomako, said a “humanitarian catastrophe” is unfolding as Russian forces target food storage places. He said about 130,000 people are left in the besieged city, about half its prewar population.

—Russia said it will offer safe passage starting Friday to 67 ships from 15 foreign countries that are stranded in Ukrainian ports because of the danger of shelling and mines.

Kyiv and Moscow gave conflicting accounts, meanwhile, about the people being relocated to Russia and whether they were going willingly — as Russia claimed — or were being coerced or lied to.

Russian Col. Gen. Mikhail Mizintsev said the roughly 400,000 people evacuated to Russia since the start of the military action were from the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in eastern Ukraine, where pro-Moscow separatists have been fighting for control for nearly eight years.

Russian authorities said they are providing accommodations and dispensing payments to the evacuees.

But Donetsk Region Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko said that “people are being forcibly moved into the territory of the aggressor state.” Denisova said those removed by Russian troops included a 92-year-old woman in Mariupol who was forced to go to Taganrog in southern Russia.

Ukrainian officials said that the Russians are taking people’s passports and moving them to “filtration camps” in Ukraine’s separatist-controlled east before sending them to various distant, economically depressed areas in Russia.

Among those taken, Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry charged, were 6,000 residents of Mariupol, the devastated port city in the country’s east. Moscow’s troops are confiscating identity documents from an additional 15,000 people in a section of Mariupol under Russian control, the ministry said.

Some could be sent as far as the Pacific island of Sakhalin, Ukrainian intelligence said, and are being offered jobs on condition they don’t leave for two years. The ministry said the Russians intend to “use them as hostages and put more political pressure on Ukraine.”

Kyrylenko said that Mariupol’s residents have been long deprived of information and that the Russians feed them false claims about Ukraine’s defeats to persuade them to move to Russia.

“Russian lies may influence those who have been under the siege,” he said.

As for the naval attack in Berdyansk, Ukraine claimed two more ships were damaged and a 3,000-ton fuel tank was destroyed when the Russian ship Orsk was sunk, causing a fire that spread to ammunition supplies.

Zelenskyy rallied the country to keep up its military defense in hopes it would lead to peace.

“With every day of our defense, we are getting closer to the peace that we need so much. We are getting closer to victory. … We can’t stop even for a minute, for every minute determines our fate, our future, whether we will live,” he said late Thursday in his nightly video address to the nation.

Zelenskyy said thousands of people, including 128 children, have died in the first month of the war. Across the country, 230 schools and 155 kindergartens have been destroyed. Cities and villages “lie in ashes,” he said.

Sending a signal that Western sanctions have not brought it to its knees, Russia reopened its stock market but allowed only limited trading to prevent mass sell-offs. Foreigners were barred from selling, and traders were prohibited from short selling, or betting prices would fall.

Millions of people in Ukraine have made their way out of the country, some pushed to the limit after trying to stay and cope.

At the central station in the western city of Lviv, a teenage girl stood in the doorway of a waiting train, a white pet rabbit shivering in her arms. She was on her way to join her mother and then go on to Poland or Germany. She had been traveling alone, leaving other family members behind in Dnipro.

“At the beginning I didn’t want to leave,” she said. “Now I’m scared for my life.”

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Anna reported from Lviv, Ukraine. Associated Press writers Robert Burns in Washington, Yuras Karmanau in Lviv and other AP journalists around the world contributed to this report.

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Follow the AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

Some prominent Russians quit jobs, refuse to support war


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FILE - Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, listens to RUSNANO CEO Anatoly Chubais in the Novo-Ogaryovo residence, outside Moscow, Russia, Monday, Nov. 7, 2016. The resignation of Chubais, who was Putin's envoy to international organizations for sustainable development, was not the first resignation of a state official over the war with Ukraine, but it was one of the most striking.

 (AP Photo)


NEW YORK (AP) — The resignation of a senior Russian government official and his reported move abroad wasn’t the first voluntary departure of a person from a state job since the start of Russia’s war with Ukraine, but it certainly was one of the most striking.

Anatoly Chubais, who was President Vladimir Putin’s envoy to international organizations on sustainable development, is well known in Russia. He held high profile posts for nearly three decades, beginning under Boris Yeltsin, the first post-Soviet leader.

A number of public figures have condemned the invasion of Ukraine and left their posts at state-run institutions and companies, which could signal divisions in Russia’s official ranks over the war. So far there have been no indications that the resignations have reached into Putin’s inner circle.

The handful of departures came as Putin blasted those opposing his course as “scum and traitors,” which Russian society would spit out “like a gnat.”

