Saturday, May 30, 2020
OF COURSE IT IS
US government is funding website spreading Covid-19 disinformation
State Department-backed Armenian project to promote democracy instead features false information
Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Washington and Andrew Roth in Moscow
Thu 28 May 2020 THE GUARDIAN
The US government is funding a website in Armenia which is spreading disinformation about the coronavirus pandemic, including warnings that Armenians ought to “refuse” future vaccine programmes.
The website, Medmedia.am, was launched with the help of a US State Department grant meant to promote democracy, but instead has been used to promote false information about Covid-19, according to an investigation by the British news website openDemocracy.
Among Medmedia’s most popular articles are pieces that have called Covid-19 a “fake pandemic” and falsely reported that a morgue offered to pay hundreds of dollars to a dead patient’s family if they claimed the death had been caused by the coronavirus.
Grigoryan, who has claimed that he is not opposed to vaccinations, has teamed up with a prominent journalist and lawyer, both with reported ties to a far-right party called Veto, to create what they called a public fact-finding group on the government’s response to the coronavirus outbreak.
This week, the group’s official Facebook page claimed that the government led by prime minister Nikol Pashinyan, who led a nonviolent reform movement before his election, had “completely failed the fight” against coronavirus. Grigoryan said he was not aligned with a specific political party and denied that Medmedia or the fact-finding project were political fronts aimed at opposing the government.
“If we look at everything from a political point of view then we’re not going to go very far,” he said. “But from an expert point of view, the statistics speak for themselves.”
Armenia has reported about 7,100 coronavirus cases and a rising rate of infections. The country has also grappled with a drop in childhood vaccine rates, which the health minister, Arsen Torosyan, has blamed on anti-vaccine propaganda.
The State Department declined to comment on questions about the size of the grant or its review process.
A post on the US embassy’s website in Armenia said grants under the Democracy Commission Small Grants Program – which are worth up to $50,000 – are awarded on a competitive basis to local NGOs and are meant to focus on issues like transparency and accountability in governance, advancing human rights, eliminating corruption, and enhancing economic growth and development.
But the openDemocracy investigation found that, while Medmedia had published some news articles, most of its opinion pieces were republished Facebook posts that spread false information.
Grigoryan told the Guardian that the US embassy in Armenia had contacted him with “concerns” about op-eds and articles on the site. But, he said: “I am sure I was able to answer all those questions and those concerns disappeared. The site is not an anti-vaccine forum.”
He would not say how much money was given to his Armenian Association for Young Doctors by the US embassy, or how much of that was invested in the website. He called it a “small amount” and addressed questions on specifics to the US embassy. The grant period is due to end in several days, he said.
A disclaimer on the Medmedia website said the site was US-funded but that its articles “do not necessarily reflect” the views of the US government.
Grigoryan defended the articles in an interview with the Guardian, saying the website had been “created to make the voice of the public heard”. “If someone says that Armenia should refuse vaccinations and the government refutes this with weighty proof, it’s already served [the public] good,” he said.
Asked specifically about the articles, he said that he didn’t share their opinions but said they would not be taken down. “It’s not fake news,” he said. “It’s the opinion of a specialist, the opinion of a doctor, of the head of an NGO. It’s an opinion. So it’s not fake news.”
He denied that posting the articles could pose a public health risk, saying they would “initiate discussion.”
While he denied being personally opposed to vaccines, he claimed the articles on his site were representative of skepticism about vaccines in Armenian society.
“The problem is that due to the government’s incorrect [information] policy these kinds of articles are becoming widespread,” he said.
Grigoryan said his past anti-LGBT statements, including one that said he would “always fight against gays,” had been misinterpreted and were prompted by specific cases of “anti-social behaviour.” Asked about a Facebook post from 2014 in which he wrote that “gays should be burnt and in a public place”, he said that the post was a reference to the film Pulp Fiction and was meant as a joke.
