Female leaders doing 'better job' in virus crisis, says Lagarde


Issued on: 22/07/2020 -

Lagarde is herself the first woman to hold the top job at the European Central Bank FREDERICK FLORIN AFP/File

Frankfurt am Main (AFP)

Female leaders are doing a better job handling the coronavirus crisis, European Central Bank chief Christine Lagarde said Wednesday, praising them for their honest communication and for showing they cared.

The differences in policies and communication were "quite stunning" in countries led by women, she said in an online interview with The Washington Post.

"I am going to be extremely biased. I'm not going to be a central banker at this very moment but I would say that for myself, I've learned that women tend to do a better job," she said.


Lagarde, who is the ECB's first female president, singled out German Chancellor Angela Merkel for praise.

She cited Merkel's science-based approach as an example of how "very honest, transparent" explanations on coronavirus data and infection rates helped members of the public appreciate why masks, social distancing and confinement measures were necessary.

"It became very quickly sort of a common lingua franca, common knowledge that people would understand those scientific elements," Lagarde said.

The female leaders of Taiwan, Belgium and New Zealand had also "carried the water of bad news as well as the water of clear explanation and strong recommendations", she added.

Germany has weathered the coronavirus crisis better than many of its European neighbours, while Taiwan and New Zealand are considered success stories in the fight against the pandemic.

By contrast, observers have noted that male, populist leaders like US President Donald Trump, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson have struggled to contain the outbreaks in their countries.

Former French finance minister Lagarde, 64, said leadership was about "being both responsible and accountable".

"It's about caring as well... I think the caring dimension is something that (female leaders) managed to express well. And that was considered by viewers and voters probably as authentic."

© 2020 AFP

Libya conflict: "A war in the desert between two allies to the US is not something comfortable"

INTER IMPERIALIST RIVALRY
ANOTHER NATO FUCK UP

Issued on: 22/07/2020

Libya conflict: "A war between two allies to the US is not something comfortable", national security analyst Dr Walid Phares tells FRANCE24's Mark Owen.

TRIFECTA
Brazil's Bolsonaro tests positive for coronavirus, again

Issued on: 22/07/2020

Until he was infected, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro regularly hit the streets of Brasilia without a face mask, exchanging hugs and handshakes with supporters

 EVARISTO SA AFP/File

Brasília (AFP)

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has again tested positive for the new coronavirus, his office announced Wednesday, saying he would extend his two-week quarantine and suspend upcoming travel plans.

The far-right leader, who has faced criticism for downplaying the pandemic and flouting social distancing measures, has been in self-isolation in the presidential palace in Brasilia since first testing positive for the virus on July 7.

"President Jair Bolsonaro's health continues to improve, under the treatment of the presidential medical team," his office said in a statement.

"A (new coronavirus) test carried out yesterday on the president came back positive."

Bolsonaro, 65, has famously compared the virus to a "little flu" and attacked stay-at-home measures and other guidelines from public-health officials.

Until he was infected, he regularly hit the streets of Brasilia without a face mask, exchanging hugs and handshakes with supporters and urging Latin America's biggest country to get back to work despite the rapid spread of the virus.

Since testing positive after developing a fever and fatigue, he has been working by video conference from the presidential residence, the Alvorada Palace -- a routine he admitted last week he "can't stand."


Following the latest positive test result, his third since getting infected, Bolsonaro "indefinitely postponed" upcoming trips to the north-eastern states of Piaui and Bahia, his office told AFP.

On Sunday, Bolsonaro greeted supporters at his residence, separated by a reflecting pool about two meters (six-and-a-half feet) wide.

He removed his face mask to talk to them and proudly held up a box of hydroxychloroquine, the anti-malaria drug he is taking against the infection.

Both Bolsonaro and US President Donald Trump, whom he admires, have touted the medication as a treatment for COVID-19, despite a lack of scientific evidence for its effectiveness.

Brazil is the country hit second-hardest by the pandemic, after the United States. It has recorded nearly 2.2 million infections and more than 80,000 deaths.

