Thursday, April 09, 2020
Meeting with a giant of the seas in the Calanques (video)
08/04/2020
Two fin whales were seen swimming peacefully in the waters of the Calanques National Park, (FRANCE) not far from the coast!
This meeting with the second largest animal in the world comes after 3 weeks of very rich naturalistic observations: dolphins, tuna, sea birds ... It is an additional indication of a probable effect of confinement on the behavior of wild fauna.
These precious images were captured on Tuesday April 7, 2020 by the Coastal Unit of Maritime Affairs of Bouches-du-Rhône (ULAM13). This state service provides year-round surveillance and fisheries police missions, essential for the protection of coastal waters. During the confinement period, the Calanques National Park and ULAM13 coordinate and take turns to monitor the waters of the creeks and in particular the no-take zones.
Tie game: Ancient bit of string shows Neanderthal handiwork
This electron microscope image provided by Marie-Helene Moncel in April 2020 shows part of a Neanderthal cord from Abri du Maras, France. The The specimen is a quarter-inch-long, made of 3 bundles of tree-bark fibers twisted together, with an age of some 40,000 to 50,000 years. (M-H. Moncel via AP)
NEW YORK (AP) — It looked like a white splotch on the underside of a Neanderthal stone tool. But a microscope showed it was a bunch of fibers twisted around each other.
Further examination revealed it was the first direct evidence that Neanderthals could make string, and the oldest known direct evidence for string-making overall, researchers say.
The find implies our evolutionary cousins had some understanding of numbers and the trees that furnished the raw material, they say. It’s the latest discovery to show Neanderthals were smarter than modern-day people often assume.
Bruce Hardy, of Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, and colleagues report the discovery in a paper released Thursday by the journal Scientific Reports. The string hints at the possibility of other abilities, like making bags, mats, nets and fabric, they said.
This photo provided by Marie-Helene Moncel in April 2020 shows a Neanderthal excavation site in Abri du Maras, France, where researchers said they found the oldest known manufactured fiber. The specimen is a quarter-inch-long, made of 3 bundles of tree-bark fibers twisted together, with an age of some 40,000 to 50,000 years. (M-H. Moncel via AP)
It came from an archaeological site in the Rhone River valley of southeastern France, and it’s about 40,000 to 50,000 years old. Researchers don’t know how Neanderthals used the string or even whether it had been originally attached to the stone cutting tool.
Maybe the tool happened to fall on top of the string, preserving the quarter-inch (6.2 mm) segment while the rest perished over time, Hardy said. The string is about one-fiftieth of an inch (0.55 mm) wide.
It was made of fiber from the inner bark of trees. Neanderthals twisted three bundles of fibers together counterclockwise, and then twisted these bundles together clockwise to make the string. That assembly process shows some sense of numbers, Hardy said.
Paola Villa, a Neanderthal expert at the University of Colorado Museum who was not involved in the new study, noted that Hardy had previously found “tantalizing evidence” for string-making by Neanderthals. The new work now shows that directly, she said.
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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.
This electron microscope image provided by Marie-Helene Moncel in April 2020 shows part of a Neanderthal cord from Abri du Maras, France. The The specimen is a quarter-inch-long, made of 3 bundles of tree-bark fibers twisted together, with an age of some 40,000 to 50,000 years. (M-H. Moncel via AP)
NEW YORK (AP) — It looked like a white splotch on the underside of a Neanderthal stone tool. But a microscope showed it was a bunch of fibers twisted around each other.
Further examination revealed it was the first direct evidence that Neanderthals could make string, and the oldest known direct evidence for string-making overall, researchers say.
The find implies our evolutionary cousins had some understanding of numbers and the trees that furnished the raw material, they say. It’s the latest discovery to show Neanderthals were smarter than modern-day people often assume.
Bruce Hardy, of Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, and colleagues report the discovery in a paper released Thursday by the journal Scientific Reports. The string hints at the possibility of other abilities, like making bags, mats, nets and fabric, they said.
This photo provided by Marie-Helene Moncel in April 2020 shows a Neanderthal excavation site in Abri du Maras, France, where researchers said they found the oldest known manufactured fiber. The specimen is a quarter-inch-long, made of 3 bundles of tree-bark fibers twisted together, with an age of some 40,000 to 50,000 years. (M-H. Moncel via AP)
It came from an archaeological site in the Rhone River valley of southeastern France, and it’s about 40,000 to 50,000 years old. Researchers don’t know how Neanderthals used the string or even whether it had been originally attached to the stone cutting tool.
Maybe the tool happened to fall on top of the string, preserving the quarter-inch (6.2 mm) segment while the rest perished over time, Hardy said. The string is about one-fiftieth of an inch (0.55 mm) wide.
It was made of fiber from the inner bark of trees. Neanderthals twisted three bundles of fibers together counterclockwise, and then twisted these bundles together clockwise to make the string. That assembly process shows some sense of numbers, Hardy said.
Paola Villa, a Neanderthal expert at the University of Colorado Museum who was not involved in the new study, noted that Hardy had previously found “tantalizing evidence” for string-making by Neanderthals. The new work now shows that directly, she said.
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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.
Wiped out of toilet paper? Here’s why
This undated photo provided by Georgia-Pacific shows the production line at the Georgia-Pacific plant in Atlanta. NCSolutions, a data and consulting firm, said online and in-store U.S. toilet paper sales rose 51% between Feb. 24, 2020 and March 10, as buyers started getting uneasy about the growing number of coronavirus cases. (Georgia-Pacific via AP)
What does toilet paper have to do with the global coronavirus pandemic?
Nothing.
Yet millions of people have been panicking about their household supply. Store shelves have been emptied. Amazon is often out of stock. And social media is bursting with jokes and pleas for a roll or two.
The good news: Things are calming down, at least in the U.S., after a buying spree in mid-March. But it’s not yet clear when — if ever — buying habits will get back to normal.
Here’s all you ever wanted to know about toilet paper during a pandemic:
WHY IS TOILET PAPER IN SHORT SUPPLY?
One reason is because people are hoarding. Some were stockpiling last month in advance of city and state lockdown orders. It’s a common reaction in times of a crisis, when consumers feel a need for control and security, says David Garfield, global leader of the consumer products practice at AlixPartners, a consulting firm.
NCSolutions, a data and consulting firm, said online and in-store U.S. toilet paper sales rose 51% between Feb. 24 and March 10, as buyers started getting uneasy about the growing number of virus cases. But sales rocketed a whopping 845% on March 11 and 12 as states announced lockdowns.
WHAT ARE SOME OTHER REASONS FOR THE SHORTAGES?
Toilet paper flows from paper mills to retail stores through a tight, efficient supply chain. Toilet paper is bulky and not very profitable, so retailers don’t keep a lot of inventory on hand; they just get frequent shipments and restock their shelves.
“You never noticed because it’s so well-managed,” said Jim Luke, an economics professor at Lansing Community College in Michigan, who used to be a strategist for a toilet paper distribution company.
The amount of toilet paper the average American uses hasn’t changed; it’s still around 141 rolls per year (compared to 134 rolls in Germany and just 49 rolls in China, AlixParters says). But even small changes in buying habits can throw everything into disarray.
With a regional disruption like a hurricane, stores can redirect some inventory to the affected area. But a global pandemic doesn’t leave a lot of wiggle room.
CAN’T COMPANIES JUST MAKE MORE TOILET PAPER?
