Gov. Whitmer tells Mike Pence in leaked call that Michigan anti-lockdown protesters spread COVID-19 to rural areas
Published May 12, 2020 By Igor Derysh, Salon

AMERIKAN TALIBAN

Some protesters who descended on the Michigan state capitol to demand the state reopen the economy in spite of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic have spread infections in rural areas where they live, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer told Vice President Mike Pence in a recorded phone conversation obtained by ABC News.

Whitmer, a Democrat, asked Pence to discourage the demonstrations after the state’s data suggested the protesters brought COVID-19 back to their rural communities.

“We have seen from initial protests here is that we’ve got COVID-19 spreading in rural parts of our state, from which people traveled,” Whitmer reportedly told Pence.

Whitmer added that the alarming trend could derail the state’s plans to begin reopening.

“And so, our ability to move on to the next phase and keep re-engaging our economy — I’m just concerned about it,” Whitmer said. “We’re going to keep watching those numbers and doing the tests.”

Whitmer then asked Pence to “reinforce” the need for Americans to take the pandemic “seriously.”

“To the extent that you could reinforce kind of those needs to take this seriously, to continue — you know, everyone doing their part,” she said. “And if discouraging protests is something you could consider doing, I’d really be grateful.”

“We will continue to emphasize to people the safe and responsible practices while we all move toward re-opening,” Pence replied, according to the report.

President Donald Trump has taken the opposite approach, repeatedly attacking Whitmer and calling to “liberate” Michigan.

“The Governor of Michigan should give a little, and put out the fire,” Trump tweeted earlier this month. “These are very good people, but they are angry. They want their lives back again, safely! See them, talk to them, make a deal.”

Some of the protests were organized by well-funded groups linked to the Trump administration.

But Dr. Deborah Birx, the coordinator of the White House coronavirus task force, agreed with Whitmer’s concerns that the protesters risked infecting others by gathering in large groups without masks or social distancing.

“It’s devastatingly worrisome to me, personally, because if they go home and infect their grandmother or their grandfather who has a comorbid condition and they have a serious or an unfortunate outcome, they will feel guilty for the rest of our lives,” Birx told Fox News on Sunday. “So we need to protect each other at the same time we’re voicing our discontent.”

Michigan has reported more than 47,000 COVID-19 infections and more than 4,500 deaths since the pandemic began, making it one of the hardest-hit states in the country. The state currently has the highest death rate in the U.S.

Though the alarming growth in cases has somewhat subsided, the state continues to see hundreds of new cases each day.

Whitmer has eased some of the toughest restrictions but extended the state’s lockdown through May 28.

“There is nothing that I want more than to just flip the switch and return to normal, but that’s not how it’s going to work, unfortunately,” she said Friday. “The only way we can get through this and take the next steps forward is if we all continue to do our part.”

Despite the organized protests, 58% of the state’s voters approve of the job Whitmer is doing in response to the pandemic, compared to 36% who disapprove, according to a recent poll. On the other hand, 44% of voters approve and 50% of the state disapproves of the job Trump is doing.

But the minority has been vocal, bombarding the governor with death threats over her policies.

Whitmer on Monday said she was “disappointed” that the state’s Republican lawmakers have been silent amid the threats.

“This could be avoided if Republican leadership in the Legislature would step up and denounce that kind of activity, if there was anyone on the other side of the aisle that would do that,” she said. “People can have any opinion they want, but to threaten someone else is beyond the pale. I would appreciate if others would do their part to lower the heat.”

EU Has Found “Shortcomings” In WWF’s Treatment Of Indigenous People At A Proposed Nature Reserve

Messok Dja was the subject of a BuzzFeed News investigation last year

Posted on May 12, 2020,

Mike Goldwater / Alamy
Eco-guards on patrol near Messok Dja.

The European Union has suspended funding for a proposed wildlife reserve in central Africa, citing "shortcomings" in the World Wide Fund for Nature's treatment of indigenous people.

WWF has been pushing for the creation of a 1,500-square-kilometer nature park in the Republic of Congo, known as Messok Dja, since 2010. The EU agreed in 2016 to send the global megacharity 1 million euros for Messok Dja — as long as WWF ensured that indigenous villagers living in the area gave their consent.

Last year BuzzFeed News obtained a copy of WWF’s application for that EU funding. It declared that locals were “favorable” to the new park — but did not disclose findings from a confidential report showing that some vehemently opposed it.