Some of the high-profile figures who have turned their backs on the Kremlin because of the war:

ANATOLY CHUBAIS

On Wednesday, the Kremlin confirmed media reports about the resignation of Chubais, 66, who was the architect of Yeltsin’s privatization campaign. The reports, citing anonymous sources, said he stepped down because of the war. He hasn’t publicly commented on his resignation.

Under Yeltsin, Chubais reportedly recommended the administration hire Putin, a move that was widely seen as an important stepping stone in Putin’s career. Putin became president of Russia in 2000, when Yeltsin stepped down.

Chubais also was deputy prime minister from 1994 to 1996 and first deputy prime minister from 1997-98.

The Russian business newspaper Kommersant reported Wednesday that Chubais was seen in Istanbul this week and ran a photo of a man resembling him at a Turkish ATM. Since the start of the invasion, Istanbul has taken in many Russians looking to relocate.

ARKADY DVORKOVICH

Arkady Dvorkovich once served as Russia’s deputy prime minister and is currently chairman of the International Chess Federation, or FIDE. He criticized the war with Ukraine in comments made to Mother Jones magazine on March 14 and came under fire from the Kremlin’s ruling party.

“Wars are the worst things one might face in life. Any war. Anywhere. Wars do not just kill priceless lives. Wars kill hopes and aspirations, freeze or destroy relationships and connections. Including this war,” he said.

Dvorkovich added that FIDE was “making sure there are no official chess activities in Russia or Belarus, and that players are not allowed to represent Russia or Belarus in official or rated events until the war is over and Ukrainian players are back in chess.”

FIDE banned a top Russian player for six months for his vocal support of Putin and the invasion.

Two days after Dvorkovich’s comments, a top official in the United Russia party demanded that he be fired as chair of the state-backed Skolkovo Foundation. Last week, the foundation reported that Dvorkovich decided to step down.

LILIA GILDEYEVA

Lilia Gildeyeva was a longtime anchor at the state-funded NTV channel, which for two decades has carefully toed the Kremlin line. She quit the job and left Russia shortly after the invasion.

She told the independent news site The Insider this week that she decided “to stop all this” on the first day of the Feb. 24 invasion.

“It was an immediate nervous breakdown,” she said. “For several days I couldn’t pull myself together. The decision was probably obvious right away. There won’t be any more work.”

Gildeyeva said news coverage on state TV channels was tightly controlled by the authorities, with channels getting orders from officials. She admitted to going along with it since 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea and began supporting a separatist insurgency in Ukraine.

“When you gradually give in to yourself, you don’t notice the depth of the fall. And at some point, you find yourself face to face with the picture that leads to Feb. 24,” she said.

ZHANNA AGALAKOVA

Zhanna Agalakova was a journalist for another state-run TV channel, Channel One, spending more than 20 years there and working as an anchor and then a correspondent in Paris, New York and other Western countries.

News reports about Agalakova quitting her job began emerging three weeks after the invasion. This week, she gave a news conference in Paris confirming the reports and explaining her decision.

“We have come to a point when on TV, on the news, we’re seeing the story of only one person — or the group of people around him. All we see are those in power. In our news, we don’t have the country. In our news, we don’t have Russia,” Agalakova said.

Referring to the 2014 annexation of Crimea and the support of the separatists in Ukraine, she said that she “could not hide from the propaganda anymore,” even as a foreign correspondent. Agalakova said she had to “only talk about the bad things happening in the U.S.”

“My reports didn’t contain lies, but that’s exactly how propaganda works: You take reliable facts, mix them up, and a big lie comes together. Facts are true, but their mix is propaganda,” she said.

Experts worry about how US will see next COVID surge coming


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Firefighters from the Marins-Pompiers of Marseille extract samples of sewage water at a retirement home in Marseille, southern France, Thursday Jan. 14, 2021, to trace concentrations of COVID-19 and the highly contagious variant that has been discovered in Britain. As coronavirus infections rise in some parts of the world, experts are watching for a potential new COVID-19 surge in the U.S. — and wondering how long it will take to detect. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

NEW YORK (AP) — As coronavirus infections rise in some parts of the world, experts are watching for a potential new COVID-19 surge in the U.S. — and wondering how long it will take to detect.

Despite disease monitoring improvements over the last two years, they say, some recent developments don’t bode well:

—As more people take rapid COVID-19 tests at home, fewer people are getting the gold-standard tests that the government relies on for case counts.

—The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will soon use fewer labs to look for new variants.

—Health officials are increasingly focusing on hospital admissions, which rise only after a surge has arrived.