The big three U.S. toilet paper companies — Georgia-Pacific LLC, Proctor & Gamble Co. and Kimberly-Clark Corp. — were already running their toilet paper plants 24 hours a day before the new coronavirus hit. That’s the only way they can make a profit on such a low-margin product.
The companies are trying to increase output by making fewer varieties of toilet paper. They’re also trying to get the product to stores more quickly. Atlanta-based Georgia-Pacific is working with packaging suppliers to get more materials and maximizing the number of deliveries it can ship from its facilities.
Full Coverage: Life during a pandemic
CAN SUPPLIES BE REDIRECTED TO HOUSEHOLDS INSTEAD OF BUSINESSES THAT ARE NOW CLOSED?
No. Commercial toilet paper uses a different kind of pulp and is produced on different machines. Many institutional rolls are intentionally larger, so cleaning staff don’t have to refill them as often and people don’t steal them, Luke said. Plusher toilet paper for home use also has different packaging requirements, Garfield said.
Prior to the coronavirus crisis, about half of U.S. toilet paper sales were commercial, while the other half were for homes, Garfield said. That’s changing; AlixPartners estimates U.S. household demand is up 40% as offices and schools close.
But Georgia-Pacific said commercial demand hasn’t yet fallen. It has seen a surge of orders from hospitals and other essential businesses that are still operating.
ARE SUPPLIES IN GROCERIES AND OTHER RETAILERS IMPROVING?
Demand has softened a bit since mid-March, so that should make it easier to find toilet paper. NCSolutions said sales are down 62% right now compared to the “extreme buying period” of March 11-24. But they’re still 6% higher than they were before the new coronavirus hit the U.S.
Kroger, the nation’s biggest grocery chain, said most of its stores are now getting truckloads of paper products every day or every other day. Kroger and other retailers have also established limits on the amount of toilet paper people can buy at one time.
WHEN WILL THINGS GET BACK TO NORMAL?
Nobody knows. For one thing, the new coronavirus could permanently increase the demand for household toilet paper.
“Will the workforce go back to work like they did before? If people work from home, this could be much more prolonged,” says NCSolutions CEO Linda Dupree.
Raising prices on toilet paper — as was done in 1973 during the oil embargo — might curb hoarding, Garfield said. But it would make it harder for some consumers to afford.
ARE THERE WAYS TO CUT DOWN ON TOILET PAPER USE?
U.S. searches for “bidet” reached an all-time high in March, according to Google Trends. Tushy, which makes a $100 bidet attachment for toilets, said its sales spiked in mid-March, hitting $1 million in a single day. Sales are still running 10 times ahead of projections, Tushy said.
Africa must not be ‘neglected’ in virus fight, officials say
PHOTO ESSAY 20 PICTURES
A man wearing face masks to protect against coronavirus, runs past a mural on the street in downtown Johannesburg, South Africa, Thursday, April 9, 2020. South Africa and more than half of Africa's 54 countries have imposed lockdowns, curfews, travel bans or other restrictions to try to contain the spread of COVID-19. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people, but for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — African officials objected Thursday to the global jostling to obtain medical equipment to combat the coronavirus, warning that if COVID-19 is left to spread on the continent the world will remain at risk.
“We cannot be neglected in this effort,” the head of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, John Nkengasong, told reporters. “The world will be terribly unsafe, and it will be completely naive, if countries think they can control COVID-19 in their countries but not in Africa.”
South Africa acknowledged the challenges as it extended its lockdown by two weeks, with President Cyril Ramaphosa saying, “This is a matter of survival, and we dare not fail.”
Equipment in Africa is scarce. The World Health Organization says fewer than 5,000 intensive care unit beds are available across 43 of the continent’s 54 countries: “This is about 5 beds per 1 million people in the reported countries compared to 4,000 beds per 1 million people in Europe.” Functional ventilators in public health services across 41 countries number less than 2,000, a severe shortage for patients in respiratory distress.
While Africa’s 1.3 billion people had a head start in preparing for the pandemic as the virus spread in China, Europe and the United States, Nkengasong warned that “the very future of the continent will depend on how this matter is handled” as cases, now over 11,000, quickly rise.
“The worst is still to come,” he said, and pointed to the global Spanish flu pandemic of a century ago when cases came in waves.
Africa is also competing with the developing world for testing kits that will help give a clear number of cases, as well as protective equipment that front-line health workers desperately require. Already, anxious workers have gone on strike or gone to court in places like Zimbabwe over the lack of gear.
“We may not actually know how big is the size of the problem” without scaling up testing, Nkengasong said.
While 48 of Africa’s 54 countries now have testing capability, that often is limited to countries’ capitals or other major cities, WHO officials told reporters in a separate briefing.
There is an “urgent need” to expand testing, the WHO Africa chief, Matshidiso Moeti, said, noting that clusters of community transmission have emerged in at least 16 countries. That means the virus has begun spreading beyond the initial cases imported from abroad.
“Some countries might face a huge peak very soon” in cases, said the WHO’s emergency program manager, Michel Yao.
Even if testing kits and other equipment are found, another challenge is delivering them amid the thicket of travel restrictions. Cargo space is rare because many airlines have stopped flights to African destinations, Yao said.
Close to 20 African countries have closed their borders, and several are now under lockdown to try to prevent the virus’ spread. Now millions of people are bracing for lockdown extensions after regional leader South Africa’s announcement Thursday night.
If the country’s lockdown ends too soon or too abruptly, “we risk a massive and uncontrollable resurgence of the disease,” Ramaphosa said.
In the two weeks before the lockdown began two weeks ago, the average daily increase in South Africa’s new cases was around 42%, but since the start of the lockdown the average daily increase has been around 4%, he said.
South Africa has the most confirmed cases in Africa with more than 1,900. “We are only at the beginning of a monumental struggle,” Ramaphosa says. “We cannot relax and we cannot be complacent.”
The economic toll, however, has been harsh. The World Bank in a new report said sub-Saharan Africa is expected to fall into recession for the first time in a quarter-century. Growth should fall this year from 2.4% to minus 2.1%, with countries that depend heavily on oil exports and mining hit especially hard.
Africa has had some of the world’s fastest-growing economies. The World Bank said African nations will require a “debt service standstill” and other financial assistance as millions of people, many who survive day-to-day, can’t go out to work.
“I am aware that some of you have been saying, ’We would rather die from COVID-19 than from hunger,” Zambia’s President Edgar Lungu told the nation Thursday. “But I advise you to choose life. Please choose life.”
And, joining a growing number of African nations, he encouraged all Zambians to wear face masks at all times.
In Uganda, 75-year-old President Yoweri Museveni tried to boost morale after outdoor exercise was banned, releasing a homemade video of him running laps barefoot in his office and doing 30 push-ups — proof, he said, that one can stay fit indoors.
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Noel Sichalwe in Lusaka, Zambia contributed.
PHOTO ESSAY 20 PICTURES
A man wearing face masks to protect against coronavirus, runs past a mural on the street in downtown Johannesburg, South Africa, Thursday, April 9, 2020. South Africa and more than half of Africa's 54 countries have imposed lockdowns, curfews, travel bans or other restrictions to try to contain the spread of COVID-19. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people, but for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — African officials objected Thursday to the global jostling to obtain medical equipment to combat the coronavirus, warning that if COVID-19 is left to spread on the continent the world will remain at risk.