The right of indigenous people to grant or deny “free, prior, and informed consent” to any project that affects their land is officially recognized by the United Nation and is a cornerstone of WWF’s indigenous peoples policy.

The confidential report found that some villagers were worried the new park would drive them off their ancestral land, prevent them from gathering food for their families, and subject them to mistreatment by forest rangers, known locally as “eco-guards.”

“They associate this initiative with the rise in repression from eco-guards,” the report said. An ongoing BuzzFeed News investigation has found that WWF-funded rangers have raped, tortured, and killed locals living near nature reserves across Asia and Africa.

Some Messok Dja villagers were “very hesitant” to even speak to the researcher conducting the report, because of their “mistrust” of WWF. Yet these fears were not noted in WWF’s filing with the EU.

When the confidential report was exposed in March 2019, the EU said at the time that WWF had shown “a careful respect for this process” at Messok Dja.

But a few months later, a consortium of NGOs published reports stating that WWF had not properly sought the consent of Messok Dja villagers. Concerned by the findings, the European Commission’s delegation in Brazzaville asked an independent Congolese human rights group to perform a review.

As a result of these reviews, in mid-April of this year, the European Union partially suspended funding for Messok Dja until a new contract is signed with WWF that has additional human rights considerations.

In a statement, the EU said it “acknowledges” that the review showed “shortcomings” in WWF’s methods for seeking consent, and said an “independent organisation” should be brought in to oversee the process going forward. The EU said support will only be restored to the project once more protections for indigenous people are established.

The EU also announced it will also conduct a wide-ranging human rights review of parks it funds across the region to ensure they meet international standards on indigenous rights.

In a statement, WWF said it is working actively with the EU to resolve the situation. WWF added that it has been lobbying the Congolese government to add more protections ensuring indigenous villagers give their consent for such projects.

“We know the best way to protect many of the remaining critical landscapes on the planet is by working with the communities that live there,” a spokesperson said. “As we work with partners and stakeholders to protect the forests of Messok Dja from escalating environmental pressures, we believe this must be done hand in hand with indigenous people, their communities, respecting their traditions and helping ensure their livelihoods.”

MORE ON THIS
WWF Says Indigenous People Want This Park. An Internal Report Says Some Fear Forest Ranger “Repression.”

Katie J.M. Baker · March 7, 2019

WWF Funds Guards Who Have Tortured And Killed People

Tom Warren · March 4, 2019

WWF Executives Were Warned Of Widespread Atrocities By Anti-Poaching Rangers The Charity Funded

Katie J.M. Baker · Oct. 17, 2019

Tom Warren is an investigations correspondent for BuzzFeed News and is based in London.

Katie Baker is an investigative reporter for BuzzFeed News and is based in London.

Americans Are Really Scared About Their Economic Future

A third of Americans expect their households' finances to be worse a year from now.

Posted on May 11, 2020

Paul Ratje / Getty Images

After weeks cooped up at home or working in essential jobs that expose them to the coronavirus, people in the United States are experiencing record levels of anxiety about the future.

Released Monday, the New York Federal Reserve Bank's April Survey of Consumer Expectations found that consumers — especially those earning low incomes — are expecting their lives to get grim: “The perceived probability of losing one’s job reached a new series high for the second consecutive month. Expected earnings, income, and spending growth each reached series lows.”

Notably, 31.6% of respondents expected their households to be worse financially a year from now, and 21.9% expected their household income would decrease over the next year.

Each month for seven years, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York has asked people how much they expect their income to rise or fall over the next year. In this month's survey, people said they thought their earnings would increase by only 1.8% over the coming year — the lowest number ever recorded in the series. The outlook was best among those who earn over $100,000 and worst among those who earn less than $50,000.

The average person thought there was a 20.9% chance they would lose their job in the next 12 months, another survey record. Those who earned less than $50,000 had a worse outlook, saying there was a 25% chance they will lose their job. And 47% of people said they would be able to find a job within three months if they lost their current job. Last month, that number was 53%; the decline is the largest month-to-month drop recorded by the survey.

The survey was taken by 1,300 people between April 2 and April 30, giving it a margin of error of approximately 3%.

The fears that the survey reported are real. The US unemployment rate rose to 14.7% in April, and women and people of color have lost their jobs at higher rates than white men.

The unemployment rate has begun to affect basic spending. An Apartment List survey released on Thursday found that fewer people were able to pay their May rents on time than they were in April. Twenty-two percent of renters made no payment at all, while 11% of renters made a partial payment. And most renters who were late on their April rents were also unable to pay all or part of their May rents on time.