US government is funding website spreading Covid-19 disinformation
State Department-backed Armenian project to promote democracy instead features false information
Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Washington and Andrew Roth in Moscow
Thu 28 May 2020 THE GUARDIAN
A hospital worker (C) wearing a protective face mask and outfit, speaks with two ambulance doctors wearing yellow protective suits at the Grigor Lusavorich Medical Centre in Yerevan amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Photograph: Karen Minasyan/AFP/Getty Images
The US government is funding a website in Armenia which is spreading disinformation about the coronavirus pandemic, including warnings that Armenians ought to “refuse” future vaccine programmes.
The website, Medmedia.am, was launched with the help of a US State Department grant meant to promote democracy, but instead has been used to promote false information about Covid-19, according to an investigation by the British news website openDemocracy.
Among Medmedia’s most popular articles are pieces that have called Covid-19 a “fake pandemic” and falsely reported that a morgue offered to pay hundreds of dollars to a dead patient’s family if they claimed the death had been caused by the coronavirus.
The grant was awarded by the State Department to a group called the Armenian Association of Young Doctors, which launched the website last year and is led by a controversial doctor called Gevorg Grigoryan.
He has been known for his strong criticism of the government’s health ministry and its vaccine programmes, and has a history of anti-LGBT statements, including remarks posted on Facebook in 2014 in which he called for gay people to be burned.
Grigoryan, who has claimed that he is not opposed to vaccinations, has teamed up with a prominent journalist and lawyer, both with reported ties to a far-right party called Veto, to create what they called a public fact-finding group on the government’s response to the coronavirus outbreak.
This week, the group’s official Facebook page claimed that the government led by prime minister Nikol Pashinyan, who led a nonviolent reform movement before his election, had “completely failed the fight” against coronavirus. Grigoryan said he was not aligned with a specific political party and denied that Medmedia or the fact-finding project were political fronts aimed at opposing the government.
“If we look at everything from a political point of view then we’re not going to go very far,” he said. “But from an expert point of view, the statistics speak for themselves.”
Armenia has reported about 7,100 coronavirus cases and a rising rate of infections. The country has also grappled with a drop in childhood vaccine rates, which the health minister, Arsen Torosyan, has blamed on anti-vaccine propaganda.
The State Department declined to comment on questions about the size of the grant or its review process.
A post on the US embassy’s website in Armenia said grants under the Democracy Commission Small Grants Program – which are worth up to $50,000 – are awarded on a competitive basis to local NGOs and are meant to focus on issues like transparency and accountability in governance, advancing human rights, eliminating corruption, and enhancing economic growth and development.
But the openDemocracy investigation found that, while Medmedia had published some news articles, most of its opinion pieces were republished Facebook posts that spread false information.
Grigoryan told the Guardian that the US embassy in Armenia had contacted him with “concerns” about op-eds and articles on the site. But, he said: “I am sure I was able to answer all those questions and those concerns disappeared. The site is not an anti-vaccine forum.”
He would not say how much money was given to his Armenian Association for Young Doctors by the US embassy, or how much of that was invested in the website. He called it a “small amount” and addressed questions on specifics to the US embassy. The grant period is due to end in several days, he said.
A disclaimer on the Medmedia website said the site was US-funded but that its articles “do not necessarily reflect” the views of the US government.
Grigoryan defended the articles in an interview with the Guardian, saying the website had been “created to make the voice of the public heard”. “If someone says that Armenia should refuse vaccinations and the government refutes this with weighty proof, it’s already served [the public] good,” he said.
Asked specifically about the articles, he said that he didn’t share their opinions but said they would not be taken down. “It’s not fake news,” he said. “It’s the opinion of a specialist, the opinion of a doctor, of the head of an NGO. It’s an opinion. So it’s not fake news.”
He denied that posting the articles could pose a public health risk, saying they would “initiate discussion.”
While he denied being personally opposed to vaccines, he claimed the articles on his site were representative of skepticism about vaccines in Armenian society.
“The problem is that due to the government’s incorrect [information] policy these kinds of articles are becoming widespread,” he said.
Grigoryan said his past anti-LGBT statements, including one that said he would “always fight against gays,” had been misinterpreted and were prompted by specific cases of “anti-social behaviour.” Asked about a Facebook post from 2014 in which he wrote that “gays should be burnt and in a public place”, he said that the post was a reference to the film Pulp Fiction and was meant as a joke.