“We cannot be neglected in this effort,” the head of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, John Nkengasong, told reporters. “The world will be terribly unsafe, and it will be completely naive, if countries think they can control COVID-19 in their countries but not in Africa.”
South Africa acknowledged the challenges as it extended its lockdown by two weeks, with President Cyril Ramaphosa saying, “This is a matter of survival, and we dare not fail.”
Equipment in Africa is scarce. The World Health Organization says fewer than 5,000 intensive care unit beds are available across 43 of the continent’s 54 countries: “This is about 5 beds per 1 million people in the reported countries compared to 4,000 beds per 1 million people in Europe.” Functional ventilators in public health services across 41 countries number less than 2,000, a severe shortage for patients in respiratory distress.
While Africa’s 1.3 billion people had a head start in preparing for the pandemic as the virus spread in China, Europe and the United States, Nkengasong warned that “the very future of the continent will depend on how this matter is handled” as cases, now over 11,000, quickly rise.
“The worst is still to come,” he said, and pointed to the global Spanish flu pandemic of a century ago when cases came in waves.
Africa is also competing with the developing world for testing kits that will help give a clear number of cases, as well as protective equipment that front-line health workers desperately require. Already, anxious workers have gone on strike or gone to court in places like Zimbabwe over the lack of gear.
“We may not actually know how big is the size of the problem” without scaling up testing, Nkengasong said.
While 48 of Africa’s 54 countries now have testing capability, that often is limited to countries’ capitals or other major cities, WHO officials told reporters in a separate briefing.
There is an “urgent need” to expand testing, the WHO Africa chief, Matshidiso Moeti, said, noting that clusters of community transmission have emerged in at least 16 countries. That means the virus has begun spreading beyond the initial cases imported from abroad.
“Some countries might face a huge peak very soon” in cases, said the WHO’s emergency program manager, Michel Yao.
Even if testing kits and other equipment are found, another challenge is delivering them amid the thicket of travel restrictions. Cargo space is rare because many airlines have stopped flights to African destinations, Yao said.
Close to 20 African countries have closed their borders, and several are now under lockdown to try to prevent the virus’ spread. Now millions of people are bracing for lockdown extensions after regional leader South Africa’s announcement Thursday night.
If the country’s lockdown ends too soon or too abruptly, “we risk a massive and uncontrollable resurgence of the disease,” Ramaphosa said.
In the two weeks before the lockdown began two weeks ago, the average daily increase in South Africa’s new cases was around 42%, but since the start of the lockdown the average daily increase has been around 4%, he said.
South Africa has the most confirmed cases in Africa with more than 1,900. “We are only at the beginning of a monumental struggle,” Ramaphosa says. “We cannot relax and we cannot be complacent.”
The economic toll, however, has been harsh. The World Bank in a new report said sub-Saharan Africa is expected to fall into recession for the first time in a quarter-century. Growth should fall this year from 2.4% to minus 2.1%, with countries that depend heavily on oil exports and mining hit especially hard.
Africa has had some of the world’s fastest-growing economies. The World Bank said African nations will require a “debt service standstill” and other financial assistance as millions of people, many who survive day-to-day, can’t go out to work.
“I am aware that some of you have been saying, ’We would rather die from COVID-19 than from hunger,” Zambia’s President Edgar Lungu told the nation Thursday. “But I advise you to choose life. Please choose life.”
And, joining a growing number of African nations, he encouraged all Zambians to wear face masks at all times.
In Uganda, 75-year-old President Yoweri Museveni tried to boost morale after outdoor exercise was banned, releasing a homemade video of him running laps barefoot in his office and doing 30 push-ups — proof, he said, that one can stay fit indoors.
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Noel Sichalwe in Lusaka, Zambia contributed.
Coronavirus forces new approaches to fighting wildfires
FILE - In this Nov. 10, 2018, file photo, a firefighter sprays water on a controlled burn while fighting a wildfire in Magalia, Calif. The outbreak of the coronavirus is making the U.S. Forest Service and others change strategies for fighting wildfires, as the need for isolation and social distancing comes into play against the necessity of having firefighters work and live closely together. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — They are two disasters that require opposite responses: To save lives and reduce the spread of COVID-19, people are being told to remain isolated. But in a wildfire, thousands of firefighters must work in close quarters for weeks at a time.
Wildfires have already broken out in Texas and Florida, and agencies are scrambling to finish plans for a new approach. They are considering waivers for some training requirements to previously-certified crew members, and moving some training online.
Other proposals include limiting fire engines to a driver and one passenger, requiring other crew members to ride in additional vehicles. They may scrap the normal campsite catering tents in favor of military-issue MREs, or “Meals Ready to Eat” to reduce touching serving utensils.
FILE - In this Nov. 26, 2019, file photo, firefighters battle the Cave Fire as it flares up along Highway 154 in the Los Padres National Forest above Santa Barbara, Calif. The outbreak of the coronavirus is making the U.S. Forest Service and others change strategies for fighting wildfires, as the need for isolation and social distancing comes into play against the necessity of having firefighters work and live closely together. (AP Photo/Noah Berger, File)
Federal resources for firefighting efforts may be more scarce, leaving states to deal with more fires.
In light of the “unprecedented challenge” of the pandemic, Forest Service resources will be used “only when there is a reasonable expectation of success in protecting life and critical property and infrastructure,” says Forest Service Chief Victoria Christiansen.
Wildland fire camps have always had a reputation for spreading illness. Norovirus outbreaks have occurred and outbreaks of illnesses collectively dubbed the “camp crud” are yearly occurrences for many.
The job is so demanding that it’s typically done by younger, healthy and physically fit people. But the nature of the job also works against them: firefighters regularly experiencing high stress, inhaling smoke and dust and dealing with poor sleeping and personal hygiene.
A suck-it-up and tough-it-out culture doesn’t help either, said Jessica Gardetto, spokeswoman for the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho. The center coordinates logistics for 14,000 federal firefighters and thousands more state, local and private crews.“
“We have really been trying to educate and change that culture because not just in this situation but in others, it’s not OK to just tough it out if something’s wrong,” she said.
You don’t have to look too far back in history to see how the one-two punch of a pandemic and wildfire can decimate communities. The 1918 influenza pandemic killed an estimated 50 to 100 million people worldwide. In October 1918, sparks from a passing train ignited fields near Cloquet and Moose Lake, Minnesota.
Four hundred and fifty people were killed in an area that spanned 1,500 square miles (about 3,885 square kilometers). There were 21,000 injuries and 52,000 displaced people, said Curt Brown, a journalist and the author of “Minnesota, 1918.” The aftermath made it easy to spread disease.
“It was the perfect situation to spread the flu -- if you were lucky enough to survive the wildfire, you were crammed into evacuee housing,” he said. At least 100 people died of the flu in evacuee housing, an estimate Brown called conservative.
FILE - In this Aug. 21, 2015, file photo, firefighters from several King County agencies gather for a briefing while fighting a wildfire near Twisp, Wash. The outbreak of the coronavirus is making the U.S. Forest Service and others change strategies for fighting wildfires, as the need for isolation and social distancing comes into play against the necessity of having firefighters work and live closely together. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)
There also are concerns about preparations not being done. Typically, agencies spend months and millions of dollars preparing for wildfire season — clearing brush and doing prescribed burns to reduce the plants that feed massive wildfires.