© 2020 AFP

Trump to deploy federal law enforcement to Chicago, Albuquerque

THE NAME GIVEN TO THIS PR EXERCISE SAYS IT ALL 

"The U.S. Attorney for New Mexico informed me today that 'Operation Legend' is coming to Albuquerque," 



July 22 (UPI) -- President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that his administration will deploy federal law enforcement officers to Chicago and Albuquerque to quell violence.

In a news conference in the East Room of the White House, Trump said he would expand the Justice Department program known as Operation Legend, sending officers from the FBI, U.S. Marshals Service, Drug Enforcement Administration, and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to the cities.

Today I am announcing a surge of federal law enforcement into American communities plagued by violent crime," Trump said.

Wednesday's announcement comes after more than a dozen people were injured in a shooting at a funeral in Chicago on Tuesday night.

RELATED Lawyers' group files professional ethics complaint against A.G. Barr

Trump on Wednesday said he had "no choice but to get involved" by sending federal officers to the cities.

"This bloodshed must end," he said. "This bloodshed will end."

On Tuesday, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot tweeted that she would push back against efforts to send federal officers to the city.

RELATED House Dems call for investigation into Trump's use of force at protests

"Under no circumstances will I allow Donald Trump's troops to come to Chicago and terrorize our residents," Lightfoot wrote.

Sens. Tammy Duckworth and Dick Durbin, both Democrats representing Illinois, also sent a letter to Trump declaring the deployment of federal agents unconstitutional.

"Any involvement by federal law enforcement in community policing activity must be conducted in coordination with, and with the approval of, local officials," they wrote. "In this time of heightened tension, we cannot have federal law enforcement operating at cross-purposes with local leaders."

RELATED Officers arrest Portland, Ore., protester for vandalizing federal courthouse

TRUMP GIVES NO REASON FOR SENDING BILLY BARR'S BULLY BOYS TO ALBUQUERQUE EXCEPT IT

HAS A DEMOCRATIC MAYOR

Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., compared Trump's decision Wednesday to the deployment of federal officers in Portland, Ore., which has been met with legal challenges after protesters have been loaded into unmarked vans without arrest warrants.

"The U.S. Attorney for New Mexico informed me today that 'Operation Legend' is coming to Albuquerque," he wrote on Twitter on Tuesday. "Given the mess it created in Portland, I let him know in no uncertain terms that this isn't the kind of 'help' that Albuquerque needs."

Trump says sending federal agents to more US cities to fight violent crime spike
Issued on: 22/07/2020 -

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks about sending federal law enforcement agents to several U.S. cities to assist local police in combating what the Justice Department has described as a surge of violent crime, in the East Room at the White House in Washington, U.S., July 22, 2020. REUTERS - LEAH MILLIS

Text by:NEWS WIRES


President Donald Trump announced a plan on Wednesday to send federal agents to more U.S. cities to crack down on violent crime as he emphasizes a"law and order" mantra going into the Nov. 3 presidential election. 

Trump, joined by Attorney General William Barr, unveiled an expansion of the "Operation Legend" program to include cities such as Chicago and Albuquerque, New Mexico, in a further effort by federal officials to tackle violence.

"Today I'm announcing a surge of federal law enforcement into American communities plagued by violent crime," said Trump.

Trump said "we have no choice but to get involved" with a rising death toll in some major cities.

"This bloodshed must end, this bloodshed will end," he said. The program involves deploying federal law enforcement agents to assist local police in combating what the Justice Department has described as a "surge" of violent crime.

A Justice Department official said the initiative is not related to the use of federal agents from the Department of Homeland Security to quell unrest in Portland, Oregon.

The Republican president has sharply criticized Democratic leaders for presiding over cities and states that are experiencing crime waves, using the issue as part of a "law and order" push he hopes will resonate with his political base.

Trump is trailing Democrat Joe Biden in national opinion polls. It is not unusual for federal law enforcement to work alongside local partners. The Justice Department official said "Operation Legend" would provide additional resources to cities suffering from "traditional" violent crime.