'Here's a bedsheet, make a parachute!' Republicans say, pushing us out of a planeHamilton Nolan
The heart of the Republican governing philosophy causes ludicrously insufficient responses to an existential crisis
Fri 29 May 2020
The heart of the Republican governing philosophy causes ludicrously insufficient responses to an existential crisis
Fri 29 May 2020
‘The fundamental purpose of the Republican party is to cut taxes and otherwise serve the interests of the rich.’ Photograph: Vladimir Smirnov/Tass
The Republican fetish for “work” has always been a sham. The prime beneficiaries of Republican policies are, after all, the investor class, who by definition make their money while not working. As our current economic crisis worsens, Republicans cling to ideas that become increasingly separated from reality, like fundamentalists rejecting modern medicine even as their family member is dying. All of you, go back to work, or die trying!
Most of the world has asked people to stop going to work – temporarily, in theory – for the sake of public health. In the wiser countries of the world, the government is covering the payrolls of businesses through the worst part of these shutdowns, which has the dual benefits of helping employers not go broke, and keeping workers paid and employed until things can start getting back to normal.
America, of course, did not do anything so rational. Instead, we just sweetened unemployment benefits, forcing nearly 40 million people to pile into broken and dysfunctional state unemployment systems, while millions more give up altogether. The US did an excellent job propping up the financial markets, a mediocre job giving lifelines to businesses, and a poor job saving working people. And now, as we stare down the worst unemployment crisis since the Great Depression, Republicans in Congress have a bright idea: cutting off the extra money we’ve been giving to unemployed people, and instead incentivizing work. As if workers needed more incentive than desperately trying to avoid starvation.
Rob Portman, the Republican senator from Ohio, is proposing a temporary new $450-a-week bonus for unemployed people who go back to work. Consider the wonderful benefits this would provide: the Republicans will do away with the $600-a-week benefit you are currently getting for the unemployment you were forced into, and instead offer you a lesser amount in order to return to your job that no longer exists. The government’s failure to put in place a coherent response to this crisis from the beginning – a failure that will now force countless small businesses to close forever and will leave tens of millions of people persistently unemployed and tens of millions more newly stuck in part-time jobs without benefits – will now be compounded by a weird adherence to the idea that everyone is dying to cling to public benefits for the rest of their lives, unless we force them to do otherwise. Portman’s plan is like pushing someone out of a plane and then offering them some string and a bed sheet on the way dow – incentivize them to make their own parachute, rather than lazily relying on a government handout. (Republicans are also pushing a capital gains tax “holiday”, so the investor class will be handed two parachutes each, just in case anything goes wrong with the first.)
It is the lie at the heart of the Republican governing philosophy that causes all of these ludicrously insufficient responses to an existential crisis. The fundamental purpose of the Republican party is to cut taxes and otherwise serve the interests of the rich. That’s it. Everything else is in service of that goal. In order to hang on to enough electoral support to do this, they construct a morality tale about the sanctity of work and the evil of government handouts, a quasi-religious tale designed to ensure both the upper class and working class parts of the party’s base that the existing social arrangement is honorable and right. Now that we find ourselves in a crisis for which the obvious solution is unprecedented government support of the economy, the Republican party finds itself in a quandary. Doing what should be done would lead a lot of people to begin asking uncomfortable questions. If government aid can save us from another Great Depression, might it not be able to do something about inequality too? Republicans simply can’t have that in their own party.
What we will get instead are paltry tax credits and work incentives and much rhetoric about Strong Americans Rallying Around the Flag, while the stock market is backstopped and everyone without six months of expenses saved up is told that risking their lives to return to work is the patriotic thing to do. In one sense, the Republican leadership was prepared for their role at this moment. Fomenting the possibility of mass death in order to avoid any softening of the public’s attitude towards socialism is something that they have been adept at for many years.
People need healthcare. People need jobs that pay a living wage. People need food, and the forgiveness of rent payments, and a social safety net that is up to the challenge of being strained like it never has before. These are things the Republicans do not offer. They have an alternate plan: support for capital markets, a little bonus if you can find yourself a new job, and a vow to “wait and see” how things go, after state and local governments are forced to slash public services. Doesn’t that sound nice? Your $0 stock portfolio can sustain you over the next year after the restaurant where you worked goes out of business. The closer you slide to homelessness, the greater your incentive to participate in the economy will become.