That’s not happening in many places because some fire managers are trying to allow employees to abide by social distancing guidelines as long as possible and to curb smoke from the prescribed burns during the pandemic. Smoke can make breathing more difficult for people with asthma and other lung conditions.
“The biggest issue I see right now is that the prescribed burns aren’t getting done,” says Casey Judd, the president of the Federal Wildland Fire Services Association, which advocates on behalf of federal firefighters in 42 states. “That’s going to increase the fire load.”
He said leaders should have started working on a coronavirus plan for firefighters months ago. “I’m not suggesting they’re dragging their feet, but obviously they’re trying to figure it out just like everyone is,” he said.
FILE - In this Aug. 25, 2015, file photo, firefighters rest at a camp near the Okanogan Complex Fire in Okanogan, Wash. The outbreak of the coronavirus is making the U.S. Forest Service and others change strategies for fighting wildfires, as the need for isolation and social distancing comes into play against the necessity of having firefighters work and live closely together. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)
Kerry Greene, an emergency management specialist and spokeswoman with the U.S. Forest Service, said that although the plans haven’t been released yet, they’re coming together. The agency is already working to follow directives from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as well as infectious disease guidelines created in 2008 after a bird flu epidemic.
Like many, fire managers are to some extent flying blind. “Some of the things we’re probably going to have to learn as we go,” Greene said.
For most people, the virus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death.
Wildland firefighters are first responders just like hospital staff and police, and should be protected accordingly, said , said Boise State University assistant professor Luke Montrose, an expert in community and environmental health. “Like potentially having them wear masks when traveling from place to place.”
Under the $2 trillion federal CARES Act, federal fire crews will have paid sick leave for the first time, she said, which officials hope will encourage crew members to take sick leave when they need it. It’s not clear if all state or contract firefighters will have the same benefit.
Scott McLean, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, said the agency is following strict physical distancing protocols, and that could mean making larger campsites near wildfires and pulling in additional trailers for showers and other hygiene needs. But there is no agency-wide guidance beyond the recommendations every American has been given for the pandemic, he said.
“It has to be handled on a case-by-case basis because every incident is different. We rely on each individual to be responsible, and we have safety officers on the teams,” McLean said. “We will meet those needs as they come.”
IMF head sees worst economic downturn since Great Depression
FILE - In this Feb. 14, 2020 file photo, Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, attends a session on the first day of the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany. Georgieva said Friday, March 27, it is clear that the global economy has now entered a recession that could be as bad or worse than the 2009 downturn. She said the 189-nation lending agency was forecasting a recovery in 2021, saying it could be a “sizable rebound.” But she said this would only occur if nations succeed in containing the coronavirus and limiting the economic damage(AP Photo/Jens Meyer, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The coronavirus pandemic will push the global economy into the deepest recession since the Great Depression, with the world’s poorest countries suffering the most, the head of the International Monetary Fund said Thursday.
“We anticipate the worst economic fallout since the Great Depression,” IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said Thursday in remarks previewing next week’s virtual meetings of the 189-nation IMF and its sister lending organization, the World Bank.
She said that the IMF will release an updated world economic forecast on Tuesday that will show just how quickly the coronavirus outbreak has turned what had been expected to be a solid year of growth into a deep downturn.
Just three months ago, the IMF was forecasting that 160 nations would enjoy positive income growth on a per capita basis. Now the expectation is that over 170 nations will have negative per capita income growth this yea.
Emerging markets and low-income nations across Africa, Latin America and much of Asia are at high risk, she said.
“With weak health systems to begin with, many face the dreadful challenge of fighting the virus in densely populated cities and poverty-stricken slums, where social distancing is hardly an option,” Georgieva said.
Investors have grown fearful of leaving their money in emerging economies that could be hit hard by a global recession. As a result, capital outflows from emerging-market countries have totaled more than $100 billion over the last two months, more than three times larger than the same period at the start of the global financial crisis, Georgieva noted.
In addition, countries that depend on exporting commodities have taken a double blow because of the steep fall in commodity prices.
Georgieva said there was no question that 2020 will be an “exceptionally difficult” year. She said if the pandemic fades in the second half of the year, allowing the gradual lifting of containment measures and the reopening of the global economy, the IMF is forecasting a partial recovery in 2021.
“I stress there is tremendous uncertainty around the outlook,” she said. “It could get worse depending on many variable factors, including the duration of the pandemic.”
She said that she and World Bank President David Malpass will pursue at next week’s virtual meetings an agreement to adopt a standstill on debt payments over the next year by the world’s poorest nations, freeing up money they can use for critical health needs.
She also said that the IMF is prepared to commit its $1 trillion in lending capacity to providing support to nations that need help dealing with the pandemic.
“We are responding to an unprecedented number of calls for emergency financing from over 90 countries so far,” she said.
The IMF’s executive board has agreed to double the loan levels it will provide from its emergency facilities that she said should allow the IMF to provide around $100 billion in financing to low-income countries.
TRUMP REPLACES HOOVER AS AMERICA'S GREATEST DEPRESSION PRESIDENT
FILE - In this Feb. 14, 2020 file photo, Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, attends a session on the first day of the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany. Georgieva said Friday, March 27, it is clear that the global economy has now entered a recession that could be as bad or worse than the 2009 downturn. She said the 189-nation lending agency was forecasting a recovery in 2021, saying it could be a “sizable rebound.” But she said this would only occur if nations succeed in containing the coronavirus and limiting the economic damage(AP Photo/Jens Meyer, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The coronavirus pandemic will push the global economy into the deepest recession since the Great Depression, with the world’s poorest countries suffering the most, the head of the International Monetary Fund said Thursday.
“We anticipate the worst economic fallout since the Great Depression,” IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said Thursday in remarks previewing next week’s virtual meetings of the 189-nation IMF and its sister lending organization, the World Bank.
She said that the IMF will release an updated world economic forecast on Tuesday that will show just how quickly the coronavirus outbreak has turned what had been expected to be a solid year of growth into a deep downturn.
Just three months ago, the IMF was forecasting that 160 nations would enjoy positive income growth on a per capita basis. Now the expectation is that over 170 nations will have negative per capita income growth this yea.
Emerging markets and low-income nations across Africa, Latin America and much of Asia are at high risk, she said.
“With weak health systems to begin with, many face the dreadful challenge of fighting the virus in densely populated cities and poverty-stricken slums, where social distancing is hardly an option,” Georgieva said.
Investors have grown fearful of leaving their money in emerging economies that could be hit hard by a global recession. As a result, capital outflows from emerging-market countries have totaled more than $100 billion over the last two months, more than three times larger than the same period at the start of the global financial crisis, Georgieva noted.
In addition, countries that depend on exporting commodities have taken a double blow because of the steep fall in commodity prices.
Georgieva said there was no question that 2020 will be an “exceptionally difficult” year. She said if the pandemic fades in the second half of the year, allowing the gradual lifting of containment measures and the reopening of the global economy, the IMF is forecasting a partial recovery in 2021.
“I stress there is tremendous uncertainty around the outlook,” she said. “It could get worse depending on many variable factors, including the duration of the pandemic.”
She said that she and World Bank President David Malpass will pursue at next week’s virtual meetings an agreement to adopt a standstill on debt payments over the next year by the world’s poorest nations, freeing up money they can use for critical health needs.
She also said that the IMF is prepared to commit its $1 trillion in lending capacity to providing support to nations that need help dealing with the pandemic.
“We are responding to an unprecedented number of calls for emergency financing from over 90 countries so far,” she said.