—A wastewater surveillance program remains a patchwork that cannot yet be counted on for the data needed to understand coming surges.

—White House officials say the government is running out of funds for vaccines, treatments and testing.

“We’re not in a great situation,” said Jennifer Nuzzo, a Brown University pandemic researcher.

Scientists acknowledge that the wide availability of vaccines and treatments puts the nation in a better place than when the pandemic began, and that monitoring has come a long way.

For example, scientists this week touted a 6-month-old program that tests international travelers flying into four U.S. airports. Genetic testing of a sample on Dec. 14 turned up a coronavirus variant — the descendant of omicron known as BA.2 — seven days earlier than any other reported detection in the U.S.

More good news: U.S. cases, hospitalizations and deaths have been falling for weeks.

But it’s different elsewhere. The World Health Organization this week reported that the number of new coronavirus cases increased two weeks in a row globally, likely because COVID-19 prevention measures have been halted in numerous countries and because BA.2 spreads more easily.

Some public health experts aren’t certain what that means for the U.S.

BA.2 accounts for a growing share of U.S. cases, the CDC said — more than one-third nationally and more than half in the Northeast. Small increases in overall case rates have been noted in New York, and in hospital admissions in New England.

Some of the northern U.S. states with the highest rates of BA.2, however, have some of the lowest case rates, noted Katriona Shea of Penn State University.

Dr. James Musser, an infectious disease specialist at Houston Methodist, called the national case data on BA.2 “murky.” He added: “What we really need is as much real-time data as possible ... to inform decisions.”

Here’s what COVID-19 trackers are looking at and what worries scientists about them.

TEST RESULTS

Tallies of test results have been at the core of understanding coronavirus spread from the start, but they have always been flawed.

Initially, only sick people got tested, meaning case counts missed people who had no symptoms or were unable to get swabbed.

Home test kits became widely available last year, and demand took off when the omicron wave hit. But many people who take home tests don’t report results to anyone. Nor do health agencies attempt to gather them.

Mara Aspinall is managing director of an Arizona-based consulting company that tracks COVID-19 testing trends. She estimates that in January and February, about 8 million to 9 million rapid home tests were being done each day on average — four to six times the number of PCR tests.

Nuzzo said: “The case numbers are not as much a reflection of reality as they once were.”

HUNTING FOR VARIANTS

In early 2021, the U.S. was far behind other countries in using genetic tests to look for worrisome virus mutations.

A year ago, the agency signed deals with 10 large labs to do that genomic sequencing. The CDC will be reducing that program to three labs over the next two months.

The weekly volume of sequences performed through the contracts was much higher during the omicron wave in December and January, when more people were getting tested, and already has fallen to about 35,000. By late spring, it will be down to 10,000, although CDC officials say the contracts allow the volume to increase to more than 20,000 if necessary.

The agency also says turnaround time and quality standards have been improved in the new contracts, and that it does not expect the change will hurt its ability to find new variants.

Outside experts expressed concern.

“It’s really quite a substantial reduction in our baseline surveillance and intelligence system for tracking what’s out there,” said Bronwyn MacInnis, director of pathogen genomic surveillance at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard.

SEWAGE SURVEILLANCE

An evolving monitoring system is looking for signs of coronavirus in sewage, which could potentially capture brewing infections.

Researchers have linked wastewater samples to the number of positive COVID-19 tests a week later, suggesting health officials could get an early glimpse at infection trends.

Some health departments also have used sewage to look for variants. New York City, for example, detected signals of the omicron variant in a sample taken on Nov. 21 — about 10 days before the first case was reported in the U.S.

But experts note the system doesn’t cover the entire country. It also doesn’t distinguish who is infected.

“It’s a really important and promising strategy, no doubt. But the ultimate value is still probably yet to be understood,” said Dr. Jeff Duchin, the health officer for Seattle/King County, Washington.

HOSPITAL DATA

Last month, the CDC outlined a new set of measures for deciding whether to lift mask-wearing rules, focusing less on positive test results and more on hospitals.

Hospital admissions are a lagging indicator, given that a week or more can pass between infection and hospitalization. But a number of researchers believe the change is appropriate. They say hospital data is more reliable and more easily interpreted than case counts.

The lag also is not as long as one might think. Some studies have suggested many people wait to get tested. And when they finally do, the results aren’t always immediate.

Spencer Fox, a University of Texas data scientist who is part of a group that uses hospital and cellphone data to forecast COVID-19 for Austin, said “hospital admissions were the better signal” for a surge than test results.

There are concerns, however, about future hospital data.