Trump has emphasized a robust policing and military approach to the protests across the United States about racial inequality after the death of George Floyd, a Black man, in Minneapolis police custody.The White House has sought to focus on city crime even as Trump's approval numbers plummet in response to his handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

THEY ARE CALLING BLACK LIVES MATTER PROTESTERS VIOLENT RIOTERS AND ANARCHISTS

The "Operation Legend" program involves federal agents form the FBI, U.S. Marshals Service and other agencies, partnering with local law enforcement. PRISON GUARDS!!!!

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has said federal intervention was not required to help with violence in New York City, and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot has also urged Trump not to send unidentified federal agents to her city.

"Operation Legend" is named for LeGend Taliferro, a 4-year-old boy who was shot and killed while he slept early June 29 in Kansas City, Missouri, according to the Department of Justice's website.

BUT WHY ALBUQUERQUE? 

Farmers call on Congress to pass COVID-19 relief


Farm workers hoe the rows in Moss Landing, Calif., on April 28. Most farmers who identify as self-employed were unable to receive loans under the Paycheck Protection Program. File Photo by Terry Schmitt/UPI | License Photo

THEY ARE WEARING MASKS WHILE WORKING SO HOW COME PEOPLE EXERCISING OUTSIDE ARE NOT MADE TO WEAR MASKS

July 21 (UPI) -- U.S. farmers have called on Congress to pass legislation giving more emergency funding to agricultural businesses as the industry faces billions of dollars in losses due to the coronavirus crisis.

The Republican-led Senate is expected to pass a coronavirus relief bill by the end of July, rivaling a $3 trillion package approved by the House in May.

Farmers are hoping the next relief package will include more funds for them after many were shut out of the Paycheck Protection Program.

R.J. Karney, a representative rom the American Farm Bureau Federation, said about 86% of farmers who identify as self-employed weren't eligible for loans under the PPP because they lost money during last year's trade wars with China.

"The way the regulations are currently written, if a sole proprietor has a zero or negative net farm income, they are essentially ineligible to participate in the Paycheck Protection Program, he said, according to KXAN-TV in Austin, Texas.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said making more funds available under the PPP would be one of the Senate's priorities as it debates its forthcoming stimulus package, which the Democrat-led House will also need to approve before it can be signed by President Donald Trump.

"We knew that doing something that big and that fast ... it wasn't going to be perfect, but we knew it was an emergency," Cornyn said of the PPP, which was established in a March stimulus package and later extended.

The National Pork Producers Council is also calling for more funding to help offset the monetary losses from the disruption of the supply chain earlier this year. COVID-19 outbreaks caused some meatpacking plants to close down for close to a month, causing some farmers to euthanize their livestock.

Steve Meyer, an economist with Kerns & Associates, said there's a backup of an estimated 2 million hogs on farms, creating "an unprecedented emergency." Speaking at the NPPC, he said hog farmers are looking at about $5 billion in economic losses for the year.

"This is, by far, the worst financial disaster ever for American hog farmers, who were already in a weakened financial position due to two years of trade retaliation," he said.
NPPC President Howard "AV" Roth called on Congress to provide "a critical lifeline" to farmers to offset the losses.

Meanwhile, the New York Farm Bureau released the results of a member survey Tuesday that found that 65% of the state's farms have been negatively impacted by the coronavirus. Some 43% of farms say they've lost sales, 37% have experienced cash flow problems and 47% said they've reduced their spending.

"What we found with this survey is that no farm was untouched by the pandemic or the economic fallout," said New York Farm Bureau President David Fisher. "All of this underscores the need to continue to invest in our food system while also making health and safety a priority.

"As the state and federal governments look toward potential budget cuts and additional COVID-19 assistance, agriculture must be a part of the discussion."

Poll: More in U.S. have returned to work, 'always' using PPE


A worker is seen wearing a protective mask in Vernon, Calif., on May 21. Tuesday's Gallup poll said nearly 60 percent of U.S. workers say they always use protective equipment at their workplace. File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI | License Photo
July 21 (UPI) -- More American workers have returned to the workplace and more are using protective equipment like masks and gloves, a Gallup survey said Tuesday.