The IMF’s executive board has agreed to double the loan levels it will provide from its emergency facilities that she said should allow the IMF to provide around $100 billion in financing to low-income countries.
RIP
Mad magazine illustrator Mort Drucker dies at 91
Mad magazine illustrator Mort Drucker dies at 91
THE BACKBONE OF THE MAGAZINE
NEW YORK (AP) — Mort Drucker, the Mad Magazine cartoonist who for decades lovingly spoofed politicians, celebrities and popular culture, died Thursday at 91.
Drucker’s daughter, Laurie Bachner, told The Associated Press that he fell ill last week, having difficulty walking and developing breathing problems. She did not give a specific cause of death and said that he was not tested for the coronavirus. He died at his home in Woodbury, New York, with his wife of more than 70 years, Barbara, by his side.
“I think my father had the best life anyone could hope for,” Bachner said. “He was married to the only woman he ever loved and got to make a living out of what he loved to do.”
Mad magazine was a cultural institution for millions of baby boomers, and Drucker was an institution at Mad. A New York City native, he joined Mad in its early days, the mid-1950s, and remained well into the 21st century. Few major events or public figures during that time escaped Drucker’s satire, whether “Star Trek” and “The Godfather” or Steve Martin and Jerry Seinfeld. In large strokes, Drucker took in every crease, crevice and bold feature. The big jaws of Kirk Douglas and Jay Leno bulged even larger, while the ears of Barack Obama looked like wings about to take flight. Being drawn by Drucker became a kind of show business rite of passage, with Michael J. Fox once telling Johnny Carson that he knew he had made it when he appeared in a Drucker cartoon.
Drucker’s admirers also included “Peanuts” creator Charles M. Schulz and “Star Wars” filmmaker George Lucas, who in the 1970s wrote a fan letter to Mad even as his lawyers were threatening to sue over a magazine caricature. (The suit was never filed.)
Besides Mad, Drucker drew for Time magazine, DC Comics, for an ad campaign for fruit and vegetables and for the heavy metal band Anthrax, which commissioned him to design art for its “State of Euphoria” album.
NEW YORK (AP) — Mort Drucker, the Mad Magazine cartoonist who for decades lovingly spoofed politicians, celebrities and popular culture, died Thursday at 91.
Drucker’s daughter, Laurie Bachner, told The Associated Press that he fell ill last week, having difficulty walking and developing breathing problems. She did not give a specific cause of death and said that he was not tested for the coronavirus. He died at his home in Woodbury, New York, with his wife of more than 70 years, Barbara, by his side.
“I think my father had the best life anyone could hope for,” Bachner said. “He was married to the only woman he ever loved and got to make a living out of what he loved to do.”
Mad magazine was a cultural institution for millions of baby boomers, and Drucker was an institution at Mad. A New York City native, he joined Mad in its early days, the mid-1950s, and remained well into the 21st century. Few major events or public figures during that time escaped Drucker’s satire, whether “Star Trek” and “The Godfather” or Steve Martin and Jerry Seinfeld. In large strokes, Drucker took in every crease, crevice and bold feature. The big jaws of Kirk Douglas and Jay Leno bulged even larger, while the ears of Barack Obama looked like wings about to take flight. Being drawn by Drucker became a kind of show business rite of passage, with Michael J. Fox once telling Johnny Carson that he knew he had made it when he appeared in a Drucker cartoon.
Drucker’s admirers also included “Peanuts” creator Charles M. Schulz and “Star Wars” filmmaker George Lucas, who in the 1970s wrote a fan letter to Mad even as his lawyers were threatening to sue over a magazine caricature. (The suit was never filed.)
Besides Mad, Drucker drew for Time magazine, DC Comics, for an ad campaign for fruit and vegetables and for the heavy metal band Anthrax, which commissioned him to design art for its “State of Euphoria” album.
Some of Drucker’s illustrations, include a Time cover drawing of Richard Nixon and Mao Zedong playing table tennis, ended up in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. In 2017, Drucker was inducted into the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame.
“As Mad Magazine became an established (albeit absurd) voice in the nation’s cultural mainstream, many of the visual masters who showcased the magazine’s written content eventually became icons in and of themselves,” the Hall’s citation reads. “Indeed, Mort Drucker proved to be one of the most popular artists of the group that collectively came to be known as the ‘Usual Gang of Idiots.’”
“As Mad Magazine became an established (albeit absurd) voice in the nation’s cultural mainstream, many of the visual masters who showcased the magazine’s written content eventually became icons in and of themselves,” the Hall’s citation reads. “Indeed, Mort Drucker proved to be one of the most popular artists of the group that collectively came to be known as the ‘Usual Gang of Idiots.’”
Liberty University pressing charges against journalists
LIKE THEIR CLAIM TO BE THE MORAL MAJORITY (R) (TM)
LIKE THEIR CLAIM TO BE THE MORAL MAJORITY (R) (TM)
THEIR CLAIM TO LIBERTY IS JUST AS HYPOCRITICAL
FILE - In this March 24 , 2020, file photo, a sign marks the entrance to Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va. The university, led by Jerry Falwell Jr., is pushing for criminal trespassing charges to be lodged against two journalists who pursued stories about why the evangelical college has remained partially open during the coronavirus outbreak. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)
NEW YORK (AP) — Liberty University has pushed for criminal trespassing charges against two journalists who pursued stories about why the evangelical college in Virginia has remained partially open during the coronavirus outbreak.
The college, in Lynchburg, Virginia, is led by Jerry Falwell Jr., a supporter of President Donald Trump who has suggested coverage of the epidemic was overblown. Falwell said the university is conducting classes online and obeying social distancing directives.
But he said he has kept the campus open for international students and those with nowhere else to go. On Thursday, there were about 1,000 students living on campus, roughly one-eighth of its normal residential population.
After stories were written saying Liberty’s decision caused concerns in the community, the university pursued charges against Alec MacGillis, a reporter for ProPublica, and Julia Rendleman, a photographer who illustrated a March 29 story in The New York Times.
Virginia Magistrate Kang Lee signed arrest warrants for Class 1 Misdemeanors against the two journalists, punishable by up to a year in jail. It’s up to Lynchburg Commonwealth’s Attorney Bethany Harrison to decide whether to prosecute, and she said Thursday she hasn’t seen any details on the case.
Liberty’s security forces investigated the journalists following publication of their articles, collecting witness accounts that they were on campus without permission, Falwell said.
He said it was a safety issue not to let outsiders in at a time of a global pandemic.
“When people are coming from known hot spots, we feel we owe it to our students and our parents not to let that happen,” Falwell said in an interview on Thursday. “The only way to send the message is to let them know they will be prosecuted.”
What’s really important is writing about a decision that goes against safety guidelines and puts people’s health at risk, said Richard Tofel, president of ProPublica. MacGillis’ article, headlined “What’s it Like on One of the Only University Campuses Still Open in the U.S.?” was published on March 26.
“Bringing an action on trespassing charges seems something beside the point,” Tofel said.
The only reason that trespassing accusations weren’t made against Elizabeth Williamson, the Times reporter who wrote about Liberty on March 29, was because eyewitnesses could not be found, Falwell said. The Times story was headlined, “Liberty University Brings Back its Students, and Coronavirus Fears, Too.”
The Times said its freelance photographer was doing the routine job of taking a picture of someone interviewed for the news story.