“Lower-income families continue to struggle the most. For those making less than $25,000 per year, delinquencies rose from 31% in April to a staggering 41% in May,” read the Apartment List report.

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Venessa WongBuzzFeed News Reporter
Venessa Wong is a technology and business reporter for BuzzFeed News and is based in New York.

How the novel coronavirus attacks our entire body

COVID-19 is known primarily as a respiratory illness. However, the aggressive pathogen SARS-CoV-2 attacks not only the lungs but also the heart, nerves, brain, vessels, kidneys and skin


Of course, the lungs and airways are the main focus of attention with the COVID-19 respiratory disease. Since the new SARS-CoV-2 pathogen mainly attacks the lower respiratory tract, infected persons who experience a moderate or severe course of the disease have a dry cough, shortness of breath and/or pneumonia.

However, there are now numerous indications that the new coronavirus also attacks other organs on a massive scale and can severely affect the heart, blood vessels, nerves, brain, kidneys and skin.

Heart

Several studies and papers from countries including the US, China and Italy suggest that SARS-CoV-2 also attacks the heart. The evidence is based not only on the significantly higher mortality of COVID patients with cardiovascular diseases and high blood pressure: Several studies have also shown that patients with severe courses of the disease often had elevated blood biomarkers released by destroyed and dying heart muscle cells. In many previously healthy patients, the virus infection has been shown to cause myocarditis, or inflammation of the heart muscle.

Whether the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 itself causes this damage to the heart or — as seems more likely — the harm is done by the immune reactions triggered by the infection remains to be seen. However, acute heart damage has also occurred in the past in some SARS and MERS patients, and these SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV pathogens are very closely related to the current coronavirus SARS-CoV-2.

Lungs

During the COVID-19 disease, the lung is massively attacked, but the damage doesn't always stop there: Many recovered patients have presented partially reduced lung function as a late consequence. Chinese researchers have found a milky glass-like cloudiness in the lungs of some people who have recovered from COVID-19, which suggests permanent organ damage has occurred. Further investigations must now show whether the patients have developed pulmonary fibrosis, in which the connective tissue of the lung becomes inflamed.


A milky glass-like cloudiness in the lungs indicates permanent organ damage

This makes it harder for oxygen to reach the blood vessels, stiffens the lungs and makes breathing shallow and rapid. Respiratory disorders, shortness of breath and a dry, irritable cough are the consequences; physical performance decreases and even everyday activities become difficult.

Pulmonary fibrosis cannot be cured because the scarred changes in the lung tissue do not regress. But the progression of the condition can be delayed and sometimes even stopped if it is detected in time.

Vessels

During the autopsy of deceased COVID-19 patients, pathologists at the University Hospital of Zurich discovered that in some of them the entire cell layer on the inside of the blood and lymph vessels (endothelium) of various organs was inflamed.

The researchers concluded that the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 leads to a generalized inflammation in the endothelium via ACE2 receptors. This could lead to severe microcirculatory disturbances that damage the heart and cause pulmonary embolism and vascular occlusion in the brain and intestinal tract. As a result, multiorgan failure occurs, which can often lead to death.

Nervous system

In more than 80% of COVD-19 patients, a disturbance of the senses of taste and smell is observed. Such ageusia or anosmia occurs at the very beginning of the infection, and COVID-19 can be diagnosed early on the basis of these symptoms. This is because in a normal flu-like infection, which is triggered by adenoviruses, the olfactory and taste disorders occur only at an advanced stage of the disease.


The olfactory nerve leads from the nasal mucosa through the skull bone directly into the brain

This seemingly banal observation shows, however, that in many patients the nervous system is also affected by the novel coronavirus SARS CoV-2. This is because the olfactory nerve leads from the nasal mucosa through the skull bone directly into the brain. Researchers from Belgium found out that the nerve cells serve as a gateway for the virus into the central nervous system.

Brain

The earlier coronavirus infections MERS and SARS already showed a similar penetration of the viruses via the nerves into the brain. When a patient in Japan infected with the new coronavirus showed signs of epileptic seizures, he was diagnosed with meningitis caused by the new coronavirus, which had penetrated the central nervous system.

Researchers from Japan and China therefore fear that in some people, the pathogen penetrates into the brain stem and damages the respiratory center there. This might explain why older COVID-19 patients, in particular, sometimes stop breathing without having previously experienced massive breathing problems due to the lung infection. It is still unclear whether SARS-CoV-2 also causes or promotes strokes.