The government’s response to this crisis does not work for the majority of humans. But it does work for the Republican idea of work itself. Work comes above all. The more of your fellow Americans that die, the greater your chance of finding a new job. When you look at it like that, it’s a win-win situation.
Hamilton Nolan is a labor reporter at In These Times
The Republican fetish for “work” has always been a sham. The prime beneficiaries of Republican policies are, after all, the investor class, who by definition make their money while not working. As our current economic crisis worsens, Republicans cling to ideas that become increasingly separated from reality, like fundamentalists rejecting modern medicine even as their family member is dying. All of you, go back to work, or die trying!
Most of the world has asked people to stop going to work – temporarily, in theory – for the sake of public health. In the wiser countries of the world, the government is covering the payrolls of businesses through the worst part of these shutdowns, which has the dual benefits of helping employers not go broke, and keeping workers paid and employed until things can start getting back to normal.
America, of course, did not do anything so rational. Instead, we just sweetened unemployment benefits, forcing nearly 40 million people to pile into broken and dysfunctional state unemployment systems, while millions more give up altogether. The US did an excellent job propping up the financial markets, a mediocre job giving lifelines to businesses, and a poor job saving working people. And now, as we stare down the worst unemployment crisis since the Great Depression, Republicans in Congress have a bright idea: cutting off the extra money we’ve been giving to unemployed people, and instead incentivizing work. As if workers needed more incentive than desperately trying to avoid starvation.
Rob Portman, the Republican senator from Ohio, is proposing a temporary new $450-a-week bonus for unemployed people who go back to work. Consider the wonderful benefits this would provide: the Republicans will do away with the $600-a-week benefit you are currently getting for the unemployment you were forced into, and instead offer you a lesser amount in order to return to your job that no longer exists. The government’s failure to put in place a coherent response to this crisis from the beginning – a failure that will now force countless small businesses to close forever and will leave tens of millions of people persistently unemployed and tens of millions more newly stuck in part-time jobs without benefits – will now be compounded by a weird adherence to the idea that everyone is dying to cling to public benefits for the rest of their lives, unless we force them to do otherwise. Portman’s plan is like pushing someone out of a plane and then offering them some string and a bed sheet on the way dow – incentivize them to make their own parachute, rather than lazily relying on a government handout. (Republicans are also pushing a capital gains tax “holiday”, so the investor class will be handed two parachutes each, just in case anything goes wrong with the first.)
It is the lie at the heart of the Republican governing philosophy that causes all of these ludicrously insufficient responses to an existential crisis. The fundamental purpose of the Republican party is to cut taxes and otherwise serve the interests of the rich. That’s it. Everything else is in service of that goal. In order to hang on to enough electoral support to do this, they construct a morality tale about the sanctity of work and the evil of government handouts, a quasi-religious tale designed to ensure both the upper class and working class parts of the party’s base that the existing social arrangement is honorable and right. Now that we find ourselves in a crisis for which the obvious solution is unprecedented government support of the economy, the Republican party finds itself in a quandary. Doing what should be done would lead a lot of people to begin asking uncomfortable questions. If government aid can save us from another Great Depression, might it not be able to do something about inequality too? Republicans simply can’t have that in their own party.
What we will get instead are paltry tax credits and work incentives and much rhetoric about Strong Americans Rallying Around the Flag, while the stock market is backstopped and everyone without six months of expenses saved up is told that risking their lives to return to work is the patriotic thing to do. In one sense, the Republican leadership was prepared for their role at this moment. Fomenting the possibility of mass death in order to avoid any softening of the public’s attitude towards socialism is something that they have been adept at for many years.
People need healthcare. People need jobs that pay a living wage. People need food, and the forgiveness of rent payments, and a social safety net that is up to the challenge of being strained like it never has before. These are things the Republicans do not offer. They have an alternate plan: support for capital markets, a little bonus if you can find yourself a new job, and a vow to “wait and see” how things go, after state and local governments are forced to slash public services. Doesn’t that sound nice? Your $0 stock portfolio can sustain you over the next year after the restaurant where you worked goes out of business. The closer you slide to homelessness, the greater your incentive to participate in the economy will become.