“We are disappointed that Liberty University would decide to make that into a criminal case and go after a freelance journalist because its officials were unhappy with press coverage of the university’s decision to convene classes in the midst of the pandemic,” spokeswoman Eileen Murphy said.
In the midst of reporting its own story about Liberty’s decision on March 24, an Associated Press photographer was approached by a campus security officer, asked to leave and to delete all of the images he had taken at Liberty.
After consulting with a supervisor, the photographer deleted the images — a decision the news organization said was wrong in retrospect.
“We don’t delete photos or any other material at the request of an individual law enforcement officer,” said Sally Buzbee, the AP’s executive editor and senior vice president. “We try to fight such orders legally.”
FILE - In this March 24 , 2020, file photo, a sign marks the entrance to Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va. The university, led by Jerry Falwell Jr., is pushing for criminal trespassing charges to be lodged against two journalists who pursued stories about why the evangelical college has remained partially open during the coronavirus outbreak. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)
NEW YORK (AP) — Liberty University has pushed for criminal trespassing charges against two journalists who pursued stories about why the evangelical college in Virginia has remained partially open during the coronavirus outbreak.
The college, in Lynchburg, Virginia, is led by Jerry Falwell Jr., a supporter of President Donald Trump who has suggested coverage of the epidemic was overblown. Falwell said the university is conducting classes online and obeying social distancing directives.
But he said he has kept the campus open for international students and those with nowhere else to go. On Thursday, there were about 1,000 students living on campus, roughly one-eighth of its normal residential population.
After stories were written saying Liberty’s decision caused concerns in the community, the university pursued charges against Alec MacGillis, a reporter for ProPublica, and Julia Rendleman, a photographer who illustrated a March 29 story in The New York Times.
Virginia Magistrate Kang Lee signed arrest warrants for Class 1 Misdemeanors against the two journalists, punishable by up to a year in jail. It’s up to Lynchburg Commonwealth’s Attorney Bethany Harrison to decide whether to prosecute, and she said Thursday she hasn’t seen any details on the case.
Liberty’s security forces investigated the journalists following publication of their articles, collecting witness accounts that they were on campus without permission, Falwell said.
He said it was a safety issue not to let outsiders in at a time of a global pandemic.
“When people are coming from known hot spots, we feel we owe it to our students and our parents not to let that happen,” Falwell said in an interview on Thursday. “The only way to send the message is to let them know they will be prosecuted.”
What’s really important is writing about a decision that goes against safety guidelines and puts people’s health at risk, said Richard Tofel, president of ProPublica. MacGillis’ article, headlined “What’s it Like on One of the Only University Campuses Still Open in the U.S.?” was published on March 26.
“Bringing an action on trespassing charges seems something beside the point,” Tofel said.
The only reason that trespassing accusations weren’t made against Elizabeth Williamson, the Times reporter who wrote about Liberty on March 29, was because eyewitnesses could not be found, Falwell said. The Times story was headlined, “Liberty University Brings Back its Students, and Coronavirus Fears, Too.”
The Times said its freelance photographer was doing the routine job of taking a picture of someone interviewed for the news story.
“We are disappointed that Liberty University would decide to make that into a criminal case and go after a freelance journalist because its officials were unhappy with press coverage of the university’s decision to convene classes in the midst of the pandemic,” spokeswoman Eileen Murphy said.
In the midst of reporting its own story about Liberty’s decision on March 24, an Associated Press photographer was approached by a campus security officer, asked to leave and to delete all of the images he had taken at Liberty.
After consulting with a supervisor, the photographer deleted the images — a decision the news organization said was wrong in retrospect.
“We don’t delete photos or any other material at the request of an individual law enforcement officer,” said Sally Buzbee, the AP’s executive editor and senior vice president. “We try to fight such orders legally.”
FILE - In this Nov. 28, 2018, file photo, Jerry Falwell Jr. speaks before a convocation at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va. The university, led by Falwell, is pushing for criminal trespassing charges to be lodged against two journalists who pursued stories about why the evangelical college has remained partially open during the coronavirus outbreak. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)
Liberty is particularly upset at the Times, disputing the newspaper’s contention that nearly a dozen Liberty students were sick with symptoms that suggested COVID-19. The university said only one student has tested positive — someone who did not live on campus and was last on campus two weeks before being tested.
Liberty has called for a retraction and threatened legal action.
Murphy said the Times’ story described contradictory statements by university leadership and personal attacks against critics of Liberty’s policy.
“We’re confident in the accuracy of our reporting,” she said.
Falwell has also questioned whether Liberty is being picked on for political reasons, noting that it’s not the only university in the country to have the same limited opening.
To that end, the university is planning to run newspaper advertisements in some southern cities where many of its students are from that draws comparisons to some other universities, he said.
The upcoming ad says that “Liberty’s response to COVID-19 puts us in pretty good company, despite what you might conclude from media accounts.”
Liberty is particularly upset at the Times, disputing the newspaper’s contention that nearly a dozen Liberty students were sick with symptoms that suggested COVID-19. The university said only one student has tested positive — someone who did not live on campus and was last on campus two weeks before being tested.
Liberty has called for a retraction and threatened legal action.
Murphy said the Times’ story described contradictory statements by university leadership and personal attacks against critics of Liberty’s policy.
“We’re confident in the accuracy of our reporting,” she said.
Falwell has also questioned whether Liberty is being picked on for political reasons, noting that it’s not the only university in the country to have the same limited opening.
To that end, the university is planning to run newspaper advertisements in some southern cities where many of its students are from that draws comparisons to some other universities, he said.
The upcoming ad says that “Liberty’s response to COVID-19 puts us in pretty good company, despite what you might conclude from media accounts.”
US expels thousands to Mexico after largely halting asylum
ROGUE NATION STATE CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY
Full Coverage: Immigration
The health risks of holding migrants in crowded spaces like Border Patrol stations is “the touchstone of this order,” Redfield wrote. He said exceptions to immediately expelling someone can be considered but didn’t elaborate.
“If someone is deemed to have the appropriate level of fear, those will be processed on a case-by-case basis,” Morgan, the CBP acting chief, said Thursday.
An internal Border Patrol memo obtained by ProPublica offers some detail on exemptions: An agent who determines that a migrant claims a “reasonably believable” fear of being tortured can be referred for additional screening under the U.N. Convention Against Torture, a lesser form of asylum that’s harder to qualify for.
Matthew Dyman, a CBP spokesman, declined to comment on the memo this week.
“Obtaining and posting leaked information is a great way to degrade trust and communication between CBP and the media,” he said.
Under the rules, agents take migrants to the nearest border crossing in specially designated vehicles and avoid stations, minimizing the risk of exposure to the virus. Those not sent to Mexico are flown to their home countries.
CBP said it has less than 100 people in custody, down from a peak of more than 19,000 during last year’s surge of border crossers. During the first 11 days of the new rules, 6,375 people were expelled on the Mexican border and 20 on the Canadian border.
Ten Senate Democrats sent a letter to acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf, who oversees border agencies, saying the Trump administration appeared to have “granted itself sweeping powers to summarily expel large, unknown numbers of individuals arriving at our border.”
“A public health crisis does not give the Executive Branch a free pass to violate constitutional rights, nor does it give the Executive Branch permission to operate outside of the law,” they wrote Tuesday.
