AP News in Brief at 6:04 a.m. EDT
Russia, Pakistan virus cases spike as others ease controls
BEIJING (AP) — Russia and Pakistan reported their biggest one-day jumps in new coronavirus infections as some other countries and U.S. states where case numbers are stabilizing allowed businesses and public activities to reopen.
China, where the pandemic began in December, reported a single new infection Saturday, extending a steady decline in confirmed cases. South Korea reported six new cases on Saturday, none of them in the hard-hit city of Daegu in the southeast. Both countries are easing anti-virus controls and reviving economic activity.
Russia reported 7,933 new cases on Friday, raising its total to 114,431. The true number is believed to be higher because not everyone is tested and Russian tests are reported to be only 70% to 80% accurate.
At least five Russian regions reported a surge of pneumonia cases. In Moscow, which accounts for half of all virus cases, all respiratory infections are likely to be caused by the coronavirus, according to the public health agency.
Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin announced Thursday he tested positive and would temporarily stop running the Cabinet. The construction minister and his deputy also have tested positive.
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Michigan militia puts armed protest in the spotlight
Gun-carrying protesters have been a common sight at some demonstrations calling for coronavirus-related restrictions to be lifted. But an armed militia’s involvement in an angry protest in the Michigan statehouse Thursday marked an escalation that drew condemnation and shone a spotlight on the practice of bringing weapons to protest.
The “American Patriot Rally” started on the statehouse steps, where members of the Michigan Liberty Militia stood guard with weapons and tactical gear, their faces partially covered. They later moved inside the Capitol along with several hundred protesters, who demanded to be let onto the House floor, which is prohibited. Some protesters with guns — which are allowed in the statehouse — went to the Senate gallery, where a senator said some armed men shouted at her, and some senators wore bulletproof vests.
For some observers, the images of armed men in tactical gear at a state Capitol were an unsettling symbol of rising tensions in a nation grappling with crisis. Others saw evidence of racial bias in the way the protesters were treated by police.
For some politicians, there was fresh evidence of the risk of aligning with a movement with clear ties to far-right groups.
Prominent Michigan Republicans on Friday criticized the showing, with the GOP leader of the state Senate referring to some protesters as “a bunch of jackasses" who “used intimidation and the threat of physical harm to stir up fear and feed rancor."
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NY hospital lobby's power stretches to DC in stimulus battle
WASHINGTON (AP) — The stated mission of The Greater New York Hospital Association is simple enough: to help members deliver “the finest patient care in the most cost-effective way.” But it’s more complicated than that.
While the association, which represents health care providers at the epicenter of the pandemic, is a nonprofit organization, it has the balance sheet of a robust private company, pays executive salaries that top $3 million and spent millions more to lobby in Washington for some of the nation's most profitable hospitals.
So when it came time to secure its share of the record $3.6 trillion in federal stimulus money, the association was well positioned. It helped steer over $11.5 billion in funding to the state, with billions more on the way soon, in a competition with other hospital groups, major corporations and thousands of small businesses.
“On the surface, the purpose (of the stimulus) is to relieve financial damage caused by COVID-19. But in reality, it’s likely to actually increase the disparity,” said Ge Bai, a Johns Hopkins University professor who studies the economics of hospitals. “It’s very political. The money coming from the federal government is a zero sum game and we have some extremely powerful, large and rich hospitals.”
The story of how the New York group leveraged its power during the pandemic shows that the Washington influence industry functions much the same way in a public health crisis as it does in normal times, where the better heeled and connected get far closer to a desired result.
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Kim reappears in public, ending absence amid health rumors
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made his first public appearance in 20 days as he celebrated the completion of a fertilizer factory near Pyongyang, state media said Saturday, ending an absence that had triggered global rumors that he may be seriously ill.
The North’s official Korean Central News Agency reported that Kim attended the ceremony Friday in Sunchon with other senior officials, including his sister Kim Yo Jong, who many analysts predict would take over if her brother is suddenly unable to rule.
State media showed videos and photos of Kim wearing a black Mao suit and constantly smiling, walking around facilities, applauding, cutting a huge red ribbon with a scissor handed by his sister, and smoking inside and outside of buildings while talking with other officials.
Seemingly thousands of workers, many of them masked, stood in lines at the massive complex, roaring in celebration and releasing balloons into the air. A sign installed on a stage where Kim sat with other senior officials read: “Sunchon Phosphatic Fertilizer Factory; Completion Ceremony; May 1, 2020.”
There were no clear signs that Kim was in discomfort. He was shown moving without a walking stick, like the one he used in 2014 when he was recovering from a presumed ankle surgery. However, he was also seen riding a green electric cart, which appeared similar to a vehicle he used in 2014.
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Misery of Italy's migrants grows not from virus but lockdown
CASTEL VOLTURNO, Italy (AP) — They are known as “the invisibles": Undocumented African migrants who, even before the coronavirus outbreak plunged Italy into crisis, barely scraped by as day laborers, prostitutes, freelance hairdressers and seasonal farm hands.
Locked down for two months in crumbling apartments in a mob-infiltrated town north of Naples, their hand-to-mouth existence has grown even more precarious with no work, no food and no hope.
Italy is preparing to reopen some business and industry on Monday in a preliminary easing of its virus shutdown. But there is no indication that “the invisibles” of Castel Volturno will get back to work anytime soon, and no evidence that the government’s social nets will ease their misery.