The COVID-19 tracking survey based on interviews with members of Gallup's probability online panel showed 39% of workers said all or nearly all employees have moved back to the workplace -- an 11% increase from April.

Just 10% said none of their coworkers have returned to the office.

Fifty-eight percent said they "always" use personal protective equipment at work, an increase of 15%, and about two-thirds said their employers are providing the equipment.

The survey, however, found a slight decline in workers (51%) who now say their company is enforcing a six-foot distancing rule less. In April, that figure was 55%.

The survey also found that fewer employees (38%) are "always" working from home.

"Many U.S. companies have expressed a commitment to employee and customer safety as they attempt to continue to do business amid the coronavirus pandemic," Gallup wrote. "The positive steps toward coronavirus mitigation may be helping keep worker concerns about being exposed to the virus steady even as infections continue to rise in the U.S."
Gallup polled more than 3,500 members of its panel for the survey, which has a margin of error of 3 points.

Greta Thunberg to donate $114,000 to help fight COVID-19 in the Amazon

Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg, shown at Battery Park at the Global Climate Strike March in New York City on Friday on Sept. 20, 2019, announced Monday she is giving away a prize of more than $1 million to other organizations in the climate change fight. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo

July 21 (UPI) -- Teenage climate change activist Greta Thunberg said Monday she plans to give away the $1.14 million Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity she won, starting with a donation to help fight COVID-19 in the Brazilian Amazon.

Thunberg, 17, was awarded the prize, given annually to recognize people, groups and organizations who contribute in efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change.

Thunberg said on Twitter she will give the money away through her Fridays for Future Foundation, citing SOS Amazonia as one of the first groups that will receive a donation of 100,000 euros ($114,571).

"The prize money, which is 1 million euros, that is more money than I can even begin to imagine," Thunberg said in a video posted on her Twitter page. "But all the prize money will be donated through my foundation to different organizations and projects who are working to help people on the front lines, affected by the climate crisis and ecological crisis, especially in the Global South."

Thunberg said the Stop Ecocide Foundation will also receive $114,571 to "support their work to make ecocide an international crime."

Brazil is one of the world's coronavirus hot spot countries with more than 2 million cases and more than 80,000 deaths. Included in that total, at least 15,000 indigenous Brazilians have been infected with two-thirds coming in protected areas.

The Stop Ecocide campaign is a Netherlands-based group founded in 2017 by British attorney Polly Higgins and environmental activist Jojo Mehta trying to establish the destruction of the natural environment as an international crime.

Microsoft, Nike, 7 other companies create net-zero initiative

The initiative will focus on several principles, including advancing public policy, innovation and a "sustainable transition" to aid low-income communities affected by climate change. File Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI | License Photo

July 21 (UPI) -- Nine companies on Tuesday announced a new joint initiative to develop research, guidance and a road map to their goals of achieving net zero emissions.

Leaders of all nine companies agreed to join the program, called "Transform to Net Zero." They are Microsoft, Natura & Co., Unilever, Nike, Starbucks, Mercedes-Benz, Wipro, A.P. Moller - Maersk and Danone.
The initiative seeks a standardized approach to limit global warming to a level that lessens the severity of extreme weather events. Other principles include focuses on advancing public policy, innovation and a "sustainable transition" to aid low-income communities affected by climate change.

The companies said they will collaborate with the Environmental Defense Fund, a U.S.-based non-profit advocacy group.

"The gap between where we are on climate change and where we need to be continues to widen," said Environmental Defense Fund President Fred Krupp. "So does the gap between businesses that just talk about action and those that are actually getting the job done.

"This new initiative holds tremendous potential to close those gaps."

Global non-profit BSR, which works with a network of more then 250 companies, will work with the coalition.

"When it comes to protecting the playing field we share - - our planet - - there isn't a moment to lose," Nike Chief Operating Officer Andy Campion said. "That's why we aren't waiting for solutions to climate change, we're coming together as global leaders to create them."

Oregon lawmakers sue federal law enforcement over response to protests

July 21 (UPI) -- A group including two Oregon lawmakers sued four law enforcement agencies Tuesday over the deployment of militarized federal officers in response to Black Lives Matter protests in Portland.