FILE - In this Nov. 16, 2016, file photo, a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agent walks with suspected immigrants caught entering the country illegally along the Rio Grande in Hidalgo, Texas. The Trump administration has quietly shut down the nation's asylum system for the first time in decades amid coronavirus concerns, largely because holding people in custody is considered too dangerous. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
For Reyes and others sent to Mexico, they don’t know what’s next. She tried getting home to Honduras despite learning her brother had been killed there and her mother and 7-year-old daughter had fled to the Nicaraguan border, but she’s stuck in Mexico as the virus closed borders in Central America.
Reyes said she joined dozens who entered the Guatemalan mountains illegally in a bid to reach Honduras but was stopped by soldiers and returned to Mexico, where she was quarantined in a migrant shelter.
Four adults and seven children expelled from Texas also crossed into the mountains and are now hiding at a house in Guatemala because of a curfew tied to the virus.
“We want to leave already, but I don’t know who can help us,” said Fanny Jaqueline Ortiz of Honduras, who was with her 12- and 3-year-old daughters. “There is no transportation, no bus, nothing.”
Many Mexican shelters have closed, leaving many stranded in violent cities or reliant on relatives in the U.S. to send money.
Trump’s previous policies have targeted asylum but stopped short of suspending it altogether, acknowledging the 1951 U.N. Refugee Convention to provide haven to displaced people and a 1980 U.S. law that established the asylum system.
___
Verza reported from Mexico City and Fox from Washington. Associated Press reporters Astrid Galvan, Nomaan Merchant and Elliot Spagat contributed to this report
ROGUE NATION STATE CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY
VIOLATES INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS ON RIGHTS OF ASYLUM POST WWII
FILE - In this Thursday, March 14, 2019, file photo, a Border Patrol agent talks with a group suspected of having entered the U.S. illegally near McAllen, Texas. The Trump administration has quietly shut down the nation's asylum system for the first time in decades amid coronavirus concerns, largely because holding people in custody is considered too dangerous. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
A U.S. Border Patrol agent wouldn’t let Jackeline Reyes explain why she and her 15-year-old daughter fled Honduras and needed asylum, pointing to the coronavirus. It was just days after the Trump administration essentially shut down the nation’s asylum system.
“The agent told us about the virus and that we couldn’t go further, but she didn’t let us speak or anything,” said Reyes, 35, who was shuttled on March 24 to Reynosa, Mexico, a violent border city.
President Donald Trump’s administration is relying on a seldom-used public health law to set aside decades-old national and international immigration laws. People seeking refuge in the U.S. are whisked to the nearest border crossing and returned to Mexico without a chance to apply for asylum. It may be the most aggressive clampdown on immigration by a president who’s made reducing asylum claims a top priority.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Thursday that nearly 10,000 Mexicans and Central Americans have been “expelled” to Mexico since the rules took effect March 21. Mark Morgan, the agency’s acting commissioner, said the changes were “not about immigration.”
“What’s happening right now is a public health crisis driven by a global pandemic, which has resulted in a national emergency declared by this president to protect the health and safety of every American in this country,” he told reporters.
Mexico is providing critical support, agreeing to take migrants from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, who accounted for well over half of all U.S. border arrests last year.
The Trump administration has offered little detail on the rules, which haven’t been challenged in court. The lack of specifics means the change got little attention when it went public March 20, the same day Trump announced at a news conference that the southern border was closed to nonessential travel.
The administration tapped a law allowing the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to ban foreigners if their entry would create “a serious danger” to the spread of communicable disease. The U.S. has the most confirmed cases in the world by far. CDC director Dr. Robert Redfield issued a 30-day order and said he may extend it.
“The administration is able to do what they always wanted to do,” said Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, policy counsel for the American Immigration Council, which has criticized the administration. “I don’t see this slowing down.”
Mexico said it won’t take unaccompanied children and other “vulnerable people.” Carlos Gonzalez Gutierrez, Mexico’s consul general in San Diego, said that includes people who are over 65, pregnant or sick.
FILE - In this Dec. 10, 2018, file photo, Border Patrol agents, right, detain a man during a protest near the border with Tijuana, Mexico, in San Diego. The Trump administration has quietly shut down the nation's asylum system for the first time in decades amid coronavirus concerns, largely because holding people in custody is considered too dangerous. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull, File)
The U.S. also is returning Central American children who travel with grandparents, siblings and other relatives, said a congressional aide who was briefed by Customs and Border Protection officials and spoke on the condition of anonymity because the information was not intended for public release. Previously, children who weren’t with parents or guardians were considered unaccompanied and automatically put into the asylum pipeline.
FILE - In this Thursday, March 14, 2019, file photo, a Border Patrol agent talks with a group suspected of having entered the U.S. illegally near McAllen, Texas. The Trump administration has quietly shut down the nation's asylum system for the first time in decades amid coronavirus concerns, largely because holding people in custody is considered too dangerous. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
A U.S. Border Patrol agent wouldn’t let Jackeline Reyes explain why she and her 15-year-old daughter fled Honduras and needed asylum, pointing to the coronavirus. It was just days after the Trump administration essentially shut down the nation’s asylum system.
“The agent told us about the virus and that we couldn’t go further, but she didn’t let us speak or anything,” said Reyes, 35, who was shuttled on March 24 to Reynosa, Mexico, a violent border city.
President Donald Trump’s administration is relying on a seldom-used public health law to set aside decades-old national and international immigration laws. People seeking refuge in the U.S. are whisked to the nearest border crossing and returned to Mexico without a chance to apply for asylum. It may be the most aggressive clampdown on immigration by a president who’s made reducing asylum claims a top priority.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Thursday that nearly 10,000 Mexicans and Central Americans have been “expelled” to Mexico since the rules took effect March 21. Mark Morgan, the agency’s acting commissioner, said the changes were “not about immigration.”
“What’s happening right now is a public health crisis driven by a global pandemic, which has resulted in a national emergency declared by this president to protect the health and safety of every American in this country,” he told reporters.
Mexico is providing critical support, agreeing to take migrants from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, who accounted for well over half of all U.S. border arrests last year.
The Trump administration has offered little detail on the rules, which haven’t been challenged in court. The lack of specifics means the change got little attention when it went public March 20, the same day Trump announced at a news conference that the southern border was closed to nonessential travel.
The administration tapped a law allowing the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to ban foreigners if their entry would create “a serious danger” to the spread of communicable disease. The U.S. has the most confirmed cases in the world by far. CDC director Dr. Robert Redfield issued a 30-day order and said he may extend it.
“The administration is able to do what they always wanted to do,” said Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, policy counsel for the American Immigration Council, which has criticized the administration. “I don’t see this slowing down.”
Mexico said it won’t take unaccompanied children and other “vulnerable people.” Carlos Gonzalez Gutierrez, Mexico’s consul general in San Diego, said that includes people who are over 65, pregnant or sick.
FILE - In this Dec. 10, 2018, file photo, Border Patrol agents, right, detain a man during a protest near the border with Tijuana, Mexico, in San Diego. The Trump administration has quietly shut down the nation's asylum system for the first time in decades amid coronavirus concerns, largely because holding people in custody is considered too dangerous. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull, File)
The U.S. also is returning Central American children who travel with grandparents, siblings and other relatives, said a congressional aide who was briefed by Customs and Border Protection officials and spoke on the condition of anonymity because the information was not intended for public release. Previously, children who weren’t with parents or guardians were considered unaccompanied and automatically put into the asylum pipeline.