Kidneys

If COVID-19 patients with pneumonia need to be ventilated, this can also damage the kidneys. Acute kidney failure often occurs. Because pneumonia often causes a lot of fluid to accumulate in the lungs, patients are given a drug that removes fluid from the body. However, this reduces the blood supply to the kidneys, and they can no longer fulfill their cleansing function.


In about 30% of COVID-19 patients, the kidneys are acutely impaired to such an extent that they require dialysis.

In addition, the blood coagulates faster in severe COVID-19 disease. As a result, blood clots can easily form, blocking the blood vessels and often also the kidneys. Small infarctions in the kidney tissue have been observed in numerous patients.

In about 30% of these patients, the kidneys are acutely restricted to such an extent that they require dialysis. It is not clear yet whether the kidneys heal after the patients recover or whether SARS-Cov-2 triggers long-term damage to the organs.

Skin

The novel coronavirus SARS CoV-2 also appears to cause visible damage to the largest organ of the human body, the skin. There are reports from several countries that COVID-19 patients showed significant skin lesions.

Small dermatological lesions on the feet have occurred particularly in children and young people. These purple patches resembled those caused by measles, chickenpox or chilblains. On the toes, the lesions usually resembled frostbite or formed reticular patterns, normally caused by blood clots in small blood vessels. Sometimes, however, marks, redness and hives-like rashes have also been observed on other parts of the body.

It is possible that the bluish discoloration of the skin is due to pathological blood clotting, which could also be caused by the novel coronavirus.



CORONAVIRUS AND THE ENVIRONMENT: 7 CHANGES TO EXPECT
Better air quality

As the world grinds to a halt, the sudden shutdown of most industrial activities has dramatically reduced air pollution levels. Satellite images have even revealed a clear drop in global levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), a gas which is primarily emitted from car engines and commercial manufacturing plants and is responsible for poor air quality in many major cities.

FOTOS HERE 1234567

Date 11.05.2020
Author Alexander Freund
Related Subjects Coronavirus
Keywords coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19, organs, lung, blood vessels, kidneys, nerves, brain, heart

Permalink https://p.dw.com/p/3c19Y

Uganda: Kampala gears up for e-mobility

Uganda's motorbikes go green

Kampala's boda bodas — motorcycle taxis — are discovering how solar power can make the streets cleaner and their business greener.

Project aim: To help Uganda make the switch to electric mobility and raise awareness of green technology

Budget: The project is part of a $34-million initiative led by the United Nations Environment Program and the International Energy Agency to support the transition of 17 developing and transition countries to electric mobility

Project partners: Implemented by the International Climate Initiative of the German Environment Ministry in partnership with the Ugandan Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development

Electric mobility is still a new phenomenon in Uganda, with fewer than 10% of the vehicles on Kampala's roads electrically powered. But a new project by the German Environment Ministry's International Climate Initiative and the United Nations Development Program aims to change all that. The goal is to bring cleaner air to Uganda's cities and at the same time create new jobs in green technology.

In Kampala, motorcycles are the number one way to get around and local companies Zembo and Bodawerk are leading the charge to make them cleaner. Bodawerk converts conventional motorcycles, while Zembo imports tailor-made e-bikes from China and is building a network of solar-powered charging stations.

For the boda boda drivers who ferry paying passengers around the Ugandan capital on their motorbikes, the switch to e-bikes is proving a good investment.

A film by Wolf Gebhardt and Julius Mugambwa

AUDIOS AND VIDEOS ON THE TOPIC

Uganda: Kampala gears up for e-mobility

Date 12.05.2020
Homepage Global 3000 - The Globalization Program
Related Subjects Energiewende (Transition to renewable power sources), Solar power, Renewable energy
Keywords Renewables, Uganda, solar, electric mobility, motorbikes
Download Save MP4 file
Permalink https://p.dw.com/p/3btGM

CULTURE
Why Hannah Arendt remains inspiring today

The German-American philosopher was one of the great political thinkers of the 20th century. Berlin's German Historical Museum has dedicated an exhibition to Hannah Arendt, who remains more relevant than ever.

