Day: August 3, 2020

Norway says it will stop all cruise ships with more than 100 people on board from disembarking at Norwegian ports after a coronavirus outbreak on a vessel left 41 people infected.  Health Minister Bent Hoie announced the ban Monday, saying the new rules will apply for the next 14 days. He said ships that have already departed will be able to offload passengers and crew at Norwegian ports but that no new journeys can take place.   “The pandemic is not over,” Hoie told a news conference. Norway’s Hurtigruten cruise line apologized Monday following the outbreak on one of its ships, the MS Roald Amundsen. “We have failed,” CEO Daniel Skjeldam told a news conference. “I apologize strongly on behalf of the company.” He said the company would suspend its cruises until further notice and that it is “now in the process of a full review of all procedures.” The cruise line was one of the first companies to resume sailing during the pandemic. Four crew members on board the MS Roald Amundsen were hospitalized on Friday when the ship arrived at Tromsoe, north of the Arctic Circle. They were later diagnosed with the infection along with another 31 crew members. Passengers aboard the ship were allowed to disembark before anyone had been diagnosed, sending local officials scrambling to locate them. At least five passengers have now tested positive and hundreds more have been told to self-isolate for 10 days. The cruise ship industry has been devastated by the coronavirus pandemic, with ships worldwide shutting down in March after several high-profile outbreaks at sea.  
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The Chinese-owned social media app TikTok “is going to be out of business in the United States” on Sept. 15, unless Microsoft or another U.S. company concludes a purchase deal that satisfies the U.S. government, President Donald Trump said on Monday.   The president also is insisting the U.S. Treasury should get a cut of the sale price for allowing the company to operate in the U.S.  “The United States should get a very large percentage of that price,” Trump said at an afternoon news conference. “It would come from the sale — whatever the number is.” It is unclear under what authority the government could demand such a payment.  FILE – Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella speaks at a conference in Seattle, May 6, 2019.In a statement, Microsoft confirmed that its chief executive officer, Satya Nadella, had spoken to Trump and was committed to acquiring the company by the stated deadline.“Microsoft will move quickly to pursue discussions with TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, in a matter of weeks, and in any event completing these discussions no later than September 15, 2020. During this process, Microsoft looks forward to continuing dialogue with the United States government, including with the president,” the statement read.  “Price is important, as well as whatever restrictions come with it from a government perspective, but I think it’s an exciting avenue for Microsoft to really increase its consumer base,” the company’s largest individual shareholder, former CEO Steve Ballmer, told CNBC earlier Monday.   Trump suggested it would be “easier to buy the whole thing than to buy a portion” of TikTok.  “How do you do 30%? Who is going to get the name? The name is hot. The brand, hot. And who is going to get the name? How do you do that if it’s owned by two different companies?” Trump said at the White House.  The Chinese video app is extremely popular globally. It has been downloaded 2 billion times, including 165 million times in the United States.     TikTok features not only entertainment videos but also debates, and it takes positions on political issues, such as racial justice and the upcoming U.S. presidential election.    Trump said late last week that he would ban the app because of security concerns. India already has taken such action.  Trump Sets Clock Ticking for TikTokUS president has threatened to ban popular Chinese-owned social media app amid security concerns Officials in Washington have repeatedly expressed concern that TikTok may pose a security threat, fearing the company might share users’ data with the Chinese government.     ByteDance has said it does not share user data with the government of China and maintains it stores Americans’ user data only in the United States and Singapore.   TikTok recently chose former Disney executive Kevin Mayer as its chief executive in a move seen as an effort to distance itself from Beijing.    “TikTok will be here for many years to come,” company spokesperson Hilary McQuaide said in a statement issued Monday.  The U.S. government’s Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), an interagency group led by the Treasury Department, opened a national security review of TikTok last year.     CFIUS’s job is to oversee foreign investments and assess them for potential national security risks. It can force companies to cancel deals or institute other measures it deems necessary for national security.      
 