If the federal government lifts its public health emergency declaration, officials will lose the ability to compel hospitals to report COVID-19 data, a group of former CDC directors recently wrote. They urged Congress to pass a law that will provide enduring authorities “so we will not risk flying blind as health threats emerge.”

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AP reporters Lauran Neergaard in Washington and Laura Ungar in Louisville, Kentucky, contributed.

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The Associated Press Health & Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

CHILDREN OF THE NIGHT

Scientists figure out how vampire bats got a taste for blood

By CHRISTINA LARSON

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This photo provided by Sherri and Brock Fenton/AAAS in March 2022 shows a vampire bat in flight. According to a report published Friday, March 25, 2022 in the journal Science Advances, scientists have figured out why vampire bats are the only mammals that can survive on a diet of only blood. (Sherri and Brock Fenton/AAAS via AP)


WASHINGTON (AP) — Scientists have figured out why vampire bats are the only mammals that can survive on a diet of just blood.

They compared the genome of common vampire bats to 26 other bat species and identified 13 genes that are missing or no longer work in vampire bats. Over the years, those gene tweaks helped them adapt to a blood diet rich in iron and protein but with minimal fats or carbohydrates, the researchers reported Friday in the journal Science Advances.

The bats live in South and Central America and are basically “living Draculas,” said co-author Michael Hiller of Germany’s Max Planck Institute. About 3 inches (8 centimeters) long with a wingspan of 7 inches (18 centimeters), the bats bite and than lap up blood from livestock or other animals at night.

Most mammals couldn’t survive on a low-calorie liquid diet of blood. Only three vampire species of the 1,400 kinds of bats can do that — the others eat mostly insects, fruit, nectar, pollen or meat, such as small frogs and fish.

“Blood is a terrible food source,” said Hannah Kim Frank, a bat researcher at Tulane University, who was not involved in the study. “It’s totally bizarre and amazing that vampire bats can survive on blood — they are really weird, even among bats.”

Some other creatures also have a taste for blood, including mosquitoes, bedbugs, leeches and fleas.

The latest work expands upon research by another team that pinpointed three of the 13 gene losses.

“The new paper shows how different vampire bats are from even other closely related bats, which eat nectar and fruit,” said Kate Langwig, a bat researcher at Virginia Tech, who had no role in the study.

With such a low-calorie diet, vampire bats can’t go long without a meal. In a pinch, well-fed ones will regurgitate their food to share with a starving neighbor. They seem to keep track of who has helped them in the past, said Hiller, noting that vampire bats have complex social relationships.

“It’s not a kin thing,” said Tulane’s Frank. “They just notice and remember: You’re a good sharer, I will reward you.”

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

USA

Affordable housing, long overlooked, getting federal boost

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Tilicia Owens and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan, center, listen to Detroit Water and Sewerage Department director Gary Brown in her basement Friday, Feb. 18, 2022, in Detroit. They discussed the city’s $15 million effort to provide flood prevention pumps and other equipment in 11 neighborhoods. Part of the money will come from the $350 billion Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds which can be used by states, counties and cities to recover from the pandemic and can be used for everything from job creation to child care to housing. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)


BOSTON (AP) — After her home flooded five times in the past year, Tilicia Owens was on edge with every impending storm and ready to leave her Detroit neighborhood behind.

But then the 40-year-old quality engineer heard the city had a program that could prevent heavy rains from inundating her basement and damaging her furniture, photos and exercise equipment. The city is tapping $2.5 million in federal stimulus money as part of a $15 million effort to provide pumps and other equipment to help prevent flooding in 11 neighborhoods.

“That would mean the world to me,” said Owens, who has applied to the city’s Basement Backup Protection Program, which would provide homeowners a pump to remove floodwaters or a valve outside the home to prevent water from entering.

“I have invested so much into my home,” she added. “I want to protect that and I want to protect my investment. It would take away all my anxiety.”

Detroit has turned to the $350 billion in Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds to partly finance the project. Part of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan approved last year, the money is meant to help communities recover from the pandemic and can be used for everything from job creation to child care to housing.

More than 60 states, counties and cities, including Detroit, are tapping the funds for housing programs.

With President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better bill floundering and federal Emergency Rental Assistance running out in some places, the funds have become a critical source of money to address a shortage of affordable housing and a growing homelessness crisis. Prioritizing housing is also a reminder that the long-running shortage of affordable housing, especially in communities of color, has worsened during the pandemic, a time when a looming eviction crisis and rising housing prices threatened millions of families.

“There was already growing awareness before the pandemic in states and cities around the country that affordable housing problems that always existed were reaching an all time level and just had to be addressed,” said Stockton Williams, the executive director of the National Council of State Housing Agencies. “The pandemic has shown a brighter light on that, especially as they relate to the most vulnerable renters and homeowners.”