The government’s response to this crisis does not work for the majority of humans. But it does work for the Republican idea of work itself. Work comes above all. The more of your fellow Americans that die, the greater your chance of finding a new job. When you look at it like that, it’s a win-win situation.
Hamilton Nolan is a labor reporter at In These Times
'Gross incompetence at highest levels': ex-Obama adviser blasts Trump's Covid response
Samantha Power also tells online Hay festival that former US administration underestimated how ‘ripped off’ Americans felt, and discounts possibility of Michelle Obama as vice-president
The US has shown “gross incompetence … at the highest levels” in dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic, according to Samantha Power, who served as US ambassador to the United Nations under Barack Obama.
Speaking to Philippe Sands for the online version of the Hay festival, Power said that Donald Trump’s administration had failed to learn from the countries hit by the coronavirus before the US.
“We could have had an awful lot in place before it struck in earnest on the continent,” she said, highlighting the “gross incompetence” shown “not by the heroic health workers and public servants who are on the frontlines, but at the highest levels, diminishing the threat posed by the pandemic in its early stages”.
Power served for four years as Obama’s human rights adviser and from 2013 to 2017 in his cabinet and as US ambassador to the UN. The coronavirus outbreak in the US has been “mishandled for a set of reasons that go well beyond the pandemic, a scepticism about science and evidence and global cooperation,” she said.
She admitted that the Obama administration had “definitely underestimated the potency” of “a view represented by President Trump but shared by millions of Americans, that the international system has ripped us off, that we have been giving more than we’ve been getting”.
“We saw the pain caused, of course, by economic globalisation and saw the degree to which many in our own communities were being left behind. But the idea that that would be laid squarely on political globalisation or on alliances or on the United Nations, it was not accurate, it seemed like too big a leap to get the fuel and the momentum that Trump has given it, so we were wrong to underestimate that,” she said.
Power was asked by Sands if there was any coming back for the US after what he called “almost irrecoverable” damage done to the support for global order by the Trump presidency. Power said it wasn’t just about Trump threatening to pull out of the World Health Organization, and withdrawing the US from organisations including Unesco and the United Nations human rights council.
“There is that. But maybe even more damaging than that is the pullback from alliances that are at the heart of effective multilateralism … How do you recover the belief among German, French, British, Irish, Spanish citizens that when America attaches its name to an agreement, whether a climate agreement, or an Iran nuclear agreement, that is going to be an enduring signature?” she said. “What Trump has jeopardised more than anything is the sense of American constancy, [that] we’re going to be there when you need us. And that’s going to be the hardest thing of all, I think to build back that trust.”
Power was hopeful that Joe Biden will emerge the victor at this November’s presidential election due to Trump’s handling of the pandemic.
“You can holler fake news and be kind of tribal in terms of your party mentality. But if your insulin prices have tripled, and you no longer have a paycheck and the government subsidy you’re getting isn’t enough to pay for insulin for your kid, there’s only so many Trump tweets and allegations of voter fraud that are going to distract you from your own plight,” said Power, who recently published her memoir, The Education of an Idealist.
Asked by Sands if there was any chance that Michelle Obama would step in as Biden’s vice-president, Power said that while there was a “very, very, very slim” possibility because of “how much she cares about the country”, it was unlikely.
“I suppose there is some scenario where maybe she could be convinced that this is the only way,” Power added. “But now that Biden has at least a modest lead in some of the polls, I think she’ll be convinced probably that there are other paths. I’m not sure anybody who has seen the presidency up close would volunteer for it.”
Call for inquiry into why senior Tory helped donor avoid £40m tax
Cabinet Office asked to look into Robert Jenrick’s unlawful approval of property project
Labour has urged the Cabinet Office to investigate why the housing secretary intervened in a controversial London planning decision that could have saved a Conservative party donor tens of millions of pounds.
Robert Jenrick, the housing, communities and local government secretary, knew that the former media tycoon Richard Desmond had only 24 hours to have an East End property development approved before hefty community charges were imposed on the billionaire’s project. The imposition of Tower Hamlets council’s community infrastructure levy (CIL) would have cost Desmond at least £40m.