FOR HANNAH ARENDT, SMOKING AND THINKING BELONGED TOGETHER
The thinker
A philosopher, writer and professor of political theory: Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) became renowned in the US and worldwide for her works examining revolutions and totalitarian systems, as well as the trial of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann, in which she radically questioned traditions and ideologies.
FOTO ESSAY HERE 1234567891011


The poster for the exhibition "Hannah Arendt and the 20th Century" — delayed due to the coronavirus shutdowns but now opening on May 11 — is a black-and-white close-up of the German philosopher, chin in hand, face tilted slightly upward, a thoughtful look on her face and a lit cigarette in her hand. Its thought-provoking caption reads: "No one has the right to obey."
The exhibition examines in 16 chapters the thinker's subjective perspective on historical events — with photos, sound and film documents, objects from Arendt's private estate and international loans. The aim is to present key events in 20th century history in a new way.

Hannah Arendt's work is indeed ideally suited for this purpose. The philosopher published works on anti-Semitism, colonialism and racism, the Nazis and Stalinism in her straightforward style — demonstrating that critical thinking could be both daring and entertaining.

The list of controversies the intellectual philosopher triggered is long, and her 1963 book Eichmann in Jerusalem — a major focus in the exhibition — certainly tops that list.

In 1961, Hannah Arendt witnessed the trial of former SS-Obersturmbannführer Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem as a reporter. Eichmann was responsible for the deportations of millions of Jews to concentration and extermination camps.

Arendt's article on the trial appeared in 1963 in The New Yorker and then as a book with the subtitle, "A Report on the Banality of Evil." She describes Adolf Eichmann as a technocrat without convictions who stylized himself as a mere tool of his superiors.

Model of crematorium II in Auschwitz-Birkenau, by Polish artist Mieczyslaw Stobierski

The banality of evil

The banality of evil, the famous phrase coined by Arendt, is characterized by organized thoughtlessness and irresponsibility, she wrote. The "unconditional" obedience that Eichmann repeatedly referred to was an expression of this thoughtlessness and irresponsibility.

The controversy surrounding Arendt's report was sparked not only by the title and the question of "banality," but also by the fact that she questioned the reaction of the "Judenräte" (Jewish Councils) to developments in Germany at the time. Were the members of these institutions guilty of collaboration?

Read more: The ratlines: What did the Vatican know about Nazi escape routes?


Interrogation records from the Eichmann trial

"We are putting Hannah Arendt's analysis of 20th-century issues up for discussion," says exhibition curator Monika Boll. "Not because we believe that Hannah Arendt is always right, but by transmitting her enthusiasm for analytical thinking to the visitors, we want them to form their own opinions."

Hannah Arendt, who viewed critical thought as an eminently political activity, would most certainly have agreed with that approach. After all, the philosopher felt that National Socialism spelled not only a collapse of all moral values, but also the breakdown of the ability to show judgment, points out Boll. Opinions were synchronized; people learned to talk as "we" and not "I" — and the question of personal responsibility was thus shifted to impersonal authorities, says Boll.

A 20th-century thinker

Born in 1906 as the daughter of secular Jewish parents near Hannover, Hannah Arendt grew up in the educated circles of Königsberg. In 1924, she began to study philosophy and theology, first in Marburg, later in Freiburg and Heidelberg. She received her doctorate in philosophy in 1928 with Karl Jaspers.

She wrote for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper and looked into the writings of Rahel Varnhagen von Ense, an intellectual Jewish woman of the Romantic period whose life was regarded as an example of successful assimilation — unlike Arendt, who was skeptical about the idea of assimilation in the name of the equality of all people. She considered it politically naive, a stance that often offended people.


Visitors need to wear face masks in the exhibition halls

Hannah Arendt anticipated as early as 1931 that the Nazis would come to power. Two years later, and unlike most people living in Germany at the time, it was clear to her that Germans needed to actively fight against the regime.

That same year, the young woman emigrated to France, where she worked for Zionist organizations in Paris alongside her academic work. In 1941, she fled with her husband and her mother to New York via Lisbon. Hannah Arendt was naturalized as a US citizen in 1951.

'Thinking without a banister'

She stayed true to herself throughout her life, never following any particular school, tradition or ideology. Her thinking, says Monika Boll, is difficult to classify and that is why it is so interesting. "You can always find liberal as well as conservative and left-wing elements in her thinking, which makes it very difficult to pinpoint her in any political camp." Hannah Arendt herself called it "thinking without a banister." She was also an excellent writer. All that contributes to her appeal, says Boll: "That's why people like to look into her life and works."

Indeed, Arendt's reports from post-war Germany, her remarks on the refugee question, racism in America or the international student movement always manage to surprise people. Her views encourage visitors to the Berlin exhibition to rethink their own opinions.