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U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday criticized a key White House coronavirus adviser after she told a national television audience that a new surge in infections was “extraordinarily widespread” in rural areas of the country and cities. Trump, in a Twitter comment, claimed, “Much of our Country is doing very well. Open the Schools!”   Cases up because of BIG Testing! Much of our Country is doing very well. Open the Schools!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 3, 2020His assessment came a day after Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus task force coordinator, told CNN, “We are in a new phase. What we are seeing today is different from March and April. To everybody who lives in a rural area: You are not immune or protected from this virus.” Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the leader of the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives, had told ABC on Sunday she had no confidence in Birx’s earlier assessments weeks ago that the virus was receding in the U.S. before the new surge that developed in mid-June.  “I think the President has been spreading disinformation about the virus and she is his appointee so, I don’t have confidence there, no,” Pelosi said on ABC’s This Week show. Trump tweeted: “So Crazy Nancy Pelosi said horrible things about Dr. Deborah Birx, going after her because she was too positive on the very good job we are doing on combatting the China Virus, including Vaccines & Therapeutics. In order to counter Nancy, Deborah took the bait & hit us. Pathetic!” So Crazy Nancy Pelosi said horrible things about Dr. Deborah Birx, going after her because she was too positive on the very good job we are doing on combatting the China Virus, including Vaccines & Therapeutics. In order to counter Nancy, Deborah took the bait & hit us. Pathetic!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 3, 2020In another tweet, he claimed, “With the exception of New York & a few other locations, we’ve done MUCH better than most other Countries in dealing with the China Virus. Many of these countries are now having a major second wave. The Fake News is working overtime to make the USA (& me) look as bad as possible!” With the exception of New York & a few other locations, we’ve done MUCH better than most other Countries in dealing with the China Virus. Many of these countries are now having a major second wave. The Fake News is working overtime to make the USA (& me) look as bad as possible!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 3, 2020Trump’s considerably more favorable view of how the U.S. is faring against the virus comes as he is facing a difficult re-election contest Nov. 3 against a Democratic opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden, who for weeks has led him in national polling.  Trump has claimed to be “a wartime president” in fighting the coronavirus pandemic, but Biden has retorted that Trump has abandoned the battlefield fight against the disease.  Birx said what she witnessed as she traveled to 14 states in the last three weeks gave her concern. “As I traveled around the country, I saw all of America moving,” Birx said. “If you have chosen to go on vacation into a hot spot, you really need to come back and protect those with comorbidities and assume you’re infected.” Admiral Brett Giroir, an assistant Health and Human Services secretary, stressed the continued need for wearing face masks. “If we don’t do that, and if we don’t limit the indoor crowded spaces, the virus will continue to run,” he said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “We are very concerned and this is a very serious point,” he said. The U.S. has recorded nearly 155,000 coronavirus deaths and more than 4.6 million confirmed infections, with both figures the highest national totals across the world. 
 
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Egypt’s minister of international cooperation has extended an invitation to SpaceX CEO Elon Musk after a Musk post on Twitter that the pyramids were built by extraterrestrial beings.  Musk tweeted Saturday: “Aliens built the pyramids obv.” Aliens built the pyramids obv— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) A camel in front of the Pyramids at Giza, Egypt, July 13, 2013. (A. Arabasadi/VOA)Egypt Today reports on its website that famed Egyptian archaeologist Zahi Hawass also weighed in on the topic on social media, saying that Musk’s tweet was a “complete hallucination.” Hawass added that he had “found the tombs of the pyramids builders that tell everyone that the builders of the pyramids are Egyptians and they were not slaves.”  He said ancient Egypt’s pyramid building was “a national project of the whole nation.” Musk had an apparent change of mind and eventually provided a link on his Twitter account about the building of pyramids.  He tweeted: “This BBC article provides a sensible summary of how it was done.” 
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Microsoft Corp said Sunday it would continue talks to acquire popular short-video app TikTok from Chinese internet giant ByteDance. Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump has agreed to give ByteDance 45 days to negotiate the sale, two people familiar with the matter said Sunday.
 
Microsoft, which is aiming to conclude talks by Sept. 15, released a statement following a conversation between CEO Satya Nadella and Trump. It said it would ensure that all of the private data of TikTok’s American users is transferred to and remains in the United States.
 
“Microsoft fully appreciates the importance of addressing the president’s concerns. It is committed to acquiring TikTok subject to a complete security review and providing proper economic benefits to the United States, including the United States Treasury,” Microsoft said in a statement.
 
The company added there was no certainty a deal would be reached.
 
The ByteDance-Microsoft negotiations will be overseen by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, a U.S. government panel that has the right to block any agreement, the two sources added.
 
ByteDance, Microsoft and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.  
 
Earlier Sunday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Fox News that Trump would take action soon.
 
“President Trump has said ‘enough’ and we’re going to fix it and so he will take action in the coming days with respect to a broad array of national security risks that are presented by software connected to the Chinese Communist Party,” Pompeo said on “Sunday Morning Futures.”
 
And Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told ABC on Sunday that the Committee on Foreign Investment on the United States “agrees that TikTok cannot stay in the current format because it risks sending back information on 100 million Americans.”
 
Over the weekend several Republican senators said they backed a plan for ByteDance to divest the U.S. operations of TikTok.
 
Senator John Cornyn, a Texas Republican, said on Twitter that a divestment “and purchase by U.S. company is win-win.”
 
Senator Roger Wicker, a Republican who chairs the Commerce Committee, added that “tight security measures need to be part of any deal in order to protect consumer data and ensure no foreign access.”
 
Republican Senator Marco Rubio said on Twitter “if the company & data can be purchased & secured by a trusted U.S. company that would be a positive & acceptable outcome.”
 
On Saturday, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said the “right answer” to address security concerns about TikTok would be to “have an American company like Microsoft take over TikTok. Win-win. Keeps competition alive and data out of the hands of the Chinese Communist Party.” 
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