Full Coverage: Immigration
The health risks of holding migrants in crowded spaces like Border Patrol stations is “the touchstone of this order,” Redfield wrote. He said exceptions to immediately expelling someone can be considered but didn’t elaborate.
“If someone is deemed to have the appropriate level of fear, those will be processed on a case-by-case basis,” Morgan, the CBP acting chief, said Thursday.
An internal Border Patrol memo obtained by ProPublica offers some detail on exemptions: An agent who determines that a migrant claims a “reasonably believable” fear of being tortured can be referred for additional screening under the U.N. Convention Against Torture, a lesser form of asylum that’s harder to qualify for.
Matthew Dyman, a CBP spokesman, declined to comment on the memo this week.
“Obtaining and posting leaked information is a great way to degrade trust and communication between CBP and the media,” he said.
Under the rules, agents take migrants to the nearest border crossing in specially designated vehicles and avoid stations, minimizing the risk of exposure to the virus. Those not sent to Mexico are flown to their home countries.
CBP said it has less than 100 people in custody, down from a peak of more than 19,000 during last year’s surge of border crossers. During the first 11 days of the new rules, 6,375 people were expelled on the Mexican border and 20 on the Canadian border.
Ten Senate Democrats sent a letter to acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf, who oversees border agencies, saying the Trump administration appeared to have “granted itself sweeping powers to summarily expel large, unknown numbers of individuals arriving at our border.”
“A public health crisis does not give the Executive Branch a free pass to violate constitutional rights, nor does it give the Executive Branch permission to operate outside of the law,” they wrote Tuesday.
FILE - In this Nov. 16, 2016, file photo, a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agent walks with suspected immigrants caught entering the country illegally along the Rio Grande in Hidalgo, Texas. The Trump administration has quietly shut down the nation's asylum system for the first time in decades amid coronavirus concerns, largely because holding people in custody is considered too dangerous. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
For Reyes and others sent to Mexico, they don’t know what’s next. She tried getting home to Honduras despite learning her brother had been killed there and her mother and 7-year-old daughter had fled to the Nicaraguan border, but she’s stuck in Mexico as the virus closed borders in Central America.
Reyes said she joined dozens who entered the Guatemalan mountains illegally in a bid to reach Honduras but was stopped by soldiers and returned to Mexico, where she was quarantined in a migrant shelter.
Four adults and seven children expelled from Texas also crossed into the mountains and are now hiding at a house in Guatemala because of a curfew tied to the virus.
“We want to leave already, but I don’t know who can help us,” said Fanny Jaqueline Ortiz of Honduras, who was with her 12- and 3-year-old daughters. “There is no transportation, no bus, nothing.”
Many Mexican shelters have closed, leaving many stranded in violent cities or reliant on relatives in the U.S. to send money.
Trump’s previous policies have targeted asylum but stopped short of suspending it altogether, acknowledging the 1951 U.N. Refugee Convention to provide haven to displaced people and a 1980 U.S. law that established the asylum system.
___
Verza reported from Mexico City and Fox from Washington. Associated Press reporters Astrid Galvan, Nomaan Merchant and Elliot Spagat contributed to this report
Official: Saints emails on clergy crisis should stay secret
NO THEY SHOULD NOT PUBLIC'S RIGHT TO KNOW
FILE - In this Oct. 23, 2016, file photo, a New Orleans Saints helmet rests on the playing field before an NFL football game in Kansas City, Mo. An Associated Press review of public tax documents found that the Bensons' foundation has given at least $62 million to the Archdiocese of New Orleans and other Catholic causes over the past dozen years, including gifts to schools, universities, charities and individual parishes. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson, File)
Hundreds of emails detailing the New Orleans Saints’ efforts to conduct damage control for the area’s Roman Catholic archdiocese amid its clergy sexual abuse crisis should remain shielded from the public, a court official recommended Thursday.
The recommendation by a court special master came almost three months after The Associated Press urged the release of the confidential emails as a matter of public interest. Those emails emerged as part of a lawsuit against the church and it will ultimately be up to a judge in that case to make the final decision.
Releasing the messages would only “embarrass or bring under public scrutiny” those who tried to help the Archdiocese of New Orleans as it sought to weather the fallout from the clergy abuse crisis, retired Judge Carolyn Gill-Jefferson wrote in a five-page filing.
AND THAT WOULD BE A GOOD THING
She agreed with church leaders and the Saints that the communications were private, writing that “the exchange of information during discovery is to be held within the confines of the pending litigation and outside of public view.”
Attorneys for about two dozen men suing the church have alleged the emails show that the NFL team, whose owner is devoutly Catholic, aided the church in its “ pattern and practice of concealing its crimes.”
One of the attorneys, Richard Trahant, said he will object to Gill-Jefferson’s recommendation, which has not yet been adopted by the judge presiding over the lawsuit. It was not immediately clear when the judge would rule on the issue.
The Saints have said they have nothing to hide and that the team does not object to the emails being made public during a later stage of the litigation.
The Saints acknowledged giving church leaders advice on how to handle media attention surrounding the 2018 release of a list naming more than 50 clergy members “credibly accused” of sexual abuse.
The Saints have close ties to the archdiocese, and New Orleans Archbishop Gregory Aymond is a close friend of team owner Gayle Benson, who inherited the Saints and the New Orleans Pelicans basketball team when her husband, Tom Benson, died in 2018.
FILE - In this Oct. 23, 2016, file photo, a New Orleans Saints helmet rests on the playing field before an NFL football game in Kansas City, Mo. An Associated Press review of public tax documents found that the Bensons' foundation has given at least $62 million to the Archdiocese of New Orleans and other Catholic causes over the past dozen years, including gifts to schools, universities, charities and individual parishes. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson, File)
Hundreds of emails detailing the New Orleans Saints’ efforts to conduct damage control for the area’s Roman Catholic archdiocese amid its clergy sexual abuse crisis should remain shielded from the public, a court official recommended Thursday.
The recommendation by a court special master came almost three months after The Associated Press urged the release of the confidential emails as a matter of public interest. Those emails emerged as part of a lawsuit against the church and it will ultimately be up to a judge in that case to make the final decision.
Releasing the messages would only “embarrass or bring under public scrutiny” those who tried to help the Archdiocese of New Orleans as it sought to weather the fallout from the clergy abuse crisis, retired Judge Carolyn Gill-Jefferson wrote in a five-page filing.
AND THAT WOULD BE A GOOD THING
She agreed with church leaders and the Saints that the communications were private, writing that “the exchange of information during discovery is to be held within the confines of the pending litigation and outside of public view.”
Attorneys for about two dozen men suing the church have alleged the emails show that the NFL team, whose owner is devoutly Catholic, aided the church in its “ pattern and practice of concealing its crimes.”
One of the attorneys, Richard Trahant, said he will object to Gill-Jefferson’s recommendation, which has not yet been adopted by the judge presiding over the lawsuit. It was not immediately clear when the judge would rule on the issue.
The Saints have said they have nothing to hide and that the team does not object to the emails being made public during a later stage of the litigation.
The Saints acknowledged giving church leaders advice on how to handle media attention surrounding the 2018 release of a list naming more than 50 clergy members “credibly accused” of sexual abuse.
The Saints have close ties to the archdiocese, and New Orleans Archbishop Gregory Aymond is a close friend of team owner Gayle Benson, who inherited the Saints and the New Orleans Pelicans basketball team when her husband, Tom Benson, died in 2018.
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