Jenrick later accepted that approval of the Isle of Dogs project was unlawful.
In a letter to the cabinet secretary, Sir Mark Sedwill, the shadow housing and planning minister, Mike Amesbury, said Jenrick’s decision to back the proposed development was “deeply concerning” and that the Cabinet Office should fully investigate the matter.
“Serious questions need to be answered about why this decision was taken, a decision which could have saved a Conservative donor tens of millions of pounds, and in the process deprived local residents of vital infrastructure funding,” he wrote.
“It’s essential that we have transparency in processes such as this so that trust can be maintained in our housing and planning system.
“I hope the Cabinet Office will uphold this spirit of transparency, do the right thing and conduct a thorough investigation into the events around this decision.”
Documents disclosed earlier this week from the consent order for the development showed Jenrick was aware that the council-imposed CIL would have been introduced on 15 January this year.
Against the advice of his own planning inspector, he gave the go-ahead for the construction of more than 1,500 apartments in a 44-storey complex on 14 January.
CILs were to be used to tax large property developments at £280 per sq metre, with the money raised being used to build schools and health clinics in the council area.
Point 4 of the consent order relating to the project states: “In pre-action correspondence, pursuant to the duty of candour, the first defendant explained the DL (decision letter) was issued on 14 January 2020 so that it would be issued before the claimant (Tower Hamlets) adopt its new local plan and CIL charging schedule.”
Tower Hamlets council took legal action against Jenrick, claiming the timing of his decision appeared to show bias towards the former owner of the Daily Star, Daily Express and Sunday Express.
The council asked the court to order the government to disclose all correspondence between the housing secretary and government officials about the decision.
Jenrick accepted his decision did show “apparent bias” and recused himself from any future decisions over Desmond’s planned residential project on the site of the old Westferrry Road printworks.
One of those who had raised objections to the project was the ministry’s own planning inspection officer, who said the development would damage views of Tower Bridge.
Desmond sold his Express and Star titles two years ago. The 68-year-old’s company Northern & Shell, which is behind the Isle of Dogs development, donated £10,000 to the Conservatives in 2017 and £1m to Ukip in 2015.
UK DOMINIC CUMMINGS SCANDAL
NO MASK NO LOCK DOWN TRUMP MINI ME
WILL IT BRING DOWN BORIS
Dominic Cummings has broken Covid-19 policy trust, say top scientists
Dominic Cummings has broken Covid-19 policy trust, say top scientists
Constituents bombard MPs with tens of thousands of emails over Dominic Cummings
Boris Johnson sacrifices top scientific advisers on altar of Classic Dom
Boris Johnson sacrifices top scientific advisers on altar of Classic Dom
Global report: new clues about role of pangolins in Covid-19 as US severs ties with WHO
Experts condemn Trump’s actions; India records worst daily rise in infections; surges in Russia and Brazil; Australia tests sewage water
Chris Michael and Guardian staff Sat 30 May 2020
Experts condemn Trump’s actions; India records worst daily rise in infections; surges in Russia and Brazil; Australia tests sewage water
Chris Michael and Guardian staff Sat 30 May 2020
A researcher in Mexico works with reagent samples for taking Covid-19 tests. Photograph: Carlos Tischler/Rex/Shutterstock
Scientists claim to have found more clues about how the new coronavirus could have spread from bats through pangolins and into humans, as India reported its worst single-day rise in new cases, and the number of Covid-19 infections worldwide neared 6 million.
Writing in the journal Covid-19 Science Advances, researchers said an examination of the closest relative of the virus found that it was circulating in bats but lacked the protein needed to bind to human cells. They said this ability could have been acquired from a virus found in pangolins – a scaly mammal that is one of the most illegally trafficked animals in the world.
Dr Elena Giorgi, of Los Alamos national laboratory, one of the study’s lead authors, said people had already looked at the pangolin link but scientists were still divided about their role in the evolution of Sars-Cov-2, the virus that causes Covid-19.
“In our study, we demonstrated that indeed Sars-Cov-2 has a rich evolutionary history that included a reshuffling of genetic material between bat and pangolin coronavirus before it acquired its ability to jump to humans,” she said, adding that “close proximity of animals of different species in a wet market setting may increase the potential for cross-species spillover infections”.