“I need help. Help me. For my children, for my husband, I need help,” said a tearful Mary Sado Ofori, a Nigerian hairdresser and mother of three who has been holed up in her overcrowded apartment block. She ran out of milk for her 6-month old, and is getting by on handouts from a friend.
A patchwork team of a volunteers, medics, a priest, a cultural mediator and local city hall officials are trying to make sure “the invisibles” aren’t forgotten entirely, delivering groceries daily to their choked apartments and trying to provide health care. But the need is outstripping the resources.
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Ex-Green Beret led failed attempt to oust Venezuela's Maduro
MIAMI (AP) — The plan was simple, but perilous. Some 300 heavily armed volunteers would sneak into Venezuela from the northern tip of South America. Along the way, they would raid military bases in the socialist country and ignite a popular rebellion that would end in President Nicolás Maduro’s arrest.
What could go wrong? As it turns out, pretty much everything.
The ringleader of the plot is now jailed in the U.S. on narcotics charges. Authorities in the U.S. and Colombia are asking questions about the role of his muscular American adviser, a former Green Beret. And dozens of desperate combatants who flocked to secret training camps in Colombia said they have been left to fend for themselves amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The failed attempt to start an uprising collapsed under the collective weight of skimpy planning, feuding among opposition politicians and a poorly trained force that stood little chance of beating the Venezuelan military.
“You’re not going to take out Maduro with 300 hungry, untrained men,” said Ephraim Mattos, a former U.S. Navy SEAL who trained some of the would-be combatants in first aid.
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Air travel wanes, but bodies still fly to Israel for burial
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Air travel to Israel has come to a near standstill due to coronavirus restrictions, but one type of voyage still endures: the final journey of Jews wishing to be buried in Israel.
For centuries, Jews have sought to be interred in the Holy Land, going to great lengths to secure their final resting place in the land of their biblical forefathers. Today, not even a once-in-a-century pandemic is halting this ancient last wish.
“The Land of Israel is a very special place for Jewish people to be buried,” said Rabbi Michoel Fletcher, who facilitates purchases of burial plots in Israel for Jews from abroad. “The flights have been reduced heavily, but there are cargo flights. So it may take a bit longer, but we are getting people coming in.”
Despite the challenges presented by the coronavirus, families, the aviation industry and health workers are finding ways to keep the deceased flying in — chartering private planes, adding cargo flights and striking deals with handling companies. Israel's Foreign Ministry said 300 bodies, including many COVID-19 victims, have been flown in for burial since February.
During that time, Israel’s typically bustling Ben-Gurion International airport has become a ghost town, with only a few hundred passengers arriving on a handful of flights each week.
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Farmers markets scaling down with eye on safety due to virus
DETROIT (AP) — For a dozen years, Johnny Gyergyou has sold meat, poultry and eggs from his Berlin Township livestock farm at Eastern Market in Detroit.
Lately, he’s been staying home as fear of the COVID-19 virus has kept thousands of shoppers away from the popular venue northeast of downtown.
“The crowds are small and there aren’t many vendors,” said Gyergyou, adding that it’s just not cost-effective to haul the loads 33 miles to Detroit where they may or may not sell.
“We’ve been doing fairly well (selling) at the farm. It’s not Eastern Market sales by no means, but at least it’s helping us along here,” said Gyergyou, 72.
Farmers, growers and operators of open-air markets are heading into a busy time of the year as many states still are under stay-at-home orders for residents and non-essential businesses to slow the spread of the coronavirus which has killed more than 60,000 people in the United States and at least 230,000 worldwide.
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After COVID-19 recovery, first responders get back to work
The new coronavirus doesn't care about a blue uniform or a shiny badge. Police, firefighters, paramedics and corrections officers are just a 911 call away from contracting COVID-19 and spreading it.
With N95 masks hanging off their duty belts and disposable blue gloves stuffed in their back pockets, they respond to radio calls, make arrests and manage prisoners. But their training never covered something quite like this — what has been called an "invisible bullet.”
It's sickened thousands of America’s first responders and killed dozens more.
But many have recovered, and they're going back to work — back to the crime scene, back into the ambulance, back to the jail. Going back to this deadly pandemic's front lines.
They go with a lingering cough and lost weight. They toss and turn at night, wondering if the claims of immunity are true. They fear that picking up extra overtime shifts may expose them, and their families, to additional risks.
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Believe women? Sure, say Democrats, but vet their claims
WASHINGTON (AP) — "Believe women" was never a call to believe all women automatically.
That's what leading Democrats, including the prominent figures of the #MeToo movement, are suggesting as they stand behind former Vice President Joe Biden and his bid to unseat President Donald Trump. From House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to the female senators who ran for president and prominent Hollywood activists, they're not backing down after Biden on Friday publicly denied a former aide's accusation that he assaulted her in 1993.
“It never happened,” Biden said on MSNBC's “Morning Joe.” “Believing women means taking the woman’s claim seriously when she steps forward, and then vet it, look into it. That’s true in this case as well. ... But in the end, the truth is what matters, and in this case, the truth is the claims are false.”
It was largely the denial Democrats were hoping for.
Even so, there was a clear discomfort and perhaps resentment with being on defense on the issue while campaigning against a president accused by more than two dozen women of sexual misconduct. (Trump has denied the allegations.) Especially galling to some is the charge by Republicans that Democrats are giving Biden a pass they didn't afford Justice Brett Kavanaugh when he denied Christine Blasey Ford's accusation of sexual assault when they were teenagers.