The lawsuit filed by state Reps. Janelle Bynum and Karin Power, Portland lawyer Sare Eddie, the First Unitarian Church of Portland, and Western States Center, which assists social justice organizations, seeks an order restricting federal officers' actions to the federal courthouse and requiring that they identify themselves and have probable cause for arrests.




The suit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Federal Protective Service and U.S. Marshals Service declares that states and their municipalities have the right to determine how to police their residents and the federal government cannot change those policies.

"While the federal government may protect its property and personnel, the federal government is constrained by the Constitution from policing the City of Portland broadly speaking, and there is no positive delegation of authority in any law that makes the federal government's recent forays into general policing in Portland either legal or constitutional," it states.

It cites instances of federal officers placing protesters into vans, taking them to unknown locations and later releasing them without first obtaining arrest warrants.

"These acts of violence perpetrated by federal law enforcement are designed to pass down a legacy of fear and further the interminable control of the movements of Black and Brown bodies since the days of American slavery," Bynum said in a statement. "I will not let my children, or any of our children, inherit paranoia and mistrust of the people we commission to protect us."

The suit follows similar lawsuits by Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum and the American Civil Liberties Union.

RELATED House Dems call for investigation into Trump's use of force at protests

Defense Secretary Mark Esper has expressed concerns within the Trump administration about federal agents in cities such as Portland dressed in camouflage uniforms similar to those worn by U.S. troops, his spokesman, Jonathan Hoffman, said Tuesday.

"We saw this take place back in June where some law enforcement that wear uniforms that make them appear military in appearance," Hoffman said.

He added that Esper told administration officials that he would prefer a system "where people can tell the difference" and may look to raise the issue with Attorney General William Barr and acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf.

Scientists attempt to model spread of social unrest, riots

People demonstrate against the price rise of Metro tickets, in downtown Santiago, Chile, in October 2019. The protests against the Metro ticket price rise saw the closure of all suburban lines in the city. File Photo by Alberto Pena/EPA-EFE


July 21 (UPI) -- After a series of demonstrations and riots rippled across Chilean society in 2019, a team of researchers in Chile and Britain, including economists, mathematicians and physicists, decided to find out if social unrest follows predictable patterns.

For their study, the results of which were published Tuesday in the journal Chaos, scientists combined epidemic models with analytical tools adapted from the physics of disorder.

Adopting the perspectives of social scientists and economists, researchers used their new model to analyze the trajectory of the 2019 social unrest in Chile.

The findings showed the spread of riots today involve highly dynamic processes. According to the study's authors, traditional epidemic models are less able to predict the spread of upheaval than they were several decades ago.

For more than a century, scientists have been using epidemiological mathematical models to study the spread of diseases.

"In the 1970s, this type of methodology was used to understand the dynamics of riots that occurred in U.S. cities in the 1960s," study co-author Jocelyn Olivari Narea said in a news release.

"More recently, it was used to model French rioting events in 2005," said Narea, an assistant professor at Adolfo Ibáñez University in Chile.

One of the most popular mathematical models used to predict the spread of disease is called the SIR epidemiological model. The model separates a population into three groups: susceptible, infectious and recovered individuals.

"Within a rioting context, someone 'susceptible' is a potential rioter, an 'infected individual' is an active rioter, and a 'recovered person' is one that stopped rioting," said study co-author Katia Vogt-Geisse, professor of mathematical biology at Adolfo Ibáñez University. "Rioting spreads when effective contact between an active rioter and a potential rioter occurs."

While studying the inner workings of the SIR epidemiological model, researchers realized the model's mathematics is based on what are called Hamiltonian mechanics. The same mathematical structures define Newton's laws of physics.

"This allowed us to apply well-known tools of the physics of chaos to show that within the presence of an external force, the dynamics become very rich," said co-author Sergio Rica Mery, professor of physics at Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez.

"The external force that we included in the model represents the occasional trigger that increases rioting activity," Ibáñez said.

When the models were tweaked to account for rioting triggers, researchers found the trajectory of the subsequent social disruption was highly influenced by the number of potential rioters and active rioters.