Boll also hopes that the exhibition will inspire visitors to realize that it is important to form well-founded opinions of their own. In times of fake news and mass hysteria generated by social media, Hannah Arendt is a wonderful antidote.


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What philosopher Hannah Arendt would say about Donald Trump

Donald Trump is not a totalitarian, but his creation of a social movement is very dangerous - and the left is enabling it, explains Roger Berkowitz, a scholar on renowned Jewish-German philosopher Hannah Arendt. (16.08.2017)

For Hannah Arendt, smoking and thinking belonged together

The philosopher Hannah Arendt has long had cult status. Many items of her professional and private life are now show at the German Historical Museum in Berlin — including the heavy smorker's cigarette case. (11.05.2020)

Date 11.05.2020
Author Silke Bartlick (db)
Related Subjects World War II, Nazis, Hannah Arendt, Holocaust
Keywords exhibition, Hannah Arendt, Holocaust smoking


Permalink https://p.dw.com/p/3bwhm

How East Africa is fighting locusts amid coronavirus

DATA ANALYSIS
East Africa is battling its worst locust invasion in decades. Amid the COVID-19 crisis, countries are fighting to stop a new generation of locusts swarms, which could jeopardize food security.




Since 2019, East Africa has been desperately trying to control a devastating desert locust invasion. The long rains that typically fall across the region from March to May this year will probably allow yet another generation of locusts to mature, further threatening crops and livelihoods.

This would be an additional blow to food security in East African countries, which are also facing economic disruption from the coronavirus pandemic response.

Read more: Severe hunger threatens Africa during COVID-19 lockdowns

In the region, swarms of desert locusts covered more than 2,000 square km – an area as big at Ethiopia's Lake Tana – in April alone.

Swarms of this size are made up of billions of insects, which can obliterate vegetation, eating more in a day than the combined population of Kenya and Somalia do.
https://www.dw.com/en/locusts-hit-east-africa-during-coronavirus/a-53357078
Watch video

UN sounds alarm as locusts spread in East Africa

Ethiopia and Kenya are currently the worst hit by the locust infestation.

New waves of locusts are forecast for the coming months in Kenya, southern Ethiopia and Somalia as seasonal rains create favorable breeding conditions.


"The next generation of swarms will be around late June or early part of July," says Keith Cressman, senior locust forecasting officer at the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO).

The timing is particularly worrying as this would coincide with the start of the harvest season.

Crops wiped out

Desert locust swarms strip almost all green vegetation from crops and trees over immense areas, leaving behind ravaged fields and pasture lands and putting both farmers and pastoralists at risk of severe food shortages.

It's predicted more than 25 million people in East Africa will experience food insecurity in 2020 with the locust infestations compounding the situation.


Some farmers lost 90 percent of their crops in the first wave of locust to hit Ethiopia, says Yimer Seid of Ethiopia's South Wollo agricultural department.

"I visited families who have no food in their house. They sold their animals," he says.

Perfect conditions for desert locusts

A disastrous combination of circumstances fueled the current desert locust plague.

In 2018, two cyclones in succession unleashed rain in the immense sandy desert on the southern Arabian Peninsula known as the Empty Quarter. The moist sand and sprouting vegetation provided favorable conditions for the locusts to thrive.

Solitary desert locusts are usually harmless. If they are packed densely enough, however, the insects change behavior and even appearance, forming large groups that devour everything in their path. Groups of young, wingless locusts form bands, which eventually mature into fast-moving swarms.

In the Empty Quarter, the locusts multiplied unnoticed for three generations, increasing their original number 8,000-fold before swarms migrated up the Arabian Peninsula to Yemen.

https://www.dw.com/en/locusts-hit-east-africa-during-coronavirus/a-53357078

Watch video Locusts threaten food security in East Africa

Locusts are common in Yemen but its ongoing civil war has devastated the country's ability to monitor and fight the insects.

From Yemen, in 2019 the desert locust swarms traveled north to Iran then to Pakistan and India.


They were also carried on the wind across the Red Sea to northeastern Ethiopia, south Eritrea and Somalia, where higher than average rainfalls over the 2019 summer allowed the locusts to proliferate.

Ongoing locust crisis

That's when FAO declared an emergency, increasing and prioritizing equipment and monitoring efforts.

"We started fast tracking everything because we knew the situation was going to be out of control very quickly," says Cressman from the FAO.

But despite FAO and other organizations moving as fast as they could to curb the spread of the locusts, their sheer numbers meant they were already hard to control.