For many communities, the amount of money available in the state and local fiscal recovery funds is also historic and more than many have spent on housing in a year or even a decade.

“This is certainly transformational funding,” Jacqueline Edwards, the director of the Maricopa County Human Services Department in Arizona, said of the nearly $85 million it has to spend on everything from new housing to additional shelter beds to helping homeowners repair their air conditioning and stay in their homes when temperatures heat up. Typically, the county has a few million dollars to spend each year on these services.

“We’ll be able to make significant changes, not just that will impact today, but will impact lives for years to come,” she added.

But advocates say it still is only a start and significant federal investment — much of it in the Build Back Better bill, passed by the House but currently held up in the Senate — is necessary to fix the problem.

According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 1 in 4 families eligible for federal rental assistance received it before the pandemic. The National Low Income Housing Coalition estimates that $86 billion annually is needed over the next decade for universal housing vouchers and housing funds. Another $70 billion is needed for public housing repairs.

So far, more than $11 billion from the state and local fiscal recovery funds have been committed to housing-related programs, according to the Center, which is tracking spending.

States in the West, Midwest and East have already made significant commitments, according to a February report from the National Low Income Housing Coalition. Southern states, long known for having among the weakest tenant protections, have committed very little.

Among the biggest areas of investment is a promise to build more affordable housing.

Massachusetts has allotted nearly $600 million to affordable housing, including $150 million for new housing and $150 million to maintain public housing. Colorado lawmakers have proposed spending $400 million and Washington, D.C., has set aside $323 million, including $17 million for community groups to provide housing for victims of domestic violence. Clark County, Nevada, home to Las Vegas, whose tourist economy was hammered by the pandemic, plans to spend more than a third of its funds, or $157 million, on housing.

Others states, led by Washington, Oregon and New Jersey, are working to shore up their eviction protections — something the U.S. Treasury Department has encouraged.

Washington is spending $403 million to bolster its emergency rental assistance program and $174 million for homeowner assistance. New York City plans to spend nearly $329 million to increase access to rental assistance vouchers. New Jersey is spending $750 million in rental and utility assistance and creating a statewide eviction prevention program.

“A lot of people who never thought they would be housing unstable ... are in this situation. And so it is scary and people don’t know quite where to turn,” said Janel Winter, the director of New Jersey’s Division of Housing and Community Resources.

“This provides them with that assistance. ... So everybody who is in that court understands their rights, understands their responsibilities, is able to take advantage of whatever protections are there for them.”

Several communities are using the funds to help the homeless.

North Carolina has set aside $15 million to rapidly rehouse people at risk of homelessness because of the pandemic. Clark County, Washington, is spending $4.4 million to fund homeless outreach teams while Burlington, Vermont, plans to use $1.4 million on 30 shelter pods for people to sleep in and store their belongings.

Austin, Texas, which has hundreds of homeless encampments and upwards of 2,500 people sleeping on the street most nights, is putting more than $106 million towards homelessness. That is in addition to the $110 million that Travis County, home to Austin, is putting towards the problem.

The funds will help move the homeless into temporary housing and eventually into permanent units that offer services like counseling and rental assistance. There is also funding for 1,300 new housing units set aside for the homeless and the city has acquired several hotels with the money.

“We are focused on building a system that doesn’t just move people off the streets into shelters but is focused on resolving their housing crisis,” said Dianna Grey, the city’s homeless strategy officer.

Several cities are using the funds to save homes battered by years of neglect and to ensure impoverished families can remain housed. Milwaukee wants to spend $15 million to rehabilitate up to 150 city-owned, foreclosed houses.

Detroit has set aside more than $83 million for housing-related spending, including $27.5 million to repair 1,000 roofs — tripling the amount it spends on its low-income home-repair program. It’s also spending $14.2 million to renovate vacant homes and $6.4 million to set up an online system allowing residents to find and apply for low-income housing.

Deputy Mayor Conrad Mallett said the spending priorities are aimed at preventing further declines in the city’s population, which has dropped dramatically since the 1950s.

“If we are going to maintain population and attract new people to the city, it is going to be because of the housing opportunities that we can provide,” he said, adding that the city also has to help those who have remained in Detroit.

“We are going to deliver service to the people who stayed,” he said. “We are not simply going to say to the people who endured, that you have no place. We want you to stay. We want you to succeed.”

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Associated Press writers Corey Williams in Detroit and Lisa Rathke in Marshfield, Vermont, contributed to this report.