Despite the dynamic processes that have dictated the spread of social unrest during the 21st century, the researchers suggest epidemiological models can still be tweaked and updated to predict the spread of riots and upheaval.

"While you might think that the study of disease transmission and problems of a social nature vary greatly, our work shows epidemiological models of the most simple SIR type, enriched by triggers and tools of the physics of chaos, can describe rioting activities well," Vogt-Geisse said.

upi.com/7023357

Can social unrest, riot dynamics be modeled?

Exploring episodes of social unrest and rioting, discovering a way to model its spread

WHEREVER RIOT COPS APPEAR SO DO RIOTS

AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF PHYSICS

 

IMAGE: THE DYNAMICS OF SERIOUS RIOTING EVENTS DURING THE 2019 CHILEAN SOCIAL UNREST. view more 

CREDIT: SERGIO RICA MERY

WASHINGTON, July 21, 2020 -- Episodes of social unrest rippled throughout Chile in 2019 and disrupted the daily routines of many citizens. Researchers specializing in economics, mathematics and physics in Chile and the U.K. banded together to explore the surprising social dynamics people were experiencing.

To do this, they combined well-known epidemic models with tools from the physics of chaos and interpreted their findings through the lens of social science as economics.

In the journal Chaos, from AIP Publishing, the team reports that social media is changing the rules of the game, and previously applied epidemic-like models, on their own, may no longer be enough to explain current rioting dynamics. Using epidemiological mathematical models to understand the spread of infectious diseases dates back more than 100 years.

"In the 1970s, this type of methodology was used to understand the dynamics of riots that occurred in U.S. cities in the 1960s," said Jocelyn Olivari Narea, co-author and an assistant professor at Adolfo Ibáñez University in Chile. "More recently, it was used to model French rioting events in 2005."

From a mathematical point of view, the team's work is based on the SIR epidemiological model, known for modeling infectious disease spread. This technique separates the population into susceptible, infectious and recovered individuals.

"Within a rioting context, someone 'susceptible' is a potential rioter, an 'infected individual' is an active rioter, and a 'recovered person' is one that stopped rioting," explained co-author Katia Vogt-Geisse. "Rioting spreads when effective contact between an active rioter and a potential rioter occurs."

They discovered that the SIR model uses Hamiltonian mechanics for mathematics, just like Newton's laws for physics.

"This allowed us to apply well-known tools of the physics of chaos to show that within the presence of an external force, the dynamics become very rich," said co-author Sergio Rica Mery. "The external force that we included in the model represents the occasional trigger that increases rioting activity."

When including such triggers, the team found the way a sequence of events occurs varies greatly based on the initial number of potential rioters and active rioters.

"Even the sequence of rioting events can be chaotic," Rica Mery said. "Rich dynamics reveal the complexity involved in making predictions of rioting activity."

The team's work comes at a timely moment as social unrest is becoming more common --even within the context of the current pandemic.

"We just saw episodes of rioting in Minnesota due to racial unrest and how it ended up spreading to various locations within the U.S. and even abroad," Olivari Narea said.

The team pointed out it was surprising that the idea of disease spread can be well applied to rioting activity spread to obtain a good fit of rioting activity data.

"While you might think that the study of disease transmission and problems of a social nature vary greatly, our work shows epidemiological models of the most simple SIR type, enriched by triggers and tools of the physics of chaos, can describe rioting activities well," Vogt-Geisse said.

###

The article, "The anatomy of the 2019 Chilean social unrest," is authored by Paulina Caroca, Carlos Cartes, Toby P. Davies, Jocelyn Olivari, Sergio Rica and Katia Vogt-Geisse. It will appear in Chaos, July 21, 2020 (DOI: 10.1063/5.0006307). After that date, it can be accessed at https://aip.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/5.0006307.

ABOUT THE JOURNAL

Chaos is devoted to increasing the understanding of nonlinear phenomena in all areas of science and engineering and describing their manifestations in a manner comprehensible to researchers from a broad spectrum of disciplines. See https://aip.scitation.org/journal/cha.