The study still doesn’t confirm the pangolin as the animal that passed the virus to humans, but it adds weight to previous studies that have suggested it may have been involved.
However, Prof Edward Holmes, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Sydney, in Australia, said more work on the subject was needed. “There is a clear evolutionary gap between Sars-Cov-2 and its closest relatives found to date in bats and pangolins,” he said. “The only way this gap will be filled is through more wildlife sampling.”
The findings came as Donald Trump announced that the United States was severing its ties with the World Health Organization because it had “failed to reform”.
In a speech at the White House devoted mainly to attacking China for its alleged shortcomings in tackling the initial outbreak of coronavirus, Trump said: “We will be today terminating our relationship with the World Health Organization and redirecting those funds to other worldwide and deserving urgent global public health needs.”
The US is the biggest funder of the WHO, paying about $450m (£365m) in membership dues and voluntary contributions for specific programmes.
Trump’s declaration was condemned in the US and around the world, with Australian experts joining counterparts in the UK and elsewhere in voicing their support for the WHO. Prof Peter Doherty, a Nobel laureate and patron of the Doherty Institute, which is part of global efforts to find a Covid-19 vaccine, said the WHO had the “full support of the scientific community”.
Deaths in the US have climbed to more than 102,000, with 1,747,000 infections. It is by far the biggest total in the world. On Friday it emerged that one person who attended the controversial pool parties in the Ozarks last weekend had tested positive for the virus.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/30/global-report-new-clues-about-how-coronavirus-formed-as-us-severs-ties-with-who
Scientists claim to have found more clues about how the new coronavirus could have spread from bats through pangolins and into humans, as India reported its worst single-day rise in new cases, and the number of Covid-19 infections worldwide neared 6 million.
Writing in the journal Covid-19 Science Advances, researchers said an examination of the closest relative of the virus found that it was circulating in bats but lacked the protein needed to bind to human cells. They said this ability could have been acquired from a virus found in pangolins – a scaly mammal that is one of the most illegally trafficked animals in the world.
Dr Elena Giorgi, of Los Alamos national laboratory, one of the study’s lead authors, said people had already looked at the pangolin link but scientists were still divided about their role in the evolution of Sars-Cov-2, the virus that causes Covid-19.
“In our study, we demonstrated that indeed Sars-Cov-2 has a rich evolutionary history that included a reshuffling of genetic material between bat and pangolin coronavirus before it acquired its ability to jump to humans,” she said, adding that “close proximity of animals of different species in a wet market setting may increase the potential for cross-species spillover infections”.
The study still doesn’t confirm the pangolin as the animal that passed the virus to humans, but it adds weight to previous studies that have suggested it may have been involved.
However, Prof Edward Holmes, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Sydney, in Australia, said more work on the subject was needed. “There is a clear evolutionary gap between Sars-Cov-2 and its closest relatives found to date in bats and pangolins,” he said. “The only way this gap will be filled is through more wildlife sampling.”
The findings came as Donald Trump announced that the United States was severing its ties with the World Health Organization because it had “failed to reform”.
In a speech at the White House devoted mainly to attacking China for its alleged shortcomings in tackling the initial outbreak of coronavirus, Trump said: “We will be today terminating our relationship with the World Health Organization and redirecting those funds to other worldwide and deserving urgent global public health needs.”
The US is the biggest funder of the WHO, paying about $450m (£365m) in membership dues and voluntary contributions for specific programmes.
Trump’s declaration was condemned in the US and around the world, with Australian experts joining counterparts in the UK and elsewhere in voicing their support for the WHO. Prof Peter Doherty, a Nobel laureate and patron of the Doherty Institute, which is part of global efforts to find a Covid-19 vaccine, said the WHO had the “full support of the scientific community”.
Deaths in the US have climbed to more than 102,000, with 1,747,000 infections. It is by far the biggest total in the world. On Friday it emerged that one person who attended the controversial pool parties in the Ozarks last weekend had tested positive for the virus.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/30/global-report-new-clues-about-how-coronavirus-formed-as-us-severs-ties-with-who
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