In December 2019, the insects started swarming into Kenya in what has turned into the worst outbreak the country has experienced in 70 years.


To make matters worse, East Africa's short rains, which normally fall from October to December, continued into 2020, allowing this first wave of swarms to mature and start laying eggs.

Now, the region has to fight this new generation as it hatches, before it creates the new swarms predicted for June.

Fighting the locusts

Managing locust swarms is best done before they even form. Regular monitoring is essential, since small numbers of the insects can be controlled relatively easily.

"It's not difficult to kill a locust. You put pesticide on the locust and it dies," says Cressman.

Normally, this is done by teams on the ground spraying pesticides from hand-held tanks, reinforced by planes or helicopters.

Read more: Why locusts are so destructive in East Africa

The problem with the current infestation is its sheer scale, he says.

"It's like a forest fire. If you find it really small as a campfire, you just put it out. But if you miss it, then it becomes a wildfire, and the problem gets much more difficult and expensive to control."

Time of the essence
Countries like Kenya, having little recent experience with locusts, took a few months to set up control operations. With locusts multiplying exponentially, that's valuable time lost.

Authorities in the affected countries have already sprayed pesticides on thousands of hectares of land. But if the weather conditions don't dry up, that might not be enough.

Control operations are falling behind: In April, only a quarter of the area affected by locusts was treated. Locust populations are expected to increase 20- or even 400-fold in the months to come.


Locusts multiply faster than control operations can keep up.

Helping hands

Spraying isn't the only way of weathering the devastation caused by the locusts.

In Ethiopia's South Wollo Zone, the community worked together in 2019 to bring in the harvest before the locusts could devour them.

"We harvested the crops in cooperation with everyone," says Yimer Seid. "There would have been around 100 people in a large field …, all volunteers from the region."

He's also seen more examples of people in the community sharing crops and food with each other to make sure people don't go hungry.

Two crises at once

The coronavirus pandemic makes such community action much harder. Although Ethiopia isn't under a strict lockdown, the movement of people is restricted by a national emergency decree.

Normally, agricultural officers in South Wollo would monitor the locusts in the field, explained Seid. Now farmers send in their reports online or over the phone, making it harder to assess the situation.

Overall, though, monitoring efforts and pesticide spraying operations are continuing in Ethiopia as locust control counts as an essential service.


But with new swarms on their way, Ethiopia desperately needs to scale up its operations, says Fatouma Seid from FAO Ethiopia. This should include "more teams on the ground, more vehicles for the government and more pesticides on the ground in addition to the air control."

However, the current stock of pesticides will only tide over locust control in Ethiopia up to June, she says.

As for neighboring Somalia, the country currently has enough pesticide at hand to spray around 2,000 square km.

That will cover the first phase of controlling hoppers (the juvenile locust, which can't fly) up to July, says Alphonse Owuor, Crop Protection Officer with FAO Somalia.

More pesticide is available if needed, Owuor says.

"We have been in constant contact with the supplier since late 2019. They are aware of our requirements for the rest of the year and are on standby on the event we will need more supplies urgently."

Anticipating future invasions difficult

African countries are much better equipped to tackle the locust threat than they used to be.

In the past, locusts plagues regularly swept across the continent. In the 1950s, the insects ate their way through countries in West and East Africa all the way to India and Pakistan in a plague lasting 13 years.

But in the last few decades, thanks to better monitoring and control, the infestations have tended to last for a shorter time and cover less area. Ethiopia and Somalia, for example, haven't experienced an outbreak of this scale in 25 years


Now though, predicting locust invasions has become harder is harder as weather patterns become more erratic due to climate change change.

"The desert locust is just one long, continuous story," says Cressman. "It's about figuring out the current chapter of that story."

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WWW LINKS

Data and code behind this analysis

More data-driven journalism by DW

Date 11.05.2020
Author Kira Schacht

Related Subjects Environment, Food security, Coronavirus

Keywords locusts, Coronavirus, East Africa, food security, environment, DDJ

Permalink https://p.dw.com/p/3bsc2

How contagious? Conspiracies, lies and the Covid-19 'infodemic'

Issued on: 12/05/2020

THE DEBATE © FRANCE 24

By:François PICARD

Follow| Alessandro XENOS|Melinda CRANE

From anti-science conspiracy theories to state-sponsored disinformation, the United Nations warns that an "infodemic" of half-truths and falsehoods is undermining the effort to overcome the Covid-19 pandemic. How is social media driving anti-lockdown protests and just how much traction are they getting? François Picard and Deutsche Welle's Melinda Crane team up for a special edition of The Debate that asks about the role of fringe groups, social media giants and populist leaders everywhere – from the US and Brazil to China.

>> Conspiracy theories and fake news: Fighting the Covid-19 'infodemic'



OUR GUESTS

Jen SCHRADIE, Assistant Professor at Sciences Po Paris; Author of "The Revolution That Wasn't"
Franziska BRANTNER, Member of the Bundestag (Green Party)
Sandro GOZI, Member of the European Parliament ("Liste Renaissance"); Italy's former Europe minister

Canadian rocker Bryan Adams faces backlash over 'racist' COVID-19 post

The  singer said in posts that his gigs were nixed thanks to "bat eating, wet market animal selling, virus making greedy bastards."

Issued on: 12/05/2020 

Bryan Adams, seen here in Ottawa, Canada in 2017, has been slammed for 'racist' comments about how "bat eating' triggered the coronavirus pandemic, which has caused his London hosws to be canceled Lars Hagberg AFP

Ottawa (AFP)

Canadian rocker Bryan Adams faced a backlash and accusations of anti-Chinese racism Tuesday over his online rant about the pandemic forcing the cancellation of his London shows this week.

The "Cuts Like a Knife" singer said in Twitter and Instagram posts that his gigs at the Royal Albert Hall were nixed thanks to "bat eating, wet market animal selling, virus making greedy bastards."

He went on to say that "the whole world is now on hold, not to mention the thousands that have suffered or died from this virus."

He went on to say that "the whole world is now on hold, not to mention the thousands that have suffered or died from this virus," admonishing the Chinese to "go vegan."

While animal rights groups praised his call to stop eating meat, others interpreted the expletive-laced comments as anti-Chinese.

"This is so irresponsible and so racist," Amy Go of the Chinese Canadian National Council for Social Justice told AFP.

"He's a Canadian idol and he's fanning the flames of anti-Chinese racism, and contributing to an increase in hateful taunts and blatant (physical) attacks on Chinese and Asian people in Canada and around the world," she said.

Others called his remarks "racist garbage."

Wet markets sell fresh food and produce, including farmed animals and wildlife.

One such market is Wuhan, China was identified last week by the World Health Organization as having been a possible source or "amplifying setting" of the outbreak.

The recent rise of anti-Chinese rhetoric and violence linked to the pandemic is only anecdotal but there are a myriad of cases reported online.

Go cited, for example, the recent experience of a 92-year-old man thrown out of a Vancouver convenience store and onto the sidewalk by the shopkeeper simply because he is of Chinese descent.

A Chinese-Canadian woman was also punched in the face in an unprovoked attack while waiting last week at a downtown bus stop in the Pacific coast metropolis.

Adams has since deleted the tweet but his message remained on Instagram.

In it he also said he missed his band or "other family" while in self-isolation with his wife and children.

© 2020 AFP

Coronavirus was in Brazil before carnival: study

Issued on: 12/05/2020

The first night of Rio's 2020 carnival parade, when the coronvirus is now thought to have been already spreading in Brazil CARL DE SOUZA AFP


Rio de Janeiro (AFP)

The new coronavirus was circulating in Brazil in early February, weeks earlier than initially detected, and just before millions of people were partying in the streets for carnival, according to a new study.

Brazil is the Latin American country hardest hit in the pandemic, with more than 11,500 deaths and 168,000 infections so far. Experts say under-testing means the real figures are probably far higher.

The study used statistical analysis to work backwards from the number of reported COVID-19 deaths and establish the probable time-frame of the virus' early spread in Brazil and other countries, said the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), the country's leading public health institute.

"The new coronavirus began spreading in Brazil around the first week of February. That is to say, more than 20 days before the first case was diagnosed in a traveler returning from Italy, on February 26... and more than 40 days before the first official confirmation of communal transmission," the institute said.

That means the local outbreak was already well under way when Brazil celebrated carnival from February 21 to 25, an event that draws millions of tourists and brings throngs of revelers into the streets in Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Salvador and other cities.

The study, which also analyzed data from Europe and the United States, found the virus was probably also spreading locally two to four weeks before the first cases were detected in Italy, the Netherlands and the United States.

"This lengthy phase of hidden communal transmission of the new coronavirus... indicates that containment measures should be taken at least as soon as the first imported cases are detected," said the lead researcher on the study, Gonzalo Bello.

© 2020 AFP